Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical.

A/N: Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I wanted to update this for ages, so I had a good evening to write it all up and even had the idea to ... haha, it's in the chapter itself if you want to find out. This chapter is mainly revolving around Troy's identity as you might already be able to tell. But he's going to have a lot of issues regarding his other life, too. Throw in Clark, stealing newspapers, a shocking Jeff in an interview with E! News, a suspicious Sharpay and a whole lot more fun! Thanks to those who keep coming back to read and review. Could you possibly do it again?

Chapter Ten

The Bolton Identity

Over the next few weeks, Troy lived to learn that he could not regret the joint decision with Gloria to kick Jeff out of their house – and their lives. His relationship with Gabriella was growing rapidly, considering that his new life was warmly welcomed by his new – well, old in terms to him, anyway – friends. It may have been delightful to report that Troy “Alexander Newton” Bolton, Gabriella Montez, Chad Danforth, Taylor McKessie, Sharpay Evans, Zeke Baylor, Ryan Evans, Tabitha Renal, Jason Cross and Kelsi Nielsen lived happily forever. Unfortunately, there was no happily ever after in this fairytale yet.

There was still a lot more of this story to be told.

As a matter of fact, Troy’s life was about to take a deep plunge into darkness because he would have to face up to his celebrity side sooner rather than later. Gloria had been telling him forever that he couldn’t run away from the ego he’d created in the past few years. And while he couldn’t agree with her anymore, he just didn’t feel like he could face up to it yet – not especially when his friends, let alone his girlfriend, knew nothing of the real truth and the mask he was hiding behind.

For “Alex”, things had improved after all to balance out the “Troy problems”.

The basketball season had started brilliantly. The Wildcats had taken their first three wins and would be playing the Albuquerque West High Knights in the next few days. Chad was so determined to win because they’d been knocked out of the championship several times in the past, something that Troy was always curious about when he realised that he could have been connected to this. He had also become co-captain of the Wildcats since he’d earned Chad’s respect and trust. Well, that was another reason to be scared of revealing his true self – losing the trust he’d already gained from his friends.

Of everyone, Troy didn’t want to lose Gabriella. She didn’t know him in the past whatsoever, except for the time they sang together. But it had been two years since then … did she really think it was him sometimes? He saw the way she would gaze out at the seaside at weekends and forget that she had an ice cream cone in her hand that was melting because of the burning sun. He didn’t make a chance to pry into her thoughts either because he’d come to realise how rude it may have seemed.

Oddly, Troy was thinking about Clark, his previous personal assistant that he’d fired a few months ago before coming back to Albuquerque. Looking back, maybe now he shouldn’t have been acting so rash and pathetic. His very words had seeped into his soul like a blade cut through his skin.

“Using your head and heart are two different things, Troy.”

Yup, Clark had it pinned down for once. He’d been following his heart mostly whilst he was back home. Gloria had been essentially proud of him for accomplishing such a feat – it was her who reminded Troy of Clark and how he acted in front of him when he fired him. So there came one very lonely Sunday afternoon (Gabriella had to attend a formal family dinner in Mexico that weekend) when Troy decided to gather up the courage and finally give his former employee a call.

However, as he was going through his book full of phone numbers, there was a very peculiar programme playing on the television. Troy raised an eyebrow and dropped the phone book when Jeff’s smug face appeared on the screen. What enraged Troy even more was the tag: “TROY BOLTON: THE TRUTH REVEALED!”

His fist curled into a ball.

“Gloria, I think you should see this,” he said, managing to sound calm all the while since she was only in the next room. Troy couldn’t breathe, so he had to sit down to even do exactly that. Gloria arrived asking what was going on, but she immediately saw the awareness in his eyes, took one look at the television and sat down with him. “I can’t believe this is happening, Gloria … a month and a half later, he’s been notched up for an interview. Is that even legal?”

“I’m beginning to wonder whether this interview is legal or not,” she pondered aloud in response to his previous question. “I’d normally say to turn over the channel, but keep it on. We might have to fight back with this one.”

