Hey guys, sorry this took so long but my exams are over now! Yay. But now i just got to wait for the results. So if you never hear from me again? Its probably because i died of failure or something.

But anyways, i hope you like this chapter, the first part is filled with some Troypay cuteness and no disrespect to 50's music. I actually love it ;) So yeah...hope you like this ;)

Chapter 8

Sharpay awoke to the sound of some classic 50's style swing dance music. What the fuck? She thought, she glanced at her clock that was nestled into her pillow. She had a tendency to pick up the offending object every so often during the night and place it next to her head. It worked better this way, particularly in the mornings when she needed to get up to go to work. It was 10 am. And she didn't need to be at work till about three. And yet, here she was awake and listening to some crappy music her grandmother probably had on repeat.

She sat up slowly, patting her hair and trying to comb her fingers through it, despite knowing no matter what she did, her hair would still look like a matted mess. She threw her legs over the side of her bed and her feet danced across the floor until they settled on something small and fluffy. Ah, there you are. She slipped her feet into comfy slippers that had bunny rabbit heads on the end. Troy had found them particularly funny and always made fun of her whenever she wore them. Each time, Sharpay merely stuck her tongue out of them and then would touch the fluffy bunny's head as if to say – I still love you. In fact sometimes she would receive rather strange glances from Troy and she would realise she had actually said that aloud. There was one moment just a few weeks earlier where that particular scene had happened, Troy had chuckled and placed a light, feathery kiss on the top of her head. On the top of her head. Sharpay had mentally Squee'd on the inside.

Sharpay grabbed the silk dressing gown that was hanging on the back of her door and threw it over her pyjama shorts and vest top before heading out into the kitchen, she at least had to attempt to break the stereo system.

Sharpay strolled out only to find Troy moving to the music and casually spinning around whilst flipping pancakes over the stove. Sharpay had to place a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh, however a slight giggle fell out causing Troy to look up, startled. His shocked face slowly morphed into a grinning one though as he placed the pan back on the stove and turned the heat down.

"Morning. I wanted to bring you breakfast in bed." Sharpay arched her eyebrow but couldn't help but give him a smile anyway. She headed more towards him, grabbing an apple and sitting down on a stall besides the breakfast bar.

"Okay, not that I'm complaining and all, I mean, free food. Yay! But why do you want to make me breakfast? And pancakes? I mean…yum much?" She laughed lightly but kept her eyes on her apple, she was contemplating what his answer would be and was a little apprehensive of what he may say. Come on, your reading way too much into this, Shar. Troy stalled for a second and leaned on the counter, opposite her, he waited a few seconds before Sharpay finally glanced up and looked back at him.

"I guess…I just wanted to say thanks. For everything you've done. I mean, standing by me through this whole Gabriella and Ryan thing. Consoling me, just hanging out with me. Your amazing, Shar. I guess, I just wanted you to know that." He smiled sheepishly, obviously embarrassed by his little speech, throughout though Sharpay's grin had only become bigger and bigger. She stood up and walked round the counter to take him in his arms.

"Troy." She said, her voice coming out as a playful whine, whilst she clung to him. She momentarily pulled back and looked up at him, her arms still fitted, snugly around his neck. "You're my friend, I'd stand by you through anything, no matter what. You have to know that."

Troy looked down to Sharpay, who was a good few inches shorter then him, with his arms wrapped around her waist and hers around his neck, he placed his forehead on her own.

"I do now." He whispered and Sharpay inwardly shivered at the feeling of his breath upon her. They stayed there for a few moments, just looking at each other and listening to the sounds of each other's breathing patterns. Sharpay wanted so badly to kiss Troy, right here and right now and when Troy moved his head a little, her heart gave out at the thought that he was about too.

But something snapped inside of her and she hastily moved her arms away and headed back to her seat, avoiding his eyes. Troy felt a slight pang in his chest for the loss of contact, why had she moved away from him? He couldn't get over the way she had felt in his arms, in was almost like she…belonged there?

A few moments passed of silence whilst Troy revisited the pancakes he had been previously cooking and Sharpay began attacking the fridge and the cupboards, taking anything that could be remotely edible and satisfactory enough to be eaten with pancakes. She placed them all on the table, getting out mats and cutlery, lining it all up perfectly whilst Troy was giving his pancakes the finishing touches.

