Update 12/1/2009: This is the new chapter 11

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

Rated M for sexual humor

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The song lyrics in this chapter are from the song Lost Without U by Robin Thicke.

Chapter 11: These Games We Play

His mouth was slowly moving from the base of her neck to the curve of her breast. His fingers were slowly making their way across her body. He touched every curve in the most sensual way possible. Her hands were slowly caressing his muscles, created by years of basketball. As he continued to taste every inch of her luscious skin she began moaning of his name as if it were a prayer. She knew that she loved him completely.

Im lost without u
Cant help myself
How does it feel
2 know that I love u baby

Sharpay quickly woke up and turned off her alarm clock. To her disappointment, she realized that she was in bed alone. Why she picked that song as her wake up tone she had no idea? Her roommate of 17 days was currently sitting at the computer checking her e-mail. "Good morning sleepy head"

"Amanda How can you be this cheery on a Wednesday morning?" Sharpay said getting out of the bed and making her way to her outfit for the day.

"I do my best work in the morning. Someone is cranky. Are you upset that your teddy bear couldn't stay over?" Amanda said in her overly sweet voice.

"He's not my teddy bear. He is just a friend." Amanda just rolled her eyes at that.

"You know it's not good to lie this early in the morning. Chad spends more time in this room than I do. In the last 17 days that I've lived here, he slept over nine times."

"That's so wasn't my fault. He has a tendency to fall asleep while we watch TV together. I thought you were okay with him staying over?" Sharpay asked grabbing her shower caddie from the closet. "Have you seen my shower shoes?"

"I think you left them under your bed. I am fine with it. As long as things stay PG, it is okay for you to sleep with your teddy bear. I'm scarred for life after walking in on my last roommate using her boyfriend as a lollipop."

"That's just disturbing." Sharpay said cringing in disgust.

"I still shudder at the thought. Although, I wonder how long you and Chad will be able to keep things PG. There is too much sexual tension between the two of you. 5 minutes ago, you were moaning his naming your sleep.

"I was not moaning his name," she denied Amanda's accusations. Considering the type of dream she was having, it was possible. Normally Sharpay did not have these types of dreams. There was that one set of dreams involving Chad in a police uniform and handcuffs. Sharpay was sure that dream did not count. Unfortunately, because of Chad she has been having them a lot more often. This is the first one where she told Chad that she loved him.

"I don't know why you're blushing. It's okay for you to have NC 17 dreams about your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend."

"A friend who practically lives here, he even has his own dresser drawer. You talk to him on the phone constantly, if he is not here. I am sure that you cannot go more than 5 minutes without text messaging each other. If this is friendship I hate to see what love is like."

"I do that with all my friends." Just then, Sharpay's phone indicated a text message. Sharpay tried to push her phone away, but Amanda grabbed it.

"Let's see who's sending a message. It is your not-a-boyfriend. He says 'good morning mountain lion?' What does that mean?"

"It's an inside joke. It doesn't matter, he has a girlfriend." Sharpay said as she left the room for her shower. Amanda just gave her the 'who are you kidding' look.

"I'll believe that you two are just friends the moment you show up with someone else." Amanda said under her breath.

Chad quickly closed his phone after sending a good morning text message to Sharpay. Currently Chad was going 0 for 2 in the roommate lottery. His current roommate was driving him absolutely crazy. Chad thought it was statistically impossible to meet someone who was messier than he was. Unfortunately, Blaze made Chad look like Martha Stewart. In addition, it seemed like every other night Blaze's girlfriend would sleep over. Unfortunately, these were NC 17 sleepovers. He could hear noises from Sharpay's room down the hall. He already walked in on them twice in the room and once in the bathroom. The images wouldn't leave his mind."

Fortunately, Sharpay's roommate Amanda had no problem if he stayed with Sharpay. Last night he had no choice but to stay in his own dorm room due to a last minute chemistry assignment. On this Wednesday morning, he was trying to make a pathway to the computer as his roommate was taking a shower. In his head, Chad was already calculating how much extra it would cost to get a single dorm room. Blaze walked in to the room and threw his towel on the floor.

