Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Yes, I know it's been a while. I'm currently writing five stories. I only have so much time to devote to writing and for some reason the chapters for this story take the most time to write.

I was also starting to get burned out on this story and I decided to take some time to map out the end. We are actually in the home stretch of the story.

Chapter 33: A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Championship

He swore up and down that he would not be like his father, sitting up in the stands reliving his glory days at high school basketball games. He knew his dad came more to his high school games to relive old memories than to actually see him play. He refused to be one of those people who felt the best days of their life all happened in high school.

Yet somehow, his girlfriend forced him into coming to the New Mexico high school regional basketball tournaments being held this year at A of U on this wonderful Saturday evening. He was still coughing and sneezing from whatever Sharpay gave him earlier this week and he preferred to be in Kim's guest room snuggling up to his girlfriend. Instead, he was here.

He realize now that Sharpay had regular sex as a weapon in her arsenal to get him to do things he doesn't want to do he is both literally and figuratively fucked.

He was walking through the crowd hoping that that no one will recognize him. That did not happen. He still was asked a dozen times why he quit the team. He was too famous in New Mexico and Darby's stunt two weeks earlier did not help. That was the other subject that everybody asked about. If he ever saw Darby again he would knock her out.

He always thought it was a bit suspicious that two teams in the same city always ended up in the top two positions for their division. There had to be some schools in Santa Fe that were just as good as East High.

Somebody in power Last year got pissed off over the fact that East High and West High always ended up playing against each other in the state tournament and made a very big fuss about it in the press. The state board of education was not happy. To fix this, starting in 2009 the state championship would be determined in a tournament style event. In other words, they created another tourism friendly event.

It was Sharpay's dad's quick thinking that led to the tournament happening on the A of U campus. Not that anybody cared that there now disgraced board member was instrumental in getting this for the university and the city. The tournament was generating a small fortune in revenue between the ticket sales and the money people were spending on game related expenses like hotel rooms and dinner. Richard's uncle was doing a really good job of running his future father in law's name through the mud the closer they got to Richard's trial.

The change of format really didn't change anything. After the first two rounds, East High and West High would be meeting tonight in the semifinals. Yet, he was not excited to be here.

"Please tell me again why I agreed to come to this?" Chad asked his girlfriend as they took their seats near the floor. If Chad had his way, he would not be here watching another East High vs. West High game. They would be back in the guest room at Kim's house working their way through 101 Sex Positions for Beginners.

"I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that your girlfriend is still walking funny." Penelope said sarcastically from behind. Penelope was also talked into coming to the tournament.

She and Sharpay were getting along much better, but he was blaming this on force proximity. Other than sharing a dorm room they were also overseeing the drama club together. They were currently trying to keep former best friends Kerri and Jackie on friendly terms. He just hoped for his sanity that both ceasefires lasted to the end of this semester. He will never understand girls and feuds.

"I'm just that good." Chad said with a smirk as he remembered exactly what they did before coming here.

"Wipe that smirk off your face before I decide not to give you a repeat performance. You are here because several of the more tolerable students on the basketball team and the cheerleaders that I can actually stand asked Penelope and me to come. There's no way I am going to any basketball game without you being there for emotional support." Sharpay said as she leaned over and kissed him. "Besides you promise me you would come." She said in her sexy voice that made him consider that last sentence a double entendre. Why does she do that to him?

"Is it wrong that I hope East High wins the tournament or at the very least beats West High? I really don't want to have to wear sunglasses in class Monday or have my car covered in eggs and toilet paper." Penelope said as she took the seat next to Sharpay. She was actually wearing East High colors.

During acting class over the last couple of weeks, he and Penelope have been talking a lot. Penelope was absolutely miserable in high school despite being one of the "popular people". Like him, she was one of the smart people. Just like at East High, cheerleaders couldn't be brains. Just like him, she kept her intelligence hidden.

Because West high was on the poor side of town, Penelope did not have the opportunity to take classes like AP biology or take part in the dual enrollment program at the local community college. At least he could sneak out for enrichment classes. Penelope was bored out of her mind in high school. Board gifted children have a tendency to act out. He chose pranks with Troy and Penelope chose screwing Zeke in the boy's locker room.

"I thought you were not having problems with students seeing you as the enemy?" Chad said as he took a drink of his overpriced water that Sharpay gave to him.

"The drama students don't see me as the enemy, but a lot of them remember me from drama camp and city wide theater competitions. When I see all the resources that your school had for the drama department, it makes me wish I found a way to switch schools. The other students are a bit of a problem. Jack had to give a couple of the stupid basketball players "basketball detention" for calling me a "West High basketball bitch" in the middle of class."

Chad remembered exactly what a basketball detention was. It involves at least 20 minutes of running suicides along with other forms of physical torture that only of basketball coach could envision. After 1 hour of that torture, you knew better than to do anything that will get you a basketball detention again. He never had the displeasure of serving one, but Troy had two weeks worth of "basketball detentions" after the spring dance sophomore year. Thinking about it now, Chad was sure that was part of Troy's punishment for getting caught having sex with Kim on the roof.

