Chapter Five

Chad slumped against the wall, idly spinning his ball between his hands. He gazed dejectedly across the basketball court, wishing that there was something he could do to fix the mess he found himself in. He heard the loud thump of the door of the gym slamming shut and then the squeak of sneakers on the hardwood floor. Chad let out a sigh. He wasn't in the mood to deal with his team right now.

"Hey."

Chad glanced up, surprised to see Zeke standing in front of him. "What?" he knew he sounded surly and he didn't care.

Zeke rubbed his jaw. "Look, I just wanted to let you know that I wasn't in on what went down and I think it was seriously uncool."

"What?" Chad repeated, surprised.

"It's not my business and I won't be offend if you tell me to fuck off, but I know that you and Ryan were," Zeke paused, "is it cheesy to say 'more than friends?'"

Chad grinned in spite of himself. "Yeah. But I won't hold it against you."

"Well, there's that." Zeke moved to the wall and slid down it, his legs stretched out in front of him. "Like I said, I didn't know about the whole setup, but I still want to apologize for begin part of it."

"Setup," Chad said slowly. "As in, someone set me up?"

Zeke gave him a sharp look. "Dude, I thought you knew that--" he trailed off.

"Knew that what?" Chad demanded.

"I hate to break it to you, bro, but Troy totally arranged that little scene." Zeke crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't know what he told everyone else, but he sort of hinted to me that he was going to 'fix' the problems the team had been having with you." He gave Chad a quick glance, then looked out across the court again. "Not that I had a problem. Or the rest of the team, for that matter. It was pretty much only Troy. He had been going on for weeks about how you had lost your team spirit and stuff."

"Dude. I never even missed a practice!" Chad said angrily. Zeke snorted and Chad revised, "Oh, all right, but that wasn't a scheduled practice. Just a pick up game during free period."

Zeke nodded. "But you never missed something like that before." He held up his hands, warding off whatever Chad might have said in response. "I'm not trying to jump all over your shit here, Chad. You were with Ryan," he cleared his throat, "and that's perfectly understandable, since he was your, erm, whatever."

"Boyfriend," Chad said aggressively. "Not that it matters now. He won't even text me, let alone answer my calls." He shook his head. "Which is bull, since it was his stupid idea to keep the whole thing a secret."

Zeke awkwardly patted Chad's shoulder. "That sucks. Both him not talking to you and the whole keeping secrets thing. I mean, I've never had to hide something that big before, but I've got my own hobbies that I don't want getting out and not being able to talk about them sucks. So I would imagine it would be ten times worse with the whole secret boyfriend thing."

Chad turned towards Zeke. "You have hobbies you don't want getting out?" he asked with raised eyebrows. "Dude."

Zeke blushed and glanced down at his feet. "I bake," he mumbled.

"What's that? I couldn't hear you," Chad teased.

Zeke slugged him in the arm. "I bake, you twat."

"Like cakes and brownies and shit?"

"Yeah."

"Cool." Chad grinned.

"Cool?" Zeke repeated, a confused look on his face.

Chad's grin grew bigger. "Totally cool. This means that I've got two sources of baked goods to mooch off of." His face fell. "Or, at least, I would if Gabby were talking to me. Which she isn't, because of the drama with Ryan." Chad sighed.

"Suck," Zeke said sympathetically. "I would have loved to have someone to compare notes with."

"She'd probably talk to you," Chad pointed out. "After all, you didn't call her B.F.F. a fairy."

Zeke reached out and snagged Chad's ball. "Yeah, but I'd have to tell her about the fact that I bake, which is sort of a secret, remember?"

Chad made a face. "Whatever. That's a cool secret. Plus, Gabby isn't judgmental like that." He pushed off the wall and stood. "Want to do a little one on one?"

"Sure." Zeke scrambled to his feet. "Have you tried talking to him in person?"

"Talking to..." Chad blinked. "Oh! Ryan. Naw."

Zeke dribbled the ball. "Why not?"

"Duh. He made it pretty clear he doesn't want to have anything to do with me." Chad smacked the ball out of Zeke's hands and took off down the court with it.

"So?" Zeke angled in front of him, screening the hell out of him.

Chad reverse pivoted, "So I don't want to cause another scene." He moved around Zeke and headed swiftly down the court, aimed and shot. The ball swished through the next and Zeke rushed for it.

