la maniera l'amo
Chapter Nine
Disclaimer: Disney owns all characters associated with High School Musical franchise. All original characters are mine.
So hello again!!! I am SO MAD at myself for not posting sooner, you have no idea and I have no excuse other than to say my life got insane and I had graduation, a show, a trip, and major writer's block. But I am updating and making a vow to write everyday and post every week, if not on a regular basis.
I have this chatper done, as well as chapter 10 and chapter 11 is already started. I will not post a new chapter unless the one to come after it is complete and the one after THAT is in the works.
I was contemplating changing the rating of the story to M because of language, so it is your assignment as the amazing readers/reviewers you are to let me know if you think everything is appropriate. I have had sudden inspiration and definetly know the direction this story is heading the next few chapters. 'Thank the Star' was 18 chapters and this will definetly be longer, have no doubt of that.
I love all who are reading and reviewing right now and I would love to drum up even more of you because I really love good critiques about my writing and my stories, so if you have the time, long reviews are loved because i love when people are nitpicky, especially about the characters.
Okay, I'm done! Go read!
~0~
"Congrats."
Julie turned her head, raising an eyebrow in question as Jimmie made is way into the room. Julie moved over a bit to make room for him from her perch on the windowsill,
"Um, thanks, even though I really don't know what you're congratulating me on," Julie said, reaching up to pull off his beanie. "And you know I hate it when you wear these things."
Jimmie ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. "Sorry. Kind of a habit at this point. But congrats on getting off your IV! That's huge, right?"
Julie shrugged and absentmindedly rubbed the crevice in her arm where the IV had pierced her skin.
"I guess," she agreed. "Now they can send me out on pass again. Which is stupid, because last time was a fail."
"Hey, practice makes perfect, right?" Jimmie tried to comfort, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Like, I shot foul shot after foul shot before I could sink it. Maybe this is the same thing."
Julie smirked and punched his shoulder playfully.
"You did NOT just compare anorexia to basketball," she teased. "I am not orange, thank you! Although I see your point."
Jimmie hopped off the ledge and held out his hand.
"Come on," he coaxed. "Let's get out this room! I'm starting to hate it."
Julie looked him with fear.
"Jimmie, you know they don't like me," Julie reminded, curling her legs into her chest, referring to the fellow patients.
"So let's go show them that you're not the bitch they make you out to be," Jimmie said, standing in front of her, pulling her hands off her legs. "It'll be fine."
"Once you lose your reputation, you can't gain it back," Julie quoted the old adage, resisting as he tried to pry her into a standing position.
"Jules, you didn't lose your reputation," Jimmie scoffed. "Come on. Do it for me. I can't stare at these dance posters much longer. You know they creep me out."
"What?"
"People should not be able to do those things with their bodies," he explained, indicating a poster in which a dancer and her partner were executing a particularly painful-looking movement.
"For someone who can probably do that, you're a bit hypocritical," Julie teased, slowly unwinding her legs to stand. "I've seen you in class."
"I miss seeing you in class," Jimmie told her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "You need to beat this and get out of here, Jules. I miss having you around."
"Why, because I was the only teacher who doesn't call you on your awful turnout in your plies?" Julie taunted, her hands finding their way around his neck. Jimmie rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry, my mom is aware of that problem," he assured her, but his tone turned serious with his next statement. "But honestly, I miss you. There's this...void, I guess, and I need you back. I know you can beat this."
Julie bit her lip and looked away, back out the window, for a moment before murmuring, "Sometimes I don't feel like I'm strong enough." She looked down and then at his face, locking onto his gaze as if in desperation. "I don't know if I can beat this. I don't know if I want to put myself through what I know is coming. You know what I mean?"
"Being scared is part of facing something you don't know anything about," Jimmie pointed out as Julie's mouth fell open. "What?"
"You're being deep and sentimental again," she stated flatly. "Reading Mommy's magazine's?"
"No," Jimmy defended, although his blushing face gave him away. Julie smirked and stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. He grabbed her around the waist and picked her up, walking her out of the door.
"Jimmie, come on, please-"
"Julie!"
