Suitable Attraction

Chapter One

"What the crap is this piece of shit!?" Chad exclaimed as he turned his head slightly to the side to get a better look at the sculpture in front of him. He had a beer in his right hand and his cell phone in the other. He was covered in dirt for some reason, and he stank like some alcoholic.

Zeke laughed offhandedly, "I have no idea, dude!" he said, and shook his head in thought. He leaned himself against his friend and squeezed his eyes together; hoped the art in this piece would somewhat reveal itself, but there was nothing there. He smelled like alcohol too, and he had a huge stain from the red wine they had been drinking earlier on his shirt. It was a basketball jersey, because even if Zeke mostly liked to bake, he loved basketball too.

"That's some messed up crap, dude." Jason said and stopped right next to Zeke too. He was probably the most sober one of the them all, but he had a cigarette in one hand and he had been smoking more than just that. "Is that supposed to be a woman? Why the fuck is she leaning over like that?"

Zeke laughed again and bumped his shoulder with Jason's, "You'd think that some dude with a boner would be beneath her, right?" he laughed harder, apparently thinking that he was hilarious.

"I bet you'd like to be beneath that blonde chick like that, huh?" Chad remarked and took a swing of his beer. He swallowed loudly before he changed the subject, "Losers, where's Troy?"

Jason took a whizz of his cigarette, "He's talking to Gabriella on the phone." He said, like it was no big deal, "The Mrs. wanted to know where he was. I think he's trying to convince her that we're definitely not here."

"What's the fucking matter about this anyway?" Zeke exclaimed and took a step forward, to kick the sculpture, "Albuquerque shitting cultural night!" he turned back to his friends, "What are they trying to do? Are they trying to educate us or something?"

"I don't know, dude." Chad said, awkwardly shaking his head. His normally bobbing curls were tied back in a tight ponytail after Jason had almost sat it on fire earlier.

Zeke continued his rant, "It's not like this crap is gonna be here tomorrow, anyway. Someone's gonna totally mess it up and they'll have to take it down." He smirked and walked past his friends to look at all the partying people; most of them were young and they were drinking their heads off. He didn't know why the city council even bothered to do something like this; it would end up with fights and someone would sleep in a bush.

Jason threw the cigarette to the ground with a flick of his finger, "Maybe I should take a piss on it?"

"Dude, no way!"

The three boys turned to find their friend standing there with his hands in his pockets. Troy was probably the nicest one of them. He drank like his friends did and he loved to hang out with them but he wouldn't let any of his friends do anything to some of the art that was displayed around the centre of Albuquerque.

"You suck the fun out of everything, dude." Zeke said and stepped closer to him to give him a pat on the back, "What did you tell Mrs. Gabriella? Did you convince her we were watching movies?"

Troy shrugged, "I think she knows where I am, but I told her I was watching 'Legally Blonde'." He made a face, "Why the hell did I have to say that movie? Why couldn't I have said like, 'Speed' or… 'American History X'! Now I'm gonna actually have to watch it since I know she'll ask me about it!"

Chad laughed, "You're messed up, dude." He said, and drank the last of his beer. He looked into the bottle with one eye, and when he realized that it was in fact empty, he threw it against the sculpture and the four boys watched it as it broke and fell to the ground, "I told Tay I had to go visit my grandmother all evening. She bought that, y'know? She's watching movies with Kelsi and Martha anyway."

"Why do girls like to watch movies so much?" Jason wanted to know. He digged into his pockets and fixed out his cigarette package, and then turned it over to get out another cigarette. He placed it in his mouth and stuffed the package into his pocket again, "It's wicked, dude." He managed to get out, before he lit his lighter and turned on his cigarette.

Zeke smiled warmly and checked his watch, "It's only twelve thirty, what do you guys wanna do now?" he asked them as they slowly begun walking away from this piece of art and crossed the tiled covered square, where a bunch of other pieces were displayed too. No one paid attention to them, not anymore. Earlier on in the evening someone had been there to look at them, but now it was pretty much only the youths of Albuquerque who were there. Both East High and West High and the stuck-up private school; Thomson. They were all gathered there to drink, smoke, have fun, make-out and have sex.

"We should get something to drink!" Jason suggested; a lot of shops were still open since they knew it was a good night to sell a lot of alcohol. Sure, they weren't even allowed to buy anything, but they all had some older friends who could.

