sharpayyyyy

[sharpayyyyy]

Hatred for cutting one’s hand off was valid: Sharpay and Tink had both had their fair share of despising people for far less. “And he doesn’t hate the fact that you’re dating his guy, or whatever?” Good on him, for growth, if that was the case! But, men were sometimes even more petty than even the worst of women, and she couldn’t see the virtual sidekicks of mortal enemies getting together being something that could make the man happy. “Okay, well, then, good! You’re healing,” she pointed out excitedly, proud of her friend. It had taken years for Sharapy to even begin to think about getting over Troy, and, even then, had to write a whole album about how pissed she was that he wouldn’t date her.

Though she firmly believed Tink deserved better than someone who she thought was a loser, at least he was hot! That was, like, half the battle in finding a suitable partner nowadays. “That’s all you can really ask for, I guess, right? Hot and kind of fun.” The boy had come out of left field, and Sharpay would be damned if she left this party without knowing just how it all began. She lived for a good origin story, or, at least, any drama with someone’s relationship that wasn’t her own. “How the fuck did you wind up here if he’s, like, Peter’s second biggest enemy, then? You weren’t friends, or anything, were you?” 

It was fair to be shocked by that piece of information being dropped so casually, but in Tink’s world hook losing his hand was so in the past that all she could do was roll her eyes at the question. “Yes, it was this huge ordeal and now he hates our guts, but whatever,” she answers, not caring enough to go into any more detail about that part of the story when she knew it was Smee and her new relationship with him that Sharpay really wanted to hear about. “Peter doesn’t know a damn thing. He’s left and he can fucking stay gone, as far as I’m concerned.” A lie and they both knew it, but whatever. This was how the fairy was going about her life and she would repeat that mantra enough times until she forces herself into truly believing it.

“He’s like his second in command or manager at whatever company Hook has, I genuinely don’t really know. I’ve never bothered asking about his job - it just seemed too boring,” she admits with a snort of a laugh, shaking her head. “He’s a complete loser, really. But he’s hot and kind of fun.” It wasn’t the most romantic way to describe her new boyfriend, not by any means, but it was an honest one at least. And likely showed how little Tink actually cared about this said relationship - which she didn’t mind Sharpay knowing. There were only a few select people in her life that the fairy really needed to let believe this was real - a certain Darling boy mentioned prior being one of them.

[sharpayyyyy]

"No, no, babe, not me," she quickly assured her friend. John was hardly her type, and she assumed he wasn't really Tink's, either, but here they were. She groaned, frustrated with both herself for not asking for the name of everyone's plus-ones, and with John, for not telling his new girlfriend about his romantic history. "Okay, um, fuck. I don't wanna, like, get in the middle of things, but you should probably ask him about who he's dated before." Sharpay was a lady, she wasn't going to name names and air out her best friend's laundry for her other best friend. Fucking John Darling had her caught in the middle of possibly the closest she'd come to an extreme girl-code violation. "I'm sure he's great, honey, and I don't mean to scare the shit out of you, but do me a favor, and try to avoid Tink if she comes back in here, will you?" she warned, hoping she wouldn't be totally spooked by the heads up.

⋆⋆ ❤ ⋆⋆

Something was in the air that night but Marie hadn't the slightest idea what. From the moment they entered Sharpay's home, there was a hush that fell over the other attendees as if there was something that only she hadn't been informed of. The initial reaction from the other blonde made her pause, waiting to hear if there was more to the story. "What am I missing here?" Her eyes started to follow Sharpay's before pausing and reconnecting with the girl before her. Something was afoot but Marie was trying to find where the dots aligned. "Non, we haven't talked much about our past relationships yet. This is actually the first time he's meeting any of my friends, I thought it would be a good test to make sure he was the man I thought he was," she explained before teetering off at the end, knowing there must be more. "You and him haven't... have you?"

[sharpayyyyy]

Sharpay's excitement manifested in a squeal as her friend confirmed what she'd hoped would be true. It was even more so enticing that Tink had found someone who would uniquely piss Peter off, if he was even in touch to hear it. Both blondes knew that romantic revenge was so much sweeter than any other they could ask from the universe, the kind of karmic kiss that Sharpay valued more than most. Either way, the development was not one this blonde had seen coming, as much as she thought she knew her friend and her dating tendencies.

"I'm sorry--Peter chopped off a guy's hand?" Sharpay wasn't even sure the guy was strong enough to use a butter knife. "No, this is so good. Does Peter, like, know about it at all? Not that it matters: you just have to stay together until he comes back so he can see it himself. And, if he doesn't, at least you have a hot new guy to rub in John's face." They were a much hotter couple than her ex and Marie, as her friend was pulling almost all the weight in the looks department with John. "What's his name, what does he do for this Hook guy? I need all the details."

