Disclaimer: ……yeah, just see the other six at the beginning of the other chapters, aiight?
A/N: Gonna make this short because I know everyone's about to kill me for not updating sooner. Ahhh. Okay.
I'll explain more at the end, but in a nutshell: Been AMAZINGLY busy, having troubles perfecting the last few scenes, because I'm a perfectionist, blahblahblah, please don't shoot me, I'm just a kid, this is an incredibly long chapter, OKAY, STORY:
"What made you come back?" Sharpay's voice turned cold and smooth as ice as soon as her shock wore off. "It was only a matter of time before you'd show your faces again, I guess." She laughed at her own remark, but then stopped as quickly as she started. "What are you doing here?" she asked through gritted teeth. Sharpay balled up her fists and went to take a step forward angrily, but Ryan held her back.
"Sharpay, I—"
"Not you, Ryan! I was talking to them! I have to hear it from them!" She pointed to the two adults sitting meekly on the couch.
"Sharpay—"
"No—" she yelled.
"Listen to me!" Ryan yelled over her. Sharpay fell silent. "I called them. Last night." His voice got softer as he tried making his sister understand. "That's what I said I had to do first… before I made my list… I called them and explained that enough was enough. It had to be done." Ryan dug through his left jean pocket and pulled out a crumpled and folded piece of paper. "I made the list though!" He smiled and gave a weak laugh as he held it up, but stopped abruptly as he saw the imaginary steam coming from Sharpay's ears.
"Can we talk, hun?" Veronica asked softly, her eyes tired and almost blood-shot from the red-eye flight they took to come home.
"Don't call me 'hun' like you actually know me. I'm still furious with you."
"Okay… Can we talk, Sharpay?" she corrected herself quietly.
Sharpay didn't answer. Though she huffed and sat herself down on a chair across from her parents, signaling she was going to listen.
"Sharpay…" Veronica looked over to Marcus for comfort. "We made a mistake." Sharpay crossed her arms, leaned back and raised her eyebrows. "Okay, some mistakes." Sharpay had to let out a strangled laugh and she shook her head, eyes glued to the ceiling. "All right, so maybe we made a ton of huge mistakes, but Sharpay, we're sorry." Veronica almost couldn't finish her sentence because she was starting to cry. "And you were absolutely right, Ryan. We have been horrible parents." The heartbreak was visible in Veronica's trembling voice.
"No—" Ryan tried disagreeing.
"Don't try to deny it, Ryan," Marcus said, rubbing his eyebrows. "We had all this time to think about it, and it's true." Marcus couldn't make eye contact with either of his children, shame written all over his face.
Veronica turned back to her daughter. "I don't know how I'm going to make up almost seventeen years of bad judgment and not being there for you, but I want to try." Veronica seemed to be teetering on the edge of completely bawling her eyes out.
"I don't even want to hear it," Sharpay spat. "No more of your fake empathy to clear your conscience. It gets old," she sneered.
Veronica cried silently to herself for a moment and looked towards Ryan for assistance.
"Ray, would you just listen to them for a change?" Ryan pleaded.
"Why are you on their side?" Sharpay fumed, in utter disbelief of what her brother was saying.
"Because I took the time and listened to them, Sharpay! I stepped in their shoes, I understand where they are coming from now, because of it!"
"How can it be that easy? Nothing is ever that easy!"
"Sometimes things really are that easy!"
"How do you know? They've lied to us too many times before, there has to be a reason—"
"Are you hearing yourself, Sharpay? They're trying to change! You overanalyze and never give anything or anybody a chance!" Ryan yelled back. "God damn it, just listen to them. Learn to trust people, Ray. Please."
"How can I 'learn to trust'," she said, mocking her brother's words, "when we've had them for parents?"
That statement hung dryly in the air and seemed to echo and repeat itself thousands of times. Beforehand, Sharpay didn't understand what the consequences of saying that might be, but she immediately regretted it as she watched her mother crumble to pieces. Veronica let out a heart-wrenching wail and hid her face in her husband's embrace. Sharpay only now realized she was standing up and was pointing her index finger in the direction of her parents. She let her arm drop to her side and looked towards Ryan. Ryan was now the one sitting on the couch; he had both eyes closed, and he was leaning on his knees with his hands on his face.
What have I done… "Mom," Sharpay's voice quivered, wishing her mother would stop crying. Was this, regret she was feeling? Why… WHY did I say that. "Please.." It wasn't that bad… was it? Marcus rubbed his wife's back. "Mom, I didn't…" Sharpay took a numb step forward. As furious as Sharpay was, at that moment, she realized she still loved her parents very much, and now when they were trying to apologize, she just messed it up more. "I'm sorry," Sharpay choked, "I—"
"I just want my own daughter to love me," Veronica sobbed. Sharpay felt like she was being repeatedly punched in the stomach, and she was nauseous. She had no clue how to fix this situation. There were still so many things to be said, nothing can be solved by just saying a few words—
Maybe that's what Ryan was talking about… Maybe things can be that easy…Following her gut, Sharpay closed her eyes and cleared all her thoughts of what happened in the past and did what her first instincts told her to do.
