Hi again. Thank you very much for all the wonderful reviews, I loved them :). And before I get on with this story, I just wanna apologize for the trailer. It was fine, when I went to post it, but when I had posted it, some weird voodoo happened, and it got all messed up, but thankfully you guys got the picture ;b. So my internet has been down for a very long time, because I've just moved, but it's up again now, so I'm posting first chapter of I'd Rather Be Special. I just hope, I've still got the magic, I felt a few days ago, when I wrote the trailer. Anyway, here's the 1st chapter, enjoy :).

Disclaimer; Sadly, I still don't own anything :(

I'd Rather Be Special

1. 3 Years Ago

Sharpay woke up early in the morning that fateful day 3 years ago, she was going shopping that day with her friends, or so she'd like to believe they were. She was both excited and nervous. She was excited about the whole shopping part, she was great at it, and she knew clothes, she even understood clothes. She knew it was weird to say, that you understood clothes, but she really did. She knew more than her friends, of course they knew what was in fashion, but they didn't know clothes like Sharpay did. And then there was the nervous part, that was about taking the bus, she'd never really gotten into that. She'd always talk one of her friends into paying for her, because she was too nervous to do it herself. What if she screwed up and made a total fool out of herself?

It had happened before. She'd taken the bus with her bestfriend 2 years ago, and when she was paying for herself, she dropped all her money on the floor, and she had to bend down and pick them up in front of everybody. It was extremely embarrassing, and she'd hated taking the bus ever since, even after her mom's "they say it take 15 good times to out number a bad time"! It was idiotic, what was she gonna do, take the bus 15 times to get over that one time? And what if a new bad experience happened in those 15 times?

Sharpay had always been paranoid with almost anything, which made her bestfriend 2 years ago call her 'Chicken Little'. That same bestfriend ditched Sharpay a year ago, and since then she hadn't been able to make any real friends. She had tried, but she'd just been comfortable with Gabriella for so long, she hadn't bothered to make other friends, and in those years they were friends, she'd completely forgotten how to, at least that was what she told herself. The truth was, she was simply too scared to try.

She got up and got ready for the day. She picked out an outfit, put it on and went downstairs for breakfast. Ryan was already sitting in the kitchen at the kitchen table, eating breakfast, when Sharpay entered the room, looking tired.

"Hi, Shar. Good morning." Ryan greeted his sister, as she grabbed a bowl from a cabin and sat down next to him.

"Yeah." She said, brushing him off. She wasn't really good at greeting people, especially when it came to something with good in it, and she was even worse, when it came to saying properly goodbye. That was one of many things, that seperated her from her friends. She had never really been good at thank you's either.

"Would it kill you to say good morning like normal people?" Ryan asked, as he watched his sister pour milk and cereal into her bowl. "And while we're at it, I would like to teach you a new word, can you 'please'?"

"I'm sorry, Ry, but I don't see the point." Sharpay replied, and she began eating her cereal. "I mean, it's polite and everything, but have I ever been?"

Ryan seemed to think about it for awhile, and then he said; "Ok, I see your point. You've never been polite, only on special occasions."

"It's really odd." Sharpay remarked, "I was raised to be, and I want to be, but I can't. It's like it scares me to be polite. I try and everything, but it just feels weird coming out of my mouth, and I don't like it. Is that weird?"

"Yeah, but you've always been different. You've said so yourself almost your entire life." Ryan pointed out, and Sharpay started wondering, that maybe there was more to it than just being different?

"Yeah..." She trailed off, as her mind began running freely. Ryan was right, she had always said, that she was different, and she had always been, as long as she could remember, but she'd never thought anything of it. Of course, it had made her really sad from time to time, and she'd come home crying, wondering out loud, why she was so different? Why she was a freak? Why she wasn't like anybody else? But her mom with always say, that everybody was different, and that was what made everybody special. She didn't believe it one bit, she was different more than anybody. Right now she didn't care, even though it sucked, but she had friends, and they were going shopping that day, so she couldn't sit there and wonder all day long.

"What are you thinking about, Shar?" Ryan asked, just as he'd finished his breakfast and put the bowl in the dishwasher.

