Chapter 9: The Artist in the Ambulance
A/N: Really, terribly sorry for the delay. First college started. And I have that job at the hotel. Then I had the biggest case of writer's block in the world. Then last week, my mom was admitted to the hospital because her kidneys were failing. I'm not the praying type but if you are, please pray to your god that she get better. This chapter went through a major rewrite after I decided that I wanted it to take a darker turn. You'll see at the end of the chapter.
There was still a level of animosity between the two girls that lasted until the end of the week. Though she had apologized, Sharpay was still able to set Maddie off at any moment. Anything she did was reason enough to start an argument and these often involved Ryan trying to separate the feuding sisters.
"I can not believe her!" Maddie yelled angrily as she shut the refrigerator door with a huff and turned around to see Ryan eyeing her warily.
"Ok, I'll bite. What did she do this time?" Ryan rolled his eyes at the situation that he found himself in again.
"Sharpay didn't put the cap back on the juice jug. Is her life so important that she can't take the one second to put the damn thing back on straight?" Maddie paced the room as Ryan just followed her with his eyes. The arguments were getting old and he just wished that they would make up already.
"Maybe she forgot it. Maddie it's just a juice cap, it's not that big of a deal." Ryan said, trying to placate the angry girl. Sharpay walked into the room and took a seat on a stool, taking a cookie from Ryan's plate and putting it into her mouth.
"You! Who do you think you are?" Maddie pointed an accusatory finger at her identical sister and slowly made her way towards her. Sensing trouble, Ryan got up and quickly got between the girls.
"What did I do?" Sharpay was also getting tired of Maddie getting mad at her. Ryan had to hold back Maddie at this point as Sharpay's ignorance to the situation sparked the anger that fueled her.
"You didn't cap the juice. Again! What was so important this time your highness?" Sharpay stood up and went to the fridge, capping the juice with a flourish and putting it away slowly.
"There, you happy now princess?" The rest of the conversation became unintelligible as the two girls started yelling, trying to be heard over the other.
"Stop!" Ryan pulled Maddie and Sharpay to the living room and pushed the two of them onto the couch. The girls sat there, dumbfounded as they stared at Ryan with his hand massaging his right temple.
"You two have been fighting over everything you can think of and it has to stop now. I have the biggest headache in the world and it started on Monday." He went to get a bottle of aspirin leaving the two girls to calm down. Ryan returned to see them still staring into space, vacant looks on their face.
"This is going to stop right now. Ever since the whole Troy thing happened, you two have been getting into arguments about the stupidest things. She doesn't fold her clothes right, she didn't help me with my homework, she didn't cap the juice." He finished with a glare.
"I'm sorry Ryan." Maddie said softly. Ryan put his hands on his hips and continued to glare at the both of them.
"I'm sorry Ryan is not going to save your butts this time. Now apologize…to each other." Ryan watched as they slowly turned to the other and offered their apologies.
"Now promise me that you won't fight about everything."
"But Ryan!" They exclaimed at the same time.
"No butts. Promise me, before you drive me insane." He sat between the girls and put his head back. Sharpay and Maddie each lay their heads on Ryan's shoulders and hugged him.
"We're really sorry Ryan. We promise no more fights, just for our big brother." They continued to speak in unison.
"You need to stop doing that. It's kind of creepy." They all shared a laugh for a minute until Ryan turned the TV on and they sat back and watched a movie.
The next day
To prove to Ryan that they were not going to fight anymore, Sharpay and Maddie both insisted that he drive them to the mall. He reluctantly agreed to drive them but they would have to buy him lunch. Ryan already knew that they were going to drag him around and make him their pack mule. If he was going to willingly degrade himself he would at least get a free meal out of it.
"Come on Ryan, you move so slowly." Sharpay said excitedly as she spotted a sale going on in one of the stores. Removing a box from in front of his face, Ryan was about to protest when Maddie replaced the box.
"No complaining. Only another thirty minutes until your lunch break." Maddie whispered to the box. With that, Ryan was left standing next to the dressing room with clothing draped across his arms.
"Hey Ryan!" Gabriella snuck up behind Ryan and yelled into his ear. He threw his hands up to his ears to stop them from ringing, causing all of the clothes to drop to the floor. Turning around slowly, he came face to face with none other than Gabriella Montez.
"You really have to stop doing that." Ryan rubbed his ears as Gabriella helped him gather the fallen clothing.
"I'm sorry Ryan. You looked lonely so I thought you could use some company." Gabi smiled at him as she draped the last shirt over his arm.
"So what are you doing here anyway, where's Sharpay and Maddie?" Gabriella looked around the store half-heartedly; sneaking looks back at Ryan as he looked around as well.
