Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter. I would really love to hear your feedback.
Warnings/spoilers: Attempted sexual assault and nonconsensual drug use. Also, allusions to statutory rape. Nothing graphic, though.
Again, Tiara's name is purposely misspelled throughout this story. No one likes her enough to pronounce it correctly.
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything recognizable. Unless you recognize it from the first time you read this story.
I'm wondering why I'm not stripping the Disney elements and selling this as an original story. The pandemic is getting to me.
Chapter 10: We'll All Get Through This Together
Chad looked at his phone for the 50th time that night. It had only been 78 minutes and 23 seconds since Sharpay left him with Ms. Darbus and Chad Mr. so much. If he had to listen to one more idiotic cheerleader throw herself at him, he was going to scream. Compared to these girls, Penelope was a saint and a genius. She was in the honors dorm, after all. Chad successfully extracted himself from shallow cheerleader one when idiotic cheerleader number two started talking to him.
He was hopeful when he saw Sharpay nearby. The look of murder in her eyes made Chad optimistic that she would scare the little cheerleaders away for him. Instead, she ran out the door. Chad knew that was not good. He was tired of this little game with Sharpay and decided to go after her.
"As much fun as this has been, I have other places to be," Chad said, pushing shallow cheerleader number four away from him. It feels like they've gotten worse since graduation. Not that he's ever been that comfortable around the cheerleaders outside of Ryan.
"But we're having so much fun," random cheerleader number three called out as she tried to grab Chad's arm, but Chad pulled away.
"Yes, but I'd rather be with my girlfriend," Chad hoped that would scare the girls away.
"Isn't she on the other side of the country?" Shallow cheerleader, number four asked.
"I'm not with Taylor anymore. I am dating Sharpay Evans. She is an absolutely fantastic person, and I adore her." Chad wondered if you say a lie enough times does it eventually become the truth. Or maybe you ultimately realize that it's not the lie that you thought it was.
Regardless of how he felt about Sharpay, things were not going well with Taylor. In the last three weeks, he could count on one hand the number of times he has spoken to his girlfriend. He's pretty sure he has spoken with Ryan more times in the last 24 hours. He talked with Taylor on the phone for five minutes yesterday. He never told her anything important, not even a rant about the horrible roommate. Taylor didn't tell him anything extraordinary, either. He knows she's having problems with her own roommate only because Ryan told him.
Chad knows they're not communicating. As Ryan put it, "it's a horrible sign when Sharpay's roommate of less than a week knows that you're not straight before your own girlfriend." They were together for a year, and he never told Taylor about basketball camp 2006 or the fact his first semiserious relationship was with a guy. Fuck, Chad couldn't even tell her his SAT score. How can he explain his current course schedule to Taylor when she didn't know about all the college prep classes he took in high school? So even without the Sharpay factor, things are falling apart, or maybe they were not that great to begin with.
But Sharpay is a factor. She knows way too much about him already, including various venting sessions about his parents' divorce and basketball camp 2006. She knows a lot more about him than Taylor does; more importantly, he is comfortable telling her all of this. They're always texting or calling each other. Last night they texted each other for 25 minutes after Sharpay had a terrible Richard dream. Without Sharpay even asking, he went over to her room, and Chad ended up spending the night (in her bed).
He could go for days without talking to Taylor. After 82 minutes and 21 seconds of no communication with Sharpay, Chad was starting to go through withdrawal. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to ponder what this meant. He needed to get away from the cheerleaders and other shallow teenage girls.
The threat of Sharpay did not work. Thankfully the threat of Ms. Darbus giving all of them detention if they didn't stop propositioning one of the chaperones did work. Chad sincerely regrets every mean thing he said about her before. After thanking the woman quickly, Chad ran out of the gymnasium to find Sharpay.
After 89 minutes and 19 seconds, he was ready to end this silly fight with Sharpay. He saw her leave the ladies' room and make her way to the roof garden entrance. She seemed less likely to rip his head off than a few minutes earlier. That was always a good sign.
