A.N: First story I’ve written in a long time… I hope that you like it. Angsty, depressing, but with a half-decent ending. Kinda painful to write, kinda painful to read, but completely emotional if you listen to the song while reading the story… This does NOT mean that I’ll be writing much anymore… I was just inspired to do a story because I’m rather depressed at the time. Please enjoy, please don’t flame, and please don’t EVER let go of someone you love over something stupid.

ALSO, take note that I haven’t written ANYTHING in a LONG time, so if you find this rather crappy, DEAL WITH IT.

Disclaimer: I don’t own HSM, it belongs to Disney. I don’t own the song, it belongs to The Fray.

Ryan made his way through the clogged hallway, baggy shirt and low-slung sweats hanging off his body loosely. The gym bag that dangled lazily from his shoulder bounced with his steps. His mouth was quirked into a slight frown, brow furrowed in thought.

He walked on.

I found God
On the corner of First and Amistad
Where the west
Was all but won

He passed by the other dancers, huddled around the doors and talking excitedly. Paying no mind to them, he continued to walk, muttering incomprehensible words to himself, face unchanging as he passed through a blue-tinged cloud of smoke from Daniel’s cigarette. He blinked, and a flash of memories blasted their way into that split-second of darkness.

He didn’t change his pace.

All alone
Smoking his last cigarette
I said, "Where you been?"
He said, "Ask anything".

He made his way to a locked door, pulled out a key, jammed it in, and allowed himself to enter the large room with dim, flickering lights. A cracked mirror covered the back wall ominously, and he tossed the bag to the ground. This was the condition expected in a dance studio in the slums.

The blond boy meandered mindlessly to the CD player in the corner, throwing in a disc and pressing play, eyes still zoned out and aimless, thinking over those things that pulled at his heartstrings.

The sound of the music overwhelmed him…

He let go.

Where were you
When everything was falling apart?
All my days
Were spent by the telephone
It never rang
And all I needed was a call
It never came
To the corner of First and Amistad

Guitar strings sounded, the bass thumped, and with every beat, Ryan executed another dance move perfectly, flowing from one to another in a routine he had choreographed himself. His eyes were closed. His body moved by itself, banging the hits out and flowing with the rhythm that saved him.

He needed to let go. But the images that flickered at the back of his retinas cut him like knives. He couldn’t open his eyes. He couldn’t stop his body from the moving, he couldn’t cry, he couldn’t let everything out…

His feet twisted around each other. He spun. His hip popped out as he stopped, hands twined above his head, exactly on the beat, and he moved in to the next sixteen-count.

He breathed.

Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me

His memories stung. Memories of laughing with his friends at the mall. Memories of worrying about that Spanish project he didn’t think he could finish in time. Memories of going to the basketball games, painting his face red and white and cheering loudly for his team. Memories of happiness, smiles, laughter, cheers, jeers, and bonds that could never be broken.

Memories of that boy who was the star. The star of the court. The star of the stage. The star of his world, the only star in his sky…

A year and a half ago, Ryan graduated East High. A year ago, his life fell apart. His scholarship fell through, he dropped out, he lost the only person that ever mattered to him… Sharpay had died in a gruesome car accident.

He had moved to Seattle and let the grief overwhelm him, let his wealth leave him, let himself go. He danced it out, became stoic, and felt nothing more… Nothing more for Troy, or anything else except dance.

Nothing for Daniel, even… the boy who had found him. The boy who had taken him in, under his wing. The boy whom he was dating, yet felt nothing for. It was pointless. Ryan was gone inside…

He danced.

In the end
Everyone ends up alone
Losing her
The only one who's ever known
Who I am
Who I'm not, who I wanna be
No way to know
How long she will be next to me

Troy. Troy Troy Troy Troy Troy… The basketball star’s face flashed into Ryan’s mind, and he tripped over his left foot, falling to the ground. The music still sang out around him.