"Just stuff, don't matter." Sharpay said, quietly, and she finished her breakfast. "Anyway, I've gotta go now. Big day today. I wouldn't want to miss the bus, oh how I love to ride it."

Ryan chuckled at his sister's sarcasm and said goodbye to her, and she left with a "Yeah, whatever.", and Ryan began wondering about the same thing Sharpay had. There definitely was something unregular about his sister, and he'd like to know, what it was.

IRBS

10 minutes later, Sharpay stood, waiting for her friends at the bus stop. She really disliked that kind of places, or any public place for that matter. She had this unpleasant feeling, that everybody was watching her, thinking nasty things about her, giggling at her and whispering about her. It made her feel small, out of place, a little scared and very nervous. She'd tried telling her friends about it, but they'd just tell her to 'get over herself', as if she wanted all eyes to be on her, but really she hated it like no other thing. And if she tried telling her friends that, they'd call her a liar, because of the fact that she was in the drama club and always got the lead in the school plays. That wasn't because she liked attention, though, it was because it was her safety net. She'd been acting, singing and dancing since she was 3, and that was the only reason, she felt safe doing it and even dared, because truth be told, she hated speaking in front of people. She got scared and nervous, when she had to - especially in class, but on stage she was usually with Ryan, so the eyes could as easily be on him as on her, and that was what she made herself think, when she was on stage, otherwise she didn't dare.

"Sharpay!" One of her friends called, as they approached Sharpay. "So are you planning on paying yourself this day, or do we do it for you? I could hold your hand, if you'd like?"

Sharpay knew it was meant as fun, but she couldn't help but always take things a little more personal, than they were. She cleared her throat and replied, barely audible; "Uhm.. I was thinking, uhm... maybe... maybe we could walk?"

"What do you say, girls? Do we take her with us to the mall?" Another one of her friends kid, "I mean, she'd rather hang out with boys anyway. She spends almost every hour with that black boy, what's his face? Oh yeah, Chad Danforth."

Sharpay looked down at the pavement, she could feel the tears trying to fight their way out of her eyes, but she wouldn't let them, not in front of her so called 'friends'. Truth was, she didn't feel obligated to wear makeup and do the things, girls are expected to do, when she was with boys, she could just be herself - at least more than she could with her other friends, who were girls. And then Chad seemed to be the only person on the planet, who found her weirdnesses cool, so she couldn't help but care for the guy.

"Can't we just get going?" Sharpay said, as clearly as she could, without sounding like she was on the edge of crying. "I mean, as 'fun' as this is, it's not the reason, we're gathered here today. We're going to the mall to spend some money, so can't we just get off of Sharpay's case?"

She had a habit of speaking of herself in third person, and then all of her friends would have a field day, because they obviously thought it was hilarious to tease her about it.

"Y'know girls? Rumor has it, that Sharpay get her school money back last year, and now we know why?" The third one laughed, clearly thinking she was funny, one of the other's only giggled slightly, and the second just stared strictly at the friend, who made the joke.

Cheap shot, but it was the tip of the iceberg. The first tear began to make it's journey down Sharpay's cheek, and they were soon followed by a whole stream. Why did they have to get it off by teasing her, the only one's amused were themselves and no other's. The girl staring strictly rushed over to Sharpay and enveloped her in a friendly hug.

"Nadine, that wasn't funny." The girl, by the way called Lilee, told her friend, obviously named Nadine. "It's not Sharpay's fault, she isn't doing so well in school right now, and you shouldn't tease her. Now, let's just get on the bus, go to the mall and have fun! I'll pay for you, Shar."

And as if on cue, the bus arrived and they stepped inside. Lilee payed for Sharpay, as she said she would, and Sharpay was happy for that, but she couldn't help feeling invalid and helpless, like a little child who couldn't do anything on its own. She didn't mention it, though, and neither did Lilee, she just smiled at Sharpay. She brushed the feeling away and gave Lilee a smile back, and together they wandered to the back of the bus to sit down next to Nadine and Chase, which was the name of the third friend.

