Summary: I wish it could all just stop, or at least slow down a bit. Prom is just a week away and however gay I may sound when I say this, I'm totally freaking out. Sequel to One Hour. Troypay /two/shot (still AU!)

Note: If you haven't read One Hour yet, you should probably go back and read that one first before reading this one. :)

Dedication: My good FF friend Abbii, aka DanceDORK, happy belated birthday chica! I hope you had a wonderful sweet 16 b-day on the 15th, right? ;) iloveyou!

Complicated: Part I

I never would've thought that any place on earth could possibly be worst than any spa. I mean, that place is like every straight man's torture. It's funny how a women's desire is a man's worst nightmare...in a lot of cases. I remember having to go with my mom as a kid, whenever she was having one of those weird mid-life crisis ordeals and needed some "female R & R". She would never even stop to try and hire a babysitter for me, as she apparently didn't want to waste any of her "indulgence" time in finding me proper watch care (as my dad was East Highs basketball coach and still is to this very day and stayed for practice everyday until 4:30 and I got off school at 3:15), so she'd just whisk me away with her to that dreaded place instead, saying that this way it not only saved her money but also served as a time for us to spend some quality time together.

Now don't get me wrong here, I mean, I love my mom (and dad) and all but personally as a 7-10 year old kid I never really found "quality time" with the 'rents to be all that fascinating. I'd of much rather spent my time playing with my hot wheels...playing xbox, or shooting hoops outside with my buddy Chad. And I mean...I'd always thought "male bonding" with my father was bad but there's nothing worse than "mommy and me" time, especially if it's at the god forsaken spa.

Usually, I'd just find myself sitting off in the corner of the room on a hard wooden stool with splinters digging into my ass as I kept myself occupied with my Gameboy Advance or Playstation Portable while waiting for my mother to finished up her hair, nail, facial, and massage treatments. (They do chocolate facials there, chocolate! Chocolate is meant for eating, not to smear all over people's faces and make them look all brown and ugly. And I've never quite understood the whole guacamole facials or the whole cucumber on the eye thing either. I'd always watch helplessly as those stuck up bitchy spa workers transformed my mother's face into some kind of alien exhibit at a science museum. what's the point of that anyway? After my mom was finally finished with her treatments, I remember hearing the spa worker ladies tell her "this is the new you!" and "I wish I had your beautiful glow!" but I never saw anything different about her. She walked out of that stupid place looking the exact way she'd walked in to me. So what's the point of facials?)

And not that I wanted too anyway, but this wasn't exactly what most people would describe as bonding. It wasn't until I turned eleven, the big "double one", that I was allowed to stay home alone whenever mom decided she needed a pampering.

Anyway, now that I'm 18, I think it's pretty safe to say that I'll never ever have to go back to that frightening place they call girl heaven ever again unless it's to pick my future wife up or drop her off or something. But spas have nothing to due with malls, which is pretty much tied for first place on my Dreading to Be There list.

Usually I don't mind malls, it's actually not half bad going when I'm there with all my friends, but let's just say that if you're walking hand-in-hand into one with just Evans exactly one week before Senior Prom Night, well...you may as well be signing your own death sentence.

"What do you think of this color?" she asked me, seeming interested in my opinion but I knew better as she held up a bottle of black nail polish for me to see. We were standing in front of the nail polish rack at the nail salon inside our local Albuquerquean mall.

"It's black." I stated boredly, pointing out the obvious. "What am I supposed to think of it?"

She rolled her eyes and placed it back on the rack, picking out a white bottle instead. "Well should I go with a darker or lighter shade?"

I sighed. "I don't know. What color is your dress again?"

"Pale pink. I've already told you that a million times, Troy." Sharpay huffed, sounding aggravated. "I mean shouldn't you already know that? You did get the matching tie I told you to, right?"

I wish it could all just stop, or at least slow down a bit. Prom is just a week away and however gay I may sound when I say this, I'm totally freaking out. First there's dealing with Sharpay when she's all stressed and freaked out like this. Second, there's the whole prospect of me possibly asking her to be my formal girlfriend the day of the prom. I really want to ask her, I'm just not sure how to do or say it. I haven't exactly had a girlfriend in a few years so I kind of forgot how it's done.

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. No, I hadn't gotten the tie. Not yet, I'd actually just barely ordered the tux yesterday, but I couldn't tell her that. She was Sharpay Evans, Ms. Everything-Needs-to-be-Done-Right-Now. But just as I was about to open my mouth to lie my heart out, she'd already seemed to figure out the truth.

