Chapter Four

A loud pounding on the door drew Sharpay's wandering attention away from the various going-ons outside the kitchen window and towards the front door. She glanced at the kitchen clock, 10 AM. Who in their right mind would be at her house at 10? Her dad left for work early, Ryan left a while ago for the park to play some B-Ball with the team, and she was just about to make breakfast.

She groaned as the pounding resumed. She grabbed her steaming cup of tea with milk and headed for the front door. "I'm coming, hold on!" She shouted, unlocking the door and opening it to reveal none other than Troy Bolton standing on her doorstep.

Her mouth dropped open as she stared at him standing before her. Troy hadn't been to her house in nearly 8 years…what was he doing there?

Troy could tell that she was too shocked to talk so he went first, "Hey Sharpay," he said simply smiling a little.

"I…what…huh?" she rambled still not able to grasp that he was at her house…in the morning…while she was in her pjs.

She was barely up that morning, soccer had taken a lot out of her the day before and she spent most of the afternoon and evening trying to finish her AP Bio homework.

"Um…can I come in?" he asked, trying not to look at her. She was wearing baggy black pajama bottoms with a tight dark red tank top which left little to the imagination of her…womanly figure…

Sharpay just nodded, stepping aside to let him in. As soon as the door shut behind him, she seemed to snap out of her shock.

"What are you doing here Bolton?" she snapped at him, glaring.

Troy unconsciously flinched when she said his name…she really was a great actress…or bi-polar…

"I uh…I…" he just couldn't seem to get the words out. How was he supposed to tell her he'd been following her around for the last two days like a stalker? How was he supposed to tell her that he knew her secret? That he knew what she did with her time out of school?

"You what?" she bit off; "Spit it out!"

"I know what you're hiding!" he said quickly. He thought he'd said it too quickly because Sharpay just stared at him for a moment.

"What?" she asked softly, unsure of what exactly he knew she was hiding.

A small smile made its way to his face, "I know about what you're really like."

Sharpay scoffed at that, "Right," she said sarcastically, "And what makes you think that this isn't how I normally am?"

"Because I saw you cry," he said, staring her in the eye so she would know he wasn't lying, "Friday…in the auditorium…during free period…I saw you…"

Alarm flashed quickly through her eyes before it was masked, "Yeah and?" she asked, "What makes you think that I wasn't just practicing a monologue for the auditions?"

"Because I saw where you went after school." He said, smiling smugly. He'd caught her.

Her eyes flashed with fear before once again masking in anger, "What?!" she shouted, "You followed me! What are you some kind of stalker? Do you watch me come home? Follow me up to my house? Watch me undres…"

She was cut off from her rant by Troy placing his hand over her mouth. "I was worried about you," he said softly, "I've never seen you cry like that before and I wanted to make sure you were alright."

He removed his hand as Sharpay stared at him, "And instead of just asking me…" she started, "you decided to stalk me?!"

Troy rolled his eyes, why couldn't she make this easy? "Because you would have acted like everything was fine and given me an attitude!" he shouted.

Sharpay quieted down, she'd never heard Troy yell before…at least not at her. She really did hate to make him angry, she hated being mean to people but it had become a defense mechanism…whenever someone got close to finding out something about her, she'd push them away. Obviously that wouldn't work with Troy…he'd found out on his own with out her knowing…shame on her.

"Sorry," she mumbled, head bowed.

He sighed, "It's alright," he replied letting them fall into an awkward silence. Neither really knew what to say. Troy didn't want to push Sharpay farther away than she already was, not when he was beginning to see a new side to her, and Sharpay didn't know if she really wanted someone to know her secret.

But the more she thought about it, the more she remembered the better times she had shared with Troy…back when they had been friends in elementary school. Since kindergarten, Troy had been one of her best friends, her only friend besides Ryan. They were pretty much inseparable up until the third grade. School was ending and Sharpay had gotten the lead in the third grade play that they would show on the last day of school. Troy hadn't been able to go; his grandmother had died a few days earlier from Cancer and Sharpay understood. But the day after the last day of school was when things started to change. Troy went off to Basketball camp leaving Sharpay and Ryan alone. Sharpay had gone to her mother begging and pleading for acting lessons. She really loved to act and might have wanted to make a career out of it.

Unfortunately she annoyed her mother to no end with her endless pleases. Her mother was going to work, the night shift at the hospital, she was a nurse, when she finally snapped. She had turned to Sharpay as she tugged her mother's uniform to get her attention, and said that she would never be a great actress and that someone would be out there better than her. It really hurt Sharpay that her own mother would think that of her; think so little in her abilities.

