Disclaimer: High School Musical is a property of Disney. I do not own any of these characters, I just like playing with them. :-)
Part One:
The scratching of pens against notebook paper were the only sounds heard in Mr. Orfino's classroom. Gabriella Montez squinted her eyes as she tried with difficulty to read her teacher's chicken scratch handwriting on the chalkboard.
The class was copying down notes for their latest project that Mr. Orfino insisted on having, even though there was only a few weeks left of the fall semester. He was one of those teachers who preferred to have big assignments rather than the daily ones. It always resulted in more homework. Gabriella preferred the latter because they were more simple and weren't worth as much.
She had only one more line to copy when her sight was suddenly obstructed by a blinding glare. Lifting her hand to block it, Gabriella looked around to see where it was coming from. At first she thought it was the reflection from someone's watch until she looked over to the desk sitting diagonally from her. It was occupied by none other than Sharpay Evans. The source of the glare came from a compact mirror Sharpay had opened and she was now busy looking at herself not caring about anything else. Annoyed, Gabriella tried to get her attention.
"Sharpay!" she whispered.
Sharpay didn't turn around but lifted the mirror higher so the glare was directly in Gabriella's eyes. She could feel her temper rising as she tried again.
"Sharpay, I can't see the board and not to mention you're blinding me. Can you look at yourself after class is over?"
No response. Gabriella felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. Troy put his finger to his mouth indicating her to stop talking. She was too annoyed to follow Mr. Orfino's number one classroom rule about no talking as she took her pen and threw it at Sharpay. It hit her square on the head and she let out her signature yelp. She turned around and looked at Gabriella while everyone in the class turned to look at her. Gabriella sank low in her seat and looked over at Troy who bit his hand trying not to laugh.
"Ms. Evans, does this assignment excite you?" Mr. Orfino asked with a sarcastic tone.
"No, Mr. Orfino. Gabriella just…"
"Chose you as her partner for the project?" He finished.
"What?!" Both Gabriella and Sharpay yelled. He ignored them and grinned.
"This will be lovely. With Ms. Montez' brain and your talent, this will be the best presentation the class will ever see."
"But Mr. Orfino…"
"She just…."
Both girls tried to protest but the bell signaling the end of class rang. Sharpay stood up and gave Gabriella a death glare before dramatically exiting the room.
Gabriella rolled her eyes as she gathered her things. She knew there was no point in arguing with the teacher.
"So I guess I have to look for a new partner."
"I'm sorry, Troy. I did not expect that to happen."
"Neither did anyone else. Why did you decide to throw your pen at her? Bravo on that by the way. It was very entertaining." They made their way to the lockers.
"Because she was annoying me." Troy laughed as they stopped at Gabriella's locker.
"More so than usual that you decided to throw objects at her?"
"No." Gabriella opened her locker and started to put her books away. "I couldn't see the board because of her stupid mirror, and her stupid way of pretending to ignore me, and her stupid narcissistic—" She hated that Sharpay got under her skin like this. It always brought out her worse side.
"Gabriella, calm down." He took away some of her books because she was now throwing them in her locker causing a raucous.
"Sorry. It's just…I have to be her stupid partner!" Troy gave her a sympathetic look and held his arms open.
"Do you need a hug?"
She sighed. "Yes, please." Gabriella buried her face in Troy's chest as he wrapped his arms around her. "Thanks." Her voice was muffled against his chest.
"No problem."
"Oh, the damages my sister always leaves behind." Ryan had just approached them. Gabriella unglued herself from Troy and turned around.
"Hey, Ryan."
"What the hell happened in there? I just heard Sharpay yell."
"I threw my pen at her." She said simply. Ryan let out a sound that was a cross between a snort and a laugh.
"Why?"
"Because she was annoying me."
"She annoys us all, but we don't throw things at her…but maybe we should." Gabriella smiled and continued to put her books away. Ryan took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. "Um, not to make you feel any worse, but you left me partner less."
"Oh, I'm sorry." She indicated Troy who hadn't said a word since Ryan showed up. "Hey Troy doesn't have a partner either, why don't you guys do it together?" He suddenly dropped one of the books he was holding on Gabriella's foot.
"Ow!"
