EVERYTHING CHANGES

Chapter One – The Encounter

Disclaimer: This is SLASH. If you don't like it, then why are you reading any further?

And I do not own any of the characters, Disney does. If I did, well, there would be some loverly kisses between Troy and Ryan. Haha

A/N: well, I'm back with a new fic :) hope you enjoy it… More from me afterwards…

Ryan Evans walked quickly passed the huge crowds of people in the hallways of East High, avoiding any of their hate-filled glares and whispers, trying to get to his locker and homeroom with no incidents. Ever since Ryan had decided to come out a few months ago to his classmates, the students of East High have been making his life a living hell.

Especially him and his loyal band of lunk-head basketball players. Chad was always the ringleader in Ryan's harassments, with Troy, Jason, and Zeke laughing it up and following Chad's lead.

As Ryan passed the bunch of them crowded around Troy's locker, Ryan focused all of his energy on not looking at them and ignoring their crude comments. Yeah, that didn't happen.

"Hey faggot," Chad called out, striding over to Ryan and shoving him into the lockers on the opposite side of the hallway, "Ya wanna suck my dick?"

Roaring laughter filled Ryan's ears. Ryan picked his head up, and defiantly answered back, "No, sorry, but I don't suck on anything that small."

A chorus of "Ohhh's" reverberated off the walls, as Chad's eyes narrowed in Ryan's general direction. He shoved Ryan harder, causing Ryan's books to fall from his hands, sprawling them across the floor, hissing at Ryan, "Don't ever fucking do that again, fag."

"Yeah, fag. You mess with Chad, you mess with the rest of us," Troy's voice piped in from where he was standing, flanked by the rest of his posse.

Ryan shot Troy a look, and all Troy did was laugh and high-five Chad as Chad made his way back to his group.

Taking a deep breath, Ryan began picking up his scattered books. Once he had managed to gather everything, he shot one more hesitant glace back to Troy's group, searching desperately for the sign. When he didn't see it, he dropped his eyes back to the ground and headed down the hallway toward his homeroom.

Ryan silently wished that Troy had been staring back, mouthing his 'I'm sorry' to Ryan, but no. That didn't happen. It hadn't happened for the past few weeks, when Troy had started taking a more active role in his bashings.

To Ryan, that made no sense. Why did Troy bash Ryan for being gay, when Troy himself was gay too? Didn't that technically mean that Troy was basically bashing himself?

Ryan closed his eyes, sighed, and shook his head. He still couldn't get over Troy. He couldn't believe that it was only two months ago that they were making out in the wings of East High's theatre, oblivious to anyone else but each other.

Yes, that's right. Troy Bolton was Ryan Evans's boyfriend. Ryan smiled sadly at that thought as he continued his walk to homeroom, his mind traveling down memory lane.

The two had confessed their hidden feelings for each other during last year's Spring Musical, and had first kissed during the cast party, alone in Ryan's bedroom. They had decided to keep their newfound relationship a secret, as both feared the reactions of their classmates. Troy and Ryan enjoyed a carefree summer together, but everything changed as they entered their senior year. Ryan couldn't deal with the secrecy anymore. He wanted to be himself, not put on an act. So he decided to finally come out to his high school peers that yes, in fact, he was gay.

In doing so, it basically left Troy torn, as he could follow Ryan's lead and come out as well, or choose to sit that inning out. After seeing Chad and the rest of his friends' reaction to Ryan's news, Troy decided to permanently be a benchwarmer.

That left Ryan and Troy's relationship in peril. Sure, they had plenty of alone time during the Fall Drama rehearsals (Troy had by then become a permanent fixture on East High's stage), but one afternoon, a close scare sent Troy into a panic, and things ended not so nicely.

The first week or so that Ryan and Troy were officially over, Troy still had yet to join in on Chad's bashing, and still offered that silent 'I'm sorry' after every encounter. But recently, that 'I'm sorry' had vanished, and Ryan was stung ever so much more every time Troy said something harsh to him.

As Ryan entered his homeroom, he glanced around and sighed in relief as he saw Kelsi Nielson in her usual seat, her songbook opened on her desk. Ryan plopped down into the open seat next to her with a thud.

"Hey Kelsi."

She barely looked up. "Hey."

Ryan glanced at her and smiled. She was concentrating hard on writing whatever score she was working on. "What's that?" Ryan asked curiously.

This time she actually looked up at Ryan. "Oh, it's the score for this year's Winter Musical. Darbus wants to see it today, and it's not quite done…"

"That's great," Ryan responded, but then it hit him. Winter Musical auditions were only a few weeks away. That meant him and Troy would be working together again.

Kelsi must have noticed Ryan spacing out. "Ry, what's wrong?"

Ryan quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Nothing. Just thinking about what the Winter Musical means."

Kelsi nodded, as she was basically the only person who knew about Troy and Ryan. Sharpay knew as well, but the twins hadn't been as close in the past year.

Ryan continued. "How do you think Troy's gonna act around me during the musical? I mean, with the way he acts around me now, I don't know what to think."

Kelsi shrugged. "Honestly? I have no idea. I just hope for your sake it's not bad."

"Yeah, me too," Ryan said distractedly as he watched Troy and his rowdy bunch enter his homeroom, wishing things could be different between them. The bell interrupted his thoughts, and Mrs. Darbus started class.

A/N: ok, weird place to end the chapter, but oh well. It works…

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my new fic. It should be about 3-4 chapters long, and I basically have the 2nd chapter already written. But I'm not gonna post it until I have the 3rd chapter almost finished. (See, I learned… I didn't do that with my other fic, Start of Something New, and now I'm completely and utterly blocked on it. lol)

So yeah…. Here's the part I like best… REVIEW TIME :)

-Laura-