Chase was a sweet girl, and when other's teased Sharpay, she almost never joined, and that was much appreciated, but today she joined, and Sharpay resented her a little for that. Sharpay let that feeling slide as well as the previous one. What she felt didn't matter right now, what mattered was that they all got out of this shopping day happy and in one piece, as they almost always did.

"Do you think I'm different?" Sharpay suddenly asked out of nowhere, and she surprised both Chase and Lilee with the question. Nadine didn't seem surprised at all, it was like she had suspected the question to come any minute. "Any maybe, I dunno, weird?"

"Sharpay," Chase started her sentence weakly, "I'm sorry, but yeah. I'm really sorry, but you're both different and weird, but it's one of the reasons I like you. Honestly."

"Well, I've never really noticed it. I just assumed, you had a very strong personality, and you just came off weird because of that." Lilee said quietly, this subject made her uncomfortable. "But now that you mention it... A little bit, yeah. Actually a lot, I'm sorry too."

"I'm gonna be completely honest with you, Sharpay." Nadine said, eagerly, as if she was excited to get another opportunity to tear Sharpay down. "You're a total freakshow. Freaks'R'Us, you'd be the president, and I'm not sorry, because it is the truth."

"Way to be a good friend, Nady." Lilee spat, "She asked you a question, she didn't tell you to give her breakdown. Yes, she's weird, but she's nice too."

"People are wondering, why we're friends with her. It's pretty obvious, how weird she is."

The bus stopped at the mall, and the friends didn't say a word to each other, they just exited the bus quietly. Chase was too nervous to talk, she had a feeling, that whatever anybody said would just make things worse. Lilee was too angry at Nadine to say anything, she'd just blow up if she had to. Nadine was simply Nadine, a real bitch, and she knew, that if she talked, no-one would answer her, they were too mad at her. And then there was Sharpay, she was busy crying on the inside, it was all her fault, she was such a screw up. She always messed things up, at least that was how she felt, and according to herself, Nadine was right about her being a freakshow.

They entered the mall, and it lightened the tension a little bit but not much. It was packed with people today, they could hardly get around, and Sharpay just wanted to be invisible. She hated big gatherings, as mentioned earlier, and she felt sick, and she really wanted to go home, but she couldn't, because that would only add to the freak fest.

She made a decision, though, that if she had to stay one of her least favorite places, she'd try to make the air a little friendlier. "Look, you guys, I'm sorry I brought this weird issue up. Can we just, I dunno, forget it and try to have some fun?"

They all agreed on that, and after that Nadine, Lilee and Chase headed for H&M, but Sharpay didn't move. The store was filled with people, and now she felt even sicker, knowing she was going in there.

Chase read the situation, that Sharpay was about to object, so she got ready to drag Sharpay in there, but she didn't even get to flinch, before Sharpay had clung herself to a pole, not wanting to let go at all. Chase took a hold of both Sharpay's ankles and tried pulling her off the pole and into the store, but Sharpay still didn't let go, so Nadine joined in to help Chase, but their combined power wasn't enough to pull Sharpay free, so Lilee had to join in as well, not that it made much difference, but they had to try.

"Let go, Shar!"

"No, I swore to Chad, that I would never enter that store, and the place is packed!" Sharpay yelled, grimacing her face, it was hard to hold onto the pole. It was three against one, but Sharpay was stubborn and refused to let go, even though it felt like it could happen any minute.

"Come on, Shar. Please let go!" Chase yelled, and it was like a beg, a yelling beg. They began to pull harder in her legs, but Sharpay just wrapped her arms tighter around the pole.

"I don't wanna, and you can't make me. I promised Chad!" Was all that Sharpay had to say to that, and she could feel she was beginning to sound like a baby, but at that time she didn't realize.

"Sharpay, let go. Now! Seriously, who cares what you promised that afrohead." Nadine chipped in, but it didn't help the situation at all. Sharpay was now even more determined to stay onto the pole. "Let go of that god damn stupid pole!"

"Nuh uh, I'm not gonna. If you wanna go in there so badly, go! But a promise is a promise, and I made Chad one!"

