Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. In this chapter, we start to get back on track with previously written material. Although some of the original material has been severely recontextualized. Other parts of the chapter have undergone heavy rewrites. Because I opted not to use the flashback technique, some parts weren't needed. Because I didn't use the flashback technique and combined the story with the material covered in Gabriella Taylor Ryan Manhattan, we just had a 25 chapter plus arc. I hope to never repeat that in my entire writing career. I'm exhausted.

We made it to December 1, everybody. Throw your confetti in the air.

Chapter 56: Now what?

December 1, 2008, 7:12 a.m.

Sister Taylor: Hey, I'm back at school. I know you're probably asleep, but we'll talk more in the morning. Besides, I'm ready to collapse. Even my dorm room bed looks nice right now.

Sister Taylor: I know Sharpay got you a better cell phone, so you can call me whenever you want. I might be studying, but I'll take a break for you. Although if I'm in therapy, I will have to text you after the fact.

I have to see her after class technically today at this point.

Jason: I understand. I'm glad you got there OK.

Jason: Hey, sorry I didn't see this until this morning. Shar is driving me to school right now. She made me go to sleep last night at 9:30 p.m. because 12-year-olds need their rest.

Sister Taylor: You do.

Jason: I really don't want to go back to school today.

Sister Taylor: Neither do I, and I've already had my first class for the day. 8 a.m. classes are evil. I can't collapse into bed because I really need to go to my therapy appointment today.

Jason: I'm sure you really do need to see your therapist today.

Jason: 7:45 a.m. start times are no one's friend either.

Sister Taylor: It will be OK. No one at school will know that anything is different.

Jason: Obviously, you're unaware of what was in the paper this morning. You need to call Ryan between classes. Darby did an interview, and it's everywhere. It's actually worse than what Kim's egg donor did. No one thought that was possible.

Sister Taylor: Of course, the monster did. They won't know about this.

Jason: Although they will know that your stepsister is now the Juliet of Albuquerque.

Sister Taylor: I think she's the Romeo in this situation. Also, they won't know that she's our stepsister. I think Kim has claimed you too. You might be getting a guilt Xbox.

Jason: I'll take it because Sharpay is still mad and wouldn't let me go to Toys "R" Us.

Taylor: You didn't deserve Toys "R" Us. Hey, I'm going to try to eat something before my next class. I'll talk to you later. You can call or text me anytime. I really do mean that.

Jason: OK. Now go text your boyfriend because I know you really want to see how he is.

Sister Taylor: We are not really dating. We're just friends that make out.

Jason: I don't believe you.

xxxxxx

"Do you feel better now that you texted your sister?" Sharpay asked as she pulled in front of the drop-off entrance of the school. When Taylor was still in Albuquerque, spending quality time with her not-a-boyfriend, Jason was allowed to stay at the Evans mansion. Which meant Sharpay driving him to school this morning.

"A little. You're still making me go back home after classes today?" Jason asked, dreading the possibility. He wasn't entirely ready to go back to the house of lies.

"Yes. The weekend was all I was able to negotiate." Sharpay said as she handed the lunch that Maria made for him this morning. Apparently, cooking calmed her, and she needed to be extremely calm right now with her daughter in the hospital.

"I don't want to go home," Jason said in anger as he got out of the car.

"I know you're still upset, Jason," Sharpay said, trying to calm him down. "I get that. You have a right to feel that way, but you have to face it eventually. Trust me, running away and pretending it's not happening solves nothing."

"Do I have to now, though? How would you feel if you suddenly found out Ryan wasn't your brother? Do you think you can adjust to the in just a few days?" Jason asked poignantly.

"Ryan would still be my brother no matter what, just like Taylor is still your sister. I would love him regardless. It would just give me another reason to really hate Darby. You know Taylor loves you." Sharpay told him.

"I know. Taylor even told me to call her even when she studying; that seems utterly bizarre. She hates to be interrupted when studying." Jason said as he pulled away from her.

"Taylor is adapting. Try to have a good day in school. I'll be here in a few hours."

"I think that's impossible. I'll see you this afternoon Sharpay." Jason said as he walked into the building.

Jason walked to his first class of the day, trying to blend into the crowd of gossiping students. This school year, they no longer had homeroom because classes were now 90 minutes for one semester. His first-class today was health with Jackie. Like the rest of the student body, Jason wondered if his teacher would actually show up today. He wasn't in the kitchen for breakfast. Maybe he decided to have a personal day. Everybody was talking about the biggest piece of gossip in New Mexico history.

