Hi everybody, I'm back :). First of I'd like to thank you all for the great reviews, I received, I really appreciate them, and they were like insane for the last chapter. I got awesome feedback for my characters, Chase and Liz, which I'm really happy about, because I really like them myself, though a lot of you fear that they might turn their back on Sharpay, but I can almost say with certainty, that it will not happen. Sharpay has gone through some rough times, and there are still some ahead, so I feel that it would be too much to take her two best friends away from her. A lot of you also liked the way I made Zeke ask out Chase, and let me tell you one thing, I totally improvised that part, but I really liked the outcome of it, though some of you were mad at Chase, because she just ditched Liz. I didn't really give it much thought, but I get your point, though Liz is the kinda girl who bounces back, and that she did. Had it been Sharpay, she wouldn't have been able to do the same. Of course you all liked the Troypay scene, that's why you're here and reading this story, isn't it? Because you're Troypay fans. A lot of you also liked the fact, that there was no Chad/Gabriella in last chapter, and it wasn't really needed, but they're back in this chapter. I hope you'll like this chapter as much as last, and you'll leave me a review, when you're done reading :).
Disclaimer; Yeah, I really don't own a thing. Except for the plot and a few characters, of course :).
Dedication; Drums, please? This chapter is dedicated to smilingrulz! YAY! Simply because she left me the best review, and that has always been my promise, whoever leaves the best review get a dedication. I love long reviews, and she gave me one of those, plus I smiled all the way through reading it. I don't know, if I sound insane, when I say this, but her review had personality, and I think that's the main reason I smiled. So Catie (was it?), this is for you :). Oh, and I know, you wanted Chad and Gabriella to die, but I hope you're gonna be satisfied with what I'm giving to you!
I'd Rather Be Special
9. Family Affairs.
The next day the new couple met outside the doors of the school's entrance. Troy, being the gentleman he was, had offered his new girlfriend a ride, but she had declined, feeling she'd be letting down Mr. Paperblock by taking yet another ride from Troy's car.
Eyes were on them for sure, the student body of East High didn't get, what the former basketball king was doing being friends with the ice queen. The thing was, they just didn't get, that things had more than a surface.
That day Sharpay didn't give the onlookers one thought, except the one in front of her, but he was a whole other case. He was; Troy Bolton, boyfriend. He could stare at her all he wanted and think all he wanted, cos she knew it would be nothing but kindness. It felt amazing to know.
Then there was Troy. He just couldn't believe, that Sharpay was finally his. He wanted to scream it out at the top of his lungs, he wanted everyone to know about him and Sharpay, he wanted everyone to know about his happiness. That's what he was, happy!
So the students at East High had issues about Troy's friendship with Sharpay, but they didn't have them anymore, when they saw Troy leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on Sharpay's lips, and then they linked hands and walked through the doors to East High. See, now they had different issues, and for two particular students they were EL GRANDE.
"Whatever happened to them not talking, Gabriella?" Chad complained to the latina standing next to him, this wasn't suppose to happen, he thought they were broken already. "I liked them not talking, so how come they're... all that now?" He paused and looked at Gabriella, like she had all the answers, and she just shrugged, as Chad's anger rose. "You must have screwed up. How hard is it to kiss Troy and let Sharpay see it? How hard is it to do some one on one mean time with her? How hard?"
"I must have screwed up?" Gabriella questioned, her voice streaming with disbelief, as she turned to be face to face with him, shooting him the angriest glare, that had ever featured her face. "Don't go there with me, Chad. You oughta be nice to me. I'm doing all the work, and all you've done so far is barking orders at me." She paused and shot Chad a very un-Gabriella-like look. "Oh no, wait, wait. You've done more than that, you've also dished out nasty comments about Sharpay to your team mates. But I really don't get it, because you did that, before you began your 'ruin Sharpay's life' vendetta. So don't you go on telling me, I screwed up. You screwed up."
Someone cleared their throat behind them, an award winning imitation of ms. Darbus, so they mistook it to be her and turned around to face her, fearing they might be in trouble. They were very surprised, when they saw a brunette with piercing ice blue eyes, and a dirty blonde with greenish brown eyes staring back at them instead, both with crossed arms. The brunette had that whole 'if looks could kill' thing going on, whereas the blonde failed to look angry yet again, luckily she had the body language down. Because they were both pissed.
"Listen up, Pompom and Frigid!" Chase said straight from the shoulder, as always being the first of her and Liz to speak up. "Neither of us give shit about, who either of you thinks screwed up, because ya both did." Chad and Gabriella snuck a brief glance at each other, both looking confused at this ramble, but Chase was going somewhere with it. "You let us hear about it, big mistake!"
"Yeah!" Liz quickly agreed, picking up right where Chase left off, like she so often did. "And regardless of who ought and ought not be nice to one another, y'all better be nice to Sharpay from now on." For the first time in a long time Liz was really angry, maybe you couldn't see it on her, because of her whole appearance, but damn it she was mad. They had gone way too far with their scheme, and they were gonna hear it. "I never get angry, but I'm angry now. When someone messes with one of my friends like that, Liz Kincaid doesn't play nice anymore!"
"Chase, Lil, we..." Gabriella tried to get a word in, and she really tried to sound sympathetic, and like she really regretted her actions, but neither of Chase and Liz wanted to hear it, so Chase cut her off.
"Stop Chase-ing, you have no right to Chase me." She yelled, taking one step closer to them, as she raised her hand at them, not to hit them, because she would never hit anybody. The few students who were still outside heard the yelling, and they got a little closer to the scenery, listening in on the whole thing. "I can't believe either of you! At one point in your life, you've both been her best friend, so to treat her like this now, I don't get it. Nor do I care, you don't treat anybody like that, no matter what you think of them!"
"Yeah, and don't you ever Lil me again, it's Liz to someone like you!" Liz said in a much calmer way than Chase, because she wasn't one to raise her voice, and unlike Chase she remained in her old position. "Do you even realize, how much that girl has fought for you? Do you even know, how many times we've told her, that none of you two were any good for her, and for her own protection she needed to ditch you? Do you even have clue to, how long she kept on believing in the good of you?" She paused for a few seconds, and now her speech was aimed at Gabriella. "Especially you, Montez. Even when you hurt her, when you let her down and started blowing her off, teasing her and eventually ditching her. She kept believing in your good side, even though you kept proving her wrong, she really did believe the two of you could be friends again." And now she did it, she finally yelled. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"
Chase could sense, that her baby Lil needed some support, so she ran back to her and wrapped her arms around the tiny girl, and then she turned her angry looking face towards Gabriella and Chad again. Just because she was embracing her best friend, certainly didn't mean, that they were off the hook, far from.
