From AK-tutti; Hola everybody :). Omg, you went insane with all the reviews, but I'm glad about that, I think you should keep the same style for future chapters. So I think you guys need an intro to next chapter, and it's really nothing more than it takes place 2 months after Troy and Sharpay fake coughs, y'know ;b. And you should all know, that the song featured in this chapter, I had to convince Stessa to let it be in it, because she doesn't really like the song much, and I seriously love it, so I don't think I would have cared, if she'd said no? Oh, and Stessa? How about Nadine or Noelle or something along those lines for Steve's babysister? Your call. Anyway, on with this chapter, but first an author's note from my fantabulous co-writer. Take it away, Stessa.
From Stessa; Gosh, thanks for the reviews guys. They're awesome. And yes, AK-tutti; I think that Nadine would be the perfect way for our baby kangaroo. It'd be awesome, I just know it. Anyways, guys, sorry about this incredibly long wait, but here it is; and we're trying to get better at this (:
Disclaimer; You wanna know a secret? We actually came up with the idea for High School Musical, and then Disney stole it from us!!! Ok, we're totally making stuff up.. Sadly, we don't own HSM :(. We don't own So Strong by Natasha Hamilton either, I (AK-tutti) wish I did, though. It's amazing, you should give it a listen.
Twist Of Love
Chapter 10.
"Let's take it from the chorus one more time." Tanya announced, stopping the recording session for a couple of minutes. It came as a surprise for everybody, since they usually had a warning, before Tanya would stop the music. You could always tell on her facial expression, but this time you couldn't. Or maybe it was because both Gabriella and Sharpay were wrapped up in their own thoughts, both thinking about Troy. "I was thinking, and just tell me if you don't agree, maybe Sharpay should sing the 'I will always love you' part, and when the 'Got to hold on' part of the chorus comes, Gabriella will join in, how does that sound?"
Tanya put the music back on, before either of the girls could react, and Sharpay never got to sing her part. Tanya stopped the music again, clearly frustrated with the girls, she yelled; "Cut, cut, cut. Let's take a 15 minutes break, where you two girls can clear your thoughts, because they seem to be elsewhere right now, but when I come back, I expect your very best."
After saying that, Tanya stormed out of the room. Sharpay and Gabriella blinked a few times, before breaking in laughter, and with tears in their eyes they walked out of the recording room out to Troy, who had been sitting next to Tanya, when she had her little outburst. Now that she was gone, he could barely contain himself.
Sharpay sat herself in the chair, Tanya had just abandoned, and Gabriella seated herself on Troy's lap, and he put his arms around her waist. Sharpay looked away from the 'lovebirds', she had to. Seeing them like that, reminded her, that what she and Troy shared, what they had was wrong, even when it felt so right.
It had been a full 2 months, since Troy and Sharpay had begun their, she couldn't call it relationship, affair. 2 whole months with a lot of events, they had for instance released their '(Don't It Make You) Happy!/Still You Went' single, and that was another no. 1 on their account, they were working on their next single 'So Strong' today, and they were hoping for another no. 1. Troy and Sharpay had grown quite close, and it wasn't just sex their relationship, pardon, affair was about, they hung out and did other stuff in Sharpay's apartment, as that would be the safest place to be, but even though they'd grown close, Troy and Gabriella had grown even closer, and it was killing Sharpay inside, but she couldn't say anything. Troy's mom's funeral had also been one of the events, and Troy had of course been heartbroken. He'd brought Gabriella with him to the funeral, and Mr. B had brought Sharpay, as she'd been there for him, when Lucille's cancer had come back. Troy had been there, when Sharpay had written 'So Strong', but wasn't entitled to have an opinion on the song, to explain why we're gonna need a flashback.
Flashback
Little over a month ago, Sharpay was sitting at her piano in her apartment, playing some tunes, and she kept editing some things on a piece of paper. She stopped playing for a few seconds, so she could edit another couple of things on the paper, she didn't even notice Troy slip in. When she was done editing, she went back to playing and sang;
"I will always love you
There'll never be no-one,
Who could love you like I do
Although we've changed I know it's true
I still love you, yes I do, yes I do."
She stopped playing again and looked like, she was thinking of something, she had this thoughtful look on her face, as if she was wondering, what should come next in her song, all the while Troy took silent steps closer to her, but she still didn't notice him, because she was so wrapped up in writing this song. She began singing and playing again;
"Got to hold on, be strong
Say you'll always be there for me
Where did our love go wrong
When I've given you everything
Why should I cry
When it's useless waving goodbye
Cos you know I'll be back in your arms again."