"Did you hear that Coach Bolton's wife was arrested for assaulting Troy's ex-girlfriend's mother? I heard it took six cops to break up the fight." Anita, a.k.a. the new student body president, told her best friend, Skye.

"Yep, and did you read the article from his soon-to-be former sister-in-law? Apparently, Coach Bolton was screwing Danforth's mom. Not that I blame him. Allegedly Troy's mom was arrested on charges of tax evasion and extortion?" At least they didn't know about the conspiracy to commit murder charges yet. "She took $1 million

to break up Troy and Kimberly Kim. Unfortunately, she never reported it to the IRS or her husband."

Jason didn't hear the rest of the conversation because he moved on to the next group of gossipers.

"Did you hear what happened to Gabriella Montez?" Sandi asked the rest of the cheerleader contingent. They've gotten even nastier since Kerri got the fuck out of there. "She went off the deep end when Troy broke up with her for Ms. Kim. According to my boyfriend's sister, who volunteers at Albuquerque Medical center, Gabriella is currently in the psychiatric wing. She's been there since Thursday night." They all laughed at Sandi's words. Again, Jason wasn't surprised by their cruelty. They said something similar about Kerri when she was in the hospital.

The fact they were talking about Gabriella's hospitalization was infuriating. Nobody was supposed to know that Gabriella was in the Psych Ward. That was kept out of the paper because even Aunt Julie isn't that cruel.

"Did you know that Ms. Kim's new last name is Bolton?" Melinda from his English class told her best friend, Bobbi.

"That makes sense. You know that Troy is the father of Kim's two-year-old son? That explains why he never paid any attention to me during freshman year." Bobbi replied.

The only person not talking about the Boltons was Tiara. "Did you see the engagement ring that Sharpay was wearing?" Asked her minion, Ward.

"Can you believe Chad is marrying that girl? The condom must have broken for him to be marrying an ice queen bitch like her."

"So, ran into any angry wives lately?" Jason asked. At his question, Tiara gave him a death glare. Jason's hunch was right. Maria did spend the night in lock-up with the wife of the guy that Tiara was sleeping with. "Although I understand why you're upset, at least Chad was age-appropriate, chronologically at least." That got Tiara to run away so he could at least get to his locker.

By the time he managed to get his books, Jackie had stood in front of her locker. She was attempting to flirt with Jimmie. Jason may be 12, but he already knew that Jimmie was not into Jackie. Jason knew Kerri was watching the entire scene, trying not to laugh.

"How was your Thanksgiving break?" Kerri asked him. "I heard you met my cousin Tiffany at a very dysfunctional Bolton Thanksgiving."

"Yes, she got me out of there when it started to get ugly."

Jason told her.

"That is definitely Tiffany. She's a good person with tragically horrible taste in men."

"Extremely tragic," Jason remarked.

"Because of that tragic taste in men, Cousin Tiffany is moving in with my mom and me for the next few months. My mom insisted because she didn't want her to go through labor alone in Cleveland. She's just going back home for a few days to kick out the sperm donor." Kerri said as she grabbed her books from her locker. "This was on top of my mom working the entire weekend because why spend Thanksgiving with your child and niece when you can work."

"Family thanksgivings are highly overrated," Jason said from the side.

"I doubt your Thanksgiving was worse than mine," Jackie said to the entire group.

"Try me," Jason said with a hint of anger.

"Kelsi brought her girlfriend home for Thanksgiving and tried to pass her off as just a roommate. It went badly to the point where Kelsi no longer has a girlfriend. Honestly, that's for the best because Natasha can do so much better. She believed me when I told her the Ryan truth. Also, I'm now looking into emancipation," Jackie explained.

"That's not so bad," Jason said in dismissal. Jason had to deal with Taylor's not-a-boyfriend along with the adoption bombshell. At least Ryan seemed a lot cooler than some of the guys Taylor dated before Chad. Ryan dating Zack simultaneously is something Jason is trying to accept, but that might take a while. Although Zack did bring him chocolate Saturday so he could get used to this.

"My parents knew that Kelsi wasn't that straight. But they couldn't deal with that, so they made a deal with Darby. In exchange for paying for Kelsi to be in New York, my parents made sure they stayed together. I am also almost positive towards the end Kelsi was on the take to even if she pretended she wasn't." No one saw that coming, even Jason. At least the last part. Which was stupid after knowing what Lucy did. It was very similar.

