Painfully Perfect
Author's Note: Wow, you guys are good guessers. :) Hope you like this. Oh and if you like Troyella, I started a new story called Always a Part of Me, so check that out if you want!
Chapter 10
Sharpay's entire body tensed up in an instant. "What?" Sharpay gasped.
"I know what's going on," Taylor said simply.
"What do you mean?"
"Sharpay, it's okay. You can talk to me about it," Taylor said sincerely.
"Taylor. What are you talking about?!" Sharpay asked exasperatedly.
"How you like Zeke!" Taylor said as if it was obvious. Sharpay let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, she burst out laughing and couldn't stop. It was the first time she had truly laughed in weeks. Soon tears were streaming out of her eyes and she was gasping for air. Taylor watched, utterly confused, as her friend had a laughing fit. Sharpay fought through her laughs, "I don't like Zeke."
"What? Yeah you do!" Taylor protested.
Sharpay's laughter was slowly subsiding. "No I don't Tay. Why do you think I do?"
"Because I saw you two at lunch the other day and you were whispering to each other. And yesterday in the car when Gabriella said you were going to go on a double date with her and Troy. And you said 'I like Zeke'."
"Tay, that's really nice and all but the other day I wasn't feeling well so he offered to take me to the nurse. Yesterday, Gabriella offered to set me up with Zeke and I said 'I like Zeke, but not like that.' Sorry, I don't like him."
Taylor frowned slightly. "Oh, well okay then. Sorry! Come on let's get to homeroom." The two girls quickly exited the car and headed into the large school.
--
Throughout the day, Ryan constantly ignored Sharpay the best he could, but was forced to face her on the ride home. "Hi Ryan," Sharpay spoke solemnly. "How was your day?"
Ryan shrugged icily and settled into the driver's seat. As he went to stick the key in the ignition, Sharpay's cold hand rested on his as to tell him not to leave yet. "Would you please just talk to me?"
Ryan stared straight forward and was silent for a few minutes. He then stared at Sharpay straight in the eye, "Why? Are you going to insult me again?"
"Ryan, please stop that. I already apologized."
"You're right," Ryan said softly. He mulled over his thoughts for a minute before adding, "I forgive you."
"You do?" Sharpay asked.
"Yeah, Shar, I do. Because your my sister and I love you. But you need to have a real attitude check. You can't be running your mouth and saying things to people, even if you don't mean it, because it hurts."
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," she promised with a soft smile and they were on their way home.
--
It was 8:30 as Sharpay slipped silently into the glowing bathroom. She had avoided dinner again, only because of the fact that Ryan went out with some friends for dinner. She told her parents she wasn't feeling well, went up to bed and quickly fell asleep. Sharpay had woken up when she heard Ryan venture upstairs to his room. Her small feet padded across the floor so that she was standing in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection. Sharpay removed her shirt, revealing her gray sports bra and her thin body
She examined every bit of her body, pinching the non-existing fat on her stomach, towards her hip bone which slightly poked out of her skin. Her bony shoulders shook slightly from being cold as her protruding ribs poked sickeningly out of her skin and her collarbone was looking more prominent than ever. "Ugh, look at you," Sharpay scoffed to herself in disgust. She pulled her shirt back on and made her way over to the scale. Stepping on gingerly, she took a deep breath and then looked down. 107. "Finally! It's been forever since I've lost any weight," Sharpay whispered to herself. After stepping off the scale, she slowly made her way to her soft warm bed and fell into an uneasy sleep.
--
"Stop! Please!" Gabriella gasped in homeroom the next morning. Tears were streaming down her face matched along with her high-pitched giggles. "Troy! Stop tickling me!" Finally, Troy released his grip and smiled at the small brunette in front of him. Sharpay stared jealously at the nauseatingly-cute couple in front of her. Why didn't she have that? She glanced around her group of friends, everyone seemingly paired off. Chad and Taylor were whispering to each other, Jason and Kelsi staring at each other, slowly turning into puddles of mush, while she sat alone. She wasn't the only one; Ryan and Zeke were, too, but Zeke was too busy vying for her affection and Ryan too wrapped in school to have a girlfriend. Yet, Sharpay get it out of her head that she should be in Gabriella's position: Having the perfect, handsome, popular boyfriend.
Sharpay was soon pulled out of her depressing thoughts when Ms. Darbus called for her students' attention.
