Sharpay turned her head in the direction of the new voice. She gave the new presence a once over, the type of look high school girls give each other, mentally rating one another. She had a petite frame, was of Latino descent and in Sharpay's respectable opinion, had an annoyingly nasally voice. Everything she criticized her about plus the fact she interrupted her confession to Troy, made her resent this woman, this woman she didn't even know, all the more.

"Gabriella?" Troy asked in disbelief. She smiled innocently and shrugged. Sharpay felt like hurling. Who the hell was this chic trying to take Troy's attention away from her? Wait, since when was she in desperate need of Troy Bolton's undivided attention?

"It's me."

Sharpay rolled her eyes. God, did this sound too much like it just came out of a cheaply made, corny romantic comedy or what? She shook her head, hoping she was simply dreaming up this warped scenario.

"Wow, Gabriella..." Troy was speechless. How could this possibly be happening? The loose girl from college, showing up in the Big Apple, one of the largest cities in the world. There. At the Central Park Festival. The world was honestly way too small. "I can't believe you're here."

She squealed, making Sharpay cringe slightly. Had that been necessary? Troy made sure he noticed it. "I know right? What are the chances of this happening?"

Sharpay really wanted to hurl now. Who the fuck was this girl? Seriously. She sounded as though she was fresh out of high school. Maybe she was.

"I mean, I know we kinda left off on a bad note," she continued. Troy scoffed. Bad note seemed like an understatement to him. "But it's been eight years."

"Yeah, I just, I guess I still can't believe you're here right now." Troy glanced at Sharpay. "Oh! I should give you two a proper introduction. Shar, this is Gabriella Montez, Gabriella, Sharpay Evans."

Gabriella held out her petite hand towards Sharpay, who simply stared down at it a good ten seconds before grabbing a hold of it with hesitation. "Hi," she said in her highly chipper voice. "We used to date."

Sharpay raised one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows, still taken aback by this new person. "My pleasure." Her tone was flat and unwavering. Troy knew she was far from serious and he couldn't help but feel somewhat amused by this.

"We used to date," she added, not catching Sharpay's implied hostility. She grinned again. "Troy's an amazing guy."

"I know," Sharpay snapped, annoyance starting to show up in her tone. Gabriella was quite oblivious to this however and continued with her cheesy grin. Troy smiled inwardly.

Troy's an amazing guy.

I know.

I know.

She thought he was amazing.

Amazing.

Troy wasn't sure when he had felt happier. It had at least been quite some time. Amazing. This three syllable word meant so much more to him now than a simple adjective. He was amazing in her eyes. Her beautifully twinkling brown eyes. Once again, Troy was quite caught up in his little fantasy he had painted himself. It took him a moment to realize the silence that had ensued after Sharpay's snarky remark. He quickly started conversation.

"So, Gabriella, what in the world are you doing here? I mean, of all places..."

"I'm actually here for a vacation. Just to, you know, get away." She stared at him dreamily. Sharpay busied her eyes away from the mushy scene that she knew was about to unfold.

"That's nice, where are you living now?"

Gabriella sighed. "Out west. I'm seriously considering moving though, change of scenery. Are you living here, in the city?"

"Yeah, yeah actually I am, in the heart." He forced a smile, but Gabriella took it as one hundred percent genuine. "I really love it here. I bet you would like it too."

Sharpay turned her head. Her? In New York City? She couldn't stand the girl already and she'd known her for all of ten minutes. "But you probably wouldn't." Both Troy and Gabriella turned toward the senior editor.

"Oh really?"

Sharpay nodded. "Definitely. So much noise, way over crowded, it takes you at least a half an hour to walk down the street and the time to find a taxi, ugh, I find myself wishing I was living in rural Iowa. Trust me."

Troy couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was she being serious? Sharpay loved the big city as far as he knew and they had easily found a taxi within a minute on the way down. He was starting to get those teenage girl vibes, the fickle and wishy washy kind. Those teenage girl vibes from Sharpay Evans, nonetheless. Had he woken up in some alternate universe this morning?

Gabriella seemed to consider Sharpay's words. But she shrugged. "Well, I don't mind that really. I'll have to see how much I like it here, and so far, I really like what I see," she said suggestively, eyeing Troy. He tried to return a heartfelt smile, but he knew it looked more like a "Great, you're a whore." Gabriella giggled. Boy was this girl obliviously stupid.

And then Troy had an idea. A gloriously, wonderful, awful idea. He looked at Gabriella who had her attention focused somewhere else at the moment. Sharpay tried to be studying her notes on her notepad, but Troy knew better. This idea.

"Gabriella, do you want to go out?"

She looked up at him. "Like as in a date."

"Yeah."

Sharpay's eyes turned upwards, glancing at Troy. What was he playing at?

"Of course I would love to!"

Troy grinned. Perfect. "Great, how about tonight? I can come get you around, say 6:30, show you around town a little, romantic dinner sound good?"

"Yes, yes, yes! That would be awesome!" Sharpay sighed loudly with much annoyance at how childish Gabriella was acting. How old was this girl? She was acting as though she'd never been asked out on a date before, or actually gone out on one. The rest of the pair's conversation was blocked out of Sharpay's hearing. Mainly because she didn't want to hear Miss I've Never Dated Anyone Before squealing and fan girling all over Troy, but also because, for some reason, Sharpay felt betrayed. A hint of jealousy was creeping up upon her.

