Romeo-less Juliet
Chapter 1
Less than Perfect
The pianist continued to play as Sharpay landed heavily on the floor of the studio. When he noticed her on the floor, he stopped and Ryan leaned down to help his sister up. Sharpay's eyes cut daggers into Ryan's soft blue ones.
"Sorry Sharpay," Ryan said quietly as she brushed some dust off her shoulder.
"Where were you?" She screeched. She'd fallen because Ryan had missed a cue; his mind had been on something else. "My pirouette leads right into a backwards fall back!" She cursed and flipped her hair back.
Ryan and Sharpay's acting studio was in the basement of their house. It had nice wood floors with slight padding here and there. There were mirrors all along the walls and a piano stood towards the door. Seated at the piano was their rehearsal pianist, Steven.
Ryan nodded vaguely and motioned for Steven to start from the top of the song.
He and Sharpay had recently been cast as the lead roles of their school play once more. And as usual, Sharpay insisted upon daily rehearsal of every song in the show.
The music started again and the Samba style of the song enveloped the twins. For the majority of the song things went well. Sharpay hit every note and Ryan didn't miss any Samba segments. Until the last measure of the song, when Ryan was supposed to catch his sister in yet another backwards fall, but as before, his sister ended up on the floor.
"Ryan!" Her shrill voice ricocheted around the room. She lifted her hand for him to help her up. He pulled her from the floor gently and instantly she shoved him to the ground. "Get it together Ryan, or I'll request you be replaced by your understudy!"
Sharpay, dark blue, matching work-out clothes whipped Ryan in the face as Sharpay huffed, and disappeared through the door.
Steven stood up and began shuffling papers on his piano. Ryan grinned. Steven seemed to be smiling as well.
"You really need to get your head straight Ryan. I don't think Sharpay is above beating up her own brother." Ryan laughed and walked behind the piano so he was standing next to Steven.
"Sharpay's not above anything when it comes to theatre. She could probably take out the entire football team if they stood between her and an audition." Now Steven laughed.
Ryan ever so lovingly planted a tiny kiss on Steven's cheek. Steven blushed and turned to Ryan. "Not here, please. I'd kill myself if your sister caught us."
"Sharpay's… kind of weird." Ryan said, as he removed his signature hat. It matched his green and silver attire nicely.
"Why don't you tell your parents and sister that you're coming over to my house tonight to go over the vocals? My parents are in New York for a concert." Steven said as he pushed a large pile of sheet music into a folder. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was a little taller than Ryan and not quite as thin, but thin never-the-less.
"I think that would work," Ryan said, taking a moment to consider. Steven smiled at Ryan's face. He loved seeing Ryan trying to solve a problem. "I'll grab something to eat and mention it to Sharpay as I'm leaving. She'll probably be on the computer all night anyway, looking at those guys on Broadway with the tight pants." Ryan smiled and put an arm on Steven's shoulder. Both of them knew that Ryan did the same thing in his spare time…
Sharpay stood in front of the refrigerator with a tiny mirror in her hands. It was blue with tiny little rubies all along the outside. Her thirteenth birthday present from her father, for his princess. She smiled and fluffed up her hair as she opened the door to the fridge and removed a bottle of flavored water.
She had navy blue lipstick on as well that matched her outfit perfectly, after all, when had anything of hers not matched?
She looked into the side of her mirror and her smile contorted into a frown. Lying on the counter of the bar was a tiny slip of paper written in their nanny's hand writing.
Sharpay, I'm out picking up your mother's dry cleaning. Could you start supper for you and your brother?
-Thanks, Sheila
Sharpay huffed when she'd finished reading the note. She hated when Sheila asked her to prepare dinner. She loathed cooking, it was so passé.
She smiled as she picked up the phone. Although she detested the thought of all the fat and carbohydrates she knew that the easiest way out of cooking was to order pizza. She was about to dial the number when Ryan and Steven walked into the room
"What do you want on your pizza Ryan," she asked sweetly, walking over to him with her hand on her waist.
"Oh, uh, I was planning on spending the night over at Steven's house…" Steven shoved Ryan in the ribs "to practice some more."
"Why don't you two stay here tonight? Mom and Dad are at the Opera so you can practice all night. My room is soundproof anyway."
Ryan darted a glance at Steven who looked slightly surprised, but not shocked. "If that's all right…"
"What," Sharpay laughed, "do you expect me to eat a whole pizza by myself? What do you two want on your pizza/" She asked again, as she turned back to look at the prices.
Ryan sighed softly and looked in Steven's direction. Steven had an odd look on his face, he didn't seem excited about the situation, but he didn't look unhappy either.
"I'll get meat lovers," Steven said with a sly grin.
"I'll have what he's having." Ryan said, smiling as well.
Sharpay lay on her bed, with her head deep inside a magazine. Her blonde hair floated to the floor and a small smile was playing on her lips. She loved the thought of Steven sleeping right next door. She'd never admit it to Ryan of course, but she really liked Steven. He was so… caught up in trying to impress her that he'd never seen her trying to impress him.
Her room was coated in pink, with many a theatre costume hung up on the wall. She had so many of the things that every other month she changed which ones were hanging up on the wall. She had the Dorothy costume form The Wizard of Oz. An Annie costume from Annie. Even the costume Gabriella wore for Twinkle Towne.
She inhaled a moment, trying to slow her blood flow. Just thinking about him made her sweaty. Heaven forbid.
Slowly a tired yawn transformed into a smile. She grinned wickedly and got up of her sofa bed. She wondered what it was that they talked about. Guys at their sleepovers. She silently edged up to her brothers door and put her ear to the door.
Suddenly, a thought struck her. Weren't they going to practice music? Summoning up the courage to enter and risk seeing her brother in his skivvies, she entered the room.
Her breath caught in her throat and a defeated "uh" escaped her lips.
