Note to Readers: My younger sister wanted someone to watch High School Musical with her so I did… and my brother too. I immediately fall in love with Lucas (or Ryan Evans) and soon after, with that beautiful sibling love between Ryan and Sharpay. I don't think there is enough of that and after the "Romeo and Juliet" comment by Taylor; I thought it was a good idea for a one-shot so here it is. Please excuse me. This is not my section of expertise.

Summary: After so many school productions, why stop now? Because the play is Romeo and Juliet while Lucas and Sharpay are siblings? By heading deeper in their relationship, they discover a past they both miss and a future that awaits them. Ryan/Sharpay as siblings, Zeke/Sharpay.

Dedication: Michelle, my sister, who got me into HSM in the first place. Plus, I still owe her a giftfic from a while ago.


Your sister is both your mirror- and your opposite.

-Elizabeth Fishel

Twin Intuition

By Rose-Wisteria

The part was Romeo and Juliet.

It was one of those tragic tales where everyone had heard the name of and probably knew the entire story from start to finish without ever watching or reading the play. Being in the drama club and all, of course I heard of the play. Not only did I know the play… I actually learned it by heart. In conclusion, it was a pretty famous play.

If people haven't heard it already, this play was about two lovers under the name of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. They were from two opposing families. At this party, Romeo snuck in and saw Juliet. It was love at first sight. That very same night, Romeo snuck into the yard and exchanged vows with Juliet. Then, lots of stuff happened between the two and in the end, as everyone knows it, both died. This ending hence the meanings of a popular tragic play.

I read over the lines of Romeo, and perhaps with a very serious expression on my face because the next minute, my sister was by my side. Glancing down at my lines, she smiled with an evil glint in her eyes I was quite used to. The first thing that came to mind was- hell, she was wearing a lot of pink today. Pink, as I knew fair well, was her favorite color and there was nothing that would change that. Funny, pink was my favorite color as well.

What scared me was she was quiet. Awfully quiet. Knowing my sister, she was never one to be quiet for a moment. Her favorite hobbies include chatting on the phone, chatting online, and singing… all include some sort of verbal communication.

I paused. Wait a minute. Do you talk when you chat online? The last time I check, the answer was no. Chat was used incorrectly when your hands are the only parts needed for that. No speaking whatsoever. My head started to ache a bit. Ugh, I hate it when I make mistakes like that. I'm a little slow sometimes.

Elevating a questioning brow, I watched slowly as the smirk on her face widened. Instantly, I knew what she was thinking. We both love the feeling of a new play to rehearse. Theatre was our passion and nothing could replace that. No one knew this feeling better than my sister. That feeling when you read through the lines and become that character was incredible. That feeling when you first rehearse with another actor or actress on stage was exciting. Then, that overwhelming feeling when you played your role correctly in front of a huge audience and received the applause thanking for the hard work you've done was the best part of all. All of that was what the theatre was about and no one knows that better than us, with the exception of our wonderful homeroom teacher Ms. Darbuss, of course.

"I've been waiting for this role like my whole life!" Sharpay shrieked in excitement.

Wow, she reached the high notes with that exclamation. I jerked my brow again. She wanted this role her whole life? That didn't surprise me. I remember at the age of nine, Mother used to tell us the story of Romeo and Juliet without the violence and the killing and all that. It wasn't right for such young children.

My sister especially liked it. I didn't. Back then, I was one of those boys who thought girls had some sort of disease and stayed away. Every girl that is, except my twin sister. The play didn't appeal to me much because it seemed icky for a boy and girl to like each other. No, to love each other. I could not agree to it for even an instant. It seemed so unrealistic. I was young back then. I did not know any females except for my sister, my mother, and my teachers. The other girls seemed to be of a different planet. Overall, kissing was just yucky.

My sister, however, was more mature for her age. She found princess stories adorable and squeal at all the scenes when the prince and princess finally kissed in the end. For Romeo and Juliet, it was no exception. Her eyes were round as moons as she listened to every word that came from Mother's lips. She jumped and smiled when Romeo snuck into the garden. She awed when Romeo and Juliet planned to get married. That was about all, since Mother left out the last bits of the play where both characters died. Quite a good idea, I might add.

Romeo and Juliet really did not leave me a very good impression. My sister would gaze at me and asked me innocently what I thought of the play. I never lied to my sister so unsurprisingly I said it was really unrealistic and that the play was pretty stupid. It was the first time Sharpay and I ever disagreed on anything. Even now, I was not a romantic type and refused to watch movies with any hint of romance.

