Chapter Six

A/N – Yay! Two essays out of the way! I just got back from a class which let out early…so I had time to write this next chappy since I don't play to study or write my third essay till tomorrow…so here it is!

For once in his life, Troy was actually happy that Basketball season was over. The team was taking the last month of school really easy, making up for practice time with talking to girls time. That meant that no one would be in the gym come free period…which meant that Troy and Sharpay could play some one on one without anyone seeing them.

Of course, Sharpay made sure to lock all the doors that led to the gym, just to be safe. Although, she doubted anyone would come to the gym to look for her…the only person who would was Ryan…and he was never around anyway. But Troy was another story; everyone would be looking for him. He had assured her, however, that no one looked for him fourth period, it was his designated time to himself…or at least that's what the team called it.

So that left them with time almost everyday to hang out, giving Sharpay a break from being the 24/7 Ice Queen. It hadn't been so bad, Sharpay had mentioned once, she had Ryan so she was able to be Ice Queen during school…but now…it was getting a little harder with no one to support her.

Troy still thought that she should go public with her actual personality, but he respected her wishes, opting instead to give her a break for forty minutes.

They were currently in the middle of their third one on one five point game, Troy had won the first two, when Troy decided to add a little more conversation…hoping to throw off Sharpay who was currently up by a basket.

"You know…" he started, managing to steal the ball, "That was an amazing shot you took, I can't believe you made it…"

Sharpay blocked his next shot, taking the ball out for a lay up, "Neither can I…" she tried to make a shot but Troy stole the ball again and made a basket, tying the game 3-3, "I was just really sick of people saying that I couldn't do it…"

Troy nodded, completely understanding where she was coming from, "You really should have tried out for the teams…"

She blocked his next shot. "Well, I'm thinking about going out for the teams…"

"Really?" he asked, completely coming to a stand still.

Sharpay used this to her advantage, stealing the ball and making a shot, 4-3, "Well, there aren't that many acting scholarships out there…I have a better chance at a good school with an athletic scholarship…"

Troy shook his head, getting back into the game, "But couldn't your dad just pay for it?"

"But I don't want him to," she stated, trying to block him, but missed, 4-4, "I don't want people to think that I didn't work to get into a good school."

Troy thought on this, getting distracted just a little, allowing Sharpay to steal the ball. He ran behind her, blocking her.

But she had yet to stop amazing him as she used his own technique against him. She faked right, broke left, and scored! "Yes!" She shouted, "Who's the master?!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said, jogging to collect the ball.

Sharpay stopped for a moment, before jumping up and down, "I just beat Troy Bolton!"

"Uh huh," Troy said, smiling at her antics, "And let's see…" he pretended to think, "I've beaten you how many times? Twice, was it?"

Sharpay rolled her eyes, walking to her duffel bag, about to pick up her towel when the sounds of a single person clapping reached her. Sharpay's eyes widened in fear at the thought that someone would know about her…but she was relieved to see it was only Coach Bolton standing there. 'Of course,' she thought, mentally smacking herself, 'He would have a key to get in.'

"Mr. Bolton!" Sharpay exclaimed, glancing quickly over to Troy as his father walked over to them. "How are you sir?"

"I'm good," he replied politely, "Sharpay? Is it?" Sharpay nodded, "Well, Sharpay I just wanted to comment on your excellent game."

Sharpay blushed at that while Troy whined 'dad', "Thank you Mr. Bolton."

"Please," he said, "Call me Coach."

"Thank you Coach," she replied as Troy rolled his eyes.

"You know," he continued, "Not many girls, even on the girls' basketball team, could hold their own against Troy here, let alone beat him."

"Dad!" Troy whined again, embarrassedly.

"Are you considering joining the girl's team?" he asked her, she nodded, "If you ever need some pointers, just come to my office." He smiled gently at the girl, "You know what? You should come to dinner one day at our house."

"Dad!" Troy exclaimed.

"I'm sure Troy wouldn't have a problem playing some one on one with you, you know, entertaining such a beautiful young woman like yourself." He laughed.

"Dad!" he shouted, utterly horrified and blushing a shade of red formally unknown to mankind.

Coach Bolton laughed, "I'm just joking with you son." He turned back to Sharpay, "Well, it was nice to meet you Sharpay…"

"Evans, coach," she answered.

"Evans?" he asked, studying her features, "Richard's daughter?" she nodded, an empathetic look found its way onto Coach's face, "I'm sorry…about your mother."

Sharpay looked away, "It's alright, it was a long time ago."