When she showed up with Smee on her arm first at Christmas and now at the island wide New Years Eve party, Tink had known there were going to be questions. In particular from those she had kept in the dark of her newfound relationship status - be it intentional or simply forgetting to update them, like was the case for the blonde that had dragged her off to the side and instantly demanded to know about the man. In hindsight, she should have known better than to let Sharpay slip through the cracks like this. Really, the other girl should have been the first person she informed of the plan - given how easily she would understand, or at least Tink hoped that was the way it was going to go.

“He’s a boyfriend,” she confirmed with a grin, though less so because she was actually into the man and more just because she was proud to say she was in another relationship again - even if this one wasn’t exactly all that meaningful. “He’s kind of one of Peter’s sworn enemies, or at least he works for his sworn enemy. It’s kind of stupid, really, their rivalry - or at least, on our part it is. I guess Hook has a valid reason for hating us all since Peter’s kinda responsible for his hand getting chopped off - but whatever. Smee’s just his like assistant or something, I don’t really know. But we started talking and hanging out months ago and now here we are. It’s new and not serious like at all, but I’m doing it for real. I’m not going to fuck up this time.” That was the real point of this all - proving she could do the whole relationship thing without making a huge mess and ruining it all.

[sharpayyyyy]

~time skip to new year's eve~

Sharpay liked to think she had a pretty good read on her friends’ love lives. She was fairly in-touch with how they felt about their significant others, and even sometimes how their partners felt about them, and she prided herself in being so in-tune that nothing really shocked her. The split between Lil and Kelsi hadn’t come as much of a surprise, given the beginnings of a rift that’d begun to form as her friend started peeking into her girlfriend’s love life. It had unfortunately not shocked her when Tink’s ex didn’t want to get back with her, despite her strong desire, given seeing him with Marie at Friendsgiving. 

When Tink showed up with an entirely new man on her arm at new year’s eve, though, Sharpay was practically baffled. She’d never seen this guy before, not even in the circles they kept that orbited each other. He was hot, yeah, but who the fuck was he? “Um, were you ever going to tell me you magically produced yourself a boyfriend, or what?” she demanded the first moment she spotted the blonde alone. “Is he a boyfriend? Or, just someone to make little mister Darling jealous? Because, either way, fantastic work. Much more on par for your league than John.”

The gasp and disappointment from her younger friend only made Tink groan and bring her hands up to her face again to hide it for a moment as she tries to think of how to best defend herself. “Only the first time was to piss her off! The rest of it was… something else,” she attempts to clarify, though she doesn’t really even have words for what exactly it was. Because she never let herself think on it too deeply out of fear of realizing the truth. Which it appears Sharpay was able to see right through and find after just one discussion, not having even had to have met the boy or seen the two of them in person together. Another groan escapes the blonde as she shakes her head. “It was not love. It couldn’t be, because I loved Peter.” It was a flimsy excuse and she knew it, especially given the fact that it was becoming increasingly clear that maybe what she felt for the head lost body hadn’t actually really been love - or at least not as serious of a love as she had always assumed it to be.

When hands came to rest on her shoulders and it became how clear serious Sharpay was about this, Tink felt like she needed to double down on the whole thing. It wasn’t as big of a deal as the other blonde was making it out to be, it couldn’t be. “No, no. It’s – it’s not like that,” she insists, despite having nothing to really back up her claim the way she wanted to. “I just… I miss him, that’s all. I’m not down bad or in love. That’s ridiculous.” Normally she’d make fun of anyone who had such weak arguments as that, with nothing to prove the point she was trying to make, but right now it was all she could do. “And you know what - I can fuck him again just to prove that’s not the case.” A horrible idea, especially considering she had been rejected so obviously the last time she had tried to do any of that.

[sharpayyyyy]

“Oh, dear god,” she blurted, her fear for the worst having come true. There was nothing worse she could imagine than two of her friends fighting over the same guy, especially here, in her own home. When Marie had requested to bring a date, Sharpay hadn’t thought anything of it: what were the chances she was going to bring the exact boy Tink was currently heartbroken over? Apparently very high. “No, no, I don’t know him, like, personally, but I know of him.” She didn’t feel the need to get into the details: it wasn’t her story to tell. Whether Marie knew about John’s dating past was none of her business, and she’d be damned if she ruined something that seemed to make her friend so happy. What the hell it was about this boy that had not one, but two of her best friends down so bad for him still remained a mystery. “No, that’s so great, I’m happy for you,” she gushed, peeking behind her as she saw Tink storm out the door. Fuck. Whether Marie wanted to know it or not, there was no way they were surviving this dinner if she was kept in the dark. “Do you know, like, who he’s dated, in the past? Have you guys gotten that far yet? Not that it’s my business, but some of it has become my business, and I just need to know how much you know.”