"Beautiful sets don't matter when you have no creative freedom. At least at your school you could do a kissing scene in the production. You did hear about our principal fainting last semester when Chad and I accidentally kissed on stage? We weren't even students." Sharpay said as she displayed her signature pout.

"Your productions may be highly censored, but at least East High is still going to have them. According to my cousin, due to the completely fucked up economy there cutting the drama department completely at West. That means no more productions or even drama classes. Of course, they have all sorts of funding to refinish the gymnasium and buy brand new uniforms for the basketball team." Penelope said sarcastically as she took a drink of her water.

"We wouldn't be having a production either if it wasn't for Kim offering to finance it herself this semester. In retaliation for what happened at the fall play the principal slash the budget completely. I'm surprised the principled didn't use Miss Darbus getting sick as an excuse to completely get rid of the program."

"What are you guys doing for the spring musical? Miss D usually had signup sheets out by now." Chad said as he grabbed a bit of his girlfriend's popcorn. He was really going to have to talk Sharpay into putting butter on her popcorn again. Sharpay was currently freaking out because of the recent weight gain and was putting herself on a strict diet again.

Personally, he thought she looked beautiful no matter how much she weighed but there was no arguing with Sharpay. Although on the bright side, she was now running with him every morning.

"Jack won't let us mention the word spring musical until basketball season is over with. Also due to last fall's incident, the censorship happy principle will not even let us post signups until he approves the script. We're considering For the first time in almost 10 years not doing an original musical. Kim offered to pay for the rights to anything we wanted to do." Sharpay said with a sigh.

"I personally think she's hoping we'll get to do Rent. This is the first year that the musical has been available for a high school production. Jimmy would make a really good Angel." Penelope said to him and Sharpay. He doubted they would get to do the play, but Penelope was right, Jimmy would make a really good Angel.

"Have you met the principal of East high? There's no way on earth he's going to let us do a musical with gay characters or anything that deals with the AIDS issue. When we did Cinderella a few years back as the fall play, he wouldn't even let us include mentions of child abuse. We're probably going to end up doing something very Disney, with all the good parts cut out. Maybe you should tell him about you giving our mutual ex boyfriend a blowjob in the boy's locker room. The shock alone will kill him and then I'll get to do the play I want to. Does he really think teenagers are not having sex?"

"Considering Kim brings her and Troy's two year old to the school all the time, I don't think he can ignore it anymore. Where is Kim? I thought she and the future basketball player were meeting us." Chad asked his girlfriend.

"She sent a text message when being attacked with invasive questions. She said she would come up as soon as she was done playing the role of supported daughter in law. In retaliation for Jack dating your mom, Troy's mom is now screwing the coach from West High. If you look really closely you can see the making out right there." He looked to where Sharpay was pointing and saw the evil bitch kissing that dick of a coach from West.

"Does she have any standards? There has been rumors going around the entire time I was a cheerleader that he was screwing one of my fellow cheerleaders. Not that the West High principle will even look into it because he's best friends with the coach. I seriously doubt that would ever happen at east high school. Maybe it's a good thing your principle is uptight. Was he always like this?"

"Yes," both he and Sharpay said at the same time. Although after what Penelope said, maybe that's a good thing. If allegations like that were made at East High their principle would have them looked into immediately.

"Speaking of people with dubious taste, does Amanda really think we're not going to recognize her wearing a baseball Cap? Marc is with her. That in itself is a dead giveaway," Penelope said with a laugh.

"Did they really think I didn't hear them at Kim's party a couple weeks ago? Kim Seriously needs to invest in soundproofing otherwise Alex is going to have one serious therapy bill." His girlfriend said to Penelope. He was trying to figure out what they were talking about. He was a little too busy with Sharpay that night to hear anything else.

"Shouldn't you two be contributing to that fund? I heard from Marc that Alex and Chad's mom walked in on you to. By the way thank you for funding my spring break this year and for providing me with a wonderful financial cushion for this semester."

Sharpay was still pissed off at him for not locking the door to their room in the suite Tuesday. How was he supposed to know his mom was going to be able to get a key card from the front desk? If it wasn't for the fact that her brother was completely mortified by the entire experience she would probably be a lot angrier at him.

Sharpay was perfectly OK with what they did Tuesday and several times since Tuesday, even though she gave him her respiratory infection. However, it was still in his best interest to change the subject quickly.

"Are you okay with her being with him?" Surprisingly enough this is a less sensitive topic.

"No, but it's not like I want to be with him again. Then again she I s kind of my friend and I don't want her to get hurt." Penelope said looking away. "Maybe it's just sex. Not everybody finds their soul mate at 18. The rest of us mere mortals must kiss a lot of frogs. Zeke is definitely a frog." That last comment caused Sharpay to start giggling. He was personally wondering if Penelope was covering up the pain with humor.