"What?" Kerri asked her friend in shock. "When did this come out? They were still buying the lies Thursday when I was over for turkey."

"It all came apart Friday morning. I, Kelsey, and Natasha overheard them arguing because Darby called Friday morning to force the issue. Kelsey was hurt and ran away with Natasha. Something happened while they were hiding Friday. By Sunday, Natasha switched flights and is currently trying to figure out how to get a new roommate. I'm currently looking into divorcing my parents." Jackie said with an annoyed sigh. OK, maybe Jackie did have an almost equally bad Thanksgiving.

"Talk to Kim. I'll talk to my mom to see if you can stay over. It will be really tight when Tiffany gets back, but our house is always open to you." Kerri offered.

"I'm staying at Aunt Teresa's house with her girlfriend. The black sheeps of our family need to stick together." Jackie explained.

"I thought your dad disowned his sister and wouldn't let you visit her?" Karrie asked.

"Well, they don't want me to turn over the details of their deal with Darby to Teresa's girlfriend, Officer Mariah." OK, he is now 90% sure Jackie's aunt is married to Chad's aunt. As close as they can be to married under the current laws anyway.

"Does Ryan know?" Jimmie asked Jackie. "Does Sharpay know?"

"If he does, I doubt that he would care since he has moved on to my sister," Jason said under his breath, but everybody still heard him. Good thing he didn't add the part about Zack.

"What?" The other three asked him in shock.

"Yes, my sister is sort of dating Sharpay's brother now. I walked in on them making out twice." One of those times was with Zack. "This is still traumatizing even though I now know Taylor isn't my biological sister. So technically, I'm an only child." Jason said as he slammed his locker.

He didn't feel like going to health class. He made his way to the roof just to think. If Mr. Bolton was actually brave enough to come in today, Jason was sure he would understand. He might be the only one who had a worst weekend than Jason.

XXXX

December 1, 2008 9:01 a.m.

The moment Chad walked out of his calculus class, he put his arm around Sharpay's shoulder. He kissed her in a way that was probably inappropriate for 9:00 a.m. on a Monday morning. He just wanted to kiss her and be near her.

"It's only been 2 ½ hours. You're kissing me like you haven't seen me in days." Sharpay said as they began walking to their English class with his arm around her.

He would miss this next semester. As of right now, they will only have one class together for the spring semester. Unless he can talk Sharpay into getting a minor in Latino studies, they probably won't have any more classes together after this year. Their majors are too different. For the moment, anyway. Both Zack and Madison switched majors their first year, so Chad wouldn't be surprised if he or Sharpay followed suit. He knew neither of them was happy with their current major.

"I miss you," Chad said, kissing her on the lips once more. "How did things go with Jason this morning?"

"Jason is still mad at the universe, but at least he's no longer causing chaos. He does not want to see his parents today. I feel like a monster for making him go back." Chad could feel the tension in his girlfriend's body.

"I can understand how he feels, considering that both of my parents have been lying to me for years."

"Let's just hope Jason doesn't punch his father," Sharpay remarked.

"My father deserved that," Chad said angrily.

"I completely agree on that point. Although I thought things were better with your mom? You were crying when you came back from saying goodbye to her."

"That was the heart-to-heart with Jack. He apologized for not protecting me from the homophobic assholes as much as he should have. Which is more than Charles would ever do. Comparatively, things are better with my mom. But I still wish both her and Charles would've told me the Tiffany truth." Sharpay glared at him for a moment.

"OK, I wish my mom would've acknowledged her feelings for my good father figure years ago. That way, I could've gotten the hell away from Charles before he did permanent damage. Or try to… You know what he tried to do with Taylor."

"I know. BTW we have a group session with Olivia tomorrow." Sharpay informed him. He's not surprised. He probably needs quality time with a therapist right now.

"That's probably necessary. I talked to Tiffany this morning. The good news is Charles got his stuff out of her house without her calling the police. Although maybe she should have because he also wrecked a bunch of her stuff. Bad news, he's returning no one's phone calls, not even Aunt Claudia's calls." Although Chad wasn't actually trying to call the man because he's done with Charles.

"She mentioned that yesterday. Do you want to talk about it?"

"After class," Chad said as they walked into the English building.

"Fine, but you have to tell me everything this time. Otherwise, I am sleeping in my own room tonight." Sharpay threatened as she went to give him one more kiss before they entered the classroom. Of course, at that point, they were inundated with questions about the YouTube video. And unfortunately, Professor Stark Rogers didn't shut things down. Actually, he was curious himself.

