A/N: Hey people! I'm back with my second fanfic! WHOO! This is also my second HSM fic. I had so much fun writing my first one that I decided to put up a second one! This one's called "Something Has Changed". It's a Ryella. So if you guys don't like Ryella's, that's your loss. I'm not sure if this is going to be as popular as my first one (To Kiss Or Not To Kiss), but I'll give it a shot. I'll even take flames!

Summary: So, Troy and Gabriella auditioned for the winter musical and got the lead parts. They acted and sang together and lived happily ever after, right? WRONG! Since Troy hasn't asked Gabriella to be his girlfriend yet, she's a free girl. But they are best friends. Then, suddenly a guy comes into Gabriella's life and sweeps her off her feet. How will Troy feel about that?

Disclaimer: I do own High School Musical and every part of it! Okay, that was a lie. But I hope it was the truth!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something Has Changed

Chapter 1: Replacement

Troy was in the middle of a basketball game. A rematch between East High and West High for the championship. There were only ten seconds left in the clock, and Troy just stole the ball. He was about to dunk the ball for the winning point. He jumped and suddenly, everything fell into darkness.

A few hours later, Troy woke up. He saw that he was in a white room, on a white bed, and something was holding his foot up. He checked his watch to see what time it is. It read: 1:17. He felt something holding down his other arm. He looked and there was Gabriella holding his hand, fast asleep. He patted her hair with his other arm and she mumbled something.

"Mama, can I have ten more minutes please?" Gabriella pleaded.

Troy laughed at this and continued patting her hair. Gabriella slowly woke up and saw Troy awake.

"Troy!" Then she stood up and gave Troy a big hug and kissed his cheek. "I'm so glad you're awake! I thought you'd never wake up!"

"What happened?" Troy asked.

Gabriella explained to Troy how he was about to dunk the ball but suddenly a huge guy from West High 'accidentally' bumped into him. So Troy fell headfirst to the floor knocking him unconscious and the guy from West High fell on his left leg.

"So on top of being unconscious, you had a broken leg." Gabriella said.

"Then what happened?" Troy asked. So Gabriella continued explaining things to him. When the team tried to wake him up, he wouldn't budge so his dad, Chad, Zeke, and Jason carried him off to the sidelines and coach Bolton called an ambulance. When it got there, they put Troy into a stretcher and into the ambulance.

"I asked your dad if I could ride in the ambulance and he approved. Thank goodness. I was so scared Troy!" Gabriella said, tears in her eyes. Troy patted her hair.

"Ssshhh. Don't cry. You've got nothing to be scared of. I'm still here." Troy comforted her but was anxious to find out what happened next. "What else happened?"

"Well, Chad called me and they said that West High was disqualified for purposely injuring a member of the opposing team. So you guys still won."

"I slept through all of that?"

"Well, you did hit your head pretty hard."

"Oh man! Now that you've mentioned it, my head feels like it's going to explode! So what am I going to do about my leg?" Troy asked, holding his raised leg.

"Let it heal of course!"

"But how am I supposed to do the musical?"

"You don't. Ryan's going to take your place. It's one of Ms. Darbus' rules. 'If the person doing the lead role is in any way injured, sick, or missing, the understudy immediately takes his or her place.'" Gabriella answered as she did a pretty good impression of Ms. Darbus.

"What? You mean Ryan's replacing me?"

"Just until your leg completely heals. And besides, he's the understudy."

"Yeah, but Gabby, the last scene."

"What about the last scene?" Gabriella asks. Troy raises his eyebrows at her. Gabriella thinks for a while and she realizes what Troy is trying to say. She gasps softly.

"I forgot about the last scene." Gabriella finally said after a couple seconds of not saying anything. "Troy, I don't have to do it if you don't want me to do it. I could always ask Sharpay to take my place."

"Um… as much as I know Sharpay loves to perform in musicals, I wouldn't think that she would want to embarrass herself just to be in one."

"But I'm sure they've done it before. Have they?"

"Um…" Troy said thinking. "Yeah, I remember now! They did do it. But just once in fourth grade and it was for the play. It was not a pretty sight. And I don't think they'd wanna do it now that they're sophomores in high school."

