I don't know how to say this but I think I'm in love with you ..

By. simpleee.meee

Disclaimer. AII don't own it . x)

Chapter 13: The Kiss and the Shock Confession:

Troy's PoV:

I woke up early that Saturday morning thanks to my cousin, Dante and Chad bustling about me.

"Where were you last night?" Dante asked me.

"You weren't in the Lounge Room with Sharpay, were you?" Chad and Dante exchanged gleeful looks.

"Good morning to you too." I groaned.

At least this style of waking up was better than my mom hustling about me and slapping me on my back with her cold hands. At least Dante and Chad didn't slap. I grasped for my blanket which was strewn on the side and pulled it over my head. Dante grabbed my blanket, roughly rolled it up into a huge ball and chucked it on to Chad's bed, which was a mess above all mess in this room.

"What?" I yawned and stretched and went on about looking for my shirt with my hands by grabbing every inch of the bed.

Chad and Dante sat down in the middle of the floor with breakfast. They were helping themselves to some of the pancakes, when Dante stopped and grabbed a shirt off my part of the desk and chucked it at me. I sat up and caught it with my face.

"Thanks. Mmm breakfast." With that I jumped off of my bed and sat down with my cousin and my other best friend.

"Nup. You can't have them unless you answer all of our questions to the point where we're satisfied with the answer." Dante took the plates of food out of my reach and smirked.

"Fine. I won't take them." With that I sat there watching them eat the pancakes in such a way that I gave up.

"Whatever. What do you wanna know?" I asked rudely, grabbing a pancake.

"Where were you last night?" Dante asked again.

"I was in the Lounge Room." I replied and gave Dante a look, "I think you know where I was since you and Chad were there one minute but the next decided to disappear! Along with Nevaeh, Kelsi and that other chick!"

"You were with Sharpay until 1:20 when you came into our room, right Troy?" Chad asked, exchanging another gleeful look with Dante.

"Well .." I trailed off.

What was I supposed to say? Yeah we were together in the Lounge Room until 1:15 together, curled up on the couch, with blanket draped over us cuddling each other. Oh yeah and guess what guys, my face seemed to have buried itself on Sharpay's shoulders. Oh yeah and another thing I told her I loved her. I mentally punched my thoughts. But did Sharpay hear what I said to her. She must have. If she hadn't she wouldn't have said ..

"Well?"Dante prompted.

"Remember to tell the truth or else .. No food for you." Chad said in a sing-song teasing voice.

"Fine! Well -."

"Do spill all the details." Dante cut me off in such a girly manner; I gave him a weird look.

"Sorry." Dante brushed the matter aside and gestured for me to go on with my story.

"What happens if I don't and how will you know?" I asked rather challengingly.

"Oh, trust me little, big, cousin, we will!" Dante said with a smirk.

"Well after you guys left, we decided to stop doing maths, watched a movie. We got tired of the movie marathon and we went to bed." I summed the whole embarrassing yet good day into two short sentences.

"Hmm, sure sure." Chad said.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked Chad, "You even said that to me on our last practice in East High campus!"

"I thought you would be able to tell .." Chad responded.

"Tell what?" I questioned back, and I bet that I looked like Ryan when he was confused.

"The sarcasm in my voice." He replied.

"I didn't think that sarcasm was in your vocabulary." I stated, copying the statement from Sharpay.

"Whatever." Chad replied.

"I'm gonna go check with Nevaeh!" With that Dante ran out of the room with Chad before I could stop either of them.

"Aah, no!" I yelled and chucked an empty cup across the room and it hit the door with a loud crack. If one of the security's found out, I would be serving a week's detention for vandalising school property. I sat there, completely still for a minute and then started to bustle about when I was sure that they hadn't heard.

I took a quick shower and got dressed. It all took less than 15 minutes. Then I walked out or the room feeling frustrated. Stupid Dante. Stupid Nevaeh for that matter. I got out of the Guy's Dormitory halls and a smile crept on my lips as I saw a familiar blonde walk out from the other side of the Dormitory and walking towards the Lounge Room. I immediately stopped myself and told myself off on the inside, although I had to admit I went ecstatic from just seeing her! Huh? Ecstatic? Since when? My mind argued. Ever since you started to like her as more of a crush then a friend. My conscience whispered.

"Sharpay!" I called out. She looked up.

"Hi Troy!" She yelled and waved.

"Wait." With that I ran towards her.

We ran towards each other and hugged when we were in front of the entrance of the Lounge Room. Ok, so maybe yesterday's nights were forgotten. One side of me was let down that she forgot and the other was happy and relieved that she forgot. I decided to stick with the side that was let down and brushed away the happy and relieved side.

"Had a good night's sleep?" I asked.

