Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical

The Deal

"Just pretend that we do this every day," Sharpay hissed as she gave Troy a small push to get him moving. "They won't question us if we look like we are supposed to be doing this." They were standing in the very crowded tunnel beneath Cinderella's castle in Disney World eyeing the large security guard blocking the door to 'backstage Disney'.

"Excuse me!"

Troy jumped at the sound of the security guards voice.

"Excuse me, Ashley?"

Troy nudged Sharpay in the ribs, bringing her full attention to this red-faced man in front of them.

"Huh?"

"How did you get out of your room? You know, I have strict orders to keep you within the tallest tower of this castle."

Troy watched as Sharpay's expression changed seamlessly from confusion to sheepish embarrassment. "Well, you caught me," she said dramatically, throwing her hands up in the air in a wild gesture of defeat. "I better go back to my room then."

The guard nodded and stepped aside to allow them access to the door as he surveyed the surrounding crowd. Troy followed the guards gaze, uneasy about who else may be out there but he hardly had time to turn his head when Sharpay grabbed hold of his elbow and yanked him, stumbling, through the door after her.

"Now we just have to find some stairs," she muttered quietly as she assessed all the possible hallways that they could walk down.

"Sharpay?" Troy asked effectively pulling her out of her meditation to look at him with wide, curious eyes. Without saying another word, he took her hands in his own and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on her lips.

At first Sharpay was surprised, her eyes widening even more, but it didn't take long for her to forget her surroundings and melt into the kiss. Closing her eyes, she pulled his arms around her waste to bring their bodies together. She quickly moved her hands up, running one through his mess of hair, the other hand on his neck as he pulled her even closer to him. With this the kiss deepened.

Sharpay had kissed many guys, of that there was no doubt, but never before had a kiss been this good. Excellent. Fabulous, even. It wasn't just that Troy was a great kisser; more like Troy already knew just how to kiss her, specifically. It was like they just fit perfectly together.

But before they got in too deep, Troy softly pulled away, a goofy grin plastered on his face. Sharpay sighed contentedly, smiling up at Troy when –

"HEY! You there! You're not supposed to be down here. Get out!"

Sharpay started at the harsh tone directed at them. Seeing an angry woman with a large mole on her chin and a crooked finger pointing reprovingly at them, Sharpay grabbed Troy's hand and, with a giggle from her, the two started sprinting down the nearest hallway, up a flight of stairs and through a maze of more hallways.

Not knowing whether they were still being followed or not, Troy and Sharpay continued ascending the castle hurriedly, hoping that fortune would bring them to the right door.

And it appears that fortune was on their side. Stepping onto the landing after what seemed to Sharpay to be the millionth flight of stairs, it was very obvious that this was as high up as they could go. The hallway they landed in was short and very narrow with a small window at other end as the only source of light. The limited sunlight that did stream in revealed dusty corners and chipped paint on the walls. The tiles on the floor were cracked, some missing, and the ceiling had too many water spots to count. Sharpay sneezed, the dust and damp having a quick affect on her sinuses. There was one door on the entire floor. It stood ajar.

Still clinging to Troy's now sweaty hand, Sharpay tip-toed over to the door and slowly pushed it open with one finger. Peaking in, she saw a room in stark contrast to this hallway. It was bright, full of light, and predominantly pink. She pushed the door open a little more to reveal a small girl laying on a couch in the middle of the room. Sharpay gasped as her eyes adjusted more clearly to the sudden brightness and she finally got a good look at the girl that was now looking back at her.

"Hello Sharpay," Ashley said.

"TELL ME WHERE THE BOSS IS!" Jack demanded of the terrorist in his whispery scream. Gabriella watched in fascination, contemplating the complexities of Jacks voice. How was it possible for him to be so demandingly loud while still whispering?

"I-I-I-I, um, I don't kn-know," the terrorist replied, terrified. He was duct taped to a rickety fold out chair, the sweat and tears mixing with the dirt on his face to give him a strangely European look.

"I'm here, what have we found out?" Ryan gasped, bursting through the door of Jack and Morris's temporary headquarters in an anxious rush.

"Nothing," Jack replied over his shoulder as Gabriella immediately fastened her hip to Ryans'.

