Sorry for the long wait, but this chapter is the longest yet so hopefully that makes up for it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I greatly appreciate it.
Disclaimer: I do not own HSM.
The day before auditions, Sharpay's homeroom was filled with pleas from many of her senior drama students who were against the mandatory testing of everyone's drama skills. Sharpay could feel a migraine coming on with everyone shouting over each other, especially Shayne and Reed. Noticing homeroom had about two minutes left, she decided to put stop to it. "Alright!" she yelled as she moved her arms dramatically to silence the unruly students. "Enough with the complaining. I'll make you guys a deal." All eyes looked at her eagerly. "The first person who doesn't wish to audition, who can tell me by third period, which musical Coach Bolton and I starred in together will be exempt from audition."
The bell rang with the end of her offer, and all the basketball players bolted towards the gym hoping to find Troy. Sharpay smiled to herself knowing Troy had taken the morning off to take Jack to the doctor's so Lucy could run some errands on her own. He wouldn't come in till after fourth period, long after the deadline. She was thinking she had them all, when Shayne stopped in front of her desk.
"Excuse me, Ms. Evans?"
"Yes?"
"I'm a bit confused." Shayne furrowed her eyebrows together.
"About what?"
"You never starred in a musical with Coach Bolton."
"I haven't?" Sharpay feigned surprise.
"I found a box of old playbills when the drama club had to clean out the prop closet and a lot of them were from when you were a student here. There was only one musical that Troy Bolton starred in, and someone else was the female lead. I believe the name was Gianna Montoya or something."
Sharpay giggled when she realized what name the young girl was trying to say. "Do you mean Gabriella Montez?"
Shayne nodded in acknowledgment. "Yeah, that's it. So how are the basketball players supposed to find an answer?"
Sharpay wondered if she should share the answer with Shayne, but she figured since no one else was around, it would be safe. "Gabriella Montez transferred here in my junior year of high school. She was really nice but very shy. Apparently her mother's job required them to move around a lot so she wasn't very comfortable with making friends or getting involved. Well it just so happened that year, Ms. Darbus forced everyone in acting to audition for the spring musical. It was pretty much the same situation as now. Anyways, Gabriella and Troy got partnered together for the pairs audition by luck of the draw, since no one but my brother and I signed up for the lead roles. Obviously Gabriella and Troy got the leads. However, Gabriella's mom got a last minute transfer, and Gabriella left right before opening night. I was the understudy so I had to takeover, and that is how I starred in a musical with Troy Bolton." Sharpay finished dramatically. She didn't know someone was lurking outside the classroom door.
"That's very sneaky of you, don't you think?" Shayne questioned.
Sharpay shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "No, I think they deserve a good challenge."
"Oh, okay. I better get to class then."
"Shayne, hang on a second." Sharpay grabbed a bright blue sheet of paper from beneath a pile of essays while the drama club president stood waiting. "I noticed you didn't sign up for a role yet." Sharpay turned her body so they could both view the sheet.
"Yes I did." Shayne scanned the long list of names for her own. "I'm right here." She pointed to the section with the greatest number of names. It was titled "Townspeople".
"Oh," Sharpay responded surprised, "you're not going out for a bigger role."
"I really don't think I'm good enough for any other part." Shayne glanced at the floor to avoid eye contact.
"But you've had a role in every other play since I started teaching here, and you're drama club president. Why sell yourself short?"
"I don't know." She pretended to be very interested in her shoes.
"I think you should really consider going out for Anastasia."
Shayne glanced up, her green eyes huge with astonishment. "Really?"
"Of course! You have a strong voice, you're a great presence on stage and you know how to command your audience. You're perfect for the role."
"I still don't know."
"Shayne, do you really want to waste one of your last senior performances on being a chorus member?"
"No, I guess not."
"So we're agreed then? I can put you down for Anastasia?"
"Yes, I'll do it."
"Great! And here's a pass." Sharpay scribbled a quick note excusing Shayne for being late to her next class. "What class are you going to now so I know who to address it to?"
"Calculus."
Sharpay quickly filled in the name of the biggest gossiper on the faculty, Mrs. Crawford. "There you go."
"Thanks, Ms. Evans."