"Let go!"

"No!"

"Let go!"

"NO!"

"Fine, Sharpay, you win." They all said in a defeated undertone, and Chase continued; "But please, after we've been into H&M, you have to go with us into HVM. First of, because you love music, and second of, because we let you stay out of H&M. So what do you say, please?"

Sharpay agreed, and her friends left and went into H&M. She stood outside and waited for them, she knew it could be long, so she found a somewhat comfortable possition. She leaned her back on the pole, she a few minutes ago had clung onto so stubbornly. She let out a deep sigh and was about to let her mind wander off again, when she heard a voice from behind.

"I thought, I heard your squeaky voice, Shaggy."

She turned around and got surprised, it was Chad with some of his friends at the mall. Chad at the mall, she couldn't believe it. It was definitely a 'Dear Diary' moment, she thought to herself, as she got an idea. She grabbed her cell from her pocket and snapped a quick photo of Chad, and as she put it back in her pocket, she mumbled something like; "Evidence!"

There was a small silence, and then they both exclaimed at the same time; "I can't believe it, what are you doing here?"

"Well, me and my homies thought we'd check out some chicks at the mall..." Chad began, but was cut off by the look Sharpay gave him, that clearly said 'I don't believe you one second', so he had to admit it, "Fine, there are half off donuts at some café, we just don't know which one yet. Now you go."

"Nadine, Chase, Lilee and I are here shopping. They're in H&M right now..." And she too was cut off, but by a look that Chad gave her, "I didn't go in with them, I swear. I refused. I actually hung on to this pole and made a huge scene. But anyway, after they come out, we're going to HVM, and then I don't know. So who are your 'homies', Chad?"

"This is Trick, Carlos, Shayne, Duncan and Troy." Chad said and pointed at his friends one by one, as he introduced them. Sharpay had no idea, that in about 3 years, she'd form a special relationship with the last of them. Infact, she didn't even take notice of him, she'd already forgotten all of Chad's 'homies' names. His friends stared intensely at Sharpay, as if they could she right through, and that was when Chad realized, that he'd forgotten to introduce Sharpay to them.. "Oh, guys. This is my best girl friend, Sharpay, but she's used to be called Shaggy by us guys, or mainly me."

As Sharpay did to them, they didn't acknowledge Sharpay either. They knew each other's names now, but that was it. Troy didn't know about the future either, he just asumed she was another dumb blonde and forgot all about having met her in only a few weeks.

Giggling, Sharpay's friends came out of H&M with a bunch of shopping bags, and Chad took that as his cue to leave the party. His friends went with him, and Nadine was relieved that she didn't have to be in their presence, because she couldn't stand them, especially Chad. She was kind of a racist, but she didn't let anyone know.

"Wait up, Chad!" Sharpay exclaimed, as he'd gotten 8 feet away. She ran towards him as fast as she could, she jumped on his back and gave him a hug from behind. When Sharpay crawled down from his back, he turned around and enveloped her in a proper hug. As they stood there, Sharpay whispered in his ear, "One of these days, you're gonna have to come to my place and listen to the new cds I'm gonna get today with me, ok?"

Chad nodded with a smile, and they went their seperate ways, and they didn't see each other for the rest of the day at the mall. They were on a lookout, but never passed each other. Maybe it was because, her friends wanted to go into clothing stores, and she herself wanted to go into music stores and little bit clothing stores, and Chad and his friends hung out at that café, that sold donuts half off.

All day at the mall, when they were shopping, her friends would tease her with her being weird and the random strange things, that she now and again did or said. Sharpay knew it was meant as good fun, but she took it a little more personal than it was, and it made her really said, even though as said it was for fun. It still hurt, and Sharpay wanted to cry, but that would only make matters worse. So you can guess, that Sharpay was relieved, when she finally got to go home that day.

She walked into her house and let the first tear slip down her cheek, this day had been more, than Sharpay could handle. She knew it wasn't very teenager like, but she wanted her mommy, she needed her right then. She felt so lousy, and she'd never felt so 'different' in her entire life!

