This chapter doesn't contain much humor than the previous chapters (again)… I wanted to make this chapter a disastrous one but it somehow ended up like this – dramatic! (ackk!!)

Don't own High School Musical or any of its characters… read and review… :)

Sharpay walks around her bedroom more than she practically used to do. It's nearing ten and Troy haven't have called her yet and the feeling of nervousness starts sinking in her heart and in her head. She opened her bedroom door, looking at the empty corridors of their mansion in her pink robes.

There wasn't any noise that she can detect – not even a single note from Ryan's usual humming tunes late in the evening as his every day – or in this case, his every night routine to fall asleep. Not even a noise from his television, so she was sure that she's the only one awake.

Her cell phone starts ringing and because of the tense she was feeling, she suddenly jumped out of her bedroom door and mentally kicked herself while hitting her own forehead. She went inside her bedroom in an instant. Attempting to not make any more noise, she walked with such haste and in the process she stumbled down upon intertwining on her own foot. Her forehead slammed on her carpeted floor.

She stood up, holding her forehead throbbing in pain. She reached for her cell phone before the ringing would end. Troy's name was flashing on her cell phone screen and she quickly answered his call. "Troy?"

"Did I wake you up?" he asked nervously. "I, uh… I'm sorry if I ever did wake you up."

"Silly!" she cut him off, slowly smiling to herself. "I was waiting for your call."

"Oh!" his voice became lively. "I see. Well, can you look out on your window, please?"

His request made her heart jumped in surprise. She went into her carnation pink curtained window facing the street ways near their gate. She peaked over the curtains and saw Troy standing beside the street lights. He waved at her as soon as his eyes caught sight of her face. She waved back.

"Don't go anywhere. I'll be right there." She told him and hung up. She secretly laughed to herself in disbelief. Troy actually did what she had told him to do. He came at exactly ten in the evening, standing on one of their street lamps waiting for her to come down from their mansion.

She took off her robes, revealing her long sleeved top, jeans with a little bit of sparkles, and white socks. She quickly put on her new Marc Ecko shoes – the one that Ashley Tisdale wore on its commercial, and reached for her jacket to protect her from the coldness of the night. She checked herself on her body-sized mirror and put on her strawberry flavoured lip gloss.

She sneaked through their backyard, where their securities are having their late dinner. She knows their securities time of dinner and she doesn't want anyone to know about her secret meeting with Troy.

Meanwhile, Troy was looking on their front gate, patiently waiting for Sharpay's appearance. Troy was always the one who surprises Sharpay but this time, it's the other way around. Sharpay poked Troy on his waist and he was the one who turned around with much surprised on his face. Fortunately, Troy wasn't anything like Sharpay who accidentally or willingly hit other people.

He was astonished by her giggles. Those were the first time he ever saw her smile and hear her laugh without giving pain to other people. "What was that for?" he managed to ask while laughing with her, and as if he wasn't contented with laughing with her, he poked his fingers to her waist as Sharpay began and continued to squeak in laughters.

"Troy! Stop it!" she ordered in between her laugh and running away from Troy who was still tickling her. "Troy!" she called out still when Troy didn't obey her. And when Sharpay was exhausted from laughing and running away from Troy on the grassy side of the streets, Sharpay lay down and Troy was right behind her. He was embracing her from behind.

Troy's chin was on Sharpay's left shoulder at that moment until they both have calmed down from laughing and tickling each other. Both of them were looking at the starry sky. Sharpay swore that she could feel the warm air coming through from Troy's breath. She slowly turned her head to stare on his blue eyes.

Troy looked back when he felt she was looking at him. "What is it?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "Nothing."

He smiled. "Well, staring at me like that is surely nothing I suppose?"

Again, she shook her head. "I'm staring at you because I like to." She told him. "I'm staring at you because I can't believe how you do all these things to me. And I'm staring at you because…" she paused.

Troy's eyebrows met. "…because?"

Instead of answering him, she motioned her body to be a bit lower than Troy's and started resting her head on his chest. Troy wrapped his arms around her as Sharpay starts feeling the beat of his heart. Or was it my heart? She mentally asked herself.

"Troy?" she called out gently.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked.

Troy tried looking at her but her blonde hair was all he could see. "What kind of answer do you want to hear from me?"

"The truth."