She stopped again, and now Troy stood right behind her, and he started clapping at the artist, as soon as she'd stopped. Now she couldn't not notice him, he was standing right there, clapping.
"Hey, Troy." She smiled, as Troy placed a sweet kiss on her lips. "I didn't hear you come in, what are you doing here?"
"Well, I know once a week, you and Gabriella have your individual songwriting day, and I know Gabriella well enough to know, that I have to stay away from her apartment on those days, because she 'can't possibly concentrate with me there', and I don't know how you feel about that yet, but I hope you can concentrate with me here." Troy explained, as he sat down next to Sharpay. "That, and I missed you."
"Auw, you missed me?" Sharpay smiled, blushing slightly, as she tried to hide her face behind the lyrics of So Strong, so Troy wouldn't notice. Troy did a little funny head nod and a little noise, which caused Sharpay to blush even more and giggle lightly. She decided to cover up, so as she laid the lyrics of her song back, where it belonged, she said; "I thought about writing a funny cartoon-like song about chasing the wonder that is strawberry milk, but I didn't think it would catch people's attention."
"The wonder that is strawberry milk?" Troy exclaimed, repeating what Sharpay had just said. "What wonder?"
"You haven't tasted strawberry milk?" Sharpay asked, her face looking like Troy had said something in foreign language, that she didn't understand. Troy shook his head, amused by what that little piece of information triggered. "Well, well, well... Troy Bolton, I believe I've found a mistake in your dad's parenting!"
Troy raised his brows, as if to say 'that good?', and Sharpay sent him a small smile as if to say 'yes'.
The lyrics called out to Troy, so he grabbed them from its stand, and he wanted to be polite, so he said; "May I?"
Sharpay gave him her permission, and he read the lyrics through. It took awhile, because he wanted to take it all in and get it all, now he had and he loved it, especially the 'I will always love you' part of the song. He didn't understand some of it, but he still loved it, and he wanted to let Sharpay know.
"That was..." He had barely begun, when Sharpay cut him off, snatching the piece of paper from his hand.
"No, I don't wanna hear your opinion on the song, so zip it please!" She yelled, covering her ears, like you do when you do the 'lalalalalalala' thing.
"Why not?" Troy asked, not getting where Sharpay was coming from. It was amazing, why did she not want to know? "I don't get it, a normal person would want to know, if something they'd written was good or not."
"First of, I'm not a normal person, I'm a Sweetheart." Sharpay said, placing one pointing finger on the other, as if she was counting how many fingers, she had on one hand, but really it was to underline the first of part. She placed her pointing finger on her middle finger and continued, "Second of, I don't want your opinion, because then the song will be tainted, and then The Sweethearts can't do it, and I really wanna make this song a single, and it can't be, if you utter your opinion and taint it with your not-knowing-ness. Let's face it, you like country, and what Gabriella and I do is pop, so either way your opinion would suck."
"Gee, thanks." Troy said, sarcastically and pouted, but he cheered up right after, Sharpay had kissed him and 'made it all better'.
End of Flashback
Sharpay remembered that day clearly, because it was also the day, she fell head over heels for him. Now all she could do was sit and sulk in regret over the fact, that she hadn't been fast enough to discover her feelings for Troy, so she could have gotten to him before Gabriella. She knew it was awful to feel like that, when her best friend was in the matter, because Gabriella deserved to be happy, maybe even more than Sharpay did.
"So how long did Tanya say it would be, before she comes back from her 10 minutes escape from us?" Gabriella asked, after having decided, that someone had to break the silence, and since she usually was one to do so, why ruin tradition?
"I think she said 10 minutes?" Troy replied, as he watched Sharpay, who'd begun tapping her fingers on 'Tha Mixer', as she and Gabriella called (Troy called it 'The Dippadedoo') it, much to Troy's annoyance. He hated, when people tapped their fingers. "Would you cut that out, Shar?"
Sharpay seemed to think about it for awhile, before she firmly said; "No!"
"Oh, c'mon Sharpay, don't be that way!" Gabriella begged, she hated it, when Troy and Sharpay didn't get along, because they were the two people who mattered the most to her. "You know finger tapping annoys the crap out of Troy, but you do it anyway."