“I don’t get what you mean,” Troy turned to face her.

However, he was quiet immediately since the programme started. Now Troy wasn’t one to go over specific details of things, but he and Gloria were listening out for anything that Jeff Bentley had to say this time around. There were many things that appalled them both. It seemed like E! News were able to give Jeff a good price for such a revealing interview. Many times, the ex-agent flashed his teeth just for the camera, thus, annoying Troy even more. God, had he picked that up from somewhere if possible?

“He can’t be allowed to get away with this!” yelled Gloria without any warning when the ads rolled on to the TV. She looked at Troy, who had his face buried in his hands, and rose to her feet to pace up and down around the room. “We’re getting a legal team together to sort this mess out. How could E! News do this? How could they even agree to it?”

She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“We’re going to make sure that this isn’t going to get out to the entire world, Troy. There aren’t many people that watch this on a Sunday afternoon and besides, it’s not it’s been advertised. This has been so ordinary, so out of the blue. It’s almost as if Jeff wanted no one to hear about this and expect everyone to be surprised.”

But then Troy rose to his feet after tearing away from Gloria and looked up at her sadly.

“I want Clark on the phone,” he said, pointing at her in the meantime. “I just dropped the phone book somewhere over there. His number should be on the next two to three pages if I’m right. Tell him that he can have his old job back – and that I’ve learned my lesson by now.” Gloria raised an eyebrow. “Ok, I’ve at least started to learn it!”

As Gloria got on the phone to Clark, who was still living back in Los Angeles, Troy listened to more of the interview. Jeff had some nerve to turn around and unexpectedly exploit the truth about him. Just what kind of sick jerk was he? He couldn’t wait for the interview to end, but it seemed to carry on for ages. Maybe E! News hadn’t cut out any part of it. That must have been it! It must have been why the interview was taking forever!

However, another problem was already stirring in his mind.

The newspapers!

Surely, they’d publish something like this! How would he be able to stop it from getting out?

Damn it! He’d have to steal all the newspapers in East Albuquerque. He didn’t want any news of this getting out to East High, least of all. He didn’t want anyone to know that he was really this idiot that ordered people around and made fun of them. It was all true, but Troy wasn’t that kind of person anymore. He was a much better person! And he wanted to set the record straight. Just when would he be able to do it?

“Clark is getting the next flight out here,” announced Gloria the moment she put the phone down and came to spill the news to Troy. “He’s very humbled that you’re giving him another chance and was really concerned when he started watching the interview. As a matter of fact, he was glad that I called him because it was beginning to gross him out just looking at Jeff’s unattractive face.”

Even though the last line might have appeared to have sounded funny, Troy couldn’t bring himself to laugh at only that. He was grateful that Clark had decided to jump at the second chance and tackle Troy Bolton. Maybe this time around, Troy could set the record straight with him and they would go on to become good friends. But first, Clark would need to be informed of what was going on – why he was in Albuquerque, his identity as Alexander Newton and so on.

“Is something the matter?” she asked when he didn’t say anything.

“Yeah,” nodded Troy, then crossing his arms. “I’m going to need yours and Clark’s help with a big favour tomorrow morning.”

“And what exactly is that big favour?”

“Well, it goes a little something like this …”

“When I mentioned how honoured I was to be back by your side and wanted to help resolve your issues regarding a certain ex-agent that I don’t like, I never thought that collecting newspapers at four in the morning was on the agenda, Mr Bolton,” Clark rolled his eyes, as he looked upon the scene in front of him. They were near the beach at the moment, looking at the stacks of newspapers that had been delivered less than ten minutes ago. There was no one out at this time. Not even a single car was sighted down the road – well, unless you could have counted Troy’s silver Volvo, of course. Clark looked at how worried Troy was since he didn’t hear whatever he had just uttered. “But I suppose that I agreed to come back and help you. So if it means throwing thousands of newspapers into your car and even ruining it just to save your skin, even though I might be tortured for all eternity for even damaging your car, then I suppose I’ll do it.”

