Chapter Ten December 25, 2002 ( Christmas Day )
The power had, in fact, not come back on by the time we woke up the next morning. Chad found a battery operated radio, and got an update, that the power would be out most of the day in most of the suburban regions of East.
"Yippee," I said. "But, it's Christmas. So…yippee!"
"Christmas!" Dylan shouted, springing off the floor and to the top of the stairs to peer down into the living room. "He was here!"
"I know," I said. "Congratulations on figuring that out."
"Well, let's open our presents!" Dylan said, attaching himself to my arm and attempting to drag me out of bed.
"I'll be right there. Why don't you get Mom, Dad, and the girls up?" I said. Dylan raced out of the room. Ryan went to keep him from being killed by Sharpay, and Chad went to use the bathroom. I poked Chuckie in the side.
"Ow," he remarked.
"Wake up," I teased in a sing-song voice.
"I don't wanna," he said. "Five more minutes."
"You're gonna miss it," I said.
"I don't wanna go to school today, Mom, can I stay home?" he asked.
"Chuckie, wake up this instant. It is Christmas morning!" I commanded. He immediately sat up.
"What?" he asked.
"It's Christmas, dude," I said.
"Oh, happy Christmas," he said, laying back down and snuggling into his blankets.
"Chuckie, get up. You get to watch me and the kids open our presents," I said. "Then you and Sarah can go home and unwrap yours."
"Oh," he grumbled. "Good morning, then." He rolled over, and sat up. "It's morning."
"What are you, drunk? Of course!" I said. "I've only said that six times."
"It's Christmas!" he remarked gleefully.
"Yes," I said.
"Why am I at your house?" he asked.
"The power's out," I said. "Do you not remember last night?"
"I had a dream that I was riding a unicorn," he began.
"Poor unicorn," I said.
"Shut up. And I named her Molly," he said.
"Well, that's much better than the dog you had when you were little that you named Snoopy," I said.
"I miss Snoopy," Chuckie said. "Oh well."
"At least he didn't sit on top on his doghouse," I said.
"He would have if he could have," Chuckie said. "Okay, I'm up. Where's the presents?"
"Your house," I said. He groaned, but I prevented him from laying back down. "Come on." I pulled him to his feet, and we joined Sarah, Becca, and my parents in going downstairs. Sharpay and Ryan emerged from the guest room, both yawning and joined us.
"Whoa!" Sarah remarked when we got downstairs. Not only was the tree run by some kind of battery power, all the presents from Chuckie and Sarah's house had been brought over.
"Me likey," Chuckie said. "Santa Claus really did come to town."
"And there's even a couple presents for Becca," my mother said, pointing to a small pile that "Santa Claus" left.
"Yay!" Becca said, excitedly.
Nine. Hours. Later…
We were finished. Every present had been opened. Every speck of wrapping paper was in a ginormous trash bag to take to the recycling center. Every toy had been opened, every box thrown across the room and into the hall. And it was only 5 at night. I was amazed. What with the eight kids and four parents, I really would have expected it to take a lot longer. It was beginning to get dark again.
"I wish we could turn on the lights," Chad complained. "It's getting dark again." As if on cue, the lights flickered on.
"I like him," Becca said to Dylan. "He's magic."
"I know, right?" Dylan said. I rolled my eyes.
"Dude, you shoulda done that last night," I said. "We wouldn't have had to share our room with Dylan." Chad lust laughed.
"Okay, well, we promised Mr. and Mrs. Jones we'd being her back as soon as the power came back on," my mom said. "So, Becca, honey, grab your stuff. You're going home."
"Aw, man do I have to?" Becca asked.
"Yes," my mom said. Becca sighed and went to collect her stuff. Dylan went to help.
"So, how was this Christmas?" Chuckie asked me, quietly.
"The best one ever," I replied. He smiled. We both knew it was because Ryan was there, but we both pretended it wasn't. Mr. and Mrs. Brown started gathering up all the stuff that went back to their house. Sarah helped them. An hour later, Chad and I were just sitting around. Sharpay was talking to us. We were pretending to listen. Ryan was actually listening. I couldn't figure out how he could actually pay attention, but whatever. So, Chuckie walked through, carrying the last of all his crap.
"Bye," he said.
"Bye," the rest of us said. He paused for a second or two, and then left the room. I paused while thinking what I should do, and then followed him.
"Hey," I called after him. He was standing on the porch, just about to leave.
"Hey," he said.
"You didn't think I'd let you leave like that did you?" I asked.
"Well, seeing how Ryan's in there…yeah," he said. "Look, I don't think this is such a good idea."
"Yes it is," I said. "C'mon, you know you want to."
"Yeah, I do," he said. "But you don't."
"That doesn't matter to me," I said. "What matters to me is that you're happy."
"Well, I am happy," he said.
"Then I'm happy," I said. "So, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah," he said. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," I said. He left and disappeared into the dark towards his house. I walked back inside, and shut the front door, sighing.
"What's up, man?" Chad asked, walking down the hall towards me.