"Didn't we talk about getting dressed in the bathroom?" Chad said to his now naked roommate as he covered his eyes.

"I left my underwear in here." Blaze said as he bent over the pick up his underwear.

"Dude put some pants on."

"I don't know why you have such a problem with nudity. By the way, could you stay at your girlfriend's this weekend? Ginger wants to come over."

"Sharpay is just a friend. My girlfriend goes to school 2000 miles away. However, I can probably hang out with Sharpay this weekend. "

If Ginger was coming over Chad did not want to stay. Maybe he could talk Sharpay into staying at the mansion this weekend. He was sure Amanda was getting tired of him in the room all the time. Then again, Amanda loved teasing him and Sharpay about their relationship just as Kim did.

That was the other thing that was bothering Chad the paternity of Kim's son Alex. Since he found out about the possibility of Alex's parentage 19 days ago, Chad could not get up the courage to ask Troy if he slept with Kim. He tried calling Troy 18 different times to ask him, but Chad never had the courage to follow through. There was no easy way to ask this question and Chad was not sure he wanted the answer. In addition, he was sure Troy was clueless about the entire situation and Chad did not want to be the one to tell him.

On this particular day, Sharpay was getting really tired of everybody thinking Chad was her boyfriend. Two students in the cafeteria commented about how cute she looked with her boyfriend. Erica in her pre calculus class kept talking about how she wish she had a boyfriend who would walk her to class each morning. The whole situation made Sharpay frustrated and depressed. Chad was not her boyfriend even though part of her wished he was. He was in love with Taylor and Sharpay was really tired of not having a love of her own. That morning Chad was late to meet her after pre calculus and she ended up walking to English alone for the first time. She decided to sit next to Joshua, a very cute sophomore from Arizona.

"Did you and your boyfriend have a fight?" Joshua asked her as she sat down.

"I don't know why everybody thinks he's my boyfriend?" Sharpay mumbled under her breath

"Because you walk in holding hands all the time or the fact you two seemed to be in your own world most of the time."

"He's just a friend." At least Josh did not give her that look that everybody else gave her when she said that phrase.

"Since you and Chad are just friends than it would be okay for me to ask you out Friday?" Normally Sharpay would turn him down just on principle. Josh was not her type. He did not play basketball. He did not wear stupid tee shirts with outlandish catch phrases. He did not drive her absolutely crazy. He did not understand everything about her. She knew she could not spend half the night talking to Joshua on the phone. Essentially, he was not Chad. However, Chad was not available as a boyfriend. Therefore, Josh would have to do.

"Sure let me give you my phone number," Sharpay said as she tore a piece of paper out of her notebook and wrote down the number for him. If Sharpay were a more observant person, she would notice a very jealous Chad watching from the hallway.

Amanda was currently sitting with her high school friend Nikki and her partner in insanity Marc was watching the latest installment of the Chad and Sharpay mating game.

"Are you sure they're not sleeping together? " Mark asked her.

"Positive, he is sleeped over nine times and the worst I've seen was him grabbing her breast when they were both asleep. Besides if sex was involved I don't think they would be fighting this much."

"They are so cute together." Nikki said from the other couch.

"Only, if the two of them will figure that out. He has a girlfriend and she is going out on a date with someone else Friday night. Those two are driving me crazy with this complete denial of their feelings. I am this close to locking them in the dorm room until they finally get out of their system." Amanda screamed in irritation.

As if on cue, Chad and Sharpay walked out in the hallway arguing. "I don't know why you are so upset. It is just a date. People go on them all the time in college."

"I just thought we had plans," Chad said trying to cover of his anger and disappointment at the situation.

"You have other friends Chad. You can go out with one of them for one night. Besides I should be able to have a boyfriend since you have a girlfriend."

"I thought you said this was just a date."

"It is. The first step in getting a boyfriend is going out on dates. How can I meet anybody if I spend every Friday night with you?"

Amanda was almost positive she saw Chad mouth, "I don't want you to have a boyfriend." However, Amanda's lip reading skills were not the best, so she could not be sure.