As he made his way through the hallway, he heard a voice coming from Sharpay's old double locker. Thankfully he knew the school had a bad habit of never changing locker combinations ever. Chad was very thankful Ryan gave him the combo last year, enabling Chad to rescue the occupant from inside. Who just happened to be Taylor's 12-year-old brother Jason. He wasn't expecting that.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you a little young for high school." Chad asked the younger boy.
"Aren't you a little old to be here?" Jason replied.
"I'm a chaperone," Chad explained.
"Aren't you a little young to be a chaperone?"
"Don't ask, it was Sharpay's fault."Chad sighed.
"You are doing a wonderful job," Jason replied sarcastically as he straightened out his outfit.
"Hey, I could have left you in there." Chad rebutted. "So, why exactly are you here?"
"I'm a freshman." Chad knew that like himself, Jason was a member of the gifted kids club. His IQ was actually at least 20 points higher than Taylor's was. Not that IQ really matters when it comes to getting good grades. Even Chad managed to get a D in his American history class. Unlike his own parents, Taylor's parents opted to skip Jason ahead a few years. When this dance is over, he will call his mother and thank her for refusing to let him be skipped ahead more than he was. It is bad enough that he was a year younger than Sharpay. (Or maybe not since apparently, she knew about the Fountain incident. It may be best not to call his mom for a while.)
"Why exactly where you stuffed in a locker?" Chad asked.
"Ricky." That name did not surprise Chad at all. The guy was a Dick, and unfortunately, he was the principal's favorite. "This year, he has turned the basketball team into the nerd terror squad. The only members of the basketball team not participating are Jimmie and Nicholas Cross." This also doesn't surprise Chad.
"Ricky and Tiara are trying to bring back the status quo to East High. It's only been a week, and the cafeteria had already returned to the social apartheid that Taylor talked about when she was a sophomore."
Of course, he graduates, and it all goes to shit. This was not his problem anymore. He was out of this school and away from this stupid system once and for all. Then he remembered how scared he was for anybody to find out that the basketball team's co-captain was a genius (or not that straight). Chad looked at the frightened 12-year-old in front of him and realized that for Taylor's sake, he needed to do something. More importantly, Chad needed to do something for the scared 13-year-old boy he once was, who was too afraid to be himself.
Chad knew he could not do this himself. He needed the most diabolical mine in the history of East High. Now he just needed to find her to apologize and get her back on his side.
XXXXX
After her conversation with Jackie, Sharpay was not in a place mentally to go back into the gym, which is why she chose to go to the roof instead. Sharpay always thought that the garden was one of the places, other than the stage, that she could actually be herself. Unfortunately, she walked in on two students, "christening" the new swing.
"Seriously, Sandi, I thought you had more self-respect than to fool around with your boyfriend on the school roof. I suggest you take this to his car at the very least." Sharpay said as she threw the pack of condoms that Kim gave her earlier at the hormonally charged couple. Thankfully they were so embarrassed that they ran away immediately.
"You know we usually give detention to the students we catch up here, not condoms." Coach Bolton said from behind her.
"Like that will help. Do you have any idea how many good make-out spots there are in the theater? I just wanted to get them out of here." And if she can keep them from ending up like Kim, then maybe she's doing her good deed for the day.
"That was a very creative way to do it. So why exactly are you hiding up here?" Coach Bolton asked.
"Why are you here?" Sharpay redirected.
"Doing what chaperones do at these dances do, keeping my fellow parents from becoming young grandparents. After the incident two years ago at the spring dance, one of the chaperones comes up here every half an hour to make sure nobody is using it as a make out spot."
"I can stay up. I am kind of avoiding Chad."
"Is this because of you and him being…"
"We're just friends." He looked at her the same way Troy did when he knew she was lying. It must run in the family.
"I saw the tape. You're not friends, you'll never be friends."
"Are you going to continue quoting Buffy the vampire slayer? I really don't want to hear about love not being brains." Troy already did that last week.
"What?" Coach Bolton asked her, not knowing what she was referring to.
"Never mind. Nothing on that tape was real." She was wondering whom she was trying to convince more at this point, Mr. Bolton or herself.
"Yes, it was. Even Carolyn agreed with me. She thinks you two are adorable." Oh great, Chad's mom knew. Sharpay just wanted the roof to collapse and swallow her hole at that moment.
"God, I'm never going to be able to face her again." She groaned.
