It had been three weeks since Troy's accident, and now graduation was looming. What would happen if he wasn't awake for graduation, would he still graduate? Ryan stood staring into the mirror in his dressing room not liking what he saw, a man who hasn't slept very much in the last few weeks.

Curtain Call in 5 minutes!

Ryan stared at the intercom contemplating if he would even go on. He had to, there were so many people relying on him. Sharpay would kill him he didn't show when curtain call came. He turned slowly and exited it and headed towards his position. On the way he ran into Sharpay.

"You like like Paris Hilton at the end of a crazy night of clubbing."

Ryan starred at her blankly before finally forcing a smile to emerge on his face so she wouldn't be too concerned.

"Look Ryan I know you're depressed and haven't slept much lately but just get tonight over with and you can go and sit with Troy until graduation." She smiled that perfect smile and made her way to her position on ready for those curtains to go up. Ryan stood in his spot as the curtain slowly climbed to the top of the stage. He plastered a smile on his face and began to worry how he would get through the next two hours of his life.

Ryan and Gabriella made their way down the hall hand in hand as they made their way to Troy's room. This daily routine was something they both dreaded. Ryan just wished Troy would wake up and he could stop doing this everyday. Sometimes he would even skip class and come more than once but he finally got caught doing that.

As they approaced the entrance into the room they heard a familar voice coming from Troy's room. They looked into the room and saw Derek talking to Troy. That's why he wasn't at the school for the musical like he should have been.

"I lied. About, well, everything. The only truth I ever told was that my name is Derek. And now looking at you lying here like this I can't bear to lie anymore since it's mostly my fault. I saw you talking to that circus freak Ryan several times this week and I just couldn't deal with that. You're my man, not is. You must understand why I did this. Now you can never leave me. I didn't mean to hurt you so bad but what was I supposed to do? You were listening to his lies and falling into his trap. That motherfucker was trying to steal you from me. Not only did I put you here, I lied about why I moved. My ex didn't kill himself it was my fault. He started talking to another guy and I couldn't have that. He was mine and no one elses. He voice is for my ears only. I blew up and I attacked him. He ended up in ICU just like you, except he died. I spent several months in jail and when I got out they wouldn't let me go to school there anymore so I had to transfer. Now here I am with you. I'm the love of your life, don't ever forget it."

Ryan and Gabriella stood frozen at the confession, neither knew what to do.

"We have to stay calm, he can't know that we know. We just need to turn around and go tell someone. A doctor or a security guard or something."

Derek turned around and saw they that were standing there. A smile formed on his face and he stood up and began moving towards them.

"Hey guys how did the musical go?" Derek's smile seemed so sincere. He seemed like such a nice, but he was a horrible monster who had killed his ex boyfriend and no he had his sights on Troy. Things just got a lot worse.

"It was great. You should have been there it was fantastic, the crowd loved it."

She looked into her purse and looked around for a minute and then frowned. She looked back up to Derek and smiled again.

"I forgot my phone in your car. I'll be right. Why don't you go ahead and see Troy?" Gabriella turned around and began walking briskly down the hall. At this moment Ryan was incredibly glad that he was an actor. He smiled and looked passed Derek into the room at Troy.

"So how's he doing?"

"He's doing ok. It's just so weird. It's like I know he can't hear me sometimes it seems like he reacts to something I say." Ryan just wanted to roll his eyes at what Derek said. He's glad that Troy can't hear what he said, that cold blooded killer. Ryan walked passed Derek into the room and took the chair Derek was sitting in.

"Hey Troy it's me. The musical was tonight. It wasn't the same without you, and you're understudy was dreadful." Ryan smiled. He sat staring at Troy for minute. He didn't want to say too much with Derek standing right behind him. He heard a noise and turned to see what the cause was.

The cops were arressting Derek and drug him out of the hospital after reading him his rights. A detective stood back and got a statement from Gabriella and Ryan. He asked them seperately from one another to make sure there stories matched up, which they did.

After about thirty minutes and lots of questions they left and Ryan could finally visit with Troy. After everyone said what they needed to say they sat silently just waiting. They didn't really know what they were waiting for, possibly for him to wake up. Troy waking up at this point was very unlikely, but no one had come to terms with it. Ryan couldn't admit to himself that Troy could possibly sit on these machines for the rest of his life. He knew if that was the case someone would pull the plus eventually. He shook his head. These weren't thoughts he didn't want to think. But it didn't matter, he couldn't shake them. What was happening was not some stupid soap opera were Troy could wake up several years later and it be like he never was in a coma. He might as well say his goodbyes while he still had the chance. Just when he was about to open his mouth to speak he heard heels clicking down the hallway.

