Thank you to everybody who read the last chapter. Yes, this is another one of those extremely long chapters. We have come to the moment that we've all been waiting for.

Disclaimer: I do not own. The fake retail chain Smarty Mart is borrowed from Kim Possible another Disney property that I miss greatly.

Rated M for some coarse language

Chapter 12: Maybe I could Have Handle This Better

October 10 2008 4:15 PM

Amanda knew this day was going to come seven weeks ago when she saw Sharpay exit Chad's room in nothing but a T-shirt. She knew this day was coming when she found out that her new friend was in love with a man who already had a girlfriend. She knew this day was coming when she discovered that Chad was afraid to tell said girlfriend, that he was in love with someone else. She knew this day had arrived when Taylor took a baseball bat to their room 45 minutes ago after Amanda accidentally gave Taylor access to some very incriminating information. Amanda really did like that television that Taylor crushed. Now Amanda, Marc, Nikki, and Jason McKessie sat in the common room watching the greatest fight in A of U history.

"It was bad enough that you went after Gabby's man. Now you are going after my idiotic boyfriend like a lost puppy. Now that Troy is not available, you have to go after his best friend? You're so pathetic. Why would anybody love a cheap whore like you? " Taylor said in pure hatred as she threw another couch cushion at Sharpay.

"There's nothing cheap about me. I'm not the one who shops at Smarty Mart." At this remark Taylor threw a textbook at Sharpay, which took out a lamp instead.

"Is she aware that Chad has a 4.0 average and is technically a sophomore?" Nikki asked Jason as the verbal jabs continued between the girls.

"Chad, kept his intelligence a secret in high school," Jason explained as he took pictures of the whole thing.

"I thought she was going to faint when she found out Chad was taking advanced chemistry." Amanda said avoiding a stray projectile from Taylor.

"Why isn't Sharpay fighting back physically? This is the same girl who knocked a basketball player unconscious." Marc said as he realized that Sharpay was only defending herself from Taylor's physical attacks.

"Guilt," both Jason and Amanda replied at the same time. They all knew that Sharpay could do some serious damage if she wanted to.

"Maybe we should go get the RA?" Nikki asked from the side.

"Only if someone starts bleeding," Amanda replied softly. "This needs to come out one way or another. At least Sharpay got the baseball bat away from her."

Apparently, another joke about Chad's lack of intelligence and unfaithfulness sent Sharpay over the edge. This resulted in a hard slap to Taylor's face.

"If you want to attack me, go ahead attack me. I did not survive four years of being the most hated person at East High without developing a thick skin. I don't care if you hate me. Everybody has at one point. Don't you ever say anything hateful about Chad again. Nothing you are accusing him of is true. Believe what you want about me. Call me every nasty word you can think of. I've been called worse. He does not deserve your anger."

"Stop playing innocent. It is a shame you are too stupid to cover your tracks. As if I would not find the slide show on your computer of your greatest make out moments with MY BOYFRIEND. How many times did my boyfriend shove his tongue down your throat? On the other hand, maybe it was some other appendage you enjoyed orally. If the locker room rumors were true, you're very good at that sort of thing." Those comments got Taylor another slap.

"What is she talking about?" Jason asked the other three.

"Oral sex," Marc said before he remembered he was talking to a 12 year old.

"How is that different than regular sex?"

"Ask your health teacher or your mom." Amanda said as she smacked Marc upside the head. "There are children present."

"I don't think she remembers that." Nikki said pointing to Taylor as she started to go into another four-leather tirade.

"Your plans never work you conceded little bitch. If you think I'm going to let you take my boyfriend without a fight you have another thing coming. I doubt that he loves you. He loves me. No one can love a narcissistic beauty queen reject whose special talent is spreading her legs. He maybe a stupid basketball player, but he's my stupid basketball player." Taylor said as she tried to attack Sharpay again.

"She doesn't know, does she?" Marc said to the other three in a whisper.

"Not a clue." Amanda said quietly.

"I'd told Chad to break up with my sister over the phone. For a Genius he is a complete idiot. This is the same person who put my favorite video game in the garbage disposal because I read her diary."

"It is his twisted sense of honor. In Chad's mind, it's wrong to breakup with somebody over the phone." Amanda said to the others.

"This is going to be bad." Nikki muttered to herself as Sharpay when off on Taylor's lack of knowledge of her boyfriend.