"Nothing," I said, walking past him into the living room. My spirits involuntarily brightened when I saw Ryan, and I felt sick to my stomach, and made a flimsy excuse to go to my room. When I got there, I looked out my window, and saw Chuckie dancing about his room merrily. I smiled.
A week and a half later (January 6, 2003), we were all back to school. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had sent their driver to pick up Sharpay and Ryan New Year's Day. Chad had gone home on the 27th. The big game vs. West Middle School was coming up on Friday. Tension ran high for us awesome people on the team.
"Guys," Coach Murray said to us. "This is the biggest game of the year. If you win this, we go on to the play-offs." The team looked around excitedly. "It's not such a big deal in middle school, but it would impress Coach Bolton up at the high school. He'll be there."
"He always comes to our games," Jason said.
"Yeah," Chad said. "He comes to watch Troy."
"This time he'll be watching all of you, especially you eighth graders," Coach Murray said. Noted, I thought to myself. I didn't care if my dad came to watch us or not. "Now I want you to break into two teams and scrimmage." We didn't dare question Coach Murray's authority. We split into two teams, and scrimmaged. My team won, but did I need to tell you that? Really. (Lose the cocky attitude, already, Troy.) ((Don't leave notes in my story, Ryan!)) (Kelsi left notes in mine!) ((That's beside the point.))
Anyway, by Friday, tension was running high all throughout the school all morning. Until Health Class, when, for some indiscernible reason, they decided to give us "The Talk".
"I hear we get the Talk today," Chad said to me as we walked from English to Health with the rest of our homeroom.
"Excellent," I said, sarcastically. "That's exactly what you need."
"What?! That's ridiculous!" Chad said.
"Ha," I said. We walked into the class and took our seats.
"Hi, Troy," Sharpay said, as she sat down, like she did whenever she sat down. It must have been a reflex.
"No, Sharpay," I said. Also a reflex.
"In your dreams, Bolton," Sharpay said, as Ryan sat down behind her.
So, we go the Talk. And if that wasn't embarrassing enough, when Mr. Morin was finished, the class wasn't over, so we got to watch an educational video on where babies come from. It was not enjoyable. When the bell finally rang, it was for lunch, and no one was hungry.
"I think The Talk is something invented by people at West to keep us from winning games," Chad said, disgusted, as we sat at our table at lunch.
"I think it was interesting," Zeke said.
"You think everything is interesting," I said. "Including but not limited to: cake, girls, cookies, girls, basketball, girls, blue scented pens for some reason, oh and girls!"
"Yeah," Zeke said, dreamily. His gaze drifted off in the direction of the cheerleader's table. I rolled my eyes. The cheerleaders were all dressed up in nice skirts and stuff. We were dressed in nice clothes too. Apparently it's like a rule or something. I dunno.
By the time the game came that afternoon, we were all nervous again, and tension was running high. The boys and I hung out in the locker room, not really listening to Coach Murray talk about the game. We were preoccupied with not thinking about The Talk, or in some peoples' case, thinking about the cheerleaders in the next locker room, who, if you listened really hard, you could hear practicing.
"Okay," Coach Murray was saying. "We really have to kick butt today! This is a very important game. I think it's time for us to go. Do we all know how the lineup goes?"
"We're not stupid," Chad said. Coach Murray rolled his eyes, as if not believing that. Zeke poked Jason awake, and we all went into the gym. The cheerleaders were cheering for us, as we emerged. We all took our seats on one side of the gym.
"Wildcats, sing along, yeah you really got it going on! Wildcats in the house everybody say it now! Wildcats everywhere, wave your hands up in the air. That's the way we do it, let's get to it, time to show the world," the cheerleaders cheered. In the front row center was Sharpay, believe it or not. I hate to admit it, but she was hot. On either side of her, in the back row (there were two rows, like in a zig zag…) were Ruby and Sapphire, identical twins. They had black hair and green eyes. They were pretty cool, but we didn't know them that well. The other cheerleaders were there too, but they aren't as important.
So, then, the announcer guy (whose name was JC) called Sharpay up to the podium so she could sing the national anthem. I was thankful that she and Ryan hadn't decided to completely butcher it. Or, I don't think that occurred to me at the time, but I'm thankful for that now.
Okay, so we played the game. Blah, blah, blah, boring, right? Yes. Well, as expected East won, of course, 46-32. We creamed them. Their team was terrible that year. I don't know why. Anyway, yeah, we won. There was no singing involved afterwards, but then again, we hadn't won, like, a championship or anything. The game started at 3:30, and was finished by 5, and the girl's game started. We stayed to watch, as, like, moral support or something, and also because Sarah was on the girl's team. They won too, which was kind of cool, 30-27. Their game was much closer. The game was over much quicklier, and was done by 6:15, which was cool, because the dance was at 7 to 9:30. Or, technically, "Activity Night". There was dancing in the cafeteria, and the gym was split into two, to play basketball and soccer. EMS students only. Whatever. I took a shower in the locker room, and was thankfully not accosted by anyone (especially certain someones I could mention….) and changed into something more appropriate for an Activity Night, i.e. jeans and a button down shirt.
