Disclaimer: asdfggdkflghkljl;;; not mine.
Lights Off
Chapter Ten: Back to the Everyday Routine
Not only did Troy's sapphire eyes expand within a split second to the size of golf balls at Sharpay's news, but his dark black pupils seemed to widen magically as well like when you put those little toys in a glass of water and they quadruple in size, so much that anyone looking at him probably would have accused him of being high.
"Wh-what?!" he squeaked in an un-manly tone, wondering if all that anticipation of longing to hear what Sharpay's big announcement was had caused him to just imagine what he thought he'd heard her say, or if it was the real truth. His voice was higher than a twelve year old who still had yet to reach puberty.
"Don't make me say it again," Sharpay whimpered, her forehead pressed against her knees. Troy gaped at her, fireworks exploding in his dilated pupils and brain, and he blurted out just about the only thing he could think of, even though the answer was already obvious.
"Is it mine?!"
She snapped her answer at him without lifting her head a single centimeter. "Of course it's yours, you idiot! Who else do you think I've slept with recently?"
"You can't be pregnant!" Troy exclaimed, ignoring her question which was probably meant to be rhetorical anyway. "There's no way-"
"Last I checked I'm not a boy, so yes, I can be and I am!" Sharpay cut him off. Leave it to her to be sarcastic even in a situation like this.
"B-but I mean- we only did it once.. and we were protected! How could this have happened?"
"Maybe you should have bought a properly fitting condom, jerk!" Sharpay spat, her voice full of what either was or strongly resembled cruel and pure hatred as she finally snapped her head up to glare at him with eyes full of burning lava. But much like Ryan, Troy had known Sharpay long enough not to let the "I-hate-you-and-everyone-around-me" voice and look that she used whenever she was downright pissed, get to him all that much. So he winced only slightly.
"This isn't only my fault, Sharpay! You're the one that suggested in the first place that we-"
"And I'm also the one that has to carry your damn child, Troy Bolton!" Sharpay screamed at him, feeling a fresh batch of emotional tears brew within her. "I told you staying with me would only screw up your life! Why don't you just leave while you have the chance?!"
"Two reasons," Troy said, surprised with himself even at how calm he sounded after finding out that he'd gotten his girlfriend pregnant (when they weren't even dating yet), and they were still both teenagers and someone would probably want to murder him for this later. (Whether it was Ryan trying to kick his ass if he ever found out he'd done that to his sister, or her dad... or his own dad... or even her brother in law... or any of the other big husky men in her family.)
He took his hands and placed his fingers around the nape of her neck, running each of his thumbs over her jawbone on either side of her face as her eyes shone with tears her body was rapidly producing.
"One, because I know that even though you're telling me to walk out of your life, you don't really want me to because we both know there is no way in hell you're ever going to be able to handle this all by yourself. And two, because what kind of a messed up low-life jerk would I be to actually listen to you at this moment? I'm not going anywhere no matter how many times you're probably going to continue to tell me too, and that's final!"
Sharpay snatched her head away from his grasp as the waterworks cascaded down her rosy cheeks, not wanting to be touched, even though she knew not even all that deep down that he was right. Maybe she wanted to chop off that stupid thing that made him a man in the first place right now and never speak to him again as of that moment, but in the long run she was well aware that she would never be able to handle something as huge as pregnancy on her own- teenage pregnancy. She needed him. She just wished she didn't.
"What the fuck am I gonna do?!" she demanded, bawling into the palms of her hands.
"It's what we're gonna do and..." Troy shook his head and looked away from her for a moment even though she wasn't looking at him, suddenly feeling a strong, almost forceful desire to cry himself. What were they going to do? It was too soon for him to be able to answer that question, because he really had no idea what in the world they were going to do about this. And he'd never felt so helpless and small before... just one person alone among a world of billions in the world left to deal with this by himself for the time being.
He looked back at Sharpay's sobbing form.
No, not by myself. With her, the person carrying the cells of my slowly forming child.
"... and I honestly don't know right now, Shar, but I do know one thing for sure," he said, his voice breaking as he scooted himself up against the house, sitting next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "We still have almost nine months before the baby comes.... a-and a few left before people start noticing any new type of.... development with you... we don't have to decide right now what to do or how we'll tell people but until we do decide that stuff, Shar... we have to be strong. Okay?" he said desperately, gripping her shoulder a little tighter. "I-I don't think you've gotten yourself off to a very good start by hiding out in your room like this for the last week, but Monday, at least- you have to start over fresh, alright? Come to school... you have to keep going to school with your chin up... you can't let this tear you apart, you can't! I'm here for you and we can't let this rip apart our minds, we have to stay strong. We have to."
Sharpay's tears had slowly started to subside throughout the duration of his speech. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and sniffed before turning towards him, her eyes red-rimmed and her face splotchy. "Months? Before the baby comes? What are you talking about, Troy?!" she gaped at him. "You're getting way too far ahead of yourself!"
"What?"
"I'm way too young to be a mother! Shit- my own sister is probably even too young even though she's now married and she already has a kid and has been off making more every night for the last two weeks!" Sharpay exclaimed, and he drew his hand back from her arm quickly deciding it was probably best not to lay a hand at her when she was in mid freak-out mode like this, like she probably would be for a while.
"There's no way I can keep this... this thing... this mass of cells... I-I've gotta get rid of it."
"Shar, I understand the logic in that, but you don't have to decide that 's what you want to do right now-" Troy started calmly.
