Well hello! It's been a while…again…

I won't bore you with lengthy notes. Just accept my apology for taking ages again, and also for having such a limited knowledge of dance moves, etc…okay? Great!

Disclaimer: To my severe and bitter disappointment, none of it is mine. I borrow, I pervert, but I do not profit. Well, not financially…

Warning: Bad language and homoerotic themes throughout. Do enjoy.

Notes: I probably should have taken more time over the last chapter…I promise this one won't be so rushed.

Dedication: To you. Yes, you. (points) Oh! Especially if you reviewed, particularly fireflower314, Fred, lara and loveless101, because I couldn't get back to you and thank you personally. The reviews are what keep me going!

"Ryan! Are you even listening to me?" Sharpay shrieked at her very highest pitch. After getting no response, she marched across to the other side of her bedroom where her brother was sitting and gave him a swift slap upside the head, but even that received the very minimum of attention. He merely glanced up from his notebook, ceasing his furious scrawling for only a second, and gave a quick, non-committal nod. Sharpay's patience was beginning to wear thin.

"Okay, just what the hell are you writing in that notebook that's so interesting?" she snapped.

"I'm mapping out dance steps." Ryan replied. Sharpay quirked an eyebrow before snatching the notebook and reading it, ignoring Ryan's mewls of protest.

"But…this isn't our routine…"

"I know."

"So…who's is it?"

Ryan sighed. The time had come at last to give Chad and Gabriella a routine to work on for the competition. He had purposefully left it to the last minute, to fluster them, and now he was deliberating over which killer move he should choreograph the whole thing around, but he needed Sharpay's help. It was time to come clean and pray for mercy. He took a deep breath…

"This is a routine I'm working on…for Chad Danforth."

Sharpay gasped. "WHAT?"

"Now Sharpay, it's not what it sounds like…"

"You're helping out that…that…JOCK?!? I cannot believe I'm even related to you! What were you thinking?"

"Look!" Ryan grabbed Sharpay by the shoulders, forcing her to stand still and listen to him. "I've been teaching Chad to dance for the past few weeks, and now I'm choreographing his routine for the dance competition, but I'm not doing it to help him. I'm choreographing the whole routine so it depends on one killer move that he could never hope to pull off in a million years. Okay?"

Sharpay looked at Ryan as if he had just landed from Mars, and then comprehension slowly dawned on her face. "Oh." She smiled. "So this is sabotage?"

Ryan nodded.

"Oh I'm so proud of you!" Sharpay squealed as she threw her arms around her brother and squeezed. "Who'd have thought? My brother dreaming up evil schemes of his own! So…what move were you planning on using?"

Ryan extricated himself from her grip, a pained wince twisting his mouth. "That's what I need you for."

Sharpay grinned. Ryan smiled back, ignoring the twinge of guilt that was niggling at his stomach. It would all be over after the dance competition, he told himself. Then he wouldn't have to worry about Chad ever again…

HSM

When Ryan introduced the routine to Chad and Gabriella, they were excited and relieved to finally have something concrete to be practicing for the competition. An hour and a half later, their mood had changed dramatically.

"Dammit Ryan! It's no use!" Chad huffed as he got up from what had to be the hundredth time he had fallen over that day. "This routine is too complex! We're nowhere near that good yet!"

Gabriella slumped onto a nearby desk, gasping for breath. "He's right. The footwork's too intense! I can hardly keep up."

Ryan smiled inwardly. Outwardly, he bore a look of steely determination. "You guys can do this. I know you can. I came up with the routine specifically with your skills in mind. All you have to do is keep working and you'll get it."

Chad blinked. "Even the impossible sequence in the middle where we have to come out of that double spin and I have to toss Gabby up in the air, catch her and then swing her round into a swooping dip, all without falling over?"

"It's not impossible." Ryan replied. "And yes. You can even do that. Just work together and it will all be fine. Trust me. Now I've gotta go and meet Sharpay. See you tomorrow!" Chad and Gabriella could only gape as Ryan gave a cheerful wave and disappeared out of the classroom, leaving them exhausted and frustrated.

