Zach sat on the bench dressed in the Wildcat basketball uniform. Ignoring the game for a moment, he surveyed the crowd, searching for Ashley. Her eyes caught his. The raven haired girl gave him a short nod as Zach took a minute to check out her latest outfit. Her blue, black hair was in a messy ponytail and her eyes were lined with kohl, just like Sharpay Evans. Also like her idol, Ashley had worn a pashmina scarf loosely around her waist as a belt, just the way Sharpay had taken to doing.

Satisfied that the plan was going well, Zach looked back to the game. Troy had been slightly off throughout the game and wasn't getting any better as the game wore on.

'Come on. Come on,' Zach glared at Troy. Wildcats were barely beating the Bears at 49 to 48 and if Troy didn't hurry up, Bears could win. The opposition scored a two-pointer. Zach glanced at the clock. Five minutes left and East High were behind a point. Amidst celebration on the Bears' side, Troy Bolton turned a pale green. Couch Bolton noticed his son's complexion immediately and called a timeout.

'Are you okay son?' he asked. Troy looked back at him and shook his head panicky. Recognising the signs, Zach carefully slid a waste basket to the boy in time for him to throw up spectacularly. Couch Bolton started to worry, 'We have to win this game,' he hissed, 'Chad take Troy's position, Zeke take Chad's. If Tyler, John and Jesse spread out we should be able to stop them scoring again.'

Zeke raised a hand hesitantly. When the couch was freaking out, it wasn't a good idea to upset him. 'Um- Why don't we –err- use the reserve, sir?'

The team turned to Zach, seeing him at last. 'You, name,' Couch barked.

'Zach, sir,' Zach told him confidently.

'You'll be taking Jason's position, who'll take Zeke's position. Should you happen to get the ball, pass it to Zeke or Chad, whoever's closer. And don't get in my teams way, there's a reason why you are not on it. Understand.'

Zach decided not to tell the Couch exactly why he hadn't been at try outs. Mostly because his throat had tightened and he was finding it difficult to breathe in apprehension.

Two minutes later, East High Wildcats had yet to score. As the countdown hit 2 minutes 50 seconds, Zach glanced at Venesa in the bleachers. She frowned at him, wondering what was taking so long. He waited for the Bears attacker to approach him with the ball. They all thought Zach was soft as he was on the benches earlier in the game. Zach took the stopper off a long sharp pin and dropped it so that the end Monica had weighted landed on the floor with the sharp end pointed up. After taking a step the attacker winced, leaving Zach free to intercept the ball. At 1 minute 56 seconds, with eyes only for the hoop, Zach made a show of dodging Bears' defenders, ignoring Couch Bolton's enraged bellowing to,' PASS! PASS!'

One of the defenders even winced when he saw Zach coming. 20 seconds. Zach stood right ahead of the hoop, without even pausing to relieve his dead lungs, he jumped. Executing a perfect three-pointer, he landed as the final whistle went.

Raucous cheering vibrated the gym and hall as East High supporters swarmed onto the floor. Zach found himself being scooped onto Chad and Zeke's shoulders.

'Za-ach,' they screamed turning his one syllable name into two with their pride. When he was eventually put down, Zach was clapped on the back and high-fived by anyone close enough to.

Chad found him and shouted in his ear, 'Come to the party at my house, we can celebrate properly!'

In the hysteria no one noticed the curly brown haired Vanesa put a compact mirror and a long pin into her purse with a secretive smile.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

The next day, Troy came into school to find a new boy on the team. Everyone was gossiping about how this newbie had saved yesterday's match and was now going out with Chelsea Fletcher, head cheerleader. He was so nice, cute, sweet, funny and kind to everyone that no one could not like him. Even Troy, but Zach didn't seem to care for Troy's friendship. It was after a long, tiring day of constantly having to listen to people talk about Zach that Troy realised no one had asked him if he felt better from his illness yesterday. According to the doctor, taking laxatives tended to do that to people.