It's finally here, the next chapter of this story! I'm soooo sorry, but I haven't felt like writing for this story. I still don't, but I'd feel really bad if I left this story unfinished. I'm barely getting back into this whole writing thing. I've enjoyed my summer too much, and I'm off to Europe tomorrow. I will be gone for at least 2 weeks, so no new chapter after this for a little bit. Sorry once again. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter though, and make sure you leave me something to look forward too when I get back from my trip (reviews!!!).

Sharpay steeped out from around the corner as soon as she saw Troy's car leave. She figured that he might try to come after her and talk, but due to the way he was acting, she didn't want to talk to him right now.

Troy drove home to find that Chad and Amy weren't there. Good, he felt like being alone. He wasn't even hungry anymore. The thought of Sharpay mad at him made him groan. It's not like he was trying to be a jerk, he was just mad that she was going out with Aaron.

Friday came sooner than both of them realized, and they still hadn't spoken.

Sharpay lay in bed thinking about her date with Aaron tonight. She wasn't really in the mood to go out with him tonight, but she'd finally agreed to go out with him, and she couldn't cancel now. Aaron would be crushed.

Well, I guess I was just getting my hopes up when I thought maybe Troy would like me. I think I love him, but he obviously doesn't feel the same way about me, he probably thinks of me as a best friend or a sister. If he really loved me, he wouldn't let me go out with Aaron. Well, I bet he has his own girlfriend that will be all over him whenever he wants. So what if I want to go out with my friend that wants to be more than friends with me? I at least am friends with Aaron, who knows about Troy and whoever he's going to have all over him.

Sharpay got out of bed and hopped into the shower, she'd done enough pouting over Troy. It was his fault that she was going out with Aaron, if he would've just asked her out first, she wouldn't have said yes to Aaron.

Feeling the hot water run over her body made her feel a little better. Troy couldn't run her life forever. She didn't see him for years, and now as soon as she does, he's controlling her life without even realizing it.

She got out of the shower and wrapped the towel around her and headed for her closet. The memory of when they first met at the beginning of freshman year was all of a sudden popping into her head. She could remember that she was supposed to be going to West High, but she and her family had moved to the East High District. She had been a perfectly nice kid. Nobody had made fun of her, and it looked like she was going to have a great time in high school.

(flashback)

"Ry, do you think they'll like us even though all of our friends are going to West High?" a young Sharpay asked her brother nervously. They were standing outside the front doors of East High on their very first day of high school.

"If they don't, they're really shallow because it wouldn't be very nice to hate kids just because of some stupid school rivalry. If they do hate us though, which I'm pretty sure they shouldn't, then just put on a brave face," Ryan said reassuring his sister.

"Okay, let's go in now and get it over it," Sharpay said taking a deep breath and heading inside her new school.

As they walked into their new school, all the kids turned and stared. Who could these two kids be. The girl was pretty, but the looked like he would excel in sports.

"Ryan, what number is your locker?" Sharpay asked him hoping it was near hers.

"It's 388, what's yours?" Ryan asked in return.

"Um, it's 249, I guess we're not very close to each other," Sharpay replied depressed.

"Hey, cheer up, we have home room together, and a bunch of other classes, and we'll both be making friends in no time. We'll be lonely for like 2 minutes," Ryan said.

"Okay, so I guess I'll head to my locker and you head to yours and then we'll meet up in, um, Ms. Darbus's class," Sharpay suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good to me, I'll see you soon sis," Ryan said and headed off in the other direction.

"Yeah, see ya," Sharpay said and walked off to go find her locker.

"Here it is," Sharpay mumbled to herself as she finally found her locker.

Across the hall, a shaggy haired, brunette boy stared at the pretty blonde girl across the hall. She didn't look familiar to him even though he knew like every girl there was at East Middle School. Who is this new girl, she was either from out of town, or there was the possibility that she was from West Middle School, but she'd have to be crazy to switch districts. The competition between the two districts was so intense that most people were either shunned if they came from the other one, or they would be made fun of for the rest of their lives. Troy couldn't let this happen to a girl that was this pretty, she seemed like a very nice person too by the way she was acting.