Chad stopped and turned to look at his friends, "Why don't we find one of those frigging rich kids from Thomson and get some? They say one of them has this trailer full of stuff. They won't notice if we take a few." He glanced quickly at Jason and Zeke, "Or one of you could make out with one of their girls and we're in."

Jason lit up by the thought of that, "I haven't had any in ages, maybe some of them are up to something." He exclaimed, and before Troy or Zeke managed to agree on anything, the four of them made their way towards the green area in the city where they knew a lot of the rich kids would be. They met a few from West High on the way and chatted with them, but eventually they saw the trailer Chad had mentioned and immediately hurried over there.

Chad approached one of the guys, who leaned against the trailer, drinking a Smirnoff. He was wearing fancy dress pants, a dress shirt, a jacket and a hat. He looked absolutely ridiculous, but Troy figured that that was how most of those fancy people dressed.

"Hey man!" Chad said, and stuck out his hand, "I'm Chad, can we get some of those?"

"Sure man, just grab some." The boy said, before quickly adding, "I'm Ryan."

Zeke grabbed a Breezer and smiled warmly at the other guy, "Hey Ryan, you're the man!" he said, and digged into his pockets to find a bottle opener. He didn't really want to tell Ryan that they had actually met before; the other boy was probably too wasted to remember. He opened the first bottle and handed it to Jason before he did the same with three others so they could all get one.

Troy took a sip of his and looked around. This was a crazy night. He swore he saw something on fire earlier (but that might have been Chad's hair). He understood why all those families with kids left already around nine. His generation took over this. It was supposed to be a cosy and cultural exhibit, but they totally ruined it. He felt sort of bad, but he went along with everything because he didn't want to be a bore. He felt bad about lying to Gabriella too. She was a sweet girl, and she didn't deserve it. Sometimes she was a little too much, and they had their problems, they did. But he liked what they had. It was safe and nice and he had someone to be with. It wasn't love, nothing like that. But it was okay.

"Dude, let's check out some of these girls." Jason said, and grabbed his sleeve. He dragged Troy towards a bunch of rich girls by some bench; they were all drinking and laughing, and Troy didn't even want speak with them. He had never cheated on Gabriella and he wasn't about to do so.

Jason immediately went up to a black-haired girl with dark skin, who was sipping out of a big bottle of white wine, "Hey beautiful." he said, with a charming smile across his face, "What's your name?"

"Hi!" she said, and immediately leaned over to take a whizz of his cigarette. She closed her eyes dreamily and let the smoke out, "My name's Jackie." She told him, "What about you?"

Jason grabbed her bottle and took a long sip of her wine, "Jason." He shortly informed her, "I go to East High."

"Wow…" she smirked and leaned in closer, while Troy just watched. It was evident in her eyes that she had had way too much to drink and smoke, and Troy knew Jason would be getting some tonight with no problem at all, "So you're probably on their basketball team, huh? I saw your team picture in the paper…"

Jason was about to reply when a blonde girl marched right up to Jackie and pulled her back, "That's fine, Jackie, now shut up before you do something you'll regret in the morning."

Her voice was snappy and demanding, but Troy didn't care about that. He was too caught up in the way she looked; she had long blonde hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a short pink dress and he was able to see her long legs that ended in a pair of glittery shoes. She was nicely tanned, and he couldn't help but admit.

She was hot.

"Aw Sharpay, you're no fun!" Jackie said and let her wine bottle drop to the ground, which caused it to smash and the expensive liquor to float everywhere.

This Sharpay girl jumped back with a whine, "These are Jimmy Choos, you snob!" she said, and two other girls, a blonde and a redhead, who had been right behind her, gave Jackie a saying look, "You're drunk, Jackie." Sharpay continued and pulled the other girl towards her, "If I don't stop you, you're gonna sleep with him and while that looks wonderful to you right now, you're going to regret it."

Troy couldn't take his eyes off of this girl. It was clear that she was the leader of the other three, but she had such an air around her. For him it felt like everything disappeared around her; it was only her. She was the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen; those other girls, while beautiful no doubt, didn't compare to her.

Jackie sighed and stepped away from Jason, which caused Sharpay to let go of her arm, "You're right, Sharpay." She said, and closed her jacket around herself, "Thank you."

The other blonde girl wrapped an arm around her, "Let's go get a Smirnoff, sweetie." She said, and led the girl away, the redhead following them too.

