Chapter Nine December 24, 2002 ( Christmas Eve )
"So this is what Christmas dinner with the family is like," Sharpay remarked to me. She and I were taking all the dishes from the table to the sink.
"Yeah, I guess so," I said. "You've never had dinner with your family?"
"Well, not on Christmas," Sharpay said. "They always seem to have something better to do." I put the plates I was carrying in the sink, and she put the plates she was carrying in the sink, and then all of a sudden, the power went out. It was cool, too, because you could hear the fridge turning off. Sharpay screamed.
"Shar, chill, the power went out," I said, loudly.
"It's dark!" she said, even louder.
"Yes, that's what I said!" I replied, loudly. There were footsteps coming into the kitchen.
"Guys?" It was Chad.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"The power's out," Chad said.
"Well, thank you Captain Obvious," Sharpay said. "Geez." The phone rang, and the place where Sharpay was standing made a noise like she was jumping out of her skin. The phone rang about seven times before my mom picked it up. I could hear her talking to someone of the phone (the one in the hall had a cord, so it worked when the power was out). The she hung up the phone.
"The Browns don't have heat when the power goes out, so they're coming over," my mom announced to the kitchen.
"Thanks, mom," I said. "Do you know where Ryan is?"
"I think he's still in the living room with your father," my mom said.
"Do you know how long this is supposed to last?" Chad asked.
"It says on the radio that the grid got knocked down by some lightning, and the outage is expected to last until morning," my dad called from the living room.
"Wow, you can hear everything in the house when there's no noises from the electricity," Chad remarked.
"Yes," my dad said. "So don't try and make any moves. We'll hear them."
"You're not my dad," Chad mumbled. There was a knocking on the front door, and my mom let Mr. and Mrs. Brown into the house, and behind them were Chuckie, and his twin sister, Sarah. All four were carrying flashlights. Chuckie shined his into the kitchen and joined the three of us. Sarah saw us, giggled, and then her flashlight went hurrying down the hall. I rolled my eyes, even though no one could see.
"Well, a power outage on Christmas Eve. Imagine that," Chuckie said. I could hear the grin on his face. "Guess we'll be spending Christmas together after all."
"That's just what Dad wants," I said. "Two more kids."
"Hey, but there's two more adults too," Chuckie pointed out.
"That is a good point," I said. There was the sound of footsteps in the hall, and then Dylan's voice came from the living room. He was talking to mom and dad.
"Mom, you promised Becca's parents we'd take her home tonight," he said. I gasped. I'd completely forgotten she was still there. Apparently Mom and Dad had too.
"Well, I'll just call the Joneses and see if she can't stay over until the power comes back on," my mom said. There was the sounds of her walking into the hall and picking up the phone. A few minutes later, she returned to the living room. "The Joneses say she can stay here until it passes." I could hear Dylan jumping for joy. I stole Chuckie's flashlight with a move that quite often gets me the basketball on the court, and walked into the living room myself. The other kids, not wanting to stay in the kitchen by themselves with no lights, followed me. My dad and Chuckie's parents were having a conversation in low tones about male pattern baldness, or at least, that was the subject when I walked in. It quickly changed through to Bengal Tigers, Blue Raspberries, and the exact angle at which a basketball must be thrown in order to get in the basket every time. Dylan, Becca, and Sarah were sitting in the middle of the room on the floor, surrounded by flashlights, and Ryan was sitting in a chair next to the TV.
"So, I was wondering if all the kids wanted to come upstairs and…I don't know…tell ghost stories…or talk about Christmas…or play Truth or Dare," I pitched. Dylan looked interested and immediately pulled Becca to her feet and up the stairs. Ryan shrugged and joined the posse of pre-teens behind me. Sarah giggled. I followed Dylan and Becca up to my room, and when everyone was inside, I shut the door.
"So is it Truth or Dare, or is it ghost stories?" Chad asked.
"Well, as the oldest one here," I said, "I think we should play Truth or Dare."
"That makes you the king," Becca said helpfully. Everyone turned to look at her by the light of the two flashlights. "No, it's true. The oldest is the king. The second oldest is the second in command and so on, except us girls. We have our own."