"Even if you are pretending, part of it was still real. Even on some subconscious level, it was still very real. I have known Chad since he was a fetus. You know the teachers had a bet going on when the two of you would get together."
"Too bad nobody won," Sharpay said sarcastically. "I also heard there was one about Chad and Ryan."
"Actually, regarding you and Chad, most of the dates were for after graduation." Sharpay decided to ignore that statement.
"If you're such an expert on Chad Danforth, maybe you can explain why he lied to me and everyone else for so long. Why did he spend most of high school pretending to be the dumb jock when, in reality, he was some super genius?" Who wasn't that straight, but she's not outing Chad in that regard until he's ready. "If he is as smart as I know he is, why didn't he graduate earlier? Why did he not follow Taylor to Yale? Between his basketball skills and SAT scores, I'm sure he would have got in without any problems."
"How much do you know about Chad's mom?" The coach asked.
"That she's really nice and she is a lawyer who specializes in civil rights legislation and child advocacy. After the divorce, she took a job with an advocacy group in DC. She looks good for someone who has a 17-year-old son. And we're making plans to go theater hopping in New York next summer." Sharpay is really looking forward to that.
"That's because she was barely 17 when Chad was born." Sharpay wasn't expecting that.
"What?"
"It is a long story. Essentially Carolyn Sanchez was just as smart as her son. Unfortunately, her parents forced her through school at an accelerated pace. She graduated high school at 14 and came to U of A for the honors program. Carolyn was not ready for it. She had a brilliant mind, but emotionally she was not mature enough for college. She pretty much rebelled against her parents by doing many stupid things, like sleeping with half the basketball team."
"Were you one of these basketball players?" Sharpay asked.
"No. I married Lucy about two weeks before I met Carolyn. Carolyn and I have only ever just been friends." Maybe Sharpay was reading too much into it, but Sharpay was picking up a tinge of regret.
"I graduated right before all this happened. Anyway, during Carolyn's junior year, she got pregnant by my friend Charlie Danforth who was nearly five years older. The two really did not know each other that well. When Mr. Sanchez found out, he forced the two to get married." If Sharpay was doing the math right in her head, it was probably under threat of statutory rape charges. He should have just tossed the asshole in lockup.
"Fortunately, Carolyn was able to take an accelerated course load for the duration of the pregnancy and graduated just a few weeks before Chad was born. She went to law school when Chad started kindergarten."
"What does this have to do with Chad trying to conceal his intelligence?" Sharpay asked, not seeing how all of this was connected.
"Carolyn thought many of her problems were caused by her parents pushing her. When she found out that Chad was exactly like her, she refused to push. Carolyn let him take the classes he wanted to take. When they wanted to skip him ahead a few years, she said no. Carolyn wanted Chad to have time to mature before starting college. Could you imagine Chad in college two years ago?" Sharpay shuddered at the thought. Chad was barely mature enough for college now. If it wasn't for her, they would be eating him alive already. Chad has not even figured out how to tell his roommate to wear a robe.
"How did he end up skipping preschool then?" Sharpay was curious.
"That was Troy's fault. Troy would not go to kindergarten without Chad. Since Troy and Chad are only six months apart, they practically grew up together. We tried everything to get Troy to go to school without Chad. It didn't work. I ended up asking the school board if they would let Chad start kindergarten a year early. Because Chad's test scores were so good, they agreed. They have been like that ever since. Chad did not apply to any ivy league schools because he knew Troy couldn't get in."
"Then Troy leaves him for Berkeley and Gabriella. This explains why Chad was so freaked out last year."
"Once Troy explained he was really going for the drama program and not Gabriella, I was okay with it," Chad said, sneaking up behind Sharpay. "Although if you weren't with me at U of A, I would forever be lamenting not applying to Stanford myself." Sharpay had a feeling that was very true.
"How much of that conversation did you hear?" Sharpay asked.
"Most of it," Chad replied to her quickly. "I kind of always knew that my parents were only together because the condom broke."
"You know Carolyn loves you," The coach told Chad.
"I know my mom loves me. It's my father I have questions about."
"I'll just leave you two alone for a while," Mr. Bolton said as he practically ran off the roof.