"You're an adult Sharpay you can do whatever you want. If you want to go on a date with someone, you barely know, you can. Just remember to bring pepper spray," Chad remarked as he began to walk down the hall to his room.

"Did you not see me render a 170 pound basketball player unconscious, three weeks ago? I can take care of myself. Besides I always carry two cans of pepper spray." Sharpay said this last part under her breath.

"Whenever Sharpay," Chad said as he unlocked his dorm room door. Unfortunately, for him Blaze and his girlfriend were testing out the strength of Chad's desk. The other four occupants of the community room could see the disturbing scene perfectly well.

"Dude, can you please keep it to your bed. At the very least can you do it only on your own furniture?" Chad said as he closed the door behind the oblivious couple. Walking back to the community room with a disgusted look on his face Chad sat down next to Amanda on the sofa. "Does anybody know when the next roommate exchange is?"

"After thanksgiving," Amanda replied helpfully.

"Oh god that's 2 1/2 months from now. Can I stay with you guys again tonight?" Chad asked Amanda and Sharpay.

"Sure it's fine as long as your girlfriend is no longer mad at you." Chad stopped correcting the girlfriend comment after Amanda's fourth day of living with Sharpay.

"I should send you back in there with a can of Lysol after the way you acted today. But I need help on my chemistry lab homework for tomorrow." Sharpay said smiling.

"Is homework help the only thing I'm good for?" Chad asked Sharpay.

"No, you make a really good pillow. Come on before I change my mind and make you sleep on the couch." Sharpay said as they left the common area.

"Is it just me or do they sound like an old married couple?" Nikki asked her two friends.

"Two minutes ago they were fighting and now they're all perfect couple." Mark pointed out to the group.

"The problem is there not a couple. I don't know how much longer I can take this. They have to get together or I will kill them."

"You got to admit it's very entertaining. She is a better roommate than your last one." Mark pointed out to Amanda.

"Blaze was probably a better roommate then my last one."

Just then they heard screaming coming out of Chad's dorm room.

"Maybe not. Do you think it's possible for us to vote someone off the floor?"

"I am not sure, but if I catch him and Ginger in the bathroom one more time I'm going to find out." Marc said in disgust.

"You caught them in the bathroom. That's so disturbing." Nikki said with a shudder.

Two days later Amanda sat on her bed watching Sharpay get ready for her date with Josh.

"So where exactly is your Chad replacement taking you? " Amanda asked as she watched Sharpay put the finishing touches on her makeup.

"We're doing the traditional dinner and a movie thing. I think we're going to Ruby Friday's and then to see Love the Musical at the local multiplex."

"So why aren't you guys going to a club or something like that. You had so much fun last week with your not-a-boyfriend at Cinder." Last week Chad and Sharpay went with Amanda to one of the hottest clubs in New Mexico. Every time another girl tried to approach Chad, Sharpay would scare her away. There was also the impromptu make out session when Penelope showed up.

"I really want to see this movie and Chad won't take me because it is a musical. The club would take too much time. I promise Chad I would hang out with him after the date tonight."

"Do you have any idea what you're doing? You are purposely making your date short so you can spend time with Chad. Aren't you worried that things might go really well and you might not come home tonight." Amanda's comment made Sharpay very uncomfortable.

"Amanda I know you don't know me yet, but I'm not easy. I don't even kiss a boy to the third date."

"I distinctly remember you making out with Chad at Cinder last week." For some reason things were different with Chad. After the Richard incident, she didn't even like being hug by family members. Part of the reason her acting was so bad in the spring musical was she was freaking out every time someone tried to touch her. In contrast, she had no problems with Chad showing any type of affection. Whether it be pretending to kiss or spending the night in his arms, she was comfortable with him.

"That doesn't even count. He's just a…"

"Don't say it. I don't believe you. I'm going out with Nikki and Marc to Purple Hills. Don't wait up. If you and Chad finally decide to come out of the land of denial, send me a text message or something. Walking in on Blaze and Ginger going at it in the study room yesterday was traumatic enough.