"See you third period, Shayne." Sharpay went back to the signup sheet. She wrote Shayne's name under "Anastasia" in her loopy scrawl. She would be the only girl going out for the role.
Troy sat in the coffee shop across the street from his dad's doctor's office. He figured it would be a better place to sit and do nothing than in the waiting room that contained boring medical magazines. He was finishing up the last of his tall coffee when he heard a voice calling his name.
"Troy? Troy Bolton?"
Troy turned around, having no clue who could possibly be talking to him. He was very surprised to find Jason Cross looking back at him. Jason had barely changed since high school. He still had the same baby face that could get him away with anything, though he was a few inches taller. His shaggy hair had been replaced by a more stylish crew cut, but other than that it was still the same old Jason.
"I thought it was you." Jason approached the table. "When did you get back in town, man?" He extended his hand.
Troy stood up to shake his hand before being pulled into a hug. "Jason, how's it going?" He sat, indicating for Jason to join him.
Jason shrugged his shoulders. "I can't complain. Things are pretty good right now. I just got engaged last week, and I'm opening my own restaurant. How about you?"
"Well, my life isn't as exciting as yours. I'm back now. I'm living with my parents, and I'm the basketball coach at East High. Congratulations on the engagement and restaurant, man. Who's the lucky lady?"
"Her name is Kaci. I met her my first year of college and we've been together ever since."
"That's really cool."
"What about you? Have you settled down yet?"
Troy snorted. "Did you not hear me say I'm living with my parents? I can't even afford my own place at the moment."
"You were off doing your travel thing. You'll have money saved up in no time." Jason reasoned.
Troy found himself a bit taken aback by Jason's response. He was the only person he encountered so far who didn't seem to be bothered by his quick departure.
"You look a bit confused, Troy."
Troy shook his head to bring himself back. "Sorry, it's just you're the first person who hasn't asked me twenty questions about why I left."
"UNC games were on ESPN. I just figured you left early for basketball camp or something. Though judging by your reaction there's a whole lot more to the story." Jason sipped his coffee with a serious look in his eyes.
Troy was wishing he still had coffee to drink.
When Jason noticed Troy's hesitance, he added, "Not that you have to tell me or anything. So change of subject, you're taking over for the old man, huh?"
"Eh, I guess." Troy replied indifferently.
"Maybe you can finally help this team get to the playoffs. They've stunk since we left."
Troy laughed at the mention of the Wildcats losing streak. "Well, try-outs are tomorrow. I'll let you know if the team looks promising or not. Or better yet, you wanna help me run them?" He didn't bother hiding the hope in his question.
"That would be awesome. I'll be there. Thanks to Kaci, the restaurant is all set to go for Friday's grand opening."
"You're opening this Friday?"
"Yeah, and you better not have plans because your name is going on the VIP list." Jason pointed his index finger for emphasis. "You should bring a date, or I could have Kaci set you up with one of her single friends."
At the mention of date, only one name popped into Troy's head. He was going to ask Sharpay. "No, it's okay. I have someone in mind."
"So there is someone in your life? I guess that leaves Sharpay Evans out of the question. She's actually Kaci's only single friend, and I always thought you two would get together someday even though you pretended to hate each other for the sake of appearances in high school." Jason said in annoyance. He had hung out with Troy and Sharpay when they were all in grade school and everyone knew they were best friends. Then Chad Danforth came along freshman year putting an end to the tight bond for whatever reason.
"At the end of junior year we patched things up." Troy defended. "And we're hanging out now. I was actually going to ask her."
"Oh." Jason gulped his lukewarm coffee to hide his embarrassment for bringing up the bad times. "Cool then. Well, I gotta get back to the restaurant even though there's nothing to do. What time should I get there tomorrow?"
"How about 4:30?" Troy figured that would allow him to watch an hour of auditions before having to set up the gym.
"Alright, I'll see you later then." Jason gave Troy a high five before walking out the door and down the street.
Looking out the window, Troy saw his dad coming out of the doctor's office. He threw his cup in the garbage before heading out the door and jogging across the street to the car.
Shayne stopped at her locker at the end of second period to trade off books before heading to drama. After closing the metal door, she jumped when she saw Reed leaning against the locker next to hers casually. "You scared the crap out of me, Reed." She placed her hand over her racing heart.