"Sorry!" He immediately bent down to retrieve it and on the way back up hit his head on the open locker door. Ryan winced watching Troy make contact with the metal door.
Gabriella stared at him with wide eyes when he came back up. "Geez Troy, what the hell?"
"Sorry." He said again while rubbing his head. He looked at Ryan who looked like he was about to crack up and blushed with embarrassment. Ryan put his hat back on and put his hands in his pants pockets.
"So, want to be partners?"
Troy nodded his head. "Sure, when do you want to meet?"
Ryan thought for a second. "Um, how about after school?"
"It has to be after basketball practice."
"No problem. I'll just stay and watch it. I'd rather not be home with my sister."
"Okay, that's cool." Troy continued rubbing his head. "I have to go to my next class. I'll see you at lunch, Gabriella." He turned to walk away when she called him back.
"Um, Troy?"
"Yeah?"
"My book?" Troy blushed again as he handed Gabriella her book.
"See ya." He gave her a little wave before leaving. Gabriella looked at his retreating form and shook her head.
"Is he always that weird?" Ryan asked watching him leave with his head slightly tilted. A little smirk planted on his lips.
Gabriella shrugged her shoulders. "Not usually, but he is pretty crazy." She closed her locker and rubbed her foot where the book hit it. "Ugh, this means I actually have to talk to Sharpay about meeting."
Ryan put his arm around her as they walked down the hallway. "Not only that, but work with her for two glorious weeks." She gave Ryan a glare that prompted him to remove his arm.
"Well I'm either going to kill her or myself. So prepare to be the only child."
He laughed. "It's not that bad. I've been dealing with her for 18 years, you can handle two weeks."
"I just really don't want to talk to her right now. Unless…" She stopped and gave Ryan a pleading look. He knew what she was thinking and shook his head.
"No." He turned on his heel and started to leave, but Gabriella chased after him.
"Come on, Ryan! Just tell her to meet me after school." Ryan started to speed walk trying to get a way from Gabriella's pleas.
"No! I refuse to be your middle-man."
Gabriella started to get desperate. "Please! I'll get my mom to make you some brownies." He stopped and turned around contemplating the offer.
"Tempting as that sounds, you got yourself in this mess. Good luck! Oh, and thanks for getting me a new partner. This was my blessing. Bye, Gabriella." He gave her a smile and took off in the opposite direction.
"Your blessing, my curse." The warning bell rang making Gabriella rush to her next class. Luckily it was only study hall and the teacher never cared if you were a few minutes late.
Gabriella took her seat next to Taylor and took out her planner, jotting down the dates she can meet up with Sharpay. She gritted her teeth when she noticed that to get the project done in the fastest way possible, she actually had to meet with Sharpay almost everyday.
"Hey, how was 3rd hour?" Taylor asked not looking up from the book she was studying. She didn't notice Gabriella's bad mood.
"Horrible."
She put the book down and looked at Gabriella who was vigorously writing and erasing things in her planner. "Why? What happened?" She winced when Gabriella tore a hole on one of the pages.
"You know how Mr. Orfino assigned that huge project that's due in two weeks?
"Yeah?"
"Well, he also assigned partners."
"Really? My class got to pick ours."
"Yeah, usually we do too, and Troy's always my partner until now."
"So who's your partner now?
"Sharpay," she said with spite as she tore another hole in the page. Taylor's jaw dropped.
"How the hell did that happen?"
"Long story. I threw my pen at her although I wish I threw a stapler or something heavier." Taylor looked at her in disbelief.
"Do tell me the rest." Gabriella recounted the story of what happened and how she ended up with the partner from hell.
"So who's Troy's partner?"
"Ryan, who I'm currently mad at." She could tell that Gabriella wasn't really mad at him.
"You're mad at him by default because he's related to Sharpay?"
"No. He won't talk to Sharpay for me. If this stupid assignment wasn't worth so much, I wouldn't be this stressed." Gabriella rubbed her neck feeling the tension that started to build up the minute Mr. Orfino assigned Sharpay as her partner.
"Yeah, I can't believe Mr. Orfino is making it our midterm. Chad almost died when he found that out." Gabriella stopped writing in her planner and looked at Taylor.
"Wait, what?"
"Didn't he tell your class?"