"Hey, my name's Troy," Troy said walking across the hall to say hi to the new girl.

"Hi, I'm Sharpay," she said not turning away from her locker. She was expecting him to recognize her from West Middle School, and she knew it was likely that she was going to be made fun of.

"So, where are you from, I don't think that you are from East Middle School," Troy said.

"Well, if I tell you, you have to promise not to tease me or tell anybody else," Sharpay said scared somebody would find out.

"Hey no problem, my lips are sealed," Troy said while pretending to zip his lips.

Sharpay giggled, "Okay, please don't make fun of me, but I'm from West Middle School."

"Well, I'm not one to make fun of kids for being from the other schools, but stick with me and it'll stop most people from making fun of you. Who do you have for homeroom?" Troy asked.

"Um, Ms. Darbus I think," Sharpay said not knowing if she said the name right.

"Cool, I have her too. Would you like me to escort you to class?" He asked sticking his arm out for her to grab.

Sharpay linked her arm with his and they began to walk off to class. She was so happy, she was being walked to class by one of the cutest boys she'd ever seen.

When they got to class Troy sat down and gestured for Sharpay to sit in front of him. She sat down in the seat next to him instead just to see what he'd do.

"Well, that's Chad's normal seat, but I must say, you look much prettier there," he flirted.

"Why thank you, and I don't really want to sit here, I think I'll just sit in front of you though and oh, my brother is going to sit somewhere next to me too," Sharpay said.

"That's cool, I'll make sure that there's a seat for him when he comes in," Troy said not able to take his eyes off of Sharpay. This was the first time he saw her and he was already falling for her. How could he not fall for somebody as beautiful as her.

(end of flashback)

He was one of her first friends at East High, but she could still remember that day that he had hurt her far worse than she could've imagined. He started off as such a good friend. He told her that he wouldn't let anybody hurt her. He came and talked to her. He started and ended their relationship and now he was trying to move back into her life. For awhile, she had enjoyed him in her life, but now it was turning out to be like the first time. Only this time, she wasn't going to let him turn her into the ice queen. One lifetime as the ice queen was more than enough.

Tonight, she was going to go out on her date with Aaron, and she was going to enjoy herself. Troy would not ruin this night. Aaron didn't deserve to be treated like this, and Troy could deal with the fact that she wanted to go out with him. It, after all, was her life. He could offer his advice, but it's still her decision.

Sharpay finished getting ready. She had decided on a black baby doll type dress. It wasn't too short, it hit her knees. If Troy saw her, she knew he would be jealous, but tonight wasn't about Troy, it was about her and Aaron.

Ding-dong

That would be Aaron.

Sharpay walked downstairs and went to answer the door to find Troy there.

"Sharpay, I'm soooo sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you last week. I was just upset, I never meant to hurt you. Wait, why are you all dressed up?" Troy asked, stopping in the middle of his apology.

"Don't you remember?" Sharpay asked. "I have my date with Aaron tonight and I don't know if I can forgive you yet. I still remember how you hurt me freshman year."

"Shar, I'm sorry about that too. I was just so wrapped up in being the 'Basketball Guy' that I didn't realize how I was acting to everybody else. You really didn't deserve a lunkhead basketball friend like me," Troy said feeling ashamed of himself.

" Troy, I accept your apology, but I don't know if I can stand you being in my life. Every time something doesn't go how you want it to, you try to change it. In freshman year, I was different, and you tried to change me until I told you that I wouldn't change. Then, you stayed away from me as much as you can, bringing out the Ice Queen. Now, you don't like that I've got a date with Aaron and you're trying to get me to change my mind about that too. You keep trying to control my life, well, newsflash, it's MY life, not yours, mine," Sharpay said, crying angrily.

"Sharpay, I… I never noticed. I'm so sorry. I know you must hate me right now, and I wouldn't blame you if you did. I didn't even realized that I did that all those years ago, and now, I don't know what to say. It is my fault, but I still like you, and I still want to be your friend, I made a mistake all those years ago, and now that I have you, I don't want you to leave again," Troy said.

