Never Felt This Way
.o.
Note: Of course, a huge shout out to all of my wonderful reviewers, you guys are amazing! And well, here goes Christmas and then yeah, well go ahead and read! Haha.
.o.
Gabriella awoke to find herself in an unfamiliar place. Where am I?
She sat up in bed and looked down at the floor where her light blue sweater lay and suddenly she remembered. The Lodge, the party, Troy, karaoke, Ryan.
Gabriella sighed at the thought of Ryan. How she wished it were already time for the Banquet. She longed to see his bright blue eyes, his irresistible smile, his shock of blonde hair.
She rose from her bed, pushing her feet into her red slippers, and shuffled over to the window. It was a beautiful day. The sun shone brightly, making the snow dazzle and glisten. A perfect Christmas, Gabriella thought dreamily.
Gabriella heard Frosty the Snowman playing in the living room and smiled sleepily. How she loved Christmas. The music, the food, the decorations, the atmosphere.
She walked into the room and couldn't help but grin at the sight before her. The stockings filled above the fireplace and the presents laid out underneath the tree made Gabby feel elated. She couldn't help but feel excited about opening her presents. She knew it was childish but she didn't care. Christmas was herfavorite holiday. She loved every aspect of it.
"Merry Christmas, mi amor," Ms. Montez cried, wrapping Gabriella in a warm hug.
"Merry Christmas, Mama," Gabriella said back.
Gabriella ended their embrace and sat down at the kitchen table. She dug into a cinnamon roll and took a sip of hot chocolate. The most wonderful time of the year, she thought happily.
.o.
The most wonderful time of the year, my ass, Troy thought bitterly as the cheery tune burst out of his alarm-clock radio, jolting him awake.
He groaned when he realized he was rather wet in the nether region. He had had the dream he knew he would. And all he had to say was thank God he didn't remember it. He would have been seriously traumatized if he had. It was bad enough knowing he had dreamt it, but recalling every little detail was something he was grateful he couldn't do.
He hopped out of bed and raced into the bathroom that was connected to his room. He shed his boxers as he turned the water on, and stepped under the showerhead, eager to wash himself of these disgusting feelings.
.o.
"RYAN!" Sharpay screamed through Ryan's bedroom door. "Wake up! We can't open presents until you wake up, you lazy bum!"
Ryan groaned and pulled his pillow over his head. Guess Sharpay's back to her usual self. I knew it couldn't last too long.
Ryan managed to stumble out of bed and pull a white tee over his head, before exiting his room.
He yawned and stretched his arms out. He was exhausted. He had stayed up way too late. His body was used to going to sleep at 9:00 not 1:00 in the morning.
He looked at Sharpay who sat on the sofa in front of the Christmas tree, fidgeting with anticipation. She was already camera-ready at 7:00 in the morning. Her face was done up with her usual amount of too much makeup and her hair was pulled back in a red headband. She wore a surprisingly modest red velvet jumper, with tights and black ballet flats.
"Ryan," Sharpay said disgustedly as she scanned his wrinkled shirt and baggy grey sweat pants. "You realize Mom takes pictures of us while we open our presents right?"
"Yeah," Ryan replied. "So…"
"Ryan, darling," Mrs. Evans said, as she entered the room. "Please get dressed." Sharpay smirked at him with an I-told-you-so expression on her face.
"Oh and please try to wear something a bit more… normal, today."
Ryan sighed and went back into his room, shutting the door closed behind, perhaps a bit too dramatically. Hell, he was in drama, so what did they expect anyway.
What did he have that was basic?, he wondered. He thought about what guys at the party last night had been wearing. Jeans, tee shirt, boring stuff like that, he recalled.
He dug into his suitcase and found a pair of jeans Sharpay had most likely snuck in his bag in attempt to get him to wear them. He slipped into them and discovered they fit nicely. They weren't baggy so he could work with this.
Suddenly, Sharpay burst into his room, and skipped over to him. "Ryan, those look great on you!" she cried sincerely. Then changing moods she haughtily added, "I knew they would."
"Thanks for knocking," Ryan mumbled sarcastically. He reached for a red belt and began threading it through the loopholes, when Sharpay yanked the belt out of his hands.
"Hey," he cried.
"Oh no, no belts, Ryan!" Sharpay said sternly. "No color coordinating and most of all NO hats!"
Ryan glared at her. He hoped she knew he was only doing this today. No way would he ever dress so average again. He was only doing this to prevent any sort of drama that may come up today. Ryan liked drama in the theater, but anywhere else, not so much.
Sharpay shoved a dark green sweater into his hands and pushed him into his bathroom. "Try this on!" she barked.
Ryan reluctantly obeyed, pulling the sweater over his wrinkled shirt. He stepped out of the bathroom.
Sharpay smiled. Ryan looks good. No way will Gabriella be able to resist him today. She won't take another look at Troy.
"Almost perfect," Sharpay concluded. She handed him a pair of brown boots and mussed his short feathery hair around till it looked perfectly messy.
"There," Sharpay said satisfied. She steered Ryan over to the full-length mirror on the closet door. "What do you think?"
Ryan hardly recognized himself. He looked so different without a hat and brightly colored attire.
"Its all right," Ryan said dismissively. "Whatever, let's just go open presents."
Well, Sharpay couldn't say no to that.
.o.
It was evening and Gabriella stood in her closet trying to find something to wear to the banquet. She wanted to look pretty. She wanted Ryan to think she looked gorgeous.
Gabriella sighed as she held a blouse up to her small frame. Too basic. She continued digging through her clothes items. Then it suddenly hit her. The red dress. The red dress she had bought for a dance a few months back that she had ended up not attending. It was perfect.