"I'm going to take you running away as your implicit agreement," Chad said to the departing man.
"I'm sorry," both yelled at the same time.
"Why are you sorry?" Sharpay asked quietly. "I'm the one who overreacted. I'm sorry I went full drama queen on you."
"That only happened because I haven't been completely honest with you. I know you have had so many people lie to you in your life, and I just became another. If we are really going to stop being enemies, we need to be honest with each other."
"That still doesn't excuse me going into pure Sharpay Diva mode, instead of talking about what was bothering me. I'm so sorry about that. I was wrong."
"See now I wish Kim was here taping us. That would be my new ring tone." Chad smiled at her. Chad's smile was starting to become addictive for her.
"Can you two please kiss and make up later. Chad, I don't want to see you make out with my sister's replacement." Jason McKessie, from Kim's freshman English class, called out from the side of the roof. When did he get there?
"We're just friends," Sharpay replied automatically.
"I'm still with your sister," Chad said defensively.
"I'm 12, not stupid. You two look 30 seconds from pinning each other against the nearest flat surface." Jason was already giving her an absolutely deadly 'are you kidding me 'look. She may make a thespian out of him yet. "I do not care if you two are together. I am not going to tell Taylor. Can we please talk about the Ricky problem?"
"You mean the fact that he likes to leave bruises on his girlfriend when she says no?" Sharpay said quickly.
"What do you mean, Ricky hurts his girlfriend? I am talking about him stuffing freshman into your old locker." Chad answered.
"I thought we were here to talk about how Tiara and Ricky are trying to take control of the school to bring back social apartheid and the status quo?" Jason asked from the sidelines.
"I knew she was evil," Sharpay said as she grabbed her cell phone from her bag.
"What are you doing?" Chad asked Sharpay as he noticed her typing furiously.
"Staging a coup, and we are going to need help," Sharpay said as she began to send texts message to everyone she could think of to meet them on the roof.
XXXX
Apparently, Sharpay wasn't kidding about staging a coup. 20 minutes later, a representative of every major group at East High surrounded Chad and Sharpay on the roof. Everyone was there from the newly renamed Tiara contingent (formally the Sharpay contingent) to the skaters. No one wants things to go back to the way they were two years ago. Unfortunately, most were too intimidated by Ricky and Tiara to fight back.
It was ironic that two years ago, Chad and Sharpay were desperately trying to keep things the way they were. Now after graduation, they were trying to prevent a return to the status quo. They were currently trying to figure out how to overthrow Ricky and Tierra as king and queen of East High. So this is what personal growth looks like.
"It's all good to overthrow Ricky and Tierra. However, if we don't install responsible people in their place, this will happen again eventually." Anita, one of Sharpay's former followers, brought out this point.
Anita lived on the history channel and took more AP classes than anyone Chad knew. She just happened to like the latest fashion and performing arts. She wasn't even that boy crazy or a girl crazy for that matter.
"You know that Nikki Gutierrez would take over the group in a minute if she could. She could be just as ruthless as Tierra."
Chad's sort of remembers Nikki G because she propositioned him in a really tiny tank top last year, and he felt nothing. Note to self, read over the gray sexuality chapters in the book Ryan got him.
"I really don't want to end up in a locker again," Jason added from the side.
"Why exactly did Ricky stuff you in a locker?" Sharpay asked, wondering if they could use it against Ricky somehow.
"I accidentally overheard him talking to a bunch of his stupid friends about having a surefire way to keep Kerri from saying no this time. I'm not completely sure what he meant by that. Although, I saw him taking a bottle of pills out of his pocket. Next thing I know, I'm stuffed in one of the lockers."
Chad instantly knew what was going to happen to Kerri. Jason was too young to connect the pieces, but he and Sharpay knew. (Note to self, call mommy MaKessie and ask her to go over-enthusiastic consent with Jason.) The look of fear in Sharpay's eyes told him that she had the same uneasy feeling. Sharpay quickly got up and walked over to the ledge of the roof. Apparently, she saw something in the parking lot and was running down the stairs moments later. He knew he needed to follow her.
"What's going on? You don't think he's going to…" Jackie asked from behind him.
