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True to Troy's timeframe he gave to the gang, Troy found himself back in the halls of East High two weeks later, the last week of March. Jack dropped him off at the front of the school since Troy still didn't have a car and was still a bit skittish about driving anyway before Jack parked in the faculty parking lot.
Troy took in a deep breath as he looked up at the familiar building with the flowing fountain in the courtyard. 'Now or never, Troy,' he thought as he began walking towards the high school. As soon as he went through the main doors, he could hear the buzzing of the gossips about his return. It was obvious he was the subject as everyone was looking at him. Troy continued to walk on though as he politely waved back at people or greeted them casually in passing until he got to his locker, where all the cheerleaders had been waiting for him.
"Troy!"
"We're so glad you're fine!"
"You look good for having been in a coma!"
"I love your hair!"
Troy did his best to put on a smile on his face and stepped in between all the gathered cheerleaders to get to his locker to dump some of the books he didn't need for the first few periods into his locker. Once he put those in, he noticed a folded up piece of paper and slipped it into his pocket before he closed the door and faced the cheerleaders again.
"Can you have lunch with us today?"
"We want to hear all about your near death experience!"
"Is it true there's a white light?"
"GIRLS! I think you need to give Troy some space here," interrupted Sharpay. She glared at all of them until every single one of the cheerleaders scurried away.
'I think I'd rather deal with the cheerleaders,' thought Troy as he looked down at Sharpay, who was still watching the last cheerleader leave the hall before she looked back at him.
"Welcome back, Troy," greeted Sharpay properly with a classic Sharpay smile. "I missed you."
"Umm, hi Sharpay," returned Troy, not knowing what else to say. "Look, I don't think we should talk right now, okay? I'm trying to get back into the swing of things here at school and I still don't know how to rationally talk to you about what happened those weeks back at the State Championship."
Sharpay gave him a hurt look. "You mean us being together didn't mean anything, Troy?"
Troy closed his eyes and tried to get a grip on the anger he felt bubbling inside again. "Sharpay, just stop it! I wanted to talk to you about this in a calm manner, but I guess you won't let me. I know what you did, your little set up, and quite honestly, you disappoint me. Sharpay, you know you have a reputation as the Ice Queen. I know you've plotted before and have confronted Gabriella several times, but I never ever would have thought you would sink so low as to have staged what you did. Yes, I know it was an elaborate and purposeful set up to try to seduce me. I'm sorry, but you and I are not going to happen, ever. I love Gabriella, she's my life, and if nothing else, the accident we were in only made it that much clearer to me."
"But Troy, what about the scholarship and the new car Daddy had customized for you? He wanted me to tell you that it's yours immediately if you still want it, and I am assuming you want it because you don't have that old clunker of a truck now," stated Sharpay.
"No, Sharpay. That's not going to work, not anymore. I appreciate what your dad has done for me and the offer of the car is still amazing, but I can't take it. I don't even know where I am going to college and it wouldn't feel right to take the car and let your dad think I'm going to U of A when I don't even know myself," said Troy.
"Troy, we could be so good together, we used to be great together. I thought I had lost you for good when I heard about that accident. In fact, I blamed myself for a while there and I want to give you the car to make up for it," pleaded Sharpay as tears formed in her eyes.
Troy stared at her for a few moments, trying to decide if the tears were genuine or not. "Look Sharpay, I honestly really do want to see the best in you, but you have to meet me half way here. Please understand that I think you have the best intentions at heart, but they are intentions for yourself, not the people around you. Tell your dad that I appreciate the offer of the car but I can't take it. As for you and me, Sharpay we've been over for months. I care about what happens to you, but you don't make it easy when you pull all these stunts and try to constantly break me and Gabriella up. Please, just leave us alone. If what you say is true and you care for me, that you were so scared that I was gone after the accident, prove it to me through friendship and stopping these games. You aren't hurting anyone else anymore, you're just hurting you."
Sharpay nodded her head and wiped a few of her tears away. "I guess then you really have made your decision, I can't change your mind."
"No, you can't," returned Troy softly. "After some time, I do want to be your friend, Sharpay, but I have to learn that I can trust you again. No more games, no more schemes, no more lies, all right?"
"I understand. You really are a good guy, Troy. Gabriella is a lucky girl to have you in her life," said Sharpay.
"No, I am lucky to have her in mine," replied Troy.
"I know she's not going to believe me but I also, well I also wanted to apologize to both of you for all of my interference," stated Sharpay, looking Troy directly in his eyes so he could see the truth there. "I know that's in total conflict of what I just said, to try to get you back from her, but I had to try one last time, to know that you really are a taken guy now. I was telling you the truth when I admitted just now that I was depressed after the accident. I still do blame myself for it. If you hadn't been fighting over what Gabriella thought she walked in on initially, I don't think you two would have been on the highway that Tuesday and you both wouldn't have been hurt. I'm sorry my one act spiraled into that."
Troy smiled a little before he nodded his head. "That means a lot, Sharpay, and I'll make sure I tell her. I know that must have been hard for you to say just now and it is a bit of a surprise after sort of trying to talk me into stepping back into your world, but I appreciate your apology and more importantly, the acknowledgement of what has been happening lately."
