Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter. You're all wonderful. I thought about putting this all together into one big chapter. However, when the original draft went over 8000 words, and I still felt like I was shortchanging Vince and Sharpay, I had to split the chapters apart. This allowed me to build upon things. We end up with around 13000 words all together. So obviously, there's a lot of new material in this section.
I'm really trying my hardest to avoid chapters over 8000 words. I feel like I'm doing horrible at it. It happened a few times during the Thanksgiving arc.
The title comes from the Linkin Park song What I've Done. I really need to stop listening to Linkin Park while rewriting this story, but I keep getting lots of tile ideas. I promise to let Apple Music mix it up for further chapters.
Chapter 30: Let Mercy Come and Wash Away What I've done
Midafternoon November 15, 2008
"I wonder who had the brilliant idea to schedule this seminar on a Saturday," Sharpay said in annoyance to her boyfriend as they walked to Nicholas Hall. She had better things to do than attend a class on a Saturday. Like her deciding what classes she is taking next semester. She still hasn't managed to find the time to meet with her drama advisor yet, and she will need to register for spring classes soon.
Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon there RA informed her that the entire floor had a mandatory sex ed seminar that Saturday. Nobody could get out of the training short of a religious objection. Its moments like this, Sharpay is sad her family are no longer practicing Jewish. (Darby didn't like Vince sharing his traditions with her and Ryan, so he eventually stopped.)
"Your father," Chad muttered under his breath. "Although I think the rest of the building is blaming Blaise and Ginger."
"Probably. This is completely your fault," Sharpay told her boyfriend, annoyed.
"How is this my fault?" Chad asked.
"You're the one who couldn't keep your hands to yourself last Saturday in the rehearsal room. This is vengeance for the other almost-sex tape." She is upset that she didn't find out about that until 3 AM yesterday.
"I heard no complaints at the time. You definitely were not upset about it last night when I did the exact same thing. I really do love watching your face when you, well, you know." Sharpay went scarlet when she remembered exactly what Chad did to her last night. If she thought the rehearsal room was intense, what they did together last night was nuclear. Although he still wouldn't let her reciprocate.
"If I knew there were cameras around, I wouldn't have done anything last weekend." She was so freaked out yesterday morning that it took the good perfume to revive her.
"You would have dragged me to your bedroom at the summer house so you could have your wicked way with me instead." He told her with a cheeky smile. "You know from the room you used to watch me and Troy play shirtless basketball."
"Other way around, baby. You were the one who had your wicked way with me just like you did last night. I'm surprised I still let you do that because you knew for five days about the security cameras, and you didn't tell me." Unfortunately, Chad is really good with his hands, and that is hard to say no to.
"Six, actually. Ryan clued me in on Sunday. I was just trying to find the best time to tell you. I'm really glad I opted not to tell you Wednesday because you would've passed out alone." She really wasn't that upset. Mortified beyond belief but not upset at Chad. But she is definitely going to talk to Ryan about not warning her. She would if she wasn't trying to avoid the big heart-to-heart with him about keeping Darby's abuses a secret. They've gotten close, but one would change the subject before it got too intense.
"What room are you supposed to be in again?" Chad asked his girlfriend. Sharpay pulled out the email she received yesterday with the seminar instructions from the RA.
"My seminar is in room 123, which is right across the hall."
"I'll see you after class, Sharpay," Chad said before kissing her goodbye so hard that she almost lost her balance.
"If that's a goodbye kiss, no wonder you were signed up for this class." Her instructor commented from inside the room. Sharpay was shocked to find Kim already sitting inside.
"What are you doing here? I thought this seminar was only required for freshmen." Sharpay asked, confused.
"Apparently, it's also required for transfer students per the email that showed up yesterday. Although, I think Jay called in a favor because Vanessa was eager to babysit. Considering I already have a two-year-old, I don't see the point of me taking a seminar about preventing early pregnancy." Kim remarked.
"This class may still be useful; I doubt that you want to have a three-year-old and a newborn while you're still in school," Their instructor remarked. She was setting up various contraceptive devices, including birth control pills, diaphragms, cervical caps, male condoms, female condoms, and latex gloves. There was also a flat sheet of latex that Sharpay didn't know the name for. Sharpay had a feeling this will be her father's most creative punishment yet.
