Title: A Chaotic Mess of Pastels

Author: Me!

Rating: I'm not too sure about the new rating system but I would say this is about…PG-13.

Feedback: I'd love me some it!

Summary: Troy Bolton finally has life all figured out as his junior year wanes. However, his perfect world is in jeopardy as he discovers his past.

Disclaimer: I own not High School Musical or the songs or Zac…but if I did…heheheh. Wow! I don't own much. Wait! I do own Adele Carson! And the title of this play!

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO SOPHTHEWISEONE FOR BEING MY NEW, AWESOME EDITOR.

dancerlittle Here's some more!

Ayana Starman Love is dramatic. I hope I can keep the levels of tension up and get them going higher.

XrevengeX No problem. You left me a review. That makes you apart of the story!

StarInHeaven1014 I noticed that. I read tons of HSM and you never see a Troy-centric fic…unless you connect slash. I love slash but one would think that more story would surround or be told through Troy. In fact, I haven't seen many Chad or Ryan fics either…hmm…I'm thinking.


Chapter Eleven

It was free period…finally. Troy threw his things into his locker.

"Hey, man." Chad said. Troy shut his locker. He turned around and there was Adele, smiling brightly.

"Hi,"

What was she still doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be guest speaking or something? Troy hated that he was a tad hostile about her being at East High. He hadn't say a word aloud but that didn't mean he couldn't wish her gone. It was easier when she was in New York. Realizing that Adele had spoken to him, he said whatever came to mind.

"What's up?" Troy said quickly. "How was Darbus?"

"She was great. I got to see Kelsi in first bell. She's doing pretty well. All of you guys are doing well. I'm glad to hear that."

"Well, so are you," Chad placed his elbow on her shoulder.

Adele playfully shoved Chad off of her. "I think it's free period. What are you guys going to do?"

"Probably play some ball." Chad and Troy said in stereo.

"Wow." She let out a low whistle. "You guys sure have changed. Basketball…I would have never imagi-"

Chad clamped his hand over her mouth. "We get it. Funny."

The three walked the East High halls with familiarity. It was the good old days, no matter how Troy felt about anything. Some cheerleaders waved 'hello' while other students just walked on by. They turned a corner.

"Holy mother of -!" shrieked Adele. She clutched at her chest. A huge banner of the boys' East High Wildcats basketball team was pinned to a wall with "Congratulation, Wildcats! State Champs."

She huffed, catching her breath. "I forgot all about these things. Scared me to death. Man, your faces are huge!"

The boys laughed as they entered the gym.

"I guess I should either wait here since I can't go into the boys' locker room – darn – or go get something to eat and bring it back."

Chad looked perplexed. "You told me you didn't have a driver's licenses since no one drove in New York because of the traffic."

"Oh…well…yes. I fibbed a bit. I have a license. I don't have a car. No one owns a car in New York; there's too much traffic."

Troy smiled at the nonsense of the statement. "I guess you could go grab something."

Adele rushed over to the trophy case that held many gleaming trophies, plaques, and team photos. "Oh holy hell. I was tiny back then." She stooped down to peer at the team photo of the junior varsity female Wildcats soccer team.

"That diving head butt won the playoffs for us," Chad said. "I'm still skeptical about that and I was there to see it."

"I don't know how I did that…" Pushing her way through to the gym, Adele rushed to the sidelines. "Ah," she breathed deeply, "memories." She quietly savored the peace before the distinct squeals of shoes on the court echoed against the walls. Some of Chad and Troy's teammates had started a pick-up game of b-ball.

Chad turned to Adele. "Dude, we gotta change,"

"Thanks for calling me a dude." A rack of balls were nearby, giving the ex-Wildcat an idea. She grabbed one and walked up to the half court line. "Can I still do it?" Posing just so, Adele bent her knees a bit and popped back up, releasing the ball perfectly from her hand. The ball soared; a moment later the perfect swish sounded, knocking the other group's ball from going in.

"What the hell was that? It would have went in!" A tall senior grumbled.

"Oh, suck it up," Her cocky smile made the other guy angry. He came up to her. His eyes squinted.

"Carson?"

"Yup, Anderson." He smiled to her and embraced her, picking her up in the process.

Once she was put down, she straightened her clothes. "I still got it. Only thing I was good for on the team." The rest of the team came to her.

She wasn't friends with all the guys on his team. When did Anderson get so close with Adele in the first place? Troy bit the inside of his cheek. He knew it was petty since she did come to all the games and team functions but – she wasn't always around. She wasn't around when they made it the finals. She wasn't there when they had to lose Jason due to a sprained ankle during a crucial game. She wasn't there when Troy made it to varsity or MVP status. Or when he was voted team captain come to think of it.

She wasn't there so why should they accept her back into the group so readily? "Stop it." He muttered to himself. That was completely childish of him to think.

"That's good enough for me," A voice spoke up as the guys went back to their game.

Adele looked up. Her mouth hung open. "Coach!" She ran over to him, hugging her as tight as she could.