"Do you know anything about your boyfriend? Do you even know what classes he is taking this semester? Do you know what he wants to be after college? Do you know anything about who he is now? Do you know what type of person he is? If you did know him, you wouldn't be making these stupid accusations. Do you still see him as that stupid basketball player that he was pretending to be in high school?"

"Like you know the answers to any of those questions. To him you are just an easy fuck. He probably hates you as much as he did in high school. He only wants you because you're here." Taylor said in pure anger and hate.

"That's not true Taylor. Don't you think I should have a say in this argument? Just like always you assume that you know how I feel when you don't, Taylor. You have no idea how I feel." Chad said walking into the room and instantly went to Sharpay without even thinking. Amanda could hear him whispering to Sharpay, "You are anything but easy and I love you anyway." Fortunately, Taylor was too far away to hear this inconvenient truth.

"You think I would not find out you were fucking the blonde ice queen bitch of east high?: Taylor said pulling out of black bra and throwing it at the two.

"That's another dollar for the swear jar. You think she would notice the new hair color," quipped Jason from the side.

"I wonder what happened to that bra." Sharpay said picking up the custom made garment.

"You wouldn't stop asking about it for two days." Chad said under his breath in a barely audible mumble.

"You left it in his room when you were screwing my boyfriend." Taylor said looking for something else to throw.

"I did not sleep with your boyfriend." Sharpay muttered, not that Taylor was listening to anything at that point.

"This was not how I wanted you to find out." Chad said softly as he ran his hand through his hair.

"That you are cheating on me with this whore?" Taylor said as she threw another pillow at Chad and Sharpay.

"No, that he is in love with her. She is not a whore. She is my friend Taylor. Unlike you, she actually cares about someone other than herself and her GPA. You seriously need to grow up. Stop throwing a tantrum every time you don't get your way." Jason said to his sister. Amanda knew at that moment that all hell was going to break loose when she saw the look of murder in Taylor's eyes as she lunged for the object of her annoyance.

October 9, 2008 7:49 PM

"I've really think you should have told her over the phone. This is going to go really badly. We're talking about the same person who ran Gabriella's English essay through a paper shredder when Gabriella did better on an assignment. " Troy warns his best friend over the telephone. Chad didn't need the warning he remembered what happened at Prom when he accidentally brought the wrong color flowers. Maybe her anger was caused by the fact he wouldn't sleep with her after the prom. That apparently was some great violation of the boy code.

"There are something you don't tell someone over the telephone. How do I start that conversation? 'Hi Taylor, how are classes going? By the way, I'm in love with that girl I hated in high school.' There is no way I am doing that over the telephone. I barely want to do this in person, but Sharpay is scarier than Taylor. This is like telling someone they got you pregnant over the telephone.."

"Is there something you want to tell me?" Troy asked Chad calmly. For a second Chad wondered if Troy knew about Alex. Not wanting to have that conversation, he decided to assume the other meaning.

"The prerequisite events for that have not occurred. Neither Sharpay nor I do casual. We are definitely not going to do anything while I am still dating someone else. Unlike some people, I know I would tell my best friend something like that."

Troy finally told Chad all about his relationship with Kim, a couple weeks ago. Chad was almost sure Troy was unaware of the lasting consequences of that relationship. Though in recent days Troy has been asking a lot of questions about Alex that Chad avoids by any means necessary.

"You mean other than sleep in the same bed, hugging, and kissing each other every time you get a chance." Called Amanda from the computer as she listened to her textbook. It was true that he has spent almost every night of the last three weeks with Sharpay. There was some kissing, although most of it was on the cheek. Except where one of them would "accidentally" move their head. There was also that one make out session last night, but that was it. Did that really count as cheating on Taylor?

"I said I was sorry about the Kim situation. Who was that shouting in the background? " Troy asked his friend on the other side of the line.

"That is Sharpay's nosy roommate Amanda. Aren't you supposed to be listening to your reading for English class?" Chad yelled back to Amanda.

"I'm multitasking." Amanda said pulling off her headphones and walked over to Chad. Grabbing his phone she quickly switched it over to speaker mode.

"Hi this is Sharpay's roommate Amanda, who had to deal with these two lovesick fools. At least they have finally stopped saying they were just friends. I agree with you. I think he should have gotten this break up over with three weeks ago when he and Sharpay stopped denying their feelings. Chad, you should have told Taylor six weeks ago when you started spending the night with Sharpay, even though you were in your friends only sleepovers stage. You should have broken up with Taylor seven weeks ago when Sharpay came out of your bedroom in nothing but a T shirt. At this point no matter what you do, it's too late."