"I do love you, Mommy." Sharpay flung her arms around her mother and started to cry also. I love you and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the things I said, I'm sorry for everything.
"Oh," Veronica continued to sob, "honey, I promise to change."
"Okay." You're here now, that's all that matters.
"I promise to be a better mother, I'll always be there for you. From here on out." She closed her eyes and built-up tears escaped her eyelids. "I promise to come to all your musicals next year, because it means so much to you."
Next year doesn't even matter to me anymore, Mom! It's right now…that's all that matters. Sharpay wanted to shout. I have almost everything I've ever wanted. Why can't you understand. "Okay," was all that she was capable of saying. You're here. We're a family again. A real family.
Veronica pulled away and wiped away the tears on her daughter's cheeks lovingly. "I don't know what else I can do to make you feel better… Any other circumstance, I'd go out and buy you something really expensive, but seeing as you don't really like that…"
"No, mom," Sharpay laughed through her tears. "Everything is perfect just the way it is." Like a real family should be.
Sure, things went unsaid. Things were forgotten, and things were purposely not talked about at all. There were days where Sharpay would have to bite her tongue so hard it would bleed because of things she felt like she needed to tell her parents, but she learned to let it go after a week or so, with the help of Ryan. Some things were better left unheard, and Sharpay did not want to mess anything up again. At that point in time, her life was okay. And okay was the best she'd felt in a long time.
Sharpay's arms and legs were tangled in her pink bed sheets as she slept noiselessly in the early morning on her birthday, July 8th. The silence was suddenly rudely broken by the shrill sounds of Sharpay's cell phone ringing, making her wince and scowl with her eyes still closed. She blindly flopped her arm to her bedside table and felt around for her phone, which she found rather quickly, given the situation.
"HAPPYY BIRTHDAYYY!" was the greeting that startled Sharpay. She flinched slightly at the loudness. Now a little more awake, Sharpay glanced at the clock to her left, not bothering to sit up.
"Gabriella," she croaked, "are you aware that it is 12:05 in the morning?"
"I know!" Gabriella chirped. "I wanted to be the first person to say happy birthday to you!"
Sharpay laughed and looked at her ceiling. "Well, it looks like you've won that prize."
"Yay!"
Sharpay rubbed her eyes, sat up, and lazily let her eyes drift over the darkness of her usually bright room. "You are extraordinarily perky for this hour, do you know that?" she asked, voice still groggy.
"Oh, I'm not the only one!"
"HI, SHARPAY!" came a little girl's voice on the other end.
"Gigi?" Sharpay said, voice astounded, but she had to let out a chuckle. "Gigi, what in the world are you doing up?"
"Same reasons as Gabbi! I wanted to say happy birthday to you!"
"Which you haven't even really said yet, you doof." Gabriella's voice was heard in the background.
"Oh yeah. HAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Gigi giggled.
Sharpay held the phone off her ear and cringed comically. "Why, thank you. Now that both you Montez girls have taken out my left eardrum, can I go back to sleep?"
"Okay, here's Gabbi again." There was a shuffle heard as the phone was exchanged.
"Are you mad?"
"Why would I be mad? Actually, that's the nicest thing any friend's ever done for me. Thank you." She rested her head on her knees as she waited for a response.
"Aww, well, you're welcome. Now, get some sleep, you goober! Your big celebration of your freaking birth is today! What the hell are you doing up?"
"Oh, I dunno," Sharpay said dumbly.
"Talk to you in…a few hours," she laughed.
"Bye," Sharpay giggled as she turned off her phone. She sighed and smiled as she lay back down. Already, she could tell this was going to be one heck of a day.
The weather couldn't have been any more perfect when Sharpay awoke around 8:30 that same morning. She grinned as she looked out the window. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the birds were chirping merrily as Sharpay made her way down the stairs into the kitchen. She spotted Ryan first. He was sitting on one of the swivel chairs of the kitchen island counter, watching his father cook. Ryan spotted his sister at the same time. He stood up and extended his arms and let Sharpay fall into them.
"Happy birthday, Ry," she said sleepily.
"You too."
"Where's my big birthday girl?" Marcus grinned as he turned around after flipping a pancake over.
"You were just talking to her! Duh!" Sharpay pointed towards Ryan.
"Hey!" Ryan pretended to be offended. Sharpay snickered and ran over to her father, giving him a big bear hug.
"So, how many kids are coming over? And at what time?" asked Marcus. Sharpay and Ryan each took a seat in one of the chairs at the counter, facing their dad.
"Well," Sharpay started, thinking hard for a second, "let's see… the cooler ones are coming around 2:30-3:00 to have a pool party and hang out and stuff, and then the rest of the kids are coming around 7:30-8:00 for the dance part. It goes until midnight or so."
"There's only about 20 people coming to the pool part," Ryan added.
Marcus put a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of both twins. "And how many for the dance part?"
Ryan and Sharpay looked out of the corner of their eye at each other briefly as they reached out for their forks and stuffed their faces before having to respond.
"How many?" Marcus laughed. "I'm not going to be mad, I just need to estimate how much money I'll have to pay for all the damages to the house, that's all," he winked.
"We're not exactly sure, but we're thinking around… two hundred kids… give or take a few…" Ryan said finally after he finished chewing and swallowing his food.