Gloria could only smile at this point. “You see, Clark, Troy needs you. You were the one that set him right, he just … kept on raising his standards too much.” She threw Troy a filthy look, which he gracefully accepted. “And now we’re back together. The Three Musketeers, battling all those evil celebrity-reporting rascals.”

“And doing a hell lot of running from the paparazzi,” Troy said hopefully. But he noticed no one was heading their way and he sighed, shrugging his shoulders. Gloria and Clark just stopped and stared. “What? I’m not as vain as I used to be. Isn’t it natural to want to have your picture taken?”

“For some, it is,” agreed Gloria.

“But for others, they want people to respect their privacy,” added Clark, “which was what I tried to tell you the first time. But you wouldn’t listen to me as per usual, so that’s partly why I left.”

“Hey! I fired you, remember?”

“Yeah, but I was already on my way to quitting, anyway.”

As the two continued to bicker, Gloria decided that she needed to be the balance between the two once more. “I thought that we had this discussion. Troy, Clark, we have to put the past behind us or else we can’t move on to the future. Troy has a big crisis at the moment that needs averted and Clark just needs to use this job to help himself. So we all have problems. It’s not going to help if we stand here and do nothing, but argue!”

Gloria’s words were final it seemed, as Troy and Clark joined her in the newspaper collecting. As Troy and Clark would pick up several stacks of newspapers, they would throw them into the silver Volvo that Gloria was gratefully driving around (that only earned her a scowl from the infamous Troy Bolton himself) and continue the cycle down the streets. What was worse, Troy had school later on that morning and would be tired because it was a mixture of the exhaustion of collecting these newspapers and the stress of someone finding out in East High.

If no one looked on the internet this morning or received news about it on their phones, maybe THEN he could relax.

“We can finally relax,” Clark wore his triumphant smile when he, Troy and Gloria scrambled into the silver Volvo two hours later. Troy ignored his little remark and turned the engine on to then drive off back towards the house. It was six in the morning – and they were all hoping to catch up some sleep, at least Clark was because he was still suffering from jet lag. “Man, I never thought this would be my first act of duty when I got back into your employment, Mr Bolton.”

“Ugh, cut the Mr Bolton crap,” groaned Troy. “I prefer to be called Troy from now on.”

“Yes … Troy,” he smirked.

Gloria was smiling on the inside if they saw she was looking out at the scenery through the window. She was actually pretending to be enjoying the scenery when as a matter of fact, she was pleased that the Three Musketeers were back together. Before, Troy had spent his life running from his past because he wanted to embrace his newfound celebrity lifestyle. However, now things had changed. Troy was running back to his past and uncovering what happened before the accident. It satisfied her enough to see that he knew his past was important if he was ever going to move on to the future.

“Sometimes, maybe I wish that my life was like a movie,” he blurted out when they were just minutes away from getting back home.

“What, like The Bourne Identity?” teased Clark. He really did know the celebrity himself.

Troy nodded. “That doesn’t sound too bad either. It’s a shame that I’m not in the whole spy situation trying to figure out his past when it’s actually normal guy turned celebrity figuring out his past instead. I wouldn’t have minded to shoot some bad guys and get the girl.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t shoot bad guys,” Gloria shook her head and sighed. “But you have got the girl if you remember.”

“Ooh, and who is this little pixie that charmed his way into Troy Bolton’s heart?” asked Clark.

“Really funny, but she doesn’t know the truth yet,” Troy replied. He still didn’t know how he was going to break it to her. If Jason Bourne could tell the girl the truth about him being some top international spy, couldn’t he at least tell Gabriella that he was a top international celebrity superstar?

The answer was no for now.