"That's just disturbing. I wonder if Lysol works on the mind?"

Unlike most of her peers, Kim usually spent Friday night's at home. Then again, unlike most of her peers she had a 20-month-old son. She was currently talked to her ex boyfriend/baby daddy on the phone about their crazy friends who were in complete denial. Of course, the ex boyfriend/ baby daddy had no idea he was the babies daddy, but that is a completely different set of issues.

"Thursday I had to sit through 2 hours of Chad trying to convince Sharpay not to go on a date with Josh. This was followed by a 20 minute ride to EHS where Sharpay pretty much begged me to keep Chad occupied for the duration of the date tonight."

"You agreed to baby sit Chad tonight?"

"I'm used to taking care of children. We're taking Alex to Pizza Village. We would go to the other place, but the mouse scares Alex."

"I was afraid of the mouse as a kid." At least now, she knew where Alex got it from.

"I think Chad is only going because of the ball room and the basketball related arcade games. Also having a two year old with us means we can play all the games without getting funny looks."

"You really know how to have fun." Troy said sarcastically. She wanted to say 'I do these things because I'm taking care of your son'. However, Kim holds her tongue.

"So what will you and the FMG be doing?" Kim couldn't bring herself to call Gabriella by her actual name.

"Do you have to call her that?"

"I would call her something else, but Alex is in the room. So what will you be doing with your girlfriend?"

"My girlfriend is involved with rush this week."

"Even Sharpay isn't doing the sorority thing. Is Gabriella joining a traditional Latina sorority? They usually do more public outreach then traditional Greek sororities. I heard she is into helping people. "

"Traditional Greek. Anyway a couple of my friends from the drama department are going to see this experimental theater group that performs a hip hop version of Romeo and Juliet. How are things going at EHS?" She had a feeling he was trying to change the subject away from Gabriella.

"Sharpay is now happy because Ms. Darbus is letting her be more than a glorified gopher. Anita is now student body president. Jimmy, who has stopped hitting on Sharpay, is now captain of the basketball team."

"She still mad about me telling him she had a crush on him, isn't she?"

"Pretty much. Whose idea was that anyway?"

"Gabriella," of course it was her idea.

"Your dad still gives me the evil eye every time I pass by. All the students love me, so that is something."

"My dad does not hate you."

"It doesn't matter. Let me tell you the best part, Jason, Taylor's brother is the head cheerleader for team Chadpay. After reading his journal for English class, I'm pretty sure he's suffering from Marsha Brady syndrome. Maybe that's why he's cheering for the other team."

"If you spent a significant amount of time with Taylor McKessie you would understand why her own brother would be cheering for the competition. All she cares about is being perfect and how people see her. Even after the breaking free movement, she made fun of everyone who did not meet her standards."

"That explains why Chad stayed in the genius closet after BFM."

"It also explains why he's so terrified to break up with Taylor over the telephone." Troy mumbled into the phone.

"He mentioned breaking up with Taylor?"

"More than once,"

"There's a God. Speaking of Chad, he is pulling up in the driveway driving Sharpay's guilt gift from daddy dearest. "

"She is letting him drive her convertible. She did not even let Ryan drive the convertible." Troy said in shock.

"Not the convertible, the shiny new Lexus. It seems that the twins gift for going off to college where shiny new Lexus Don't worry she gets to keep the convertible, it's just getting a paint job. Apparently, Sharpay is so over pink as a car color. She let Chad pick out the new color."

"Do they realize their acting like a married couple?"

"No," Kim said as she grabbed their son's hand to get ready to leave.

Thirty minutes into her date, she knew it was going to be a disaster. Instead of taking her to the semi decent Ruby Friday's, they were at the drunken college student infested Tuesday club. The only redeeming quality was their absolutely fabulous grilled Caesar salad. He has already asked her three times if she wanted something to drink harder than water.

"I am only 18," she said in annoyance every time.

"That does not matter here. Why do you think I chose this place?"

