From AK-tutti; People, people, people. I am very disappointed in you all. We've never gotten that few reviews for a chapter, was it really that bad? I wanna thank those, who did review, though, I'll love you forever. Ok, so here we are again with chapter 8, and there haven't been that long wait for this, and that's simply because I'm going to England on Monday, and I wanted one more chapter posted before I went away.
From Stessa; I'll leave it short: thanks to those of you who reviewed.
Disclaimer; Unfortunately, we don't own High School Musical. We wish we did, but that's not the case.
Twist of Love
Chapter 8.
Sharpay and Troy had fallen asleep down in the lobby still in hugging position, in fact the only difference from that morning and last night was, that their eyes were closed and they were lying on a couch together. People walking by might get the wrong idea, but it was totally innocent. Sharpay had wanted to go upstairs after awhile of hugging, but Troy really needed her, he was pretty shaken up by the news of his mother, and Sharpay chose to stay and calm him down. They must have fallen asleep.
"Sharpay? Troy? Wake up. Come on, wake up..." Taylor tried to wake them up, she was the first one awake of all of them, and luckily for Sharpay and Troy, the lobby was completely empty, except for Taylor of course. Nothing worked, though, she even tried kicking them. "SHARPAY! TROY!"
Finally. Sharpay fell down on the floor, from the fright she got from Taylor's yelling. Rubbing the back of her head, which she hit, Sharpay said, grumpily; "Why are you yelling, woman?"
"Well, you might wanna know, that you were sleeping in a very unfortunate way with mr. Troy Bolton, who's still on the couch. Why he didn't wake up by the funny little schrimp jump you made, when I yelled, I'll never know." Taylor explained, offering Sharpay her hand to help her get up from the floor, "You probably wouldn't want your best friend coming down here and find you like that, would you? And then you have rehearsals, y'know dancing and singing and all that jazz, that I know absolutely nothing about. Oh, and you have to be at the stadium, where you are gonna perform, at 4 this afternoon. You have sound checks and stuff there, and you also have to rehearse the dance routines there, so you are a 100 ready for tonight. We wouldn't want any mistakes, now would we?"
"Why are you talking to me like I'm 3 years old? I've done this for a year, I know how it works!" Sharpay asked, as Taylor helped her up, "You should really think about becoming a manager or something, you were acting like a pro before. Or is it something, that you have absolutely no interest in, and you've just been spending too much time with your dad?"
Taylor just rolled her eyes, this was classic Sharpay. "Look, Shar. I choose not to answer that, because if I do, I know who's gonna be bothering me all day, and I don't want that. Now, what are we gonna do about Troy? How are we gonna wake him up?"
"I have an idea, you wait here!" Sharpay exclaimed, clapping her hands together in joy. She ran out of the lobby and was back in 5 minutes with a bottle of water, when she was back in her old spot next to Taylor, she opened the bottle and got ready to pour it on Troy. "May I, please?"
With a nod from Taylor, she poured the water on Troy, and with a girlish scream he was awake and up from the couch. He knocked the bottle out of Sharpay's hand and yelled; "What the hell did you do that for?"
"You know, what they say Troy; a litre per day. You gotta start early." Sharpay said all innocently, and before Troy could say something back, everybody else entered the lobby. Gabriella ran into Troy's arms and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. "What am I, Gabs? Burnt toast?"
Gabriella giggled and hugged her best friend. To eyes it seemed like a long, deep hug by two friends, who really loved each other, but Gabriella whispered something in Sharpay's ear, that she didn't want the others to hear; "I'm warning you on before hand, Mr. McK is really, really strict. He wouldn't even let me drink coffee, when I woke up. I don't think, I'm gonna survive!"
"Don't worry, sweetie. I'll make sure, you get your coffee." Sharpay whispered back, and they pulled apart. "So, rehearsals anyone?"
They all headed to the dance studio, that Mr. McK had rented for the day. There was a nice atmosphere, Sharpay couldn't quite figure out, what it was, that made the change, maybe it was because, the Sweethearts had made up and were friends again? Yeah, that was definitely it.
Gabriella grabbed Sharpay's upper arm and pulled her back, so they were a few feet behind the others. They still needed sometime for themselves, and she could tell, that Sharpay had been dying to tell her something, that Sharpay herself found funny, and that she believed Gabby would find funny as well. "Sharpay, I know you wanna tell me something, what is it."