"You didn't get it yet!?" She practically screamed at me. Damn. Could that girl read people or what? Or is it just me, being too obvious? "And why not Troy?! Do you just enjoy stressing me out?!"

I grabbed her hand comfortingly on cue as several employees and customers in the salon turned to shoot us strange looks at the tone of her voice.

"Shar, please, inside voices." I told her soothingly. But she just pulled her hand away from mine, telling me that she hated it when I treated her like an elementary schooler. And just as I was about to apologize, one of the worker's wearing her little surgical mask approached us.

"You going to pick color?" she asked my date in a thick Viet-Namese type accent, and I could tell by the look Sharpay gave her, she was about ready to scream at the lady something about "being in a moment" or "can't you see I'm busy?", so before she could, I answered for her.

"Sorry, we're kind of in the middle of something, is it ok if we come back in ten minutes?"

"Yes, slow business day." The worker said reasonably with a shrug before trotting away over to one of her employees who was leaned over a work station filing away on an older woman's nails.

"Why did you turn away the woman responsible for making my nails look good for next weekend!?" Sharpay demanded once she was gone, but instead of answering her question (er..demand), I grabbed a hold of her elbow and let her out of the salon, telling her that we needed to straighten some things out before we did anything else, knowing that if I hadn't said something to the worker, Sharpay's response wouldn't of been a very nice one anyway.

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"Look, I'm sorry about the tie. Things have gotten pretty hectic lately with final exams and all that crap coming up soon." I tried explaining to Sharpay, "but I'm going to get it today. I promise."

She stood angrily with her arms crossed before me. We were standing outside in the parking lot, next to my truck- the vehicle we'd came in, so no one would be around to hear if she had another obvious PMS moment.

"Well I have exams too you know, I have to cram in study time too, but I was able to work around it!"

"I know, I know." I said, "I'm sorry." What else could I say? She did kind of have a point there. But still, no need to blow a fuse over a damn tie.

"Whatever." She rolled her beautiful but now angry eyes and started walking away, back towards the mall entrance.

"Come on, you're not just gonna walk away now are you?" I called after her.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she snapped, not turning around. I took that as my cue to run after her, where I grabbed her arm again, forcing her to stop walking and turn back towards me. She sighed, still keeping her arms crossed, but only stared at me without a word.

"I'm not going back in there until you stop being pissed at me or whatever it is you are right now." I told her. She glared at me for a second before replying.

"Don't come in then," she said, attempting to turn back around, but I stopped her again.

"You're not going either."

"And who made you my boss?" she asked me sarcastically. "I don't need your permission."

"I don't care, either you get happy again or I take you home right now. Take your pick."

I think she could tell that I was serious then. Maybe it was the stern tone of my voice, or the dead serious look I was attempting to give her as I looked her straight in the eye. Either way her glare softened and something seemed to spark inside her, because then she gave in with a "fine, I'll be "happy" again."

"Good choice." I said, glad that she chose not to stay mad at me. It seems like ever since that day on the pedal boat around a month ago, we've kind of been having these little arguments here and there. Maybe it's because we're so used to fighting all the time that it's a hard habit to break, but whatever the reason, I don't like fighting with her anymore. I really don't, because I want this to be smooth sailing or remotely close to that from now on with me and her. I know things won't be perfect, but couldn't we at least try to get along better now? I mean...I really do like her, and she knows that, so why would I want to fight anymore?

Sharpay didn't say anything then, she just turned around again and started to walk off towards the building without me, and even though she said she'd be happy again, something told me she was going to continue giving me the cold shoulder anyway unless I did something.

"Sharpay..." I warned, and she whirled around.

"What?" she spat.

"Can I have a hug?" I smiled, ignoring her tone and holding my arms wide open for her, and the look on her face at that moment showed no more signs of anger or annoyance or anything that had been there seconds before. I could actually tell she was hiding a smile as she sighed, finally uncrossed her arms, and stepped into my open and waiting ones.

She felt warm and small and scented of sweet berries as I held her against me, like she always does. This is always the part where we make up for sure- when I give her my charming grin that I'm well aware drives her crazy, and we hug away all the bad feelings. Yeah, I'll admit, I can be kind of corny sometimes. I gave her sun kissed strawberry fragrant-ed hair a short kiss before we pulled away, and I didn't have to reach for her hand this time before she walked off again, because she smiled at me and slid hers into mine, and I knew that now we could go back in the mall feeling good and refreshed and she would be able to go through her nail polish options without having to shriek at me again while I went to go order that tie.