7 o'clock arrived, and they started charging us admission, or whatever. Anyway, Chuckie and I ventured into the cafeteria, helped ourselves to free food and drinks, and sat promptly down on a table to watch the other people dance around. Sharpay, with Ryan in tow, came by our table. Sharpay opened her mouth to say something.
"No, Sharpay," Chuckie and I said at the same time. She made a noise in aggravation, and then stormed off. Ryan, of course, followed her like a puppy. Ruby and Sapphire, the previously aforementioned hot cheerleaders came up to us and sat down on either side of us.
"Can we help you?" I asked.
"I'm Ruby," the one sitting next to Chuckie said. "And that's my sister, Sapphire." She pointed at the one sitting next to me.
"Can we help you?" I repeated.
"So what's the deal with you two?" Sapphire asked. "Are you like, brothers…or like…boyfriends…?" Chuckie and I exchanged glances.
"Nothing's the deal with us," I said. "At all."
"Oh, so then we can dance with you?" Ruby asked, pulling Chuckie off the table and onto the dance floor. I smirked, and followed Sapphire. We danced for a while. Sharpay, across the room, dancing with the random basketball player of her choice, saw us and looked like she might explode. I smirked at her as well. She glared at me. After a few songs, Ruby and Sapphire brought us back to our table.
"So, still not gay?" Sapphire asked us.
"Can you keep a secret?" I asked.
"Duh, we're twins," Ruby said. I didn't know what that had to do with it, but whatever.
"Yeah, we're gay," Chuckie said. "Or, I am. How'd you know?"
"Cuz it's you guys," Ruby said. "I mean, you have to be really dumb not to figure it out."
"No one else has," I pointed out.
"We go to school with a bunch of dumb people," Sapphire said. "But you can trust us. We won't tell anyone."
"Promise?" I asked.
"Pinky promise," Ruby said, offering her pinky to me. We pinky promised. That's a little dumb.
"So, seriously, how'd you know?" Chuckie asked.
"We overheard you at the party last summer," Sapphire said, grinning.
"And then we sent your little brother in," Ruby said, giggling. "You can't say we don't have fun."
"No, I'm sure you have a lot of fun," I said. "At our disposal."
"Schadenfreude," Sapphire offered.
"That's German for 'happiness at the misfortune of others'," Ruby explained.
"We had an uncle in Germany for a while," Sapphire said.
"Why was he there?" Chuckie asked.
"The war," Sapphire said vaguely. This made no sense to us, but whatever again.
"So, this Schadenfreude thing," I said, "it's not very nice."
"I know," Sapphire said. "But it's funny. Ooh, look at Sharpay."
"You know Sharpay?" I asked, forgetting where they came from for a moment.
"Uh, doesn't everyone?" Ruby asked. "She's the captain of our cheerleading team."
"Oh right," I said. "Go on."
"Right, look at her. She is angry," Ruby said, peering over at Sharpay and waving innocently.
"We're gonna get hell tomorrow," Sapphire said. "Or Monday."
"Yeah," Ruby said. "So, you two and us, next dance? It's on Valentine's Day."
"Uh, sure," Chuckie said. "Are you in our homeroom?"
"No," Sapphire said. "We're in Mrs. Whitney's. You have Darbus, right?"
"Unfortunately," I said. "See, most people, like you, for example, get a new homeroom teacher every year. Darbus has been following us around since kindergarten."
"It's not that bad," Ruby said. "At least that's familiar."
"But what happens if she follows us to college like Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World?" Chuckie asked.
"You watch too much television," Sapphire said. "Care to dance again?" I shot a look over to Sharpay, who was sitting at a table, surrounded by sports dudes, glaring at me, but talking to them.
"Yeah," I said.
"You are evil," Chuckie remarked to me.
"Oh, I know," I said. "Sharpay is so mad right now."
"Yeah," Ruby said, as she pulled Chuckie away to dance. "This is fun. No one on the team likes her."
"Sorry about that," I called.
A/N: Wow, that's a fast chapter, compared to the last few… So. Ruby and Sapphire were two really hot identical cheerleaders I invented to serve this express purpose. See my profile for a full explanation on all my OCs. (Warning, therein lies spoilers…)
Anyway, I own HSM. I also invented the Hubble telescope and Stealth Bomber. Oh, and I wrote the Harry Potter books. I'm also married to Christopher Warren, Jr. (Or at least, my mom seems to think so…) As you can tell, I'm being sarcastic again. I really don't.
Thanks for reading, and please review! I like reviews! They give me inspiration to write more!
Samantha.
PS. Funny story. I have to start being careful what I do to the people in my stories, For instance, the power went out in this story, and the power went out at my house! About a month ago, I sent one of my characters to the hospital in a different bit of this story (the Missing Files) and the next night, my sister wound up in the hospital. Don't worry, though, she's totally fine.
Anyway…