I walked into Sharpay's room, shut the door, and sat down on her pink couch. It matched the rest of her room. Pink.
"What's up, Ryan?" she asked me. I looked up.
"The ceiling. That really hideous pink mobile that you've had forever," I replied.
"Funny, Ryan. Seriously, why do we need to talk?" she asked. I sighed. This was really a conversation I should have been having with Kelsi, but Sharpay was currently readily available, and she would have found out anyways.
"A few things. First, the Troy thing," I said. She sighed.
"So, what about him?" she said.
"What about him?! He's got a girlfriend, Sharpay. And with everything else going on, he really doesn't need you adding to his problems," I said.
"Okay," said Sharpay. "But don't you tell me he doesn't deserve it."
"I'm not saying he doesn't," I said. "I know he does. And Gabi does too. But you shouldn't have to put up with them. I shouldn't either, but I do, Shar, and you can do so much better than me."
"Well, yes, obviously," said Sharpay. I rolled my eyes.
"So, second point. The, uh, straight thing," I said. It was Sharpay's turn to roll her eyes. She also snorted.
"So, you really aren't, are you?" she asked.
"No! I am straight. I have to be! I slept with Gabriella, didn't I?" I said.
"Well, you were pretty drunk. That doesn't prove a thing," said Sharpay.
"You know, speaking of that, if I was gay, wouldn't I drink something fancier than beer? Like…Appletinis? Aren't those gay drinks?" I said.
"J.D., from Scrubs, that's his favorite drink, and he considers it a "straight-guy drink". They are, however, typically consumed by gay men," said Sharpay. I was surprised she'd ever seen Scrubs.
"Anyways, damn you for always agreeing with the voices in my head. And Wikipedia," I mumbled. She was always right and she knew everything. I was surprised she hadn't hunted me down and informed me I was gay yet.
"Let's face it, Ryan. You and girls? Seriously. Do you even like girls?" she asked.
"No, but I want to," I admitted.
"Taking that whole Gabriella thing pretty hard, huh?" she asked.
"Well, yeah. It wasn't fair. Do we know why she did it?" I asked.
"No idea. No one really wants to ask her," said Sharpay. I sighed.
"Okay, that being resolved, sort of, which was my third point, we come to point number four," I said. Sharpay groaned.
"There's still more? I need sleep, Ry," she said.
"Okay, Shar. We'll talk tomorrow. We're taking you car back to the club, right?" I asked.
"Well, considering that's the one we took here, we probably should," she said.
"Okay. Good night," I said. I got off her couch and went back into my own room.
The next morning found me walking into the Lava Springs Country Club's kitchen.
"Ah, children. How goes the food preparation?" I asked.
"Oui, dude, les preparations du les food goes bonne!" said Chad. I laughed.
"Thought you took German," I said.
"French is more waiter-ish don't'cha think?" Chad said.
"Ah, oui!" I said. "Very Beauty and the Beast." Chad laughed. "Have you seen Kelsi? I need to talk to her."
"Just finished playing breakfast, what's up?" said Kelsi from behind me. I jumped.
"Can we talk?" I asked. She nodded. I was finally going to have the conversation with Kelsi that I had been trying to have for the last 24 hours. We walked up to my bedroom, where we would be private and free from eavesdroppers. I sat down on my bed, and Kelsi took one of the various comfy chairs. My room at Lava Springs was very different from my room at home.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Kelsi asked.
"Honestly, I thought you'd have figured it out by now," I said.
"Oh. It's about Troy, isn't it?" said Kelsi.
"Lucky guess, or did you actually know?" I asked her. She smiled.
"I knew. I mean, have you seen the way you stare at his ass? Actually, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever caught you looking at a girl," she said.
"That's why I need you to help me," I said.
"Oh, wait. Let me guess," said Kelsi. "Since I'm your best friend, and I'm oh-so-single, you're hoping I'll be your 'girlfriend' to make sure you're gay." The air quotes really hurt.
"Basically," I said. "Please, Kelsi, you're my very best friend."
"And that coupled with the way you dress and the way you stare at guys' asses all the time isn't enough to tell you're gay?" she asked. I shook my head. I was going to be insanely stubborn about this. "Fine, I'll do it. Are you going to ask me properly, or are we just going to go?" I got off my bed, and walked over to her.
"Kelsi Aisha Nielson, will you be my girlfriend?" I asked.
"Sure, why not?" she said, laughing. She got up and we went back downstairs. I stopped outside the kitchen and took a deep breath. I held out my hand. Kelsi giggled and took it as we entered the kitchen. It was around 10:30. I thought snack was in order.
"Zeke! Can we have a snack?" I asked.
"Coming right up!" he replied. Chad, who was passing by, stopped dead. There wasn't really anyone else around.
"Um, dude?" Chad asked, tentatively.
"She knows, Chad," I said. "This is my experiment." Chad nodded.
"Okay? Um, Troy wants to talk to you about Gabi sometime," he said.
"That's nice. I'll talk to him when I find time," I said. Kelsi gave me a look. "Kels, I know he still blames me for Saturday night, and I'm not sure if I even want to talk to him." She kept looking at me. "Fine. I'll talk to him during his afternoon break, Chad. Tell him that, if you would, please." Chad walked back into the dining room. Zeke came over with our food.
