A/N: Hey Everyone, sorry its taken me so long to update. It took me a while to figure out a way to transition so I can get where I want to go. But its getting there! Thanks for sticking with this story! You guys are the best reviewers in the world!
CHAPTER 9
'Ryan' flashed up on the screen of her cell phone less than 10 minutes later. She hesitated before answering, "Hello?"
"Sharpay, where are you?" Ryan said
"I woke up earlier than I thought so I decided to get a jump start on the drive. Besides you were sleeping so peacefully I didn't want to wake you." Sharpay lied.
"Oh, well we were all actually going to caravan with you and help you move in." Ryan explained
"Oh, I had no idea." Sharpay lied again, "I'm sorry Ryan but I'm already a good 2 hours into the drive. Otherwise I would stop and wait for you to catch up."
"I understand, I guess I'll see you in August." Ryan said dejectedly
"Yep, see you then. Love you." Sharpay hung up and breathed a sigh of relief. The first interrogation was over. The next could come at any time.
Back at the Evan's home Ryan clicked on the button to end the call. "She didn't want to wake me up this morning because she left earlier than she had planned."
Gabby groaned, "I knew we should have called her last night."
"To late now." Brad said, "Who's up for I-hop?"
Kevin, Chad and Ryan immediately agreed and the girls laughed as they all walked out the door. Troy followed behind them pretending to be fine. He was the farthest thing from fine, he was furious and hurt and in general pissed off. He had read her note so many times that morning he had it memorized:
Troy,
Last night was a mistake, it never should have happened. I came here last night to apologize to you and to explain why we can never be together. We have completely different plans. I hope you can understand why we will never be more than friends. I do appreciate all that you have done for me these past few months but I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you anymore than I already have; its only a matter of time before I hurt everyone I care about and I don't want that to happen to you, you're too important. I never meant to hurt you or anyone else with my actions and I hope in time you all will come to understand why I did what I did. Please move on with your life and please forgive me. Have a great summer and if I don't see you again good luck!
Sharpay
What the hell did she mean by "if I don't see you again?" She had to come back, didn't she? He really needed some advice but it wasn't like he could talk to the person who knew Sharpay best, because honestly he wasn't really sure what Ryan would do.
Sharpay arrived in Los Angeles in just under 12 hours. It was to late to move into her new condo that night so she checked in to a hotel instead. In the morning she would meet with the real estate agent she had been working with and get the key to her new place.
Thank goodness for trust funds and fathers who were workaholics. Sharpay could live comfortably in a brand new condo in Malibu on the beach and not work at all and still have enough money in all her accounts to last her the rest of her life. But she would work. She felt bad enough about lying about going to Olson so at least she could make up for it a little by working.
She showered and went to bed and when she awoke the next morning she felt the complete opposite of refreshed. The guilt was overwhelming but she worked to push it out of her mind as she first met with the real estate agent and picked up the keys to her condo. Thanks to her brand new $300 "fake" ID that declared her, "Savanna Emerald Evans, age 22", she didn't need to worry that technically she was a minor. All her credit cards are labeled, S. E. Evans so her initials are still the same and she had gone her whole life with an odd name, no reason to change that now.
After she scoped out her condo she drove to the nearest furniture store. First off she picked out a beautiful iron posted canopy bed and the dresser, nightstands to go with it. She breezed through the store and after finding everything she would need headed first to the grocery store and then to an electronics store to get a new TV. By the time she was finished running all her errands it was nearly nighttime and the furniture would be delivered any time now. When the delivery trucks pulled up she directed them to where everything should go and it was all unloaded in no time at all.
Sharpay unpacked and walked out on to the balcony. She breathed in the sweet smell of the ocean below and listened to the waves crashing into the shore. She immediately started to relax. Sharpay walked in to the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the fridge and her favorite book off the bookshelf and went back out to the balcony. She sat and spent an hour reading from her leather bound Shakespeare collection.
She hadn't given much thought to what would happen when August rolled around but people would obviously be worried when she didn't come home and the last thing she wanted was to hurt someone else.
Sharpay spent the next few days looking for work, but she wasn't qualified for anything. Finally, she found a restaurant that was hiring. She was a little uncertain about the whole manual labor thing but she figured she might as well give it a try.
Once the job thing was taken care of, Sharpay scoured the phone book for a good doctor. She found one with the largest ad and made an appointment for the following week.
Sharpay easily fell into a routine. She worked Monday and Tuesday from 7am to 3pm, she had Wednesday and Thursday's off, Friday and Saturday she worked from 7pm to 2am and then on Sunday she worked from 1pm to 5pm. Sometimes her schedule shifted but her boss was pretty good about keeping it the same. In her free time and on her days off she went to the beach a lot and shopped of course.
