Chapter Twenty-Four

Much Ado About Nothing

Troy followed Sharpay with his gaze from her locker. He waited for her to move towards the empty stairwell and when she finally did, he sprang on her. He cupped his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming while he tightened his clasp on her arm

She appeared to be startled for only a split second before she began struggling against him. But he was determined and he held tight to her, even after her blouse ripped from her neckline to her left shoulder. He tightened his grip on her arms and dragged her to the same empty fire escape where she apologized to him in what seemed like ages ago.

"Let me—"

But he didn't let her finish. His anger fueled his adrenaline to push her towards the closed door. His hands pinned her arms against it so she was forced to look at him without any escape.

"WHY?!" he screamed at her. "WHY, MY FATHER?!!!"

She stared at him in shocked surprise, but he was beyond seeing that. He pushed harder on her arms and his hands dug into her flesh in the way he knew it would hurt. He wanted to hurt her so much the way he was hurting.

"I saw you with him yesterday. I didn't believe it before when Chad told me, but now I know and I want to know why!"

"Troy you're hurting me," she pleaded. He saw that she was completely terrified of him. He had never seen Sharpay look so afraid before and he suddenly realized he was about to crush her bones if kept on. He abruptly let her go and she collapsed to the floor, clutching her bruised arms.

He towered over her and breathed heavily to calm himself but that didn't appear to work. She looked so vulnerable crouched on the floor with her blouse torn on one side to reveal her bare shoulder. He realized how helpless she was alone with him. She stared at him like a frightened child, her lips parted as if in silent plea for understanding. He eyed her lips and felt the familiar urge of covering them with his. It lasted only a split-second for he began to hate himself again that he couldn't help but still find her attractive. He shook his head and forced these thoughts out. He had a mission that needs to be done, right now.

"I want you to stop seeing him," he ordered.

The fear in Sharpay's eyes disappeared to be replaced with anger. She stood up, faced him and squared her shoulders.

"First my mother, now you! Who are you to order me around on who I spend time with?!"

"I'm his son! I have every right to stop you from ruining his life and my family!"

Confusion again marred Sharpay's face. "Ruin his life? I don't—what do you mean?"

Troy threw his arms in the air. As if that wasn't so plain obvious, he thought. "He's old enough to be your father!"

"What has that got to do with anything?" she answered with innocent-like perplexity.

He couldn't believe it. It was as if she felt no guilt whatsoever that she was wrecking someone else's home. His blood boiled and he came close to her face, so close he could feel her breathe. But he no longer thought of kissing her. He was too disgusted by her.

"In case it hasn't crossed your mind, he's a married man!" He screamed. "I don't care if you like fucking men twice your age but leave my father alone!"

Sharpay's mouth fell open and for a moment he saw deep-seated hurt in her eyes. The next thing he felt was the sting of the harshest slap he had ever received in his life. The impact was so hard it took him several seconds to recover. In that span, Sharpay managed to bolt from the door and run off.

He ran after her with all intentions to do any means necessary to stop her from seeing his father. But when he came down to a corridor full of students she had disappeared. Yet he knew she passed by here. The corridor was deathly silent and there was an open path in the middle of the corridor where the crowd had parted. He saw Chad with some of his other teammates at the end of the corridor. They all stared at him with questioning looks.

"Troy what happened to your face?" Jason asked.

Troy ignored him and his eyes met Chad's who came forward and blocked his path.

"Where is she?" Troy hissed. He didn't have to explain to Chad what he meant.

"Troy… don't!" Chad replied. "Look man, I'm sorry. I did try to warn you—"

He knew Chad was feeling sorry for him. And even though Troy was sorry too for not believing his best friend, he couldn't stand hearing an 'I told you so' right now.

"SHUT UP! JUST… JUST… LEAVE ME ALONE!"

He pushed Chad hard and ran out of the building like a mad man. He barely noticed the other students part before him. He reached his car and pulled out of the parking lot as fast as he could. He floored the gas pedal on the road and thought if something hit him on the way towards home, he would be more than glad.

"I can't understand why you're quitting the team, Chad," Taylor argued as she tried to follow her boyfriend along the corridors.

"It's nothing alright. I lost interest," Chad dismissed. This argument had been going on since early this morning when somehow Taylor got wind that Chad hadn't attended the first Wildcats meeting yesterday. Chad wished she would just leave him alone.

"Don't give me that!" Taylor cried. "I've heard what people are saying."

Chad abruptly stopped walking and whipped around to face her so fast Taylor almost collided with him. "Well then you shouldn't listen to rumors. You're my girlfriend you're supposed to support me!"

"I would if I got your side of the story which you still refuse to give me. All I've been hearing is that you're pissed because Troy let Sharpay Evans in the team." She huffed audibly. "Now you know I don't like Sharpay, but still, don't you think you're being a bit sexist for thinking a girl can't be in the basketball team?"

Chad sighed. He hated being thought of as the bad guy. But what was he supposed to do? Tell Taylor the real reason for his argument with Troy was because his Coach was having an affair with Sharpay? Even though Chad was pissed at Troy for not believing him, he didn't want to be the one to spread rumors that could ruin Troy's family's reputation. He was the one who told off all his teammates to keep mum about this and he resolved to keep it that way. He trusted his teammates not to spread it, since most of them only half-believed him anyway.