Their father thought for a second, but finally smiled and nodded. "Sounds fun. Hey, I'm going to help out the decorating guys outside, see you kids later."
Ryan watched his father leave the room and he craned his neck to make sure he was out of earshot. "He doesn't seem mad at all that there's going to be a crapload of kids here today. Dad and Mom have actually come around, they changed, just like they promised."
"Yeah." Sharpay poked at a slice of bacon with her silver fork.
"Are you still mad at them?" Ryan inquired gently. He put his elbow on the counter and leaned his head on his hand as he looked at his twin for a response.
"Kind of…" Sharpay sighed and looked out the window over the sink. "But it's hard to be mad at a person who's trying so hard to get rid of the past and start over. I'm not like that though," she said with frustration. "If sometime goes unresolved, it's like this annoying nagging feeling in the back of my mind, which is what is happening at the moment." She scooped up some more food onto her fork and brought it to her mouth.
"Uh-oh. Does somebody need another hug?"
"Yes," Sharpay looked at Ryan and pouted through a mouthful of pancake and maple syrup.
"Oh, you've always been a very huggy-person," he teased, but he still let Sharpay fall into his arms again anyway.
"I know. I guess I'm just weird like that," she sighed into his chest after she finished chewing her food.
"Yeah, you are pretty weird," Ryan agreed as he pulled away, grinning.
"Hey!" Sharpay laughed and smacked his arm. "You're not supposed to agree!"
"That was payback for calling me a girl," he said smugly.
"Fine. We're even." Sharpay narrowed her eyes.
"Well, okay," Ryan drawled and raised his eyebrows, and the twins started to have a no-smiling contest. It was something they've always done, ever since they were kids. First one to smile loses. It was a pointless game, actually. But that didn't stop them from having one from time to time.
Ryan narrowed his eyes also, to match Sharpay's expression. Both were in high concentration on winning, but not before long, Sharpay had to look away and burst out in laughter.
"You win! You always win! God! Why is that?"
Ryan stood up and stretched his cramped muscles. "Because I'm awesome-r than you, that's why," he said, mid-stretch.
"No, it's because you have a funny looking face," Sharpay sneered.
Ryan laughed and relaxed his body, slapping his palm to his forehead. He sighed contently. "Touché." A giggling Sharpay told him that she was going to get dressed and ready, and Ryan realized he had to also, so they raced off.
When the pool party finally came around, Sharpay felt like everything in her life was near picture-perfect.
Let's just say, that she would take a shirtless Troy Bolton over her five-foot long layered red velvet cake anyday.
I bet Troy would taste better than that damn cake anyway, Sharpay thought dreamily, but she caught herself before she took that thought any further, partly because the man of her dreams was walking towards her.
Troy had already been in the pool for a bit, and of course, Sharpay and her daydreaming had left her standing in her t-shirt and shorts still.
"Are you gonna swim?" he asked.
Sharpay tried ignoring the fact that she could see the little droplets of water cascading down his tan, muscular, toned body, and that when his hair was wet, he still looked massively gorgeous. She swallowed. Troy stared at her innocently for a response.
"I—uh, yeah. Yes. Yes, I am indeed," she stammered, trying to make a complete sentence.
"Well, come on!" Troy waved. "Chad's going to start up a huge chicken tournament!"
"Sweet!" Sharpay exclaimed, returning to her normal self. "I'm in." When Troy turned around to go back into the pool, she crossed her arms and held the bottom of the shirt she was wearing and lifted the cotton material over her head, revealing the top half of her white bikini. Troy opened his mouth and turned back around at that exact moment, but quickly spun around again and walked briskly to the pool. Sharpay didn't notice his odd behavior; she was too busy undressing. He bit the side of his lip and snuck another glance right as Sharpay was taking off her shorts.
"Cannonball!" Troy yelled and he jumped up as high as he could, tucked his knees to his chest and made a humongous splash on the way into the water, making all the girls scream as the water hit them.
It was only then that Sharpay realized there were actually other people around, not just her and Troy. Since when has there been music playing? And people talking? Sharpay rolled her eyes at herself for not paying enough attention. A guy whistled as Sharpay made her way over to the pool's edge, making her red with embarrassment.
"Oh, shut up," she muttered out loud to whomever was watching or listening to her, "you've seen better." Right as Sharpay sat down and put her feet in the cool clean water, Gabriella appeared at her side and sat beside her.
"This is awesome, Sharpay!" Gabriella squealed and grabbed onto her friend's arms and gave a quick sideways hug. "Everyone's having a great time," she gushed. "I'm having a great time, are you having a great time?"
"More than great," Sharpay reassured her. I just, you know, want to make sweet, sweet, passionate love with your boyfriend, that's all. She decided to keep that thought to herself.
Sharpay didn't understand why all of a sudden she had such lust for the boy. Sure, she's had it before, but the feeling seemed to have tripled since she last remembered. Another thing she didn't fully understand, was the strange way Troy and Gabriella have been acting around each other. Not strange though… Sharpay didn't know how to describe the word. The entire pool party, they were just being overly friendly, the kind where you don't really mean it.
