Sorry for the delay with this chapter. I was so hung up on finish chapter five (which was being tricky) I forgot to load this one!! I had finished six by the time I realized!! SO I am very sorry, and as usual, need to thank all you readers for being patient. I gotta thank my reviewers as well. IncandescentAngel, dancerlittle, and GoodnightxGoodbye, you guys rock!!
Troy, Gabriella, Chad, Taylor, Jason, Kelsi, Zeke and Sarah were greeted the next morning by a splashy bulletin board announcing audition for the fall musical. Sarah stopped and read it, the yellow lettering spelling out the date and time of the auditions.
"So you still interested?" Chad asked.
"Yeah." Sarah said. "But I didn't know it was student directed. That's a pretty cool idea."
"WHAT!?!?!?!" The entire group turned sharply and backtracked to the bulletin board. Sure enough, the title announced the auditions for East High's student directed fall musical.
"The musical is never directed by anyone other than Darbus." Troy said, scanning the announcement for a name.
"But it says it's been a tradition since MMVII" Jason said, pointing out the smaller lettering at the bottom.
"That's Roman Numerals for 2007." Taylor explained.
"Oh." Jason said, smiling sheepishly.
"'Direction provided by the drama club co-presidents.'" Gabriella read. "But that's Ryan and Sharpay."
"It's not 'presidents'." Kelsi said, leaning in closer. "it's 'president'."
"Only one of them?" Troy shook his head.
"It's got to be Sharpay." Sarah said. There was murmur of agreement.
"Well, we'll find out." Chad said as the warning bell rang. They all headed for homeroom.
Sarah slid into her seat behind Ryan, not even looking at him. He must have been in on the whole thing. Sarah thought viciously. He always was her lap dog. She didn't understand why this seemed to hurt her so much.
Ryan looked behind him, but Sarah was ignoring him. He turned back around, frowning. Why was she so mad? She had walked in without word, and still hadn't acknowledged him, nearly halfway through their Shakespeare class. He couldn't understand why she was upset. She had been sending Sharpay evil looks all through homeroom and was now ignoring the Evans brother with a determination that rivaled Coach Bolton's. Try as he might, Ryan could not think of why. He was sure that he had left things on a pleasant note with Sarah, even if Sharpay hadn't. Finally, he cracked, and scribbled down a note, tossing it onto the desk behind him.
He waited, and soon enough it appeared on his desk again. Quickly unfolding it, he saw the now familiar handwriting.
I'm mad because your sister is suddenly directing the musical, and you didn't have the decency to tell me.
Ryan blinked couple of times, making sure he was reading it correctly. Yes, Sharpay was directing the musical with Darbus, but he hadn't known that until this morning. No one had. Darbus had asked just as Ryan and Sharpay got to school. Was that what was making Sarah so mad? Ryan scribbled down on explanation.
We didn't know until this morning. Darbus asked us as soon as we got to school. I would have told you, but I didn't see you.
Sarah read the note, feeling like an idiot. Of course it was wrong to blame Ryan for this. Now that he had explained it, it made sense. Even if it had been planned, when could he have told her? Silently kicking her own ass, she wrote down an apology.
Oh wow. Now I really feel like an idiot now. I'm so sorry. I should have realized the whole time thing at the very least. I guess I have been listening to Chad too much. I actually thought you two had planned this. I'm so sorry. I'm such an idiot.
Ryan read her note, a sense of relief passing through him. It was just a mistake and she didn't hate him.
You're not an idiot. It was a natural conclusion to jump to, given the past reputation of the Evans twins. But we're not like that anymore. We both went through a change this summer. It's hard to explain. But we're both making a real effort this year. Especially as it is our last.
The bell rang as Sarah put her pencil down to answer. The students all jumped up to leave. Sarah also jumped up, but didn't leave. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Ryan's torso in a hug. "I'm really sorry." She mumbled into his shoulder.
"It's okay," He said. "Come on, we're going to be late."
That day lunch was one long explanation as both Sharpay and Ryan explained what was happening.
"So you're not going just directing because you want to punish us all for stealing your lead?" Troy asked.
"Not at all." Sharpay said. "Although I'm not going to go easy on your guys because you are my classmates. This musical means a lot to me. So I'm going to do whatever it takes to make it perfect. And especially after hearing Sarah sing yesterday, I realized that me being a diva and fighting for a lead may not be what's best for the musical. Talent seems to run in the Bolton family." She grudgingly admitted. Sarah nodded a thank you. "So the audition sheet is up. I hope to see some familiar names on it." She shot a look Troy and Gabriella. "We'll probably get the usual band of losers, but we should be able to piece together a stellar cast. Thanks Zeke." She said, accepting yet another cookie from him.
"We should audition, Troy." Gabriella said. "I mean, we had so much fun last year."
"Yeah…" Troy said, thinking.
"What about you, Sarah?" Chad asked. "Figured it out yet?"
"I'll just audition alone for a supporting role." She said with a smile. "I've never done a musical before, so I don't want to jump into something so quickly."
"But you're so talented!" Sharpay said. "You guys haven't heard her sing, but she really is amazing." Sharpay stopped, and Ryan got a familiar feeling of dread. The look on Sharpay's face told him that she had an idea. It would only be a matter of time before she blurted it out. "Why don't you and Ryan audition together!!"
"What?" Ryan said. Even he could not believe what she said.
"No, seriously." Sharpay said. "I mean, Ryan doesn't have anyone to audition with now that I'm directing. Sarah's got the talent to be my replacement. It would work out perfectly. And they're skin tone compatible." She finished, as if that settled the matter.
