G'day ;b. What's up? I just wanna thank ya all for the awesome reviews, and I wanna try my best to update faster, because you're so amazing, that you deserve it. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, which is sorta all around, but I don't think there'll be much Troy in it, at least not as much as everybody else, but you'll live obviously. Oh, and Liz won't make that big of an appearance either, but the chapter will feature more Chad than ever before, but it will be in a good way, and I'm sure you'll like him in this. And also, I've been sick a week, so I couldn't write on this chapter, and I can't write very much, when I'm well either, because I still don't have my own computer, it's still broken, so I have to make do with what I've got, but here it is finally. Anyway, on with this thing :).
Disclaimer; I've seen all the movies, but that doesn't make me own them.
Dedication; This is unbelievable, it seems as if xForeverTroypay has the intentions of taking over the dedication spot, because this chapter is dedicated to her as well, which is like an extra honour to her, as this is the chapter I'm most excited to write, and I think you'll like the most. Her review was just the best ever, and I was smiling so much, that I didn't know, what the hell happened to me, so this is for her, so I hope she'll more than anyone enjoy this :D.
I'd Rather Be Special
13. Reinventing Myself.
He was nervous, watching the big two-storeys lightblue house made of tree, surrounded by tree with the branches and leaves blowing in the mild summer wind.
He was dreading going in there, he knew who was in there; the infamous Steven Feller, a very stern man, the father of Chase Annabelle Feller, his girlfriend.
It didn't help his nerves to think about, Steven Feller was a kick-ass attorney. Everybody knew about him, everybody wanted him on their side, and everybody feared him. Zeke was one of everybody.
He had Chase by his hand, but it didn't help him, he still had to go in there and meet his girlfriend's father, who wouldn't let his daughter date, and on top of that he was a racist.
In its overall appearance, it was a nice looking house, but the man inside made it 'horror movie, don't go in there' frightening. Hadn't it been for the big, scary man, it would have been very grandmother-y.
He glanced down on his watch and gulped, if it had to happen before school, like Chase wanted it to, it had to happen in a few minutes, and he wasn't at all ready to face the music. He wasn't ready to die, he hadn't even said goodbye to his mother, he hadn't had the chance to tell his father, that he wanted to be a baker and not a basketball player, and now death awaited him.
"Are you ready for this?" Chase questioned him, squeezing his hand to reassure him. He didn't reply, he was too nervous. "Don't be like that, Zeke, my dad is a nice guy. A little overprotective, maybe, but I'm sure, that if you stay out of touching distance, there is a chance he might... uhm, how do I put it?, accept your presence."
"Chase, if you love me, you won't let me go in there." Zeke half-begged, looking down upon his girlfriend, a pleading look in his eyes. He didn't want to go in there, there had been to many horrible stories about her dad. "Please, don't make me go in there. I'll die!"
"Have you considered joining the drama department?" Chase teased him, but he did not find it funny at all, he shot her a death glare, and she decided, it would be best not to push her luck. "No, seriously Zeke, he won't kill you. I swear to you, he won't, and if he as much touches a hair on that gorgeous head of yours, I promise you, I'll watch Rush Hour 1, 2 and 3 with you, even if the dialogue is crap!"
She had managed to amuse him, his eyes shone a bit now. "So kinda like I suffer, you suffer?" He asked, curiously, finding her propersition very much tempting, though he wondered, what kind of boyfriend would he be, if he agreed to that? "That wouldn't make me a very nice guy, now would it?"
"Nope." Chase shook her head, her brown shoulder-length hair flowing everywhere, and only her hair could manage to look styled after a treatment like that, and that's what it did. "But it would make you a guy. I think, you should go for it, Zeke. Even if I hate the movies, I love you, and seeing the excitement in your eyes, when you watch them, will make me happy, so yeah... go for it."
"Fine!" Zeke finally agreed with a sigh, but though he had given in to her request to meet her father, he was still gonna drag out time the best he could. "But I still don't see, why we couldn't have done this later, say next week?"
Chase looked at her boyfriend, her face clearly bothered by all of his attempts to get out of meeting her dad. "Zeke, I won't hear anymore objections from you, am I making myself clear?" Chase said, sounding like a strict mother, as she pulled her hand out of his, crossing her arm over her chest. "Look, I have a friend, who is in a very vulnerable state, and who needs me, and instead I'm here with you, so you better make my being a bad friend be worthwhile." She sighed, realizing she shouldn't put that on him, and chose to go another way, short and direct. "Look, I love you, Zeke, and either you do this for me, or you don't."
"You are lucky, I love you too." Zeke said, offering Chase a smile, and she smiled back, unfolding her arms, and linked her hand with Zeke's again. "Just, don't let go of my hand, and whatever you do, don't tell him I'm black. We'll call me tanned, okay?"
Chase and Zeke hand in hand walked up the steps of the stairs to Chase's house, Chase holding on tight on Zeke's hand, supporting him the best she could, because he was dead scared, and she understood him. The scary beast awaited them!
When they reached the door, Chase pulled the handle down, and the door creaked open, and Zeke thought to himself, what a nice touch. Wasn't it scary enough on its own, did it need a creaking door?
"Daddy?" Chase called out, as they stepped inside the house. She held on to Zeke's hand, closing the creaking door, and it sent shivers down his spine, but her touch mellowed it a little bit. "Daddy, where are you?"
"In here, honeybun." A voice called from another room, Zeke guessed it to be the livingroom, and his voice didn't sound intimidating, but he knew the owner of it was.
Chase raced into the livingroom, dragging Zeke with her to meet her dad, who sat in the corner of the room in a comfy chair, watching CNN on the television. He was so wrapped up in whatever was on there, that he looked kinda mean, but with Chase by his side, the scary man hopefully wouldn't hurt him.
"Hi daddy." Chase cheered, once in the livingroom, and then she let go of Zeke's hand, and rushed over to her dad, bent down and gave him a big hug, followed by a kiss on the cheek.
Steven released his daughter, and said with a smile; "Hi Chase, sweetie. Aren't you supposed to be in school?" Chase merely shrugged, and then her father noticed Zeke standing in the back ground, and his smile turned into a gloomy frown. "What is that thing doing here? You know how, I feel about those?"
"That thing's name is Zeke, and he is like the nicest guy." Chase defended her boyfriend, and Zeke couldn't help but smile proudly of that action. Oh, how he loved her. Chase stepped out of touching distance from her dad to be on the safe side, and then she continued talking. "Not only that, daddy, but he's been the guy for me for quite some time now, we're talking months."
Steven picked up the remote control from the coffeetable, and turned off the tv. He turned the chair to face his daughter and the black man in the background, clearly not happy with his daughter's statement. "By that, I sure hope you mean, that your teacher forced you to work together on a project, and if you refused, you'd fail?" He questioned Chase, and she knew, that it was what he wanted to hear her say next, but she refused to lie, and she didn't reply right away, so it angered him. "Chase Annabelle Feller, tell me, that's what you meant!"
"No, daddy! That's not what I meant. I'm in a relationship with him, and I love him very much." Chase explained to him, and that didn't make him any happier. Hadn't he been perfectly clear with her, that she wasn't allowed to date, and she wasn't allowed to have any interaction with black people in any kind of way.
