Sharpay hadn't shown up for dinner. Whatever. If she wanted to stay in because she felt homesick, that was fine. If she didn't want to see anyone, that was fine. And if she didn't want to eat breakfast, that was fine, too. Troy didn't care. He didn't care at all.
Except… he did.
He leaned against the thick cement railing outside the cafeteria, waiting for Ryan, Kelsi and Gabriella to come out so that they could walk to the East Wing together. He had stepped out early to get some air- that felt particularly refreshing due to the heavy rain that had washed over campus the night prior. Last night Sharpay had seemed fine. Not homesick at all. She had looked, dare he say, excited to have dinner with him. And he had been excited that she had been excited. But now he didn't know what he felt. It was a mixture of curiosity and confusion with a hint of underlying rejection. And he didn't understand it at all.
"Come on, Bolton. Can't let you be late to French, now can we?" Gabriella's voice interrupted his thoughts as she slid her arm onto his forearm and walked them in the direction of the East Wing. He could hear Kelsi's heels hitting the stones behind him as he passed a group of freshman girls staring at he and Gabriella, probably thinking they were a couple. The only person he wanted people to think he was the boyfriend of was Sharpay- since Tiara was obviously out of the question. He nodded his head at them, a piece of hair falling in front of his eyes as he did so. Troy tried not to laugh as they giggled to one another. He shook his head, swinging his notebook and French textbook in the hand opposite Gabriella. The only thing getting him through this walk was the thought of Sharpay sitting near him in class. Speaking French. It was hot.
He picked up his head and looked forward. It was like the world could read his mind. There she was. The object of his thoughts: Sharpay. She was walking out of the woods only about thirty feet in front of him in a pair of jeans and a red sweater. Her black boots were muddy and her hair was unkempt. It looked to Troy like she had just been caught in the middle of a war zone. He felt Gabriella's grip on his arm stiffen momentarily, as if she had taken in Sharpay's appearance as well. "Sharpay." He called, slipping his arm out from Gabriella's grasp. Her head turned upward, noticing him for the first time.
/
Sharpay watched Troy pull away from Gabriella. Of course he wouldn't want her to see him with Gabriella. The girl he really liked. The reason he needed to get Sharpay lost in the woods and eaten by a moose or something.
Moose attacks: The leading cause of death to boarding school students.
He walked towards her, closing the space between them, but Sharpay kept her lips in a straight line and her eyes as he got closer. The earnest, worried expression on his face would not lead her to think otherwise. She would stay strong.
When Troy reached her, his eyebrows were down but his eyes were wide as they took in her most likely rugged appearance. He carelessly dropped his French books and put his hands on either side of Sharpay's shoulders- covered by a dirty half-soaked red Free People sweater her mom had given her only a week before. Despite how furious she was at him, she couldn't command herself not to feel the electric heat that spread through her body when he touched her. Strong, Sharpay, be strong. Don't give in.
"Get. Your hands. Off of me." She said through her teeth, trying not to hate the way Troy pulled back and held his hands up, looking like a criminal. A wounded criminal. Ryan, Kelsi, and Gabriella appeared behind him. Gabriella looked her up and down, as did Kelsi as she dropped her SideKick into her black Balenciaga City bag.
"Are you... I mean, what-"
Sharpay interrupted Troy's stammers. She opened her mouth to continue but let out a sneeze instead. Great, she was sick now, too. Maybe catching a case of life-threatening pneumonia would get her out of this hell her mom called school and back home to recover.
A girl can dream.
Ryan cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Eh, God bless you?"
She gave him and his comforting eyes a forced thank-you smile before turning back to Troy.
He still seemed perplexed. "Can you just... tell me what's wrong?"
Sharpay let out a laugh at his words. "Like you don't know, Troy. Your plan of let's-get-Sharpay-lost-in-the-woods-in-the-rain didn't work as well as you thought. But you win, alright?" She looked over at Kelsi for a moment. Then back to Troy. "I'm leaving. I'll tell my mom I want to transfer somewhere else."
"I don't-" Troy's eyes went from Sharpay, to the woods behind her, to Sharpay's clothes, and back up to meet her gaze in the matter of a second. Sharpay went to brush past him, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
"What part of 'hands off' don't you understand?"
"I'm not letting you go until you tell me what it is you're talking about. Sharpay, please, just… look at me."