Adele always looked to Mr. Bolton for extra guidance that her father couldn't give or wouldn't because she wasn't sure to ask him first. They really did connect in ninth grade. The two were jabbering so he decided to leave. He quickly changed into some gym clothes that he wouldn't mind stinking up.

He arrived right when the game started anew with the girls' basketball team. Every so often the two teams would do their own scrimmage. Adele was talked to the twins, Raven and Tanisha Young, the star players. Before he could ask what she would do now, Adele slipped away.

"Whatever," Troy muttered nonchalantly. He went over to cover Raven who had just put herself into a position to sneak close to their hoop.

After the final score was tallied, the girls' team won only by a fraction of a hair. To hear the girls boisterous laughter at their expense punctured the other team's pride. "Whatever! You only won due to the fact the floors were just waxed."

"Okay, Troy. You think that." Tanisha smiled. "The champs just can't admit to defeat."

The two teams went to their designated locker rooms.

"I can't believe we got beat." Zeke said.

"By a bunch of girls!" Chad shut his locker.

Troy grinned at his friends. "They won their championship too. You knew that."

"But that just means their the best of the best." Chad grumbled.

The two boys finished changing. They left the gym. Adele was nowhere to be found. Troy didn't give it a second thought. His next two classes went by fast enough. World Lit. with Chad was never a bore. The teacher, Mrs. Wood, was completely slack. She spent most of her time at her front desks joking with her students and about the texts they were reading. Today, Chad and Troy had partnered up to complete a reading assignment that came with a question worksheet. It would count as a test.

The ending bell sang out. The students filed out of the class. A sea of hungry teens flooded the hallways.

"I'll catch up with you at lunch. I forgot to hand in the worksheet." Troy waved the copy in the air.

"See you later."

Troy watched as his best friend and his floppy hair maneuver through the crowd. He gave the piece of paper to his teacher and headed back through the halls. He went with the throngs of students. Following a quick trip to his locker where he deposited his school things and grabbed his lunch, Troy strolled through the now empty corridor. He turned onto the main hall.

"Hey, Bolton, wait up!"

Troy froze in his tracks. He pivoted around and watched as Adele speed towards him from down the hallway.

"I waited."

"Why thank you, sir." She curtsied. "So, still use that trick."

Troy burst into light laughter. Oh yeah. Lesson learned during freshman year. "Definitely. Always make a stop or three before attempting to get to lunch otherwise you will be stampeded."

Adele chuckled as the continued down towards the cafeteria. "I thought I was going to shatter a bone trying to keep up with everyone."

"Poor little freshman were we."

Troy could distinctly remember that day…and the look on Adele's face.

"There is no need to snicker to yourself as you reminisce. I was so upset. My first day of high school I got lost, then separate from my friends in the hallway, and to cap everything off my bookbag decided to malfunction. I never thought anyone would like me after some of disgusted looks I got from the upperclassmen." She held a black notebook to her chest.

Troy licked his lips, then sealed away his chuckle. "But they ended up adoring you."

"Because of you, Basketball Man."

Troy shoved a hand in his jeans pocket. "I haven't heard you call me that in ages."

"Well, calling you 'Pickles' didn't seem appropriate." Adele bit the corner of her lip.

"Yeah, it wouldn't have been. But did you really have to give me such an annoying nickname?"

Adele looked skeptical. "Annoying? What's annoying about being called 'Pickles'. You love pickles. Remember that one time when my family took you with us to lunch? You devoured about three whole dill pickles."

"Yes…well…I can't deny you there."

"Never could when I called you that name." Her voice lowered. "Especially when, after our first date, you couldn't muster up the courage to kiss me goodnight."

Troy lowered his head, watching his feet get him to the cafeteria. "Why? Why must you go there?"

"I couldn't help it. It happened. You can't deny it."

"So where did you disappear off to?" He changed the subject. They had entered the eating area were many tables on two different floors were scattered about. The seats were filling rapidly.

"Went home to my portfolio. Whatever," She shrugged her shoulders. Adele tucked some hair behind her ear and leaned against the railing of the smaller, top floor eating area where the Drama kids used to exclusively eat.

"Could I?"

Adele handed her notebook over. He skimmed through the pictures. Some were black and white, others were in color and very model-esque. And then there was one of her doing a scissors kick during a soccer practice.

"Yeah. So whoever is thinking of casting me will know that I can do my own sport stuns." Her smile was small and delicate.

Troy handed the portfolio back. "I bet you've been getting some offers."

Adele stood straight. "Yeah. Some kid came up to me after the class was over and was all over me, trying to flirt. He said since I was no longer tangled up with that basketball kid that I should get tangled up with him."

Troy's jaw clenched as he felt his fist ball in rage. The audacity of that guy. "How dare someone talk to you like that?"

"Don't worry about it." Adele placed her hand on his arm. "I just told him that I was dating an older man who was a Marine and he would be coming back from Iraq pissed off and soon."

Troy took a breath in. His body began to relax. But still worry was in his mind since his calm seemed to be stemming from Adele's hand. He glanced at her fingers, allowing a smile to tug at his lips. Next, the laughter came.