"I don't know, Jackie. Just stay up here and work on the plan." Chad instructed.
"Just make sure Sharpay doesn't do anything stupid."
"I'll do my best."
As he left the roof, he heard Liz, the new captain of the dance team, telling the group, "The only power they have is the power we give them. If we stopped giving them power, they no longer have the power to hurt us."
Thanks to his basketball enhanced speed, he was able to catch up with Sharpay in front of the building.
"Why are you out here, Sharpay?" Chad asked.
"Ricky has Kerri in the parking lot."
"What?"
"I could see it from the roof. I can't let Ricky hurt her." Sharpay almost sounded like she was on the verge of tears. Angry tears but still tears.
"Sharpay?"
"I have to do this. Come with me?" Sharpay asked as she held out her hand.
"Always," Chad said as he grabbed her hand.
XXXX
When they arrived in the parking lot, unfortunately, Sharpay saw exactly what she expected to see. Ricky was on top of a very out of it Kerri. She knew the 15-year-old girl was trying to fight him off but could not. Sharpay wondered if this was her two years ago. She doesn't remember that much of what happened in that hotel room. Sharpay always considered that a small mercy. Yet she's having flashbacks right now to what she did remember. Sharpay didn't have time to get trapped in the past. She needed to get Kerri out of this situation.
"Seriously, Ricky, how desperate do you have to be to drug up a girl to sleep with you," Chad called out from behind him. "Or is it all about power? Real men don't have to hurt people to be secure in their masculinity."
"Shut up, Danforth. This is not your problem."
"Yes, it is," Sharpay said as she attacked Ricky from behind, causing him to lose his grip on Kerri. "Nobody's getting raped on my watch."
Unfortunately, he recovered quickly and tried to attack Sharpay. Chad ran to help Sharpay, but she did not need it. Within seconds, Ricky was out cold on the asphalt.
"Did I forget to mention I've been taking Self defense/martial arts classes for the last two years? The first thing I learned was to use my attacker's strength against him." Sharpay quipped.
"What's going on here?" The Vice Principal yelled out. She was followed by Coach Bolton and Jackie. Okay, at least somebody was smart enough to get additional adults—bonus points for not bringing the principal because he hated Sharpay.
"Oh my god, what did you do to her?" Jackie cried out as she ran to her best friend, who was almost unconscious from the drugs on the ground. "What did you give her, you bastard?" Jackie yelled at the unconscious, Ricky.
"It seems that Mr. Hot shot over here decided to drug his girlfriend. Sharpay saw what was going on from the roof and ran down here to stop it." There was nothing but silence after that as the two educators looked at the scene in front of them. Sharpay was the only one who had enough common sense to call 911.
"Hi, this is Sharpay Evans. I am in the student parking lot of East High. There is a 15-year-old girl who is almost unconscious. Her boyfriend was trying to rape her. Don't worry, he's unconscious too right now. Can you please send the cops and ambulance right away? I think she was drugged."
XXXX
Afternoon September 9, 2008
Because of what happened at the dance, Sharpay had a rough weekend. It was so bad she had an emergency phone call with her therapist, Olivia, on the drive home. Yes, she let Chad drive the convertible again because she was in no condition to drive after what happened. Chad also spent the night with her in her bed after watching Bride and Prejudice. She loved that movie so much.
Amanda may have walked in on them cuddling at 1 AM and promptly decided to bunk with Marc that night. Sharpay loved her new roommate. Bonus points for them being in chemistry class together.
Chad even drove Sharpay to her in-person therapy appointment Saturday. She had a breakthrough that day and made a critical phone call to Ryan that afternoon. Chad held her hand as she told Ryan the Richard truth. There was a lot of crying.
Ryan was mostly mad she didn't tell him the weekend before so he could've come down to Albuquerque to hug her in person. He promised to fly down for a few days as soon as he could. Ryan repeatedly reiterated that he still loved her, and nothing Richard did to Sharpay was her fault. It felt good for Ryan to know this secret. Maybe someday she'll be able to tell him the Darby truth. Not yet, but soon.
Even though she could use the Ryan hug, she discovered that Chad's hugs were also lovely. She was starting to realize that she wouldn't be able to get through this weekend without him. He was really keeping her grounded.
