The next week, things seemed to be back to normal. The Talent Show group was friends again, so the event was most diffidently taking place at the Evan's Country Club. The date was set, and posters advertising it were plastered around the school, so people could sign up (you could be in two performances total; two group acts or one solo and one group act). The boys who had beaten up on Ryan kept their distance, and Chad and Jason were back on regular terms with him. Gabbi had finally forgiven Troy after she heard what he did for Ryan. The other girls finally calmed down about Ryan when they saw that he hadn't changed with him clothes, so they forgot about him and went back to their normal lives of ignoring him (which he preferred anyways). So everything was the way it had been at the beginning of the school year.

Early Monday morning, Cassie ran up bawling to Sharpay. After she finally got her friend to stop sobbing, Sharpay asked,

"What's the matter now?"

"You will never guess!" Tammie said, popping up next to Cassie, who had burst into a fresh load of tears.

"I will never guess what?" Sharpay said; she hated it when her friends skipped around topics like this.

"You will never guess," Tammie said, happy to know something Sharpay didn't, "what happened in the band hall this morning!"

"Uh…Kelsey made a new composition," Sharpay answered, rolling her eyes. "Honestly Tam, I could care less"

"Not even the fact that it concerns your own brother?" Cassie finally spoke up, looking at Sharpay with red eyes. The drama queen whipped around.

"What about my brother?" Cassie and Tammie grinned at each other slyly.

"You mean," Cassie said, pretending to be shocked, "you haven't head?"

"You shut up and just tell me!" Sharpay snapped, getting inpatient.

"Well," Tammie said, relishing in being the one to tell Sharpay, "your brother and Gabriella Montez have been meeting in the band hall to work on English together for almost a month now"

"I know. So?"

"So, this morning, he finally asked her the big question" Sharpay stared at her friends, not believing her ears.

"You mean he-"

"Yep!" Tammie said, grinning broadly, while Cassie broke into tears again. "He asked her out!"

"She couldn't have-" Sharpay began, shaking her head.

"Oh," Cassie sobbed, "but she did! She did!" Sharpay gaped at them for a minute, and then startled them with a loud chirp of joy.

"FINALLY!" she yelled, hugging Tammie. "It's about time he got a girlfriend! And who better than our own Gabs!" Sharpay ran off down the hallway, leaving two bewildered friends looking after her. She finally spotted her twin at his locker, grabbing his books for first block.

"RYAN!" she screeched, grabbing his arm to slow her down, almost making him fall over. "Is it true?" she panted, putting both hands on his surprised shoulders, "Is it true what Tammie and Cassie said? Are you going out with Gabbi Montez?" By now, they had gathered quite a crowd near them, Sharpay making such a big scene. Ryan turned slightly red seeing all the people, but nodded silently to his sister, a small, proud grin on his face.

The entire hallway erupted in talk, as Sharpay gave her brother a huge hug before running off with Taylor to find Gabbi. Chad clapped Ryan on the back, congratulating him.

"Honestly," Ryan said, highly embarrassed, "you guys make me feel like I'm getting married" Chad just laughed, and pulled Ryan over to Troy, telling the jock what happened. Troy wasn't sore at all, but playfully punched Ryan in the shoulder, smiling.

By lunchtime, it had gotten around the entire school that dramady Ryan Evans was dating genius girl Gabriella Montez. Ryan felt many stares on his back when he gave Gabbi (who he now easily referred to as such) a side hug when she sat down next to him at lunch. She smiled warmly at him, but then stared blankly at the lone milk carton before him.

"Where's your lunch?" she asked, making the other three couples (Troypay, Chad/Taylor, and Jason/Kelsey) look down at them. "Where's the rest of your food?" Sharpay rolled her eyes when Ryan hung his head, embarrassed.

"Mom and Dad went off on one of their weird tangents again," she answered for him, "and didn't give him any money for food, and told Darbus to make sure he didn't eat (like they always do). They are convinced he is getting fat again, so they are sending him off on the what I like to call the 'anorexic diet'." Seeing the table's rebellious looks, she added, "of course, Ryan could always take food from us, but he hates to go against his parents, and figures that he should follow it" Gabbi giggled a little at this, and playfully poked Ryan's stomach.

"Come on, eat something" she said, pushing cheese fries towards him, but he didn't touch them.

"I told you," Sharpay said, sitting down next to Troy, "that kid is like a camel or something. He can go days without eating. He's done it before"

"But it's almost thanksgiving!" Gabbi said, horrified. "Surely they wouldn't make the sentence last through that?" Sharpay shrugged, and dug into her salad. For the rest of lunch, the table amused themselves trying to get Ryan to eat. Each time he shook his head, but was grateful for the game they were making out of it. Darbus loomed nearby, so he made sure to keep his distance from the lunches.

