Chapter Twenty

They succeeded…their plan had worked…Troy had broken up with Sharpay. It had happened the day before…just after Sharpay had fallen down the stairs at school and was taken to the hospital. The principal refused to let Troy, Ryan, Chad, and Taylor go to see her until school was over. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway, when they arrived at the hospital Sharpay had been taken to, they had been told that she hadn't woken up yet.

Troy immediately went to her room and positioned himself as her designated watcher. He just sat there with his hand in hers for hours with Ryan sitting across from him. Taylor and Chad had stayed in the waiting room, talking about what had happened. They honestly hadn't meant for Sharpay to get hurt…Taylor had just been trying to scare and guilt her into stopping things with Troy. She hadn't seen the stairs behind Sharpay either…but she still blamed herself.

Ryan came out of the room a few hours later saying that he was going to go get everyone some food and took their orders. After they had eaten, Ryan returned home, asking them to call him when Sharpay woke up…he hated hospitals…he hated seeing the people he loved in hospitals more.

No one blamed him and each promised to call him when he left. Taylor and Chad sat down, talking for another hour before they finally came up with a course of action. They stood and headed back to the room to talk to Troy.

Chad frowned when he recalled what Taylor had said on the way, "You know we're going to hate ourselves for this right?"

Chad had merely nodded and called Troy out of the room to talk. That discussion had been one of the hardest, lowest, dirtiest discussions Chad had ever forced himself through. He felt bile rise in his throat just thinking about it.

(A/N – This isn't a Troypay flashback, but it is Chad's memory of the conversation he had with Troy)

"Hey man," Chad said as Troy walked hauntingly out of the room. It was creepy to see his friend like that…pretty much unresponsive and dead to the world. It was almost like if Sharpay were to die right then Troy would…Chad snapped himself out of thoughts like that.

"Hey…" Troy replied hoarsely, he hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day.

"Man you must feel like shit," Chad continued with a supportive nod from Taylor.

"Why?" Troy asked.

"You're the reason Sharpay here," Chad replied as nonchalantly as possible.

"What?" Troy asked, getting angry. How the hell could Chad try to blame this on him when it had been Taylor who backed Sharpay up to the stairs?

"I mean, the only reason Taylor was arguing with her was because of what you did to Gabriella," Chad elaborated, "Think about it man, if Gabriella hadn't found out about your little fling with Sharpay, she wouldn't have been home crying all day."

"She saw you Troy." Taylor added, finally speaking up, trying to ignore the shock and hurt forming in Troy's eyes, "She saw you kiss after lunch yesterday."

"Taylor was just sticking up for her friend," Chad said, putting an arm around Taylor's shoulders when he noticed tears forming in her eyes. "If you'd stayed with Gabriella, none of this would have happened to Sharpay…it's all your fault…"

Chad shook his head…his words had been harsh to say the least…but they had the desired affect. Troy had broken up with Sharpay as soon as she had woken up a few minutes later. He believed Chad's excuse that it had been his fault that Sharpay had been hurt, that if it hadn't been for him, she wouldn't have been in the hospital. Chad and Taylor had stood at the door watching as Troy broke Sharpay's heart…

Sharpay had had to remain in the hospital all the next day for observations. It turned out Thursday night that she was mostly fine. Her arm hurt from landing on it and her back was strained slightly. She was allowed to go home the next day, but was to stay in bed and miss yet another day of school.

So that was how she'd found herself laying in her bed Friday afternoon, replaying the events from Wednesday. She had refused to cry when Troy broke up with her…honestly…she had been expecting it…or at least hoping for it. She was positive that it was because of her that Troy would get hurt…and she didn't want that to happen. If they were apart, then no one would physically get hurt. It pained them greatly inside, but Sharpay would rather live a life where Troy was with another girl…alive…than with her and dead in a few years.

She hoped that things would be better when she returned to school on Monday. Maybe by then Troy would have apologized to Gabriella and they'd get back together…or at least…she didn't know what she was hoping for. It hurt too much to think about the coming school day.

Sharpay rolled over onto her back and stared at her ceiling a moment longer before closing her eyes and falling into a fitful sleep…

Troy grabbed the basketball forcefully from Chad's hands as they continued their rigorous game of Basketball behind Troy's house. Chad had tried to stop the game for the last two hours, but Troy would have none of it, and Chad was really worried about his friend.

Troy hadn't eaten anything since Sharpay had been in the hospital. No dinner Wednesday, no meals Thursday, and he threw out his lunch today and passed up the dinner offer his own mother had given him. Worse yet, Troy had not stopped playing basketball since he broken up. If it wasn't basketball, it was exercising, or running the track, or doing something straining. Chad was really worried that Troy would push himself into exhaustion…and he wasn't the only one.

Everyone on the team had noticed Troy's focus on the game. They knew that he used Basketball as a way to get his mind off of things…and if his mind was always on Sharpay…then he'd always have to play basketball. Wednesday night was the first night Coach Bolton noticed something was wrong when Troy came home and started shooting hoops. He watched, as his son got more and more frustrated to the point where he just threw the balls at the hoop. He was pretty sure that Troy would have stopped and come in at that point, but Troy just took off, running laps around the house for a good hour and a half till he burst through the door and fell onto the couch…

Coach knew that his son hadn't slept that night, in the morning he was up showered, dressed, and out the door heading to the school as soon as the school opened. When Coach got there he found Troy playing one on one with a boy from the team. He saw Troy there during his free period and lunch period as well. During gym, he just took to running the track, and at basketball he played rough. By the end of Thursday's practice, half of the team was scared of getting anywhere near Troy when he had the ball. Coach was too shocked at his son's sportsmanship to call him on anything. When they got home, Troy did what he did the other day, shot hoops till he'd gotten frustrated and run around the house.