Sharpay was also thankful that Ms. Darbus told her not to come on Monday. Because of what happened Friday night, it became an in-service day for East high faculty. Apparently, they would be spending the day working with the therapist. Sharpay was happy to have an extra day to recover. She was lamenting the fact that Labor Day was last week. She really didn't want to spend the day in classes, but she had no choice.
Now it was Tuesday, Chad and Sharpay were on their way to East High for a 12:00 PM meeting. Fortunately, her chemistry class was canceled today because her instructor had a small lab accident the day before. Unlike Chad, she could not afford to miss a day of chemistry class. Of course, she still had her film class, and she had to deal with seeing her rapist. Thankfully, Chad made an excellent buffer.
"Why did they want to speak with us today?" Chad asked Sharpay as they made their way towards the school.
"I don't know. Coach Bolton called me last night and said they needed to speak with us today."
"I thought the cops got our complete statements Saturday?" That happened thankfully pre-therapist appointment. Actually, that was the reason why she had to go to therapy Saturday. She was a mess.
"The 18-year-old captain of the basketball team tries to rape a 15-year-old, and we kept it from happening. You know there's going to be a big investigation from the school board as well."
"True,"
"Chad, I hit a student. There's a good chance I may not be allowed to continue helping out at the school. This is a shame because someone needs to keep Tiara in place." Sharpay lamented.
"I don't think you need to anymore," Chad said as they walked into the school. They noticed everybody was wearing school colors except for the British diva.
"Looks like somebody didn't get the text message about the new spirit day," Sharpay said to Tiara as she walked by.
The second thing they notice was the new campaign posters for Anita for student body president. The signs contain slogans such as "Change We All Believe In," "Death to the Status Quo," and "Social Apartheid Ends Now." As they walked by the cafeteria on their way to the administrative offices, Chad noticed that the cafeteria's standard groups were gone entirely. Everybody was talking to everybody else. Not that you could really tell since everybody was wearing school colors. It was impossible to pick out the skaters from the jocks if everybody was wearing red and white. Finally, they noticed a signup sheet for a new round of basketball tryouts.
"Doesn't the coach have the basketball team in place by now?" Sharpay asked Chad as they made their way into the principal's office.
"Normally, I do." Coach Bolton answered in front of them. "Especially considering East High does not have a football team after the incident in 2000." The coach at the time was caught giving player steroids. Therefore East high will not be allowed to have a football team again until 2010.
"Unfortunately, due to Friday night's events, I have lost four of my five possible starters. Half the basketball team is suspended indefinitely because of what happened."
"The police are still trying to work out the details of everything that happened." The vice-principal called from her office. This doesn't surprise her. The Vice Principal always did the heavy lifting when it came to discipline. The principal was too busy censoring the drama club productions.
"Is that why you needed us both here?" Sharpay asked.
"Not entirely," replied the Vice Principal.
The two slowly walked into the room and noticed Jackie sitting next to an older African American woman who looked a lot like Kerri. Immediately the two women ran up to Chad and Sharpay and hug them.
"Thank you for saving my baby. If it wasn't for you, she probably would have died." Ms. Jackson said as she let go up Sharpay.
"What?" both Chad and Sharpay questioned simultaneously.
"Ricky gave her too many pills. Add that to the medication she is already on, it was a disaster. Her body couldn't handle it. She most likely would have died of an overdose if you two didn't find her in time." Jackie explained in tears.
"Is she okay now?" Chad asked.
"She is alive. Psychologically, I have no idea." Ms. Jackson replied softly.
"There is an excellent counselor at the Raven Centre that specializes in this sort of thing. If you want, I can give you the phone number?" She already mentioned the possibility to her therapist of giving her contact information to Kerri.
"That's okay; I don't think our insurance will cover anything at the Raven Center. The hospital I work for likes us to stay in the network." Ms. Jackson explained.
"Don't worry, this doctor does a lot of pro bono work," Sharpay said as she wrote the number down on a sticky. Sharpay won't tell them that she would be paying for it.
"Thank you both for helping," Said Ms. Jackson as she hugged Sharpay again.
"If you need anything else, just let me know. I will be happy to help." Sharpay told both women.