Outside the school, waiting in the Evan's shared convertible was Sharpay. She waited as Ryan emerged from the building, made his way over to the car and got in.

"So…how did it go?"

Ryan sighed. "They're good. They might pick it up…in a few weeks. But there's no way they'll get it in time for the competition. Especially that key sequence you came up with." He turned and grinned. "That was pure evil genius, by the way."

"Did you expect any different?"

"Of course not. Now let's go home and work on our own routine."

"Sure. But you'd better be sure that they mess this up. Remember what happened last time we underestimated Gabriella? And you do keep saying that Chad is full of surprises when it comes to dancing…"

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Sharpay, I'm sure. Just relax. We have this in the bag."

Sharpay narrowed her eyes. "I hope so. You put a lot at stake when you decided to freelance here. It had better pay off."

"It will." Ryan insisted, almost petulantly. Sharpay snorted and turned on the engine, seemingly satisfied. She didn't notice her brother chew nervously on his bottom lip as the guilt fought its way to the surface again.

HSM

Chad hadn't stopped staring at the door since Ryan had disappeared through it five minutes ago.

"We're screwed." He simply said. Gabriella, though attempting to be more optimistic than her dance partner, couldn't help but agree. It was hard to be optimistic when you were faced with the prospect of being dropped over and over again from a considerable height by a guy who was used to handling a basketball rather than an actual human being. And eventually go through the whole thing again, but in front of an audience too. How had she let Troy talk her into doing this again?

"Knock knock!" Almost on cue, Troy's head peered round the doorway. "Would you two kids be interested in a ride home?"

Gabriella looked over at Chad. He was obviously deflated at the thought of how impossible this routine was. If they couldn't do it in the competition in a few days, then it would be the single most humiliating day of his high school life. It would prove Sharpay Evans and Ms Darbus and everyone else who doubted him right, and she knew he wouldn't be able to bear it. So failing wasn't an option, and therefore neither was giving up. Hadn't Ryan said that they just need to keep working together and they would get it? Well then, that was what they were going to have to do.

"Actually Troy, we're gonna stay here and practice a while longer."

Chad's head snapped up. "We are?"

Gabriella nodded. "Yes we are. This is just like studying for a final. You have to keep going over the key facts over and over again, and if necessary, cram like crazy. So we're cramming. Now get up and throw me around this floor, Danforth!"

"Uh…okay…" Troy quirked an eyebrow at his girlfriend's sudden bossiness. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

Gabriella noticed a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Oh, I'm sorry I've hardly seen you all day Troy," She made her way over to the door and put an apologetic hand on his arm. "But this routine Ryan sprang on us is really hard and we've got to really work at it. I just want to make this work for Chad, and I know you want that too. After all, you got him into this, and you did talk me into helping get him out…"

"So I've just got to grin and bear it, I know." Troy smiled and gave Gabriella a soft kiss on the lips. "You're just lucky I'm not the jealous type."

Gabriella laughed and Troy left, leaving her and Chad alone. She turned to him and folded her arms across her chest, drawing her eyebrows together in grim determination.

"Okay basketball boy, let's dance!"

Two and a half hours later, Chad stumbled home looking every inch the living dead. His mom was in the kitchen, singing along with the radio.

"Hard day?" she called. Chad made some grunt in reply, causing his mom to inquisitively duck her head into the lounge and watch him collapse stiffly onto the couch. She instantly became concerned. "So…how's the dancing coming along?"

"Bad." Chad groaned. "Too hard. Keep falling. Bruises. Pain. Hopeless." He and Gabriella had gone over and over the routine. They still couldn't get the key sequence, but they had come close. Unfortunately, close wasn't going to win them the competition. But he wasn't sure that he cared anymore.

Mrs Danforth sighed and sat down next to him. "Well honey, sometimes when you want something you just have to keep trying, no matter how hard it gets."