The next thing Sharpay knew, her father was getting a phone call that there had been an accident. A drunk driver had hit her mother's car…she died on impact. Sharpay had made it her life's goal to prove her mother wrong, to get to lead every time, to make her proud of her daughter. She spent the summer at acting lessons and was so ready to show her best friend Troy all the different things she had learned…but something had changed. He came back and started to hang out with the new kid Chad, who he met at camp. He barely said two words to Sharpay…he didn't even notice that her mother had died…and that hurt her even more than her mother's words…

But she had had so much fun with Troy before that…and now, she didn't have anyone anymore. Ryan had sworn not to tell anyone what she was like…but he wasn't around anymore and she was getting lonely. Maybe Troy knowing wasn't such a bad thing…one more person knowing her secret almost made her feel good…like there was someone who could get to know her, Sharpay the person, not Sharpay her frigidness. Maybe…it wouldn't be too bad…

"Sharpay?" Troy asked after a moment of her staring off into space, "Sharpay?" he asked again, shaking her from her thoughts. "Are you alright?"

She looked into his eyes, the two pools of sky blue, and saw sincerity behind them. He wasn't just being a jerk, threatening to tell everyone her secret; he was truly interested in just being her friend again. She nodded softly, "Yeah, I'll be fine…" she took a deep breath, "Do you…want some breakfast?" she asked lamely.

"Well, I am…" but his words were drowned out by a low rumbling from his stomach.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said, laughing slightly as he blushed in embarrassment. "Come one, the kitchen's this way."

She led him down the hall to the kitchen, motioning for him to take a seat at one of the high stools by the counter as she set her tea down. She went over to the cabinets, rummaging around for a minute before turning to Troy, "Pancakes good for you?"

He nodded and she pulled out everything she'd need, mixing it all together, and in no time had a stack of pancakes on the counter for them both to eat. She set out a plate and fork for Troy, setting the syrup before them as she took her seat across from him.

When she looked up from taking a few pancakes she noticed him staring at her, "What?" she asked, cutting a piece of pancake and eating it.

"Nothing, it's just…" Troy trailed before smiling, "I'm glad I'm getting to see this side of you."

Sharpay blushed at that, "Well…I'm glad someone gets to see this side of me."

The rest of breakfast went by in silence with two teens just enjoying each other's company. Around 11 they both finished and Sharpay put the dishes in the dish washer before heading upstairs to get changed for the day.

She came back down a few minutes later wearing a simply blue jean skirt and light green fitted t-shirt. Troy's eyes swept over her quickly, he really did like her better when she dressed simply.

"So what are we doing today?" Troy asked, following her out of the house.

"We?" Sharpay asked, locking the door, not looking at him.

"Yes, we," Troy said, giving her a boyish grin, "…unless you'd rather have me stalk you again?"

Sharpay laughed, shaking her head at his antics before leading him down to her car, "Well first I go down to the soup kitchen around lunch time to volunteer there," she started, getting in her car, "Then I have a few lessons and then I work on my homework."

"We have a soup kitchen?" Troy asked, he hadn't known that their town had a soup kitchen.

"Well, we don't but a few towns over there's one." She started her car, "It takes about a half hour to get there so I usually leave just about now to make it there by 12."

Troy made an 'o' with his mouth, nodding his head in understanding. Sharpay backed carefully out of her driveway and started down the street before she turned on her music. "I hope you don't mind listening to Wicked," she said as she fiddled with the CD player, playing the first song, "I've been dieing to go see it. I'm thinking I'll go over the summer."

Troy was about to comment on his shared desire to see it when No One Mourns the Wicked blasted through the car.

They drove in silence, listening to, and occasionally singing along with, the CD. Troy was starting to get a little jittery though, they had been driving through what didn't seem to be a very good neighborhood for the last five minutes. He glanced over at Sharpay, she didn't appear too worried, so he didn't say anything. A few minutes later she pulled up in front of what looked like an abandoned fire house. It had a banner across the front labeled 'Soup Kitchen', so Troy knew it must be the place…well duh, they were headed to a soup kitchen.

Sharpay quickly got out of her car, waiting for Troy to do the same before locking it and heading inside.

Troy was amazed; there were hundreds of people sitting at rows of fold out tables with a line of more people against the wall in a single file, waiting for their turn to get food from a table in the back.

"Sharpay!" a voice called from the side.