But she was still alone, still unable to overcome her fears. She went to see the doctor and he told her the same thing as all the other ones. There was nothing more she could do except what she was already doing. They said she had caught it early enough and not to worry about suffering the same consequences as other people. Just keep taking her medicine and all would be fine.
June quickly turned into July and by the end of the month "Savanna" remained a mystery to her co-workers, her neighbors and anyone else she had met. She had a smile that could light up a room, yet there was sadness always in her eyes. She was young too, younger than 22. Her co-workers wondered whether or not she was a runaway but judging from where her condo was located they doubted it. It was clear that she had money. Everyone has a past but there was something about "Savanna" or Savs as they had taken to calling her that made you want to find out hers.
Back in Albuquerque the summer was progressing slowly for the group. Troy, Chad, Kevin and Brad all had basketball training camp for 2 weeks in July. Kelsey and Ryan performed in a summer musical in June and July. And, both Taylor and Gabbi took summer school. But August was finally approaching and that meant that summer was coming to a close.
One particular Friday at the tail end of July the group swam in Ryan's pool discussing what to do for the rest of the summer.
"Well we obviously have to fit in some time to go shopping." Kelsey said
Chad laughed, "That was such a Sharpay remark."
"Speaking of Sharpay." Gabbi said, "Has anyone heard from her at all this summer?"
Everyone shook their heads no and they turned to Ryan. "Nope, everytime I call her the voicemail picks up. My dad said that Olson is a pretty strict place so she probably isn't allowed to talk." He said
"Not being allowed to talk has never stopped Sharpay before." Taylor said
"Well it is you guys' birthday in a couple weeks, maybe we can drive out to Olson and visit her and celebrate together." Brad suggested
"That would be fun and we could do some shopping in LA." Gabbi said
"Well we can't go for another 2 weeks, the show won't be over until then." Ryan said, referring to him and Kelsey.
"That's fine, are we going to fly or drive?" Taylor asked
"I'm all for the road trip." Chad said
"Ugh, 12 hours in a car with smelly boys!" Kelsey groaned
"Us gals can drive separately." Gabbi reassured her
"I don't mind driving but I'll have to convince my mom." Taylor said
Brad shrugged, "I'm all for flying but I'll do whatever."
Convincing all the parents took less work than anyone thought and less than three weeks later the cars were loaded up and they were on the road. Troy was driving the boys in his black Lincoln Navigator and the girls piled in Taylor's red Honda Accord.
14 hours later, a tired and cranky group of teenagers pulled up to the wrought iron gates of Olson Musical Conservatory.
Troy pulled his car through first and a security guard came up to his window. "Can I help you young man?" He asked
"Yeah, we're here to see a friend of ours." Troy answered
"I'm sorry son, its after hours you'll have to come back tomorrow." He said firmly
"Please sir." Ryan piped up from the back seat, "Its my twin sister."
"I don't care if it's the Pope, you aren't allowed in after hours, come back tomorrow morning at 8. Good night." The guard walked away leaving behind a frustrated group of kids.
Ryan called Kelsey to let the girls know what had happened. "Lets just go to the hotel and we'll try again tomorrow."
"OK." Kelsey said, "We'll follow you."
After a good nights sleep they went back to Olson, hoping to catch Sharpay in between her classes and taking her to breakfast with them.
"Look, she has to be here. Can you please check again?" Ryan begged the receptionist.
She sighed but checked anyway, "I'm sorry sir, we have no records of a Sharpay Evans ever being here."
"Who's asking about Sharpay Evans?" A man walked out of an office behind the desk.
"I am. I'm her twin brother." Ryan answered
"So you're Sarah Evan's boy."
"Yes Sir." Ryan said
"I was sorry to hear about her accident, she was a wonderful singer."
"Yes she was, but I'm looking for my sister Sharpay."
"Well son, she called me before term started and said that she was unable to take the spot we were offering."
"WHAT!" Ryan practically shouted, "But she left to come here, I saw her."
"Just calm down, from the little I've spoken to her she seems a lot like Sarah, sometimes they just need time to themselves, I'm sure she's fine."
"Right, OK." Ryan was racking his brain, "You're sure she never came."
"Positive. I can tell you we were all looking forward to have the daughter of our most famous pupil gracing our halls, so you can imagine the letdown."
"Right, yeah sure. Thanks." Ryan walked back outside to where everyone was waiting.