Gabby slipped the red dress on. It fit her beautifully. It was modest, yet it hugged every curve of her body. She chose a pair of matching flats and pulled her hair up into a messy bun, letting a few tendrils frame her face.
Gabby had never really worn much make up. She usually wore a tad bit of gloss and touch of mascara, but she wanted to try something different.
She went to her mother's bathroom and found her makeup bag and began to rifle through it. She found a pretty brown shade of eye shadow. She applied it to her eyelids and then added heavy mascara and a touch of eyeliner. Her eyes seemed to sparkle and she liked the way the makeup brought out her eyes. Next she tried some bronzer and applied blush to the apples of her cheeks.
Gabby smiled at her reflection. She looked different. But, a good different, she thought. I just hope I have the guts to pull off this outfit, Gabby thought nervously.
Ms. Montez came into the bathroom, already dressed for the banquet, and saw Gabriella sitting there on the stool before the vanity.
"Gabby," she said. "Honey, you look amazing. You aren't trying to catch the attention of a certain someone are you?"
Gabby blushed. "No Mom," she said dismissively. "I just want to look nice is all. It is Christmas," she stated as if that were a reason to suddenly wear makeup and a nice dress.
"Whatever you say, Gabs," Ms. Montez said chuckling slightly. She didn't believe her for one second. The blush on Gabriella's face, the manner in which Gabby dismissed the subject, all told her that Gabby was absolutely enamored with someone.
.o.
Troy sat in his room twirling his brand new basketball on his pointer finger. He wore a blazer jacket over a button-up with slacks, per his mother's request. Seriously, why was his mother still dressing him? Why couldn't he just attend the banquet in his basketball uniform?
Why? Because then his mother would glare at him and get all upset and then his father would take away his spot on the team. A little harsh? Uh, yeah.
Troy sighed and flopped down on his bed, not caring if he wrinkled his fancy clothes. His mother would just attack him with her handy dandy steamer anyways. She always happened to find imaginary wrinkles in his clothing. OCD freak.
He hadn't let himself think of Sharpay or even Gabriella all day long, but now he allowed his thoughts to wander there.
Gabriella. Sweet, beautiful, yet didn't seem to be falling all over him. He liked the fact that she wasn't, but he wondered if that meant she didn't like him. Or, could she like him and just be one of the few girls he had come across that didn't throw herself at him.
Then there was Sharpay. Alluring, hot, yet a bit on the obsessive side. Could he really be attracted to her? Well more than physically at least. Cause he was pretty damn sure the physical attraction had been proven last night… and this morning.
Oh god, he wasn't sincerely analyzing this was he? This was so… girly. He shuddered. "Let the chips fall where they may," he mumbled to himself.
.o.
Sharpay sighed happily. What a satisfying day. What could be better than opening up beautifully decorated boxes filled with designer products after designer products?
She had spent the last hour carefully folding all of her new clothing and color coordinating everything in her closet. She had her i-Pod plugged into her portable speaker sound system and was dancing along to her favorite hip-hop and pop tracks, softly singing along, of course. It was almost time for the banquet and Sharpay could hardly wait. She loved any and all social events. And she wanted to see Troy. That was obvious. Plus, the lobster was supposed to be fabulous.
Sharpay finished her organizing and sighed. She was officially bored now. I wonder what Ryan's doing. She paused the music and slipped out of her room walking up to Ryan's door. She reached out for the knob, and then paused suddenly remembering it really wasn't very polite to barge in on someone. She knew she hated it when her mom did it to her. She instead knocked lightly on the door.
"Ryan," she said calmly. "Can I come in?"
Ryan sat on his bed softly strumming the strings of his brand new acoustic guitar. He paused when he heard Sharpay at his door. "Yeah," he replied.
Sharpay slipped in quietly. Ryan seemed to be very quite and peaceful today. She really shouldn't ruin his atmosphere. She was feeling nice again. She wasn't bipolar right?
"Did you need something?" Ryan asked not looking up from his guitar as he tuned it."
"Not really," Sharpay replied. "Just bored," she paused. "Getting ready for your performance?" she asked. Ms. Evans had recommended Ryan for the opening performance of the banquet. They had been looking for someone to sing a simple Christmas song accompanied by guitar to start off the event.
Sharpay would have jumped at the chance of performing solo in front of a crowd, but slow and melodic wasn't really her thing. And she couldn't play guitar either. This was definitely more Ryan's thing. She wasn't that jealous. OK, she was very jealous, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.
Ryan had reluctantly agreed, it would be his first solo performance, and he had been nervous about it but now he was all right with it.
At least it was Ryan and not some gorgeous girl who could sweep Troy off his face, Sharpay thought. It could've been Gabriella. Insert shudder.
"Yeah," Ryan replied sheepishly. "I'm a little nervous, but I'm pretty confident with this new guitar now."
Sharpay couldn't help but smile a little. She knew Ryan would do great. He wasn't her auditions partner for nothing.
"You'll be great, Ry," Sharpay said sweetly.
Ryan looked up at her a little shocked. And sweet Sharpay returns for now. "Thanks, Shar," he said. "That means a lot."
Sharpay shrugged. "You're my brother. This is what I'm supposed to do. Encourage you."
Ryan grinned at her. Knowing Sharpay had his back, took away some of the butterflies in his stomach.
He could do this.
.o.
Ok so I know I said Christmas Day and Banquet but scratch Banquet. Haha. The Banquet will start next chapter. Lol.
So basically that was just setting up X-mas day and expressing everyone's thoughts, getting everything set up for the banquet. Hope it wasn't too terribly boring. Drama and sparks will fly at the banquet. I can promise that, so check it out!