"Excuse me, sir?" Zeke butted in, which was very brave of him, and he feared it might be the last thing, he ever did, but he had to do it. Steven sent him a hard glare, and Zeke swallowed a lump, he was scared out of his mind, but this was it. "I know, what you must think of me, and I can understand, why you feel, you must be overprotective of Chase, but the fact is, I love her as much as she loves me, and that's really all that matters."
"Zeke, was it?" Steven Feller asked after a long pause, clearly not impressed by Zeke's speech. He stood up from his chair in the corner, and took a few steps towards Zeke, suddenly becoming a lot taller and more intimidating. "I don't like you, and I don't want you near my daughter, am I making myself clear?"
"Perfectly, sir, but unfortunately for you, I disagree. I'm gonna continue to see her, because I love her." Zeke said, and was surprised by himself. He didn't know, how all of the sudden he was that brave, but he was, and he said it straight to his girlfriend's father's face, without backing away. "I know, you don't like me, because I'm dating your daughter, and because I'm black, but that's just too bad. Like I said, I love her."
"Have you ever been to court?" Steven questioned, an icey expression upon his face. Zeke was taken aback by the sudden change of topic, but was careful not to show. "Let's look at this from that kind of view. I'm both a lawyer, the judge and the jury, so to sum it up; this is a case, that you cannot win."
"This is not a case, he needs to win, daddy." Chase interjected from where, she was standing, and Zeke was glad, she decided to speak up. He couldn't handle mr. Feller on his own. "Look, I didn't bring him here for your approval or anything, I didn't bring him here, because I hoped you would like him. I brought him here, because I was tired of keeping him a secret, and I've seen what secrets can do." Chase walked over to her boyfriend, and he put an arm around her waist. "I'm gonna date him no matter what, and you can either like it or leave it."
It led on to be a long conversation/discussion/fight, neither would back down, and a lot of horrible things were said, so Chase and Zeke arrived late at school that day, and Zeke was terrified out of his mind. Never in his life had he met a man like that.
IRBS
Sharpay stood outside the doors of East High, for once alone after her break-up with Troy. Chase wasn't there, and neither was Liz. Gabriella wasn't there either, she was there on her own. It felt kinda weird, since it had been like, she'd been man-to-man guarded. Now, nothing.
Liz was off with Gabriella somewhere, and Sharpay was glad, that they hit it off so well. It was a little strange, though, seeing as they were so different. Liz was this spacey, all-over-the-place, happy girl, where Gabriella was more together, smart and generally in a calm mood. But when you mesh well, you mesh well.
Chase was off God knows where with Zeke, and that was no surprise, because even since they'd gotten together, it was like they'd been glued together by the hip. Not that Sharpay minded, she was glad, that her friend was happy.
But Sharpay was pleased with the situation, that all of her friends weren't there at that point, because what she had to do that day, she had to do it by herself. If her friends were there, she knew they'd form her opinion, and that shouldn't happen, because she was after all reinventing herself.
She knew, where she was starting, Gabriella had helped her with that. She was starting by admitting to herself, that she had her handicap, and there was nothing, she could do about, so she had to accept it and deal with it, and she felt that the best way to do that, was to admit it to others, that was it would become more real, and she wouldn't be able to deny it.
Her first stop was this guy, who happened to hate her very much, who also happened to be the father of her ex-boyfriend. Jack Bolton, he wasn't important to her in any way, but she felt that he had to know. He had been one to missunderstand her, because he didn't know, what the hell was going on, and he deserved to get the record straight, no matter how she felt about the guy.
The bells rang 5 minutes ago, so when Sharpay finally got the courage to step inside, the hallways were pretty much empty, and the only sound was silence. Sharpay liked the school like that, when she was alone in the halls, with all the other students there, it was too much chaos for her. This was the way it should be, silent and no rude comments about her.
She walked with determined steps towards the place, she was certain Jack Bolton would be. The gym, basketball practise. Troy and Chad would be there too, she was sure, and it would take a lot from her to walk in there, acting confident and demand to speak with Jack in private, but she could do it, if she just kept saying it to herself. You can do it, you can do it, you can do it.
It seemed like a long walk, because she was so damn nervous, but all it was, was a few left turns and one right, and there they were; the big double-doors to the gym, and she could hear the basketballs pounding to the floor on the other side, and the sound of the shoes shrieking, when they hit the floor right, and every now and then Jack yelling 'c'mon guys, getcha head in the game!'
How she understood to pick the right moments, when the gym was full of tall, sweaty basketball dudes. What were they even doing practising now, when it was during school hours? Then again, what did she know? She just wished, she didn't have to be brave like that yet, it was a great deal to her.
She gently knocked on the door and listened; basketballs pounding, shrieking shoes and Jack's yell. Her knock hadn't been heard, but had she really expected any differently? They were so into, whatever Jack had them doing, that they blocked all other noises out.
Sharpay admired, how dedicated they all were to their sport, but at the same time she didn't get how. She could never devote herself to a sport like that, but she understood, that Troy loved it, that Zeke loved it, that Chad loved it, and that Jack loved it, and she could also understand, why Jack disliked her so. It wasn't entirely Chad's fault, she had dragged Troy away from basketball after all.
She opened the door, which made a whining sound, and then she peaked inside. She saw, that the coach was still very much into the whole 'fake right, break left' thing, and she had to giggle, because even though she didn't know much about sports, she did know that, that routine was so old school.
Zeke was absent, Sharpay noticed, and she had been right, when she guessed, he and Chase were off somewhere together. But Troy was there, so was Chad, though neither of them noticed her there, they were busy faking right and all that jazz, producing their body weight in sweat. Disgusting.
Sharpay scrunched her nose at horrible smell of sweat, and then she proceeded her walk towards their coach, Jack Bolton. She crossed the floor, on which they were practising, and surprised by herself she didn't care, it was the closest way to get to Jack, so that's the way she went. It was actually first then, they all noticed her, and Jack watched her grumpily, as she got closer and closer.
All the guys on the team picked up their balls, and Sharpay was glad. The noises had been on the verge of being too much, the balls and the shoes, it was like it had been trying to rip her head apart, she couldn't take so many noises at the same time, and she couldn't just ignore them like most people.
Finally, she reached the coach, after what seemed like the longest walk in history. They were all thinking theirs of her, but she tried not to think about it, she was the simply to talk to Jack, but still she could feel everybody's eyes on her. Troy was probably concerned, that she was there to cause a scene, and Chad was possitively rolling his eyes at her, but she tried not to care.
"Coach, I have to speak to you." Sharpay said, once she stood before Jack, who looked like he had no intentions of ever having a conversation with her, and Sharpay felt, that if someone didn't say something soon, she break down, so she added a; "Please?"
"I don't know, if you've noticed, miss Evans, but I'm the middle of coaching my team." Jack informed her in such a formal way, that it made her wanna gag, but she contained herself, and he swung a hand out at all the guys on the team to illustrate his point or something. "I don't have the time to speak with you."
"It's taken a lot for me to come here and talk to you, and I'm even using uncomfortable words for me, like 'please'. Are you saying, there's no way you'll talk to me?" Sharpay questioned him, and he folded his arms, nodding his head. She looked away from him, upset that she'd looked away from her limits to go there to fail, and then she accidently locked eyes with Troy, who wouldn't admit concern, and she immediately turned her head way, because love was pain, but she'd gotten an idea. "C'mon, coach Bolton! You have an awesome team on your hands, who can clearly handle themselves in the short amount of time, that our conversation will take, plus we can just go to the bleachers and talk, so you can still keep an eye on them."