When Troy was just dishing up one pancake each on two plates and then dishing the rest of them on a bigger plate, Sharpay decided to grab two glasses and fill them up with Orange and Mango juice before sitting at the table. Troy picked up the two plates but before he placed them on the table, he halted giving out a loud chuckle when he spotted Sharpay's slippers. Sharpay looked at him, interested at what he seemed to find so funny about her. Her hands immediately when to her face at the fear of something being on it but when she found nothing, she looked back at Troy, her curiosity sparked. She then followed where his eyes were looking and relaxed. Several short moments later when Troy was still standing a few feet away from her, still holding her breakfast and still laughing, Sharpay let out a giggle along with him.

"Fuck off, Troy okay? I love them! Now give me my breakfast, I'm starving." She stuck out her tongue to show him she was joking and began walking and placed the food in front of her. He crouched down so he was sitting in front of her slippers, it didn't go unnoticed by him to realise how tanned and smooth Sharpay's legs seemed to be. He felt his heart begin to pounce a little harder in his chest, he tried to ignore it and focus on her fluffy slippers instead.

He ruffled one of the bunnies' head before glancing back up at Sharpay; his eyes glistened over as all the laughter they had previously shared a few moments ago, disappeared. He gave her one more, long look before getting up and heading towards his seat, where his pancakes were waiting for him. He paused and turned back around, Sharpay was silent and thoroughly confused as to what was exactly going through Troy's head right now but she shoved the thoughts away and tried to listen to what he was about to say.

"If you love your slippers, then I love them too." He had murmured it so quietly, Sharpay had to repeat it over and over in her head just to be clear she had heard correctly. When she was positive, her heart swelled and she wanted nothing more then to just wrap him in her arms and never let go.

Sharpay was just wiping away spilt beer when she took notice of some bouncy dark hair, she was sure she knew who it belonged too, any moment now she was waiting to be attacked by some toothy grin and when she saw some fluffy blondeness coming behind her, she knew it was Ryan and Gabriella, officially.

"Hey, Shar." Gabriella said, she looked a little sheepish at the idea of seeing Sharpay again. It had been a week since the whole dinner fiasco; they had kept in touch by texts but nothing serious. Sharpay couldn't help but notice how out of place Gabriella looked in this place. It wasn't the classiest of places but Sharpay liked it. The chipping of the paint, the drink stains all over the bar. Call her crazy but the less likely a place looked like a palace the more likely Sharpay was to fit in.

"Gabriella. Ryan. Hey!" She was really glad to see them but it was a busy night and just as Gabriella was about to respond, they were interrupted by a customer. Sharpay quickly served him before turning back to her friends, though she wanted to get to know Ryan more and hadn't really said more then a few sentences to him, she still liked the idea of referring to him as her friend.

"Hey Sharpay." Ryan said, giving her a slight nod.

"Hey guys." She beamed back. "Can I get you anything?" They were in a bar after all and Sharpay felt compelled to ask them for anything although she got the feeling they weren't there just for a drink. Gabriella nodded and turned to Ryan who seemed to be thinking.

"Yeah, can I have a pint of bitter and Gabriella…" He glanced at her and she nodded as though confirming his own unspoken thoughts. Sharpay would have thought it cute, if it didn't creep her out so much. "Gabriella will have an orange juice." Of course…Sharpay scolded herself for thinking such a negative thought. Gabriella was nice and was fast becoming one of her closest friends but did she ever have fun? You know, get drunk or anything?

Sharpay grabbed a pint glass before heading over to pour Ryan's drink, since it was only a few centimetres from where Gabriella and Ryan were; Sharpay was able to keep up a conversation with them.

"So, how's life for you guys?" She momentarily looked up every now and again before placing the beer in front of Ryan and grabbing a smaller glass for Gabriella, filling it up with orange juice. Ryan shrugged, such a man response whilst Gabriella smiled a little bit.

"Its okay really, nothing huge is really happening if I'm honest. I could be getting a promotion though, which is hopefully going to make work more fun."

"Really? That's great!" Sharpay exclaimed. Ryan shuffled his hand around in his pocket and bought out some change for the drinks ready to hand it over to Sharpay. Sharpay waved her hand and shook her head.

