It was free period the next day. Gabbi and Troy had avoided Sharpay and Ryan the entire day, but now it was time to face their "enemies". Troy and Ryan had both been suckered into trying out for the part of Oliver, so abunch of Troy's buds, including Chad, Taylor, Gabbi (duh), Kelsey, and Jason, had come to watch the tryouts during free period. Troy's group sat together, all chatting about what chances Troy had of winning. As you could probably guess, it was a "little" biased.
"There's no way Troy cannot beat Ryan," Chad was saying, "Troy can actually act. I think Ryan's career goes about as far as 'scoot around the corner'."
"Don't underestimate him," Kelsey said, "I've seen him in practice before. Sharpay softens it up a ton, making him act the way she picture things."
"Exactly," Jason added, "so he will play Oliver just as his sister's pictures it, which is intensely messed-up. Since Ryan always takes his sister's advice, Troy will cream him in try-outs." Troy barely kept his mouth shut at the last statement about Ryan, remembering what had happened Sunday afternoon between Sharpay and her brother. He personally didn't think Ryan was that dependent on Sharpay anymore; at any rate, he walked by himself a lot in the hallways. But Troy didn't want to make himself more nervous then he already was, so he didn't say anything. He had never had a real try-out before (besides "breaking free"); the initial try-out, they hadn't even known Darbus was listening.
Suddenly, Taylor came running over. She had been talking to Mrs. Darbus about homework, but she was now catching her breath, trying to tell them the news. Before she said a word, the group already began to suspect things, seeing Sharpay talking vehemently to Mrs. Darbus, waving her arms, trying to change the teacher's mind.
"You will never guess what Sharpay just informed Darbus" Taylor said, still trying to breathe.
"So tell us!!" the group said as one, pressing in on Taylor.
"The Evans just forfeited the tryout!"
"WHAT?!"
"Yah right, the Evans would never forfeit."
"I don't think the word 'forfeit' is even in their dictionary."
"Why the heck would they do anything like that? Besides, of course, knowing that they would lose to Troy."
"If you all will shut up, maybe I can tell you!" Taylor yelled, and immediately they got quiet. "Sharpay came up to Darbus when I was talking to her, and told her that Ryan has lost his voice because of all the coughing. It wore his voice box out, evidently. Sharpay also mentioned that he has a high fever (no one could stay at home with him, so he had to come to school)."
"OH MY GAWD, IS HE CONTAGIOUS!?" Taylor looked around, and raised an eyebrow at a preppy "dramady".
"Umm…probably not…"
"OH MY GAWD I HOPE NOT" the girl ran back to her friends.
"Ok... that was weird. Moving right along, because Ryan lost his voice, he can't sing or say any lines, so Ryan is out of the running on auditions. Mrs. Darbus said that he then gave up the part." Taylor smiled at everyone's slowly comprehending faces. "So Troy, it looks like you will get Oliver without even putting up a big fight. The rest of the people are hopeless with the dancing, and Harry can't sing a lick."
"And if you get Oliver-" Gabbi said, her eyes widening,
"THEN YOU GET THE BIG STAGE TOO!" the girls screeched, all terribly excited. The guys just clapped Troy on the shoulder, telling him how lucky they thought he was. Troy stood there, still trying to soak in the fact that he might be heading for the big spotlight, with most of Albuquerque watching. While everyone held a small celebration around him, he glanced over to where Ryan was still sitting. The voiceless boy was just staring blankly at the chair in front of him, ignoring all the emotion around him. In one second, Ryan's hope of being Oliver had been dashed. Jason then blocked Troy's view of Ryan, and Troy tried to shake the renewed pity out of his brain. He had an audition to do.