The East high gym was buzzing with excitement. The mysterious sudden return of hoop star Troy Bolton under a false name meant that all the gossip mongers were out for a treat; for they knew something the media did not. The beachers were full, mostly of senior students who had known Troy, but some juniors were there too; after all, the Spurs were coming.

In the row of bleachers directly behind the Wildcat's seats sat the rest of the gang. Sharpay and Zeke were laughing together of some personal joke. Chad, Taylor, Jason and Gabriella were talking of Troy, and what he seemed to have become. Emma sat next to Gabi, deep in thought. She was half listening to the conversation of the others, but it seemed somehow trivial to her. But she could not explain it to them; they would not understand. Kelsie arrived and came and sat down next to her. Emma and Kelsie had become really close. Emma suspected that it was because they were both artists, although in different forms, and artists tend to feel things differently. Kelsie was a quiet girl, but she went deeper than most people ever dared to look in her, and Emma admired her for that. Kelsie looked at Emma and spoke quietly.

"Penny for your thoughts." Emma didn't look at her, but seemed to stare off into space as she spoke.

"I'm worried… Troy was so strong, yet so fragile. He couldn't keep up his façade, so he decided to go his own way. He wanted to lose the madness over the mountains, he said. And Begin again… Lose the madness… And now, he comes to seek it?" It was a rhetorical question, so Kelsie just nodded, and left Emma to her thoughts as she continued writing some music.

At quarter to 10, Coach Burns arrived, to a large applause. He was both happy that a large crowd and turned out, showing support, and anxious because of the affect the large home crowd would have on Troy. Jack called him over and one by one Scott was introduced to the wildcat players, all of who seemed pretty stoked to meet him.

At 10:00am, the team arrived at the gym, greeted by a thunderous applause. Many of the players looked a little worn from a late night, but Coach decided to over look that considering the circumstances. As the applause died down, the team wondered over to Scott who was still next to the wildcats. Scott immediately noticed a distinct absence of two players.

"Where's Trey and Jay?" Silence.

"Ok, don't everybody answer at once." Scott said sarcastically. A player named Mike spoke up.

"They weren't in their rooms this morning Coach." Scott let out a sigh of both anxiety and frustration. The auditorium was fairly quiet and they heard a player named Chris's phone go off. Coach spoke up.

"Pick it up it might be them." Chris obliged answering the phone. Coach Burns, the spurs, the gang, Jack, and the Wildcats all listened intently.

"Hello… Oh hey Jay man we just wondering where you-… huh… JAIL?… WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?… Is Trey with you?…" Chris looked up at Scott. "Uh, Coach it's for you."

"Please don't tell me it's my team in jail…"

"You mean technically?" Coach gave him a rude look and took the phone.

"You and Trey better have a bloody good explanation for this one boy… Ok yeah… How much?… Ok." Coach hung up and turned to his team, thankful that the auditorium was so noisy that only those right in front of him knew what was going on. "Ok guys who has any cash? We gotta make bail."

"How much?"

"$250 for Jay, $800 for Trey."

"Why so much?"

"Apparently the kid has a criminal record as long as from here to Washington State. They weren't gonna release him at all but the Warden is a fan." The team nodded and got out there wallets. Together they managed to pull the money, so Chris started the training as Scott when down to the jail.

Half an hour later, the Spurs, (who were supposed to be warmed up) had become friendly with the Wildcats and were sitting on the bleachers with them, when the topic of Trey came up. Chad asked a guy named Derek some questions.

"So, how long have you known Trey for?"

"Oh, I dunno. 8 months maybe?"

"So, you like, know him pretty well?"

"Well, as much as you can know someone like Trey?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't get me wrong, I like the guy. It's just, people like Trey, with his kind of history, well, they're hard to get to know."

"How so?"

"Well, I mean, he doesn't talk much. I mean he talks now, but not properly. Like I know nothing about him except 9 months ago Coach Burns found him passed out in the middle of Witherby Park. He doesn't really talk about himself. I don't know if he has a family, or where he's from or anything. But we're friends, good friends. And he's a good guy, whether or not he believes that. I don't really know what else to say. I mean Coach and Jay seem to know him pretty well; maybe he talks to them. Or maybe not."

At that moment Coach burns walked into the gym with Jay and Trey in tow. The two of them looked like death warmed up and gone cold again. They were wearing prison shirts (because their clothes had been wet). Coach Bolton told him team to go get changed in the locker rooms. Coach Burns hauled Trey and Jay into Jack's office and shut the door. (Jacks office is not where it is in the movie, the wildcats can't hear.). Coach Burns started his lecture.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Jay answered him:

"Um Coach, I don't think we were."

"Damn right you weren't. Don't you realise how bad this could get if it hit the press."

"Look Scott, it was a mistake ok?" Trey said, his head pounding. Coach gave them a stern look then asked Jay to wait outside the door.

