Chapter 5

"Hello?" Sharpay answered her phone. It was now the next morning, and she was wandering who the hell was calling her at seven 'o clock.

"Hey, Pay!"

"Oh, hey Troy!" She said, automatically perking up.

"Do you want me to come and pick you up and drive you to school?"

"Troy, maybe you should break-up with Gabriella before we go waltzing into school together. I mean, we should probably give this time to cool off before we announce that we're together."

"But Pay, I thought we were going to go to Kelsi's swim party together on Saturday."

"We are. We'll announce it Friday, so they'll have the weekend to cool off."

"Ok, but it's going to be pretty hard staying away from you at school."

"I know…I'm so irresistible! But I think you'll be able to manage, Troy!"

"Ok, I'll try! I'll see you later. Oh wait! Do you want to come over tonight after school? My parents invited you for dinner."

"Sure, that would be great! Ok, see you later! Bye!"

"Bye!"

Thirty minutes later Sharpay was walking into school with a smile on her face. She had never been this happy! For once in her lifetime, everything seemed like it was going to be okay.

Morning classes were all a blur. Sharpay rarely got called on in class because if she did, she would just start an argument disagreeing with whatever the teacher was saying, so they just didn't bother. But, now, it was lunch period. Sharpay, Ryan, and Kelsi were all sitting together up on the balcony, while everyone else sat below them. Since Sharpay was in particularly good mood this morning, Ryan was a little suspicious.

But Sharpay wasn't the talk of the school today. The rumor was that Troy had given Gabriella a note to meet him somewhere during lunch, and that he needed to tell her something. The whole school knew that Troy and Gabriella's relationship was going downhill lately, but they didn't expect THIS!

About ten minutes before lunch ended, Troy came walking back into the cafeteria with a smile on his face. He looked up and winked at Sharpay, who gave him one of her famous Hollywood smiles. She mouthed "after school" and he walked on.

Sharpay got home at about 3:25 so she could get ready, but realized that she had no idea what to wear, so she quickly picked up her phone:

SHARPAY: what should I wear?

TROY: shorts and a t-shirt

SHARPAY: ok thanks

She hung up her phone and went to her closet to pick out her outfit. She showed up half-an-hour later at the Bolton's front door. Troy quickly answered the door and led her right back out the back door, and onto their basketball court. Troy turned around and looked at Sharpay. She looked so cute in her short black Soffes, white t-shirt with a pink star on it, black and pink converse and her white knee-socks.

"You always manage to look cute, don't you Pay?"

"Yeah, it's one of my amazing super-powers!" she laughed at her own joke, which Troy thought was cute. He threw her a basketball and tempted her to shoot it, so she did. Swoosh!

"That's one of my other super-powers!"

"Oh my god, Pay! You just made a three-pointer! How did you learn to do that?!" He said with a shocked look on his face. He kept looking from Sharpay, to the net, to the ball, and back to Sharpay.

"Duh, I have a basketball court at my house. I play like almost everyday!"

"You are just full of surprises!" He walked closer to her and bent down to kiss her when she said:

"Your parents are watching us."

"Whatever!" He bent down again and placed a soft kiss on her lips. Sharpay started bursting out laughing and fell backwards onto the soft grass behind her. "What's so funny, Pay?"

"Now that was kind of embarrassing."

"So telling my parents you're a virgin is a piece of cake, but kissing me in front of them is embarrassing? How does that work?"

Sharpay was about to answer when they heard a door shut. "Kids? Are ya'll out here?"

"Yeah, mom! We're over on the grass."

"Oh, hey! What would ya'll like for dinner?"

"I don't care." Both the teens said simultaneously.

"Okay…Japanese or Chinese?"

"Japanese" again said simultaneously.

"Japanese it is! We'll leave here at 7:00!" And with that she walked back into the house.

"Knowing you, we should probably start getting ready, since it's already 5:00."