"No, he was too busy ruining my life. It's going to be our midterm?" Her voice got a little louder. Taylor proceeded with caution.
"Yeah…" Gabriella broke her pencil in half.
"Can this day get any worse?"
--&--&--&--
Gabriella trudged down the hallways towards the pink locker. She didn't even care that she was running into people in the way or that she was making a sound that sounded like she was an angry animal. She felt like she was walking to the gallows and Sharpay Evans was the hangman. The hangman in a pink outfit.
Might as well get this over with.
She stood by the wall by Sharpay's locker as she waited for her to appear. She wanted to rip the stupid star on the locker that had Sharpay's name on it and tear it into shreds.
"What are you doing here?" Gabriella turned around to see Sharpay standing behind her with a look that could kill. Does she practice that look in the mirror?
"I need to talk to you about the project." Sharpay didn't say anything but just opened her locker not even caring that Gabriella was in the way. Gabriella had to jump in order to avoid the door from hitting her. It amazed her of all the crap Sharpay had in there that weren't school related.
"Look, we should meet today, so do you think you can come over my house around 4:30?" She tried hard to be civil towards her but it was extremely difficult when Sharpay appeared not to be listening to a single word. Instead, she was looking at herself in the mirror. Gabriella was tempted to slam the door.
"You know the next time you decide to throw something at me, there's going to be some dire consequences." She slammed her locker door very loudly but Gabriella didn't even flinch.
"You know that may work on the underclassmen, but you're forgetting, Sharpay, I'm not scared of you." Sharpay eyed her up and down and got right in her face.
"You should be." Gabriella let out a cynical laugh.
"Are you serious? Who the hell says that?" Sharpay took a step back and Gabriella took a deep breath.
"Look, I just found out that this project is going to count as the midterm so we have to work together in order to pass." Sharpay's face was unreadable.
"Fine. I'll be at your house at 4:30." With that, she pushed roughly pass Gabriella. She watched her as she strutted down the hallway in usual "I'm the Queen of this school" way. Gabriella shook her head and sighed.
"This is going to be fun."
--&--&--&--
"Sharpay Evans is going to be here?"
"Yes, mom. She's my partner for the English project." Gabriella was sitting on her kitchen counter telling her mom about her day. She was exasperated because her mom had the tendency to repeat the same questions over and over again. She hated constantly being reminded that Sharpay was her partner.
"And how did that happen?" Gabriella's patience was wearing thin. She had been snappy since third hour and she knew her mom would get mad if she snapped at her. It was almost 4:30 and Gabriella really didn't feel like retelling the story for the fourth time today. And she didn't think her mother would appreciate the fact she threw a pen at someone.
"Mr. Orfino just decided to assign partners and I drew the unlucky straw."
"Well that's unfortunate. I thought Troy would be your partner. I even made him some brownies." Ms. Montez pulled out two trays of freshly baked brownies from the oven. It amused Gabriella that her mom always baked for Troy. She never even baked for her.
"Mom, Troy practically lives here. He'll probably come over today anyways."
"You're right. You know it's funny that I see him more now than I did when you guys were actually going out. Who's his partner anyways?"
"Ryan."
Her mom perked up. "Oh, he likes my brownies too. Is he going to come over?"
"Mom! What's with you and my guy friends?"
"They're cute," her mom said simply. Gabriella put her face in her hand. "Oh, I think your friend is here." Gabriella glared at her mother before looking outside the kitchen window and saw the bright pink Mustang parked in her driveway.
"Here goes nothing." She got to the front door just as Sharpay rang the bell. She opened it to find Sharpay standing on her front step with the fakest smile plastered on her face. Resisting the urge to slap her, Gabriella stepped aside to let her in the house. "Mom, you remember Sharpay?" Before Ms. Montez could say anything, Sharpay threw her arms around her.
"Ms. Montez! Long time no see!" Gabriella watched in irritation as Sharpay hugged her mom. She didn't know why Sharpay continued her dramatic antics off stage as well. Everyone could see right through her.
"Nice to see you again, Sharpay." She pulled away and looked at her daughter. Gabriella took this as a cue to save her mom and grabbed Sharpay's arm, dragging her to the stairs.