"This is true."
XXXX
Chad ran away from the classroom as quickly as possible because he knew he needed to be far away before Kim and Sharpay realized this was a setup. During a conference call with Ryan yesterday, Chad and Troy concluded that the only sensible solution was to actually lock their girlfriends in a room with a mediator that wasn't either of them. Ryan enlisted his father to make arrangements with Chad's help. He told him this was one way he can show his daughter that he actually cares. Chad hopes this actually worked.
Although Chad and Ryan asked for Mr. Evans's help with this, Chad wasn't expecting to see him sitting on the desk when he walked into his sexual health seminar. Chad had a feeling that Sharpay wasn't the only one being set up today. Chad wonders if Ryan ever told his dad that they weren't actually in a poly relationship. He was probably screwed either way.
"What are you doing here? I thought you would still be in New York." Conspiring with Maria Montez to do an intervention at Thanksgiving. Vince knows about Gabriella's role in the fantasy girl almost-sex tape due to cell phone spying. The two, along with his mom, were planning something for Thanksgiving. Apparently, Ryan is an unknowing pawn in the whole thing. Chad is just going to keep his mouth shut because he wants Gabriella to pay for what she did without hurting Troy. This was the best option.
"I flew out late yesterday. I told you I would be back Saturday, and I kept my promise." There's a first time for everything, Chad thought bitterly.
"Besides, you were the one who told me I needed to prove to my daughter that I actually care about her." He did say that Monday.
"After the seminar, I thought I would take her to an early dinner while you get ready for tonight's game. Then tonight, we will watch you play together."
"If she's willing. I'm not going to force her to spend time with you if she's not ready." Chad tells him. "I told her yesterday about the cameras because she wanted one sign that you actually care. That was a good first step, but you have to keep doing stuff like that."
"You're right, and helping you with this is the next step. Although as Kim and Sharpay are trying to work through their issues, I thought it would be fun to scare the hell out of you. This seems only appropriate considering have a relationship with both of my children." This did not sound good, Chad thought to himself as he took a seat.
"Look, Ryan was joking in that text message. Our relationship is platonic." Vince gives him an 'are you kidding me' look. "Mostly, with a lot of flirting that Sharpay knows about. What you saw was along those lines."
"I would find that significantly more plausible if you did not group text shirtless pictures of yourself to Ryan and Sharpay."
Most of those pictures were actually of Zach. Chad doesn't think pointing that out would help, mostly because the twins went a little crazy while he was playing. Apparently, Sharpay wasn't joking about leaving him to Ryan in her will. Also, he may have shown that conversation to Zach. He took over his phone and may have flirted with Ryan for a bit. OK, that conversation was about one text short of phone sex.
"Shit!" Chad mumbled under his breath, realizing that he was going to get one hell of a shovel talk.
"This is a condom," Mr. Evans said, holding up the foil package. "If you sleep with my daughter without wearing one and subsequently get her pregnant, I will force the entire package down your throat. Same if you give my son an STI. Is that understood?" Now Chad remembered why he was so terrified last week. He is deeply regretting giving his cell phone over to Mr. Evans without wiping everything but the José video first.
XXXX
Candi was not in a good mood this weekend because she was supposed to be at a wine tasting with her husband. Instead of being at a quaint bed and breakfast where they never actually made it to breakfast, she was teaching a class on a Saturday. Yesterday she received an urgent phone call from Lisa, "asking" her to conduct a special sexual health seminar. Candi had no idea why they couldn't use one of the regular instructors. However, Lisa could not be persuaded, so here she was. Someone is going to pay for this.
"Hello, I am your instructor Candi Kane. Yes, that is my real name." She added before either girl could snicker. Surprisingly neither girl did.
"It is still better than my current name of Kim Kim. My mom is a sadist, literally." Candi agreed with that sentiment. At least Candi's last name was acquired through marriage.
"I'm sure somebody is looking forward to taking their future husband's last name. Take a seat next to your friend for now. We will begin the seminar as soon as the PowerPoint loads."
"Shouldn't there be other people?" Kim asked.
"I thought my entire floor was supposed to be coming to this." Apparently, nobody told the two girls that they were being pulled for a special seminar.
"We're still being punished for Ginger and Blaise. They better be getting the discussion where ever they were moved to."