/
This was killing him. He felt like the butterflies in his stomach were taking turns at kicking his heart back and forth like a soccer ball. To see Sharpay like this, so broken and obviously hurt over something Troy didn't understand. And now she wasn't even looking at him. Why wasn't she looking at him?
"Why should I?" Sharpay mumbled. "Want to admire your work?"
"What work? I- Sharpay. How long were you in the woods?"
"Oh, I don't know. Well the sun rises at what, six? And if it rises in the east… Since dinner?"
Troy's eyes went wide in reflex. She'd spent all night alone in the woods? In the rain? In the dark? Was she crazy? Sharpay must have misread his eyes, because when her brown eyes did decide to meet his, there was a sort of painful-mockery in them. "Yes, Troy. You know, when you said you'd meet me at the lake?"
"When did I... I'd never let you walk there by yourself, it's dangerous." Sharpay scoffed, looking away and towards the quad where students were walking to class, oblivious of the situation a few feet away. Troy sighed and used his other hand to grab the arm he wasn't already holding, forcing her to look into his eyes. "You told Kelsi to tell me that you were feeling homesick, and were going to sleep through dinner. You said you weren't going to meet me outside because you weren't up to it."
Troy was confused. So very, very confused. Sharpay's brows knotted together, showing the confusion that was in Troy's mind. "I didn't tell Kelsi anything. She said you were skipping dinner and that you wanted to meet me at the lake. That I would know how to get there. Which I did, I guess, until it got dark, started raining, and I couldn't tell where the fuck I was."
/
Shit. Shit. Shit.
With every beat of her rapidly paced heart that was all Gabriella heard. They were caught. It was over. Sharpay would tell the Dean. She and Kelsi would be kicked out of Hale. Out of Eastwood. She'd have to go to- she shuddered- a private school. Or worse, a public school. Gabriella stood silent next to Kelsi, digging the heel of her Gucci kitten heels into the wet ground nervously. She couldn't let Troy be mad at her. Her mind started searching for a way to flip the situation around.
Easier said than done.
She saw Troy's grip on Sharpay's arms loosen into more a hold. "I would never send you into the woods by yourself. Let alone at night or in the rain. You can't really believe that."
"I don't know what I believe." Her roommate said in a low tone.
Troy bit his lip, staring down at Sharpay for a few second before letting her arms loose completely. He turned towards Gabriella and Kelsi, his normally bright grey/turquoise eyes becoming dark in a split second. Gabriella had never seen Troy like this before. She didn't like it. It was kind of hot... but still. Not a fan. "Kelsi. Start talking."
She watched as Sharpay folded her arms across her chest. The more Gabriella looked at her, the more she actually felt bad. She looked soaked, and the whipping November wind couldn't help her be any warmer. She wanted to give her a blanket or something. Not that she was about to give this girl any sort of maternal comfort. She still hated her.
"It was a joke. An initiation sort of thing. We all had to go through something set up by the seniors when we moved into Hale. You can't just walk into that dorm, Troy. You get chosen. You're in Stuart. You should know."
Gabriella bit the inside of her lip and Troy looked down. Initiation was not something you talked about in public. Kelsi knew that. Troy knew that. Sharpay didn't know that. She saw her fidget uncomfortably from the corner of her eye. When Troy looked back up at Kelsi, his eyes hadn't changed. "Well if you hadn't noticed, Nielsen, you're not a senior. You don't make those decisions. And you don't send people into the woods alone. I highly doubt that Lily gave you that sort of initiative power."
Gabriella shifted on her feet, noticing how Troy's lowered his voice at the mention of Lily and initiation. Lily Moore was the Gabriella of the senior class. The senior Queen Bee. President of Hale Hall. Hands down female leader of Eastwood. She had pin-straight black hair and enticing dark blue eyes. She was easily five times prettier than Tiara- and that was saying something. She lived, of course, in Hale Hall, overseeing all the going-ons at Eastwood. This included knowing all the right gossip, making sure to attend only the acceptable forest parties, coordinating rides to parties in the city, approving the boyfriends of every Hale girl, and of course- initiating those she found worthy of living in it. Gabriella had yet to speak to her about how Sharpay had gotten in, but she'd been planning on it ever since Dean Lucas came in with her suitcases.
Kelsi pursed her lips and looked over at Gabriella.
Troy's eyes were dark as he looked back and forth between Gabriella and Kelsi. "Were you a part of this, Gabriella?"
