Hi, thank you for the reviews. Sorry, it's been awhile since I updated, but I've been focusing on "Forbidden Beauty". Here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it :)

Disclaimer; I don't own High School Musical.

Her Heartbeat

Chapter 9.

--

Laugh when nothing's funny, Dance when there's no music,
Sing like you've never sung before, Love till it hurts,
Cry when you're sad, Smile when you're happy,
And always live each day like its your LAST

--

Sharpay found a seat in the cafeteria along with Troy, Gabriella, Ryan, Taylor and Chad. It was lunch and she was hungry. People were still starring her down, except when someone from Sharpay's class asked them to look the other way. She was grateful for that. She eyed Kelsi telling some guy off, and reminded herself to thank her later.

Zeke found the seat across from her, "Shar? I've got something for you."

"What is it?" Sharpay asked, all giddy. She loved surprises!

"Hmm, Troy told me you would be back at school today, so I baked you some of your favourite cookies!" Zeke placed a box before her and opened it, revealing a very good smell, "For you."

"Oh, thank you Zeke!" Sharpay said, truly meaning it, "But I'm sorry… I don't think I'll be able to eat them."

Zeke's face sunk, "Why not?"

"I'm not aloud to do any exercise, and uh… these cookies are really fattening. I really have to watch what I eat now."

"I see." Zeke said.

"But…." Sharpay trailed off, "Do you think you could bake me some fat-free cookies? It's really not a bad excuse for not wanting your cookies, Zeke, I can't eat them. I'd get fat."

"And so?" Troy said, "You wouldn't get fat fat. So, you'd gain a few pounds, big deal?"

"Big deal!" Sharpay squealed, "Big deal for me. What wouldn't you say if I ended up double size?"

"I'd love you no matter what." Troy whispered, planting a kiss on her lips.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah right." She turned to Zeke again, "But will you, Zeke?"

"Of course," Zeke said, "Anything for you."

"And until then…!" Sharpay went on, "The rest of you can share these!" she pushed the box into the middle of the table, and the rest of the friends digged in immediately.

"These are good, Zeke!" Taylor said, chewing hers, "You have to teach me how to make these?"

"Why don't we have a baking day, one day?" Ryan asked, "We could totally do it at our house? And then have like a sleepover too? How about this Friday?"

"Oh yai!" Gabriella clapped her hands together, "Just us? Oh no! Zeke you should invite a girl too. Then we'll be an even number!"

"Do you think it's okay with Matt and Becca?" Sharpay asked, questioning her brother.

"Matt, Becca, Brooke and Ben are visiting Matt's parents." Ryan said, "The whole weekend. For obvious reasons, you can't go, so I told them we'd stay behind. I'm sure they wont mind us having friends over."

"Oh, great!" Sharpay smiled, "But if that is, we could just ask Kelsi. Then we're even boys and girls."

"That's fine with me." Zeke replied.

"Deal then." Chad said, "I'll talk to my mom."

"Me too." Gabriella and Taylor said.

"I'll be there." Troy said, smiling at Sharpay, "I'm sure my parents wont mind."

"Oh, goodie!" Sharpay smiled.

--

After school, Troy and Sharpay found themselves walking in the park, Brooke and Ben between them. The both of them were swinging back and forth, and Sharpay and Troy had to use all their strength to keep them off the ground, when they jumped.

Brooke broke free from their grasp as the playground came into sight, and hurried to the swings. Ben let go of their hands a little while later, sitting down on his butt in the sand, starting to build a castle of sand.

"Troy!" Brooke yelled, "Come push me, will you!?"

Troy looked at Sharpay, who looked pale and tired, "Will you be okay by yourself?"

She nodded, "I'll go sit down on the bench over there." Sharpay said, pointing towards it, "Just to take a little rest."

"You're not feeling bad, are you?" Troy asked.

"No, I'm fine." Sharpay shot him a small smile, and turned around to approached the bench.

Troy looked after her, making sure she reached the bench, and then he turned around and went to push Brooke. He really loved those two kids already. Brooke and Ben were the most sweet, adorable kids you could ever dream of, and since he didn't have any siblings himself, he enjoyed spending time with them.

"Yai!" Brooke squealed, as her swing reached higher and higher, "More, Troy! Faster and faster!"

Troy laughed, pushing her back and forth. Just then a loud cry was heard, and he turned around to find Ben crying in the sand. Some other boy was jumping up and down on his castle of sand.

"Can you do this yourself for awhile, Brooke?" he asked, "I have to go check on your brother." He didn't wait for her reply, but simply went to Ben, and kneed down next to him. The other kid left as soon as Troy got nearer, "What is up, little fellow?"

"He ruined my castle!" Ben cried, tears streaming down his face.

"Why don't you go play on the swings with Brooke while I talk to Pay?" Troy asked, shooting a nervous look towards her. She was leaning against the bench, her eyes closed. She was probably half asleep.

Ben nodded, and rushed up to go have fun with his sister.

Troy stood up and walked across the playground and took a seat next to Sharpay, "Pay? Are you sleeping?"

"Now…" she whispered, "I'm just really, really tired. I need to go home." She squeezed her eyes together. She could feel a terrible headache coming along, "I think I need some rest and a pill."

"You are feeling bad!" Troy exclaimed, "Just walk home now, Pay. I'm gonna gather Brooke and Ben, and I'll be there soon."

"Okay…" Sharpay whispered, standing up from the bench, "See you later then." She walked a few meters, until she was out of sight. She leaned her back against a tree and closed her eyes again. She wouldn't make it home. She had to call somebody. She pulled out her cell, and dialled Chad's number, knowing he would probably be able to pick her up.

When he answered the phone, she quickly explained him what was going on, and 5 minutes later, he was there, ready to take her home.