"I don't know, I don't..." Jack trailed off, he was on the fence about this, and then he glanced at his team, who was nodding at him to go for it, that it was okay, mostly because Sharpay had called them an awesome team, and then he made up his mind. "Okay, let's go over to the bleachers then. Boys, carry on what you were doing, it looks good."
The team began practise again, faking right, going left, one on one and all that, as Jack and Sharpay walked over to the bleachers and sat down, a gap between them. Jack waited for Sharpay to lead off the conversation, because he didn't know, what it should be about. Sharpay watched the boys practise a little, before she finally turned her head to Jack.
"I know, you don't like me." Sharpay revealed, and Jack was surprised, because he'd had expected the conversation to be about something else, he had expected her to accuse him of hers and Troy's break-up, but that she didn't, made him respect her a little bit. "And I also think I know, why you don't like me. There's something different about me, something that you can't quite put your finger on, and for some reason that makes you dislike me. You can keep hiding behind that basketball story, if that's what you want, but we both know, that's not it."
"You think, you've got me all figured out, don't you?" Jack questioned, folding his arms once more, lifting an eyebrow in a suspicious manner, and Sharpay lifted hers, as if to say 'you think I don't?', and he had to admit it. "Okay, so you do, but you understand it now, don't you? I know, I've acted childish, but I just didn't know, still don't."
"I have this handicap called Asperger's Syndrome, which is basically a handicap, that you can't see." Sharpay explained to him, so now he knew the reason to why, she was so different from other's, but he still didn't understand it. "I would explain it better, if I could, but I'm first starting to figure it out myself. All I know, that it's something I'm born with, and it difficults a lot of things, and some things I know practically all about. It's like that, when you have my disability, you have your things, but I'm yet to discover my things."
"O-okay." Jack managed to get out, he didn't know, what to do with this peace of information, but now he felt extremely bad for going up against her, the way he had done it. Had he known, he never would have, how bad mustn't he have made her feel?
"Because of my handicap, physical activities, like gym, are hard. I can't play basketball, for example, it's just too damn hard. I can't, because there are too many things, there has to be done at the same time." Sharpay explained further, and was surprised at how easy it was to actually talk to her ex-boyfriend's father, they had just gotten off on the wrong foot, it seemed. "You have to throw the ball, do the wrist thing, jump and hit the basket, it's just too many things going on in my head at once, I can't do them all at the same time. I realize, that must have frustrated you, but I couldn't exactly shout to you 'I have an unvisible handicap'."
"I feel so bad now that I know, Sharpay, I shouldn't have been on your case like that then, when it's because of your handicap, and that you can't manage it in your head." Jack said, genuinely feeling bad. He watched his boys practise, and his eyes fell upon Troy, and he couldn't help but wonder, had he known about his girlfriend's disability? "Uhm, Troy... did he know? Was that why you broke up?"
"Yes, and kind of." Sharpay admitted, watching Troy as well, who was passing the ball to Chad, trying with all his might to ignore her, and so did Chad. She looked back at Jack to explain things. "Troy knew, before we even went out, and he accepted me with it, but we broke up, because I'm too insecure in a way. See, I have a huge problem with my handicap, I don't want it, I think it's unfair, that I have it, and I've always tried to distance myself from it, and felt that why should anybody anything related with me, because I'm such a freak, and finally Troy had enough. He wants me to realize I'm special, and he doesn't want to deal with this anymore for the both of us."
A silence fell upon them, the ball was still in Sharpay's court, but she needed a bit of a breaking from explaining things, before she went at it again. It was hard telling Jack these things, but overall she did feel pretty good about it, because at the same time it was easy. She inhaled and exhaled, preparing herself for round two.
During their silence, they watched the boys pass the ball back and forth, faking right, going left; the whole oldfashioned routine. Sharpay's eyes landed on Chad, he was next on her list, and she watched his footwork, and was pretty impressed by it being so fast. His curls were bouncing up and down, and Sharpay had to supress a giggle, when she spotted the part, that had been under Liz's care, and it looked hilarious.
She turned her head back to Jack once again and spoke; "I don't like big crowds either, they make me uncomfortable, and that's why I ditch most of my classes. I don't like speaking to people, I don't know, and I've distanced myself from my classmates, so they wouldn't get the sense, something was up, and that's how I became the ice queen. But now I'm trying to come to terms with this thing, and that's why I'm here now."
"I can't even imagine, what you must have been going through." Jack said, reaching out his hand to touch Sharpay's to let her know, he felt with her situation, but she pulled it away from him. He tried to act like, it didn't matter. "B-but... your family, you must have support from them, right? I mean, if someone from my family was going through, what you were going through, I'd be for them every step of the way."
"I don't have the support of my family, they don't even know, I know!" Sharpay revealed, and looked down upon her hand, that she had just moved away from Jack. Some time she'd explain the deal with that, but right now she was reminded by her family situation, and she hated it. "They found out, when I was 13, but chose not to tell me. I always came home crying, that I was different from everybody else, and I came to a bunch of tests, and they found out what was wrong with me, and they chose not to tell me, because they feared my reaction. Ryan told me, he didn't agree with my parents, he thought I deserved to know." She paused, and took in a deep breath, and then she did something, that wasn't her place to tell, but Jack deserved to know it. "Your stepfather, by the way, has it. Your mother revealed that to me at the family dinner, I attented. And I think, he or she can give you a much more detailed explanation of all of this."
"Okay, I think I have to have chat with my mom now, and with my stepdad of course, find out what's the deal." Jack decided, because like Sharpay had said, she'd spend her time distancing herself from it, so she didn't know anything about it, that would make him understand it better, and she was only now coming to terms with it. He found it sad, that her parents had made her go to a place like East High, where she obviously didn't belong, and they had been lying to her, but wasn't she doing the same to them. "Don't you think, you should tell your parents, that you are aware of the situation."
"I'm going to tell them today." Sharpay said, her eyes falling upon Chad again, he was next. Before her parents, before anything else, he was next. "But before I'm going to do that, I have to tell Chad about it all. I've hurt him so much because of it, causing him to hurt Liz, Troy and myself, so he needs to know, why I was so mean to him back in the days. I hope it's okay, I drag him out of here, now that we're practically done?"
Jack nodded his head, and Sharpay stood up from the bleachers and made her way towards Chad, just as he'd passed the ball to one of his team mates, and when she stood before him, he stared at her with a hateful look in his eyes, as if he wanted to say 'what the hell do you want'?
"What the hell do you want?" Chad burst out, though he hadn't needed to. Sharpay had gotten it all from his eyes, but any chance to upset her, he grabbed with both hands, so he wouldn't lose it. "Can't you see I'm busy? I don't have time for a trip to Iceland."
Sharpay reached out her hand, and slapped the back of his head hard, because with that big afro of his, she had to so he'd be able to feel it, and he deserved the pain. Liz was in pan because of him, so he deserved some of that pain, but her point of being there wasn't to cause him pain, but to talk to.