Gabriella's brown eyes shot open. "What? Troy, no-"
/
They were incredible. Absolutely in-fucking-credible - and not in a good way. Troy couldn't ever understand how they thought this was suitable initiation. He didn't like the idea of having to be initiated at all, but still, he understood the rules of their dorms and the price that came along with living in them. James Wiley- so called alpha-male of the seniors, Stuart Hall, and Eastwood- had sent him into the Dean's house to steal the glass-enclosed first ever-typed copy of the Eastwood Student Handbook, while the Dean was sleeping, as initiation. It had been hard, sure. But nothing like being stranded for hours in the forest by yourself. Initiation was always conducted within school grounds. The rules of the dorms were simple but made to be followed- in Stuart and Hale. Troy knew James. And he knew Lily. And he knew neither of them would have agreed to the sort of initiation Sharpay had been subjected to.
"Guys, she could have been attacked by a bear. A coyote. "
Troy turned to meet Sharpay's wide light brown eyes. "You said there wasn't anything like that out there."
Troy opened his mouth and then closed it. Not knowing what to say, he shrugged. "I didn't want you to be scared. You were with me, I wasn't going to let anything happen to you."
Despite the situation, Sharpay smiled slightly. The corner of Troy's lip curved upward at this, and his normally bright eyes came back for only a moment until Kelsi spoke up.
"Take it down a notch, Bolton, it's not like I sent her out there with slab of sirloin."
"You may as well have."
Kelsi rolled her piercing green eyes. "Enough with the dramatics. She's here, she's fine. We can all go to class now."
Ryan held out an arm to block Kelsi's attempt at leaving. "Kels, you know the rules."
"You too, Ryan? Really?" Kelsi let out a huff of disbelief and Ryan stood his ground. Troy made a mental note to congratulate his friend on standing strong against Kelsi's glare. "Alright, I'm sorry. I stepped over the line. But Troy, Tiara doesn't-"
"You talk about her like she's still here. She's gone, Kelsi. She left me. Left Hale. Left Eastwood. As far as I'm concerned, her opinion on the case doesn't matter."
"That. Right there. That's exactly why I did it Troy. Do you see what Sharpay's arrival has done to you? You love Tiara. And then Blondie-" Troy grew more and more annoyed at the sound of Kelsi's voice. Especially when she didn't have the decency to call Sharpay by her name. And especially when Sharpay flinched at it. "- here comes along, you pretend like Tiara never existed. Well, news flash, she did exist. And she is still part of your life. No matter how hard to try to pretend she never was."
/
Sharpay swallowed the giant lump that had formed in her throat. She folded her arms across her chest as a strong gust of wind blew through the air. She took turns looking at the people in front of her. Once they had brought up the word 'initiation', she had all but zoned out in confusion, but somehow she had managed to keep herself following the conversation. As her eyes landed on Kelsi- green eyes smoldering as they stared Troy down- she sneezed again, covering her mouth and nose with her wet-sweater covered palms. God, cable-knits were heavy when they were soaked with rain.
Troy turned to look at her, and Sharpay sniffed back the sneeze. He took a step towards her, unzipping the grey Diesel sweatshirt he had on over a white Lacoste polo and holding it in his hand for her. Somehow he made breaking the no-white-after-Labor-Day rule work to his advantage. "You'll be warmer in this. Just take off the ice box sweater first."
Sharpay smiled, shivering as she unfolded her arms to peel off the sweater. She hadn't realized how much of a gentleman Troy was until he looked away when it became known that all she had on under the sweater was the white camisole. She could tell he was looking at Kelsi, however. "Now do yourself a favor and apologize. And maybe I'll consider not telling Lily about this, if she doesn't already know."
For the first time, there was fear in Kelsi's eyes. But she was able to keep them in a glowering manner. "You wouldn't."
"Do you really want to test that theory?"
When Sharpay had finally gotten the sweater off of her, she reached for Troy's sweatshirt, and he looked at her, offering to take the wet sweater from her hands. He returned her smile before turning back to the redhead. Kelsi looked at Ryan, who had disappointment written all over his face, and then at Gabriella, who for the first time since she had arrived, seemed nervous. She slid her arms into Troy's larger sweatshirt and felt the heat of his skin still burning against the light layer of fleece inside. As she pulled the zipper up to her chest and burrowed her cold hands into the pockets, she caught the scent of Troy's cologne. It smelt kind of floral… but woody… and refreshing… and it was alluring… and Sharpay wanted to bury herself in it.