"As if I even have another choice! You tell me how there's any possible way I can go through with this!" Sharpay exploded.
"...You can give the baby up for adoption or something, but you don't have to kill it-"
"You don't understand anything, Troy! Yeah, I do have to! There's nothing else I can do without my parents finding out and strangling you and doing god knows what to me!"
"You always said you were against abortion!" Troy reminded her, thinking of all those times where the topic of abortion had ever come up in health class or some random, weird conversation and how Sharpay, among many others, had always said that it was wrong.
She rolled her bloodshot eyes. "Everyone says they're against it so people won't think lower of them. That is until the time comes where they themselves get knocked up when they don't want to be. Then they know they don't have a choice."
"Sharpay, we got ourselves into this and if there's anything I can do to help it, I'm not letting some weird doctor with a giant sucking thing get ourselves... or technically... the baby... out! We have to handle this maturely... like adults-"
"But I'm not an adult!" Sharpay shrieked in frustration, and then, realizing how loud she was, forced herself to lower her voice a little. "And neither are you. I'm just trying to do what's best and right for our own good."
"Right, and to hell with what the baby would think about that, right? Let's just go on and kill our kid because it's what's best for our own good!" Troy exclaimed sarcastically in exasperation. He couldn't believe how heartless she was being about this... well... okay, he could kind of believe it... not because she was generally a heartless person or anything, but because he knew being pregnant and a mother at such a young age would not be very appealing to anyone, but still.
"Would you stop referring to it as a baby?! It's a three week old, microscopic thing of cells!"
Troy ran a tired hand through his scruffy hair in a distressed manner.
"Look, I can see we're not gonna come to an agreement anytime soon on this. But like I said, we don't have to decide what to do now. We have plenty of time left before we have to make a formal decision on what to do... and this also isn't the type of thing we can just sleep on and decide in the morning. It's going to take some time."
"Well I'm pretty sure my decision will still be the same several weeks from now, but if it'll get you to shut up about 'doing the right thing', then fine, I'll at least pretend to consider waiting to make a final choice."
Troy offered her a sad, tired smile and took her hand. "We'll get through this, Shar," he told her, his voice soft and determined. "I'm sure of it."
Sharpay bit her tongue worriedly, wanting to cry again though she seemed fresh out of tears. She couldn't believe this was happening to her... to them. Was it supposed to be some kind of punishment, some kind of message telling them that what they'd done was wrong?... that they should have... waited or something? It wasn't even her first time, though... his, yes. But not hers. Maybe sex just wasn't for her.
Maybe I should just give up sex completely, Sharpay thought bitterly. My first time completely sucked ass, and my second time with a completely different guy I end up pregnant.
She leaned against Troy and, closing her eyes tightly, buried her face in his shoulder, now wanting nothing more than for him to just hold her and convince her that things would turn out just fine.
The hormones really seemed to be coming early for her.
Or... no. These weren't hormones. These were typical up-and-down Sharpay Evans behavior.
"Tell me everything's gonna be okay," she whispered pleadingly in his ear, frightened for her life, needing confirmation. He wrapped his arm around her, careful not to bump her cast, gently rubbing her back and staring off into the distance.
"It'll all be okay," he told her reassuringly, his voice also coming out in a whisper, though he was kind of unsure of the way things would turn out himself, he knew he had to be strong for her. "I promise.
Sharpay sniffled.
"I hope so."
That sat in silence for a while after that, each trying to gather up their thoughts, when a little while later they heard the knocking coming inside from behind her bedroom door.
"Shar?" they recognized the hesitant voice of Ryan. "I know you've been hiding out in there all week and this is the fifth day in a row mom and dad have sent me up here to try and get you to come down for dinner, but the pizza is here in case you're hungry."
Sharpay lifted her head from Troy's shoulder, ready to either scream at her brother to go away like she had been doing every time he or her parents tried to get her out of her room- either that or simply ignore him, when she saw the expectant look Troy shot her way.
"I can't go out there," she hiss-whispered at him as if reading his thoughts of what he wanted her to do. "They're going to swarm me with questions that I can't deal with right now!"
"What, you didn't think you'd have to suck it up and endure those questions sooner or later? Now's the time you need to start over fresh and start handling some things the right way, Shar," he told her. Her forehead wrinkled and she glared at him.
"Now is not the time," she disagreed, "I choose later."
"Sharpay..." Troy started in a warning tone.
"What?" she snapped impatiently at him.
"Go out there. Eat with your family. If anything you're making things worse for yourself- the longer you hang out alone in your room without facing society, the more suspicious and worried they're gonna get and the more questions they're gonna ask. So you either go out there now or I can almost guarantee that someone will be around to break down your door and force you out later."
Sharpay huffed, nervously tugging at a strand of her hair. "You have to come with me," she tried to compromise. "This is one of those things I'm not gonna be able to handle alone. I know you kept saying we still have a lot of time before deciding what we're going to do, but the small stuff starts here."
"If I go, your parents would know I sneaked over here and didn't ring the doorbell and that will just make them more suspicious."
"So what? It's not like they've ever thought anything was going on here anyway," Sharpay pointed out, gesturing between the two of them.
"I don't know. The look your dad gave me at the hospital on Monday stated otherwise," Troy argued. She looked at him for a minute in wonder.
"What do you mean?"
Troy shook his head. "Nevermind, Shar. I just really think you need to go out there."
"Shar?" They listened as there was another knock at the door, slightly surprised since they'd thought Ryan had already left. "Are you coming or should I tell mom you've decided to continue to make this the daily routine?"