"It doesn't matter anymore. She will be here in the morning. By tomorrow night it will all be over." Chad said to both of them.

"You're planning on telling her tomorrow after she gets to know the real Sharpay. What if someone tells her about your "friendship" with Sharpay? Even I have a dozen pictures on my phone of the two of you making out. You cannot use the 'we were just pretending to freak out Penelope' line. We all know that you two like making out with each other too much."

"Were you listening to this entire conversation?" Chad asked the very nosy girl.

"You're in my room. I have a right to eavesdrop."

"No wonder you two are getting along so well." Chad muttered under his breath.

"Why are you in Sharpay's room when she is in Chem lab?" Troy asked as friend.

"Ginger and Blaze," the two answered simultaneously.

"I swear she puts Viagra in his food," Amanda said in annoyance.

"We're currently researching to see if there's a way that we can get him kicked out of the building." Chad said to Troy.

"I agree with Sharpay junior over there that you should tell Taylor right away. It would be better than her finding out accidentally."

"I just think it will be easier for her to take the news if she saw Sharpay for who she really is and not the girl she pretended to be in high school."

"I'm telling you this as your best friend; there are some things you don't want to find out accidentally. Finding out your boyfriend is in love with someone else is one of those things. You know, like accidentally finding out you got someone pregnant." The way Troy said that last sentence made Chad very worried. Using Sharpay's imaginary presence as an excuse, Chad ends the phone call quickly.

"I think Sharpay is back. I got to go." Chad said slamming the phone down.

"Why do I have the feeling that you two are deliberately not talking about something?" Amanda said to Chad in disbelief.

"I'll tell you the day after Thanksgiving." Chad said cryptically.

October 10, 2008 7:43 AM

"I can't believe you're making me pick up your girlfriend from the Airport," Sharpay said sitting in the cafeteria eating her fruit salad. Although she did not have any classes on Friday other than volunteer work at EHS, she still woke up extra early so they could eat breakfast together.

"You know I have chemistry lab today. Besides, she is only technically my girlfriend. In my heart, that relationship is over. I just think maybe things would go better if she had a chance to actually see what a good person you are." Ever sense three weeks ago, when they finally admitted that they were not quite just friends, they have been in this weird space between platonic friend and romantic lover. Sharpay felt like she was holding back out of respect for someone who never respected her. Of all the people who hated Sharpay in high school, Taylor was the one who did it with the most animosity.

"What am I to you?" she needed him to say it. She needed him to reassure her that Taylor being here wouldn't make him change his mind. She could not lose him. He meant too much to her.

"Everything," he said as he kissed her on the cheek. That was the problem. She had a feeling that those words that Troy said to her three weeks ago were more than just wishful thinking. She couldn't help but feel like the Penelope in this situation. Chad was breaking up with Taylor because of her and she couldn't help but feel guilty. Before she could continue her self-loathing about the situation, her phone rang.

"Hello," Sharpay said into the phone.

"Do you have any classes today? Asked Sharpay's friend Kim.

"No, which is why I get to pick Taylor up from the Airport in 3 hours.

"I need a favor. Besides, you owe me for so many reasons."

"What do I need to do?"

Three hours later Sharpay found herself picking up Chad's almost ex girlfriend from the Airport, with Alex in the backseat. Kim's nanny was unable to come in today because she had the flu. Sharpay was sure it was the 'my boyfriend is in town and I want to have fun' flu. However, she did not say anything. Instead, she became the designated baby sitter. Now she was trying to entertain Alex in the backseat of the car, in the cell phone waiting area. The only thing that seemed to keep Alex quiet was watching a DVD of Twinkle Towne. Her favorite thing was every time Gabriella showed up on screen, Alex would throw a toy at the portable DVD player.

Finely 20 minutes after Taylor's plane was supposed to arrive she finally received a call. The first thing that Taylor told Sharpay after not seen her in almost five months was "Why are you here?"

"Good morning Taylor," Sharpay said in the nicest voice possible as she helped Taylor put her bags in the trunk.

"I thought Chad was coming to pick me up. What happened to the convertible?" Taylor said, as she looked for the person who she assumed would be there.

"He has his chemistry lab on Friday morning. He asked me to come get you instead because he couldn't miss that class. As for the car, this is my late graduation present. Ryan got one just like it. This car has more trunk space then the convertible. Besides Chad has that car today."

