Sharpay obediently brushed her finger against the tip of the needle. She was overwhelmed with an acute, painful sensation that transported her to a memory of long ago…
Snow fell in large white flakes over the backyard.
"Where are we?" Sharpay breathed. Ahead of her, a family of four was crossed the long, winding driveway. The adults led the two younger ones by the hand. One child had blue eyes while the other's were a hazel hue. Both of them had yellowish gold hair.
"Stop it, Ryan!" the woman scolded mildly. "How many times have we told you not to eat the yellow snow?"
The little boy pouted, but released the handful of powdery snow in his hand. The other child, a short girl in a green dress, laughed. "It's okay, Ryan. You can have all the snow you want when we're rich and famous stars."
"I remember this," Sharpay said softly. "It's the night of my first grade Christmas program. Ryan was an elf and I…I was a dancing Christmas tree."
Kelsi-specter-girl nodded. Sharpay walked over to the window and watched the family enter their house.
"I was the best Christmas tree up there, wasn't I, Mommy?" the young Sharpay was saying proudly.
The woman smiled. "Yes, but it was wrong for you to push that other girl out of the way, dear."
"She didn't deserve to be front and center!" Sharpay protested. "She has stumpy ankles, and her rhythm was way off."
The ghost gave teenage Sharpay a meaningful look.
"What? Give me a break, I was six! And that girl really did have stumpy ankles," she added in her defense. The two turned back to the scene playing out in front of them.
The other Sharpay's eyes lit up as she was struck with a brilliant idea. "Mommy, can we open presents?"
"Not till Christmas morning, Sharpay."
"Pretty pretty pretty please?"
"Oh, all right. But only a few each."
Ryan jumped with glee and picked up a shiny package.
"I've got it!" Sharpay snatched the box from her brother and began ripping the paper off.
"Sharpay!" Ryan whined. "That present is for both of us. See? 'Ryan…and…Sharpay.'" He pointed at the words on the label for emphasis.
Sharpay ignored him. "Ooh, it's a karaoke machine. It's just what I - we - needed!" She picked up a smaller package and tossed it to Ryan. "Here, this one's for you."
The package was from an estranged uncle. Ryan opened it and discovered a black and white hat. The hat was much too big for him, but he donned it anyway. "How do I look?" Ryan asked Sharpay.
She grinned. "Like a star, of course!" The boy beamed.
The next few moments Ryan spent rummaging for something placed on top of the fireplace mantle, while little Sharpay admired the ornaments on the artificial evergreen tree - or at least, the ornaments she had made herself.
"Okay, I've learned my lesson, Kels- I mean, Ghost of Christmas Past. I shouldn't be mean to other people, even if I am better than them. And now I remember how Ryan developed his weird passion for lemon snow cones . So can we go back now?" the almost-fully-grown Sharpay demanded.
"No," the ghost replied sternly. She motioned for Sharpay to keep watching.
The house was aglow with light from the fire. Sharpay could almost feel the embers warming her face, just as she had experienced so many years ago.
Six-year-old Ryan tapped his twin sister on the shoulder. "This is for you." He held out a small, rectangular object wrapped messily in tissue paper.
"Oh, Ryan, you got me the Disney sing-along CD I wanted-" Suddenly Sharpay's face fell. Instead of a CD she had found a popsicle stick picture frame glued to a rather unflattering picture of herself with Ryan.
"I wanted to get you something from your wish list, only I didn't have money and the guy at the CD store said he didn't take the good behavior tokens we get from school. So I made this for you instead. It's painted pink 'cause that's your favorite color and it's got all sorts of shiny things on it since you like glitter and it smells like gingerbread because you're always stealing the cookies from the jar and do you like it?" Ryan blabbed in true six-year-old fashion.
But to his horror, Sharpay threw the picture frame at the fireplace and screamed, "Ryan, how could you? You know I don't like that picture of me! Can't you ever do anything right?" She stalked off haughtily, leaving her brother in distress.
"I don't remember this part," the Sharpay of 2006 mumbled.
Ryan watched his hard work slowly start to char beneath the crackling flames. Ever so softly, he began to cry.
Sharpay banged her fist against the frosty windowpane. "Ryan, I'm sorry!"
"He can't hear you," the Ghost of Christmas Past interjected. "To him you're nothing but a ghost, like me."
The drama queen turned on her accomplice. "You! Why are you doing this to me? So I've made a few mistakes, it's not like I meant to hurt anybody. Can't you at least take me home?"
The ghost shook her head sadly. "Yes, but that's all I can do for you. The truth fades into memories; it doesn't go away. And until you learn the true meaning of the holidays, it will continue to haunt you."
With this prophetic warning and a flourish of the hand, Sharpay was back at East High School and the Ghost of Christmas Past was gone.