"Like I said before Troy, I don't know, but I've got a date right now and I just can't deal with this at the moment," Sharpay said.

"Okay, but promise me you'll come find me when you're ready to talk," Troy said.

"Okay, but I'm not making any promises as to what my answer will be," Sharpay said wiping her tears. She had finally stopped crying and her anger was slowly fading away. She still liked Troy, he just had hurt her so badly in the past, she was afraid for it to happen again.

"I guess I deserve this, so I'll see you around?" Troy asked with hope in his voice.

"I don't know, but most likely I think we will," Sharpay said.

"I'll see you later," Troy said walking and opening the front door.

"Yeah, see you," Sharpay said quietly, once Troy was out the door.

Ding-dong

Now, that should be Aaron, she wasn't expecting anybody else. That's not true, Aaron was the only one she was expecting and Troy showed up earlier. It had better be Aaron now. She didn't feel like she could deal with anybody else.

"Hey Sharpay," Aaron said when she opened the door, "these are for you," he said giving her the flowers he had brought.

"Thank you, how did you know that yellow tulips were my favorite?" Sharpay asked.

"Hey, I know things," Aaron said with a smile.

"I guess you'd have to know something," Sharpay said with a laugh.

"Hey, that hurts," Aaron said feigning hurt.

"The truth hurts," Sharpay said still laughing.

"Whatever," Aaron said smiling knowing she wasn't going to fall for his trick and give him fake sympathy.

"Oh, you know I'm right," Sharpay said grinning, maybe this could end up being a really good night.

"Sure whatever," Aaron replied still smiling.

"Now that we've established that, let me go put these in some water then we can head out," Sharpay said pointing to the flowers.

"It's alright, I'll just wait here," Aaron said looking around her apartment.

Sharpay took a few minutes to put the flowers away, but then was back and ready to go out.

They headed down to a little cafe for dinner and then went to a movie. All throughout the night the two joked and laughed. Sharpay couldn't help but think about how much Aaron seemed like a friend to her, and nothing more. He was sweet and would make a really good boyfriend, but not for her. She only had eyes for Troy right now even though she wished she didn't. When it came time for the night to end, Sharpay began to think about ways to break the news to Aaron easily. She didn't want to upset him, they may not work out as a couple, but he would still make a really good friend.

"Tonight was really fun Sharpay, maybe, we could go out again?" Aaron asked a little nervous.

"Aaron, I think we need to talk," Sharpay said leading Aaron inside of her apartment to her couch.

"Okay, what about?" Aaron asked not liking where this was heading.

"I had a ton of fun tonight, but I think we're much better off as friends. It's not that there's something wrong with you, it's just that I don't like you in that way. We're better off as friends, and I think no matter how much I don't want it, I'm still in love with Troy," Sharpay confessed.

"I understand. Tonight, it felt more like hanging out with my best friend than a date, but I ignored the feelings because I didn't think of you in that way at first," Aaron said.

"Yeah, I agree," Sharpay said.

"So, still friends?" Aaron asked.

"Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way," Sharpay said smiling.

"Cool, I guess I'll see you at work in the next few days," Aaron said.

"Yep," Sharpay said and gave him a hug.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Tonight went extremely well after Troy came over. I wasn't happy with going on my date earlier, but Aaron is such a great guy. Now, what to do about Troy, I mean, I love him, but I don't know if I want to forgive him. He's always been controlling and now, I don't know if I could handle having him try to run my life again. But, then again, it's Troy, and he makes mistakes, but he's still incredibly sweet, funny, handsome, and smart. I've known him forever, is the fact that he can be controlling enough for me to break up with him about?

Sharpay thought all of this while getting ready for be. She had to figure what to do about Troy. On one hand, she wanted to forgive him, and let by gones, be by gones. On the other hand, she didn't want to have her life controlled by him. She was clueless as to what her choice was going to be as she got into bed and turned out the light.

So, how did everybody like this chapter? I don't think it's one of my bests, but I've gotten a new story idea, and I've been working on that also, it may not be posted for awhile, but I hope you all read it when it is posted. I'll update this story as soon as I can, and don't forget, REVIEW!!!

Love you all!!!
Jenny