"All you really need are these and a few other things. Just have a little chat with Troy and you two can settle all of this, unless if you need me to be the messenger with you two?" Richard handed Sharpay a few papers.
She thought about it for a moment. She wasn't sure if she wanted someone to be the messenger between she and Troy or if she could just talk to him like today. It wasn't that bad talking to him, and she thought it was probably better if she talked to him herself that way they were sure to get each other's comment, word for word, and not being changed by the person in the middle. She's always heard the saying that you could never really trust anyone. For all she knew, Richard could change whatever Troy was saying or whatever she was saying. He could say something sweet to one another or something harsh, depending if he wanted them to be together or not. From what Sharpay could sense, he wasn't too happy hearing about them splitting up, but he didn't show too much of it though. When Sharpay first told him why she needed him, she could tell he was very upset with her news.
The way he was stuttering his words when she asked if there was an easy way to this separation or not. And when she asked about how long until they could get a full on divorce, Richard looked like he didn't want to give her an answer, but he had too. It was his job and he didn't have a choice. Sharpay didn't want to force him to tell her, but she really needed to know!
"Oh no, it's fine. I think I handle talking to Troy. As long as it's not for more than an hour," She smiled.
"Well then, you take care of you that and let me know." He said with a nod.
"So this will do then? Everything's fine?" Sharpay asked picking up her belongings.
She looked over at Daniel and then back at Richard who handed her one last piece of paper. She really hated all of the paper works that came along with the whole dilemma. There were too many to keep and she was too scared that she would loose one important paper and be screwed forever. She tried her best to keep everything in one folder, but she always felt like she was missing something. All the papers were important too, she didn't want to go through them all, but at one point she knew she was going to have to actually read them all, word for word and then memorize them!
"Oh yes, everything is fine. I'll give you a call later this week and get everything going," Richard smiled petting his fat lazy cat.
"Great. And maybe you could give me some pointers on the whole agreement thing. I think I need a few more info about that," She smiled looking over to where Daniel was watching—the news. Which was very unusual. Daniel wasn't the type of person who Sharpay ever believed would watch the news unless if it had anything to do with sports. He was addicted to sports, no doubt about it.
Sharpay knew very well that Daniel wasn't the one who turned the TV on to that channel; he would never in his dear life watch the news. Richard was also watching it too, so that explained it. Every time Sharpay said something, it looked like he wasn't paying attention at all, but he surprised her with actually answering her questions right. Even if he looked like he wasn't paying attention.
"Come on, Daniel. Time to go," She patted his shoulder, urging him to stand up. "I'll see you later," She shot Richard a small smile.
"Drive safely and take care!" He returned the smile.
"I will and tell your wife when she gets back I said and that I came by," Sharpay said before making her way closer to the door.
He was a good friend, well when it came to these things. Sharpay never talked to him really, she use to, every time Troy had his whole basketball-gathering thing. She never even thought of him one day to actually be helping her with something. To her, he looked like some lazy guy who sat around all day and ate ice cream, even if he was a lawyer, he looked nothing like one. He didn't even act like one. If Sharpay had never met him before and she ran into in public she would never guess he was lawyer. He looked more like a couch potato. The way he dressed didn't make him look like some successful person either. He also acted very childish and reminded Sharpay of a three-year-old.
"See you." He called after her walking out of his house.
The talk with Richard wasn't too bad. Sharpay actually got him all on her side, not that there was much to argue about anyways. The case was mainly just about trying to figure out how the whole child visiting was going to go with Troy across the counter and about how everything should go. Daniel looked very bored the whole time. He didn't pay any attention to whatever was going on and Sharpay was glad. She didn't need another one of his "You were wrong", corrections about Troy. If he heard all the bad things she was complaining about Troy, Daniel would probably have stuck up for Troy and accuse Sharpay of being the bad one. When the whole talking was over, Sharpay had to rush herself out of the place. She needed to beat time. She was so caught up with all the interesting facts that Richard was telling her, she lost track of time. Madeline was still at her dance thing, most likely bored of waiting to be picked up by now. She would also get very mad if she had to wait too long. It was only fair for Sharpay to rush herself, making sure he daughter didn't have to stand out in the dark, cold sky waiting, all alone.
"MOM! SLOW DOWN!" Daniel held onto the car handle feeling like he was going to die any second with his mom's rapid driving.
The fast driving was making him carsick and it got him scared too. There were so many sharp turns and it was a dark road with no houses around. Only trees and rocks. They were also way high up, which scared him a lot. The road was very narrow and a few cars would come flying out from the other side.
"MOM!" Daniel screamed.
"What?" She turned to look at her son who was screaming and freaking out of her driving.
A car coming from the other direction was speeding down the narrow turn point and slammed into the car. For a second Sharpay felt herself weaken and a bright light was all she could see. Everything began to grow cold and dark. The air was thick and heavy. Soon it was dead silence………
"Mom…Are you okay?" Daniel's voice came through the cold air.
"Yeah?" She opened her eyes realizing it was dark and misty.