"My boyfriend is taking chemistry? That is a first. I didn't see him take one class in high school." Sharpay wanted to say it was because Chad was taking junior chemistry when we were in the ninth grade general science class. However, she promised Chad that she would let him tell Taylor all of his secrets. That included him being a super genius.

"He's taking Chemistry 153 this semester."

"The numbers must be different here. At my school that's the final class in the harder chemistry series." Sharpay kept quiet as they got in the car. Suddenly Taylor noticed the extra passenger.

"I know your reputation preceded you, but I don't remember you being pregnant in high school. Where did you get the kid from?" At Taylor's remark, Sharpay took a deep breath before she accidentally taught Alex a new dirty word.

"This is my friend Kim's son. Her nanny has the flu, so I volunteered to take care of him this morning since I don't have classes. You remember Kim? She was the vice president of the drama club when I was a freshman and sophomore."

"I didn't really pay attention to the drama club before Gabriella joined. Although I heard, my brother is now vice president. How did a 12 year old become vice president of the drama club?"

"He found a loophole in the bylaws that made it impossible for Tiara to become president." Just as they got back in the car, Alex started screaming for his juice box.

"You know I can drive so you can take care of Alex in the back." Taylor offered more out of getting Alex to stop screaming than anything else.

"That's okay, you're not on the insurance. He will calm down once I put the DVD on. Can you give him his juice out of the baby bag on the floor?

"You let Chad drive your car?" Taylor Asked as she passed the juice box to the little boy.

"Yes, but he's on the insurance."

"Why is my boyfriend on your car insurance?" Sharpay decided not to answer the question because it would incriminate her too much.

"Now you are being good for your aunt Sharpay. We have to meet Chad at Ruby Friday's at noon. I have to be at the school by 1:45 for my volunteer work."

"You are a volunteer? Taylor said in absolute shock.

"I get class credit for it, but yeah. I am working with one of the freshmen drama classes at EHS. Too bad your brother is taking English this semester. He is doing fabulous during the club rehearsals for the fall show.

"You know my brother?"

"Didn't you just hear me talk about him being Vice President of the drama club?" Sharpay said rolling her eyes. And people thought she was conceded. "He's in Kim's English class. In addition, he comes over some times to hang out with Chad after school. Your parents had been a little obsessed with the anniversary party lately. I drive him home sometimes so the 12th graders cannot put him in a locker again." Sharpay said as they go on to the freeway.

October 10 12:30 PM

If Taylor fought the car ride was painful, lunch was 1000 times worse. She expected to have a nice private lunch with her boyfriend. Instead, Sharpay was tagging along with the little brat. Instead of paying attention to her like a good boyfriend, he was focused on Sharpay and that kid. He insisted that Alex call him Uncle Chad. She had not seen him in 10 weeks and he rather talk to Sharpay that he saw every day. Just the thought of it made her so angry.

She knew Chad considered Sharpay to be a friend. This surprised her greatly, because Chad absolutely hated Sharpay in high school. Nobody laughed harder then Chad at the spring musical when Sharpay was humiliated. Now several months later, they are suddenly best friends forever. They finished each other's sentences and shared little jokes that Taylor did not get. She was almost positive she saw Sharpay steal some of Chad's French fries. When Taylor went to kiss her boyfriend he grabbed Alex in an obvious attempt to avoid her kiss completely. She was positive something was off, but she had no idea what.

Then again there was something off about the girl in front of her. She didn't recognize this Sharpay Evans. She did not even have the same color hair. Gone were the trademark gold locks, replaced with auburn Curls. Her style of dress was a bit more casual then what she wore in high school. This Sharpay was nice. Although she did make some snide comment about Taylor shoes. This Sharpay was currently cutting chicken fingers and carrot sticks for Alex without complaining about doing Manual laborer. The Sharpay Evans she knew from high school would never volunteer to take care of her friend's child. Though Taylor was sure high school Sharpay, did not have any friends.

This Sharpay Evans was a business major who got a 98 on her last pre calculus quiz. She was volunteering at EHS and drove Taylor's brother home every night so he wouldn't be picked on by bullies on the school bus. Sharpay was an honor student taking complex classes that discuss the definition of good and evil. Whom was this woman masquerading as the perfect person who could do no wrong? She couldn't be Sharpay Evans from high school. Something was not right.

"How are classes going?" Sharpay asked as she continued to monopolize Chad's attention.