"They are at the regular seminar, including the infamous Blaise and Ginger. Both of you were recommended to attend a special seminar. So it's just going to be the three of us today." Candi still didn't know why, although one of the girls having a two-year-old already might have something to do with it. She couldn't be more than 20.
"I knew my father was doing this as a punishment. This is what happens when you go to a school where your father is on the board of directors." That explains why she was called in. She wished people would stop using this seminar as some sort of punishment.
"Sharpay, what did your father catch you doing?" Kim asked her friend.
"If you called me last Saturday like a good friend, I would've told you. But you didn't, so I don't have to tell you anything." Sharpay told the other girl. Candi could sense a lot of animosity coming from the two. She had a feeling she would be using her peer counseling skills a lot today.
"You two can work out your personal issues later. Let's begin the seminar so we can all enjoy the rest of our Saturday." Candi said as she put a diagram of the female sex organ on the screen. "I know most of you are familiar with this diagram, except the high school version probably had the clitoris airbrushed." She couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"We went to a high school where the health teacher had to keep double lesson plans for this chapter. I'm surprised our high school principal didn't try to tear the diagram out of the book." Sharpay explained.
"Jack told me this weekend that the principal is trying to cut the entire section from the curriculum as a response to the welcome back dance incident. He can't because it's a state requirement. He really is going too far." Kim told Sharpay, she sighed exasperatedly.
"Cutting the sex-ed curriculum isn't going to prevent another student from almost getting sexually assaulted on campus."
"Who is Jack?" Candi asked, deciding not to ask about the welcome back dance incident. Candi had a good idea of what happened.
"Our high school health teacher, my boyfriend's father, and my son's grandfather," Kim told her.
"You guys went to the same high school?" Candi asked, curious.
"We are both graduates of East High, although different years. We are also best friends," Kim told Candi.
"We would be if you didn't lie to me for three years about your son's paternity. At any point, you could've told me about Troy, but you didn't. So I seriously doubt my best friend status. Even Ryan knew before me. You told Ryan first." Sharpay was yelling at this point. Candi was wondering who Ryan is.
"Not intentionally. Your brother just figured it out because he's friends with both me and Troy." Kim explained.
"That is not helping because Troy told me more about your relationship than you did." Sharpay shot back.
"I am sorry. I know we should have told you the truth when we started dating, but we were just scared and under so much pressure to stick with the status quo. The drama girl wasn't supposed to be dating the future basketball captain. Especially when she's 2 ½ years older than him." Oh, this was definitely going to be a complicated seminar. She really shouldn't even bother to go through the PowerPoint.
"You should have told me anyway. Besides, Troy is one of us. We could've got him in drama club earlier without the FMG." Sharpay joked. Candi wondered if that was a good sign or just a defense mechanism.
"I know, it was hard to tell you because there's a lot of guilt tied up with the secret. Especially by the time I was alone and pregnant in New York. I didn't want to give you one more thing to deal with."
"Why do you associate so much guilt with this? Was it because you have been lying to me for three years?" Sharpay asked. "That guilt would have disappeared if you just told me the truth. I would've been a lot more understanding about it if you told me right after you found out you were pregnant."
"I was dealing with heavy amounts of guilt because I was having sex on the roof of the school with Troy when Malick slipped GHB into your drink at the spring dance. While you were being raped, I was being knocked up by my boyfriend. " As soon as she heard GHB, Candi knew why none of the other counselors could take this. She was the only one trained in pure mediation and as a rape counselor. This was more complicated than just two friends fighting.
"I was so busy being with Troy that I wasn't looking out for you. Richard hurt you because I wasn't there to stop it." Apparently, Kim blamed herself for the other girl's sexual assault. Also, Candi is 99% sure that the Richard Malick responsible for Sharpay's sexual assault is the nephew of one of the school's trustees. She's not even surprised.
"I couldn't tell you the truth because that would mean admitting to how much I let you down. I couldn't save you, and I should've been there." Kim was crying at this point.
"You couldn't have stopped it from happening," Sharpay said as she put an arm around the other girl.
"You stop Ricky from doing the same thing to Kerri," Kim said in tears. It was time for her to intervene. "If I wasn't so caught up with Troy, I could've done the same thing."
