A week later, the history projects were due. Sharpay begged Troy not to turn their project in early so they didn't look like show-offy nerds. Troy listened to her, and he understood. They waited to turn their project in with the rest of the class.

"Alright, students! Your history dioramas are due today! Please bring them to the front.

As the students piled the projects onto Mr. Peterson's desk, Troy and Sharpay looked at each other in surprise and dread. Their project was clearly better than everyone else's. Everyone else's dioramas looked like they had been done overnight, and the kids' faces proved it. Even Dylan and Allison looked like they started their project at the last minute.

When Mr. Peterson saw Troy and Sharpay's project, he gasped. "Troy…Sharpay…how did you…how creative! I'm impressed!"

Sharpay slunk far down in her seat. This was so bad for her reputation!

Kelsi noticed Sharpay's look and giggled. Troy saw Kelsi giggle and sighed. High school students were so intolerant.

Mr. Peterson looked at all the other projects and sighed. "Alright, guys," he said. Since all of your projects would get F's if I accepted them, I'll give all of you three extra days to work on the project, starting with the rest of this class period. And when I say work, I mean hard! Good luck!"

Half the students shot murderous glares at Troy and Sharpay. Troy groaned and wondered what Chad would think if he ever found out.

"Troy and Sharpay, you two can just sit quietly for the rest of class. You guys have no homework for the next three days." Mr. Peterson smiled.

Troy put his head on his desk. What exactly made teachers think that all kids enjoyed special attention? Did any kids enjoy special attention?

Just then, a paper airplane landed on his desk. It said, "Allison" on the front. Oh, right. That's who. He sighed and opened up the card.

"Listen, punk!" the card read. "Don't you dare steal my spotlight! If I lose my reputation as teacher's pet because of you…well, I won't have to do anything, actually! Your punishment will be the loss of all your friends! But what can I say? Dylan is so cute, and his cuteness just gets me distracted! But never mind that. I will climb back on top, and I will be teacher's pet once more! You cannot stop me, Troy Bolton! From, Allison."

When Troy was done reading the message, he glanced over at Allison. She glared at him. Troy wasn't sure how to react, so he just stuck his tongue out at her. Allison rolled her eyes back, and turned back to her desk before Mr. Peterson caught him.

A few moments later, another note appeared on his desk. This time, it was from Sharpay. He opened it up, and read, "Hey, Troy! I just wanted to let you know that I'm so happy we're going out now! Look, I have a confession to make. See, I have issues with my feelings and stuff like that, and my mom takes such drastic measures to get me to open up! She's used the sneakiest ways to get me to let out my feelings, even if it involves doing things behind my back. Troy, I'm telling you this because I want you to keep an eye out for anything that might seem like one of her plans, all right? I'm really sick of people trying to give me help I don't need. From your girlfriend, Sharpay."

Troy looked at Sharpay and nodded, just to let her know he read her note. Then he sunk deep into his chair, and started to think. He had been doing that a lot lately.

At that moment, Troy had never been more overcome with guilt in his entire life. Sharpay was counting on him to keep her from something she hated doing, but Troy was the one trying to get her to do it! Maybe being the girlfriend of someone you're trying to help like this isn't such a good idea. Or maybe he was just too nice, he decided. Yes, that was it. He could either help her out, or he could be her boyfriend. He couldn't have both; it was too difficult. If he wasn't her boyfriend, he would be less willing to back down.

But that's too harsh, he decided. If he broke up with her, she would only get nastier, which was the opposite of what he, Mrs. Evans, Christine, and Mrs. Riley wanted. It was a lose-lose situation; there was nothing else to it.

That given, Troy decided he had a big decision to make, but he couldn't make it on his own. He promised himself that he would visit Mrs. Riley by the end of the day.

X-x-x-x-X

It was lunchtime next, which meant he had to face Gabriella at lunch. He wasn't sure how that would go down. As he got his school lunch, his mind filled with questions. Would Gabriella be mean enough to sit next to him, but give him the cold shoulder? Or would she cut him at least a little slack, and just sit with Taylor? Or, if it were possible, would she just sit next to him and treat him like a friend? He shrugged. He supposed he would have to find out.

As it turned out, Gabriella went with the second approach: to sit with Taylor, as far away from him as possible. Troy was happy about that. At least he knew he wouldn't have to deal with her.