"Yeah." Sharpay admitted, but she turned it around, dragging Gabriella and Troy down with her, "And both you and Troy know, that I can't think straight without the finger tapping thing. So what are you telling me? 'Stop thinking, Sharpay?' That's not very nice telling, you should be ashamed."
"That's right, I know. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions." Gabriella said, placing one hand on her heart to make her point clearer, and she scratched her ear with the other hand, which she often did, when she was sorry or felt she'd done something wrong.
"That's ok." Sharpay smiled and stroked her best friend's hair with one hand. Once Gabriella had smiled back, she let the hand fall down to her side again. "Anyway, it's a two way street, Gabs. I should have taken notice of Troy, I guess it's still weird having him in the studio with us, when we record. However, I'll get used to it."
She winked at Troy, and he got a frightened look on his face, Gabriella turned her head around just in time to see her boyfriend's face, and she burst into laugher, which Sharpay soon followed. Troy had been afraid, that Sharpay was gonna blow their cover and rat them out for having an affair, even despite having known her for so long to know, she'd never do that after they'd made each other a promise.
Troy still had the frightened look on his face, when Sharpay said; "He kind of looks like a guinea pig with abnormally big eyes with that look on his face, don't you think, Gabs?"
"Definitely!" Gabriella agreed, still giggling like mad. She turned her head around again with a sweet smile complimenting her face, and she kissed her boyfriend's cheek to let him know, it was all in good fun. He had a track record of freaking out and running out of the studio with a nervous breakdown, when she and Sharpay had been teasing him, kinda like Tanya did before but for different reasons.
Troy got up from his chair, causing Gabriella to fall on her butt on the floor, as she sat on his lap before. She stood up, rubbing herself where it hurt, her facial expression asking the clear question 'why did you do that?'. Troy got all weird and said; "Sorry. I guess I need to get some fresh air. I'm not really used to being in a studio, like you and Sharpay are."
After having said that, he ran out of the room and Gabriella took place in the chair, he'd just left a minute ago. She glared at the door, Troy had just walked out of, as she spoke, "Do you know, what's the matter with him? He's been acting really strange lately."
"I don't know." Sharpay said, shrugging her shoulders, and she was staring at the door as well. "Maybe it's that time of the months? Yeah, maybe that's it! Perhaps he has the red?"
"Shar, you know that's not possible." Gabriella covered her mouth, trying to suppress a giggle, she didn't manage though. Sharpay soon joined in, but after only a few minutes, Gabriella got serious again, "No, I'm serious. He's acting really strange, do you think he's sleeping with someone behind my back? Am I too stupid to see it? Or is it like, when something is too good to be true, you look for something to be wrong? I mean, Troy is amazing, so maybe I'm looking for flaws? Maybe I'm just imagining all this?"
Sharpay placed her hands on Gabriella's arms and made eye contact, before she said, "Look, Gabs, Troy loves you very much, and he would never do anything to hurt you. And I'm a 100 percent sure, that Troy would never ever sleep around. He's one of the good guys, sweetie. You're lucky to have him, so sit back and enjoy it, and stop thinking like this! Imagine how hurt he'll be, if he finds out, that you doubt him like that? I'm sure he's not having an affair, and he's probably strange, because like I said, he has the red!"
Gabriella, who'd gotten into tears, while Sharpay had said all that, let out a cute little giggle. Seeing her best friend in tears, Sharpay pulled her in for a hug, one of the long deep one's. They sat like that, doing nothing but hugging each for quite awhile, and right before they broke apart, Gabriella whispered in her blonde friend's ear, "Thank you, Sharpay. You're the greatest friend in the world."
"You too." Sharpay smiled, now stroking her best friend's arm. She felt guilty for what she did with Troy, and she felt guilty that she'd just lied to her best friend. It was gonna be hard to hide it from Gabriella, especially when she was feeling like that, she felt like she could snap anytime, but she wouldn't do that to Troy. She felt really uncomfortable, and she wanted to change the subject. "Anyway, on to happier things. I just got the greatest idea!"
"What, what? Tell me! What is it?"
"What do you say, if we, when Tanya comes back and we get back in there to sing So Strong, and she tells us to start at the top, break into the chorus of the soundtrack of 'Gummibears' instead of, y'know to see her reaction. It would be a great laugh."
"That's a great idea, it's gonna be hilarious!" Gabriella said, checking her watch, "The 10 minutes are almost up. I remember the lyrics, do you remember the lyrics?"