At the end of lunch, Ryan still hadn't eaten anything, but was feeling better. Troy poked his girlfriend.

"Hey, why don't you guys come over to my house for Thanksgiving? I was already thinking of inviting Chad, Gabbi, and the rest. He won't feel the restrain of food at my house. My mom's used to big appetites. We'd love to have you guys." Sharpay shook her head.

"Thanks, but our parents are actually going to be home for Thanksgiving this year" She smiled, not looking at Troy. "That's a rare happening at our house, so we are going to enjoy it this year" Troy nodded understandingly, and they separated for their different classes.

The Next Day:

Gabbi breathed a sigh of happiness, kicking the leaves as she sat outside the school, waiting for school to start. She just had to get through this day, and then it would be Thanksgiving Break. Her family was heading up to their cousins' house for the holiday, so today also meant the last time to see Ryan for another week (they got Wednesday through Monday off). In just one day's time, this had become of vast importance for her. She had even called him last night to see if the sentence had been lifted (it hadn't). This was a bold step for her, since she had never called a boy before for something other than homework (then again, she had never dated a boy other than Troy before, and he had always called her).

She spotted the Evans climbing out of their Cadillac, and she skipped over to her boyfriend. Gabbi was startled to see a depressed look on both of their faces, but then she remembered that after all, they were twins. Twins tended to share emotions; she had read so in a book.

"What's the matter?" she asked Ryan, as Sharpay walked over to Troy.

"Shar's depressed because our parents canceled our Thanksgiving dinner for some 'important business trip' that had come up" Ryan shrugged his shoulders sadly. "I guess I can't say that I wasn't expecting it; they haven't spent a holiday with us since 6th grade" Gabbi shook her head.

"They can't just drop a family get-together for some business trip. Families just don't do that"

"Well, mine does" Ryan said bluntly. "Shar's become quite good at winging Thanksgiving dinner"

"Ryan, you know I would invite you over to my house," Gabbi said, "but my parents and I are going up to my cousin's, and-"
"I know, it's okay," Ryan said, smiling at her, "thanks anyway. We'll be fine" Gabbi nodded sadly, still not happy about the situation. Ryan gave her another reassuring smile before they split up for their separate classes.

After school ended, and hugs had been exchanged, Ryan and Sharpay started on their typical walk home. To their surprise, though, Troy came running up to them after a short conversation with his mom.

"Hey" he said shortly, stopping to catch his breath. "My mom was wondering if y'all wanted to come to our house for Thanksgiving. It wouldn't be any problem at all, and since you guys aren't doing anything, it would be cool to have dinner together or something." Ryan looked at Sharpay, and Sharpay looked at Ryan, then they both looked at Troy and nodded.

"Thanks, that would be great" Sharpay said, smiling. "Tell your mom thanks too. What time should we be at your house?" They agreed on a time, and then Troy ran off, waving over his shoulder, and then climbed into his car. Sharpay turned back to Ryan, leaned up against him, and sighed,

"Things sure are different this year. Last year nobody would ever have thought to ask us" Sharpay grinned, and poked Ryan in the stomach again. "And you actually get to gain some weight around Thanksgiving. About time" Ryan rolled his eyes, making his twin giggle, and put his arm around her.

"I think he just wants to see you pig out on turkey," he said, pinching her playfully. Sharpay squeaked, pushing him away while giggling madly. Ryan pushed her gently back, and tried to get her to push him as hard as she could. He let himself stumble dramatically into the street from the "impact", before he felt a sharp pain on the back of his leg, making him trip. Swearing loudly under his breath, he picked himself up, rubbing his stinging hands and knees, then saw who had almost hit him.

"Drew!" Sharpay scolded, yanking Ryan out of the street and pounding on the car window. "You could have hurt him, you careless freak!" Drew smirked at the both of them, eyeing Ryan's new clothes.

"Sorry Sharpay; I would have been driving faster if I had known it was him. I didn't recognize him in those styling clothes. Better luck next time" Sharpay barely kept Ryan from lunging at the car. Drew raised his eyebrows.

"Oho, so you get new clothes and you figure yourself hot stuff, eh Evans?" Drew taunted playfully, kicking his car into gear again. "Well you had better grow up and face the facts. You are a weak chicken and always will be. You may have landed Troy a lucky punch or two, but come into the real world." Drew smirked again, and driving off, yelled over his shoulder, "If I ever catch you trying to stop me from what I want, next time it won't just be a bumper that hits you. Then you all will see how right I really am" Laughing, he drove off. Ryan wiped the dirt on his hands off on his jeans.

"What was he talking about?" he asked Sharpay, who shrugged.

"Stay away from that kid, Ryan," she added, pulling him along, "he's nothing but bad luck. Come on" The blonde girl yanked on her twin's arm again, making him look forward on the sidewalk again.