So I've decided that this story is no longer a Troypay/Sharcent. It's more of a Troypay/Overall Centric/Troyella. The Troyella will be in the past of course, and it's not going to be the basis of the story. The main change is the centric part. It wouldn't really make sense to have Sharpay as the only severely depressed character. I just thought I'd let you know...

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The Life You Left Behind

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Chapter 2

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"Mr. Bolton, your wife would like to talk to you," Troy Bolton's secretary's voice buzzed over the intercom. "She says it's urgent." Troy pressed the 'talk' button.

"That's fine. Put her through, Amy," he replied, only to be interrupted again.

"No sir. She's here to see you." Troy furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion and concern. Sharpay hated coming to his office. It was another of her strange phobias. That's another story, though.

"Send her in right away," he commanded hurriedly. A moment later, Amy stepped into his office, Sharpay in tow... Except it looked nothing like her. Troy carefully studied his wife. For the first time in his life, he was seeing her as someone unperfect. Drowning out his worried thoughts on why she'd actually come, he focused on the moment. Her hair was everywhere, mussed and matted. Her makeup was smeared and uneven, her eyes firetruck red underneath. This wasn't drama queen Sharpay. No. This was a traumatized Sharpay - who wasn't just crying over spilled milk; he could tell that right away. This wasn't the Sharpay that pouted and whined when he opted for McDonalds. This was someone else. Someone completely alien to Troy Bolton.

Troy blankly stared, suddenly unsure of how to handle a situation like this. Sharpay didn't seem capable of looking him in the eye. Amy, however, gave Troy a strange look, before huffing in an 'I have to do everything myself' tone.

"Just sit down dear. Just calm down," Amy soothed, guiding Sharpay to a chair as another broken sob slipped out her throat. Amy shrugged at Troy and mouthed "Good luck." Troy looked back at where his wife sat. He deeply inhaled before he cleared his throat loudly. Sharpay didn't even look up.

"Ummm... Shar?" he tried. She still made no effort to acknowledge him. She just continued to cry, each heave of breath becoming more stressed. Troy was beginning to get seriously uncomfortable with the situation at hand. He slowly stood up and walked over to where Sharpay's chair was. He awkwardly kneeled beside her and stroked her hair. She suddenly threw her arms around his neck and burried her face in his left shoulder. He closed his eyes and rubbed her back, still confused as to what this whole ordeal was about. Sharpay was tough. She may have been a crybaby, but that was solely because she was used to getting her way. He would've never imagined her capable of tears this severe.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on, or what?" Troy finally asked gently. Sharpay detached herself from Troy's arm and looked down at her hands. She didn't speak for a very long while, and Troy tried to be as patient as possible. Finally, she tried to talk.

"So..." she croaked. "I went to drop off Alanna, and then I left, and I was like, 'This is worth celebrating!'" Sharpay began. Troy laughed, receiving a glare.

"So I decided to stop at Starbucks. Well, as it turns out, Chad got a job there." Troy gave Sharpay a wide-eyed look, but she stopped him from saying anything with a wave of her hand. "So I ordered my stuff, and yeah," she said. At first, Troy thought she was done. What was so bad about that. All of a sudden though, Sharpay burst into a fresh set of tears. Troy waited again, expecting her to just sob for a while as she had done before. But his day was full of surprises.

"So then I sit down," Sharpay sniffled, becoming serious, her eyes widening. "And I start watching it, but Chad changes the channel, because it was a stupid soap opera."

Troy nodded along at certain intervals, wondering if this story was ever going to get to some kind of point.

"And the news was on. And there was this lady in Boston," her voice broke again. "And she was... She was raped... then murdered." She was finished; Troy knew that for sure now. But why was Sharpay so distraught over this? She rarely cared about anyone other than herself, or so it seemed. Why would somebody on the other side of the country affect her in even the slightest way?

"Okayy... So what does this have to do with anyth..." Troy asked, but was interrupted.

"Gar-yella" Sharpay whimpered. Troy gave her a look that suggested she might be insane.

"Huh?"

"It was..."

"What?" Troy asked. He was getting very frustrated from her inability to tell him this information that was apparently super important.

"Gabriella," she whispered to him. Troy turned his gaze from his wife to the blank wall in front of him. Had she really just said Gabriella's name? No. That couldn't have been what she'd said. Could it?

"Gab... riella?" he asked her, his own voice cracking. Sharpay nodded. He crouched down on the floor and sat Indian-style. He slid Sharpay onto his lap, and she willingly subdued herself to him. He wrapped his arms around her limp figure and hugged her tight. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and fingered his hair. They rocked back and forth on silence - both too despaired to say anything more.

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Chad dropped his cell phone on the pavement.

What?

