Chapter 8
Sharpay woke the next morning to the sound of the radio playing. She went to sit up, when she realized that Troy still had his arms firmly wrapped around her, which caused her to smile. Instead of sitting up, she just turned around so that she was face-to-face with Troy. She lightly placed her lips on his and she knew that he must be awake because he automatically responded to the kiss. After a couple of minutes, the two broke apart and just laid there smiling at each other, until Sharpay spoke: "Good morning!"
"Good morning…how did you sleep?"
"I had the best night of sleep ever! How about you?"
"Ditto." He just laid there staring at her for a moment, but then realized that they had school today. "Pay, we need to get ready for school." Sharpay just moaned and buried her face in Troy's chest.
"Do we have to?"
"Yes, Pay, we do. Today won't be as bad because we'll have everyone else on our side. Besides, if we don't get up soon, then my mom will come in here to wake us up."
"But, I like your mom."
"So do I, but she thinks that you slept on the floor last night." Sharpay quickly got out of bed when she heard that and walked over to her duffel bag. She pulled out her outfit for that day and placed it on the bed. She lifted her eyebrows at Troy, who sighed and got out of bed to face the other way. He walked into his closet to get his own clothes and came back out five minutes later, completely dressed; he looked at Sharpay who was standing in front of the mirror doing her makeup. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her small waist. She looked up at their reflection in the mirror and smiled. They were the cutest couple ever! He kissed the top of her head and then forced himself to let go of her.
Once they were both ready, they walked down the stairs and came face to face with Lisa and Jack Bolton. Sharpay was in a rather good mood, so she basically sang all of her words: "Good morning everybody!" Jack looked up from his paper and Lisa turned around in her chair. Lisa smiled, while Jack just rolled his eyes playfully.
"Well, good morning, you two. You're in a good mood this morning, Sharpay. Is there any particular reason?"
"Why not? It's a beautiful Thursday morning: the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and there's no wind to mess up my hair!" she flipped back her hair with her hands and smiled brightly. Lisa looked at her; she knew the reason that she was so happy. She had gone to check up on the two teens the night before and had heard them talking. She laughed to herself when Sharpay brought up the fact that just because they slept in the same bed, that didn't mean they were having sex. She knew there was a reason that she liked this girl so much.
Troy looked at his watch and back at Sharpay. "We should probably get going if we want to get there a little early to meet everybody."
"Who's everybody?
"Chad, Taylor, Ryan, Kelsi, Jason, Zeke, and Gabriella. We're meeting by your locker."
"Why my locker?"
"Because it's the easiest to find." Sharpay thought for a minute, but then realized that her locker was the only one that was hot pink.
"Okay, are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, I think so. Bye Mom, bye Dad!"
"Bye Lisa, bye Jack!" Sharpay waved with her right hand, causing Lisa to notice the ring on her finger for the first time. When Sharpay was all the way out the door, she stopped her son and pointed to her right ring finger.
"We'll talk about that later, Troy." He just blushed and walked out the door after his girlfriend. Jack turned to his wife.
"What were you talking about?"
She explained that the ring was a promise ring and finished the explanation off with: "In other words, Sharpay's going to be around for a long time, so you should probably try to like her more from now on."
"I like Sharpay; it's just that Troy's never had a girlfriend that I would even approve of and then Sharpay comes along and poof! She's just a lot different than the others. I don't know how to act around her."
"Just be yourself, and not as Coach Bolton, but as Jack Bolton. I can definitely tell that she tries to be herself around us. Just promise me that you'll soften up to her, at school also."
"I'll try, but I'm not promising anything!" he smiled at her and turned back to his paper.
"Troy?" Sharpay and Troy were now sitting in his Jeep driving towards the school.
"Yes?" He looked her way but quickly put his eyes back on the road, thank the lord!
"Why is your mother going to talk to you about my ring?" she motioned towards her right hand.
"You heard that?"
"I hear everything, Troy. Now you didn't answer my question."