Friday Coach had even shocked the team when he suggested that Troy take a break from the practice that afternoon. He had watched Troy do the same thing as yesterday and he was really getting concerned, blaming himself for Troy's focus on sports.

Troy had ignored his father, playing till the room started to spin…but by that time practice was over. Chad had gone with Troy to Troy's house after practice on Coach Bolton's wishes, to see if he could get through to Troy. Chad was really worried when Troy dragged him into a game of one on one…he had never seen Troy so out of it before. It was like he didn't care that he was physically and mentally wearing himself out.

Chad had tried to get him to stop, but Troy wouldn't listen. When Chad threatened to leave, Troy stole the ball from his hands and made a basket, only distinguishable by the SWISH noise. It was pitch black and Chad was shocked that Troy even knew where the basket was…he couldn't see anything.

Chad had turned to leave when Troy called out to him, "What? Are you just going to give up?"

Chad had rolled his eyes, "No, I'm being smart Troy. You should too. Stop this and just go to sleep."

Troy scoffed at his so-called 'best friend' breathing heavily, "Why should I?"

"Come on man," Chad said, "This isn't you! There's something wrong with you and you need some help."

"There's something wrong with me?" Troy asked, yelling, not caring that the world around him had started to spin again, "You're just scared that I'll beat you…you're...you're just scared…"

"I'm not scared that you'll beat me Troy!" Chad retaliated, "God! What's gotten into you? You're going to wear yourself out."

"What do you care?" Troy spat, taking a staggering step towards Chad.

"I care a lot man, you're my best friend."

"Some best friend you are," Troy hissed, swaying, "You just couldn't let me be happy could you? NO! And now…now…everything's gone…"

Chad opened his mouth to reply when his eyes widened in shock as Troy's eyes roll into the back of his head and his body crumble to the ground…

Sharpay jolted up in bed, ignoring the pain radiating from her back. Her nightmare…god it felt so real that time. She shut her eyes willing the memory to stay down in her mind…but it would not have it…it bubbled to the surface…

Lady Sarah Emory ran to the courtyard…the men were returning from the crusades again…the wounded…and the dead…For a long time now, she had had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, a feeling she did not want to recognize.

She ran out to the wounded, sky blue eyes frantically scanning the fallen men for any sign of Theodore…he was no where to be seen. She hiked up the fabric of her dark blue dress before rushing over to the man in charge of returning the men. She begged him for the whereabouts of Theodore Bennet…he pointed to the dead…

Sarah's eyes filled with tears as she rushed over to the rows of dead men set out to be buried. She refused to believe that he was dead until she saw it with her own eyes…but there he was…lying there much like the first time she had seen him. Wounded, clothes stained red, unconscious.

She slowly made her way over to him, begging all the gods of her fathers that it was not as it seemed…that he was not as pale as the other corpses…that his chest was rising and falling like the wounded…but it was not to be. She knelt by his side, taking his cold, dead hand in her own, kissing it gently as tears fell down her face.

She felt a soft tap on her shoulders and saw the man in charge standing behind her. She glanced up questioningly as he simply handed her a small bit of parchment, her name written across the front in Theodore's messy scrawl.

She thanked the man, leaning down and taking one last kiss from her beloved before running into the castle and into her quarters. She sat at her small desk, eyeing the letter before opening it up with shaky hands. Tears fell more freely, blurring the ink as she continued to read his last words to her. Begging her for her forgiveness of returning to the battlefield, asking her to never to forget him, and giving her his love.

She threw the letter down, unable to stand it any longer. Soon she followed, falling to the floor as pain and sobs racked her body. The pain…it was too great…she couldn't…she couldn't stand it. If Theodore did not return…her father would pick out a new husband for her…she could not love him…she could not love anyone but Theodore.

She looked up from her position curled up in a fetal position to see the flowers…the flowers that she and Theodore had picked the day before he'd left for the Crusades…hanging upside down by her door. Hanging…by a rope…

The idea was now firmly implanted in her mind…an idea she hadn't even realized fully until she had returned to her room with the rope in her hand. She quickly made the noose, throwing it over the beam that ran across her ceiling, and tying the end to her bedpost. She pulled her chair over to the swinging noose, stepping on it and fastening the rope tightly around her neck. She lifted the note now clenched in her grasp to her lips, kissing the words before taking a shaky breath, and leaping off the chair…

She let out a breath, thankful that she had woken up when she did. She lifted her hand, rubbing her neck slightly from where she could still feel the rope. Why had she dreamed that tonight? She had already had that dream…so why would it play again if it didn't have to?

She looked around her room as if it held the answers to her questions. She had dreamed of the death of Lady Sarah…she had hung herself after receiving word that her love…Theodore Bennet...had perished in battle…

Just then her eyes landed on a picture placed delicately in the corner of the corkboard above her desk…it was a picture of her and Troy from Kindergarten…

A startling fear filled her eyes as her mind screamed out only one word…one name…

TROY!!!

A/N – Poor, poor Troy…I wonder what will happen? Well, you'll find out soon enough…Next Chapter…what happened to Troy…