Gabriella's been distant lately, Sharpay noticed, trying with all her might to put the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind, while still attempting to listen to what Troy was babbling on about.
Sharpay should have been listening, because her mind was temporarily lost and dysfunctional when she found herself atop Troy's shoulders, battling Taylor in an intense game of chicken. All the kids there (which was starting to grow in size because it was getting closer to the dance) crowded around the pool, hooting and hollering, egging the two girls on.
Ryan crossed his arms and let out a laugh. He could just feel Sharpay's awkwardness radiating off of her, although she did an outstanding job at not showing it. What an actress. He looked to his left and saw that Gabriella was in the same stance as himself: arms crossed and smiling. He made a mental note to talk to the brunette later.
Sharpay and Troy had two wins, and Taylor and Chad both had two wins also. Next team who won would take home… bragging rights for an entire year. What a prize.
Zeke was in the pool as the referee. "Ready… set… FIGHT!" He dove out of the way.
Sharpay leaned forward and grabbed a hold of Taylor's arms, and Taylor did the same to her. Both girls looked at each other and laughed as they tried knocking one another off the shoulders of the guy beneath them. It was a rough battle that took several minutes, and it ended with Troy bringing out his secret move, which consisted of him just telling Sharpay to let go of Taylor's arms, and he took a step backwards which made Taylor topple forward off Chad's shoulders and into the water with a splash.
"And Team Evans wins!" Zeke exclaimed. All the kids laughed and cheered and Sharpay put her hands up in victory. The water Troy was standing in came up to about the middle of his chest, so Sharpay could just bend down and splash some water at Troy. She rested both arms and her head against Troy's wet brown hair, which still smelled like shampoo, despite the chlorine. He ran his hands slightly up the smoothness of Sharpay's legs underneath the water and looked up.
"Nice job up there!" he laughed, but Sharpay didn't fully register his voice, she was more focused on the hands that continued rubbing on her legs. She could already feel the pounding of her lower region start to get faster and she squirmed slightly, hoping that Troy couldn't feel the pulsating rhythm on his neck. "You wanna get down?"
Sharpay laughed nervously. "You've got to admit, this isn't the most comfortable position in the world." She didn't want to get down, she needed to get down.
"Oh," Troy blushed slightly, noticing finally what his hands were unconsciously doing. "Right." He took a deep breath and dunked himself underwater and he swam forward, removing Sharpay from his shoulders. When Troy resurfaced, he flipped his head side to side, removing the excess water from his hair. She giggled softly, and Troy smiled shyly.
"I almost had you there," Taylor grinned. Sharpay almost yelped in surprise at Taylor's sudden voice. Why does that always happen? She asked herself with a groan. He makes me feel like I'm the only one around… and since when have all these people arrived? There were about forty people in the backyard, double in size since Sharpay had last counted, and it was still growing.
"Have… these people always been here?" Sharpay questioned confusingly, just loud enough for Taylor to hear.
"Oh, that is so cute," whispered Taylor, smiling.
"What is!" Sharpay asked, but Taylor wouldn't respond. She swam over to the pool stairs and stepped up two of them before she turned around. Taylor looked at Troy, who was joking around with Chad at the time and didn't notice, and then looked back at Sharpay with her eyebrow raised. Sharpay's eyes grew wide as she realized what Taylor meant. Taylor just grabbed her towel and walked off with a chuckle.
Am I really that obvious? I am, aren't I, Sharpay answered her own thought as she swam over to the edge of the pool. Noticing where she was going, Troy followed.
"It's gettin' crowded now, isn't it?" Troy hoisted himself up and sat with his feet dangling in the water, facing Sharpay. She smiled inwardly to herself, that Troy was giving her all his attention. Though it only made her wonder what was going on more.
"This is nothing. It's only 6:00… Wait another hour when the DJ starts up and the dance gets going… I think there are going to be around two hundred people here."
"I might lose you," Troy pouted, making his bottom lip stick out.
"I'll stay close." Sharpay splashed some water on him.
"You better, because I'll put you on a leash, I swear."
"I wouldn't mind that," Sharpay winked. Fine, he's giving me attention, so I'll just flirt back… and worry about Gabriella later.
"Okay," Troy said loudly, "someone go get me some rope—or better yet, some handcuffs."
"Handcuffs? Oooh," she taunted.
Ryan stood up on a chair, interrupting any more playful banter. "If anyone's hungry," he announced loudly so everyone could hear him, "we have a buffet-style dinner in the kitchen, and if anyone wants, they can follow me to our entertainment wing!" With that, Ryan hopped off the chair. There was some murmuring, then a stampede to rush inside the house.
"Well, I'm all pruny," Sharpay stated once a good deal of kids were gone from the backyard. She lifted her hands out of the water and studied them with a wrinkled nose.
"I can see that."
Sharpay raised herself out of the water and stood up next to Troy. "I'm going to go take a shower… get some of this gross chlorine out of my hair and get dressed and stuff. You can too, if you'd like— I-I mean, in Ryan's room, Ryan has a shower too, that y-you can use."
Troy stood up and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "I'm okay," he told her. Little did Sharpay know, Troy was fighting with himself to keep his eyes looking at Sharpay's face, and not look down to her dripping wet, curvy, delicate figure that stood before him.
