Not So Perfect

Chapter Two: After-Rehearsal Time

A/N: Thanks to all my lovely reviewers, and here's the second installment of my lil story! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I wish I owned HSM.

All Sharpay could do was gape and blink at the girl on the floor as everyone started swarming the stage and Troy and Darbus flew down the steps to the unconscious girl.

"What happened here?" Darbus was met by silence. Looking annoyed, she repeated herself. "Who knows what happened here?"

Silence.

"Sharpay was here first," a voice peeped.

Sharpay's mouth fell open in shock as everyone turned to look at her. Nodding and calling out affirmatively, the rest of the cast looked at Sharpay accusingly. Bristling in anger, Sharpay's gaze at every single one of the students could have killed. It probably would have if it weren't for that annoying voice peeping up again.

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" it reasoned. "I mean, if Gabriella's hurt, Sharpay gets the part."

Surprised exclamations of agreement rose through the crowd and Sharpay's eyes narrowed. Individual phrases made their way to her ears: 'Ice Princess strikes back…' and 'She should get kicked out of the show…' Even Darbus and Troy were looking at her as if she had done it.

"Sharpay Evans, is this true?" Darbus asked, looking at the girl.

"What?" Sharpay couldn't believe her ears. Was… Darbus accusing her of shoving Gabriella down the stairs!

"You heard me, Ms. Evans. Did you push Gabriella down the stairs?"

"No!"

"Sharpay…"

"I didn't! I didn't do it." Furiously, Sharpay motioned toward the unconscious form of Gabriella. "Ask her when she wakes up. She'll tell you. I didn't push anyone down the stairs."

Then, as if on cue, the still body trembled slightly. Gabriella's eyes slowly fluttered open and she tried to sit up. "Ouch," the girl breathed. Troy immediately knelt down beside her and tried to lift the girl into a sitting position, but when Gabriella gave an outcry of pain, he left her lying on the floor.

"Are you all right?" he asked, staring at her worriedly.

"I'm fine," she squeaked, but her face, twisted in pain, said otherwise.

"What happened?"

"Oh… it was… stupid of me. I wasn't looking and I tripped over my high heel. Did I fall down the stairs?"

By the end of the word 'tripped', everyone stopped listening to Troy and Gabriella's conversation. They had all turned to Sharpay, their mouths hanging open in the spitting image of Sharpay's own a few moments before. Sharpay merely crossed her arms and smiled, her expression clearly reading, 'I told you so.' That would teach them to try and accuse her of everything that went wrong during the production.

The next day, Sharpay arrived late to rehearsal… again. She walked in, prepared for another one of Darbus' lectures, and ready to eye-roll them off when the drama teacher approached her, a peculiar expression on her face.

"Ah, Miss Evans. The incident with Miss Montez yesterday, which I am sure you remember, has had it's… ah, complications. Miss Montez broke her leg and can no longer perform in the musicale. Now, as her understudy, you will have to take her part in the show. I trust you have all your lines memorized, and you may work out your blocking with Mister Bolton. I will work with the supporting actors and the ensemble while you two figure that out. If it helps, you may use the drama room's theatre, rather than the performance theatre."

And with that, Darbus was gone, leaving a dumbfounded Sharpay in her wake. She got the lead? With… Troy?

Her ears buzzing, Sharpay took a shaky step to a chair and sat in it, slowly taking in what Darbus had just told her. Gabriella Montez broke her leg; Sharpay Evans got her part. Gabriella could no longer perform; Sharpay wasn't the understudy anymore because… Sharpay had the lead.

"I'm a main character," she mouthed, her face slowly lighting up. "I got the lead."

Sharpay bounced up, feeling elated and happy for the first time in a long while. Finally, all her hard work had paid off and she got her lead role. She was so excited she almost collided straight into a person walking into the same aisle that she was walking out of. Her eyes widening in surprise, she considerably brightened again when she saw who it was.

"Troy," she smiled. "How's Gabriella?"

"She's fine," he shrugged. "She'll be in the hospital for another couple days. Hey listen Sharpay… I'm really sorry for…"

"Thinking that I pushed Gabriella down the stairs?" Sharpay finished, smiling. Sometimes, men were so predictable. "Don't worry about it. Did you come through to talk to me?"

"Yeah, Ms. Darbus said we should get working on our blocking."

"Alright then, let's go."