"I didn't tell them that I was giving it to you, because I knew that they'd think that it was too soon, and they'd try to talk me out of it. If you haven't noticed, my parents are very traditional people; they're not a big fan of young marriage."
"That's funny; my mom and dad got married when they were eighteen and Mom had us the same year." She half-laughed to herself and then turned back to Troy.
"Troy? Do your parents like me?"
"Of course they do! What makes you say that?"
"I don't know; it just feels like sometimes your dad doesn't approve of you being with me, or something."
"Pay, my Dad is just a protective guy; he doesn't want me to screw up my dreams, which are actually his dreams. My parents love you, and who wouldn't?" he smiled at her and, as he pulled up at a stoplight, leaned over to kiss her, which she happily obliged to. He pulled back when he saw a green flash out of the corner of his eye. As he pulled off, he began talking. "Pay, are you going to be okay today?"
"Yeah, as long as you're there with me, I'll be fine!"
"Okay. I talked to Chad and he said that since you and I don't have English together, he'd look out for you."
"Good old Chad! I knew he was good for something!" they both smiled and took the rest of the drive in silence.
They pulled up to the school and walked through the front doors hand in hand, just like yesterday. They still got some pretty odd stares, but they were trying their best to ignore them. As soon as they turned the corner, they were stampeded by seven people all standing around a certain hot pink locker. Chad high-fived Troy and then turned to Sharpay. "Hey, what's up, Shar?"
"Not a lot. You?" Sharpay said a little insecurely.
"Same, dude. Anyway, I was thinking that we should all hang out today after school."
"That sounds great! How about the mall?" Sharpay started to get excited.
"How did I know you were going to say that?" Sharpay hit him playfully on the arm and then pushed through the crowd of people to get to her locker, which was completely blocked by Ryan and Kelsi leaning up against it, talking (flirting) with each other. She tapped Ryan on the shoulder a couple of times, but he wouldn't budge. When she got fed up with waiting, she stepped back and landed a hard kick on the front of her locker, causing everyone in the hall to turn and look her way, but the only thing that she cared about was that Ryan and Kelsi were now away from it.
"Thank the lord!" she turned to Troy. "I swear, if he doesn't ask her out soon, I'll do it for him!"
"Give it time, Pay. They're both really shy and probably don't even realize that the other likes them back." He laughed when he saw the look on his girlfriend's face. "What's that look for?"
"Ryan? Shy? Ah! That's funny, Troy!" She slammed her locker shut and preceded down the hall towards her class, when she saw Ryan and Kelsi again. Kelsi was leaning up against the lockers and Ryan was standing a few feet in front of her. Sharpay rolled her eyes, stopped right behind her brother, and with one push of her hand, Ryan and Kelsi were in a complete lip lock. Sharpay turned back to Troy, who was shooting her looks. "What? I couldn't resist the urge! It was sooo strong!"
"Well, at least it worked." He motioned towards the couple, who were now involved in a heated make-out session. Just then, Coach Bolton rounded the corner, and stopped when he saw the group of teens. "Hey, Dad!"
"Hey, Troy, Sharpay, everybody else!" he turned and saw Ryan and Kelsi. "Mr. Evans. Mr. Evans!" next he turned to Sharpay. "Would you do the honors? He is your brother."
Sharpay simply nodded, handed her backpack to Troy, and walked over to the couple. She grabbed the back of Ryan's collar and dragged him back to where Coach was standing. "Thank you, Sharpay. Now, Mr. Evans, what is our rule on P(ublic)D(isplay)ofA(ffection)?"
Ryan sighed and began to talk: "No PDAs on school campus, unless you don't get caught. But it's a little late for me."
"I'd say. Now what do you propose I do, Mr. Evans?"
"Well, technically, it's Shar's fault because she pushed me. So, I think that she should get in trouble, not me." Sharpay put on a fake shocked expression and turned to Coach Bolton.
"I would never do such a thing to my sweet twin brother!" the two just laughed and soon everyone, but Ryan, joined in. "Now would I, coach?"