"Look it's a lot more complicated than that Taylor," said Chad. "Just quit it okay, I don't want to talk about it!"

They were in the main corridor now and people started staring at them when he shouted. Chad just shrugged at them and met his teammates who clustered around in one corner talking in low voices. They abruptly stopped when they saw him and he knew what they were talking about.

"Look Chad," Zeke began softly so only Chad could hear. "You don't have to quit the team—"

Chad shushed him but he didn't have to. Zeke stopped talking for a different reason. Running down the stairs in a rush was Sharpay Evans. Her hair was in disarray and one of her blouse's sleeve was torn in way that Chad was sure wasn't meant to be a fashion statement. People parted for her like usual but they stared at her curiously. She abruptly stopped running as if realizing that people were staring at her. She self-consciously pulled at her torn sleeve to hide her bare shoulder. That only served to attract Chad's attention to her arm where there were ugly red marks as if someone forcefully gripped her there.

"What are you all looking at!" she thundered before she quickly made her way out of the busy corridor though this time she didn't run as fast as before. The silence that she left hung heavily in the air long after she was gone. It was finally broken by running footsteps coming from the same flight of stairs where she came from. A moment later Troy emerged. He glanced around the corridor full of people and Chad had a good look at his expression. What he saw frightened him. Troy had the look of someone who was on the brink of a murderous rage.

"Troy what happened to your face?" Jason asked. Chad noticed a red welt on one of Troy's cheeks. Chad came forward and met Troy's gaze. Chad felt the fury within Troy with that one look. At the same time it dawned on him what just happened with him and Sharpay. He was suddenly afraid of what Troy might do if he caught up with her. Chad instinctively blocked Troy's path though he didn't exactly know why he was helping Sharpay to escape. Something just told Chad that if he didn't put some distance between them, Sharpay would end up with more than a torn blouse and a bruised arm.

"Where is she?" Troy hissed dangerously at Chad.

"Troy… don't!" Chad cautioned. "Look man, I'm sorry. I did try to warn you—"

"SHUT UP!" Troy shouted. "JUST… JUST… LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Chad almost fell backwards at the force of Troy's push if not for the wall of bodies of his teammates who managed to catch him. When he finally got wind he took off after Troy who ran out of the building and into the parking lot. But when Chad got there, Troy was already speeding away on his car. There was nothing he or the rest of his teammates could do but watch helplessly.

"Chad, what is going on? What's wrong with Troy?"

He turned to find a worried-looking Taylor. Behind her was a large crowd of students with curious looks on their faces.

Chad said nothing. He knew that if he said even one word about it, the rumors would just grow out of proportion again. He didn't want to make the situation even worse. He pushed past Taylor and the crowd and motioned for his teammates to follow him.

"Chad?!" Taylor insisted but Chad ignored her and kept walking. He entered the one place where she couldn't follow—the nearest boys' bathroom. His teammates all filed in with Jason coming in last. He instinctively locked the door to prevent anyone else from coming in.

"It's true, isn't it?" asked Jason when they were sure there was nobody else in the bathroom. "What you said about Coach and Sharpay?"

Chad nodded. "I suppose Troy found out the hard way. I tried to warn him…"

"What do we do now?" asked Zeke.

Chad glanced around helplessly. He was unsure of what to do either. He was angry at Troy for not believing in him but seeing him looking so pained a while ago, he couldn't help but pity his friend too.

Chad's train of thought abruptly stopped. He noticed something on the wall of the bathroom written in plain blue ink that horrified him.

SHARPAY EVANS IS COACH BOLTON'S MISTRESS—IT'S THE ONLY REASON SHE'S ON THE TEAM

"Oh God!" gasped Zeke. "Who wrote that?"

Everyone shook their heads before Chad felt their gazes on him.

"I didn't!" Chad defended. "I swear! Sure, I'm mad at Troy for not believing me and for putting Sharpay on the team, but I won't do something like that!"

His teammates still eyed him doubtfully.

"Guys! I'm not lying," Chad insisted. "I didn't write that! Besides why would I write some stupid lie on a wall?"

"But you said it's true about Coach and Sharpay…" began Chucky.

"Yes, that's true, but it's not the reason why she's on the team. I mean…" he paused as he admitted to himself. He knew deep down that Troy put Sharpay on the team because she was a good player. That much was obvious. "I admit she's good. We all saw that."

His teammates all nodded in agreement.

"So what do we do now?" Zeke asked again.

Chad stared at those harsh words. Even though he wasn't condoning his coach's affair, he couldn't help but worry how Troy would feel if he saw that. As much as Chad was mad at his friend, he was still that—a friend. And friends don't let horrible rumors about their friend's family (even if they are partly true) run rampant all around school if they can help it.

"We keep quiet," Chad said firmly. "Look I don't approve of what Coach is doing. But he's still Troy's father and he's still our teammate. Troy's already suffering as it is. The whole school doesn't have to know about it." He grabbed several fistfuls of tissue from the dispenser. He wet them with soap and water, and began to scrub the graffiti off. Jason and Zeke followed him and helped to remove the ink. The rest of the team began searching in earnest in every stall for other similar forms of graffiti. But so far they found none.

"Check the other bathrooms too," said Chad to his other teammates. "If you find anything like this, wipe it out."