Troy drove to Sharpay's house and sat in his car for about 15 minutes then sighed heavily and trudged up the steps to the door. He raised his hand to knock but the door swung open revealing a short woman with a dark braid.

"Uh hi, I'm Troy Bolton. Sharpay invited me over…" He mumbled awkwardly.

"Well come on in, Troy!" The woman said in a Jamaican accent, stepping back and letting him in. "Sharpay is downstairs in the studio; just go right through that door and down the steps." She instructed.

"Uh…thanks…" He followed her instructions and went down a spiral staircase. At the bottom was the coolest hang out he had ever seen. One half of the room was hardwood floors with several mirrors and a dance bar. The other half was carpeted with a bar that looked to hold several juice concoctions and soda, a plasma screen TV was mounted on the wall, there were several couches and sofas scattered around and a huge entertainment and sound system took up an entire wall.

Sharpay was dancing and signing to Ashley Tisdale's 'He Said, She Said.' Troy didn't want to disturb her so he sat down on the bottom step and let her finish her performance. She ended in a split with her arms in the air.

Troy began to clap and Sharpay jumped and screamed, "How long have you been sitting there?! You perv, why didn't you say something?!" She yelled, getting off the floor and shutting the stereo off.

"Uh, well, it's rude to interrupt, right?" He stuttered. Sharpay rolled her eyes and muttered something about idiotic basketball players.

"So…what now?" He asked uncomfortably.

Sharpay brushed past him and grabbed a bottle of water, "Now we figure out what we're going to do on Monday." She replied coolly.

"Ah…" Troy nodded and stared at the floor.

"Well, don't just stand there! We have work to do!" She hauled him out to the dance floor and put her hands on her hips. "First we need a song…" Sharpay mumbled, going over to the stereo and looking through all of the old CDs.

"Nothing flashy." Troy warned, dreading whatever song she was bound to pick.

"I only do flashy." She retorted, still digging through the racks.

"Yeah, and did flashy win you the lead last time?" He asked, hating himself.

Sharpay froze and turned around slowly; instead of seeing anger in her eyes, he saw deep sadness and a shine of tears, "The only reason you and that Montez girl won was because Ms. Darbus felt bad for you," Her voice shook a little then she spun around and continued to look through her CDs.

Troy decided not to respond and finally, Sharpay popped a disc into the player. The song 'Every Time We Touch' filled the room and Sharpay slowly shook her hips to it then began doing some pretty elaborate dance moves.

Halfway through the song, Troy walked over to the stereo and shut it off. Sharpay froze, breathing heavily, "What's your problem?!" She demanded.

"No. That song does not work with anything in the play!"

"But it's catchy and we can dance to it!"

"We can't sing to it!"

"Sure we can!"

"No, pick another song!" Troy and Sharpay had a small face off until finally she spun around.

"I suppose you want a ballad?" She asked icily.

"Yes, that would be lovely." He responded, ignoring her tone. Sharpay put in a new disc and the song 'Way Back into Love' from Music and Lyrics came on.

"That's much better." Troy decided. Sharpay shrugged, "Fine, just don't expect to win with such a boring ballad."

Troy rolled his eyes at her while she handed him some lyrics. 'Thank you, Gabriella.' He thought sarcastically.

The next morning, Troy walked into school and headed for Sharpay's locker, "We need to rehearse more." He told her curtly, before she had even said anything.

"Thank you captain conspicuous!" She flipped her hair over her shoulder and slammed her locker shut. "At this rate, we'll need all weekend just to learn the song." She sighed, "Can you sleep over tonight?"

"Can I what?!" His eyes went wide. "Oh relax, perv, I just think we need to work harder on this and we need as much time as possible. We have a guest wing you can stay in." She added when he was still staring at her wide eyed.

"Well…I…uh…would have to ask my dad."

"Then do it." She flicked her eyes over his shoulder and Troy turned around to see his dad walking down the hall.

Troy groaned inwardly and walked over to him, "Dad, can I sleep over at Sharpay's tonight, please?" He asked, ignoring how strange it was to say this.

"Uh, no." His father replied, staring at Troy incredulously. Sharpay walked up just then and titled her head a little, "Hello Mr. Bolton, how are you?"

"Hey Sharpay, I'm fine how are you?"

"I'm okay. But I'd feel a whole lot better if you'd let Troy come over tonight. You see, we have a project due on Monday that was sprung on us yesterday and we really need to get cracking on it. So if you could please let Troy sleep over tonight, we'd really appreciate it." She lied easily, batting her eyelashes slightly and titling her head that other way.

Coach Bolton stared between the two of them, "Well, if it's for school work…Okay, fine. But Troy has to sleep in a different room than yours, got it?"

"Of course, Mr. Bolton, thank you so much!" Sharpay called after him then smirked at Troy. Troy stared at her open mouthed then clapped. Sharpay giggled and bowed but before either could say anything, the bell rang and they ran in opposite directions to get to class.

Gabriella, who had been watching this whole ordeal behind a door, clapped and tried to jump up and down but knocked herself over. She glanced around quickly to make sure no one had seen that then pulled herself back up and hobbled towards class.

Ryan, who had also been watching from his locker down the hall and saw Gabriella clapping, furrowed his brow. 'Why is she so happy that Troy and Sharpay are working together? Why did she even suggest they work together? Did-Did she plan this?"

His mind spun at him and he, too, started towards class, 'One way or another, I'm finding out tonight.'

Oh my gosh! I'm truly sorry for not updating! You see, schools almost out. Like, I get out next Wednesday! So I have been swamped with work! So, since this is a long weekend, I decided to update! I'm really sorry! I know this story isn't really ranking that high, but there are some devoted readers out there and I do appreciate all of the PMs or reviews you send! By the way, my next story is probably coming out next week, after school ends! I'm going to (hopefully) start typing the first few chapters this week and then probably have them up soon! I just need a name for it. The original was called When Dreams Come True and I need a title for the sequel so if you guys have any ideas, please let me know! Thank you all! XOXO