#chat:troy

After missing out on the house party that had gone surprisingly more chaotic than she or Pacifica could’ve ever dreamed of, there was no way in hell that Sharpay was missing the Isle’s festival. She hadn’t really cared about going in the past, but she had a severe case of FOMO from her previous absence, and thankfully, the theaters were closed for the night to celebrate. It was an island-wide holiday, after all. Her show was doing a performance to promote to a wider audience, as was customary for some productions to do, but as a standby, Sharpay wasn’t actually going on for anyone: instead, she just got to stand there and look pretty while everyone else was on stage. Not exactly how she wanted it, but she still got to wear the t-shirt and take some level of credit.

A familiar face was spotted in the crowd while her castmates were singing, and Sharpay was determined to find the boy after it was over. She rushed from her post beside the stage to find Troy Bolton, eager to brag about how well they’d done despite not being the one on stage. “Troy!” she called out, speeding up to meet him. “You didn’t tell me you’d be here! What’d you think of the performance? We’re, like, pretty good. I’m so glad you got to see it,” Sharpay gushed. 

He turned then, looked over towards the mansion just up to the left, and spotted a moving body. He drank some more before he stood, moving towards the figure, realising as he got closer that it was Troy, someone he could probably trust. “Hey” he called out. “Why’s there sand floating around everywhere?” he asked when he was close enough, coughing a little as the liquid reached the back of his throat.

Though she’d begged and pleaded for her parents to trust her not to invite the Boltons to their little dinner party, they were, alas, still on the guest list somehow. After all these years, her parents still had to make some sort of impression on Troy’s parents, even after schmoozing them so hard one summer at their country club that Sharpay was sure that Troy was going to accuse her of trying to steal him from his girlfriend. Except, now, she hadn’t stolen anyone. Sharpay had had Troy to herself, no obstacles in sight, and somehow, she still wasn’t enough. It was a mistake--she was the mistake that had apparently kept Troy up at night after they’d gone home together from the festival, even though Sharpay had been waiting for a decade for this.

To her, Troy hadn’t been any form of mistake: he’d been an answer to the age-old question that had plagued her since middle school. Finally, Sharpay was good enough to earn him, really this time, with no shenanigans or intrusion by her parents to help her out. But to him, the ending still read the same, which was exactly why Sharpay had found herself a date for tonight. Showing up empty-handed to her own dinner party when it was the first time seeing Troy since he’d told her how he’d regretted their night together was not an option. Even seeing him in the flesh so soon felt like a crime, but she’d done her best to avoid him so far. It wasn’t until after dinner that they’d finally crossed paths on the unoccupied couches in the living room. “You know we have plenty of seating in the dining room, where literally everyone else is, right?” she reminded him, folding her arms over her chest as she slumped further into the sofa. “I don’t want any company, anyway.”

With homecoming on the horizon, Maddie was not letting her girls lose one of the biggest games of the year. Students actually came to watch the girls for the game, unlike most of the other home games. Against her better judgement, she convinced her dad to let the team practice against the boys team. It'd taken some begging with the head coach, and a turned-down bribe to the assistant, Troy, to get him on her side, but eventually, she'd gotten her way. Maybe they weren't the most ready for the gig, but her girls were holding their own. At least, that's what she hoped it looked like while she stood nervously on the sideline, knee shaking while she kept her arms folded as she watched. "They're fine. It's fine," she mumbled to herself, perhaps a bit too loud to herself and in earshot of the other assistant. "What, you don't talk to yourself? Nothing to see here, Bolton. They're fine, they're just nervous." Except, her girls didn't get nervous, not until there were boys in the gym.

Sharpay had been long debating who she was going to take as her plus one to her costar's birthday party, and finally, against her better judgement, had decided on Troy Bolton. Honestly, she'd wanted to give their friendship a test, to see if they could actually go to a party and go home on the same friendly level with which he'd left her house. That was most definitely the more prominent reason, at least, she was telling herself that: another, smaller piece of her wanted him to see just how successful she was becoming. Being invited to a party like this because she was the birthday girl's costar was a first.

After introducing him to Angelica herself, Sharpay brought Troy to the living room with drinks in hand. She made a straight beeline for the couch once aa couple stood up, taking his hand to guide him through the crowd. Once they collapsed onto the sofa, the alcohol hit her a bit: not too severely, but enough to know this next drink would hit her. "So, what do you think? I think she might be cooler than I am, which is pretty hard to beat," she gloated teasingly. "I'm glad you came with."

There was something about Troy Bolton that intrigued the young heiress. He was a few years older, unapologetically flirtatious, and wow was he handsome. Victoria may have been slightly infatuated. Every time she realized that though she felt guilty for having such thoughts. Especially because of Victor. She was twirling a strand of hair around her finger, absentmindedly, when she finally found the courage to speak. “How’s coaching going?” she asked in a soft tone. She realized she was idly playing with her hair and stopped, folding her hands in her lap after smoothing out her skirt. “I never played many sports in school. My parents said it was too dangerous for a young lady. Other than gym class I never really tried my hand at it.” She gave a small smile and butterflies fluttered around in her stomach. The way Troy had her in a chokehold at times was concerning because she only wished Victor would give her the attention that Troy did. That wasn’t something she wanted to ponder on at the moment though so she shoved those thoughts aside. “Maybe you could...show me sometime?”

Elliot grinned as he walked through the snow. It felt good to be away from the crazy Pi house. He didn’t have any particular destination in mind - just away. As he entered the dense woods next to Greek Row, he spotted something odd sticking out in the snow. He gingerly approached the pile of snow and to his own surprise and delight, “Oh my God” his jaw dropped as he patted away some of the snow from the object that lay before him. He picked up the Limited Edition Winter Furby and gasped, “I can’t believe it!” he said in a loud tone of voice, unaware that anyone could hear him. Then he shuddered when he saw that he wasn’t alone, a dorky grin still plastered on his face.