"It's nothing important, you don't wanna know." Sharpay started out, but her best friend gave her the 'I don't believe you' eyes, so she decided to tell; "Ok. But it's nothing serious, so don't judge. Here goes; I feel really bad for those people who work at McDonald's. They have to wear those ugly uniforms and a cap with the words 'I'm loving it'."
"I've never really thought of that before. It's like their slogan backfiring on them." Gabriella said, giggling slightly. "Y'know, any slogan can backfire on people using them, you just have to think about it for awhile."
"You're absolutely right." Sharpay agreed, and for awhile there was no talking, they were both thinking of a slogan, that could backfire. "Uh, uh! I've got it! Burger King; Have it your way. And it's like 'well, my way is that I get those burgers for free!', and they can't really say anything then, because it's 'Have it your way'."
"Or how about this one? Coca Cola Zero 'Life as it should be'. In a life as it should be, you'd be handing me those coca cola's for free, y'know." Gabriella said, "Wow, Sharpay. We could get a lot of free stuff coming up with these things."
"You're totally right, Gabs. L'Oreal 'Because you're worth it'. If I'm worth it, then why are you charging me for it?"
They both started laughing, and sped up to catch up with their friends. They couldn't wait for tonight's show!
--
Gabriella and Sharpay finished their song off with a smile, and the audience broke into cheer and whistles. They bowed and thanked everyone, making their way down from stage, sitting in their nice, soft chairs.
"That was the Sweethearts, everyone!" the host said, and once again people started clapping and screaming.
Sharpay let out a deep sigh and smiled at Gabriella, "That went well, don't you think?"
"Yeah, we did good." Gabriella smiled, "I'm glad we're friends again. I hated it when you wouldn't speak to me."
"And I hated being mad at you." Sharpay said, leaning back in her chair, to really relax. Today had been rough. They had rehearsed and gone over dance steps forever, and they had barely had time to do much else. After that they'd gone straight to their dressing rooms, getting ready for their show. But it was worth it, because Sharpay loved doing this more than anything in the entire world. She hoped she and Gabriella could keep doing it together for many years.
"It's gonna be good to head home tomorrow!" Gabriella exclaimed, taking a sip of her glass.
"Yeah, and just… relax for a bit." Sharpay mumbled, "What are we gonna do when we get home?"
"I'm not coming home straight away," Gabriella told her, "I agreed with Mr. McK for you guys to drop me off in Mexico. I want to visit some family, so I guess you're gonna have to deal with Troy on your own. I'm sorry."
"I don't hate him, Gabby." Sharpay reassured her, "I despised him because he took you away from me, but you're back now, so I have nothing against him. I liked him when we first met, remember? I'm the one who told you guys to go out."
"That is right." Gabriella said, smiling slightly, "Thanks for that, Sharpay. I really love Troy, and I'm sorry about all the things I said to you about being in love and you never having a boyfriend. I didn't meant to hurt you."
"It's okay," Sharpay mumbled, "You were only telling me the truth. I don't have boyfriends, but that's because I'm me. I'm waiting for the right guy, y'know? And… I know I'll know when it's him. I know I will be able to feel it the time we kiss for the first time. That it's him."
"I never thought of you as the romantic type, Shar," Gabriella said, "But what you just told me is very romantic. I know you'll find him, don't worry, you'll find someone as great as Troy."
"Yeah, at least I hope so." Sharpay sighed.
"Ah, I know so."
--
"I'm the lord and master, you all are bastards! Worship me or I'll stab your eyes 'till you bleed. I'm the lord and master." Sharpay sang in her room the next day, when she was packing to go home. Gabriella had already packed her things and was on her way down to the bus with it. When Sharpay began singing another song, Troy walked past, but she didn't notice anything. "So I'm a squirrel, and you're not, how pathetic you are. So I'm a squirrel, and you're not, you're just human, how pathetic you are. You don't have a fluffy tail, you don't have squirrelly wrath. You just build to destroy, while I collect some nuts, and you all suck!"
"I don't hope, that's a new Sweethearts song, because that would really lower your popularity." Troy laughed, and Sharpay just rolled her eyes at him, not really up for it. It was pretty damn early in the morning. "So what do you wanna call it 'How Pathetic You Are'? Or maybe 'You All Suck'?"