As Troy tiredly stumbled into homeroom that morning, he was met with a less than impressed girlfriend, who was annoyed by the fact that he forgot to meet him at their usual spot to walk to school together. Troy couldn’t hear half of what she was saying, so he made an excuse up of being sick to say how he forgot. After all, shouldn’t he have passed off his amnesia as a good reason why he’d forgotten to meet Gabriella? But then again, that would only lead to the truth.

“Two days to the game, Alex,” Sharpay said, blatantly reminding him on purpose.

“Thanks for reminding me,” he groaned, burying his face in his hands and tried to ignore them all.

“Hey? What happened to you last night? You look like you got smacked in the face and kicked around like a football by Hulk Hogan,” Chad remarked. He may have been joking around as per usual, but he was also concerned for his right hand man. “Hey, Alex, are you all right? You look really rough.”

“Yeah, man,” Troy said, now looking up to reveal the bags around his eyes. “I wasn’t feeling well last night, might have been something I ate or something like that, I suppose …” To keep up the pretence that he was someone else that he actually wasn’t, the lies continued with Troy Bolton. He was only partly kept awake due to the fact that Gabriella’s beauty seemed to dazzle him occasionally. Damn, he’d been reading too much of Twilight lately – she was dazzling him instead!

“Ok, Mr Hotshot,” Sharpay butted into the conversation for the first time and grabbed Troy by the scuff of his neck, which took him by surprise. “I set you up with Gabriella on that first date a few weeks ago and lately … you just haven’t been the same. If you keep it up, Gabriella might just want to break up with you.”

“Break up with me?” he hissed angrily. “Shar, I’m trying to keep up with this relationship – you know that better anyone here.” He glanced around to make sure that Chad or any of the other guys were listening in. But for some reason, Sharpay didn’t want to leave Troy alone. It wasn’t only the fact that he had to collect around three thousand newspapers (or it could have been much higher than that), but also that he was making occasional celebrity appearances on chat shows. The last one he had was just over a week ago, but now he was going to be ridiculed by the fact that asshole Jeff Bentley had publicly humiliated him. The exhaustion was really getting to him.

“Yes, but I want to make this work because Gabriella hasn’t really had much fun ever since she broke up with Ry – not saying that it’s your fault though,” she quickly added in an apologetic way.

Troy simply nodded in response. He watched many people talking eagerly about what Troy Bolton was going to do next since he’d finally come out of hiding. Even Troy himself couldn’t help, but smile at what he was hearing. They were all in such praise for him to take a break from his life. However, there were others that merely argued that he should never be entitled to just “take a break” from everything. Those kind of people annoyed him, but showbiz had taught him to take those opinions with a pinch of salt and ignore them eventually. They weren’t worth the time or the money to be bothered with. So Sharpay brought the Alex side out and tumbling back to earth when she mentioned his relationship with Gabriella. At least he could shove the Troy problems aside for now and be more concerned with his other life. Well, he had to say it was interesting enough to be living two lives – he could easily escape to the other if something happened with one of them.

“I know, I know,” Troy said in an attempt to keep the conversation going. He took another quick glance around the room and then noticed Darbus walking into the room. This enabled him to get the last word in this conversation with Sharpay, something that rarely happened. He tapped his fingers against his desk, as he looked back to see Gabriella, who was smiling and shaking her head at him. He smiled at his girl and then looked back at Darbus, who was now done speaking about the announcements and other news.

He was saved by the bell just moments later and this left him alone to catch up with Gabriella in the hallways.

“So do you wanna do something tonight?” asked Troy when they came to her locker.

“Hmm … what cha have in mind, Wildcat?” replied Gabriella, causing him to smile at his overused nickname.

“Maybe you should come over to my place and meet everyone,” he shrugged his shoulders helplessly. After all, he’d come around to her place. Now it was time that she did the same. “I’m sure that Gloria and Clark would be glad to –”

“Clark? What happened to Jeff?”

Oops. That was where it got complicated.