Chad was about to open his big mouth and say something, but Sharpay surprised him by grabbing his shirt and dragging him out of there. He was too stunned to speak by that action, he hadn't suspected, Sharpay would ever do a thing like that, she had never had those kinds of guts.
She dragged him through the gym doors out into the hallway, down the hallway to her left, opening the door into the auditorium, pulling him inside with her. It appeared completely empty, and they were both thankful for that for two very different reasons.
Sharpay was thankful, because she needed to have this conversation with Chad in private, and this was the only place, she could think of going with him. Had the auditorium been occupied, she wouldn't have known, where to go, and she'd somehow always felt safe there.
Chad was thankful, because he wouldn't be caught dead with the ice queen. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he still loved her and missed her, though the image he'd made for himself said otherwise, according to that he was supposed to hate her. He sort of did, kind of, but mostly he was just hurt, that Sharpay had ditched him like that all those years ago, and he was holding the grudge. He still did miss her, but was he caught alone with her, it would ruin his image and print him out as a liar.
Sharpay shoved Chad into one of the theater chairs, and then sat down in the one next to him. She didn't face him at first, but faced the stage. "Do you still dream of being an actor?" She wondered out loud, making small talk at first, hoping she would get to the point somewhere along the road. "I remember you did, once upon a time. Scooby Doo was your favorite movie, and Shaggy was your favorite character."
"Oh yeah, and my first big part will be a basketball player, and I'll make all the stunts myself." Chad smiled at the memory, and he couldn't believe, Sharpay remembered. The first time he watched it, his favorite movie, he watched it with her, his then best friend. "But why did you drag me all the way to the auditorium, Sharpay? I was in the middle of basketball practise, and I'm sure coach Bolton will have a cow."
Sharpay finally turned her head and made eye-contact with him. "Don't worry, I talked with him about that, it's alright. You're excused." She explained to him, and then she dug her hand into her bag, and fished out an orange book, and then she flipped it, so Chad could have a look at the cover. "I wanted to talk to you about this, and why I hurt you back when."
Chad studied the cover of the book, it 'Asperger's Syndrome, So What?', and wondered what it was. He snatched the book from Sharpay's hand, opened it and buried himself in it, without asking if it was okay, but Sharpay didn't mind. This way she didn't have to explain anything, he'd find out himself, which was good, as she hated explaining this to people.
It was an easy reading book, and it was easy to understand, Ryan had told her, and so had Troy, but she had never read it herself, though from her brother's point of view, she reckoned he'd be done reading it soon. Then again, Chad had always been a slow reader, so it might take him a little while, but she was gonna let him have it.
After 15 minutes he closed the book, he'd read the whole thing, and he'd figured it out. "You have this thing, don't you?" He questioned, as he handed the book back to Sharpay, and she accepted it, nodding her head yes, and then she put the book back in her bag. "Why have you never told me this, that you have 'Asperger's Syndrome' or whatever the hell it's called? We were best friends for so long, and you never told me."
"I didn't know, untill I was 13, Chad, so I couldn't have told you before." Sharpay tried to explain, but by the look on Chad's face, it appeared it didn't make him feel any better, because she could have told him, when she found out then. "I probably should have told you, when I'd found out, but I couldn't get myself to do it."
"Why couldn't you tell me?" Chad wanted to know, he got up from the seat, Sharpay forced him into, and started walking back and forth, trying to figure it out, as Sharpay just watched him go. "We told each other everything, so why? What? Had I all of the sudden become horrible to talk to? What?"
Sharpay hated this, she could hear how bad, she'd made him feel, and it hurt her so bad, that she started to cry. "I wanted to tell you, I did, but I feared you wouldn't want to be my friend then." She spoke with such a fragile voice, and the sadness in it made Chad feel even worse, and what she told him now terrible, but he had to know it. "I was afraid, you'd dump me as soon as you found out, so I decided to ditch you, before you ditched me and save myself the hurt."
"Nice to know, you gave me that much credit!?" Chad exclaimed, offended that she'd ever thought that poorly of him. He stopped in his tracks and looked at her, it would have never been like that, if she'd told him, he would have been there, he was sure. "Don't you think, I would have acted like your best friend and been there for you? I would have, y'know, but I'm sorry you felt that way." They shared a smile, as a silence fell upon them, a comfortable one, and it felt nice, like when they used to be friends. "I'm also sorry for the things I put you threw, had I known the reason behind your action, I wouldn't have hold the grudge like that. I wish, I'd known, then I wouldn't have hurt Liz either."
"You really love her, don't you?" Sharpay wondered, and Chad nodded his head, his big curly afro doing a funny little dance, and she offered him a sympathetic smile. Her now best friend and her then best friend loved each other, and if her and Chad came out of this as friends, she'd try to get them together on the right terms. "She loves you too, y'know, but she's very sad, and not feeling like herself at all."
"You've always been great at analyzing people, Sharpay, but you've never liked being analyzed yourself." Chad acknowledged with sort of a 'proud daddy' smile, and Sharpay nodded her head. He was right, and they both had a feeling, it had everything to do with her handicap. "But I was just wondering, Sharpay, what are you doing here then? Here being East High?"
"It's all part of my plan, Chad. My parents don't know, that I know about this, because they chose to keep it a secret from me. Now it's time to tell them, so I can go to a place, where they can give me the right 'education'." Sharpay exclaimed, using airquotes to the word education, because she actually meant help, but she hated that word, it implied weakness, so she chose not to use it. "I'm just not feeling it, I don't wanna do it alone. I can't ask Chase to help me, she's busy with Zeke, and Troy is off the table, as we're broken up, and Liz isn't good in these situation."
"You must tell me about yours and Troy's break-up someday, I hope it's not entirely my fault." Chad said, and looked down upon his feet. Sharpay raised herself up from her chair, walked over to Chad and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, which took a lot of personal strength. He looked back up, regaining eyecontact with Sharpay, smiling because the hand told him, it wasn't entirely his fault. "I could help you with your parents, I'd love to be there for you."
"That sounds good, I'd really like that. Does that mean we're friends again?" Sharpay asked with a bright smile on her face, and Chad enthusiastically nodded his head. A silence fell upon the new old friends, but it didn't take long, before Sharpay decided to break it. "Hey, Chad? What are you thinking about right now."
Chad smirked, he felt he still knew his best friend, yes he called her that, so he had to say it; "I was just thinking about, how long it's been, since I last gave my best friend Shaggy a piggyback ride." Chad turned his back to Sharpay, indicating that he wanted to give her a piggyback ride right then and there. "Hop on, Shaggy."
Sharpay grinned, as she did what she was told, and hopped on Chad's back. He grabbed a hold of her legs, so she wouldn't fall down, and she held her arms around his neck, without strangling him. She didn't know, where he'd bring her to, and she didn't care, because even though it had been a long time, she somehow already trusted him again, and while he ran around with her on his back, they had time to catch up. They had a lot to tell each other.
IRBS
Troy stepped out of the gym, when practise was over, and he had showered himself nice and clean. Some guys on the team didn't shower, and that was probably why a lot of people thought, that they were all gross and sweaty, but Troy always showered. You never knew, what would happen during a day, so you always had to smell your best, he felt.
He threw his gym bag with his used clothes over his shoulder, and slowly made his way towards his locker, while wondering what Sharpay's conversation with his dad had been about, and why his dad hadn't been in the worst of moods, once she had left with Chad, and for that matter what was she doing with Chad? After what that guy had pulled on them, was she nuts?
