I look in the mirror, and I don't see myself anymore. Just saying my name to myself doesn't feel natural. I try and repeat it over and over again. Lea. Lea. Le-ah. But no, it still doesn't sound right. Because it's not me, is it? I'm not Lea anymore. I'm just a part of a person. An entourage. A Sharpette.
It all started when me and my parents one a spa vacation at Lava Springs Country Club. One of mom's magazines or something, I never really asked. All I knew was it was an excuse to sunbathe for a few weeks, check out some hot lifeguards, maybe collect a few numbers. You know, the type of thing every teenage girl wants out of a vacation. When we got there, we were greeted at the door by a woman with short blonde hair.
"Hello! You must be the O'Neils! I'm so pleased to meet you!" She gushed, grinning fakely.
"Nice to meet you too….You must be Mrs Evans." My dad said, shaking the woman's hand.
"No need with the formal names! You can call me Derby!" She laughed, and I realised her laugh was just as fake as her smile. "Let me just get someone to help you with your bags…"
"No really, there's no need--" Began my mom, but already Mrs Evans had clicked her fingers, and had people rushing around us, taking us and our bags to our suite.
As soon as the staff left, I went straight to my suitcase, and pulled out my bathing suit.
"Mom, dad, I'm gonna go down to the pool." I grinned.
"So soon, Lea? I thought we could have a family game of golf or something first." My mom said. I laughed.
"Golf? Mom, no offence, but it's not really my thing. But you and dad have fun, okay?" As soon as I was changed, I rushed downstairs, following the signs to the pool area. Not in the mood for swimming yet, I chose to sunbathe first, and grabbed the nearest sun lounger I could find to the cute lifeguard who I was smiling at. There were a few people around me, whispering and shooting me glares, but I ignored them. They probably just wondered who I was, as I had only just got there. Or maybe they were jealous that the lifeguard was smiling back at me. With the warmth of the sun slowly tanning my legs, and comfort of the lounger, I began to fall asleep. We'd had a long car journey to get there, and I guess it was taking it's toll on me. Suddenly, I was woke up by a loud screech behind me.
"RYAN! WHO IS THIS ON MY PERSONAL LOUNGER!" I jumped, confused, and saw a blonde glaring down at me. A guy who looked similar to her scuttled over to her.
"I um…Gee I'm not sure…"
"Who are you?!" Snapped the girl. "And WHAT are you doing on my lounger!" My eyes narrowed.
"I don't see your name on it." I snapped back. Clearing her throat, she pointed to the headrest, where 'SE' had been delicately embroidered in.
"Do you KNOW what that stands for?" She said, glaring at me again. I looked confused.
"No?…" She gasped, and by the look on the guy's face, that was the wrong thing to say.
"I'm Sharpay Evans! My parents own this country club!" Her eyes narrowed at me again. "Now tell me who you are, before I get daddy's security guards to throw you out." I stood stunned for a second at her attitude. "Well? I don't have all day!" As she spoke, she withdrew her pink cell phone.
"L-Lea…" I stuttered. "Lea O'Neil…My parents won a contest for a vacation here." Sharpay paused, and put her phone away, and I sighed with relief.
"Hmm…" She muttered. "Contest winner….me and my parents are supposed to be having dinner with a contest winner tonight. Oh, and my brother of course." She said, motioning to the blonde boy. He smiled awkwardly, and almost apologetically at me, as if to apologise for his sister's behaviour.
"Yeah…I guess that's us." I said, smiling slightly.
"Great!" She said, perking up all of a sudden. "So I'll see you there! Now, shoo, this is my sunbathing time." I shrugged, and went off to sit in the water garden for a while.
A few hours later, my parents were getting ready for their meal with the Evans family, and I had locked myself in the bathroom.
"Lea, stop being silly and come out!" Called my mother.
"No! She's the bitch from hell!" I snapped. "She treated me like I was a bit of dirt on her shoe, mom!"
"I'm sure it wasn't that bad, Le-Le." My dad said, trying to encourage me to come out by calling me by my nickname. "It's just one meal, you probably won't even see her again after that." I thought about this for a while, before sighing, and unlocking the door.
"Fine." I said, grabbing the dress that my mom had set out for me. "But I'm not going to enjoy myself."
Dinner, to my surprise, went quite well, and I saw another side to Sharpay. She was friendly to my parents, laughed at my dad's poor jokes, and generally seemed interested in what my mom had to say.
"So Lea." Asked Mrs Evans, looking at me. "What do you like doing?" Suddenly, I felt like all eyes were on me.
"Uh, well…" I stuttered. "I guess…I like singing. But I also like--"
"Singing!" Squeaked Sharpay. "Really? I love singing! I've been the star of every school musical!"
"Oh that's um…great…" I muttered.
"Me and Ryan are the best duo you have ever seen!" She continued as if I'd never even spoken. "You see all those awards in the hallway? They're for me! We have a talent show every year here, and I--well, me and Ryan-- win it every year!"