How could he know the Sharpay does not drink except under certain conditions. Those conditions were usually a good bottle wine at dinner when Chad was with her. Actually, the only time she felt comfortable enough to drink was when she was with Chad. She did not know this Joshua person very well and definitely didn't trust him enough to have her senses impaired by alcohol.

If the conversation stays as one sided as it was now, she will never know anything about Josh. He does not try to engage her in conversation. He lets her spend15 minutes talking about playing mini golf with Chad two weeks ago.

If she was having this conversation with Chad, he would have interrupted her 10 times and eventually bring up how badly she played that one time to get Troy's attention. They would probably get in a fight and it would be so much fun. Sharpay never thought she would say this, but she was getting very tired of talking about herself.

Forty-five minutes into this dinner she was wondering if she can sneak to the bathroom and call Chad to come get her. Maybe he can say that she had a family emergency or something. No, she will stick this out. She really does want to go see that movie and there is no way she can talk Chad into going to anything that girly.

Chad was actually having fun at Pizza Village in the Eastside mall. Kim was starting to become a good friend. He was currently playing the kid Basketball game with Alex. Chad was discovering the best part of going to one of these places with a kid is that it was okay to cheat to make the child feel better. He was able to place Alex's balls in the ski ball slot and no one looked at him funny. However, he didn't need to cheat for Alex on any basketball related game. As soon as he put the little basketball in Alex is hand, he knew what to do. For a two year old, Alex made a remarkable amount of baskets. Chad remembered his mom saying that Troy and him were born to play basketball. It seemed that Alex had gotten that to.

At this point Chad was 90% sure of Alex's paternity. The thing that made him absolutely sure was when they were ordering the pizza 10 minutes later.

"Do you mind if we order the pizza without sauce. Alex is allergic to tomatoes. I have no idea where it comes from. No one in my family has that allergy." Chad knew it came from Troy. Actually when they were working at lava springs and Troy was acting like a complete ass, Chad made sure they put tomatoes on everything Troy ordered. Chad did it to drive Troy crazy.

"You can get pesto or Alfredo sauce on your pizza here. Unlike the mouse pizza place, the food here is actual pizza not microwave cardboard. Besides, I am used to not having tomato sauce on my pizza. Troy's really allergic to tomatoes." The shock look in Kim's eyes told him everything, Troy was Alex's dad.

"Then let's get a number three with pesto sauce." Just as he was contemplating whether he should tell her that Troy was also allergic to strawberries, he saw Sharpay and heard date walked into David Buster's House of Games. Apparently, Joshua took his suggestions for the date.

"I thought they were going to see Love the Musical." Kim asked as they moved up to the cashier. "We'll have a number three with a pesto sauce substitution and extra order of cheese sticks. Can we get honey mustard with that instead of tomato sauce?"

"There is no way I am letting that guy take her to a dark movie theater. There is only one reason to take girls to movies like that. It is so you can fool around during the boring scenes."

"You know Sharpay's not that type of person."

"I know Sharpay's not that type of person. I just didn't want to have to bail her out of jail for causing a public disturbance in a movie theater or for assault on her date. I suggested Joshua take her their instead. Besides, I will take her to see the movie tomorrow night." Chad said as they walked back to the table to wait for their food.

"I thought you said guys only take girls to those type of movies to fool around?"

"She's my best friend, or rather one of them. That would never happen." He didn't say this because he had a girlfriend. At this point, he felt he was dating Taylor on a technicality. He didn't want to breakup with her over the telephone.

"Friends don't sabotage their friend's date. You definitely don't see her as just a friend." Under normal circumstances he would argue the point that Sharpay was indeed just a friend. Today he would use this opportunity to get the answer to a very provocative question.

"Why didn't you tell me that Troy was Alex's dad?"

Sharpay Evans was very annoyed that her date decided to take her to David Buster's House of Games instead of Love the Musical. The only advantage to coming to a place like this is that Joshua wouldn't try to grab her breasts during the boring scenes of the film. If she was here with Chad she would be having fun, instead she hated every minute here. The first problem occurred when she paid for the gaming cards.