Gabriella had a kid? ...named Colby, as Taylor had just informed him. Could that have been why she'd left? But surely Troy had seen her since she moved away over half a decade ago. Or maybe Sharpay had stayed in some kind of contact? Why was this such a secret? How could Taylor have been the only one of the original East High brat pack to be enlightened?

Chad heard a loud yapping noise from his phone on the ground and quickly bent down to pick it up.

"Did you seriously drop your phone? I didn't think it was that shocking..." Taylor commented.

"Well, this kid's what? Six? That's how long this has been a secret?" Chad said. Taylor snorted.

"She's seven."

"That doesn't actually make the situation any better. How could you two keep this from us back here?" Chad asked, infuriated. Taylor heavily sighed.

"Well maybe Gabriella was embarrassed that she'd had an illegitimate kid! Wouldn't you be ashamed if you ended up pregnant and unmarried at twenty years old?"

Chad's face twisted. "I don't mean to make a joke out of this, Tay, but if I ended up pregnant, I'd probably die of shock."

"Psh. Chad, you know just as well as I do that this isn't funny. My best friend is dead. Her daughter is, as I heard it, being shipped over to her father after the reading of the will. And he doesn't even know she exists!" Taylor screamed into the telephone.

"Well, this is news. The screwball that got her into this mess doesn't even know?"

"See, that's why I'm glad you called!"

"What do I have to do with anything?" Chad asked, confused by Taylor's fake excitement.

"Well you know, I was thinking it would be nice if you were the one that went to tell Troy that his daughter's going to be here by next week," Taylor paused to wait for Chad's reaction. Chad said nothing. He knew that if he'd thought about it, he would have eventually known this new development in the situation. But right then, he really wasn't up to facing it.

"Oh. And Chad? You might want to get to them before they get their court note."

Chad screamed. "What?!" But Taylor had already hung up.

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Sharpay and Troy entered their apartment building. A word had not been spoken since "Gabriella", and it was constantly becoming more and more awkward. They approached the elevator, ignoring the smiles and greetings their neighbors gave them. As the couple rode up to the eighth level, Sharpay stared down at her feet, finally letting it sink in that Gabriella was actually dead. When they arrived at the apartment, she fished out her key from her purse, handing it to Troy. He helped her inside. He hadn't even had the chance to close the door when Sharpay shrieked at the top of her lungs. Troy ran into the living room where he had left her.

"Shar? What is it?" he asked, entering to find his wife and best friend caught in an embrace.

"Oh! It's just Chad," Troy breathed in relief. Chad looked up at him and sadly nodded. Sharpay let go of him and let him find his way to the couch. Troy then took a seat beside him, and Sharpay sat in a recliner.

"So... I guess you heard about Gab-- about what happened," Chad awkwardly said to Troy. Troy nodded.

"Is that why you came, Chad?" Sharpay quietly asked. Troy looked over to her, once again studying the morose expression on her face. Chad began to nod, but then profusely shook his head. Sharpay wrinkled her forehead.

"I called Taylor after you left... Well, actually I called Ga... her before I called Tay." It was clear Chad was too afraid to use Gabriella's name. "And I got the answering machine. And... um... it was the weirdest thing. Because she said something about a Colby. And I had no idea what that meant. So I called Taylor, and she told me that..."

Just then, the doorbell rang. Chad immediately stopped speaking, and Troy slowly stood up to answer the door. He opened it to find a short brunette woman holding out an envelope to him.

"Someone dropped this off for you," she said hurriedly, pushed her bangs back.

"Thanks," he replied and shut the door in her face. As he walked back to the living room, he slowly tore the seal on the envelope and pulled out a crisp white paper. He stood before Sharpay and Chad while he silently read to himself from the paper.

"It's a umm... a letter from the department of um... social services." He looked at the note with disbelieving eyes.

"Let me see it, hon," Sharpay said in her raspy voice. He dropped the paper in her lap before sinking into the couch. Chad patted his best friend's back knowingly.

Sharpay began to read. "The state of Massachusetts hereby grants full custody of Colby Erin Bolton-Montez to Troy Bolton, as stated in the will of Gabriella Rose Montez." Her face plainly showed her confusion. "What is this?"

"I am not sure. But I think... I think it means..." Troy looked questioningly at Chad as he spoke. "I think it means I have a... a kid."

"Yeah. That's what I was trying to tell you before the note came. It's what Taylor told me back when I call..." Chad tried to say, but was interrupted when Sharpay burst into tears all over again. Troy numbly sat on the couch, staring at a random wall.

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So I've been working on that for about a week. I finally finished while watching Three Amigos. PLEASE R&R!! This was really hard to write, and I want to know how well I did. Also, I've updated by blog recently, so you can go over there for more story information.

-Sami