“Jeff isn’t who I thought he was,” he answered, now delving into a full explanation. “When I said that he was my half-brother, I – I … lied. Jeff isn’t my half-brother at all. It felt like he was because we were getting to know each other, but he stabbed me in the back.” At this point, Troy looked really sad. “He left a few weeks ago and one of my good friends, Clark, offered to come help out at the house.”

“Wow, that’s really deep,” Gabriella said, only proceeding to hug him instead of give him a slap in the face. “You might have lied to me, but it’s just a little lie, right? Besides, if something really personal happened to you, then it’s not my business. But there’s just one more thing I need to say.” She released her arms around his shoulders and looked up at him. “If you want to tell me anything, then you can. I don’t want any secrets between us, Alex. I love you too much, a whole lot more than I’ve loved anyone.”

The two witnesses to this were only Sharpay and Ryan Evans. While Sharpay was pleased that this had happened, Ryan didn’t even feel angry that Gabriella loved Troy more than she’d ever loved him. It didn’t bother him to see Gabriella with Troy anymore because they’d settled their differences nearly two months ago. He smiled at his twin sister and reassured her that everything was going to be ok from now on.

So as the nicest of the two twins left, Sharpay watched Troy and Gabriella go off in their separate directions. She wanted to protect Gabriella, to prevent her from getting hurt. There was something about her new boyfriend that didn’t seem right. Since she had her next class with Troy, which so happened to be Biology, Sharpay waited until Gabriella was out of sight and then hurriedly chased after Troy. And so the goose chase had begun.

It turned out that Troy wasn’t even heading for Biology as she initially thought, so it only tingled her suspicions even more. He had gone past their classroom without even trying. Sharpay knew that their teacher would see her if she walked past so casually. As soon as there were people walking by that same classroom, Sharpay ran as fast as she could to avoid his gaze. Once that mission was accomplished, she saw that he’d already climbed up the stairs headed towards his and Gabriella’s top secret hiding place – which wouldn’t be so secret anymore when she discovered it – that was the science rooftop with flowers growing out in the open.

When she climbed up the stairs, Sharpay questioned why she hadn’t been up here before.

It was so beautiful here!

Just why hadn’t she been up here before?

Sharpay had to duck, however, when she saw Troy spin around on his feet and smell the beautiful fresh air. Did he deliberately flunk Biology class to be up here? Well, she was starting to see why he wasn’t going there whatsoever. Any class without Gabriella must have been torture for him. She was about to go when she saw that he took his cell phone out. If there was one rule in Sharpay’s book, then it was to always listen out for anything juicy – even gossip. What would East High be without gossip, anyway? That was a really hard world to imagine.

“Clark, it’s me,” Troy was saying, as he gazed out at the beautiful sunshine that was shining down upon East Albuquerque. He paused for a few minutes, causing Sharpay to wonder who this Clark person was. He’d never mentioned a Clark before, not even to Gabriella! Then again, she did only hear the last part of the conversation before chasing Troy across the school. “Listen, I don’t think I can do it. I don’t know if I should tell her the truth …”

Truth? What truth? I just don’t get it, Sharpay thought to herself. Is Alex not being honest?

“I know that it’s wrong that I have to keep lying to everyone, but I don’t feel like I should tell Gabriella the truth,” said Troy, although his voice was now lower because he looked afraid. “Maybe being Alexander Newton is all I can be. Being who I really am hasn’t worked out well for me in the past two years. It’s still not working out now, not with Jeff blabbing to everyone –”

Sharpay crossed her arms, as she continued to crouch down behind the massive plant pots. Who is this Jeff? The truth? He can’t be Alexander Newton? Is he a fraud? He’s not telling the truth here at all. There’s something fishy going on here and I’m going to find out myself. Ooh, I can’t wait to see the face on Joanna White when I uncover this story. She won’t be such a good reporter anymore …

“Jeff is the main problem right now and I don’t think I can face the consequences,” he continued to say, looking more nervous now than ever. “Clark! I don’t want any excuses! I don’t want to tell Gabriella the truth about who I really am! I don’t want her to know! She was the one that sent the email to me that time! Remember when I told you this morning and how it’s her, the girl that I’m in love with? I know it’s funny how things work, but … well, I’m not sure if it’s the right path to choose, Clark … but what if she rejects me? I’ve never been in love before, or at least I’m not sure that I have been …”

Alexander Newton had never been in love before? Sharpay was liking what she was hearing so far.

