Okay, I got this idea when Chad and Troy were talking about being brothers in HSM 2. I thought that was really sweet, so here it is.

"We are like birds of a feather
We are two hearts joined together
We will be forever as one
My brother under the sun"

-Bryan Adams "Brothers Under the Sun" from Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron

My Best Friend, My Brother

The wind teased his curls in the hot, August heat of Albuquerque as he stood at the end to the driveway that led to his best friend's house. The U-haul had just left and the house was empty. He couldn't believe this was happening. Senior year without his best friend. After the fateful summer at Lava Springs, he thought nothing could come between their relationship.

He had been terribly wrong.

A car accident had gotten in the way. He had been there, in the house he stared up at, when the call had come and instead of a night of playing video games, he had comforted his best friend, knowing that there was nothing he could do. He had both his parents, alive and well, and his best friend had just been informed that it was just him and his dad.

"Oh, Chad!" came a voice. He looked up to see Jack Bolton stepping out of the house with a box in his hands. "Troy's in his room, if you want to go in."

Chad nodded and walked the unbearable walk up the driveway toward the house. Troy was just as upset about leaving as Chad was. They had even asked Chad's parents if Troy would spend the school year there, but it was no use. Troy was on his way to a suburb of Los Angeles where his family was and Chad would stay in Albuquerque.

He knocked on the door, even though it was open. Troy's room looked so empty without the posters on the wall, the basketball on the floor, and various pictures on the desk and dresser that were no longer there. The blue walls were bare and the East High paraphernalia was gone.

A sigh was heard from behind him. He turned to see Troy walk beside him, looking at his bare room, a box in his arms. "This is not how I wanted to end my summer," he said.

Chad shook his head. "Not too many people would."

"I just don't get it!" Troy set the box down and leaned on the doorframe. "Why would he want to leave?"

"He obviously can't stand being here anymore," Chad said after a moment of silence. "Plus, it'll be easier for you and your dad to be around your family."

"You guys are my family. You, Zeke, Jason, Gabriella..."

Both boys looked to the floor. There was nothing they could do. Troy was moving and there was nothing either of them could do. It just didn't seem fair that after a summer that had almost torn them apart, something as simple as a new house could destroy their friendship.

"You'll call, right?" Chad asked after a moment. "When you get there, I mean."

Troy nodded. "And you'll visit sometime, if you get the chance?"

This time, it was Chad's turn to nod. "Of course."

A horn beeped from the driveway and Troy reached for the box. He pulled something from the top and handed it to his friend. It was a manila folder, held together with three paperclips with Chad's name printed across the front in Troy's messy handwriting.

The two walked slowly toward the front door. "So," Chad said, wanting to break the silence. "Do you know who bought the house?"

Troy shrugged. "Some young couple with a ten-year-old." He looked around, stopping at the front door. "I'm going to miss this place. It's the house of my childhood."

"Mine too."

Both boys started to laugh, remembering how Chad had spent more time in the Bolton house than he had in his own. Chad was having the same problem of letting go as Troy was when it came to the house itself. He had his first sleepover in Troy's room. He went to his first friend's birthday party in the backyard - he remembered throwing water balloons on the basketball court.

"Good luck at school," Troy said once they were outside. "Get a detention from Darbus for me."

Chad chuckled. "That shouldn't be a problem."

Troy walked to the side of his truck and put the box in the passenger's seat before turning back to Chad. The two embraced and stood there for a few minutes before Troy broke away. "I'll call you when I get there."

"It's not going to be the same without you, Troy."

Shrugging, Troy said, "you'll be okay. I've got to head out."

Troy turned and jogged to his truck, getting behind the wheel. He saluted to Chad before backing out of the driveway and following behind his father down the street. Chad's tearful, brown eyes followed the truck all the way down the street before he saw Troy take a left, out of sight.

He looked down at the manila folder and debated opening it. Giving in, he sat down in the empty driveway and opened it. It was filled with pictures, the one on top being one for just days before Troy found out they were moving and that his mother died. Zeke had taken it at the country club and they had the goofiest expressions on their faces.

He continued to look through the folder and his eyes fell on a packet of papers. It looked to a school essay. Chad read the heading: My Best Friend, by Troy Bolton. It was from sixth grade and about him. He couldn't control his tears.

Troy was more than his best friend, he was his brother, and no amount of space between them was going to change that.

Okay, so tell me what you think!

And, for my readers, I might not be on for a while. I have got a ton of summer homework that I procrastinated in doing and need to finish before school starts up again.

Review!