Chapter 3.

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Troy and Sharpay walked side by side in Central Park, eating ice cream, and talking about nothing.

"So…you and Gabriella?" Sharpay said softly.

"You and Chad?"

"Oh, so you've been screwing her?" Sharpay giggled.

"Ah, so that's what you and Chad are doing?" Troy laughed and threw his spoon and cup in the city garbage can.

"Don't change the subject, T." Sharpay said warningly.

"You know one of you is going to settle down and these little sessions and practices you guys have will go out the window, then Big Bad Troy will have to pick up the pieces of someone's broken heart." Troy chuckled.

"Oh really?" she said doubtfully.

"I put so much money on my smart guess that Chad's going to find a girl he wants to be with." He tisked and put an arm around her shoulders.

Sharpay shrugged and looked up at him with a warm smile, "So have you gotten Gabriella in your bed?"

Troy shook his head and gave their feet a toothy smile as they walked in step. "No. We're just hanging out, I was going to ask her out on a real date though… soon."

"Aww, Troy's in love." Sharpay cooed.

They shared a laugh, "You would think so…" Troy concluded with a strong nod of his head, "But I think it's just a strong like, I haven't kissed her yet either."

"Do you want to?" Sharpay reached up and held onto his hand that was carelessly hanging over her shoulder.

"Yeah." he said after a moments thought, "I can't believe I'm telling you this stuff. You're turning me into a girl."

Sharpay giggled and threw her cup in the trash can they had passed. They walked in silence, "Do you really think Chad will find someone else?"

"Can I tell you something?" Troy said quickly, she nodded and he sighed, "You aren't the only girl Chad is messing around with. When we go out sometimes he'll get a number but I don't think anything of it because that's just Chad. But I'm telling you now that you shouldn't feel like you are tied to him or something, you don't owe him anything." Troy gave her a small smile. Sharpay gave him a weak one in return, her heart rising in her throat.

"Can I tell you something too?" she answered weakly after much hesitation. Troy looked at her expectantly and she turned her head away, "I think I love him and I wish you didn't tell me any of that. I mean when it's just me and him, he treats me like I'm his world, like I hold his last breath in my hands. The way he looks at me is like I am the best thing that ever happened to him. When it's just him and me he's genuine, Troy. I feel it."

Troy watched her speak and a remorseful smile tugged at his face. He'd have to have a serious conversation with Chad when he sees him.

"I know he is, Troy. Do you believe me?" Sharpay looked up at him pleadingly. Troy looked off into bright sky, his eyes squinting as he did so.

"I don't know babe, sometimes we see the things we want to see." Troy said slowly.

Sharpay nodded understandingly. "Troy?"

"Yeah?"

"When he's not, you'll still be there right?"

"Of course."

"And you know what I got?" Mr. Derby asked.

"What, Mr. Derby?" Gabriella giggled.

"A book." he said with a shake of his head. He was once again telling his story about writing an essay for a contest and when he went to get his prize from the governor, he had received a book about a trouble-making mouse. Mr. Derby believed that day was one of the best and worst days of his childhood.

He handed Gabriella his pudding cup and she took it gratefully, peeling off the wrapper and picking up the plastic spoon.

"That sucks." she snickered.

"Yes. Makes me believe I shouldn't have wasted my time." he sighed and leaned against his headboard.

Gabriella sat on his bed and folded her legs before smiling at him. He eyed her suspiciously before looking down at the newspaper she had brought him.

"Who is he?"

"Who is who?" she raised an eyebrow as she ate her chocolate pudding.

"The guy who has you so infatuated that you are skipping and smiling all over the place." he looked up and grinned at her red cheeks. "I noticed every Friday you become this way. Hopping about and giggling at stupidity."

Gabriella giggled again and quickly shoved the spoon in her mouth to stop the intrepid sound from flooding out.

"His name is Troy." she finally answered after successfully forcing her laughter into her gut.

"Troy who?"

"You wouldn't know him." Gabriella smiled softly, "We always meet on Fridays at the abandoned dance studio downtown."

Mr. Derby nodded with a grin, "Young love, I remember that. Does he treat you right?"

"Oh, we're only hanging out, Mr. Derby. I hope he likes me but I'm not sure." she said with a dazed look in her eyes.

