Aw, you guys are awesome. I know how much of an effort it takes to review every chapter. I rarely do it, myself. Thanks.

Ah, well, the beginning of this started out funny and towards the end I got a litte...philisophical. Yeah-no. Troy alert!

Disclaimer: As per usual, I never get anything for my birthday. Not even HSM. It's not my birthday, either! Life's not fair!

There were successful dates. Then there were pleasant dates. Then there were okay dates, which were pleasant with no breath mints. Then there were awkward dates, where the two parties, who knew each other in high school and hung out together as friends, met up and realized that their relationship had not, and would never, change.

Well, maybe awkward dates could also include those between an ax murderer and a poet. However, Gabriella was not an ax murderer, and Troy was far from a poet, so that was that.

It might have been because, at the end of the night, he asked her "How are things between you and Sharpay?" And she realized what he never even considered once, because if he'd ever considered it, he wouldn't have done this. She didn't tell him, of course. That would have been hurtful.

Either way, the dinner was not a good one, but Troy was too nice, and Gabriella a little too timid, to create a clean break. She invited him to come to the theater during rehearsals a few times, meet the crew, have a chitchat! Why? Because she was a masochist and liked watching her high school crush have no idea that he was in love with her mortal enemy.

What did serve as a source of endless entertainment for her those days, strangely, was the interaction between Sharpay and Troy.

Because when Troy tried to talk to everyone—and while the majority offered some sort of conversational kindling—Sharpay turned coldly. It puzzled him, Gabriella could tell, because in high school, the blonde had thrown herself at the basketball star, and now she was...being cold...Gabriella sighed at her failing supply of words that also meant "cold."

Even better, though, were the looks Sharpay shot her during rehearsals, as though she was waiting for something to go wrong, and she knew that Amanda was right.

Sharpay was wilting. She was snapping, and even Ryan had given up on placating her ill temper. Once she got a taste, she couldn't live outside the spotlight again. What she should have done, Gabriella mused, was just look to the right every now and then and see just how much of a single-minded spotlight was shining on her. No one ever reports their classmates for being creepy, but Sharpay could make a plausible case.

But what was even better was the frustrated face Sharpay always made when Gabriella did a scene well, and the way she turned to the first person to complain about something (her nails, the lighting, how the Earth was going to crash into a fiery demise in five billion years...), and how the first person was...Troy.

She shared this revelation with Ryan in between their scenes together. He told her that he wouldn't be surprised if the two ended up killing each other or having angry sex. Sharpay's plan had backfired, and Ryan knew. Well, he hadn't pointed it out to Sharpay yet, but that was all nitpicky detail.

Gabriella took the opportunity to pose this question, in a less stupid sounding way: "Why is Sharpay so mean? I mean...has she always been this way? I don't get it."

"It's who she is."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the best answer I can give you." Gabriella sent him a questioning look, her eyebrows raised, asking for him to go on. "Look, it's not like she was any different at home. Mom and Dad got used to it."

"What about you? Why do you follow her?"

"I've gotten used to it, too. And besides, in this world, where all you can be is selfish, it's best to keep with someone who won't someday be your competition. Ruins everything. Sharpay's not that bad. You just...you have to prove that you're going to help her. If you won't help her in her life, you're going to at least...stop her? Be a problem?"

"Hinder?"

"Yeah. Hinder her."

"That's a stupid philosophy." Ryan smiled.

"Look at yourself."

I think this is the last we'll see of Troy for a litte bit. Obviously, I've skipped through the stupider parts of the sheme because I hate doing moment-by-moment stories. Elllgh.

As you can probably tell, I also hate the idea of Sharpay being actually nice. Mean people don't always have a deep dark secret that they have to hide under a mask of rapier wit. As a matter of fact, I do it becaus some of the more annoying people around me deserve to get knocked out of the way every now and then.

Oo, but the best chapters are coming up! At least, my favorite chapters are coming up.

Review!