"I'll go home and change and come back at like 6:45?"

"Why don't you just get ready here and then we can swing by your house and get you clothes."

"Are you sure your parents would be okay with that?"

"Pay, they like you! And since you openly confronted them about your virginity, they feel pretty comfortable around you."

"Okay, if you insist!"

"I do!"

"I like the sound of that!" She winked at him and got up to walk to the door.

Sharpay was the first one to shower so that she would have time to dry her hair. When she got out, Troy looked in amazement at her chiseled body. Sure, she had a towel wrapped around her, but you could still see her perfect arms and legs. He was in his own little world until he realized that she was talking to him the whole time.

"…so I figured we'd audition together." She wrapped up their one-way conversation.

"What?"

"Did you just miss out on that entire conversation, Troy?"

"Yeah, pretty much, but I was busy staring at my girlfriend." He smiled at her and her heart automatically melted. She walked over to him and sat on his lap and kissed him on the cheek.

"Anyway, I was saying that I talked to Mrs. Darbus today, and she is making the auditions pairs' auditions instead of singles, so we can audition together."

"Cool, when are the auditions?"

"Next Monday during free period, so we need to start working if we want to win. I thought we would sing "As Long As You're Mine" from WICKED, so we could get into character."

"That sounds great, Pay, but right now I kind of need to take a shower."

"Oh, okay." She got up and went to the opposite side of the room to his dresser. "Would you mind if I borrowed one of your t-shirts?"

"No, help yourself."

"Thanks."

Troy got and took a shower and thirty minutes later he was sitting in his car outside Sharpay's house waiting on her to get some clothes. She didn't take long because, well, she was Sharpay! She got back in the car and they drove back to Troy's house to meet his parents. They hopped in the backseat of his parents' car and drove to the restaurant.

They sat down at a booth so Troy and Sharpay were on one side and Jack and Lisa were on the other. You could tell that Lisa was really content with Troy and Sharpay's relationship, while Jack still had some shaking to do. They all took a minute to look at their menus and finally decided on what they wanted to eat. The waitress turned out to be one of Sharpay's "friends" from school.

"Oh, crap!"

"What's wrong, Pay?"

"Do you realize who that is that's about to come over here?"

"No, who is it?"

"It's Jennifer."

"Oh, crap!"

"I know! I'll go talk to her, I guess."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, it's okay." She got up from the booth and walked up to Jennifer. "Hey, Jennifer! Um, tonight I'm kind of here with the Boltons, so if you could not tell anyone that would be great!"

"THE BOLTONS?! Why wouldn't I tell anyone?"

"Because," Sharpay began with a fake smile still on her face, "if you tell, I will make your life a living nightmare!"

Meanwhile, back at the table the three Boltons were talking.

"Troy, who's Jennifer?" his mom asked curiously.

"She's one of the "Sharpettes". She's always been jealous of Sharpay because she always gets all of the attention, instead of her, so she'll probably go to school and tell everybody, but whatever!"

"Wow, she sounds pleasant!" she said sarcastically.

"Yeah, really! Also, she always tries to be like Sharpay. She joined Drama Club, dyed her hair blonde and got fake nails, all at the same time right after she became a Sharpette. That really ticked Sharpay off!"

"No joke!"

By now, Sharpay was walking back to the table with a less than satisfied look on her face. She sat down, looked at Troy, and started banging her head on his arm.

"Hey, Hey! What happened?"

"We talked."

"About what?"

"Well, I was like "don't tell anyone", and she was like "why shouldn't I", and I was like "because I'll make your life a living nightmare", and she was like "well, I don't care", and I was like "oh yes you do", and she was like "well I quit the Sharpettes", and I was like "well you can kiss your future goodbye", and she said something I won't repeat, and I turned around and walked back here."

Everyone's eyes were really big and staring at Sharpay.

"Honey," obviously Troy, "I didn't get a word of that and I don't think they did either."

