Ryan learned of Facebook from Chad, who learned from Troy, who learned from Gabriella, who was just assumed to have been born with that sort of knowledge. Not that any of the kids had much time for the internet, what with their natural inclination towards old-fashioned living, spending most of their time out of school involved in their individual wholesome hobbies: basketball, baseball, science, theater, boyfriends, girlfriends.
Chad was finding it mildly difficult to handle his extra-curriculars this year, on account of, in addition to basketball and baseball, he had unexpectedly wound up with two more. These were, namely, theater and boyfriends.
Troy grabbed his arm near the end of practice as the rest of the team jogged out towards the track for laps, reminding him that they had somewhere else to be. The other jock was similarly swamped, the only major difference being "girlfriend" rather than "boyfriend." They high-fived the Coach on their way towards the school (Bolton the elder caught Bolton the younger in a well-meant hair-ruffle of fatherly disapproval before sending them off to his rival) and bounded off to the theater.
Mrs. Darbus had perfected her tempered look of cool disdain in time for their less than punctual arrival, despite the fact that she knew full well they were cutting practice just for her special little musicale. They had even run straight there, as shown by their panting breaths and pungent sports clothes. Somehow, this dedication seemed only to click her disdain just a notch closer to freezing.
"Mr. Bolton, Mr. Danforth," her angelic voice scratched through the near-empty auditorium, "If you find my little talk on punctuality to be so stimulating, then perhaps you would enjoy the matinee showing this weekend." The basketball boys threw confused glances at each other as they neared the stage, slowing to a halt before the daunting director. She hmmphed at their painfully underdeveloped stage savvy and deigned to clarify, "When you will be here for special rehearsals to make up for all the time you miss, tooling about on the field or rink or whatever."
"The court," Troy supplied wearily.
Chad would have shared in his weariness, but his attention was otherwise diverted. "It'll happen again," he apologized as he drew himself away in the direction of his eyes.
Darbus, scandalously affronted, blinked at him and glared at Troy.
"Uh, won't. He meant it won't happen again," the poor boy re-apologized, his winning smile strained under the massive amounts of pure disdain which Darbus was coolly placing on him with her eyes. Quickly he nodded and excused himself, pointing animatedly towards the stage.
"What did I tell you about that shirt, Ryan?" Sharpay was discussing fashion with her brother as Chad materialized at his side. She didn't seem too interested in his part in the conversation, though, continuing immediately. "I told you, that shirt majorly clashes with my highly coordinated what are you doing here Chad," she fired off in sudden acknowledgement of the other boy's presence.
Both Ryan and Chad reared back in adorable double fear. Sharpay gave her brother's boyfriend a sharp once-over before stepping threateningly into his personal space, but Ryan regained himself quickly enough to keep her from inflicting permanent cosmetic damage.
"Shar, Chad has nothing to do with the shirt," he explained calmly, pacifying hands on her shoulders. She glowered up at him. "So don't take it out on him, alright?" He smiled at her brightly, which only made her narrow her eyes in response. She opened her mouth.
"Hey, I've got something to show you," Chad said to Ryan, taking his hand and pulling the actor away. "It'll only take a second," he called back to Sharpay, who stood otherwise ignored.
She gave a shrill gasp of sheer indignation and stamped her foot. But the two were already beyond the range of her tantrum. She turned, catching Troy as he slunk up onto the stage. She gave a shrill gasp of sheer indignation and stamped her foot, just for his benefit.
Troy looked positively sick of all the disdain and indignation constantly being projected his way. "What!" he complained.
Chad dragged Ryan all the way out of the theater and into the shiny white hallways, throwing distracted excuses and apologies to Darbus on his way out. Ryan held onto his hat and smiled as they raced through the empty school, not knowing what was going on, but enjoying it all the same.
Finally they skid to a stop in front of Chad's locker. "Close your eyes," Chad panted, attractively out of breath again.
"I like the sound of that," Ryan said around a snarky smile, doing as he was told. Chad rolled his eyes, delivering a playful whack to the back of Ryan's head. Ryan feigned hurt, whining, "My hat!" but kept his eyes closed with an inexorable grin playing on his face.
Chad just grinned an invisible grin and spun the lock. "No peeking," he warned as he reached into the chaotic and mystic depths, pulling out a surprisingly neatly wrapped package with a matching bow. "Now hold out your hands."