⋆⋆ ❤ ⋆⋆

"Bonsoir," she greeted as the coat was stripped from her shoulders. Before a chance was given to say anything more she was being tugged from the entryway by her friend. If it was anyone other than Sharpay there would've been more questions as to why. Marie came to expect anything from the other and the blonde quickly accepted an invitation to her Friendsgiving, even using the situation to spend more time with a certain boy. Ever since their coincidental meeting, she found any excuse to be in his company, and this provided one where her friends got to give their approval. Marie had planned to introduce him to everyone, finding it a surprise that his name was already rolling off her friend's tongue. "Oui... Do you know each other?" Her eyebrows arched but she continued to explain further as had been requested. "Well, certainly hope so, we met a few months ago and have been seeing more of each other since. Sharpay, he seems parfait, I didn't know men like him even existed anymore," the girl swooned over her date unaware of the bomb that ticked with the lore her friend would drop.

[sharpayyyyy]

It hadn't taken long for Sharpay to figure out that her assistant and her boyfriend had called it quits. She was practically a professional social media snooper at this point, having noticed the quick unfollow and lack of new content with him shortly after the breakup. It was once the younger girl had deleted any evidence of him that her suspicions had been confirmed, though Sharpay hadn't pressed her too hard on it. To be honest, she'd thought they were cute, having even gone so far as to invite her now ex to the Friendsgiving she and Ryan were hosting. The request to still help her on the day of had come with the caveat that she didn't need to worry about showing up solo, that it would be still appreciated if she could lend the hand she'd promised when the plan had been conceived a few months ago. That, and she didn't want Colette sitting home, wallowing, while she thought about the party she was supposed to have attended.

Things hadn't started off as smoothly as Sharpay would've hoped, with one of her best friends showing up with the ex of her other best friend, leaving Tink to walk out and home. She couldn't blame her: she would've done the same if Troy had shown up anywhere with another girl before they started dating. And, as much as Kelsi tried to stay home, Sharpay had insisted upon her presence, having uninvited her now ex-girlfriend despite her brother still attending. "You're the best," she breathed in relief, "I swear to god, I told her she had to still come, or else she was going to wind up watching something depressing, on her couch, alone, and I would've had to send Ryan to check she was still alive. So, thank you. Once dinner is served, you can head out, if you want, by the way. Or, you can count yourself off the clock and stay, if you want to have a drink and hang out. I'd love to have you stay, but totally up to you."

-timeskip to friendsgiving-

Given the opportunity to dine with some of the most talented people on the island was a gift that only someone like Sharpay could offer Colette. And yet, there was a struggle to even get herself out of her bed today of all days. Many factors were contributing to the dread of this dinner, most of them having to do with the attendants going but even the lack of a certain plus one she was previously tied to made her as apprehensive as going to a dinner with her family. It didn't help that some of her family members would be in attendance tonight.

Colette didn't have a choice in going, or at least that's what her boss who needed all the help she could get claimed. Even if she wanted to bask in the celebratory festivities, she had to remind herself she was also working. Which, oddly, made things somewhat better. The more she worked, the less she had time to think about the fact that she was here without the date she used to bring to every event. Looking down at her small checklist of details she was in charge of, there were updates she had to bring up to Sharpay, who finally had a moment free from greeting her guests. "I've already rearranged place settings now that Tink isn't going to be joining." Any other moment she'd be grinning from ear to ear with that information but it yet another thing that got her thinking about Sam. She lightly shook her head to cut away from going down a spiral of thoughts on her ex, "Also, Kelsi tried being a no-show but I already dispatched an Uber her way so ETA on that should be, like, 10-15 minutes. We're cutting it close on appetizers but I think it'll be fine."

[sharpayyyyy]

~time skip to friendsgiving~

Seeing a blonde walk through the door beside John Darling wouldn't have been that surprising, knowing the emotional turmoil the boy had caused one of her friends in the past. Recognizing the girl as someone other than Tink next to him was what had sent Sharpay into shock. She hadn't even the slightest clue that Marie had been remotely into John, or even knew him enough to have brought him to their party. The rest of the night was going to be spent on damage control, whether she liked it or not, as she was almost positive Tink was about to have a new public enemy at the top of her hit list.

"Hey, you," she cooed, taking Marie's coat off her shoulders as she stepped into the entryway, quick to grab her before her date's ex could make a beeline for her throat. "Welcome to my ... well, our parents' home. Mother and Daddy are out for a little dinner party at Lava Springs. Can I get you an appetizer, a drink?" Sharpay quickly whisked her away and out of sight, lowering her voice. "That's John Darling, isn't it? Is he here as a date date? I need all the details, stat."

⋆⋆ ❤ ⋆⋆

Marie trusted her friend's opinion more than most, nodding in understanding to her words of warning. It wasn't that simple; telling her brother's girlfriend's sister no wasn't really an option. Not to mention that the blonde could use all the publicity she could get at this point in her career. "Do you have any words of advice? Anything I should watch out for?" The industry was unforgiving but she had survived so much that a little catfight didn't scare her. That didn't mean she wouldn't want to go in with as much information as possible. She liked knowing everything anyway, it was all the more beneficial when it helped her directly. "She made it sound like she just wanted to collaborate. I'm sure I've told you but my brother is dating her sister, you know, complicates things," she explained with a wave of her hand to brush off the details. "I don't want my start to be... messy, this soon, non?" Marie tried to say without being outright.