"So where is she?" Gabbi said excitedly
"Not here." Ryan said
"What do you mean not here?" Taylor asked
"They said she called before the term started and told them she wouldn't be attending and to give her spot to someone else." Ryan explained
"Come again?" Chad said
"She's not here, she's never been here. She's gone." Ryan said getting more and more panicked; "She could be dead for all we know. She's not answering her cell phone, we have unlimited access to our trust funds and our credit card bills are paid automatically so no one ever sees the bill, she could literally be ANYWHERE!"
"Calm down Ryan!" Kelsey said, "Lets call your dad and see what he wants us to do."
Greg Evans was on the first plane to Los Angeles accompanied by both Troy and Chad's dads who were ironically his best friends. They met the kids at the hotel.
"Has anyone tried to call Sharpay?" Andrew Danforth asked
"All the time." Ryan said, "But she never answers."
"If something had happened to her we would know right?" Greg asked, "The hospitals would have called or something."
Jeff Bolton placed a reassuring hand on Greg's shoulder, "Sharpay is the only girl I've ever been afraid of, and no one would dare mess with her. I'm sure she's fine."
"You said yourself you've been worried about her since before Sarah's accident, maybe she just needed time to herself." Andrew said
"OK, I talked to Mary(Troy's mom) while we were at the airport. She said that right now we need to just keep calling her and hope that when she listens to the voicemail she's call us back." Jeff said
"Then what?" Troy asked his father
"Then we decide how far we need to go." Jeff said, "Police, PI's, trace on her cell phone and credit cards."
"I can do those last two right now." Greg got on his own cell phone and walked into the other room. Everyone sat in silence until Greg walked back a few minutes later. He laughed as he clicked off the phone.
"Good news?" Andrew asked
"No, just my daughter is a fucking genius." He laughed hard, "The last known activity on any of her accounts was the day before she left. The trace on her cell phone does no good unless its on, which its not. We have absolutely no way of finding her." His laughter was slightly maniacal but eventually it calmed down to be replaced with sadness.
"OK, lets just go to the police here, give them her picture and then go back to New Mexico and try and figure out where she might have gone." Jeff said
Greg paid to have the cars shipped back to New Mexico so the kids could fly home with them. Everyone was very stressed out, Ryan and the rest of the gang had scoured Sharpay's room looking for a clue as to where she might be. They couldn't find anything.
Sharpay had no idea about what was going on until two weeks later. School would start that morning in Albuquerque but she obviously wouldn't be there. She walked in to work that Monday and was almost immediately called into the back office by her boss, Charlie.
"Hey Savs, take a seat." He said
"Is something wrong Charlie?" She asked
He wordlessly slid a piece of paper across the desk to her. She picked it up. Her face was plastered on it under the heading MISSING. It had all her demographic information and a contact number.
"This isn't me." She said sliding it back to him.
"Come on Savs, this girl is you, you may have darkened your hair but your not exactly a master of disguise. We knew you had to be some type of runaway." Charlie said
"I'm not a runaway." Sharpay said, "I just needed to get away that's all."
"Did you plan on going back?" Charlie asked
"Eventually." Sharpay said
Charlie sighed, "Look, I'm not going to turn you in but please just call your family and let them know you're ok."
"Are you firing me Charlie?" Sharpay asked
"Not yet." Charlie gave her a small smile as Sharpay stood up, "Savs, if you haven't quit to go home in 2 weeks your ass is fired."
Sharpay smiled and got to work. She sat on her balcony later that week. She watched the sun setting over the ocean, she knew she had to leave but she didn't want to. Going back would mean admitting she made a mistake, it would mean accepting the blame for everything she had done wrong. She could only imagine the turmoil everyone would be in when she arrived.
The Evan's home had turned into Grand Central station. Both Troy's and Chad's family had temporarily moved in to offer Greg and Ryan support. The police had set up a tap on the phone and they had sent flyers all over Albuquerque telling of Sharpay's disappearance.
School had started and everyone was talking about what might have happened to Sharpay. Ryan was sick of the pitying glances everyone was giving him. His sister was alive, his twin vibe was telling him that. For the first three weeks of school Ryan and the gang sat at their usual table discussing anything but Sharpay and ignoring the sad looks people were sending their way.
The next morning Sharpay sat in her car facing the entrance to East High School. She had spent the past few weeks having all her things shipped to a storage unit in Albuquerque. She rented, instead of selling, her condo because who knows when she might need it again. If time were on her side she would be able to get to the office while everyone was in class. If she remembered correctly people would be going to lunch shortly.
She grabbed her school bag and walked inside.
As it turned out time was not on her side.
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