"You don't know that. But you were there for the aftermath."
"Until Lucy threatened me with jail time. Then I ran away to New York and left you to deal with everything on your own."
"I already ran away to Europe at that point. Also, we are going to have to have a long talk about Lucy Bolton." At this point, Candi just shut down the PowerPoint, realizing that is not why she was here. She'll get their email addresses afterward and send it to them.
"Not only do I do seminars like these, but I'm also one of the rape counselors on campus. Kim, I'm going to tell you the exact same thing I tell other survivors that come to me. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault, either, Sharpay. How long ago did this happen?" Candi asked.
"April 2006," Both girls said at the same time. Despite the two and half years that have passed since then, it seems obvious that neither girl has fully dealt with the trauma.
"It is obvious that we have more pressing issues than going through various types of contraceptives or ways to prevent disease and pregnancy. I will email you both the PowerPoint, but we need to work through what happened. Although, Sharpay, I'm sending you home with a starter kit. If that kiss was any indication, you're going to need it."
"That's okay. I'm not really ready for penetrated sex after what happened." That doesn't surprise Candi. "I've been working through it with my own therapist, though."
"That's good. I'll add a few other things to your starter kit. It's okay that you're not ready. But I hope that our conversation today will help both of you begin to heal because what happened traumatized both of you." The two girls nodded their heads.
"Kim, I want to start with you; why can't you forgive yourself for what happened?" Candi asked, passing a tissue to Kim.
"Ever since Sharpay and I met, I've always been the one protecting her. That was my job. When it mattered the most, I wasn't there. And I think telling you about Troy was acknowledging that I failed you." Kim confess.
"I never should've put you in that position. You didn't fail. You're not responsible for what Malick did." Sharpay told the other girl.
"Somebody had to watch out for you."
"That person should've been my dad, not you." Sharpay argued back.
"But I wanted to take care of you."
"That goes both ways, Kim. If I knew about Troy, I totally would have directed him to New York myself." Sharpay told her friend.
"I completely believe that." Kim was laughing at that point, which made Candi hopeful.
XXXX
82 minutes later
The good twin: Are Kim and Sharpay on speaking terms again?
Chad: I don't know. We are still waiting for them to get out of mediation. It's running long. However, there are no paramedics nearby, so we are taking it as a good sign.
The good twin: There would be broken glass if it really went badly.
Who is "we" by the way? Is Amanda with you. She's kind of mad at you for forcing her to spend her Saturday at the actual seminar.
Chad: Your father. BTW: He still thinks I'm dating both of you, and nothing I can say can convince him otherwise.
The good twin: I should've told you that he saw your text messages Wednesday.
Chad: Yes, you should have.
The good twin: I may have played it up a little. I was furious at him, and I let things go a little too far. How could he be married to someone for two decades and not know that she was an evil Bitch? How do you miss that?
Chad: I don't know. Possibly for the same reasons most of our classmates never realized how smart I was.
The good twin: Probably.
Chad: I know you're angry at him. I get why you're angry. He kind of has a track record of being a shit father, but he's trying. By trying, I mean threatening me with things that are against the Geneva Convention in front of the student health instructor. Apparently, if I hurt either of you, I'm going to end up losing my dick via a rusty spoon. Also, he may have threatened to choke me with a condom.
Ryan: Sorry, I was laughing so hard I couldn't dictate.
Chad: Not funny, Evans. I'm still shaking. I have a book on polyamorous negotiations.
The good twin: ROTFLMAO
Chad: This is your revenge for me staying with Taylor during my parent's divorce? You're still bitter about that?
The good twin: Only in the sense that dating you would've kept me from two awful mistakes. It's been a horrible couple of weeks, and messing with my dad brought me joy. He owes me for 19 years of neglect. Although he shouldn't be threatening you.
Chad: Exactly. I didn't break your heart. I didn't break your heart, right?
The good twin: I think you would have if we didn't actually stay friends. Which I think hurts the most about the Kelsi situation. If anybody deserves to lose an appendage with a rusty spoon, it's her right now.
XXXX
Chad just had to laugh at that, which caused Vince to look at him again. He has been mostly avoiding eye contact since the instructor left. Chad is concern that he might face additional threats.