Sharpay stared at Troy. Troy stared at her, each one expecting the other to do something until finally, she stood up, reaching her good arm out to him in attempt to help him up.
"If I'm going down, you're going down with me."
He stood with a little bit of her help. "Nobody's going down. We'll be fine," he told her, placing a soft, reassuring kiss to her forehead. She sighed nervously. This would pretty much be the first time she'd be facing her family all week, and with what good enough excuse that would convince them?
"You better be right," she said to Troy.
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Ryan had been leaning on the door for the last couple of minutes while he was trying to lure his sister out of the bedroom, but he stepped cautiously back, wondering whether Sharpay was finally coming out to yell at him or come downstairs with him when he heard the click of the lock being undone and the knob slowly started to turn, and two seconds later, out stepped his broken-armed sister with Troy Bolton behind her.
Ryan stared back and forth between the two of them in surprise for a moment before focusing most of his attention on Troy.
"Hey- when did you get here?" he asked him. "I didn't hear the doorbell ring... besides the pizza guy a few minutes ago..."
"Oh, you didn't?" Troy asked, playing it casual. "I got here probably fifteen minutes ago," he shrugged.
"Oh..." Ryan muttered, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion and then turning to his twin. "And what's been going on with you all week?"
Sharpay glanced up at her brother briefly for a quick moment before pushing passed him and down the hall towards the steps leading downstairs.
"Uh... nothing let's just go eat I'm starving," she sputtered quickly, not taking a second glance back at the two boys she left behind. Ryan looked directly at Troy then, waiting for an explanation, but all the other blue-eyed boy did was smile innocently before following after Sharpay, leaving him standing there with one question running through his mind.
What. The. Heck?
He gave short confused scoff before heading for the stairs after the two of them as well.
"Hi, daddy," Sharpay greeted her father with fake cheeriness upon bounding into the living room where she could smell the inviting aroma of the pizza coming from. That was a good sign- from the looks of it, this was going to be a pretty laid-back family dinner. Whenever they ate in the living room it usually meant they would just all watch a movie together while eating, so maybe she wouldn't have to sit through as many questions as she'd thought.
She found her dad on the couch already biting into a slice of green pepper with peperoni and olives, and she leaned down to place a quick kiss upon his cheek. Vance appeared instantly surprised.
"Hey, princess!" he said to his daughter, as she settled down into a couch on the far right side of the room with Troy. "...And, Troy... I didn't know Sharpay had anyone over?"
"I just got here less than twenty minutes ago," Troy replied before politely adding "how are you?"
"I'm...good," Vance replied slowly, wondering who had let Troy in since he hadn't heard the doorbell ring either, like Ryan, and also wondering how come, but glad nonetheless, why Sharpay had finally come out of her room and actually appeared to be in a semi-good mood.
Troy nodded as Derby came shuffling into the room, carrying a two liter container of diet Coke. She smiled, and then frowned in thought, and then smiled again when she caught sight of Sharpay and Troy lounging on the couch together.
"Why, Sharpay... what a pleasant surprise," she commented.
"You act like I don't live here, mom." Sharpay replied, her voice flat and emotionless. Troy nudged her, and she knew that he wanted her to take that as a sign to be nice.
"Well, because you've been locked up in your room all week... it's nice to finally see you down here," Derby explained. "Oh, hello, Troy," she gave him a small smile before taking a seat next to her husband. Ryan was sitting in the recliner next to them on the right. "I didn't realize we had company."
"I didn't, either." Vance told her, "until a couple of minutes ago, at least."
"Troy's not company." Sharpay cut in quickly. Her parents didn't usually refer to him as "company" or a "guest" or whatever else. They were used to having them around like part of the family, so what should make tonight any different? "He's just Troy."
"I haven't been here very long," Troy repeated for the third time that night, ignoring her comments. "I just dropped by for a few. Sharpay let me in.
"I see. Would you care for a slice of pizza?" Derby offered, holding out a paper plate to him. He nodded and walked over to her to take it.
"Sure, thanks," he said, helping himself to a couple of pepperoni slices before turning back to Sharpay.
"How many do you want?" he asked her.
"Just one. Cheese, please," she muttered back her response. He picked up another paper plate to serve her.
"So..... are you feeling any better?" Vance asked his daughter, looking right at her. She shrugged as Troy returned to his spot beside her and handed her her food. "Yeah," she lied, "I guess."
Troy glanced sideways at her, could she really not do any better than that? If she wanted to convince them that she was in a somewhat better mood even if she wasn't, couldn't she at least try harder? She was a good actress. She should be able to pull this off right. But it didn't even seem as though she was even trying.
"She said she'll be ready to go back to school on Monday," he cut into the father/daughter conversation. Sharpay's jaw tightened.
"I did?" she asked him, barely moving her lips. School. Ugh. That was the last thing on her mind right now.
"No, but you're going back anyway," Troy replied certainly through gritted teeth as if she didn't have a choice, his voice low while smiling across the room at her parents.
"That's good. I'm sure Ryan is tired of having to gather up all your assignments everyday," Derby said pointedly, glancing back and forth between her children.
That I haven't even done any of anyways, thought Sharpay.
"I don't mind." Ryan spoke up after swallowing the food he was chewing, "...well, as long as it doesn't continue for that much longer."
"Thanks, Ryan." Sharpay thanked him sarcastically, shooting daggers at him. He returned her look innocently.