"It was pretty good." She replied and this fired off all the butterflies that I was holding at bay. That could probably have meant that she remembered. I punched myself mentally once again. Butterflies? Since when? Soon I was going to be pelting rocks at a somebody named Dante for no good apparent reason than nosing in my life with Neveah.

"Have you seen Nevaeh?" Sharpay asked me.

"Why?" I absent-mindedly replied.

"Because she was called out by Mrs. Elaura. Now, usually she doesn't do such a thing so early. She said that there was a boy to see her. I don't know who he is but there's something weird going on here!" She replied.

"Oh that. She's probably with Dante." I said anger returning back to me.

"Why?" She asked.

"Uhh, because .. I'm not really sure." I nervously said, not wanting to bring out yesterday's events but at the same time wanting to.

"So are we gonna get a move on for our Best Friends outing?" Sharpay asked, slipping her arms into mine, linking us.

"Oh, shu-."

I was going to finish the rest of my sentence when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I fished it out of my pocket as Sharpay let go of my arm. I flipped it open and checked the screen. A new message had arrived. I quickly navigated my way to the new inbox message and there were 2, one from my mom and one from Dante. No sooner had I checked the first one, another text from Nevaeh came.

'HOY, you dork !

Come inside the Lounge Room right now!

It's like a family kind of a thing.

There's a surprise waiting for you here!

You could consider it an early birthday present.

But hurry up! And bring Sharpay along.

Love. Nev'

That one was from Nevaeh. I looked up from my text to Sharpay. I felt as though she sensed what was happening. I turned my attention back to the phone after smiling at her. She weakly smiled and looked up at the sky.

'Did Nevaeh already txt yew?'

That was from Dante.

'Hey baby,

How are you doing .

You being a good behaved boy to your cousins?

Well I don't need to know right away .

Just checking up on you .

Your father says hi.

There's a surprise waiting for you!

Love. mom'

And that one was from my mom. My cousins at this school were older than me by 4 to 5 years max. I shrugged my current feeling off and realized that I needed to give Sharpay an answer. I just showed her my texts.

"Oh darn it!" She moaned.

"But hey, look at the sky! It's bound to rain sooner or later!" I quipped trying to dump the blame on the sky.

"Mm-hmm." Sharpay dismissively said.

"I'm sorry. Are you angry at me now?" I asked, giving her a bear hug.

"No. Let's go inside. Nevaeh's waiting." With that she pushed me away gently and blushed.

Had she also told my cousin what happened last night? One part of me hoped so while the other was dreading the answer. I put my arm around her shoulders, trying to reassure her that I was sorry and that I would make it up to her. She grabbed my hand and walked inside and I found ..

"MOM!" I ran over to her and hugged her, "DAD!"

All my cousins were lined up there. There were even some from other states and schools. Sharpay stepped away to the side but was soon pulled into a hug by my mom and dad.

"Sharpay!" My mom said gladly.

"Troy!" Some of my cousins called out with outreached hands and I ran towards them. I didn't care if I seemed childish, it was always this way. Nearly all my cousins were older than me and the crowds here today were made entirely of cousins who were older than me.

"Ashley, come here! I found Troy." Ashley Mae (My mom's maiden name)'s younger sister, Sabrina called out and Ashley came immediately and hugged me so tight, I thought I was going to die from suffocation.

"Oh my gosh Troy! You've certainly shot up!" Ashley said with excitement. She was 22 years old and was soon going to marry, "The last time I saw you, you were a tiny tot!"

"I guess .. I like your hair." That was all I could say. Ashley just laughed and put her arms around me as other cousins rushed forward.

"Tory!" Jade yelled.

She was another cousin who loved to call me by my nickname- Tory. I scowled then realized it was Jade, whom I haven't seen for ages, my face managed to crack a smile. Ashley drifted away from me and was talking to Sharpay.

"Jake!" I teased back and with that we hugged.

After a while everyone settled down and we were seated in middle of the Lounge Room. There were at least 15 of us. My parents always told me that they had big families. So I guess then, this would be the real proof. I was sitting beside Sharpay and Geraldine. Geraldine was already married. She was 25 and I guess she topped as one of my favorite cousins.

"Sharpay dear, come here." With that my mom snatched Sharpay away from my side to hers and there she put her arms around her protectively. Something I've always wanted to ..do? Since when did that become one of my 'Always wanted to do' list? Seriously, I was starting to scare myself with all these thoughts that I hadn't realized before ..

"This is Sharpay, everybody. Sharpay, everybody!" My mom introduced her, "Let's just say that she's Troy's special friend."

My cousins' eyes then either met with each other or gave each other a knowing look or they looked at me with raised eyebrows and back at Sharpay. I blushed, fending off those looks cast at me.

"Is that your girlfriend?" Geraldine whispered, nudging me.