"This is a date. I thought I was going to pay?"

"This is a date in 2008. You pay for dinner and I pay for the games. Chad has no problem when I pay for everything."

"I'm not Chad. You seem to keep forgetting that." He muttered under his breath

She remembered perfectly clear that he was not Chad. If Chad were here, she could be herself. If Chad were here, she could actually play these games at her full ability. Instead, she was doing the same thing she did when she played golf with Troy. She was playing bad on purpose to make Josh feel better. The only thing that did was make her hate this date even more. After ten more minutes of purposely losing games to him, he quickly excused himself to the restroom. She knew it was an excuse to get away from her. Just as she suspected, she saw him leaving the arcade through the window.

She was not angry; she was just a bit hurt. It was not that she really liked Josh. It just hurt that she was ditched once again. As she walked outside through the other entrants, she wondered what it was about her that made people leave. She was about to call for a taxi when she noticed the black Lexus with the Shar II license plate parked out front.

She remembered that Kim was going to distract Chad by the two of them taking Alex to Pizza Village. Pizza Village was located across the hallway from the House of Games. She had a feeling that Josh's decision to change their date may have had a little help from a certain curly haired basketball player. It didn't matter because at lease this way she now had a ride home.

She quickly got her keys out of her purse and got into the car. If she wasn't so upset she would probably go join them at Pizza Village. She didn't feel like it right now. She considered calling her therapist to talk about her inadequacies as a girlfriend. However, she was sure that her therapist, that she just started seeing again, would be upset that Sharpay was ruining her evening for something so silly. Her second thought was to call up her ex boyfriends and figure out why they left her. She is still not speaking to Zeke. There was no way she would ever talk to Richard voluntarily. Besides sexual assault was an automatic relationship killer. She would let Chad deal with Josh on Monday.

She decided to call the only guy that she was actually willing to talk to. Not that she actually dated him, It was more like crush that was never reciprocated. She quickly pulled out her phone and call Troy.

"Hi Sharpay, aren't you supposed to be on a date right now?"

"Yes, unfortunately he ditched me at the mall. I decided to sit in my car in the mall parking lot and figure out why people do stupid things. Because you are the only ex I have that I'm still on speaking terms with, I decided to call you to figure out why no one loves me."

"We'd never really dated Sharpay."

"If we did I probably wouldn't be speaking to you either right now. You probably would have slept with Gabriella behind my back."

"You know I would never do anything like that."

"You're a good person Troy Bolton. You're not with Gabby right now are you?"

"She had a sorority commitment. I was supposed to go with my friends to the hip-hop version of Romeo and Juliet. they got the dates mixed up. We are watching someone throw balloons of paint at a canvas. I rather talk to you, then be in there."

"You're getting really involved with the arts. Although I cannot believe that shy Gabriella is joining a sorority. I'm not joining a sorority, although I am not a sorority person.

"She is not that shy anymore. She is starting to go wild now that she is away from her mom. Besides, you know how she likes to belong within a group." move

"I know. I've seen the pictures. Do you have to keep sending me pictures of your girlfriend's breasts? Mine are so much better than hers." He wants to tell her that is what Chad said, but he thought better of it.

"Sharpay you are not a sorority person. You wouldn't make it through rush without beating up one of the girls."

"I'm just not good at taking orders."

"You're much better at giving them."

"So back to the question, why couldn't you love me?"

The server just brought their food and he knew that Kim would have to come back to the table. As soon as he asked her the question, she ran away saying something about Alex wanting to play in the ball room. He knew it was just an excuse to avoid his question. She probably would have stayed out there all night if little Alex did not run for the table when he saw the food. Alex was definitely Troy's kid.

Kim sat down and started to cut the pizza into little pieces for Alex to eat.

"So are you finally ready to answer my question?"

"Not really. How did you figure it out? I didn't exactly give you any clues."

"It was easy, ones I stopped assuming my best friend was still a member of the V club. Alex looks so much like Troy. He acts like he did when he was little. I have known Troy since the day I was born. I think what was hard to accept was Troy just isn't the type of person to have a random one-night stand."