"Hello fellow cast members. So I hear that they caught the guy who did this to Troy. That motherfucker, first trying to steal my show, then Troy. He should be ashamed. Oh and Ryan this came in the mail today Mom wanted me to give it to you."

She handed and envelope to Ryan. She looked at Gabriella and put on a fake smile. Then looked back to Ryan waiting for him to open it.

"It's from NYU. What if I got rejected. And if I did get accepted, what about Troy? I can't just leave him, not when he's like this." He looked down at the envelope. It was a lose-lose situation no matter what it said.

"Troy's not going anywhere. It's your dream Ryan you can't just sit back and ignore it. Troy wouldn't want that for you. I mean, imagine having everything you ever dreamed. Don't you want it? Troy would want you to have it all." Sharpay smiled knowing that she had actually given good advice. She felt so great about herself at that moment.

He slid his finger into the opening and ripped it open. He read through the paper for a minute before he looked up again.

"Well?" Gabriella shifted in her seat. Aggravated with the suspense of the situation.

"I got in." Ryan said blankly. He wasn't exactly sure how to react to this statement. Sharpay and Gabriella reacted for him. They both let out their congradulations and hugged him and read over the paper like they didn't believe him. They eventually calmed down when they noticed that he hadn't moved from his spot.

"Party pooper." Sharpay mumbled under here breath. Ryan shot her and evil look and if looks could kill she'd be six foot under right about now.

Seering pain, and then it all went black. That's the last thing Troy remembered. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on. He heard voice, quite often but didn't quite understand what they were saying. It reminded him of the adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons. He tried to move and to speak but no matter how hard he tried nothing happened. Then something was different, something about the whole situation changed. He understood what someone said. The words made sense, but he didn't know who had said them. Then following the statement he heard some screams and squeeling and it sounded like two excited girls. Who could it be?

"Party pooper." Sharpay. It was Sharpay! He had never been so excited to hear her voice. Then he heard someone else speaking.

"Ok are you two happy now? I got in. Why don't you all just go to school for me? Because I'm not leaving Troy, no more arguments about it." Ryan! That was Ryan, he knew it was. He could never forget that beautiful voice. It was like angels singing everytime he heard him talk. He had almost forgot how much he loved Ryan.

"Ry-Ryan?" Troy's softly spoke aloud.

Everyone froze and turned towards Troy. They weren't quite sure if they had really heard it or if they had imagined his voice.

"Ryan?" Troy spoke again.

"I'm right here." Ryan made his way next to Troy. He grabbed his hand and slightly squeezed it to let him know he was there. Troys eyes slowly made their way open and the first thing he saw was Ryan's face. It was perfect. Ryan was perfect his face perfectly sculpted. He looked slightly different. A little worn. He looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks.

"You look rough." Troy said very softly not really how to talk louder yet. Ryan laughed through the many tears that were now running from his eyes.

Sharpay turned and ran down the hall to tell someone that Troy was awake. A short minute later and the doctor entered the room and started running test. Shining a light in Troy's eye which was way too bright he felt like it would make him blind. When Ryan had to move for the doctor to get through Troy began to get upset.

"Ryan? Ryan?" he asked, sounding really worried.

"I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. The doctor is checking to make sure everything is ok. I promise I'm not going anywhere."

Troy relaxed slightly. He was so scared to blink in fear that he wouldn't open his eyes up again. Afraid that he would never seen Ryan's face again. Or Gabriella's, or his mom's, or even Sharpay's. After a few minutes the doctor finished his work and Ryan returned to his side. Troy was seeing a little bit better at this point but not much.

"How are you feeling?" Gabriella asked a smile still plastered on her face.

"Ok. Really tired, I've kinda got a headache. What happened?" He rubbed his head trying to remember but nothing came.

"It doesn't really matter what happened. Were just glad to have you awake. Oh and the show was tonight. Too bad you missed it, it was amazing. And for once I can actually say I missed you. Your understeady was horrible. I wan't to hurl when I heard him sing. It was a nightmare." Sharpay could've rambled on forever but decided that it was best that she didn't. Troy laughed but stopped because it hurt too much.

"Ryan I love you. I was too scared to tell you before, but not now. I can't go on without you knowing. I don't know what happened to me, but I know it wasn't good. I love you with my heart and soul and I have for a long time." A tear fell out of Troy's eye. He was glad he was crying because he wasn't even sure if he could do it anymore.

" I love you too. God I have for years. I wish I couldn've told you then but with the circumstances I couldn't. I'm sorry for acting so bad towards you. I was scared of what might happen if I confessed my love and you didn't love me back. Not anymore. Im never letting you go Troy Bolton. I don't care if you grow to hate me. I'm never letting you go, never!" Troy squeezed Ryan's hand, he was perfectly fine if Ryan never let him go, that's exactly what he wanted. This was officially the best day of his life. He would never forget it.