High School Musical was a defining part of most of our childhoods but, like a lot of films and TV shows, when you re-watch them as an adult you realise you actually missed SO much.
And HSM is definitely no exception. Fans of the Disney franchise have taken to Twitter with a new theory on the film, and it's that the characters Chad Danforth and Ryan Evans were actually gay and in a relationship together.
Just to give you a quick recap (we know it's been a while): Chad was Troy's basketball best friend and was supposed to be dating Taylor McKessie, while Ryan was Sharpay's brother and took Kelsi to the prom. But Taylor and Kelsi aside, fans think they've figured out that Chad and Ryan were interested in each other the whole time.
If you need to brush up on your HSM memory, all three films are available to stream on Disney+, so that's your weekend sorted (thank us later).
The theory centres around the scene in High School Musical 2 where Ryan and Chad play baseball and sing 'I Don't Dance' together. There is undoubtedly a lot of tension in the scene, which on the surface seems like good old baseball rivalry, but fans think it's actually a big dose of sexual tension between the pair. Plus, they reckon that baseball is one huge homoerotic metaphor.
To take things even further, Chad and Ryan swap clothes after the baseball game and are suddenly very cosy together, making Troy and everybody else extremely jealous.
Some fans are speculating that Ryan is gay and Chad is bisexual, and while they're pretty certain that Chad and Ryan's friendship in High School Musical 2 came with a lot of sexual tension, they're also mourning what could have happened if their relationship had been an open and obvious storyline.
Others have taken the theory further and speculate that Sharpay is also gay, and was jealous of Gabriella the whole time not Troy.
To be honest, this is a lot of information to take in, so we're probably going to have to watch the whole thing again right now.
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Emily Gulla was Cosmopolitan UK’s Former Editorial Assistant/Junior Entertainment and Lifestyle Writer, covering celebs, TV and film for the site, magazine and video. She’s interviewed the casts of your favourite TV shows, from Bridgerton to Derry Girls and Stranger Things, as well as dozens of Love Islanders. She also loves getting stuck into long-read features, writing on all things digital culture (including her favourite topic: memes), and dating - having appeared on the radio to discuss dating.
Emily's work has also been published on ELLE, Women's Health, Harper's Bazaar, Digital Spy and more. She holds a First Class degree in English with Film Studies from King's College London, and even wrote her dissertation on Love Island. You can find Emily on Instagram and LinkedIn, and can see more of her work on her website.