"Congrats, you guys, I guess," he said. Kelsi smiled.
"Thanks," she said, shyly. She and I dug into our snacks. When we were finished, I sighed. "What?"
"I have to go and talk to Gabi," I said. "And I'm so not looking forward to it."
"Good luck, then," Kelsi said. "Sweetie," she added, winking. I laughed.
"Bye, hun," I said. I got up and walked out to the pool area to find Gabriella.
I walked around the back of the lifeguard's station at the pool. There was Gabriella, sitting in her lifeguard's chair, with her back turned to me. I walked up behind her.
"Hey," I said. She jumped about a mile. I laughed. She turned around.
"Oh, hey, Ryan, baby. What do you want?" she said.
"First of all, let's get one thing straight, if you call me 'baby' or anything like that ever again, I'll get someone to do something to you, as it upsets me, Kelsi, and probably, Troy," I said. "Second, I need to talk to you about Saturday night."
"Why would Kelsi care?" Gabriella asked. I sighed.
"That's my girlfriend, doofus," I said. "Seriously, Saturday night."
"Fine. Saturday night. Me and Troy broke up, and you and me ended up in bed together," she said.
"Gabriella, you know full well that is not all that happened," I said. "Why the hell did you kiss me in the first place?"
"I thought you liked me. You're always staring, and you were really nice this summer," she said. "Guess I was wrong."
"Gabriella, even if I did like you, which I didn't, that doesn't exactly justify what you did," I said.
"You seemed to be enjoying it," she said.
"Well, I…really?" I asked. This surprised me. Must have been all the alcohol.
"Yeah. Probably just the alcohol, then, right?" she said.
"Yeah, um, probably. So, how did we end up in my room?" I asked.
"Well, we were making out in the living room, and you had, like, four more beers, and Troy was staring at us, so I suggested we go upstairs," she said. I nodded. "We were sitting in your room. I wasn't really planning on doing anything. I never had a real boyfriend before Troy, and he wouldn't, well…let's not go there." She stopped talking and observed the pool, to make sure no one was drowning. When she saw no one was, she resumed her speech. "You had another beer in your hand, and you drained the entire thing and lay down on your bed, evidently quite content on sleeping right then and there." She laughed. "I lay down beside you, and before long we were making out again, and…well, there you are." Her story seemed pretty believable.
"So, you're sorry, right?" I asked.
"Sorry? For what?" she asked. I sighed in frustration.
"I have been apologizing to your boyfriend for the better part of a day and a half, and in fact, I have an appointment to go and talk to him later," I said. "Now, see, it's not even really my fault, so why have I been apologizing?" I looked at her for an answer that didn't come. "Because you're a bitch, that's why." I turned around, not even to look back, and stormed back into the main building. I took the shortcut through the boys' locker rooms to the kitchen. Don't ask me why that's a shortcut, it sounds weird, I know. When I arrived in the kitchen, it seemed that I had been talking with Gabriella for too long, and Kelsi had to go and play for some special luncheon that was happening. I told Chad to have her come and talk to me when she was finished. I went back up to my bedroom and collapsed on my bed.
This totally sucks. I still can't believe Gabriella did that. And that's she not even sorry. She's such a bitch. I also really can't believe that Troy took her back. I don't want to go and talk to him. He's gonna be really mean. All of this negative energy is bad for my health. I sat up on my bed and began meditating, like in Yoga class. Eventually, there was a knock on the door. It was Kelsi.
"So, how'd your talk go?" she asked, after she had sat down in her favorite chair.
"Well, I know what happened, if Gabi is to be trusted. I know who, and where, and when, and I know why, if the real reason is that Gabi's a bitch, which I doubt," I said. "What I still don't know is why Troy took her back." I paused for a moment to think. "And why Gabi said I seemed to be enjoying it."
"Maybe you were," she said. I looked at her.
"I thought we said I was gay," I said.
"Hey, you've got a girlfriend," she said.
"Yeah, you. To find out if I am actually gay or not," I reminded. "Speaking of which, we should probably set up a date, then." She shrugged and nodded. "How about tomorrow after you get off from work?"
"Sounds like a plan. Where are we going?" she asked.
"Um, a movie?" I asked. I had never been on a date before and I wasn't exactly sure what you did on one.
"Sure. I think Hairspray's still playing," she said.
"Oh, that was good, wasn't it? We should totally go and see that again," I said.
"It's a plan," she said, smiling. She looked at her watch. "You have to go and talk to Troy in, like, two and a half minutes." I groaned.
"Do I have to? I don't want to," I said.
"Think of it this way, if you go and talk to him, there's a possibility you can stare at his ass," she said. I frowned.
"I'm trying not to think about that, Kelsi, thanks," I said. She laughed. She got up and accompanied me out to the golf course, where Troy was just finishing his lesson. She smiled at me for luck, and then left for the kitchen again.
A/N: No big cliffhanger this time...sorry. This gets better...really, I swear. Thanks for reading! Please Review!!
PS: I don't own HSM or Hairspray or Beauty and the Beast or anything else, including the color pink or the characters.
Oh, and I do actually speak French, and I'm aware that Chad was using really really bad French, so you need not tell me that what he was trying to say was "La préparation de la nourriture va bien" beacuse I know that, but thanks for the thought.
Lots of love, Samantha :)