Sweetest Devotion ||Troy Bolton||

Chapter Seventeen

Instead of the slow, beautiful melody that the other students spent the last 20 minutes (unfortunately) butchering, an upbeat song began playing. Not really surprised, Sophie scoffs as the siblings begin their duet.

Nothing but the sound of Sharpay and Ryan singing could be heard before Troy slightly leaned over and whispered, "This is insane," with a weary chuckle.

Gabriella laughed before whispering back, "I don't know...it's kind of cute I guess." Upon seeing Troy and Sophie's shocked faces she clarifies, "Ryan, I mean."

"Yeah, I understood the first-" Troy starts before Sophie elbows him harshly as if telling him to be quiet.

"I mean, yeah, I can see it," reassures Sophie. When she sees Troy's appalled face she chuckles and pats him on the leg in comfort.

The trio watch as Ryan does a cartwheel, Troy looking even more confused as time goes on. Before he can say anything, Gabriella, who seemed to be lost in thought, asks Sophie why she stopped participating in musicals. She remembers hearing on the night they met that Sophie used to act.

"Well, it's not that I don't love singing and acting. It's more that I don't really like who I have to sing and act with," Sophie starts. "Ryan isn't that bad, but Sharpay? It's just too much drama really."

Hesitantly, Gabriella asks her next question, "Not that I don't understand, but what happened?"

Sophie leans back in her chair and stares at the ceiling of the auditorium lost in thought. Before she could be prompted to continue she says, "We would always be put up against each other for the lead role. It's not that I'm a better singer than her-"

"You are," Troy butts in.

Sophie laughs,"Well you're biased, aren't you?" He waves a hand in dismissal.

"As I was saying," Sophie chides with a playful glare at her boyfriend, "I'm not better than her, I'm just different. Sometimes the director wanted someone like Sharpay and other times they would want someone like me. It usually came down to personal preference for the role we were trying out for. I never minded too much because singing was just something I did for fun. But Sharpay lives and breathes for these musicals. And she can be nasty when she wants to be. After awhile it just wasn't worth all the drama."

Sophie looks sad for a moment before she smiles and leans into Troy, "Besides, I met this needy guy who started to take up all my time."

"That's a lie!" Troy exclaims while putting his arm around his girlfriend. He leans around her to meet Gabriella's eyes before he repeats his protest.

"It is," Sophie chuckles. "The truth is I joined the volleyball team and became a cheerleader. After that I just didn't have much time, especially because I wanted to stay on top of school... and I had a needy boyfriend," she adds as if she just couldn't help herself.

Before the couple could continue bickering Gabriella asks, "And you don't miss it?"

"I do... I don't," Sophie pauses, "I don't know. Maybe next year I'll take another go at it."

As their conversation comes to an end, so does the duet on stage. Applause rings out through the auditorium before Ms. Darbus asks for any last minute sign ups.

Sophie and Troy stand to make their way to the exit from their position in the back corner, unaware that their new friend hadn't moved to follow.

"No? Good. Done," Ms. Darbus continues before picking up her bag and beginning to walk out of the auditorium.

Just as the couple reach the exit, the voice of the school's new transfer student rings out.