"My personal opinion is, that karma came back to bite both of you in the ass, and neither of you could handle it, so you're turning your frustrations towards the only thing, you two have ever had in common, and it just ain't right!" Chase said, now having calmed down a little, and she sounded just like one of those private detectives from those english crime shows, wrapping up a case. Of course she didn't know anything for sure, she was giving things out from her point of view. "And Chad, you've always been a jerk, no arguments there, but somehow she saw friends potential in you, and she gave you loads of good times, and you repay her like this? That's low, even for someone like you!"
"She's just getting, what she deserves. She's an icy litte bitch." Chad argued, mainly because he still failed to see, that what he did was wrong, and all he would get out of it were hurt feelings, not just from Sharpay but also from Troy, who he claimed was his best friend. And then there was Liz, he loved seeing her get wound up over things, he did or said. "She had it coming all along."
That was it, Liz brushed Chase's arms off of her, and then she stormed determined towards Chad. "I don't believe you, I spent hours yesterday trying to talk some sense into you, but you still won't see reason. I just... UGH!" She screamed right into his face, and then she did something very un-Liz-like, she pushed him, so he lost his balance and landed right on his bum on the muddy ground, and then she ran off inside.
Chase didn't know what to do, she didn't know whether to laugh or to stay angry at Chad and Gabriella. "Bravo Chad, really extravagant work. So bringing Sharpay down wasn't enough for you, now you've broken Lilee." Chase yelled again, she had chosen to stay angry at them, no matter how comical it looked, when Chad sat down on the ground, all covered in mud, because he had been pushed by a girl much, much smaller than him. "She never yells, she never gets angry, she never confronts people like that, and she never pushes people. You ruined bright and shiny Lil! Great job, asshole."
Gabriella was about to open her mouth and say something, but she didn't get the chance to, because Chase stormed away from there immediately to go find Liz, so she turned and looked down at Chad instead, and decided to speak to him. "I can see you're quite the conflict handler." She said with a chuckle, she couldn't help it, mostly because she despised Chad, and they were practically done together, she really believed she could be free from him now. "Especially towards the end, great move trying to piss them off, that worked out well for you."
"I wasn't trying to piss them off." Chad said, as he got up from the dirty ground, upset that he was now all muddy, but at the same time he was glad, he had gotten what he wanted from Liz. "I just like making Liz all frustrated, so she becomes all out of herself, she's really hot then."
"Uhm, Chad, not to meddle in your brilliant plan, but it's my philosophy that it doesn't make your crush like you, if you piss her off." Gabriella revealed, as if Chad didn't know, because she was using her annoying 'know it all' math voice. "Ah, looks like we're done here." She patted him on the back, the only clean spot she could find, and then she walked off towards the school entrance to go inside.
"I don't have a crush on her, I just think she's hot. That's all!" Chad yelled after her, but it was too late, she was out of hearing range, and then he noticed the crowd and turned his anger towards them instead, to make them scatter off. "What are you looking at?"
IRBS
Troy and Sharpay had just entered the school, and they were walking hand in hand down the hallways, enjoying every minute of it. They didn't have any classes together that day, so all breaks between classes were important to them. Sharpay would start the day with gym, which she really hated, plus she had Troy's dad, coach Bolton during that subject, and she knew he hated her, so she wasn't looking forward to it at all. Troy would start his day with math, and he had no idea why, because it was definitely too early for his brain to function properly. It was pure torture for both of them.
One thing they knew would get them through the day was, that they knew they were finally together. So if math got too much for Troy, he would just think about Sharpay, and if gym got too much for Sharpay, she would just think of Troy. She wished they had gym together, but they didn't and she would have to do without him, though it would have been easier with him there, considering how much Troy's dad supposely despised her.
They were really different, and it was a wonder, how two people so different could love each other so much, as they did. Even that morning, walking hand in hand, they were as different as night and day. Sharpay thought over every single detail of the day, trying to bring herself down with thinking about all the things, she was possitive she couldn't do, and that made her dread it, whereas Troy was more of a 'take it as it come' kinda guy, sure he thought about things, but not as much as she did, and he would deal with the problems, if and when they came, where Sharpay was certain that problems would come and wanted to avoid them. But they were a great match, and they didn't think about their differences themselves, which was very uncommon for Sharpay.
Troy had one disastrious event of the day, that he couldn't get out of his head. It was friday, which meant family dinner night at the Bolton house – with all the Boltons attending. Troy had tried to get out of it by saying, that he had a new girlfriend, and he really wanted to spend some time with her, if he could be excused, instead he ended up promising his mom to invite her along, because she absolutely wanted to meet her new daughter-in-law. He knew it wasn't an event, Sharpay would want to attend, considering she knew, that Troy's dad disliked her, and she wasn't a huge fan of big crowds, she'd tense up and get all quiet, but unfortunately he had promised his mother to bring her, and Troy never broke a promise.
He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts, that he didn't even notice, Sharpay had stopped walking, and he only stopped walking himself, because their hands were still linked, and he all of the sudden couldn't get any further, and he was pulled out of his thoughts. He saw Sharpay was looking at him with concern in her eyes, he hated himself at that point, Sharpay shouldn't be concerned about him, he shouldn't give her a reason to be concerned like that, even though he knew it was inevitable.
"What's wrong?" Sharpay asked him, as she let go of his hand, afraid that it might be her touch, that made him space out like that. "You looked like you were in some sort of trance. It's not because of me, is it?"
"What? Of course not, what gave you that idea?" Troy offered, hoping she would take it, and that would be it. Then he saw her concerned expression again, and with a sigh he decided to tell her about family dinner night, and that she was invited. "Ok, the thing is, that every friday at my house, we have a thing called family dinner night, and all the other Boltons come over, and we have dinner together as a family." He paused to see her nodding along, taking it all in, and he knew he should go on. "Anyway I really didn't wanna go tonight, so I told my mom that I'd rather be with my girlfriend, and then she somehow convinced me to invite you along." He shot her his signature smile, before he said the last thing. "So what do you say?"
"Are you insane, Troy?" Sharpay shrieked, she was panicking. Had he asked her any other day, she would have been able to handle it better, but she couldn't handle it on a friday of all days, because she knew coach Bolton despised, and it was even more on fridays, and then if she attended that dinner thing at night, there would be a blow up of some sort. "Do you realize, that I'm gonna go make your dad hate me a little bit more soon, and then you invite me to this thing?" She looked down on her feet, she knew it was wrong to freak out on Troy like that, because he did a nice thing, and she was kinda flattered, and deep down she wanted to go, she wondered what Troy's mom was like. "Now don't get me wrong, it's a nice gesture, but why tonight of all nights?"
"Because it's family dinner night, sweetie. I love you, Shar, and if you say, that you don't wanna go, I won't go either." He told her, and it made her smile, that he wanted to ditch his family like that for her, but she didn't want him to, and what he said next made her decision about the whole thing. "It's just, you're my girlfriend, and I wanna show you off, and I know they'll love you."