"Well well, two brilliant female singers at one table! Who would've thought!" Laughed Mr. Evans. I smiled weakly.
"We should sing together!" Grinned Sharpay. "If Lea would like to of course. Oh, I've got the perfect song for us to sing!"
"Um…" I stuttered. "I don't know…."
"Go on Lea." My mom said. "It'd be good for you to make a friend while you're on vacation. And no-one knows the place like Sharpay does, I'm sure." I smiled weakly, knowing I was fighting a losing battle.
"Sounds great." I said, and suddenly I felt Sharpay pulling me along by my arm.
"This!" She said, throwing open the door. "Is my rehearsal room. Isn't it great!" I raised my eyebrow, unimpressed. In the corner of the room sat a stereo and an ipod dock, but other than that, it looked like a normal room to me.
"Um…Yeah. I'm sure it's got great acoustics…"
"Here!" She said, throwing me some sheet music. "We've got so much work to do for the talent show!"
"Sharpay, I don't know…I don't know if I wanna do--"
"There's your part." Sharpay interrupted again, pointing to the harmony part. "We can practise that for now, and then switch over so you can sing the melody, okay?"
"Alright…" I muttered, shrugging my shoulders. As the backing music started, we both began singing. As the song ended, I heard clapping from the door. Their stood mine and Sharpay's parents.
"Bravo!" Grinned Mrs Evans. "Oh Sharpay darling, that sounded wonderful!"
"You were great too Lea!" Said Mr Evans, too. "You perform it like that girls, and I'm sure you'll do great at the talent show!"
"Thank you daddy!" Grinned Sharpay. From behind her, I glared. She knew this was going to happen all along. She had no intention of me singing the lead vocals at all.
As the night of the talent show got nearer and nearer, Sharpay pushed for more and more rehearsals. She got her pianist to write in a part for Ryan to perform lead with her, but never once thought to change my part.
"You're doing great! Just make sure you don't screw up on the night" She said to me at every rehearsal. I shrugged, and accepted it. My parents were proud of me for having an active interest, instead of lying around the pool all day. But slowly, I began to do that more. Of course, I could only sunbathe when Sharpay wanted to sunbathe. I was also expected to be there with her brother, cheering her on whenever she wanted to play golf. I went along with it to keep my parents happy, of course. Their vacation was originally only supposed to be a week long, but since I was performing with Sharpay at the talent show, the Evans family had allowed them to stay an extra week free of charge. She bought me a dress to wear for the performance, and told her hair stylist how she wanted my hair to look. I was getting more and more frustrated at being treated like a life-sized Barbie doll, but didn't want to say anything that would cut my family's vacation short. But there were some perks to spending so much time with Sharpay - I was spending more and more time with Ryan. Yes, I was starting to fall for Ryan Evans, and I was pretty sure he liked me back. We occasionally shared smiles behind Sharpay's back, or I would find him looking at me behind his sunglasses when we were sunbathing with Sharpay. Even one day when Sharpay was playing golf, I felt his hand brush against mine, and we both blushed. Of course, we knew it could never lead to anything, because we were both stuck playing Sharpay's maids, whether we liked it or not.
As you can imagine, at the end of the summer, with me on backing vocals, Sharpay picked up her new Star Dazzle award. My name didn't go on it of course, but not that I expected it to either.
"I would like to thank the judges for picking me!" She had gushed in her acceptance speech. "But first and foremost I would like to thank Ryan, and my Sharpette!" I cringed at that name, but everyone else laughed, and thought it was cute. I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to get home, and put the vacation behind me. Just as me and my parents were ready to leave, Mrs Evans rushed up to us.
"Going so soon?" She asked, frowning.
"Yeah, we need to get back. Got a long drive ahead of us." Explained my dad, loading the last few bags into our car.
"Well then, just before you go, allow me to present you your membership cards." She grinned, passing one out to each of us.
"Well, that's very nice, but…we can't afford membership.." Said my mum.
"Oh nonsense, I won't hear a thing about you paying! You're our guests, and Sharpay would love to have Lea back next year! They had great fun this summer!"
"Didn't we just…" I muttered, but no-one seemed to hear.
So every year after that, we've spent our summer at Lava Springs, and I've spent it following Sharpay around, hanging on her every word-- just like a good little Sharpette. I want to be a lawyer when I get older, but my parents don't care. All they're interested in is me getting on the stage, and performing, and being more like Sharpay. The next year she met up with Emma and Jackie, who were both subjected to the same treatment as me, before they were inducted into Sharpay's entourage. Now none of us seem to exist out of our label. All summer, we're no longer Lea, Jackie, and Emma. I doubt anyone even knows our names. I never feel like myself anymore. I'm not Lea anymore. I'm just a part of a person. An entourage. A Sharpette.