"See you in a bit, then." And with that, she walked into the house without a look back. Good thing too, or else she would have observed an awfully goofy happy expression on Troy's face.
Gabriella was watching that whole conversation though a window very close by, in the Evans' study.
"Look at him, Ryan. He's smitten with her."
Ryan burst out laughing. "Did you just say the word smitten?" He looked at her, amused.
"Maybe I did… but Ryan, I'm serious!"
"It's not a bad thing." Ryan stood up from the computer chair he was sitting in and closed the doors, which made the room quieter, and gave the two more privacy. He returned to his chair.
"I know it's not a bad thing, because she's in love with him too." She collapsed on a plush couch next to Ryan. "And now she's trying to deny her feelings because she still thinks I'm going out with him."
Ryan was suddenly alert. "You haven't told her you've broken up? It's been almost two weeks!" He opened up his mouth to say something else, but then he just looked confused. "Wait, how do you know Sharpay is in love with Troy? That's not something she would just come out and say."
Gabriella hit a palm to her forehead about seven or eight times before responding. "When I slept over here a week or so ago to plan the party more, she went downstairs to get some food to eat, and I… found something… and I might have… read some things I shouldn't have..."
"You read her journal?" Ryan yelled and stood up. "Is that why you and Troy broke up?" He calmed down and suddenly looked thoughtful and curious. "What did it say?" He promptly sat back down and put a hand on his chin.
"Everything, Ryan!" Gabriella cried. "Everything. Everything she was feeling, every thought that popped into her brain… It was beautiful, tragic, poetic, even. She has feelings of love and devotion for Troy so strong, it doesn't even compare to any feelings I ever had for the poor guy." She sat up and looked at Ryan. "Which is why the feelings were mutual, when me and Troy broke up, I mean."
"And Sharpay still doesn't know?" Ryan sighed, leaned back and swiveled in the chair.
"And Sharpay is completely clueless still, yes."
"Why haven't you told her, Gab?" Ryan's voice was soft.
Gabriella inhaled a very slow deep breath and let it out just the same. "I have no idea, Ryan. Part of me wants to say to her 'Troy's all yours!' Now, go have crazy, kinky island sex on the beaches of Maui with him like you've been dreaming about—" Gabriella ended that sentence in a fit of giggles.
"Oh God. Is that where it took place? I think I woke her from that dream once."
Gabriella sank to the floor clutching her stomach, laughing. "I shouldn't be laughing, this is mean. So mean. But yes—oh my God—yes. That was the dream. But seriously though," she regained some composure. "She's a very, very, gifted writer." Gabriella fanned herself off. "Every feeling, kiss, touch, was detailed… explicit… Oh man. I was almost embarrassed to read some of the stuff she wrote in there. But I couldn't stop reading it, it was incredible!"
"Oh," Ryan smirked and nodded, "I got it. You just wanted some free porn."
"No!" Gabriella turned red. "No, I just wanted to know—"
"—free porn—"
"—what was really going on—"
"—free porn—"
"—in Sharpay's head. Will you shut up?" Gabriella couldn't breathe, she was laughing so hard.
"Let's get back to the party. I'm starving."
Gabriella scowled at Ryan, but her stomach growled and she couldn't object.
"Oh, and just so you know, you're going to tell her about you and Troy. Very soon."
Gabriella looked at the floor and nodded.
"All right. Let's go."
The steam of the shower felt lovely to Sharpay as she took a deep breath of it, the water making her skin tingle slightly. There was something about a nice, long, hot shower that made Sharpay feel like it was a fresh start, the residue of the day carefully washed away down the drain. Her head was clear of any thought, until she heard laughter and chatter from outside in the backyard. Her mind quickly reeled back to the heated moment in the pool, and Sharpay could still feel a burning sensation of where Troy's hands were absentmindedly caressing her legs. She started breathing faster and suddenly hit the handle of the shower so the water turned icy cold, which made her shriek and it instantly took her mind off Troy—she didn't want to start anything she couldn't finish.
"God damn." Sharpay turned the water warm again and lathered up some shampoo and conditioner in her golden blonde hair. "Troy, look what you do to me." And I can't tell you, seeing as you're going out with my best friend! How awesome is that. "But, fuck, Troy," she cursed, "every single time I see you lately, I feel the need to shove you against a wall and—"
"Wow, please don't finish that sentence, for my sake. I can hear you. We're about to cut the cake, so you better get down there soon, okay?" Ryan's voice was muffled by the door and the sounds of the running water.
"Ryan!" Sharpay said, mildly frustrated. "How much did you just hear? And was I really talking out loud?" She closed her eyes and let the water fall on her head as she waited for an answer.
Ryan took a step backward and stood in front of her bathroom door again briefly. "Yes, you were talking out loud, and I heard more than I bargained for," he chuckled.
"I'll be down in ten minutes." Sharpay really wasn't all that mad that Ryan heard her, which was new. She was just annoyed that he cut off her daydreaming… again.
