Since the dance competition three days ago, Chad had been doing his best to avoid Ryan and Sharpay at school. He didn't know about Sharpay, but he knew that Ryan had some questions. Luckily, the basketball was very good at suggesting places to hide. One morning, he saw Ryan walking towards him in the hallway. He froze, but he had the basketball, and it knew what to do.

Quick, it whispered. In the janitor's closet!

Chad grabbed the door handle to his left and quickly shut himself inside, stepping in a bucket. 'Thanks,' he said to the basketball.

This situation had led to Chad bringing the basketball into school every day. The team still thought it was lucky, and they used it at every practice. And it was lucky for Chad, although only because it told him what to do. But when he scored a basket and everyone cheered for him, Chad could almost convince himself that it was his talent alone that was making the shots. The basketball had been right. He liked being the best, and it seemed that everyone else liked him better when he was good at basketball, too. People talked to him more in the halls now, and he was often invited to hang out after school with people like Troy Bolton! Troy had even invited him to one of his legendary house parties, and told him that there'd be tons of girls there. Chad wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with that information, but it sounded like it was going to be a fun party.

However, disaster struck in the form of his teammates using his ball to practice at lunchtime. Chad needed to go and buy lunch from the cafeteria but his friends would not give the ball back. He was forced to go without the ball. He sneaked along the school corridors, hoping not to bump into the Evans twins. Suddenly, a distinct smell of hairspray and Chanel No. 5 wafted down the hall. Shit, there was no doubt who this was. Sharpay Evans was coming towards him. Chad panicked as he didn't have the basketball to tell him where to hide, so he darted in the nearest door. This turned out to be an extraordinarily stupid idea, as the nearest door led to the auditorium, where Ryan Evans was rehearsing for the winter musical. Well he couldn't go back out there, so Chad decided to hide at the back of the auditorium. He didn't have to listen for long to learn that Ryan had a beautiful voice. Not that he had expected anything else, but it was different knowing something and actually hearing it. What he was singing sounded pretty stupid (something about bopping?) but Ryan made it sound like poetry. When he had finished, Chad could not stop himself and stood up, clapping. Crap. If the basketball was here, he would not be in this mess. Ryan looked round, smiled.

'Hey,' he said. 'Didn't see you there.'

'Uh, well I just came in to sit down. You're not too bad,' Chad said, starting to blush. 'At singing, I mean.'

'Thanks! So you like this kind of thing?'

He knows, Chad thought. But he still couldn't say it. 'No, like I said, I just wanted to sit down.'

'Uh huh,' Ryan said. 'So I haven't seen you around school much since the competition, have you been ill?'

'Oh, um...you mean my sister's dance thing? I tried to get out of going to that but you know, sometimes you have to!'

'That wasn't what I asked,' Ryan said.

'Ah yeah, I know. Um, I'm fine. Maybe our schedules just don't match up. I mean, we probably chose pretty different classes, so...'

'Sure, sure.' Ryan leant on the piano, still watching Chad thoughtfully. 'So, um...if you're not ill, I guess you're going to Troy's party?'

This was safer ground for Chad and he perked up a bit.

'Yeah I am,' he said. 'I mean, everyone is, right?'

'Right, yeah,' Ryan said. He picked up the music on top of the piano and slung his bag over his shoulder. 'I guess I'll see you there then.'

Chad panicked slightly, but decided that there'd be enough people at the party that he wouldn't have to talk to Ryan once he was there.

'Yeah,' he said. 'I guess.'

Ryan nodded and left the theatre. Chad sat back down and put his face in his hands. It was so embarrassing that someone knew about his dancing. Well, probably knew. He groaned. Hopefully Ryan wouldn't spread this around the school, or he'd lose his newfound popularity. He wished he could just tell Ryan to keep it quiet, but something happened to his brain when Ryan was around. He obviously had some kind of freaky theatre-kid mind control, because something about the way he looked at him made it a hell of a lot harder for Chad to form coherent sentences. Chad shook his head and stood up. He needed to get a grip. Half of lunchtime was gone and he still had not eaten, and his friends would be wondering where he was. Chad strode over to the doors and yanked them open, startling Troy who was waiting outside.

'Dude, why were you in the theatre with Ryan Evans?' Troy immediately asked.

'Oh...was Ryan in there? I didn't see him.'

'So you were just...doing a little play on your own, or what?'

'Uh, well… I was hiding from a teacher and that was the nearest place to go.'

Troy looked skeptical but let it go. Thank god he's stupid, thought Chad.

'Yeah, it wouldn't make sense for you to be talking to Ryan, he doesn't even do sports.'

'Right, yeah. He probably thinks dance is a sport,' Chad said, laughing.

Chad did not realise what he'd said until about three hours later. Since when did I not consider dance a sport? he thought, and then promptly forgot about it when the bell rang and school was done for the day. He only had to get through 90 minutes of basketball practice, and then he could go home. He arrived at the gym and began to change into his kit. No longer did he keep it crumpled up at the back of his locker, but he folded it neatly and made sure it got washed. It was much nicer to play basketball in clean kit, why did he never do this before? But when he entered the gym, he saw his teammates warming up with a different ball.

'Hey, are we not using my ball today?' he asked worriedly. How was he going to play as well without his ball telling him what to do?

'Nah, we've found a new lucky ball to use!' Troy yelled.

'It saved my life!' shouted Zeke.

Chad tried to think of something that would persuade them to use his ball, but then his thoughts were overtaken by something else, a voice at the back of his mind.

You didn't think I'd leave you to do this yourself, did you? it said.

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Chad sighed in relief. He should've known he could rely on the basketball. It was the only friend he could really trust.

As usual, Chad played perfectly with the ball's guidance. He thought he was even better today, and realised he must have been improving in following the ball's commands. As he left the gym for the locker room, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Coach Bolton was standing behind him.

'Great game today,' he said.

'Thanks,' said Chad.

'Have you considered a basketball scholarship?'

'Um...' Truthfully, the answer was no. If Coach had suggested this a few weeks ago, he would've been horrified, stuck between not wanting to play more basketball and desperately trying to convince his coach that he did. But now...well, now he was good. Good enough that Coach thought he could get a scholarship. The only person he knew who was sure to get one of those scholarships was Troy Bolton.

'Do you really think I'm good enough?' he asked.

'Do you realise how much you've improved since this semester began? If you keep this up, then by the time you graduate high school you'll be better than most of the pros!'

Chad thought about what a professional basketball career would bring him. Fame, money, his dad's approval, and even more popularity than his newfound skills had already earned him at school. He had to admit, it was tempting. 'I'll think about it,' he promised Coach.

Chad thought about it all the way home, and didn't realise that he had missed dance lessons for the last three days. He probably wouldn't have cared if he did.