The table was silent. Everyone was thinking about Sharpay's proposal, running it through their heads. Sarah had no qualms about singing with Ryan. In fact, it sounded kind of fun. Ryan was looking at it form a more professional point of view. He had heard that she was a dancer, but had never seen her dance. Her voice was good but needed to be worked on for control. It would take several hours together to perfect those things, something Ryan had no problem with.
"You know, that's a good idea." Troy said. Everyone else murmured their agreement.
"I'll sign you two up right now!!" Gabriella jumped up with a marker. "I was just going to go add me and Troy anyway."
"Wait, Gab…" Sarah trailed off as Gabriella ran out of the caf. She sighed.
"Hey, cheer up partner." Ryan said. "It could be worse. I could be Cyndra."
That night, as soon as they got home, Ryan followed Sharpay up to her bedroom, and endless stream of questions issuing from his mouth.
"What exactly possessed you to decide that Sarah and I should audition together? Other than the fact that you didn't even ask if either of us wanted to audition with the other, you let the others decide it for us!! Really, would it have been so hard to mention it to me beforehand? Even a little bit of warning would have been nice. But no, you just HAD to go and say it, and now we're signed up. You do realize that she gave me her phone number, right, that means I have to call her. Shar, can you think of the last time I called a girl that wasn't you or Mom?? Yeah, me neither, that's because I HAVEN'T. I was getting quite used to being the late bloomer, Shar, but no, now I'm having this girl pushed on to me. We have to dance together. What if she can't dance?"
"Ry, CHILL." Sharpay said, opening her bedroom door. Ryan followed her in. "She's a girl, not a saber-tooth tiger. She can dance. She went to her state championship with her dance team. I'm pretty sure the girl can move. She can obviously sing. And as for you being a late-bloomer, Ryan, you aren't even a bud yet. You're like that one bulb that you know you planted, but it's just not coming up, and you cannot figure out why. So I'm giving you a push, and making sure you have a date for prom."
"Sharpay, listen." Ryan collapsed on her bed, exhausted suddenly. "I know you've always been a little concerned about my lack of interest in girls."
"It's not that you aren't interested, Ryan, it's that you're too shy to make a move." Sharpay said, sitting down at her vanity. "You aren't afraid to kiss your sister in front of a thousand people, but you can't manage to ask a girl for her number."
"I'm not me when I'm onstage." He argued. "And you are so not my sister when we're onstage either."
"Whatever." Sharpay said. "The think is, I know you like her. And she seems pretty fond of you."
"Wait, how do you know I like her?" Ryan asked, sitting up quickly.
"Well, you look at her differently." Sharpay said. "You walked her to her car, kinda. You mentioned her at least twenty times at dinner last night. Then about twenty times more on the way to school this morning." Sharpay sighed. "Ryan, it's obvious." She walked over to the bed, sat down next to Ryan and began singing.
"There she goes again
The girl you're in love with"
"It's cool we're just friends" Ryan sang.
"You walk the halls at school" Sharpay ignored him.
"We know it's casual
It's cool we're just-" Ryan was interrupted by Sharpay
"You don't wanna lead her on
No
The truth is you've grown fond
Yeah
Everyone knows it's meant to be
Falling in love, just you and she
'Til the end of time
'Til you're on her mind
It'll happen
You've been making lots of plans
Like a picket fence and a rose garden
You'll just keep on dreaming"
"But it's cool cause we're just friends" Ryan sang.
"Small talk on IM
Just one word sentences
It's cool we're just friends"
Sharpay cut him off. "But if you had it your way
You would talk and talk all day
Yeah
Everyone knows it's meant to be
Falling in love, just you and she
'Til the end of time
'Til you're on her mind
It'll happen
You've been making lots of plans
Like a picket fence and a rose garden
You'll just keep on dreaming"
"But it's cool cause we're just friends" Ryan sang.
"Thinking about how
You're gonna say your vows"
"It's cool we're just friends" Ryan mumbled, losing himself to the vision Sharpay was laying out for him.
"As she walks down the aisle
You see all your friends smile
Cause now you're more than friends
Everyone knows it's meant to be
Falling in love, just you and she
'Til the end of time
'Til you're on her mind
It'll happen
You've been making lots of plans
Like a picket fence and a rose garden
You'll just keep on dreaming
Keep on thinking
Of when you used to be just friends." Sharpay finished the song, smiling at her brother.
"Okay, maybe I like her a little." Ryan said. "But how is auditioning together going to help any?"
"Well, you'll be spending tons of time with her, for start." Sharpay said, getting up and walking to Ryan's room. "And you'll talk, and get to know each other, and fall completely in love. And then you need to name your first child after me, because I so brought you two together."
"Umm…right." Ryan said, shaking his head. Sometimes Sharpay got ahead of herself. "What are you doing?" She was in his closet, moving things around and making tutting noises.
"Don't you own anything that doesn't sparkle?" She asked.
"I don't know." He shrugged. He honestly didn't. He was so used to Sharpay insisting that they matched that he hadn't really noticed what he was wearing after a while. He looked down at his current outfit of black pants, lime green polo shirt and trusty green (and sparkly, but only if you were looking for it) hat. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"Well, I was just thinking that Sarah was probably used to the more macho type, so that maybe butching you up a bit would have its advantages." Sharpay shrugged. "But I didn't realize how hard that would be." She began pulling things out at random, holding them up to her brother and throwing them into one of two piles. "Oh, finally." She threw him a pile of clothes. "Go change. Sarah will be here any minute."
"Wait…what?" He asked. She was coming over now? But why? Who had decided this?
"Go change!" She hissed. He walked into his bathroom, quickly changing into the outfit Sharpay had picked out. He heard the doorbell ring and Sharpay yell "I'll get it!! Just meet us down in the rehearsal room!" Ryan sighed, wondering what his sister had cooked up.