"My gorgeous looks do tend to make the ladies' hearts flutter." He replied cockily without changing his stance.
Shayne instantly regained her cold attitude towards him. "What the hell do you want?" She spun her lock to clear the combination and walked off with her nose in the air before he could answer.
Reed was able to catch up quickly with his long strides. "I know you have the answer to Ms. Evans question." He sped up, getting in front Shayne and cutting her off, forcing her to halt her stride. "Think you could help me out?"
Shayne tucked a stray strand of her auburn hair behind her ear. "Why would I help you after the way you've treated me for the past three years?" Her voice was icy with hate.
"Neither one of us wants me to audition. You giving me the answer would make us both happy. I only have to worry about try-outs, and you'll have your precious musical preserved." Reed reasoned.
Shayne pretended to consider his point. She honestly wanted to see Reed squirm throughout his audition since he could never get through a single dialogue in class without tripping over his words. "Okay."
Reed didn't catch on to the fake cheeriness in her voice. "So what musical was it then?"
"Bye Bye Birdie. Now if you don't mind," Shayne walked around his tall form, "I have a class to get to."
Reed let Shayne get a head start. He didn't want to ruin his image by walking in the room with her at the same time. She was just sliding behind her desk when he crossed the threshold. The bell rang right afterwards.
He tried sneaking to his desk, but Sharpay saw him out of the corner of her eye. "I thought we talked about being in our desks before the bell rang, Reed." Her words were warning, but she had a smile on her face that was hidden by her hair.
"Sorry, Ms. Evans, but I was double-checking the answer to your question from this morning." Reed responded smugly.
"Oh, you did?" Sharpay looked in his direction. "You figured out which musical Coach Bolton and I were the leads in together?" She raised a skeptic eyebrow.
"Yes I did." Reed received a few pats on the back from his basketball friends.
"So what is it?"
"Bye Bye Birdie."
Shayne covered her face with a book to hide her hysteric giggling.
Noticing the red creeping up on Shayne's cheeks, Sharpay figured out that Reed had asked the drama club president for the answer, and she deliberately gave him the wrong one. She was really getting sick of the feud between those two. It reminded her of the way she and Troy acted from freshman to junior year whenever they were in a class together. She actually felt bad letting Reed down since the challenge was her idea in the first place. "I'm sorry Reed, but that's not correct."
"What!" Reed shot a glare in Shayne's direction, who was now openly giggling.
"I'm afraid not." Sharpay showed him sincerity. "Anyone else want to venture a guess?" She figured it was only fair to see if any of the other basketball players had an answer. When no one raised their hand, she started class.
Reed couldn't believe that Shayne was capable of setting him up like this. She had caused him humiliation, and hearing the snickering from his friends, he was going to get even.
Shayne thought revenge felt pretty sweet. She figured auditioning would give Reed a taste of the public humiliation he had caused her numerous times in class, the hallway and the cafeteria. She knew he would try to get even, but at the moment that didn't matter.
Troy went looking for Sharpay at the end of the school day. He hadn't gotten back to school till the end of free period and hadn't bothered to seek her out during lunch, figuring she was getting the auditions in order for tomorrow. He started with her classroom and was surprised at the way he found her there.
She was sitting on the floor with her feet tucked beneath her bottom, her hair in a messy ponytail, staring at a series of papers spread out all around her. Her heels were abandoned at the side of her desk.
"Knock, knock." Troy said while tapping on the doorframe.
Sharpay looked up, blowing a stray piece of hair out of her face in the process. "Hey." She sounded tired and stressed.
"What's going on here?" He gestured to the mess of papers as he stepped over them so he could sit on her desk.
"I was just getting the audition time slots finished. Don't worry I have the majority of the basketball players going in the first half hour, mainly because they only signed up for chorus." She sighed heavily.
"Speaking of them, is there a reason why they bombarded me with questions about Twinkle Towne during their gym class?"
Sharpay giggled. "Yeah, I got sick of all their complaining this morning so I told them that the first person to name the musical you and I starred in together would be exempt from auditioning."