"There is one other thing. Remember that problem we were talking about Friday night before everything happened. We have a solution if you're willing to help Sharpay?" Jackie asked Sharpay.
"What do you need me to do?"
XXXX
A few hours later
"So, not only do you not get fired for beating up a student, you're considered a hero. You have a very charmed life, Sharpay Evans. " Kim said to Sharpay as she helped the younger girl prepare the room for the drama club meeting that would be happening in less than 5 minutes.
"He was trying to rape a 15-year-old who he drugged up on only God knows what. It was self-defense. It also helps that he was almost 19 and technically an adult, a.k.a. more than three years older than Kerri. That's when the statutory rape laws kick in."
"They only apply with a three year age difference?"
"In this state, anyway. Carolyn sent me an email this weekend with the legal precedents included. I think that might be her weird way of giving me permission to be with her son."
"Can you email me that?"
"I will. Anyway, the principle is mad at me and wants me banned from the building. However, the school board believes my actions were justified in the situation and want me to stay. The compromise is Chad and I are permanently banned from ever chaperoning a school dance again in the entire district. The band will still apply when Chad and I have children attending East high." Sharpay explained.
"It's so cute. You two are already thinking about having children together.
"Shut up, Kimberly," Sharpay said as the students began to enter the room.
Kim was shocked to see Jackie there, considering everything Sharpay told her. She expected her to be at the hospital with Kerri.
"Are you ready, Sharpay?" Ms. Darbus asked as she walked into the room.
"As ready as I will ever be." Sharpay sighed deeply.
"What's going on, Sharpay?" Kim asked, confused.
"Something I should have done last year," Sharpay said to Kim as she walked up to the stage. After Ms. Darbus called the meeting to order, Sharpay began to speak.
"I know most of you know me from the fact that I am the teacher assistant in the Drama I class. I am also the former president of this organization. Last year before I left, I was to nominate a possible successor to this position, as is the tradition. However, I was not ready to let go last year. After recent events, I believe I am ready to let go of the past. I am ready to nominate a person who I know truly loves the performing arts. I feel she will lead this organization in the right direction for the next few years. Therefore, I nominate Jackie Nielsen for president of the East High drama club. Does anyone second my nomination?"
"I do," Anita called out from the back.
"All those in favor of Jackie Nielsen becoming the new president of the drama club say I?" Everybody but Tiara agreed.
"Anyone opposed?" Sharpay asked. Of course, the Junior Ice Princess was raising her hand.
"How can she run unopposed?" Tiara asked angrily.
"Tiara, didn't you read the bylaws of the drama club?" Jason said, sitting next to her. "The rules specifically state that if the former president of the organization nominates a successor, that person can be elected without competition as long as a two-thirds majority of members agree to it. Since we're both in the same math class, I'm sure you're able to tell that 22 to 1 is more than a two-thirds majority."
At that, Tiara quickly left the room in a display of anger that was absolutely hilarious. She actually kicked a trashcan on the way out.
An hour later, Sharpay sat in Kim's car as they made their way back to campus. Sharpay was riding back with Kim because she let Chad drive her vehicle to basketball practice.
"Now I'm upset that I missed all the craziness this weekend because I decided to hang out with my son and my stepmom. All the good stuff happens when I am not around." Kim remarked.
"Not that much of Friday night was good. However, there were a few highlights. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to convince Amanda to spend every Friday night out." Sharpay was very thankful that Amanda slept over in Marc's room Friday night. Thankfully for all of them, Lisa doesn't tolerate homophobia. After getting footage of the new roommate calling Marc that F word, Marc now has the room to himself until after Thanksgiving.
"So did you and Chad get to use my present Friday night?" Kim asked with an evil smirk.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sharpay said before dissolving into giggles.
To be continued
Statutory rape laws vary from state to state in the United States. So I decided to take some artistic license and create legislation that works best for my story.
I really want you to see Sharpay having to deal with her trauma with a professional earlier in the story than before. The dance was obviously traumatic for her and brought back many painful memories, so it makes sense for her to seek professional help. Also, Sharpay told Ryan about her being raped by Richard earlier in this version. I wanted to emphasize the strength of the relationship between the twins earlier in the story.