A/N: To our reviewers, you guys seriously rock! We love you! Kay. Now. Chapter 4...

Chapter Four

Sharpay and Troy pulled away from each other in shock. They both turned to face the angry Gabriella.

"Gabby! I..." Troy started.

"Save it Troy! You're just a lying backstabbing jerk!" Gabriella said. As she got closer, Sharpay noticed tear stains on her cheeks.

"It's like East High all over again..." she said softly to herself.

"You don't understand," Troy said to Gabriella, lowering his voice a little.

"I don't care either. You promised me you'd remember me. You promised we'd pick up where we left off." Gabriella began to cry softly once again. Troy pulled her into his arms and Gabriella began to struggle. Sharpay sat there, watching them. She didn't say or do anything. She knew they had to work this out themselves.

After a while, Gabriella stopped fighting and with a sigh, she collapsed into Troy's strong arms. He had grown a lot since everyone had last sen him. The only things that didn't change were his deep blue eyes and his shaggy brown hair. Gabriella let out a few more strangled sobs and looked Troy in the eyes.

"Do you care about me anymore?" she asked him. Troy wiped away the remains of her tears. "Tell the truth. I can handle it." Gabriella nodded and looked down at her hands after pulling away from her old love interest. Troy took a deep breath before speaking.

"I truthfully don't know anymore, Gabby. So many things have changed between us, I'm not sure if I can go back." Both Sharpay and Gabriella were listening intently. Gabby nodded, sadly.

"Okay. I.. I understand. But then, why did you make that promise to me?"

"I loved you, Gabriella. You were my first true love. Things haven't been easy ever since we split up, but I think that's because I knew we were still together."

"You're saying you think we should break up, right?" Gabriella asked, with the same hint of sadness in her voice as she had had 6 years ago when she found out he didn't want to sing with her.

"I think it'd be better, yes," Troy said, wiping away one last tear that had fallen from Gabriella's eye.

"But I still don't understand why you were hugging Sharpay..." she said, fiddling with her silver locket that hung around her neck.

"I think she should explain that to you," Troy replied, turning her to face Sharpay. Sharpay looked up from her nails that she was filing and tilted her head.

"What?" she asked, wondering why they were looking at her. Troy smiled and shook his head.

"Same old Sharpay," he said. Sharpay shrugged and smiled as well. Gabriella walked over to the bench and sat next to Sharpay.

"I'm going to go get something to drink if you girls don't mind," Troy said. Gabriella and Sharpay nodded and Gabriella made a shooing motion with her hand. Troy laughed and walked inside to the party.

"Now," Gabriella said and Sharpay turned to face her. "Why isn't Ryan here?" After answering this question once, it became a little easier.

"He died. Last year," Sharpay said, tears formed in the corners of her eyes but she rubbed them away.

"I'm so sorry, Shar..." Gabriella said. She reached to give Sharpay a hug, but she swatted Gabby's hand away.

"Don't call me that!" Sharpay yelled, tears now freely falling. Her voice softened as she noticed the shocked look on Gabriella's face. "I'm sorry it's just... That's what Ry... my brother called me."

"Oh, Sharpay... I didn't mean..." Sharpay could see the hurt in Gabriella's eyes and she nodded.

"It's okay. Just don't do it again." She smiled softly and wiped away the rest of her tears.

"What do you say we go back inside and party?" Gabriella asked, holding Sharpay's hand.

"That'd be good," Sharpay replied with a nod. They stood up and headed back inside.

They decided to go talk to some of their old friends, and people they were close with, so they parted ways. Gabriella went to talk to Taylor and some people from the Scholastic Decathlon team, and Sharpay went to find some drama people, especially Kelsi. She was dying to see who the hottie was that she had arrived with. It couldn't be one from their school, otherwise Sharpay would have remembered him. She remembered all the hotties.

She grabbed some punch, and searched around the dance floor, for the short pianist. She found her sitting by a table with the guy, and Sharpay sat down in front of her, started with a simple; "Hi?"

