Chapter Eight: Partners

Troy walked down the halls thinking everything would be back to normal now. But no. Now everyone was saying that Jennifer broke him and Sharpay up.

'Damn it! I thought this was over!' Troy cursed himself as he approached his locker.

He found Sharpay fixing her hair, standing in front her locker. Her back was facing him so he placed his hand on her shoulder to catch her attention.

She jerked back in shocked and turned around.

"Don't touch me!" She growled.

"Uhh, okay. But why did you call me last night then hang up?" He asked looking at her.

"I dialed the wrong number. I mean to call someone else!" She explained harshly.

"Okay, got it. Sorry to bother you," Troy said stepping back from her.

Sharpay just let out a groan at him and turned back around. She had no intention on talking to Troy. Her plan was to stay away from him as much as possible, but he just seemed to pop out of nowhere every time. It was starting to seriously get on her.

"By the—"

"Don't talk to me!" Troy couldn't even finish his sentence with Sharpay slamming her locker and yelling at him.

She walked away leaving Troy behind. She tends to do that a lot. Not that it bothered Troy; it just made him wonder why he could never have just a really peaceful conversation with her. But whatever that was never going to happen.

Troy walked straight to his History class knowing Sharpay and Ryan would both be there already, mocking everyone. Or worst—judging everyone. Sure enough Sharpay and Ryan were there, but they were just seated quietly just like everyone else.

"Mr. Bolton! Sit. Everyone, pay attention!" Mr. Kyles ordered as Troy sat in his seat.

Today, Mr. Kyles looked really angry and serious. It was kind a scaring everyone, he was normal a funny, always joking teacher.

"I'm going to assign everyone a partner. You will be an assigned to work on a project; you will write about it, I need five different topics. Then you will make a poster board about it and present it to the class—understood?" He asked looking around the room as everyone started to nod.

No one spoke; they just nodded their heads, not wanting to make any wrong comments.

"Now for the partners… Chad—Jason! Ryan—Gabriella! Kelsi—Taylor! Ahh… Troy—Sharpay!" Mr. Kyles went on but Troy and Sharpay both looked at each other in shocked, not able to hear anything else.

Sharpay did not like the idea of Troy having to be her partner. That meant she had to meet with him after school and work on the project together—everyday.

"You have exactly ONE week until this is do. SO get started! Talk about it. Gather some ideas. You will not have any time in class to do this! Go! Go!" Mr. Kyles ordered as everyone sat next to their partners.

Troy scooted his chair towards Sharpay. He didn't care if the two of them hated each other. This was a grade and he didn't want to fail just because they couldn't get a long.

"So we should meet at your house today or what?" He asked going through the instruction papers.

"Um—your house," Sharpay answered in a distressed tone.

"Why not your house?" Troy asked in tampered.

"I can't work well with my dad and stuff around," She lied, but yet sounding so realistic.

Troy just nodded and agreed to meet at his house after school. He didn't want to get beat up by Sharpay's dad anyways. He figured her would be over protective of his daughter.

'I—mean—look at her? He'd probably shoot me or something alone in a room with her!' Troy thought.

"I'm hating this—just so you know," Sharpay pointed out as Troy nodded again.

"Yeah, whatever," He responded not in the mood to be yelled at by the Ice Princess.

Sharpay smirked at his answer then piled the papers in her bind. She made a not to herself to meet up with Troy right after school. Knowing that she would probably forget by the end of the day if she didn't make a note. Troy just watched her, thinking she was insane. He didn't want to say it out loud though. Just the thought of Sharpay slapping him in front of everyone was already painful. Sharpay was just too strong for him to judge or joke around with.

"See you later," Troy said as the bell rang.

"Toodles," She giggled walking away.

"Toodles," Troy sighed.

It was going to be impossible trying to get on with Sharpay. She was so complicated and bossy. One minute she's all over him the next it's like she wants to kill him.

The rest of the day was okay. Nothing has changed. Only Sharpay seemed to have disappeared until sixth period. Troy looked every for her just to see what she was up to. When he finally found her, she was on her way to her last class and he couldn't talk to her. He just wanted to ask about how they were exactly going to plan out their project.

Troy waited for Sharpay to arrive at his house. She told him that she would be there after she dropped off some stuff at home. It was almost twenty minutes later when Sharpay walked towards his house. He didn't expect her to be walking—he thought she would have taken her car.