[sharpayyyyy]

"Oh, my god," she gasped, "this is so much worse than I expected." Hooking up was far different than a year long relationship--both of them knew that. Tink had fallen, hard, for John, so hard that she was still thinking about it years later. In comparison, Sharpay couldn't imagine dating someone for so long and still being in love with Troy: not that she cared about the fact that it was unfair to someone else, but she didn't think her heart could handle that. In short, she was beginning to believe Tink may be a psychopath. "And Wendy doesn't even know about it? You did all of this to piss her off and she has no idea?" Sharpay clicked her tongue disapprovingly, letting out a disappointed sigh. "Babe, you're still stuck on this boy, how many years later? And you've had how many hookups in the meantime and are still thinking about him? You were in love, I fear, unless you knew that already."

Sharpay let out a snort of a laugh at her commentary about the guy's progress in the bedroom department. Taking someone's virginity was a special thing: Sharpay had done the same to Zeke from high school, after which she'd been cooked a creme brûlée, so, it was pretty amazing, if she had to give it a rating. "You know, if you sleep with him again, there's no going back. You're already down badly enough, and that's going to send you back into the land of no return. You hear me? You cannot," she insisted, taking the other blonde by the shoulders to ensure the message was heard.

Despite putting her hands over her face to purposefully avoid seeing the other blonde’s reaction to the news, Tink couldn’t help but crack her fingers ever so slightly just to get a peek… and at the jaw drop and shudder that Sharpay gave she knew there were going to be so many questions following. “I know, I know,” she cries dramatically, dropping her hands and flailing them a little before crossing her arms over her chest in defense. “It was just to piss Wendy off at first, but then it just… kept happening. And he’s cute and sweet and just… I don’t know. I don’t know. It snowballed and then suddenly we were dating, but not telling anyone, and before I knew it a year had passed by.” It sounds crazy, she knows, that she could claim to be so in love with a boy like Peter but then actually fall for someone so very different from what she thought she’d always wanted. But that wasn’t something that Tink let herself think on, like ever. It opened to many doors filled with doubts over whether she’d ever really truly loved the head lost boy at all, or just the idea of what he could be.

At the question of whether he was insane in bed, the blonde let out another groan and covered her face once more for just a moment before dropping them again with a sigh. “He was horrible. Or like, at least at first he was,” she comments, leaving it unsaid that she had obviously taken the boy’s virginity. Despite the embarrassment that had come with admitting her entire affair in the first place, Tink couldn’t help but be proud of the work she had done to get John to where he was. And the smirk that grows on her lips shows that pride quite clearly. “But he’s a fast learner, I can tell you that. Studied hard and did his homework. So like, kind of, yeah.”

[sharpayyyyy]

Though they hadn't been romantically linked for long, it did make her smile, how well Troy knew her. Even the simple act of placing the wine bottle back in the fridge meant he'd been listening, and knew the tiny act of catering to the way she liked things was sweet. It brought a small smile to her lips as she watched him pour himself a drink of his own, and in the spirit of feeling rather warm and fuzzy on the inside for her boyfriend, she even placed the two bottles he'd used back in the fridge for him, returning the favor. It was small, but there were few people in this world for whom she'd clean up after, and, unsurprisingly, Troy had made the list.

"Oh, I know what happened between them, yeah. I even wrote a song about it, I was so inspired by the whole ordeal." Though it had wound up being a song she and Marie had completed together, it was Dash and Lil who had inspired it in the first place. "Long story short, they were coworkers, and they started dating, or so Lil had thought. Somehow, I think from my friend Angelica's boyfriend, she found out that he was actually doing it to distract her from her soccer team--they coach together. He wanted her to lose. What a crazy fucker," she mused, shaking her head with an exasperated sigh as she sipped her wine. "I don't know how much Phil told her, but now she knows, and got all bothered by seeing Lil talk to him again."

As the blonde approaches him, on instinct Troy reaches down to take her hand and start fiddling with her fingers as he chuckles at her joke. It was a good point, they had been getting quite a lot of Hi, Barbie and Kens and the part has barely even started. If they’d even just taken a single sip of their drink every time it happened, they’d likely end up with alcohol poisoning by the end of the night. Thankfully though that wasn’t going to happen - they were going to get just a reasonable amount of drunk like any other couple here tonight. The question of joining her in the kitchen didn’t even need to be asked as Sharpay was already moving them in that direction, but he lets out a little “of course” regardless.