Ryan seemed less excited and more dubious about this turn of events. "It's not going to be something gross, is it?" he worried, slowly pulling his hands out of his pockets but not quite extending them.
"No! Why would I—just do it," Chad instructed, shuffling the box to one arm so he could grab one of Ryan's hands and pull it out. Ryan's other hand quickly followed, and Ryan waited with eyebrows raised expectantly over closed eyes, which Chad found irresistibly charming. So he leaned in for a brief kiss as he deposited the package in Ryan's hands.
Ryan's eyes bounced open as Chad pulled away, seeing the other boy's entire face crinkled in a jubilant smile. He looked down at the present he now held, and then back up at Chad, grinning because he couldn't not. "What's this?"
"You have to open it to find out," Chad admonished, "Happy Birthday, Ryan."
Ryan blushed and ducked his head, pleasantly surprised. But there was one thing—"My birthday's tomorrow, though."
Chad shook his head, explaining, "Oh, yeah, I know! But I figured sharing a birthday with Sharpay and all…that maybe I should give it to you today. You know, so it doesn't get trampled on by her ego. No offense to your sister, of course," he concluded.
"None taken," Ryan said with a soft smile. He nodded once, "Thanks, Chad."
Chad waved it away excitedly and pointed ardently to the present. "You can thank me after you open it. You should really open it. Like now."
Ryan chuckled, tearing off the bow and, after looking at it a moment, handing it back to Chad. He ripped the paper off with less meticulousness than Chad would have expected from him…but the paper was handed neatly back to Chad, as well, and the darker boy just shoved it into his locker to be dealt with later.
Finally the box was paper-free, all that was left was to lift the lid and peek inside to discover what treasure it held. So Ryan stared at the box and said, "Oh, Chad! You got me a box!" and attempted to hug him gratefully.
Chad pushed him back. "Just open it already!" he laughed. "I promise it's way cooler than just a box."
And Ryan agreed. As soon as the lid had cleared the box, he nearly dropped the whole shebang in unfettered delight. With a giddy hand he reached in and pulled out the soft, new, sparkly hat. The empty box went to Chad and then the bottom of Chad's locker, while his other hand removed his current hat to carefully replace it with the new one. Then he struck a theater pose, showing it off appreciatively.
"It looks great," Chad applauded, realizing somewhere in his mind that he was probably a little biased about the matter. He swiped the old hat, and, after a moment's thought, popped it onto his own head where it floated precariously atop his hair.
Ryan gave a little spin which ended in an enthusiastic display of jazz hands, still at a loss for words. "Thanks so much!" he finally chirped, "And, oh Chad! it matches my shirt!" He wasn't at all bothered by how particularly gay that sounded just then.
Chad laughed. "Sharpay is going to have a field day with that, huh?"
Ryan gasped and slapped his hand over his heart, practically going into shock at the sudden realization. "The rehearsal! We've got to get back! She'll kill us!" He didn't attempt to clarify whether he was referring to Mrs. Darbus or Miss Evans. It didn't particularly matter.
"Hold up," Chad insisted, turning back to dig through his locker. His voice came muddled from the abyss, and Ryan peered around the open door to make sure his boyfriend didn't get sucked in there, never to be heard from again. "I brought this special today, so that I—" he flung himself from the locker suddenly, throwing Ryan a good couple of steps back "—could take some pictures of you in your new hat."
He held a digital camera in his hands, and Ryan noted that it was on the painfully cheap end of the price range, probably no more than one hundred and fifty dollars. He shrugged it off and giggled. "Do you want me to pose?"
"I want you to, I don't know, look cute, or whatever," Chad articulated.
"I'll pose," Ryan decided.
Thus ensued a mini modeling session, Ryan throwing himself shamelessly into various melodramatic poses while Chad snapped away like the paparazzi after the hottest new teen star. Finally Chad wrangled an arm around Ryan and held the camera out in front of them, attempting one of those popular Myspace self-portraits. It took about thirty tries to get one that actually managed to capture more than eighty percent of both faces at once, and, luckily, it happened to be the one where Ryan spontaneously turned to plant a small thank-you kiss on Chad's cheek.
When Ryan checked Facebook later that day, after being notified that Chad Danforth had tagged him in something like forty-eight photos, it was this one he saved to his own computer to re-upload as his new profile picture.