Author's Note: Again, I am so sorry about the stupid chapter titles and things not coming out right! I don't know what's up with my computer. It's never done this before. It just looks so sloppy and it's driving me nuts! Sorry
Anyway. I kind of inched into this chapter, not knowing what to do with it, but after a few minutes it came naturally. Chadpay. It just feels right
Chapter 8: Cave Man and Mountain Lion
Chad
Chad's phone call did nothing to melt the Ice Princess's heart, as had been intended. In fact, in the next few days following his party, it seemed to make Sharpay even more distant. This bugged the hell out of Chad. He had taken a hit for her. His gorgeous face had been marred for the sake of her honor. Didn't that at least earn him a smile? Or a "Hey, Chad, how was the game?" Everybody else loved Chad. Why not her? It bugged him.
Worse still, while Evans cooled to him, she warmed to Lee Truman. Lee Truman with his stupid floppy hair and rich TV daddy. The only sensible explanation for her going to Prom with him was that Ryan wasn't available to carry her purse all night.
Chad worked himself up into such a foul mood that it rubbed off on Taylor, too, so that they ended up sitting apart for the next Committee gathering.
"Minutes from the last meeting, Martha," he muttered.
She eagerly rifled through her notes. "Um, okay…our last meeting took place in Ms. Darbus' home room on a Tuesday, at 10:15 am. Those present at the meeting were…Gabriella Montez, Taylor McKessie, Sharpay and Ryan Evans, Martha Cox and Chad Danforth. On the agenda was the issue of catering and music." She glanced around and took a deep breath before continuing. "After Chad's party it was generally agreed upon that DJ Split would be great to hire for the night. But he costs about five hundred an hour so we might just have to go with Kelsi's cousin, DJ Snoop. It was decided that Rooney's will be our caterer, as suggested by Gabriella." She gave her an encouraging smile over the clipboard. "They'll throw in a free chocolate fountain which Chad said would totally rock. However, Sharpay seemed to think it would clash with the Phantom theme and mentioned that at the last party she went to that had one, someone ended up with chocolate marshmallow smooshed into their dress." Taylor snorted and Chad rolled his eyes.
Martha glanced anxiously at Sharpay. "Chad and Sharpay then went into a ten minute debate on the tackiness of chocolate fountains-"
"There is nothing tacky about a fountain of chocolate!"
"Chad." Martha took on a surprisingly firm tone. "May I finish?" He mumbled an apology, shooting a glare at Sharpay. "For the sake of not resurrecting the animosity caused by said debate I chose not to record it verbatim. Sorry."
"It's all right, Martha," Taylor sighed. "There'll be plenty more where that came from."
Chad barely paid attention as he stared across the table at Sharpay, with her blonde bangs falling into her eyes as she traced invisible patterns on the table with her finger. She couldn't even make the effort to glower at him anymore.
"Chad? Chad? Hullo?"
He started when Ryan waved a hand in front of his face.
"Yeah! Right. What was that last bit again?"
"Um….we just moved on to our next order of business," said Martha. "Now that the music and catering are taken care of, almost, who should go to the furniture store today?"
"Well, I'll be there obviously. The salesgirl kinda digs me so hopefully I can charm a discount out of her."
"Whore."
"Look who's talking, Evans."
"Focus, people!" Taylor exclaimed. "I'll go with you."
"Nuh-uh, Tay," said Gabriella. "We have the Decathlon with Marsh Academy this afternoon."
"I have a recital," Kelsi apologized.
Martha shrugged. "Extra Math. Lame, I know."
All gazes fell on Sharpay who sighed. "Well, I haven't seen the place. Guess me and Ryan'll come."
Chad rolled his eyes and rested his chin on his fist. Oh, joy, he thought, but to his credit did not say.
Sharpay
"You're not going to tear a hole in everything, are you?" Ryan leaned over from his desk to mumble to her, as Mr. Grayson, the History teacher, droned on. "Like with the silk?"
Sharpay scoffed. "And make the school pay for it?"
Ryan nodded slowly and paused. "So you're not sabotaging Chad anymore?"
She sighed and swept hair out of her eyes. "How I would love to! Only, in sabotaging him I am consequently sabotaging Prom. Which wouldn't be much fun for me now, would it? So I figure I'll just find some way to ruin his night instead."
"So you'll behave today."
"Yes, Ryan, I'll behave!" she half-laughed, and added to herself, "If he does."
It was no fun fighting Chad from afar, but it was the only way she could fight him at this point.