"Troy, do me a favour. Go get hit by a bus." She snarled at him. She was usually very hyper in the morning, but she'd only had 2 hours of sleep. They'd gone to bed at 3 in the morning, because they had loads of things to do, before they went to bed that night. They had to be on stage 2 minutes before the new year to help count down, when the new year had kicked in, they had to sing a new year song and pretend to have fun on stage with hosts, and yeah it was fun. Then they had to go to the new years party after the concert, and they couldn't escape it. They finally got out at 2:30, and they were back at the hotel at 3, where they went straight to bed. Mr. McK had waken them up at 5 in the morning, and they got 10 minutes to pack, so they could be back in New Mexico at reasonable hours.
"That could be arranged, y'know. The bus is right outside, you just say the word." Troy said, still kidding. He didn't seem tired at all for someone, who'd only gotten 2 hours of sleep. "So what song were you singing?"
"'I'm The Lord & Master' and 'So I'm a Squirrel'. It's foamy songs." Sharpay explained, putting the last of her clothes in her suitcase. She tried to close it, but it was too packed. "Help me, please?"
Troy smiled and sat himself down on Sharpay's suitcase, and she finally got it to close. "See, if I hadn't been here, you wouldn't have been able to close it."
"My hero!" Sharpay replied, sarcastically. She handed him the suitcase, she smirked at him and left the room. Right before she left, she yelled over her shoulder; "And a real hero would carry my bags."
Troy groaned and carried Sharpay's suitcase down to the bus, regretting that he opened his stupid mouth, because it was really, really heavy. What could she possibly have in it? Clothes, make-up and a pink mic shouldn't weigh that much. When he finally came down to the bus, he threw the suitcase in and breathed out in relief. He turned around and saw Gabriella and Sharpay giggling at him, and that could only mean one thing; Sharpay had told Gabriella about upstairs. Great, just great. Now they were gonna tease him with it forever.
They entered the bus, and Troy could hear them whisper "my hero" as they walked past him, giggling. He shook his head and entered right behind them. When they got inside, Sharpay and Gabriella stormed to the back of the bus, screaming. It seemed, that they were just trying to keep themselves awake.
It would be nice, if they could hang out and talk all three of them, so Troy decided to take a seat right in front of them, and Taylor soon occupied the seat next to him. This ride was gonna be fun, he could feel it. And then it wouldn't seem that long, so he'd be home to see his mom, before he knew it.
--
"I'm tiiiiiiiiiired." Sharpay complained and rested her head on Gabriella's shoulder. "And this bus is so slow, it would be faster, if I jumped on my tongue from here to home."
"Hmm..." Gabriella tried to think of something, they could do to pass time. "Banana-phone?"
"NO!" Everybody in the bus yelled, except for Sharpay, who seemed to lit up by the thought of another round of banana-phone.
"I've got an idea!" Sharpay announced, and Gabriella turned to look at her, she couldn't wait to hear Sharpay's proposal, "How about we look out the window, and every time we see a red car, we hit Troy?"
Gabriella joyfully clapped her hands together and smirked at her boyfriend. "Me like that idea!"
Sharpay sat herself straight up, all excited. "So, on the count of 3?" With a nod from her best friend, she began the countdown, "1, 2, 3. GO!"
"Red car!"
"Red car!"
"Red car!"
"Red car, red car, red car."
"Red car!"
"Partly red car!"
After 5 minutes of that, Troy moved a few seats up, so there was some space between them, but so that they could still talk and stuff. Sharpay and Gabriella had told him, that he was no fun, but he seriously didn't want to get any bruises. If they still wanted to play the game, they could hit each other, Troy didn't want to be their punching bag. And of course they chose to become a little more serious, after Troy had moved himself.
"It's really bummern, that you're staying in Mexico for a few days, Gabs." Sharpay said, "But Sharpay, being the amazing person that she is, has found an upside to it. I'm getting a few days off then."
"Well, I can quickly make it to a downside again, my sweet love. I'm delaying the video shoot for the (Don't It Make You) Happy!/Still You Went single, and I'm delaying the cover shoot as well, and I know, how much you love those." Gabriella said and stuck her tongue out at Sharpay.
