Ok. I lied. After I posted the prologue (like thirty seconds ago), I decided it was too short to make you guys wait a whole week for the first chapter. So I'm posting the first chapter as well today, but you guys will have to wait a week for the second chapter.

Can't wait read your reviews!

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Chapter 1

The first time Sharpay had laid eyes on Troy Bolton, she had been in love. From the first day of high school until her freshman year of college, her dreams had been filled with images of East High's golden boy: the way his dark locks of his hair swept across his face, the sparkle of his sexy blue eyes, the dimples that appeared when he smiled, and the way his bronze muscular chest looked when he took off his shirt. He had been the perfect male except for one little flaw: he hadn't returned her affection.

Troy's lack of interest hadn't stopped her from pursuing him, however. The chase had begun in Ms. Darbus' homeroom and had only ended because they had gone to different colleges. During the four in between years, Sharpay had done everything a teenage girl did to let a guy know she's interested: flirted with him, laughed at his jokes, asked to borrow a pencil, stared at him, asked him to dances; but nothing had worked.

During freshman year, Sharpay had focused on gaining information on Troy: where he lived, his favorite activities, what music he was into, etc. She had studied him like she would study a character in a play. She had even gone as far as feigning interest in basketball for several weeks in hopes that it would attract his attention, but after several weeks it had become apparent that it hadn't made a difference.

Determined to be Troy's girlfriend, Sharpay had taken the "girl power" route in sophomore year. She had started by pretending to not be interesting in him anymore, but that had fallen by the wayside within a couple weeks when she had realized he hadn't been pining after what he "couldn't" have. After that she had spent the rest of the school year asking him to dances, but he had turned her down every time, saying he had plans to play basketball with his friends, or as she referred to them the "basketball robots."

Never having been one to give up, Sharpay had returned junior year confident that her summer of scheming would pay off. She had wasted no time with her Operation: Troy's Girlfriend mission and had launched it on the first day back, only to immediately hit a snag she hadn't planned on: Chad Danforth. Chad was Troy's best friend and had been the leader of the basketball robots. From the launch onwards, it had seemed like every time she had put a plan into action, Chad had been there to run interference so Troy could get away. Christmas break had given Sharpay a chance to regroup and create new plans. On the first day back in January, she had been ready for anything.

Except her: the new girl, Gabriella Montez. Sharpay had disliked her the moment the dark haired beauty had walked into Ms. Darbus' classroom, especially after the way Troy had stared doe eyed after her. The dislike had increased even more after she had spotted Troy following Gabriella like a puppy and then when Gabriella had buddied up with Taylor McKessie, the goody-goody that Sharpay had known since kindergarten.

The next year and a half had been miserable for Sharpay: every time she had thought one of her break-Troy-and-Gabriella-up plans had worked, something had always backfired and then Troy and Gabriella would be stronger than before. It also hadn't helped that the basketball robots had followed Troy's lead and had paired up with goody-goody girlfriends of their own; one of them, Zeke Baylor, had even asked her out, and in a last ditch effort to make Troy jealous, Sharpay had agreed to become his girlfriend. Troy hadn't even blinked an eye.

In the spring of senior year, Sharpay had hoped that Troy and Gabriella would part ways since everyone had known Gabriella was headed to Stanford and Troy was headed to the University of Albuquerque with Chad. With that in mind, Sharpay's day dreams had featured her consoling a heart broken Troy and her informing Julliard that she couldn't accept their scholarship (who, in response, would be beg her to reconsider and call her the best actress the world had ever seen) because she wanted to stay in Albuquerque with Troy.

But the depressing thing about dreams is that they rarely come true. Julliard hadn't select her as their scholarship winner; they had chosen her twin brother Ryan and his sorta-kinda-but-not-really girlfriend, Kelsi Nielsen. And Troy had decided to follow Gabriella to California instead of going to the U of A with Chad. In the snap of her fingers, Sharpay had found herself alone in Albuquerque and not looking forward to the suddenly bleak freshman year of college that awaited her.

Emotionally and psychologically depressed, Sharpay had spent the first couple days of summer moping around the house. She had even skipped her own graduation party and had broken up with Zeke just two days before he had left for boot camp.