And it was pretty pointless to watch movies with a boy and girl slobbering all over each other anyway. It didn't mean anything to me. Sometimes, I turned my head around only to see my sister cry at the most saddest scenes. For me, I had no reaction. The only reaction for me was to hold my sister while she cried her tears out. There was always a sign of disappointment on her face when she looked into my eyes and saw nothing that came from watching some sappy movie. I had no reaction to the opposite sex and she bluntly said that I was a statue. My sister also added that I must mature sometime and face the reality that there were also these mysterious species call females living on this planet with me.

Despite all that, I showed a hell of a lot more emotion acting in front of people in school production. No one would have known that I would stare at the screen with open emotionless eyes when someone was dying in the movie if they saw how I performed on stage.

Then what was the big difference? Why do I not show any affection for the characters in movie yet played out those parts so well in theatre? The reason was obvious. My twin sister was by my side.

I could play out my part so successfully because she was always right beside me (Haha, I used lyrics from that song we sang together a while ago), playing another part. It was not only a character I was acting out when I am on that stage. Everything happened because my sister was also on that stage. It was kind of funny when I think about it. The only way I could ever show any affection as a character in a play was because I thought of Sharpay. If I fail, she would hate me. If I succeed, she would be happy. I love seeing my sister happy. I tried my hardest.

"A tragic play! I am so ready for those! Oh, did I mention that I wanted the part of Juliet my whole damn life?" My sister always repeated herself.

Haha, her whole damn life was it? Not exactly since we only heard the story since we were nine and now, we reached the age of sixteen. Wait, that meant we only heard of that play for how many years now? I think it was seven years. I shrugged. Oh well, I was never really good at math anyway.

If my subtracting was right, for the last seven years all we did was act and act and act. Theatre became a passion and Romeo and Juliet set that up from the very beginning. My sister trained her voice and her acting abilities since like forever and I was by her side for that long. I could not even recall if we had ever been separated on purpose. Even in high school, my sister took my class schedule in homeroom on the very first day and fixed it so that we had the exact periods at the same time.

By mistake and lack of observations, I remembered countless times when I followed my sister and only to find myself in the girl's bathroom. Typically, my sister and the other screaming girls would kick my ass out before I could fully comprehend why I was not allowed at such a place. I was a little dumb and slow. Mother always pointed out how I was the "dumb one" and my sister was the "clever one". It didn't bother me much because it was true.

"Hello? Are you like out or something? Did you not hear what I say?" My sister asked with some form of annoyance on her identical face.

"I heard you the first time." I answered slowly, choosing each word carefully just in case my sister erupted on me. It was not funny when she does.

"Where the hell have you been then?" She questioned incredulously, lifting her finely made eyebrow at me. "This is so unlike you!"

"Don't you think Romeo and Juliet… is a bit too… romantic for us?" I suddenly had to tell her exactly what was on my mind.

Surprisingly, she did not scream. She did not even frown. Suddenly, she took a hold of my hand and squeezed it affectionately like any sister would. For that instant, we connected and I knew she understand my problem. She was my twin and we always had this bond, something that could never be replaced. We talked through our minds sometime and this was no exemption.

"I know you never liked playing parts like that," Sharpay smiled warmly, lowering her voice to a soft tone, "You always did it because I dragged you headfirst into it."

I did not want to admit it, but she was correct. She was happy whenever I became her partner in any play or musical or production. I did it because she was happy and I didn't want to disappoint her. It might sound a bit awkward for me to say this but my twin sister was the world to me. Without her, I would have never started acting. Without her, I would still have low self-esteem. Without her, I would still be a nobody- a boy who was still too afraid of the opposite sex. True, I was still a bit afraid of the opposite sex but it grew less and less. Now, I could even talk to Kelsi or Gabriella without my nerves getting in the way. It was all Sharpay's doing.

"However," Her voice broke into my thoughts, "You still have to do it because you have nowhere to run." Her glossy smirk returned in its former glory. "I can track you down anytime. I know where you live."

I returned the smile. "Do you think Romeo is the right part for me? I mean there are other lesser roles I can play…" But as I trailed off, my twin sister grabbed a hold of both my shoulders and spun me so I could look at her face to face. Boy, were her eyelashes silky today. Oh, and she overdid the eyeliner as usual.

