IMPORTANT: I know I've given very many false alarms about this before, but this chapter is absolutely and inevitably the last. And I'd like to apologize beforehand about how terrible this chapter is, especially as ending chapter. It's horribly written. Or at least, I think it's horrible. But who knows? You guys might like it.
I also apologize for any grammatic errors, or anything like that, you may find while reading.
fun fact: I think this is my longest chapter that I've ever written. ;D
Disclaimer: For the last time, I do not—nor will I ever—own High School Musical.
"...and so you see, it was all Barbie's fault."
Sharpay scoffed, ever so silently, at Gabriella's lame explanation. Both girls were sitting in the principal's office to receive their punishment for, as Principal Matsui had put it, "disrupting the blissful peace of East High's hallways".
You see, everything had gone down hill after Sharpay slapped Gabriella. Gabriella had slapped her back, and thirty seconds later, they were rolling around the floor, beating the crap out of each other. It had all happened so fast. The next thing they knew, they were in the principal's office. Neither of them knew had they had gotten there, but here they were.
Troy was there, also, sitting as far to the back of the office as he possibly could. He was still being as silent as ever, although the blank stare he had worn before, was now replaced with a look of terror. He was horrified. And who could blame him for being so? He had just witnessed two girls he knows and loves, pouncing on each other like wild animals. Who wouldn't be horrified?
Even I'm horrified.
"Troy." His head snapped up at the sound of the principal calling his name. "You weren't involved in this fight, were you?"
He didn't say anything, but he shook his head. As if that wasn't obvious. He still looked as perfect as he had went he walked into school that morning. Not a hair was out of place.
Sharpay and Gabriella, on the other hand, looked… well, you know, how people usually look after getting in a fight.
"Of course, Troy wasn't in the fight," Sharpay spoke up, holding an ice pack to her forehead. "Why would he get into a fight with two girls? That would be stupid." Which brought about the magic question, in Sharpay's head: Why the hell was Troy even in there?
Principal Matsui must've been asking himself the same question, because he then said: "Okay, Troy, you're done here. You may go back to class."
Troy didn't move. He didn't want to go back to class. Why on earth would he want to go back to class? Everyone would be staring at him, for they knew he was of the cause of Sharpay and Gabriella's grudge match.
"He can't leave. He's a witness," Gabriella squeaked. "He saw Barbie hit me first."
"For the love of God, stop calling me that," Sharpay said, more to herself than to Gabriella. She then shifted in her seat to turn at look at Troy. He was looking back her. He had seen Barb—uh, I mean, Sharpay, hit Gabriella first. And if the principal asked him about it, he would have to tell the truth and say so, wouldn't he?
"Is this true? Did Sharpay start the fight?"
When Troy took to long to answer, Gabriella snapped her head back in his direction and stared him down, and gave him a if-you-don't-tell him-that-Blondie-started-the-fight-I'm-going-to-kill-you look. Which caused Troy to fidget in his seat slightly, but he still didn't said anything.
Why hadn't he just left and gone to class, when he had the chance?
--
Troy, Gabriella and Sharpay had finally been let out of the principal's office, after being forced to most of the day in there. Principal Matsui had given both Sharpay and Gabriella detention for the next two months and since Troy was being uncooperative wouldn't tell which one of them had started the fight, he'd gotten detention as well.
Which Sharpay thought was stupid, but she didn't say anything in fear of getting in even more trouble.
They were let of the office right before fifth period and while Gabriella had then proceeded to go right to class, Troy and Sharpay were still wandering around in the hallways.
They weren't exactly walking together, though. Troy was several paces ahead of Sharpay and she was just following him, because she wanted to know where he was going. (A/N- stalker alert. LOL ;D) And if Troy had noticed that she was following him, he certainly didn't seem to mind.
After walking around aimlessly for about fifteen minutes, Troy suddenly stopped when he got to a staircase and sat down on the steps. Perhaps, all that walking had made him tired.
Sharpay was still confused as to why they had been walking around for the past fifteen minutes but nevertheless sat down next to him. "Hey Troy, thanks for not telling. You know, about me starting the fight."
Troy didn't say anything but nodded in acknowledgement, just to let her know he had heard her.
Sharpay took this opportunity, while she knew she had Troy's attention, to say, "You know, there's something Gabriella said earlier today that has really been bothering me." Troy looked up from the floor and made eye contact with her and Sharpay took that as an invitation to continue talking. "Did she mean what I think she meant when she was talking about putting out?"
Troy—no surprise—didn't respond. But the way he quickly looked away from her and uncomfortably shifted in his place seemed to good enough answer for Sharpay.
So, Gabriella had put out. With Troy.
Sharpay suddenly had a knot in throat and found it hard to speak. "Why? I mean, if you wanted to— I would've…" She struggled to finish her sentences.
"Oh god," Troy said, sounding thoroughly distressed. It seems that his oath to silence had just officially been broken. Sharpay would've been jumping for joy at the sound of his voice, if it weren't for the reality of the conversation they were having.
"Oh god, what?" she choked out, still having trouble speaking.
"Oh god… you think I'm a horndog. It didn't happen the way you think it did," Troy was saying, even though he wasn't seemed to be talking more to himself than to Sharpay. He wasn't even looking at her. "It was Gabriella. She… she sort of forced me."
Sharpay took a dramatic pause, before she answered. Or maybe it wasn't a dramatic pause, maybe she was still waiting for the knot in her throat to go away. "What do you mean she forced you? You could've said no."
"I did. But she wouldn't leave me alone. And you know, I was still upset about you dumping me—"
She stared at him in disbelief, "I cannot believe you're blaming this on me."
