Hello! I've decided to jump on the Chad/Ryan bandwagon, as you can tell.

Disclaimer: Not mine. This is because even though Chad and Ryan obviously want each other, Disney will never let this happen. Chad will end up Taylor, and Ryan will end up with Kelsi or Martha or whatever, and they will live miserably... um, I mean, happily ever after. Also, even though I'm not personally a Troy/Gabriella fan, I'm keeping them together for this story. I might mock Gabriella a little. And Troy. But really, deep down they're good people. Anywho, if I owned these characters, they would not be hooking up with who they're hooking up with in the two HSM movies!

Also, for this story, please disregard what's happening in the possible future-HSM3. This is my version, even though I'm not writing in songs or anything :)

On to the Chad/Ryan lovin'.

Well, even though this part is oddly enough from Troy's p.o.v. After this it'll be from Chad and Ryan's p.o.v.

o O o O o O o O o

School had started a week ago. The students of East High were gradually getting back into the swing of things. Well, the brainiacs already had, but the rest of the student body was catching up. The only person Troy was worried about was Chad. Ever since the mid-summer his best friend had been acting weirder and weirder. He hadn't been talking as much, which wasn't normal for him. Usually he expressed his obnoxious opinion on almost any matter. He still did when he was with Troy, but when they were in their group of friends, he was totally silent.

Troy just didn't get it.

As creepy as it sounded, he watched Chad in class. Troy had noticed that Chad hardly ever spoke out in some classes, but in some classes he did. What about those classes was different than the others? The people in it? Who was different?

The whole gang had Darbus for homeroom again. Chad was usually quiet then. Then Troy and Chad had physics. Chad shouted out sarcastic answers in that class. But then in English, which they had with the Evans twins, Taylor, Gabriella, and Martha, he was quiet again. He was also quiet in math, which they had with the Evans twins and Kelsi.

Eventually, Troy concluded that Chad was silent in the classes that Sharpay and Ryan (who had the same schedule, of course) were in.

And it was funny, because he and Ryan had become pretty good friends during the summer.

It made no sense, so he decided to ask the smartest girl he knew.

After homeroom one day, Troy walked Gabriella to her locker, and asked her if she had noticed Chad was acting weird.

"Yeah, a little bit. I think he's just tired or something. He had the whole summer off and then got sucked back into the whole school routine. Give him a few days." Gabriella told him, giving him that I'm-Gabriella-And-I'm-Brilliant-But-Modest smile.

Troy nodded. "You could be right. It's just that he's never acted like this before when school started. He's always obnoxious to teachers and stuff, and that always begins on the first day of school."

"Why don't you ask him, then?"

"I can't ask him that stuff, Gabriella!" Troy said, imagining the horror.

"Why not?"

"It's a guy thing. Can you imagine it? 'Hey, Chad. You seem to be acting weird lately. Want to talk about your feelings?' Thanks, but no thanks."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "I'm going to be late to AP Calc. See you later, Troy." She smiled slightly, kissed his cheek, and headed down the hall.

Troy was late to physics. He smiled apologetically to his teacher and took his seat next to Chad.

"And where were you, Mr. Bolton?" The teacher asked him, stopping in front of Troy's desk.

"Um. I was talking to Gabriella Montez about an important project." Troy answered quickly.

"Meaning, he was getting lucky." Chad said, immediately following Troy's answer.

Both Troy and the teacher rolled their eyes, and their teacher walked away. Troy leaned over to his best friend. "Okay, why don't you act like that all the time?"

"Like what?" Chad asked, giving him a confused look.

"Obnoxious! In some classes, if I come in late, you say nothing. In this one, you make some sex joke about me and Gabriella! What's with you, man?"

"Nothing's 'with me'!" Chad said. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Well, then say something really annoying to Mr. Roberts next period. I know you usually don't plan that stuff, but do it anyway."

"Fine! I will!" Chad said. "Oh, and another thing. I'm not annoying. I'm witty."

o O o O o O o O o

In English class, Troy took his seat next to Gabriella, as Chad sat in front of him, next to Taylor. Troy wasn't trying to ignore Gabriella or anything, but he had to watch them.

"Troy, what are you doing?" Gabriella leaned over and whispered.

"Gabby, look. Look at them." Troy said. Gabriella looked at their friends as well and at once, Troy knew she saw it too. Taylor was leaning as close as she could to Chad, talking to him, trying to flirt with him. Chad talked to her, but seemed to take no notice. He didn't hit on Taylor. He didn't acknowledge that she was trying to flirt with him. Nothing.

"Maybe he's sick." Gabriella noted quietly. "I'll ask Taylor if she's noticed. She has to have noticed."

"He doesn't seem sick." Troy said. "He just seems... different."

That was when Sharpay entered the room, with Ryan beside her. She walked into the room as if time would stop for her, as if she were a celebrity. Well, and she was. She was the celebrity of the school. Troy couldn't believe he let her control him over the summer. And he couldn't believe that Ryan was back to being Sharpay's little slave, right after she had treated him like crap.

"Hi Troy!" Sharpay chirped. In a duller voice, she said, "The rest of you."

"Hi, Ryan. Sharpay." Taylor said, smiling at Ryan, and looking critically at Sharpay. Troy looked to see if Chad would say anything, but he didn't. He just sat there, staring at the Evans twins. More specifically, he was staring at Ryan. Ryan, of all people. Ryan, not Sharpay. Troy looked away, and then looked again. No, his best friend was still staring at Ryan.

Now, that made no sense. For one thing, Chad wasn't gay. Second, Ryan was the gayest thing since Liberace (for the record, Troy only knew who Liberace was because Ryan mentioned him during musical practice last winter). Chad didn't make fun of gay people, but he did usually make fun of anything girly or flamboyant. So why was he staring at Ryan so... intensely? Why did Ryan smirk back at him?

"Gabriella..." Troy whispered.

"I know. I see it too." Gabriella replied.

The Evans twins took their seats. Sharpay next to Chad, and Ryan behind her, next to Troy.

And during class, Chad said nothing. Not one thing. He sat there, faced the front, and shut up. Not a very 'Chad' thing to do.

And then everything clicked.

o O o O o O o O o

"It makes no sense, Gabby!" Troy said to his girlfriend in a hushed voice at his locker after lunch. "It's Chad!"

"Not all gay people are flamers, Troy." Gabriella said. "And maybe Chad's not gay. Maybe he's bisexual... or pansexual."

"Pan...sexual?"

"It means personality is more important than looks or gender."

"Well, whatever he is, it makes no sense!"

"It'd make sense if you saw the baseball game this summer. Ryan and Chad were... well... a little intense. Everyone thought it was just a rivalry. But... well, it seemed like an attraction kind of rivalry."

Troy gave his girlfriend a feeble smile. "He'd better tell me about this eventually."

Gabriella smiled back at him, and kissed him like she had earlier. "I'm glad I have such an open-minded boyfriend."

Troy laughed. "Well, we were involved in the school musical. Once you've been involved with theatre, you've seen everything."

o O o O o O o O o

Yay! Troy is open-minded... in his own kinda lol-able way. Chad just doesn't know that (hint for the future of the story).

Oh, and this chapter was sort of a prologue. The next chapter will be from Chad's point of view and it's going to backtrack a little, to the summer.