He grunted, eyes opened, staring at the dinged up hardwood flooring, tears restrained, pushed back behind a concrete wall in his mind, where he trapped everything. Lately though, the concrete had been cracking, tearing up at the seams… pulling itself apart.

The door clicked, and Ryan looked up tentatively to see a figure leaning on the frame, looking down his nose at the blond laying on the floor.

It was like a wrecking ball, smashing through the blockade in his mind, allowing the torrent of feelings to flood his senses.

He cried.

Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me

Troy stood there, arms crossed, staring down his nose at the sobbing boy on the ground before him. He didn’t smile, he didn’t laugh, he didn’t even breath.

The brunette’s face was drawn taught, muscles distinct through the tight shirt he wore. His hair was cut back to a much shorter, more manageable length, and he looked completely different. His eyes were serious. Contemplative, with a wisdom and pain far beyond his years.

“I was wondering where you had gone after the accident,” he stated stoically. Things hadn’t worked out well for him either. He had lost the championship game for his college team, and was completely shunned for it. He got depressed. He dropped out, leaving Gabriella, leaving his family. He disappeared off the face of the earth, just as Ryan had.

Slowly, he walked into the room to the still-crying boy who could barely support himself.

He sighed.

Early morning
The city breaks
I've been callin'
For years and years and years and years
And you never left me no messages
Ya never send me no letters
You got some kinda nerve
Taking all my world

Ryan couldn’t believe it. Here was Troy, standing before him in this derelict studio, when he hadn’t seen the boy in over a year and a half. Here he was, unemotional, unmoving, as if made of stone. The feelings that came back were like blows to the stomach, each wave bringing on a new level of pain.

He couldn’t keep the tears from pouring out. It wasn’t fair. He had spent so long getting his old life out of his mind, and here it was, back again… It tortured him. It yanked at the fibers of his being, it tore into him and ripped him apart bit by tiny bit.

The brunette squatted down, looking silently at the blond, who pulled himself up slightly, sobs still shaking his lithe form.

“Where were you?” Ryan whispered angrily, glaring at the floor, unable to make eye contact with the boy.

He sobbed.

Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor
Where were you? Where were you?
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded

The basketball star looked away, ashamed. He had dropped hints back in highschool. Ryan knew. Of course Ryan knew... Why else would Troy visit the blond after a year and a half of no contact?

Troy leaned in cautiously, and brushed his lips against those of the other. He felt Ryan’s tears on his own cheek, and pulled away slowly, turning around and immediately regretting his actions.

Ryan was shaking his head, mumbling something. He attempted to get up, stumbling at first. As he stood in front of the mirror, he fixed his clothing and breathed erratically, trying to steady himself. It wasn't fair. It was completely unfair and he wasn't going to deal with it anymore.

Troy, looked at him, unblinking. Ryan turned on the boy. The music was still going, and as he made his way to the other boy, he closed his eyes, watching himself do the rest of the routine in his head, moving with the music, just an extension of the piano chords that twirled excitedly through the air.

He walked right up in front of the larger boy, opened his icy blue eyes, and mouthed along the words just as the song said them…

“Just a little late."

Troy leaned in again, but Ryan pulled away. His gaze was cold. Ryan put his hands on Troy's chest and whispered something, then pushed slightly, moving backward, retreating from the other, severing their connection. Troy grabbed Ryan's wrists, tears coming to his own eyes. He pulled slightly, looking down at his own hands, but his eyes were drawn to the slices and scars on Ryan's arms, the remnants of cuts self-inflicted. He looked up to meet the glare of the blond, who yanked his hands away.

A single tear dripped down Ryan's cheek, and Troy could see the screams inside of him, looking down through his eyes and into the dancer's core, his heart, taped up and sewn back together just barely enough so that it kept beating. Ryan picked up his bag and walked out of the room, not a word out of his mouth, not an expression on his face.

He left.

Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
Why'd you have to wait?
To find me, to find me

A/N: Just revised it, and updated it so that the ending wasn't so... blah. Idk. I felt it needed to be fixed, and less happy.