"Don't punk out." Zeke called as he sprinted towards the far hoop.

Chad caught up to him and glared as he deflected Zeke's attempt at an up and under. "That's a low blow, dude."

"I call them as I see them." Zeke did a crossover dribble. "Now shut up and play. Your head is anywhere but in the game."

"Shut up and play," Chad mimicked. Then Zeke broke away from him and Chad decided to take his advice both about getting his head in the game and manning up and facing Ryan in person.

"Hey, Gabriella!"

Ryan and Gabby turned towards the sound and Ryan felt bitterness well up in him. Troy Bolton, of all people, was rushing towards them. No doubt coming to ruin the one friendship he had left. He glanced at Gabby and she returned it with a sympathetic smile.

"We'll talk more as soon as I get rid of him," she promised in an undertone.

Troy caught himself up short as he reached them and ran a hand through his hair. He gave Ryan a narrow-eyed look that let him know how little he was wanted, then smiled widely at Gabby. "I need to talk to you."

Of course he did. Ryan did his best not to make a face. "That would be my cue to leave," he said flippantly. He waggled his fingers at Gabby. "Ta."

She caught hold of his hand. "There's not reason for you to go."

"But," Ryan cut his eyes to Troy, "don't you think it would be, um, awkward if I stay?"

"Not at all." Gabby tossed her hair and gave Troy a cold look. "I'm sure this won't take long at all and I want to finish our conversation."

"Okay," Ryan said after a long pause.

"So," Gabby turned to Troy, "what did you want to talk about?"

Troy didn't answer and Ryan noticed Troy was staring at his and Gabby's hands.

"Hello, earth to Troy." Gabby dropped Ryan's hand and snapped her fingers under Troy's nose.

"Huh?"

Gabby sighed. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh," Troy grinned. "That. Yeah. I was thinking," he paused, ducked his head and shoved his hands into his pockets, "that maybe you would want to come with me to catch a movie on Saturday."

"Why would I want to do that?" Gabby crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

Troy deflated. "I should have known," he muttered. "I mean, you and Ryan and all."

"Exactly," she snapped. "Anyone with a brain would know that I would never, ever date someone who hurt my best friend."

"Hurt your best friend?"

Ryan sighed inwardly. Only Troy could pull off baffled and hot at the same time. "It's not that big of a deal," he told Gabby.

"Not that big of a deal?" Gabby pointed her outrage in his direction. "Is he or is he not the reason you and Chad broke up."

"Gabby!" he hissed as Troy made a choking noise.

She ignored him, focusing instead on Troy, who was now the shade of an overly ripe plum. "Even if Ryan wasn't my best friend, I still wouldn't date you. Anyone who is cold enough to hurt someone as close to them as Chad supposedly is to you isn't anyone who I want to know." Gabby spun on her heel and grabbed Ryan's arm. "Come on, I'm done here."

"Wait!" Troy called after them as they started to walk away. "Hey, I said wait." He ran in front of them, forcing them to stop. "Look, I don't know what is going on between Chad and Ryan, but getting them to stop hanging out was totally Sharpay's idea. She said that she would make it that I got my best friend back as long as I did what she said." He bit his lip. "I'm so stupid. I should have known she had something up her sleeve."

Ryan felt himself go cold. "Sharpay?" he whispered.

Gabby snorted. "Even if you were Sharpay's chump, you still should have seen how upset you made both of them. And besides, I haven't seen Chad anywhere near you since things went down."

"Yeah, well, things didn't exactly go the way that I thought they would," Troy admitted sheepishly.

"Then it shouldn't upset you too much that things aren't going to work out here either. Excuse me, I really need to go." Gabby tugged on Ryan and started walking in the direction of the parking lot.

Ryan stumbled in her wake, not sure what was going on anymore. Sharpay had a hand in it after all, despite all her protests to the contrary. Why was he not surprised? He made a disgusted noise and shook his head. Sharpay had her wonderful points, but at her core was a hard bedrock of selfishness and not even her family was immune to her machinations if they got in her way. He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice when Gabby stopped abruptly. Ryan stepped back quickly to avoid smacking into her.

"Are you alright?" Gabby peered into his face like the mysteries of the universe were written on it and she didn't like what they were revealing.

"I'm fine," Ryan mumbled.