"Fine!" Sharpay gave in, because like he said he wanted to show her off, and when he said that, there was really nothing she could do. He wasn't ashamed of her, and she was sold. "I'll go, if you protect me?"
"I'll protect you, I promise. Hug?" He said, and she nodded to his request, and he immediately pulled her into a sideways hug, which she giggled into. It was nice to know, he wanted to protect her, and she really loved him for that. "Just know, that I don't care, what my dad thinks of you, because I wanna be with you, and he can't do anything about that."
Now she wrapped her arms around him too, and it became more than a sideways hug, and they stood like that, untill they heard an "I can't believe that guy, I hate him so much. I didn't think it was possible, but I hate that jerk with every bone in my body!" from a soft voice, and a "Lil, wait up!" from a husky voice, and they knew immediately, who it was. They let go of each other, and turned around to find Liz and Chase coming towards them.
"What happened?" Sharpay questioned, when both Liz and Chase had reached them, but neither of them replied right away. Liz was too upset to say anything good, and Chase was out of breath from catching up with their tiny friend. "Who's the jerk?" Chase did sign language for afro, and she made it a giant one, so Sharpay knew just who it was. "Oh, the 'fro. Well, my boyfriend knows how to pick his friends."
"Yeah, and I'd like to make a halfro out of that..." Liz started off all angry, but then she realized, what Sharpay had just said, and then she got all excited, and started jumping up and down all joyful. "Oh my GOD, OH MY GOD! I don't believe it, you're a couple?" She stopped jumping up and down, and both she and Chase looked at Troy and Sharpay and were dead silent, and then they finally nodded, and Chase and Liz went nuts. "Oh my... Powder blue, Troy, you should wear a powder blue shirt on your first date. Oh, and Sharpay, you should wear a delicate pink dress. That way your clothes won't only look great on yourselves, but you'll match each other. And dear Lord in heaven, please tell me where your first date is, so I can find myself a bush!"
Chase looked at her baby Lil all amused, and happy that she seemed to have forgotten all about the jerk Chad, and then she joined in. "When is your first date? I know, you're not much of a dating person, Shar, but you must have a date type thing in the works some day?" Chase went off, all the while trying to solve the mystery in her head, she knew she could figure out, when they were going on a date, and then she saw Sharpay looking away, trying to pretend that no such things were in the works, and then Chase figured it out. "Holy Moses, you're going out tonight? What a coincidence, I'm going out with Zeke tonight as well."
"No, wait. No, no, no, no, no." Liz said all whiny, waving her arms in the air all over the place to stop this nonsense, it couldn't be happening. What was she gonna do, there lied an impossible task ahead of her. "NO! I can't be two places at once, it's no fair. One of you has got to take friday, and then the other one of you will take saturday, okay?" She paused, and glanced at all her three friends, first Chase, then Sharpay and Troy, and they were all standing there, smiling at her, because they found it all so amusing, but she didn't. "No, Liz Kincaid doesn't go splitsies! One of you will have to find another night, think of your baby Lil?"
"Well, Lileebethy, I'm sorry, but tonight is really the only night, Troy and my plan is possible." Sharpay tried to reason with Liz, though she knew it was impossible now, when she had gone all Liz on them, not that she was complaining, it was so funny and cute at the same time. So it didn't do anything to them, instead she just threw it at Chase. "So you're gonna have to talk to Chase about the whole ruining your plan issue, hon." She turned to Troy and smile at him, and then she said; "I'm off, I'm gonna go make your dad hate me even more."
She waved at them, and then she walked off towards gym, and left Troy there with Chase and Liz, who was now having a silly argument about Chase's date, and when it was suppose to happen. Liz clearly wasn't happy with the whole both of her friends having a date same night thing, and Chase wouldn't budge, she was having her date with Zeke tonight no matter what. He just stood there and thought about Sharpay, untill he had his math class, not really paying attention to their argument, all he noticed was, that Liz all of the sudden yelled 'lime green' or something like that, and then she stormed off, towards who knows where. After a few seconds Chase went the same way, they obviously had their first class together. A good 5 minutes later, Troy took off as well, and walked to his math class.
IRBS
Troy's day hadn't been that bad, he had survived all of his classes, and his biggest problem of the day, was when he was called on in math and didn't know the answer. Sharpay's problems had been different and bigger, she told him earlier that day, that she had totally humiliated herself in gym, and then again during english, when she had to announce to the teacher in front of the whole class, that she had forgotten her books in her locker and had brought her spanish books by mistake. She ended her day with math, like Troy had begun his day, and if he knew his girlfriend correctly, she would have found that uncomfortable as well. Of course all of those things seemed like small problems to him, but to Sharpay they were big issues, and it made her confidence shrink. He would love to help her out of that, he just didn't know how.
Another thing he wanted to help her out of, was the habit of saying, that she didn't know, what he was doing with her, and he should be with someone normal like Gabriella, because he could easily get tired of that, and if he'd have to say he'd rather be with someone special too many times, he didn't know what would happen. He also wanted her to stop refering to herself as freak, because regardless of her handicap she wasn't a freak, and she needed to realize that, and it didn't matter what other people thought about her. He knew it would be hard to convince her of that, but he knew he was the only one, who'd have chance of succeeding, and he wasn't gonna use Liz's tactic, by stuffing a grape into Sharpay's mouth, everytime she brought it up. He didn't have that many grapes, and Liz was quickly out of hers during lunch. He would find a way somehow, but all that mattered now was, when she arrived at his house, he would have to help her get through a night with the Boltons.
He watched the livingroom of his house, all the Boltons had divided themselves into small groups, where they were discussing different topics. Jack and grandpa Bolton were over in the corner by the tv, discussing a mix between sport and Jack's carreer choice. Lucy, Troy's mom, had seated herself in the couch with Mollie, her sister, and Jolene, Jack's sister, and he didn't know, what on earth, they were talking about, but if he knew her mother correctly, she was busy telling them, that Troy had gotten himself a nice girlfriend, even though she hadn't met her herself yet. John (Jack's brother), being the chef in the family, was in the kitchen, cooking, and grandma Bolton was standing next to him, and Troy could clearly hear her trying to direct her own son, telling him that's not how it's done, even though he was the expert. Grandpa and grandma Lafayette (Lucy's parents) were by the picture wall, admiring the pictures of their grandkids and reminiscing little Tynisha Bolton, bless her soul. In the other couch sat Trevor and Tiffany Bolton, his siblings, and argued over the remote, even though it was strictly forbidden to watch any television on family nights. Troy had seated himself in a chair, next to the couch holding his siblings, because that was closest to the exit, and he wanted to be the one to get up and get out to open the door for Sharpay, when arrived to the scene. Though grandma Bolton had this weird thing with opening doors, she always wanted to be the one to, so if she had to hurt Troy to get to the door before him, she probably would. She was a tough one, grandma Bolton, when grandpa Brennan (grandma Bolton's husband) wasn't with her, but he was ill that night and had to stay home, as was grandpa Bolton's wife, grandma Quinn.