Troy looked at her, like he was confused. "I'm not blaming you. Aren't you paying attention? I'm blaming Gabriella."
Maybe it was she was still upset with him for sleeping with Gabriella, but Sharpay suddenly snapped at him and said, "Why don't you try blaming yourself, for once?"
Troy seemed—as anyone would—shocked at this outburst. "Blame myself? For what? What have I done wrong? Some of us are just victims in this situation. And by some of us, I mean me."
"And how are you a victim?" Sharpay asked.
"I've been the victim of your and Gabriella's flagrant hatred towards each other," he said. When Sharpay looked lost, he continued. "My two best friends hate each other... you don't see how this affects me?"
"Well, it's your fault we hate each other."
"What are you saying? I didn't tell you guys to hate each other. You did that on your own."
"I'm saying that if neither of us had ever met you, the chances of us hating each other would have been much slimmer. Because, you know, most feuds between girls are caused by a human of the male persuasion. And in this case, that would be you," Sharpay explained.
"So you're saying," Troy had, once again, looked away from her. "that you wish you'd never met me."
"What?" Sharpay squealed. "When did I say that?"
"Because I'll just leave, if you want," he continued on, ignoring her questions.
"Leave? Leave where?" Sharpay was lost. What the heck was Troy talking about?
"Leave here. Leave East High. Leave Albuquerque."
"What the hell, Troy? Where is this coming from? You're not making any sense. Stop talking like you're in a soap opera," Sharpay said. Was it just her, or was Troy talking like he wanted to commit suicide?
"You're the one who said you and Gabriella would be happier if you'd never met me."
Sharpay shook her head. "That is not what I said." Then, she quickly added, "And I order you not to commit suicide."
Troy looked alarmed at that statement. "I'm not killing myself, Shar. I'm just leaving."
"So, you're just gonna leave? Possibly even drop out of school? Just because you supposedly feel victimized? You expect your parents to be okay with this?"
"I'm not planning on telling them," Troy answered, quietly.
"Well. What are you planning on doing? If you leave, where do you even think you're going?"
"I don't know yet, Shar," he said, sounding exasperated. Sharpay was wearing him out with all these questions.
"You don't know? How can you not know? And how long have you been thinking about this? This 'leaving' thing? And when were you planning on telling me, because from the way you're talking, it sounds like you've already packed?" Sharpay asked.
"What do you mean by when was I planning on telling you? I just told you," he said, flatly.
"But it's— You don't understand, Troy. You can't leave me… I love you." Sharpay wasn't sure if this was her first time ever saying this to him, but one thing's for sure, she'd never meant those three words more in her life than she had at that very moment.
Troy didn't show much reaction to she had said. He didn't say 'I love you too', the way Sharpay had so dreamed he would. In fact, all he answered with was: "If you love someone, let them go."
Sharpay blinked and tried, unsuccessfully, to hold back tears. "Troy. What is that even supposed to mean? Are you saying that you love me, so you have to let me go? Or that I have to let you go? Why do we have to let each other go at all?"
"Sharpay, you're making this more difficult it needs to be," Troy said, standing up from the staircase. Sharpay stood up, also, not like how much higher up from her was, when she was sitting and he was standing. "Can't we just say goodbye and move on?"
Sharpay stared at him in bewilderment, but didn't say anything else. She was positive that if she even attempt opened her mouth again, she would start screaming. And screaming probably wouldn't be the best thing for to right now. For one, it would most likely scare Troy away. And two, they were in the school hallway and classes were still going on.
"I'm really going to miss you, Sharpay," Troy started, when he realized that Sharpay was going to respond. "but I still think I should leave. I've screwed your life up enough. And before I go, I want you to know that I—"
Before Troy could finish what he was going to say, the school bell rang, and the previously empty hallway was suddenly filled with students. Buzzing throughout the hallways and slamming their lockers incessantly, none of them seeming to care that they had just ruined what could be called a particularly intimate moment between Troy and Sharpay.
Sharpay silently cursed the people who flooded the halls, for destroying her blissful moment. Troy was going to tell her that he loved her, wasn't he? He was going to say, "Before I go, I want you to know that I love you." That's what he was going to say; Sharpay was absolutely sure of it.
But he didn't get his chance to say it and Sharpay was deprived of her chance to hear it, for when the bell rang, Troy bolted off in the other direction. Possibly in pursuit to tell Gabriella what he had told Sharpay about his plan to leave. Or maybe even in pursuit to avoid Gabriella, so he wouldn't have to tell her about his plan to leave. Either way, he was gone.
And it didn't register into Sharpay's mind, until moments after he was gone, that that was possibly the last time she'd ever see him.
Wow. I ended this story on a real downer, didn't I? Sorry about that. But I couldn't end this story with a happy ending, it was just impossible for me. It seemed too unrealistic. I mean, this 'semi-suicidal' Troy may seem somewhat unrealistic as well, but… oh well. It's too late to change anything now.
And did you notice how I finally somewhat worked the title into the story? Troy says he's "just [a victim] in this situation." Yay! ;D
Major thanks to everyone who read this story! I LOVE YOU ALL ;D
This was my first time ever even attempting to write a story, and I can't believe it's over. I also can't believe that so many people liked it & that I got over 100 reviews. Seriously, I'm still in shock [:
And one more thing, before I hang up my pen—metaphorically, of course—and say goodbye to this story forever. I'd like to know whether or not, you (the readers) think it's a good idea if I make a sequel. Or should I just leave at this? Because I know I ended this on a major cliffhanger, and you may or may not want to know what happens next. I already know what's going to happen in the sequel, if I write one. So yeah, if and when you review tell me what you think.