He inhaled deeply as possible. He closed his eyes and rested on her head. "If I told you that I kissed you because that was what I wanted to do, would you kill me?" he asked and Sharpay playfully punched his arm. He sneered. "I felt perverted." He joked and Sharpay pushed him while straightening herself, facing him and shot him her glares. He stretched his arms as a sign of surrender and laughed. "I was just joking." He confessed.

"You better be." She eyed him cruelly.

He smiled again. "I am not a perv, Shar." He told her assuringly.

--

Sticking to the status quo is what everyone at East High follows as their main principle to get through East High without a sweat. They firmly believes that sticking to the stuff you know is what makes you find your own peers and if you break out of it, it will just bring chaos to everyone – just like having a cat, a dog, and a hamster as a pet which everyone knew that these things don't go together peacefully.

And when someone believes that they can all go together, Sharpay would probably tell that person to see a psychiatrist in which she would really mean it.

Ryan personally thought his sister should go and see a psychiatrist for slowly breaking out of the status quo. His twin sister may not know it but she's beginning to go out of the stuff she usually does and that would be a major problem in the future. But for as long as the problem isn't still here, he thinks that it's okay for her to explore outside her own world.

He was watching Sharpay on the corner of their dressing room, giggling to herself while reading the text message on her cell phone – and he could only guess that it came from a certain person named Troy. Ten more minutes and their Homeroom class would be starting any time soon. He tilted back his head and just at the corner of the hallway sat Troy, also holding out his cell phone while reading a message.

"Better keep that gadget before Mrs. Darbus could confiscate that." He warned her.

Sharpay acted as though she wasn't surprised upon hearing his voice, but the truth is, she almost lost grip of her cell phone. Luckily, she caught it with her own hands. She faced his direction and smiled. "Ry, don't scare me like that."

He frowned in confusion. "Since when did I scare you?"

She opened her mouth but no words came out to defend herself. "Whatever, Ry." She replied and returning to read her text message.

Ryan took a step closer to her. "Who are you texting?"

Sharpay blocked the screen of her cell phone by bringing it to her chest. "N-no one." She lied and Sharpay isn't good at lying. She's the best when it come to acting but not telling lies and Ryan detected the sound and act of lie in his twin.

He eyed her suspiciously. "By the way," he called out to her again, making his voice sound natural. "Are you aware that you and Troy will be performing first for our homeroom project?" he asked. And just as he thought, Sharpay jumped out of her seat in great shock.

"Oh, God! I almost forgot!" she said in panic and poked her head on the door. "HEY, T—" there was a pause. "I mean, BOLTON!" she continued, calling out to Troy. "OUTFIT, NOW! WE'RE THE FIRST TO PERFORM!" she finished and Ryan swore he heard Troy mutter the same words Sharpay used and panic was all over them as they both grabbed their things to change into their Arabian costume.

--

Troy froze in front of the mirror, looking at his own reflection in his Arabian outfit. How Ryan managed to get the exact replica of Aladdin's costume in the motion picture, he doesn't care. What he cares about right now is how ridiculous he thought he looked like – not to mention, the cap with a large feather attached on the front portion.

"Ready, Troy?" came in Ryan's voice.

He blinked through Ryan's reflection in the mirror. He couldn't manage to utter a single word. He tried opening his mouth for a word but he ended up curling his upper lip in dismay. "Evans…" he called out softly. "What have you done to me?"

Ryan almost burst out into laughter as he steps into his direction. "Troy, you're Aladdin!"

He turned to the blonde boy who is used into performing in front of live audience in different types of costumes and looks, his eyes still wide opened. He blinked again. "I thought we'll only sing the Aladdin song – not completely be Aladdin!" he heard himself almost complain.

Ryan crossed his arms. "This is our project, Troy. The bulletin post clearly says that we're supposed to perform and costumes are part of performing." He reminded him while explaining why he has to be dressed like his character. "Need I remind you also that you're grouped with Sharpay and I? Not to mention, my twin sister loves performing and basically, this whole costume thing is her idea."

Troy looked as though he just got a death threat upon hearing Ryan's words. He couldn't believe how stupid he was on not thinking about these certain possibilities. He's a basketball superstar and not a feathered-cap performing guy. His reputation could be at stake.

