Killing me softly

-Chapter 12.

Note; English isn't my main language! So I'm sorry if I made any mistakes, I hope you'll enjoy reading this story though!

Note2; This chapter actually has a moment from Sandra's POV. You must hate her after everything she did to Troypay (I'm the author of this story and even Í hate her, lol), but she's going to be a very important character later on.


Sandra's POV.

"Then you just have to try harder!'' I said in the phone angrily. I was walking up and down the room, waiting for Troy to arrive. I swear, if he didn't come up soon I'd kill him. I put so much effort in to making the appointment, and I would do something to him if he'd let me down.

"I don't care if it's infringement of her privacy! Just make sure I get that information!'' I sighed as I listened to the person on the other end of the line.

"Because it's important for me to know, and you better get that information or I'll fire you!" I yelled in the phone and then I hung up frustrated. I sat down and rubbed over my forehead, trying to get rid of the heavy pounding in my head.

Then the door opened and Troy walked in.

"There you are! Where the hell have you been and..-- What the hell are you wearing!?" I said as I looked at him, not trying to hide my annoyance.

''I just left too late and I wasn't planning on keeping this stuff on, ok? Just give me a few minutes." He replied as he headed to the bathrooms.

"Wait, where do you think you're going?" I asked.

''Getting changed. Or do you want me to show up in this?" Troy pointed at his clothes.

I sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Things haven't really been getting along today. We'll talk about it later."

He nodded and then went into the bathrooms to get changed.

*
Sharpay's POV.

Still with my head up high I drove to school. I felt pretty good, even though I knew I wouldn't see him for a couple of days.. Maybe weeks.. But I tried to push that thought away. He would call me, we had the most amazing morning together and not seeing him that much was part of being together with someone like him. I wanted to accept that. And I would do anything to accept it. And for some reason the memories stayed away the whole night. It was like, the opposite of what had been happening before. Evertime I saw him the memories got back to me, and now, a few weeks later, I seemed to forget about the memories when I was around him. Well, not completely of course, but it was a start. And I would make an appointment with a therapist.. Soon.. When the rumors had worn off a bit. But I would do it. And he would come with me, no matter what people would say.

I parked and got out of the car. I saw Taylor and Gabriella coming out of the schoolbus, so I walked over to them.

"Hey girls." I said when I reached them.

Taylor looked up, she looked kind of.. I don't know.. upset. "Oh.. Hey.."

"What's wrong?"

Taylor shared a glance with Gabriella. "She acts like she doesn't know.."

"Like I don't know what?" I asked confused.

"Oh, don't pretend. It's been all over the news." Gabriella said.

"What has been all over the news?" I didn't understand anything they said.

"I don't know.. The pictures maybe? Why haven't you just told us?"

I shook my head, really having no idea what they were talking about. "What pictures? And what is it that I haven't told you about?"

"Sharpay, stop pretending!" Taylor exclaimed.

"I'm not pretending! I really have no idea what the hell you're talking about!" I got angry, but tried to control it.

"Oh, come on! You are sneaking around with one of the most popular guys on this earth and you don't know what we're talking about?!" Gabriella looked at me, angry.

I looked back at her, shocked. They knew it. They found out about it. I didn't know how, but they did.

"I..- I really don't know..-" I started, but Taylor cut me off.

"You know what.. Don't. I don't even wanna know. I thought we were friends, Shar."

"We áre friends."

"Really? Then why haven't you told us?"

I stayed quiet for a while. I opened my mouth to say something, but Taylor sighed deeply and cut me off again. "Just save it, Sharpay. We won't believe you anyways.." She said and she walked away with Gabriella.

My good mood was gone like that. How did they find out? And what pictures were they talking about? I felt how tears were burning in my eyes, but I tried to ignore it. I felt nauseous and sick. I swallowed and tried not to pay attention to the staring people. I was confused. The paparazzi didn't take a picture when I dragged him out of my house, but then why did everyone know about it?! I heard people around me whispering, but I pretended not to hear. I took a deep breath, there was no other option than to just go inside and act like I didn't hear anything. Or I would go home, but I was sure rumors would really start to come up if I did. I decided to at least try it. Maybe it wasn't going to be that bad. I mean, it couldn't be that worse, right?