She raced all through the house, screaming for her mommy, the tears still streaming down her face, "Mommy, where are you? Mommy? Mom?"

"In here, Shar!" Her mom called from the livingroom, and Sharpay ran in there faster than she'd ever ran before. She let her mom wrap her arms around her, and she sobbed even more than she did earlier. "Oh, what's wrong, honey?"

"Why am I so different from everyone else?" Sharpay said in a tearful voice, and her mom began stroking her hair gently. "I have had a horrible day, my friends were so mean to me, and I just felt so different and out of place. The only upside was meeting Chad there, but it didn't make me feel less different. I'm a total freak mom, what's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you." Her mom reassured her, even though she knew deep inside that, that wasn't quite true, but she couldn't tell her daughter that. It would be like kicking her, while she was already down. "You're alright, sweetie, you're alright."

"Are you sure?" Sharpay asked, and with a nod from her mom, her mood lightened up a little bit, and she started showing her mom, the things she'd bought. "I bought 5 cds, and I know you might think, it was really expensive, and you shouldn't trust me with money again, but some of them were on sale. Anyway, I got Atomic Kitten's Feels So Good on sale and also one with a band I've never heard of before; Girls Aloud, I thought I might as well give it a listen. The cd is called 'What Will The Neighbours Say?', and then I got 3 others, that weren't on sale, and that's that."

Tracy, her mom, smiled at her daughter. She loved hearing her daughter talk about music, because she knew, she was passionate about it. She just wished, Sharpay would open her eyes and realize, she had a great talent at singing. Sharpay herself only thought, she had an ok voice, nothing worth an ovation. Tracy hated how little Sharpay thought of herself, and how she'd always tear herself down, when she was actually good at something.

Sharpay went on and on about her cd's, and her mom kept thinking about her daughters differences from others, and when Sharpay was finally done with her music ramble, Tracy had come to, that she wanted to get her daughter checked out to see, if she was indeed 'normal'. She knew places, you could get that checked, she just had to make an appointment and get Sharpay to go. That should be easy, Tracy only had to promise her daughter 50 dollars, and she'd go anywhere for an entire day, so that was what, she was gonna do.

IRBS

A week later Sharpay was going to, what she believed was a regular examination, that everybody her age went to, at least that was what her mom had told her. Of course, her mom bribed her with 50 dollars, before Sharpay agreed to go, and now she was here, waiting to go in.

Sitting in the waiting room, Sharpay felt nervous and cold, as she always did those kind of places. In her own opinion, she was a walking freak and people could see it, and she didn't want to be teased about it. She never realized, she looked like a normal girl, she always asumed, that people could tell something was with her, and in the future it didn't get any better, but she didn't know that yet.

Sharpay was bored out of her mind, so she kept scanning the room over and over again, and on the fifth time scanning it, she noticed that she was the only girl there. She found that pretty odd, her mom had told her this was a regular thing for people her age, then how come she was the only girl on the spot? Something wasn't right, Sharpay had a strange feeling in her stomach, that she had been tricked to this thing, but right then she didn't think anything of it, because her mom always told her the whole truth, she had never lied to Sharpay before.

She took another glance through the room, trying to figure out what this appointment was for, but she didn't get anywhere. She looked at her mom, questions in her brown eyes, who simply smiled at her, not helping at all. She then tried getting eyecontact with her stepdad and failed, he was impatiently tapping his finger on the chair he was seated in, he looked to be as bored as Sharpay felt. Her eyes wandered to her brother after that, who curiously glanced around the room, he'd only tagged along to support his sister. He knew what was going down, and she didn't, so he was really fascinated with fact, that all the others in the room looked just as normal as Sharpay did, and most of them weren't.

"Sharpay Evans!"

Sharpay was dragged back to reality by a lady, and Sharpay guessed, she was the one who was gonna examine her. The lady sent Sharpay a smile, who stared nervously at her mom, and she nodded at her to go on in with the strange lady. Sharpay swallowed hard and followed the lady into another room.

