Chapter Three

Sharpay yawned as she took her seat at the lunch table with her friends. She hadn't been able to sleep that night…or maybe she had? She woke up really tired and didn't remember anything she dreamed about, which never happened to her before, so she assumed that she hadn't really 'slept' last night. Which was unfortunate for her friends because that would make a very irritable Sharpay.

She twisted her plastic fork around her plate of mostly eaten macaroni and cheese. She wasn't very hungry, hadn't been all day. It might have just been that she wasn't a fan of the cafeteria's food, but she wasn't too sure, yesterday she'd brought her own lunch. She hadn't paid attention that much in class that morning…much like she wasn't doing right now…maybe she was sick?

"…dress? Or should it be the black one or the red one or the orange sweater? Sharpay what do you think?" Gabriella asked turning to her friend. Out of the group, Sharpay still had the best fashion sense. She would be the one to tell Gabriella which sweater to wear to her own birthday party.

Sharpay looked up at Gabriella just hearing the last part of the question. "What?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Which sweater should I wear to the party tomorrow?"

"Party?" Sharpay asked, earning an odd look from Gabriella, she must have been really out of it to not remember the party.

"Yeah," Gabriella said, "My birthday party tomorrow night, what sweater should I wear?"

Sharpay shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, "It matters not," she said reaching out to pick up her water bottle. Her arm froze mid reach, just as she had lifted the bottle. Where did that come from?

Sharpay looked around the table to see everyone staring at her. She smiled uncomfortably, pulling the water bottle towards her, eyes looking down utterly confused.

"Huh?" Chad asked, trying to break the silence that surrounded the table.

Sharpay shot him a grateful look, "I mean, which ever sweater you choose will look great on you Gabby," Sharpay said, saving herself. Everyone made an 'o' with their mouths and went back to eating.

"Awww," Gabriella said giving Sharpay a hug, "Thanks Shar."

Sharpay gave a small smile; she still wasn't used to being this nice. Every time she was, she got this feeling inside of her that told her not to be, that they would just end up hurting her. She couldn't understand it, so she just ignored it. But it was hard, that had been the feeling she had followed for a while, it was the same feeling that got her labeled as the Ice Queen.

Sharpay bowed her head and went back to her school bought lunch, not noticing a pair of eyes still remaining on her.

Troy Bolton stared at Sharpay, as he had when his attention was snapped to her by her odd words. His head had been the first to snap in her direction, but not for the same reason as everyone else's. He saw her disturbed smile, mirroring exactly how he felt when those words left her lips.

A chill ran up his spine when he'd heard her utter those words. He didn't know why though. It made no sense that those words should affect him as they had. They filtered through his mind, even now, stirring up something…he didn't know what…It was like he'd heard those words before but he couldn't remember where…like he was supposed to remember.

Sharpay glanced up for a moment, feeling someone's eyes on her. Her gaze locked with Troy's, she smiled flirtatiously at him, like she did with every other boy who looked at her, before going back to her food.

As soon as her eyes had landed on his Troy could have sword he'd felt a warm breeze drift across him. He looked around; all the doors and windows were closed to keep the chill out. There was no way a breeze could have gotten in, and no way for it to be a warm one either. He shook his head, he was getting paranoid. He went back to finishing his macaroni and cheese when the bell rang. He groaned as he set his fork back on his mostly filled plate before getting up with his friends.

They headed for the door, everyone getting smushed as they tried to squeeze through and get to their next class. Both Troy and Sharpay had drifted near the back of the line, having needed to put their trays back, and had been lost in the crowd. They didn't even notice the other until they had both tried to get past the door together, bumping into each other.

As soon as Sharpay's bare arm met Troy's goosebumps rose over their flesh and whispers flowed through their ears...

"…but the advisors have instructed me that this is what must be done to stop the slave riots!" a man shouted.

"It matters not what the advisors say!" a woman yelled in reply, "All that matters is what you believe is right!"

Troy and Sharpay took a step forward out the door. Whatever they had just heard had only taken a moment to filter across their minds. They looked at each other, neither willing to admit that something odd had happened. They quickly looked away from each other and hurried down the hall in the direction of their respective classes.

Troy still had goosebumps from his brush with Sharpay when he went to basketball practice that afternoon.

"I still can't believe you tried out for the musical," Chad said as he and Troy passed the ball back and forth in practice.

"To do the same thing over and over again is not only boredom: it is to be controlled by rather than to control what you do." Troy said nonchalantly as he passed the ball back to Chad. Chad started to laugh while Troy had a serious face on, it was almost as if he said things like that everyday.

"Oh yeah?" Chad asked tossing him the ball once more, "Who says that? Confucius?"

"Heraclitus," Troy replied quickly, tossing the ball back, "535-475 BC."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Troy stood from his crouched position, eyes wide with confusion.

"What?" Chad asked, utterly confused as to how his best friend could have known that. "How'd you know that?"

"I…don't know…" Troy said racking his brain to try to figure out where he'd heard that before. It was almost like he did know, that the information was at the tip of his mind but he couldn't reach it.

Chad laughed as he watched Troy's brows furrow in thought, he jogged over to him. "Forget it man. Let's play some one-on-one…"

And with that he pushed the ball into Troy's gut…

His eyes widened as he looked into the eyes of the enemy, of those opposing his lord on his holy crusade. His enemy knocked his sword out of his hand, pulling back only enough to stab him in the stomach, penetrating his chain mail. The man pulled the crimson sword out of the boy, watching in disgusting pleasure as the boy fell to the ground, hands holding his wound. The blood was lost too quickly and the boy could feel himself falling to the ground as his last breath left his body, "Sarah…" he whispered as he fell, clutching a silver cross around his neck…

"Troy!" A voice shouted snapping him out of his daze.

He looked up from the yellow wood of the gym floor to see Chad looking at him in worry. "What?" he asked, noticing that his throat felt dry and scratchy.

"You ok man?" Chad asked as a few more of the team walked over to him.

"Yeah man," Jason said, "You don't look so good…you look a little pale…"

Troy looked at each of his teammates before looking down at the ball in his hands and nodding, "I think…I'm just going to go sit down for a minute…be right back, "And with that he dropped the basketball and walked towards the locker room.

He walked into the bathrooms, looking at his reflection in the mirror, he did look very pale. He was sweating as well, a line layer of it coating his brow, matting some of his hair to his forehead. He took a few deep breaths as he turned the cold water on in the sink below him. He ran his hands through the water, noticing that he was shaking slightly.

He looked back up at his reflection as he put some cool water behind his neck and on his forehead. He took a few more deep breathes before shaking his head, getting rid of what had just happened. He shut off the water, shaking his hands out before jogging back into the gym to join his friends…

A/N – A little short, I know. It would have been shorter, I was going to cut if off after the lunch scene but I thought that was too short…Next chapter should be longer…start of actual Troypay-y-ness…