"I was texting Ryan. He believes that your threat of rusty spoon should've been lobbied at Kelsi." Chad said before looking down at Ryan's next message to see that he again caught Natasha and Kelsi. "Especially because he keeps catching her with Natasha."
"It's too late for me to prevent that heartache, but you, Chad, I can still do something about it."
"I'll try my best to keep both twins safe." Even though I'm only dating one of them. However, Chad kept that part to himself.
"Thank you,"
"I really hope this works. I don't think I can take another week of Kim and Shar not speaking to each other." Chad said with a sigh, still concerned. They should have been out 20 minutes ago.
"I'm sure the two of them will work through this. Kim and Sharpay have been friends for as long as I can remember. I think until college, Kim was Sharpay's only real friend other than Ryan. Everyone else used her to get something. Maybe that's why other than her just being a horrible person, Darby was so threatened by you."
"I don't understand."
"I purposely designed the trust funds of both Ryan and Sharpay with a special catch. They will receive complete control over their trust fund at age 25 or any time they get married after age 18. I think Darby is just as aware as I am that you are going to be our son-in-law someday."
"Why does that worry her? Does she assume because I wasn't born wealthy, I am a gold digger?" Chad asked, annoyed. "Also, way to put more pressure on Shar because currently, it's going to be really hard for Ryan to get married."
"I know, and I deeply regret that claws now. However, I don't believe for a minute that you are with my daughter for money." Mr. Evans said just as Kim, Sharpay, and their instructor walked out of the room.
"So, your boyfriend actually proposed to you during sex?" The instructor asked Kim. Chad was too caught up in finding out his best friend got engaged without telling him to notice the lack of shock on Mr. Evans's face.
"Why am I the last one to know about this?" Chad asked, walking into the room and grabbing his girlfriend.
"You're not the last person we told. You are more like the fifth person we told." Chad just glared at her. "Okay, your mom probably knows, but that's because Jack tells her everything."
"Okay, he has horrible timing but does he at least have good taste in jewelry?" Sharpay asked excitedly.
"I don't have a ring yet. It was a spur of the moment thing." Kim explained.
"The engagement doesn't count until you actually get the ring. Hopefully, he'll be dressed this time." Sharpay said to Kim.
"I would hope so." Mr. Evans called from the hallway. "Your father actually told me about your engagement earlier, although he left that part out. Let me offer my congratulations, though." He actually sounded sincere.
"More accurately complain about it," Kim mumbled under breath.
"He's just worried about you. He almost lost you once, and he doesn't want it to happen again." Chad found that wording weird but didn't have time to ask questions because that's when Sharpay realized her father was there.
"Daddy, what are you doing here? I thought you were still in New York with Ryan." Sharpay was gripping his hand so tight at this moment that Chad was afraid she would draw blood.
"I flew out last night, so I could be here to terrify your boyfriend just a little bit. Then I thought we could go to dinner, just the two of us. There's a lot we need to talk about. I know Ryan told you about the pending divorce."
"You know you don't have to take me to a fancy dinner like you did with Ryan. I'm glad that you're leaving her."
"You just wish I would've done it a lot sooner. If I knew, I would have." Vince confessed.
"She said you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Okay, now Sharpay actually was drawing blood, but he didn't let go of her hand.
"I'm sorry I made you think that I wouldn't believe you. I'm sorry I wasn't there when I needed to be. I know one dinner isn't going to fix things. But we need to start somewhere."
"Sharpay, I think you should go have dinner with your father. It will be okay." Chad whispered in her ear.
"Okay, I will try for you," Sharpay said reluctantly before giving Chad a quick kiss and leaving with her father.
"I'm sure she's going to be okay. She will be text messaging you the entire time." Kim said to him as she picked up on his nervousness.
"I'm not that worried." That was a lie, and he knew it, but he was hopeful. Ryan told him that things went okay in New York this week, trolling revenge notwithstanding.
"I want to hear more about your engagement. I was on the phone for like an hour with Troy yesterday, and he never said anything to either me or Ryan." Chad was a little annoyed about that.
"The engagement thing was kind of a consequence, and it's more like we're engaged to become engaged. I am more excited about getting a brand new last name for my 21st birthday." Kim explained.
"The perfect present for someone who despises her last name." Chad joked.
"More like the perfect present for somebody who is not speaking to her father because he's a self-righteous idiot."