They turned to see a man trying to get out of a side room while carrying three large bags of food with bowls balanced on top.

"Jared!" Sharpay shouted, running over to the man, taking the bowls from him as Troy grabbed two of the bags.

"Thank you Shar," the man said, taking a breath before he noticed Troy, "And…Shar's friend?"

Sharpay laughed, "Jared, this is Troy; he goes to my school and wanted to help out today."

Jared smiled and nodded at this, leading them over to the back table. "The more the merrier," he said setting out the food in the bags, "Always a pleasure to have Shar, and anyone she brings with her, help out."

Troy smiled as he watched Sharpay blush from embarrassment. She ran off to a small pile of white cloth laid out on a chair, grabbing two before heading back. "Here Troy," she said, handing him an apron as she put on hers.

He did the same, taking a place next to her behind the table. "All you have to do is scoop out a spoon full or two of what ever the next person asks for. Simple," she said, demonstrating as an old woman came up asking for some of the Macaroni and Cheese.

Troy quickly mastered dishing out the fruit salad and teamed up with the Soup man next to him to hand out bread while the man scooped up soup into paper bowls for the men and women. A few more volunteers showed up to take over for Troy and Sharpay as they were reassigned to help make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the elderly and children. They had turned it into a small competition to see who could make more…Sharpay won of course; she had been volunteering there and mastered the PB & J along time ago, at least according to her.

They spent three and a half hours at the soup kitchen, which definitely proved the theory 'time flies when you're having fun' because Troy didn't even notice that so much time had passed till Sharpay said it was time to go or else she'd be late for her lessons.

They were walking back to the car when a hand caught Sharpay out of nowhere. She spun quickly, Troy was about to rush at the guy when she started laughing. "Charlie, you scared me," she said, her hand on her chest.

"Sorry bout that luv," the man said with a slight accent that Troy couldn't quite place. "Jus wanted to be seein' hows you was doin'."

"I'm fine Charlie, but I've got to go," she said, "I might be late."

"S'alright," Charlie said, waving her off, "See you next week."

Sharpay laughed, waving to him as she got to the car. She walked around to the driver's side, about to open the door when she noticed Troy staring at her, "What?" she asked getting in the car.

"Nothing," he said shaking his head at her before getting in the car as well.

The ride home was a lot more talkative than the ride there. The music played, but neither was really listening to it as they talked.

After they had been driving for a while, Troy decided to ask, "Shar…" he started, seeing that she had no problem with him calling her by that nickname, "Why do you volunteer so much?"

She glanced over at him, before returning her eyes to the road, "What do you mean Troy?"

"I mean, with school, drama, your soccer practices, karate, piano lessons, and singing lessons…not to mention homework, you'd think you'd have no time." he said.

"Yeah…and?" she asked, still not sure of the question.

"Well, if you didn't volunteer as much as you do, you'd have more time to yourself."

"To do what?" she asked, "Sit in my empty house, taking bets with myself as to who would get home first? My dad or my brother?" she sighed, knowing she was on the verge of being rude, "I think of it as karma."

"Karma?" Troy said about to laugh when he noticed Sharpay was serious.

"Yeah, I mean, not Karma…but something like it," she sighed, not sure of how to explain it. "See, I act like a bitch at school right?"

"Well, not really a bitch," Troy started, feeling bad for ever having thought that Sharpay was capable of being an actual bitch in real life, "More like a…a…"

"A bitch," she said firmly. "Anyway, there's this thing where if you are called something enough times and act a certain way long enough, you start to become that thing…and I don't want to be a real bitch…I guess, volunteering is my way to make sure that I know I'm not really a bitch. Like, I'm so mean in school that I have to make up for it after school…so I volunteer." There was a long pause in the conversation as Troy absorbed her confession, "Not to mention…" she added, "I like it."

The rest of the drive was in silence…but a comfortable silence. Soon Sharpay pulled up to the town's country club near the edge of it. Troy raised an eyebrow in question as to why there were at the country club when Sharpay simply got out of the car and opened the trunk. Troy got out just as she shut the trunk and held up a slightly worn Tennis racket.

Troy nodded in understanding as they both walked into the club. Sharpay flashed her pass to the guard in the front and signed Troy's name as her visitor and they continued on towards the back doors that led to the Tennis courts.

