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Chapter 31

Sharpay sat next to Velma, waiting for the principal. She noticed a flier hanging near them. Sharpay looked at it.

"You do realize that you made some of mistakes on your stupid posters?"

"Uh, so?"

"Well, reggiest isn't a word."

"I MEANT RAGGIEST!"

"Also, what's a slute?"

"Shut up. You know, when I first typed it, I put Motez on accident, but I fixed it."

"So?"

"So, that shows that I'm not completely stupid."

"Well, you're pretty stupid for trying to steal Troy from Gabriella."

"Why do you even care?"

"Because Gabriella and Troy are my friends."

There was a silence between the two of them.

"You know, a lot of boys look at me because I'm so beautiful," Velma said.

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "You point?"

"My point is that I don't want any of those boys. I want Troy. And now I have him. I've wanted to date him since my first year of high school."

Sharpay shook her head. "Velma, you do realize that he doesn't like you in that way…. He just says that so he'll forget about Gabriella. He still loves her deep down, though."

Velma bit her lip. "That's not true."

Sharpay sighed. "It is."

Velma looked away from Sharpay. "It isn't fair. I have everything!"

Sharpay snorted. "Why would you think that's unfair?"

"Because I have everything but Troy's love."

Sharpay then knew that Velma had grasped the concept that Troy didn't love her.

****

Emmy closed her eyes as she thought about some words that would rhyme with crumble.

She finally gave up and threw the piece of paper she had been working on onto the floor. She had been trying to right a song for Troy, but it hadn't been coming along very well.

She really wanted to see him. She wanted to see him more than anything, but she couldn't. She was stuck in the hospital for a while.

No matter how much she had begged, Sharpay would not tell Troy where Emmy was. Emmy began to cry when Sharpay had said no for the tenth time.

Emmy sighed as she watched people outside of her window. They were in the parking lot, talking. She wondered what they were talking about.

They might as well be talking about Emmy Bolton, the biggest slut in the world.

****

Troy sat on the bleachers at basketball practice. He moaned as he looked down at his new clipboard. He was supposed to be coaching, but he had been trying to write a song for Emmy all morning. He was stuck.

"She's at the starting line of the rest of her life as ready as she's ever been," he kept repeating to himself. That was all that he had so far.

"Hey, Coach!" Chad yelled. Troy quickly put his clipboard down.

"Hey, Coach!" Chad repeated. "We've been warming up for twenty minutes now. What do you want us to do?"

Troy shrugged. "It's-- free practice day. Do whatever you want."

Chad also shrugged and ran off to tell the team about 'free practice day'.

Troy picked up his clipboard. He thought of more to put into his song. He missed Emmy.

****

Gabriella scanned the halls for Troy, but she couldn't find him anywhere. She had been looking since she got there, ignoring others calling her a slut, calling her pregnant, and a boyfriend stealer.

She wondered who could have made the fliers. Somebody who hated her.

As the day went by, she got more and more upset that she couldn't find Troy anywhere. But, she did find Sharpay.

"Hi, Sharpay," she said.

"Gabriella, you're home!" Sharpay said, thinking about what would happen when Gabriella found out about Velma.

"So, I haven't really seen you all morning. I haven't seen Troy either. But where have you been?"

"Principal's office."

"Why?"

"I stood up for you. You know, these stupid fliers all around school? So, I told the person who made them off."

"Did you get detention?"

"Yeah."

"Well, why? Did you make a big scene?"

"I used some inappropriate language in my History class when I did it. I got up on the table, too."

"Well, thanks for standing up for me. That means a lot."

Sharpay smiled.

"But, have you seen Troy?"

"Uh, no, not really. Wait, yeah, I did see him this morning, he was with---"

"With who?"

Sharpay didn't know what to say. She shrugged. "With his breakfast?"

With that, she ran away, leaving a confused Gabriella.

****

Troy couldn't believe how quickly basketball practice had gone. He got a little more of his song done.

As he went to his locker, Velma walked up to him. She had mascara all smudged on her face. She had been crying.

"What's up?"

"Troy, I know that you don't love me, but I love you so much."

Troy looked at her. "Velma, I do love you--"

He thought about this. Since he had been going out with Velma, he had convinced himself that he loved her. But he realized that it wasn't trued at that moment. He just looked at her.

"I, uh, I gotta go." Troy left Velma. He passed Gabriella, but he went so fast, he didn't even know it was her.