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I know lately it seems like I've been freaking out on Troy for the smallest things, but I can't really help it. He just pisses me off sometimes without really meaning to, especially when I'm as stressed as I've been lately. He's not mean to me anymore, at least not as much as he used to be, but still...for some reason I've been having this low tolerance thing with him. And when he forgets to do things that might not be that important to him, like not ordering his tie, well...they actually mean something to me, and I sometimes can't believe how dimwitted he can be. I know he was just making up excuses with the whole "exams" thing. Hell, just last week when my parents asked me why I haven't been doing my chores around the house ever since our housekeeper Lucia had to quit a couple of months ago due to "personal issues" and my dad hasn't been able to get around to hiring a new one, I used the I've-been-studying-for-exams thing as an excuse when the real reason was because I was either:

a. Spending extra time on prom details- making sure my dress was perfect, along with my shoes, hair and nail appointments, limo for my friends and I, etc, etc.

or

b. Spending countless hours hanging out with or talking on the phone with Troy, discussing everything from rounds of "would you rather?" to what we ate for dinner to what homework we had to do to what we want to be when we're older to our favorite movies and so forth. It's amazing, really- I've known him since like, second grade when he first moved here, and never really thought he was all that deep. I honestly just thought that him loving the color red, basketball, and video games was just about all there was to him. But I swear I've learned way more about him in just the last short month than I had in the last ten years that we've been running around in the same group together. It's like, we spent all that time picking on each other (well, mostly him on me), wasting away all the time we could've had to be nice to and get to know each other. And I know this may seem like I'm jumping way far ahead into conclusions, but think about it, if we'd been nice to each other all along, we could be like in love or something by this point. There, I said it. But you know it's true. Ten years? That's a long time people!

Anyway, I really like him a lot still, even if we have only been on really good terms minus the mini arguments here and there for a month, and I don't like being mad at him, but would it really kill him to be a little more organized sometimes?

"Sharpay..." I heard him call my name in a slow, warning tone from behind me as I stormed off again. Sick of this, I whirled around, not caring that I'd just promised to be happy literally ten seconds ago, ready for whatever fight/argument he was probably going to try and pick with me this time. But when I saw that gorgeous smile of his spread across his face, something told me that there was no way in hell I could stay even the slightest bit mad at or annoyed with him any longer. Ever since he finally stopped giving me that stupid smirk that he always used to that I despise like nothing else in the world, no matter how sexy it looks on him, well...he's luckily since replaced it with this beautiful grin that he's always giving me nowadays, and I love that grin, and I'm pretty sure he knows that I do, because now he always uses it on me whenever he can sense that he or something else is bothering me or just for no reason sometimes too. And then he asked me the question that makes me melt like putty in his hands every time he wants it.

"Can I have a hug?"

and it's not so much the sentence itself, it's the way he asks it so innocently and adorably like nothing was ever wrong, like he's really just made any last traces of the problem go away- just like that, and how on earth is it possible for me to resist him when he does that?

Fuck the tie, I don't care anymore.

That's when I find myself falling into his ready and open arms, having this giddy little tingly feeling inside me, knowing that I'm the only girl whose toned arms those are strictly reserved for, minus Gabriella and Taylor, who he only sees as sisters anyway. It's like, when I'm not getting annoyed with him, which I'm only annoyed with him sometimes now anyways, I'm falling for him more and more each passing second, but I don't think he knows how much I like him. I couldn't really tell you why though, but I'm pretty positive he has no idea how strongly I feel for him.

But I don't know, is it possible to love someone for ten years, but not really even realize it, until something happens to make you realize it? Is that how I am with Troy? Or am I just a stupid teenager that falls in what feels close to "love" too quickly and easily and is going to end up with my heart broken when push comes to shove, when it all comes down to it? And how much does he even like me? And with the end of high school nearing, what's going to happen? I think he's got his heart set on Berkley, and I think I'm going to stay here at the U of A.

But maybe I'm getting way too far ahead of myself...I mean...damn, shit, crap, and HEL-LO? We're not even "official"...

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"Hey Uncle Ted's here with the limo come see it!" my brother called up to me, Gabi, and Taylor a week later without taking a pause. My ears perked up at the news of Teddy and and the limo arriving finally, since they were fifteen minutes late but still here an hour before we were set to leave. Taking my newly pedicured feet out of my vibrating foot tub, I quickly sprinted down the stairs clad in my pink robe, followed closely behind by my best friends.

"Ryan! What are you doing already in your tux?" I screamed at my twin upon seeing him in the driveway, gazing proudly at the long, sleek black limo. But before he could respond, I kept on going. "Go upstairs and get out of that! Gabi can't see you yet!"