"And here I thought Chad and Taylor were the ones with the temper." She scanned the tables. "Come on."

Following behind Adele, Troy spotted Gabriella, Chad, Taylor, Kelsi, Jason, Zeke, Ryan, and Sharpay. Someone shouted. A random face that remembered her from a class in ninth grade held Adele up.

"Still getting stopped in the halls." commented Chad, watching his other best friend and some skater chat a bit.

"Yeah," sighed Troy.

It felt quite awkward. The feeling in the air was tense. Troy observed the looks on each of his friends' faces. Taylor look thoroughly put off about something while Sharpay kept an eyebrow arched high in disgust. Jason, Zeke, Kelsi, and Chad appeared to be a touch speechless, skeptical, afraid, or, perhaps a mixture of it all. Ryan was the only one who looked calm but he was a good actor. He could have been faking it.

None of that wouldn't have caused alarm in Troy until he glanced at the girl beside him. Gabriella seemed so lost. Her eyes appeared glossy, fixated on her tray. Before Troy could ask Gabi what was wrong, he was interrupted.

"Is there any room for one more?" Adele asked bashfully.

"Of course," Ryan moved his things off of the stool next to him.

"Thank you," She grinned, though most could see right through that visage. Her seat was next to Sharpay.

Kelsi peered at the black leather bound notebook that Adele's elbows were rested on. "What's that? Mrs. Darbus has you doing homework?"

"No. Though I'm sure she'd be willing to give it to me. Every class I've talked to so far has had the need to see my book. Who needs to know the exact number of plays and such I've performed in? So, anyway, I went home and picked it up. Oh yeah!" She opened the front cover, revealing two CD copies. "That one night you guys wouldn't stop gushing about the music and how much you loved it caused me to scrounge up something. Here's the soundtrack."

Chad took his copy and opened the case. "Thanks. You know you want to play this on the way home." He batted his puppy brown eyes.

"I guess." Taylor said with mock disgust.

"Hey! You dissin' my music." Adele laughed.

"I am. What are you going to do?" Taylor's right eyebrow rose.

Adele understood what that meant. "Nothing," She said meekly.

The two girls shared a laugh. "I really want to hear it. Ever since they came back from New York, those people," she pointed to every person who went except Sharpay, "have yet to shut up about it."

"Aw, you guys liked it that much."

"It was really good. Though, I keep saying that I don't see the controversy of it." Ryan added before he took a sip of his water.

Adele shrugged her shoulders. "To us and our generation, it's not. But to the parents who had their children miming smoking, drinking, using drugs, and other adult business, it was a big deal. My parents were appalled when they discovered my sex scene. It's more to do with age than acting."

"I guess I see that."

Troy understood adults feeling as if age was the deciding factor for every thing. When he was a few years younger, his parents discounted his emotional and mental abilities when it came to physical things. Things that people did to prove themselves to others time and time again.

He kept his copy in his hands since his messenger bag was in his locker. Oh well. "I don't know how or why but I'm glad we were able to see 'Avenue Q'." He made a mental note to try and figure out what was wrong with Gabriella.

Gabriella took a deep, shuddering breath, slipping on a happy face. "No wonder that added permission slip was in our travel packet. What was that one song called?"

Ryan, Chad, and Troy were in perfect stereo. "'Internet Is For Porn'."

The other occupants of the table stared at the trio. "What?" Zeke looked perplexed.

"And how did you know about that, Chad?" wondered Sharpay, finally adding her voice to the conversation.

"Adele and I went to go see it the Friday I arrived." Chad finished off his cheese fries.

"I'm going to convert this boy to musicals if I can help it. If singing puppets can help me, then sing those muppets shall." said Adele. "Darbus really must have pulled some strings to allow you all to see it."

"That or she lied about the itinerary." Ryan said.

The group finished their meals before the bell rang, signaling the time to go back to the monotony of school classrooms.

Fifth period wasn't his favorite but he did spend it with Gabriella. American History was a bore to say the least. Once you heard about the thirteen colonies, you had heard it all. The journey to the class was spent in amicable silence…or so Troy had thought.

As they approached the stairwell to the next floor, Troy noticed that something was wrong. Gabriella's paced stepped up, leaving Troy behind quick. He tried to catch up once they were on the second floor landing but she was a good few feet in front of him.

She just had to talk to a teacher about an assignment. That was all he supposed. He entered the classroom, spotting his girlfriend sitting in at a desk. Okay. This is getting weird,Troy thought.Troy cautiouslysat in the seat across from her, to the left.

"Why did you leave me behind?"

Her shoulders barely moved in a shrug.

"Okay…" Troy was perplexed. "Are you okay?"

Gabi didn't respond.

"All right. Have a good morning? Anything good happen? Bad?"

Still she didn't respond. Letting out a loud sigh, Troy racked his brains. Did he do something to make her upset? He tried to get her attention once again but she ignored him. She pulled out her notebook, keeping her eyes either forward or downward.

Before Troy could ask one last question, the teacher started the lecture. With one last look to his right, Troy put on hold his interrogation. But all that his mind could wrap around was one simple question: What was going on?