Troy looked between the two with a look of complete confusion plastered on his face. What were they talking about? What happened to her mom?

Coach Bolton offered a sad smile before walking towards his office, "Come see me when your little practice is over!" he called to Troy over his shoulder.

Troy turned back to Sharpay to see her pick up her duffel bag, she muttered a quick, "I don't feel like practicing much anymore," before quickly running off towards the rest rooms attached to the gym to change.

Troy was about to ask her if she was alright, but she was already in the restroom. He dropped his head, placing the basketball on the rack before heading in to talk to his father.

He knocked on the door, hearing a 'Come In' before entering. Coach Bolton looked up from his roster, smiling and leaning back upon seeing his son stand before him. "That's some girl you've got there son," he said, grinning broadly. Any girl who could play sports was a winner in his book. "Much better than that Arabella girl you had."

"Gabriella," Troy corrected automatically.

"Whatever," he replied, "She seems to have a good head on her shoulders, not up on stage…"

"Dad, she president of the Drama club," Troy added.

"Oh…" he said thinking it over, before tossing the thought aside, "But at least she can play, right?"

Troy looked up at his grinning father before nodding slightly, "Dad what happened to Sharpay's mom?" he asked suddenly.

His father's expression morphed into one that was a mixture of confusion…then horror, "You…you mean we never told you?" he asked, Troy shook his head no, "Not even when you got back from camp?" Again, Troy shook his head, "I don't believe it…" his dad muttered in disbelief.

"What happened?" Troy asked, desperately.

"I just…" his father trailed looking at him, "I thought we'd told you…You and Sharpay were nearly joined at the hip that year…"

"What?" Troy asked.

"You and the little Evan's girl…you were nearly inseparable…ever since kindergarten, you always hung out with each other…she never told you?"

Troy shook his head...he hung out with Sharpay? He thought back before realizing that he had hung out with her…they'd been best friends since they started school together. That summer, third grade, was their first summer apart. How could he have forgotten that?

He looked up when his father let out a deep breath and shook his head, "A few weeks after you went to camp…Sharpay's mother was in a car accident…"

"What?!" Troy exclaimed, how the hell could his parents have forgotten to tell him that? "Is she ok?"

His father fixed him with a hard look, "She died on impact."

Troy's eyes widened in horror. How could he have not noticed that something was wrong with Sharpay when he got back from basketball camp? How could he have not heard that her mother had died? How could he have let everyone be so mean to her?

"Son?" Coach said, trying to get Troy's attention. Troy looked up unseeing at his father, completely in shock.

"Is…was Sharpay ok?" he managed to ask after a moment.

"She was pretty shook up," he father said, recalling the funeral. He had never seen the little girl so heartbroken, so sad… "The funeral was moving, Sharpay and Ryan sang her favorite song…Richard sent her and her brother off to drama camp a few days later…to try to get their minds off it."

Troy let out a disbelieving laugh, well that explained why he didn't notice…that was when Sharpay started acting…started being the Ice Queen.

"Are…are you alright son?" Coach asked, noticing his son's silence.

"Huh?" Troy asked looking up, "Yeah…" he nodded, "I just…it's just…"

Coach nodded, understanding, "It happened along time ago Troy."

Troy nodded, heading out of the office and back into the gym. He was surprised to see Sharpay still there, sitting on the bleachers, putting her heels on.

"Hey," she said, smiling softly when she saw him. He sat down next to her, letting her see the look on his face, "What's wrong?"

Troy shook his head, not looking at her. She reached out and gently tiled his head towards her, "What's wrong?" she repeated, forcing him to look her in the eye.

"I…you…" He shook his head slightly, before looking her in the eye again, "Your mom died?"

Sharpay looked at him, an unreadable expression on her face. Inside, she was a mixture of feelings, the two most prominent being hurt and happiness. She was so hurt that he didn't notice until now that her mother was gone, so hurt that he hadn't noticed…but she was happy too because she knew that Troy wouldn't have acted the way he did unless he truly didn't know that something had happened. And how was he supposed to find out? Sharpay and Ryan hadn't told him, no one mentioned it, he didn't go over her house anymore, and even his own parents hadn't told him. She knew that no one had ever told him about her mom until now…so she couldn't blame him for the way he acted when he didn't know and no one told him.

"Yeah," she said softly, looking down to see that Troy had unconsciously intertwined their fingers, "A few years ago…"

A moment later would find Sharpay trapped in a tight hug by none other than Troy Bolton. She hugged him back, knowing that he needed the hug more than her.