"And you two hated each other at the beginning of the school year. I knew you reminded me of my husband for a reason." Professor Stark-Rogers said just before he started the class for the day. It was time for their final project for the semester. Chat can't believe that they are beginning final projects already. The semester has gone so fast.

Unfortunately, the professor brought out his husband's infamous hat of projects. And it totally screwed him over.

XXXX

a few hours later

Amanda walked into Martha Evans Hall to eat lunch with Marc, Nikki, Chad, and Sharpay. It was the only day of the week that they all had the same time set aside for lunch. It's also the only reason why she would step foot in the cafeteria that she worked in. Normally she eats at one of the other two cafeterias when she's not working the breakfast shift. She can't wait to give her notice when she works out her schedule with the Evans group. She has a meeting with Daniel later in the week to work out the details.

After grabbing a sandwich from the deli, Amanda sat down with her friends at their usual corner table by the windows. Chad and Sharpay arrived at almost the same time.

"I am deeply upset that we found out about the engagement from YouTube," Nikki remarked.

"When Amanda showed it to us yesterday. You could've texted us." Marc sounded genuinely annoyed.

"Arizona is not that off the grid. We figured you would've found out from YouTube, like everybody else. Even Sharpay's brother found out from YouTube." Chad added. Amanda was trying to remember if Marc knew that Ryan was Chad's ex. It's probably best not to mention that in a cafeteria filled with people.

"My mom got engaged Thursday, and I spent most of the rest of Thanksgiving hiding at Nikki's house. He's a jerk. So, of course, I'm not going to pay attention to any internet trends involving the word engaged. I was concerned my mom was trying to go viral to boost business." Marc explained.

"As somebody who found out that his mom is now dating his best friend's father, I feel your pain." Chad sympathized.

"Unless your new future stepdad referred to you by multiple homophobic slurs, you don't." Marc spat out bitterly.

"That would be my actual father. He called me that F word at Thanksgiving, and I punched him out. This is after he said he no longer had a son the night before."

"Unfortunately, you do understand how I feel. You left some things out of your story." Marc turned to Amanda.

"And that definitely did not make the papers," Nikki mumbled under her breath.

"I gave you a rough outline. After what happened with the future stepdad, I figured you didn't need to hear the details," Amanda explained.

"This is true. OK, let's moved to happier things. I want to see the ring." Marc said, grabbing Sharpay's hand. "That is a pretty ring. I say that as a person who has spent most of their life around weddings and the newly engaged. You have good taste, Danforth."

"This is a loan a ring from Chad's grandmother. He actually picked out our real engagement ring without me Saturday."

"And you locked me in a room with my mother. I brought Ryan with me. He knows what you like. He also picked out my engagement ring with you over video chat. I don't even know what it looks like." Chad explained.

"Because it's bad luck for you to see your own ring. I didn't lock the door. I just threatened to make you spend the night with a toddler instead of me."

"Does this mean some of our other bets were settled over the weekend?" Marc asked.

"None of your damn business." Sharpay snapped, annoyed.

"We are definitely going to have to talk about you letting a 12-year-old in on the gambling," Chad said, looking directly at Marc.

"Only on the engagement and wedding pools, not on the other one. I have some class." Marc retorted.

"Yet, you're still running a pool on when we will have sex." Sharpay glared at Marc as she spoke.

"In my defense, I didn't know either of you very well when I started the pool. I am deeply regretting that we set the terms for this so heteronormative. Because I feel like Sharpay may do you first. I've seen your search history." That got Marc a dinner roll to the head.

"Wait, really?" Chad asked, turning to Sharpay.

"I am not answering that question here."

"I think the dinner roll to the face did that," Marc stated as he rubbed his face. "Thanks to the new future stepdad, I need to become financially independent as soon as possible. Running the bets has been surprisingly lucrative. You're not the only book I'm running." Marc is running his own little gambling empire in their building.

"Now that you know us, would you still do it?" Sharpay asked.

"Yes, but it would only be open to the group and not everybody else. Also, we would probably be taking bets on when you will use that certain purchase on Chad."

"And you will never know the answer to that. Do I want to know how much money the pool is up to?" Sharpay asked.

"You probably don't. However, with my 5% fee, I might not be destitute when my mother cuts me off entirely." Marc said sadly.

"You will not be destitute. If you promise not to take any more bets, I will make sure you'll be OK." Kim told Marc.

"Agreed. Although, I am going to have to honor the current bets."