"Why do you do that?" Sharpay asked, faking to be upset, "I finally find an upside to being apart from my best friend for 3 whole days, and you absolutely have to go ruin it?"
"I'm sorry, Shar." Gabriella said, still going along with the joke, "I'll get you another monkey t-shirt, if you forgive me for the total meanness."
Sharpay thought about the offer and replied; "And now you've turned it back around. I forgive you, my fantabulously best friend."
"Oh, c'mon. Grow up!" Taylor interrupted, rolling her eyes at the two friends, "And stop making up words, that do not and will never exist, it's very annoying."
"She yelled at us, Gabs."
"She yelled at us, Shar."
"Me not like being yelled at."
"Me neither."
--
A couple of hours later after they'd dropped Gabriella off in Mexico, Sharpay made her way over to Troy and sat down next to him. She was very concerned about him, especially because of what she'd told him the other day. She wanted to make sure, he was ok. "Hey, Troy. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, sure, of course." He replied, not really paying attention to anything, "I mean, why wouldn't I be?"
"When someone replies with a 'yeah, sure, of course' to an 'are you ok' question, it usually means, that the person is not ok." Sharpay said, placing her hand on his shoulder, "It's ok to be sad, Troy. It won't make you less of a man. And really, it's expected, she's your mother."
"I just want her to be ok, y'know." Troy said, his voice almost cracking, on the verge of tears.
"I do know." Sharpay said, she couldn't do anything but be there for him, so that's what she was gonna do, "But she will be ok."
"That's what I wanna believe, but when the cancer keeps coming back, maybe that means it's supposed to get her?" A tear escaped his eye, and it was soon followed by a lot of other tears.
"You don't believe that, do you?" Sharpay was stunned by the fact, that Troy would even consider thinking that. It was his mom, that they were talking about. But maybe if he had that attitude, it wouldn't hurt so bad, if the most terrible thing was gonna happen, and he would be even happier, if she recovered. Yeah, maybe. "The way I see it, she was given this horrible disease, because God believes, that she can handle it, that she can survive it."
"I really hope so, Shar." Troy said, his tears still falling, "But what if she doesn't, what if she can't?"
Sharpay didn't say anything, because what could she possibly say to that? Instead she hugged him tight, letting him know, that she was there for him. That was really all she could do right now. Be there for him. She decided to change the conversation a little, still in the same genre but a little less depressing. "So, have you told Gabby about all of this?"
"No."
"Why? Don't you think, she deserves to know?" Sharpay raised her voice, she couldn't believe him sometimes. He hadn't told his own girlfriend about all of this, and she could've been there better for him, than Sharpay could herself. "She's your girlfriend, Troy, and she would want to be there for you."
"That's exactly my point, Shar." Troy explained, "If I had told her, she would've stayed and gone back with us, and she deserves to spend some time with her family, so that's why I didn't tell her."
There was a long silence. It wasn't an awkward one, but it was still a little uncomfortable to be in. Sharpay decided to break it with something, she'd wanted to tell him for a long time, "Thank you."
"For what?" Troy asked, surprised. He hadn't really done anything for Sharpay to be thankful for. He'd snatched her best friend away from her and annoyed the crap out of her, why would she be thankful?
"For taking care of her." She said, looking down at her feet, this was really difficult for her to say, "Even though you sorta stole her from me for awhile, you're a really great guy. I love Gabby, and I've been her best friend for 14 years, and it's nice to finally see her with a guy she deserves. She's had her share of bad guys, and now she's got you, a great guy she really loves, and it's nice to see her this happy. So thank you, Troy."
Troy didn't reply, he just let it all sink in. Sharpay didn't see him as a bad guy, which was great, because he really believed they could be very good friends, like they seemed to be on the way of in the beginning. And Gabriella loved him? Wow.
While Troy sat in his own thoughts, Sharpay began humming banana-phone to pass time, they still had a long way to go, and she wouldn't allow herself to be bored, and she could see, that Troy needed some time to think, so she wasn't gonna bother him. She was gonna shut up, and she was gonna hum banana-phone, and Taylor could cover her ears, if she had a problem with that.
The rest of the drive home was uneventful, and they got there safely. Sharpay and Troy decided to leave it to the others to unload the car, they just headed for the Bolton's house, hoping to catch Mr. B there.