I would hate to see Troy in his tuxedo before I was supposed to- which is when he's standing at the bottom of the staircase gazing up at me as I elegantly descend the stairs and grace him with my presence with my parents at his sides like you see in all the movies, as I'd hate for him to see me in my dress before that moment, so I'm only trying to imagine what it must be like for Gabriella to see her boyfriend standing there all show offy in his suit before the time is right. So I'm only screaming at him you know- for her sake. I mean, I know it must be weird getting ready for prom when your date's bedroom is just down the hall from where you're getting ready, but the least Ryan can do is avoid us for another hour. So he basically needs to get lost now.

"Okay, sorry, sorry." Ryan quickly apologized, quickly running by us and shooting one quick smile at Gabriella before he disappeared back into the house. She looked at me and giggled.

"He's so cute," she gushed, and I just rolled my eyes. Those two have been dating for over a year now and they've still got the sickening cuteness factor/glow of a brand new little couple-couple thing going on. It's disgusting and somehow cute at the same time. God, how I hope I'm never like that with any future boyfriends...and let's just pretend that Troy's face didn't flash into my mind the moment you read that, mmkay?

"No drooling over boys right now, Gabi. That's the rule when there's a limo right in front of you!" I scolded her only half playfully, and Taylor nodded in agreement with me. The latina laughed.

"Okay, sorry, sorry."

"Okay don't, now you just sound like him." I said, walking towards the limo driver, Ted, who just so happens to be my favorite uncle in the entire world.

"Hey Teddy!" I greeted the 40 year old whom I've been calling Teddy for as long as I can remember. Okay, so he's not exactly really my uncle. He's my dad's best friend that's been a regular member at our family owned country club for years and not only owns a limo company, but is now helping my dad remodel Lava Springs, so he's basically like family. My parents even told me he helped teach me and Ryan how to walk since he'd taught his own daughter a year earlier who I hate and who hates me. I mean gosh, you blow out one first grader's birthday candles when you're in kindergarten and she just has to go and "accidentally" spill grape soda on your brand new dress. For god's sake, she was taking waytoo long to make a damn wish! Me? It was always "gimmie a pony, the end." but nooo not with brainless little Chelsea, who takes 25 million years to make one wish. But did I ever get my pony? No. Damn karma.

Anyways, now that Chelsea's about ready to graduate her freshman year of college, I'm just glad I never have to see that bitch that often anymore...except for practically every holiday break of course, and in a couple of weeks when she's probably going to come home from wherever her dungeon is and I'll be forced to pretend to like her like I always have to to please the 'rents all over again, when it's clear that she obviously wants me to go die in a hole somewhere anyway.

Sigh, if only tonight could last forever.

"Hey there, how's my favorite niece?" Ted asked me, giving me a side hug. I know with the way we're greeting each other, it would probably seem as if we haven't seen each other in weeks, but in truth, I saw him just last Sunday when he came over with his second wife Ciara and his son Patrick for lunch. Patrick's twelve and I love him to death, he's really the sweetest kid- and from what I've been told, a real ladies man among the sixth graders. So what the hell happened to his sister? I swear she is not from that family in actuality.

"I'm good," I smiled up at Teddy. "Thanks so much for the limo tonight!"

And not only is he being extremely helpful with daddy down at the club, he's also not making us pay a cent for the best limo he could find for us to use for however long we please tonight. He really is the best 'uncle' ever.

"Well, I know a girl's senior prom means everything to her and her friends. I remember how it was with Chelsea last year."

I nodded and smiled, not really caring about my hated "cousin's" prom but pretending to anyway just to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"It really is, tonight's going to be great!" I said enthusiastically.

"Can we go in?" Taylor asked excitedly, "just to check it out?"

"Sure." Ted said, and Taylor and Gabriella squealed and thanked him before running inside the longgg car.

"So you're our chauffer for tonight Teddy?" I asked him, eager to see the inside of the limo as well but also wanting to talk to him.

"You betcha, which reminds me- no tongue or other physical activity in the backseat." He said, but I could tell he was joking around.

"Oh come on it's not like you'd tell my dad anyway," I responded. He chuckled.

"Probably wouldn't, but how about for my benefit you kids keep everything PG?"

"Just don't look through the glass that separates us from you," I smirked. He just laughed.

"So whose the lucky fellow?" He asked me. When we'd made limo arrangements we hadn't really discussed my date or anything like that. I shrugged nonchalantly.

"This guy Troy, you've met him." I said. He'd met Troy a couple of times, as he'd been around sometimes when Ryan and I had the whole crew over.

