The Beginning

As Troy stood on the steps of his new home and looked up, he felt overwhelmed. This was an entirely new experience for him and he wasn't sure he was ready for it. He swallowed hard past the lump in his throat as he thought back to the series of events that put him here in this spot.

After graduation, Troy tried his hardest to get into UC Berkeley, even though he knew the admissions date was passed. All he wanted was basketball, theatre and the girl of his dreams, Gabriella, within a reasonable distance. But he had waited too long to make his decision to go to Berkeley. The basketball scholarship that would have granted Troy the chance to be on the team was already given to a kid in Maine. Without the scholarship, neither Troy nor his parents would be able to afford Berkeley.

So, Troy's original college of choice was now his best choice—The University of Albuquerque. He would be able to keep his basketball and theatre, but he would be further away from Gabriella than he would have liked. She did her best to convince him that things would be fine, that they could handle this distance. He believed her and they shared a difficult good-bye as he threw his life into the back of his beat-up truck. He watched her drive away in her graduation present from her mother—a brand new, red Honda Civic—and then he drove off in the opposite direction, towards his own future. He picked up his best friend and new roommate, Chad, on the way. They loaded Chad's stuff into Troy's truck together and then made their way towards the school.

And that was where Troy found himself contemplating his decisions and how his lack of decision-making cost him the chance to be closer to his girlfriend. Chad clapped him hard on the shoulder, shaking Troy out of his thoughts.

"Come on, man! Let's get this stuff up to our room. I wanna check out the college ladies. Thank you, God, for co-ed dorms!"

Chad and Taylor said their good-byes the week before without making promises to each other. Taylor refused to limit herself because she had a boyfriend on the other side of the country and Chad couldn't argue with that. He knew that he would want the college experience the way he had always envisioned it—late class times, parties every night, basketball championships, and girls, lots and lots of girls. He wanted all of this without the ball-and-chain of a girlfriend at Yale. So when Taylor suggested they should break-up, he was only too willing to comply.

The two boys carried their boxes into the school and took the elevator to the second floor. They found their room, F1, and opened the door to the bare room. The only furniture that came standard were two beds, two dressers, and two small desks. The room was arranged to accommodate two roommates that didn't necessarily know each other—the desks were on opposite walls for privacy and the two dressers were opposite the two beds. There was even an obvious division in the closet; a straight line, drawn with a permanent marker, right down the middle. Troy smiled softly as the overwhelmed feelings dissipated and feelings of adulthood flooded him. He threw his stuff onto the bed nearest the door, letting Chad take the bed closer to the window.

The pair began to unpack their things, putting clothes into their separate dressers and setting up their desks with computers and books. Troy was making his bed when Chad walked into the room carrying their TV, his eyes wide.

"Dude. You'll never guess who I just saw pull in the parking lot."

Troy furrowed his brow and helped Chad put the TV onto one of the dressers.

"Who was it?"

Chad walked over to the window and looked out.

"I totally forgot she was gonna go to school here. Shit."

Troy followed him and looked out the window that faced the parking lot. His eyes were automatically drawn to a bubblegum pink convertible with the initials "SE" painted in white script on the hood. Walking away from the car was a too familiar blonde, her long hair ending in soft curls and bouncing slightly as she walked. She carried an over-sized purse holding what Troy knew had to be a small dog. He shook his head and looked away as she walked out of his sight. He laughed and shrugged.

"I wouldn't worry about it, man. It's a big school. I doubt you'll ever see her, even if she is staying in the same dorm."

That night, Troy and Chad joined their new classmates for dinner in the dorm dining hall, checking out the food now while there was still time to sign up for a meal plan. They met with a few boys they would be on the basketball team with that they had met over the summer. After dinner, Chad decided to go with their teammates in search of a pre-semester party. Troy feigned sleepiness, parties never having really been something that he was into. He said good night and made his way to the elevators. He stopped and almost turned around as he saw Sharpay Evans waiting for the elevators as well, a large box in her arms. Troy shook off the feelings of uneasiness at seeing her and walked up to her, smiling softly.