"If I can handle Troy practically being married to my best friend, then I can deal with Amanda dating my other ex boyfriend. I like Troy a lot more than I ever like Zeke. I'm okay after I threatened to cut off his dick yesterday if he does the same thing to her that he did to us. If she is with Zeke then I don't have to worry about her making a move on you. I have you and I don't want anybody else." Sharpay said as she kissed him on the cheek quickly.

"What are you talking about?" He asked his girlfriend in surprise. There is no way she can b e saying what he thinks she is saying.

"He doesn't know? Everybody knows." Penelope asked Sharpay quickly.

"Not a clue."

"What are you talking about?"

"Mandy has a crush on you." Penelope said with a little laugh.

"She does not." Over the years, a lot of girls (and boys) have had crushes on him. Even Kerri the cousin of his future siblings' mommy had a crush on him in high school. Actually he's pretty sure Tiffany had a crush on him in high school but he tries not to think about how truly disturbing that is.

The thing is girls (or boys) who had crushes on him were anything but subtle. He always knew. He would receive tons of gifts and a lot of dirty proposals. For Example, every single Valentine's Day since junior high some mystery girl sent him a $200 box of fine chocolate. He also remembered the fallout after Taylor found a pair of lace panties in his locker that one of the cheerleaders left inside with her phone number attached. It was almost on par with her taking the baseball bat to the plasma incident after she found out about the Sharpay thing.

"There's no way she can have a crush on me. She doesn't fit the profile. Most girls that have a crush on me are usually more aggressive. You do remember that you tried to jump me." He said that last part directly to Penelope.

"Can we please not talk about that? I also backed off as soon as I saw the engagement ring." Penelope said putting her head in her hand in embarrassment.

"I never did that. I wanted to rip your head off."

It's kind of funny that the only two girls in high school who didn't fall all over him where the two girls he actually dated. When he started to get to know Taylor she hated him. Then after one of their epic arguments they started making out. They went from hating each other to making out with each other with no space in between. Maybe that's why their relationship fell apart.

At lease with he and Sharpay there was a transition between hating each other and becoming lovers. Even though it was relatively short, at least they were talking to each other before they started making out all the time.

"More like you want to suck his c-" he placed a hand over Penelope's mouth as he noticed Tiffany, Kerri, and Jason walking down the stairs.

"Can you please control yourself? I would like my new brother and sister to make it into the world before their corrupted by you. Also they brought Jason with them so please don't pervert the 13 year old." Of course, before he could finish yelling at Penelope he noticed the slightly grey headed man of his nightmare standing behind the trio.

"Honey, why didn't you tell me your father was going to be here?" He asked squeezing Sharpay's hand a little too tightly.

"I forgot." Sharpay said sheepishly in a way that told him she was lying. That's the last thing he remembered Sharpay saying as she kissed him.

2 hours earlier

"No. Ask someone else. " Amanda said as loud as she could to her friend.

"Nikki is home this weekend; you know that because she is your roommate. Mandy you owe me for helping you with your class work this semester." Marc said with a smile.

"I'm still not doing it. You hate basketball. The only time you go to games is to make fun of the other cheerleaders. It's been like that since high school. There must be a guy involved."

"Jimmy asked me to come." She just rolled her eyes when he said that.

"Jimmy has a girlfriend. Jimmy is also 16. You're not trying to break them up are you? He already has enough trouble with Tiara trying to do that by manipulating Jackie." She thought she was done with high school drama when she got out of high school, but it never ends.

"He was just a friend with make out privileges and until the girlfriend disappears, we're just friends." For some reason she just wasn't buying that. "There is a guy, just not Jimmy. Do you remember at Kim's party a couple weeks ago when I was talking to the cute guy that came in with your special friend? Anyway he invited me to the game, but he doesn't want it to look like a date because his parents don't know yet and they're going to be there cheering on his cousin."

"Zeke is not my friend."

"You're right he's not your friend. He is that guy you fucked at a party because you got completely wasted. Although if it was just the alcohol, why do you keep text messaging him?"

"If I say yes, will you please stop asking questions?"

"There's no way I'm going with you on a fake double date with my ex girlfriend." He was currently looking at Madison as if she was completely mad. He should have known something was wrong when she showed up to his house on this wonderful Saturday.

"Come on Troy, you're the only guy friend I have that will not try to grab my breast or ass on this fake date. I wouldn't ask if a certain boyfriend of mime wasn't at an away game. Your almost wife made me promise to make sure that you're not here alone in the house sulking tonight because you're not playing." Why did he have a feeling that Kim actually said something like that? His girlfriend was slightly overprotective and a bit crazy.

"I was not going to stay here alone sulking." He said in his defense. He was sure Madison didn't believe him.