"What? I don't know what's really been going on with you lately, Shar, but you really do need to get back to school soon. If one more person asks me where you are I might just punch them," Ryan said, making a point to look directly at Troy while saying the last part at that sentence, who pretended not to notice by chewing his food silently and looking down at the plate. Derby and Vance actually didn't notice since they were busy pouring themselves sodas, and Sharpay- well, she definitely noticed and couldn't help but wonder just how much she'd been on Troy's mind all week.
Seconds after Ryan's "threatening" sentence, three pairs of eyes shot up from where they'd originally focused and darted over to where Derby was sitting when the sounds of baby-like cries filled the room.
Derby shifted the position that she was sitting, twisting back around a little to retrieve what was a baby monitor that had been caught between a couple of the couch cushions.
"Sounds like Ryder woke up," she muttered, not sounding pleased at she stared down at the crying device in her hands. "Darn and I just put him down an hour ago. So much for some peace and quiet," she turned towards Vance. "This is why I was glad when all our kids reached the age where they didn't need to sleep in cribs anymore and were potty trained."
"I hear you," Vance agreed, patting his wife's leg.
"How can you hear her? All I can hear is that crying." Ryan said, making a face and scratching his ear. "I wish Steph wouldn't have insisted on leaving that monitor with us."
"Well, I guess I better go check on him." Derby said and started to stand up before Sharpay suddenly sprang to her feet instead, bumping Troy's leg on the way which almost caused his plate of pizza to fall out of his lap but luckily he kept it balanced.
"It's okay mom, I'll do it." Sharpay offered, wanting any reason to escape. Derby paused mid-air.
"You sure?"
"Of course, I don't mind. I love Ryder, can I check on him?" she smiled hopefully. Her mother nodded and sat back down.
"Alright. Thank you, Sharpay."
Sharpay welcomed her and turned back to Troy. "Wanna come with?" she asked him, not really meaning it as a casual invitation that she'd be fine with if he turned down. She wanted him to come, too, in case her family started asking him all kinds of weird questions while she was gone, and she shot him a look trying her best to tell him that without having to use her words.
He seemed to get the message and stood up with his half eaten meal in his hands. "Sure," he said. "Thanks for the dinner," he then said to her parents who nodded and said "no problem" before Troy was already following Sharpay (who was definitley thankful for the excuse to get away) up the stairs. Ryan waited until he was sure the two were out of hearing rang before speaking.
"So was I the only one who didn't hear when Troy got here?" he asked his parents who looked at each other before shaking their heads.
"I thought my hearing was just starting to give out," Vance replied.
"And I definitely didn't hear a thing," Derby agreed.
Hmm...
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"Have you always been this good with kids?" Troy asked Sharpay, watching in amazement as she lifted the four month old child out of the crib with her arm that wasn't broken and his crying immediately ceased. "I didn't even know you liked kids."
"He's my nephew, I have to like him." Sharpay smiled, "and we've grown very fond of each other over these last few weeks. Isn't that right, baby?" she said, kissing Ryder lovingly on his cheek after checking to see (or, technically smell) if he needed a diaper changing (which thankfully, he didn't) and walking across her parents bedroom where his crib was being potentially kept, over to the love-seat. He gargled back in response before jabbing a few of his tiny fingers into his mouth.
"Don't do that," Sharpay said with a small scowl, gently pulling his hand out of his mouth with some struggle since she was using her barely moveable fingers on her right, otherwise known as her broken arm. She looked up across the room at Troy, who still stood by the crib, mesmerized by how easy she seemed to be handling the baby.
"Could you go get me a hand towel out of my parent's restroom? I think that's the smallest towel thing that's in there."
"One sec," Troy said, walking over to the bathroom connected to the master bedroom, though he didn't even know why there even was a master bedroom- every room in this house was huge enough. He returned a few seconds later with the small hand towel Sharpay had asked for, and crossed the room to her to hand it over before plopping down next to her. Sharpay took it and wiped around the outside of Ryder's mouth to get rid of the spit/drool.
"If there's one thing all children have in common it's that they're messy and they cry a lot, huh?" Troy said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure Ryder's one of a kind..." Sharpay told him and Ryder smiled up at her from her lap while latching onto the fingers poking out of her cast.
Yes, definitley one of a kind.
How does he always seem to know what people are talking about? thought Sharpay.
"What do you mean?"
Sharpay drew out a long breath. "What are the chances you'd think I was crazy if I told you this kid seems very wise beyond his... not even year?"
"How so?" Troy wondered, eyeing Ryder who seemed to be taking turns in looking at Sharpay and then him.
"There's just something... different about him," Sharpay struggled to find the right words without making herself seem totally insane. "Like, it always seems like he can understand what everyone is saying. And just.... things like that. He's really smart."
"Maybe he's just so used to be around you by now, that he can only tell what you and your family members are feeling sometimes. Babies aren't stupid, you know?"
"Yeah," Sharpay agreed, "definitely not this one."
Troy decided to drop the topic after that and not question her further, she didn't seem to mind though, as she continued to sit there and play with Ryder's fingers as he popped his other thumb into his mouth.
"Do you think he's hungry?" Troy wondered, watching him suck his thumb.
"I think he just wanted someone to come up and hold him," Sharpay replied and looked over at Troy. "Do you want to hold him?"
