Ok this is probably another short-ish chapter. You know which characters are being reintroduced now. There's also gonna be a couple of minor characters which I hope spices things up a bit. It's probably still gonna leave you with questions but remember, it all starts out slow. It's gotta slowly build up to everything, you know? Problem is, i gotta figure out what goes in the next chapter after this one. xD I've got the whole story in my head, it's just a matter of putting it all down and actually writing one thing leading to the next, you know?
Ok so once again I don't own HSM or any of its characters. Although I made a couple of minor ones up.


"Oh come on boys, don't let the girls outshine your voices. This is the senior chorus, not a contest where boys get their butts kicked by girls' voices."

Sharpay Evans' voice echoed through auditorium in East High. She looked like she hadn't changed a bit since she started taking over the drama department. Her hair was still long and blond and her clothes were always top-notch. And pink, don't forget four out of the five days (or three out of five if she wasn't feeling that well) she had to wear a pink outfit. But there was no more time for a school production except for the one the seniors would put on; Sharpay was focusing most of her attention on the chorus.

She could hear plenty of moans coming from the students. They were practicing the same song for a half an hour and sounded tired.

"Please, can we take a break?" one girl sighed. Her skin tone and brown eyes looked incredibly similar to someone else's that Sharpay knew of. She was a bit on the skinny side and a little tall, and her dark brown hair sometimes appeared black in a certain lighting was past shoulder length and at times had a slight wave to it. "Come on we can't keep singing the same song over and over again and I can't bounce back without some caffeine like I could four years ago."

The two other girls in the chorus giggled. One of them was on the shorter side with straight blond hair and pale skin and the other one had brunette hair that once again looked familiar to someone Sharpay had known. Her skin was a bit darker though, and at times she spoke with a slight Spanish accent.

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Geez could you be any more lazy?" she asked the first girl. "You have to be like your brother that way."

She rolled her eyes in frustration. "Please, don't even get me started on how many times in one day I wanna flip that guy." She muttered.

"Whatever. Look just take a ten then." Sharpay gave in.

The students on the stage dispersed and Sharpay's fraternal twin brother Ryan Evans walked in with a bag on his shoulder and a hat on his head as usual. Sure Ryan was a bit on the feminine side, but when he grew up with a sister like Sharpay who could blame him?

"Guess that means I still have to wait backstage for you to finish with the group, huh?" he assumed. Ryan was more of a choreographer when it came to the theater department but he and Sharpay still worked closely together. Plus sometimes he was stuck being her ride home.

Sharpay ran her hand down her face. "Why did I have to get stuck with a Danforth in the group?"

"Hey don't start comparing siblings again." Ryan said. "Believe me, if I had a nickel for every time someone compared me to you…"

"You'd be a lot richer without that hat emporium you keep trying to open." Sharpay finished for him with a giggle.

"Hey don't crush my dreams of selling perfectly good hats to the public now." Ryan sighed.

"Or else you'll do what if I don't stop?" Sharpay inquired.

Ryan smirked at his sister. "I'll blab to your students early about the you-know-what on your you-know-where."

"Ryan!" Sharpay gasped dramatically. "You are not telling my students yet!"

"Oh come on, most of them are graduating this year." Ryan sighed. "You have to tell them the good news. You already told Troy."

"Yeah well Troy isn't as big a blabbermouth as you sometimes." Sharpay replied.

"Gee thanks a lot." He muttered sarcastically.

"What up Evans twins?" Troy asked as he stepped into the auditorium. Like Sharpay, it was as though Troy never left East High. He had the same stunning blue eyes and his hair was styled the same way. The main thing that changed was his body. Hey, he'd gotten more muscular. He winked and teased Sharpay, "Soon-to-be-Baylor."

Sharpay nearly slapped Troy. "You'll give it all away!" she gasped quietly.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Troy replied sarcastically. "Anyway, I came by to get Gabriella's cousin. And I could borrow Chad's sister for a minute too."

"Where were you the past…" Ryan asked. He paused to count his fingers, trying to remember the number, "…ten-ish years? That's how long Chad and Sharon haven't gotten along."

"Trust me, I know. She still flips him on a daily basis." Troy replied.

"Troy, you weren't working today. Why should I give you two of my students when one of them is related to your girlfriend?" Sharpay replied.

"Gabriella told me that Stella's car still isn't done yet so she'll need a ride home. So I told Gabriella I'd bring Stella home and then eat dinner with them." Troy answered with a shrug. "And I need to talk to Sharon about Chad. I know something's up with the guy."

"We're all in the middle of a very important rehearsal." Sharpay replied.

