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Part two: Progress
It was 3 days to the Ball on Saturday and he and Sharpay are finalizing plans for the masquerade benefit. They were at his house or rather his grandmother's house going over the final details. Sharpay found the venue, the caterers, organizing the volunteers, and arranged for publicity. Chad found the band and drafted some of his teammates to help with setup. They always worked well together and he does not question why he is working on this. It just something he needs to do.
After high school graduation he was given three options: get a job in pay for the dorms, stay with his parents who still treated him like he was two, or a move in with his grandmother who needed help but actually treated him as an adult. He decided that living with his grandmother was the best option. It is like having a 65 year old roommate who just happens to be related to you.
His grandmother loves Sharpay and wants them to get together. Actually his grandmother was the first person he's ever meant that like Sharpay instantly without expecting something from her. Then again his grandmother's a lot like Sharpay. They even looked a lot alike. They're both 1 million different people at the same moment, yet most people don't understand them.
Sharpay was the only one he would bring here. She is the only one who is allowed inside himself and this house. If only she would give him the same courtesy. At the same time, he cannot bring Cam here to his home. It would make their relationship a little too real. If he is truly honest with himself he cared a lot more about Sharpay then Cam. He loved Sharpay even though he does not say it out loud. He barely tolerated Cam and is very pissed off at the woman at the moment.
He's angry at Cam because he realizes that she uses everyone to make herself look better. Sharpay has overseen every aspect of this ball from the beginning to end. She was even the one that convinced him to volunteer. The only thing Cam did was take credit for the whole thing.
No one in high school would believe that Sharpay was doing all this work and not take the credit. The more time he spends with her the more he realizes she's great at letting people see what she wants them to see. Now he knows she did a lot of good things in high school that no one knew about. For example the reason why they had fabulous sets for their senior musical was Sharpay convinced her family to make a very generous donation to the school anonymously. That donation is still being made even though she and her brother have graduated. In ninth grade, Sharpay secretly headed the committee for the schools Katrina benefit.
Although intervention by Darby got all of his other friends jobs at lava springs, he found out last summer from Fulton that sharpay was the one who had him hired. She was also the one who recommended that he be hired again the next summer.
Cam was the absolute opposite. Cam wanted everyone to know what she did even when she didn't do it. It's all about popularity and fame for her. She never missed an opportunity to be seen in public with him. Sometimes he is convinced she is only dating him because he was on the A of U basketball team. Cam was an absolute shallow bitch.
Today as they were finalizing the menu with the caterer over the phone Chad decided to turn on the television. Cam was on the local news giving another interview. Not once did she mention that he and Sharpay were doing all the work. If it wasn't for the talking point Sharpay e-mail to her Blackberry, Cam would not even know that the event was taking place at Lava Springs.
"Personally I think we should let her go to the next interview without any preparation whatsoever. I worked on this more than she did. She didn't even know where Haiti was before the earthquake. She's such a shallow self-centered bitch. " Chad said in annoyance as he turns off the television.
"You're the one sleeping with her." Sharpay pointed out to him in a very annoying way.
"Your point is? It is just sex. It doesn't mean anything. She doesn't love me. I don't love her." In his mind he silently says "I love you". Of course he would never say those words to Sharpay out loud. He values their friendship too much for things to change.
"She is my own personal Zeke. I'm only with her because I can't have what I really want. It doesn't matter she is only dating me for the sake of being seen. You know like in high school when you wanted to date Troy just because he was captain of the basketball team." He says that last part as a joke to break the tension. Lately there's been a lot of tension between them. Not all of it was related to Cam.
"That wasn't why I wanted to date Troy. If I wanted to date the basketball captain for the sake of popularity, I would have dated you." She says this with a smile.
"So that's the only reason why you would date me?" He says it as a joke but he's kind of serious.
"In high school, yes. Back then, I didn't realize how great you were. You're too good for that's shallow bitch." Sharpay said that part under her breath but he still heard her.
"Why do you hate her so much? You're the one who made me take her on a date in the first place."
"It wasn't like I had a choice." She whispers the statement, but he hears it anyway.
"No one makes Sharpay Evans do anything she doesn't want to do." Even as he says the words he realizes that statements not as true as he would like it to be. Sometimes he wonders if she pretends to be other things to make other people happy.
"You and I are going to have to have a long talk about my psychotic family when we're not putting a charity benefit together. Your shallow bitch of a girlfriend threatened to have me kicked out of the sorority if I didn't set her up with my very hot up and coming basketball star friend." Now Chad was pissed. The bitch was going down.
After dropping Sharpay off in her room he stopped by Cam's room to tell her exactly how he felt. She walked up to him to give him a kiss and he pulled away instantly. He couldn't stand her touch.
"What's wrong? Usually you enjoy kissing me." She said completely oblivious to what was going on.
"That's about the only part of this relationship I enjoy. Even the sex isn't that good." He said the words as angrily as he could. "I had the most interesting conversation with Sharpay this afternoon."
"What did you and your "special friend" talk about?" She said it bitterly looking at him directly.
"Just the usual stuff about us planning an event that you're taking complete credit for. She finally told me the real reason why she made me go on a date with you." At that point the conversation deteriorated quickly into a shouting match. Accusations flew back and forth until the final one came out.
"Stop with the pretense. It is just not you. I know you don't want to be with me because of her." The words were angry and bitter as spoken by a child losing her favorite toy.
"She is my friend." That was the understatement of the year.
"How could anybody be friends with that shallow airhead? You're only with her because you want to screw her." That statement made him want to hit her, but he held himself back.
"Her GPA is higher than yours. She actually cares about things other than designer shoes and looking good for the sake of a phony image. She so much more than you can ever be."
"Her image is just as finely crafted as mind. Nobody spends an hour and a half in the bathroom if they were not concern about their image." He knew Cam was right in a way.
Sharpay was very concerned about how people see her. However, it was not in the way Cam thought. Sharpay cared about how people saw her because she didn't want people to really see her. He was the only one who knew that the image of Sharpay Evans was just that, an image. If they really see you, they can hurt you.
"Maybe you're right. The difference is she's actually better than her perceived image. She's definitely better than you." Chad said as he walked out the door.
"If you want to end this, that's fine. However, I still expect you here by 7 PM Saturday."
"Like that is going to happen." He said as he slammed the door behind him. He's so angry he doesn't see Sharpay until he ran into her. It's obvious that she was listening in on the entire conversation. He wouldn't expect anything less of his best friend. Where did that come from? At some point she took Troy's place as his best friend. He is still trying to figure out when that happened.
"You heard everything?"
"Yeah. Thank you for defending me in there. No one does that for me." Thankfully she didn't mention Cam's accusation.
"You are my best friend. I'm not going to let her hurt you. He says it as he kisses her on the forehead. She rarely let him do that, but today she does. That's what makes him happy despite the current circumstances.
"Since you're not going to the ball with her royal bitchiness, do you want to go with me?" She seemed so nervous. He's never seen her that nervous and shy before. Shy is not something that he normally associates with her. For a moment he thinks maybe she's letting him in.
"I love to. You were already making me get a suit that matched your dress anyway." He said kissing her on the cheek this time. He sees the whole thing as a sign of progress.