"You're still not speaking to your father?" Chad asked.
"Troy told you?" Kim asked.
"And Ryan, although, I think Troy left some essential things out about this weekend," Chad remarked.
"I will talk to my father as soon as he grows up. At least I have Vanessa as my good parent."
"She's been in constant contact with my mom, who totally agrees that she's the good parent," Chad tells her.
"By the way, Vanessa is mad at you because her favorite pseudo clone of a niece is not coming home for Thanksgiving." He wasn't even going to ask why it was his fault. He was just going to accept responsibility.
"Clone of a niece?" Chad asked, confused.
"I don't think I've ever seen two people not related that look that much alike before," Kim explained.
"Have you seen Zack and me together? My mom still thinks Zach and I should get a DNA test. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if Zach turned out to be my uncle or something. His dad kind of disappeared."
"With what you told me, you might want to consider a DNA test for Christmas. I could only tell the two of you apart because he wears his hair up."
"We are thinking about seeing if we could switch places at a game without our coach realizing it." Chad joked.
"You could totally get away with it. But seriously, Taylor looks almost exactly like Vanessa. I'm kind of sad I didn't notice it before, but I don't think I had any classes with Taylor," Kim lamented.
"Because I think I was the only one taking classes three years ahead. Maybe Taylor is a long lost relative? My dad can't be the only one that keeps having a long-lost half-sibling coming out of the woodwork every year. " Chad said as a joke, yet for some reason, Kim went completely pale.
XXXX
Vince was actually shocked that Sharpay agreed to go to dinner with him. For a moment, he thought that she wouldn't. Fortunately, Chad talked her into coming. They also spent most of the car ride texting. Which, honestly, Vince found relieving because he doesn't know how to speak to his daughter. What does he even say? "I'm sorry I was too busy working to notice that your mother was hitting you?" How can he say that? How the fuck did he miss that?
At least at Sharpay's favorite restaurant Rose, they can now make small talk about the menu.
"The black and blue filet mignon is a good choice. However, you usually only order a salad when we come here," That had to be a safe thing to start a conversation about, right? Although Sharpay's strange expression told him it probably wasn't.
"I'm surprised you're aware of that. More like Darby would only let me order a salad when we came here. Did you know that she kept Ryan and me on a really strict diet?" Obviously, this is not a safe avenue of conversation, but they have to start somewhere.
"I didn't realize that." But he should have because his diet was the one area that Darby monitored after he got his diagnosis. His cardiologist loved that.
"You didn't realize a lot of things," Sharpay said with a hint of bitterness.
"I am well aware of that." His time in New York with Ryan was enlightening, to say the least. "I know I wasn't there a lot. However, I do love you and your brother very much. I realized I put my job ahead of you and Ryan too many times. You have no idea how sorry I am." He felt like he was about to cry again. That's been happening a lot this week. "Now it's too late to try to make things better." In more ways than one. "You're both out of the house and grownup now. You don't need me anymore, and when you did, I wasn't there."
"Dad, even though I'm technically an adult, I'm still going to need you to be there. I need my father." But what if I'm not going to be here much longer?
"I promise that I will try harder from now on." He said, grabbing her hand. He needs to make the best of the time he has left. He had no more time to waste.
"Chad told me about the video cameras. Even though there's now footage of me and Chad doing something that I am glad you didn't watch, I'm happy that the cameras were there. That showed me you actually cared. You took Ryan's concerns seriously. You were paying attention."
"I still wish you were they came to me."
"Kim told me to tell you. She said you would've left if you knew the truth."
"She would know. Jay left after Zhēn tried to hit Kim. Granted, it took years to dissolve that marriage, but I know Jay believed it was worth protecting Kim. I would've done the same. I'm not leaving Darby because of Jose; I am leaving her because she hurt my children."
"She said that you knew and you weren't leaving because of how it would damage the brand."
"I really don't give a fuck about the brand right now." Sharpay smiled at that. "Whatever she said to you was a lie. We did not agree to an open marriage or anything like that. That should be negotiated ahead of time."
"You know that Ryan was just joking about him and me sharing Chad? Most of those pictures are of Zach. You'll understand what I mean at the game."
"I'm not sure I will."