He did, however, have to deal with Chad. As the boys sat down to eat, Chad glared at his friend.

At first, Troy was too preoccupied to notice. He was too guilt-ridden. But eventually, he noticed the silence and looked up at Chad.

Chad, being Troy's best buddy, could see that he was feeling guilty. He said grudgingly, "Yeah, I'd be guilty too if I just dumped someone who depended on me."

Troy couldn't help but smile, because truthfully, Chad had no clue why he was upset.

Chad was a bit annoyed by Troy's smirk. "What's so funny about dumping your girlfriend and making her miserable?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Troy grouched. "That's not why I was smiling."

"Oh." Chad frowned. "Well, then why are you smiling?"

Troy sighed. He wasn't in the mood for such questions. "It's no reason, alright?" he grumbled.

Chad shrugged, figuring he should stop asking annoying questions. But he assumed it was okay for him to ask serious questions, so he said, "So, are you happy you dumped Gabriella?"

Troy was about to say no, but stopped. There were definitely pros to dumping Gabriella. And of course, there were also cons. While it was nice to have someone not to follow you around, he missed having someone who cared about him. As for other pros, well, he loved not having the responsibility of being a boyfriend. Sure, he had this responsibility with Sharpay, but it was different in the sense that Sharpay wasn't annoying in any way. Sure, the flirting got out of hand sometimes, but all in all, she was a good person and fun to hang out with.

That was it: Sharpay was fun. She was fun, friendly, and outgoing, whereas Gabriella was shy and never wanted to go anywhere. It was as if she missed the whole 'date' concept.

After weighing the pros and cons for a few moments, Troy finally came up with his answer. He turned to Chad and said, "Yes."

Chad looked at him incredulously. Troy, did you just say yes? I'm really surprised at you, man!" Chad crossed his arms.

Troy sighed. "Chad, listen. Gabriella's a very nice girl, but she's just not as fun loving as Sharpay is. Gabriella won't even go bowling with me, while I've already been on three dates with Sharpay in the past week!!"

Chad rolled his eyes. "Alright, let me get this straight," he said. "You think that going on three dates a week is a good thing? Troy, that's an overload!"

"And not even wanting to go to the mall is the right amount?" Troy asked, challenging his friend to come up with a good response.

Chad shook his head. "No, not even wanting to go to the mall is not enough, I agree. But would you really rather have more than enough of something than not enough of it?"

Troy nodded. "Yes, I would." This time, he didn't have to think about his answer.

"So what you're saying is, you'd rather have too much food than eat just barely enough to sustain your life?"

Troy looked at him funny. "Well, no. But why are you comparing this to food?"

The bell rang before Chad could answer Troy's question.

X-x-x-x-X

After Troy finished his lunch, he walked down the hallway to Mrs. Riley's office.

"Oh, hi Troy!" Mrs. Riley said. "Come in. I've been meaning to talk to you, anyway. How are things going with Sharpay?" she asked as she closed the door.

"Not good," Troy said. He took out the note Sharpay gave him and handed it to her. After she read it, she looked at him.

"So what do you think I should do?" Troy asked. "Do you think I should break up with her? Should I tell her the truth? Either way, she would only get nastier, which isn't what we want."

Mrs. Riley nodded thoughtfully. 'Well, you're right," she said. "Neither option would do you any good. Breaking up with he will only make her meaner, as you said, and telling her the truth is simply not what we're trying to do here."

Troy took a deep breath. "Yes, you have a point," he said. "But as a counselor, you're supposed to make sure everyone's happy, right?"

Mrs. Riley shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"Well, lying to my girlfriend makes me unhappy, not to mention terribly guilty. All I'm saying is, I don't know if it's really necessary to sacrifice my conscience for all this."

"And again, you're right," she said. She was about to say something else, but stopped. "Oh, boy. This is a hard decision."

Troy nodded in agreement. For the next few moments, the two sat there in silence. Then finally, Mrs. Riley spoke up.

"Maybe you should just tell her the truth," she said. "As you said, my job is to keep everyone at this school happy, and you're smart enough to know that a lie like this is bad for your conscience. So my advice is, tell her the truth. But don't do it just yet. You guys just started going out. Do something for her that is so nice, she'll love you no matter what you say, not to mention you'll keep her trust."

Troy sighed. "You teachers don't know anything about dating," he muttered.