Chad nodded. She was right. And he did want this. He wanted to dance and prove everybody wrong…and Ryan right. Suddenly an image popped into his head – a memory of when Ryan had first tried to teach him the tango. He had wanted something different then, if only for a second, and he wasn't sure what that meant.

"Chad?" His mom noticed his uncertainty. "Is something wrong?"

"What about things you're not even sure you want…things you just want for a moment…like an impulse? Should you try and work for those as well?"

"Are we talking about something like the impulse to buy a pair of shoes? Or to eat candy? Something like that?"

Chad smirked. "No, nothing so…superficial. I mean…like a need! An overwhelming need that you can't forget about. But you're not even sure what it is that you need, just that you…need…something. I'm not really explaining this very well, am I?"

Mrs Danforth gave a coy sort of smile. "I think I'm following you. This is about a girl, right?"

"What? Oh, no! No, nothing like that." Chad stammered, feeling heat rise in his cheeks. By all rights it should be about a girl, but he wasn't going to announce that to his mom of all people.

"Well, if was about a girl, I'd tell you to work even harder to get what you want. If anything is ever worth fighting for, it's love." And with that Mrs Danforth gave her son a kiss on the forehead and then left to carry on with dinner in the kitchen, having imparted her motherly wisdom for the day. Chad was left alone on the couch, deep in thought. It was a state he was becoming all too familiar with due to this stupid competition, and it wasn't a state he particularly cared to be in right now. He ached so much that even using his brain hurt.

Suddenly his mother's voice floated in from the kitchen, stirring Chad from his deep thought. "Why don't you go straight up to bed? I'm sure things will seem much clearer in the morning."

Chad mulled it over for a second before deciding that he definitely agreed with his mom, so he heaved himself to his feet and crawled up the stairs to his bedroom by force of sheer willpower alone. He just about managed to collapse onto his bed, still fully clothed, before falling deeply asleep. Everything that was plaguing Chad Danforth would just have to wait for now…

HSM

When Chad woke up the next day he felt rested, refreshed and, thanks to the heated dream he had been having involving Ryan and that damn tango, aroused. His mom had been right about things seeming clearer in the morning; he just hadn't expected a part of his anatomy to give him such a literal pointer.

"Time to get up!" Mrs Danforth suddenly burst into the room, full of morning cheer, and Chad desperately scrabbled about in an attempt to hide his 'pointer'. No such luck.

"Oh, honey! God, I am so sorry!" Mrs Danforth struggled to hide a smirk as she hurriedly backed out the room, closing the door behind her. Chad just about managed to catch her muttering under her breath something along the lines of 'I knew it was about a girl.' before he internally died of shame.

"Great. Just great." Chad grumbled to himself and flopped out of bed, intending to take a long shower, but the sudden movement caused him to stop dead in his tracks. He hadn't thought it possible, but his body ached even more than it had yesterday! Sighing, he forced himself onto his feet and shuffled into the bathroom. His feet became even heavier once he remembered that he was going to have to practice even more today, although he drew some comfort from knowing that Gabriella was feeling the strain every inch as much as he was…possibly even more as she wasn't even athletic. Despite that, Chad still knew that today was gonna suck. Because although the thought of getting bruises on top of his already established bruises was painful enough, there was also the fact that he would have to face Ryan Evans in the process. The prospect made his stomach twist.

How was he supposed to act normally around the guy after having homoerotic dreams about him? It was going to be harder than ever to ignore his attraction to the drama geek with semi-pornographic flashbacks going through his head every ten seconds. But then, did he really want to ignore it any more?

The fact that he had been doing so for so long was entirely uncharacteristic. In the past, if Chad Danforth wanted something, he went right out and took it without a second thought. It wasn't hard to see why he was having trouble going out and getting this particular something, but that didn't change the fact that Chad did want it and he hadn't taken it yet. But was that because he wasn't entirely sure what 'it' was that he wanted, or because he sort of already had an idea and he was too shit scared to do anything about it?

