Chapter 14- Ryan? Gay?

Silence instantly fell upon the two teenagers as soon as that last word left Gabriella's mouth. It was almost like time stood still as the witch just stared at his friend in complete disbelief. He always knew that eventually a demon was going to go after his family, but hearing that they were actually planning to use his twin sister in order to kill him was something else.

"That's why I called you last night… I wanted to tell you the truth, but I just couldn't!" She continued, as she looked away and started fidgeting in her seat, praying that Ryan would forgive her.

The boy in question however didn't say a word, his eyes remaining completely emotionless as he realised the seriousness of the situation. If the demons did kidnap Sharpay then the stress could trigger yet another psychotic episode, meaning four years work would go down the drain. Their parents were finally treating her semi-normally and she had at long last accepted her condition… a relapse would send her back to square one. Then of course was the, oh so real possibility that they both wouldn't survive the ordeal, demons weren't exactly known to let someone live, when the opportunity to kill them arose.

"Ryan, please say something!" Gabriella begged as she got of the seat and knelt down next to him, ignoring the pain which resulted in her head because of the sudden movement, completely.

"Like what? Thank you for singing my sisters death warrant?" He snapped, his eyes finally looking in to hers. The pure coldness in them however made her move away from the magical teenager in fear of what he might do, deep down she knew he would never hurt her, but the look in his eyes caused her to think twice, if looks cold kill she would be laying in a morgue right now.

"I'm sorry…" She replied quietly before getting to her feet and stumbling towards the stairs, deciding to give him some space. "If I could take it back I would!"

"Yes well you can't, can you!" he spat as he glared at the girl who was walking away from him, his anger getting the better of him. Seeing her visibly flinch at his words, he sighed and

squeezed his eyes shut, before twisting his body around to face the einsteinet, deciding to swallow his tongue, knowing that if he was going to save his sister he needed her help.

"Gabs!" He called after her, waiting for her to turn back around to face him before continuing. "What did they look like?"

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An hour later, Ryan and Gabriella orbed back into the country club, both of them agreeing that they had to stick by Sharpay's side for the foreseeable future if they wanted to keep her out of harms way.

The brunette had by now changed out of her party gear and was wearing a simple skin tight pair of jeans and a pink vest top, with a certain accessory that everyone with a hang over required, a pair of sunglasses. Her hair was tied at either side of her head in plaits and was still visibly damp, as she didn't have the time to actually dry it.

Wobbling slightly as they landed in the deserted practise room, Gabriella nearly fell over as she was hit by a sudden head rush, the only words she could use to describe the feeling of the magical transportation service was 'out of this world'.

"You okay?" Ryan asked as the blue lights disappeared, however his tone was anything but caring, proving to the mortal girl that he was still annoyed with her and he was far from ready to forgive and forget.

"Peachy!" she replied with a small smile as she followed the witch out of the large, wooden room, not entirely sure where they were.

Ryan didn't stick around long enough to even bother explaining where they were however as he stormed out of the room and charged around the corner, literally bumping into four people in the process, who were mucking around playing basketball in the corridor.

"Well if it isn't, Mr Evans" Jason called out as Ryan practically ran into him, causing him to drop the basketball on the floor. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?" Gabriella repeated as she looked up at Ryan with a raised eyebrow, Ryan however didn't look the least bit phased, unlike the last time the four had approached him, he was way too worried about his sister to care about what they thought.

"I don't have time for this!"

As the witch attempted to push past, Jason and Troy stepped to the side, blocking his path. Ryan just glared at the boys with a look which could have turned them to stone, something which Gabriella was unsure if he could actually do.

"Gab, why are you hanging around with him? After, what he told to you?" Troy asked, finally noticing his girlfriend who was standing a few inches behind the blonde.

"What did he tell me?" She replied, her eyebrow still raised, as she stared at Ryan questioningly, almost certain that he wouldn't have told anybody else about the whole magic thing, let alone them.

"That he was in love with a dude!" Troy continued, completely oblivious to the singer's bewilderment, if he had noticed, he would have realised that, that was the first time she had heard that little piece of information.

For a moment, the brunette remained silent before realisation dawned on her and she stepped forward so she could face the witch, who was just scowling at the people in his path, looking very much like he was contemplating blowing them up.

"You told them you were gay?" She shouted trying to hide her amusement as she looked into the boy's eyes, who shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

"Well I wasn't going to tell them the truth!" Ryan responded trying to hide his smirk as he saw the four members of staff exchanged mystified glances.

"The truth?" Chad eventually asked as he noticed the silent conversation that was currently going on between his girlfriend's best friend and his worst enemies brother.

The duo exchanged a look, trying to communicate without words just who was going to answer and what they were going to say. After a long pause, Gabriella, figuring she had to do something to make up for what she had done, turned back around to face her boyfriend and his team mates.

"Ryan is not gay! He told you he was…. As a part of my behavioural project for the collage course I've been doing!" Gabriella replied, saying the first thing which came into her head.

"Huh, what?" Jason mumbled, for once not being the only one who didn't understand what the freaky math girl had said.

Gabriella just rolled her eyes, as she prepared to explain, hoping beyond anything else that what she said next would sound convincing.

