Busy Being Fabulous
By LoveAndSerenity

This is Part Three: The Party.

It was 11:15 p.m., and the party was just starting to get a little crazy. Troy noticed some strange things going on.

First, half the guys from the basketball team were taking shots in the kitchen, and Troy could swear they'd done at least 14 by now. There were numerous people around them, screaming and chanting. There was music up way too loud, and there were at least six passed-out seniors scattered around the house. Troy also noticed that the stairs of Jason's house had been littered with random items, from pool floats to basketballs to empty bottles to--was that a bra?!

Suddenly, Troy felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around to see a very intoxicated Chad.

"Hey, man, great party!" Chad yelled, even though there was no need. Troy was right next to him, and could hear him perfectly in his normal tone.

"Dude, you're wasted," said Troy, pushing Chad off.

Chad grinned. He leaned over and whispered loudly in Troy's ear. "Not as wasted as the girls up in Jason's room," he slurred, and pointed to the abandoned bra.

Troy's eyes grew wide. He didn't even want to think about what his classmates were doing to the unfortunate girls who had made the mistake of getting drunk at this party. He pushed Chad away and ran up the stairs. If he found one of his friends up there, he was going to murder them.

Teenage boy or not, Troy knew that he shouldn't stand by when there were girls getting taken advantage of. He couldn't help it. He always had been somewhat of a hero. He felt he had to help those in need.

As he got to the top, he heard screaming. His heart missed a beat. Just then, several senior boys came out of the closest door, all with shocked and unhappy expressions.

"Stupid bitch," said one as he passed Troy.

"She ruins everything," grumbled another.

"It's was only a little fun!" pouted a third.

Troy shoved them aside and stood in the open doorway of the bedroom. His breath was sucked out of him as he took in the scene before him.

Sharpay was there, helping a petite red-haired girl pull her shirt on. The girl was crying, and Troy could see how confused she looked.

"It's okay, Becky," Sharpay whispered to the girl, rubbing her back. Becky was sitting in Jason's desk chair, and Sharpay was kneeling beside her. Troy watched as Sharpay awkwardly hugged her.

He heard a small groan and he turned to see an average size, black-haired girl lying, sprawled-out, on Jason's bed. She wasn't wearing a shirt or a bra. Troy looked away quickly, blushing. He looked back at Becky, who was now watching as Sharpay walked towards the black-haired girl.

"Claire?" Sharpay whispered. "Claire, honey, do you know where your clothes are?"

Claire just moaned. Troy wasn't watching, as he wasn't going to be a sick freak and stare at girl when she was drunk and half-naked. But if he had been, he'd have seen Claire holding her head, shaking it.

"Becky, do you know where Claire left her top and bra?" Sharpay asked. Troy's eyes had been focussed on Becky as she sat there wiping her tears away. Becky was shaking her head when suddenly she caught sight of Troy and gasped.

Sharpay looked over quickly. When she saw Troy, her eyes narrowed and she glared at him. "How long have you been standing there, you perv?" she asked harshly.

Troy's eyes grew wide. He looked at Sharpay in shock, speechless. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down.

"I-I-I've only been--only s-since--not very long," he said nervously.

Sharpay stared daggers at him, but finally saw in his eyes that he was telling the truth.

"Fine, but now go make yourself useful and find Claire's clothes," she snarled at him.

Troy nodded nervously and backed out of the doorway, then turned to go down the hall. He remembered the bra on the stairs, and went down and picked it up.

"Now where's her top?" he thought. It only made sense that if she'd lost her clothes going up the stairs, the top would have been taken off first and therefore at the bottom of the stairs.

Troy looked around, and finally saw a green baby doll t-shirt underneath an empty plastic cup. He picked up the shirt and walked back upstairs. When he reached the doorway, he nervously held out the garments while looking purposely in the other direction. He felt them snatched from his hands, and then heard the soft voice of Sharpay coaxing Claire to put her clothes back on.

"Alright, Bolton, explain yourself," Sharpay said after he assumed she'd gotten Claire dressed. "What were you doing?"

Troy turned to face her. "I just wanted to make sure that everyone was okay," he started. "Chad--I heard there were girls up here who needed help."

But Troy could see that they didn't need his help. Becky (Claire was too drunk) was gazing at Sharpay in admiration. Troy realized how compassionate and brave Sharpay was. She had screamed at senior boys, who easily could've pinned her down--or worse. She had protected two girls Troy didn't know, and he guessed Sharpay barely knew them any better. She was like a loving mother, or sister, or... a friend. Sharpay didn't even have any friends, besides Kelsi and Ryan, but she knew how to be a better friend than the people who had left two drunken teenage girls alone with older teenage boys. She'd helped Becky and Claire; protected them from being taken advantage of.

Sharpay's cold eyes softened. "You were always the Golden Boy, Troy," she remarked softly. "Always the hero."

"No," thought Troy, "You were the hero this time, Sharpay." He realized it was completely true. There was so much more to Sharpay than he'd thought. She really was a good person.

Then her head turned to the doorway.

Troy turned and saw Ryan. As their eyes met, Troy could see the anger flashing at him, but also with a hint of confusion and curiosity.

"Good, Ryan, you're here," said Sharpay. "Do you mind if we take Claire and Becky home, too?"

Ryan shook his head. "I'll show you to the car," he said gently to Becky.

Sharpay looked at Claire. "Ry, do you mind helping me carry her back to the car? I don't know if she can do it herself...." Sharpay trailed off, looking concerned at the girl moaning in pain on the bed.