Over years of hanging out with the blonde, Troy had long learned that unchilled, warm white wine was practically a crime in her world. The first time he had suggested that she simply add ice had been the last time he ever thought that to be an acceptable solution, the lecture he had received on the importance of wine temperature and taste was one that still haunted him at times. After she was done pouring the drink into her special glass, he gently took the bottle and placed it back in the surprisingly mostly empty refrigerator. Either the Deville’s hardly ate or someone had emptied out the fridge before the party had started, likely to prevent everything from getting stolen by the who knows how many twenty-somethings that would be attending tonight. Turning back to the island with all the liquors and mixers, he makes himself a simple rum and coke as he lists to his girlfriend explain the latest gossip she had just heard from her ex-husband. “Is Kelsi upset?” he asks, though he’s pretty sure that’s a given it’d be best to know what he was walking into when he sought her out in a few minutes. “Do we know what happened between Dash and Lil? Or is that why she’s worried?”

[sharpayyyyy]

Sharpay snorted to herself at the thought of Gabriella ever rooting for herself and Troy: it's not like she could say she ever did anything remotely the same for the other couple. In fact, she'd worked on planning their demise for years before she finally got what she wanted. It'd just taken a ridiculous amount of patience and some scheming gone slightly awry when her plotting had accidentally brought the other two closer together rather than drive them apart. But, in the end, she'd wound up on top, and really, that was all that mattered in the end.

With her fingers run over her lips, Sharpay signaled that her friend's secret was safe with her--at least, it was for now, until she ran to tell her boyfriend the drama, but she figured that was assumed at this point. At the revelation, the blonde's mouth dropped: of all the people Tink could've named as the boy who had been giving her so much grief, a Darling boy was at the bottom of the list. It made her shudder, the thought of hooking up with someone related to Gabriella. "You're kidding. No, no, please tell me you're joking, actually." But, Tink would never joke about something like this, not when they both knew the gravity of him being one of her worst enemy's siblings. "And you're trying to get him back? When did this happen to begin with?" She lowered her voice, leaning closer to her friend. "Is he, like, insane in bed, or something?"

There was an actual bit of truth behind their joking, or at least Tink thought there was. Because it would be nice to celebrate something fun and easy in comparison to remembering the horrors they’d all faced the day of the attack. Troy and Sharpay’s love would be a much better national holiday. Not that it would ever actually happen, but still, it was fun to joke about. “Well, most people at least. I doubt Gabriella’s gonna be lining up anytime soon to be cheering you two on,” she reasons with a snicker, not caring at all what the brunette girl had to say about any of this. Though she’s never actually met her, Tink truly and deeply hated her on principle alone of the fact that she’s Sharpay’s version of Wendy. That was all she had needed to know to hold a grudge against the girl.

Logically she had known that admitting there was someone she was trying to win back would peak her friend’s interest, but that didn’t mean she had been fully ready to just delve into every detail about her past secret relationship. But Sharpay was right, it was practically socially illegal to just drop something like that and then pull a nevermind or not actually talk about it. And it’s not like she doesn’t trust the other blonde, plus she ran in a completely different social circle than John… So the likelihood of her ever accidentally slipping up and mentioning something to him about were pretty much slim to none, since they’d likely never speak to each other in the first place. “Okay. But like, you can’t say anything. To anyone. No one knows we were ever even a thing," she starts, which is a partial lie considering she’s told both Sam and Peri at this point - but the sentiment still stood even with those two outliers. Sighing heavily, her hands came up to cover her face so she didn’t have to see Sharpay’s reaction to the bomb she’s about to drop. “It’s John Darling. Wendy’s brother.” There’s more to the story and Tink knows she’s going to have to spill it all - but for the moment she leaves it at just that.

[sharpayyyyy]

~time skippy to the deville halloween party~

"We should've had a drinking game going for how many times people were going to say 'Hi, Barbie!' or 'Hi, Ken!' to us tonight. I'd be blackout by now," Sharpay commented as she finally caught up with her boyfriend, fresh off a conversation with her ex-husband that she thought he might want to hear about. Parties like these always came with their fair share of drama, and Sharpay was simply counting herself lucky not to be at the center of it this time. It was much more entertaining to sit on the sidelines and gossip. But, first, she needed a drink. "Come with me to the kitchen?" she asked, a statement more than a question as his hand was already in hers and her body was already pivoted in the direction of the source of a refill.

As she entered the kitchen, Sharpay was quick to pluck the white wine from the array of liquors on the counter, the chill on the bottle indicating someone had just set it down with no intentions of putting it back in the refrigerator. "Hooligans, can you believe this? They were going to let this go warm," she complained aloud with a disapproving click of her tongue. The glass she'd taken from the cabinet was one only she was allowed to have, getting special permission from the hosts to forgo the plastic cups forced upon the rest of the guests. "Okay, so, apparently, Kelsi saw Lil talking to her ex, Dash, and asked Phil what his deal was. So, now, he's, like, all concerned, and I think you should probably be the one to talk to her. We both know I have the potential to do more harm than good in the Kelsi department."