"That's sweet." he clucked. They shared a laugh and Gabriella bent over the bed to drop the plastic cup and spoon into the bin. They sat in a comfortable silence before she checked her watch and climbed off the bed. "Well, Mr. Derby, it's time for me to meet him. I'll see you tomorrow." she placed a loving kiss on his cheek before running out of the room and building. She pulled out her phone and dialed Troy's number.

"Hello?" Troy answered hurriedly.

She frowned and walked toward the train station, "Hey, it's me. Is everything okay?"

"Hey, umm I can't meet you today." Troy said softly. She heard people talking in the background, it was so noisy she could barely hear him.

"Are you alright?" Gabriella asked concerned.

"It's Jamie." he croaked.

She sighed deeply before getting her train ticket, "What happened?"

"He wasn't feeling well, he coughed till his body shook, he was having cold sweats, and throwing up, and he wanted to sleep all day. I didn't know what to do so I took him to the hospital, but when we got here he fainted. They say I listed signs of tuberculosis, something that really can't be avoided when kids have lupus. Gab, I was so scared." Troy explained distraughtly.

"Do you want me to go over there?"

"No…I'll call."

And with that, Troy hung up and Gabriella swallowed before she stepped on her train.

After Sharpay embraced and held a hysterical Troy, she was left alone with Chad who was texting away furiously on his phone. Usually, she would think nothing of it but now that she knew he was more than likely talking to some girl, she was over ridden with anger.

"How can you be talking to one of your bitches at this damn time?" she said incredulously.

Chad looked over at her surprised, "What do you mean?"

Sharpay's eyes widened in shock and vexation, "I mean, how can you sit there and text away to some chick on your fucking phone while my little cousin is unconscious!"

Chad shrugged and looked back at his buzzing phone. Sharpay grabbed it before he could and looked over the text with disbelieving eyes.

"See you tonight?" she read with a look of disbelief. "You are going to go see some tramp tonight?"

"Why are you in my business?" Chad took his phone from her and rolled his eyes.

"Wow. You mean everything we do, all the times we sat there and talked about nothing, all the times we'd hung out…it meant anything huh?"

"Why are you being like this?" Chad shook his head confused.

"Chad, I don't want to just be your fuck buddy! I want a relationship!" she screeched. Chad looked all over the waiting area like then looked at her as if she was insane. "Stop. Not here. Not now." he grumbled, trying to calm her down.

"Fuck you and your small ass penis." Sharpay glared then turned away and walked down the same hall she had seen Troy go down.

Chad watched her walk off, confused. After a while he chuckled and turned back to his phone with a shake of his head.

Sharpay approached the back of her cousin and threw herself into him. Troy turned and they wrapped their arms around each other, in an attempt to find a comfort in the only way family knew how.

She began to sob into his chest and Troy refused to turn his head from the window in the door that allowed him to see his little brother. Jamie was hooked up to many machines and laid in the middle of the bed, so small and frail looking in contrast to the size of the bed.

They both rocked back and forth and a doctor approached them and cleared his throat to get their attention. Sharpay didn't look up or stop crying but Troy gave the doctor a kind smile.

"He tested positive didn't he?" Troy asked quietly.

The doctor nodded slowly, "It isn't bad though. We caught it before it became chronic." he answered shortly.

"Is he going to have to stay?"

"Yes, for a while. We're going to run more tests and try and see if there is any medicine we can give him, something that has a low percentage of damaging his liver."

Troy chuckled and shook his head, "No more medication, he's on so many already and none of them seem to be working. There has to be something else you can do. Didn't you look at the forms I filled out? He's on everything under the sun!"

The doctor looked at Troy remorsefully, a look he knew too well, a look that told him there wasn't much the doctor could do. "Thank you." Troy said dismissively as he turned back to look into his brother's room again. He placed a kiss in Sharpay's hair and continued to rock them back and forth.

Troy looked away just in time to see Chad approaching them. Chad tried to ignore the sniffling Sharpay and spoke lowly, "I'm going to head out."

"Good!" Sharpay's head popped up, knocking against Troy's chin. "Nobody wants you here and you don't even want to be here. Go be with that whore." she sniffled. Chad patted Troy's back with a sympathetic glance before turning around and walking off. Sharpay watched him go before burying her face in Troy's chest again, "You were right, T, he's just Chad. He doesn't care." she grumbled. Her tears didn't flow anymore, they couldn't. And she decided she wouldn't let them.