“No, I can’t do it,” Troy said again, now wanting to say it for the final time. “Gabriella Montez can never know the truth. I have to leave myself behind and get back to being Alexander Newton. Even if I won’t be able to remember who the hell I was, I want to forget what I became.” Wow, Sharpay had to admit that even he could go deep with his emotions when he was away from any other distractions. “We destroyed the newspapers, but people are still going to know. And how is the legal team coming along? Do we have a shot at suing him?”

Wait, legal team? Who was he suing now? God, Sharpay hoped that he wasn’t going to do anything to her brother. Whatever Ryan might have been accused of, Sharpay would defend him, despite the fact that she supported Troy and Gabriella’s relationship. Just like a snooping reporter, she was doing well in uncovering some previously unknown facts about East High’s basketball co-captain. Speaking of basketball, she wondered what Chad would say when he heard about this. Darn! It was too bad that she didn’t have a recorder on her right now, so that she had proof of this happening.

“At least E! News was able to take it off the airwaves,” he said, smiling for the first time during the phone conversation. “But I want to make sure that he suffers and that I … no, sorry … I mean we receive compensation. I want you to have most of it, for suffering after I fired you. I didn’t mean to do that and Gloria explained my unacceptable behaviour.”

Now he was speaking too formal. Sharpay didn’t even manage to say as many clever words as that. How much longer until she would reach the conclusion and know the real truth?

“Gabriella is my main problem now, anyway,” said Troy, sighing sadly. He pulled out a picture of his girlfriend and looked emotional when he put it away. “I can’t exist anymore. My old self has to be gotten rid of somehow. Alexander Newton is my life now. Remember, it’s just like The Bourne Identity – Jason Bourne’s old identity was stripped apart and he called himself Jason Bourne. That’s why I have to be Alexander Newton from now on.”

He paused for a moment because there seemed to be a line that he was struggling to say.

“I’m Alexander Newton now. No one will ever know the truth that I was Troy Bolton.”

And then suddenly, Sharpay gasped.

The truth was revealed.

Alexander Newton didn’t exist. Troy Bolton was the guy in his place, hiding behind the mask.

It had been two whole long years since she had last seen Troy in that hospital the day after the explosion at his house. Sharpay had felt guilty for what happened, even if her friendship with Troy was always challenged by the fact that many people would point at her for whoring herself out to him – she never did that, of course. The best friend she’d longed to get in contact with was standing right there. Sharpay Evans peered from behind the plant pots and stared in wonder. No wonder she felt that she recognised his baby blue eyes when they first met – or rather, reunited.

“… So we sue Jeff and then disappear with the compensation,” she heard him finally conclude his conversation. “Troy Bolton won’t exist and Alexander Newton takes my place. It’s all settled, then there’s nothing to worry about … thanks so much, Clark. I owe you a hundred favours.” He flipped his cell phone closed and then sighed sadly, as he gazed out once again at the beautiful scenery of East Albuquerque. “If only I could turn back the hands of time, then maybe I wouldn’t be in this mess right now.”

“But you can’t turn back the hands of time,” Sharpay said, rising from her hiding spot and stood a few metres away from Troy, where he could see her. He was genuinely surprised to see her, but she spoke before he did. “I can’t believe you! I heard everything, Alex! Or should I say … TROY!”

“Sharpay!” gasped Troy. “You didn’t hear anything, I was acting out a part!”

“Fat chance of that, Troy Bolton,” she glared coldly, as if she had been deceived all this time. “And to even think that I thought you were someone that you’re not – how could you do this to us? To me? To Gabriella? Alexander Newton doesn’t even exist at all, does he? And you thought that you could just forget who you were and pretend to be him when he doesn’t even exist?”

