Thank you to my G Sophia Ann Moore
The first time Sharpay saw it was when the Wildcatsarrived to Lava Springs. All of the girls were crowded around Gabriella gushing over her necklace from Troy, a T with a red stone. Normally Sharpay wouldn't care about some cheap necklace, but this time she felt a pit in her stomach. To her, this was a giant flashing sign that Troy would never love her. She felt her eyes welling with tears as she slid her sunglasses down over her eyes and got up. She walked quickly into the country club, not wanting any of the wildcats to see her. She got to an empty room and allowed herself to cry over the necklace, the fact Troy would never love her, and the fact her life was not going the way she planned.
"Its just a stupid necklace," she kept telling herself as she heard footsteps approaching and Troy came into view.
"You okay?" He asked, genuinely concerned surprised to see the blonde in a vulnerable state.
She looked at him and said, "I'm fine, Bolton. Shouldn't you be out there with your girlfriend?" She tried to stop the tears from falling.
Troy explained, "I just saw you run off. I didn't know if something had happened, so I wanted to check on you." He sat down next to her on the floor. "Obviously something is bothering you."
She took a deep breath and said, "Troy, what is really wrong with me is nothing you can fix." She purposely avoided his gaze.
"Come on, Shar. Just tell me."
She didn't want to tell him the reason. She didn't want to sound pathetic, but the words just started pouring out. "You want to know? Fine! To hell with it! I'm upset because having to see Gabriella show off that necklace you gave is making me sick and literally feels like someone has stabbed me in the heart. Are you satisfied now?" Not interested in his response to her humiliating confession, she started to stand up.
He pulled her by her arm to stop her from leaving. "Why does it bother you so much? It's just a necklace."
"Because I like you, Troy. You know how much I like you and that necklace just solidifies the fact that you will never be with me or love me. You have no idea how bad it hurts to see someone you care about so much with someone else," she said, standing up to go to her room since she couldn't stay around him any longer.
"Sharpay, I'm sorry," he said in a quiet voice not knowing what he could do to make her feel better. Normally he wouldn't care, but for some reason he was instinctively trying to cheer her up.
"Bolton, just forget this happened. You do what you want," she said.
Troy sat there, stunned. He knew how much Sharpayliked him, he wasn't blind, but she had never really verbalized it like she just had. For some reason, he felt concern for this blonde who normally drove him insane.Now by some invisible force, he wanted to make her happy.He shook off the feeling and went back to his friends.
The summer continued and Sharpay avoided the Wildcats and Troy at all costs. She didn't want to hear them making fun of her on the off chance that he told them what had happened that day. She was getting ready to go golfing with her family when Troy came up and said, "I didn't know you played golf". He sounded shocked to see her putting her bag on her golf cart herself.
"There are a lot of things you don't know about me,Troy," she said while checking her phone. Her parents texted saying they got held up and Ryan was in the spa."Great, my family bailed on me." She climbed into her golf cart. "I guess I'll be going by myself as usual," she said, noticing Troy was still standing there. "Can I help you with something?" She motioned for him to move.
Instead of moving, he got into the cart next to her. "I'll play with you. I love golf," he said with a smile.
The blonde was shocked. Was Troy actually going to hang out with her alone? "Are you sure? I don't want you to get in trouble," she said, pointing to where Gabriella was watching them from her lifeguard post with a scowl on her face.
Troy looked over in Gabriella's direction and waved to his girlfriend. "She'll get over it. Lets go!"
She turned on the cart and the drove to the first hole. Troy was holding on tight to the cart, not sure of how good a driver Sharpay was. Gabriella was obviously pissed since Troy promised to have lunch with her, but for some reason he had ditched her for Sharpay. Gabriella screamed for her best friend, "Taylor! Troy just blew me off for Sharpay."
Taylor looked at the golf cart in the distance. "He did what?! You know she's probably up to something. Don't worry, just talk to him when he gets back."
Gabriella reached for her T necklace to calm herself down and decided to focus on work, ignoring the laugher she heard coming from Sharpay.
Troy and Sharpay spent the day together playing golf and talking. He saw a side of her that he didn't even know existed. She was funny, witty, and great at golf. She said, "We need to get you some golf clothes and new clubs. I'll have some sent to you so next time we play you'll be more prepared," she laughed at him as he picked up one of her pink glittery golf balls.
"You don't have to do that, Sharpay." He felt a little embarrassed that she wanted to dress him.
"I know, but I want to," she said while effortlesslygetting a hole in one. "Yes!" She cheered, clapping and jumping up and down. The sun was starting to set on the day. It had gone by in a flash and she didn't want it to end."Do you want to grab dinner with me in the dining room?" She asked, knowing he would probably say no, but figuringshe didn't have anything to lose.