"Yes you were. Come on, it's in your best interest to have your ex girlfriend dating again. We seriously need to find her a date for the Valentine's Day ball; otherwise, Mercedes will make her miserable. You know Gabby will not go out with Daniel unless she has one of her friends with her."

Madison was right; he would feel a lot less guilty if Gabriella was not so alone. She wasn't talking to most of her sorority sisters now that she wasn't wasted all the time and on the right mix of medication. She still wasn't talking to her mother after what happened in November. He was also pretty sure that she was only still on speaking terms with him and Ryan.

"You can still go with her by yourself or maybe you can invite one of the other girls from the sorority to go with you. It could be a group thing. Gabriella and I did those types of dates all the time when we were together."

"That's because you and Gabriella were not really dating. You were friends with make out privileges. You were in love with someone else and she was too stoned on happy pills to realize you were not really into the relationship." Why did he have to surround himself with people that were always right?

"It's still a valid option." Troy said with a shrug.

"Have you met most of the other girls at my sorority? Mercedes is one of the nicer people there. " That thought alone made him shiver. He heard all about Mercedes' roll in Gabriella's thanksgiving nervous breakdown. He personally hated the bitch. "Gabriella is about one of two people in the sorority that I can actually hold a conversation with. I swear to god, everyone else is a rich stuck up little brat who only got into Stanford because one of the wings is named after their great great grandfather."

"You do remember that my old dormitory was apparently named after my girlfriend's grandfather? Also my girlfriend's mom pretty much bribed at least the coach and a few other officials to get me into Berkeley."

By the time he got back from DC all the details were public knowledge. Most people felt sorry for him because he had a future mother in law who was completely crazy. A few people made nasty comments about him only being there because of the money. The worse comments came from James.

"That situation is different. Contrary to what you think, Troy you deserve to be at Berkeley as much as anyone else. Second, unlike the conceited idiots that I share the house with your girlfriend gave up every single penny of her multimillion dollar inheritance to raise your child. It takes a strong person to do that."

"Just because you flatter me, doesn't mean I'm going to say yes."

"Come on. It's just bowling and karaoke. Besides considering how you guys broke up, you kind of owe her." Madison decided to play the guilt card. He wasn't going to let her without a fight.

"We broke up because she posted a tape of my best friend almost getting a very drunk hand job from his current fiancée."

"No, you broke up with her because you were in love with Kim. You use the video as an excuse. She did not find out that you were practically married to someone else until almost a month after the breakup. She found out about your son at the same time. Of course this is right after she finds out that you two were only together in the first place because your mom despised Kim. Then she ended up spending several weeks in the psych ward because she completely cracked up. You owe her."

"Find, you win." Madison was worse than Alex trying to get his own way.

"I knew you would see it my way. Now go upstairs and put on something cute." Troy thought this was exactly why he needs to get more guy friends or convince Chad to apply to Stanford next year.

Gabriella looked in the mirror one more time before she grabbed her purse and cell phone to go out the door. She was currently wearing her seventh outfit of the evening but she didn't have time to change again. Madison just sent her a text message telling her to be ready to leave in 10 minutes. The casual outfit of jeans and a T shirt will just have to do.

She was just nervous because this was her first date in forever. It was definitely her first date post Troy breakup. Thinking about it now, she was not even sure her and Troy really had dates. She wasn't sure if surprise picnics on the school roof counted anymore, especially in light of the fact that Alex was conceived on that roof. She can count on one hand the amount of times she and Troy went on a date without Taylor and Chad or Ryan and Kelsey tagging along.

It's kind of funny to think that less than a year out of high school all the high school golden couples were gone. Chad was engaged to Sharpay now and Taylor was with Ryan. Kelsey was dating girls for that matter. Then again the platonic fell apart just as quickly. At the moment she was only talking to Troy and Ryan.

She tried to call Taylor today to talk about how nervous she was to go on a first date. Taylor did not even pick up the phone. It's what she deserves after her descent into madness during the first semester. Occasionally she and Taylor text message each other but that was about it. It seemed like that friendship was over for good.

She didn't know why she needed the assurance of her former best friend; things will be fine on her date. Daniel was this really nice guy from her calculus class that asked her out tonight. She was going to say no until Madison forced her to say yes. She would only agree to go on a date if Madison would go with her. She figured there would be no way Madison would do it without her boyfriend. Madison said she would have a date no matter what. So much for that excuse.

"How did you talk my practically married ex boyfriend into being your date?" She asked in shock when she saw Madison get out of Troy's brand new BMW convertible.

"He is easily susceptible to female manipulation; his wife has already broken him in." She and Madison always refer to Kim as Troy's wife. She personally doesn't understand why they're not already married. They are perfect for each other, even if it hurts her to admit that.

"I'm not even sure why I said yes. I'm sure a guilt trip was involved. I brought pictures of Alex's birthday party." Troy said handing her his smart phone. She was too busy looking over adorable baby pictures to really think about how awkward this was really going to be.