"Long story short, now, it's just "Sharpay", with no Sharpettes. So I don't know what I'm going to do for the talent show!"

"Well, why don't you do a solo act? Your voice is amazing and I'm sure it sounds a whole lot better without all of those back-up singers."

"Thank you, but I wouldn't even know where to start. Maybe I just won't do the talent show this year."

"But, Pay, you've won al three of our high school talent shows! You have to win the last one!"

"Okay, I'll try to figure something out, but right now, we need to focus on auditions."

Jack was feeling kind f awkward just sitting there listening to their conversation, so he spoke up: "When are auditions? I thought they were supposed to be yesterday."

"Mrs. Darbus postponed them so Sharpay could audition."

"Oh…"

Half an hour later, they had gotten their food and were headed out the door.

"Well," Lisa began, "it's getting kind of late, so do you want us to drop you off at your house?"

"Sure, that sounds great."

They drove the ten minute drive and then pulled up in front of the Evans' house.

"Oh, my god, Sharpay, this is your house?!"

"Yes, would you like to come in for a minute?"

"Sure, why not?"

Troy's parents felt like royalty just walking up to the huge house. Sharpay got out her keys, unlocked the door and stepped into a large foyer with a crystal chandelier hanging from the twenty foot ceiling.

"Your house is beautiful, Sharpay!" Lisa was in awe at all of the beautiful paintings hanging on the walls. She walked over to them and realized that they were all signed "Sherri Evans". "Was your mother a painter, Sharpay?"

"Yes, she was."

"Well, she was magnificent."

"Thank you. Would ya'll like something to drink?"

Troy was quick to respond: "Dr. Pepper, please!"

"Just water for us." Jack responded for both of them.

Sharpay walked back over to the same intercom from the other day and pressed the same button. "Rachel?"

"Yes, Ms. Evans?"

"Can we get a Dr. Pepper, two waters, and a glass of pink lemonade, please?"

"Yes, Ms. Evans."

"Thank you!"

Sharpay walked back over to the couch and sat next to Troy, who was feeling kind of uncomfortable right now. Just to bring something up, he said: "You should see her room, it's amazing."

Sharpay just burst out laughing and looked at Troy who had a confused look on his face. "That sounded so weird, Troy."

Troy thought about it for a second, and realized what he was implying. "Oh, I didn't mean like that, I meant it was really nice."

"We know Troy." Lisa was laughing along with Sharpay, but Jack didn't seem to think it was as funny. Troy was grateful that Rachel had just come out with their drinks and was now talking to Sharpay.

"How are your kids doing, Rachel?"

"They're pretty good, but my lease is almost up so I am looking for a new place."

"You can live here for however long you need until you can find a place."

"Thank you, Shar. But would you mind if they spent the night with me here tonight? They've been staying with my mom, but she has to go somewhere tonight."

"Sure, you can take the rest of the night off, so you can go and get them and everything."

"Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow."

Rachel walked back into the kitchen and Sharpay sat back down at her spot next to Troy.

"Well, Sharpay, we'd better get going. Thank you for having us in."

"Well, thank you for dinner, coach."

"Anytime."

"I'll see you later." Mr. and Mrs. Bolton were already out the door and headed down to the car, but Troy was still standing with Sharpay in the doorway.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school right?" he was really dreading not being able to be with her at school.

"Yeah, and I was thinking that we should go ahead and tell everyone, so they don't find out from somebody else first."

"I think we should too!"

"So it's settled. Pick me up in the morning and we'll walk into school together."

"Okay." He leaned down and kissed her quickly on the lips, but when he pulled away Sharpay caught the back of his neck and pulled him back down into a deeper kiss.

"My parents are watching."

"I don't care."

He finally pulled away and said a quick goodbye and ran back down to the car, but before he got in, he gave her a short wink, which caused Sharpay to start giggling. Lisa looked at the couple and she couldn't be happier for them.