"Ah, cut him a break Shar." Ryan suggested. "Come on, a half hour of the same song? And really, I have to get home soon. I invited Kelsi for dinner and you know how hard it is to hang out with her nowadays."

"Oh you mean your new sister." Sharpay huffed.

"Second sister." Ryan replied. Just because Ryan and Kelsi got along so well didn't mean that much, at least to some people. To Ryan Kelsi was like his second sister…the one he could stand and didn't argue with all the time. He loved her like that. Like a sister, he means.

"Now about those girls?" Troy asked, interrupting the sibling moment.

Sharpay sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "Montez, get your stuff together. Your ride's here. Danforth, visitor. You got five minutes." Sharpay rubbed her head again. "I'm getting my water bottle." She headed backstage.

Troy raised an eyebrow at Ryan. And Ryan didn't want to be near any awkward situations; he had a feeling this was going to be one of them. "You know, I think I'm gonna head to the men's room. Let me know when it's safe to come out." He walked out of the auditorium.

"What do you want this time Troy?" Sharon asked as she walked over. "It's not about my stupid brother is it?"

"I just need to know what's going on with him." Troy said. "You're his sister. Like the only family he's got left. And I know Chad has stuff on his mind lately."

"Lately?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "He's had things on his mind for years, Troy. And that's really saying something because he has no mind."

"Ok, this is one of the reasons why people don't get how you're related." Troy stated.

It was true. There was about a ten year age difference between Chad and Sharon, but the two of them never got along. Chad was always doing sports, having problems with girls, and not being that smart. He was one of the class jokesters and never took much seriously. Sharon was a lot of things Chad wasn't. Yes, she was athletic and yes their physical features such as skin and eyes were identical. But Sharon was also smart and she was a bit into theater. She hated performing on stage, but she had the talent of singing and dancing. But she was very serious and not usually in a good mood. Just a naturally mean person. And she could care less about romance; she found it disgusting, actually. But they were both filled with energy; it was seen with Sharon when she danced and Chad on the basketball court.

"You do realize that siblings share only about fifty percent of their parent's DNA right? Therefore there's hardly anything similar between siblings, especially when their interests are completely different." She said.

"Ok don't go acting all smarty-pants on me." Troy said. "I'm just saying, I think Chad's hiding something. What does he do at home?"

"Other than make me threaten to throw him out the window?" she shrugged. "Take care of some kid."

Troy blinked. So there was someone else involved! "A kid?" Troy repeated, confused.

"Hey I don't know all the details and I could care less. I've got better things to do than deal with my brother. If I were eighteen already, I would have moved away from him." Sharon replied.

"But you're not." Troy said. "Now really, who's this kid?"

"Don't ask me, I stay away from them as much as possible. Why do you think I spend so much time at school?" she shrugged.

"Because you're a smart allec, stubborn, mean, a show-off and a stoic robot?" Troy answered, even though that with most of those being true he was still being sarcastic.

"I'm outta here." She rolled her eyes. She walked back over to the chorus.

By that time Stella was walking over to Troy. She was like a younger Gabriella even though they were cousins. But Gabriella was also Stella's godmother so the two of them were really close. Stella was naturally smart like Gabriella, but didn't want to put every second of her time into her studies or a relationship. Granted, she did get crushes like most other girls, but she also had a passion for theater. She wanted to be up on stage and entertain people. Stella was a polite girl and took what she got and worked with it. She could also just take things the wrong way, making her sensitive sometimes.

"What was that about?" she wondered.

"Weird sibling rivalry between my best friend and his sister who could care less." Troy replied. "Really, I don't get them sometimes."

"I don't get how one of the boys on the chorus has a crush on her either. She always ends up throwing him off the stage." Stella admitted.

Troy blinked. Who's idea was it to let that girl have karate lessons or something when she was five? "I'm not gonna ask." He decided, shaking his head. "So, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." Stella nodded. "My parents are out of town on a business meeting so I'm staying at Gabriella's for the week. She's talking a lot about her senior year here and is really looking forward to my graduation. She said that since she graduated here and we're related she might even be able to hand me the diploma on graduation day."

"That would really be something special." Troy agreed. He remembered when his dad still worked as a coach at East High; one of the happiest moments in Troy's life was when he got to accept the diploma from his father.

"Gabriella's also been talking about you a lot." Stella stated as she got in Troy's truck. Stella liked Troy; he seemed like a really good guy for her cousin. And she knew how much Gabriella liked him. Or loved, but wouldn't admit it. "Are you guys gonna make some special plans?"

"Like…?" Troy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Like give her the big ring?" Stella finished.