“Oh, I’m fully aware of that,” he agrees, teasingly with a smirk. While he himself had only occasionally been on the receiving end of her terror, he had seen it happen enough back in high school to know just how awful she had decency to be. Even with the people she had called friends, Sharpay used to be quite the controlling bitch. But that was all in the past. They had just been kids, really, and she had done a lot of self-work to grow from it… even if there was still a lot of room to improve. Especially when it came to her treatment of his ex-girlfriend. But Troy knows better than to bring any of that up right now and ruin the moment. “I won’t, I promise. It’s gonna be nothing but picture perfect boyfriend from here on out.”

When it came to admitting his reasoning behind his choice, Troy had known there was a fifty-fifty chance of how the blonde would react. Though he had hoped she’d understand what he’d been thinking, he’d also prepared for it to not be a decent enough explanation - for Sharpay to have wanted him to have fully discarded any thoughts of Gabriella completely and be fully and totally on board only for her. Which, he was, don’t get him wrong. He felt confident in his choice, but he couldn’t lie and say that all thoughts of his ex were fully banished from his head. Which wasn’t something that Sharpay would ever want to hear. “I think I did too,” he states instead, not showing any sign of even the smallest amount of doubt. Laughing at her excitement over being a so-called basketball girlfriend, his head shakes ever so slightly. “Guess I’ll have to look into some local basketball leagues for you. Can’t let you miss out on the full experience.”

[sharpayyyyy]

It was a strange sensation to have guided someone to success and to watch them experience it in front of her face, but this was not a night to be jealous of someone else's success, especially when that person was a close friend. "A perfect way to end the evening," she agreed, returning the hug. She'd been apprehensive about bringing the topic of her half-sister's employment to Marie, but it seemed the otehr blonde didn't care too much about Sharpay hiring her. In all honesty, she could sympathize with Colette: she would've probably reacted exactly the same way had another pretty girl tried to infiltrate her home and befriend her boyfriend at her age, but Sharpay liked to think now that she was above all of that. "Okay, I'll put in a good word for you, promise." Neither of them had had sisters before, but Sharpay assumed this was kind of what it was like: misunderstandings around boys that were maybe left to dry a bit too long, and then, everything going back to normal. At the mention of the Rooney sister, Sharpay rolled her eyes slightly, followed by a shake of her head. "We just have a lot of history. We were both kids in the industry, and you know how it is, opportunities come up, and one person gets it over the other. But, like, if she wants to do a song with you, sure. Just know everyone in this industry is out for themselves, when push comes to shove." It was a lesson she was going to have to learn sooner or later; Sharpay just didn't want it coming from Liv Rooney.

⋆⋆ ❤ ⋆⋆

After how many conversations she'd had that night, Marie was glad to see someone she could cut the shit in front of. If there was one person who wouldn't need her to walk them through the conversation or ask the same questions that had been thrown at her all night. It was Sharpay who first saw her talent and this all wouldn't have come together if not for her friend's help. "There you are," the blonde reached out to take the drink but also sneak in a quick hug. "That's for dessert, of course. I can't give the people everything all at once." Marie gave a shake of her shoulders which were adorned with the rhinestones from her dress that gently chimed as they collided. It was the second part of the conversation that was unexpected but she listened, using the opportunity to take a sip of her cocktail. "Oui, I don't think she's all that fond of me," Marie replied with a simple shrug. "Maybe after spending time with you, she'll realize I'm not here to wreck her little home." They were sisters after all, whether they wanted to be or not. If it was the kindness of a boy that tore them apart that was something Marie couldn't understand. "Speaking of, people who aren't the best of friends, my brother is dating one of the Rooney sisters, and well, her sister had talked about doing a song together. Maddie said you aren't her biggest fan so I wanted to hear from you first."

[sharpayyyyy]

"I would be honored," she replied dramatically, pressing her hand to her chest as though she were accepting some kind of honor. Thankfully, she and Tink had the same sense of humor that wouldn't make them seem like assholes to each other in the way they would if someone had overheard them. "I think people would be happy to celebrate our love instead of tragedy, don't you?" It was stilly, but actually, if there was ever a couple who deserved to have their anniversary celebrated so far and wide, Sharpay would argue it was her own. If anyone knew her and Troy long enough, they'd know that it deserved all the fanfare and then some for how long it'd taken them to finally find happiness with each other.

Sharpay practically blocked out the description of her friend's wound, both for her own sake and for the words that followed. A plot to get someone back in Tink's life was much more interesting than hearing what her current bodily state was like. "Who?" she demanded with a gasp, poking at the other blonde's arm as she awaited an answer. Whoever it was, Sharpay would be more than happy to help however she could, even if it was Peter--the guy who she was inclined to like because of Tink's long history with him, but apprehensive of his longterm evasion of her advances. "You can't just say something like that and not tell me who it is. That's socially illegal."