"Troy!" came in a new voice. Both him and Ryan turned and saw Kelsi's figure standing over the doorstep. "We're performing in fifteen seconds. Sharpay's on standby. Come on!" she announced and vanished in an instant.

He gulped and slapped his forehead. He even looked like he'd be under death sentence in any moment. Knowing how bully the students of East High, not to mention his own team – the Wildcats, can be sometimes.

"Troy!" Ryan clicked his fingers in front of his eyes. "In ten seconds, now." He said, pointing outside the dressing room, to take his cue for their performance.

Slowly and reluctantly, he walked towards the hallways towards the entrance to the front stage. That was when he suddenly remembered about Gabriella's rantings. "I still can't figure out why we're doing singing and acting and dancing for homeroom." That was what his best friend was making an argument before – and she was right. Even he himself couldn't figure out why Mrs. Darbus wanted them to be singing and dancing, not to mention acting, for their homeroom class.

"We're not even taking up 'Theatre 101' so why are we even doing a project which is something like that?" Again, that was one of her complaints and this is the only time when he wanted to tell her that she was right and Mrs. Darbus is driving him mad.

And why did it take him this long to finally realize that Gabriella has a point?

"And even if you know you'll be singing with Sharpay in front of everyone at East High, you will still enjoy it because you will be singing with Sharpay and that's all that matters, right Troy? That in not less than a week, you'll be signing up for the Twinkle Towne's auditions with Sharpay, right? And that even if your career with the rest of East High will be put to jeopardy, you'll still pick Twinkle Towne and be with Sharpay, right Troy?"

Keyword: Sharpay!

He was distracted by her presence and it's true that he wanted to enjoy the moment with her. His eye caught the sudden appearance of the blonde girl dressed like Princess Jasmine on the movie right across his direction. She smiled at him – he's sure of that. But even though she smiled at him, all that could be registered on his mind was her never-ending line of "I DON'T WANT YOU IN MY SHOW, BOLTON!" and "DON'T RUIN MY SHOW OR I WILL DEFINTELY KILL YOU!"

He gulped. He better not screw up or else, he'll be back to negative zero point zero percent chance on being close with his dream girl – Sharpay. He doesn't want to get his nose be nearly broken or saying good bye to his precious manhood. He couldn't stand those kind of scenes anymore.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply to relax himself as he waits for his own cue. And in less than three seconds, Kelsi started playing her piano. The lights closed and all he could hear was his heart pounding fast and cold sweat was all over his face and body. But when it's time for him to sing and go on the stage, his feet couldn't take a single step. The music played on, but still nothing.

"Troy! What the hell is wrong with you?" he heard Gabriella hissed.

He looked back. And even if it was dark, he could still make an outline of his best friend. "I…"

"That was your cue! How could you miss it?"

"But…"

"Troy!"

"I can't go out looking like this! Gabie…"

"Yes, you can!"

"Group one." Mrs. Darbus' voice gained their attention and the spotlight was on hers. "Are you prepared to perform?" she asked them, looking on her list. "You better perform now or you'll get a minus on my grade's list."

Troy turned again to Gabriella. "Gabie, I…"

"What the hell is up, Bolton?" Sharpay's cold, irritated voice came in. "That was your cue!"

"Sharpay…"

"If you don't get out there now, I swear I'm going to make your life miserable!" she commanded.

"I can't!" he told her.

"Group one?" again, it was Mrs. Darbus.

Sharpay glared at him and went on the stage. She flashed her best smile. "Just a moment, Mrs. Darbus." She replied. "My, uh, partner's just gaining his courage. You know how unprofessional the people outside our world, right?" she added in a manner of joking when in fact, she was insinuating something to Troy.

"Thirty seconds, Ms. Evans." Mrs. Darbus called out.

Sharpay returned to Troy. "Look here, Bolton! You are not going to sacrifice my whole career with that attitude of yours! It's either you go out there and perform with me or you'll be sorry for the rest of your life!" she said haughtily and marched off.

Troy watched her leave before turning to Gabriella who looks angrier than ever. "Look, you can just forget her 'whole career' thing, but please! Go out there for our grades' sake!" she almost begged him.

"What if I screw up?"

"Don't you think you already did?" Ryan's cold voice came in. "If you can't do it, just give me the costumes and I'll be ready in less than ten seconds."