"Ew! Okay, just the thought of that, makes me want to throw up!"

"Hey, not on the white sheets!" Troy said playfully. "Anyway, you don't have to quit the musical just because I'm not in it for one night. And you love performing. So I'm not going to get in your way."

"Okay. But if you change your mind just let me know. Because it might make you uncomfortable since you're my best friend and all." Gabriella said. A short silence occurred. Troy stroked Gabriella's face.

"I'm not going to stop you Gabby. You love performing. And Ryan's cool once you get to know him." Troy suddenly said. Gabriella was confused. "You've been hanging out with him?" She asks.

"Well, sometimes, when I practice my songs for the musical and we're taking a break, we talk. And sometimes he plays basketball with the team and me. And, he's actually good! My dad even asked him if he wanted to join the team next year since a couple of our players are moving on to college. He declined because he says he doesn't think that he can balance basketball, performing, his social life, his family/friends, and keeping his grades up all at the same time. And sometimes he even asks us for advice."

"He's asks you for advice?"

"Yeah. He asks us advice on how to deal with girls. He told us that he wants to start asking girls out again but he forgot how. Seems like he asked this girl out once last year and they went steady for a while. But a couple days later, she broke his heart. And he hasn't asked a girl out since." Troy explained.

"Wow. So there's more to Ryan Evans' life besides following his sister around. He's such a sweet guy. Why would anyone want to break his heart? I mean, he sent me a bouquet of roses on the first night of the musical for good luck. How sweet is that?"

Yeah, so sweet. Troy thought jealously.

"What did that girl do to hurt him anyway?"

"Apparently, she cheated on him and he caught her. When he was on stage, he was looking for her because she promised him she'd be there to watch him. When he finally saw her, she was making out with this other dude in a dark corner. And when he saw that, he ran off the stage and didn't bother finishing the show which caused Sharpay to get mad at him."

"Oh, poor Ryan. He must've been hurt real bad."

"Yeah. No wonder he doesn't have anything better to do than follow Sharpay around. He doesn't have a girlfriend."

"Well, what advice did you guys give him?"

"We told him to keep his head up and just girls to notice him more often."

"And?" Gabriella asked for him to continue.

"And that's about it."

"That's all you told him? One advice? Wow. After a year of not dating, that's the only advice you guys give him. You guys are pathetic."

"Well, what were we supposed to say?"

"You're supposed to support him and say, 'Go for it, you can do it'. Or you could've told him to act like himself because girls don't like show-offy guys who think that they have to act cool just to impress them."

"Well, I'm not a girl, so I don't know those things!"

"Okay, okay. Fine. Well, I guess you're okay now. So I can get some real sleep. And you rest your leg and get better. Hopefully it'll heal before Saturday."

"But Gabby, Saturday is three days from now. And I don't think it'll heal that fast." Troy pointed out.

"Oh. Well you just let me know if you change your mind about me being in the musical, okay?"

"Okay. But I told you Gabby; I'm not going to change my mind. I'm not stopping you from being in the musical this Saturday. Besides, I have no reason to stop you." Troy said.

"Okay, okay. I won't nag you about it anymore. It's just that, I don't want to see you hurt." Gabriella said.

"Gabby, I won't be hurt. I promise. Why would I be?"

Because I'm hoping that you like me and don't want to see me with another guy. Gabriella thought. But instead, she answered, "I don't know."

"Can you do me a favor?" Troy asked.

"Sure."

"Can you sing me a song while I fall asleep?"

"Which song?"

"Any song. Just as long as you sing." Troy answered.

"Okay. This one's for you." Gabriella said. She started singing "Dreaming Of You" by Selena. (A/N: I love that song. It's so romantic!)

By the time she finishes, she looks at Troy and finds that he's already asleep. So she turns off the lights and curls up on the couch that was near Troy's bed. She couldn't sleep that night. She couldn't help but think about Saturday night. The night she would have to kiss Ryan Evans.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Okay, so that was my first chapter. It's not my favorite chapter but I can live with it! And it's just to start things off. But I hope you guys liked it! And if you're confused in some parts, just let me know and I'll clear it up for you.

Coming up next chapter: We listen in on Ryan and Sharpay's conversation.