East High Spring Musical, Senior Year

"Sharpay Evans, who will attend the University of Albuquerque in the fall with a major in theatre arts!"

Chad couldn't believe his ears. Sharpay? At MY school? Why does my life suck so much that a girl like her would end up at U of A, and my best friend ditches me to go off to some retard school in California, so he can be closer to the idiot girl who stole him from me in the first place? What did I ever do wrong?

He got up quietly and left the stage as everyone applauded for the girl who had given him hell ever since freshman year, silently boiling inside as he remembered the first day of high school.

"Hey Sharpay, wait up!" Chad shouted as he ran down the long hallway, his curly hair bouncing up and down. She turned around slowly and raised an eyebrow. Her brother Ryan turned also and looked around the hallway, obviously uncomfortable with Chad's presence.

"Danforth."

"Um. Hey! So, how was your summer, Sharpay?" He shifted his bag to his other shoulder and smiled. "I haven't seen you since promotion!"

"Thankfully."

"Haha, yeah…um…wait, what? What's going on, Sharpay?" He looked at her, hurt. "I don't get it."

"You're dumb and I don't want to be associated with someone like you," Sharpay simpered. Ryan coughed uncomfortably.

Chad was horrified. "What?" he whispered. "But…we've been friends forever, Shar!"

"Don't call me that!" she interrupted angrily. She gave him an icy glare. "My name is Sharpay Evans, and you are an insignificant speck of dirt and you are annoying me. Goodbye, Danforth. Have a nice life. Actually, take that back. I hope you don't." She stalked off in her high heels, Ryan trailing her like a loyal puppy, leaving Chad behind in near tears.

"Oh yeah?!" he yelled after her. "Well… MY NAME IS CHAD AND I HATE YOU SHARPAY EVANS AND I HOPE YOU DIE!!" She stopped for a split second, but refused to turn around and kept walking. Ryan turned and gave him a sympathetic look before running after his twin, who now had all eyes in the hallway shifted onto her. Chad ran into the bathroom and tried to hold back the tears. Why would she suddenly be so mean? He sadly wondered to himself as he took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

"Chad? Is that you?" He quickly wiped his eyes and turned around. A familiar looking kid stood behind him. "I'm Troy Bolton," he said. "I don't know if you remember me…we were on basketball together?"

"Yeah, man, I remember." This was the white kid who could jump almost as high as he could. He cracked a small smile at the thought. "What's up?" Chad replied, refusing to show that he'd been crying. He was in high school now, after all.

"Nothing much…" Troy studied him carefully. "Are you okay, man?"

"Yeah, I'm cool. You trying out for basketball this year?"

"Oh yeah. I'm stoked. You're trying out, right?"

"Well, I wasn't going to…but I think I might. I've gotta do something in high school, you know?"

Troy grinned. "Cool. I think we'll be friends, Chad." Chad's smile grew slightly.

"Cool…wanna go shoot some hoops after school or something? To practice for tryouts?"

"Yeah that'd be cool. See you then." With that, Troy Bolton strolled into the hallway and left Chad with hope-a new friend. A new friend who he couldn't possibly fall in love with…not like Sharpay…He found himself getting angry instead of sad, and with anger oozing out of every pore, he strolled out of the bathroom, ready to face the world and become such an amazing guy that she couldn't possibly ignore him. But he could never love her again. Never.

Chad Danforth didn't speak to Sharpay Evans for the rest of his high school career.

Chad sighed as he shot another ball into the hoop. Perfect shot, as always. Not that anyone had ever noticed…

He'd made his way to the gym after Ms. Darbus's announcement about Sharpay's college choice. Chad's relaxing technique was shooting hoops, and it always had been. He had no idea why he was thinking about Sharpay at a time like this. He hadn't thought of her since freshman year, when she'd completely destroyed him, everything he'd ever hoped and dreamed and wished for.

When she'd thrown herself at his new best friend, instead of at him…

"AGH!" he yelled as he chucked the basketball to the other side of the court. "I hate you Sharpay Evans and I hope you die…"