Troy had told Sharpay to be there at 6, because they would be eating at 7, and when she'd had an hour to get to know his family in, then maybe dinner wouldn't be so uncomfortable for her. That, and he didn't want her to arrive with the rest of the family at 5, because that would be totally nerve wrecking for her, and he wouldn't put his own girlfriend through that. When his family met up on friday nights, they were very loud, and he knew how Sharpay felt about noise, she didn't handle that very well, and he made sure she could avoid it, when it was possible. It was 5:50 now, and he couldn't wait for her to arrive, so he listened in on his dad and grandpa Bolton's conversation.
"I tell you, dad, I have this one girl in one of my gym classes, and it's impossible to teach her anything. I can't figured out why." Jack shared with his dad, and Troy immediately guessed it to be Sharpay, from the way his dad talked about 'this girl' and his frustration about not being able to teach her, it could only be Sharpay, and Troy thought he was being a bit harsh. He knew his girlfriend, and maybe she didn't believe in herself all that much, but she always tried, what she thought was her best.
"Well, then maybe you shouldn't be a teacher." Grandpa Bolton then said, in a very firm and controlled way, and it was like he didn't get, why his own son was complaining about his profession to him, a profession he himself had chosen. Grandpa Bolton, bless your soul, Troy thought to himself, and was happy he wasn't taking any crap from Jack, or anybody for that matter. Grandpa Bolton was tough, and that's why Troy had always liked him.
"You don't get, dad." Jack tried, but his dad didn't appear to wanna listen, and Troy thought his own dad sounded kinda like a child, not a good quality. Even though grandpa Bolton didn't pay attention, Jack went on. "Today even, I tried to introduce them to this european sport, and she grabbed a hold of the ball, and it was like disaster. It's doesn't matter which sport I put on the table, she manages to mess things up. I don't think, she's all that bright."
Then grandpa Bolton said something, that made Troy love him even more, than he already did, and he said it with such a carelessness, that it Troy found it award winning; "Maybe you shouldn't question this girl's intelligense, maybe you should be questioning your own abilities to teach?"
Troy didn't get to hear, what his dad would say as a comeback, because at that minute it knocked on the door, and he jumped up to run out and get it, seeing as it could only be Sharpay. She was 5 minutes early, which he really appreciated, because if he had to listen to his dad talk her down one more second, there would be family murder. So he ran, relieved and happy, through the dining room and towards the hall to open the door, so he could let her in, but when he got to the hall, grandma Bolton already had a hold of the knob. She pulled it down and opened the front door, and outside stood Sharpay, surprisingly enough in a delicate pink dress, as Liz has suggest. Or maybe not that surprising, because he was wearing a powder blue shirt himself.
"Hello dear!" Grandma Bolton greeted Sharpay with a smile, as she grabbed her hand and let her in. Troy knew, that Sharpay found it uncomfortable to be in physical contact with strangers, but he was glad she didn't tell her grandma to back off, and she just accepted it, because grandma Bolton soon let go, still smiling at his girlfriend. "So you must be my grandson's girlfriend, am I right?" Sharpay nodded, but remained quiet. Grandma Bolton took this as her cue to introduce herself. "Well, I'm Troy's grandma, Betsy Bolton. It's a pleasure to meet you."
She extended her hand for Sharpay to shake, and it first she just watched the hand in front of her, but she eventually grabbed it and shook it, not wanting to be rude to her boyfriend's grandma. "Hi, nice to meet you too. I'm Sharpay, Evans in case you were wondering." She announced herself, and then she let go of grandma Bolton's hand. She offered grandma Bolton a smile, and then she walked over to her safety zone, which was Troy. "I.. uhm, so I suppose you're coach Bolton's mom?"
"Well, I'm the only one, who can do the job." Grandma Bolton joked, and by that she had broken the tension, Sharpay felt, and the blonde immediately took a liking of the old lady, and at least now there was one Bolton, other than Troy, she would feel comfortable talking to. "Now, we shouldn't stand out here anymore. You must meet the rest of the family."
Grandma Bolton grabbed a hold of Sharpay's hand again, and then she brushed past Troy, like he was air, with Sharpay in tow. First she let Sharpay to the kitchen, so she could meet her youngest son, Troy's uncle John. On the way to the kitchen, grandma Bolton was going on and on about things, like her and Sharpay had been friends forever, and she had obviously taking a liking of Sharpay as well. They finally reached the kitchen, where John had something in the oven, and he was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, with a clock on the kitchen table, which he was just waiting for to beep. When he saw his mother enter the kitchen with Sharpay, he quickly got up from the chair to be polite.
"Hey Johnny, I'd like you to meet Troy's girlfriend, Sharpay." Grandma Bolton introduced them, as John reached out his hand and shook Sharpay's. "This is my youngest son, John." She said, as they let go of each other's hands, and Sharpay began to study the kitchen, it being her first time in Troy's house. "I'll tell you, dear, he's a chef, but he doesn't know, what the hell he's doing, and he certainly won't listen to his own mom."
"Um, mom. Who has the education?" John said, and Sharpay could hear, he was slightly annoyed, but at the same time his voice held so much love for his mom, and for that Sharpay liked him, and he seemed nice. Well, she didn't know, but he came across as accessable, and he seemed like an easy guy to talk to, and she gathered nice from that. "Don't listen to her, Sharpay, she likes to complain."
"Oh, I..." Sharpay didn't really know what to say, and her name had been said, so she felt like, she had to say something, she just didn't know what. Luckily she didn't have to come up with anything, because grandma Bolton cut her off.
"Don't bring her into this, Johnny. You claim to be a chef, yet I've never seen any papers on it." Grandma Bolton argued her case, and Sharpay got a feeling, that she was oldfashioned and wanted things done a certain way, and her son wasn't doing it like that, he was doing it in a new way, the way he was taught in school. "Who has ever heard of lemon duck? No, I say you stuff it with prunes!"
"Mom, who here do you think likes prunes, other than you?" John questioned, trying to reason with his own mom. She was being difficult, but at the same time she was just being who she was, a traditional old lady, and a traditional duck called for prunes, at least in the Bolton family. "Haven't we always picked them out of the duck, when you served it? And almost everybody likes the taste of lemon, mom."
Grandma Bolton could see his point, but she wasn't giving up on hers just yet, she turned to Sharpay as her last resort. "What about you, Sharpay, you like prunes, don't you? And have you ever heard of a thing called lemon duck."
"I don't even know, what prunes are, and regardless of what you put them in, and what you do with the duck, I'm vegetarian." Sharpay revealed, feeling sorta bad that she let grandma Bolton down, but she couldn't really state her opinion on something, she was clueless about. "I'm sorry."