"Oh yeah, seems like a nice young man." Ted nodded. "So, he your boyfriend now?"

I just smiled back in response.

"I'll take that as a yes?"

I sighed. "Nah, not yet I mean." I shrugged. "But you never know about the future."

I didn't tell Teddy that a part of me is actually pretty sad that there hardly is any future left for any kind of romance to brew between me and Troy. Just the rest of the school year and summer, but he can probably already assume that, so I don't see a point in saying it.

But I'm not gonna waste any part of tonight being bummed. This is the night I've been looking forward to since I was in third grade and could actually understand what a prom was. Tonight had to be absolutely perfect!

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The agreement between all the girls, Ryan, Chad, and I was that me and Chad were supposed to meet at Ryan and Sharpay's house at exactly seven o'clock. Apparently, Ryan's supposed to answer the door so when the ladies come downstairs we can all be in awe at once or something while all the girl's moms stand by and take pictures. So I guess that means not only are Vance and Derby here (duh it's they're house) but Gabriella and Taylor's mothers are too. I guess all the women involved in this circle are all pretty close, including the mothers.

"Hey man." I said to Chad with an upwards gesture of my head in my friend's general direction as I climbed out of my crappy truck, which compared nothing to the lengthy dark limo in the driveway, and greeted Chad by his car.

"Hey, sweet ride tonight huh?" he said, glancing at what would be our ride to tonight's festivities. I nodded, remembering how a couple of weeks ago Sharpay had called me all in panic-attack mode desperately wondering if we should go with a black or white limo. I'd told her that whichever would be fine and to just take a deep breath, to which she'd responded with "I should've figured you'd be no help. Ugh you're such a guy Troy, I'm callin' Tay," before hanging up on me. Now I've just gotta wonder what finally led her to choosing the black one over the white.

After staring at the limo, which appeared to be empty, for a while longer, I told Chad that we should probably head inside now. So he followed me to the ridiculously large front door of the freakin' mansion where Sharpay and Ryan live (but they get all pissed off every time you call it a mansion because even though they're rich, for some reason they get really uncomfortable when you bring it up or hint at it if even just a little bit, when the whole school knows they're loaded already anyway so what's the point in denying it and longer when they obviously know it too,) and rang the doorbell, starting off the night.

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I've been spending this whole entire time freaking out and living on caffeinated beverages while I frantically was running around trying to make everything perfect, that I almost had never thought that the nerves would still be within me, only twenty five times worse, on the actual night of the prom when the boys came to pick us up.

Well, maybe I should've considered that option, because when the ring of the doorbell sounded throughout the house at approximately 7:08 PM, the pink lipstick I was applying at the time smeared all over the left side of my face when I jumped startled by the not even all that sudden noise of the bell.

"Fuck my life and all my future children!"

"What happened?" Gabriella asked me, immediately rushing to my side, nearly tripping over her heels in the process.

If you're a close friend of mine, then you know that whenever I include the "my life and all my children" part of that sentence in my exclamations, especially the "all my children" part, that the situation must be a pretty freakin' horrible one.

But I knew that she knew that no explanation was needed when she caught sight of my pink streaked face.

The doorbell rang again.

"Motherf- IS SOMEONE GONNA GET THAT?!" I screamed down the stairs to whoever would hear me whether it be Ryan, one of our parents, Gabriella or Taylor's mom, or Teddy. Last I checked, which was about half an hour ago, all the adults were sitting around the kitchen elegantly sipping on iced teas and making small talk, so shouldn't they still be down here now?

"I'll get it!" Ryan's voice called back to me, though not from down the stairs, but from his bedroom next door to mine through this weird everywhere-which-way-and-that speaker thing we have hooked up in our house in every single room. See, my voice is the only one in my family who'se doesn't need to be spoken through a speaker in order to get my message across to everyone. I can be well louder than a siren when needed to be.

"Tay can you go get me a damp washcloth? Warm please. Oh, and a dry one?" I asked my friend, going from all pissed off and beyond stressed one moment to all polite and mannered the next. Really, Gabriella and Taylor are the only two I hardly ever flip a bitch on- just sometimes.

"Sure thing," Taylor replied, setting down her own tube of lipstick on my vanity and heading for the conjoined bathroom to my bedroom.

"Chad and Troy are here." Ryan informed me through the speaker. Groaning, I tore my gaze away from the mirror I was staring in horror and disapproval at and went over to it.

"Well I'm gonna be a few more minutes," I informed my twin through the speaker while pressing down on the "talk" button. I released it then, waiting to hear his response.

"Yeah, yeah." Ryan said, and then I heard another familiar voice flow through the sound system, replacing his annoying one.