"Fine." Sharpay looked up at Kelsi, who tore her eyes away from Troy to look at her. "I'm terribly sorry to have subjected you to a lonely, wet night in the woods. Please forgive me."
There was a pause as Sharpay deliberated denying the fake apology. She looked over at Gabriella, whose eyes probably would have been pleading if she were not trying to hold herself with dignity. Then she looked at Ryan, who had more apologies in his green eyes than his girlfriend had in her voice. Finally, she looked at Troy, into his turquoise eye. He shook his head as if to say she didn't have to accept the horrible attempt at an apology.
She turned back towards Kelsi and took in a breath. Well, if Kelsi didn't have to mean her apology, Sharpay didn't have to mean her acceptance of it. "Sure. I forgive you."
The corner of her mouth curved upward. And Gabriella must have thought that Kelsi was going to say something else, because she grabbed her best friend's arm and pulled her back towards the East Wing, whispering furiously, like a mother scolding her child.
Ryan, who had been watching his girlfriend and her Queen Bee walk away, scratched the blonde hair just above his right ear when he looked at Sharpay. "I'm sorry, Evans, I never would have guessed-"
"It's okay, Ryan. I just-" Sharpay sneezed again. "I think I need to get out of these clothes."
Ryan smiled, starting to walk backwards to the East Wing. "I'll tell Madame Neville you're talking to your counselor."
"Tell her I'll be late, too." Troy volunteered. "I think she should go to the infirmary to make sure she didn't catch the flu last night. I'll escort her."
"Troy, really, I'm fine. It's just a-" Sneeze.
Troy smirked at her and Sharpay sighed, taking a few steps towards Hale Hall. "Fine. But can I at least get dressed first, dad?"
Troy bent down and picked up his French books from the damp grass. "Only if you never call me that again."
"Deal."
/
"One of the first things Dean Lucas told me was that boys weren't allowed in the girl dorms."
Troy took a seat on the edge of Gabriella's grey comforter-covered bed. "If you haven't noticed, I'm not too big on the concept of rules."
He watched as Sharpay balanced on one foot as she attempted to pull her muddy black Uggs from her feet. Looking at them made Troy feel sorry that he hadn't realized something was wrong when Kelsi said she was "sleeping off her homesickness". God, he was an idiot. When she had finally pulled one boot from her foot she looked up at him from the other side of the room. "You seemed pretty big on the rules of initiation, actually."
Troy looked towards the open door of the dorm room and stood up from the bed, moving to close it. If they were going to talk about this out loud, it was better the others on the floor didn't hear- especially in case Lily was in her room just down the hall- next door if he remembered correctly. He turned and met Sharpay's confused eyes when he pushed the door closed quietly. "Those rules are… different."
Sharpay pulled the other boot from her foot. "How so?"
Troy sighed, wondering how he could phrase it. He knew all the rules, sure. Once you were accepted in Stuart, and not just given an invitation, but actually accepted- they told you the rules. They were rules of decorum, how to hold yourself around the school- in short, how to be better than everyone else. But one of the rules, the rules you were not allowed to break, were to not speak of the rules to outsiders.
"Hale girls and Stuart boys are… we're not like other students. We're looked at differently, we're held to a higher standard." Sharpay looked at Troy, truly interested in his explanation. He took a few steps towards her, running his hand along the top of Gabriella's dresser. "Think of it like a sorority."
"Guess no one told Eastwood that hazing is illegal."
"It's not hazing. It's our way of sorting the born-to-bes from the wish-they-weres." Sharpay raised an eyebrow and Troy shrugged. "Okay fine, it's a little like hazing. But very much worth it."
Sharpay laughed and ran a hand through her messy hair as she turned to walk to her cherry wood dresser. Troy watched as she pulled open one the drawers and began searching through it. "So if last night's adventure wasn't my initiation-" She sneezed mid sentence, and Troy muttered a 'bless you', wishing she had let him take her to infirmary before whatever she had turned into the flu. "-that means I still have to, how did you put it, prove myself?"
"That it does. And let me wish you my luck now. Because when that day comes you aren't allowed any outside help. And the time limit doesn't make it any easier. Normally less than an hour and very much a pain in the ass."
"Did you have to do it?" Troy tried to ignore how nonchalantly she had tried to hide a bra behind her back as she turned to face him.
"Do you mind turning around?"