"Good thinking." John then said, and Sharpay looked at him all confused, and then he went over to the freezer and got something out, and he followed that example with some of the cabins, and he brought it all over to a kitchen table, and found a knife in a drawer, and then he started his work on whatever it was, that he had found. "So is Lucy, I'm glad you reminded me, I had almost forgot."
"Kinda figures, doesn't it?" Grandma Bolton said and looked at Sharpay with squinted eyes, like she was this whole new thing, that she hadn't figured out how to use yet, or like she was sick or something. "She's too skinny to be a meat eater, isn't she?" She looked over at her son, waiting for his reply, but he just shrugged, too busy to say anything. "Just ignoring his own mother. C'mon Sharpay, let's go into the livingroom, so you can meet the others."
Then they left the kitchen, and grandma Bolton let Sharpay to the livingroom, while she glanced at the blonde girl every now and then, like she was concerned about her well being or something, like if she didn't keep a watchful eye on her, she would colapse. They reached the livingroom, where the rest of the family was, and Troy was occupying the same chair as before, but he immediately jumped up, when he saw them entering. His family had asked, where his girlfriend was, and he had told them, that grandma Bolton had stolen her, and they weren't surprised, because it was typical Betsy Bolton.
Sharpay let go of grandma Bolton's hand and walked over to Troy, and the others watched, as he whispered something in her ear, and then he placed a sweet kiss on her lips, and put his arm around her shoulder, all protective. He let her through the room, so she could meet everybody. He started by the tv, where his dad and grandpa Bolton still were, discussing a few things. Troy figured, that Sharpay wanted to get the worst over with, and that was his dad.
"Sharpay, this is my grandpa, Timothy Bolton." Troy introduced his girlfriend to his grandpa, and all was good. Grandpa Bolton very politely shook Sharpay's hand and offered her a smile. "And grandpa, this is my girlfriend, Sharpay."
"It's very nice to meet you, Sharpay." Grandpa Bolton said, and Sharpay gave him a small nod, as if to say 'likewise', and he accepted it, and started somewhat of a conversation with her. "Now I hope my ex-wife, Betsy, didn't talk your ears off, so that there are no conversations with you left for the rest of us."
"No, mostly she just talked about prunes." Sharpay said with a chuckle, liking the protective father bear feel, she got from grandpa Bolton, as he shot his ex-wife a stern look, and she got the feeling it was mostly for fun, because she got the feeling, that he was on great terms with his ex-wife, which was good for them, seeing as it was a very rare thing. "It wasn't that bad, but I don't know, what it is."
"Enough about prunes, Betsy. Leave our son be, he knows his stuff." Grandpa Bolton said with raised voice, because it needed to get to the other end of the room, and grandma Bolton shot him an insulted look back as reply, and then she went back to her business to get Trevor and Tiffany to stop fighting. "Her heart is in the right place, bless her soul, but she has this thing with control, and she wants things done a certain way. I suppose it's a Bolton thing."
"Uhm, you know my dad, Shar, and he knows you. So no need for a big introduction." Troy quickly shot in, before they carried on their conversation, and Jack didn't say a single thing to Sharpay, he just stared at her, like she shouldn't even be there, and she gave him the same treatment of not saying a thing to him. Why should she even make the effort, when coach Bolton didn't himself.
"Be polite, Jack, that's no way to treat a lady. Do say something." Grandpa Bolton instructed, nudging his son in the side. This certainly wasn't how he had raised him. First he was complaining about his job and this girl, who he had really no reason to complain about, because when had girls ever been big on gym? And now there was this thing, where he didn't wanna say hi to his own son's girlfriend. Grandpa Bolton couldn't even recognise Jack right now. Jack still didn't say anything, and neither did Sharpay, so grandpa Bolton did, what he had to do then. "Well, go on then, Troy, move along. The rest of the family has to meet her too, don't they? It's not just me and your grandma."
Now his mom and his aunts were next in line, and they had already gotten up from the couch and stepped out into the open, eager to meet Troy's girlfriend, who they had been discussing practically all night. So when he brought Sharpay to them, it was like they were fighting to stand still from the excitement, and his mom was the worst. Sure, he'd had girlfriends before, but he had almost never brought any one them home to meet the family, and if he had, he certainly hadn't show them off this proudly, and that made them all the more eager to meet her.
"Sharpay, this is my mom, Lucy Bolton, and this is her sister, Mollie Lafayette, and my dad's sister, Jolene Trudeau." He introduced them one by one, and as he did, they each shook her hand with a smile, and he was glad by the way the night had gone so far. "This is my girlfriend, Sharpay." They all exchanged their 'nice to meet you's, and Troy felt good, that they all seemed to like her, except his father, of course. But what are you gonna do, you can't pick your family.
"I don't get it?" Sharpay said, as she turned and focused her attention on Jolene, and he was happy to see, that she wasn't being shy, like they had both suspected. "You're Jack's and John's sister, but you don't share your last name with then, and you're here alone?"
"That's because my husband is in the hospital with cancer, and we don't like to discuss it much. It's a horrible disease, we talk about my husband, of course, but we rarely mention his disease, and he doesn't want us to." Jolene explained, like she had probably explained it many time before, and Sharpay gasped out of shock, feeling really bad she had brought it up, but Jolene didn't mind, and she let Sharpay know that. "It's okay, Sharpay. You didn't know, and you wouldn't, unless you asked. I have kids too, in case you were wondering. Marc, Mitchell and Jessica, but they're with his parents this weekend, they live closer to the hospital, than any of us, and the kids like being close to their dad."
Sharpay simply nodded, she didn't know what else to do or say, it was horrible to know, that someone might lose their dad at such a young age, so instead of dealing with it, she moved her focus to Troy's other aunt, Mollie. Of course she feared she seemed rude to Jolene, but nobody said anything, so she figured she wasn't.
"You're wondering about me, aren't you?" Mollie questioned, as if she had read Sharpay's mind, which was good, the less Sharpay had to say, she felt, the better, so if Mollie wanted to do all the talking herself, it would be fine. "I'm divorced, I used to be married to this dirtbag, and as soon as I divorced him, I took back my maiden name. I'm now Mollie Lafayette."
"Y'know, that dumb sidekick dog in Aristocats is named Lafayette." Sharpay said, without even thinking about it, and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand, feeling totally ashamed of herself. It was the most embarrassing thing, you just didn't say something like that to your boyfriend's family. It was one of the downsides to her handicap, she didn't always think, before she spoke. She let her hand fall to her side, and she felt she had to apologize or something now. "I am so sorry, Mollie. I don't know, what came over me. It's just, Aristocats is my favorite movie, and when you said Lafayette, my mind immediately went to it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to compare you to it."
