Chapter 7

When she got in the car, Troy had Fall Out Boys' "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A little More Touch Me" playing on his radio. Sharpay quickly changed it to her Wicked CD that she had grabbed off of her nightstand.

"What is that?" Troy asked while listening to the show tunes now blaring through his speakers.

"That is the song we are going to sing for the auditions." Sharpay stated plainly.

"I really don't want to think about the auditions right now, Pay." he said as he changed it back to Fall Out Boy.

"Why?" she turned off the radio and looked at Troy with a look of confusion on her face.

"It's just that…what if we don't end up sounding good together or something goes wrong? It's just stressful!" he looked genuinely concerned.

"Wow, you didn't seem this stressed when you performed with Gabriella." Sharpay felt a little disappointed and hurt. Troy saw this and turned her face his way.

"Pay, I just want you to be proud of me and I don't want to ruin this for you."

"Troy, there is no way you could ever ruin this for me. I will be happy with you just up on that stage with me."

"Okay." He turned up the volume and went to switch it, once again, to Fall Out Boy, but Sharpay hit his hand away from the stereo.

"No, we are listening to Wicked and you will like it!" Sharpay said forcefully.

"But I like doing this so much better." he said as he leaned in to kiss Sharpay. But she quickly held up her hand so that he couldn't reach her lips.

"WE WILL NOT KISS UNTIL WICKED IS PLAYING!!!" Sharpay yelled dramatically.

"Fine!" said Troy as he switched his stereo back to Wicked. "Now you owe me a kiss!"

Troy wasn't ready when Sharpay leaned in quickly and captured his lips with her own. They stayed like that for a moment, but Sharpay pulled back. "Are you happy now?" Sharpay raised her eyebrows at her boyfriend.

"Yes, thank you." He smiled at her and pulled out of her driveway.

Then Troy spoke up, "So what do think we're going to have to do to straighten this all out?"

"I don't know but I know that it will be interesting enough having the five of us in the same room together tonight."

"Yeah, I bet it will be."

They soon arrived at the Bolton home. When they walked in they saw Ms. Darbus gesturing for them to join her at the dining room table. They walked towards her just as Lisa came out of the kitchen door. "Oh, hello kids!" she smiled and hugged the two anxious teens. "How are ya'll doing tonight?" Sharpay looked at Troy and then back at Lisa with a smile on her face.

"We had a little uproar earlier but I think we'll be fine."

"Oh, between the two of you?" Lisa looked surprised. The two teens looked so happy together. Sharpay, seeing the expression on her face, responded quickly.

"Oh, no! More like between me and everyone else."

"Everyone else?"

"I'll explain later."

"Alright, but everything's okay, right?"

"Yes, everything's fine."

"Okay." She walked back into the kitchen and left Sharpay standing there alone, since Ms. Darbus had called over Troy. Sharpay walked over to the two of them and sat down next to him. Ms. Darbus and Troy were currently sitting in silence, so Sharpay brought something up.

"Ms. Darbus, we ran into Izzy today at McDonald's."

"Oh dear, he didn't do anything did he?"

"He and some of his punk-ass friends were harassing Bill, who apparently works there during the day, but Troy stepped in and told him to back off."

"And he did? That doesn't sound like him at all!" Ms. Darbus looked a little shocked.

"No, he didn't, but he did once Troy punched him." She looked over at Troy and saw him blush. "And then he was like 'I'll look you up sometime, Shar.'" She used her Izzy imitation voice. "I swear I almost threw up!"

Troy laughed at Sharpay because she was being so dramatic. 'Same old Sharpay!' he thought to himself. He realized that he should probably start listening, instead of staring at Sharpay, as she laughed along with Ms. Darbus, because his parents walked into the room. Sharpay stood up and hugged Jack and then sat back down in her own chair. Once they had all gotten food on their plates, Jack started talking.

"Okay, we all know why we're here; now let's just get to the point. Ya'll," pointing at the two teens, "announced your relationship this morning and everything went haywire at school. First I want to know why that is." Troy decided he should step in so that Sharpay wouldn't say anything against her classmates that she would regret later.

"Well, I broke up with Gabriella, which was a pretty big shock to everyone, and then-" Sharpay cut him off.