"Well?" Shouldn't we get started?" She asked as Troy led her in his room.

"My parents aren't home, so if you're hungry just find whatever you want in the kitchen. They won't be home for a little while," Troy said before Sharpay could even start talking.

"Whatever. Just get the stuff out," She ordered him sitting on his bed trying to get comfy.

Troy gladly took the materials out and the books. Sharpay looked over the instructions once more and began to skim through the books. She took down some important notes while Troy just kind a watch her. Eventually though, Sharpay looked up and gazed at him suspiciously. Troy quickly looked away making it more obvious that he was clearly staring at her.

"Get start on drawing the pictures," Sharpay suggested.

"Okay." Troy nodded.

He wanted o tell her that he was a terrible drawer, but he knew she wouldn't care. She would just tell him to do it or else. He began to sketch out the pictures—terribly. He wasn't able to concentrate though. He kept on wondering how awkward this was.

'I'm sitting in my room—with Sharpay. The girl who I just happened to make out with ad yet she's not even finding this weird? This is uncomfortable okay? It's not natural for someone to just make out and not have any awkwardness. It's not normal for two people to make out and not have anything going on. I'm not saying that something should go on with me and Sharpay—oh no. But it shouldn't be so calm to her—wait this is Sharpay. She's probably made out with so many guys before.. That's probably why she's so cool about this—and why she kissed me back—' Troy's thought vanished as Sharpay spoke.

"Can I use your computer?"

"Yeah." He answered as she got up and walked over to his desk.

"History is so boring… I don't give a care about the past…or who did what… gosh this is boring…" Sharpay murmured to herself searching the web for more information.

She was taken back on the IM screen that suddenly popped up. Obviously it was for Tory, but he didn't see it, so Sharpay read it.

"Troy! Wat ya up 2 man?!?"

Sharpay wrote back, she just wanted to see if Chad would notice anything different about "Troy".

'Nothin. Just homework.' Sharpay pressed enter.

Troy was all the way across the room and the back of the computer was facing him, so he couldn't see anything. It just looked like Sharpay was reading some information about their project.

"Ur crazy. How's dat thing going w/ Sharpay?"

Sharpay let out a giggle and wrote:

'Good. We're not really working 2gether.'

Chad then replied with:

"Y not? I thought u were going out!"

Sharpay frowned and looked over to Troy.

"Chad is instant messenging you." She said closing the IM window.

"Tell him I'm busy," He answered still focus on his 'drawing.

Sharpay just sighed and turned the computer back off. She didn't feel like taking anymore note. She figured she had enough anyways. She walked away from the computer and back to Troy's bed.

"I've gotten this far. I think I'll write this up tomorrow write, into a report thing," Sharpay showed him all the notes she'd been taking.

Troy just nodded and finished his horrible drawing. When he finished the last little part he looked up. Sharpay was coloring the poster board carefully—to his surprise she didn't use pink, she used blue. After a little while she looked over her cell phone clock and grabbed her things.

"I have to get home." She said heading for the door.

"It's only six…." Troy said confused.

"It's dinner." She stated.

"You can have dinner here. There's really nothing, but I'm sure you can find something to eat. I still need to finish the other sketch," He stated.

He didn't really feel like being alone at home, so he didn't want Sharpay to leave just yet.

She looked at him with concern then set her stuff back down.

"Okay—but I can't stay for long." She said while nodding.

Troy nodded too and led her to the kitchen. He looked through the refrigerator finding leftovers from last night.

"We have meatloaf from last night," He called out to Sharpay who was sitting on the kitchen counter.

"That'll do," She said annoyed.

She kind a just wanted to just head home.

Troy heated the meatloaf and mash potato in the microwave and turned to Sharpay.

"What?" She asked eyeing him.

"Nothing. Don't need to get so negative," Troy shook his head.

"Whatever." Sharpay scolded.

Troy just waited for the microwave to ding while Sharpay looked around the kitchen kicking her feet against the bottom cabinets. The microwave finally ding and Troy handed Sharpay the food. She slowly began to eat it with Troy watching her.

"Could you not do that?" She asked feeling uncomfortable with Troy watching her eat.

"Okay." Troy said going towards the refrigerator looking for a drink.

When Sharpay finished eating she insisted on going on, so Troy let her. She was so eager to go home anyways.

"Bye. See you tomorrow." He said as she walked out of the door. "Do I need to walk you home?"

She shook her head and walked away from the door.