It wasn't his decision to make, he knew that, he wasn't the boss of her, and he certainly couldn't advice her in anything. He had lost that right, when he dumped her at Chad's party, but he still had his right to think, that whatever it was, that she was up to was insanely stupid. If he could stop her, he would, and he would tell her not to get involved with Chad.
He reached his locker, that wasn't very far from the gym, and typed in his combination. He heard that familiar click, and then he opened it and threw in the bag. He slammed his locker door shut, and leaned up against it, tilting his head back and closing his eyes, trying to relax a bit after practise, before the next class, but when he was starting to relax a little, he heard two familiar voices coming near him, and neither of them sounded happy.
"I told you, it was a bad idea. I told you, but somehow you managed to convince me to be stupid and go through with it." He heard one of the voices yell, and he opened his eyes, and damn right it was Zeke, walking along side his girlfriend, both looking equally annoyed with something. "What did I get out of it? Your old man succeeded in questioning every single aspect of me. He sounded like, we were getting married tomorrow, and I wouldn't be able to support you with my 'baker' carreer."
"That's not what he sounded like!" Chase objected, as they stopped up in the middle of the hallway to continue their argument, and Troy walked up next to them, watching and listening from the sidelines, hoping that they'd sooner or later calm down and notice him. "I don't even know, what you're bickering about. It's over, and you survived. You live to tell about it, not many people are able to say that, Zeke."
"Oh yeah, I can't wait to share that with everybody." Zeke replied, sarcastically, and Chase was not amused. She folded her arms across her chest, and eyed Zeke in a way, that Troy would've been scared to be him right now. "Sometimes I don't get you, Chase! You complain about your father all the time, yet here you are defending him. What's up with that?"
"So what, I can't defend my dad, because I find him unreasonable sometimes?" Chase questioned, making a valid point, but Zeke didn't think so. He found it too double standard, and Chase disagreed. "Okay, sometimes I really, really hate him, and sometimes he feel like he's suffocating me with his rules and all, but I still love him. He's harsh, I know, and the things he said to you were unfair, but he just wants to protect me."
"But you don't need protection, and when he told you, you couldn't date me, that wasn't protection. He's a mean man." Zeke argued, and Chase let her arms fall to her side with an annoyed groan, she was getting fed up with this argument. "Yeah, ugh! But you know that, still now you're arguing with me, like what your dad's doing is okay, and it's not. You can't both hate him and stand up for him."
"Are you calling me two-faced, or what is it?" Chase demanded to know, and Zeke shrugged in a provoking way, making Chase fume even more than she was before. "Okay, fine then. Let me ask you a question; don't you hate your dad, when he says, that being a baker is no carreer for his son? I mean, that's your dream, isn't it?" Zeke nodded, not knowing where Chase was going with this, and she continued; "Yet no matter how much you dislike him, when he says that, you still love him, because he's your dad. Am I right?"
They all knew, Chase had won that argument. She always won, and Troy wondered why, Zeke hadn't grown tired of that yet, being in a relationship where you never won a single argument, that must be tiring. Zeke's expression softened, and Troy saw the love he had for Chase, and caught himself feeling jealous of the love, they still shared.
Zeke was about to open his mouth and say something, when they heard some noises coming from another hallway. They heard squealing and two familiar voices coming their way, and they all turned their head in the direction of the noise, and saw Sharpay getting a piggyback ride from... Chad? What?
"Chad, slow down. You're going too fast!"
"No can do, Shaggy. We've got a mystery to solve!"
Then they raced around the corner so fast, they almost created a mist behind them, and Troy watched the spot, where they'd disappeared, solemnly. She was happy without him, it seemed, and it hit him so hard. He had thought, if he said enough, she'd wake up and get her act together, but now it seemed, she didn't need him at all. Joke was on him.
"I.. what?" Troy managed to get out, and then his friends finally noticed him, being ripped out of their trance of seeing Chad and Sharpay together. Chase rushed to Troy's side, and put a comforting arm around him, whereas Zeke just patted him on the back, to let him know he was there. "I... she... and he... and I thought..."
"It's probably nothing. I mean, they used to be friends." Chase tried to comfort him, implying that maybe they were friends again, but it didn't seem to sink in on him. He didn't want to believe it, because after everything they'd been through, and after everything the two of them had said of bad things about each other, it just didn't seem right.
"Yeah, they used to be friends." Troy said, still watching the same spot as before. He couldn't figure it out, and it annoyed him to no end, and it made him miss Sharpay even more, even if he'd made the right call. "Used to be being it. They shouldn't be friends anymore, they both hated each. I don't know why, because Sharpay was never completely honest with me, she never told me."
"Maybe that's the problem?" Chase tried again, and Troy shot her an annoyed look, and forcefully shoved her arm off of his shoulder. Again with the mothering, wouldn't she just stop? "Chad knows more about Sharpay, than you do, and you hate that, because you thought, you knew everything?"
"Why are you always like this?" Troy questioned, raising his voice at a stunned Chase. She thought, he was over those kind of outbursts, but clearly not. He was so fed up with her 'being there' for everybody, mothering them. He didn't need her. "I don't need you, so why don't you just get lost?"
"Troy!!" Zeke exclaimed, using an 'I warn you' kind of tone, as he rushed to his girlfriend's side, who was clearly upset, giving her a warm, comforting hug. Argument in the past, he was now defending his beloved girlfriend. "She was just trying to help, why you gotta be like that?"
Troy groaned with much annoyance, and then he spun around, and fled the scenery, just as Gabriella and Liz arrived to the spot, arms linked, wrapped up in some fun, comfy convo, but when they saw Troy running off the way he did, they stopped up and looked at the only happy couple left in their group, confused about it all.
"What's up with Speedy Gonzalez?" Gabriella wanted to know, refering to Troy. These days he'd been overly sensitive, and she really wanted to know, what it was now. Who had said something, what had happened? At the same time she didn't wanna worry, she didn't want to break her own happiness in her newfound friendship with Liz with that.
"Yeah, he was like WOOOSH!" Liz chipped in, once again failing to be serious and grasping the situation, now that she had somewhat healed from the loss of Chad. Her shining eyes and all were back, and they loved that about her, but right now it wasn't needed.
Chase didn't reply, she just huffed, escaping Zeke's comforting arms and running off in a different direction than Troy. Zeke looked at the two shorties, the latina and the partly blonde, with apologetic eyes, he shrugged, and then he wandered off in the same direction, that his girlfriend had went.
Gabriella and Liz looked at each other, both thinking the same thing, and then they both smiled their bright smiles, not worrying, and said in unison; "They were like WOOOSH!"
IRBS
The bell rang for the last time that day, and Chad and Sharpay hurried out of there, as fast as they could. They had things to do, Sharpay had to tell her parents she knew, and Chad had promised to support her, and Sharpay wanted to get it over with right away, and that's why they were in such a rush.
They brushed past Troy in the hallway, who was totally out of himself, seeing them together. That two-faced discussion Zeke and Chase had earlier, it seemed a perfect fit for Sharpay, who was saying one thing and doing the other. She was supposed to hate Chad, she was supposed to cry about him in bathroom, and now all of the sudden they were good? He didn't even know, what had gotten between them, that had made them so mad at each other, and Sharpay had never wanted to tell him.