When they were in the other room, the lady spoke; "Hi, Sharpay. Let me tell you a little about, what's going to happen this hour. First we're gonna have a conversation, where I ask you some questions, and you answer them the best you can. We need to know, that your language is how it's supposed to be, that there's nothing wrong with it, and you know how to use it. When we're done with that, we're continuing with some physical stuff, like throwing balls, skipping and stuff like that to see, if you're correctly physically coordinated..."

"Correctly physically coordinated?" Sharpay exclaimed, obviously getting furiated (don't know, if it's a word, but let's say it is, ok?). "Do I look physically handicapped to you?"

"No, you don't." The lady sighed, "But I'm sorry, that's the procedure, I need to tell you these things, and we need to do them. Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

Sharpay suddenly felt very shy, she wasn't very comfortable talking with strangers, and that little outburst before came from irritation, and she spoke without thinking, which she often did, but now that the focus was directly at her, and she was the one expected to talk now, she wanted to disappear, be invisible.

"Uhm..." She started off, barely audible. She decided to glare at her feet, using the 'If I can't see you, you can't see me' tactic, she often used in those situations. "I uhm... I'm 13 years old?"

"Not what I'm looking for, Sharpay. You're telling me things, I already know." The lady smiled kindly at her, before continuing; "I get the feeling, you're not comfortable talking to people you don't know, am I right?"

Sharpay nodded, shyly and a little ashamed of herself. Why was she always like this?

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Sharpay." The lady reassured her, "If you turn out the way, I think you do, then that's perfectly normal."

"That's what you're doing, isn't it?" Sharpay asked, sadness in her voice, "Checking to see, if I'm normal. That's why you're going to ask me those questions, you talked about and afterwards check my physical coordination, right?"

"You're a bright kid, Sharpay, you catch on quickly." The lady simply said, as she wrote some things down on a notepad, "It's true, I'm checking to see, if you're alright, if there's something wrong with you. I have to tell you one thing, though, what I'm checking you for is a really rare thing, so you needn't worry."

Sharpay mustered a halfhearted smile, but it didn't last long. Nervously, she started fidgetting with her bracelet, which she often did to avoid eyecontact with people, infact in those 10 minutes Sharpay had been in room, she hadn't once had eyecontact with the lady, which Sharpay saw she noted down.

"I've got a suggestion." The lady said, standing up and got something out of a box, a ball. "What do you say, we start with the physical stuff first and move onto talking afterwards?"

Sharpay nodded, still looking down, and as she stood up, she muttered under her breath; "I hate when things change." And she was referring to, what the lady had said in the beginning, talking first and then the physical, and now it was physical first and talking after. She hated when things changed, and she always had a hard time adjusting to them.

The lady quickly noted, what she'd heard Sharpay say, and then she handed her the ball and said; "Throw the ball at me, Sharpay."

Sharpay rolled her eyes, this was ridiculous, but she did as she was told and threw the ball at the lady, who caught it, and then explained to Sharpay, like she was a little child, that she was gonna throw the ball and Sharpay, who had to try to catch it.

That hour lapped by slowly, but it was finally over, and Sharpay raced out of the room into the next, and she ran into her mom's arm. She felt really uncomfortable and she just needed a hug, which she got.

She and Ryan was then told to go wait in the car, while their mom and stepdad shared some words with the lady, Sharpay had been alone with for an hour. She had hated it, being alone in a room with a total stranger, being scared out of her mind for what she might have done. Weird, but that was how Sharpay's mind worked.

"So how was it?" Ryan asked, curiously, and bounced cheerfully next to his sister, who sent him a death glare.

"Go to hell, Ry." She snapped, skipping past him and made run for it to the car. She was gonna be angry for the rest of the day, she could feel it. The smallest things could ruin her mood, and then she'd stay like that all day, nothing could cheer her up. Well, somedays you could, Sharpay was very unpredictable in her mood, in other words she had many mood changes. At first her parents had just assumed it was teenager stuff, but then they realized it was more extreme, which it was, but Sharpay was really working on improving. And as she had gotten older, she'd been getting meaner and meaner towards Ryan, who sometimes feared her and didn't even dare glancing at her.