"It doesn't matter." Mollie said, and brushed the whole thing off, as if it had never happened, and she scored some good points from Sharpay because of that. She had seriously feared, she had screwed up everything by saying that, but Mollie really and truly didn't seem to mind. What a cool aunt, she just went on like nothing had happened. "In case you were wondering about kids, I have a daughter, Sophie. Unfortunately she lives with her sorry excuse for a dad."
"Betsy's big mouth tells us, you are a vegetarian?" Lucy questioned, wanting to have it confirmed. Grandma Bolton said so many things, it was hard to know, what to make of it sometimes. Sharpay nodded, so Lucy carried on. "So am I. It's not always easy, considering that Jack's family is full of serious meat eaters. I just can't bring myself to it." Lucy smiled at Sharpay, to make her feel more welcome, after that whole thing before, she didn't wanna say anything in the near future, so hopefully she wouldn't have to. "So I hope that John is cooking up some delicious vegetarian food."
Troy could sense, it was time to get Sharpay out of there and let her meet the rest of the family, she really let that thing before nag her, even though it shouldn't. He just hoped she'd ease up again, because the night would be difficult, if she didn't want to speak. He excused himself and Sharpay, and then they went over to grandpa and grandma Lafayette by the picture wall, and they turned around to great them, just as they came over to them. It was time for them to meet each other, so Troy really hoped, Sharpay would let her slip go right about now.
"Sharpay, these are my grandparents, Giles and Catie Lafayette. This is Sharpay, my girlfriend." Troy introduced them to each other, and it was the same procedure before, with the polite handshakes and the 'nice to meet you's. Troy's family were really the most polite people, that Sharpay had ever met in her life. It was weird, and she found all the handshaking uncomfortable, but other than that it was great to meet his family. "And this was my sister, Tynisha. Remember I told you about her?" Troy pointed at the picture on the very top of the wall, it was of a girl with long curly hair, the same colour as Troy's, and she had brown eyes, just like Lucy. She could definitely see, that she was Troy's sibling, they had some of the same features.
"She's beautiful, Troy." Sharpay acknowledged, and then she did something very unlike her, she kissed his cheek, because she felt like it was needed. This was his dead sister, the sister he missed so terribly, and the one he had cried over in front of Sharpay, so a peck on the cheek for support seemed about right. It couldn't be easy looking at her picture like that, and he probably did his best to avoid it on regular days, so she needed to be there for him, like he was always there for her. "I'm sorry about, y'know.."
"Yeah, bless her soul." Grandpa Lafayette spoke up, with his raspy old voice, he was definitely a smoker, Sharpay could hear. She also wondered, if that bless soul thingy was a family phrase, because they all seemed to use it about people, they cared about, whether they were dead or alive. It was a nice trademark to them, Sharpay reckoned, she wished they had family phrases like that in her home, but her mom and stepdad were too wrapped up in themselves to ever spend time with their kids, and have a thing like that with them. "She could have gone places, she could've."
"Bless her soul, she could've, yes." Grandma Lafayette agreed, admiring the picture of their youngest grandchild, and she would always be that way to them. Then she looked at her husband with this weird sparkle in her eyes, like there was a silverlining. "At least she is with Baltimore now."
Sharpay looked at Troy all confused, since she had no idea, who Baltimore was? Was he another dead family member, none of the rest had mentioned yet, or what was going on? "He was their old labradoodle." He whispered to her, and her mouth formed an 'O', as she got it now, and Troy continued, because there was more. "He died a year ago, and they like to think, that he's now watching over Ty."
"Mr. and Mrs. Lafayette, I'm really sorry about..." Sharpay began, she was about to express her sympathy to them, even though experts said people like her couldn't do that, but that was one of the many places, experts were wrong. They may be experts, but they didn't have the handicap themselves, so screw them. Grandma Lafayette cut her off pretty quickly, though, not liking the sound of her grandson's girlfriend being so formal with her.
"Please, Sharpay, do call us Giles and Catie." Grandma Lafayette said, her husband standing next to her, nodding in agreement. They had been married for 45 years, and they were like one, they practically agreed on anything, and they were the ideal picture of a successful marriage. She smiled at Sharpay, like she was her own, and then she said it. "Bless your soul" Grandma Lafayette looked at her with all the care in world, because that was the way she was, caring, and then she patted Sharpay on the head, and that was Troy's cue to drag Sharpay out of there and let her meet his siblings.
When Troy and Sharpay came over to them, they were in a brand new argument. Trevor had told Tiffany, that she looked like a crazy person with bangs, and that had made Tiffany incredibly angry, and that had started the argument. Grandma Bolton stood helplessly on the sidelines, nothing she could do or say could make them stop, they were determined to fight like that, and when a Bolton was determined on something, there was no stopping them, and grandma Bolton knew that, so she had simply stopped trying.
"How about we skip your introduction with them, and I just tell you, that their names are Trevor and Tiffany?" Troy questioned, and Sharpay gave him a small nod and seemed okay with it, though she also seemed shocked, that two people could argue like that. She had thought, she had been a little harsh on Troy in the past, but this went beyond that, and she was glad she wasn't getting the traditional introduction with them, because seeing them going at it like that, she didn't feel like it. Though the person who seemed most happy with it was grandma Bolton, she was very talkative, and she liked having a new victim.
"Bless your soul, you got out of that. They are both nightmares sometimes." Grandma Bolton said, as she went around the couch to get to Sharpay, and Troy feared a little, that with grandma Bolton's big mouth, there was a possibility, Sharpay would get out wounded or worse, of course not in the physical sense. "Now let me tell you a thing or two about your boyfriend over there, he..."
Sharpay had fun, she seriously did, and she liked finding out private things about Troy, especially things about his childhood, the cute and the embarrassing, and grandma Bolton was one of the nicest people, Sharpay had had the pleasure of meeting in a very long time. It almost seemed too soon, when John came into the livingroom and announced dinner was ready, and they all went into the diningroom to sit down and eat.
IRBS
They were all seated around the Bolton's big dinner table, and Sharpay thought it was a wonder, that there was room for everybody. All members of the Bolton family now had food on their plates, and they were all either eating or talking, some of them were even doing both, and Sharpay really liked the way, they interacted with each other in Troy's family. Well, except for Troy's dad, he was still treating Sharpay like air, like she wasn't even there, and if he was gonna give her that treatment, she was gonna return the favor. If you looked past that one little downside, the rest of Troy's family were really nice to her, and she liked them.
Sharpay could see out of the corner of her eye, that grandma Bolton was nipping to the lemon duck, secretly enjoying it, though she would never admit it to John, but even though she seemed to enjoy the duck, she still mumbled something about prunes every once in awhile. John was sitting across from grandma Bolton, smirking at her, because obviously got the same sense from her, as Sharpay did, and she was sure, that he had known grandma Bolton would like it, him being the expert and all.