"Of course!" Sharpay laughed, but she stopped right away, when Tanya came back into the room. "You cool again?"
Tanya gave them one of those glares, that Sharpay were a champion in, and it looked so ridiculous coming from Tanya, that they had to work really hard to suppress their giggles. She pointed towards the recording studio, and Gabriella and Sharpay knew immediately, that they'd better run into the studio, and they did so, while Tanya sat down in the chair Sharpay had just left.
"Ok, now girls, from the top!" Tanya announced, as Gabriella and Sharpay had gotten into their old positions, when they recorded. Tanya started the music, and they smiled, sending each a knowing glare, and then they broke into, like they'd agreed upon, the chorus of gummibears;
"Gummibears!
Bouncing here and there and everywhere
High adventure that's beyond compare
They are the gummibears.."
"Cute girls, very cute, but that's not exactly what I'm looking for." Tanya fought hard not to lose it and storm out again, and both of The Sweethearts knew it, so they smirked at each other, as they watched Tanya having an inner battle going on. After having won it, she continued; "Now, from the top of So Strong this time. And you better nail it, otherwise you're gonna have to go and tell Mr. McKessie the whole story of, how you couldn't get it right. Translation; do it wrong, and there'll be no song! See, I can rhyme too, now take it away."
She reversed the music and started it again from the top, and this time Gabriella and Sharpay only dared to do their best. They thought only of the song, they didn't even let their minds wander off to their many personal issues, they were only on the song and doing their best. Tanya's threat really hit home for once.
(Gabriella singing. Sharpay singing. Both of them singing.)
"Oooh
Open your eyes, boy
See how I'm feeling
Before I walk away
Your hear what I'm saying
Do you know the meaning of love
Cos you've let me down again"
Gabriella and Sharpay linked hands, like they almost always did, when they were recording, and Sharpay closed her eyes and continued with her part;
"I will always love you
There'll never be no-one
Who can love you like I do
Although we've changed I know it's true
I still love you, yes I do, yes I do
Got to hold on, be strong
Say you'll always be there for me
Where did our love go wrong
When I've given you everything?
Why should I cry
When it's useless waving goodbye
Cos you know I'll be back in your arms again"
Gabriella locked eyes with her best friend, she could feel Sharpay had written a big hit, maybe The Sweethearts biggest hit so far. With a smile, Gabriella began the next verse;
"We've had our good times
We felt the bad times
I would do it all again
Cos I've got a feeling
That no-one is gonna believe it
If you say you won't let me down again
I will always love you
There'll never be no-one
Who can love you like I do
Although we've changed I know it's true
I still love you, yes I do, yes I do
Got to hold on, be strong
Say you'll always be there for me
Where did our love go wrong
When I've given you everything?
Why should I cry
When it's useless waving goodbye
Cos you know I'll be back in your arms again"
There was a long instrumental bridge in the song now, so Gabriella and Sharpay took the chance to twirl around and come up with goofy dance routine, until it was time to sing again, and they got back to serious.
"Baby, back in your arms again, baby
(Got to hold on, be strong)
Ooooh
(Say you'll always be there for me)
Hey yeah, hey yeah
(Where did our love go wrong)
Don't you let me down, baby
(When I've given you everything)
Why should I cry
When it's useless waving goodbye
Cos you know I'll be back in your arms again
Baby, back in your arms again
(Got to hold on, be strong)
Ooooh
(Say you'll always be there for me)
Hey yeah, hey yeah
(Where did our love go wrong)
Don't you let me down, baby
(When I've given you everything)
Why should I cry
When it's useless waving goodbye
Cos you know I'll be back in your arms again
Baby, back in your arms again, yeah"
"Absolutely amazing!" Tanya cheered, after she'd turned off the mics and the music, and Gabriella and Sharpay had gotten out of the studio. She hugged them both, as she kept chanting, "Absolutely amazing, absolutely amazing."
"Are we done here? Because I gotta go home and do absolutely nothing!" Sharpay said, sounding kinda tired. With the permission from Tanya to go, she headed for the door, and right before she left, she looked back and said to Gabriella, "Remember, Gabs, we've got a covershoot tomorrow, so don't stay out too late with Troy-boy, ok?"
5 minutes after Sharpay was gone, Gabriella left too, and she found Troy wandering in the halls, and they both took off to her apartment.
