"Ten Months of Bliss"
Chapter 1
by TehFuzzyPenguin
Disclaimer: High School Musical belongs entirely to Disney and whatever owns Disney.
August
----
Two new notebooks, a hairbrush, and several sparkly new pens. Sharpay looked disdainfully at them before closing her shoulderbag. Senior year was not starting off with the bang she never expected it to be. Ryan walked briskly beside her, two iced coffees balanced on the cardboard tray in his hand.
Hers was the one with the pink lipstick stain.
Various drama kids smiled at her as she went past. She smirked back.
Chad whisked by, his surgically attached basketball making its rounds down the suddenly shrieking hall. Sharpay rolled her eyes.
"Hey, Ice Princess!" he yelled. Sharpay looked around carefully for authority figures before giving him the finger. Chad, for once, stopped bouncing the ball and came back to walk on her other side. His posse lingered behind. "That wasn't very nice."
Sharpay said, "You're invading my personal space."
"Oh, I see she hasn't warmed up a bit!" Chad said to the general student population.
Ryan snorted at the trite joke.
Chad looked over, and spotted the coffee. "Oh, coffee. You shouldn't have." He reached over to take a cup. Ryan quickly grabbed his.
Sharpay picked up her own and spit in it.
"Ew," said Chad.
"You're right," Sharpay said, "I shouldn't have."
The bell rang.
----
Mrs. Darbus still insisted on theater kisses and treating Sharpay like a freshman. A very powerful, talented freshman, but a freshman nonetheless.
Ryan asked, "What happened to her?" when she kept talking.
Sharpay looked at her watch. "She ate a thesaurus over break." She looked at her watch again. Five minutes over. "This is getting wretchedly long."
Mrs. Darbus cleared her throat. "Sharpay, anything you'd like to share with your homeroom?"
Sharpay inhaled. She might as well get it out of her system. "This is like, going to be an amazing senior year!" she said, doing jazz hands. She did them for too long on purpose. Beside her, Ryan fanned his fingers in a half-hearted attempt. He knew it was her performance.
Mrs. Darbus sighed. "I can only hope it will remain tasteful. All right, talk amongst yourselves quietly."
Taylor wasn't in their homeroom, so Chad leaned away from the Troy-Gabriella scene to talk to Sharpay. "Were you at the country club this summer?" he asked.
"You probably would've seen me, Danforth," she said.
"I didn't see you."
"I wasn't there."
"Well, then, where were you?"
Sharpay looked at him. Her tanned fingers slid across his forearm. She purred, "You're a really bad stalker."
----
"Where were you?" Kelsi asked at lunch.
Sharpay looked down at her salad. The lettuce was wilting. The tomatoes looked wormy. Ryan was already sucking at the bottom of his milk carton. She felt the urge to stab herself in the throat with her fork.
"I was in England for a month," she said.
"You're tan," Kelsi observed.
"It's an island." She chanced a look over the balcony at the lower cafeteria. The basketball table seemed to be vibrating. "Oh dear lord."
"What?" asked Kelsi.
Still watching the people, Sharpay mumbled, "If they try that 'Status Quo' shit one more time, I swear—"
"They're cheering," Ryan said flatly.
"They're what?" Sharpay asked.
"Cheering."
"What?"
"They're like—huddling," Ryan clarified.
"Why?"
Ryan shrugged. Sharpay groaned. Kelsi nodded.
Somewhere from the depths of hell, a cacophony of voices chanted "Gooooooooo Wildcats!"
Sharpay pushed her plate away and settled her head in her arms. "Wake me up, Ryan."
Ryan poked her. "Hey. Chad Danforth is waving at you."
----
Free period. Sharpay pulled old costumes out from storage and sorted them. High school drama was rarely glamorous and never innovative. She and Ryan then piled the clothes together and sprawled.
"I thought we left this stuff for detention," Ryan said. His voice was muffled by a sequined red hat.
"No one gets detention on the first day."
Sharpay heard Mrs. Darbus greet an arrival out in the house. "Except," she sneered, "for the alpha male and his mate."
"Ah, Mr. Bolton and Mr. Danforth, how expected. The Evans twins are in the inner sanctum of the theater categorizing the stage attire from the previous season, if you would care to assist them?"
Sharpay mouthed "inner sanctum" to Ryan and grinned. She extended her arms behind her head and stretched until she heard her shoulders pop. Relaxing carefully on top of a stack of camouflage jackets, she waited for the inevitable—
"Sharpay!" Chad said. He walked through the curtain. Troy trailed behind him.
"Hello, Troy," Sharpay said. "It's nice to know that some people never change." Troy frowned. The two loomed over the Evans twins.
Ryan, unconcerned with his position, asked, "Are you trying out for the musical this time?" Sharpay rolled her eyes.
Troy laughed nervously. "I don't know. I guess—it's all up to Gabbie. I mean, I wouldn't mind—"
Sharpay interrupted, "You're rambling."
Chad rocked on the balls of his feet. He said, "So this is what theater kids do all day."
"Isn't it luxurious?" Sharpay narrowed her eyes. "What did you do to get in here?"
"My hair is too big," he said.
"That only happens in movies."
"I just wanted to see you."
Sharpay inspected her nails. "I can imagine why."
"I wanted to try out for the musical, too."
"Someone told me you were a good singer."
Chad almost looked hopeful. "Who?"
"Nobody." Ryan laughed quietly. Sharpay smiled sweetly, "But really, Chad. Troy. This is all we're doing today."
"I'm missing practice for this?" Troy hissed.
Sharpay wiggled her eyebrows at him. "Showbiz, baby."
----
Home now. Ryan poured himself a bowl of cereal in the giant, wood-varnished kitchen.
Sharpay went to the freezer and unearthed an orange popsicle. It tasted like water and Splenda, but it was cold. "We need more," she said, and fanned herself ineffectively.
Ryan nodded. "At least we get to change soon."
"Yeah. For dance." Ryan grimaced and shoved more Honeyed Bunches of Oats into his mouth.
"Mm," he said, chewing.
"Swallow."
Ryan swallowed. "What are we going for this year?"
Sharpay bit down and winced at the cold. "Brainfreeze," she said, and screwed up her face, pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead. "Sorry, what?"
Ryan said, "I mean, last year was Troy for you."
Sharpay groaned, "Don't remind me." She looked at Ryan. "I saw you with Martha."
Ryan clutched at his chest. Sharpay smirked.
"Poor you, all jealous of Troy and Gabriella."
Ryan said, "I'm only jealous of one of them."
Sharpay said, "Of course."
They ate in silence for a minute. Sharpay finished crunching her popsicle and got up. "I suppose," she started. "I guess I'll settle for Danforth."
"Settle?" Ryan asked.
"Well, it's not like he's going to leave me alone."
Ryan shrugged. "He flirts with anything that breathes."
Sharpay said, "I'm not that easy."
"At least make him work for it."
Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Please."
"You're not actually going to date him, are you?"
Sharpay said, again, "Please," and went to go change.
----
So. I start again with a multi-chaptered Chadpay, dedicated to StarVitamin because neither of us had written a Chadpay in such a long time (and then she went and wrote one. heh). And a new style! I'm only writing a few chapters in advance, so I don't know how regular the updates will be. Much apologies.
But until then, please review! Really, any kind of feedback would be welcome.