“Sharpay!” he yelled angrily. “I don’t understand why this has anything to do with you! And why the hell were you hiding behind a plant pot?”

“I was spying on you, Bolton,” Sharpay growled like a pissed off dog that looked ready to pounce and attack its prey. She was the predator after all. “I thought the world of you! I hooked you up with Gabriella because I could obviously see the chemistry between you two in the first couple of days of your arrival at East High. Oh, wait! Or should I say – RETURN to East High?” Her tone was vicious and catlike. But she didn’t allow Troy to defend himself. “I can’t believe you left Albuquerque and able to pursue a big acting career! You left behind your friends and then return to expect that everything’s going to be all right? YOU THOUGHT WRONG!”

“Shar, you can’t tell anyone,” Troy said, lowering his voice when he saw the alarm bells ringing in her eyes. “You can’t tell anyone, not even Gabriella. I wanted to tell her, but –”

“You were too damn lazy to do it! I hate you, Troy Bolton! You acted like a prick outside your work and you’re still acting like one right now! The tabloids obviously got it right about you. You’re nothing, but a sick little loser that uses everyone all around you. And you’re using Gabriella as well! Why don’t I just save her the agony and tell her to dump you? Who knows? I might even tell her the truth myself!”

“Sharpay, you can’t do this. You can’t tell Gabriella.” Sharpay was about to leave, but his words stopped her. “I wanted to tell her so much! I was too scared to even think about how she’d react. I got an email from her one day that said how much she hated me. And then I found it on her laptop when I was around her place!” Sharpay raised an eyebrow. “I stumbled across it, I swear! She told me to put my bag in her room and the laptop was on with her emails in sight. She sent the email to my website saying how much she hated me and that she wasn’t a fan anymore. I don’t know what it was, but to lose a fan isn’t supposed to be much for me. But losing her as a fan, I – I just … it broke my heart to even realise someone thinks about me like that. I didn’t want to lose her, Shar! I was in love with her! This was before you set us up on a date! I didn’t want you to do it either, but you made a really good decision! You brought me closer to the girl that I fell for on my first day.”

She was still looking towards the stairs, but hadn’t moved a muscle either.

“I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never been a sick love wimp before. I – I’ve never been in love with anyone as far as I’m concerned. There’s a lot that I need to tell you, Sharpay, but I can’t tell you here. I can’t tell you now either because we’re both fifteen minutes late for Biology class.”

Instead of smiling, which she really wanted to at that last line, Sharpay turned around to face him.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” she blatantly asked him.

“I’m sorry?” he said in response.

“You are one of the best actors in the world!” exclaimed Sharpay. “Why would I believe that? I can see through your poker face, you know. That act has got to be the most unconvincing speech in the entire history of ever! Do you really want to know why they call me East High’s Ice Queen and why it’s carried on for the past three years?” She walked up towards Troy, who backed away to the balcony. “Because I can break people just – like – that!” She clicked her fingers, causing him to flinch. “If I’d known it was you from the beginning, Troy, then maybe I wouldn’t have been so harsh on you. If you’d been as honest as Gabriella was when she first moved to Albuquerque two years ago during our sophomore year, then maybe you wouldn’t be having this conversation with me right now. I wouldn’t have been starstruck whatsoever! Because you were my friend, Troy, and friends don’t break promises.” She started to walk away, but froze when he spoke back to her.

“Sharpay,” whispered Troy sadly. Sharpay looked back at him. “Promises? What promises?”

“If your mind can remember, you were the one that brought us all together,” she stated the obvious. “You were the one that wanted to stop the arguing that had been going on during middle school. You united us together – Chad, Taylor, me, Zeke, Ryan, Jason and Kelsi – as friends. You knew us all from the different cliques, but it didn’t stop you from talking to us openly. You wanted to resolve our issues, so we agreed to try and get on for your sake. This let us start from a clean slate in high school. East High was never the same again.”