--
Humming So Strong, Sharpay was grocery shopping, which was a very rare thing for her to do, but since the whole Troy thing had kicked in, she had been staying more at home than in Gabriella's apartment, so she kinda needed to do it, even though she didn't want to.
Going out in Albuquerque had always been a peaceful event, because both she and Sharpay were known there before they got famous, so people didn't make that big a deal out of it. Well, in the beginning they were a little star struck and everything, but that was only because they weren't used to having that big stars in their hometown, but now it had died down, because even though all that had happened had happened, Sharpay and Gabriella were still Sharpay Evans and Gabriella Montez from down the street.
Ok, sometimes there came tourists to town, and they made a big deal out of it, but even that didn't happen often, at least not that they knew of, they were almost always travelling. Imagine the disappointment for a huge Sweethearts fan.
"Hello dear." An old lady said, smiling at Sharpay, tearing her out of her own little world of humming and whatnot. "What are you doing here, sweetie? It's not like you to go grocery shopping."
Sharpay looked down in her basket, no it wasn't like her to go grocery shopping, she'd put nothing in her basket so far, she didn't know where anything was. Well, except for her all-in-one crackers she'd put nothing in it, but she was a big consumer of those crackers, and they were very healthy. She ate those crackers in large number, when they were recording their first album, because they almost lived in the studio and didn't get to exercise, and she had lost weight from only eating them. She remembered that clearly, rumours had started flowing about you know what.
"Hi, Mrs. Steele!" She replied, returning the old lady's smile. "No, I'm not really a regular here, but I can't live with Gabriella forever and feed off of her, so I've moved back to my own apartment, and now I have to do my own shopping. I don't have much practise at that, I don't even know where anything is. Could you please help me, Mrs. Steele?"
Sharpay flashed another smile, one of the price winning one's, and tilted her head a little to the side. It was her angelic look, and Mrs. Steele knew that all too well. She had been both Sharpay and Gabriella's nanny at the ages of 4 - 13, so she knew them very well, she was like a second mom to the both of them.
"Of course I'll help you, dear." Mrs. Steele said, as she walked slowly up to Sharpay and linked arms with her, and they began walking together in the story, looking for the things Sharpay could think of she needed. "Now wipe that ridiculous look off your face, playing angel with me doesn't work, Pay, and you know it. Now, what do you need, sweetie?"
"Auw, I got you to help me, didn't I?" Sharpay said, using her cute voice, and rested her head on Mrs. Steele's shoulder for a few seconds, before she stood up straight again and they continued their walk. "What do I need? Let's see... I need strawberry milk, you know how I can't live without it, and I need some fruit, ordinary milk, some cup noodles, because I still can't cook dinner, and those fruity crackers, do you remember those? Y'know the one's I ate a countless amount of, when I was little? And it's that time of the month, so I need y'know. And then I need..." She paused to think a little, "You know what? Why don't we just walk the store, and if I see something else I need, I'll take it and put it in my basket?"
Mrs. Steele agreed, and they began walking the store, when all of the sudden Sharpay's cell phone rang, and the tunes of (Don't It Make You) Happy! could be heard all over the store and probably lots of other places.
"Beauty is here, who's there?" Sharpay greeted whoever was calling.
"Oh, beauty, huh? Ego centric much?"
"Hey Troy…" Sharpay giggled, quickly showing Mrs. Steele two fingers, as if to say she'd be right back, "What's up?"
"Not much." Troy replied, letting out a deep sigh, "I was just thinking if maybe you and I could get together tonight? Because I could stay with Gabriella, but I kinda wanna see you right now."
"Oh…" Sharpay paused, and looked around her, as if to see what Mrs. Steele was up to, but was surprised to see that the old woman was filling necessaries into her own basket as well as Sharpay's, so she turned her back to her again, to continue her talk with Troy, "I don't think that's a very good idea, Troy."
"Why not?" he questioned, and she could almost see his pout before her, as if he had been right there, "I really wanna see you Pay… I can just tell Gabby that I need to go back home, or that I feel ill or something. I need to see you."
"Where are you right now?" Sharpay asked, suddenly feeling very confused about his whereabouts.
"Gabriella is cooking something, and as you know she sings 'Yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got love in my tummy', when she cooks, so no need for you to be worried about her overhearing this." He paused, and chuckled slightly, "And she's in the kitchen while I'm locked up in the bathroom."