"Troy, I know you're trying to be nice, but you and I both know that this has nothing to do with Gabriella. We all know that I've never been truly popular at school; getting called the Ice Queen and getting stared at all the time doesn't really qualify for popular. I mean, sure, I could probably get any guy at that school, but that's just because they want to get in my pants. And sure, all the teachers love me, but that's just because I am a huge suck-up when it comes to teachers. The school just doesn't want to see Troy the-all-American-boy get frozen." Everyone was just staring at Sharpay, wondering how she had the guts to just spill out the truth all the time, no matter who was listening. Jack feeling awkward spoke up.

"Ummm, okay…" or tried to speak up. He looked to Lisa for help.

"Sharpay, why do the kids at school call you the 'Ice Queen'?" she asked sounding as concerned as she could.

"First of all, I'd like to say that American-boy's best friend, here, made up that nick name. And well, as ya'll know, I don't have the best family in the world, but everyone at school thinks I do. They think that I wear couture all the time, fly around the world in my private jet, and zoom around in my pink mustang. But-" Troy cut in.

"But, Pay, you actually do all of those things."

"Let me finish, Bolton. Anyway, the kids at school think I have the perfect life, but really, my life sucks!" Troy looked at her, obviously offended. "Troy, you know I don't mean you!"

"You better not!" he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the top of her head.

"Anyway, again, my parents are dead, my brother barely spends any time with me anymore because he's got new friends, and someone took my leads from me for the last musical! When I'm at school, I kind of act differently than when I'm at home or around close people. At school, I act like kind of a bitch, because I know that if anyone found out, they'd either feel sorry for me or laugh at me; and the last thing I need is to be someone's pity case or laughing stock! And now, on top of all this, I've got to put up with Troy!" Troy looked at her with disbelief in his eyes and his mouth wide open. "I'm just kidding Troy! I must really be a great actress if I pulled that one off without smiling!"

"Haha! You're so funny, Pay! But you're going to teach me how to do all of that acting stuff if we want to get the parts for this musicale!" He said mocking Ms. Darbus, forgetting she was sitting at the table. He looked over at her while Sharpay burst out laughing. He blushed and sank lower in his seat.

"Troy, I told you not to worry about the auditions! We'll do fine!" Ms. Darbus was now smiling and laughing along with Sharpay.

"You should listen to this girl, Troy! She has more experience with acting and being on stage than most famous performers do, so you're in good hands."

Sharpay being the suck-up that she was, said: "Well, the best only learn from the best!" she smiled at Ms. Darbus and back at Troy. They all laughed for a minute but then Lisa spoke up.

"I know the reason we're here is about the rumors, but I'd like to know what some of them are." She looked from Troy, who had his arm around Sharpay, who had her head resting on Troy's chest, to Ms. Darbus, and to Jack, her husband. Sharpay looked up at Troy and said out loud:

"Should we start with the Vegas one or the knocked up one?"

"I think the Vegas one is funnier."

"Me too! So, one of the cheerleaders came up to me and asked me if I drugged Troy, forced him to go to Las Vegas with me, and had Celine Dion marry us because I was that pathetically in love with him!"

"Oh, but you are pathetically in love with me!" Troy looked at Sharpay with a raised eyebrow.

"No, Troy, I am not pathetically in love with you. Pathetic love would be like Ryan and Julia Stiles."

"Ryan likes Julia Stiles? I always thought he was more of an Orlando Bloom kind of man." Sharpay hit him in the arm.

"Just because Ryan is fruity, doesn't mean he's gay, Troy! I happen to know that he has a major crush on Gabriella right now."

"Well, he can have her!"

"I'll tell him he has your permission!" she laughed and then turned to look at everyone else staring at the two with smiles on their faces. "What?" Lisa just laughed.

"Nothing, now what was the knocked up rumor about, or do I want to know?"

"Seeing as how you're his mother, it might be kind of awkward!" She and Troy just started bursting out laughing.

"I'm guessing you're saying that I don't want to know, right?"

"Yeah, it was pretty bad." Lisa, now feeling slightly uncomfortable, turned to Mrs. Darbus.

"So, how do you know the Evans family?"

"I used to be Sharpay's vocal coach and acting instructor back in Beverly Hills. When they moved to New York, I heard about this job and took the offer. Then, Sharpay showed up in Albuquerque for high school and now I'm her teacher again. I think that I used to spend more time with her than her parents did." She said the last part softly so only Lisa and Jack could hear, because Troy and Sharpay were laughing over something, obviously not paying attention.