I walked inside and headed to my locker. And then I saw it. They were everywhere, pictures of me and Troy. At my balcony. Kissing. I could've done something to myself, why didn't I just drag him inside!? Then no one would've noticed. How did they find him anyways? A new thought came into my head.. But that meant..- That they knew Troy stayed over the night aswell. They knew it was just an act. They just let us think it worked. And we were so stupid to believe them. I leaned against my locker and closed my eyes, trying to block everything out, trying to escape from it. But I could still hear them talking, their eyes seared on me. I felt more miserable with every second. I slammed my locker and squelched a scream. Now I really couldn't stop my tears any longer, they left long, dark streams from my mascara, but I didn't care. All I wanted was just a chance to turn back time. Then I wouldn't have let this happen. Maybe I wouldn't have given in to my feelings and stayed away from him. Maybe that would've been better. Maybe I wouldn't have been to the concert where we first met at all. But I let it happen, and there was nothing I could do about it. I wanted to rip all those photos apart, but there were too many. And for the first time since last night, another memory came back to me.

*

He knew how hard it was for her to tell him about it. And when she finally got the courage to do it, he left, looking at her in disgust.

Like she was the one who did something wrong. Like she forced them to do what they did to her. Like she wanted to get attention. But it wasn't like that. And he knew that.

But he didn't care.. He thought it would be easier to just blame her, he didn't know how to handle.. So he broke her heart and told everyone who wanted to hear..

And they looked at her the same way. Like she did something wrong.

Many times she went over to him to talk to him, but he didn't want to listen. His friends threatnend her. They'd do horrible things to her if she'd ever come near him again. And she knew they were just taking advantage of her, but yet she didn't have the courage to go back to him.

And then there was her father. Her own fáther. Even he blamed her. Called her a slut.

That was the worst of everything. Out of everyone her dad should've been the one to comfort her, but instead he listened to hím..

That same day at school she felt the staring looks, she heard the whispers. But she acted like she didn't care. Her locker was barely visible from all the papers that were taped on it. With the most horrible words written on it.

She cried and cried. Couldn't stop the tears. And then she ran outside. Leaving school and she decided not to go back ever again. Not to this place, where all the horrible memories kept haunting her. But what if she could never escape from it?

*

I collapsed on the floor. Exhausted by everything. My mind felt like exploding. My tears wouldn't stop falling.

The memories kept coming back, some even worse than before. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to ban them out of my head.

They were driving me crazy, my head started pounding heavy. Too heavy. And then I lost consciousness..

*

Troy's POV.

I looked at the two guys from the label. One of them was small and a bit.. fat, the other was tall and skinny. Boring.

They were flipping through the pages of my notebook, and read a few songs and chords that I wrote down in it. Every now and then they asked me to play something, but then they shared critical looks with eachohter. And I knew what that meant.

They didn't like my new songs. They loved my old ones, and I knew they were hoping that I would come up with songs like that. But I didn't.. I was developping myself, and I was slowly finding my own style. A style I was comfortable with. My new songs were so much more me than my old songs, but they clearly seemed disappointed. And I knew that, if I was going to work with them, they'd force me to go back to my old style. And I wasn't going to let that happen. I would find another label if I had to, I refused to go back to the way it was before.

I felt uncomfortable around these two people, so how worse would it be if I had to work with them?!

Sandra's phone started ringing, which dragged me out of my thoughts.

She stood up. "I'm sorry, I have to take this." She said as she walked out of the room to answer her phone.

An awkward silence.

It seemed to take hours before Sandra got back. And she didn't seem happy. She stood behind me and looked at the two guys infront of me.

"Do you mind to continue this later on? Something came between and Troy and I really need to go." She said, staring at me.

I turned to her and raised my eyebrows. What could've been so important that made her wanting to leave?!

One of the guys nodded, I forgot his name. "Sure, I think we know enough for now." He said as he and his partner stood up. That didn't sound good, but Sandra didn't seem to care.

"We'll keep in touch." The other guy said. Without waiting for our replies they walked out of the room.

"Now what's so important?" I asked Sandra, still confused.

Her look changed, but I didn't know how to interpret it. She sighed. "Ok, I'm just gonna show you, so you can explain." She said as she grabbed for her phone.

"Chad just called me, and he told me something's been over the news for the entire day already."

She pressed a few buttens and then showed me a picture. I swallowed hard and my throat tightnend. I was shocked. How the hell did they get that!?

I stayed quiet and tried to avoid Sandra's look.

"Well, are you going to tell me something or not?" She crossed her arms.

"There's nothing to tell." I said, my throat felt sore.

"Troy, it's been all over the news! How could you be so stupid!" She yelled angrily.

I looked at her. "I wasn't thinking, ok?" I stood up.

"But let me tell you one thing.." I started when I saw Sandra's maternal look. She didn't approve it.

I sighed. "I love her, and not you, not the press, not anybody, can change that. Just deal with it or not, but I won't let anyone tell me who to love or not." I said angrily as I headed to the door.

"Oh, and another thing.." I turned around. "Tell the label they can forget about the deal. I'm not going through with it."

Then I left the building, frustrated, leaving Sandra behind in shock.

*

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