Chapter 9 –
"Of course, I am going too fast." He smiled a wisp of a smile. "Je t'aime, Sharpay.
Remember that."
Wide eyed, Sharpay smiled but didn't answer.
He stood up and looked at her, knowing it was too soon for her. "We will keep in touch, non?" He looked thoughtful and patted his pockets looking for something. He reached into his coat and pulled a tiny cell phone out of a breast pocket. "Here," he handed it to her. She stared at him open-mouthed and shook her head.
"Take it, s'il vous plait. I can get another." Before she could turn him down he put it in her hand and closed her fingers around it. He looked at his watch, "I must get going. Neo must be going out of his mind looking for me right now. I did not tell anyone where I was going." He winked at her. "Call me any time ok? It will work anywhere in the world. And don't worry about the bill, ok?"
Sharpay nodded and walked him to the door. "I will." He gave her a hug. This feels nice and safe. "À bientôt, Troy."
"See you soon, Shar." He kissed her cheek and with one last look was gone down the hall.
Sharpay walked back to the table and picked up the bottle of champagne. Her cheek tingled where he kissed her. She listened for any sounds, nothing. It was too quiet. Sharpay smiled. "You guys can come out now!" She shouted toward the hall.
Nothing happened for a second but then one by one Gabriella, Taylor, Kelsi, Chad and Ryan filed out of Gaby's room.
"We were just helping Gabs here move her bed." Ryan offered lamely.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah where, to the ceiling?" Everyone knew as well as she did that the bed could only fit in one way. "Champagne anyone?" She popped the cork. Before anyone said anything, Gabriella grabbed the other flute and held it out. "I take that as a yes." Sharpay began to pour, dividing the champagne between hers and Gabriella's flutes and the other's coffee mugs. "How classy you guys!" They all laughed.
"Hey what do you expect eh? We're students!" Chad was smiling. "That guy sounds nice." He picked up the phone and looked at it.
"He is."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
"I don't know."
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHS
After talking to Sharpay, Zeke decided he needed to work off some steam. So he headed to the gym and took over the punching bag. He walked in and took off his coat, socks and shoes and started punching and kicking the bag with everything he had. If Sharpay was right about what Taylor was thinking, he had to figure out how to let down Taylor without hurting her.
And what the hell was he thinking with that kiss? It was amazing but he had never done anything that impetuous before. He pounded the bag harder. Sharpay. She was cute but she had a lot of baggage. What the hell happened to her for her to be so cold towards men? He kicked the bag, sending it swinging wildly. He was going to find out.
Before long, an hour had past and he had accumulated quite a crowd, who watched him in awe. He noticed most of the crowd was girls. Tired out he picked up his stuff and walked out to where they kept the stair climbers and sat on the floor putting his socks and shoes back on. Acouple of girls approached him.
"Hi there," The short blonde one was talking to him. He nodded. "We saw you in there and you were awesome."
"Thanks." He stood up. "Sorry but I have to go. Bye." He left them there looking at each other disappointed that they couldn't find out more about him.
He jogged up to the suite but stopped in front of the girls' door thinking about whether or not he should go and try to talk to Sharpay again. He shook his head. She made it clear that she didn't want to talk. He turned, went into their suite and shut the door. He would leave her alone until she was ready to talk to him.
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHS
Sharpay forgot about going to the gym. She was so tired from the day that she decided to lounge in her room a while. After listening to a selection of CD's, she got into bed and pulled the covers over her. Why didn't she go for Troy? He was most girls' dream guy. He had everything, he traveled all over the world, he was smart, good looking and as unbelievable as it sounded, he loved her. Je t'aime, Sharpay.. She smiled. And his kisses! She smiled when she thought of that but it faded when she remembered Zeke.
Speaking of kisses, what about him? He obviously had feelings for her as well and she couldn't deny that she felt a little something too when they kissed. Guilt pooled in the pit of her stomach. She felt like she was leading him on. She was interested in Troy not Zeke. They really needed to have a talk. She grinned sheepishly. Two guys were interested in her. Sharpay snapped herself out of it. Ridiculous! Why was she acting like a silly little schoolgirl? Guys couldn't be trusted and she knew it. Hadn't she been hurt enough? Sharpay pounded her pillow and got comfortable. Eventually she fell into a troubled sleep.
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHS
Sharpay walked into the high school that morning and felt that something was definitely wrong. Everyone was looking at her in a weird way. It was her senior year and so far everything was going right. She wasn't popular but she wasn't unpopular either. She did well in all of her classes and she was well liked by the students and faculty alike and she was going out with a great guy.
