I am sooo sorry for not updating in a while. I had major writers' block. Grr...I hate those!

Chapter 14

Sharpay Evans gracefully ran down her carpeted stairs when she heard her house-phone ring. She wanted a phone for her own room but she had to wait until her sixteenth birthday.

Ugh! Parents are sooo unfair , she thought as she placed her hand on the expensive blue wireless phone.

"Helloooo," she sang. "Evans residence. Sharpay Ashley Michelle Evans speaking."

"Nice intro, Sharpay," a familiar voice said sarcastically.

"Who is this?" Sharpay asked.

"It's me," the voice said. "Gabriella Montez."

Sharpay was silent for a few minutes. What could this girl possibly want from her?

"What do you want?" the blonde demanded. "And make it quick. I have better things to do than talk to you."

On the other end, Gabriella was thinking quickly how she should bring up ths topic she wanted to talk about. She knew girls like Sharpay. If you did it wrong, good-bye forever.

She only had one choice: flattery.

"Oh, Sharpay," she said slowly. "I really need your help."

"My help?" Sharpay repeated. "Why me?"

"Because you're the only one who can," Gabriella said slowly. "It's about Troy and..."

Sharpay gasped. Was this girl asking her for help on getting Troy? How dare she!

"You're the only one who actually knows him," Gabriella continued.

Sharpay calmed down.

"That is true," Sharpay said.

"I'll probably never known as well as you did, Sharpay," Gabriella said with a sly smile. "But since Troy is my dance partner, I need to know him for more than a great dancer. Since you're an awesome dancer, I'm sure you'd understand how important it is to know the person you're dancing with."

Sharpay nodded. "Yes, that is very important."

"So could you tell me about Troy?" Gabriella asked. "You know, like his habits and likes and dislikes and...his past?"

Sharpay beamed and her brown eyes sparkled. "I'd be glad to help. But I can't do it over the phone, because--"

"Oh, of course," Gabriella cut in. "You probably know so much about Troy that you'll probably run the phone bill high. We certainly can't have that."

Sharpay was just going to say that she'd get in trouble with her father, but she liked Gabriella's reason better.

"How about you meet me at the mall in the food court?" Gabriella suggested. "Fat'free drinks on me."

Sharpay thought about it for a second. "Okay. Meet you there."

The girls quickly hung up, both sighing.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," they said as they headed over to their closets.

Gabriella searched the food court area for the graceful blonde. She slightly remembered what Sharpay looked like: bouncy blonde hair, brown eyes, and a long nose. But that description seemed to fit almost half of the girls there! She finally gave up and sat down at a table in front of Pazazz.

Sharpay, on the other hand, remembered exactly what Gabriella looked like. All the times Troy had talked about her! And the day she laid eyes on that brunette...Sharpay could never forget those eyes. Those brown eyes that Troy claimed were "prettier than hers!"

She finally saw Gabriella at the counter of Pazazz.

"I'll have a Chocolate Chunk milkshake, please," Gabriella said, handing over some money.

Sharpay walked up beside her, saying, "I'll have a fat-free Cherry Berry."

Gabriella smiled and took out some more money. "I said I'll pay, remember?"

The girls snatched their orders and sat down at the table Gabriella had claimed earlier.

"So what's the deal with Troy?" Gabriella asked. "Like...what was he like when you first met him?

Sharpay closed her eyes, thinking hard. "Well..." she said slowly. "When I first met Troy, he had quite a rep. After all, he attended Juilliard, and his aunt owned the Fine Arts School I was attending."

Gabriella stayed silent. She knew interrupting the blonde would be one-way ticket to screamfest hell.

"He never looked at anyone, though," Sharpay said. "And he didn't smile that much. But he was really polite and he's a great dancer."

Gabriella sighed softly. She knew that was true!

"He lightened up soon after that," Sharpay continued. "He even began to laugh once. But he always got quiet whenever anyone asked him about New York or why he lived with his aunt now."

Sharpay sighed dramatically. "But then..."

Gabriella leaned in.

"I couldn't take it anymore," Sharpay said. "I was so curious and Troy and I were really good friends by then. I felt sort of angry that he didn't trust me enough to tell me what was wrong with him."

"Go on," Gabriella urged. She knew they were coming to the good part.

"So one day I asked if we could talk after dance class," Sharpay said. "He said yes so we stayed after dance class was over. But when I told him what I wanted to talk about, he almost ran away. But I didn't let him. I kept asking him what was wrong with him."

"And then he told me."

Gabriella knew this was the moment she was waiting for.

"He had a rough past," Sharpay told her. "His mom died when he was only five...and he got blamed for it."

Gabriella gasped. "Why?"

"She fell down the stairs and his dad thought he did it."

"His own father?"

"Yeah. Troy was standing at the top of the stairs," Sharpay said. "Besides, his dad was devastated. It would've been easy to jump to conclusions."

The blonde sighed and continued the story. "Anyway, Troy was sent to New York to live with his uncle. That's when he began attending Juilliard."

"Don't you need to audition to get into that school?" Gabriella asked. "I thought it was for professionals only."

"His uncle pulled some string," Sharpay said. "Apparently, he's on the directors' board."

Gabriella was hanging on every word by now.

"And then his dad came. He said he was cured and that he loved Troy," Sharpay continued. "But then on his eleventh birthday..."

"What happened?" Gabriella asked.

"His dad tried to kill him," Sharpay finished. "At least, I think that's what Troy meant. All he said was that his dad pushed him down the stairs."

Gabriella's jaw dropped. "How can a dad be so cruel?"

"I don't know," Sharpay shrugged. She stared at Gabriella. "You're a daddy's girl, right?"

Gabriella nodded...feeling a little offended.

"That's one thing we have in common," the blonde pointed out.

The girls were silent for a few minutes.

Then suddenly Sharpay blurted out, "That's why Troy didn't like you at first."

"Huh?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, he didn't like you but at the same time he wanted you to like him," Sharpay confessed. "He told me that after one of your dance practices. It's just like with his father. When he came to New York, Troy was still a little cold but he wanted his dad to be proud of him."

"That's why he didn't like me?" Gabriella said. "Because he felt the same toward me as he did to his dad?"

"Well...that and the fact that you were popular," Sharpay admitted. "The popular girls made fun of him at his old school. He used to be really nice back then."

So that was he was so distant and mysterious at school!

It totally made sense now!

"Anyway, he really likes you," Sharpay said. "Just promise me one thing."

Gabriella turned to her.

"Promise me that I get to be the Maid of Honor when you two get married," Sharpay said with a grin.

Gabriella laughed. "I promise."

No more problems with Sharpay...I don't know if Tiffany would be so easy, though.