Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical, any of the characters, or any of their songs. I'm not even entirely certain about this storyline...

Chapter Two: The Incident

Gabriella felt better by Monday morning, and actually looking forward to school. The ER had found nothing terribly wrong with her, just the concussion, a few abrasions, and the lingering after-effects of shock. They had kept her in over night, but released her the next morning, and by now she felt completely normal again. Except...

She was never going to forget that evening, she was certain. She could still see it, playing out in her mind like a video recording, with special effects laid on: slow motion, wide screen, surround sound, hi-def... just like life. She felt it, over and over again: the impact, the pain, and then the roar and hot wind engulfing her like the breath of some hideous monster.

And then he had helped her up, got her home and... disappeared. Her mom had implied that he had been worse off than her, although not concussed, and yet, he had acted so selflessly. Thinking it over carefully, she even realised that when he had tackled her and grabbed her, he had placed his body between hers and the truck.

He had saved her life, and she didn't know his full name. She knew where he lived, but when she had gone around and asked for him, Steve Mason, a friendly doctor who smiled apologetically at her, informed her that Troy was grounded, catching up on homework.

She would do something about it today, though. She was determined. After all, he had classes with her, he had homeroom with her. She wouldn't be able to miss him. There was a brisk, purposeful air to her stride this morning, and it seemed to indicate to people that she didn't want to be stopped, since friends who would normally Join her to discuss one thing or another either waved or called a greeting from afar, letting her do the same while not breaking her gait. She made it to Ms Darbus' class in almost record time, and scanned the room carefully. Sharpay and Taylor were in their usual places: adjoining seats at the front of the class, with a space between Sharpay and Martha, a sweet girl with the odd combination of a flair for maths and a passion for dancing. The spare seat was left for Gabriella, and she couldn't help smiling at her best friends. As usual, Sharpay and Taylor were chatting quietly together, their conversation the usual unbroken flow that nevertheless alternated constantly between class work, theatre and fashion.

Not many other people were here yet: Kelsi, a quiet girl whom Sharpay had befriended years ago, largely because of an amazing talent for composition, sat a couple of seats back behind Taylor, and the basketball contingent was all there, to Gabriella's satisfaction. While jocks in other schools would roam the hallways, generally hanging out and messing around, here they were too dispirited, especially the basketball team, so they tended to get to homeroom early, and catch up on homework or reading. Gabriella worked her way along the back row, realising she didn't know the names of a few. That one was Jason, who occasionally asked inane questions in class but seemed to be a good person, all things being equal. Next to him was Zeke, a tall guy with a sweet disposition that got a bit beaten down when people started riding him and his friends. The leader of the pack was next to him: Chad Danforth, who had survived being a basketball player by also being the class clown. Everyone loved to have Chad around, since he had a talent for cheering people up.

Gabriella realised that, had she not been looking for him, she would have missed the guy at the end. Troy Bolton was staring out the window, so she couldn't see his face. His chair was pushed back against the wall, something only they could do since they had no desks behind them. The backs of his heels were on the edge of his chair, his knees pulled right up, with his arms around his legs, and he was resting his cheek against them. It was hard to tell from this angle, but his clothes seemed to be a good quality. She saw him turn his face towards the door. She had expected the cut on his face from what she remembered, and what her mum had told her, but she hadn't expected the stitches to be so numerous, so visible, or so... angry-looking, she realised. If his foster parents were doctors, shouldn't they be done better? Also, his eye was a sight, a mass of purple flesh with ugly yellow and even green-ish blotches all over it: the mother of all black eyes. She frowned: her mother hadn't mentioned anything about that. What had happened?

Troy looked away, and Gabriella started as she felt a hand on her shoulder, but it was just Ryan, Sharpay's twin brother and her best male friend, giving her a tacit warning that the teacher was approaching.

Ms Darbus swept in in her standard, overly-dramatic fashion, her arms outstretched as if to embrace the whole class. Gabriella rolled her eyes when she caught sight of Sharpay and Ryan, who were both hanging on her every word. The twins loved drama, more sincerely than Gabriella might have guessed if she didn't know them. Taylor had told her that, before she had befriended Sharpay, the school's dramatic productions were always taken over by the Evans twins. More recently, though, they had been willing to accept other people, even recognising genuine talent in others. That was how Sharpay had improved since their friendship; Taylor had become less arrogant and superior, putting others down and making snide comments about other's intelligence. All things considered, the pair had worked wonders with each other.

