A/N: Never ventured into this fandom before (or anything similar to it) so here's hoping it comes out alright. Critique is always welcome.
Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical
Darbus must have been in an exceptionally forgiving mood that day, considering the lack of students in detention this particular afternoon. Sharpay glanced across the stage at all the work Darbus had left behind for her and Troy. She groaned in annoyance as she began estimating how long all the building and painting was going to take. Granted, she got herself into this mess when she assumed she could send even one quick text on her cell phone without Darbus noticing. She couldn't begin to imagine what Troy had done to land himself here. Still, detention with Darbus was hardly detention at all to Sharpay. To make the president of the drama club stay after school and help with, well, the drama club, was a joke. Still, she couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy at watching her twin brother Ryan get on the bus home, off to start his weekend before her. She glanced at the clock on the other side of the auditorium. They had a few hours to finish up the remainder of their work, so Sharpay decided there would be no harm in taking a break.
She walked over to sit on the edge of the stage, her feet dangling over the chairs below. She stared blankly at the wall ahead of her and began daydreaming when a noise behind her made her jump. She turned her head to see Troy walking towards her. She quickly stared forward again as he sat down next to her. Ever since Troy and Gabriella began dating, facing Troy wasn't an easy task for Sharpay. If anything, she still felt a great deal of resentment towards him. There was no way Troy was shallow enough to not realize that Sharpay had a crush on him. She was constantly going out of her way to flirt with him, drop hints, anything to get him to catch on. For him to not even offer Sharpay an apology, and to go as far as to continue speaking to her as though nothing had changed, was nothing short of infuriating for the short-tempered blonde.
A long and awkward silenced followed. Sharpay, stubborn as she was, promised herself she wouldn't be the first to say anything. In fact, she'd been hoping that her silence would get the point across that she'd rather be alone. No such luck; Troy remained in his spot next to her in silence before finally speaking up.
"So… what are you in for?" he asked casually. Sharpay resisted the urge to give him a good slap across the face right there. How dare he act like he hadn't done anything to her? How dare he talk to her like they were the best of friends? With great difficulty, Sharpay finally managed to find her voice.
"I was using my cell phone during Darbus' class," she answered through gritted teeth. Troy nodded, obviously not picking up her annoyed tone.
"I was caught passing a note to Gabriella… It was pretty stupid of me actually…" he told her with a bit of a chuckle. Sharpay couldn't help but cringe. Just hearing Gabriella's name made her angry all over again. She could deal with Gabriella stealing her show; stealing Troy was another ballgame entirely. He must have sensed Sharpay's discomfort, as he put a friendly arm around her shoulder and asked if she was alright. This was enough to make Sharpay's blood boil all over again. Just what did he think he was getting at? She tried her best to hold back her anger, but sooner than she knew what was happening, it all came spilling out as she violently shoved his arm away from her.
"Am I alright?!" she yelled. "Am I alright?! You've spent four years ignoring me, Troy. Four – long – years. Don't think I haven't heard the way you and your friends talk about me. Every time you mention having the slightest interest in me, one of your stupid friends has to convince you that it's social suicide and you back down. And now this girl shows up out of nowhere and you two instantly hook up because your friends said you should? You've known all along haven't you? You've always known how much I love you!" The last three words of her sentence came out the loudest, and she felt her stomach flip-flop when she heard them echo off the walls of the theatre. She blinked back tears and continued speaking in a whisper. "And either you really do think I'm a horrible person, or you just don't care…" Sharpay tried her best to keep the chokes and sobs from coming out; she had a reputation after all; even if it was a reputation for being mean and nasty, at least it kept people from messing with her. Though since it was obvious she and Troy were alone, she finally let her tears fall freely.
Troy could only stare at her with an unreadable expression. Needless to say, he wasn't quite sure how an innocent question drove Sharpay to uncontrollable sobs. Still, her words hit him hard. 'Ignored' was a harsh word, but he knew it was true. His first thought was to tell Sharpay that he was in love with Gabriella in hopes that she would accept it and calm down, though the more he thought of it, the more unrealistic it sounded. Instead, he pulled her into a hug and rocked slowly back and forth until her crying subsided. Sharpay finally wiped her eyes and pulled herself away from him.
"Well… that was, uh… a bit of a production, wasn't it?" she said with a forced smile. "I-I'm fine. F-Forget I said anything." Troy only continued staring at her, still not sure what to say. Sharpay was beginning to feel a bit guilty herself. It was obvious he was in love with Gabriella; why was she putting all this on him? She took a deep breath and tried her best to accept it: Troy was taken, and there was no hope of getting him back. Feeling the silence build on her again, Sharpay glanced up at him and spoke once more. "Troy… I know you love Gabriella. And… I should respect that…" Troy only nodded again. "Can we just pretend for a moment that you never listened to your friends?" Before Troy could respond, Sharpay leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his lips. She might have been imagining things, but she could swear she felt him deepen it a bit. After a few moments, she broke off the kiss, grabbed her backpack, and ran out of the auditorium. Once the doors closed behind her, she paused to take a deep breath.
As much as it pained her to finally accept that the guy she loved would never love her back, and in fact still didn't have the guts to apologize to her, Sharpay had to admit that it was by and far, the best detention she'd had in her life.