"My brother playing a lesser role? Don't make me slap you!" My sister frowned, still gazing into my eyes with indignation. "I know you can do it! It is no different from any other characters we had acted out before! Are the lines too hard?"

I shook my head. No, I memorized them with you at the age of twelve remember?

"They shouldn't be! We memorized them at the age of twelve! Please, Ryan, knock it off and tell me what's wrong!" My twin sister snapped at me sharply before adding, "You overcome this before remember? You had problems with playing out romantic roles before but we overcome it didn't we?"

"Yes." I nodded my one-word answer.

Furious, my twin sister continued to investigate my problem, "Then what is the matter? For the love of Christ, would you tell me?"

Dropping my gaze to my lines again, I turned the pages over carefully. My twin sister wasn't letting go of my shoulders or trying to stop what I was trying to do. We read each other mind's so well but when I wanted to be in my own world, she had no idea what was going on. My sister was my twin and there was nothing to stop that.

Finally, my hands stopped at a page. Afraid to look up, I kept my eyes down when I spoke the next words, "There are quite a number of kissing scenes."

Relief rushed over her identical face. "Is that all? You got all shy because of that?"

A hint of a blush appeared on my cheeks without me knowing it. She seemed way too carefree for my taste. I made no response although I almost jerked up. I heard my sister return to her place quietly beside me, letting go of my shoulders. I continued to sit there, a little bent over the chair, gazing at the lines with a lost expression on my face. I frowned.

"We are twins." I said that out of the blue.

Some lines of disbelief stretched my sister's fine forehead. "So?"

How am I supposed to spill the beans when her matching eyes pierced into mine? Shaking my head to extract those eyes from my mind, I nervously stared at the interesting wall nearby to avoid answering her question. My shaking fingers unconsciously slipped down over my knee, clumsily letting the thin booklet fell to the floor with a thud. The sound seemed to ring through the silent room.

At last, I formed all these shattered thoughts into sentences. "People will talk."

"Do you think I care what the hell people say?" My twin sister exclaimed sharply, her eyebrows burrowing. As her twin, I immediately caught the hurt in her tone. Again and again, she kept hurting herself by lying like this.

"If you don't care what people say, then why do you buy an appearance befitting of a queen? You buy the most expensive clothes, costing more than what our parents can afford to pay. I should know. I carry your bags." A smile shaped my lips at the thought of those long hours of standing in line, paying with my credit card for my sister's clothes. For some reason, my parents entrusted me with the credit card. It didn't help much since I still paid for her anyway.

"Of course you would carry the bags for me. Who wouldn't want to carry my clothes?" Sharpay threw another glossy smile. Then, she leaned toward me. "You're smiling. I knew it was in you. Now cough it up. Tell me what's wrong."

Embarrassed, I rubbed my cheeks at the hotness that burned under my fingers. Why was I walking around the bush like this? With firm hands, I dropped them to the bench I was sitting on and pushed my self up to a standing position. This change of attitude nearly surprised my sister. Leaning down, I picked up the booklet I dropped on the floor and accidentally pushed my head right into my sister's jaw on the way up. I snapped. My pink hat tumbled onto the floor.

"Ryan!" Sharpay screeched loudly, rubbing her jaw.

I knew what she was going to say after that.

Before she could say the next few words on her mind, I continued for her, "Stop being such a wannabe athlete." My eyes turned downward with a glint of sadness.

"Ryan…" Her tone lowered substantially. "I really do care too much about what people say. Maybe they were making fun of me behind my back. Maybe they were calling me names like 'Ice Queen' when I am not looking. And maybe people will talk more about us if I played Juliet and you played Romeo. However," Sharpay stopped and dug her fingernails into her skin, "one thing I know for sure is that you will always support me until the very end."

At those words, the answer occurred to me at last. That sentence really annoyed me like nothing else. Will I always be there to support my twin sister until the very end? From what I could conclude so far, the older we are, the farther away we were to each other. With the thought of college coming in a couple of years, I felt a shiver through my spine. College was determined to separate us. I was sure of it.

"That bothered me." I whispered silently, my head dropping. "That's what I hate about growing up. Remember when we were young?"

"Please. I was the star of my class. How can I forget?" Sharpay curled her lips, folding her arms across her chest as if demanding attention.

"Back then, we would sleep in the same bed, share the same clothes, and even shower in the same restroom at the same time." Sharpay's cheeks reddened dramatically at the mention of the last part. Girls.