"Um, let's go to my room." Sharpay reluctantly followed, clearly annoyed that Gabriella was touching her, but maintained her fake smile in front of Ms. Montez.
"It was nice talking to you. You have a lovely home."
"Thank you." Gabriella's mom eyes were wide as she watched the two girls make their way upstairs. Once they were on the top landing, Sharpay ripped her arm away from Gabriella's hold.
"Wow," Gabriella commented as they entered her room. "Quite a show you put on down there." Sharpay glared at her.
"What? I was being polite."
"You were being fake. There's a difference."
"Whatever." She took a look around. "Cute room." Gabriella sat on her bed and watched Sharpay observing her room ready for the critique she knew would follow.
"I'm sure it's not as spacious or as pink as yours." Sharpay ignored the comment and walked towards the painting that was hanging on the wall by the bed. "Van Gogh's Starry Night, how cliché."
"Yeah, well not all of us have portraits of ourselves hanging in our rooms. And I'm surprised you even know who Van Gogh is."
"I am cultured, you smart ass, so let's get this stupid thing over with."
"Fine by me." She got off her bed and went to her desk. Sharpay opened her Prada backpack and took out a notebook and pen. Gabriella sifted through a bunch of her notes and research and handed Sharpay some papers.
"I divided the work so we don't actually have to work with each other until we put it all together. You'll do all the internet research. I figured you like that so you can check your fan mail or whatever. I'll do the book work. I was thinking we can do like a faux newspaper article sort of thing. Any questions?" Sharpay looked annoyed as she tossed the papers Gabriella handed her on the desk. She absolutely hated that Gabriella had just patronized her.
"Yeah, and at what point are you going to tell me exactly what we're doing this project on? Mr. Orfino gave us a whole bunch of stuff to choose from and it seems like I have no say on this."
Gabriella rubbed her forehead trying to fend off an oncoming headache. "Yeah, well I didn't have a say on who my partner was going to be."
"And that's my fault?" She said pointing to herself. It annoyed Gabriella how Sharpay's voice always got an octave higher when she started arguing. It was like nails on a chalkboard.
"Yeah, it is," Gabriella stated simply.
"I'm not the one who threw a pen at you!" Sharpay was in her face again staring her down.
Gabriella got in her face as well. "Well I'm not the one who was looking at myself in the mirror during class blinding everyone in the classroom, you freaking narcissist!"
"Well excuse me if I want to look good!"
"What the hell kind of excuse is that?"
"You think you're so much better than everyone because you're so smart and you dated Troy Bolton. 'Look at me! I'm freaky math girl and I dated the most popular guy in school!'" Gabriella couldn't believe the bullshit coming out of Sharpay's mouth. What did dating Troy have to do with anything they were talking about? Gabriella had enough of Sharpay and all of her stupid ways of always trying to be right.
"What?! I think I'm better than everyone? What about you Ms. I Control The Entire School? You don't care about anybody but yourself. You're the most self-centered person I ever had the displeasure of meeting and I feel sorry for anyone who has to deal with you. No one even likes you! They're just scared of you because you're such a vapid bitch!" She immediately regretted saying the last thing when she saw Sharpay flinch and take a step back. There was a moment of silence as the two girls just stared at each other.
"Ladies, this doesn't sound like you're working." Ms. Montez appeared at Gabriella's door.
Gabriella turned away from Sharpay. "Sorry, mom."
"Look I know you two have your differences but can you please be mature, be civil towards each other, and work on this project. It's important for the both of you."
"Yeah, sorry. We will." Her mom gave her a stern look before leaving. She turned to face Sharpay who now had her back to her. "I picked Medea. Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah. Whatever." Sharpay didn't say anymore as she picked up her notebook and pen and went to Gabriella's computer. Gabriella sat at her desk and opened a book. Sighing, she took one more look at Sharpay and began working.
The two girls worked for 2 hours straight without talking to each other. Occasionally, Gabriella wanted to ask Sharpay how the research was going but decided against it. She was on her fifth page of notes when her cell phone rang breaking the silence in the room. She looked at her call ID and saw it was Troy.
"Hey, Troy."
"Hi! How's the project going?" He sounded extremely hyper.
"Swell, how's yours going?" She looked over at Sharpay who didn't seem to notice she was on the phone. She was still scrolling on the computer and jotting down notes.