"Do tell," Dylan said, staring at her with all the attention he could muster.
"Well, Sharpay would be the queen, because she's the oldest," Becca began. "And Sarah is the Vice Queen. And I'm the princess."
"There's no such thing as Vice Queen," Sarah complained.
"Make it up," I suggested. "Anyway, as king of this room, well, that and it's my room, I think we should play Truth or Dare. What do the loyal subjects think?" They nodded and shrugged like good loyal subjects. "Okay, I could totally get into this king thing. Anyway, are we going to…spin the flashlight to see who goes next?"
"That sounds like a plan," Chad said. "I mean, as second in command. Although, I do have one question. If the second in command didn't go in age order, you'd still pick me, right?"
"Of course, Chad," I said, rolling my eyes. "Who wants to spin first?"
"I'll do it," Sharpay volunteered. She spun the flashlight I'd put in the center of the circle we'd automatically formed when we walked in. It landed on Chad. "Truth or Dare, Chad?"
"Dare," Chad said, confidently. Sharpay smirked and started to say something, but I cut her off, thinking of a rule.
"And before I forget, let us not forget that there are those younger than us in this room, so anything non-age appropriate shall either be performed…somewhere else, or not at all," I said. "My closet is an appropriate place. The bathroom is as well."
"As I was saying, I dare you to take off your shirt, Chad," Sharpay said.
"That's it?" Chad complained. "Just take of my shirt?"
"My spider senses tell me we'll be here for a while," Sharpay said. "Take off your shirt." Chad sighed and stripped his shirt off before throwing it across my room so that it landed in a huge pile of his clothes that were starting to accumulate in my room since, like, the first grade. Even shirtless, Chad held no sexual appeal for me whatsoever. You know, even though he was all…athletic and stuff. Chad spun the flashlight, and it landed on Dylan.
"Okay, Dyl, truth or dare?" Chad asked.
"Truth," Dylan declared.
"Okay, tell us, is she your girlfriend, or what?" Chad asked. Dylan looked from Chad, to Becca, and back again before starting to laugh.
"Are you kidding? She's like my best friend!" Dylan said.
"Is that a yes or a no?" Chad asked. "We'll need an explicit answer."
"It's a no," Dylan said, before taking the flashlight and spinning it. It landed on me. I sighed. "Hey, big brother, truth or dare?"
"Dare," I said. "I'm no chicken."
"I dare you to got do something with Sharpay in the closet," Dylan said.
"What kind of something?" Sharpay asked before I could register what he'd said.
"Anything," Dylan said. "I don't care." I rolled my eyes, and grabbed Sharpay's arm before pulling her into my closet.
"What are we doing in here?" she whispered.
"Why? That scare you?" I whispered back.
"I have a boyfriend, and it's not you," she whispered back.
"Aw, she is scared," I whispered. "Scared of what big, bad Chad would do if he found the two of us doing something in the closet."
"Yes," Sharpay whispered. She sounded dead serious, so I decided to relieve her worries.
"Well, don't worry sister, because that ain't gonna happen," I said. She breathed an audible sign of relief. I opened the closet door and we emerged again and regained our seats.
"Well, what'd you do?" Dylan asked.
"Ah, that wasn't part of the question," I said. I spun the flashlight and it landed on Ryan, which of course was just my luck. "Truth or Dare?"
"Dare," he said, in a tone even to that of mine when I had said it.
"Well, then, I dare you to…" I began. I was having a lot of fun coming up with dares in my head, but I couldn't actually use any of them without completely embarrassing him, or totally outing myself. "…um, do a little dance for us."
"Any dance in particular?" he asked, standing up and dropping his peach hat into Sharpay's lap.
"I don't care," I said. "Any one you want." He performed a little dance for us that looked much like the one he'd been making that morning. It probably was. There was applause for him when he was done. Then he sat down, retrieved his hat, and spun the flashlight. It landed on Sharpay.
"Truth or Dare, Shar," he asked.
"Truth," she said.
"Why are you going on with Chad?" he asked. Everyone in the room turned to stare at Sharpay.
"Well, at first it was to make Troy jealous," she said. "But that went down the drains pretty fast. Now, I'm not exactly sure."
