The final bell of the day rang one Tuesday afternoon, and Ryan Evans followed his sister to their lockers. He was feeling accomplished, because finally he was making friends, and having fun. He just needed to convince his sister that hanging out with the gang of Wildcats wasn't as horrible as she thought it was.
Last weekend he had actually gotten her to come with them to the mall. She had told him that it was strictly because she needed to buy a new pair of high heels to go with her new outfit, but Ryan knew that it was because Sharpay wanted friends, too. She could deny it all she wanted, but inside, Ryan could always tell if Sharpay was only trying to keep up her image.
"I still don't get why Zeke keeps stalking me," Sharpay told him, opening her locker and stopping to stare at herself in her mirror. She paused to fluff her hair and pucker her lips at herself before retrieving everything she needed to take home. "Well, I do understand why he does it. I mean, look at me--" she gestured to herself, looking at Ryan for a second, "but I wish that he'd stop. He is so out of my league."
"He likes you a lot, Shar," Ryan told her. Sharpay rolled her eyes and handed Ryan the books she needed for the day, slamming her locker shut. "Besides, he's a nice guy, and if you would just give him a chance, he might become less of a stalker."
"Eh, I'm not sure. I've already got my eyes on another guy," she winked at him and spun around on her heels, walking out of the doors that led to the parking lot.
Ryan arrived at their car and put Sharpay's and his books on the roof of it as Sharpay dug in her purse for the car keys.
"Ryan, Sharpay!"
Both twins snapped their heads around to find Troy Bolton running after them, wearing his basketball jersey. He jogged up to Ryan, since Sharpay had already disappeared into the car, seeing who had called them, and not wanting to have to talk to him.
"Hey dude," he said, sounding a bit out of breath from running all the way to the parking lot to catch the Evans twins before they left. "Me and the gang were thinking of getting together at the park on Saturday, and wanted to invite you and Sharpay to come along with us."
"Alright, I think that we're free that day," Ryan said in reply.
"Awesome. We're gonna go biking up that hill, and then have a picnic sort of thing. The girls insisted," he added quickly, not wanting to sound too feminine.
Ryan laughed, "Yeah, we'll be there."
"We're starting around 11 in the morning, so meet us at the front, okay?"
"We will, thanks."
"So, it's settled?"
He nodded, "Yeah, sounds great. We'll meet you at the park Saturday at 11 then?"
"Okay man, see you," Troy said. He ran off to Chad, who was waiting by the doors of East High for him impatiently so they could get to basketball practice before Coach Bolton could reprimand them for being late.
Ryan smiled to himself. This was one of the first times that he had friends other than his sister, and it felt great. He finally felt that he had a place where he belonged. He looked to his side, wanting to see his sister's reaction to the news as well, but he found her sulking in the passenger seat of her pink convertible.
He was about to ask her what that the matter, but she cut him off before he could say a word.
"Ryan, why did you agree to that?" she snapped. "You know I don't do that kind of stuff!"
He thought about the biking trip that he just agreed to go along with, and sighed in realization. Sharpay can't ride a bike. Sharpay can't ride a bike. Sharpay can't ride a bike. She never had to. She never wanted to.
When they were younger and their father had bought them bikes with training wheels, Sharpay had bluntly refused to touch, even look at the contraption standing before her, not even when their dad put pink streamers and a matching pink horn on the handlebars. Ryan, on the other hand, picked up on it instantly. He even had his father remove the training wheels by the end of the day.
"Shar, I completely forgot! You can cancel out if you want, or I ask them if we could go to the movies inst--"
"Just drive!"
He stumbled backwards in order to catch the car keys that were thrown at his face. Ryan started up the engine and drove home, every so often pausing to glance at his sister, who just stared out the window, arms folded across her chest. A few minutes later, he pulled into their long driveway and Sharpay opened the door abruptly, stalking out without waiting for him.
Ryan noticed Sharpay's Louis Vuitton bag lying on the passenger seat as he was getting out of the car.
"Shar, you forgot your bag!" he called after her. All he got as a response was the slam of the front door echoing through the neighborhood. Shaking his head, he grabbed the purse on his way out and pressed the lock button on his key. He was going to go try and reason with Sharpay. It was never good when his sister was angry with him.