So happy everyone is enjoying this. And for the people reading my other stories. I am continuing the one shots, just not as often as my other stories (and for Oliverwoodschic, I'll do a Tip story sometime in the future.)

Chapter 6 – Bittersweet Memories

"Ryan, this is stupid," Topher heard as he walked out of the school. Curious, he hid behind a set of lockers to hear the rest of the conversation Chad and Ryan were having. "What do we tell him, we have reason to believe that you are our friend Troy, who went missing a year ago and your 'parents' brainwashed you into thinking you were Topher Harrington."

"I don't think that will go over well," Ryan said. "We have to put it on him easy."

"Okay. How about, Topher the reason you don't remember your childhood is because your 'parents' brainwashed you. Oh yeah, your a big basketball star and your name is Troy!"

"Chad, get serious."

Topher's breathing became rapid. Troy? He couldn't be. He was Christopher Harrington, son of Liz and Jackson Harrington...but, what was his real name, he didn't know. His mother told him that she changed his name when she married Jackson. What was his real father's name?

Then it hit him. He had no home videos. He had no memories. He had nothing.

He stood and ran down the hall, pushing Jason and Zeke away who were walking toward him, asking him if he was okay. By the time he stopped he was in a deserted hallway. He looked at the wall across from him and shut his eyes sick to his stomach. There was a picture of Chad, Jason, Zeke and another kid all doing poses for basketball and in the middle was him, holding a basketball.

No, that wasn't him. That was Troy.

"So, this is your real stage," Gabriella asked walking on to the basketball court. He turned around and smiled.

"Yeah...or just a smelly gym."

Topher gasped. What was that? He knew that was Gabriella and...him. But, that had never happened to him. He hadn't known Gabriella until he moved to Albuquerque.

"I can't do this Troy," Gabriella said. "Not with everyone staring at me..."

"Hey, hey, hey. Look at me – right at me. Like the first time we sang together, remember. Like kindergarten."

Topher's eyes widened. Gabriella had been talking to him, it was his memory, but she called him Troy. He leaned his head back against the lockers and shut his eyes. "I am Topher," he whispered. "I am Topher Harrington. I am not Troy. I am not Troy-"

"Oh, Jackson! Look, he's waking up!"

"Huh," he said looking around. This was all unfamiliar to him. "Where am I?"

"Sweetheart, do you know who you are," came a southern voice. Liz.

"Troy Bolton," he answered.

"No sweetie, you must have hit your head hard. You're Topher sweets. Topher Harrington."

Topher shook his head violently, tears streaming down his face. "No, no, no," he yelled. "It's just my mind playing tricks on me," he whispered to himself. He brought his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth. "No, I'm not Troy. I'm not Troy. I'm not Troy Bolton."

"What spell has this elevated IQ temptress girl cast that makes you want to audition for a musical," Chad asked.

"Look, I just did," he answered. "Who cares?"

"Who cares? How about your most loyal best friend?"

"Why won't you get out of my head," he yelled. "These aren't my memories. I'm not Troy!" He took out his contacts and threw them at the large poster of himself...no Troy. Then he laid down on the ground, unaware of who he was and fell asleep.

Topher woke up to the sun shining through a large window. He rubbed his eyes and walked over to it, seeing a backyard with a basketball court in it. "Who would have a basketball court in their backyard," he whispered. He looked back to where he had been sleeping. There was a bed with a red and white comforter on it and many awards scattered around the room. Even though it seemed familiar, Topher didn't know where he knew it from.

He walked over behind the bed and grabbed onto a tiny, doll-sized doorknob which opened a small door in the wall. He stuck his hand in and pulled out a simple marble.

"This marble's going somewhere no one will ever find it."

"Are you sure," a kid around age eleven said. He looked a lot like a younger Chad.

"Yeah! I made it myself."

"Didn't your dad get mad," another kid said. This kid looked around the same age as Chad, but looked like Jason.

"No, he doesn't know. And what he doesn't know, wont kill him."

"But Troy-"

"No. I made the hole and he didn't find out. How's he going to find out if I never open it again."

"Rebel," the young Chad said.

"You know it!"

Topher didn't remember the memory very long. The minute the young Troy said 'you know it' the memory was gone and he was left holding the marble. Sticking it in his pocket he left the room and walked down the stairs. In the kitchen, Kathleen Bolton was making breakfast for the boy Jack had found the night before. When she heard footsteps she turned around and almost dropped the plate she was holding.

Jack had said he was one of his students, a new kid named Topher, but he looked too much like Troy for Kathleen. She turned around and looked out the window. Topher was Kathleen's sign that Troy was fine, her baby boy was alright. "You hungry," she asked.

"I hope you don't mind feeding a stranger," he asked nodding his head.

"I don't mind," she said as she handed him a plate full of food. She turned around and put a hand over her heart. "Troy come back," she whispered so Topher couldn't hear.

Mother's instinct? Hmm...Topher's starting to get his memory back...is this good or bad?

Tell me what you think!

Review!