She looked around her when she got to her locker and people were still looking at her strangely.
She heard whispers and she saw people pointing at her. A good-looking dark haired guy walked toward her. "Hey Dave"
Dave Anderson had been her best friend since kindergarten when she saved him from some bullies. Since then they spent most of their spare time together. They usually met in the mornings at her locker before meeting everyone else. He nodded at her looking very unhappy.
"What's going on? Why is everyone looking at me so weird?"
"Shar, I don't want to be the one to tell you this but," He took a deep breath. "Mr. Wonderful has been cheating on you and everyone knows." He looked at her not knowing what to expect.
He didn't expect her to laugh though. "Ha-ha very funny, so why are people looking at me..." She looked at his face and saw that it wasn't a joke.
Mr. Wonderful was the nickname for her boyfriend, Jeff. A blonde haired blue-eyed vision, she had been shocked when he asked her out two years before. He was a jock and was very popular with the ladies. Sharpay felt that they were a great couple. She thought that they were happy.
The smile on her face faded. "You're not kidding." She paused to collect herself. "Where is he? I want to hear this from him myself." Dave pointed down the hall, indicating that he was at his locker. Slamming her locker shut, she strode down the hall, past people looking at her knowing there was something going on. He was walking toward her; blond hair neatly styled and dressed to perfection.
"Hi baby," He went to kiss her. She pushed him away.
"Don't 'hi baby' me. What's going on?" She glared at him demanding an answer. "Why is everyone staring at me and why does Dave say that you've been cheating on me?"
"How am I supposed to know? And you know Dave has it in for me, he's never liked me. He wants me out of the way so that he can have you for himself."
They've had that argument before many times. Livid, Sharpay glared at him. "You know that's not true. He's my best and oldest friend and he wouldn't lie to me especially about something like this. So tell me. Are you?" She tried to keep her emotions in check.
He shrugged.
"What's that suppose to mean?" She didn't care that there was a crowd beginning to gather to watch the latest drama unfold in the halls. "Tell me!"
"Yeah I am, happy now?" He didn't even look the least bit remorseful.
"For how long?" She could feel her eyes welling up but blinked the tears away.
"About ten months." He went to hold her, but she backed away from him. "I didn't want to tell you like this."
"Ha! And when were you going to tell me? When I walked in on you while you were having sex?"
"I wanted to wait until after finals so it wouldn't interfere with them."
Sharpay 's hands were balled into fists at her side and without thinking she swung at him, connecting with his chin. He hit the ground. "Well! How thoughtful of you!" Before she could hit him again, Dave and some of the guys that they hung out with dragged her off him and down the hall.
"Let me go!"
"Shar, calm down. You're going to get into real shit for that you know." He quickly ran past an open classroom door hoping that the teacher inside wouldn't notice.
Sharpay wanted to get down. Still kicking, she shouted at Dave, "Let me go! I'm going to find out who and why."
"Why does it matter? He cheated and it's over." He put her down and looked her in the eye. "Relax and I'll let you go alright?"
Still furious she nodded. Dave let go of her arms. He knew how mad she could get and how dangerous it was to be the target of her anger. Sharpay was the biggest tomboy Dave knew and from what he could remember, she had beaten them all up at one point or another. He flinched remembering being her sparring partner in tae kwon do class. She could definitely handle herself.
She looked up in time to see that Jeff was walking down the hall toward them. Before he could get to her Dave and the rest of the boys surrounded him.
Dave looked pissed. He grabbed him by the shoulder. "Leave her alone! Haven't you done enough?"
"I just want to explain..."
"Just leave me alone."
Sharpay suddenly felt drained and she couldn't hold the tears in anymore. Slowly she sank to the floor and cried. A million thoughts swirled through her mind. I hate men! How could I be so stupid? I'm never going through that again! Never!
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHS
Sharpay was startled awake by a ringing. She looked around expecting to be on the ground in the hall. Instead she saw the tiny room and realized it was just a dream. Shaking her head, she went to her phone and picked it up. "Hello?" Dead tone. She could still hear ringing. Groggy and confused she looked around to find where the sound was coming from. She saw the cell phone on the desk and it's light was flashing. She picked it up. "Hello? Troy?"
She was getting use to the late night calls from Troy. He had been calling regularly for months. Sometimes the calls would be during the day other times it was late at night. No
matter what the time, Sharpay loved to hear his voice.
A/N: Here's another chapter. This might explain a little why she didn't want to be with Zeke or even Troy at first!