"They must be someplace, I'm a temporary clothes rack for prospective outfits." Sharpay returned with Maddie close behind. They began to pick through the outfits on Ryan's arms and put back the one's they didn't like.
"Maddie can you try this green one on? I need to get a good look at it from the back." Sharpay held up a hangar and Maddie stepped into a nearby changing room.
"That's the good thing about being identical, we're each other's mirrors." Maddie stepped out of the room and twirled in place to give Sharpay an idea of what it would look like on her.
"Yeah that's good, ok Ryan everything on the right arm goes back. Left arm is what we're keeping." Sharpay and Maddie led him to the cash register as Gabriella followed behind, amused at the sibling interaction. After they paid for the clothing they stepped out of the store.
"Hey Ryan, did you want to grab some lunch with me? I don't want to eat by myself." Gabriella asked as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt. Ryan took one look at his sisters before handing them the bags and taking Gabi's arm.
"Now you two be good girls for me, okay?" Ryan spoke to them as if they were children. They nodded there heads and Ryan left them alone, taking Gabriella toward the food court.
"Aww, they're cute together." Maddie said as she and Sharpay watched them leave. Sharpay just rolled her eyes and picked up the bags that Ryan had left there.
"I guess he deserves a break for putting up with us all week." Sharpay sighed dramatically before breaking into giggles with Maddie. During their bout of hysteria, Troy Bolton took notice of the two girls laughing in the middle of the mall. Still not sure what he thought of the two girls, he tried to sneak off unseen but was unsuccessful. They both took notice of the retreating boy and called out to him. He reluctantly turned and greeted them as if he had just seen them.
"Oh hey, what are you two doing here?" He put his hand behind his neck in embarrassment when he noticed the shopping bags. 'Of course, shopping. What else dummy?' Troy berated himself in his head.
"Oh we were just hanging out, buying some things. Ryan just ran off with Gabi so we're all alone." Sharpay slowly drew closer to Troy. Noticing the shrinking distance between the two, Maddie also moved closer to the boy as a silent challenge.
"Yeah, all alone. Just two girls in the big, bad mall. I think we need a man to accompany us. In case someone mugs us or something." Maddie looped her arm through Troy's as he gulped audibly. Sharpay looped her arm through his other arm and looked up at him.
"Please mister? I'm scared." She gave him the lost puppy look and he knew he couldn't say no.
"I guess so. Where to ladies?" Troy was stuck in an uncomfortable position and he knew it. They led him to another store where he took over Ryan's position of clothes rack.
"This isn't quite what I had in mind." Troy complained as his arms grew tired from the weight.
"Suck it up Bolton. If our brother can last for five hours you can last for at least ten minutes." Sharpay added a skirt to the pile on his right arm. It had in fact only been ten minutes.
"Yeah Troy, I thought you were a big strong man." Maddie teased him as she also added more clothing to his right arm. With his manhood in question, his arms raised slightly as he set out to prove that he was the best clothes rack in the world.
"That's a sight I thought I'd never see." Ryan joked as he saw Troy with clothes draped on his arms; his chest puffed out to exaggerate his strength. Gabriella clung to Ryan's arm as they walked into the shop together.
"Oh, you're back. I guess it's time to go. Troy, right arm goes back on the racks." Sharpay walked towards the cash register as Maddie put one last skirt on his left arm and followed her sister to the checkout. Paying for the items, the group of friends decided to leave the mall together.
"That was a lot of fun. We should do it again sometime." Maddie joked as Troy groaned.
"Oh suck it up Bolton." Ryan joked as he and Gabi swung their arms together.
"Well you two are being awfully friendly." Sharpay had just noticed how they had been clinging to each other the entire time. Ryan held the door open for the girls and Troy who was deemed bag boy.
"Thank you Ryan. I'll call you later ok?" Gabi waved goodbye as she walked to where her mother was waiting for her. He returned the wave and smiled happily as she drove away.
"You two are so cute together." Maddie said again as they crossed the parking lot. Just then a car pulled out of a stall quickly and gunned the engine down the road. Not seeing around the corner, Sharpay came face to face with the fast approaching headlights of a speeding car.
"Sharpay!" Maddie, Troy, and Ryan yelled as the car hit her and sent her sprawling across the pavement.
A/N: Ooh, biggest cliffhanger ever. I have decided to make this fic weekly. Updates will come every Tuesday or Wednesday depending on when I have a day off from work. Hopefully I can stick to the schedule. Also, check my profile for a new idea that came up in my head the other day. I need to know if I should devote more time to those ideas or not. Suggestions, comments, questions, whatever. PM me or send me an e-mail. Peace out.