"Class, hush!" she called sharply. "I'd like to inform you that in two weeks, our homeroom will be taking a field trip--" She started and was cut off by excited murmurs. After the noise died down she started again. "To go see Romeo & Juliet! I need you to take these home to your parents, get them signed and pay the small fee," Ms. Darbus stated while passing out neon blue sheets of paper. "We will leave after homeroom, it'll probably take thirty minutes to get there. The show is at 9:45 and will commence around noon. I plan on us eating downtown for lunch and expect us to be back at school just before the end of the day." Just as Ms. Darbus finished, the shrill bell rung throughout the school.
Sharpay gathered up her school books and filed out of the classroom with her friends. "I'm so excited about the play, you guys!" Gabriella squealed.
"Me too! And we get to miss a whole day of school!" Kelsi added. The group of friends shared their excitement happily, all except for Sharpay. "Hey Shar! What's up?" Troy asked politely, falling in step with his blond friend.
"Not much," Sharpay spoke somewhat sadly. "You?"
"Same. Is something wrong?" Troy questioned with utmost sincerity. Sharpay looked at Troy and offered a small smile. "No, nothing at all. I'm just tired." And for the rest of the day, if anyone asked the same question Troy had moments ago, that would be Sharpay's answer.
--
"Hey mom!" Ryan called as he and Sharpay entered their large house.
"Hi guys! How was your day?" the older woman questioned.
"My day was really good. Oh, Shar and I need you to sign a permission slip...we're going to see Romeo and Juliet in two weeks," Ryan informed his mother.
"Okay, sounds good. Oh, which reminds me, your cousins Amber and Tony are coming up for a visit in two weeks with their mom. Uncle Frank is on a business trip so I decided to invite them up for the weekend."
"Really? Fun! Well, I've gotta go do homework so I'll see you at dinner mom," Ryan told her, grabbed his backpack and ran up the stairs.
"Hey darling. Is anything wrong? You're really quiet today," Mrs. Evans asked with concern.
"No mom," Sharpay started in a small voice. "I'm fine...just really tired. I'm gonna go upstairs and do my homework." Sharpay lifted her bag up around her shoulder and walked slowly up the stairs. Mrs. Evans watched her daughter walk away. She was moving slowly and looked frail. For for the first time in a long time, she was concerned about her daughter.
--
Sharpay could feel her mother's gaze resting on her, so she moved as quickly as she could up the stairs, which was not all that fast. Once she reached her bedroom, she dumped her bag onto her bed and headed into the bathroom. Sharpay stifled a large yawn as she stepped slowly onto the scale. 105. "Yes! Two more pounds...it must've been water weight." The young blond girl stepped off the scale and went to make way to her room so she could do her homework. Instead, she started feeling extremely dizzy, causing her to grab onto the counter to steady herself. Yet, it didn't help. She was light-headed, dizzy and things around her were getting dark. Suddenly, she fell to the floor with a sounding thud.
--
Three hours later found Sharpay, Ryan and Mr. and Mrs. Evans sitting around the dinner table. Sharpay had her hand resting on her forehead, so she could hide the large bruise that had formed when she passed out. She pushed the vegetables around her plate before stabbing a carrot with her fork. She brought it to her mouth slowly, pretending she was going to take a bite, but set the fork back down on the table when her mom called for her attention.
"Sharpay, I forgot to tell you last night. You have a doctor's appointment on Friday," Mrs. Evans informed her daughter and took a bite of her potatoes.
"What? Why? I'm not sick. Why?" Sharpay asked, alarmed.
"It's just a check-up. Ryan has his next Friday."
"But if it's just a check-up, why do I have to go? I feel fine. We don't need a doctor to tell me I'm fine," Sharpay stated.
"Sharpay, you have a doctor's appointment on Friday and that's final," Mrs. Evans said with a slight edge to her voice. The rest of dinner went on normally for everyone but Sharpay. She pushed the food around on her plate for the next thirty minutes, her stomach quietly growling at her. Sharpay didn't want to face a doctor because he would tell her mom that she was dieting. "It's not fair. My mom's going to think I have a problem when all I'm doing is dieting. I can stop any time I want," Sharpay thought to herself. How was she going to get herself out of this one?
Author's Note: Sorry, no individual replies this week. I really want to get this posted. I really hope you liked this, sorry if it's short. But please review any thoughts, questions--anything!