"Okay," Troy said, he hadn't really held any babies in a long time, and this would be the first time he'd ever touched Ryder. Sharpay handed him over carefully, like she was worried that he (or she, herself) might drop him or something, but luckily he took and held him with ease, and also luckily Ryder didn't immediately squeal in anger from being parted from his aunt like at the party a few weeks ago. Instead, he remained silent and took his thumb from his mouth, looking up at Troy curiously.
"Hey, buddy," Troy said, holding him up and bouncing him a little in the air, causing him to let out a delighted giggle and reach out his arms to him.
"He likes you," Sharpay said with a smile as Troy gave Ryder a small high five before tightening his hand around one of his fists.
"Ya think?" he asked Sharpay, chucking as Ryder started moving the arm that Troy was holding up and down in a fast motion while at the same time still giggling.
"It's obvious," Sharpay said, holding Ryder's free hand with her good one as Troy lowered him back down to his lap, still holding onto his right fist. His giggling stopped and he grinned at first Troy and then Sharpay.
"Well he seems pretty glad that both of us are here," Troy said to Sharpay. "Almost hard to believe he was crying just a few minutes ago."
"Hey, he's a people person," Sharpay laughed. "Doesn't like to be alone."
"Yeah, I wish you would've been more like that this last week instead of making it be so hard for me to talk to you," Troy said, not really thinking before saying it, and missing the glare she shot at him.
"Can you really blame me?"
He looked at her. "For the sake of not starting another fight, I won't reply to that."
"Whatever," Sharpay rolled her eyes and took Ryder from him after standing up. Troy walked with her over to the crib, where she set him down gently, tossing her hair back so she he wouldn't be ripping strands from her skull again.
"You're putting him back already?" Troy asked in surprise as Ryder stared blankly up at them from his position in the crib.
"You heard my mom- she just put him down for his nap an hour ago, he needs to sleep," Sharpay informed him and then quietly added "or I at least need to attempt to get him to."
She then turned on the hanging toy on the top of the crib. It immediatley started spinning in slow circles and played soothing music that most people would probably start to find annoying after awhile.
"Are you sure that thing's not just gonna make him even more cranky?" Troy asked, scratching his earlobe and watching Ryder whose eyes were now watching the spinning toy.
"I'm hoping watching it will tire him out," Sharpay replied with a huff.
Troy leaned over the crib, resting his elbows on the rail, still peering in at the small child whose bright blue eyes were still wide open and glued to the hypnotizing toy.
"It's hard to believe that you have one of those growing inside you," he whispered in reference to Ryder after a minute of silence, shaking his head in disbelief.
"That's what I've been thinking everyday since I found out. I've just been..." Sharpay frowned in thought, struggling to find the correct words "holding him... and... staring at him... and just thinking... you know- how can this be real? How can this be happening to me?"
Troy bit the inside of his cheek, wondering if he should hug her or put a comforting hand on her shoulder or what.
He settled on taking her left hand, holding it lightly in his right palm.
"I'm so sorry, Shar," he told her, genuinely meaning it. Sharpay sighed, looking down at their conjoined hands.
"Maybe this is all just a dream," she said quietly. "Maybe the entire last four weeks have been nothing but a crazy dream with a mix of some of the best and worst days of my life."
"Maybe, I'm not actually pregnant."
Troy just stood there, staring at the side of her face as she continued to look at their hands, appearing very much deep in thought. He knew there was no way that was possible- that all of it- everything they'd been through over the span of the last month was all completely real, and there was no taking anything back. It was one hundred percent reality. Every part of it.
"Maybe," he responded. "... or maybe it's real. And maybe we need to face the fact that it's real, and get ourselves ready for it."
She raised her eyes to look at him, tightening her grip on his hand, scared to ask her next question but knowing she had to. "Ready for, what exactly?"
Because according to him, they were going to wait (or, she was at least going to pretend to wait) to make any decisions.
He turned his body towards hers, glancing at Ryder only briefly and seeing that his eyes were no almost halfway closed. Wow, the weird spinning thing was actually working.
He re-focused his attention back on Sharpay.
"Whatever the next step will be," he told her, his answer leaving both of them hanging. She said nothing else and took step closer to him, pressing her face into his chest and wrapping her working arm around him.
So, maybe at the moment they had no idea what they were going to do for sure. But abortion or no abortion or even all those other decisions that would have to be made as far as letting people know if they let anyone know at all, she was positive of one thing already- the only thing she'd really been sure of all week.
"I'm so scared, Troy."
He circled his left arm around her waist, rubbing her back gently in an attempted comforting manner with his right.
"I know," he said, staring into space over her shoulder at nothing.
What else could he say?
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Sharpay and Troy finally returned to the living room somewhere around ten and fifteen minutes later after trying to get themselves calmed down again as much as they could and making sure Ryder was fully and peacefully asleep.
"Where's Ryan?" Sharpay asked her parents who were watching some movie she didn't recognize upon noticing the absence of her brother. She then noticed that the coffee table was clear of the pizza boxes and soda that had been sitting there earlier.
Vance shrugged, not taking his eyes off the television screen.
"Went to the kitchen to put the pizza in the fridge. Came back just in time to see him walk out the door."
"Oh," Sharpay nodded, not really thinking much of it but just for the curiosity of it inquired "I wonder where he went. Did he tell you, mom?"
Derby shook her head as the random movie rolled on. "I went upstairs to change. He was already gone by the time I came down. Why? Do you need to talk to him, sweetie?"
"No, I'm just wondering," Sharpay said, figuring then that he was probably with Kelsi or something. It was Friday night, after all. Most people went out on Friday nights.
