The Injured Player

"Okay, so that's 21-21." Coach Bolton sighed, exhausted. PE was the last class of the day, and neither Troy nor Gabriella would let the game stop until there was a clear winner. Coach Bolton was beginning to regret his decision to appoint them as captains. "You brought it on yourself." He muttered to himself, shaking his head and looking up at the gym's large clock. 5.30pm, at the rate this game was going there would be no point going home, neither side was going to give in.

"Gabriella, I'm so tired, I need my beauty sleep, besides I've got Twinkle Town rehearsals tomorrow and Ryan and I have a lot of practising to do." Sharpay whined to her captain. Gabriella barely acknowledged her blonde team mate, because a) she was too tired to reply and b) she would only end up saying something rude. Taylor hit the ball smoothly over the net and jogged over to Gabriella, her face shining with sweat, "I actually agree with Sharpay."

Gabriella was forced to listen now, she laughed, "You AGREE with Sharpay?? That's something I never thought I'd hear…"

"You're not the only one." Taylor panted. "But seriously, enough is enough, maybe we should just forfeit…"

"What's up girls?" Chad bellowed from the other side of the court, his arms held out a questioning look on his face. "Giving up so soon??." Chad asked half mockingly-half hopefully, if the girls forfeited it meant they could all go home. His face fell at Gabriella's answer.

"Nope, we could go all night." She hit the ball to Chad and it flew right past his face, he turned and watched the ball roll away too tired to move an inch. He looked back at Troy who was giving him a 'what gives?' look.

Chad shrugged, "Dude, my bad…"

Coach Bolton was seeing his class flagging and realised if he didn't put a stop to this then half the class would drop dead of exhaustion, the thought if the amount of paperwork this would lead to, caused him to take action. "Okay." He shouted. "Last point wins." The class's energy was suddenly restored; there was a light at the end of the tunnel the battle would soon be over. Troy whacked the ball over the net with all his might, and none of the girls reached it. Both teams erupted immediately into cheers.

"Hold on, Bolton." Gabriella stopped celebrating, and faced the boys' side, her arms folded. "Why are you cheering, we just won!!" She paused. "Aww, you that happy for us?"

Troy moved towards the net, "What are you talking about Montez? You failed to hit the ball back, our point."

Gabriella moved closer, stepping under the net so they were face to face. "No, the ball was out, our point." She looked up into his piercing blue eyes, something she hadn't often done. They were the colour of the deepest ocean and she could feel herself drowning.

"Do you always have to be so stubborn or can't you just admit there are SOME things you just can't do??" Troy exasperatedly, he had put too much into this game to lose it now. He stared her down, he was quite a bit taller than her, he moved closer towards her so none of their team mates could hear them. "The game is ours Montez." He whispered, he was so close she could feel his breath on her face, it was unnerving her but she couldn't tell why. She moved backwards, she was getting lost in his presence. "No, it's not. Coach Bolton? Was the ball in or out??"

Coach Bolton felt the pressure as every head in the gym turned to him, his answer would ending up disappointing half the room. He tried to be diplomatic. "Um, next point wins." The kids groaned. Chad walked up to Troy and Gabriella who were still staring at each other and shoved the ball into his chest, "Come on, Troy, let's end this, please!" Troy took the ball and hit it hard over the net, frustration getting the better of him, and next thing he heard was a scream.

Coach Bolton ran over to Sharpay, who was on the floor holding her ankle, was was swelling by the minute, the girls were gathered round attacking Coach Bolton with questions, "Oh, my God. Is her ankle broken?" "Will she ever walk again??" "Can she sue??"

Coach Bolton pressed down on various areas of her ankle and turned to the girls calmly who had now been joined by the boys looking guilty. "Well, I'm not a Doctor so I can't say for sure. But it looks and feels broken."

"What about the musical?" Sharpay wailed.

"I'm sure Miss Darbus will be able to find a suitable replacement…"

Sharpay shook her head. "No, there isn't an understudy. There was just no one who play the role as well as I can." She sighed melodramatically; she seemed to be relishing all the attention. The kids rolled their eyes, no did overacting quite like Sharpay Evans.

"I'm sorry, Sharpay." Coach Bolton laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, and put her arm around his neck to she could stand up.

Troy moved forwards, "Sharpay, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for-

"Troy, this is no way your fault, it's not like you hit me with the ball, I just ran to get it and tripped." Sharpay fluttered her eyelashes, Gabriella rolled her eyes, if it was any but Troy she'd be tearing their head off.

"Are you kidding, Sharpay?" Gabriella scoffed. "It is absolutely Troy's fault! He hit the ball that fast knowing you'd run and get it-

"Oh and I suppose I knew Sharpay would be the one to get it and she'd fall and break her ankle??" Troy retorted sarcastically

"You could have, I don't know how guys think!" Gabriella answered.

"You're just being a sore loser."

"I can't be a sore loser, because we didn't lose! The ball was out!!"

Troy opened his mouth to shout when Coach Bolton blew his whistle, the whole class jumped and several of the girls squealed.

"Troy! Gabriella! Stop arguing! Neither of you won, I'm disqualifying you both. Now, I'm calling for an ambulance for Sharpay and you two and going to accompany her, since it's both, yes BOTH of your faults that the game got so out of hand. You were both so intent on winning you missed the main point of being captains: to look out for your teams. On the way to the hospital I expect you two to work out your differences, I don't want this happening in one of my lessons ever again. Understand?"

"Yes, Coach." Troy and Gabriella replied meekly. Normally Troy would be mad at his Dad for shouting at him in class, but it was justified. They let their egos get away with them. It wasn't his fault Gabriella pushed all the right buttons.

20 minutes later Troy and Gabriella were sat in the back of an ambulance accompanying an unconscious Sharpay. Well, Troy and Gabriella were under the impression she was unconscious, Sharpay was really just faking a state of total unawareness to see what the two arch enemies would say to each other when they thought no one was listening. So far she thought she had been wasting her time, the pair hadn't uttered a word the whole trip. The only sound was the occasional accusatory throat clearing or Troy tapping his foot on the floor something he knew bugged Gabriella immensely.

This was going to be a long trip…