Okay now she can hate Sharpay again for asking the one question she really didn't want to answer. For the first time in her academic career, Taylor was not getting perfect grades. At the moment she had a D average in her calculus class, a C minus in American history, and a C plus in chemistry. In her other two classes she was just barely pulling off a B. For Taylor McKessie this was as bad as failing.

Maybe it was because she was attending Yale University and the academic requirements were higher than some place like A of U. Taylor was not used to teachers that did not spoon feed every piece of information. For the first time Taylor had to think beyond black and white which was something she could not do. Apparently, Sharpay had no problem with this type of academic challenge because she didn't have a single great blow a B minus.

Sharpay was adjusting to college, while Taylor wished she could go back to high school. Sharpay had tons of friends in college. Taylor barely knew anyone. Sharpay had an actual life outside of classes. Taylor might as well put a cot in the library. The thing that bothered Taylor the most was Sharpay had the full attention of her boyfriend. Therefore, instead of saying how much she hated school she smiled and said everything was okay. When in reality Taylor was sure she just stepped into the twilight zone.

Sharpay was currently standing outside the stall of the family restroom waiting for Chad to finish up with Alex.

"I don't know why I have to be the one to take him to the bathroom." Chad said exiting the stall with Alex.

"Because you're the guy."

"My mom always took me to the bathroom when I was little." Chad said as they walked to the sink to wash their hands.

"That's because your dad probably had issues about diapers and potty training. I can tell you right now, if I ever let you get me pregnant were splitting dirty diaper duty and potty training. I'll even do a breast pump, just so you can do 3:00 AM feedings."

"You're already thinking about our future children. That is so cute, do you think they'll look like me." Chad said sarcastically as he touched her very flat stomach. "The prerequisite event has not happened yet."

"That prerequisite event will never happen if you don't man up and break up with your girlfriend. How hard is it to say 'Honey I think we should see other people. By the way, I'm already seeing Sharpay.'" Sharpay said in exasperation.

"We're not exactly dating right now," Chad said getting ready to take Alex back outside.

"We're not exactly not dating. As soon as you break up with the egghead in question, I may let you see my latest purchase from Lady Alexandra custom lingerie." Sharpay said with a wicked smile.

"Will I get to take it off?" He said in true Chad style, ignoring the two year old in the room.

"Not any time soon, especially if you keep delaying this breakup. I don't know why you just don't do it now."

"Maybe because she just invited herself over to study for the midterms she has in a week in hopes of avoiding the anniversary insanity. Can she stay in your room? I think it would be cruel to leave her with Blaze and Ginger for any significant amount of time."

"Sure, why not. This whole exercise is to prove to her that I'm not the heartless ice queen everybody thought I was in high school."

"Thank you," he said kissing her on the forehead.

"You better just be glad I didn't leave your T shirt lying on my bed this morning." She said quickly leaving the room with Alex.

Amanda was desperate to meet Taylor McKessie, the woman who has been causing so much pain for her friend Sharpay. So much that she was willing to skip her Friday afternoon English class, when Chad text messages her about their extra guest. It was not as if they were doing something that she could not get from Nikki later. She was just happy she did not have cheerleading practice today. For the last 20 minutes, she watched Chad's soon to be ex girlfriend yell at her roommate for 'accidentally' taking Taylor's laptop cord out of her bag last night. Amanda counted at least seven instances of the F word and eight of the B word.

Amanda felt Sharpay was definitely a lot prettier than Taylor. Ironically enough Sharpay was probably a nicer person. This was saying something, considering Sharpay through Maria Gutierrez's makeup in the trash after she took Sharpay's Chanel lipstick from the bathroom. In addition, Amanda did not like girls who wore extensions. Amanda preferred to show off how proud she was of her African heritage by wearing her hair as natural as possible. This week she was currently wearing braids.

"How am I supposed to watch the lectures now Tiffany? You could have at least ask me. This isn't like taking the last pop tart. She hung up on me. " Amanda would have done the exact same thing if Taylor said those things to her. Amanda's specific instructions were to keep Taylor as calm as possible before the scheduled stomping of the heart, therefore she proposed a solution that would keep the girl from freaking out over something so simple. If she was doing this over a laptop cord, Taylor was definitely going to explode when she finds out Sharpay took her boyfriend.

"You do not have to be so upset about it. It is not a big thing. Just use Sharpay's laptop. She won't mind. She lets Chad use her computer all the time."