"Hey, Sharpay. Long time, no see."

She looked over at him sharply, surprised, her eyes lighting up as she recognized him.

"Troy! Hi! What are you doing here? What happened to Berkeley?"

He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly, feeling a little uncomfortable. He shrugged.

"I didn't make the scholarship deadline. So, here I am."

She worked to shift the weight of the box in her arms as she smiled wide.

"Wow. Well, lucky me, huh?"

He furrowed his brow and cleared his throat. The elevator doors opened for them and they stepped onto it. He looked back over at her when the doors closed.

"What floor?" he asked, raising his eyebrows a bit.

"Three, please. Where are you?"

"Two," he answered. "Do you want some help with that?" He nodded towards the box in her arms.

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, please. It's really heavy." She handed it to him and wiggled her arms around a bit, enjoying the freedom from the heavy box.

Troy took the box easily and smiled at her. The elevator stopped on her floor and Troy followed Sharpay to her room. At first, the set-up of the room seemed familiar. The entire right side of the room had the furniture in the same place, with one dresser instead of the two he had in his room. The window and closet were in the same place, but her bed was pushed up against the left wall and back wall. If he had just walked by, Troy would have known this was Sharpay's room. The familiar pink she almost always wore was all over the place. She had even taken down the standard cream curtains that came in every dorm room to put up her own sheer, pink curtains.

"You have your own room?" he asked her, his eyebrows raised.

She smiled back at him and shrugged. "Could you really see me sharing a room with anyone, Troy?"

He contemplated that thought for a moment before letting a small shudder run down his back and shaking his head.

He set the box onto her bed and she immediately opened it up to remove the contents. Letting curiosity get the best of him, Troy peeked into the box and pulled out a large picture frame. In the picture, Sharpay and her brother, Ryan, had their arms around each other, both in their graduation garb. Troy smiled at the picture, feeling a slight pang of nostalgia as he remembered their last day at East High. Sharpay smiled at him and sat beside him on the bed, looking at the picture with him.

"Ryan is so happy at Juilliard. He moved in two weeks ago. He and Kelsi were on the same flight out to New York. Their rooms are just down the hall from one another."

Troy looked over at Sharpay, studying her face. It mirrored the sadness he could hear in her voice. He furrowed his brow, hating to see that look on her face. He frowned now, looking away, these sudden feelings towards Sharpay being new and unfamiliar. She looked over at him and he looked back, seeing a smile on her face now, the sadness suddenly gone.

"I'm so happy for him. I can tell that's it's all he wanted and more," she said as she stood up, gently taking the picture from Troy and placing it on her desk, beside her computer.

Troy smiled and stood up, nodding. "Great. I'm glad to hear it. Your brother is a great guy."

She nodded. "Yeah, he really is." She swallowed hard and struggled to keep the smile on her face. "I miss him…a lot."

Troy reached out to her with one hand, wanting to comfort her, before pulling it back quickly and placing it on the back of his neck, rubbing it softly.

"Well, I should get back to my room. I'm kinda tired…" he trailed off as he backed away slowly, towards the door.

She turned to look at him and nodded. "Okay. Thanks so much for your help. That was my last box and I'm pretty tried myself. I'll see ya around?" She raised her eyebrows, looking hopeful.

Troy smiled sincerely and nodded. "You bet, Sharpay. See ya around."

He left her, shutting the door behind him. All his way back to his room, Troy thought about Sharpay and the look of sadness on her face. He recognized it now as loneliness. Of course, he thought, she misses her twin. I must look the same way whenever I think about Gaby.

Troy went into his room and wasn't surprised to find that Chad was still out. He changed into his usual pajamas—a tank top and PJ pants—and turned off the light, crawling into bed. He lay on his back and looked up at the glow-in-the-dark stars the two boys put up earlier in the day. He let his mind wander as he started to drift into sleep. He thought about his girlfriend and he hoped Chad wasn't partying too hard. He thought about Ryan at Juilliard and wondered what New York would hold for him. Lastly, Troy thought of Sharpay, alone in her pink room, before he finally fell asleep.