With the exception of her, anyway, who didn't feel really like going anywhere. That is until later on when she found herself finishing their half-eaten slices of now cold pizza in the kitchen with Troy and he suggested that they go out and see a movie or at least do something to get their mind off everything.
"I don't know. I just kinda feel like staying home tonight. Something doesn't need to be done every Friday night, you know."
"This, coming from Sharpay Evans? The girl whose always on the go and wanting to do something?" Troy gasped, "that's it, Shar. I'm afraid this may be becoming a fatal illness with you! We need to get you out of this house pronto!" he joked, trying to lighten the mood. Sharpay rolled her eyes, not finding his lame attempt at comedy very humorous.
"I mean it, Troy. I don't wanna go anywhere. Honestly, I just want to go upstairs and sleep for the rest of my life... or at least until I can wake up from this nightmare."
"I am nowhere near about to let you crawl back into your little cave and go on hating the world, Sharpay," Troy told her sternly, kidding around no longer. "We already had this conversation upstairs earlier in your room. You have to start getting back to your normal daily routine- wake up, go to school, hang out with friends- do your homework..." he paused "...or, continue to avoid doing your homework like you've always done anyways, and just go back to being normal and just... doing whatever. You can't let this ruin your whole life."
"Then I'll start that when I go back to school on Monday like you're making me do. But I don't have to go anywhere tonight... school, yeah, that's required for anyone under the age of 18 I guess but nowhere in the law does it say I have to go out every Friday."
"No, it's just something you do a lot. And we're trying to get you back on your everyday life schedule."
"My life has no schedule. I like to live in the moment, thank you very much."
"Come on, Shar. A movie. Let's just go see a movie. It'll be good for you."
"Jesus Christ you act like I haven't stepped out of my house in months," Sharpay said, taking a drink of her soda.
"Well, I know that unless I do something about it now, it'll turn into months," Troy retorted, standing up from his stool by the counter.
"Now let's go."
Sharpay sighed and stood up as well, giving in.
"Fine. But I'm picking the movie, and if I end up choosing one that you'd refer to as cheesy and girly and stupid, then so be it."
"Whatever you want," Troy smiled. "Come on."
-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
He arrived at the school office at exactly 7:30 AM on Monday. The secretary, Mrs. Baker told him to wait in one of the chairs and that Principal Matsui would be out in just a few minutes.
So somewhere around five minutes later when the door to the principals office swung open, he was only expecting to see the man in charge of the school come out to greet him but instead watched as three people filed on out- the first one was the principal alright, and he was followed by a Hispanic woman with long wavy brown hair and light brown colored skin. He guessed this lady to be the mother of the third and final person to step out then- a petite teenage girl with equally long super soft-looking brunette waves. Looked to be about 5'2- maybe 5'3. As a guy, he'd give her about an eight and a half- possibly a nine.
"Ah, there's our guy," the principal said, gesturing over to Troy who immediately stood, resiting the urge to wince at Matsui referring to him as "our guy."
He walked over to the three of them, shifting the weight of his backpack on his shoulder.
"This is Troy Bolton, he'll be your student guide until you feel comfortable here at East High," Principal Matsui explained to the two women. Troy nodded and smiled as politely as he could.
"Troy, this is Gina and Gabriella Montez."
"Hello, Troy," the mother said, reaching her hand out to shake his. "Pleased to meet you."
"The pleasure's all mine," Troy replied, shaking her hand and flashing her his million dollar grin that could always easily get him accepted by all parents. He then turned his attention to Gabriella.
"And nice to meet you, Gabriella," he smiled. She gave him back a small smile that was a mixture of nerves and shyness.
"You too," she said quietly, shyly shaking his hand as he held it out to her and willing herself to look directly up at him instead of avoiding his eyes.
She was glad that she did, because otherwise she wouldn't of been able to see or notice how gorgeous they were.
Wow.
He definitely had a pair of some of the prettiest baby blues she'd ever seen before.
She didn't even notice their hands were still locked together for several seconds after the handshake stopped until he dropped her hand casually and stuffed his own into the pockets of his basketball team jacket, still smiling at her.
Holy crap. That smile could melt an iceberg.
"Gabriella, why don't you show Troy your schedule?" Principal Matsui suggested, cutting into her thoughts of how seriously hot this guy was. But she nodded anyway and handed over her class schedule that the secretary had given her earlier to Troy who scanned his eyes over it quickly.
"Hey, we have second and fourth together," he told Gabriella, his smile never once faltering. She nodded, biting her lip nervously.
"Oh."
"Well Gabi, we don't want to keep you two long. Maybe you should get going?" her mother told her in her slight Spanish accent. Gabriella nodded again in understanding.
"Okay, mom."
"If you don't mind, I'd actually like to speak with Troy for just one moment?" the principal spoke up. Gina nodded at him, gave him her thanks and said they would be waiting outside before walking out of the office with Gabriella behind her. Troy turned to the principal when they were gone.
"Remember, Troy- until she's comfortable. And answer any and all questions seriously and with respect."
"I know," Troy said. Jeez- what did he think he was going to do? Make fun of the girl or something? Be rude to her? It was like he took him for a big joke or something- like he couldn't really handle this when he could.
"And I hope you're trying to work on raising your grades?"
"I am."
"Alright...good... now, go out there, they're waiting. Good luck."
"Thanks," Troy muttered, already starting towards the door, thankful to be getting out of the dumb office. He walked out just in time to find Gabriella and her mother finishing up a conversation- either that or they just chose to cut their conversation short because of his appearance.