Getting a laugh instead of a scolding, along with a light smack on her arm, Tink didn’t even bother trying to stop the smirk that grew on her lips. “Well it’s true,” she argues, even though she knows the other blonde wasn’t actually all that serious in her warning. Plus, it was so loud with the music blaring and crowd celebrating around them, it’s not like anyone was going to overhear. “Yes. I’ll talk with Claire about making it a national holiday - Troy Bolton and Sharpay Evans’s dating anniversary, far more important than anything else that happened that day.” It was again, not really the most politically correct thing to say, but as one of the main people that the attack had been targeting, Tink felt like she had a right to joke about it as much as she wanted. Whether others would agree or not, she didn’t really care.

“It will be, hopefully, once it fully heals. Right now it’s just puffy and yellow and fucking gross,” she clarifies, face and nose scrunching up as she thinks again of what her almost healed wound looks like at the moment. It wasn’t anything she was in any rush to be showing others, certainly not in any type of sexual way, but Sharpay was right - eventually it would be a sexy battle scar and she’ll look like some kind of hero to everyone she lets see her naked. The question of whether or not she had her eyes on any new potential hookups was a loaded one, even if the other girl didn’t know it. No one knew about her past relationship with a certain Darling boy, like they had agreed upon, and while she was tempted to keep it that way - in case it turned out there was nothing to salvage of their time together now that he was back - Tink was fully aware that if there was anyone who wouldn’t judge her for another failed attempt at winning a guy over, it’d be Sharpay. “Not a new one, actually. But there’s someone I’m trying to get back, yeah,” she finally answers with a shrug of her shoulder, trying to make it seem like less of a deal than it actually was.

[sharpayyyyy]

"Hey," she argued, "I used to cause way more terror back in the day." It was true: Sharpay had gone out of her way on more than one occasion to make certain people's lives truly miserable in high school. There had been a number of humbling experiences that had dialed her back, but she didn't like to dwell on those moments too much. "Just don't give me any inspiration for new material that isn't a love song," Sharpay promised in a bit of a warning, thinking of the new track she had written specifically sharing that sentiment that would be soon donated to Marie instead of making the cut for her new single in the name of her new boyfriend.

All of her hours spent by his side hadn't gotten her nothing--this was precisely what Sharpay had hoped would happen way back when she'd coaxed him back to life when Gabriella had dumped him. It wasn't her fault that everything she planned just seemed to work out how she'd wanted it to, despite the minor hiccups along the way. "Well, you made the right choice," she replied confidently. It was her chance to finally show Troy the kind of pair they could be, and Sharpay would do practically anything to prove it. It was strangely validating to hear that holding onto hope hadn't been for nothing. "I love that idea," Sharpay agreed, already envisioning the final image of Troy on the side of the stage, wearing a shirt with her face on it. "Oh, my god, this means I finally get to live out my dream of being a basketball girlfriend," she gushed. "Not that watching you coach is nearly as hot as it was watching you play, but, I'll take what I can get. You'll just have to make up for it by letting me catcall you when we go golfing."

It might have been a bit cocky and overly self confident, already knowing that he was a charming guy and there was little that could be done to change that, but it still felt nice hearing Sharpay confirm it. “You’re pretty charming yourself, you know. When you aren’t being a terror, that is,” he teases with a very obvious affection in his voice. In truth, she’s actually gotten way more chill since their high school days. And if this had been a few months ago, Troy might have even argued she no longer had that terror tendency in her - but Pacifica’s valentines engagement party had proven that wrong.

The question of why and how he finally made his decision was one he expected to come eventually, but he hadn’t quite thought it’d be one of the first things the blonde had to ask. But it made sense, her need to know. “There were a lot of reasons,” he admits, starting off with a little raise of a shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “Gabriella and I had our shot. And while I understand why we ended and how it was for the best for both of our sakes… that didn’t change the amount of pain I went through when it ended. You remember that, I’m sure. And I just… I was afraid of risking that again.” It was the truth - the fear of how things might end if they didn’t work out on a second try was what had held Troy back for so long from even considering making another move on his high school ex. “Plus I had been working my way up to asking you out, before she showed up again and I got all confused. It felt wrong to not follow the feelings I’ve had for you for a while now. I had to see what we could be.” It may not be the most romantic of answers, and potentially not what Sharpay had been hoping to hear, but he wasn’t about to lie just for the sake of making it sound better than it actually was. Those were his reasons and they had been enough for him to feel confident in his choice, he had to just hope she would agree. “Do I at least get to pick the pictures? I’ll get a new one made for every show, I’m sure your fans would get a kick out of that.”

[sharpayyyyy]

God…it’s me again…I am not your strongest soldier.