Troy nodded, turning to face Gabriella's dresser. "We all do." He began before picking up a silver picture frame. The picture it was displaying was of Gabriella, Tiara, Lily, and Angela- James Wiley's twin sister and Lily's number two. They all had their arms around each other and Tiara had her faced smushed against Gabriella showing off her immaculately white smile. Lily and Angela meanwhile were blowing kisses at the camera. Troy had been there when the picture was taken. It had been at the forest party Lily had organized for Tiara's birthday. The day she had decided that Tiara would be replacing her as junior Queen Bee. The last day of sophomore year. They first day they had had sex. The last day he had ever seen her. He blinked and put the frame down, washing the gloomy thoughts from his mind. He reminded himself that he wasn't going to think about her anymore- not like that anyway. "We're not really supposed to talk about it, though."
After a few seconds of silence passed he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw Sharpay fully redressed. She had thrown on a plain purple shirt that had a scoop neck, revealing her collarbone and some of those velour Juicy Couture sweatpants that Tiara used to sleep in. Troy almost found it endearing- no other Hale girl would be caught dead wearing sweatpants in the presence of a Stuart boy unless they were at the gym. He also couldn't help but realize how quick of a changer she was. How long had be staring at that picture, exactly?
"But if we're in the privacy of one of the houses, can't you tell me any secrets forbidden to outside ears."
"Technically your ears are still on the outside, New Girl." Sharpay pouted like a third-grader and rather than finding it juvenile, Troy found it adorable. "They might have the walls bugged. Lily's practically bionic"
Sharpay looked confused. "And Lily is..."
He raised an eyebrow. "President of Hale? Reminiscent of Megan Fox?" Sharpay shook her head, as if to say she had no idea who she was. Troy found this hard to believe. Lily was everywhere. "Your bathroom connects to her room. You'll see her eventually. She's very... influential at this school."
"Big man on campus afraid of the higher powers?"
Troy let out a short, almost sardonic laugh. "Give it a week, you will be too."
"I think I can handle myself. I'm living with Gabriella aren't I?"
"She's nothing compared to Lily." Sharpay bit her lip. Troy didn't want to scare her- but she was going to find out soon enough. She might as well be prepared for what Lily's tantalizing blue eyes were going to throw at her.
"Troy, I just spent a night alone. In a pitch-black forest. In the freezing rain. How much worse can it get?" Troy winced, feeling like the entire ordeal was his fault. Sharpay must have caught the movement because a small smile crept onto her face. "None of which is your fault. I wouldn't have suspected Kelsi to do something like what she did. I mean, Gabriella, sure. She's the one who looks like she wants to kill me every time I'm within five feet of her... I think she likes you."
Troy smirked. "Are you jealous?"
/
Sharpay felt heat creep up her neck and fill her cheeks with color. Oh, crap. "No… no, not at all. Why would I be? I mean I- I don't care. She can like you. It's not like you- you guys haven't-" She cut herself off, already hating herself for blubbering out that gibberish in the first place. She swallowed down the embarrassment in her throat and focused on the silver bracelet dangling from her wrist.
"Gabriella…" Troy started. Sharpay pressed her eyes closed. Oh god, here it comes. "She and I won't ever… We just wouldn't work out. No matter how bad I can tell she wants us to. I don't see her like that."
Sharpay opened her eyes and slowly lifted her head to find his two-toned eyes staring back at her. "Nice to know." She mumbled, trying to keep her giddy thoughts to herself. She turned around before Troy could see the goofy grin that had appeared on her face. She walked back over to her bed where she had tossed his sweatshirt in the midst of changing. She almost lifted it to her nose, just so she could inhale his scent one more time before losing it. "Did you want your-" She started, turning back to Troy with the sweatshirt in hand. Expecting to find him across the room, she was surprised when his five foot nine frame was right behind her, and those luring eyes of his were causing her to lose focus. "- sweatshirt?"
"You know what I've been thinking about?" He had a small smile on his lips as he spoke in a low tone, ignoring her question.
Sharpay couldn't form the words to speak when he was in this close proximity, his cologne invading her stuffed nostrils in a delightful manner. She settled for raising an eyebrow, hoping it conveyed the message she was going for. She suddenly found herself worried about how her breath smelt, and what her hair looked like- oh god her hair. She must look like a wooly mammoth.
But maybe he liked that sort of thing.
Sharpay could have died right in that moment and be the happiest person in the world. Because right in that moment, everything froze. Troy lowered his perfect and flawless face towards her own and brushed his lips across hers in a feathery kiss. As her chest rose and fell she couldn't help but comment on the buzz she felt run all the way down to her toes.