Chad pushed the door open for Sharpay, holding it as well, grabbing his chance to be the perfect gentleman. He wanted to treat his friend right, now that he had found out, what had come between them back them. He had been so set on her being this icy, heartless bitch, that he couldn't get his mind around, that there might have been a reason, and he had wanted to get back at her so bad. Now he knew, what the real reason was, and the grudge he had seemed so dumb now.
It was all in the past now, Sharpay seemed to have let it all go, like it had never happened, so that's why he did the same. That's why they were able to laugh together, like when they were two 13 year old kids, when she was his Shaggy, and he was her chocolate poodle. They were still that to each other, because in the years they hadn't been friends, Chad could honestly say, that Sharpay hadn't changed that much, and he loved that about her. She was special, then and now.
Suddenly they stood in the parking lot, Chad had been so wrapped up in his thoughts, that he hadn't even realized, he'd been walking towards his car with Sharpay. She stopped, and so did he and saw, that she had weird look upon her face, and he eyed in a way, like he was asking her 'what' with his eyes, and she rolled her eyes in a way, like he would know.
"Well, you weren't driving, when you were 13!" Sharpay exclaimed, using a du'h tone, throwing an arm gesture in the way of all the cars in the parking lot, asking a silent question with it, and then putting words to it; "Which car is yours, Chocolate Poodle?"
"Oh!" Chad uttered, as realization dawned on him. He should have thought of that, they hadn't been friends, since they were 13, so of course she wouldn't know, what the hell his car looked like. "It's the blue one in the far end, with a basketball in the backseat." He paused, when he saw Sharpay crossing her arms, and lifting an eyebrow at him. He sighed and added; "Fine, and a Scooby Doo dvd. What do you want from me?"
"That! And maybe if you could park in this end the next time, then that would be perfectly swell." Sharpay said in a teasing manner, and Chad stuck out his tongue at her, and they started walking towards the other end. "Look at this, I'm already exhausted, and we've only started walking, and the far end is still very far away, I can't even see your car yet."
"Bravo. You are quite the complainer." Chad said, while he faked admiring that quality about her, as they walked past Mr. Paperblock, and little while later they walked past Troy's car. Sharpay looked away from it, feeling a sting, and Chad noticed it. "You're gonna get him back, trust me. When you're done 'reinventing' yourself, and you admit to him you're special, he'll be taking you back in no time. And maybe if you next time are a little more honest with him, then..."
"Hey, mister!" Sharpay yelled, cutting him off in the middle of his sentence, while grabbing a hold of his arm, stopping them both right in the centre of the parking lot. "It's not like you jumped up and down with eager to tell Troy about our past. That we were friends, and why we stopped being that, but I couldn't, okay? And you would have hated me even more, if I had, and you would have totally denied it."
"I told Gabriella, didn't I?" Chad questioned, crossing his arms, a look upon his face, that clearly stated he thought, Sharpay was way off with her accusation. "You told no one. Not a soul, not even Chase or Liz, but I had the guts to tell someone!"
"It has nothing to do with guts, Chad." Sharpay said, reaching out her hand to yank his arms apart, she found it ridiculously girly, when a guy crossed his arms like that, and with Chad she had the nerves to yank them apart. "You told Gabriella, because you knew, it wouldn't come back to bite you in the ass then. Or well, it did, but not in the way you were originally afraid of. You didn't want to ruin your rep, and by telling Gabriella you had no fear of that." She paused and curtseyed for him, as if to say 'end of discussion'. "How do you like me now?"
Chad sighed in defeat, clearly Sharpay had won that one. He hated, when she won. He hated, when anybody won. "Fine, so maybe you're a little right, but still I did tell someone, which you haven't." He sighed again, and Sharpay offered him a smile, mostly because he admitted she was right, and then they proceeded walking towards his car. "So, have you worked out, what you're gonna say to your parents?"
"Not really." Sharpay admitted, placing her hands in her pockets. It had been a very hard day for her, but she had gotten through it, and she still dreaded talking to her parents about it, though she knew she had to, no matter how hard it would be. Oh, she hoped it would be easy. "I kinda hope it'll be enough to say 'I know', you know?"
"Probably not, but I'll be there." Chad assured her, as they reached his car. He went over and opened the door to the passenger seat, allowing Sharpay to get in, and she smiled appreciatively at him. "If you compliment your mom, and batter your eyes at your stepdad, they'll be buttered up and much more approachable."
"I'll consider that." Sharpay grinned, and then Chad closed the door to her side. He walked over to the driver's side, and opened the door, he got into the car and bopped his head, causing Sharpay to let out a giggle. "Way to elegantly get into your own car. Say, is this your first time driving?"
Chad made a mocking face at her, as he closed the door and buckled his seatbelt. Sharpay couldn't help but laugh at him, so with a grumpy looking face, he turned on the engine, and pulled out of the parking lot, and drove off towards Sharpay's place, which he perfectly well knew where was.
IRBS
Chad pulled up into the driveway of Sharpay's house, while he laughed at something she said. Everything they'd said to each other on the ride to her house had been pretty much serious, untill Sharpay found it all too depressing and tried to lighten the mood with one of her funny rambling sessions. It went right home with Chad, they always killed him.
He turned the engine off and faced Sharpay with a smile upon his face, so thankful they were friends again. "It's now or never, Shaggy." He announced to her, as she unbuckled her seatbelt, and he unbuckled his. "Before we go in there, I just wanna say one thing; you shouldn't be so afraid to embrace your handicap and be yourself. I loved the Shaggy, you used to be, before you found out about it. If you let it become a part of you, you could be that same person again."
Sharpay sighed, she knew all of this, and she was really trying, but it was difficult. "I know, but I've spent practically all my time distancing myself from it, and trying to figure out another reason for why, I am the way I am, but it's quite obvious that there is only one reason." Sharpay said with a sad smile, while fidgetting with her hands. Intense one-on-one conversations like that had always made her uncomfortable, and when she was uncomfortable, she fidgetted. "I'm slowly learning to accept it, and it's a lot easier now, that I have actual friends. I didn't think, I'd be able to with my disability, but obviously I am. It's just a lot harder for me to make friends, than it is for regular people."
"Hey, I'm a regular 'people', and it's not that easy for me to make friends either." Chad said, lifting up his arms and heaving them down in an 'exhibit A' kind of way, as he sent a teasing smile her way, and she stuck her tongue out of. That guy couldn't stay serious for long, but that's what she used to love about him, still did.
"Yeah, maybe so, but you're forgetting one thing!" Sharpay revealed with a smirk, and Chad raised his brows in a 'please do tell me' way, and she stuck out her tongue once more, before continuing. "You are an ass."
"Hitting me where it hurts!" Chad exclaimed with much exaggeration, placing both his hands over his heart, faking to be in serious pain. Sharpay rolled her eyes at him, and gave him a playful shove, pushing him back into being serious. "No, seriously. Shaggy, are you ready to rumble?"