Troy was sitting next to her, and he really admired her for, how she had handled that night so far. It was even better, than he had ever expected it could be, and he had a feeling, that grandma Bolton might even want to take Sharpay home with her, and his girlfriend as much as tried to object, grandma Bolton wouldn't have that, she would just stuff Sharpay into her purse, where she had claimed earlier tonight, that Sharpay could easily fit.
Trevor and Tiffany had calmed down by now, and they weren't arguing anymore, which was probably due to the fact, that they had been seated in different ends of the table. Trevor was unusually quiet tonight, Troy thought, but as long as he didn't make a scene while Sharpay was there, it was all good. Tiffany was the only one, who hadn't said anything at the table yet, she was probably too angry to, considering her bangs were a mess because of Trevor, who had been accused of ruining her hair. It was typical Trevor and Tiffany, and Sharpay had been told that from both Troy and grandma Bolton, who always talked.
Everyone at the table had now set their mind on getting to know Troy's new girlfriend, and he wasn't sure, if Sharpay felt comfortable with all that attention, but even if she wasn't, she was doing really well. She looked calm and together, and there was no sign, that she might break down soon, so obviously she wasn't insecure or anything with his family, and he was glad about that.
"Sharpay, that's an unusual name?" Lucy said, as she looked up from her plate to make eyecontact with Sharpay. Troy could see her tense up a little, fearing that someone might say the classic 'Sharpay? Like the dog?', but nobody did she noticed, so she loosened up again. "How did you get it?"
"I don't really know, but I think it was one of those 'in the moment' situations." Sharpay explained, and sent Troy's mom a smile to be polite, and she got a confused look back, so she knew she had to explain it further. "I'm not sure, it's my own guess. It's just, in my baby book it says Cheryl Evans, so I suppose they changed their minds in the last minute."
"Cheryl Evans, you say?" Troy questioned with his signature smirk across his face, and he took it as a good moment to tease his girlfriend a little. "You shouldn't have shared that, I'm gonna call you that from now on, Cheryl."
"Troy..." Sharpay said in a 'don't you even dare' kinda way, and shot Troy a pleading look to convince him not to, but all she got back from that was a smirk and a teasing; "Cheryl!"
"No, what I think happened was, that her parents suddenly realized, that they had a too special daughter to name her Cheryl." Troy said, deciding to state his theory in the case, and secretly try to make her realize, that she was indeed special, even if she didn't wanna hear it, but here she had to. "So they decided to go with Sharpay. A special name for a special girl."
"What's so special about her?" Jack finally joined the conversation, he sat far away from Sharpay and Troy with crossed arms, and he had an annoyed look on his face, like Sharpay shouldn't even be there, and his own family certainly shouldn't treat her as good as they did, so he had to bring her down, especially because she ruined his basketball team. "I mean, she can't even throw a ball properly?"
"Remember what grandpa said, dad? Maybe you should be questioning your own abilities to teach." Troy said, defending his girlfriend. No way was his own dad gonna treat her like this, nobody was gonna treat her like this for that matter, but it was even worse now, that it was his own dad. To think that Troy had thought, that his dad was mature enough to act like, he hadn't got anything against her, so they could have a nice night, but he had obviously been wrong. "So maybe Sharpay is not the best at throwing a ball, but she has other talents, that are much more important than playing some stupid ball game!"
"Well then, go on." Jack said, and turned to look at Sharpay, expecting her to speak up now. The rest of the family was looking from Troy and Sharpay to Jack, all of them shocked that Jack Bolton was behaving like that towards a guest in their house, towards his own son's girlfriend. "Tell us about your talents?"
"I'm a decent singer." Sharpay spoke in soft and quiet voice, barely audible to those sitting at the table, but they all heard it. The Bolton's had bat ears. Jack took that piece of information as having a new way to attack her, and he didn't care what his own family thought of him at that point, because he was gonna bring her down.
"I find it hard to believe." Jack mocked, and shot Sharpay a demeaning look. Of course he didn't know, what the hell he was talking about, he had never heard her sing, but it didn't matter, as long as he could make her feel bad, it was all good. "I'm sure, you can't even hold a note, if your life depended on it. Are you sure, you wanna be so full of yourself and go with decent?"
"Let me put it this way, I'm a way better singer, than you are a basketball coach, so you tell me, how good I am!" Sharpay yelled with tears in her eyes, she jumped out of her chair and stormed out of the room and into the hall. Troy quickly got up from his chair to follow her in there. Regardless of what his dad had said, he didn't want her to go, and he was sure, that now they were out of the room, the rest of his family were gonna give it to Jack for being so rude.
Troy opened the door the the hall and went in, and there he found Sharpay standing by the door in tears, getting ready to open it and leave. He took a step closer to her to make sure everything was okay, but she pulled away from him, like it had all been his fault, because he promised to protect her, and now she wanted nothing to do with him. He had no idea, that wasn't the case, she wanted everything to do with him, she was just torn about some things.
Sharpay began pacing back and forth in front of the door, debating with herself whether or not, she should leave or stay and talk to Troy. She didn't know, she was afraid, that if she stayed, she would say something, she was gonna regret. She was even more scared, that it she left and didn't talk to Troy, she would somehow ruin them. She had no idea, what she was doing or anything, she had never been in this position before, as she had never had boyfriend before, and the whole meeting the family was unfamiliar territory to her.
All Troy could do was stand there, and let her take her time, untill she was ready to talk to him about. He thought, she was handling it much better, than he would have. Had it been him, he probably wouldn't have been able to contain himself as long, as Sharpay managed, and quite frankly he had no idea, what the hell happened in there. They started off having a good time, both Troy's family and Sharpay, and then all of the sudden Jack decided to put on his bad mouth. He couldn't figure it out.
Sharpay stopped pacing and took in a deep breath, followed by one more. In and out, in and out, trying to calm herself down, which she failed to. She could have really let Jack have it in there, because my God she could swear like a sailor, but she chose to go easy on him, though right now she was really tempted to go in there, and go for a do-over. Then she saw Troy standing in front of her, and decided it would probably be best not to, instead she did something much worse.
"Did you see that in there, Troy? Even your own dad thinks I'm a freak." She shrieked, as she pointed towards the livingroom, where the rest of Troy's family were, and tears started rolling again. "I think it's clear, that I'm not girlfriend material, so maybe you should just..."
"No!" Troy cut her off, before she even got to finish that sentence. He'd had enough of her crap, he was sick and tired of her always trying to push him away, she did it before she agreed to be his girlfriend, and she was still doing it. If she was gonna be with him, she was gonna be with him without all that, she lost her right to play that game, when she became his girlfriend, so if they were gonna make it work, she needed to stop this self-sabotaging thing, and she needed to stop figuring out reasons, why Troy shouldn't be with her, and she should also stop trying to push him away, he couldn't take. "I don't wanna hear another word of that crap, Sharpay. Nobody was using the word freak in there, and I'm telling you, that if you give me that 'you should be with someone normal like Gabriella' thing again, I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do with you. You said you wanted to be with me, so stop this game of yours, I'm tired of it."