A woman with straight blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail, wearing a standard white Tennis uniform, walked over to them. She greeted Sharpay with a warm hug, nodding to Troy when Sharpay introduced them. Troy sat off by one of the white lawn tables placed near the courts, white umbrella out to keep the sun blocked. It was nearly the end of May, and the weather had been getting warmer lately. School would be over in just about three weeks…wow…they'd be seniors in a few months…

But Troy's thoughts were quickly forgotten when Sharpay and her instructor started to practice. Troy couldn't help but smirk every time Sharpay leaned to reach the ball in time…her skirt for flare up slightly at that…and he couldn't help it if he was a guy…that's just the way he was made…

Though, he had to admit, he was getting tired just watching the match going on between Sharpay and her instructor. They were both running back and forth all over the court, smacking the ball around, just watching the ball go back and forth was making his neck hurt. He glanced down at his watch, they had arrived there a few minutes before four, but it was now nearly five fifteen, and despite working in a food kitchen for the better part of the afternoon, Troy was hungry. Watching Sharpay run, he was sure that she was hungry too.

About ten minutes later Sharpay jogged over to Troy after having a few words with her instructor, which must have been good because she was practically beaming as they walked out of the club and to her car.

"You were great!" Troy exclaimed once they were back in the car and heading of to get something to eat before six when Sharpay had her last lesson for the day. They drove slowly past the local McDonald's, making sure that no one they knew was in there before they headed in. They both got their usual meals, Troy with his two cheeseburgers and a coke, and Sharpay with her big Mac and fry. By the end of the meal they ended up splitting the fry and sharing the coke, which, in their opinion, worked out very well.

Troy took the wheel this time, giving Sharpay some time to relax as she instructed him where to go for the last stop of the day. It was the community theatre where there would hold town meetings and presentations as well as the faculty meeting. They walked into the auditorium precisely at 6 to see a man there waiting there.

Sharpay sighed before walking up to the man to ask if Troy could sit in on the practice. The man agreed as long as she didn't get distracted. So Troy took a seat while the man went about coaching Sharpay through some different emotions and accents. Then he gave her a sheet of paper and told her to memorize the monologue in the five minute break he gave her. Troy sat there with his jaw hanging open. Five minutes to memorize a page of monologue? True, it was more like a column of monologue than a full page, but still…five minutes?

But, since Friday, Sharpay had yet to stop shocking him. She breezed through the monologue, putting emotion behind every word she said. Troy couldn't even tell that she had fumbled a line or two till the acting coach mentioned it in passing, followed by stating that she managed to improv the flubs perfectly. They went through a few more acting exercises before the man finally let Sharpay go.

Troy held the door open for Sharpay as the headed outside. It was already dark out at 7:30 and slightly chilly. They walked quickly to the car and Sharpay took the wheel to head back to her house. When she pulled up to the house her expression fell a little, none of the lights were on which meant that neither Ryan nor her father were home yet. She parked the car and Troy walked her up to the front door.

"Are you going to be alright?" Troy asked, slightly concerned that she'd be alone in the huge house.

"Huh?" She asked, not really having heard what he'd said…she'd been staring into his eyes again. "Oh, yeah. I'll be fine. I've done this before."

"Are you sure?" he asked, "I can always wait with you if you wan…"

"Troy," she said, resting her hand on his arm. He was wearing short sleeves so when her warm hand came in contact with his skin, shocks went up his arm. "I'll be fine," she whispered.

"You sure?" he asked again, leaning forward more towards her, aware that she was doing the same thing, "Cause I can…"

"Yeah?" she whispered. There faces were only inches apart; he could feel her breath on him.

"I can…" he trailed leaning forward, about to close the gap between them when a car alarm went off down the street forcing them to jump apart. They both looked at each other for a moment before looking away embarrassed. "So…um…I'll…see you at school?" he asked. 'Smooth Troy,' he thought to himself, 'real smooth…'

"Um…yeah…probably…" she trailed still refusing to look at him, "But um…I'll probably be…you know…"

"Ice Queen?" he asked.

"Yeah," she finished, looking away sadly.

Troy smiled, "Well we still have after play tomorrow right?" he asked, smile growing as he noticed her smile a little.

"We?" she asked teasingly.

"Unless you want me to stalk you again," he repeated from earlier.

"I don't know," Sharpay feigned consideration, "I kinda like the idea of you stalking me." His eyes widened at that, but then he blushed deeper when she started to laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow Troy."

"Yeah…tomorrow…" he agreed as she shut the door before him. He couldn't wait till tomorrow!

A/N – Next chappy...Sharpay makes a decision and Ryan says something that really hurts her.