Julie pushed herself out of Jimmie's embrace to smile awkwardly at the family playing a board game on the table across the hallway. The patient, a small blond girl, was scowling at her, causing the young girl's mother to see the distress on her daughter's face and scowl in Julie's direction as well.
"And you wonder why I don't venture out," Julie hissed at Jimmie. "And who yelled my name?"
"Julie!" She turned at the sound of her name and saw a beaming Jen throw her arms around her in a tight hug.
"Um, hey," Julie greeted as Jen pulled away with a squeal. "Someone's happy. Did you get a decrease?"
"Better," Jen said with a shake of her head, causing her red curls to bounce. "You know how my doctor was taking about possible discharge. and then he never did carry through on the promise last week?"
Julie nodded, remembering Jen's vial rant and the many tears and choice words said when her doctor failed to allow her discharge the previous week.
"Yeah?"
"Well, it's happening! I'm leaving! Out, goodbye, never to be here again! Soon-a few days!"
As Jen hugged her again, Julie felt her mind fog over and all sound disappear as her mind took in Jen's words. I'm leaving. Leaving.
Julie's one source of comfort was leaving.
It wasn't as if she was happy for Jen, because she was. Jen, after her third relapse, had been determined to come out of the hospital for the last time and Julie knew how hard she had been working, how much she had put herself through, and Julie was happy and proud of her.
At the same time, Julie felt abandoned. Next to Jimmie, Julie felt as if Jen were the only person who understood her; she certainly was the only patient in the unit who saw past her bitchy defense. And now she was leaving.
Julie had never felt so alone.
~0~
To an observer, Sharpay Evans had so fear. She was the labeled Ice Queen; she had no fear because she did not feel. She was indestructible. Invincible. Nothing stopped her, nothing stood in her way.
So it made no sense in her mind why she was sitting outside Troy Bolton's dorm room nearly crying from well, fear.
When Sharpay was three, she had been on her first audition, for the role of a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. She had marched onstage, dressed in full Dorothy regalia, and, instead of singing 'Happy Birthday' as the other little ones had, proceeded to do a rendition of 'Over the Rainbow.'
At fourteen, an eighth grader still in middle school, she had made her first appearance in an East High production, beating out high schoolers for the cameo role of 'Young Cosette' in Les Miserables.
In sophomore year, she had blackmailed the varsity football captain into taking her to prom after finding out that his well known relationship with the cheerleading captain was not his only extracurricular activity.
Sharpay was fearless. Invincible. And she was scared.
Sharpay Evans was scared. Seeing Troy's face as he saw her sitting with his sister had been one of the terrifying moments of her life, up there with her first leading role and the first day she had been in the hospital. The emotions that had played across Troy's face had been so familiar, had triggered such powerful feelings of deja vu.
Sharpay didn't know why she was there now, waiting for the boy who was sure to hate her. She shouldn't driven home and should have been back in Albuquerque at that very moment, sitting in her psych class, doodling in the margins of her book, for who cared if a bound-for-Broadway actress knew common therapeutic methods for blah blah blah?
But now, she would have given anything to be safely in that dreary room, half asleep. The dorm room at UC Berkley suddenly seemed, to Sharpay, dark and brooding, as if it were expecting the tears that were sure to be shed when Sharpay worked up the courage to leave the haven of her car and confront Troy.
"Alright, calm down Evans," Sharpay scolded herself, her eyes glancing up at the windows as if Troy's face was going to appear any moment and kill her with his gaze. "It's Bolton. Basketball boy. You shouldn't be scared."
Rationally, she shouldn't be. Emotionally, she was scared and on edge, which is why the knock on her window caused Sharpay to jump and scream dramatically, pulling her purse to her chest and Gabriella, on the other side of the door, covered her ears.
"Sharpay! Calm down, it's me!" Gabriella shouted, watching the blond settle slightly, open the door, and step out shakily, tottering on her heels. Gabriella gripped her arm to steady her.
"God, Ella, you scared me!" Sharpay cried dramatically, putting a hand to her chest, stating the blatant obvious.