Gabriella walked into her home, flicking on the lights, and checking her home phone for messages. Aside from a message from her mother and Taylor, Gabriella deleted them all disregarding them as unimportant.

She returned from her shower moments later, now running her blow drier through her hair. When was Troy going to call? Was he going to call at all? Was she being clingy and ridiculous, was she annoying? She had only known him only for a few weeks. A month or two maybe. She couldn't believe he was all she could think about now and she barely knew anything about him.

She turned off her hair drier and opened her room window to regulate the temperature in the room. The crisp winter chill made her rub her forearms and return deeper into the room to become a bit warmer. As the room returned to it's neutral temperature she looked over at her phone. She watched it and sighed, feeling desperate. She wanted to know what he was doing, how he was, even what he was wearing. She felt ridiculous.

She reached over and picked up her phone and dialed his number.

"Hello?" Troy said weakly.

"It's me again. I know you said you'd call but I couldn't stop worrying…so I called…" she babbled. A moment of silence was heard and Troy finally softly spoke up.

"You want to come over?"

"What?" she squeaked.

"You don't have too…" Troy replied calmly. "I just don't want to be alone."

"Let's just stay on the phone." she said with effort, "I'm kind of stuck here." she fibbed.

"Okay." He sounded tired, too feeble for his age. His tone alone didn't sound of someone in their mid twenties.

"Is he okay?" she asked quickly.

"Yeah, he's got TB. He's going to be on some tough medication, some treatment, and urine tests and he'll be okay." Troy answered in a rumble.

"Is it chronic? How long will he stay?" she went to close her window and then went to adjust her dimmer light. As she crawled into her bed she heard Troy exhale loudly, as if he was under great stress.

"They say he'll stay till he's not contagious anymore. They don't know how long that will be, but it'll definitely take a while. I say he won't be home for a month but it doesn't matter, it's as long as he's okay."

"Yeah." The conversation died into a comfortable silence. Gabriella turned on her TV and flipped through the channels for something to watch.

"Gabriella?"

"Yup?"

"What happens when he dies?" Troy choked out.

"What do you mean? Jamie's not going to die." she whispered.

"Don't spare me, barely anybody his age and descent survive. He's going to die. When he dropped at the kitchen table I thought that was it. I thought my baby brother was gone." Troy said tearfully. He tried to hold the phone away from his face so he could sniffle but failed miserably, Gabriella frowned at what she heard.

"Troy, he's going to be okay. I feel it, I just know he's going to be okay. Do you have any good news?" she said trying to distract him.

"Yeah." he wiped at his face and walked into his bedroom to pull out a piece of paper from his bureau. "I got this office on the third floor of this huge building full of fancy, well known doctors. And then at my job yesterday, I got my letter of acceptance for residency at Einstein hospital and they said they'd be happy to have me and my experience. They said they'd try their best to shorten my internship. I start Monday, get my first check Friday, and can pay Jamie's defibrillator bill, my rent, and look into getting insurance next month."

"Troy, that's great!" Gabriella cheered. "How much are you getting paid anyway? Aren't you just an intern?"

Troy chuckled, "I get around fifty thousand a year. I'm going to move out of here, I swear I will."

Gabriella grinned stupidly, "Soon you can lend me $20 huh?"

"Maybe even more."

"I'll hold you to that."

"What about your private practice? How are going to hit it off while being a resident?" Gabriella asked inquisitively.

"I worked something out with the chief of staff since I was highly recommended. He's actually going to work with me and work out all my assignments for the next two years, enough time to work on my jumpstart, and become certified. Then I can figure out all the other stuff later." Troy explained excitedly.

"When do you graduate?" she asked thrilled.

"In another month."

"I'll be there!" Gabriella giggled, "Troy this is amazing!" she smiled as she heard him laugh.

"Yeah, thanks, Gabriella."

"Well, you're completely welcome." she said warmly, "Remember you can always call me, okay?"

"Yeah…I will."

"So why do you have bags under your eyes missy?" Kesli skipped to catch up with her friend.

Gabriella turned to her with a giggle, "Nothing special actually."

"Were you talking to Troy again?" she wiggled her eyebrows.

"I wish you'd mind your business." Gabriella bumped hips with the smaller girl before putting her bag down and shedding her coat and sweat pants. She rubbed her ballet shoes against the floor before putting them on and went to the bars to stretch. Kelsi caught up to her again and went next to her to begin her stretches also.

