Chapter Two…still don't own High School Musical. Shame.

Ryan woke up late Saturday morning to the sound of his radio alarm clock, which had gone off ten times already. He slapped the clock around a few times in search for the off button, finally succeeding. Creeping from underneath the duvet, he squinted at the light coming from the window and let out a small groan. His eyes darted back to the alarm clock when he noticed the time,

"Half past ten?!" Ryan groggily blurted out. He jumped out of bed and scuttled to the bathroom, quickly checking himself in the mirror he smiled at his bed hair before hopping into the shower. A quick lather, rinse and dry later, Ryan bolted down the stairs into the kitchen to find a selection of breakfast food already prepared for him. He looked across to see his father reading the newspaper. Mr Evans tipped the paper so that he could see his son; he smiled and motioned towards the food.

"Morning son, I was wondering when you were going to appear. I've cooked you breakfast."

"Thanks dad" Ryan sat down on the seat closest to his father and rested his elbows on the table "but I'm in a rush, I said I would meet Gabriella at the mall at eleven"

"Gabriella rung earlier, she says she's sorry to cancel so late but she forgot that she had volunteered to help Mrs Bolton with her garden. Have some orange juice" Ryan's dad ordered, passing him the carton

"When did she ring?" Ryan enquired; he had started to calm down after his frantic rush

"About an hour ago…Ryan, elbows off the table" Mr Bolton instructed

Ryan quickly took his elbows off the table and crossed his arms "How come you didn't wake me?"

"I thought you would have wanted the extra lie in"

"Well I didn't dad! Eurgh! My plans are ruined! Ryan quickly munched on a breakfast muffin and gulped down a glass of orange juice before jumping out of the chair and stomping back upstairs. Mr Evans casually flicked through another page of his newspaper and sighed

"Whoever said big business was complicated clearly isn't a family man…"

Ryan trudged into his room and sighed heavily "Great…that's my morning plans ruined!" He dived onto his bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Now what am I going to do?"

At that moment, Sharpay popped her head around Ryan's door.

"Morning! Or what's left of it!" she grinned

"Hrmph…morning" Ryan grumbled. Sharpay jumped into view and posed.

"What you being such a grumpy guts for?" She jumped onto the bed and lay next to him

"Gabriella can't go to the mall today, she has to help the Bolton's" Ryan jeered.

"Awww" Sharpay teased, "So now you've got nothing to do?"

"Yup" Ryan curtly responded

"Hmmmm…well…here's an idea…" Sharpay grinned

"I'm listening" Ryan said solemnly, not really paying complete attention. He started to inspect his fingernails.

"Dance practise! Now!" She sprung off her brother's bed and hurled him off with her. She then dragged him down to their private dance studio with little resistance.

Sharpay was right. An hour of dance practise had really cheered Ryan up. The siblings skipped back to their rooms to get changed for golf with their parents. He chuckled to himself about his sister lecturing him on how many of his moves were out of time. He didn't believe that for one second. After selecting a casual but smart ensemble from his wardrobe, he joined his parents at the golf course. He would of course have to wait another half an hour for his sister to work out what would suit her aura for today. They started on the practise green so that they could wait for her, Ryan didn't mind waiting, he felt that he would have a good game today after observing his practise swings.

"Good swing Ryan!" Mrs Evans cheered before attempting a shot herself.

"Oh that reminds me Ryan, I invited one of your little school friends to join us today" Mr Evans informed

"…and who might that be exactly?" Ryan sceptically asked, none of his friends were that good at golf to play with his family. Suddenly he heard a familiar screech:

"TROY!!!!" His sister shrieked, Ryan turned around to see his sister practically waving her arm off. He then turned to the side to see an unfortunately familiar face.

"Troy…" the blonde haired boy groaned and rolled his eyes. 'Do I really need this?' Ryan thought.

"Hey Mr and Mrs Evans" Troy said politely, shaking both their hands firmly. He turned to face Ryan and gave him a coy smile "Hey Ryan". Ryan could feel the venom seething from himself but thought that this was the time nor the place.

"Hey Bolton" Ryan returned the smile. To Ryan's relief, they were quickly joined by his sister, who took control of the conversation.

It didn't take long for Ryan to get irritated by the game of golf. His parents constantly chatted happily with Troy, asking him about the colleges he was applying to and how his basketball team were doing.