"Now that I think about it, what was wrong with me?" My sister faked a tone of disbelief, behind her amused smile. The whole act amused me.

"We used to do everything together. We did not care much for these gender issues and during that time, I truly felt we were one." I started to speak as I recovered my hat from its fallen position. Wiping a few dust from it, I popped it back on my head. "However, as we grow up, we also grew apart. Gender issues. Society opinion. Theatre is the only activity keeping us together." I paused, my voice shaking with fear at what I was about to say. "I'm afraid that this play might take that away from me as well. I don't want to lose my sister."

Her identical eyes softened at those words. In front of the student body, she never allowed such emotion to cross through her eyes but right now, as the two of us were in the same rehearsing room together without another person in sight, she placed herself in a position to be different.

Everything made sense to me now. It was impossible to know what you were sad about until you hit the right subject. Dumb me. If people were to talk about how we played the role of Romeo and Juliet, our theatre career might be in jeopardy. Then, I would lose the only activity that was keeping my sister and I together. Growing up meant losing your innocence and your ability to be close to your sister. Theatre became the only way we could express feelings toward each other without a rumor spreading through the school. Society locked people's feelings into a jail that could never be released in the open. Chances were this would cost me my twin sister.

"We were able to kiss each other when we were small and everyone would have thought it as the cutest sight in the world. Now, if we were to do the same thing, everybody will shun us." I said every word with extreme care.

"I don't care." The older twin by a few seconds stated. "We're actors and actresses. It's our job. We must do our job correctly no matter what people say."

"How about Zeke?" I elevated my eyes up in wonder.

"If he doesn't understand what it means to be performer, then too bad. I have my own set of rules and he has his." Sharpay decided to sit down again and cross her right leg over the other in a ladylike sitting position. "I waited for this role my whole life and there is no one else I would want to play Romeo than you, my twin brother."

"I'm proud to call you my sister." I smiled in understanding at everything my sister said. My heart seemed to have lightened somewhat as well. I sat down again after all the 'drama' and continued. "I've been confusing real life with the theatre."

"Because theatre is better than real life. Real life cannot be controlled. In the theatre, it goes by my rules." Sharpay grabbed the light book from my hand roughly and eyed me suspiciously. "Do you still have a problem, dear brother?"

"With you as my sister, what can go wrong?" I smiled lightly.

"As long as you remember to brush your teeth twice before that scene and wash your face thoroughly." My twin sister wagged a finger of warning at me.

"As long as you remember to use less lip gloss before that scene and cut down on the heavy perfume." I returned the warning with a statement of my own.

We knew each other well. Playfully, she smacked the booklet on top of head, messing my hat and my hair.

"Zeke likes it." She gave me somewhat of a whining argument. Getting up, my sister stared down at me with her usual bright eyes that read content in it. "Life continues. We will always be forced to grow older and accept certain changes. However, on that stage in front of hundred of anonymous faces, time stops for us. For those moments when there is nothing more important than the lines we speak, it is as if we can finally control time."

Walking over the door and opening it, my twin sister Sharpay Evans was greeted by the basketball player name Zeke, who was already waiting patiently outside the door for her. She wrapped her arm around the crook of his and took the basket of goods from his offering hands.

"I heard a lot of talking in here. What was all the commotion?" Zeke asked.

My twin sister started, "We were—"

"Practicing our lines," I finished her sentence.

The other male jerked an eyebrow before shaking his head and mumbling, "it must be a twin thing."

My sister glanced back at me one last time before she said, "Even if we can control time in the theatre, we cannot do the same in real life so be sure not to over think and be late for lunch and more practice later." My sister paused before she winked, "Remember, the theatre waits for no one." Funny thing was I didn't think very much and my sister knew that very well. How ironic.

When that door opened and my sister left with her boyfriend Zeke, I caught the scent of something delicious being served in the school cafeteria. Sure, my twin sister said the food was total garbage and preferred Zeke's cooking, but I couldn't pass up on a meal. I may not understand everything my sister barely told me about growing up and learning to play the part of an actor, but one thing was for sure, I understand when it was time to continue on and eat some good macaroni and cheese. Yes, cheese sounded good right about now.

Ending Notes: I hope that wasn't too bad. I tried my hardest to keep everyone in character especially Ryan. This is the first time I had to write more modern works like high school subjects. Oh, and for all my loyal fans, please do not worry. I will be back to your section soon and write more! Oh, lastof all, I love HSM! Please R & R or no cookie. Minnie loves everybody.