Either way, Gina stopped saying whatever she was to her daughter and they both turned to him.
"Hi again," he said in a friendly voice, pulling the strings on his backpack straps to tighten them- something he always just randomly did without realizing it. "You ready to get started on this, Gabriella?"
"Um, sure," Gabriella said, not really knowing what "this" was exactly. What exactly were they even going to be doing?
She decided that it didn't matter that much, the nerves she was feeling to be at another new school- her third one just this year because her mom's stupid company was always transferring her around everywhere... and standing like practically a mute idiot in front of such a gorgeous guy was enough to make her not wonder that much about anything because she was just too nervous about everything to think straight.
"We appreciate that you're doing this, Troy," Gina told him, ignoring the embarrassed look that crossed her daughter's face as she said so.
Troy just continued to smile back at her, even though clearly nobody told them he was being forced into this unless he wanted to be kicked off potentially from the basketball team.
Not that he really minded though, it was an easy enough job and Gabriella seemed nice. A little shy but he couldn't really blame her- being new and all and not knowing anyone besides him so far.
"Oh it's no problem," he replied and after he received a couple of thank yous from Gina and Gabriella received some "good lucks" "have funs" and "see you after school's", she was gone, leaving the two seventeen year olds standing outside the office alone.
Gabriella stared up at Troy for a moment after her mom left, wondering if all his kindness had been a fake act in front of her mom and the principal and if he was going to turn all cold shouldered the minute they were alone, but luckily his friendly smile still didn't get any smaller and he asked her where she moved from.
"This time? Arizona," she responded.
"What do you mean this time?"
"We move a lot, it's hard to keep up with it all sometimes," Gabriella explained, now finding it surprisingly easy to talk to him.
"Oh...I'm sorry," Troy said, not knowing what else to say, but for some strange reason, his grin still remained present.
"Well, I guess it's okay, my mom promised that this will be the last time were moving for a while- at least until I finish high school," she paused. (Sound familiar?) "Doesn't that hurt?"
"What?" Troy asked her.
"Well I haven't seen you not smile this entire time. It must start to hurt after a while?"
The grin only fell just a little bit from Troy's face into a smaller smile "Oh, sorry. I just think you're kinda funny is all."
"What? I'm not funny. How am I funny?" Gabriella asked incredulously, growing all self-conscious.
"Relax," Troy chuckled, "I meant funny, as in... cute."
Gabriella clenched her jaw to keep from now grinning like an idiot herself. Had he really just called her cute?!
"Oh..." she said quietly, a light blush creeping upon her cheeks. "Um, thanks."
He didn't reply or say you're welcome or anything, but reached for her schedule again instead to get a closer look at it. "Weird how the two classes we have together are English and Spanish," he observed, "dang. And the rest is all honors classes," he looked up at her, chuckling. "No wonder we only have two together."
"Yeah... I guess I'm um... kind of a nerd," Gabriella said, slightly embarrassed but trying to play it off casually. Math and Science were her specialties. But she'd always just been okay at English.
"Hey, there's no shame in that. Nerds rule the world," Troy told her, almost wishing he was a nerd so he wouldn't be failing everything besides gym.
Gabriella smiled a little. He was so cute! "Yeah, I guess."
"Well, come on. Let me show you to your locker,"
and that's when his wide grin returned.
-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
Troy had to work as usual on Saturday and Sunday, and aside from that his dad would have him either studying hardcore so he could start immediatley on getting his grades back up, or if he wasn't doing that, his dad was making him run all kinds of basketball drills outside that Michael Jordan would describe as torture.
Basically, Troy didn't have really any time to hang out with anyone all weekend or even talk to on the phone or text all that much. So, by the time Sharpay ran into school on Monday morning at 7:42 in her three inch purple stilettos and made a mad dash for his locker while ignoring the looks she got from several people (either in admiration, wonderment over her cast, or a mixture of both) with plenty to tell her best friend/boyfriend regarding some of the events over the weekend, you can bet that she was one hell of a lot half frustrated and half disappointed not to find him there like she'd expected.
She tried her own locker next, wondering with a small ray of hope that maybe she'd find him waiting there for her, but when no one was there either, she stamped her foot on the hard marble hallway floor in an angry defeat.
Great. He forces me to show up today and then becomes a no-show himself? He's gonna get it, she thought to herself threateningly, spinning the combination on her lock and reaching in to grab the books she needed for class. After doing so, she closed the locker door and turned around, deciding to go find Chad in case Troy was hanging around somewhere with him.
Her first stop would probably have to be the vending machine.
When she turned however to set off in search of the bushy-haired guy, she stopped dead in her tracks in a mixture of slight confusion, surprise, and a whole lot of immediate jealousy at the sight of Troy wearing this large stupid grin on his face walking across the hallway on the opposite side with some random Hispanic girl who she'd never seen before, laughing at whatever her man was saying, both of them almost lost in the sea of students passing by.
Narrowing her eyes and not caring if she looked as pissed off as she was, she hustled over to catch up with them before they could get too far away, and stepped in front of them, halting them instantly in their tracks, which caused the two people walking behind them to bump into them. The two sophomores excused themselves and scurried away, knowing better than to be around when Sharpay Evans was looking as annoyed as she did.
"I was looking for you," Sharpay told Troy, "I had to tell you something."
"What is it?" Troy wondered, but she ignored his question and went on to ask one of her own. "Whose your friend?"