After saying something really nasty to her almost mother in law, she and Alex made their way to their seats. When she found out that Sharpay's dad was coming she decided to sit with Marc and Amanda. She had no idea that they were bringing Nicholas's cousin Jason and Zeke with them. As much as Amanda claimed otherwise there was something going on between her and Zeke.

Things were going OK. It was better than sitting with the happy couple. Chad sent her several text messages about is very uncomfortable conversation with Sharpay's dad before the game started when Sharpay suddenly had to run to the bathroom. She was glad she missed listening to that discussion in person.

It was more fun watching Zeke and Amanda tried to act like they were not on a date. She caught Amanda grabbing Zeke's hand three times. Amanda currently had Alex on her lap in an effort to avoid Zeke. Kim was getting some very good cell phone video of this.

She also tried not to laugh at the text messages she was receiving from Madison. As instructed Madison made sure her boyfriend didn't spend all evening whimpering at the house alone or breaking into the liquor collection. Although she had no idea Madison would talk him into being a pseudo chaperon for Gabriella's date.

The shocked expression on the guy's face when he found out Gabriella's ex boyfriend was tagging along was just priceless. The date must be going bad, even Gabriella's sent her a message about how her almost husband was acting like a complete ass to her date. She was so lost in the text message conversation that she almost missed the very interesting question from Jason Cross.

"Who is the pregnant girl with Chad and Sharpay? Why did Chad just put his hand on her stomach? She looks like Tiffany Jackson from high school."

"That is Tiffany Jackson from high school." Kim said barely looking up from her phone.

"You don't already have this piece of juicy gossip?" Marc asked the guy sitting next to him.

"Not really. It's not like I am on speaking terms with Chad currently. I'm just happy he's not trying to beat me up any more. Thanksgiving was not pretty. " Zeke answered for Jason.

"How could you not tell him about how Chad found out he was getting a new brother and sister for thanksgiving?" Marc said in his over hyper voice.

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked in confusion.

"Chad's dad has been sleeping with Tiffany for years even before the divorce. Fortunately, he didn't get her pregnant until after the divorce was finalize. Charles decided the best way to tell his son about his new brother and sister was to show up at the Airport with his pregnant girlfriend the day before thanksgiving. Of course, during the thanksgiving from hell, Tiffany realizes Charles is a complete ass and she dumps him. Instead of just breaking up with Tiffany, Charles breaks up with all his children. Tiffany moved back to Albuquerque in December. Charles did not bother contacting Chad or Tiffany until a couple weeks ago when Chad quit the basketball team. The guy is a first class prick." Amanda answered in anger. Kim notice Zeke put an arm around Amanda at this point.

"Did Chad find out about the babies before or after he beat the hell out of me?"

"Right before," Amanda said softly.

"Okay now I understand why I got beat up." That was probably the wrong thing to say because Amanda quickly pulled out of his embrace and slapped him on the arm.

"You mean other than the fact that you were screwing Penelope when you were publicly dating Sharpay? Oh wait it was the other way around. You were dating Sharpay when you were dating Penelope. I think I need some popcorn." Amanda said handing Alex back to her.

She blamed Chad for this entire thing. She was okay being at a basketball game if Chad was playing. Sitting in the stands watching people play that she didn't know was just not her thing. However because they got caught Tuesday by a certain evil two year old and Chad's mom, she was being forced to spend time with her dad.

After Tuesday's teleconference, he needed to make a trip to check up on operations in New Mexico even though he was in town last Friday. Maybe she should just be happy that her dad was actually making an effort now. If only he did this years ago.

It was true that several of her students asked her to come. Let's be honest after some idiot wrote certain nasty slurs on Jimmy's locker this week, he needed all the support he could get. She could still get out of it. After what happened Tuesday, it would be impossible to get out of father/daughter bonding time.

It wasn't like Chad's mom and her dad were really mad at her and Chad for having sex. Chad's mom was just happy he kept his virginity several years longer than she did. She was more upset about the fact that they were having sex when Sharpay was sick. Actually, they were both now sick but at least they were no longer contagious.

Her dad wasn't really that mad after he realized they used the pill, condoms, and spermicide. They still ended up getting the responsibility talk, which was so unfair. Her dad gets cell phone pictures of Ryan ripping off Taylor's bra and all Ryan gets is a gigantic box of Trojan delivered to his dorm room. Some days she wished she was born a boy.

Ryan and Taylor aren't even in a real relationship. They are for all intents purposes fuck buddies. Taylor cannot even call Ryan her boyfriend without practically throwing up. If they were really together, Taylor would have told Ryan about what she discovered in DC involving her birth. Instead, Sharpay was the only one who knew, not that that was doing any good. Yesterday she called Taylor to talk about it and she blew her off. She was worried and she couldn't tell Ryan why she was worried about his not-a-girlfriend because she promise she wouldn't say anything to anyone.