"They are on the house." Both Gabriella and Ryan opened their mouths, ready to argue and insist on paying, Sharpay chuckled. "Take it as a congratulations drink." Gabriella grinned.

"I don't know if I have the job yet, Shar." She replied, pointedly but accepted it nonetheless. She took a sip of her orange juice whilst taking a seat on one of the bar stools.

"Pfft…its you Gabriella. You have this in the bag." Sharpay grinned before being interrupted by another customer. "I'll just be right back, okay?" Ryan and Gabriella nodded before emerging themselves into a conversation whilst Sharpay served a bunch of customers.

Fifteen minutes later, Sharpay had the ability to breathe again, she felt guilty leaving her friends stranded, who had obviously come to speak to her – why else would they come to this particular bar? – But at the end of the day, she was just working and doing her job. When she had given the customer his order, customer after customer appeared, begging for her attention to satisfy their alcoholic needs.

"Sorry about that. Its really busy in here tonight." Sharpay leaned against the bar, opposite her friends.

"Its okay." Ryan shrugged. There was a moment of silence before Sharpay began to notice the shifting of Ryan and Gabriella's eyes and how they kept glancing at each other. Sharpay figured her prediction of why they were really here was correct but she was going to let them speak first.

"Actually, Sharpay we were hoping we could speak to you about something." Gabriella asked, her voice low. Sharpay arched her eyebrow but quickly shook it off in case they took it the wrong way.

"To talk about what?" As if she needed to ask.

"Troy." Ryan said, not missing a beat. Sharpay surprised herself at how surprised she was when Ryan spoke, her heart skipping beats at just the thought of talking about Troy, she scolded herself about how pathetic she was being. She talked about Troy all the time! Okay, maybe not the best way to phrase that, Shar. Sharpay slowly began to nod her head.

"Okay. Can you guys hang on ten minutes? My shift finishes then and we can talk." Ryan and Gabriella nodded their heads, picking up their drinks and starting to finish them off whilst Sharpay went off to serve some other people.

Sharpay spotted Ryan and Gabriella hidden away in one of the booths at the back of the room, obviously wanting to have a private conversation with Sharpay in a quieter environment then back at the bar. Although, a bar at all isn't exactly the best place, Sharpay thought. She was a little uneasy of what they wanted to say. And she didn't like the idea of talking about Troy behind his back, whilst she spoke about Troy with Taylor and such, this was obviously different. This was a conversation with the two people Troy didn't exactly love all that much right now. Nevertheless, Sharpay shook it off, flipped her hair over the side of her shoulder and strolled over towards them, a diet coke in her hand.

"Hey guys, sorry about the wait." She sat down opposite them; Ryan had his arm round Gabriella's shoulders whilst she was nestled into the side of his body. Gabriella grinned and gave a little wave and Ryan nodded his head before arching his eyebrow at Sharpay's chosen drink.

"Coke?" Sharpay was momentarily confused. She didn't like the way Ryan was eyeing her drink right now.

"Yeah?" She asked, confused and somewhat annoyed. Ryan immediately retracted after seeing the semi-glare that was being thrown at him.

"No, I just mean. You work in a bar? And your chosen drink is something fizzy? Just a little weird that's all." Sharpay shrugged.

"Well, you work in a bar and watch person after person continuously make a fool out of themselves because of said drink, would you want to drink." Gabriella let out a soft giggle and poked Ryan in the stomach. Ryan let out a low laugh.

"Okay, you have a point."

"And technically I'm not legal to drink the alcohol either so yeah, fizzy's all I can have." She winked and took a sip. And just like she predicted Gabriella's eyes went wide and Ryan sat up to lean forward, taking a sip of his drink that he had obviously ordered whilst Sharpay was busy serving other customers.

"Wait, your not twenty-one?" Ryan asked, bemused whilst Gabriella had started bouncing in her seats whispering such things as "Aw, that means you're the baby of the group. That's so adorable. I need to take you shopping…" As Sharpay tuned out of what Gabriella was quietly babbling to herself she looked at Ryan. She laughed.

"No, I'm not. I've actually just recently turned nineteen." She replied only to let a high-pitched giggle when Ryan's eyeballs looked like they were ready to pop out.

