Ryan waited until Gabriella's car was out of sight to turn around. Sighing heavily, he kicked a few rocks and moseyed on back to the Lava Springs Resort building. He kept his eyes firmly on the ground, not wanting any distractions to take him from his last moment with Gabriella this summer.
Sharpay watched her brother intently, her lips pursed in anger. She was reluctantly accepting of the fact that her brother was now such wonderful chums with those Wildcats, but this…oh this was going way too far for Sharpay to handle. She had played nice all summer, either ignoring or being as civil as possible to their employees. She loved her brother and wanted him to be happy, whether she agreed with his choices or not. But this was the final straw. Hugging Gabriella Montez was not on Sharpay's okay list.
As her brother drew nearer, still oblivious to the fact that his sister was waiting impatiently to have a word with him, Sharpay had a sudden revelation. A clever smile played on her lips as a light went off in her head. Perhaps Ryan hugging Gabriella could prove advantageous to her. She quickly scuttled out of the way, making sure to avoid Ryan as he came close to the building. She would have a little chat with him later.
Ryan entered the building and took his hat off, a rare occurrence, and exhaled loudly as he pushed back his hair. He was confused about his feelings and what he should do, but he had no one to turn to for help. Mom would not be able to handle the fact that her little baby boy had developed a crush, and Dad would just smile and tell him about when he was younger and fix his hat. And Sharpay…wow, he didn't even want to go there. So he replaced his cap and walked through the hallways of the place.
He finally found his parents in the weight room, his Dad showing off by lifting what Ryan was sure were fake dumbbells and his mother practicing her yoga.
"Hello, Son. What've you been up to?" his father asked in a great, booming voice.
Ryan shrugged, "Nothing much. Just…getting ready to leave."
His mom looked over at him with a smile, "Oh, Darling, listen, your father and I are going to stay at the resort an extra week. You know…so we can have a week without you kids hanging around here all the time."
Ryan grimaced at the thoughts that popped into his mind of his parents alone, but they merely laughed heartily.
"Yeah…okay. I'll go find Sharpay and we'll get going, then. Uh…I guess we'll see you guys next week," he said awkwardly, leaving them to their business.
Sharpay had snuck in the back door of the resort and had walked into the music room where Kelsi so often worked on her piano, hoping to find the little composer there.
Sure enough, Kelsi was seated at the piano, playing one of her newest compositions when Sharpay walked in, grinning mischievously. At the sight of her, Kelsi's eyes widened and she packed away the music that she had been rehearsing.
"Why, Kelsi! I'm so glad to see you here! It's good that you haven't left yet because I wanted to talk to you about this year's fall musical…old pal," Sharpay said, pleased with herself for adding another touch of friendliness to her statement.
Kelsi merely stared at Sharpay neutrally. She had known Sharpay long enough not to fall for her "niceness" act this summer. Sharpay was unpredictable and could turn on a dime, so Kelsi tended to walk on eggshells when she was near. She found herself wishing Ryan was there as well because, especially this summer, he had been standing up for Kelsi more often.
Seeing that Kelsi wasn't going to start the conversation, Sharpay continued. "So, I'm hoping you'll write this year's fall musical because you did so beautifully with the one last winter...despite the fact that my brother and I were reduced to mere understudies. But you could use one of your old ideas for a musical…or a new one, if you like. I just have one teensy little suggestion that I would prefer you use."
Kelsi rolled her eyes. Like she didn't see this coming.
"Make sure that the musical has a lot of upbeat duets, so that they involve a lot of dancing, okay? Especially with partners. That's all I ask of you," Sharpay said smugly.
Kelsi scrutinized her, "What if I want to use a softer, more intimate play this year? I mean, I was planning on…"
Sharpay cut her off at the first sign of defiance. "Come, now, Kelsi. We wouldn't want your last paycheck from Lava Springs to get…conveniently lost in the mail or anything, would we?"
Kelsi's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."
Sharpay looked at her innocently, "Wouldn't what? If that happened, just what would you do about it?"
Kelsi looked down at the ground, intimidated. Everyone knew she couldn't stand up for herself, especially when it came to Sharpay.
Sharpay smirked. "That's what I thought. So do we have a deal?"
Kelsi simply nodded. "Yeah, I'll do it."
"Good," Sharpay said triumphantly.
"Hey, Sis! There you are. I think it's time we get going," came a voice from the doorway. Neither Sharpay nor Kelsi had seen Ryan come in and both their heads shot to look at him.
"Ryan? How long have you been standing there?" asked Sharpay worriedly.
Ryan cocked his head. "I just got here, why?"
Relief flowed into her as Sharpay answered, "No reason. Alright, let's go."
Ryan let Sharpay rush past him prissily out the door and he turned to follow her. But before he started walking, he looked back in at Kelsi.
"Hey, you should get going, too, Kels. Your shift ended a long time ago," He said warmly to Kelsi.
Kelsi blushed and said, "I know. I was just…practicing. Then Sharpay came in and…"
Ryan looked at her, concerned, "And what?"
Kelsi wanted so badly to tell Ryan; to trust him. But she just didn't have the willpower that he did: the willpower to break away from Sharpay's orders.
"Nothing. We just talked. I'll see you in school tomorrow," Kelsi said lamely.
Ryan grinned widely. "Yeah. I'll see you."
Then, he followed in his sister's footsteps to get to their car in the parking lot. Kelsi watched after him longingly, her heart fluttering wildly, but shook that thought from her head. There was no way that could ever happen.
Grammatically, spelling-wise, character-wise or length-wise, please let me know how you feel about this story and what I am doing right or what could be done to improve it.