"But Troy…" Sharpay trailed off, breathing heavily, "I'm not really comfortable with all this. All this… sneaking off and sneaking around. It feels wrong. I – I think we should stop it."
"No!" Troy quickly exclaimed, but then paused and lowered his voice, "No Sharpay, I… I love you, okay? And I love Gabriella as well, because I don't want to hurt her."
"And you don't think this is hurting her?" Sharpay questioned, not noticing how a woman a little older than herself, really seemed to sharpen her ears at this point of her conversation, "She's my best friend, Troy. My buddy, my singing partner. The other half of The Sweethearts. I can't do this to her."
"I know it's hurting her, Sharpay…" Troy trailed off, sounding as hopeless as she felt, "But I really wanna be with you… Please?"
"I'm not comfortable about being the other woman, Troy." Sharpay stated, flipping her hair behind her shoulder, "It's nothing I would normally do. Especially not towards Gabriella. I feel guilty."
"I feel guilty too, but I love you both."
"We gotta end this, Troy." Sharpay confirmed, taking a few steps towards Mrs. Steele, who was now going down another ally, the other woman following her, "I can't do this anymore. You, stay with Gabriella tonight, and then get married and have a dozen of kids. You'll be very happy, I know it, Troy. And I'll just… wait for another guy to come along…" she paused, and let out a sigh. She had a feeling she'd never find another guy if she let go of Troy. He was IT, she loved him. And yeah… her and finding guys had never been easy.
"But Sharpay…" Troy said, trying to stop her.
"End of discussion, Troy!" Sharpay confirmed, biting her lip, because this decision hurt so much, "Go back to Gabriella, I refuse to be a dirty little affair."
She hung up the phone, before he had a chance to comment on that. she stood still for a second, wondering what to do next. She then came back into the real world, and hurried up to Mrs. Steele, who was still finding groceries. However, she didn't notice, that the woman from before was taking out her cell phone, getting ready for tomorrow's hugest news.
--
Gabriella yawned and slowly stretched her arms out, the covers sliding off her body. She kept lying there for a second, her eyes closed, to let the sun stream through her window, warming her body. She knew nothing better than these mornings. Of course it was nicer to wake up when Troy was right next to her, but for some reason he'd left last night, suddenly saying he was ill.
Ah, she didn't know. she was having mixed feelings about him and their relationship. He'd been acting much different… Like he was hiding something, and he always got defensive when she asked him what he'd been up to one of those evenings they weren't together. He got so worked up about it, and kept on accusing her for not believing him. She didn't really know why, but the more he said that and got defensive, the more convinced she was that he was hiding something for her…
She just didn't know. The feeling of him seeing someone else behind her back, was burning in the pit of her stomach. It was annoying her, because whenever they were together, she couldn't enjoy, because she kept thinking that maybe that other girl was on his mind… And then still, she didn't know for sure if he was cheating on her, so she didn't want to come right out and ask him. He might leave her if that was. She just kept hinting it, and he kept denying it. It was a sick cycle.
And then yesterday… when he'd rushed all out of there, saying that he had a migraine. She had been so surprised, standing there in the middle of setting the table, getting ready for a cosy night. And then he just… left. She'd been really hurt, so today she told herself, she'd speak to him about it, and let him know how she felt.
When she finally got out of bed, it was with positive thoughts about the day, and she hurried into the living room. She checked her daily schedule, already tired of all the stuff she had to do. She and Sharpay were like… really busy all the time. They never had a day off to just relax and stuff.
She stopped by the picture of her, Sharpay and Troy, which was placed on her coffee table, and picked it up, looking happily at it. Troy had just brought it yesterday, telling her it was a gift for her to enjoy. She hadn't yet had time to look at it. She studied her own face for a second, and loved how her smile just lit up the whole picture. Then her eyes drew towards Troy, how looked just as happy, standing on the right side of her, while she was in the side, with Sharpay on Troy's left. Sharpay was smiling too.
Gabriella's eyes lingered on Troy's arm, which was draped around her shoulders. It was the first thing you noticed when you look at the picture, but now… he eyes almost popped out of her head, as they stopped at Troy's other hand. It was safely tucked in one of Sharpay's hand, their fingers linked together.