When Sharpay came back down to the party, there were about a hundred people all scattered in the backyard and in the main parts of the house. Whistles and catcalls flew in her direction, and she blushed in reply. Sharpay was wearing a small black dress, which she had been saving for this very occasion. It was simple, yet elegant… And Troy is going to die, she grinned as she walked straight on through a crowd of kids, knowing they'd move out of her way, just as they always had at school.
"You know, one of these days, there's going to be a kid who actually doesn't move out of your way, and you're going to risk some real permanent injury," Troy said, sneering, as Sharpay made her way over to the gigantic cake that was sitting on a table in the backyard. He had to physically hold his jaw up to keep it from hanging down. Sure, she's looked good before… but now… "Sharpay, you look amazing," he managed to spit out.
"Is that it? Surely you can find some more adjectives to shower me in compliments with," she winked.
"Gorgeous, stunning, fantastic—"
"Okay, okay, I was only kidding," laughed Sharpay, stopping Troy from saying anything else.
"I'm not…" Troy mumbled to himself as Chad and Zeke stood up on a couple chairs and led all the kids there in a rousing chorus of 'Happy Birthday', which was quite lovely… and quite off-key, but it's the thought that counts.
Ryan appeared at Sharpay's side and Gabriella conducted them to make a wish and blow out their candles. The cake itself only had two candles on it, one for each twin. Sure, it could actually fit about two-thousand candles, but they decided on just two, it was easier that way, and plus it took less time to light.
Everyone that was crowded around the cake and the twins were silent as they both closed their eyes and made a quick wish. Without planning, Ryan and Sharpay ended their wish and blew out their candle at the same time, which made the place erupt in laughter. The DJ gave Sharpay a thumbs-up signal, which was her cue.
"All right! As people take turns getting their piece of cake, who's ready to party?" Sharpay yelled and threw an arm in the air, and at that same moment, up-beat music started blaring out of the speakers. There was an air of excitement surrounding the area, laughter and lively conversations were heard and a whole sea of kids bounced over to the dance floor and started moving to the rhythm of the beat.
Sharpay laughed and covered her mouth, unable to wipe the grin off her face at the commotion she just caused. She spun around and joined Ryan, Gabriella and Troy, who were still standing next to the cake waiting for a piece. Gabriella and Sharpay squealed at each other and they held hands, laughed and looked at the boys.
"Did you plan that?" Troy had to raise his voice over the music.
"It was my idea," Gabriella smiled and nudged her friend who rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, she told me I should do it, I'll admit it," Sharpay laughed. Her smile contently faded from her expression as she looked around.
"C'mon, you guys! Let's dance!" Gabriella yelled.
Sharpay had to protest. "I'm not in a real dance-y mood right now. I'm kind of tired," she lied.
"What?" Gabriella strained to hear Sharpay's voice over the beats of the new song playing.
"I'm tired!" she repeated, a little louder.
"Girl, you can't be tired! Here." Gabriella grabbed the plate of a boy passing by with his newly cut piece of cake. "Oh, it's for the birthday girl," she loudly reassured the guy. She turned back around to Sharpay with a grin, and the boy walked off with a grunt to wait in line for another piece. "Eat this. You need the energy. Plus, you're too damn skinny." Gabriella snatched the plastic fork and tried feeding a piece to Sharpay.
"No, really," Sharpay swatted Gabriella's arm from her face with her free hand. "I'm fine. You guys go dance. Go have fun."
"Okay," Gabriella said slowly, "but I'm coming for you later." She dragged both Ryan and Troy into the massive crowd, which was easily around two hundred kids now.
"Sharpay!" Troy tried getting her attention. He was successful. "Save me a dance?"
"Of course!" she smiled.
Gabriella made sure to keep watching how Sharpay would react when Troy turned away and started dancing. The second he did, the grin on Sharpay's face disappeared, and she shook her head, carefully wiping the tears that were about to smear her mascara. That struck Gabriella hard. Sharpay thought no one was watching her, but Gabriella saw it. Feeling a guilty pang inside her chest, Gabriella tried suppressing her own tears as she watched Sharpay's actions covertly, still trying to dance at the same time.
Sharpay looked down at her cake, frowned, and stabbed her fork through the layer of icing and down to the paper plate itself, letting the whole thing tumble to the ground carelessly.
Gabriella stopped dancing. You are ruining this night for her. It's all your fault, her mind was screaming at her as she watched Sharpay walk away. Why haven't I told her…Another part of Gabriella's brain echoed the conversation between Ryan and herself earlier.
"And now she's trying to deny her feelings because she still thinks I'm going out with him."
Fuck. This is all my fault. "He's giving you all the signs," Gabriella whispered. "You just don't want to believe it."
Ryan stopped dancing because he noticed Gabriella stopped. "What's wrong?"
All Gabriella could do was point. Ryan stood on his toes and peered around quickly to where the she was pointing. He just caught a glimpse of a girl with blonde hair and a black dress who was running into the house hurriedly.
"Sharpay." Ryan grabbed a hold of Troy's arm to get his attention. "Hey, hey," he repeated. Troy stopped mid-dance and saw that Gabriella and Ryan both weren't dancing and had worried expressions cast on their faces.
"What?"
"Hold on," Ryan told them as he parted through the waves of people, who were oblivious to the drama unfolding.