Jack turned back to the terrorist with a plastic knife in hand. Placing it against the terrorist's neck, he leaned down close to his ear. Then he whispered (in an actual whisper this time) something into the terrorists ear which caused his face to scrunch up in what Gabriella assumed was anticipated pain. But all he did was insist that he knew nothing about The Boss or Zeke.

Ryan, with his arm around Gabriella's shoulders, and Gabriella, with her hand in Ryan's back pocket, continued to stand near the door watching the horrific scene with desensitized comfort. Blame it on modern video games. Jack, on the other hand, just continued to berate and abuse the terrorist until he finally decided that this guy honestly didn't know anything. Leaving the terrorist in a crumpled heap of tears and prayers, Jack approached the duo with a frustrated look on his face.

"So what have we got?" Ryan asked, sounding slightly too optimistic.

With a scowl, Jack replied with the same as before. "Nothing."

"If only we knew where Troy and Sharpay have gone off too," Gabriella whined after a short silence. "I bet Zeke's followed them."

"Why do you say that?" Jack asked.

"Well, if he's not here. I just figured, where else would he be?"

"So we just have to figure out where they ran off too," Jack said, furrowing his eyebrows in thought.

"Is that all?" Ryan asked. "I could have told you that ages ago!"

"I'm sorry? How do you know who I am?" Sharpay replied cautiously, still not stepping into the brightly lit room before her.

Ashley stood up from the couch and smiled softly at Sharpay. "Yes. Zeke mentioned something about amnesia. But, please, come in. You too Troy."

Slightly confused, the two took one step into the room and closed the door behind them. They were still holding hands. Seeing this, Ashley smiled and said in reference to it, "I see there have been a few personal changes since the last time we spoke." Then, turning to Troy she said, "I always thought you two would look better together, anyway. But I'm not one to judge, no sir."

Troy fixed Sharpay with a confused stare. She just returned with a shrug.

"Come. Have a seat," Ashley said indicating a table near the large bay window set with tea and small cakes. "I suppose I better fill you in on some of your own history."

Ding Dong.

"Margot!" Sharpay shrieked from her place on the couch in the entertainment room. "Get the Door!"

Sharpay returned her gaze to the magazine that was sitting lightly in her lap but she kept an ear listening to who was at the door.

"-just going to talk to her for a short second," a vaguely familiar voice said, getting louder as she approached Sharpay. Sharpay didn't look up until the person who had entered the room sat down on the couch next to her, unabashedly uninvited. Sharpay looked up with an arrogant smile and came face to face with a very familiar face. In fact, it was the face that she so meticulously made up every day. It was this very lack of make-up that confirmed for Sharpay that she was looking at a different person and not just facing a mirror.

"Sharpay."

"You're Ashley Tisdale!" Sharpay said in disbelief. "What are you doing here? In my house? And how do you know my name?"

"I have people."

Sharpay nodded as though she understood this answer. "Oh."

"I apologize, Sharpay, I don't have much time. But I have a proposition for you. Would you be willing to give me a couple minutes of your time?"

"Absolutely," Sharpay replied dreamily. Ashley Tisdale was, unconditionally, her favorite star. And she was sitting right there! Closing the magazine that just happened to have Ashley's face on the cover, Sharpay tossed it onto the coffee table in embarrassment and sat up eagerly attentive.

"Fantastic. Now, I'm sure you've noticed the similarities in our appearance." Sharpay nodded enthusiastically. "Well, I was hoping I could convince you to pretend to be me, only under cover. There are some people looking for me that I can't have find me. Disney has hired somebody else to make those people think that You are me. Only under cover."

Sharpay stared at her idol, her mind reeling from everything that Ashley had so quickly said. "Wait," she said, closing her eyes to help her concentrate. "Are you saying you want me to become the target of these so-called bad people?" She laughed condescendingly and said, "I'm sorry, have you not seen my house? Can you not tell that my family has quite a bit of money? What could you possibly have to give me to persuade me to put myself in harms way for you? A stranger?"

Ashley stared at Sharpay for a beat before she looked up and nodded at a picture that was hanging on the wall. "Who's the hunk?"

Sharpay looked over at what Ashley was referring to and saw her picture of Troy. It was a candid shot of him right after Twinkle Towne. Actually, he hadn't known that Sharpay was taking the picture, which is why Gabriella's arm was in the picture. That little whore just wouldn't leave his side. Sharpay sighed at the memory. "That's Troy."