"Good morning, thespians," Ms Darbus trilled in her impressive, projected voice. "We have a lot to get through today: the signup sheets for the spring musical are going up today, with auditions this Friday. Be sure to get your name up in advance, as we can expect fierce competition. Also, don't forget the last basketball game of the season... Mr. Danforth, anything to tell us about it?"

Chad stood up, looking a little nervous, since he was obviously trying hard not to make a joke. "Well, Ms Darbus, we know we haven't done that well for a couple of seasons, but we've been working really hard and we're going to go all out. We'd really welcome any support anyone will give us."

Taylor rolled her eyes at Gabriella, but she frowned into her notebook. She had never really questioned the principle of 'ignore the jocks', since if she had followed it in previous schools life would have been much better. Now, though, she couldn't help but look at the irony, and feel a little ashamed. It was no secret that Chad liked Taylor. He certainly couldn't keep quiet, but Taylor justified her poor treatment of him, and the rest, because they were jocks. Gabriella wondered whether a school existed anywhere where the people were judged by who they were, not what they did.

The rest of homeroom passed before Gabriella really noticed, wrapped as she was in her own confusing thoughts. Things didn't get much better in her morning classes, either, and all the teachers noticed, though did not voice, the fact that their most gifted student was unusually distracted. On the other hand she was doing so well in all her classes, each one decided to give her a break. She obviously had something on her mind.

Lunch came as a tremendous relief, and gave Gabriella a renewed sense of determination. She'd talk to her friends, and see if they knew anything. After collecting her lunch from the cafeteria, she sat down with her friends in the seat they'd left for her, smiling at one and all before focusing on Sharpay and Taylor.

"Guys... can you tell me anything about Troy Bolton?"

Taylor snorted somewhat indelicately. "A jock, and a bit of a loser. Not worth worrying over. Why?"

Gabriella decided to sidestep the question. "You know anything, Shar?"

Sharpay frowned into her sandwich before answering. "Taylor might be being a bit harsh. He's on the basketball team, but he never struck me as quite as obsessed as the rest. And after all, there was the accident."

The other conversations around the table died down, as though, Gabriella thought, Sharpay had uttered some unholy, blasphemous testimony. Martha broke the silence. "Sharpay, we said we wouldn't..."

"I know, we said we wouldn't talk about it. But, I think we need to. Apart from anything else, it contributed to what brought us all together, and I think Gabriella has a right to know."

There was silence for a moment, and then Ryan spoke up. "Personally, I agree with Shar. This has to be Taylor's decision; you two need to agree on this." Not for the first time, Gabriella was thankful for Ryan's presence within the group, and felt a little sorry for him. He spent all his time with a whole group of girls without a single complaint, and was often landed with the role of arbiter and mediator during one of the group's thankfully infrequent arguments.

Taylor and Sharpay looked at each other for a long time, the contrasts between them even more shocking than usual: Taylor in a smart white blouse with matching stone grey skirt and jacket, her dark complexion and hair set off by a bright blue hair band, and Sharpay as usual in pink and white, her blonde hair today draped loosely but artfully down to her shoulders. Finally, Taylor nodded and turned to Gabriella. She took a deep breath, and began.

"This happened a couple of years ago now. Back then, Sharpay and I weren't exactly as close as we are now..."

Everyone at the table snorted, and Taylor grinned sheepishly. "Okay, understatement. We hated each other's guts, made each other's lives miserable... and the lives of everyone around us, too." She looked around apologetically at the table, who smiled reassuringly. "Anyway, that day... I don't remember what actually happened, but it led to us fighting. And not just the normal stuff: we were scratching, pulling hair... I'm pretty sure Shar made a grab for my eye at one point."

Gabriella gasped. "Sharpay!"

Sharpay made an indignant little sound. "I did not! I went for her hair, and... missed a little."

"Anyway," Taylor continued, "we were eventually broken up by the gym teacher, coach Bolton."