She looked at Gabriella then, giving her the quick and classic up-and-down look that girls always seemed to give each other when they saw each other for the first time- grocery stories, parking lots, new students in school hallways- you name it. Gabriella shifted her weight to one leg awkwardly, feeling all small and self conscious again when her eyes locked with this not-so-friendly looking mysterious blonde girl whose brown eyes seemed to darken to almost black before she looked quickly back at Troy.
"Um, this is Gabriella," Troy told her, "she's new... I'm showing her around the school."
Showing her around the school? Since when did he care about new people? He usually ignored them.
Sharpay glanced over at Gabriella again who just stared at her all worriedly. Normally this would've made her smirk- she sometimes enjoyed having the power of making certain people cowering in fear of her, but she was too mad to even have to try and resist any urge to do so.
"Gabriella, this is my..." Troy trailed off, wondering what he should introduce Sharpay as. He looked up at her and she stared back at him expectantly, the look in her eyes clearly stating: go on, say it, stop hiding that we're together and introduce me as your girlfriend.
And he knew it would probably make her even more pissed than she probably already was, but he didn't say it anyway.
"Sharpay. This is Sharpay," he decided, looking away from her at Gabriella so he wouldn't have to see the cold glare she shot at him, and not thinking about the fact that he was most likely going to get chewed out later.
"Um, nice to meet you..." Gabriella said uncertainly. Was it nice? This "Sharpay" girl didn't seem to be very pleased to be meeting her. But who was she kidding anyway? What was she thinking? Of course a guy like Troy already had a beautiful girlfriend (very intimidating- looked like she was probably a bitch, but she was still really pretty, which just made Gabriella feel all the more small and pathetic).
Sure, Troy hadn't stated that they were together or anything, but the mad look on "Sharpay's" face said so.
"What happened to your arm?" she asked then when "Sharpay" didn't say "nice to meet you too." Not that she was expecting her too, though.
"I broke it." Sharpay said flatly before turning back to Troy. And if Gabriella was more confident, she would've said "Well, obviously you broke it, I was asking how you did, but excuse me for trying to be civil, you ill-mannered BEYOTCHHHHHHHHHH."
But of course there was no way she was ever going to say something like that.
"Do you have a minute?" Sharpay asked Troy, and he knew better than to say he'd just talk to her later, so he nodded and told Gabriella that he'd be right back before walking a few feet away with Sharpay over by a row of lockers until they were out of hearing range.
"What are you doing hanging out with some random new girl who looks as if a blind toddler picked out her clothing?!"
"I don't see anything wrong with what she's wearing..." Troy said, looking back at Gabriella to take in her light blue long sleeved shirt with white horizontal stripes, ripped jeans, and flats.
"Beside the point, Bolton," Sharpay hissed. "Who the hell is she? Why are you wasting your time with her?"
"I guess I forgot to tell you..." Troy started.
"Tell me what?" she demanded.
"Look, it was either I help her get comfortable or I get kicked off the team."
"Why?"
"My grades really went down," Troy said, thinking so in a way, your jealousy is a cause of your own fault.
"Well, you just remember that the only one you're allowed to really "get comfortable" with is me." Sharpay snapped at him, looking at Gabriella out of the corner of her eye who stood all alone over on the other side of the hall.
Troy couldn't help but grin at that one. He'd never seen this side of her before, but... he kind of liked it.
"You know, you're pretty hot when you're jealous."
"Why would I be jealous of her?" Sharpay asked, looking sideways again at the dumb new girl she already hated.
"Oh, don't even try to act your way out of this one," Troy chuckled.
"Whatever," Sharpay said with an eye roll.
"So what did you have to tell me again?" he asked her. She looked confused for a moment, not knowing what he was talking about before remembering.
"Oh... I'll tell you later, I guess... your charity case is starting to look impatient over there." She rolled her eyes again.
"Sharpay, come on, don't call her that," Troy said, shaking his head. "But okay, fine- but what's it about? You got me all worried."
"It's not that big of a deal, I guess. Just really weird," Sharpay informed him. "But... I don't know... it's about Ryan."
"Ryan?" Troy's eyebrows raised. "What about Ryan?"
"Nothing." Sharpay insisted, "I said I'll tell you later, I'll just let you get back to what's-her-name now."
Troy sighed, "Okay, okay. I'll see you in class."
He gave her a quick hug, and when he pulled away, they locked eyes, where she found herself having the desire to give him a goodbye kiss like normal couples but knowing she couldn't for whatever his stupid reasons were for not wanting people to know yet. So instead what she found herself doing was staring deeper into his eyes, whispering "I..I love you."
Saying those three words was never really a big deal when they were only best friends- because then of course that's all how they'd ever meant it; in friendship ways.
But now, they didn't say it as much, because now it would have to mean something entirely different.
But Troy seemed to get the message, and grinned larger than he had all morning with Gabriella.
"I love you too."
A/N: damn this one got freaking LONG as hell. Eeeeep sorry for getting too carried away there. Dx But I hope you guys liked this chapter... hehe. I think the Sharpay-giving-Gabriella-the-evil-eye-once-over-look-thing was the most fun part to write :P
Review? :D
and holyyyyyy craaaaappp I start HIGH SCHOOOLL on Wednesday... which I guess is technically tomorrow! OHMAGAWD. I'm sooo excited! Wish me luck? And good luck to all of you incoming freshies too! And everyone else starting school soon! :)
-Serena/HeSaidSheSaidx