"Of course she does." Taylor said angrily. "Saint Sharpay is perfect. She's even making good grades now that she's in college. She was a complete moron back in high school" Amanda just rolled her eyes at that comment. At her old high school, nobody thought a cheerleader with a learning disability could have a 4.0. She wondered if at Sharpay's school, the same apply to someone who wanted to be an actor.

"I doubt that it just started in college. She would not be in this dorm otherwise.

"What are you talking about?" The confused look on Taylor's face told Amanda that Taylor never considered Sharpay or maybe even her boyfriend for that matter to be intelligent.

"This is the honors dorm. No one is allowed to live here their first year unless they had a GPA of at least 3.5 in high school. No exceptions. Even Blaze, Chad psychotic oversexed roommate, meets these qualifications. I heard he was valedictorian at his school. If it makes you feel better, Sharpay was doing really bad in chemistry until Chad started tutoring her. He's so smart, but then again he's already in chemistry 153."

"Are we talking about the same Chad Danforth?" Taylor asked with her mouth on the floor in shock.

"Curly hair, light skinned, and wears T shirts that say things like 'my girlfriend can kick your ass and I'm okay with that'."

"You forgot to mention basketball obsessed."

"Not really. He's on the team, but that's about it. Just let me put Sharpay's password in for you". Amanda said taking the computer out of its designer carrying case, who according to Chad matches her puppy carrying case perfectly.

"You know her password?"

"She writes it down on a sticky pad and then forgets about it." Amanda said as she typed in Chad'$mouNtaiNlioN. 45 minutes later when Amanda sees Taylor take a baseball bat to Sharpay CD collection she will regret giving her access to those files.

"What do you mean I have to take him to class?" Sharpay said with hands on her hips. "Not that I don't love my pseudo nephew. I thought Ms. Ortega said you could switch periods?"

"Under normal circumstances I could. Unfortunately, I am supposed to be teaching the lesson today. I cancat switch classes for that. Ms. Darbus said it was fine if you took him into the drama class. She said something about the students learning how to work with children."

"Well he does have his mother skills. Is there any chance we can borrow him for the fall production?"

"Only if he has his own dressing room." Kim said handing Alex to Sharpay once more.

Taylor was almost convinced she was trapped in some parallel universe where everybody is the opposite of what they are supposed to be. How could her boyfriend be smart? How could Sharpay have better grades than her? She didn't want to believe any of it. Any moment she hoped to wake up and stupid jock Chad and ditzy Sharpay would be back.

In hopes of proving this is all some elaborate joke, Taylor decided to snoop through Sharpay's computer files to see if her work was really that good. To her disappointment, all her papers were well written with perfect grammar. Sharpay's writing also reflected creativity that Taylor didn't have. Then Taylor found a PowerPoint presentation labeled the best of Chad and Sharpay. Of course, she had to look. As she saw pictures of the two of them hanging out at various places on campus, her first thought was that her boyfriend spent way too much time with Sharpay Evans. Twenty-eight shots in she saw a picture of Sharpay kissing someone that looked a lot like Chad. She quickly went through the rest of this presentation finding 10 more make out pictures.

Taylor quickly searched the hard drive for more evidence. There was no way her boyfriend was cheating on her with Sharpay Evans. Everything else she found supported that Conclusion. She found everything from loved emails to a video file of the two making out in a water fountain. She tried to tell herself that it was someone else that just looked a lot like Chad. In her heart, she knew she was wrong. She was about to go back to looking at the video files when she heard shouting coming from across the hall. Taylor quickly went outside to watch the disturbance.

"Whose bra is this?" Shouted a very tall blond at her boyfriend. "I'm not a 32 C." The girl spat out throwing a black bra at the object of her disdain.

"That's probably Chad's girlfriend. You know how they are," Replied the boy.

"I am Chad's girlfriend and that's definitely not mine." Taylor said to the two.

"You're not Chad's girlfriend." Said the angry blonde. "She is some brainy double major who wears the latest styles. You look like you just stepped out of Smarty Mart."

"That is Sharpay Ginger, she is just his friend." Amanda called from the common area with what Taylor assumed were her friends. Taylor found Amanda's words reassuring until Ginger said the next thing.

"He spends the night with her All The Time. People don't sleep over with their friends."

Before she knew what was happening Taylor stood in Chad's bedroom with his baseball bat in her hand smashing the picture of Sharpay on his nightstand. She felt someone try to pull her away from smashing Chad's desk lamp. She just pushed them back. She was too mad to stop. She would destroy everything in that lying bastard's room before she went after the bitch that was fucking him.

