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"Hey Cal, where were you yesterday?"

Calum turned around to see two boys running towards him. One of the boys had tan skin, green eyes and dark hair. He was wearing jeans and t-shirt. The speaker had blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a basketball sweatshirt- much like the one Calum had lent to Mack. That reminded him that Mack still had it. He took a deep breath, hoping for her safety that she didn't wear it.

"Hello, earth to Calum!" The tan boy said waving his hand in Calum's face. Calum shook his head and smiled a nervous smile. "Adam and I were wondering where you were yesterday."

"Oh, I was a little sick," Calum said, fake coughing to make it seem more realistic. The blond boy raised an eyebrow and the tan boy gave him a look. "It was personal, okay?" Calum tried. "What did I miss yesterday?"

"Oh, lets see... that killer algebra test, the history lecture and the worst practice of all time," Adam, the blond boy, said in a voice that clearly told Calum if you were going to skip, yesterday was the day to do it.

"But Adam, you forgot something very important that happened yesterday," the tan boy said slyly.

"Oh yeah! Teagan you just made my day!" Adam's face shone with excitement. "We played the biggest prank of the year on the 'East High girls.' You would have enjoyed it so much."

"To bad Bolton was sick. I would have loved to see her yelling." Teagan threw off his voice in an attempt at making a girl's whining voice. "I'll tell my brother on you! Troy's not going to be happy when he hears about what you did! He and Chad will come after you!"

Teagan and Adam started to laugh at Teagan's Mack impersonation, although Calum didn't find it enjoyable. His fist clenched and his face held a look of anger. Teagan noticed elbowed Adam. Both looked at Calum, and he tried to laugh it off.

"You're not going soft on Bolton are you?" Adam asked.

"No, why would I go soft on Ma- I mean Bolton." Calum turned around, facing away from his friends, so they couldn't see him biting his lower lip. His heart sank and his head lowered. Adam and Teagan caught on to this and walked forward so they could see his face.

Calum could feel both of their gazes on his face, which he made sure was looking at the ground. "You are going soft on her!" Adam said. "How could you!"

"Look, I couldn't control it! It just happened," Calum said pushing his best friends aside and walking up to the school. Teagan and Adam looked at each other before Adam pulled out his cell phone and looked at the time. "Okay, we have two minutes before West High's bell rings." Adam flipped the phone and dialed the all to familiar cellphone number of Cam Boucher.

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"Dude, why weren't you at practice yesterday?" Chad said, walking up to Troy who was sitting on the steps. Zeke, Jason and Ryan following close behind. Troy looked distant and each of the boys could see it from a mile away.

"My dad told me to go home." He paused before saying, "am I a monster?" His eyes were fighting back tears.

"No, why would you say that?" Zeke was the only one able to speak. The others were too shocked. Who would call Troy Bolton a monster?

"My dad talked to Mack yesterday and she said she's afraid of me." He was looking at his hands as if they were splattered with blood. Chad noticed his hands were shaking and it reminded him of the night Troy fought with Cam Boucher. The four boys looked at each other and then back at Troy. Ryan sat down next to him and Jason slung an arm around his shoulder. Zeke pulled out some cookies and Chad looked very deep in thought- something they didn't normally see. Zeke pushed the cookies into Troy's hands and Ryan held on to them so they wouldn't shake and drop the cookies. Troy just sat there and shook his head, his whole body now shaking.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked. Troy's breathing had become irregular. "She couldn't even look me in the eyes this morning. I'm a monster."

"You're not a monster," Ryan stated firmly. "You look like you didn't get any sleep last night."

"I didn't," Troy said so quietly that Jason and Ryan- who were sitting right next to him- could barely hear the words that escaped his mouth.

"Troy that's not healthy," Jason said concern apparent in his voice. "Why don't we take you to your dad. He needs to know-"

"No. He can't know. I was suppose to go home and rest instead of going to practice. If he knew I didn't rest... I don't want to know."

"Troy, you're dad was just worried about you," Zeke said.

"Yeah, he wouldn't get mad at you. If you're this upset he needs to know," Jason agreed.

"If you go to practice like this, he'd know anyways right," Ryan tried. He hoped that was right, he didn't know that much about basketball.

"Which is why I'm not going to practice guys. I'm pulling myself off the roster. My spot can go to someone who deserves it more than I do."

Chad looked up from his thoughts, "what makes you think you don't deserve your spot? Your the best guy on the team!"

Troy stayed silent and Chad decided not ask anymore about it. The warning bell rang and the boys stood up. "You okay," Jason asked. Troy nodded his head and walked to Ms. Darbus' room, still a little shaky, making the four boys behind him wonder if leaving their coach out of it was the best idea.

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"Mack! We were so worried about you!" Seconds after Mack heard this, she was trampled by two girls, both were the same height, but other than that they looked completely different. One girl had fair skin and auburn hair, the other was African-American.

"Bailey, Keisha, can't breathe!"

"Sorry," Keisha, the African-American said. The two stepped off of her and let her get up.

"You must have been really sick," Bailey commented.

"Yeah, or something like that," Mack replied as the two girls led her inside, unaware she had said anything other than 'yeah.'

So, you met Calum's friends and the girls Mack hangs around with. Tell me what you think! Hope you liked it. Next chapter's on it's way! Review!