"Just trust me," Mrs. Riley insisted. "You'll think of something."

Troy was about to protest, but just then, the bell rang.

X-x-x-x-X

Two nights later, Troy rang Sharpay's doorbell. It took a while, but he knew just how to tell Sharpay the truth without making her mad. It would make her squirm, but it would hopefully convince her to change.

Sharpay answered the door this time. "Hey, Troy!" Sharpay said. Troy gasped. Sharpay looked almost as fantastic as he did! She was wearing a light pink top and a silver miniskirt. "You ready for our date?" she asked.

Troy nodded, gulping. He followed Sharpay into the dining room and sat down. He hated how happy Sharpay was. She didn't know what she was in for. For a moment, he thought about waiting a little while longer. But according to Mrs. Riley, this was the perfect environment for Troy to give Sharpay a piece of news like this.

"Sparkling cider?" Sharpay offered. At first, Troy didn't answer. Sharpay waved her hand in front of his face. "Hello? Earth to Troy!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Troy asked. He was feeling nervous and queasy, just as he had felt when he dumped Gabriella. Maybe dumping people was hazardous to his health.

"Do you want any sparkling cider?" Sharpay asked again.

"Oh, cider?" Troy said. "Sure, sure." He held out his glass. Sharpay filled it with cider, and Troy took a sip.

"I have a turkey in the oven," Sharpay explained. "It'll be ready in about ten minutes." Sharpay rested her head in her elbows. "Until then, tell me what you've been up to lately!"

It was the perfect moment. But Troy chickened out. "You go first," he said.

Sharpay looked a little off-guard. "Um, okay," she said. "Well, I'm on the verge of getting kicked out of the drama club just because I want Ryan and Kelsi to paint my dressing room by themselves, while Todd and the Sharpayettes fan me and give me whatever I want. But thanks to you, that won't happen, as long as they don't tell Mrs. Darbus anything. Also, my math teacher says that I need to go back to level one math. But I don't care about that. It's just less work for me." She smiled. "So what's up with you?"

"Oh, not much," he said casually. "Basketball practice, spending time with you," Sharpay smiled. "The usual stuff."

Sharpay nodded. "That's nice."

Troy mentally slapped himself for chickening out again. But it wasn't too late yet. He added, "I've also been reading the news," he said, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Oh, really?" Sharpay said, curious. "Looking around the sports section, I assume?"

Now was his chance. "Actually, I've been looking at the psychology section."

Sharpay frowned. She didn't like where this was going.

"I found this very interesting article about a boy who was so unloved that he ran away. Maybe you could check it out," Troy said.

Sharpay sighed and grabbed the article, which, though she didn't know it, was really written by Troy. What she read was pretty surprising. The boy, Freddie, was so jealous of his older brother, Jim. Jim was straight up close to perfect. He came home with straight A's on his report card, while Freddie never got anything higher than a C+. Jim never needed to be reminded to do his chores, but it took hours of nagging to get Freddie to do his. Freddie got held back a year, but Jim had already skipped two grades.

Eventually, Freddie was sick of Jim's constant praise. He packed a bag, and headed for the park. Hmm, doesn't sound like a bad idea right now, Sharpay thought. She continued reading.

For the next few days, Freddie lived in a park. He lived off of the cookies and juice he snuck into his backpack. But one day, Freddie scraped his knee. At seven, he was used to having his parents kiss his scrapes, so when he was alone it was hard for him. On top of that, it started to rain. Shivering and sobbing, he walked back home, where he got hugs and kisses from his parents, who reassured him that they could never love Jim more than him.

When Sharpay finished reading the article, she scoffed. "Nice article, Troy," she said unenthusiastically.

"Is something wrong?" Troy asked innocently.

"No, it's fine," Sharpay said. "It's just that I thought I asked you to be on the lookout for anything that may look like one of my mother's plans," Sharpay said.

Troy scratched his head. "Yeah, about that…"

Sharpay looked at him suspiciously. "My mom didn't give you that paper, did she? Tell me the truth."

"No, I swear to God that she didn't," Troy said. Sharpay could tell that he meant it.

"Oh, okay." She smiled.

"Sharpay, wait! I'm not finished yet."

"Yeah?" she asked.

Troy took a deep breath. "Sharpay, you're right. Your mom is out with another one of her 'plans'. I'm her plan."