"Course not, sis," said Ryan, and he moved towards Claire. Troy desperately shot him a look, and Ryan noticed.

Ryan stood there, looking at Troy, reading his face. Troy's blue eyes pleaded with Ryan's, and Ryan finally understood.

"Actually, I can carry her myself," he said, pulling Claire to her feet and leaning her weight on him. "Just get your bag, and whatever other stuff, and meet me in the car, so we can blow this joint."

Troy gave Ryan a nod of thanks. Ryan returned it with a look that said, "I'm warning you, I WILL kill you this time if I have to!"

Ryan and Claire hobbled out of the room, Becky following close behind.

Troy turned back to Sharpay, as she looked for her purse. She wanted to avoid a confrontation with Troy. She walked to the door, but Troy blocked her.

"Please move, Bolton," she said, not harshly, but pleading. She didn't meet his eyes.

"Not until you'll listen to me," he replied. She sighed, and sat down on the edge of Jason's bed. Troy sat down too, but left some distance between them.

"Fine, what do you want to say?" she asked, looking away from him.

"I--I just wanted to know if you're okay," Troy said softly, his eyes never leaving her.

She turned to look him in the eyes. He saw her pain and tears building up.

"That's not funny, Bolton," she said seriously.

He looked at her. "What's not funny?" he asked, feeling confused.

"You tell a joke and everybody's laughin'; that's something you know how to do," said Sharpay. "But you know what, Bolton? Not me. I'm not laughing."

"What are you talking about, Sharpay?" he asked. "That's always been you, and you know it." He stared at her, waiting for a response. When he didn't receive one, he continued.

"You've always been the life of the party," he said. "You were always the one to crack the jokes about other people."

She glared at him, and started to open her mouth to say something when he cut her off.

"But now my baby, the joke is on you."

Sharpay's eyes raged with fire. "The joke's on me, Bolton? Me? I don't think so. No, if the joke's on anyone, Troy, it's you," she growled.

"Oh, really? I'd love to hear your reasoning for that," he said angrily.

"The joke's on you, because you pushed me away, when I cared about you," Sharpay whispered.

"You know why, Sharpay!" Troy exclaimed. "'Cause you were just too busy being fabulous! Too busy to think about us, running after something that never comes. What in the world are you runnin' from?"

Sharpay looked so hurt, Troy couldn't help but want to reach out and wrap his arms around her. But he didn't.

"If you must know, Troy, I wasn't running away from anything. I was running towards revenge, but--" she began.

"Revenge?" asked Troy quietly, looking deep into her eyes.

She blushed, but didn't turn away. "I wanted you to feel what I felt, because I was so hurt," she said. "You really hurt me, Troy, and then even more with the whole musical thing. I wanted to show you that you'd hurt me bad when I cared about you, and..." she trailed off.

"And?" asked, Troy, his throat suddenly closing up, so his words sounded choked and hoarse.

"And you were just too busy being fabulous. Too busy to think about us, to drink the wine from your winner's cup, to notice the children were growin' up," she rambled. "You were too busy with basketball and practicing every second of your free time. You were too busy being the Basketball King..."

Troy leaned over and hugged her. She was crying now, and he just hugged her tight, her head against his chest.

"Shhh, it's okay, Sharpay," he whispered to her, stroking her hair.

"And you were just too busy being fabulous," she said, sobbing. "Too busy, too busy, too busy..."

"It's okay Shar, it's alright." He tried to calm her down, as he could tell she was babbling hysterically. They both knew that half of what she was saying made no sense.

Suddenly she looked up into his eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

He kissed her forehead. "Aw, baby," he said. "I'm sorry too. I think it's both of our faults, but my heart's telling me it's all my fault. All my own damn fault and you'll never take me back."

Sharpay choked. "You want me to take you back?" she whispered, hope shining in her eyes.

Troy smiled at her. "More than anything in the world," he said honestly. "I finally realized I'd given up the thing that meant the most to me."

Sharpay smiled through her tears, and Troy leaned down slowly. He was less than a half centimeter from her lips.

"SHAR! We still have to take Claire and Becky home!" yelled Ryan. They both turned to see him standing in the doorway, hands on his hips. He shot Troy a smirk, then pulled Sharpay up and dragged her to the door.

Sharpay looked back at Troy and mouthed, "Call me tonight."

Troy winked at her as she blew him a kiss.

Because whether or not she was busy being fabulous, Troy was in love.

Thanks so much for reading the whole thing! I thought it turned out okay, but it really wasn't what I had imagined when I started writing it.

Please, please review, since it is my first story. No flames, please, unless it's really that horrible. I hope it isn't. It's only my first story! Please be nice!

I know it's probably very different from most songfics, the way I wrote the lyrics in. All the words in that are both bolded and italicized are the lyrics to "Busy Being Fabulous", by the Eagles. I'll have you know this story took me forever, like three weeks. I managed to use every single lyric, but it was really hard in some parts, to make them fit in with the story. I know it isn't amazing, but please, please review, so my next story can be!

Oh, and you may have already noticed, but I included some scenes and dialogue actually from the movie.

Once again, thanks for reading. I'm sorry if there are any mistakes in this; I reread it a bunch of times to try to fix everything. If I missed something, forgive me.

Please review! It means a lot! I really want to know what you think, since after all, what would I be without my readers? Thank you!

--Serenity