Troy chuckled nervously. "Not yet, Stel." He replied as he turned on the engine. "I've got a few other things on my plate to think about. I know the summer's just basically starting, not to mention you're like a month or less away from graduating now, but I also wanna get the community theater up and running. You know, so we could maybe do a summer production to celebrate."

"That'll really be something great Troy." Stella nodded. "And then when that play's done with, then you can ask Gabriella to marry you."

"Ok, can we take a break with the idea of marriage?" Troy asked.

"Sorry." Stella apologized. "I know you wanna ask her."

"Believe me, I know I do too." Troy confessed. "But let's just keep that between us, ok? I don't want to jump into anything right away."

"But you wouldn't be." Stella said.

"I don't wanna rush anything either. Besides, I'd also like to do it when all of our friends are together." Troy replied. "I wanna have the phone right by me so I can call Chad and tell him when that big news does happen even though he'll be in the next room, and I know Gabriella's gonna wanna call her best friend and let her know. But if she's not at least somewhere in New Mexico then how are they gonna have a girl's night to celebrate?"

"You really don't get the female mind sometimes Troy, do you?" Stella inquired.

"Again, can we keep it to ourselves?" Troy said.

"Alright, we can do that." She nodded. "But I'm just saying, you should ask her soon. I know she'll say yes in a heartbeat. But I also know you wanna make sure you don't mess it up."

"Thanks for that reminder." Troy muttered.

Stella giggled. "I couldn't resist."

~HSM~HSM~HSM~

"So glad today was my early day." Gabriella sighed contently with relief as she flipped channels on her television. All she had to do was wait for Troy and Stella to get home then. Gabriella could have easily gotten her cousin, but Troy insisted. Besides, Gabriella loved her cousin. She liked to see her and Troy bond. She just wished Stella wouldn't tease them so much; she sounded like a little kid that way. In a cute way, sort of.

Gabriella continued flipping channels until she landed on the N. Hey, who could go wrong with teen shows right? Besides it was better than the talk shows and soap operas that seemed to be on excessively at this time of day. But she had to put the TV on mute when she heard the phone ring.

"Hello?" she asked, answering it.

"I'm coming to New Mexico this Thursday!" Taylor exclaimed from the other line.

"No way!" Gabriella gasped. She squealed and then Taylor squealed and it went back and forth like that for two minutes. They ended up laughing at how giddy they sounded. "Start talking Tay! Details." Gabriella urged.

"Well I was trying to get back in the dating world like you forced me to when, wouldn't you know it, the crazy professor at Oxford with his eyes on me tried to put on the big move." Taylor explained. "He was trying all these weird tactics of getting to me. And then when he actually almost had his way somehow, this really cute guy comes to help me."

"A cute guy?" Gabriella gasped.

"A really cute guy!" Taylor exclaimed. "He actually got that crazy professor off my back. And then we started talking, and he teaches at Oxford, too! The English department!"

"Shut up!" Gabriella gasped.

"So we had some coffee and we started talking and then he said he was going to travel to New Mexico to see some family. And when I told him my high school reunion was there he smiled and said, 'maybe I'll see you there then'." Taylor finished with a grin.

"Tay, that's amazing!" Gabriella exclaimed. "I think you finally found your guy!"

"Only time will tell Gabriella. And I've got three whole months for time." She replied.

"So would you take him to the reunion?" Gabriella wondered.

"Are you kidding? It'd probably be too awkward for him." Taylor replied. "I'm going to come and see what happens."

"You can stay with me if you want to avoid a hotel." Gabriella offered. "My cousin's only staying till the end of the week, so there'll be room for you. And if you do happen to run into him while you're here…"

"I'll bring him over." Taylor finished with a smile.

"See Tay?" she asked. "Things are finally starting to turn around."


I was debating on whether or not to put a flashback in this chapter. But I couldn't think of one that fit, so I skipped it. But as everyone starts to meet up again more flashbacks will come up. It's just trying to give you the feeling that some people sorta kinda keep in touch and others haven't talked in a while. Well if some of them work in similar areas then of course they're gonna know each other, right? Well aside from the debate on whether or not to put a flashback in this chapter I was also making debates about Taylor's story to Gabriella. The questionwas, should it be an insta-romance thing, or should that slowly build up, too? So I decided to keep it slow for now and whatever you guys wanna see, I'll put it in. Do you think it'll cause more drama if you want it? Do you think it'll be more fighting if you want it? I don't know what you guys wanna read, that's why I ask. XDDD Ok, guess that's my cue to brainstorm for the next chapter then.