"But Troy, I think it's best, if you got together with someone... uhm, someone like Gabriella." Sharpay argued, trying her hardest to... she didn't even know, what she was doing herself. It got hard, and she panicked, and began trying to push Troy away yet again, even though she wanted to be with him. She didn't know, what was the matter with her, her self-esteem was so low, and it had become kind of a reflex, but she didn't know how to change it, and she was so upset at that moment.
"No, enough!" Troy yelled so loud, that both he and Sharpay were startled by it, and had there been a table, he would have banged his fist into it. "If you keep this up, Shar, you might just succeed." He looked at her, and saw that the tears had multiplied, but at that point it was more important, that he set down some groundrules, than he cared about her tears. "I swear to you, the next time you say to me, that you're freak and I should be with someone normal like Gabriella, I'm not sure I wanna be with you anymore then." He paused, and saw that the news had hit her hard, and she was taking it in with heavy breaths. "So what's it gonna be, Sharpay, do you wanna be with me or not?"
She stared at him, like he had gone crazy, and maybe he had, but it needed to be done. She looked away for minute, and then she sighed, as she made her decision and looked back at Troy. "I wanna be with you, more than anything." She said, and like that she had agreed to never say those things again. Troy smiled brighter than the sun at her, because he had believed it would have went the other way, he had taken a huge risk with that ultimatum, and it had paid off.
"So can I give you a hug?" Troy asked with a chuckle, he was unbelievable happy, that Sharpay wanted to be with him more than anything, and she had said it without adding a 'we obviously can't be friends'. When she nodded, he pulled her into the most loving hug, he had ever given her, and he didn't know, if he should cry happy tears. As they pulled apart, they heard someone clear their throat behind them, and then they saw grandma Bolton standing there. "Grandma, what are you doing here?"
Grandma Bolton stepped properly into the room, and grasped Sharpay's hands into her own, before she spoke; "You have nothing to be ashamed of, dear. I know, what it's like battling Asperger's, trust me I do." Troy and Sharpay both shot her a confused look, so she explained. "Of course, I don't know from personal exsperience, but grandpa Brennan isn't really sick. He has Asperger's himself, and he can't deal with the family dinner nights, so I let him stay home, and then I give the family different excuses for his absence. Being with him and his handicap is really difficult at times, but I promised to be there for him through sickness and health, and I knew about his disability, when we married, and I'm gonna stand by him no matter what."
"How do you even know?" Sharpay exclaimed, stunned that grandma Bolton even knew, what Asperger's was, and the confused expression never left her face. Sharpay had always been told, that it was a handicap, you couldn't see, so how did grandma Bolton know?
"Oh, it's not because you were acting weird, dear, you were more behaved than my son, but I recognised some of the trademarks." Grandma Bolton explained with a smile, like this situation was the most natural thing in the world, and she even acted like she was an expert at the subject. "All people are different, of course, nobody is alike, and that counts even for people with the syndrome. The experts have just listed a number of things, and said that was it, but we all know, that these so called experts know nothing. Even though you're all different, which they don't realize, there a still a few things, that you almost all have, my husband being one of them. You don't like big crowds of people, you don't like talking to strangers, and you get uncomfortable with physical contact." Grandma Bolton patted the back of Sharpay's hand, to let her know it was all okay, and then she continued; "I noticed the way you've acted all night, and I became certain. I also noticed the little flinch you made, everytime someone shook your hand, but don't you worry dear, I was the only one who did. I noticed, how you used short sentences to talk less to people, or tried to avoid talking a little, and last I noticed your nervous eyes, being in a room full of people you didn't know."
"Grandma, why have you never told us this?" Troy questioned, he was even more confused than Sharpay. Didn't you normally share these things with your family? But looking past that, at least now he knew, why he almost never saw grandpa Brennan, because of his handicap he didn't like these family nights, he must have found them uncomfortable.
"Dear, my husband, bless his soul, is 70 years old, and he's married, and he has a great life, and he has made it out in the real world, and that goes to show, that even though you have disabilities, doesn't mean you can't have a somewhat normal life." Grandma Bolton said to Sharpay, ignoring Troy's question, there was always time for that later, and right now Sharpay needed this, she felt. "Now my son and the rest of my family in there, they have no clue, that everything is not what it seems with you, they think you're a regular girl, and they all like you except for my oldest. My son, bless his soul, has been a dumbass tonight, but he has no idea about you know what, but maybe he senses something different, that he can't put his finger on, and that makes him maybe not like you. Let grandma Bolton tell you one thing, dear, you shouldn't care about people like that, be you and be happy. You're truly special, Sharpay, bless your soul."
Grandma Bolton let go of Sharpay's hands, and then she hurried back into the livingroom, leaving behind to very confused teenagers. Who would have thought, that grandma Bolton would make a speech like that, and who would have thought, she knew about Asperger's syndrome, or have a husband with it? They were really surprised, and also a little touched by it, as it was really nice of grandma Bolton.
"I think, I should go home, Troy." Sharpay announced, she didn't think there was any reason for her to stay any longer that night, enough had happened, and she wanted to spend the weekend forgotten about the things, Jack Bolton had said to her, and when she came back to school monday, she would hopefully feel better about it. If she didn't, she'd always have Troy's shoulder to lean on. Though, there was one last thing, she needed to know, before she went home. "But before I go, you need to tell me, what's up with the soul blessing in your family?"
"I have no idea, Sharpay, but if I find out, I'll let you know." Troy said, shrugging his shoulder. He had never thought about it before, but he did it too, mostly when he was home. How much of a loser would he be, if he said bless your soul at school? "Can I give you a kiss, before you leave?" Sharpay didn't say anything, she just smiled, and Troy took that as a yes, so he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss goodbye on the lips, and then he led her to the front door. "Bye, Shar. Hope the rest of your night will be more cosy."
Then he opened the door, and she smiled at his word, before she went out of the door and waved goodbye to him over the shoulder. When she was out of sight, he closed the door and leaned his back against it, he let out a deep sigh, and felt relieved, that they had both made it through the night alright.
Oh my GOD! Could this chapter be any longer? I have been writing on this non-stop for like two days, because I'm visiting these people, and they are so incredibly boring, that it hurts, and they don't have any internet or anything else to pass the time with, so all I've been able to do is write and write. I finished this the 21st, but I won't be able to update untill the 25th, and since there's nothing else to do, I'm gonna begin chapter 10 tomorrow (22nd). So hopefully there won't be so long between my next updates, especially if you wanna be some sweetiepies and leave the best reviews in fanfiction history. Do we have a deal? Anyway, thanks for reading this, and please review.
Laters, AK-tutti :) (btw, doesn't the 24th sound so much better, than the 25th?)