Sharpay watched them leave before she turned to them again, "You leave my friend alone, alright?" she snapped at Jason and gave him a mean stare, before her eyes landed on Troy. Their eyes locked and it was the most intense look Troy had ever shared with anyone, "Hi." She said, before her eyes turned cold towards him as well, and she turned around on her Jimmy Choos and quickly walked away from the two of them.

Jason cursed beneath his breath next to him, but Troy's eyes followed this blonde girl as her hips swayed from side to side when she walked back to the trailer. She got a bottle from one of her friends and leaned herself up against that Ryan guy they had spoken to before. He wrapped his arm around her and placed a short kiss on her forehead.

Troy didn't know why, but he felt sad that she had a boyfriend.

--

Sharpay shuttered in the cold night air and leaned herself closer to Ryan for warmth. She took a sip of her Smirnoff and swallowed it. She wasn't really up for this tonight. Sure, she had been partying with her friends all evening, but this was turning so much wilder than she liked. Both people from West High and East High were around now and Ryan was just handing out beer and bottles to everyone without a doubt. Of course they had enough where it came from, but it was still crazy.

She glanced to the side where Emma was chatting away with a short guy. His friend, a taller one in a basketball jersey, whom Sharpay knew was named Zeke, stood beside him looking totally bored. They were probably friends, and Sharpay knew that Zeke was from East High. Her father loved Zeke's father's lemon cake, and once the entire Baylor family had been at their house because Vance had wanted to introduce the wonderful baker with family to his own family. They had chatted for a few minutes before Sharpay had left to meet her friends; chatting with bakers wasn't exactly her thing. But Zeke was cute, he definitely was.

She shuttered again and could feel Goosebumps raising on her arm. Ryan looked down at her and she offered him a smile. She knew he didn't want to be stuck with her all evening, but he was a good brother and he stayed by her side, even if she was a party killer.

"Are you cold?" he asked her, love shining through his blue eyes.

She shook her head softly; Ryan was one of the only people she could be really honest with. They told each other everything, because they had always only had each other to trust. "Nah," she said, and smiled at him again, "not much."

He pulled away from her and handed her his bottle. "You can get my jacket." He said, and before she managed to object and say he really shouldn't, he had taken it off and placed it on her shoulders, "No worries, I'll just seek to Lea for warmth if you'll be okay by yourself."

"Sure." Sharpay quickly said, no doubt in her voice. Of course Ryan would want to be around Lea, they were boyfriend and girlfriend after all, so it was cool. "Just go ahead," she said, and handed him his bottle back, "I don't mind."

Ryan gave her a kiss on the cheek and reached out for Lea's arm instead. She turned around with a huge smile and the two of them retired away from the rest, probably to be a bit alone. Sharpay looked around a bit, now feeling all alone. She wondered if she should just go home. But she couldn't… Her and Ryan drove here together. She couldn't leave without him. She wasn't sure someone would be there to take him home if she just left.

She glanced around the square in the green area again and her eyes settled on that guy she had briefly locked eyes with earlier. She didn't know what it was, but that look she shared with him had been heart-stopping. His eyes had been such an electrical blue, she had never seen anything like that before. She didn't get to look at him much before, but now her eyes could really search him. He was too far away for her to really see his features, but he was rather short. He wore jeans and a dress shirt. He looked kind of cute from where she stood.

She wondered what his name was.

Her eyes moved away from the cute guy and settled on Zeke again. He looked kind of lonely too. He was like third wheel in the conversation Emma and that other dude were having. Jackie was gone again, and Sharpay had a feeling she was with that guy again now, since she couldn't see him anywhere either. Her eyes moved to Zeke's, and she was surprised to find that he was looking at her too.

She offered him a small smile and lifted a hand. She crooked a finger upwards and he smiled lamely, before he said something to that other guy and made his way to her. He stopped before her with a goofy grin across his face.

"Hey." he said.

She giggled, "Hi." She replied, and held the coat tighter, "You're… you're Zeke right?"

"Yup." He proudly said and stuck his hands into his lose work-out pants, "So you really remember me? I thought someone like you wouldn't."

"Don't worry," she smirked, "I am a real person too. Sure… I do have a lot of money, but my memory is alright."

Zeke laughed offhandedly, "Yeah, I guess you're right." he said and took in a deep breath. He then reached into the trailer and took out a bottle of Fisherman, "I guess I should mix this stuff up, huh?" he said, and he had a glint in his eye. She figured he was very cute, but… he wasn't her type. She hated it if she led him on, "So… Want some?"

