Chapter Nine

Troy had been correct in his previous assumption the day before. The whole gang, Gabriella, Taylor, Chad, Ryan, Zeke, Jason, Kelsi, and him were all sitting in Chad's basement doing pretty much…nothing…

They had just finished watching Air Bud…as if it were the prefect combination of sports and cuteness. Troy rolled his eyes, he was getting antsy. The past week he'd always been doing something with Sharpay…to sit there and do nothing felt…well…like a waste of time.

The movie had ended nearly fifteen minutes ago and everyone was sitting around talking about sports and school and play and stuff…

"Let's go do something!" Troy shouted suddenly, stunning the room into silence.

Chad looked around at the group before looking at Troy, "Like what dude?"

"I don't know," Troy said shrugging, "Anything…we could always get a head start on that volunteer stuff the guidance councilors are always bugging us to get down for college and stuff…"

Zeke laughed at that, while Jason replied, "Troy, man, we don't even have to start that stuff till we're seniors."

"Next year," Troy said, trying to get through to them.

"Yeah, so we have next year to do it," Zeke answered.

Troy shook his head, there would be no getting through to his teammates who's whole idea of volunteer meant going to practice a half hour earlier. He was about to ask the girls what they thought when Gabriella spoke.

"Besides Troy," Gabriella said, looking up at him, "With the amount of work Taylor and I have, we really don't have time."

Troy stared at her incredulously. She turned to continue her chat with Taylor as Troy continued to stare. They didn't have time?

"Hey Taylor?" Troy asked, wanting to make sure he wasn't jumping to conclusions. "I know you and Gabby have AP Chem. together, and Gabby has AP Spanish…" He trailed for a moment, thinking for the first time how stupid it was that Gabriella would be getting AP credit for a language she could already speak, before coming right back, "What other AP class are you taking?"

"AP Pre Calc," Taylor answered.

'Math,' Troy thought to himself, "Is that it?" he asked, "Just Chemistry and Calc?"

"Uh huh," Taylor said nodding, "And your point?"

"Nothing," he said shaking his head. He knew neither Gabriella nor Taylor had a job since they counted school a full time job. Neither did Chad, because he considered…well…Chad was just lazy…(A/N – sorry Chad fans :( it fit.)

How could they not have time to go out and help someone? Sharpay had twice as much stuff on her plate and she still managed to get out and do something!

Troy was getting angry; here they were, doing nothing! They had just spent nearly two hours watching a stupid movie about a dog that could play basketball! Those two hours could have been spent somewhere else…at cleaning the park…or visiting sick people at the hospital…or even fundraising!

He shook his head about to comment on their waste of time when Chad's mother called from up the stairs, "Troy! Your mother called! She says it's almost time for dinner!"

"Thank you Mrs. Danforth!" Troy shouted, getting up and grabbing his back pack, "Later," he said, and without another word left.

"Gabby, what is your boyfriend's problem?" Taylor asked turning to her friend.

"He has been acting a little weird lately," Kelsi added quietly.

Gabby shook her head, shrugging that she didn't know either, before staring at the stairs that Troy had just gone up.

Troy took a deep breath of fresh air as soon as he was out of the house, he couldn't stand to be in that basement another minute otherwise he knew he'd have said something he'd regret later. He shook his head, but it was over and now, he checked his watch, he only had...15 minutes to get home and get ready.

It was a good thing that Chad lived down the block and around the corner from Troy; otherwise he would have been late enough to not have a chance to change before Sharpay got there. He ran to his room, changing to a pair of shorts and a jersey. His dad had mentioned something about playing one-on-one with Sharpay when she got there, at least until dinner was done.

He knew that Sharpay was going to come in more basketball type clothes as well; he'd glimpsed the extra clothes in her duffle bag during their (now) daily routine of 4th period B-Ball. And he was right, no more than two minutes after he'd changed, the doorbell rang.

His mother had answered it, to reveal Sharpay in yellow 'boy' shorts with an orange tank top on. His mother hugged Sharpay in greeting before ushering Troy over to entertain their guest while she went to finish dinner. He smiled at her embarrassedly before his father called them both out to their backyard court to help them practice.

With a few pointers from Coach Bolton, Sharpay was able to hold her own against Troy much better than she had been, even managing to score the first basket. They were playing for about fifteen minutes when Troy's mother called the Coach in to help her. He left them and the game started to get silly with Troy trying ridiculous shots and Sharpay traveling to the basket.

Sharpay had gotten the ball; the game was tied 4-4, when Troy unexpectedly picked her up from around her waist behind her. He turned in a circle a few times till Sharpay let go of the ball before falling on his back on the grass. Sharpay rolled off him, scrambling to get up when Troy pinned her to the grass and started to tickle her unmercifully. She retaliated and soon the two were engaged in an all out tickle war…completely unaware that they were being watched…

Mrs. Bolton let out a content sigh as her husband wrapped his arms around her from behind. She rested her head against his chest, watching her son be so gently with the girl. She could tell that he cared for her deeply, even though she knew he'd never admit to it. Suddenly she felt a tingle in her side and quickly jumped away from her husband.