"Well, we're not being very productive. After practice, Ryan, Chad, and I went out to eat. Then we went back to my house and played video games. Then Chad left to go meet Taylor for their project but really make out and do other not so G-rated things. And now Ryan and I are thinking of coming over to your house and eating some of your dinner." He said this all very fast that she could hardly keep up.
Gabriella laughed. "What are you talking about not being productive? I bet you guys got to the next level in whatever video game you were playing, right?" She could hear the smile in his voice.
"You know me too well. So can we can come over?" Gabriella looked over at Sharpay again.
"Well, um, I don't know." She scratched her head hoping Troy would know exactly what she was trying to say without actually saying it.
"Do you want Sharpay to leave before we come over?"
"Well…yeah." It would be extremely awkward if all four of them hung out.
"Okay, just call me when you guys are done." Gabriella suddenly heard noises in the background and something that sounded like it was being thrown.
"Son of a bitch!"
"Was that Ryan?"
"Yeah, he just died in the game. Okay bye, see you later."
"Bye." Gabriella put her phone down and looked over at the computer to find Sharpay looking back at her. She looked tired. "Hey, listen I think that we've done enough for today."
She ignored her. "Was my brother with Troy?"
"Yeah, they're partners and not working on their English project."
"Go figure," Sharpay muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing. Anyways, yeah we've done enough." She stood up, grabbed her bag, and started walking out the door without waiting for Gabriella.
"So want to meet again on Saturday?" Gabriella asked, not really expecting her to say yes.
"Yeah sure. Does noon sound fine?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll see you then." She started walking Sharpay downstairs and to the front door.
Placing her hand the doorknob, Sharpay turned to face Gabriella. "Oh, and tell Ryan that it's a school night and our mom wants him home by 10." She gave Gabriella an unfathomable look and then exited her house.
Confused, Gabriella didn't know whether to feel guilty about not inviting Sharpay to stay for dinner, or relieved that she got through two hours working with her. She did feel guilty about what she said to her. Maybe she was imagining it, but Sharpay looked genuinely hurt by her words. Gabriella watched as Sharpay sped out of her neighborhood and then shut the front door.
"Mom! Troy and Ryan are coming over for dinner."
--&--&--&--
Gabriella and Troy were sitting on her balcony eating ice cream later that night after Ryan left. Troy was extra hyper because of the brownies him and Ryan ate after dinner. Now he was on his second bowl of ice cream.
"You know you're going to go into a sugar coma, right?" Gabriella said as she watched him eat the last spoonful.
"Well at least I'll be happy." He took his spoon and took some of Gabriella's ice cream that barely had a dent in it. "And what's with you, Ms. Quiet? You barely said a word at dinner."
"That's because you and Ryan were too busy laughing like hyenas about your project." She pulled her bowl away from him. He smiled.
"What? It's funny."
Gabriella gave him an "are you serious?" look. "You guys are doing a rap. You're the two whitest boys I know."
"Hey, Mr. Orfino said to be creative." She laughed when Troy did a gangster sign.
"You are so gangsta."
"Word. But really, what's up? I know you have something on your mind."
"Nothing, it's just been a long day. You know with Sharpay and everything."
"Yeah, how was the Queen of Mean?"
"Well we got into a fight and then we worked two hours straight without talking."
"Sounds like fun, but why are you all mopey all the sudden?" Gabriella stood up and started pacing.
"I don't know. It's just I think I kind of hurt her tonight." Troy gave her a confused look.
"Hurt her? How so? You didn't throw something at her again did you?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Shut up. I just said something in the lines of how I felt sorry for anyone who had to deal with her and that she was a…vapid bitch."
"Damn, Montez! You called her that?"
"Yeah, and then she sort of…" She shrugged her shoulders. "Flinched."
"Flinched? You're getting yourself all worked up because she flinched. Maybe she was just taken back that someone actually had the courage to talk back to her and put her in her place." Gabriella turned around and looked out her balcony.
"Maybe." She heard Troy get up and a second later he had his arms wrapped around her from behind. She leaned into him
"You're too nice, Gabriella. I bet you she's not even thinking about it anymore. Don't worry about it."