"Look kid, I'm just trying to watch over you." Troy nodded. "I know these people, the press, if you give them the slightest reason to, then they'll start digging. You have to keep a low profile if you want the past to stay in the past, got it?" Troy nodded.

"Yeah thanks Coach."

Troy and Jay went to go get changed. They stepped into the corridor of the change-rooms, unaware the Wildcats could hear them. The second the door shut behind them there was silence. Then Jay started to laugh, but tried to stifle it. Troy gave him a 'are-you-nuts?' look but then broke out in a grin to. Within seconds, the two of them were pissing themselves laughing. They started to slowly stumble down the corridor, unsteady both from laughing and still being a little drunk. The Wildcats could see them from their lockers, but didn't say anything. Jay began to talk (while laughing, so his speech was broken up).

"Still hungover?"

"Still drunk." Troy answered, and they doubled back over into fits of laughter.

"Dude, do you have nay idea what we did last night?"

"Not a clue… I bet it was fun though." They both nodded in agreement, still laughing.

"I'm surprised Coach didn't slaughter us!" Jay slumped down against the wall, and Trey followed suit next to him.

"He won't have to, the media will get there first."

"You worried?"

"Coach is right, the media will dig. For me that's cause for concern." There was silence. "You know, when I was six, I went over to a friends house, and his dad was drunk. My friend was so ashamed of him. And we made a promise that we would never drink or do anything wrong but were always going to be good, even if we were the only ones… Now? I have a criminal record rivalling that of Ivan Milat and the state line is like the Berlin wall, and trust me when I say I'm on the wrong side of it." Troy sighed. Jason looked at the team; he knew it was his dad Troy was talking about. Jay thought for a minute.

"When you were six, did you ever think you would be living in a mission house in downtown San Antonio with 2 black eyes and 4 broken ribs? Life is like the ocean, treacherous and unforgiving, but still beautiful in its grandeur." Troy gave him a weird look.

"Did that just come out of your mouth?"

"Hahaha my dad said that to me once. It was the only time I ever really felt close to him… We were very different: He was this rural hick from Ipswitch Australia, and I was this basketball fanatic raised in the city of Boston. But we had our moments." Troy nodded.

"Is he your whole family?" Jay nodded.

"My mum left just after I was born. My dad had to leave the farm and move hemispheres to get away from her. And he couldn't manage the farm by himself anyway. He never really understood me, but he tried, which can be just as valuable. Do you know either of your parents?" Troy was silent: no one had asked him this since things changed.

"Yeah." Troy chocked out. He cleared his throat. "I uh, I have a mum."

"Where is she?" Troy laughed.

"About 5 minutes down the road from here. I uh, I went to see her. Yesterday." Jay nodded, knowing this was a huge step. "I was so nervous. I've spent the last few years shutting out everyone from my life, because it's the people that are closest to you who are the one who can hurt you the most."

"But it wasn't her who hurt you?" Troy just shook his head.

"Everything just got fucked up… You know, I though, stupidly, that making something of myself would just make everything that had ever happened to me go away." He let out a small laugh at how pathetic he was. "But it's all still here."

"You know my father once told me, to always take the good with the bad. Maybe the NBA hasn't fixed your life, but it's brought you here: to a place where you can try and fix it. But you have to want it." Jay got up to go get changed, leaving Troy to his thoughts. The Wildcats were all still sitting in the locker room in silence, all deep in thought. The door of the corridor opening and shutting interrupted the silence. A small boy of about 3 or 4 came in. He seemed to be looking for someone, but got distracted when he saw Troy. He came and sat down next to him.

"Hello Mister."

"Hey." Troy said quietly.

"Why are you sad?"

"I'm not said. I'm just thinking."

"About what?" Troy looked at the kid.

"What's your favourite thing to do in the whole world?"

"Fingerpainting! That is VERY fun!" Troy chuckled.

"Ok bad example… What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"A lion."

"A lion?"

"Yep."

"Well, what would you do if someone told you that you weren't allowed to be a lion when you grew up?"

"Why would they do that?"

"Well let's say, someone wanted you to be an elephant instead."

"Well that doesn't matter."

"How so?"

"Well it's not up to them." Troy nodded this kid was smart.

"What if someone wanted you to be an elephant so badly that they tried to force you to be one. And they told you they would hate you if you didn't be one."

"Maybe this person did know how fun it can be being a lion. Like growling and lying in the sun."

"Do you think that this person would like you more if you became an elephant?"

"My teacher says real love is for what's on the inside. If they couldn't love you as an lion, they couldn't love you as an elephant."

VERY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE!

I have some ideas left, eg. Fixing things between Troy and Emma.

But I'm a little stumped as well

I'm in an ideas drought!

Any suggestions would be HUGELY appreciated!

Thanks again for all the reviews!

xoxoxox