Sharpay, stop it , stop it, stop it, she scolded herself. This was exactly what she had been dreading. Okay, calm down, a little bit of jealousy never hurt anyone, it's not like you're falling all over him.

She took a deep breath and stood up. Troy and Gabriella were exchanging numbers and good byes for the time being. Sharpay didn't bother waiting for Troy. He'd either catch up or find his own way back. She hoped for the latter.

Troy saw Sharpay get up out of the corner of his eye. He had made he carefully observed her actions and reactions to his proposal. However, her face had remained expressionless as far as he could tell. If only he knew.

He exchanged another good bye and a quick hug with Gabriella, watching her as she walked away into the enormous crowd of pedestrians. Troy turned around, hoping he could spot Sharpay's backside, strutting away from him. Alas, to his dismay, the boisterous crowd of New Yorkers were already milling around, blocking his view of anyone in particular.

I guess I'll head back to the Times, he thought, starting to walk in the direction Sharpay had taken off in. He pulled out his outdated cell phone and hit the speed dial.

"Talk to me," came the distorted voice of his sister.

"Hey Katie Kins, what's up?"

"Honestly nothing, you have a good reason for ringing me bro?"

"Yeah actually I do, I wanted to tell you, it's set."

"Huh?"

"It's set, the plan. You know, don't pretend you don't know what the plan is."

"I...Troy, I've got a lot on my mind right now, it's called graduate school, so it most likely slipped my mind."

"Right, good old graduate school," he mocked in a taunting voice. "Anyway, you know how you were telling me to make Sharpay jealous, right?"

"Oh, that plan? I was ninety percent joking when I told you that, meaning, I didn't think you would actually carry out with any of it," she laughed. Troy sighed.

"Well, I wasn't. I got a job at the New York Times and-"

"Wait, hold the phone brother, you got a job? At the Times? That's insanity. Was the manager half delusional during your interview?"

"Oh, ha ha. No. Anyway, the other part of the plan was-"

"Jealousy, of course, works like a charm."

"Well, it better, I got a date tonight."

"I seriously must be dreaming. Honestly, is this real life?"

"But it gets better Kat, guess who I'm taking out on the date?"

"Troy, I don't know..." There was a slight pause. Katie could tell Troy was breathing with anticipation on the other side of the line. "Wait...it isn't...?"

"Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner!" Troy shouted, earning him some looks from passerby.

"What the actual fuck Troy? What the actual fuck?"

"Crazy world we're living in right?"

"How does this shit even happen? This is so cliché, it makes me sick."

"Chill out Katie, this is going to work."

"Okay, okay, okay. So let me get this straight then...you got a job with the girl you've been madly in love with for over ten years and then you are going out on a date with some whore from college just so you can try to make this girl you've been in love with jealous?"

"Sounds pretty good to me, wouldn't you say?"

"Sure. Seems legit. Not. Troy what are you thinking?"

He frowned. "What? What's wrong with this, honestly? You were the one who told me to do this in the first place, okay? I was just taking your suggestion for once."

"I was kidding. Joking, not serious. Troy, you can't do this."

"Why?" He was starting to get slightly enraged and starting to raise his voice. "I've waited for over ten years for her, I'm done waiting!"

"But she's engaged, Troy! She's fucking engaged, soon to be married, fiance of someone. Someone who is not you. You're being selfish."

"So what if I am? I've had to handle so much shit and now I can't even fight for someone I care deeply for?"

"Well what if she doesn't love you back? Huh? Have you ever thought of that Mr. High and Mighty? Hmm, let's see, she is getting married to someone else. That's consensual. That means he loves her and she loves him. Not you. Don't you see what I'm saying? I don't want you to get your heart broken, Troy. And right now, that's the path it seems to be taking."

There was silence from him. It took him a minute to process what his little sister had said. But she was right. It was all true. He had asked himself that question so many times, it was somewhat painful.

What if she doesn't love me back?

"I..."

"I'm sorry Troy. I really am."

He shook his head. No, this was not how things were going to go down. Not a chance. He had waited ten years, now was his shot. "No, I'm sorry Kate. But this is something I have to do."

"Troy..."

"I'll be fine."

And he hung up. For a split second, he stared at his phone before burying it in his jean pocket. The brisk autumn air hit his face as he sucked in a deep breath, his eyes slightly closed. He wasn't about to let Kate be right. Ten years. All leading up to what went down in the next few weeks. And he wasn't about to go down without a fight.

Troy reopened his eyes, everyday people passing him by. He looked at his watch and grinned, starting his trek forward once again.

He had a date to get ready for.

So, it's been a while. Almost a year. And this isn't even that long. Or probably that good. It's late, but I wanted to get this up. I apologize. I really do. I don't even know if there are any readers left anymore. I do know there is someone because they reviewed for it last week and it gave me the push to finish this chapter. A nice (or not) review would be nice so I know who is still interested. This will probably only be like four or five chapters more, at the max. That is, if I ever get them up. I'll try harder, I promise...