He rolled his eyes and responded: "Of course not! I could never imagine Sharpay Evans shoving her brother into a girl that he obviously likes! Who would ever say that?"
"I don't know!"
"Alright, I'll see you guys later! Sharpay, you're coming over for dinner tonight right?"
"Totally, coach! I can't wait!"
"Cool, bye!" the teens waved him off and then turned to look at Ryan and Kelsi, who were both blushing, obviously embarrassed. Troy and Sharpay left the group and began walking down the hall towards homeroom, until Troy stopped her.
"Pay, I'm really glad that you and my parents are getting along so well! I don't know if I could live if you didn't get along with them. The three of you are my everything, my life." She smiled and then kissed him lightly on the lips.
"Troy, sometimes you say the cheesiest things…but that's what I love about you!" she continued to kiss him until she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned around and saw Ms. Darbus standing there, awkwardly. Sharpay tried to lighten the mood. "Hey, Ms. Darbus! What's up?"
"Um, could I speak with you?" she noticed Sharpay look at Troy and then back to her, "And Mr. Bolton if you so please."
"Of course!" they all walked into the large classroom and Ms. Darbus sat down in her overly large desk chair, while the two teens stood. "What did you need to talk to me about?"
"Your living arrangements. You can't keep living without supervision, Sharpay, it's not safe, and I won't allow it."
"Then what do you suppose I do?" Sharpay was a bit taken aback by the forcefulness of her teacher's words.
"I was thinking that you would come and live with me for a year, until you go off to college."
"But what about Ryan? I'm not just going to leave him to live by himself, either."
"Ryan's a resourceful boy, he'll figure out something, but you need to focus on yourself right now. What's best for you?"
"Ms. Darbus, I need to think about this and talk it over with Ry. I'll call you tonight." And with that, she just left, leaving Troy and Ms. Darbus in an awkward situation. Troy spoke up.
"Goodbye Ms. Darbus. I'll see you later." He also left and all was silent. Ms. Darbus sighed heavily and placed her head in her hands. She knew that Sharpay didn't want to come and live with her; she knew exactly where she wanted to live, and she knew that Troy was nice enough to offer it to her. Sharpay wanted to live with the Boltons more than anything.
"Sharpay? Sharpay?!" she was no where in sight; Troy had looked every place, except for one. He didn't know why he hadn't looked there first, because it was the most logical place that she would be. He pushed against the solid wood door and it swung open against the force of his strength. There she was, standing on the stage, just looking out into the sea of black theatre seats. She acknowledged him at once.
"You know, I always thought that achieving my dreams would be easy, but, in reality, they're just a huge pain in the ass!" Troy was now climbing the steps ascending to the stage. He walked up beside her and puts his arms around her, as tears started to trickle down her soft cheeks.
"Pay, no one ever said that life was easy, especially when you aim as high as you do…but no matter what challenges life throws at you, I want you to know that I will always be there. I'll be there if you want to talk or even if you just need a shoulder to cry on."
Sharpay lifted her head off of his shoulder and looked him in the eye. "I know, Troy. And right back at you." She kissed him softly and smiled into his light blue eyes. "Troy, I don't know what I'm going to do. Ms. Darbus is right…I can't just live by myself, but I also can't just go and live with her. Don't get me wrong, I love Ms. Darbus; she's like a mother to me, but I'm not a little girl anymore. She can't just expect me to pick up everything and move in with her. I have a house, three cars, and an entire fortune that's in my name for when I turn eighteen. It's all so much."
"Sharpay, why don't we talk to my parents tonight and see what they think? I have to talk to my mom, anyway, so we can do it together." He smiled at her and made her blush. "I promise we'll figure something out. Even if you need to come live with us for a while, I'm sure that we can work it out."
"Well, right now we should probably get back to class. It's a good thing that we have Darbus first period! If we had you're dad, we'd be screwed!"