"Yeah, she's probably going to be her bitchy self on Saturday."
"Yeah, and then you'll be calling me bitching about her. What would I do with my Saturdays?" Gabriella elbowed him right in the gut. "Ugh, I just ate a tray of brownies and two bowls of ice cream. That was mean."
"Well that's what you get for being a smart ass."
"Where do you think I got that from?" Gabriella went to elbow him again but this time he moved out of the way. "I have the reflexes of a wildcat!"
"And you need to get home. It's almost eleven." Gabriella showed him her watch.
"My parents won't care that I'm here this late. They only cared when we were dating. They thought we were doing the nasty." Troy started thrusting his hips in a lewd manner that made Gabriella laugh.
"Troy, we were doing the nasty."
"Exactly."
"Alright, you have to leave. I have to go to bed." Troy kissed her on the forehead before jumping over the balcony and onto the tree. "You know the front door works fine."
"Yeah, but this is more fun." He jumped down and landed on his feet. "And remember--"
"--you have the reflexes of a wildcat, yeah, yeah go home, wildcat!"
"Tell your mom I say goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he waved and then left.
Gabriella went back in her room and started to put away the research her and Sharpay were working on when she noticed that Sharpay left her notebook by her computer. Curious on how much notes she actually took, Gabriella opened the notebook and started reading.
The inside cover surprised her. Sharpay had written down a to-do list but it wasn't what Gabriella expected. It was more of a list of goals she wanted to accomplish.
Apply to colleges
Get into colleges
Leave Albuquerque
Graduate with first honors
Finally meet someone who knows me
The last line was underlined and Gabriella read it over and over again. "'Finally meet someone who knows me'?" What did that mean? And she wants to graduate with first honors? Does Sharpay even have good grades? She always thought Sharpay paid off people to do her work.
She flipped through the pages and noticed not only was Sharpay actually a smart person, she took more notes than Gabriella did. They were so extensive that her eyes were swimming with the copious amount of research. She also noticed that Sharpay doodled in the margins. She was a fair artist. Gabriella was slightly irked that she and Sharpay had that in common. There was a faint sketch of Starry Night on one of the pages. Another thing they had in common. Cliché, my ass.
She moved the mouse on her computer and the screensaver disappeared. Her eyes went wide when she saw her desktop. All her files were gone.
Gabriella searched the trash bin to see if her files were in there but to her to dismay, the trash bin was absolutely empty.
She couldn't believe she actually felt sorry for Sharpay tonight. Trying not to flip out because she remembered something Taylor said about recovering deleted files, Gabriella turned off her computer and chucked Sharpay's notebook in her backpack.
Crashing into her bed, Gabriella turned off her light and closed her eyes. She went to sleep with thoughts of Sharpay.
The next day at school, Gabriella was determined to find Sharpay and give her an earful. And possibly a fistful. She only had one class with her and she didn't want to wait until third hour to confront her. And plus Mr. Orfino's no talking rule would never give her a chance to talk to Sharpay. Unless she wanted to throw another pen at her and get them both in trouble. Maybe it was worth it.
Not finding her in the usual spots, Gabriella went in search for Ryan. Where there was a Ryan, there was a Sharpay. Or was it the other way around?
Spotting Ryan with Troy, she went over to them.
"Hey Gab, what's up?"
"Have you seen your sister?"
"I haven't seen her since she left this morning. She woke me up and told me she had to be in school early so Troy gave me a ride since my car's currently not working" Gabriella groaned.
"What she do now?" Troy asked as he offered her some of his bagel he was currently stuffing in his mouth.
She refused the bagel. "She erased all my files on my computer, and do you ever stop eating?" Troy resembled a chipmunk with his mouth full.
"What? I'm hungry." Ryan smiled at him and then turned his attention back to Gabriella.
"She erased all your files? Damn, that's pretty bitchy." He thought for a second and then gave Gabriella a strange look. "I know my sister can be really mean, but she wouldn't do something like that. I mean she'd do something like that, but she wouldn't do it, you know?" Both Troy and Gabriella looked at him confused.
"What?" They both asked.
He shook his head. "Nevermind, are you sure she deleted them?"
"Yeah, they're not on my desktop where I save everything."
"Well, I'll go talk to her about it. I see her first hour."