"I got it now. That was pretty sneaky of you." Troy said in awe. "Did anyone figure it out?"
"No, their deadline was third period."
"So they wouldn't be able to come and seek me out for the answer." Troy quickly caught on to her scheme.
"Exactly. Reed Douglas did venture a guess, but he was way off."
"Of course he would try."
"He went as far as to ask Shayne Murphy for the answer. She set him up for failure." Sharpay began gathering up the papers, being sure to keep them in a specific order.
"They fight in your class too? What is with them? They're always at each other's throats." Troy ran his hand through his hair in frustration.
Sharpay didn't bother looking up from her gathering as she answered. "They've been like that ever since I got here."
Troy took a minute to think about the way he and Sharpay acted throughout their first three years of high school. "Is that how we were?"
"We were worse." There was no tone in her voice. She just spoke it matter of factly.
"But we worked it out." Troy reasoned sticking out his hand to help her up.
"We did." Sharpay accepted his hand, and pulled herself up.
"So are you done here? My dad wants you to come over for dinner tonight." He held up his hand to stop her protest. "And he said auditions tomorrow are not an excuse. You have to eat a good meal."
Sharpay slipped her brown pumps back on. "Well, I guess I don't really have a choice then."
"Nope." Troy gave her a satisfied smirk.
She slung her tote over her shoulder. "Then you can carry that lovely stack of papers out to my car for me." She pointed to the pile she had made earlier.
"Fine." Troy huffed in reluctance.
After a very delicious dinner of Jack's barbeque chicken made with his secret sauce and baked potatoes, Troy walked Sharpay out to her car.
"You know you really don't have to be so chivalrous." Sharpay said as soon as Lucy and Jack had walked back into the house. "You could've gone back in with your parents."
"Except I have something to ask you, and I wanted to wait till they were out of earshot." Troy looked over his should to verify that his parents had left the doorway.
Sharpay stopped walking and looked at Troy skeptically. "Something to ask me, eh?" She raised her eyebrow in question.
"Yes." Troy started bouncing on the balls of his feet nervously. The last time he acted this weird around Sharpay he had asked her to the senior prom. He had gotten so anxious, he almost got sick, but luckily he regained his nerve and blurted it out. Lucy still kept their picture from the dance on the fireplace mantle next to Troy's senior picture.
His stomach was feeling alright so he figured it wouldn't be as bad this time around. "So I ran into Jason Cross earlier today."
"Oh really? I heard he's opening a restaurant downtown." Sharpay couldn't figure out why Troy was acting so nervous.
"Yeah he is. It's opening this Friday."
"Cool, we should check it out sometime." She nodded her head, wondering when his question would come in.
Troy thanked his lucky stars that Sharpay led in to his question. "Actually, he invited me to the opening and told me to bring a date."
Sharpay could feel disappointment wash over her body. She figured his next question would be if she had any single friends. "Sorry Troy, but most of my girlfriends are taken. Actually one of them just got engaged to Jason."
Troy couldn't believe that she wasn't getting the hint. "Yeah, he mentioned that. And I'm not asking you to find me a date. I'm asking you to be my date."
"S-s-seriously?" Sharpay stuttered, her chocolate eyes huge with excitement.
"Yeah, you're the only person I'd want to take." Troy responded. He gave her a genuine smile instead of his usual sheepish smirk.
"Oh, okay." Her voice was soft since she was still getting over the shock.
"So is that a yes then?" Troy moved his head so he could capture her eyes.
"Yes." Sharpay confirmed.
"Great. I'll see you tomorrow then?"
"Yep." Sharpay started walking towards her car.
"Bye!"
Troy's yell startled Sharpay and caused her to stumble over the front bumper. She played it off and yelled goodbye back before continuing on towards the driver's side.
Troy tried to stifle his laughter. She was so cute when she was nervous and giddy, and he was the one who had caused her to act so unlike herself. He gave himself a mental cheer as he watched her back out of the driveway.
Sharpay waited till she turned off the Bolton's street before screaming with excitement. It was the exact same reaction she had when he asked to her the prom.
Now all they had to do was get through auditions and basketball try-outs tomorrow.
As always please read and review!!!! I really like hearing what you guys think!
Thanks,
LoveIsLost29