Fearing she would become more depressed, her parents had sent her to an exclusive, high-priced summer acting school in London. Issued a private room and bathroom, Sharpay had spent the first couple weeks to herself, as had the others girls on her floor. By the end of the summer, however, she and the other girls had bonded so well that they had rearranged the rooms, putting two or three beds in each and using the others as closets.

Sharpay had returned home from her summer abroad with a more cheerful outlook on life. Knowing that not having a roommate wasn't for her, she had requested a room change, giving up her single room for a double.

The first time Sharpay had met her redheaded, neat freak of a roommate, Leah Beecher, she hadn't been sure they would get along, but the moment she had seen Leah's Wizard of Oz poster, her collection of Broadway musical CDs and her collection of musicals on DVD, Sharpay had known they would be fast friends.

Around dinner time, they had headed to the cafeteria, but never made it there: they had been crossing a grassy area when a Frisbee had come flying out of nowhere and had hit Leah in the back of the head. A tall, dark haired, blue eyed guy had followed and had apologized profusely after realizing what had happened.

It had been when the guy had been feeling the bump already forming on Leah's head that Sharpay had seen him, Chad Danforth. She had hoped that the U of A campus would be big enough for them to never cross paths, but they had only been on campus for six hours and there they were.

It had been after Chad appeared that introductions had been made and Sharpay had found out that his cute friend, Grady Bolton, was Troy's cousin. She hadn't been able to keep from noting the resemblance between the cousins: their sexy blue eyes, their lopsided smiles and their similar I-want-you-to-think-I-don't-care-about-my-hair-but-this-took-me-an-hour hair styles. It had only taken one glance at Leah for Sharpay to realize she had missed out on another Bolton.

Sharpay had then found herself squeezed into the backseat of Grady's car, next to Chad, headed for a pizza place since Grady had insisted that he owed them dinner. During dinner, Leah and Grady had dominated the conversation and Sharpay doubted they had even realized that she nor Chad had barely spoken a word. Then, after dinner, Grady had dropped her and Chad off at the dorms and had taken Leah out for ice cream.

Sharpay had used the hour to come up with reasons for Leah not to be involved with Grady and most of them had revolved on Chad's presence and the fact that Sharpay had no interest in playing nice with him. But when Leah had returned all smiles, Sharpay had been forced to bite her tongue.

After that night, Sharpay had found herself on "group dates" with Leah, Grady and Chad. On several occasions, she had been able to tell that Chad had been just as unhappy with the situation as she was.

It had been the frustration of being paired up with the guy who had practically become her enemy in high school, and that she hadn't been on a real date in months, that had made her accept an invitation to a frat party from a guy in one of her classes.

In the days that had lead up to the party, she had questioned her decision after she had overheard tales from people on campus. But when Chad had made a negative comment about the frat house and the guy she was going with, Sharpay had decided she was going.

It had proved to be the wrong decision, but had also been the catalyst for change in her relationship with Chad. He had appeared out of nowhere at the party and had pulled her wasted date off her when she hadn't been able to; she had never been so happy to see anyone in her life. After they had left the party, she had thought an 'I told you so' was coming, but it hadn't; he hadn't even said a word as they had walked back to the dorms.

His actions had surprised her and had made her rethink all her negative thoughts about him. Her eyes had been opened to a new side of him, a more caring side that had previously been only exposed to his closest friends, and something about it had captured her interest.

It had also opened her eyes to something she hadn't seen in high school: Chad was just as good looking as Troy, just in a more manly way with his curly just-grab-me hair, his twinkling eyes and the way his goatee framed smile lit up his whole face. The realization mixed with the beer in her system had prompted her to thank him that with a kiss. He had deepened the kiss then had seemed to realize what was happening and had pulled away.

"Goodnight Sharpay." She had watched him walk away as the way he had pronounced her name floated in her head. For the first time ever, he had said it softly and had held out the end a little instead of his usual short, quick and to the point with a period right after the y.

After that night, she hadn't minded fake double dates and had even found herself hanging out with Chad one-on-one. She had found an odd sense of peace in her about befriending the "enemy" and ever the gentleman, Chad had only mentioned the drunk kiss once in teasing, but it had remained their little secret. It had blown her mind how much they had related to each other; especially concerning disappointments and college not going as planned.

By the end of the school year, the walls that had been between them had been replaced with comradery and understanding. Without really realizing it they had become each other's confidants, biggest fans and most importantly, each other's best friend.