If he took a second and actually confronted these feelings for Ryan, would things become a little bit easier to handle? Did he want to be able to handle things easier if it meant confronting these feelings for Ryan? Confrontation would mean clarification, and clarification would take him out of the safe little grey area of confusion he had been hiding in…was he ready for that? Was he ready to face the fact that being attracted to another guy might mean he was possibly a little gay? Maybe even more than a little? Not entirely, though. He still liked girls. He was certain of that much.

Suddenly Chad felt sick to the stomach. There were too many questions banging around in his head and too few answers. He couldn't cope with all this turmoil right now. It was making him beyond dizzy.

"That's it. I call a truce." Chad whimpered and gingerly crawled back into bed, intending to ask his mom to call in sick for him. He knew the nausea and the dizziness would probably wear off in a few minutes, but he needed to straighten out his head for a while, and school was the worst place for it. There was no way he would be able to face that place and the people in it today. Not without having some nervous breakdown.

HSM

"Okay, mister!" Gabriella stormed into Chad's room that afternoon, taking his state of undress and visible misery in her stride. "I don't care if you're dying of pneumonia! We have a mountain to climb before the dance competition in just two days, so get up off your butt and darn well practice with me! I am not gonna let you give up just because Ryan gave us a ridiculously tricky routine!"

Chad stared at her in shock. She waited for a few seconds before snapping at him to go and get dressed, then stormed out of the room again to wait out in the hallway. Only then did she allow herself to blush. When he came out to join her, she regained her composure and led him downstairs to the lounge, where Mrs Danforth had already moved the furniture around to provide ample practice space. Chad braced himself.

"So, how long are we practicing for?"

"All night long, if we have to." Gabriella replied. "Plus the hour you owe me for not turning up to practice at lunch today."

Chad winced. "I was worried you might say that." He reluctantly took up the starting position, but forced a smile. "You know Montez, you're real cute when you play hardball."

"Shut up and dance."

"Yes ma'am."

"And try not to drop me too much."

"I'll do my best."

"And quit worrying about the sequence in the middle. We'll get it."

"If you say so."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

The two began going through the routine, which by now had been burned into their brains. The middle sequence kept ending in disaster for the first ten attempts, and for the next ten it ended in only mild catastrophe. They kept trying and trying, Chad giving up hope somewhere between the thirty-sixth and forty-third attempt but still carrying on for fear of what Gabriella might do to him if he even thought of complaining. Then, on the fiftieth run, a miracle happened. Chad and Gabriella got to the middle sequence and made it out of the dizzying double spin, then moved smoothly into the lift and the toss, neither resulting in Chad dropping Gabriella or losing his balance and falling over. He caught her and swung her round, keeping his footing and supporting her weight, and then suddenly she was inches from the ground in the extravagant dip that signalled the end of the sequence.

"Did we just successfully get through that sequence?" Chad asked, still supporting Gabriella in the dip, too stunned to move.

"Yeah, I think we did." Gabriella grinned from ear to ear. The expression spread to Chad and he finally snapped out of his state of shock to pull her upright and crush her in a huge, celebratory bear-hug.

"We did it! We did it!" They chanted, jumping up and down and laughing. Suddenly Gabriella stopped.

"Wait, we forgot the rest of the routine."

"Oh yeah. We should probably practice that."

"Yeah…let's go from the dip."

"Cool."

And so they went through the rest of the routine, completing the entire thing for the very first time. And when they had, Chad only had one thing running through his mind: he couldn't wait to tell Ryan…

If the actual 'killer move' seems a bit crappy, then I apologise. My imagination is lacking when it comes to choreography.

I also have to say that the music video 'I Don't Dance' was one of the comical highlights of my year. The irony alone had me laughing till my sides hurt, not to mention all the falling over each other those two did at the end. Oh, and how Chad kept singing the line 'I Don't Dance' while he was in actual fact dancing.

Now if only I knew what the hell that song has to do with the actual film…stupid delay between American and British release…(grumbles)