Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical. I wish I owned Corbin Bleu so I could force him to go to homecoming with me. Unfortunately, I don't, so I'll have to wait for him to ask me.
A/N: Thanks a bunch to all my reviewers. I think the story is sort of slow, but your positive feedback will definitely help me update faster and get into the more interesting stuff. I've also decided this is going to be a Chaylor, even if I have to spend a longer time writing it do the ship justice. So, enjoy chapter three of 'Desperate For Changes'.
The next day, I decided I wasn't going to let what shar-pei said get to me. So as I dressed, I made sure I wore the clothes I liked. I didn't even care if they were ones I'd had last year. The last things I put on before my shoes were my argyle-print socks. Take that, evil dog woman. I wasn't going to let her turn Taylor McKessie into the sort of girl who spends her lunch period in the bathroom bawling because her sweater wasn't 'fashionable'. That had been a moment of weakness that I did not want to relive.
Well, the day itself was pretty uneventful. I sat a little closer to other people in homeroom. Actually, that was more out of fear of being labeled a hermit than me getting more brave, but it was still a minor triumph. Jason asked me for a pen, and then we actually talked for a little bit. After homeroom, I had my favorite classes, so I was in a great mood by the time lunch rolled around. I didn't even see Sharpay once, but I did talk to Zeke in the lunch line! Apparently, he really likes food because he was commenting on the textures of the croissants and how the school should stop using 'I can't believe it's not butter!' spread instead of the real deal. I think he's going to be a chef some day. Maybe he'll even have his own cooking show or something. I even managed to find my way to my table without running to the bathroom or running into some lunkhead with a basketball. I was on a roll! While I ate with some other scholastic decathlon members, we discussed some of the more widely disputed scientific theories, which I found to be really intellectually stimulating. After lunch, I had one of my few classes that isn't advanced. English.
I hate my English class.
My stupid hippie teacher put me next to Chad! The lunkhead with the idiotic hair. When we had to take a quiz to test what we retained from our course last year, I was tempted to pull a childish stunt and put my folder up as a barrier to keep his eyes off my paper. Seriously! It wasn't like this was a graded quiz. I'm sure that he'll end up copying all my assignments this year, whether I like it or not. It's a good thing I'm only by him in one class. I don't think my sanity could handle any more 'Chad time'.
After school, I went to the local library to work on a paper for my History class- yes, Mr. Erickson had the audacity to give us a huge paper-, where I heard an all too familiar giggle. I was totally amazed that Sharpay even knew what a library was, let alone where our public one was located! So maybe she really wasn't the ditz I'd thought she was.
Nah, that couldn't be it. She had to have a reason for being here. She looked rather interested in reading a tabloid, but I knew she was a good actress, so she was probably faking that.
It only took me another minute to realize that Troy was here, too. All I had to do was catch one of her glances toward the tables across the room, as she continuously shot them over there. Apparently, he was working on the same essay, as I could see his textbook open. He'd made it into AP History and I was actually surprised. I'd always thought of him as a total basketball head. You know, absolutely filled with air? But he actually had contributed a decent amount to the in-class discussion we'd had on the first day of school. Maybe there was more to him than what met the eye.
I ended up listening to Sharpay's giggles and watched her watch him for approximately ten minutes before she finally stepped out from behind the bookshelf she'd been lurking behind (hadn't Troy heard her incessant laughter as well? It wasn't something you could easily ignore...) and approached her prey. That's how I thought of her, as a tiger or something like that. Or maybe a mountain lion. I'd always liked tigers, so I wasn't about to compare her to something I actually thought was cool.
My table was a good twenty feet away from Troy's, so I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but I caught the general gist of it. Sharpay had asked Troy if he had a girlfriend. Troy had answered no and Sharpay said something about what a crime against 'hotness' that was. Then, she proceeded to ask him if he'd like to go with her to see the new Hilary Duff movie. Seriously, he'd have to be out of his freaking mind to say yes! Who would want to go to a movie with Sharpay, let alone a Hilary Duff one? Surely he'd turn her down col–
"Yeah, sure Sharpay. When?"
Aw, poor Shar– wait? Did Troy say 'yes'? That was just plain insane! Didn't he know how truly evil the girl was? He had to have seen the way she treated everyone, from her own twin to that hat girl at the lunch table. Maybe he was just being nice accepting her offer and such, but I don't think even Troy is that nice. Maybe... just maybe he was actually attracted to Sharpay?
Ha! Now there was a funny one.
But this was odd. Troy was a total jock, and Sharpay was a drama club member. Weren't those two separate cliques? I was sure that Sharpay was one of those girls who'd practically invented the clique system! The way she only let her fellow theatre heads sit by her at lunch, the way she looked down on basically everyone else. It all pointed to her being a clique-junkie. This was definitely hypocritical of her.
Of course, with their differences, their relationship would never end up doing well. They were total opposites. Them dating was as crazy as, say, Chad and I dating!
Chad and I... now there's a funny pairing.
Rather amused with myself for thinking up something so horribly ridiculous, I still had a small smile as I packed my things away to leave the two new 'lovebirds' in peace. Peace and Sharpay Evans, however, were two horribly contradictory terms, as I could hear her shrill, fake laughter all the way out the door. It took me the entire walk home to get that laugh out of my head. Even as I got my things ready for the next day and picked out my clothes- as it was picture day and I had to make sure I didn't wear something stupid like a gray shirt that would blend in with the background and make me look like a floating head- I could hear that laugh ringing through my head.
For a moment, I was glad I snorted when I laughed. Anything was better than that annoying giggle.
A/N: So even though I like Troyella, this fic is going to be a Troypay because I totally felt like they had some sort of history together and I felt the need to explain it. Don't worry, loves, Troy will probably come to his senses soon enough!
I've got a golf match today that I'm really not looking forward to, so lots of reviews when I get home would be really, really nice. Heck, I might even update when I get home from the meet! Two updates in one day? CRAZY!