"Hey Shar, you almost ready to get outta here?" the new voice asked me carefully, and I actually almost smiled by just the sound of his voice.

Get a hold of yourself, Sharpay!

"Here you are." Taylor said, returning to the room with one damp towel and one dry one. I took them and thanked her quickly while she went to go finish her makeup, before turning back to the speaker-microphone-thing that I'm still not sure what the proper name for it is.

"Yes, just a few more minutes." I repeated what I'd said to Ryan, only in a less snappy tone and figuring there was no need to explain to him the whole lipstick fiasco story.

"Alright, well, there's no rush. We're just wondering is all." Troy told me, probably assuming that by him asking if we were almost ready I took that as he was purposely trying to rush me instead. Aww, he knows me so well now.

"Okay," I said before leaving the speaker thing-a-ma-jig and back over to the mirror I'd been at. I scowled at my reflection in disapproval and gently tried to wipe/rub off the stupid lipstick smear, worried that if I rubbed too hard it would turn my cheek red.

"Ugh, this sucks." I complained to my friends with a groan, carefully scrubbing myself with the washcloth that was damp.

"It'll come off though, don't worry." Gabriella tried soothingly.

"No, not this in particular. This whole thing in general. Why do I always have to stress myself out all the time?" I shook my head, knowing for a fact that I needed to be calmer about everything but not being able to.

"Because you look at the big picture instead of taking things one by one in little steps," she replied, and instead of glaring and saying "Who asked you anyway?" like I probably would have to anyone else (because clearly it was supposed to be meant as a rhetorical question), I just shrugged and mumbled a "whatev."

Five minutes later, I finally had the smear cleaned off and my makeup as perfect as I could get it without any professional help like I'd had done on my hair just a couple of hours ago. My hair was curled and down with my bangs crossing over to the right side of my face, and was looking blonde as ever. The bleached blonde color looks really fake and sometimes even tacky on a lot of people, but I honestly think I make it work. My dress is this pretty light pink one that goes just a couple of inches past the knee and kind of flares out at the ends and has this cute little pink ribbon that wraps around underneath the breast area and ties into a bow at the front . I actually found this one shopping online not long ago, after I'd already picked out that lavender one I found at the store a little over a month ago. But when I found this dress online, I knew I'd made a huge mistake by going with the other one instead that had been my original first choice. Don't get me wrong, the lavender one was great, but this one I just find even better. Plus, it has crystals. Glamorous Swarovski crystals decorating a good front portion of the dress, but not all 'over the top or anything', just the right amount and a good majority of sparkly crystals are just so completely and totally me.

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I had just downed my second can of Pepsi (hard to sneak any form of alcohol past the parentals), when Derby Evans came rushing into the kitchen, telling Chad and I to come on because the girls were finally ready.

Ryan was already waiting at the bottom of the long staircase when we ran in there practically tripping over our shiny black shoes due to Derby practically screaming "Go! Go! Go!" as we got out of our seats at the kitchen counter. Mrs. Mckessie and Montez- ready with their digital cameras, followed closely behind us and Vance Evans and Ted the limo driver -slash- family friend of the Evanses were hot on their heels.

"How are they supposed to know to come down now?" Chad asked anyone in the room that was willing to answer.

"Already on it." Derby said, already in mid-text message mode on her cellular. (Jesus Christ who actually says cellular anymore?)

"I'll have to thank Sharpay for teaching me how to do this later." The older woman muttered to herself whilst clicking away on the mobile. I couldn't help but chuckle a little at the thought of Sharpay attempting to teach her mother how to text. With how impatient that girl could be, I imagine how intense something even as simple as that must've been.

Gabriella was the first to come walking elegantly down the steps, and I smiled, not only because she did admittedly look great, but also because it reminded me of how last week on the phone when I was talking to Sharpay, I asked her what she was doing and she replied "Walking up and down the stairs with Gabi and Tay" and when I'd asked why, her reply had been "just practicing so that on the day of the prom we don't like trip or something down the staircase."

She really is a little bit too over prepared, but I suppose it's all just for the better.

"You look beautiful." The voice of Ryan cut into my thoughts, and everyone watched as the couple- Gabriella with her long shiny blue dress with her hair in what looked to be some kind of complicated up-do, and Ryan in his matching deep blue tie and black suit, greeted each other at the bottom of the steps. They smiled at each other and probably being too shy to kiss in front of everyone, joined hands before Ryan handed her the corsage he bought her and she handed him his boutonniere (which I only know the names of because of the countless number of times Sharpay told me.)