"And the arm around his shoulder's looks slightly too dark to be yours, am I right?" Ashley asked.

"Please tell me you're offering to cut off Gabriella's arm if I agree to do this," Sharpay said. Ashley laughed but Sharpay continued to stare at her in complete seriousness.

"No, but I am willing to offer you the role of a lifetime. It will be in a movie along side me. I've seen a tape of you perform and I must say, I would love to work with you."

"You've seen a tape of me? But how did you get that without me knowing?"

Ashley stood up, gathering the few possessions she had carried with her into the entertainment room. "Like I said," she shrugged. "I have people. Now, I must get going. I promise that you will not be in danger if you agree to this. We've hired a very skilled agent. He will direct the bad people in your direction but he will keep them from touching you. Promise me you'll think about it. I would love to work with you."

Sharpay watched in stunned silence as Ashely stepped out of the room and let herself out of the house.

"I take it, I agreed?" Sharpay asked in between bites of her cucumber tea sandwich.

"Actually, no," Ashley replied sheepishly. "Apparently Disney didn't care what your answer was going to be. They were going to use you no matter what. I assure you, I didn't have any part of this. I never wanted to put your life at risk, especially when you hadn't agreed to it. But I don't know if you've noticed, Disney is quite a force to be reckoned with. Hence my pathetic existence in here until this issue is resolved."

"So what do we need to do to stop them?" Troy asked. That was the first time he'd spoken since entering the room.

Ashley smiled sadly. "I don't know. Vanessa's the one who hired the terrorists. Zeke's been talking with her, pretending to work with her in an attempt to figure out how to stop her. But she seems pretty steadfast in her hatred toward me."

"Yeah, what's that all about?"

"Oh, that's a long story that –"

"ASHLEY! What in God's name do you think you're doing?" Zeke shouted as he calmly stepped through the still open door.

"Zeke!" Ashley shrieked excitedly.

"Zeke?" Zeke's gaze quickly shifted to the other two in the room.

"Sharpay? Troy?"

"SHARPAY!"

"Ryan?"

"Zeke?"

"Gabriella!"

"Troy!"

"Jack!"

"Oh my God, it's Ashley Tisdale."

"What are you all doing here?" Sharpay asked after the flurry of people finally started to settle.

"Looking for all of you!" Ryan replied.

"And you," Jack growled forcefully as he pounded forward and grabbed hold of Zeke's shirt. Zeke let out a frightened gurgling noise as Sharpay quickly shrieked for him to stop.

"Why?" Ryan asked dumbfounded. "He's been pushing all the terrorists toward you."

"I know. But in all the time he's been pushing them toward me, how often have they gotten me?" she asked with an air of defiance.

"Just that one time that ended up in a horrible car accident causing you to lose all your memory." Troy replied quietly from beside her.

Sharpay scowled. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that one."

At this seeming lack of a defense, Jack resumed his harsh hold on Zeke, about ready to interrogate him, much like the other terrorist.

"Wait!" Sharpay yelled again. "Why hurt him when we still need him? Isn't he the only one that still has contact with Vanessa?"

Zeke nodded vigorously. Jack scrutinized Sharpay for a second before releasing his grip. "Fine. What did you have in mind?"

"I asked for a raspberry white mocha, not a raspberry mocha and where in God's name is my brownie?!" Vanessa screamed to the nervous directors assistant.

"Actually, the director doesn't want you eating any more of-"

"I don't give a rats ass what he thinks! I'm not coming on set until I get my brownie!" she screamed tossing the latté to the side, causing it to splatter in a large puddle on the blacktop surface. She then turned and slammed the door to her oversized trailer in the assistants face.

Throwing herself onto her couch, Vanessa let out an agonized groan at the sound of her phone ringing.

"WHAT?" she screamed into the receiver.

"Boss? It's Luke. I think we have a problem," he said hesitantly on the other end.

"What more could have possibly gone wrong?"

"Well, among other things, I believe we've been tailing the wrong girl."

Vanessa let out an angered scream. Hanging up, she immediately started to pack some clothes. 'If you want something done right…' she thought in annoyed frustration. She picked up her phone and called the airport. A one-way flight to the states was needed.

Well, tell me what you think. We're almost done! Pretty exciting. But, please leave a review. I love to hear what you think.