"I can live with that if Sharpay can," Kim remarked.

"Fine. Just don't keep asking us about it." Sharpay remarked before she rolled her eyes. Great, Penelope is here. And she's coming to our table.

"Here comes your roommate. How can you take living with her?" Honestly, they're all shocked that Nikki has survived Penelope as a roommate this semester.

"She's better than the first roommate. She shares her snacks and has no problem with me being a lesbian. Not all of us get open-minded people like Blaise." Nikki said, looking directly at Chad.

"Considering her childhood best friend is my brother's boyfriend, that would really be a problem if she did," Sharpay remarked.

"I have to tell you about all the childhood friends I lost when I came out," Marc mumbled just as Penelope arrived.

"I hate to interrupt you at lunch, but…" Penelope started to say to Nikki before her eyes were drawn to Sharpay's engagement ring.

"The YouTube video was real? I thought you were just fucking with your mother. I always thought she was a controlling Bitch."

"Your dad really was blind," Kim mumbled under her breath. "Even Penelope saw it."

"I could come up with something so much more torturous than a fake engagement to screw with Darby's head. We are getting married. I'm surprised you thought it was fake. Zack was at our engagement party Saturday." Penelope looked like she was going to choke. Obviously, Zack didn't tell her that.

"He was too busy sending me pictures of Chad punching out Zeke," Penelope remarked, recovering quickly. "I hope you broke his nose. He deserved it." That comment caused Sharpay to get a very confused look on her face.

"Penelope, what do you actually need?" Nikki asked.

"I just want to let you know that Richard will be over this afternoon."

"Thank you for letting me know. I will make sure I'm not there." Nikki said just as Penelope walked away and grab the table halfway on the other side of the cafeteria.

"I can't believe Penelope is sexiling you," Marc said, annoyed. "You can come over and stay with me."

"She's not. I can't be in a room with her boyfriend without smacking him, and she realized that very early on. So, she lets me know when not to be there. He is so creepy." As Nikki spoke, Amanda could see Sharpay become visibly queasy. She knows Richard did something really bad to her, but neither Sharpay nor Ryan will tell her details. Considering the rape recovery book Amanda saw on Sharpay's bookcase, she has a pretty good idea of what happened.

"That's probably for the best. Don't be in a room alone with Malick." Sharpay said, getting up from the table. "I'm not feeling well, Chad. I think I'm going to go and get a ginger ale from the minimart next door before classes." Before anybody could say anything, Sharpay was gone.

Xxx

Penelope C: You could've told me the YouTube videos were real. There being so cute right now, I want to throw up.

Zack: I told you it was real. You didn't want to believe me. Although I feel better than other people saw how abusive Darby was.

Penelope C: If you told me you were invited to the Chadpay engagement party, I would've been inclined to believe you.

Zack: It was more of a party to let all of Troy's relatives play with his kid. Alex is a cutie pie. Although Vince did make a Mimosa toast in celebration of the engagement.

Penelope C: I knew Alex was Troy's kid.

Zack: Obviously, since you easily believe those articles.

Penelope C: First of all, Alex is Troy's clone. Second, I caught Troy and Kim fucking after a basketball game sophomore year. I freaked out and ran straight into the asshole.

Zack: Zeke or the one you're currently dating?

Penelope C: Zeke. I know you don't like my boyfriend. You don't have to bring it up all the time.

Zack: I hate your boyfriend, and you can do so much better. Besides, it's not even serious.

Penelope C: If they don't believe in fidelity, why Should I?

Zack: So is this the time that I tell you I'm dating Ryan Evans at the same time he's dating Taylor M.

Penelope C: As long as you negotiate things ahead of time. I guess this means you are completely giving up on Chad?

Zack: Yes, for many reasons, and the least of which is he's getting married. He had it right about not dating people that look a lot like you. You should let go too.

Penelope C: I know, but all the non-asshole guys at the school are not straight. At least Chad was still into girls.

Zack: He's Demi with no gender preference, so…

Penelope C: Our orientations are still incompatible?

Zack: Yes.

Penelope C: Fuck. Just my luck; he is Sharpay sexual.

Zack: More like Evan sexual, but you didn't hear that from me.

Penelope C: I saw him looking at Ryan's ass a lot last year during the routines. I am not one bit surprised.

Zack: I'm not completely ready for us to have that conversation yet. BTW: I need you to go with me to get some lab work done Thursday after classes. Are you available?