"As ready as I'll ever be, Chocolate Poodle." Sharpay admitted, and almost in unison they both pulled down the handle in their respective sides, opening the doors, both stepping one foot out of the car and then the next, slamming the doors behind them, Chad locking the car. Sharpay tried to muster a smile and be brave, and Chad offered a reassuring one. "Here goes nothing! Sure hope they haven't got a hold of my reportcard yet, otherwise I'm toast before I even open my mouth. My highest grade is a C+, they won't be pleased."
"Shag!" Chad said, with a hint of a blaming undertone, nothing obvious. He had always found her unbelievable sometimes, but they meshed well together, and he had always loved the way she rolled. "You just don't know how to stay on one subject, do you?"
"You know, how I do." Sharpay giggled, as she popped the strop on her top, cos she didn't have a collar. Chad laughed, as they walked up the steps to her house together. Sharpay stopped in front of the door, taking in a deep breath, preparing herself. She turned to Chad. "My mom is gonna get the biggest shock, when she sees you with me. She hasn't seen you in like 4 years, it's insane."
"Yeah, but I haven't changed much." Chad agreed, looking down upon himself. He pretty much looked the same; same hairstyle, same types of clothes, same just about everything. Mrs Evans would definitely be able to recognize him, he reckoned. "Though I've gotten taller, and my 'fro has gotten bigger, even after hair styling curtisies of a certain Liz Kincaid."
"Yeah, she shouldn't go after that carreer." Sharpay giggled, and Chad joined in with a chuckle, and then they both turned serious. Sharpay placed her hand on the doorknob, and then she looked into Chad's eyes, before she could go through with it. "Here goes nothing!"
Sharpay pushed down the knob, and the door opened with a homey creak. Why did all doors creak? She stepped inside and stopped in the hallway, holding the door open for Chad, who also stepped inside. He looked around for a bit, as it had been forever since he'd last been there, but just like him the Evans' foyer, as Mrs Evans adressed it, hadn't changed either.
"MOM, I'M HOME!" Sharpay yelled in a way, that would have made Fred Flintstone very proud, and Chad made frightened little jump, causing Sharpay to giggle at the comic of it. Chad shot her an offended look, though he didn't mean it, and she once again stuck out her tongue at him.
"In here, baby Shar." Mrs Evans shouted from another room, and Sharpay started walking towards it, and Chad followed in her steps. Sharpay stepped into the kitchen with Chad, and saw Mrs Evans sitting by the kitchen table with some papers in her hand, she looked up from them and smiled at Chad and Sharpay. "Hi Sharpay. Hi Chad, it's been a long time, it's so nice to see you again. How was your day?"
"Fair!" Sharpay replied, short and precise. She sat down at the kitchen table, opposite from her mom, and Chad sat down next to Sharpay, as he had promised to support her. "But there is something I need to talk to you about, and it's important." Sharpay's mom smiled, and went back to her paperwork, because she was one of those 'I can listen and do other things at the same time' kind of moms, but this time Sharpay needed her full of attention. "Mom, you need to put down your paperwork for this. It's really, really important."
Mrs Evans looked at her daughter, and saw the look upon her face, and she laid down the papers in her hand on the kitchen table. "Okay, sweetie. Tell me what's up?" She questioned her daughter, folding her hands, putting them on the table, paying full attention to her beautiful daughter. She looked from Sharpay to Chad and back, and then she uttered the fear of all parents. "You're not pregnant, are you, Shar?"
"No! God, mom!" Sharpay shrieked, embarrassed with Chad right next to her. Why did her mom think like that of her, when Sharpay was scared even by the thought of kissing, even if she'd done it before, she was still terrified. "No, it's something totally different. I just wanna say, I know."
A silence fell upon them all, while Sharpay awaited the effects of her words, still hoping 'I know' would have been enough. Chad was quiet, because he was merely there for support, Sharpay was quiet, because the ball was now in her mom's court, and Mrs Evans was quiet, because... well, no one really knew, she was just quiet, and neither of the teenagers could read her face. Mrs Evans had always been a hard on to figure out, though she was a very emotional person.
"You know what?" Mrs Evans asked, clearly confused, and Chad didn't blame her. How would she know? It could be anything, really, that Sharpay knew, she had to be more specific. "Did you find out, what we're giving you for your 17th birthday?" She turned and spoke to Chad now. "I swear to you, my husband can't keep a secret. Because he was the one, who told you right?" She was back at talking to her daughter, who was confused at her mother's ramble. "It was supposed to be a secret. We told you, we're building a new room to the house, and that it's gonna be an office, but really it's a..."
"Mom! Mom! MOM!" Sharpay yelled, cutting her mom off at just the right place, before she accidently spilled to her daughter, what she was getting for a birthday present, when it hadn't even been what, Sharpay had been talking about in the first place. "I don't wanna know about that, because that's not what I was talking about. It's something else, that I know, mom." Sharpay paused and sighed, her mom looked reliefed somehow, as Sharpay continued; "You remember 4 years ago, when I came home crying after a day at the mall with Nadine, Chase and Liz?"
Her mom nodded, she did remember. She had a memory like an elephant. "Yeah, I remember, sweetie." She smiled at her daughter, as she remembered that fateful day, that led her to discover, what was wrong with her daughter, why she felt so different, but as far as she was concerned, Sharpay knew nothing about that. "You cried, you felt so different, but it turned out, it was just a fase, you had to go through. All teenagers feel different from time to time."
"That may be so, mom, but I've felt different everyday of my life, since I can remember." Sharpay explained to her mom, who hoped her daughter wouldn't begin to question her about it now, because if she put her on the spot, she'd most likely tell her everything, even if the family had agreed together, that neither should tell her. "But that's not the point, mom. The point is, you took me to this place, where they 'tested' me and such, claiming it was standard procedure? You told me, I was perfectly normal, but that wasn't the case, was it?" Sharpay eyed her mom in a way, that let her know, that she definitely knew something, and she was about to hear it. "I know about it all, mom. I know, that I have a handicap called Asperger's Syndrome, and I know that you wanted to keep it a secret from me, but Ryan, being a great brother, thought I deserved to know. And mom, tell me something, did you honestly thing, it would be fair to let me live a 'normal' life, when I'm incapable of doing certain things?"
"I agree, we should have told you, but we didn't wanna take your normalcy away from you." Mrs Evans explained, and Chad could see it from her point of you, but he could also see it from Sharpay's, and he completely understood, why she was outraged. "You must understand that, sweetie?"
"Normalcy?" Sharpay shouted, louder than she had ever shouted before, forcing Chad to cover his ears, and Mrs Evans to move back in her chair, taking aback by her daughter's outburst, even if she was used to almost 17 years of her tandrums. "Have you got any idea, the hell I've been through during my normalcy? And even when I did find out, my life was still hell, but at least I knew why, I felt the way I felt. Now imagine if I hadn't known? I would have been miserable, going through my hell, wondering what the hell was up with me!"
Mrs Evans shushed her daughter, not because she didn't want to listen to her, but because she wanted to calm her down. "Would you please relax, Sharpay?" She begged Sharpay, who did seem to relax a bit. She leaned back in her chair, as she folded her arms and scolded, as Mrs Evans continued, while Chad watched from the sidelines. "We need to act now. I figured, that you'd one day find out, so I have some papers from a small school for kids with the same diagnosis as you, that you can look at later. If I make a call today, I'm sure you can get to look at the school already next week, and then you'll be ready to start after the summer vacation." Mrs Evans pushed out her chair and stood up, she walked out of the kitchen and came back a little while later with some papers in her hands, which she handed to Sharpay with a apologetic smile. "Here you go, Sharpay, I wish you'd read it, with or without Chad, and I'm sorry for everything. Oh, and it was very nice seeing you again, Chad."