"Are you okay?" He asked letting a loud breath.
"I'm fine?" Sharpay sat up feeling her hands suddenly warm up. A second ago it was freezing and now it was getting warmer and warmer.
There was no light outside and nothing could be seen except for the car's headlights glowing against a rocky hill that she had hit. Luckily, she didn't slam the car too hard on it, not causing a major damage to the car or to Daniel or to herself! She could tell Daniel was really worried, she was probably knocked out for a little while, she did feel a lot of hard pressure against her body and felt like shutting down, and luckily she didn't. She felt her head and no blood were found, which made her feel better. The last thing she wanted was to be hurt or to be injured.
"Are you okay?" His voice came again, only this time scared.
"I'm fine. Stop worrying." She smiled weakly searching for the key ignition.
"I love you."
"I love you too." Sharpay gave him a bigger smile. "That was scary."
Daniel nodded and sat back as Sharpay started to drive the car in reverse to get it back on the main road. She was still feeling a little scared and cold from what happened, even though she couldn't really remember it too well. All she remember was seeing the headlights of some speeding car and the next thing she knew she was waking up in the really pitch black night. All she was glad about was that she was alive and so was her son. Now she had to worry about picking up Madeline on time. She was really late—at least an hour late now and there was no signal anywhere in the area. It was making her frustrated, but she was able to calm herself down.
"Oh your poor sister," She sighed driving carefully, not wanting to have any more accident for the day.
"Try calling someone." Daniel suggested.
"I can't! No one will be able to get her and I only have one bar on my phone. I don't think I can get a good sig—" She paused knowing that she might be able to reach Troy.
She grabbed for her cell phone, which was on the cup holder. She searched for his number and waited for him to pick up. Of course, Troy didn't pick up!
"Your dad is a stupid idiot!" Sharpay groaned throwing her phone down between her legs.
She was finally on a main freeway, but to top off her night, it was bumper-to-bumper traffic! There was no way she was ever going to make this, and her night could not possibly get any worst!
"He's not stupid mom, he's probably busy or in the middle of something, or maybe he didn't hear the phone ring," Daniel said while shaking his head.
That was what annoyed Sharpay. Her own child giving her a lecture about Troy. It made her furious that she was the adult here and she shouldn't have to hear about all the teaching her son had for her.
"You really need to stop lecturing me about your dad! You don't know him as well as I know him! I've been with him longer than you have, so don't talk to me like you're someone older than me and much wiser. You're a child Daniel. I'm sorry you have to deal with this and it's making you upset, and I obviously know that you are on your dad's side, but you need to cut that out! I don't care if you're going to take his side, just keep it to yourself. Seriously. I know how it feels to have to deal with divorce—I know. My parents got divorce too and you know that. It's horrible yeah, but you'll get over it!" Sharpay exploded.
"Then why are you making me go through this? If you know how horrible it is, then why? You want me to suffer for your pain too?" Daniel asked looking down sounding like he was going to cry soon.
"No. I don't want you to suffer! It's not my fault that your dad can be a jerk. He's not what I expected. That's all. I don't know why, but my mind keeps telling me to hate him, and my heart really wants me to just leave him alone. He's not a bad person. He really isn't. And he's not all so good either. You know, as much as I try not to love your dad anymore, that's not going to happen. I won't be able to stop loving him, but I can keep myself from loving him. I can move on. It's better for me and it's better for your dad. It's just better if we aren't together." Sharpay explained staying calm this time.
"What about us? What about Madeline and I? What about what's better for us?" Daniel looked up.
All Sharpay could do was shake her head. She was done having this conversation. It was getting nowhere, like always. She wanted the best for her kids, and yeah, having the family together would be best, but it was also a bad example for the kids. They can't live in a place where their parents are always screaming and yelling at each other. It'll just make things worst than it already is.
Her cell phone began to ring and she quickly reached for it, knowing it was Troy.
"Hello?" She picked up.
"You called?" Troy said right away.
"And you didn't pick up—why?" Sharpay asked using the same tone he was using.
"I was in the middle of taking a shower." Troy explained.
"Sure, Troy. I need you to do me a favor—could you go get Madeline from her dance class? It was over a little while ago and—"
A warm feeling brushed against her face, causing her to stop talking.
"Shar?" Troy spoke.
She blinked her eyes and shook her head.
"Oh, yeah, I'm stuck in major traffic. Can you just pick her up?" She asked getting straight to the point.
"Yeah. Sure. Am I supposed to—are you okay?" Troy quickly changed the topic hearing Sharpay let out a sigh.
"I'm fine, Troy." She rolled her eyes.
"Sorry for caring—geez." He smirked.
"Go get her!" Sharpay ordered.
"All right! Don't have to yell. Am I dropping her off at your house or what?" He asked.
"Take her out to dinner and then I will call you when I get home so you can drop her off." Sharpay explained.
"Okay, got it." Troy said.
"Good. Bye." Sharpay sighed again.
"I—never mind." Troy was stopped before even saying, "I love you" to her.
He didn't know what stopped him, he just did.
"Bye."