[sharpayyyyy]

Sharpay could only let out a snort of a laugh at the very sad fact her friend had so poignantly pointed out, not even having thought of that herself. She gave Tink a small, playful smack to the arm, coupled with a roll of her eyes. "Don't say that in public," she warned in a whisper, only serious for a moment before more laughter came to follow. It wasn't funny, how many lives had been lost and blood had been shed, but one of the only ways Sharpay knew how to deal with grief was making light of it. "No, no, this is, like, something happy that we can think about instead of that, you know? It's kinda nice!" she pointed out, truly believing it.

Though she didn't know exactly what Tink was, or what kind of powers she had, Sharpay had guessed from the moment it looked like the other blonde had physically floated toward her that something was up with her. It wasn't something Sharpay really cared about, or even thought too deeply about, until, of course, she knew that there had been a certain group targeted during the attacks. "That's hot," she stated simply, the fleeting thought that she wished she could see it for herself in that way coming and leaving as she remembered she now had a boyfriend. "Speaking of, do you have any of those on the horizon?" Sharpay asked with a raised brow, knowing how the equivalent of her Troy had simply gone and left. "If not, that can be our mission tonight."

In reality the story that Sharpay told of how her now boyfriend had finally asked her out wasn’t all that romantic or really even special in anyway, but the fact that it was her boy, the one that she had wanted and pinned and hoped for all these years - that was what made it sound like practically the best night anyone could ask for. Just the thought of Peter doing anything even sort of like that was enough to have Tink’s heart fluttering, so she knows exactly how astronomical and important this is for her friend. “I can’t believe your anniversary is going to line up with a fucking terrorist attack,” she teases with a laugh, knowing the blonde wouldn’t take an offense to a comment like that coming from her.

“Oh, I’m good, I’m great,” she promises with a small nod. It wasn’t exactly easy, explaining how her speedy recovery had worked to someone who didn’t already know that she was a fairy, considering the majority of her injury had been magical infection - but she figured Sharpay thankfully wouldn’t have too many questions about the technicalities of it all. There were plenty of areas that the girl shined in, but science and medical knowledge certainly wasn’t one of them. “I feel good as new, honestly. But I do have an ugly ass scar now thanks to those fuckers, but I guess it is kind of a cool story to tell any new hookups.”

[sharpayyyyy]

Sharpay shook her head confidently at him, the most comfortable now she'd felt around her now boyfriend in the decade and a half she'd known him. She felt weightless, like every ounce of anxiety she'd ever felt around Troy had simply melted with the confirmation of their relationship. It was the kind of buzz she'd never had from anyone else before, that she knew was possible for her and her boyfriend long before he'd ever asked her out. "You could never," she insisted, pressing a quick kiss to his lips as her arms wound around his neck.

Despite knowing for years that this might happen, it was a bit surprising that he'd suddenly come to this conclusion. Sharpay had wondered just what had gotten him there, just like she'd thought the same when he'd decided to sleep with her months ago. If there were ever a time to ask without sounding too crazy, it was now. "What, like, made you decide?" Curiosity would kill her, if it had the power to, but she had to know what had drawn him to her instead of his longtime ex-girlfriend. "No, no, they'll love you. I'll just have to start writing some love songs about you so I can flip the narrative." That would be easy--she already had some lyrics written from back when he'd simply been an unattainable crush. "That, and you'll have to start coming to my shows with, like, my face on a shirt. This way, they'll all know why you're there." She paused, giving him another kiss, just because she could. "And, it'll be really hot of you, just saying," Sharpay added with a nonchalant shrug, despite the smirk forming on her lips.

As she reached for him, Troy gladly let himself be pulled even closer as his own arms stretched to wrap around her waist, his grin never faltering once throughout the movement. This was what he wanted. Has been what he really wanted for a long time now, honestly. He’d just gotten a bit confused for a bit there, which was his own fault and he knew it - but he figured it all worked out in the end, found his way right to where he felt like he was supposed to be at the moment. “Well, if that’s the case, do I really need to work on it? I don’t want to lose my charm,” he teases with a grin.

Despite the fact that he’s fairly certain she’s mostly joking with her question of whether or not he’s certain this is what he wants, to make light of the rough road that had led them here, he’s still accurately aware that there has to be some kind of actual worry behind it. Which is valid after everything he’d done, Troy gets that, but it still sucks that she’s having even the tiniest bit of doubt. Again though, that’s something they can discuss later - they don’t need to hash everything out right now. “Considering I’ve been planning on doing this for a few days now, I don’t think the attack had anything to do with it,” he answers with a firmness in his decision. A chuckle escapes him as he shakes his head, not really wanting to think of how often he was going to have to hear the songs detailing exactly how shitty he’d been. It was gonna suck, no denying that, but he was too proud of Sharpay’s success to ever ask her to pretend like her first album simply never happened. “I guess I can put up with that. Just as long as you don’t air out all the dirty laundry completely. Your fans probably already don’t like me, but let’s not give them any more reason to keep up with the hate. I’d rather not start getting death threats or anything.” There was an undertone of amusement in his words, but he did really mean it all.