They entered, kicking their shoes off in the hallway, going straight for the living room. They knew he was home, because the front door had been unlocked. They stopped in the doorway, when they saw him sitting in his chair, sorrow covering his features. Sharpay immediately felt out of place. What was she doing there anyway? This was a family matter, she didn't belong there.
She crossed the floor though, and kneeled down in front of him, putting her arms around him in a hug. She padded his back gently. She didn't know how bad his news were, but she was positive Lucille hadn't gone better. He leaned into her touch, letting her comfort him.
Troy just watched them, wondering about what was going on with his mom, but also when his dad had gotten so close to Sharpay. He went across the floor too, sitting down in the couch.
Sharpay pulled back, a small smile playing on her lips, "So, I'll leave the two of you alone now, okay? You have a lot you need to talk about, and I'll go home. Call me, or step by if one of you need me or anything. I'm here for you."
"Thank you, Sharpay," Mr. B whispered, as she stood up, "We will remember that."
"Bye Troy!" Sharpay waved, making her way out of the room.
"Son," Mr. B told Troy, once the front door had smacked close, "We need to talk."
--
Sharpay had been trying to pass time all night long. She had tried watching TV, dancing around to music, and she even tried to clean, but nothing could take her mind of Mr. B and Troy alone in their house, with a sick wife and mother in the hospital. She knew she did the right thing about letting them have their space, but she still believed they needed her.
After unsuccessfully trying to figure out how to work the vacuum cleaner, she gave up and took a long, hot bubble bath. It was nice and relaxing, but she couldn't enjoy it completely. When she believed she was clean enough from the long trip, she got up and dried herself off, jumping into some comfy clothes. She blow-dried her hair and went into the living room, once again turning on the TV.
Her eyes shifted towards her cell phone on the table, wondering if she should call Troy up and ask if he was okay. She really had the urge to do it, but she didn't want to seem noisy. No matter what she wanted to do, there was also some part of her that told her she shouldn't.
She was about to call it a night, even though it was still quite early, when there was a knock on her door. She looked at the clock, confused, wondering who it was. She turned off the TV, and hurried into the hallway, opening the door to find Troy on the other side.
He looked horrible to put it nicely. It looked like he'd been crying, so Sharpay quickly pulled him into the apartment, closed the door, and then wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. She could feel him shaking, and she was sure he was gonna cry again. The news must have been really bad.
When he had calmed down a little, she brushed her fingers against his cheek, and grabbed his hand, leading him into the living room, where they sat down on the couch, close together.
"What happened Troy?" Sharpay whispered, stroking his hand, "Has she gotten worse?"
"She's dead." Troy said, looking up at her, his blue eyes full of sorrow, "My mother is gone, Sharpay! I'll never see her again, and I didn't get to say goodbye."
"Oh my God, Troy, I'm so sorry." Sharpay said, pulling him in for another hug, "I don't know what to say… how do you feel, do you need anything? Remember, I'm here for you."
"Thank you," Troy whispered, letting his head rest on her shoulder, "But right now the only thing I need is you."
"You've been needing me a lot lately, haven't you?" Sharpay joked, trying to ease the tension a little.
"Yeah well." Troy said, pulling back again, "You're so sweet, and you're always there. It means a lot to me, Sharpay."
"Don't worry about it…" Sharpay told him, stroking his cheek again, "You're cool guy, Troy. And I'm sorry about all this, I wish I could make you feel better."
Troy's lips curled into a little smile. It was barely there, but Sharpay could see it. He then looked her in the eyes, and brown met blue. Without even thinking about the consequences, Troy closed the little space between them, by pressing his lips onto hers.
She responded for a second, before pulling back, "What are you doing?" she questioned, her brown eyes floating with questions, but also… affections.
"I need you, Sharpay…" Troy whispered, pressing his lips onto hers again, leaning his body against hers. And before she knew it, she was responding to his kisses. She had only been dreaming about this in what seemed forever now. She knew it was wrong, because he was dating her best friend. But really, she couldn't stop herself.
Maybe she needed him as much as he needed her.
From Stessa; There. I hope you liked this, and let the Troypay begin, folks. Please review.
From AK-tutti; Yeah, we hope you liked it. The Troypay arrived a little sooner than expected, but my dear friend Stessa thought it was time, even though I wanted it to take a little while longer. And yeah, what she said; please review.
Stessa & AK-tutti were here :)