Sharpay Evans was not in a good mood. Although she was having fun watching some of the students trying to act with Alex, she could not stop thinking about the girl studying in her dorm room. Tonight was going to be ugly and she could not help but feel guilty. It was as if what was about to happen was all her fault. So distracted by guilt over Taylor, she forgot to put her cell phone on silent. For the first time in seven weeks of working at EHS someone called her during class time. Her cell phone was now in the Darbus collection.

As she was begun to go over the next scene with Jackie, Jimmy and Alex, Kim and Jason ran on to the stage.

"What are you doing here Ms. Kim, I assure you your child is fine."

"Unfortunately Sharpay's dorm room is not. Your roommate was trying to call you, but she couldn't get a hold of you." Kim said looking at Ms. Darbus.

"I'm sure whenever it is can wait until class is over. Just then, Kim passed the phone to Ms. Darbus.

"If only she would channel that aggression into the theater. I think you need to leave now Ms Evans. You can make up the time another day." Ms. Darbus said this as she passed back the phone to Kim and then went to get Sharpay's out of the collection. Sharpay quickly opened the screen to see a picture of Taylor slamming a baseball bat into her plasma television. Sharpay went to grab her bag when she noticed Jason following her.

"What are you doing?"

"Last week mom added you to the list of people who could sign me out in an emergency. My sister having a nervous breakdown because she most likely discovered you are sort of dating her boyfriend qualifies as an emergency. Besides, you're going to need me to calm her down."

"Find you can come."

As she was leaving the room, she swore she heard Kim scream. "Where is my kid?"

Kim was panicking. Her kid was gone because Jimmy and Jackie were too busy watching her tell Sharpay the bad news. She was going to hurt them as soon as she tracked down her toddler. The school was huge. She should seriously consider a tracking device. After 5 minutes of not finding her child, she was starting to panic. Then she heard her son giggling. Her heart was calming down until she relies the sound was coming from the gymnasium. The one room she had been trying to avoid desperately for the last several weeks. As she walked into the gym, she saw her son playing with the man that probably hated her more than anything. She did not care. She just wanted her baby back.

"Don't you ever do that to mommy again. Thank you for finding him. He was supposed to stay with Sharpay in the theater, instead he ran away as he always does."

"Don't worry Troy did the same thing when he was Alex's age." Before she had time to figure out exactly how jack Bolton knew her son's name, he asked the one question she did not want to hear.

"Exactly when were you going to tell me that I was a grandfather?"

Before Taylor could attack her brother for saying such horrible lies to her, a very angry Sharpay pulled her back. She had no idea the girl was that strong. She couldn't get away from her no matter how hard she pulled.

"Let go of me you ice queen Witch." Taylor said as she fought Sharpay to let her go.

"Not until you calm down. You almost attacked an innocent 12 year old. You want to fight someone, fight me. Because trust me, I will kick your ass. Don't you dare touch Jason. You are going to stand here and listen." Sharpay said turning her around to face Chad.

"Why do I need to listen? I don't want to hear you two lie about how you're not fucking each other. Save the pretty lies for an idiot. I've seen the pictures. I loved you and this is how you pay me back you ass." Taylor said literally spitting at Chad as she said every angry word.

"I'm not sleeping with her. You don't believe it, fine. If you don't know me well enough to know I wouldn't do that to you, then you don't know me at all. Taylor you never knew me beyond my fake high school persona. You don't know me Taylor, you never did. I could never trust you enough to know me. Don't say you love me Taylor. You did not know me well enough to actually love me. Sharpay knows me. She knows who I am. She sees me, flaws and all. You never could. I'm so tired of trying to be something else. I cannot do it anymore. I am sorry. It is over." She wanted to cry when he said those words, but she wouldn't let him see her tears.

"Amanda can drive you home. Let her go Sharpay." He said as he physically removed Sharpay away from Taylor

"Fine. If you touch Jason again, I will hurt you." Sharpay said as Chad wrapped his arms around her. This visual took the last bit of fight out of Taylor.

Before seen them together in the flesh it was easier to pretend it was just sex. She was not sure if sex was involved. Chad didn't do casual. Even though everything she knew about him turned out to be a lie, she knew that was still true. Whatever was going on with Sharpay was not casual. They knew each other too well. Chad looked at Sharpay as if she were the only thing in the world. He never looked at Taylor like that. She saw that same look in her father's eyes every time he was with her mother. Taylor knew it was the look of true love.