"Are you okay?"

"No…" Sharpay shook her head, and leaned against the seat in the car, "Don't tell anyone, I don't want them worrying. My head is just killing me. I wanna sleep."

"Don't you think you should tell someone?" Chad asked.

"Nah…" Sharpay said, "I'll go to bed when I come home, and if I'm not feeling better tomorrow, I'll call doctor Gellar."

"Okay." Chad said.

The drove in silence for the rest of the ride, and when they reached Sharpay's house, she gave him a friendly hug, and pulled herself out of the car, "I'll see ya' tomorrow, Chad." She smiled, and watched him drive away again. She went inside, not bothering to tell anyone she was home. Troy was gonna be there soon, he could tell them.

She went into her bathroom, changed into her nightgown and took out her different pills, looking for the right one. She found it, and quickly swallowed it. Then she went into her room and threw herself on the bed, not before making sure she was hooked up to her machine, just in case she fell asleep and couldn't breathe.

--

Sharpay woke up again the next day. She couldn't believe she'd slept that long. She didn't even know if Troy had been there or not, but she assumed he had, since she could hear Brooke and Ben having a fight over the last cereal downstairs.

She sat up, and silently turned her machine off.

She felt a little better, but not too much. She really didn't like it. She had felt all good yesterday morning, but… Now she felt ready to get hospitalized again.

She stumbled out of bed, and got ready in the bathroom. Took her pills, showered, dressed. Then she headed downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Good morning." Becca said, turning to her, "I didn't even know you came home yesterday. Suddenly Troy came back with Ben and Brooke, telling me you were upstairs. So I went to look for you, but you were fast asleep. What happened?"

"I just felt really bad in the park." Sharpay said, sitting down by the table, "It's not a big deal. Just a little headache."

"Okay," Becca nodded, placing a cup of soymilk in front of her, "Drink."

Sharpay smiled, and drank it all at once. When she was finished, she heard Ryan coming downstairs, which meant they would leave for school. "I'll see you later." Sharpay smiled, waving at her family.

She hurried outside and into the car, and then they drove to school.

When they were holding at the parking lot in school, Sharpay turned to Ryan, "Ry…" she said, "I want you to know something. I decided to take my purple pills."

"You did?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah… I don't know, but something is up. So you'll probably have me running around like crazy all day once it starts working. Just make sure to keep an eye on me for when I'm about to lose my breath."

"Always," Ryan said. He gave her a hug, "Ready lil sis?"

She nodded and they headed into the school and met up with their friends.

--

That Sharpay had said she'd be running around like crazy, was a lie. She didn't just run around like crazy. She hurried down the halls during break, and danced around, telling the rest of them how slow they were.

She almost couldn't stay at her seat during class, and more often than once, she asked the teacher to go to the bathroom, just to be able to move.

The purple pills were the cause of that. She was only aloud to take them when she felt like she couldn't even drag herself out of bed. They weren't healthy for other parts of her body, but sometimes they were necessary. They gave her energy, that she had to run and shake off, but she still had trouble moving around because of her heart.

So sometimes she had to lie down on her back for around 2 minutes to catch her breath, but then she'd stand up again, just as full of energy as before she lay down.

Right now they were walking down the hall, Sharpay bouncing around the rest of them, "You guys are boring!" she squealed, "C'mon, loosen up there! Have some fun. You wanna dance, Chad?"

Chad, Ryan and Taylor had trouble keeping in their laughter. She was really funny, acting like a little 5 year old. The only problem was that the situation wasn't funny at all. If she wasn't high on those purple pills right now, she'd been lying in her bed, hooked up to her machine, still having trouble breathing.

"Calm down, Pay!" Troy said, taking her hand, "You need to slow down a bit…"

She jumped into the air, but just then she stiffened. She got a serious look on her face, and then she slid down the wall next to her, resting her head against it. She started breathing pretty hard, placing a hand on her heart. She looked at Ryan and shot him a little smile.

"I'm okay." she breathed.

Ryan nodded, "Just take your time."

A few curious students stopped to watch what was happening, but Sharpay didn't give it a thought. She didn't care anymore. Let them think what they will.

Just then her breathing became regular again and she shot up from her seat on the floor, and started bouncing around Kelsi and Zeke, "Guys!" she said, "Guys, you wanna go play football with me!? We can make two teams, boys against girls. C'mon it could be fun!"

"Sharpay!" Zeke said, "We're in school, we cant play football now."

"Are we having gym?" Sharpay asked, a huge smile on her face.

"Shar!" Gabriella said, "You're taking it all out of us, we're not high on some drug, we can't run around all day."

"Joy-kill!" Sharpay mumbled, and then she started dancing down the hall, singing ´Breaking Free´. The hall parted before her, like always, but not for the same reasons. People were a bit afraid of her, and what was happening.

Troy bit his lip, "I better go after her." he mumbled, and hurried down the hall too.

Okay, so I'm not kidding with Sharpay in this chapter. It's really serious. One minute it's like… you're high, running around, dancing, singing, and you can't even stop yourself, and the next minute… The heart starts beating like crazy and you have to lie down, just a couple of minutes, and then you're back on track. It's crazy. And anyway, please leave me a review, ask me if there's something you don't understand, and I'll either give you a reply or make it clearer in a future chapter. Thanks,

Friends quote;

Rachel: Alright thanks, oh Ross could you stop by the coffee house and get me a muffin?

Ross: Sure what kind?

Rachel: Umm let me think...What do I want, what d-o I w-a-n-t...

Ross: Please take your time, it's an important decision. Not like, say, I know! deciding to marry someone, this is about a muffin.

I'll be back with more as soon as possible, tootles;p