Back to Ryan's point of view with this chapter. I've changed most of my original plan for this whole story in the last few days, and am trying to work out how to get to the ending I want them to be at with the new ideas I have in mind. Then again, if they don't work, I'll probably stick to the original idea. Hope you're still enjoying the story so far, any comments or complaints are welcomed. And please do review, it makes the hours writing and typing this worth it. This may be the last chapter for a few days. I'm on holiday from work, so probably won't be at home very much. But the wait will be worth it.
I had a good time when I was staying at my grandparents' house.
Usually, when I'm sent up there when I'm ill, I feel really bad about being a burden on them.
But this time, I actually had a laugh up there.
Considering how I'd been treated a few days before by someone I thought actually liked me, it was a real breakthrough.
My parents called them up on the Wednesday night, and on the Thursday morning, I was in the back of my grandfather's car on the way to theirs.
When I got home on Tuesday after school, I just wanted to die. Troy had told me he hated me and to stay away from him.
He only kissed me to take the piss out of me.
That hurt so much. I thought he actually liked me.
I went to bed early that night, despite Sharpay's attempts to cheer me up. I didn't tell her what had happened. There was no way I could. Knowing her, she'd probably go over to Troy's and beat him senseless.
Not that I'd mind of course.
I couldn't face going to school on Wednesday morning, so I convinced my parents that I really was sick. Guess my acting classes are really starting to pay off.
So they made me stay in bed, and left for work.
I was up and in my shower before their car even left the driveway.
There was no way I was gonna be moping around here alone. So once I was dressed, I left.
I went to my favourite coffee shop, and sat there for about an hour, the waitress topping my cup up every ten minutes or so.
I made my way to the dvd shop down at the mall. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, just something that could cheer me up.
Then I saw him.
What was his name? Glynn wasn't it? Over in the clothes shop, the same shop me and Gabi had visited only days before. He smiled when he saw me, but I just quickly turned away. I wasn't in the mood for being hit on today.
So how did I end up back at home with his number in my mobile and a text from him telling me to 'cheer up beautiful'?
It flattered me, really. He was a nice enough guy. Good looking. Seemed funny. And for a while, took my mind off the actions of a certain Mr Bolton.
He bought me a drink on his lunch break and we sat outside, and he let me tell him about myself. He asked me questions about my family, I asked him about his, and he asked me why I was so unhappy. So I told him.
And the first thing he said was 'his mistake'.
And that made me laugh.
So when I was sent up to my grandparents the next day, I was feeling better. I texted him when I was up there, and he replied back within minutes. We spoke for seemingly hours at a time. My gran even complained that I never speak to her for that long on the phone.
For those few days, my mind was only on Glynn.
Then I got a call from Gabriella.
She knew something had been up with me and Troy, and she knew from Shar that I was faking illness just to get away for a few days.
I hadn't even told Shar why I was desperate to avoid school, but that's the thing about Gabi – she presses and presses until she gets the information she wants.
So I told her what had happened between me and Troy. She listened, she never interrupted, she never judged me or him for what went on.
Then she says that she'd sort it. She says she'd get me and Troy to talk, because there's apparently something I don't know about Troy.
To be honest, I couldn't care.
I come back home on the Tuesday night, and I'm welcomed back with a punch to the arm from my sister. She's pissed that I never told her what happened. It didn't take two and two to work out that Gabi had said it all to her.
That's the thing I hate most about women – they always gossip, even on stuff that doesn't concern them. But then as Sharpay usually says to me 'you do concern me'.
And that's the reason why I love her, and the reason I've put up with her for all these years.
My parents wake me up at half six on Wednesday morning, like they didn't trust me to get up and ready on my own.
They still don't know. Sharpay promised me she wouldn't say anything. And for that I'm grateful. I really don't want mom fussing over her poor gay baby, or dad's unapproving eye that I kissed someone from school. See, he really doesn't get it. He accepts me for who I am, don't get me wrong, but whenever something remotely gay is mentioned, he just seems to ignore it.
So I jump in the shower and spend the next hour getting ready for school. Hair, styled. Clothes, dressed. Schoolbag, packed.
I pick up my writings books, about to put them in the bag. I haven't touched them since last Tuesday. Since he last touched them. I didn't even take them with me when I went to my grandparents. I haven't written anything for over a week... I just had to get away from everything.
I hold both books to me for a few seconds. Then I throw one of them into the far corner of the room, hitting the metal bucket with a clank.
Sharpay stood in the doorway a few seconds later.
"What was that noise?" she'd asked.
I looked over at the bin quickly then back to her.
"Just getting rid of some rubbish."
I really wasn't looking to forward to being at school that day. I certainly wasn't up for Gabi's little intervention she said she'd do. I just wanted to try and get back to normal.
Or as normal as I could get.
During first class, I got a text message from Glynn, asking if I wanted to go for a coffee after school. I didn't get to reply until the first break at half ten. I didn't want to risk a teacher taking my phone off me like Darbus does with everyone else's.
I sent back a quick message saying 'I'd luv 2'.
When the lunch bell went at half twelve, Gabi asked me if I still wanted to talk to Troy. I didn't really, but If Gabi thought that Troy would apologise, I guess I had to go through with it. If only just to try and get things sorted.
So I'm waiting in the theatre when I see him walk down to the stage with Gabi She says something to him that I can't hear and walks away, leaving us alone for the first time since last Tuesday.
I'm not too anxious to be in the same proximity as him right now. Thinking back to his outburst last week makes me think what I ever saw in him. Why did I ever fall for Troy Bolton? I thought there was an actual person inside, but all I saw was a monster.
He asks if he can sit down, and for a moment I feel like asking him why he'd want to sit next to a queer, but even thinking of him saying those words to me eats me up inside. 'Get you fucking queer hands off me'. Not something I ever want to think about again.
He tells me he is so sorry for what he said to me, that he was just really confused about the kiss, the first real acknowledgement he's made of what happened between us that night. He said that finding out that I liked him was scary for him, because he said he had been feeling something for me for a while, that he thought he was gay.
I really think my jaw dropped when he said that.
It all made sense. Everything Gabi had said - or didn't say - on the phone, Troy fancying someone else from our drama group (and that not being Sharpay), Gabriella's weird comments when I mentioned Troy having told me they broke up.
It started to slot together. Troy was gay, and was terrified.
And suddenly, in that minute, I loved him all over again.
Then I made a dreadful mistake.
I told him I was seeing someone.
His face dropped the farthest I've seen it go. He looked devastated.
It was a lie, of course. Me and Glynn were just friends. But I still said it.
I said I'd been seeing him for a few weeks, that we weren't very serious, and came up with how I'd been so upset about everything Troy had done to me, that I'd gone to see him and said we should become more, that he'd visited me when I was at my grandparents, and that I was going round to his tonight, making it seem like I was spending the night with him.
Troy left eventually, and I watched him walk slowly away with his head low and feet tripping the floor, and look back at me as he opened the door. The expression on his face was just too much to cope with and I turned away from him.
He never saw me wipe the tears off my face as I sat there alone.