She and Chad are engaged, yet they are still treated like little kids. They cannot even hold hands in their dorm room without the RA yelling at them. She hated double standards. Fortunately, because the reporters were still stalking the campus they were staying at Kim's house.

So far, the parental bonding activity was going OK. Chad and her father were completely lost in the game after an earlier showdown. She doesn't know why Chad complained so much about being here. Within 30 seconds he was the most excited person there.

She was leaning on a basketball distracted Chad as she wrote her short story for her writing class on her I phone. It would be so much easier to do this if she had a keyboard.

"What are you working on? You can't be sending text messages because Chad is sitting right next to you." Kerri asked with a giggle.

"That's funny coming from the girl who would text message her boyfriend ten times in the time it takes me to drive her from East High to her house. If you must know, I'm doing my writing assignment for Monday. Shouldn't you be cheering on your boyfriend? "

"You forget she does the same thing in class. She would be doing that right now but he's playing." Jason said from behind them as he rolled his eyes.

"You're doing homework at a basketball game?" Chad asked her in surprise.

"You're such a nerd." Penelope added. If she wasn't sitting by two people under the ages 16 and her father she would tell Penelope that she was doing this now so her and Chad could tryout the positions on page 38, 47, and 69 of 101 Sex Positions for Beginners. "We all can't get into it like you honey." Sharpay said reaching over and kissing him again. It was one of those "I wonder if we can sneak off to the bathroom" kisses.

They stopped as soon as Chad realized her dad was giving him the "stop touching my daughter" look. During this make out session Penelope manage to take her phone out of her hand and started reading the story. She's not sure. When Chad touches her in certain places her mind gets a little fuzzy.

"You're writing a song for your writing class?" She asked in surprise.

"It's creative writing. It's part of the alternative history X project. Kim and I are working together to write an alternate version of high school where Chad and I knew about Troy and Kim's relationship yet he still manage to get her pregnant. This particular scene was inspired by the first couple weeks after winter break junior year. Everyone was freaking out because Troy decided to be more than just a stupid jock."

"Heaven forbid there is a member of the basketball team that cares about something other than basketball." Kerri said sarcastically. "I'm almost positive I was the only member of the cheerleading squad where the Pink song stupid girls did not apply."

"I have the same feeling. Can these kids stop moving?" Tiffany said with a little yell from behind Chad.

"Probably not, they are my relatives." Chad says as he placed a hand on Tiffany stomach to feel his siblings. "Sharpay you do remember you were one of the people freaking out?" Her boyfriend pointed out to her.

"So were you. Every time Troy started spending time with someone else you freaked out. Actually you acted the same way you did when I went out on that date with - is there something you need to tell me?"

"Good point." He said giving her another kiss as he pulls away from Tiffany. She knew he was purposely distracting her from her other question. She decided this was not the time or place to have this discussion.

"During that time I had this weird daydream where everybody in the cafeteria started confessing their deepest darkest secrets to the entire student body. Everybody starts freaking out because the skater dude played the cello. Considering what I now know about everybody secrets, those secrets were tame. In the new version, the secrets are a lot juicier and the panic is triggered by the entire student body finding out that Troy is going to be a daddy. We're kind of writing the entire thing as a musical."

"You have Zeke confessing to sleeping with me in this." Penelope said as she passed the phone to Jason and Kerri.

"It's a lot better than his confession in my original dream sequence. I had him confessing to liking to bake. Like the whole school didn't already know that secret. I figured that him confessing that he was dating the enemy would be better."

"It would have made me feel better because I wouldn't be his dirty little secret." She knew even though Zeke apologized with copious amounts of baked goods Penelope was still upset about this point. At least she got to be the public girlfriend. Penelope was stuck being Zeke's dirty little secret. No one deserved that.

"This is really good. You should turn this into the spring musical." Tiffany said reading the section over her cousin's shoulder.

"This is really good, but Chad's lines need some work if we could do it. Even if the Kim Bolton Foundation is paying for the play, the principle won't agree to it. You saw what he did to my play last year. Jason said to the group. "

"The subject matter is going to be too much. Not only does this have teen pregnancy in it, it is also deals with issues of teen sexuality and child abuse. Also in the section you are reading, the character based on my brother starts to sing about how he wants to date boys and girls. You know the principle has been having a minor panic attack since he found out the captain of his basketball team is bisexual."

"He's not the only one. Nicholas's aunt and uncle, who he lives with, do not want him to be friends with Jimmy anymore. Apparently they think homosexuality is contagious. Jimmy's stepfather is not exactly that happy that his son likes boys and girls. He's trying to tell himself that it's just a phase since Jimmy is dating me now." At that moment Sharpay remembered that her father who is sitting next to Chad most likely didn't know that his son liked boys too. She looked over expecting her father to be shocked but he wasn't.