Sharpay stared at him, wide-eyed. "Troy, are you serious? You've got to be kidding!" she exclaimed.

Troy sighed and shook his head. "I wish I were. Unfortunately, Mrs. Riley called me to her office one morning and told me what was going on. She told me how you effused to be helped, and she knew I could get to you because you had a crush on me and wouldn't suspect anything. That was why I switched history classes: so I could work on the project with you and get closer to you. Mr. Peterson was in on this, too.

"But Sharpay, the truth is that I love you. This whole mission has brought us closer together. That's the only reason I'm telling you this. I mean, I wouldn't want you to find out that I lied, would you?"

While Troy was talking, Sharpay's face changed. Her feelings went through betrayal, to embarrassment, to sorrow, and finally to anger.

Sharpay squinted her eyes at Troy. "Well, if you were really close to me, you'd understand that I just want people to leave me alone! They're my problems, all right? I can choose how to deal with them!" The oven timer went off, but neither of them heard it.

"Sharpay, it's not that I don't understand! I definitely see where you're coming from, but your happiness is the most important thing ever to me, it really is!"

Sharpay softened a little and shook her head. "Troy, if you care about my happiness, then why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Because, Sharpay. Just ignoring your problems doesn't make you happier."

"Augghh!!" Sharpay grunted. "Troy, you're not a psychologist!" she screamed.

Troy, on the other hand, managed not to lose his temper. He nodded. "No, I'm not a psychologist. But I am a person who cares about you and wants to help you," he reminded her. "I'm you're boyfriend."

For a moment, Sharpay just stared at him. Then, she took the sparkling cider and splashed it on his face. Troy winced at the pain as it went into his eyes.

"Okay, ow!" Troy exclaimed. "What was that for?"

Sharpay rolled her eyes as if it were the most obvious question in the world. She said, "Um, hello? I splashed sparkling cider on your face so you could get a reality check. It looks like you really need one," Sharpay said, not bothering to apologize or ask if he was okay.

"And exactly what do I need a reality check for?" Troy asked.

Sharpay rolled her eyes even more. "You need a reality check because you don't get that I don't need help."

Now, Troy was beginning to lose his temper. "Sharpay…you're the one who needs a reality check. Can't you understand that we're only trying to help you? Why is that so hard for you to understand.

Sharpay sighed. She hated that this date was turning into an episode of Dr. Phil, but she still wanted to make sure that Troy at least saw where she was coming from, so she said, "But do you understand that you're not going to be able to help me?"

Troy frowned. "What do you mean, I can't help you? I don't even know exactly why you're upset! Can't you just tell me? Can't you give me a chance?"

Sharpay shook her head, and her voice got softer. "Sorry, Troy. You can't help me. I don't see a single way on Earth that you could possibly help me get over my jealousy of Ryan."

After she said that, both Troy and Sharpay gasped. Sharpay, because she just gave away her deepest, darkest secret to someone she didn't exactly trust at the moment. Troy, because he was glad to finally know what Sharpay's exact problem was, which made helping her easier, and also that he was right on the spot when he wrote that article.

"Get out," Sharpay said coldly.

"What?" Troy asked.

"Get out!" Sharpay repeated, much louder this time. "Get out of my house before I shove you out myself!"

Troy, albeit knowing how weak Sharpay was as far as muscles went, was somewhat threatened by this, so he walked out of the house without a word, and went home.

X-x-x-x-X

As Troy lay in bed, he thought about how much Sharpay really meant to him. At first, he was surprised by the reality of this fact: Sharpay meant something to him!

True, Sharpay was, in general, nothing special. Just a regular girl who was very upset. He supposed he cared about her so much because he saw how much everyone else in school didn't. But it wasn't her fault. Jealousy was jealousy; what could she do about that? The only people who were willing to help her out besides Troy himself were Mrs. Riley. Mrs. Evans, and Christine. No one else cared in the least what Sharpay's problems were.

Troy began to wonder about that—he began to wonder why he was so compassionate and open. It definitely made him different from other kids. Then, he realized that he did the same thing with Gabriella. He supposed that that was just how he was. And he figured that was a good thing, even if it came with a price sometimes.

A/N: Hm…do you think that last chapter was a little too predictable? I myself am not sure. Tell me what you think. (It also may have been a little overly long…sorry about that. ;))