"And you probably caused me to go temporarily deaf," Gabriella retorted wryly. Sharpay looked down at her-for she was in four inch heels-a bit taken back by how brash Gabriella had become since graduation.
"When did you become so sarcastic?" Sharpay asked, voicing her thoughts as Gabriella released her arm and crossed her tan arms over her sundress.
"When my boyfriend became depressed," Gabriella stated flatly and Sharpay immediately shut her mouth, almost seeing the tension and anger emitting off of her friend.
"Speaking of Troy," Sharpay began. "where is the boy toy? I, um, need to talk to him."
"Something to do with Julie, I presume?" Gabriella asked, her voice quiet, as she reached up rub at her eye, further smearing her mascara.
"Yes, it is," Sharpay confirmed, grabbing Gabriella's thin wrist and pulling her hand away. "No offense, love, but you look like a wreck. Did you come from the hospital?"
"Haven't been there since you last were," Gabriella said. "Why? Do I look that awful?" She bit her lip and looked down, embarrassed.
Sharpay rolled her eyes.
"Even at your worst you look better than most of us," Sharpay stated. "Even me, which I can't believe I'm saying." This caused Gabriella to crack a small smile. "Now what's wrong? You look like someone told you Troy was gay or something."
Gabriella laughed harshly before wiping at her eye again, determined not the let the tears spill over.
"I wish. It might've hurt less."
By her comment, Sharpay knew instantly that something had gone down between Gabriella and Troy. Taking the brunette by the wrist, Sharpay led her over to the green metal bench that was stationed a few feet away from the entrance to the dorm. From the view point, Sharpay saw Troy's truck parked across the road, Troy not in sight.
"Okay," Sharpay said, sitting Gabriella down across from her. "What's going on in paradise?"
With many tears, sniffles, and pink tissues, Gabriella told Sharpay of what had happened in the twenty four hours since they had last seen her. To Gabriella, it seemed like so much longer.
Midway through a sentence, Sharpay held up her hand. Gabriella stopped her phrase and looked at her expectantly.
"What?"
"Go fuck him."
"What?!"
"You heard me. Go fuck him."
Gabriella's mouth fell open as she stared at the blond in disbelief.
"Sharpay, did you not just hear what I told you-"
"I know what you told me. I heard. I heard that in the heat of the moment, emotional, confused, and pissed off because he saw me, Troy voiced some of his thoughts that were irrational and he, when calm, collected, and his normal overly attentive boyfriend self, wouldn't have said. That's a human reaction to anything-not a cause for a reexamination of your relationship."
"But-"
Sharpay put a manicured finger over Gabriella's lips.
"He said you 'could be gone' or whatever. Gabriella, be realistic."
Hearing this from Sharpay, the girl who had been practicing her Oscar acceptance speech from when she was four, made thinking realistically a bit difficult for Gabriella.
"Sharpay, I don't get where you're going with this," she said honestly. "He-"
"Loves you. Chose a college for you. He does see a future-don't worry about that, Gabriella. When you were up here last year, he was a wreck during rehearsals, trust me. I had to dance with him."
Gabriella's face remained passive, allowing Sharpay to continue.
"I also, at rehearsals, overhead that there was a certain phone conversation that occurred in which you informed Troy you couldn't come home because you couldn't keep saying goodbye? Is that correct?"
Gabriella nodded, still unsure of where Sharpay was taking this.
"You didn't want to return and face the pain again, so what did you do? You made a reason to escape from it. In your case, you run. In Troy's case, it becomes verbal. Think back to junior year, to what Chad and Taylor did. You know when Troy's temper gets the best of him he says things he doesn't mean."
Gabriella nodded slowly, understanding.
"Your saying that these fights will occur," she said, "that when emotions take get the best of us, everyone reacts differently and Troy acts out verbally. And I shouldn't take it personally!"
"'Exactly!" Sharpay cried in triumph. "You panicked not because of his reaction, but because he said may not be with you, which is a load of bullshit. But anyway, you just need to say, 'Troy, I know you were upset and the words hurt, but it's okay. Now let's have hot sex.'"
Gabriella bit her lip, the blond amusing her now.