/
Troy pulled back less than an inch, keeping his unsatisfied lips hovering above her own. He opened his eyes slowly, only to see that Sharpay's were still dreamily closed. The kiss felt different than kissing Tiara, or any other girl he had encountered in a round of spin the bottle. In that brief moment his lips had met hers, call him cheesy, he had felt a ping of electricity. And now his body wanted- needed- to feel more of it. The power was enticing. And now that he knew it was there, he was sure he wasn't going to be able to stop thinking about it. Sharpay's brown eyes fluttered open slowly and met his. He wondered if her shallow breathing meant that she had felt it, too. He lifted a hand and brushed a strand of wavy-from-being-out-in-the-rain-all-night blonde hair from her face and cupped her cheek. He couldn't help but feel the corner of his lip tugging upward into a smirk as he closed the distance in between them and pressed his mouth flush against hers.
He relished this feeling. It was like tasting ice cream for the first time. You realize it's the most delicious thing ever and you wonder how you had gone so long without ever have tasting. You'd tasted cake and pudding, sure. But ice cream… Ice cream was ten times better than that. Troy barely even recognized that he was mentally comparing kissing Sharpay to licking an ice cream cone. He was too wrapped up in the closeness of her body- the arm holding his sweatshirt pressing against his torso and the other lightly grabbing onto the cotton of his polo, as if her knees would buckle if she weren't holding onto something.
Who could blame her?
He kept his lips on hers as long as humanly possible without needing to pull back for air. And when he did draw back, he slowly pulled his hand back from her face and stood up straight, watching her brown eyes lazily blink themselves open. Her mouth was slightly parted, like she wanted to say something but couldn't operate her voice box. He grinned, as always, amused with the fact that he could have that type of effect on women. "Keep the sweatshirt. It looks better on you, anyway."
/
Sharpay bit the inside of her cheek, her body still humming from the earlier kiss. She was sitting on one of a row of beds in the infirmary, an electric thermometer under her tongue. She pushed her hands into the pockets of Troy's sweatshirt, realizing its grey color matched that of her Juicy pants. She looked up and saw Troy talking to the nurse- Nurse Adele- a few feet away. Every once in a while he would look over and make eye contact with her, a knowing grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. Sharpay wondered how a day that had started out so bad had done a completely 360. She had kissed Troy Bolton. Troy Bolton. Troy Bolton had kissed her.
Put that under your Miu Miu's and stomp it, Bitch-riella.
Nurse Adele came over, Troy at her flank, and plucked the thermometer from her mouth just as it let out a monotone beep. "101. It could just be a passing cold, but with the winter temperature it could be the flu. Do you know if you had your shot this year?"
Sharpay shook her head. The flu was last thing on her mind in the New Mexican heat. Even in the winters she rarely got sick. "I don't think I have."
"Well, I'll have to keep you out of classes today, just in case it is the influenza."
Sharpay looked around. She hated hospitals. And doctor offices. Hell, she even hated the dentist. The thought of spending all day in this place gave her the chills. She looked over to Troy, who was looking over at the doors to the infirmary that were being pushed open. A gust of November air blew into the room and she turned her head to see a tall boy in a dark red sweater enter the room. He used his hand to brush his dark brown hair across his forehead- it reminded Sharpay of a shorter version of Troy's haircut. He looked around the room as he took his first few steps, and the closer he got the more gorgeous he became. His cheekbones were that of a prince and his hazel eyes had a permanent lascivious tone about them. If Troy was Zac Efron, this guy was Brad Pitt. A little bit of Mr & Mrs Smith but mostly circa Fight Club.
The first rule of Eastwood is: Do not invite, get changed in front of, and make out with a hot guy in your dorm room. The second rule of Eastwood is: DO NOT invite, get changed in front of, and make out with a hot guy in your dorm room.
And as if her day could have gotten any better, Brad Pitt approached her bed and clapped a hand on Troy's shoulder. "How goes it, Bolton?" He said in a casual tone as Nurse Adele looked up at the two boys.
Troy, whose hands were folded across his muscular chest, shrugged with a grin on his lips. "Playing a round of Mother Theresa."
Brad Pitt smirked and Sharpay prayed to God that Troy was only referring to bringing her to infirmary.
"Can I help you, mister Wiley?" Nurse Adele said, her 40-year-old-crows-feet appearing as she smiled.