"Estás hermosa, mi amor" Gina told her daughter, meaning "you're gorgeous, my love". I took Spanish last semester. Gabriella had made me, saying she was tired of me always asking "what are you guys talking about?" whenever her and her mom were having a conversation in that language.

Gabriella smiled at her. "Thanks, mom. And thanks for helping me with my hair." (Her, Taylor, and Sharpay's mom's had apparently been upstairs around 45 minutes ago to help the girls with "finishing touches." That's what they'd been talking about in the kitchen beforehand with Chad, Ted, Vance, and I.)

"You sure got a keeper, son." Vance told Ryan, lightly placing a hand on his shoulder, causing both Ryan and Gabriella to blush furiously. I held back a laugh.

After several more seconds full of everyone (or mostly everyone) in the room ogling Ryan and Gabriella with that weird "cute" factor that all the girls claim those two have and telling them how good they looked, Derby announced that she was going to tell Sharpay for the next girl whether it be her or Taylor come down. I could never really understand that though- I mean, why couldn't all three of them just come down at once? Of course, when Id asked Sharpay this, her reply had been "every girl needs to have her own moment in the spotlight, Troy." in this tone of voice that me I was already supposed to know that for some reason.

Anyway, we all glanced at each other, muttering Taylor's name knowingly, sure that Sharpay was going to want to be the one to come down last.

We were right, because that's when suddenly Taylor's frame rounded the corner, appearing at the top of the stairs. She smiled down at us- the crowd before her, and slowly started descending the steps one by one. Chad let out a low whistle when she was about halfway down a couple of seconds later. I saw all three girls mom's clicking away on their cameras (not just one, but all three) out of the corner of my eye, like they'd done with Gabriella earlier as the girl- clad in this shimmering type knee length black dress with her hair straightened and cut off just below the chin, came waltzing down.

"Well hello there, oh beautiful-girlfriend-of-mine." Chad greeted his girl, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. She laughed and told him he "didn't look so bad himself," before they exchanged the finishing touches for their outfits as well. All of this mambo just caused me to resist the urge to roll my eyes impatiently in spite of myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for my friends, but all of this just makes me all the more eager to see my own date for the night coming downstairs to greet me.

"Lookin' good, Tay." Ryan smiled at his sister's and girlfriend's best friend and his own (or one of them.) And rather then being jealous from the compliment meant for her friend like other people would, but not anyone in our group, Gabriella smiled and nodded in agreement, even though she'd already seen Taylor just minutes ago upstairs. I nodded too and told her she looked great, as did her mom, Gabriella's mom, and Sharpay's mom, while Vance and Ted stood nearby nodding politely in a silent agreement. She thanked us all.

"Now all we need is Sharpay, and then we can take couple pictures." Gabriella said excitedly. Derby nodded, already typing a message on her cell phone.

After that precise moment, I felt time drone on slower then I'd ever before experienced time in my life. Sharpay was next, last, and third, and was finally coming downstairs to greet me. (Er...I mean, us.) But it seemed to take forever, because the more I stood staring at the top of the staircase, the longer time seemed to expand, and what was probably only a minute or less, felt like hours before that silver high heeled foot placed itself on the top step.

Starting at her shiny strappy-looking shoes, I worked my way up her body- taking in her sweet bodily features. Now Sharpay did have kind of lean legs, but still sexy to me all the same. Her dress was light pink, just like she'd said, not short but not long,and had that special Sharpay touch of sparkles decorating parts of it.

Glamorous, she'd say.

Hot, I'd say.

I could see the flashes of yellow as Derby, Gina, and Sheryl snapped photos of the alluring woman coming down towards us; and she probably felt like a celebrity in a crowd of paparazzi in those flashing lights, and all I could really concentrate on was her.

I finally let my eyes follow up to meet hers, and as they locked at once- brown and blue coming together in a mix of gray. I felt the corners of my mouth curling upward in the form of a smirk, which she returned.

I didn't even realize how fast my heart was beating until I stepped forward and reached my hand out to take hers, and god help me, but I even felt the strange surge of warmth thats' really kind of indescribable course throughout my body from the moment her small hand slid into mine.

"Hi," she smiled at me in a way that either was or could just be mistaken as adoringly, and I grinned back at her.

"I can't even begin to describe how gorgeous you are." I whispered to her, looking at her still curved-upwards lips and contemplating whether I should kiss her at this moment. I decided not to, luckily remembering the nine other people in the room- but only for a moment, before my attention went back to being fully focused on her.

