Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical…shocked, no?

A/N: Ok I haven't updated in a while but I've been sick so give me some credit there. Ok in this next chapter I wanted to show a dominate side to Ryan because I'm the writer and I can do that type of stuff. Great news, FallingWithGrace and I will be co-writing! So, when the story comes out, check it out! Also, I just wrote a Ryan and Sharpay story called Behind Closed Doors, so if you like that sort of thing check it out!

Special Thanks to:

CSIslave

death101

Playmaker16

karly

Diana Shra

MyFictionalAnnihilation

Braids21

sharpayxevans

Mondler4EvEr

Disney-Kid

pollypocket911

potterluvva

ANoRDaE

Crimsonred1989

ZacEfronLuver

FallingWithGrace

theferretmenace

Ok so I realize that I might of pissed a lot of you off with that last chapter but just have faith guys, I've had the entire plot in my head since the beginning, I know what I'm doing. Anyways, I LOVE you guys! Hugs all around! Much Love!

So Weak

Ryan wasn't there after school and Troy wasn't surprised. He had known all along that Ryan wouldn't come. Even as he had opened the door to the familiar bathroom hehadn't expected Ryan to be sitting there cross-legged on the tiled counter waiting for him. No, he wouldn't be there that day, or the next, or the next, and yet Troy waited anyways. For two weeks Troy would wait at least and hour everyday after school in hopes of seeing something that he knew would never come. Troy wasn't even sure what he would say if Ryan did show up. Somehow, 'Hey, sorry I broke my promise and screwed you over, I was just worried that I was turning out like you.' didn't really seem to be enough. Troy knew that he didn't deserve Ryan's forgiveness yet, he wanted it all the same. He wanted Ryan to tell him that it was all ok, that none of what he had done had really mattered…that they could still be friends.

Troy Bolton was such an asshole. He knew it, he was almost positive that Ryan knew it, and it wouldn't be very long until the rest of the world figured it out. Actually, he was even worse than that, he was a weak asshole. It was apparent that he was only concerned with looking out for his own ass and he ended up losing the best friend that he had ever had because of it.

Troy saw Ryan in the hallways everyday but Ryan never made eye contact with him. In fact, it was like Ryan refused to even believe that Troy existed. To ignore someone like Troy Bolton was difficult at best but Ryan pulled it off beautifully. If he had to pass Troy in the hallways then he would do it facing forward with his head held high. He was the absolute mirror of dignity even though that was something that had been stolen from Ryan long ago.

However, while one Evans chose to ignore Troy all together he often found a pair of narrowed eyes planted on him. He didn't know if Ryan had actually told Sharpay about what had happened, but she knew. During class Troy would often catch her glaring at him, except for this sneer was different from the one that had seemed to be permanently attached on her pretty face since second grade. Now there was cold rage pouring from her brown eyes. At one point Troy had accidentally bumped into her in the hallway. He had quickly tried to apologize but she had cut him off with a simple "Go to Hell" So, Sharpay did care about something after all.

So for a couple of weeks it went on like this. Troy waiting in vain for forgiveness. Sharpay, trying to drown him in her hate, and Ryan trying to pretend everything was alright. None of them were very successful. Troy never found forgiveness. Sharpay unfortunately found Troy to still be breathing, and for Ryan nothing was really alright.

Troy often found himself wondering what was truly going on in Ryan's mind. Did Ryan care? Did he want everything to go back to the way things were? Did he hate Troy as much as Troy hated himself? He would ask himself these questions until he thought his head was going to explode but they didn't matter because Troy would never get to know the answers. So once Troy realized that this task was unsuccessful he would move on to trying to convince himself that he had actually done the right thing. He soon found this task to be even more pointless than the first because no matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise the simple fact was that Troy had chickened out when it had really mattered and that was unforgivable.