"Sharpay!?" Kelsi exclaimed, her jaw hitting the floor, "Oh my God! I hadn't expected to see you here! I thought you were too big for school reunions."

"I haven't gotten a break yet, but in 5 years I will be." Sharpay replied, taking up her icy act from school again. she used to be such a diva, and honestly, she hated herself for it now, when she looked back, "So? How have you been, good, I see?"

Kelsi blushed slightly, and wrapped an arm around her guy, "Yeah, this is Pete, we're going out. Everything has been great. What about you? I suspect you and Ryan went off to some collage majoring in drama or something?"

"Uhm," Sharpay looked down at the table and swallowed hard, "Yeah, sorta. I did anyway."

"Where is Ryan?" Kelsi questioned, looking around the gym, "I haven't seen him here today."

"He's not here." Sharpay replied, shrugging softly.

"Oh…" Kelsi replied, looking into her eyes, "Why not?"

"He died."

"What!?" Kelsi exclaimed, shock showing in her eyes. She also managed, to push herself back from the table by her hands, so the chair turned over, and she landed on the floor with a loud thump.

Sharpay immediately stood up, looking across the table, to the small girl on the floor. Pete stood up as well, helping his girlfriend up, who was now the center of all attention.

"He died!?" Kelsi yelled, looking at Sharpay, really angry, "How come I wasn't invited to the funeral? I loved Ryan, we were buddies!"

"Calm down, Kelsi.." Sharpay said, biting her lip, because whispers started running through the crowd about Ryan's death. "We weren't exactly the most loved people here at East High, so I figured you guys wouldn't care. It was just a small service."

"Wouldn't care!?" Kelsi exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air, in a manner that reminded Sharpay of herself back then, "How could we not care?"

Sharpay felt a hand on her arm, and she turned to find Taylor shooting her a sad smile, "Sharpay, are you okay? How long ago was this? I mean, you and Ryan was practically joined by the hip, so it's okay if you're not feeling well, do you need to talk?"

"I'm okay…" Sharpay said, smiling at her, "Thanks for the offer though, but I already talked to Troy and Gabriella tonight, I don't think I can handle more talking. If you can please just not mention Ryan anywhere near me, that would be appreciated."

"Of course," Taylor said, giving her a brief hug, "Of course."

--

Sharpay tapped her foot against the floor, playing with the glass in her hand. She was so bored, there was nothing to do. She had been catching up with people in the beginning of the evening, but now everything was like.. boring. She just sat there on a chair, looking at all the old couples, dancing for the hell of it. Some dancing with their partners they brought along, others dancing with old friends and crushes. She just sat there though, since the only person whom she really was with during high school had been Ryan. Had he still been alive, she would have been dancing the night away with him.

She leaned back in the chair, almost closing her eyes, tempting over if it was okay to go home already. It was not like anyone was going to miss her. She should just leave.

"Care to dance?"

She opened her eyes, and came face to face with none other than Troy Bolton himself. She cocked an eyebrow, letting out a deep breath, "Sure, why not?"

Troy held out his hand, for her to take, "Great then."

She took it, and he dragged her onto the dance floor, just as a slow song was coming on. He placed his hand on her hip, and she gently put hers on his shoulder. He held her close, swaying to the beat of the song.

"How come you waited until now to ask me to dance?" Sharpay asked, "I was really close at leaving."

"Chad told me this was the 'old crushes' dance." Troy replied, shooting her a charming smile, "So I felt obligated to ask you."

"There's not such thing as 'old crushes' dances." Sharpay said, "But I am flattered though, it's a good thing I had a crush on you too then."

"Maybe," Troy whispered, his breath tingling in her ear.

She let out a deep sigh and placed her head on his chest, still swaying to the beat, wishing the song would go on and on forever. He still had an effect on her like no other, and she didn't know why. It was a nice dance though, she kinda forgot about everything as it was. She knew it would have been so much better if Ryan had been there with her at the reunion, but Troy Bolton somehow made it okay.

A/N – (Stessa, lol) there you have it folks. Please leave us a review. It's not like these chapters come out of nowhere, it would be nice if you gave us your thoughts.