"I don't have anything to wear," he said, referring to the fact he was in work clothes. It was nothing even remotely close to fitting the dress code of the club.
"No worries! I'll have something sent to your locker for you to wear," she said as she sent a message to a member of the staff. She suddenly remembered one small thing…Troy had a girlfriend. "Wait, won't Gabriella get mad at you for having dinner with me?"
"No. She's so chill. She won't care," he said, pulling out his phone and texting Gabriella. He wrote, Having dinner with Sharpay I'll text you when I'm done xo. He put his phone away. "Okay Miss. Evans, which way?" He gotinto the drivers seat of the golf cart. Sharpay was on cloud nine.
Gabriella was waiting for Troy in the employee lounge when she got the text that he was having dinner with Sharpay. Chad asked, "You waiting on Troy?"
"He's having dinner with Sharpay," she said, rolling her eyes. "Guess I'll see him tomorrow." She followedChad and Taylor to go hang out with the rest of the Wildcats.
Meanwhile, Troy was changing into his dinner clothes and met with Sharpay outside who was wearing a white dress with a gold bikini top under it. It was sexy, but cute."You clean up well, Bolton," she said with a laugh as they went to the dining room to sit down. The Wildcats were outside and turned to watch them, but Sharpay had the shades closed so they wouldn't be able to see them.
"Thanks, 'Pay. I don't want Chad glaring at me while we eat," he said, knowing his friends were going to give him so much shit for having dinner with the blonde.
Soon the waiter brought out iced tea and appetizers.She said, "Today was so fun! Thanks for golfing with me. I usually end up going alone since my family is always busy." She reached to hold his hand, but quickly pulled itback when she realized what she was doing. Heunexpectedly grabbed it and held it.
He said, "I love the side of you that I saw today. It was a rare look into your life." They continued their conversations about school, applying to college, and life in general. They were waiting on their entrées when the Wildcats busted in, being loud and obnoxious.
"Yo Bolton! Let's go," Zeke yelled as they all crowded around their table. They stole bites of food asSharpay shook her head disapprovingly at them.
"You have some serious making up to do," Taylor said, crossing her arms as Gabriella came into view.
"Troy what are you wearing?" She asked, noticing his nice clothes. It was nothing he would normally wear or even be able to afford.
"Sharpay gave them to me," He explained. "It's not a big deal to want to look nice," he said causing Sharpay to giggle under her breath. "I'm going to finish dinner. I'll see you guys later," he dismissed them. He got up and kissed Gabriella on the cheek which caused Sharpay to look down and for Gabriella to get a smug look on her face.
"Bye Wildcat," she said as they all filed out heading to do what they did every night during the summer hang out:play video games and go to the movies.
"I'm sorry about that," he said after seeing how uncomfortable she was having their classmates around,especially Gabriella.
She asked the question she was waiting to ask since Gabriella had transferred to East High last spring. "What do you see in her?"
Troy took a second to answer. "To be honest, I don't know. It just kind of happened especially with the callbacks and stuff, it was just assumed she was my girlfriend. I gave her the necklace because I thought it was what I was supposed to do," as he was saying this, he realized that he was admitting this to himself as much as he was to Sharpay. It was the first time he voiced his true inner hesitationabout his relationship with Gabriella.
"Why would you be with someone you weren't crazy about?" She interrogated him as they waiter brought their meals. "I mean, why waste your time when someone else could be out there?"
This made Troy stop mid bite of his burger, "Someone like you?" He wore a small grin that caused her to laugh.
"Possibly," she admitted while playfully smacking his shoulder.
The rest of the meal went on without a hitch. They had just finished dessert and were walking out of the dining room. Troy said, "Thanks for everything, Sharpay. I didn't know how today was going to go but I'm glad we got to hang out, I love my new clothes." He popped his collar and made her laugh.
"No problem! Maybe we could do it again sometime," she said as she looked up at him. It was like a first date ending. He pulled her into a hug to say goodbye and she melted into him. She loved the feeling of being in his arms and she was going to enjoy it while it lasted. She looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes as he pulled a strand of hair from her face.
"You really are beautiful, Sharpay," he said. "Inside and out" Then without a thought of the consequences he kissed her. It was electric and passionate nothing like his kisses with Gabriella. He actually felt a spark when it ended. Troy's face was red. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I have a girlfriend," he said, suddenly realizing he just cheated on Gabriella.
"Troy, it's fine. We just got caught up in the moment.I'll forget it ever happened," she said, turning to walk to her room across the club.
He grabbed her hand to stop her. "What's one night going to hurt?" he asked as he followed her to her room. They fell into her bed and spent the rest of the night kissing and holding each other knowing the next day it would all be over, or would it?