It had been two weeks since Ryan had so much as looked at Troy and even though he felt like this was probably a bad decision Troy felt like he had to do something. The bell to end the school day had just rung and it didn't take Troy long to find a blonde haired boy standing at his locker putting his books away. Troy looked around him to make sure no one was looking and abruptly grabbed Ryan and pulled him into an empty hallway. Ryan's blue eyes were wide with shock but as soon as he realized who had grabbed him his face went back to the same expression that had greeted Troy for the past two weeks.

"Can I help you with something, Bolton?" Ryan asked, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible. So they were back to last names.

"look Ryan-"

"Just save it. It doesn't matter." Ryan turned to walk away but Troy grabbed his arm and turned him back around to face him.

"It matters to me, and I know it matters to you…please just let me explain."

Ryan pulled roughly away from Troy and slammed his fist on the locker beside him. "Explain what Troy? Explain how you fucked me over by making me believe that you actually cared about something more than yourself? Explain how you watched as that bastard touched me and you did nothing about it? Is that what you want to explain because I don't really give a shit anymore. Oh trust me, I did for a while but then I just gave up trying to figure you out Troy Bolton. No, what I want you to explain to me is who in the hell you think you are. You couldn't just leave me alone could you? You couldn't just stay away from me?"

"Please, Ryan, please listen to me. I didn't want this to happen. I just couldn't -"

"Oh I know what you're going to say. You couldn't just let everybody know that you were friends with the school fag… is that what you wanted to tell me?" Troy looked down at his feet. "You're so weak Troy. You make everybody believe that you're some kind of god. You make people believe that you are the leader and yet you are the only one being controlled. You're just so weak." Troy had never felt as if words could hurt so much and yet as he stood there listening to what he deserved he knew words were the cause of all this pain. It had all started with one word written on a locker. The power of speech was a terrible mistake. "I feel like such an idiot." Ryan's voice was soft now, strained even.

"Ryan, I care about you, perhaps more than anyone I've ever cared about in my entire life." Ryan stood there in silence and for a moment Troy believed that Ryan was actually going to forgive him.

"You know for some who cares so much you sure do a lot of walking away." Ryan said bluntly and then as if to say, 'You taught me the way', he turned on his heel and walked off. Troy made no attempt to stop him. Ryan's words had hurt and yet there was more truth in those few minutes then Troy had ever received in his whole life. He stood there for a few moments unmoving until he finally gathered the strength to walk to his locker and grab his stuff. Their conversation played out in his head over and over again until he felt that those words would be the only ones that he would hear for the rest of his life. 'You're so weak Troy.' So weak. So weak. He walked slowly out the front doors of his school. He didn't expect anybody to be around because school usually cleared out pretty quickly, but as he turned the corner to the side of the building he realized just how wrong he was.

"Fuck." he breathed as he saw one of the worst sights that he had ever seen in his life. There were three of them. Two of them were holding Ryan's arms and a third one was punching . Troy recognized the boy as the same one from the hallway, Bobby Hatchery. He was grunting profanities as he laid punch after punch into Ryan's trembling form and the other two were laughing.

"Please- please." Was all that Ryan could get out before the asshole punched him in the face. Blood poured from Ryan's nose onto his pale cheeks and his lip was busted open. Troy already felt sick but then Bobby demanded that the other two let him go. Ryan fell to the ground with a groan as he clutch at his side. Troy briefly had hopes that it was all over, but then Bobby began to kick Ryan in the stomach.

"What are you doing?" One the other boys asked in shock.

"I'm teaching this sick bastard a lesson." Hatchery said in between kicks. Troy saw red. He didn't think about what he was doing. He couldn't think at all. Only one thing matter. Ryan was the only thing that mattered. He walked swiftly up to Bobby, touched him on the shoulder and as Bobby began to turn around Troy punched him as hard as he could muster. Bobby fell immediately to the ground and Troy felt as if his hand was broken.

Troy had admitted to himself long ago that he cared for Ryan but in a matter of moments, with one punch, he showed everybody else just how much.