She couldn't take it. She couldn't believe it. How did it happen? 10 weeks and he was already in love with someone else. 10 weeks and he was a completely different person. Her mind couldn't process this. When she couldn't process things, she ran. She could not face the truth that he did not love her.

"Can someone please explain to me what happened?" Sharpay heard the RA say just minutes after Taylor ran from the room on the verge of tears.

"I told you to tell her on the telephone." Amanda said as she started to put the furniture back in the community room. "Chad just broke up with his girlfriend. She didn't take it very well."

"I'm going to be filling out incident reports all night." The RA said in annoyance as she surveyed the damage.

"On the bright side Taylor owes me $35.00 for the swear jar for her fourteen uses of the F word nine uses of the B word, five uses of the D word, six of the P word, and three of the A word. Are you going to take me home Sharpay?" Jason asked pulling Sharpay out of her confused state. She couldn't believe that this went so badly. There was at least $10,000 worth of damage to the building alone. There went her black card shopping spree this Thanksgiving. Her dad was going to kill her.

"Just give me a minute to change." Sharpay said walking into the bedroom with Chad behind her. It was an absolute disaster area. Glass and stuffed animal fluff cover the room. Her comforter was torn to shreds. Her television was destroyed and the only reason why she still had a laptop was because it was designed for punishment. Hundreds of CDs and DVDs were smashed to pieces and scattered around the room. Almost every outfit she owned was ruined. No was able to stop Taylor as she doused all her clothing with bleach. She wanted to cry, however, Sharpay Evans did not cry. Well she did not cry in public anyway.

A little voice in her head told her this was what she deserved. Even though she was not trying to cheat, it happened. Even though they never slept together, they might as well have. She stole Taylor's boyfriend. Sharpay never hated herself more than right now. For the first time in her life, Sharpay actually felt like the evil villain that everyone said she was in high school.

"It's not true." It was like he could read her mind. "Whatever she said to you before I got here it's not true. You are the most intelligent, beautiful, infuriating, passionate, and compassionate woman I have ever met. You know everything about me. Even things I don't want to tell you. You did not take my heart from her because she never had it. My heart belongs to you." Chad said kissing her on the lips for the first time that was genuinely real and not the two of them pretending or an 'accident'. She wanted this so much. That wicked voice in her head wondered if all this pain was worth this. As he continued to kiss her, she knew he was worth everything.

"This is such a mess," she said as they broke apart. She was not quite sure if she was referring to the room or the situation.

"I should've broken up with her on the phone."

"You think." Sharpay said sarcastically as she pulled a piece of fluff out of his hair. "I doubt that I will find anything wearable in here. She basically destroyed my entire fall wardrobe."

"Good thing you have all the other seasons at the mansion" Chad said in jest.

"I'll take Jason home like this. I'll call the cleaning crew and daddy from the car. I want him to hear about this from me and not Lisa.

"I'll meet you in a minute. I just want to see what she did to my room."

"That is okay. Just meet me at the mansion at seven. One of us probably needs to talk to campus police. Just bring junk food. If I see a salad, I will hurt you." She said smiling at him. It was her fake 'I'm trying to be okay when I just want to cry' smile. She wanted to kiss him again but decided against it. Instead she left him and this mess behind.

Taylor had no idea how she made it to her favorite cafe 10 blocks from the A of U campus. She was just glad she had the presence of mind to bring her bag and cell phone. She was currently cycling through the angry break up songs on her mp three player, eating a jumbo nacho with sour cream and guacamole by herself as she tried to figure out what to do next. How did this happen? How did he fall out of love with her? Did he ever love her? Sitting here eating junk food and listening to TLC's Lovesick would not provide her with the answer to her question.

If this happened last year, she would be calling Gabriella, not anymore. Taylor missed high school Gabriella. College Gabriella was too busy making straight A and making her way through the Stanford party scene. There was no way she would call college Gabriella. She thought about calling her mother and asking her to pick her up. They could pick up Ben and Jerry's and cry over sappy love stories. However, her mom was too busy planning her anniversary party. Besides, she couldn't provide Taylor with the answers to any of her questions. Then she remembered the one person other than the person in question, who may know why Sharpay Evans is now the love of Chad's life. She quickly dialed the number. Fortunately, he picked up.

"Hello,"

"Troy, why does your best friend not love me anymore?" She asked Troy as she tried to keep the tears out of her voice.

To be continued