She pursed her lips. "I'm not a mind reader or anything, but you are lying through your teeth right now."

Ryan lifted a shoulder. "Okay, I'm not alright. But what can you do about it? Nothing. So why share?"

"Ryan," Gabby sighed and pulled him into a tight hug. "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. I'm sure she's sorry for what she did. Haven't you told me that she's been acting overly nice and sort of guilty lately?"

"Yeah," Ryan slipped free of her embrace. "But she still did it, didn't she? And she hasn't tried to make things right between--" he let his voice trail off as his eyes caught sight of who was barreling towards them. "Christ, just when I thought today couldn't get any worse."

Gabby glanced over her shoulder and then caught Ryan's hand in hers and squeezed. "Do you want me to stay?"

He nodded and squeezed her hand back. "More than anything. I can't face him alone right now."

"Don't worry, wildcat, I've got your back."

The thought of tiny little Gabby protecting him from Chad was enough to make him laugh. She joined in and they didn't stop until Chad was standing in front of them and clearing his throat meaningfully.

"Do you need a cough drop?" Gabby asked between giggles.

Chad gave them both baffled looks. "Sometimes I think the pair of you are mentally unhinged or something."

Ryan instantly lost all urge to laugh. "Did you want something?" he asked coldly.

"Uh," Chad scratched the side of his neck, "yeah. We need to talk."

"Not interested." Ryan made to move around him, but Chad blocked his path. Ryan glanced at Gabby. "Didn't we just do this with Tweedledum?"

"What?" Chad had that blank, confused expression on his face again. "Never mind, it's not important. Look, Ry, I was wrong. Really, really wrong. And I'm sorry. More sorry than I can possible say." He licked his lips nervously. "All I keep thinking about is how stupid this whole thing is and how much I miss you and please, just forget all that and let's start over. Because you and me? We make sense."

"Still not interested." He gave Chad a wide smile. "Now if you'll excuse us." He stepped to the left only to be blocked again.

"Dude, come on." Chad dashed a hand through his hair. "This isn't how this is supposed to go down."

Ryan closed his eyes and counted to ten slowly. Then he took a deep breath and did it again. He opened his eyes and said slowly, "And how, exactly, is it suppose to go down? Am I supposed to jump up and down and babble about how grateful I am that you," he stopped and shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm not like that."

"No, you got it all wrong," Chad pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm trying to say I'm sorry here. I want to make this right. I want there to be a you and me again."

"There is still a you and me," Ryan answered softly. "They just don't go together anymore."

Gabby let out a soft little gasp and when he looked at her he saw that she was crying. "I'm sorry," she gulped. "I shouldn't be here for this. I'll meet you at the car, okay?"

Ryan just nodded. He waited until she was out of earshot before saying, "I really liked you, Chad. I thought that maybe," he gave a shrill laugh, "well, it doesn't matter what I thought. And it doesn't matter that I liked you. I could never be with someone who doesn't respect who I am as a person and who trivializes and mocks my aspirations and goals."

Chad's face went ashen. "I was only saying that to get Troy and the rest of the guys off my back."

"It doesn't matter why you said it, only that you did."

"But I didn't mean it."

Ryan shook his head sadly. "Then that just makes this all the more pointless, doesn't it?"

"Just give me another chance." Chad reached out and traced the side of Ryan's face with his hand. "Haven't you ever done something you regretted? Haven't you ever wished you could go back and make things right?"

Ryan rested his hand on top of Chad's, savoring the contact. He swallowed, wishing that this wasn't so damn hard. "I don't trust you," he said after careful consideration. "And I can't be with someone I don't trust."

"Ryan--" Chad began, but Ryan cut him off.

"You say you want a second chance, you say you want to make things right, well then you have got to find a way to earn my trust. Plain and simple." Ryan took a deep breath and then pulled Chad's hand away from his face and dropped it.

Chad stated down at his hands, his shoulders slumped. "How the hell am I going to do that?"

Ryan laughed again, just as bitterly as before. "That's a mystery to you and me both." He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "Anyway, I've got to get going. I'll," he trailed off with a lift of one hand.

"Yeah," Chad hitched his bag up higher on his shoulder. "I'd better jet too."

But he didn't move. He just stood there, looking for all the world like an overgrown puppy someone had kicked, and watched Ryan walk away.