If Sharpay were to be poetic, she would say Chad was something like the sun. If she got too close, the heat would kill her, fry her to a crisp, and then to nothing but ashy remains. And hot was the only word that adequately described how she felt around him lately.
Sharpay told herself that it had been a long time since ending it with Zeke. She needed some sort of drought relief, and somehow her feelings had been directed towards Chad. It was nothing but a glitch, small but damaging. And that was where Lee became useful. He was a willing target for her affections, and really sweet person to boot. He had showed her off to his friends, introducing her as the girl big-hearted enough to let a schmuck like him take her to the Prom. It was all too cute. And yet Sharpay's gaze would not stop drifting off in search of a curly brown head attached to a perfectly toned figure, donning a t-shirt with some ridiculous logo.
The sight and smell of him, the sound of his voice and the brilliance of his smile, were all beginning to agitate her. Sharpay didn't know how she was going to make it through the day…
She fell in love with 'The Lounge' the minute she stepped into it. The combination of warm lighting and regal furniture, along with the plush red carpet, put her in an appropriately romantic room.
"How have I never been here before?"
It was probably because the store was tucked away, high up in the mall. But Chad could not resist the opportunity to remark: "Probably because you never make it further than the shoe store."
"All right, guys," Ryan interrupted. "I think we should split up."
"Whatever you say, Fred!"
"If I'm Fred, you're Velma."
"Velma? I'm not gonna be Velma!"
"Well, you can't be Daphne, can you? Then we'd together."
"Then you be Shaggy," Chad contributed.
"No way!" Sharpay found herself laughing. "You, Chad Danforth, are Shaggy. No doubt about it."
"Uh-uh, Princess! I am not Shaggy."
"Dude," said Ryan profoundly. "You are so Shaggy it's not even worth trying to deny."
He was about to protest when a tall girl with a narrow face and a curly black bob of hair approached.
"Hey! Stacey."
She beamed. "Hi, Chad."
It took all the willpower Sharpay possessed to keep from rolling her eyes. A discount was at stake.
Stacey's gaze rested on Sharpay with sudden shrewdness. "Is this your…girlfriend?"
Her mouth dropped open and maybe Chad's had done the same. She could not tell. She was blushing too hard to look at him.
"Oh uh…no! No. Definitely no. We hate each other."
"I hate him," said Sharpay hastily.
Stacey paused deliberately before returning her gaze to Chad. "Well, that new red chaise lounge I was telling you about just arrived. If you two wanna come see…"
She drifted off, Ryan and Chad following. Sharpay knew that the 'you two' meant she was excluded. She narrowed her eyes after the trio, feeling her face start to cool.
Sharpay contented herself with wandering alone through the store, testing out little cushioned seats and big squashy armchairs.
Her heart was captured by a plush, queen-sized bed, equipped with a canopy. So dramatic, so medieval. She could not help herself! Sharpay dove onto the bed with a little squeal and began to roll around. She found a comfortable position on her back, put her hands up by her head and sighed.
Moments later a voice made her heart skip.
"No sleeping on the job, Evans. We've got shopping to do."
She groaned, keeping her eyes firmly shut. "Do you mind, Chad? I'm in a Scottish castle at the moment. There's no room for walking palm trees in this fantasy."
"Have your daddy buy it for you," he suggested. "And then you can dream all you want." There was something to his tone that sent a ripple down her back. She knew his watching her, and became painfully aware that her little pink vest was riding up past her navel.
"Where's Ryan?" she muttered.
"Keeping Stacey busy. Now I need your opinion on this little mini-chair things. Would you get up already?" Sharpay was so alarmed to feel his finger poke her bellybutton that she allowed a little shriek to escape her.
Her eyes fluttered open and were greeted by the sight of Chad smirking down at her.
"You're not ticklish, are you, Evans?"
She tensed. "Don't. You. Dare."
"Oh. How can I not?"
He pounced, hands running relentlessly across her tummy, her ribs, underarms.
"Cut it out!" she half-laughed, half-pleaded as she writhed under his grasp.
"Say uncle!"
"Aunt, you sexist pig!"
Chad chuckled heartily and relented. That is to say, he stopped tickling her. But his hands remained firmly placed by her waist, and his face remained so close to hers she could feel his breathing come in abrupt, hot little bursts of air. Sharpay forgot how to respire at that moment. He looked so much more appealing from this angle…
"Doesn't look like you hate each other that much."
Stacey's sullen voice startled them both into turning away from each other, to stare at the salesgirl and Ryan.
Well, there went their discount.
A/N: I enjoyed that. Hope you did, too!