It felt like this whole thing was being repeated from what Gloria told Troy.

“But the day you left Albuquerque for Los Angeles was the day that East High lost someone so important to that cause!” shouted Sharpay. “We lost our basketball captain, the team leader, the spirit of our little group of friends. There were some pretty big shoes to fill, so Chad and I took on that challenge. Once you were gone, Gabriella joined the group and was astonished to know that we knew you from many years back. But she didn’t ask much about it – bless her soul – because she didn’t want to invade our privacy. We eventually forgot about you and moved on with our lives. And then as soon as we heard about Alexander Newton the day he arrived, we were hyped that there was a new student coming into our lives. I don’t know if the others caught on, but I had my suspicions about you from the very first day. I knew there was something about you that I thought was familiar, but I decided to let it past. Now I know the truth. Now I know who you really are.”

“I’m not going to exist anymore,” Troy stated. “I don’t want to be the arrogant, cocky celebrity that I was. I had issues and I still don’t understand how they came up, but I’m figuring it all out by myself. From now on, it’s a normal life for me and trust me, I really don’t want to bring this all back up – least not in front of everyone, including Gabriella. So please, Sharpay, I’m begging you: let this topic drop and it’ll be done with.”

“Done with? Bolton, if you haven’t figured already, I know your secret. I know Alexander Newton doesn’t exist and even if I didn’t record your silly conversation with Clark – who I’ve no idea who he is and I’ll find out soon enough – I’ll be sure to make sure that the entire world knows that you were a coward to admit the truth about who you really are.” She noted the use of ‘are’ because she didn’t want to use the term ‘were’.

“Sharpay! You can’t leave! Please! I’ll do anything to stop you from doing this!”

“My mind’s made up, Troy. I’d run if I were you, but there won’t be anymore places to hide for much longer!”

“You don’t understand! What about Clark? Or even Gloria? You don’t even know them, but you’re going to get them involved? What you’re doing is wrong!” shouted Troy, as he forcefully grabbed Sharpay’s arm. She stared at him confusedly and tried to rip it away from him. “There are some things that you don’t understand about this story, some things that I haven’t told you! If you come with me, we can talk about this elsewhere!”

“There’s nothing else to say, Troy!” Sharpay argued back. “I know all the facts! You’re a liar and a fraud! If you don’t let go of my arm either, then I’m going to sue your ass for assault as well!”

Realising that there was no way to stop the Ice Queen from achieving her plan, Troy willingly let go of Sharpay’s arm. He shook his head, still pleading with her to reconsider it. As she shook her head, yelled she’d get revenge for him leaving her and the rest of his friends behind and ran off towards the stairs, Troy felt he had no choice in chasing her. The roles had reversed – Sharpay was running, whilst he was chasing after her.

However, it seemed that neither of them would get that far.

As she neared the stairs, Sharpay screamed when she tripped over some loose wire and went hurling down the stairs. Troy’s jaw literally dropped open, as he ran and jumped over the loose wire to sprint down to the bottom of the stairs. There had been a lot of stairs that she’d fallen down – plus to the fact they were metal as well – and it could have seriously damaged her body. Troy reached the bottom, where he bent down to an unconscious Sharpay, whose body was sprawled across the floor.

“Sharpay!” pleaded Troy, shaking her. “SHARPAY!”

His cry earned him the attention of her brother, Ryan, who happened to be on free period and near where Sharpay had fallen. His face fell when he saw the state of his sister’s bloody body and he bent down as well, rendering him into complete shock.

“What happened?” he asked, fear seen in his eyes.

“Call an ambulance now!” yelled Troy, barking out orders without looking at him.

All of this – had it been worth it over someone getting hurt? Troy feared the worst for Sharpay, but could only hope that the ambulance would arrive soon to get her some help. He could care less about Sharpay finding out his secret, but all he ever wanted right now was for her to get some help and wake up, so that he could apologise properly.