"Alex was not the result of a one-night stand. We were in a relationship that lasted almost seven months." That fact shocked him more than anything else. How could Troy hide something like that from him for seven months?

"Why didn't he tell me?" Chad didn't mean to say that out loud.

"You know how jealous you get every time he was with somebody new. He told me all about the winter musical incident. Remember how bad the social apartheid was during your sophomore year? If the star basketball player and the drama girl got together, things would completely fall apart. Not to mention, I'm 2 ½ years older than him. It's OK for a senior boy to date a sophomore girl. However, no one could take it if it was the other way around."

He knew she was right the school couldn't take it at that time.

"Why didn't you guys tell me? I would've been upset, but I would have understood."

"You understand now. You are not the person you were 2 ½ years ago. You have grown up a lot. You understand that love has no common sense and cares nothing about social standing. I don't think you could understand what love was back then. Sometimes, I don't think he understood it. But I know that he loved me."

"You loved him and he loved you?"

"You sound shocked?

"It's just hard to conceive. He really loves you?"

"Part of me thinks he still does. He told me he did a couple weeks ago. I just don't think he will ever forgive me."

"Did you leave when you found out you were pregnant?" Chad remembered how distracted Troy was during June of sophomore year.

"No, his mom found out we were sleeping together. She threatened to never let Troy play basketball again and have sent me to jail for statutory rape if I didn't leave. I couldn't let her hurt him. I had to leave. I loved him so much, but I didn't have a choice. " He passed her a tissue as she started to cry.

"During summer session at the University of Manhattan, I passed out in one of my classes. That is when I found out I was three months pregnant. I was so scared. If I even thought about calling Troy his mother would have me arrested. I was alone."

"I know you weren't alone, at the very least you had Sharpay. What about your parents?"

"You forget this was right after the Richard incident. She was such a mess. You did not see her after it first happened. She couldn't even let Ryan hug her. It's why she spent the whole summer traveling with her dad. As for my parents, my dad is just starting to talk to me again. That wretched woman who gave birth to me still hates me and will not acknowledge my child because he's half White. She told me to get an abortion. When I said no, she used my trust fund to force me to give Alex up for adoption. My stepmom was the only person who stood by me. She even found a way to get my trust fund restored which is why I'm not going to college, working fulltime, and taking care of a child."

"Why did you decide to keep the baby? I doubt this was a planned pregnancy. This is probably an instance of the condom breaking at the wrong time."

"No condoms were destroyed in the production of my child. More like not reading the antibiotics label. Did you know that birth control pills are less effective when on antibiotics? As for keeping my child, I couldn't lose the last thing that connected me to the person I love the most."

"Yet you couldn't tell him."

"He was just 16 when Alex was born. He was not ready for it. I was barely ready it. There comes a point in everyone's life that they must confess a truth that will change everything. Yet you are too scared two confessed that truth. You are too afraid of the consequences, if that truth sees the light of day. " He was going through that right now

"I understand. I realize something a few weeks ago and I'm still too scared to confess it."

"That you love Sharpay or that you don't love Taylor?" His eyes went wide with her statement.

"Don't deny it. You don't love Taylor. Even her little brother knows that. You are just too afraid to tell her. At the same time, you fell in love with Sharpay. You don't know how it happened because you were supposed to hate her. Trust me I get it. I didn't start tutoring Troy with the intention of falling in love with him. It just happened."

"How did we get to this point? You are too afraid to tell Troy that you had his child. I'm too afraid to tell Taylor that I don't love her and that I maybe falling in love with Sharpay." That was the first time he ever admitted that he may be in love with Sharpay.

"We can't keep quiet anymore. I think we are both afraid. In my case I'm scared that Troy will completely reject me and Alex."

"He won't do that."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. Trust me. Let's make a deal. I will tell Taylor the truth when she comes in October if you tell Troy when he comes for Thanksgiving in November?"

"Deal. What are you going to do about Sharpay?"

"The first thing I'm going to do is go scare off her date."