"I'm also glad that you're leaving Darby for good. I am also happy that you even went to New York to tell Ryan about it."
"I wanted to wait until Thanksgiving, but Carolyn made me realize it's something that couldn't wait." Carolyn has been making him realize a lot of things. He really needs to figure out a way to get her to work for him or at least come back to New Mexico.
"She's very good at that sort of thing."
"She and Vanessa helped me select a divorce lawyer. Their choice happens to be excellent, and hopefully, Darby will be served with the papers before Thanksgiving. I never want to see her again." He's never felt so betrayed before.
"Good," Sharpay said as she hugged her father.
XXXX
Sharpay: Good news, I am speaking to Kim again.
Ryan: I've already heard from Kim and your better half that the intervention worked. I'm glad. You're very mopey when you're not talking to her.
Sharpay: I am also speaking to Dad again.
Ryan: Which is good.
Sharpay: It's a start anyway. Although I'm going to talk to Olivia to see if she has any recommendations.
Ryan: Like maybe we should see a family therapist together?
Sharpay: It wouldn't be a bad idea. We have a lot to talk about.
Ryan: Like you were able to tell Chad about your rape and Derby abusing you before you could tell me?
Sharpay: In my defense, I was drunk when I told him about the rape the first time.
Sharpay: I should've told you about Darby hitting me. She said if I told you, she would hit you too. Unfortunately, five-year-olds are not logical people.
Ryan: I joined the Boy Scouts because after she threw away all my toys, she threatened to destroy all of your stuffed animals.
Sharpay: I knew you didn't voluntarily get rid of your toys. You loved your teddy bear. She was such a bitch.
Ryan: It makes sense that she was playing us off of each other.
Sharpay: Because you're my baby brother, and I'm always going to want to protect you.
Ryan: By eight minutes.
Sharpay: I still want to protect you.
Ryan: But I feel like I failed to protect you.
Sharpay: You did get me a great boyfriend. Sorry, it didn't work out between you and him.
Ryan: I am not, except for the whole Kelsi thing.
Sharpay: You deserve better.
Ryan: Which is why you two keep setting me up with people.
Sharpay: We would if you weren't planning to hide in New York for Thanksgiving.
Ryan: I wanted to avoid the fireworks that would happen when Kim told you about Troy.
Sharpay: Those fireworks are over with, so you can come now.
Ryan: Yes, but I've already invited Taylor. Plus Gabriella. I'm going to try my own friend intervention.
Sharpay: Are you fucking crazy?
Sharpay: At least Kim realizes that she fucked up before we were locked in a room together.
Ryan: Taylor says otherwise, but she misses her best friend. She pushed Troy hard to end things with Gabriella before the inevitable happened, and he got back with Kim officially. She wanted to avoid Gabriella catching them fucking.
Sharpay: Which was the right call because they're already engaged, and apparently Troy proposed during sex.
Ryan: That does not surprise me. This isn't just about Taylor. Also, Maria really wants her daughter very far away from Mercedes and possibly in rehab. I want to help her with that.
Sharpay: OK, I can understand you doing this for your new adopted mom. Although it's a sign of how horrible Darby was that you latched onto the first mom that showed you any affection. We were truly starved for motherly love.
Ryan: How many Broadway shows are you planning to see with Carolyn this summer? Also, how often do you go to lunch with Alexa, a.k.a. Taylor's mom?
Sharpay: You may have a point. Thanksgiving is going to be a disaster.
Ryan: Probably, I'll send you pictures.
Sharpay: You better. Just promise you'll tell Taylor before she gets to New York. Also, I suggest framing it as getting Gabriella there for Maria. I'm sure you want Taylor to keep speaking to you.
Ryan: That is important. I need her right now.
To be continued…
Buckle in everybody. The Thanksgiving break arc is going to be wild and ridiculously long. It will be even worse this time around because I'll incorporate a good portion of Ryan Taylor Gabriella Manhattan into this version, along with a lot of new material. Although only the good parts. A good 14,000 words of the original version ended up on the cutting room floor.
Of course, these plans mean that some of my favorite scenes from the original version will not make it into this version. Silver lining, we get to meet Zack in November now instead instead of in March like the original version. We will be seeing a lot more of him. I have plans for him. If I'm going to do a rewrite, I have to give you a reason to actually read this a second time.