"You have every girl in here ignoring you, Gabriella, but yet you act like you're the happiest person in the world." she shook her head with a chuckle.

Gabriella's eyebrows furrowed and she turned to her curiously, "Maybe I am."

"Hmm, I wouldn't be." Kelsi turned from her and greeted other girls as they passed them and they gave her all of 2 seconds of some kind of acknowledgement. They actually stared at Gabriella for a few more minutes before getting ready for class.

"Why do you care what they think?" Gabriella asked inquisitively.

"I don't. I talk to you don't I?" she said before walking off to join conversation with the others. Gabriella rolled her eyes and continued her stretches.

"Gabriella!" she heard someone cheerily call her name. She turned and caught sight of Troy's cousin, Sharpay, heading her way. Gabriella grinned before walking to her. They met in a big and warm embrace before Gabriella pulled back and held the blonde at arms length. "Sharpay! Let me take you to the dressing rooms with my stuff."

Sharpay followed obediently and Gabriella held the door for other girls who walked out without a thank you and then cleared a space for Sharpay.

"So how is it here?" she asked curiously.

"Snooty, horrible, and could be fun when you have friends." she answered folding Sharpay's pants.

"What do you mean?"

"The girls here don't like me very much, they did in the beginning though, until it became some kind of competition I was unaware of. And then there is Kelsi, you can trust her and you can't. They are mad that I got my face on the fliers for the last two performances, since the ballerina who usually did all of a sudden quit. Now I know why." she sighed. "Come let me put that up for you." she said gesturing to her hair.

Sharpay sat and Gabriella began to brush her hair.

"So they aren't going to like me, huh?"

"Why do think that?"

"Well, I like you. So if they say something stupid I will too. Forget the fake shit, I prefer backstabbers to people who talk it to people's face. They're the people that get me into trouble."

Gabriella laughed, pulling Sharpay's hair into a tight bun in the back of her head. "Really now? I think we just became great friends."

Sharpay nodded, "Me too."

"So why are you here?"

"I applied months ago, and then they finally let me audition and I got in." They walked out of the room and into the studio, girls only glancing their way. Kelsi looked over with a frown and walked over to them.

"Hi, who are you?"

Sharpay looked at Gabriella and they both burst into giggles. Sharpay shook her head as if to get rid of the laughter that wanted to erupt from her mouth and answered her, "Sharpay."

"How do you know her?" she gestured to Gabriella.

"Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't, I just wanted to know how you knew my friend." Kelsi defended.

Sharpay nodded then turned to Gabriella and continued their conversation, "Troy told me to tell you hi by the way."

"He did now did he?" Gabriella batted her eyelashes girlishly.

"Oh, you know her Troy?" Kelsi interrupted again.

Sharpay turned to her annoyed, "A, B conversation you know how that phrase ends don't you?"

Kelsi's eyes widened and she turned from them and walked back over to the other girls.

The two girls high fived and giggled, "I have to introduce you to my friend Taylor."

Taylor sat at the bar sipping on her drink and looking around at the dancing couples.

"Hey." she turned to a dark-skinned male around her age with wild hair. She blushed shyly, "Hi."

"What are you doing here alone?" he asked her, he turned to the bartender and ordered a beer.

"Where's your date?" she asked evasively.

"She didn't show." he chuckled. "I'm Chad."

"Taylor." she grinned. Then something clicked in her mind, "You don't happen to know a Troy that knows a Gabriella do you?"

Chad made a thinking face and then nodded, "Gabriella as in the ballet girl?"

She nodded, "That's my friend. But do you know a Troy?"

He nodded, "Troy's my best friend." he smiled.

"Hmm, seems like we have connections then." she said with a soft smile.

"Now back to my question, why are you here alone?"

"I needed a drink." she answered shortly.

"How about I supply your need for the rest of the night for one dance?" he smiled.

"Well, aren't you bold?"

"I'm persistent too." he grinned knowingly. She rolled her eyes then giggled, "You got a deal."

You guys are so responsive to this story! :) More reviews the sooner my update.

I need more reviews for Blue. You guys are really slowing down and I like to hear your response so until I get at least ten, ignore my predicted update. I know it sounds harsh but I don't want to be a failing aspiring author! You guys inspire me, you ask questions, make me think, and share your ideas. I think that's why I lost my muse for the story... :/ Figure out what you guys want to do.

Rachelle.