Gabriella's eyes widened. "Bolton?"

Taylor paused. "Yeah, Bolton. Now that's weird. I'd almost forgotten, Troy was his son. He's been living with the Masons so long, I guess it kind of slipped. Anyway, he pulled us apart, and gave us both detention the next evening. We were being made to clean the locker rooms, and we were going to be there until it was spotless. Yeah, it was a punishment, but the coach wanted us to work together, and maybe settle our differences."

Kelsi, who was sitting next to Ryan and nibbling at a sandwich, spoke up then, her quiet voice startling everyone: Kelsi rarely spoke out. "That was just coach Bolton: he was a great teacher, and cared about all of us. Yeah, the basketball team was special to him, but he had time for everyone, and he never blamed anyone for not being good at sports, as long as we tried. I remember, once, I was late to class 'cos I got so into writing a song. He came to the music room to find me, and I didn't notice him at first, just kept going, and he stood and listened. And when I finished, he came over, gave me a warning about missing his class... and then praised me for the song."

Gabriella watched in amazement as a glorious smile spread over the small girl's timid face. She had never seen Kelsi this animated. "It was the first time anyone had paid attention to what I was doing, and... I was so grateful to him. I made sure never to be late to his class again, and I always tried my best, even though I was never any good at gym. And in return, he had a word with the music teacher. He would listen to me play, and he would..."

There were tears running down Kelsi's cheeks now. Ryan reached around her, and pulled her close to him, letting her cry softly into his jacket. He also took over for her. "To put it plainly, coach Bolton was a great guy, and he wanted the best for us, hence his little idea with Shar and Tay."

Taylor was looking down at her food now, and Gabriella realised that, whatever had happened, it had been huge. Nothing made Taylor seem insecure, she was probably the most together person Gabriella had ever met, and yet...

"We were cleaning as we had been told, sniping at each other the whole time, and we saw Mrs. Bolton come in. It wasn't that unusual, especially since it was after school hours. We kept going for a few more minutes... and then we heard voices coming from the coach's office. The coach and his wife, sure, but someone else was there too. They were shouting, and... then we heard gunshots."

Gabriella froze. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't that. She knew that Troy's parents were probably dead, though she hadn't been certain, but she had anticipated a car accident or something. Not what sounded like cold-blooded murder.

Taylor seemed unable to continue, so Sharpay picked up the narrative, though she too seemed unnaturally subdued, obviously drawing strength from Ryan's hand on her shoulder. "We screamed, and heard some glass breaking. I was about to run away, but Taylor made me stay and we looked in the office. There was... a lot of blood. More blood than I've ever seen, and more than I ever want to see again. The coach and his wife were both lying on the floor, and their eyes were open. The window was smashed. We called 911, but it was too late."

There was silence for what seemed like a long time, and then Taylor took a deep breath. "The police caught the guy who did it. Some whack-job the coach had failed a few years before, who blamed him for not graduating, not going to college, not holding down a job. The guy was crazy; I don't think he went to prison, but a mental institution instead. Eventually, things calmed down. Principle Matsui hired coach Rogers, and because he's a football man and doesn't care about them, the basketball team started failing, and they've never recovered. But, on the other hand," and here she took Sharpay's hand and gripped it tightly, smiling at her friend, "we became friends, and have been ever since. So, now you know as much as we do."

Gabriella nodded, trying to process all she had heard. "Thanks for telling me, you guys. Sorry, it couldn't have been easy." She didn't mention what she was thinking, because she knew it wouldn't have been like that, wouldn't have occurred to any of them, but she was thinking about Troy. One day he has a perfectly normal life, and the next his parents are taken from him, and the entire school is shunning him. She could only guess what that could be like.

As they were all leaving for afternoon classes, Gabriella found Kelsi walking beside her, still obviously upset from the story. "Gabriella," she started nervously, "you have free period tomorrow morning, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," she replied, wondering what was up. The smaller girl seemed to debate with herself for a while before coming to a decision.

"If you want to find out a little more about Troy Bolton, meet me outside the music room, five minutes after free period starts." And with that, they entered the classroom, and all opportunity to discuss the cryptic instructions was lost.