"But you look so much older." Gabriella commented and Sharpay politely thanked her. "Not like really old, just you know old enough to buy some alcohol if you want to." Sharpay laughed again whilst Ryan continued focusing on Sharpay so much it was beginning to make her feel uneasy. Was her age really that much of a big deal? Really?

"So does Troy know? About your age, I mean?" Oh so that's the problem, Sharpay thought.

"Ha, yeah. He found out the first day I moved in when he bought a couple of beers. I mean, I still drink and all, I just feel I should let people know you know?" She paused before adding; "You know you're face resembled Troy's so much when you realised how old I was, its almost laughable." She let out a giggle and Gabriella couldn't help but join her.

There was a momentary silence before Sharpay began flitting her eyes between the two of them. They'd really messed up, they'd hurt Troy but in the long run, Sharpay could tell that they really loved each other and that maybe the pain had been worth it. Just a little bit at least.

"So…Troy. You wanted to talk about, Troy?" Sharpay looked up only to be received with a Sharpay's flush and Ryan casting his eyes away. Great, you've made them nervous. Congratulations.

"Yeah…"Ryan began before Gabriella jumped in, placing her hand over Ryan's hand as if to comfort him.

"Look, Sharpay. I know this is going to put you in an awkward position and that's the last thing that I, that we both want to do. Its just…we are kind of desperate right now. You know? We just…we just want Troy, our friend back, and we know its our fault, we know that its just…" Sharpay was a little shocked at first before Gabriella began to trail off and Sharpay forced herself to close her mouth and speak.

"I erm…I understand what you're trying to say and really, I want that for you guys too, I mean I know Troy still cares for you but he just needs time you know?" Gabriella was nodding whilst Ryan, who was obviously uncomfortable talking about his once best friend this way, kept his eyes on his and Gabriella's entwining hands. "But what I don't understand is what exactly this has to do with me you know?" Gabriella smiled at Sharpay's foolishness, she really had no idea the kind of effect she had on Troy. It was the effect Gabriella had hoped she would have on him but instead found she had it with Ryan instead. Ryan understood what Gabriella was thinking too. Whilst he was sure that Troy was slowly starting to figure out the depth of his feelings for Sharpay, he realised too that Sharpay had no idea about the feelings Troy had for her.

"Troy listens to you Sharpay. I mean really listens, he-"

"What's she's trying to say, is if there was anyone who could reason with Troy and get him to stay in the same room with us for longer then five minutes – its you, Sharpay." Ryan cut across, interrupting. Sharpay looked taken aback, which she was. Did she really have that kind off effect on Troy? She almost couldn't believe it and when she tried to argue, she was cut across, this time by Gabriella.

"Think about it, Shar." Gabriella almost had tears in her eyes just at the thought of possibly talking to Troy again and having the fate of it lie in Sharpay's hands. "Last week, at dinner. I know Troy, okay? I know him and I know he was all set to storm out of that restaurant as soon as we turned up but you know what the first thing he did?" Sharpay shook her head, no. This time it was Ryan who answered.
"He looked at you, Sharpay." Gabriella smiled at the memory.
"The first thing he did, as soon as he saw us was look at you. And you calmed him down. You made him feel better; you made him believe that everything was going to be okay, just because you were sitting down next to him. And he let us join the table, don't you see? He listens to you. He values your thoughts and opinions."

"Okay." Was all Sharpay could muster. Gabriella retracted, tightening her grip on Ryan's hands.

"I don't want to put any pressure on you, Sharpay. Or even assume that you will do this for us. I just want…I would like you to talk to him. Just get him to have dinner with us, somewhere where he can't storm out. I don't know, I just…I want him to forgive us." The tears that had threatened to fall from Gabriella's were now doing just that, falling against her will and there was nothing that she could do to stop them. She leaned her head even more into Ryan's arms as he tightened his grip on her, pulling her closer. Leaning his chin on her head, whispering sweet nothings to her. Sharpay felt her own tears threatening to fall until she couldn't take it anymore and whispered to them;

"I'll see what I can do." It was no promise. But it was enough.

So, should Sharpay talk to Troy? Should Troy forgive them?

Let me know and it may define the next chapter! ;D