"I'm so sorry," she heard him whisper into her hair; "I'm a horrible friend."

Sharpay shook her head, pulling back slightly, "No, you're not."

"But I didn't even notice…" he started when Sharpay cut him off.

"And no one told you…I don't blame you." She smiled softly, showing him that she had forgiven him for so many years of missed friendship and strained words.

He felt a small smile make its way onto his face as well. He couldn't believe what an amazing girl was sitting across from him. Slowly…ever so slowly…he started to lean in as she did the same. Their lips were a hair's breath away from touching when…the warning bell went off forcing to jump apart, both red faced.

The stood up quickly and tried to walk past each other towards a different gym door, but ended up almost walking into each other. They each took a step back, laughing embarrassedly before Troy held out his arms letting her step past him. Once she did, he ran in the opposite direction to get to class on time.

One lone figure stood smiling in the doorway of his office, having just witnessed the almost-kiss. He laughed to himself as he stepped into the gym, moving to unlock the rest of the doors for the other students who would arrive any moment…

Sharpay had told Ms. Darbus that morning that, while she herself would not be trying out for the EYP, she would be there for the tryouts everyday to show her support of the theatre. So there she was, Tuesday after school, sitting in the auditorium with her arms crossed waiting for the auditions to finish. Troy sat on the opposite end of the auditorium with Ryan and the gang. They had all come to support Taylor since it was her first time auditioning for anything.

Ryan had tried to apologize to Sharpay during the beginning of the auditions, but she got up and moved as far away from him as humanly possible, while still remaining in the auditorium. Taylor had gone near the middle and done a spectacular monologue from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Not that those trying out had to do a monologue from it, it was just that Taylor didn't really know what Ms. Darbus would be looking for and so she played it safe and did a great rendition of Titania. It just so happened that Chad had done a monologue from Kind Leer…hmmm…a king and a queen…coincidence? I think not.

They stayed to cheer on the newbies as well, each leaving quickly after the auditions were over. Troy managed to get away from the group, claiming that he needed to go to his locker…

It wasn't a lie…exactly…he did stop at a locker…just not his…unless his was bright pink with a star that read Sharpay stuck to it. Sharpay was waiting there for him…she actually did have to go to her locker, to pick up two more of her AP books that she didn't want the others to see. It sucked…her AP classes, she had said, while other kids would go to the library to work on their extra bit of work, Sharpay couldn't because the Ice Queen doesn't do libraries.

That meant that she was stuck doing all her homework at home. She had said that the AP Chem. work (A/N – I wrote AP Bio in a previous chapter by accident, I'll fix it when I finish the fic) was the worst to do. The teacher expected everyone in the class to be as smart and quick as Taylor and Gabriella…even though they paired up to get the work done in half the time. Sharpay was good in that class, she had to be to keep her A average. But it wasn't like Gabriella and Taylor noticed…so Sharpay didn't care that much. After all, she didn't want to be in the spotlight for academics, she was much more content to do her own corrections on her paper than pointing them out to the teacher ever chance she got.

Though, she had to admit, today's workload wasn't as bad as it could have been. After she volunteered at the Food Pantry, she just had another soccer lesson, and a ballet lesson. This one, Troy would be able to watch…from a distance. There wasn't a waiting room like with the tap studio; it was just a large room in between a convenience store and a dress shop, so Troy would be able to watch Sharpay through the window that ran along the front of the building.

When Troy got home that evening, he had to admit to himself that the food pantry wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He was given a list of food to put in a bag…nothing overly complicated. He thought he'd end up stocking miles of shelves and handing bags to people in rags…but that wasn't the case. He even had a few laughs when a bag of flour had fallen off the top shelf, ripping open as it hit the floor, completely covering him and Sharpay. They had fallen to the ground laughing hysterically when a timid boy who had placed the bag so precariously on the edge of the shelf rushed into to sweep up the mess.

Honestly, he was starting to see why Sharpay liked to volunteer so much…there was never a dull moment and always something to do…he was actually interested in what they would be doing the next day.

A/N – So…I switched the two chapters I was going to write and added an extra little one. So the next one is going to be Troy's audition…which end up being more than Sharpay bargained for (how you may wonder? you'll have to wait and find out) followed by the reasons why Sharpay quit…

Kudos to actingalexis13 for giving me an idea. And to answer a question by XBeautifulbabe405X, I'm planning to get them together in about three to four chapters…I can't wait to write them :)