Sharpay just gave Troy one little smile and walked away down the hall, void of her two usual friends, and without trying to even touch Troy.
He jerked a little as he felt a pair lips kiss his cheeks but Troy was relieved when he realized it was Gabriella who was standing in front of him. "Good morning," he greeted her before he kissed her lightly on the lips.
"Morning to you too. From all the gossip, I figured you were finally here," returned Gabriella. "I heard what just went on too. I admit I eavesdropped, and I'm proud of you."
"You heard everything? From the car to telling her I wanted to be friends? You aren't mad, are you?" asked Troy.
"Why would I be? You finally stood up for yourself, you stood up for us even. If Sharpay truly feels guilty and wants to reform and eventually be friends, I have no problem with that. But as soon as she starts making her little moves, that's when I draw the line," stated Gabriella.
"Well if it came down to the old Sharpay, I would help you boot her out of our lives for good," promised Troy. "We'll see about her. But now, what about us? We're still good?"
Gabriella let out a small laugh. "Troy, stop fretting! You and I talked a lot over the last two weeks when I was over at your house or you at mine while we were catching you up with school. We've hashed out that State Championship weekend episode backwards, forwards, and sideways. I think we know what happened in truth and more importantly, we both know how we feel about each other. By the way, our conversation last Thursday night meant a lot to me."
Gabriella was sitting on Troy's bed in his bedroom and watched as he continued to highlight important parts of his English book. She let out a little laugh as she stared at the oversized graphic of a basketball on his headboard. 'No matter how many times I look at that, I still find it funny. Guess he really is basketball obsessed before all else.'
"No I'm not. I'm more Gabriella obsessed now," protested Troy, startling Gabriella.
"Wait, how did you read my mind?" asked a mystified Gabriella.
"Umm, more like heard your thought. You just said you thought my basketball headboard was funny and that I was basketball obsessed, which isn't true, not anymore at least," explained Troy as he put his highlighter down and sat up next to her. "And I mean it, I am obsessed with you, but not in that stalker way, promise."
Gabriella let out a little laugh before she shook her head at him. "You are so silly, Troy."
"Maybe I am sometimes, but I am completely serious about being in love with you, Gabriella," declared Troy. "Look, I know we have been talking a lot about what happened just before the accident and all, and I am glad we have it all cleared up now, but I want you to know something else."
"What?"
"On the day of the accident, when we went into the classroom to talk, you offered yourself to me and I hurt you by giving you your sweatshirt to put back on. I want you to understand that it wasn't because I didn't want you. Far from it. I did it because I knew you would have regretted it as soon as we did it, and I probably would have to. Yes, I want to get to know you in that sense and I want to share our first times together during our first time, but I want it to have the meaning it is supposed to."
"Okay, so what are you trying to say exactly?"
"That my raging male teenage hormones have stepped aside, or rather, have been pushed aside by my heart and my mind. I'm not going to push you on this any further. In fact, I want to take things even slower physically now with you. Life is precious and fleeting, I know that, but I want it to mean something to both of us when we finally do share that moment together, and I know that we will, but I don't think we will any time in the near future, and that's the way I want it. Who knows how we would have handled it had we both been ready now at our age and did it. A lot of teens our age do but I just, I don't know, maybe all this thinking I've been doing since I came out of the coma and realized you were truly alive has got me convinced that this one aspect I want to share with you should wait, like you have wanted."
"Do you really mean that?" asked Gabriella as she searched his face and only saw sincerity and genuine care.
"I do," replied Troy. "Gabriella, I sound like a broken record even to my own ears, but I have to say it again. You mean more to me than any one night stand by far, and more to me than having my first sexual experience right away. Just being able to hold you in my arms and hear your breathing is a treat for me now. Maybe we were meant to get in that accident. It has served as a great wake up call for us both, and I think has brought us together more than anything else could have possibly."
"Maybe, but shouldn't there have been a lesser scaled way of doing it? One that didn't involve so much fear and pain?" questioned Gabriella as she indicated her broken arm.
"If it had been with less fear and pain, would it have made such a big impact on you and me? I don't think so. Made me at least appreciate what I have here in you that much more. Anyway, now that I'm all gushy again as Chad would say, I better get back to this reading if I'm going to be fully caught up by Monday," concluded Troy as he put his attention back on his textbook.
Gabriella smiled down at him and ran her hand through his brown hair. "You surprise me every single day, Troy, and I wouldn't give that up for the world."
Troy grinned back at her as he remembered the conversation. "Well, that was a special conversation and yes, I did mean every word of it."
"Good, glad to hear it," returned Gabriella. "Did you get my note by the way?"
Troy slipped his hand in his pocket and found the note that was folded into a paper heart. "This thing?"
"Yes, that thing," said Gabriella with a laugh. "Open it later or when you are finding it tough to be here. I slipped it in because I didn't know if I'd catch you this morning."
The warning bell went off and both of them groaned, causing both of them to laugh at each other. "Homeroom awaits, my lady," joked Troy as he offered her his left arm, which she took with her right before they made their way to Darbus' classroom.