"My dear Nurse Adele," he began. Sharpay noticed that his voice was just as enticing as his eyes. "I'm afraid I'm in need of a pass."
The nurse looked the smooth operator up and down once before smiling sweetly. "Up all night with a sour stomach?"
The brunette smiled, revealing a row of straight pearly whites. "Afraid so."
With that, Nurse Adele shuffled down the open hall and into a door on the far side of the room. Sharpay looked up at Troy, suddenly feeling like an awkward outcast. She wondered how his friend had managed to wrangle a pass from the nurse, just as Troy had done himself yesterday. As if this 'mister Wiley' could read her thoughts, he caught her staring and raised an eyebrow, maintaining eye contact with her as he addressed Troy. "Fancy that. A new face." Sharpay would have blushed had she not been so enticed by the smoothness of his words. "Tell me Troy, is this the girl?"
Sharpay saw Troy nod out of the corner of her eye. "Sharpay Evans."
"Nice to finally meet you, Sharpay Evans."
Finally meet her? Wait wait wait. Rewind.
"Sharpay, this is James Wiley. He's… the Lily of Stuart Hall."
James laughed at, what Sharpay guessed was, Troy's introduction. "She wears you better than you do, Bolton."
Sharpay bit the inside of her cheek, knowing he was referring to the sweatshirt she was wearing. "So I've been told."
/
Troy grinned, impressed at Sharpay's formation of syllables around James. Normally the first time a girl met him, all they got out was a few uhs and ums. Gabriella had been like that. Kelsi had been like that. Tiara had even been caught stuttering. Sharpay was different. Good different. Great different.
"You're the transfer. The one Angela's been on about."
Sharpay nodded slowly at his statement, as if she were confused. Troy didn't blame her. She probably had no idea who Angela Wiley was. No idea she was Lily Moore's number two. That her twin brother was the most coveted boy on campus. Troy tilted his head towards James, who was only about half an inch taller than he was himself. "Do you know when?" He mumbled under his breath, hoping Sharpay couldn't hear him. And as far as he could tell, she hadn't, because she just looked over at him and smiled. James nodded casually, removing his hand from Troy's shoulder.
"If Troy here ever does you wrong, just tell me. I'll give him a stern talking to." He said with a wink.
Sharpay's smile widened slightly, revealing the tiniest dimple. "You'll be the first person I tell, James."
/
Sharpay didn't know where this new confident self had come from, but she liked it. And James must have liked it to- or at the least, respected it- because he smirked, turned to Troy and said, "Good choice"
Now, once again, Sharpay had no idea what this coded statement meant. But she assumed it was a positive thing. Troy laughed and hit James's chest with the back of his hand. "Thanks."
She hadn't even noticed that Nurse Adele had returned with two slips of blue paper. "James, Troy. Enough dilly-dallying, back to class, please."
"Aye aye, ma'am." James gave her a mock salute, backing away from she, Troy, and Nurse Adele. "Pleasure to meet you, Sharpay."
Sharpay opened her mouth to say good-bye, but sneezed instead. So she settled for raising her hand into a wave.
/
"And Troy." Troy turned away from Sharpay to look at James, who was paused in the doorway to go outside and on with his day. "Tomorrow."
Troy gave a single nod to express his understanding. And with that, James gave Sharpay a parting smirk and disappeared behind the large oak doors. He turned to Sharpay. It was happening tomorrow. Sharpay's initiation. Whatever Lily was planning for Sharpay was already set up. There was no turning back for her now. The worst part was, whatever it was, whatever she had to do- he wouldn't be able to help her. And if he knew Lily, whom he would like to think he did, she would have concocted something special for Sharpay- she wouldn't let just anyone into Hale mid-semester. She must suspect something hidden inside her. Something great. Something… Hale worthy.
"I'll come see how you're doing later."
Sharpay brought her eyes back to meet his. "You don't have to."
Troy grinned, leaning across the bed to place the lightest of kisses on her cheekbone.
/
Sharpay could feel Troy's warm breath on her skin when he brought his lips next to her ear, her body buzzing once again from the closeness.
"I want to."
Sharpay had no idea what James suggested was coming tomorrow. Or why Troy's jaw had clenched when he had mentioned it. But whatever it was, Sharpay would be ready for it. She had Troy, now. He'd protect her. Nothing bad was going to happen.
And maybe if she kept repeating that, she'd actually believe it.