The students had mostly calmed down from the drama in the cafeteria, though there was some muttering of Sharpay being overthrown as Ice Queen, much to her dismay. However, there was more drama brewing and who but Ms. Darbus would be the eye of the storm?

The drama teacher swept into the men's locker room in the gym with little care for the modesty of the boys and moved as quickly as she could to Coach Bolton's office. She turned the corner into his office much like a tornado of glitter and melodrama looking like a woman on a mission. "Alright Bolton, spill it." She said, standing in front of him, huffing when he looked up at her with an expression that could only be called dopey and he motioned with his sandwich.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." He said, raising an eyebrow when she huffed again and threw her shawl over her shoulder.

"Your son showed up at my auditions, and I give every student a fighting chance, a time honored tradition in the theatre that you would know nothing about but if this is just some twisted plot to upset the status quo of my temple of the arts, I will not stand for it!" She said, looking practically livid when he made the dopey face at her again.

"But Troy doesn't even sing..."

"Well, you're wrong about that, but I will have you know, I will not let my Twinkle Towne musicale be ruined by some basket shooting hooligans!" She said, glaring when he chuckled.

"Twinkle Towne?" He repeated, looking wholly unimpressed.

"I knew it! I knew it!" She said, glaring again and turning to sweep back out of the locker room in much the same way as she had entered, huffing when she nearly ran into one of the mostly naked boys shamelessly eavesdropping outside of the office.

Taylor McKessie was doing her damnedest to get Ryan and his "genius brain" onto her scholastic Decathlon team, and while Ryan did appreciate that he was smart, and certainly didn't mind her bolstering his ego with that fact, he was growing tired of her following him around and practically begging on her knees for him to join. He sighed as he noticed her from across the hall and slowed to go to his locker, knowing by now that avoiding her would just make it worse.

"Hi Ryan!' She said, just a little too perky for his taste, especially since his most recent memory was that of making out with Troy in the empty classroom. It had been surprisingly easy to get used to the brunette jock in every way, but the jarring sound of the bell and people heading to class had broken their love filled trance, and Taylor was not very high on his list of people he wanted to see after being interrupted while making out.

"Hi Taylor." He said, head still stuck in his locker and trying not to sound completely unenthused by her existence. If his annoyance showed it didn't register with her as she continued to prattle on about the team and why he should join. He grabbed two textbooks and a notebook out of his locker, catching a note that fluttered down from underneath one of them with practiced ease. "Look, I understand that you guys could really use a new fresh mind on the team, but I'm really not looking to join much of anything, this callback thing wasn't exactly planned, and now that I have it to worry about, I don't think I can handle adding Scholastic Decathlon." He said, closing the locker a moment later. "I'm sorry, and I don't mind joining your study group if you want me to, but I really don't think the team is right for me. It's nothing personal, I just told myself I wouldn't let my intelligence define my life here at East High, and right now, the easiest way to avoid that is to avoid the team." He didn't mean to sound harsh, but he was more than a little frustrated and knew that Troy was waiting for him somewhere in the school. "I'm sorry, maybe after the callback I can join, but I need to get to class." He added smiling gently at her when she looked a bit put out. She nodded and smiled back, heading on her own way a moment later.

He rolled his eyes just a bit and turned to follow the path laid out in the note from the Wildcat.

A few moments later, he found himself emerging onto the roof of the school and turned around to see Troy standing in a veritable jungle of flora, local and exotic alike. "Well, you are just full of surprises." He said, giggling a little and moving up the last few small steps to stand next to Troy and look out over the view of Albuquerque. "This is a really beautiful little hideout." He added, looking over at the other boy and resting on the rail next to him.

Troy smiled over at him and nodded. "It's my little hideaway thanks to the science club. Most of the team doesn't even know it's here." He said, smiling a little and licking his lips as he turned to the blonde. "I come up here when I need to think, or when I just need to get away from everything." His hair blew across his face with a gust of wind from the gathering storm and he smiled at Ryan again.

"You pretty much have the whole school wired, don't you Wildcat?" Ryan said, quirking an eyebrow and chuckling when Troy shrugged. "Seems to me that everyone wants to be your friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever." He said, grinning a little when Troy moved over and slid his arms around his waist.

"Yeah, well, that's only when we win..." He said, shrugging a little and looking a little sad for a moment. "I just... I don't know what my dad's gonna say when he hears about me singing. With another guy no less..." He said, biting his lip a little.

"You're worried he won't like it?" Ryan asked quietly, smiling a moment later when Troy nodded slowly. "Troy, he's your dad, he loves you, and he'll find a way to accept who you are, whether you're gay, straight, Ryan-sexual," here he paused and chuckled a little. "Basketball guy, singing guy, or some kind of weird combination of all of those. You don't have to live up to anyone's expectations but your own... well, and mine fashion-wise." He laughed again and picked playfully at the red and white shirt the Wildcat was wearing. "You have to be true to you first and foremost. No matter what." He added, smiling when Troy leaned down and kissed him gently. "If you ask me, I think you're bloody fucking amazing." The feeling of being held by Troy was more comfortable than most any Ryan had ever felt, and even the few scattered insults and occasional hateful slur tossed at him as he had traversed the halls wasn't going to bring him down. He had sworn that to himself when he had realized he was gay, and not a person in the whole world was going to bring him down from the high he was experiencing in the hands of the oh so talented Troy Bolton.

Troy smiled and kissed him again, and then pulled back to sit down on the bench against one of the terrace walls. Ryan moved over to join him, and without thinking about it laced his hand with Troy's, and let his head fall onto the taller boy's shoulder.

"I know that sometimes it's hard to be yourself Troy, but I'm here by your side, and you're not getting rid of me easily." He said, squeezing reassuringly at the brunette's hand. "And you don't have anything to prove. If you need time to figure how to come out, or you want to wait for some reason, I'm not going to force you to." He added, looking up into Troy's eyes and conveying quite how serious he was, only to be met with an equally serious gaze.

"No. I'm not backing down from the one thing in the world that's taught me what it's like to really feel. You're mine Ryan, and I'm yours. The whole world should know that." He said, looking down at Ryan with his face set in a serious look, and eyes fiery with passion. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I'm not stopping for a second to make apologies or anything like that." He smiled when Ryan nuzzled him and rested his head against the blonde's. "I love you Ryan, and you're my boyfriend, if people have problems with that, it's not my fault, and they're not taking it away from me."

A/N: What will Troy do next? Will Taylor ever get Ryan on her team? Is Sharpay going down without a fight? Find out next time on Tres Fucks Up the Plot of HSM!~ Until then, review it please!~ =3