"It's alright," she said, and offered him a stiff smile, "I don't really like that stuff."

He nodded and opened the bottle, only to take a small sip, "It's fine." He mumbled. And then came the awkward silence. They really had nothing to say to each other so Zeke took another sip while Sharpay finished off her Smirnoff.

"What do you think of this crappy art?" Zeke then asked her and reached a hand out, as if to refer to all the pieces gathered here.

Sharpay gave him an odd look, "Mother made some of them." She just told him, and he immediately blushed, feeling embarrassed, "Hey, don't worry." She giggled to safe him, "I'm not much for art either."

Before Zeke got to answer, the lost Jackie showed up next to her, "Shar…" she whispered in her ear, her breath was hot and Sharpay took in a deep breath, "That dude was totally trying to get to second base before, and you were right, I didn't want that."

Sharpay excused herself to Zeke and dragged Jackie with her, so they were a bit off to the side, "What!?" she exclaimed, "Did you go back to him!?" she rolled her eyes. She had known that. Jackie was stupid enough to do such thing, but she just didn't get it.

"I know, I'm stupid, Sharpay!" Jackie said, and Sharpay knew she would have never said that, if she hadn't been drunk, "Can't we go home…" she then added, with a pleading look in her eyes, "I wanna go home, Shar."

Sharpay grabbed her wrist tightly, "We can't just leave, Jackie!" she said, her brown eyes locking with her friend's, "We have to wait for Ryan and Emma and Lea!"

Jackie groaned and pulled her wrist out of Sharpay's grasp, "Screw them, let's leave." She kept on begging.

Sharpay shook her head. She wasn't going to leave her friends and brother there, it just wouldn't happen, "No way." She said, and once again shook her head, "I'm sorry Jackie, but you're gonna have to wait."

"Then screw you!" Jackie said, and pushed her slightly.

Sharpay pushed her back. She was losing her temper. She didn't even want to be here in the first place, and now she was stuck taking care of her drunk friend. She wanted to go home. She quickly checked her watch. The last bus left in about five minutes. She could catch that. "You know what?" she told Jackie and got out her car keys, "I don't fucking care, okay?" she handed her keys to her drunk friend, "Here are my keys. You find the other guys and try to get them home with you. I reckon Emma is sober enough to drive. I'm gonna take the bus."

And with that she left. She had had enough of this.

--

Troy's eyes followed the blonde girl as she turned away from her friend and walked out of the square. He wondered what had happened between them. They both looked upset. He, for some reason, felt the urge to just follow her. She was away from everything. Maybe she was on her way home… He threw his bottle to the ground and looked around for his friends. They were spread all around; he'd just send Chad a text and they'd all know he was gone too. If it came to it, he would just walk home.

He quickly followed the blonde girl. She was walking fast, he realized. Maybe she had something she needed to do. He checked his watch as he picked up his speed. There were only four minutes until the last bus left… perhaps she was going to catch that? He smiled to himself when he saw her stop by the bus stop. There were a bunch of people. They were all young and he knew some of them. Most people his age didn't have the privilege of a car, so of course they would have to catch the last bus.

Just then the bus drove up to the curb, and he ran as fast as he could, to get in right behind her. He didn't know what it was. But this Sharpay girl… she caught his attention. Just her name. It was so special. He had never heard it before, he had never met anyone like her. He just wanted to get to know her. There was something about her that just pulled him to her.

He jumped in with one person behind her. The bus was so full that she was squeezed up against the window in the back, and he awkwardly made it there too, but he was pressed up against it in the corner now, even more than she was. She smiled awkwardly at him, her eyes searching his.

"Hi, you're that guy." She said, and her brown eyes just burned into him, they almost made his heart stop.

He chuckled awkwardly, "And you're that girl." he said. He smiled at her, he knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he couldn't help it. She was stunning. She shone like no other passenger on this bus. He just wanted to get to know her.

The bus turned left and Troy was thrown against the window. A big guy's elbow flew right to his face, and before he knew what had happened, he groaned in displeasure. His nose just made a weird sound and a crack was heard. Sharpay looked at him with open eyes and soon he felt something hot stream down his face. Unbearable pain shot through his bones, and he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the window. His hands flew to his nose, but something warm and soft brushed them away.