"Thanks. You're adorable, Bolton." Sharpay said, pinning her (or technically, mine I guess) boutonniere to my suit jacket. "And you actually got the tie." There were obvious hints of humor in her voice. "It takes a real man to where pink." She told me with a wink.

"I told you I would." I chuckled, sliding the corsage I'd been carrying around all night onto her wrist. "And wow Shar, ha. Thanks."

She looked at me for a moment before quickly glancing around at the other people in the room, but I just continued staring at her. She looked back at me then, apparently having decided something because that's when she raised her makeup-perfected face to mine and kissed me quickly before pulling away. I stiffened a little in surprise. She doesn't do that very often. We don't do that very often, even though I always want to we just...don't really. Just sometimes. On occasion.

"Oh, you look absolutely amazing, honey." Gina told her. She grinned.

"Thanks, Gina."

"Yeah," Ryan shrugged. "I guess once you get past the whole anxiety thing the rest of you I guess isn't all that bad."

Everyone in the room laughed at once as Sharpay glared playfully at her brother. "Yeah, whatever Ryan."

After more compliments to Sharpay and Gabriella and Taylor from Vance, Sheryl, Derby, Gina, and Ted, we finally got one step closer to leaving for the school when Sheryl suggested we get to the picture taking portion of the evening.

The adults took a few pictures of Taylor and Chad first, then Sharpay and myself, followed by ones of just Ryan and Gabriella. After the two-person pictures, the girls posed for several together, then just us guys- me, Ryan, and Chad, and then lastly- group photos of all six of us together. (Each couple took turns being in the middle and on either side.) and then Derby, who said it'd be good for scrap booking or something, insisted on pictures of the four Evanses' together for just a couple of pictures. And just when we thought that was finished, Mrs. Evans cut in again at the last minute saying she would really love one of her son and daughter together.

"Uh, but he's not my prom date." Sharpay pointed out, "Ew."

"Hey, love you too, sis." Ryan said sarcastically, and Sharpay just laughed and rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Oh, come here little bro."

"Ten minutes, just ten minutes." The younger twin muttered with an eye roll, casually draping an arm across his sister's shoulders anyway.

And finally, after probably fifteen or twenty minutes on what was just spent taking pictures, a now impatient but trying hard to hide it Ted escorted us out to the limo as the rest of the adults shouted after us to have a good time, and finally, finally, finally once we were all seated comfortably in the back, we were off.

East High, watch out.

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"I can't believe how many pictures they made us take!" Gabriella said with a laugh as Teddy pulled out of the driveway.

"Seriously," Tay agreed. "I'm still seeing random blurs of color and lights in the air!" She then blinked several times to prove her point. The rest of us laughed again. It wasn't as though what she said was really that funny or anything- it was more so the excitement I guess. The night hadn't even started yet and luckily I'm already cooling down. It's actually even kind of (not really, but kind of at least) surprised with how jumpy and anxious I was just probably half an hour ago. But I'm glad I'm kind of calming down a little. I mean, luckily I didn't slip and tumble down the stairs or anything when I made my grand appearance earlier- at least that had gone perfect as planned. Troy looked so flippin' cute in his little black suit and pink tie. (I never knew that color to look so hot on him. Seriously, no boy has ever worn my favorite color that well,) and he luckily thought I looked great too. I already thought I'd looked pretty good, but it felt nice to hear it from him, y'know?

And then when I'd kissed him ever so shortly at the bottom of the stairwell...well, he'd seemed kind of surprised. I guess because there'd been nine other people watching us closely. But I really didn't and don't even care. I've made a deal with myself to just go on and kiss him whenever I want too. Why hold back anyway? This isafter all, Troy Bolton we're talking about here. Handsome, sweet, adorable, non-jerkish anymore Troy Bolton. Ever since that day out on the lake, for some reason we really haven't kissed all that much. Just a few times here and there, but I really don't even know why. We both know we like each other, right? So why do we still remain shy about lip-locking? We hug all the time and hold hands and kiss each other on the cheek and all that stuff, but rarely does he ever make a move to kiss me on the mouth anymore, and I'm kind of getting tired of it. I know it's only been shortly over a month but...still. And if you think about it, we're really not moving fast at all, considering with how long I've known him. If anything it's too slow. I'd just been joking around with Teddy earlier about all the stuff about messing around in the backseat, obviously.

I smiled up at Troy from my seat next to him on the leather seat in the limo, and he smiled back at me, holding my left hand secure in his lap with his right and keeping his other arm around me. I sank back in the seat, relaxing finally and completely for what seemed to be the first time in ages, knowing that tonight was surely going to be a night to remember no matter what.

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A/N: Part II on next page ya'll!!!