"Jeez!" Ryan said under his breath to his sister "It's like the son they never had…"

"Ryan!" Sharpay nudged her brother in the side "Mom and Dad are just being polite, they aren't trying to swap their children!" She ran up to her parents and Troy, eagerly trying to gain the young Bolton's attention. Ryan rolled his eyes and rested his golf club on the back of his shoulders, following behind the rest of the group slowly. He could tell it was his sister's turn due to the excessive posing she was doing before lining up to the ball. With one swift swing, the club flew out of her hand and plopped into the water hazard, scaring a stray duck that was floating nearby. Ryan burst out laughing which caused Sharpay to turn around and glare at him angrily. Troy had also turned around to smile at him, but Ryan was already looking in another direction to avoid his sister's death gaze.

"Hmmm…good swing princess" Mr Evans commented "but next time, maybe keep a hold of the club"

"Gee…thanks dad" Sharpay replied sarcastically, she flashed a look at her brother who was still giggling like a small school child. "Whatever…" she commented as she strutted to the next hole.

The group ventured to the clubhouse after their golfing adventure. The Evans' parents were still flowing in conversation with Troy, much to Ryan's dismay. He silently followed the conversation, nodding at appropriate times and rolling his eyes whenever his dad and mom praised Troy for doing whatever he talked about.

"So Troy, are you busy tomorrow? We've really got to practise for the next musical" Sharpay pleaded

"Umm…sure" Troy smiled politely after pausing for a second. He felt awkward to reject Sharpay in front of her parents.

"But Shar, we were gonna go to the mall tomorrow!" Ryan reminded

"The mall ain't going anywhere son" Mrs Evans informed her son. Ryan stared at his mum and gave her a confused look

"What?" he blurted out

"We can always rehearse another time if you're busy" Troy stated, hoping that it would get him out of a rehearsal with the prima donna

"Don't be silly!" Sharpay exclaimed, "We can go to the mall again" she gently nudged her brother "right?"

Ryan sighed, "Of course" he plastered a fake smile on his face, hoping his reaction would be acceptable.

After politely excusing himself, Ryan ran back to his bedroom as fast as he could. Out of breath, he fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone and once retrieved, he found a close friends' number and clicked the call button.

"Hello?" came a voice from the other end of the line

"Jason! Troy is ruining my life!!!!" Ryan screamed down the phone

"Woah! Sharpay could you put your brother on please" Jason teased

"Whatever, seriously. This guy is killing me"

"What has he done now?" Jason asked. He decided to sit down on his study chair, sensing that he was going to be on the phone for a while.

"Well, let's see. Apart from the fact that he seems to destroy everything that is mine, not a lot!" Ryan seethed. Jason laughed

"Ry…how has he destroyed everything that is yours?"

"Well he invaded Drama Club, he's probably going to take the Closet Club from me and now he's at my house charming the pants off my family"

"Ok, Ryan, you're going to have to breathe" Jason reminded, firing elastic bands at a nearby wall. He could hear Ryan panting through the line. "Besides, I doubt he is doing any of this on purpose"

"It's hardly a coincidence that all these things have happened to me, he's out to get me I swear" Ryan informed, biting his nails.

"Dude…you're taking this way too far. Now I don't know about Drama Club but there's only one reason why he would join the Closet Club"

"How do you know? He might have other, sinister reasons"

Jason rolled his eyes; "I really don't think Troy is smart enough to have sinister reasons for anything"

"Ok then, but still! It's like he's constantly around with his corny smile and his tacky charm and eurgh!" Ryan shuddered at the thought of him.

"Oh come on! He's not that bad. I used to play basketball with him and he was always nice and friendly. Plus, he's not that bad on the eyes either…"

"He's not that attractive, hrmph. Anyways, I'm sorry for bothering you. I had to get that off my chest."

"No problems" Jason grinned as one of the elastic bands he fired flew into his waste paper bin that he was now aiming at.

"Take care, I'll see you Monday" Ryan reminded

"You too, bye!"

"Bye…" Ryan ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket. He turned around to leave his bedroom but stopped dead in his tracks.

"Troy?!"

Mini-cliff hanger for you here . I hope to get the next chapter finished soon so bare with me : ). Again, please could you R&R? Thankoo!