After 15 minutes of waiting in the car in silence, their parents finally approached, and Sharpay was relieved, when they drove home, she felt like she'd been waiting for it forever.

IRBS

A week later, Sharpay had forgotten all about the appointment, as she had labelled it in her mind 'No Importance', and those things she usually forgot. She would never admit it, but she had a very negative attitude most of the time, and she couldn't see, how all of those things could prove anything. Sharpay had decided, what she was herself, she was a regular girl, who just happened to be a little different from others - no big deal?

Sharpay was listening to some music in her room, a song on the Feels So Good album she bought a few weeks ago, she believed it was called something along the lines of 'Love Doesn't Have To Hurt To Feel Good' or something like that, she couldn't really remember the name of the song at the moment, but she was humming along.

Everytime Sharpay listened to music, her thoughts would run freely, and she'd feel empty inside or like something was missing in her life, and sometimes she'd wonder who she really was, because she didn't feel like she knew herself. She would think back on her life and wonder, what made her Sharpay? Who was Sharpay? A piece of her was missing and she was missing something. But as soon as the music stopped, she'd forget those thoughts and... pretend she knew herself.

While Sharpay was listening to music upstairs, her parents and Ryan were downstairs in the livingroom, and they'd just gotten the news on Sharpay's test results. They were not like they'd hoped, but they were what, they'd expected. They weren't really surprised about them, but they still had some things to discuss. Like;

"Do we tell her about this?" Tracy spoke after a few minutes and made eyecontact with Richard, who was sitting next to her in the couch. "And if we do, then what? She'd have to change school, she'd have to go to a school with kids like that."

"You know, she'd kill us. She can't go to a school like that, I don't care if she's braindamaged!" Richard said, more to himself than anyone else.

"Richard, don't call her that!" Ryan exclaimed, sending her stepdad an evil glare, as he slammed his fist down on the coffeetable. "She has a handicap, she's not retarded!"

"Actually..." Tracy began, while studying her feet, she hated this conversation, "She kinda does. One side works better than the other. But the question still stands, do we tell her?"

"I don't think so. It would be too back a change, it would turn her life upside down, and we can't do that to her." Richard said, "She'd hate us for it and blame us, and I think it's best, that she thinks she's just a regular girl, like everyone else. I think, that would be best for her."

Yeah right, Ryan thought to himself, you don't know what's best for my sister, you only care about yourself. I'm gonna tell her.

He raised himself from his chair and made his way upstairs to Sharpay's room, where he knocked on the door, and after a 'come in' he entered his sister's room.

Sharpay was lying on the floor, still listening to music, but she turned it off as Ryan entered, and she sent him a small smile. He smiled back and sat himself down on her bed, and she got up from the floor and sat down next to him.

"What's up, Ry?"

"There's something I need to tell you," Ryan started off, as he wondered how to get it out, "But I don't know how to say, so I'm just gonna come right out and say. Before I do, though, I just want you to know, that I'm gonna be there for you all the way, and if you've got any questions I'll help you. I'll help you with anything you want related to the issue, I'll even get you books about it."

Sharpay was beginning to get concerned and a little frightened. "What is it, Ryan? What's wrong?"

"I don't know, how to tell you this, and what makes it even harder is, mom and Richard don't want you to know, but I think you deserve the truth, and remember I'm her for you."

"Ryan, just tell me, would you?"

Shock, grief, fear and various mixed emotions were written across her face, as she heard what came next.

"Sharpay, you have a handicap, that's called 'Aspergers Syndrome'"

I'm gonna end it right here and now, and next chapter will pick up 3 years later. If you are curious about Sharpay's reaction, some of it will be mentioned in next chapter, but I'm sure she cried and freaked out, but we'll see about that, when she thinks back on the day, she found out about the little xtra piece of herself. Anyway, enough talking, please review and tell me, what you think about first chapter, and if it doesn't seem like the great thing right now, but it will get better, I just need to start it properly, or maybe I'm a terrible writer? Anyway you should review or I'll... No, let me say that differently; review, and I'll give you a cookie. Bribing works most of the times.

Laters, AK-tutti :)