"Thanks, Ryan. I can't believe she did that…Actually I can. Oh and give this to her, she left it at my house. See, I didn't throw it away like she would!" She handed Ryan Sharpay's notebook The bell rang and Gabriella stomped off to her first hour leaving Troy and Ryan even more scared of girls who were in bad moods.
Gabriella got to third hour a little earlier than usual as she waited for either Ryan or Sharpay to appear. She was hoping Sharpay would arrive first, but was disappointed when Ryan came through the door and headed towards her.
"What did she say?"
"She said she didn't delete them and that you're crazy and paranoid." Gabriella glared at him. Ryan put his hands up in defense. "Hey, don't kill the messenger. That was paraphrased. You don't want to hear the verbatim."
"She's a liar. So I just imagined my files not being there?" Ryan took a step back when Gabriella's voice started to get louder and angrier.
"You know for someone who doesn't like Sharpay, you two have the same 'I'm going to kill you' look."
"Don't compare me to her!"
"Gabriella, calm down." He put his hands together in a yoga pose and took a deep breath. "Breathe." She did just that.
"It's not working."
"Yeah it doesn't work for Sharpay either. Ow!" Gabriella had smacked him on the arm. "I just was just making an observation!"
"Hey! Don't break my partner. I won't be able to find a new one. What he do to you?" Troy asked walking in mid-smack.
"Your ex-girlfriend is mean!" Ryan feigned a hurt face and took off dramatically to his desk. Troy laughed at his antics.
"Hence EX. Ow!" Gabriella had just pinched him, too.
"Oh shut up, you eat a lot, you should have extra padding."
"Are you calling me fat?"
Gabriella gave him an exasperated look. "Do you look fat?"
"No." Ryan answered from his desk.
The classroom was nearly full now as the bell was about to ring but still no sign of Sharpay.
Gabriella took her seat and waited. At the very last second, Ms. Drama Queen strode into the classroom without even a glance at anyone and took her seat. Gabriella knew there was no point in trying to get her attention. She knew Sharpay would ignore her like she normally did. Throughout class, Gabriella daydreamed about throwing numerous objects at her.
--&--&--&--
If Gabriella didn't know any better, she thought Sharpay was deliberately avoiding her. She stormed out of third hour the minute the bell rang. She was nowhere to be found during free period. And she ate lunch at record speed and left.
Finally at the end of the day, Gabriella went to Sharpay's locker and waited for her.
"Are you stalking me or something?" Sharpay asked when she spotted Gabriella at her locker.
"Are you avoiding me?"
"I don't really care that much about you to avoid you." Gabriella stood in front of her locker so she couldn't open it. "Do you mind?"
"You deleted all my files off my computer." Sharpay rolled her eyes.
"No I didn't. Didn't Ryan tell you that?" She tried to get to her locker but Gabriella kept blocking it.
"Then why can't I find any of them on my computer?"
"I don't know, you don't know where to look?" She tried again but Gabriella wouldn't move.
"It's not there."
"Yes it is, now move!" She grabbed Gabriella's arms and pushed her aside. Gabriella was surprised at the strength Sharpay had as she practically man handled her out of the way. She sighed in defeat and started to leave. "Wait." Gabriella stopped and looked at Sharpay not really expecting anything. "Do you want me to come over and show you that I, in fact, did not delete your files?"
She thought for a second. "Yeah."
"You need a ride home?"
"What?" Did she hear her right?
"Isn't that where we're going? Do you need a ride?" Gabriella looked at her as if she grew two heads.
Is Sharpay Evans really offering to take her home? She had no idea why, but she accepted.
"Sure, let me just go find Troy."
"Don't bother, Ryan told me to tell you that Troy and him are going to work on their project at my house."
"Really?" She crossed her arms across her chest. "So you knew you were going to talk to me today and that I needed a ride?"
"I told you, I wasn't avoiding you." Sharpay shut her locker and started walking, not waiting for Gabriella. "My car's this way." She was a little surprised that Sharpay agreed to take her home. She could have simply refused when Ryan asked her.
Sharpay unlocked the doors as they approached her car. "Put your crap in the back and try not to ruin my seats." Gabriella rolled her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time as she put her backpack in the back and got into the passenger seat. She was slightly embarrassed to be sitting in car that look like it was purchased in the Barbie section of Toys 'R' Us.