Sharpay didn't fully understand her own actions. Everything just… seemed to be… too much. That's all, Sharpay kept telling herself.
Nothing else.
Nope. Everything was completely fine and dandy. She leapt up the stairs two at a time, feeling an all-too-familiar sting behind her eyes, but no. She was fine.
Twisting the handle on her door, Sharpay threw herself into her room and she slammed the door behind her. Despite her inner denial, Sharpay found that she couldn't cry. The tears were leaking out, her nose was becoming stuffy, but that sob wouldn't escape her body. She hated that feeling.
Sharpay had never seen so many people packed into her backyard, all the kids dancing and laughing. And having a great time…She plopped down on her cushioned window seat to spy on the kids below. The night was growing dark, and Sharpay couldn't see much of her room because she had forgotten to turn on her light switch, but she thought better of it anyway. People would notice that a light was coming from the second story, and they would've been suspicious. At least no one could bother her this way. It was Sharpay's time to think, and not be disturbed and—
A soft knock on her door was heard, and it creaked open without waiting. Sharpay didn't know whether she should roll her eyes or be thankful that she had such a caring brother as Ryan.
"I'm fine, Ry," Sharpay told him sharply. "It's just… Troy's been making my head spin a little." She gave a guilty laugh and finished with a deep sigh as she put her forehead up to the window, eyes scanning the crowd. "Troy's been acting strange, Gabriella's been acting strange… If I didn't know any better, I'd think that they were secretly engaged or something." She let out another laugh, but it came out more as a huff as she was trying to fight the tears that were ready to spill down her cheeks. She opened up her window hastily, letting some fresh air in.
Sharpay spotted Gabriella's bright yellow dress. She saw her slow dancing with a tall brown-shaggy-haired boy who was unmistakably Troy, by the way Gabriella was smiling at him. "I didn't really know I was the jealous type," she joked, filling the silence. Noticing that Ryan wasn't saying anything, she kept talking.
"I…I know I pretended that I liked him before, in school and stuff… but… when you pretend something for so long, you start believing it's actually there, and true… and before you know it, it's real," Sharpay finished in a whisper. "It's real," she repeated, voice stronger and sure of herself. "It's real, and oh God, it shouldn't be." She put her palm up to the screen of the window and let it slide down until it was on her lap again. "The 'like' turned into love, and I'm scared." She choked on a cry, but it wouldn't come out. "Ryan… I love Troy, but I don't know if he loves me back."
"Why don't you ask him?" said a strained, nervous voice from the door.
All the blood pumping in Sharpay's body seemed to freeze and her heart leapt to her throat as she dreadfully turned her head around to look at the person standing at the door.
It was Troy.
Troy had been the one listening to her ramble the entire time—not Ryan.
She snapped her head back in the direction of the window. Sharpay did not dare turn around to face him again, first reason being that she couldn't make the room stop spinning and she had to focus more on trying to keep her dinner down in her stomach where it belonged. She swayed back and forth, but managed to glance down to see who Gabriella was really dancing with. No, that was not Troy, Sharpay noticed despairingly.
The real Troy was standing in her room.
In the silence, Sharpay was only able to hear the pounding of her own heart in her ears. Though she summoned up all the courage in her five-foot-three-inch stature that she could muster and slowly turned herself around to face the surprise visitor. Sooner better than later, she told herself.
Sharpay could feel the heat of the piercing-blue eyes of Troy's burning into her, and she found that she could say nothing at all. Her throat seemed to be constricted, and her own eyes were fully captivated in his gaze, unable to look away or think straight. Letters, words, sentences, and phrases were all jumbled up in her brain, even if she was able to speak, none of it would have made any sense at all.
Through the dim lighting of the room, Troy couldn't fully see Sharpay's face, although he could see that her silhouette was visibly trembling. Troy ached to run over to her and hold her tight and make her stop, but he didn't know how she was going to react yet. For all he knew, the trembling could have been caused by being incredibly pissed.
"Ryan, uh…" Troy wrung his hands, trying to make his voice sound normal, "he saw you run inside and so he ran after you, but then he came back and got me, and explained that I should be the one to come talk to you… not him." Great, blame it on the brother. He took a few steps forward daringly, and saw that Sharpay's eyes were now cast downward, and her left hand was supporting her body on the wall next to her. "He also told me a couple other things."
Sharpay could only vaguely hear what Troy was saying, but she strained her ears to listen.
"He told me that Gabriella has been hiding something from you. Something that is kind of huge news."
Okay, she was listening. As Troy approached closer to where she was standing, Sharpay was taken aback. Troy Bolton was always confident, but at this moment, he seemed entirely unsure of himself and his surroundings. She still didn't say a word; sheer mortification clouded her brain instead.
"Didn't Gabriella tell you… anything?" He took another cautious step forward, not knowing whether to keep walking.
Sharpay's expression deadpanned as she shook her head vigorously, still void of any voice. Troy inhaled and exhaled quickly, trying to steady himself. He tried thinking of the best way to break the news to her. Gently, but firm at the same time, calm but—Oh forget it. He was just going to wing it.