The two walked out of the theatre and straight to the drama room. Once there, they pored over the scripts, Sharpay studying Gabriella's parts and slowly going over all the stage directions with Troy. The first day, not as productive as it could have been, was hindered by the painfully polite attitudes Sharpay projected on Troy and Troy projected on Sharpay. Troy still harbored a grudge against Sharpay for trying to get him kicked out of the show, while Sharpay had a strong dislike for the boy ever since he chose Gabriella over her and knocked the Ice Queen of her pedestal. And the Ice Queen does not get knocked off her pedestal, especially not by a bunch of basketball-twirling jerks, and equation-making science nerds.

But by the third blocking session, Darbus cornered the two, an expression of livid annoyance flaming on her face.

"I expected better of you two," she started, composing herself. "However, I cannot ignore your lack of progress any longer. You have only blocked the first three scenes together in full. That's one scene a day, when I made it clear I wanted three a day in order to finish it by today and you are neither close to finishing or half-way done; I have no choice but to give you mandatory after-rehearsal time."

"After-rehearsal time!" Sharpay gasped. "But I have—"

Darbus held her hand up. "No oppositions, no comments. That is final. And this after-rehearsal session has now started. Get to work."

Sharpay's mouth hung open. "That's not right!" she exclaimed, slapping her script in her hand. "I do not get after-rehearsal time. Ever. Can you believe this?"

Troy looked as unhappy as she did, but he picked up his script, opening to Scene four. "No, I can't. But we have to get to work," he said pointedly, opening Sharpay's own script to the same page. "And I think it's about time we get on the same page."

"We are," Sharpay remarked sarcastically.

Troy sighed, frustrated. "See, that's exactly it," he said, slapping his script against his palm as well.

"That's exactly what?" Sharpay asked, hand on her hip.

"We can't get along for more than two seconds together," he told her.

"So?"

"So, we've got to find our common ground."

"So we can 'bond' together, right?"

"Right."

"Alright," she started, squinting at the stage lights. "I like to dance."

"So do I!" Troy grinned. "So, hip-hop or what?"

"Hip-hop? I do jazz, ballet and tap-dancing."

"Oh well, I guess those are pretty cool too," Troy nodded.

Sharpay couldn't help smiling. "You have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"No, I don't," Troy grinned.

"How did you get around to singing if all you ever do is listen to rap and hip-hop and that other worthless pop-culture music? They're nowhere near real show music." It was something Sharpay had always wondered, but never asked. It wasn't right; a jock getting into the musicale threw everything out of control, especially since all those guys listened to was vulgar talking with a beat.

"You know Chad?" Troy started hesitantly, looking at Sharpay.

"Why wouldn't I? We've all been in school together since Kindergarten. Of course I know Chad."

"Well… his mom's a real show music listener. I listened to it every time I went to Chad's house and… it sort of grew on me."

"And you sang to it?" Sharpay asked, eyeing the boy curiously.

"Nah, only to my showerhead when nobody was home," Troy laughed.

Relaxing a little, she smiled. Maybe the kid wasn't so bad after all. He was friendly enough, and it almost reminded her of the days where she crushed madly on him. Almost. With their attitudes a little more fun loving and good-natured, they hit the end of act one in less than two hours.

"Wait, Sharpay, can you say that line again? Okay, when you're saying that, you have to walk over towards me, and that's Minnie and Arnold's first kiss. Then Minnie runs off to go see her dad, and then the curtain closes."

"Alright." Scribbling it into her notes she went over the blocking. "Like that, right?"

"Yeah."

"Great!" Sharpay grinned, closing her script. "So that's it then, right? We're free to go."

"Yeah," Troy agreed, looking at the dark night sky. "Took us long enough too."

"We got a lot more done today though," she reminded him, collecting the last of her things. "Wait… where are my keys?" She patted her pockets and searched through her purse. Scouring the stage with her eyes, she frowned. Where had her keys gone? She could swear she left them in her purse, and she knew everyone knew better than to touch her stuff…

Ryan. She could bet he had taken her car to get home; he had no other way there.

"Hey Troy? You don't think you could give me a ride home, do you? Ryan took my car."

"Yeah, sure," he said, already strolling out of the theatre, his hands in his pockets. Sharpay caught up with him, pushing through the double doors and into the crisp, night air. With the play so close at hand, rehearsals were running ridiculously late and the theatre was open at least three hours after the dress rehearsals ended, 'technical workers' (otherwise known as 'techies') rushing to finish painting and nailing sets together.

She slipped into the passenger seat of his car, strapping her seatbelt in and humming, 'What I've Been Looking For'. Once the engine started and they moved onto the main street, Troy joined in song. Singing the audition piece together, Sharpay smiled. She couldn't remember the last time she had sung with someone other than Ryan. It was different, and oddly exhilarating.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Sharpay saw two bright lights shining through the window and getting closer to them at a dangerously fast speed. Her eyes widening, she shrieked.