"I already know. I walked in on him making out with his little friend James/Justin or something like that last year. We never did tell your mother. Maybe I can mention it at the divorce hearing in a few weeks. "

"Ryan had a boyfriend last year and I didn't know? I barely knew about Kelsey. We didn't have a James or Justin at our school last year."

"He worked at the club. He was the one with the floppy hair. He is sitting with your ex boyfriend over there." Her father pointed to Jason Cross who happened to be sitting next to Marc. She saw Kim sitting with the group. She also saw what looked like an argument between Amanda and Zeke.

"OK we really were the worst friends ever." Chad said as he grabbed his cell phone and passed it to her. Everyone else was too busy playing with her phone. There's no way she was having this conversation in front of everyone. She quickly dragged Chad out to the lobby with her.

"Why didn't you tell me you dated Jason?" Sharpay said to her brother on the phone as soon as she and Chad were in the lobby.

"Don't follow me Zeke. Just get the fuck away from me." Amanda said the moment he caught up with her in front of one of the snack bars.

"No. I am not leaving."

"You will if I hit you. I'm sure I can do as much damage as your ex girlfriend."

"Which one? Penelope is better at physical torture, but Sharpay is much more proficient with psychological torture."

"I'm not sure that it matters. The fact that you had both girlfriends at the same time is a problem in itself."

"I'll be the first one to admit that situation was bad. I've apologized to both Penelope and Sharpay. They are both working their way to forgiving me. But, you can't let go. Why are you so angry on their behalf?"

"If you have to ask, then you will never figured it out."

"I already know." He said giving her an earth shattering kiss. At least it was shattering to her world view. After she pulled away she ran in the ladies room until she heard shouting outside 15 minutes later.

"Hello to you too sister?" Ryan said into his phone as he sat in the back of the cab with a couple of his other friends. It was a little before 10 and they were heading out to their second club of the night.

"Don't play innocent with me. Daddy just told me you dated Jason in high school and never told me. We are twins. We tell each other everything." He rolled his eyes at that comment.

"The term dating only applies when you actually go out in public together. Jason was too big of a closet case for us to have a real relationship, which is why we broke up before the big game senior year. However, we actually managed to stay friends. I don't consider what we had as a real relationship. I don't even count him as an ex. We never really got past the making out with each other when I was supposed to be helping him with his homework phase."

"That explains why his grades were so low senior year."

"Very funny sister. I wish I did sleep with Jason before Kelsey; he probably would have been a much better first time. He was a much better kisser, but then again so was your boyfriend and he was petrified at the time."

"Chad don't make that face. I didn't need to know that. I'm so upset about the fact you kissed my boyfriend before I did. I see there's still no love lost between you and Kelsey." His sister quipped.

"Let's not mention Kelsey. I had to deal with her and her girlfriend making out at the first club we were at tonight. At least the break up with Jason was less traumatic. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It was something really personal and Jason didn't want anybody to know. I just wasn't ready for it to be spread all over school back then. You know how our school was."

"Considering what some of the idiots are doing to jimmy this semester I understand. I am your sister, I'm not going to spread it all around campus."

"You really can't say anything. You never told me about mom hitting you or your ex boyfriend doing you know what." He knew that was a low blow but he didn't care. He was still mad about her keeping secrets from him for so long.
"Okay, be that way. Are you with Taylor?" Sharpay asked quietly.

"She stayed on campus this weekend to catch up from missing three days of classes. For her political science class she needs to write a five page paper about the entire inauguration due Monday."

He wouldn't tell his sister this but he wondered if that was just an excuse. During their last two days in DC Taylor was really quiet. They've hardly talked in five days except for one phone call where she told him that she got back okay and wasn't coming up this weekend.

The only physical contact she would allow other than the occasional hug was during sex. He had no idea what was going on because she wouldn't talk to him. He was starting to wonder how equal this relationship really was. They had much better communication when they were just friends.

"Just so you know Jason is at the tournament sitting next to Marc. Anybody who knows Marc knows he only goes to basketball games to keep Nikki company when they're making fun of the other cheerleaders. So maybe there's hope for him yet." By the way, Sharpay switch subjects he wondered if she was hiding something as well.

90 minutes into the double date from hell, he wanted to run away or at the very least punch out Gabriella's date. At first things were going well. He and Gabriella were getting better at being around each other just as friends.

He was showing Gabriella pictures of Alex playing on the Albert Einstein statue in DC when her date showed up. That is when things started to go downhill. Actually things started going downhill when Troy noticed Daniel checking out Gabriella's ass.

On the way to pick up Gabriella earlier Madison told Troy about how great a guy Daniel was. Troy was personally convinced that was an act to get into Gabriella's pants after spending just a few minutes with the guy. Daniel spent more time looking at Gabriella's ass than actually talking to her. Actually right now he was trying to grab said ass. He was using teaching Gabriella a better way to Bowl as an excuse to touch parts of her anatomy that he shouldn't.