"No," I whispered back.

"So mom, why'd you come?" I asked trying to take some attention off me, "Along with everyone else?"

"Oh, I was just coming to that part."

"Oh?" I responded.

"As you know, Troy, your birthday is coming up and we decided to invite all the family members, and friends. It's going to be held a week later on a Saturday and I've come to whisk you and Sharpay and Chad off along with Nevaeh, Destiny, Chris and Dante. Has anyone seen Chris or Destiny?" My mom asked.

"We're here." Destiny replied, pushing Jade off her lap as she raised her hand.

"Well, we're leaving tomorrow. So I suggest you get packing guys." My mom said, directly to Nevaeh, Destiny, Sharpay, Chris, Dante and I.

"How about Kelsi?" I asked.

"Kelsi?" My mom asked with a confused look.

"Nielson?" My dad asked.

"Yeah. That's her." I said.

"Well, she'll have to get permission from her mom and you'd have to invite her properly." My dad said.

"Ok." I said, making a mental note to myself.

"Oh and where will you be staying, Mrs. Bolton?" Sharpay asked sweetly.

"At a hotel nearby the school." My mom answered with a cheerful smile.

"Ok." She replied with an equally cheerful smile.

After an outing with my family and Sharpay for lunch, my parents dropped us off at school. I said bye to my cousins as they with my mom and dad took a taxi and disappeared down the street. I couldn't wait until tomorrow.

"What shall we do now?" I asked as it started to sprinkle.

"Actually, I was thinking of catching up on my maths homework." Sharpay replied not meeting my eyes.

Last time she had not met my eyes, she had something to tell me that she couldn't. When I found out it was only about Gabriella and Ryan dating. No big deal. She was definitely hiding something from me again. And her acting like this also reminded me of the morning when she pushed me away from her and blushed when I gave her a hug.

"I'll help you." I offered with a smile.

"Uh, it's ok. I'll just work with Nevaeh." She said with a bitter smile and I swear that her eyes were misting up.

"Sharpay, what's wrong?" I asked, grabbing her wrist as she turned to go.

"Nothing. Just let me go so I can finish my homework." She mumbled, her face still turned away.

"Sharpay, I know that something's wrong. I may be a jock but I'm not stupid!" I said a bit hurt.

"Let go of me Troy." She demanded and I could sense anger creeping into her voice.

"Not until you tell me." And I stood there holding onto her wrist.

"I'm not going to tell YOU! Why should I? It's not like you're my boyfriend or anything! You're just a best friend!" She yelled, still refusing to face me.

It was now raining hard. And I was afraid, that either one of us would catch the cold from the rain.

"Sharpay, you need to calm down. Let's go inside and talk." I tried to soothe her and started to tug on her arm.

"No Troy. Go by yourself. What would you care if I got the cold?" She asked.

"What's wrong with you Sharpay? The whole morning you were acting fine, and now .. now you're all pissed at me. You won't even tell me what's wrong! Do you know how I feel when you're all upset? It breaks my heart. Especially if you don't want to talk about it with me!" I responded to her iciness.

"I'm not pissed at you Troy. Just leave me alone for now!" She yelled, "Don't you get-."

That did it. I tugged at her wrist and she came whirling towards me. Her arms, flew immediately to my neck, so that she won't fall down and my other hand wrapped itself around Sharpay's waist. Our face was less than an inch apart from each other. We moved in closer, and closer until our lips touched sending sparks flying everywhere, even if it was now, fully raining. Our lips parted and we were now kissing each other with passion.

"Don't you get how I feel about you? I feel as though I've lost my best friend. I love you Sharpay. I love you. What I said yesterday, it's true. I love you Sharpay." I whispered, getting soaked by the minute.

"What are we doing?" With that Sharpay pulled away from me and ran.

"Wait Sharpay!" I yelled but not bothered to go after her knowing that Nevaeh would be there and also knowing that she was going to her dormitory.

There I had said it. I had finally confessed. One part of me regretted it but the other side of me was rejoicing. I kicked a rock out of my way, shoved my hands deep inside my pocket and walked away. I got to my dorm and Dante and Chad looked up from their packing to face me, with a goofy grin on their face. I scowled at them.

"So .. How did the-." Dante started.

"Kiss go!" Chad finished, coming up to me and punching me on the shoulder playfully.

"Dude, you know what- I don't want to talk about it." With that I took a spare trunk out from under my bed, propped it open and changed into fresh clothes.

Was it right to confess? Was this really what love felt like? Was this love for Sharpay greater than the love I once had for Gabriella? It was all too weird.

Author's Note: So what was it like? Tell me about it, through review. Keke ! x) Oh and the kissing scene, you know what I meant by it right? x) Ahh .. the beauty of Tropay ! x))