She paused, as she took the picture in, not really getting it at all. When it finally sunk in, she just kept staring at it, not understanding. Well… she knew Troy and Sharpay had grown closer, despite their differences and all their fights, but holding hands… she'd never seen them to that, and she found it weird when she was right there, and she was his girlfriend. Something was not right, something was…
She paused to take in a deep breath, when a sudden though blew into her brain out of nowhere. If Troy was cheating on her, could he be cheating on her with… Sharpay? It was… it was a possibility, of course, but Sharpay would never do that to her, would she? They were best friends. Friends don't sleep with friends' boyfriends. Not even ex-boyfriends. It's an unspoken rule.
It didn't make sense anyway, because she wasn't even sure if Troy was seeing someone else.. Though that nagging feeling kept telling her something was up. So maybe he was seeing someone, but that someone wasn't Sharpay. Sharpay was her best friend. So there. That was enough argument. Gabriella shouldn't even think that way about Sharpay, she knew it'd disappoint her best friend, if she thought that about her.
Gabriella placed the picture back down on the table, and hurried into the kitchen, taking out a glass, and some milk. She was going to make chocolate milk. She just loved that in the morning, it made her whole day better. Of course she was gonna make some coffee too, but while it was being made, she could drink her chocolate milk. She while she hummed to herself, she multi-tasked, getting everything done.
When the coffee was being made, she grabbed her glass and went into the hallway, where all her mail was. There wasn't much. One post card from an old friend, who was on Mallorca, and then there was her weekly subscription on her favourite magazine. She picked it up, and looked at the post card while she went back to the kitchen, the fresh smell of coffee hitting her nostrils.
Apparently her friend was doing good on Mallorca. That's great, good for her, Gabriella mused to herself, as she emptied her glass, and found a cup. She waited for her coffee to be done, and when it was, she sat down by the table, to read her magazine, while waking up to her fresh coffee. That was practically how all her mornings went, and if her routine was broken, she'd get really confused, and sometimes grumpy.
She took the first sip of her coffee, turning her magazine around to read the front page. Right when her eyes scanned over the text, she almost choked on her coffee. She spit it all out, the black liquor hitting the table in soft cascades. Her eyes were wide, as she read the text again. She gulped, and her heart beat faster, when a bright picture of herself, Sharpay and Troy was on the front page, beneath the words:
The Sweethearts Are Over!
She quickly skipped through the magazine, wanting to get to the right page. When she did, her eyes read through the little black box, reading when and exactly why they should be broken up. She should have known, right? She's one part of The Sweethearts.
The pop-sensation The Sweethearts are over. After Gabriella Montez, one part of The Sweethearts, late last year started dating her manager's son, Troy Bolton, everything seemed quite wonderful for the two-some. Sharpay Evans, second half of the girls group, was ecstatic for her best friend and partner, and couldn't be happier about Troy Bolton.
"He's the greatest," she said, right after Christmas, "He's so right for Gabriella. They're very happy."
But now, that statement is over. Sharpay has actually found a reason to break her best friend's happiness. No one knows how long this has been going on, since we haven't been able to get a statement from one of the three, but it seems like 'Troyella' is over, and we're now going for 'Troypay'. Thousands of fans world-wide will hate Sharpay for stealing Gabriella's guy, since it'll cause the group to break apart.
So far, all we know is that Sharpay and Troy have been sneaking around behind Gabriella's back, and if she knows about this, is still unclear, but we surely hope she'll be able to forgive her best friend for having an affair with her boyfriend.
Gabriella just kept looking at the words, breathing hard. Oh Gosh, she couldn't believe this. Troy really was seeing someone else.
Sharpay.
From Stessa; So there you have it guys, I hope it was good enough for the long wait. Once again, I'm so sorry we haven't updated faster. We're really going to get it together and be better at it. From now on we're going to get ourselves a deadline or something, and then we're gonna keep it. It's taking way too long with updates for my taste, but let's see what happens ;p And uhm yeah, AK-tutti wrote most of this chapter, 'cuz I think she was on a roll, but I dunno. I DID write some of it though, so I don't feel like… really guilty. Hmm, and oh yeah, please leave us another review. It means the world to us!
From AK-tutti; What she said! There's no reason to say the same thing twice, is there? And according to Stessa's count, there are about 9 chapters left, and the fic will be over before the new year, hopefully. We're counting very much on that, but we're really slow at this updating thing, but we're gonna set a deadline for the next chapter. We're not gonna tell it to, you're just gonna have to wait for it, hopefully excited. And yeah, we hope you enjoyed it, please review and all that.
Stessa and AK-tutti were here :)