"Then why don't you break up with him?" Ryan asked.
"I don't know," Sharpay replied. "Maybe I should." I suddenly got the best idea for how to get Chad out of Sharpay's uber-annoying relationship grasp. I waited around until it was my turn again (I had to do the Macarena on Becca's orders) and then spun the flashlight. Unbelievably, it landed on Sharpay, which was amazing.
"Truth or Dare?" I asked.
"Dare," Sharpay replied.
"Break up with Chad," I said. If Chad had been in a more private place, I'm sure he would have jumped for joy.
"What?" Sharpay asked.
"Break up with Chad," I repeated. "For good."
"You can't make me do that!" she argued.
"Well, it wasn't in the rules, and I am the king," I said. "Break up with Chad." Sharpay looked around the circle for help, but none came, not even from Ryan.
"Fine," Sharpay said. "Chad, we're over. If that's alright with you."
"It's fine," Chad said, trying his best to keep from jumping for joy. "I guess I can manage without you." I grinned and he grinned back at me. If he hadn't been sitting so far away, we probably would have high fived. Sharpay reached out to spin the flashlight, but I interrupted her.
"I need a drink, suddenly," I said. "Anyone want anything?"
"Actually, I'll come with you," Chuckie said.
"Can I have a Capri Sun?" Becca asked.
"Coming right up," I said, leaving the room, with Chuckie right behind me. Instead of going downstairs to the kitchen to get drinks, I pulled Chuckie into the guest room. It was dark in there.
"That was a clever ploy," he whispered.
"Which one? Getting Sharpay to break up with Chad, or getting you alone by myself?" I asked.
"Both," he replied. "Although if I hadn't caught on, you'd be fetching your brother's girlfriend a Capri Sun right now."
"Ah, well," I said. "So, power outages are…"
"…not the most romantical places ever," Chuckie finished. "Sure, it's dark, but the lights could come on at any second, and sometimes it's too dark."
"Too dark for kissing?" I whispered.
"Shh! What if someone hears you?" he whispered hurriedly.
"No one will," I replied. "Come here." He advanced towards me, and we kissed for what was the fourth time, now, and counting. We also kissed for the fifth, sixth, and seventh times before a particularly loud laugh from my room next door brought us back to our senses.
"We were supposed to get drinks," Chuckie reminded me.
"The guest room looks like the kitchen in the dark," I said. Chuckie laughed softly, and we tiptoed out of the guest room and down to the kitchen to get Becca a Capri Sun. We hurried back upstairs.
"What did we miss?" Chuckie asked.
"Well, your sister shook her bootay for us," Chad said, laughing. I rolled my eyes. Same old Chad.
"Is that all?" Chuckie asked. "Geez, she does that all the time." Sarah probably blushed, but it was too dark to tell. The game resumed. It was very late by the time my dad came upstairs and told us all to get to bed.
"Girls only in the guest room," my dad said. "Boys, anywhere but the guest room. Capisce?"
"Yeah," we said. Sarah, Sharpay, and Becca sighed and left with a flashlight for the guest room.
"What time is it?" Chad asked.
"Christmastime," Chuckie said, grinning. (A/N: Out of curiosity, has anyone seen that video?)
"Christmas bells are ringing…" Ryan began to sing to himself.
"Okay, who's staying here in my room?" I asked.
"I'm not going in my room," Dylan said. "It's dark. I'm scared."
"Okay, well, that pretty much sums it up," I said. "Chad, the linen closet…" Chad went to the linen closet and returned a little while later with a whole bunch of bed crap, and we all went to bed. We didn't really sleep that great, because, well, my parents were doing Christmas Eve stuff, if that gives you a little hint of…you know. How they managed to do that with all the lights out, I'll never figure out.
A/N: The "Christmas bells are ringing…" is from my new favorite RENT song (Besides Happy New Year A and B). I just got the Broadway version today… Anyway, that's the ninth chapter. This is progressing awfully slowly, but it'll get there…I hope. So…I don't own HSM and stuff, okayz?
Thanks for reading and please review! (Bonus reviewing brownie points for anyone who can figure out why Chuckie's sister's name is Sarah.)
Samantha.