"Yeah…let's go!" They both got up and left the auditorium, walking hand-in-hand down the abandoned hallways. Just as they reached the outside of Ms. Darbus's classroom, the bell for second period rang and students came pouring out from everywhere. Chad walked out and saw the two walking away from the corner of his eye. He snuck up behind them and lightly touched his hands on Sharpay's shoulders, causing her to scream and whip around. Everything in the hallway stopped after Sharpay's scream rang through the hall.
When Sharpay realized who it was, she let a smile creep out from her lips and started laughing. She playfully hit Chad on the arm, as everyone around them went on with their own to-dos. "Chad! You scared the hell out of me!"
"Sorry, I didn't know you were so easily freaked!" he laughed and gave her a hug, softening her up a bit.
"I'll let it slide this time, but do it again, and you'll have to face the wrath of the Ice Queen. Thanks for the nick-name by the way!" And with that, she was obviously satisfied. She turned on her heel and walked off towards her next class, leaving the boys in the dust. Then she stopped… "Are you coming or what?" Troy and Chad, once they realized that she was talking to them, ran through the crowd, trying not to kill anyone in the process.
The rest of the day went smoothly, and the gang all met back at Sharpay's locker right after school ended. "Oh my god! Tomorrow is Friday and we can all go shopping! Aren't ya'll excited?!" Sharpay was acting a little too happy for everyone else to bear.
"Pay, is everything okay? You seem…happy." Sharpay looked dissatisfied at Troy's words.
"Am I really always that unhappy?" she looked around at everyone, as they were all trying to think of a way to get out of answering that question. Luckily, Kelsi thought of something.
"So, Sharpay, what are you wearing to my party?"
"I have no idea! That would be why I need to go shopping! I was thinking my white bikini that says J'adore Dior on the back, but I don't know! I have too many swimsuits to choose from!"
"You can't have that many swimsuits, Sharpay. How many do you have?" Taylor was definitely not a materialistic girl and only owned two swimsuits.
"Well, let's see…" she counted all of them in her head and then continued, "In bikinis I have twenty-seven, but I also have a Playboy one-piece and a thong-suit -" she stopped when she realized that everyone was staring at her with her eyes raised. "One of my old friends had a White-Trash party and I've only worn it two other times."
"That would be when?" Troy was getting interested now.
"Well, Ryan used to have these two friends that would come over and go swimming, and they were both really cute, so I would go lay out by the pool and they would basically sit there and stare at my ass all day, while Ryan was throwing up, of course. But that was in my more naïve days, I should probably just throw it away." Ryan was just standing there, completely disgusted at what his sister was talking about.
"Please, throw it away already! I beg of you!"
"Whatever!" she turned to Troy. "So, should we head to your house now, or later?" Just then they heard a familiar voice from around the corner.
"Troy, Sharpay, can I talk to you a moment?" Coach Bolton appeared and eyed the two teens. "And I promise, I didn't hear any of that!" Troy and Sharpay followed Jack around the corner and almost ran into him when he stopped and turned around. "Ms. Darbus came to me, wanting to speak about your living arrangements, Sharpay, but I told her that it was up to you to decide where you lived. I didn't want to get involved if I shouldn't. So, I told her that Lisa and I would speak to you tonight over dinner and see where we got. Is that okay?" Troy interrupted before Sharpay could say anything.
"Great minds think alike, Dad. Great minds think alike."
"Oh, did Sharpay have this idea too?" Troy was amazed at his father's words.
"No, Dad, I did. You know, your son Troy. Remember him?"
"I think I might, but vaguely…very vaguely." He winked at Sharpay and turned to them both. "So, I will see you two tonight?"
"You know it, Coach!" Sharpay smiled and waved as jack walked off. Then, all of a sudden she busted out laughing and couldn't stop. "That was hilarious, Troy! I know you don't think so, but if you were there in my shoes, you would be laughing too."
"But when you think about it, Pay, I would never be there in your shoes, because I would never wear your shoes. If I were to wear your shoes, my feet might fall off, and considering that I don't want that to happen, I think I'll stay in my own shoes!"
"Whatever you say, Troy. Whatever you say!"