"I took up a collage course on behaviourism over the summer, one of the topics was homophobia and how the reactions of close friends can influence a subject's health. I was having a hard time writing the essay because there are so many aspects to it. So Ryan suggested he tell a bunch of people he was gay, including you guys, a few members of staff and my mother, so I could record the responses!" Gabriella clarified, surprising not only Ryan, but her self as well at how convincing she actually sounded and by the look on the boys faces, they had no clue whether to believe them or not.

"You four actually reacted better than Ryan's friend… Peter… he blew a gasket, thought he was going to kill him for a moment there!" She continued, as Ryan stared at her in confusion. As inconspicuously as she possibly could she indicated with her eyes, to one of the only remaining injuries from the attack two weeks ago, the scar on his neck.

Slowly understanding what the einsteinet was doing Ryan nodded in agreement before rubbing his neck.

"You thought he was? I ended up in hospital, never knew he could pack such a punch… but I should thank you…" Ryan added as he turned to face Gabriella, for the first time since she had told him about Sharpay, looking into her eyes.

"You should?"

"Yeah, I know now he's not worth hanging around with!" Ryan replied simply, as he took a side ways glance towards the basketball jocks. The brunette nodded in understanding, before shrugging her shoulders and turning back to face her other friends, as she realised they were all sharing identical looks of understanding with each other.

"So when you said a gang attacked you…?" Chad began but was instantly interrupted by the witch.

"It was actually some boys from my acting class…"

Chad just nodded, whilst knowing full well that that was anything but the truth, after over hearing his conversation with Kelsi, it was safe to say, Chad knew everything, including the real reason Gabriella completely freaked out, yet for some reason he found himself staying completely silent, unable to bring himself to actually spill all.

"Why should we believe that for even a second? How do we know you are not just regretting coming out, and thought 'I know I'll ask Gabriella to help me out, considering she's such a push over!" Troy spat as he glared at the teenager. As soon as he realised what he said however, his whole face paled as his eyes slowly travelled over to his girlfriend.

"Excuse me!" She snapped causing everyone but Troy to take a step back, anticipating one hell of an argument was on its way. If there was one thing that you didn't do, it was say that you could walk all over someone, it just wasn't done.

"I didn't mean it like that Gabs!" Troy stuttered as he looked in a very small voice as he stared into the angry face of the girl he loved.

"Oh, well personally, I think you did, it's nice to know how you really feel Troy Bolton, I was right the first time! You're a jerk!" Gabriella replied, in a surprisingly calm voice, before, pulling the 'T' necklace from around her neck and chucking it at him as she stormed past, the tears already threatening to fall.

Troy's face instantly fell as he looked down at the sparkling pendent in his hand, not quite believing that he had made such a mess of the relationship all over again and some how he didn't think that it was going to be as easy to fix.

Shaking his head, Chad glanced over to Ryan who wore the same expression on his face, one that clearly said he had a very large foot and an even bigger mouth. Catching Chad's gaze Ryan just shrugged before pushing past an astounded Jason and Zeke and heading of in the same direction as Gabriella.

"Flowers are always good!" He said before turning the corner and leaving the four basketball players alone in the corridor once again.

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"Piper I need to talk to you!" Leo said as he walked into the Halliwell's living room, which despite the odd coat of paint, had not changed a bit since the charmed ones had moved in and their families were born, of course nowadays it was covered in school bags and CD cases since Chris couldn't be bothered to clean up after himself half the time.

"What about?" she responded with a confused look on her face, putting her mug of coffee down on the side table next to her cooking book. That was one other thing which had stayed the same throughout the years, Piper still loved her caffeine fix before heading of to work.

"Wyatt!"

If Leo had walked in saying he was pregnant, he wouldn't have got a bigger reaction than he had at that point, as piper instantly paled and a flash of panic erupted from her heart, they hadn't talked about their first born son in over ten years and she had become convinced that the blonde, twice blessed child would never be mentioned again.

"What about Wyatt?" She asked, recovering from her initial shock rather quickly, to be perfectly honest she hadn't thought about her son in a very long time.

"I want to know why you lied to me?!"

"I never lied!"

"He's not dead Piper! I know he's not, I saw him! Now why did you lie?" Leo yelled, but instantly lowered his voice when he realised that the music he could hear belonged to his youngest son, meaning he was currently in the house.

"Yes he is!" Piper shot back, but now even Leo could see the panic which was hidden deep inside her eyes, confirming the one thing he thought was just a coincidence, Piper knew about her son surviving the attack all along.

"No he isn't I saw him today, at lava springs!"

"That's impossible! You're seeing things and quite frankly I'd rather you keep your opinions to yourself, it was hard enough me seeing my son's dead body with out you coming out with these wild accusations!" piper shot back at him, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair, her eyes hardening in anger.

Leo just shook his head at her, not quite believing that she had just visibly lied to his face, that she had actually told him, once again that his baby boy was dead even though they both now knew the truth.

"Now if you don't mind, I have a meeting to attend with Vance's solicitors!"

"Fine then! Have it your way!" Leo spat as his wife got to her feet and walked into the parlour, grabbing her coat from the banisters as she did so. Shaking his head once again Leo closed his eyes and orbed out, determined that he would see his son and find out the truth, whether piper was a part of that or not.