He opened his eyes again to find Sharpay's face inches from his. It was her hands. Those soft, warm hands had brushed his away to take care of his nose. She pulled the jacket she was wearing off her shoulder and used the sleeve to wipe his nose off of with. They were standing close to each other since everything was so crowded, his nose hurt, but all he could really focus on was the smell she had around her and the way she so carefully took care of him.

"Does that hurt?" she softly asked him and took the jacket away from his face, so she could study his nose closer. She brushed a finger across it and he winced, "I don't think it's broken." She said, still not looking up at him.

He didn't think it was broken either, but he studied the freckles across her nose. "No…" he softly said, and finally she looked up to let their eyes meet. He chucked offhandedly and swallowed, "Sorry about your jacket."

"Don't worry, it's my brother's." She quickly said, and Troy couldn't hide the smile that came to his face; that must have been the guy she was with earlier. Maybe she didn't have a boyfriend after all. Maybe she was his perfect match and maybe he could just kiss her without feeling guilty.

He smiled warmly at her, "Say sorry to him from me, okay?" he told her, with a saying look in his eyes.

She nodded with a glint in her eyes, "I promise." She said, very seriously, before she burst out in giggles. He immediately chuckled along with her, even if it hurt his nose to move too much. She stopped and reached a hand out to wipe his face off again. Her hand was full of blood when she pulled away, "Nasty." She said, and wiped it off in her brother's jacket.

He paused lamely and threw his head back, just so maybe the blood would stop running, "Can I see your cell phone?" he questioned her, and just managed to look down at her, even if his face was screwed in a weird way.

She shot him a small sideways smile and handed him a glittery cell phone, "There you go." She told him.

He accepted the small device and held it up by his arm, so he could watch the screen. Without really thinking about it, he punched in his number and saved it with his name. He handed the cell phone back to her, and dared to move his head down a bit, "You want mine too?" he asked her, his blue eyes full of joy.

She leaned in a tad closer, if that was even possible, and whispered in his ear, "I think this'll do." She said and her breath tickled his ear. He didn't know why, but she trigged something in him. There was something so different about her, he couldn't even put his finger on it. He just wanted to get to know her.

As she moved to pull back, he pulled her closer to his and planted his lips on hers. He wasn't surprised at all when she kissed him back immediately. He had seen the way she looked at him, and he knew she found him attractive too. The second their tongues brushed against each other, he felt something within himself. He couldn't explain what it was. He had never felt that way before. Her delicate hands went around his neck and he pulled her closer, wrapped his arms around her thin, delicate frame. Their tongues battled and it tasted like alcohol and a bit of blood, but she didn't pull back.

He groaned into her mouth and her fingers worked their way down his back and into his pants from behind. His heart beat like crazy, and he didn't know what would happen. He wanted so bad to just take her right there. But they were on a bus on their way home. They were both drunk, and he didn't even know her. He had never been this physically attracted to anyone he knew nothing about, but this girl… Damn, she was just it.

The bus came to a stop for the umpteenth time, though they hadn't noticed before, and Sharpay pulled back. "This is my stop." She breathed and before he managed to reply, she had squeezed herself through the throng of people, and he couldn't see her anymore. He leaned himself against the window again, and breathed out steadily.

Fuck and shit and damn and crap.

She was amazing.

--

Sharpay smiled to herself as the bus drove off behind her. She was alone on the sidewalk, after the other passengers that had gotten off with her had left. She reached for her cell phone and opened it. She quickly went through her phone book, until she found the one that hadn't been there before.

Troy

She had never met anyone like that. How could it be possible to be so into someone, to be so sexually attracted to someone you didn't know? She'd had plenty of boyfriends and sexual-partners before, but it had never been like that. She sighed dreamily and turned to walk down the sideway, while she started to write a text.

She contemplated over what to say, but eventually settled for just one thing.

Sharpay

she wrote, and quickly hit send.


I know that 'Troypay – Troy and Sharpay from High School Musical' wasn't one of the choices in my poll, but this is a promise that I need to pull through. I've worked on this plot bunny probably since Christmas, and the first chapter has been written for a long while. I promised the readers of 'A Lot Like Love' and my loyal 'fans' that I would at least write another Troypay before I pulled myself away from that couple completely, and thus came this fic. After this, I am not sure I will ever write more Troypay, but I will definitely write more HSM. So I hope that you enjoyed this as I will enjoy writing it.

It won't be too long, only about six chapters, so I hope to hear your opinions about every and each chapter. Yeah?

Disclaimer; I don't own HSM or any of the mentioned movies.