"Oh, so you must be really close with the twins."

"Not really Ryan, of course I see him all of the time, but he and I never really got a chance to bond like Sharpay and I did. Ryan never took any classes with me, so I just hung out with Sharpay. I lived with them in the pool house, so I was also their nanny, which they needed quite often seeing as how they were almost never home."

The teens were completely oblivious to anything the adults were saying, because they were now talking about the auditions and that was a real serious matter. They were now arguing over the song. Sharpay wanted to stick with 'As Long As You're Mine' from Wicked, but Troy wanted to do something that wasn't a show tune. Lisa just laughed at Sharpay when she told Troy to bite his tongue when he said that Mamma Mia was better than Wicked, and turned back to Ms. Darbus.

"It must have been really hard on Sharpay and Ryan growing up without parents ever around. And now, they've both died. I can't even imagine!"

"Ryan never really cared for his parents, but whenever they would go out of town, Sharpay would always get upset. It was like she knew that someday, they wouldn't come back. I think that's partially why she doesn't like talking about her parents, because every time she does, you can tell that she tears up, if only a little."

Jack looked at his watch. "It's getting kind of late so I think we should wrap this up. Kids, I think that we just need to find a way for the two of you to show the rest of the kids that you really are together."

"Dad, I think that everyone is going to be okay with it, now that they know that Ryan, Gabriella, Chad, and Taylor are cool with it."

"Are you sure?"

Both of the teens nodded and then Sharpay yawned. Troy looked at her. "I think someone is tired." Sharpay just nodded and laid her head down on Troy's shoulder. Ms. Darbus got up to leave, so Sharpay stood to hug her. She said goodbye to the rest and then drifted out of the house. Troy stood, pulling Sharpay with him. "Mom, can we help you with the dishes or anything?"

"No, I think she needs to go to bed." They both looked at Sharpay and laughed. She was already half asleep leaning on his shoulder.

"I think you're right. Sharpay, are you ready for bed?" She nodded and then opened her eyes a little so she could see everyone looking at her. She smiled and said:

"Good night, everybody!"

"Good night, Sharpay. Good night, Troy" Lisa hugged the two and then walked back into the kitchen followed by Jack. Troy turned to Sharpay.

"Shall we?" she took his outstretched arm and walked up the stairs.

Once they were in his bedroom, Sharpay grabbed her pink bag and opened it. She took out what looked like shorts and a t-shirt. Troy was just standing there smiling at her, when he heard her speak. "Troy, could you shut the door so I can change?"

"Oh, right." He shut the door behind him and went to the opposite side of the room from where Sharpay was standing; he looked in the dresser and took out a pair of shorts. At the time, the two weren't facing each other, but when Troy had changed, he turned around and saw Sharpay standing with her back to him. She had already changed her shorts, and Troy was glad because it would have been bad if he had that picture in his mind because he wouldn't be able to focus on anything else, but she had yet to change her shirt. Troy watched closely as she slid off her shirt and revealed her black, lacy bra. His eyes got really big when she reached her hands around to her back to unclasp it. Sharpay knew that he was watching, so she decided to play with him. She unclasped it and then let it slowly fall down her arms. Troy was stunned, but when Sharpay turned her head around and winked at him, he knew he had been caught.

"Nice try, Troy, but we have to be dating a week before I even start to consider that." Troy, realizing what she was implying, quickly shook his head.

"Oh, I wasn't-" Sharpay cut him off.

"Yes, you were Troy, but I understand. You're a guy, that's how your brain works." He just rolled his eyes as she pulled her t-shirt over her head and turned around. "So, where do I sleep?"

"I guess you can just sleep in my bed."

"Okay." She climbed in to the left side of the bed and looked over at Troy who was grabbing a pillow and blanket from his closet. He laid them down on the floor. "Troy, what are you doing?"

"Making my bed."

"Are you kidding me? Get your butt up here! I don't bite."

"Well, I didn't know if you would let me after what you just said."

"Troy, just because we sleep in the same bed, does not imply that we are having sex. That's a totally different thing."

"If you say so." He climbed into the bed and looked over at Sharpay. "I love you, Pay."

"I love you, Troy." She gently placed her lips on his and held for a moment before rolling over onto her other side. She smiled to herself when she felt Troy wrap his arms around her waist. She was truly happy whenever she was around him and he made her feel like anything could happen. She soon drifted off to sleep…