Ryan wondered around the school a little aimlessly, Troy was in a lesson and he found himself bored. He wanted to do something, but he couldn't face going to the drama room because he knew that's where his sister would be. Sighing to himself he headed up to the roof, somewhere he had secretly fell in love with ever since Troy had showed him it. He opened the door and was startled to see Gabriella sitting on the bench, her cheeks wet with tears.

"Ryan," She said as she looked up a little startled.

"Sorry, I didn't think any one would be up here." Ryan said a little awkwardly.

"It's okay, I was just going..."

"No stay, I'll find somewhere else." Ryan smiled weakly.

"Does it have to be like that now?" Gabriella sighed. "I mean, if I'm in a room will you and Troy walk out?"

"No, course not." Ryan said quickly. "I just... I didn't think you would want to be in the same room as me."

"Please, I want some company." Gabriella patted the bench next to her, and Ryan hesitantly made his way over and sat next to her.

"How you doing Gabby?" Ryan asked gently.

"I'm confused." She admitted. "I didn't let Troy explain it to me, so... could you please?"

"Okay, but listen to Troy's too okay?" Gabriella nodded and Ryan started to speak. "It wasn't planned. To be honest, I always had a crush on Troy." Ryan admitted. "I knew nothing would ever happen so I never moved on it." Ryan took a shaky breath. "The weekend you left, I got beat up by some boys from the school."

"Ryan, are you..."

"I'm fine, honest." Ryan said strongly. "The reason for them beating me up was because they saw me with my boyfriend. He didn't really want everyone to know he was gay so we had kept everything hidden you know?" Gabriella nodded. "Well they filmed him breaking up with me on the camera."

"That's horrible!" Gabriella gasped. Ryan just shrugged.

"I didn't want to go into school, I was too scared. I woke up late hoping I wouldn't you know have to go in, but you know what's Sharpay's like. She convinced me that hiding wouldn't help anything, so I went to school. I had a black eye and I felt as though everyone was staring at me. I walked into home room and I didn't look at anyone I just waited for the bell to ring so I could get on with the day. Once I was out of the class a few people asked what had happened, I couldn't tell them I was pretty sure they would find out sooner or later."

"Then what happened?" Gabriella asked softly. Even though she wanted to hate Ryan, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"Troy, he asked what happened." Ryan said wondering how she was going to take it all now. "I just told him I got mugged."

"Did he believe you?" Gabriella laughed, she knew how bad of a liar Ryan was. They had often teased him about it because he was an actor he should be able to lie.

"No, but he never asked me about it. He sat next to me in maths, I don't think he wanted to sit on his own."

"Because I wasn't there?" Gabriella sighed.

"Yeah, he missed you I could tell." Ryan said.

"Then what happened?" Gabriella asked trying to get back to the point.

"We got our results for the pop quiz, and he passed and I failed." Ryan replied. "He offered to help me with my maths. I think he was just looking for a distraction, to take his mind off of you."

"It worked." Gabriella mumbled a little bitterly.

"I didn't think he meant it to." Ryan sighed. "I didn't mean it to either."

"So he helped you with maths?"

"Yeah, and then we just spoke a bit. It was nice, he's easy to talk to. The next day, I was still scared to go to school, and when I'm scared... I don't eat." Ryan said in a little bit of a rush.

"You don't eat? Ryan that's so..."

"Dangerous, stupid, idiotic, I know." Ryan sighed. "At lunch Sharpay sat next to me as usual, and she was going on about me not eating and I lost it. She was doing my head in and I yelled at her. It was stupid, because I know she was you know just showing how much she cared. So I stormed off very dramatically." Gabriella laughed a little, she still wanted to hate Ryan but hating Ryan was just impossible. "Troy followed me."

"Did he get you to eat?"

"Yeah, he gave me brownies." Ryan laughed. "But then I cried and he just made me feel better. He listened and he didn't try and talk he just let me do all the talking. Then I don't know, we just clicked?" Ryan said a little unsure. "We spoke a lot over the next couple of days, and then well I told him why I stopped eating when I was younger and I think he made it sort of a mission to get me to want to eat."

"He always wants to make sure everyone is okay," Gabriella said softly.

"Yeah, he cares too much." Ryan smiled.

"So when did you two become a couple?"

"He told me he liked me after I had dinner at his house." Ryan sighed. "We kissed." Ryan said quietly. "I didn't want to do anything, or be in a relationship with him because I was scared that all I was, was some sort of distraction for him."

"You're not," Gabriella smiled. "I can see how much he cares about you." Ryan just nodded. "So when did you see it?"

"After he told me how he felt we decided to wait, till you came back. Then he can see if he means it because I didn't think he was sure. He said he would, and I was happy waiting and I wouldn't have minded if he went back to you because it was nice just being his friend. But then the boys who had beaten me up, well they started to tell people and showed the video and Troy saw how hard it was for me at school and he didn't want me to go through it alone."

"I always thought that you two just got together straight away in my head," Gabriella sighed. "I'm glad you didn't."

"So am I." Ryan smiled.

"Thank you for telling me all of this." Gabriella smiled weakly.

"No, Thank you for listening." Ryan stared at the floor. "It must be hard for you."

"Yeah it is." Gabriella sighed. "But if Troy was to be with someone else, then I'm kind of glad it's you."

"Really?" Ryan asked a little startled.

"You're a good guy, Ry. You make each other happy, I see that now." Gabriella stood up. "I want to be okay with it. I just need time okay. I mean it's hard seeing you two together. So I think I'm going to give you some space. But one day I hope we can be friends." She hugged him softly before walking away.

Ryan sat on the roof until he heard the bell go, he headed to his drama class he felt a little better after his talk with Gabriella, and he was glad that Troy was in his class. He walked to the class and walked in and saw Troy talking to Kelsi, he made his way over to them.

"Hey." Kelsi smiled at him.

"Hey," Ryan smiled back. Troy wrapped an arm around his waist and held him tight.

"I was waiting for you here during free period." Kelsi sighed. "You said you'd help me with the song."

"Sorry." Ryan said quickly. "I completely forgot. I just... didn't want to see Sharpay." Ryan said quietly.

"It's okay. She was in a bad mood." Kelsi smiled at how Troy was holding Ryan. "So where were you?"

"Roof." Ryan answered. "I was talking to Gabby."

"You were?" Troy asked a little surprised.

"I think you should talk to her." Ryan smiled weakly. Troy just nodded.

"Ryan can I talk to you please?" Sharpay's voice filled the room. Ryan turned around. "Alone, I don't want to talk to you through your little guard dog."

"What's going on?" Ryan asked wondering where the hostility had come from, Sharpay had always liked Troy.

"If you had something to tell me Ryan next time you tell me." Sharpay shouted. "And if choreographing the show is really that important to you, do it. Don't mess it up." And with that she walked away.

"What the hell was that?" Ryan said looking at Troy.

"I kind of... spoke to her earlier." Troy admitted.

"What did you say?" Ryan sighed.

"That you should choreograph the show." Troy replied. "I could see how upset you were so figured..." Ryan just nodded his head weakly. "Are you angry?"

"A bit." Ryan sighed. "But thanks." Troy smiled weakly.

"Right class, lets begin!" Their teacher said and they all headed towards the stage. Troy watched as Sharpay ignored her brother and wondered if he had done the right thing by talking to her.