"Jack Bolton, don't you dare!" She shouted, holding her hand over her side, guarding her own tickle spot well. He gave her a boyish look which she ignored, "No, besides…" she trailed as a ding was heard from behind her, "Dinner is ready." With that she walked past him and into the kitchen, but not before throwing a "Call the kids" over her shoulder.

Jack laughed as he opened the back door. Cupping his hands around his mouth he shouted, "Troy! Dinner's ready!"

Both kids looked up out of breath, red faced with tears in their eyes, to see Coach Bolton standing in the door way, shoulder shaking slightly as if laughing at them.

Troy took a few deep breaths, "Be…right…there!" He called back breathlessly.

His dad went back inside the house as Troy stood, offering a hand to help Sharpay up.

"This…isn't over…Bolton," he heard her wheeze in between gasps.

"Not by…a long shot…Evans," he replied, starting to head towards the house, Sharpay following close behind.

Dinner was very good in Sharpay's opinion…not just the food, which was delicious to say the least, but the company as well. Sharpay couldn't remember the last time her brother, father, and her had sat down to a family dinner. So this was…nice…really nice.

Mrs. Bolton asked how Sharpay liked high school, the things she was interested in, her school work, things like that…boys…Which, when mentioned, would find Troy nearly choking on his drink.

Sharpay and Troy had decided, during their 4th period basketball game, to tell his parents everything about what she had been doing with her time…excluding the Ice Queen part…

They were stunned to discover that she was taking all AP classes, learning Basketball, Tennis, and Soccer, teaching Karate, taking acting, singing, dancing lessons among other things, and volunteering as well as planning to try out for sports next year…which greatly pleased Coach. They were even more stunned to discover that she had gotten Troy interested in volunteering as well. He had had endless questioning from his parents as to where he had been for the last week, coming home so late at night, they had never expected it was because he was volunteering.

Jack smiled softly at that his son's desire to do some good. His mother, Troy's grandmother, had loved to volunteer when she was living…bless her soul. She had always had her sons, Jack and his brothers, helping out, always made sure that her boys knew how to give back to the community. It made him proud to see Troy wanting to do the same.

Once dinner was finished up, Sharpay got up to help Mrs. Bolton clean the dishes as was polite…or at least help her put them in the dishwasher as Mrs. Bolton was doing. When they came back Jack was going over various ideas he had for next year's season. Mrs. Bolton cleared her throat, alerting Jack to the fact that they were back in the room.

When Coach Bolton saw Sharpay he jumped up, "Sharpay, how about you and Troy come out back with me and well run some plays I've been thinking about for next season?"

Sharpay was about to respond when Mrs. Bolton spoke up, "Jack, not now."

"Oh, come on Hun," he said stepping up to her, "It'll only be a few minutes."

Troy rolled his eyes, a few minutes to his dad…especially when it involved basketball…meant a few hours.

Thankfully, Mrs. Bolton knew her husband well enough to know what a few minutes meant. "No Jack…"

"Please honey?" He begged, giving her a puppy dog look. Sharpay giggled at the two, finally discovering where Troy learned his own puppy dog look.

"Jack!" she exclaimed, Sharpay could tell that she was just as much a sucker for Coach Bolton's puppy face as Sharpay was for Troy's. "You can't!"

"Why not?" he asked confused.

"Because…" she glanced at Troy.

"Because what?" he asked again as his wife pulled him off to the side to speak with him.

Sharpay glanced at the old grandfather clock in the corner of the room. It was almost six fifteen, she had to leave soon. She caught Troy's eye and nodded at the clock. He got the message and silently led her to the front door while his parents continued their hushed conversation.

They said good bye and Troy watched as she drove off before heading back to his parents.

He entered the room in time to see a look of realization make its way onto his father's face. They turned to look at Troy, noticing that Sharpay wasn't there.

"Where did Sharpay go hun?" his mother asked.

"She had her karate lesson." He answered taking a seat while his parents continued to look at him. "Is there something going on that I should know about?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well…son…" Jack started, stuffing his hands in his pocket, "As you know, your mom and I are both very proud of you for the championship game."

Troy nodded, "And we're proud of you getting the lead in the musical," his mother added, "You were great!"

"O…kay…" Troy said slowly, not really sure what they were getting at.

"You also managed to keep up your grades and keep out of trouble…" his father continued.

"Well, honey…we just wanted to…" his mother trailed off, not knowing the exact words to use. Instead she simply handed him a plain white envelope.

Troy glanced utterly confused at his parents before opening the envelope, turning it upside down, letting the contents fall into his hand.

He turned the two rectangular slips of paper over in his hands, eyes widening as he read what they were…two tickets to go see Wicked!

A/N – So…I love Wicked! Greatest musical every! I bet you all can guess who Troy is going to take with him…I mean, not Gabby…or Chad…or Taylor…so you've probably already guessed it correctly. The whole mechanics of the trip are to be explained in the next chappy! And after that…official Troypayness!