"Gabriella and I broke up about a week and a half ago," Troy finally blurted out. Sharpay blinked rapidly, trying to make sure she had heard correctly, suddenly very happy that she was holding herself up by the wall. "She figured out she didn't love me, and I figured out I loved someone else."
Sharpay had been silent ever since Troy had revealed himself standing in the doorframe. Her silence was slowly driving him insane.
"Please," Troy begged, "say something. Anything." He took the concluding steps so he was face to face with Sharpay. Her cheeks shone with trails of unspoken tears in the moonlight and Troy's water-blue eyes were glistening with apprehension. She bit the soft flesh of her bottom lip and shut her eyes tight as Troy put both his hands on her shoulders, running his palms down the length of her arms. Sharpay gave an involuntary shudder from the lightness of his touch.
A cool night breeze swept through the room, giving both of them a chill.
"This can't be real," Sharpay said hoarsely, making Troy give a startled blink. She found that she could look everywhere but at the boy standing just a foot in front of her.
"Yes," Troy said in such a pleading voice, Sharpay didn't know if it was really the same boy speaking, "Yes it is. I'm real, you're real… this is real." He let go of Sharpay's right arm and brought the hand to her chin. He didn't realize he was doing anything wrong, but his left thumb was brushing against the scars of Sharpay's right wrist, which made her feel humiliated and ashamed. Troy tried lifting Sharpay's chin to look at his face, but Sharpay wouldn't allow it. She fought against it gently, eyes still closed and refusing to look at him.
Troy brushed stray locks of hair out of Sharpay's eyes, and instead of tucking it behind her ear; he combed his fingers through it and cupped the side of her head. Sharpay found herself nudging her head against his simple touch, wanting more. She brought her gaze upwards, becoming less frightened by her feelings by the second.
"I don't know what's going on in that head of yours right now, but I'd like to know. Because, I don't know what it is, but I care about you. More than you know," said Troy, voice breaking. "And… it scares me, too." Sharpay's eyes opened in awe, because of the identical feelings she was having. "It's… It's time to face our fears, Sharpay."
That was it. Troy was the key that just unlocked a thousand new worlds; worlds that Sharpay never knew existed until that instant. There were no doubts in her mind that told her Troy wasn't telling the truth, because one look into Troy's enchanting blue eyes was enough to see the soul of a boy who just spilled his heart out and was anxiously awaiting a response. Sharpay was speechless, so she did the only thing she was capable of doing. She buried herself in Troy's chest and clung onto him.
"Ryan said you were a hugger," Troy joked softly, rubbing Sharpay's back. When Sharpay regained enough composure, she pulled away just enough so her face was still inches away from Troy's. She traced his jaw line with her index finger, shaking her head faintly, still in disbelief of everything that was happening. This is real. Not a dream. She swallowed noticeably a couple times before she gained enough courage to speak again.
"Troy, I… I care about you, too. And I don't think I'm scared any more," she whispered into the dark shadowy room. When her finger finally reached his chin, she curled her knuckle around it and brought his face closer to hers. The last thing Troy saw was Sharpay's teary-brown eyes before he let his eyelids flutter closed and felt her soft glossy lips against his own.
Her heart was soaring. She pressed her body into Troy more, lips now parted, which was silent permission for Troy's tongue to enter. She felt herself shiver from the breeze, from the excitement, and from the moment itself.
Her hormones weren't taking control too much, she didn't have an urge to rip off Troy's pants at the time, but in Sharpay's opinion, this was a million times better than both of those things combined.
She felt loved, and she felt wanted.
Which were exactly the two things she had always wished and dreamed for.
A/N- Oh my GOODNESS. You don't know HOW much of a struggle it was not to make poor Sharpay and Troy just jump on each other and start having passionate love-making in the middle of the pool…. I swear. I could make different fanfics off of this one, just from all of the crazy sex scenes I could branch off from different parts of this chapter.
I hope this ending chapter was long enough for you guys, it certainly kept me entertained writing a whole 20 pages by hand, and then typing it all out… But I hope you're happy with the end result. And I hope it wasn't too cheesy and/or typical. Because I hate it when that happens. So you have permission to tell me exactly what you think. I'm going to brace myself. The last ending scene I had in my brain for the longest time, I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't know what exactly what I wanted to be said, and… I wasn't too sure how to come around to it, but… I did what I could. And again, I hope you liked it.
The sequel to this one is going to be called "Don't Dream Too Far", but I've been reading too much femmslash!smut so I think my next fanfic will be a Sharpay/Gabriella one. Because there needs to be more of those, dammit. But, oh boy. I'm probably going to make a hot Troypay sex fic that I'm going to put on my livejournal because Zac and Ashley are the hottest couple ever.
Thank you to all my reviewers, for sticking with this fic through all of my non-updateness… Gah. And I love love love love love you guys for that. You have no idea. If it weren't for you, (and my undeniable love for writing), I couldn't have finished this story. So I wuvv you guys. So so much.
If there are any typos in this chapter, it is because I love you all passionately, and I stayed up 'til 1:45 in the morning typing the last of this out, even though I have to go to basketball practice at 7:00… today. So I'll edit it later, I promise.
Be on the look-out for the sequel, and I'll see ya'll later.
Alyssa