Mrs Evans picked up her important papers from the kitchen table, and took them with her into another room, leaving Sharpay and Chad all to themselves in the kitchen. Chad smiled at his blonde friend to let her know, that she did good, and she smiled back at him, glad that he'd been there at the sidelines, even though he kept quiet, his presence had been a great deal of support.
Sharpay was a little stunned at how things had went. Her mom took it well, and kept things nice and short, and it was like she had suspected it somehow, like she had expected Sharpay to come to her with it any given time, seeing as she had papers for a new school and everything. It was very weird, but Sharpay was glad, it had been somewhat easy, and now they could all talk openly about things, and oddly enough she was looking forward to it. Forward to everything really, changing school and everything. Once Troy found out about all of this, she hoped they'd get back together.
"That was easy. Now, what do you wanna do?" Chad asked with a smile, as he too pushed out his chair and stood up, waiting for Sharpay to do the same. "I haven't seen your room in like forever. And just to let you know, that was a hint." He paused for dramatic effect, and shook his head in a comical way, the curls in his 'fro bouncing everywhere, and he finished off by sending a funny look her way. "I wanna see your room."
Sharpay laughed, as she pushed out her chair, and got up from it in a weird way. The whole rising from chair thing, she had never been good at it, so it looked quite funny, and she appreciated, that Chad did not laugh at it. But she got up, and began to lead the way up the stairs to her room, Chad following right behind her. She had a huge smile upon her face, as she walked up those stairs, thinking about the fact, that he hadn't been up there in 4 years, and she could finally give that cd to him, that she had bought for him that fateful day at the mall.
When they got up to her room, she gave him the cd, and he got so happy about it. He requested, that they listened to it, and she plugged it into her cd-player and pressed play, and they spent the rest of their first afternoon in 4 years together, making up funny dance routines for each song.
IRBS
Sharpay twisted and turned in her bed that night, she couldn't get to sleep. She kept her eyes shut, and she tried her best to go to sleep, but no matter what she tried, she couldn't fall asleep. She had a good feeling, she knew why, she was twisting and turning like that, without being able to fall asleep; it had something to do with the events of the day.
It was nothing bad, it had went far over her expectations, extremely well actually. She had explained things to Jack Bolton, gotten on his good side, now that he understood her, and she had also become friends with Chad again, which was awesome, and she had spent practically the whole day without him. Normally a day without either Troy, Liz or Chase would freak her out, but not that day, because she was with her best friend, Chad. Yes, she saw him as her best friend again.
To top it all off, she had told her mom, that she knew about her handicap, and that they had all tried to keep it a secret from her. Her mom had took it surprisingly well, and she'd had new school papers ready for her and everything, and she was going to have a look at it monday next week. She was excited about it, but she hadn't made up her mind, if it was a good excited or not yet.
At dinner the whole family had discussed things, and Sharpay had a feeling, things were gonna be so much easier, now that things were out in the open, and she could finally get the 'help', that she needed, even if she hated that stupid word. Taylor had been there at dinner too, she was always there, because she and Ryan were like inseperable, and obviously she knew about the whole situation.
Over all it had been a good day, and Sharpay was glad, that she no longer had to walk around in the hallways of East High, which was a school for teens without a diagnosis, and act like she was completely normal. Now she was gonna go to a place, where she could completely be herself. She could say things, do things, that she couldn't get herself to do at East High, because they would have found her more of a freak than usual. Of course people had had a sense, that something had been different about her, even if she'd tried to hide her, but the point was she no longer had to hide it.
It was all great, but the only thing she wasn't looking forward to was, that the whole school had to know why, Sharpay Evans was to go to another school after the summer. Sharpay didn't have to tell them herself, her mom had made sure to save her from that horrifying experience, but the students of East High still had to know. The principal had to tell them, and Sharpay didn't know when, some time before the summer vacation obviously, and she'd be present while he told them all, which was what she wasn't looking forward to at all. It would be so embarrassing, even with her friends by her side for support.
Still with mostly good things in the back, she wasn't able to fall asleep, and it bugged her to no end. The reason was Troy, she sure of it, she missed him so much, and she couldn't fall asleep, knowing that he didn't want her anymore. She knew it was all her fault, and she had done hers subconsciously to break it off, and she finally succeeded, but it was a horrible mistake, and now she had done, what he wanted her to in order to fix it, in order to have a chance with him again, but he had no idea. How was she gonna prove to him, that she had changed?
She could go up to him one day in school, and try to convince him, that she had changed, but she knew he wouldn't believe her just like that, he would want proof of some sort, and she knew she couldn't give that to him, because how can you prove to someone, that you've changed? It would take a lot of hard work, and she would need several days, months even, to convince him, because it would probably take that long for him to be certain.
There was always the one thing, that he really wanted from her, those simple words and it wouldn't take that much from her, it was just words. I'd rather be special, that's what he wanted to hear from her, she knew that, but the thought of saying them brought tears to her eyes, so she had to open them, and she saw the darkness of the room.
She cried, because she didn't feel all that special, and if she were to tell him, that she was special, it would be a lie. Then again, if she told him, she'd rather be special, it would become the truth, it would become real. If she said the words, she'd become the words somehow, if that made any sense, because oddly enough it did to her.
Her phone lied on her nightstand, and she needed to get it, she needed to call Troy, and she didn't care what time it was. She fumbled after the phone in the darkness, and she knocked something down on the floor, she could hear, and she hoped it wasn't her cellphone, then she'd have to turn on the damn light and get down on the floor and get it.
Success. She found it, and closed her hand around it, she brought it close to herself, and flipped it open. She saw, that it was 12:30 am, but she didn't care, this needed to be done. She searched for Troy's name in her phone book, she found it and pressed the green button, and she immediately got voicemail.
"This is Troy's phone, and I'm currently unavailable, but I'm sure you know the drill. The whole leave me a message after the beep routine, you're probably familiar with it, so no need to explain it to someone as smart as you. So speak."
BEEP!
Sharpay sobbed uncontrolable at the sound of Troy's voice without being able to talk to him, and a lot of minutes had past, before she was finally somewhat prepared to leave that message, and she tried to look past the embarrassing fact, that Troy would be listening to 3 minutes of her sobs, before he'd be able to hear her message, once he checked his voice mail.
"I'd rather be special." Sharpay cried into the phone, as she hoped with all her might, that the message would bring her Troy back. Then she hung up the phone, and threw it out of her hand, and went back to try and fall asleep.
And there it is, I hope you'll like it enough to review. I've written this as fast as I possibly could, but with my computer situation, it was quite hard, though I hope to begin next chapter very soon, so this fic can be done soon. I'm sure you're dying to know, how this will end, right? Anyway, I can't write much in this author's note, because my littlebrother is jumping up and down, waiting to get his computer back, so I have to be quick at this. So please review, I mean you all gotta fight for the next dedication, don't make it too easy for those amazing reviewers, I've already dedicated chapters to, go for the next dedication. REVIEW :D!
Laters, AK-tutti :)