"Why is everything you own so pink?"
"Because it's my favorite color." Sharpay adjusted the rearview mirror but not before she checked her own reflection.
"So? My favorite color is blue and you don't see me looking like a Smurf." Sharpay let out a little laugh to which Gabriella involuntarily smiled at.
"Wouldn't you be a Smurfette?" Gabriella looked over at Sharpay and saw that she had a little smile on her lips.
--&--&--&--
Gabriella sat down at her computer and turned it on. Once everything was loaded she showed Sharpay her empty desktop.
"See? No files." Sharpay looked at her with the most irked expression.
"I thought you were supposed to be smart."
Gabriella was really getting sick of this. She just wanted to know where the hell her files were. "What does that have to do with you erasing my files?" Sharpay threw her hands in the air in annoyance.
"For the last time, I didn't delete your files. Haven't you heard of things called folders?" Gabriella looked confused and glanced back at her computer screen. "Your lack of organization on your computer made me put all your files in folders in your documents."
Gabriella was surprised. "You organized my files?"
"Yeah, I was done taking notes and your desktop was so cluttered that I took the liberty to organize them. I'm surprised you didn't do it yourself. Do you not know how to use a computer?"
"I'm more of a pen and paper girl. I'm never on the computer. I don't even know how to check my e-mail." It was Sharpay's turn to look surprised.
"I think you're the only person I know who doesn't have their computer as a lifeline. What do you do with your time?"
Gabriella shrugged. "Study."
"Wow, you really are a geek."
"Whatever, will you just tell me where you put all my stuff?" Sharpay rolled her eyes and made her way over to the computer. Shuffling Gabriella a bit to the side, she reached over Gabriella's left shoulder and grabbed the mouse.
Gabriella jumped a little at the sudden contact. "What the hell are you doing?" She asked moving a little to her right.
"I'm left-handed and it's a right-handed world."
"Well, do you want me to move?" Sharpay didn't say anything as she continued to click on the mouse. Gabriella didn't know whether to move or stay put. Sharpay was pretty close to her. Really close that she could actually smell her.
She expected her nostrils to be assaulted by the potent smell of some designer perfume but instead Sharpay smelled like…
"Lavender and laundry detergent?"
"What?"
Did she just say that out loud?
"Oh nothing." Sharpay gave her a weird look.
"Oookay, here. There are your files." She gave Gabriella back full reigns of the computer. "Oh I also bookmarked all the internet sites I went on last night so we can pull them up easily for the bibliography."
Gabriella looked at her computer and saw that Sharpay not only put her files in folders, but she also renamed all of them. It shocked her that Sharpay was more organized that she was. She didn't think that was possible. Gabriella stared at her computer screen for a few moments not really knowing what to say. She was slightly embarrassed that Sharpay outsmarted her at something as stupid as putting files in folders. She could feel Sharpay staring at the back of her head.
"So," she turned around to face her. "You're done with all the research?"
"Pretty much." Sharpay said with an annoyed voice. "Are you done with yours?"
Not willingly to admit that Sharpay was actually ahead of her in the project, Gabriella went over to backpack and took out her notebook. "Well, we can compare notes and see what we have and we can start putting it together tomorrow."
"Alright." Sharpay took the notebook away from her.
"Hey!"
Sharpay ignored her as she flipped through Gabriella's notes. "Well, we pretty much have the same information. Mine is more extensive of course. Cute drawings." She indicated one of Gabriella's doodles that looked like Grecian woman. "Is that supposed to be Medea?"
"Yes, I thought we could put a drawing in our newspaper article." She said defensively.
"That's a good idea."
"Well, it's not like—wait what?" Did she actually agree with her?
"I said it's a good idea. And I was thinking that we should also present a little newscast to the class along with the newspaper. We can be like co-anchors or something." She tossed Gabriella her notebook.
Gabriella was shocked. She thought this project would take longer, but it seemed like Sharpay already had everything planned out. She wasn't used to being told what to do in a school project. She usually was the one who thought of everything and organized everything. Now here was Sharpay Evans taking over like she usually did. But on some level, Gabriella didn't really mind.