"Okay, Sharpay," Gabriella agreed. "And thank you. I think that was the deepest conversation we've ever had."
Sharpay sniffed.
"Yes, I have my moments," she boasted, fluffing her hair with a smirk. Gabriella stood and looked up at the windows.
"Do you still need to talk to Troy?" Gabriella asked. Sharpay shook her blonde mane and stood up as well.
"You go have a fun night," she said, patting Gabriella's shoulder. "Have some good sex for the both of us since I"m not getting any at the moment."
Gabriella's face finally lit up in a full smile and she threw her arms around the blond, taking Sharpay by surprise by the performer returned it.
"Thank you," Gabriella said again. "I owe you one."
Sharpay rolled her eyes.
"I'll be back," she assured Gabriella before kicking her butt playfully with a pink spiked shoe. "Now go."
Sharpay watched as Gabriella ran up into the building and turned back to her car with a smirk. No, she didn't fully accomplish what she had come to do, but another idea had formed in her head, one she was intent on completing as soon as possible.
Like now.
Setting her hobo bag in the passenger seat, Sharpay fished out her phone and scrolled through the address book to a number she had never believed she called. Starting the car, but keeping it in park as it was illegal to talk and drive as Sharpay had found out the hard way, Sharpay hit send and put the phone to her ear, drumming her long nails on the steering wheel as she waited.
~0~
In the U of A locker room, Chad Danforth nearly dropped his towel as he pulled his phone from his bag one handed and gawped at the number on the screen.
"Dude, your girlfriend just text you she was pregnant or something?" a teammate joked, Chad sitting down and using his hand no longer holding up his towel to give the boy the finger.
"Worry about your own shit," Chad growled before putting the phone to his ear, saying tentitively, "Hello?"
"Chad. I didn't know if you had my number, but it's Sharpay."
"No, I have it," Chad replied. "I got it from Hoops junior year so I knew if you called never to pick up."
"Haha your hilarious," Sharpay deadpanned on the other end. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"
Chad rolled his eyes. "Would you even care if you did?"
There was a pause and then, "Probably not."
"So you won't care I'm sitting in the locker room wearing a towel than," Chad said with a smirk as Sharpay squawked, "Okay, ew! You didn't need to tell me that!"
"Hey, you asked, Barbie," he retorted, leaning his elbows on his knees. "Now what's up. Why did you call?"
"I'm out in California," Sharpay said.
"So."
"Visiting Julie."
"Damn Sharpay, are you fucking insane?" Chad asked loudly, causing many of his teammates to look in his direction curiously. Chad knew of Julie Bolton's hospitalization and the history between Sharpay Evans and the Bolton family, having been raised partially in the household. "Sharpay, that was so stupid!"
"She's struggling, Chad," Sharpay said quietly, her tone turning serious. "Jimmie Zara said she was asking for me."
It was Chad's turn to sit quietly for a moment in thought before saying, "I'm guessing Hoops didn't react well."
"Nope!" Sharpay said, her tone too bright. "He pissed Gab off, but I fixed that-they're off having make up sex now."
"You sound very proud of yourself," Chad noted.
"Oh I am. For not paying attention in psych class, I gave some pretty sound advice."
"Congrats. Now Hoops. What the hell went down."
"He's really having a hard time," Sharpay said. "Really hard. Gab doesn't know what to do."
"So why isn't Gab calling me?" Chad asked.
"Because Gab wouldn't ask you to come out here, possibly with Jase and Zeke, and cheer him up," Sharpay explained. "Getting Tay out here for Gab would be amazing, but I can only do so much. I'm not a fairy godmother."
"That'd be all we'd need," Chat muttered before saying clearly, "You're asking me if I want to go on a road trip?"
"Yes."
"You're asking me if I want to cut class, grab a few friends, and go to California to get wasted."
"Damn it, Chad, yes!"
"You're asking me. To get wasted."
"YES!"
Chad looked at the phone for a moment as if heaven's gates had just opened and a choir of Playmate bunnies had suddenly descended upon him.
"Sharpay," he proclaimed loudly, "you are my savior."
~0~
I'm nervous. Let me know what you think!