"I don't think you'll need to do that anymore," Kim said as she pointed to Joshua leaving the game center.

"You never ask easy questions do you?"

"Not really. I just want to know why I'm unlovable."

"You're not unlovable."

"Yes I am. Name one person who loves me."

"Chad," Troy said the name without any hesitation whatsoever.

"He doesn't love me. He loves Taylor." Troy never heard Taylor's name said with so much venom before in his life. He chose to focus on the Taylor part because maybe he should not tell Sharpay something that she is not ready to hear.

"He told me he didn't love Taylor, he is just not sure how to tell her."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you don't make the mistake I did. Just so you know things didn't work out between you and me not because I didn't like you. I did like you; I just do not think I was ready to go into another real relationship. There was also the fact that I'm pretty sure that Chad was convincing me not to go after you because he had a crush on you."

"Chad had a crush on me?"

"He said you were cute," Troy said editing out the mountain lion comment.

"That's sweet."

"If you and I would have gotten together, it would have been a real relationship that would be complicated and messy. With Gabriella, it was just this easy simple thing. It was a friendship with occasional make out privileges. It was nothing like the relationship I had with…"

"I don't understand. I thought the only real relationship you have ever had was with Gabriella. You didn't exactly date anyone before her."

"That you know of." Troy said mysteriously. "Sophomore year I was with a girl for seven months. No one knew about it. I did not even tell Chad. I was completely in love with her, but she left me. At the time, I thought she left me because she didn't love me. I found out recently that she left to protect me. It does not matter because I'm stuck with Gabriella. I'm not even sure if I really love Gabriella or if I was making myself love her because I was afraid no one would ever really love me." He couldn't believe he was telling Sharpay these things. It must be the rum.

"I thought it was bad of me going out on a date with another guy just to get over the one I cannot have. You and I have some serious issues. I'm not staying in a relationship just for the sake of staying in a relationship. Been there, done that, moved on. I think you should leave the sorority girl and go find the real love of your life. Whoever she may be."

"Like I would ever tell you who she is." Troy said jokingly.

"You are almost as bad as Kim. She still will not tell me who Alex's father is."

"So that story that the two of you told me a month ago was a complete lie?"

"She made us promise not to tell you. I don't know why, it's not like you are the father. Even though I joke about the only reason why you're with Gabby is the sex, I know that's not true." His breath was starting to become rushed as he came to the conclusion that Sharpay was obviously in denial about. He needed one other piece of information to be sure.

"Hey Chad just found me in the car. I got to go." Before he could protest she hung up on him.

Chad spent the last 15 minutes looking for Sharpay. He looked in all her regular stores and couldn't find her. He decide to go outside to see if she was waiting for a taxi instead he solved the brunette talking on her phone in her car.

"So how bad did your date go?" Chad asked as he got in the car with her.

"Very badly. Next time I only go out with you. I mean, I will only go out with you as a friend."

"I understand what you meant the first time Sharpay." He knew that she meant it in a not friend way.

"So did you have fun with Kim and the munchkin?" she asked as she later head on his shoulder.

"You know Pizza Village is so much more fun when you actually have a kid there. I saw you being ditched by your date and I thought I would come get you to hang out with us. Besides Alex is a lot more fun than that idiot." She smiled at that.

"Thanks for the offer. I think I'll just stay here."

"I can call Kim to come to the car and we can drop her off. Then you and me can head back to the mansion. I think you will really want some puppy playtime.

"I don't know why they won't let me keep him in the dorms. He's so well behaved."

"I knew that would cheer you up" Chad said as he went to kiss her on the cheek. Instead, Sharpay accidentally, or at least that is what he is telling himself, moved slightly and he ended up kissing her on the lips instead.

"I'm sorry about that I didn't mean to move." She said blushing. He loved making her blush.

"That's okay. I think we are friends with kissing privileges. I mean we did make out at a club last week just to irritate Penelope."

"That was fun. What will your girlfriend say about our arrangement?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out in three weeks." He said kissing her forehead.

"I guess we will." Sharpay said lacing her fingers with his.