Daniel wasn't exactly happy that this was a double date. He was even more unhappy when he found out Troy was Gabriella's ex boyfriend. Finding out that Troy was essentially married to someone else didn't defuse the situation.

Daniel was currently irritated because Gabriella was not the easy mark he thought she was. She saw right through all his tricks. Gabriella was at Stanford on a scholarship, did he really think she was that stupid? Fortunately, for him his cell phone rang and he didn't have to keep watching this idiot tried to grope his ex girlfriend. Thank god Chad called.

"How's the game going?"

"No hello or how are you doing? You're as bad as your girlfriend."

"I need something to distract me. Madison talked me into going bowling with her so I wouldn't stay home and cry over not playing tonight."

"That's not so bad. You like bowling and Madison."

"It would be nice if we weren't functioning as the chaperons for Gabriella's date." He listened to his best friend laugh at him for an unnecessary amount of time. At this point Troy decided to go to the snack bar to order a chocolate milkshake.

"You're watching your ex girlfriend go out with someone else. That's just too Funny."

"It's not funny. At this point it is more like I'm watching my ex girlfriend smacked somebody's hands away. Actually, that part is funny. Madison is already trying to figure out a way to get this horrible date over with as quickly as possible. Now that I'm up here at the snack bar, maybe I should order a slice of pizza. I think the trip to the emergency room would be worth getting out of this."

"It can't be that bad. I'm sure it's better than having to sit next to Sharpay's father the entire time. Sharpay is too busy working on her short story to realize that her dad has been threatening me with bodily harm because of Tuesday."

"You do remember Christmas with the Kim's right? I actually did get my girlfriend pregnant."

"He looked ready to kill you."

"That was a vast improvement on the Vegas visit. So how is the game going? Kim sent me a text message at the beginning of the first game when she told me that my mom was there making out with the West High coach."

"We all saw your mom all over that dick. I personally think it was a head game. Her being there didn't bother your father at all. I'm sure my mom has been sending him text messages the entire time. The East and West game started a few minutes ago. We're currently ahead by eight points."

"It's good to know moms latest head game did not work. Why did you call? Shouldn't you b e paying attention to the game?"

"I'm trying to avoid my future father in law. Mostly I called to find out if you knew who Sharpay's brother's boyfriend was in high school?" Troy knew all about the Jason and Ryan thing because Jason told him. Jason knew about Troy's sec ret relationship with Kim and knew he would understand.

"Yes."

"Was I in my own little world in high school?"

"Pretty much," Troy said as he grabbed his milkshake off the counter. He was walking back when he saw Gabriella smacking her date upside the head.

"Hey I have to go. I need to be a good chaperone and keep Gabriella from getting arrested." Troy said as he took a drink of his milkshake.

"That's okay. I have to go too. It looks like there's one more unwanted parent at this thing and he brought a new girlfriend with him." He heard Chad say as he ended the call.

His milkshake didn't taste quite right. It felt like he tasted something else besides the chocolate. He realized that different taste was strawberry when he felt his throat begin to close up.

She left her boyfriend talking to Troy as she went to look for something edible that wasn't deep fried or covered in butter. It was best if she let them have best friend time alone. Apparently, her best friend and child were on the same mission.

"Are you having fun hanging out with my ex boyfriend and my friend who is now dating him. How's the avoidance going?"

"You do realize that they don't even know they are dating? There currently around here arguing somewhere or maybe they're just making out. I wasn't avoiding you. I'm just trying to avoid more parental angst. How are things going with your father?"

"He hasn't actually tried to kill Chad yet. Penelope kidnapped my I phone. She saw the draft of the short story and liked it. At least that got her mind off her ex boyfriend dating someone else. Several people have suggested that we adapt it for the spring musical."

"It wouldn't hurt to try. We change all the names."

"Agreed. I refused to let anybody go through the torture of playing shiny happy Gabriella."

"Speaking of people named Gabriella that you hate; Madison did send me pictures of Gabriella's date from hell."

"How can you deal with Troy hanging around her?" Sharpay asked as she started to see pictures of Gabriella and Troy together from earlier.

"The same way you can deal with Taylor and Chad text messaging each other all the time. I trust Troy. From what I understand, the current Gabriella is more tolerable and less Mary sunshine perky. I blame all the good drugs. If we're going to do the play I probably should call and ask Troy and Gabriella if their okay with your idea."

When Kim dialed Troy's number Gabriella picked up. "Why are you picking up my boyfriend's phone?" The only word she could pick up from Gabriella side of the conversation were unconscious and milkshake. She could tell from Kim's facial expressions the situation was bad. Before she could ask Kim what was going on she heard yelling and screaming coming from where she left her boyfriend a few minutes ago.

She could see Chad fighting with his father. Why was he even here? He was currently telling the guy to fuck off. Before she could get there, she saw her boyfriend knock his father unconscious.

"I cannot take you anywhere, can I?" She asked her boyfriend in annoyance. Maybe they should have stayed home.