Penelope C: I have a date, but if you're dying, you know I'll be there. You're not sick, are you? Because I've heard way too many horror stories from Nikki regarding her mom. I hear one every time I go out for a cigarette. I'm pretty sure she's making it her lifelong goal to get me to quit.

Zack: Is she's succeeding? Her mom died of lung cancer, so do you blame her?

Penelope C: I started on the patch over Thanksgiving break.

Zack: Good. Don't worry. I'm not sick.

Penelope C: That's good. Why do you need lab work?

Zack: I think I know who my biological father is. Chad's aunt knew my mom in college, and we were able to put some pieces together over Thanksgiving break.

Penelope C: Oh, shit! Aren't you glad you didn't try to kiss him?

Zack: So very much. I always wanted to be Luke Skywalker growing up but not like that.

Penelope C: Cousins?

Zack: Half brother.

Penelope C: OK, I am canceling my plans with Malick tonight. We are going to get very drunk together.

Zack: There's a game tomorrow and practice tonight.

Penelope C: The game is not tonight, and we won't drink until after practice. Why didn't you tell me this weekend?

Zack: Because I had Ryan with me up until mid-day yesterday. It didn't feel real until I got an email from Marci Menendez, the paralegal at Rodriguez and associates, letting me know she scheduled my DNA test.

Penelope C: This can be a good thing. You've always wanted to know who your father is. Well, after you found out the truth about your former stepdad.

Zack: I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I know you won't tell anybody. Chad came out as queer to his father Wednesday. There was a showdown at Thanksgiving where Charles called Chad some slurs, and Chad punched him out. He doesn't want to even claim Chad, and he is still with a woman right now.

Zack: What's he going to say about me?

Penelope C: Nothing. He doesn't have to know about you. He doesn't deserve you or Chad, for that matter.

Zack: That's what Carolyn, Chad's mom, said. She is helping me along with her boyfriend, Jack. In college, he knew my mom and confirmed that she "dated" Charles Danforth about 10 months before my birth.

Penelope C: Is her boyfriend's last name Bolton?

Zack: Yes.

Penelope C: Several of my former cheerleading colleagues from West high owe me money now. You have to tell me everything that happened this weekend. You kept all the good stuff to yourself.

Zack: I did send you pictures of Sharpay almost crushing your mutual ex-boyfriend's testicles with her shoes.

Penelope C: This is true.

Penelope C: I'll be over at your apartment later. You can tell me more then. Now I just have to tell Malick, not tonight.

Zack: If he gets mad at you for breaking a date for a friend emergency, maybe you should just stop speaking to him?

Penelope C: I'll take your counsel under advisement.

Zack: You can do so much better.

Penelope C: Unfortunately, better is engaged to your new boyfriend's sister and might be your half-brother. So, he is definitely not an option.

Zack: You can still do better. In the immortal words of Whitney Houston, "I'd rather be alone than unhappy."

Penelope C: It is easy to say that when you have a new boyfriend. I'll see you tonight.

Xxxxx

Chad managed to catch up with a very upset Sharpay halfway to the science building. He knew the ginger ale thing was an excuse because she didn't bother to stop in the store. He quickly wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you OK?" He asked her, fully aware she was upset.

"No. Ryan asked me if he could tell his boyfriend that his childhood best friend, who I hate, is dating my rapist." OK, that explains why Sharpay left.

"What did you tell him?"

"That I wanted to be the one to tell Zack. And I wonder if I should tell Nikki too." Sharpay sighed in his arms.

"It's your choice on who you tell," Chad reassured her.

"But other people are getting hurt by my silence. I don't want to do this again. Did you read the society page today?" Sharpay asked.

"After the stunt that Troy's aunt pulled yesterday, I thought it was in my best interest to not look at the paper or the internet," Chad said honestly. "I don't want to break another phone."

"That is probably for the best. Penelope must not have read it either. Otherwise, she wouldn't have still assumed that the YouTube video was fake." Sharpay said as she pulled out the morning paper from her bag. On page three was an interview with Darby trying to spin the allegations in her favor. On page 4 was an interview with the family member who posted the engagement video to YouTube.

"Now we know who is getting kicked out of the family. I'm not even surprised it was Eddie. He hates me because he's at West, and we always kick his team's ass." Chad explained.

"You have too many cousins, although that is a really nice picture of our engagement that they used in the article. I should probably send Lucy a fruit basket for creating such a scandal. Most people are too concerned with the Romeo and Juliet of Albuquerque to read about the super dysfunctional Evans family."

"Maybe everyone will focus on our engagement. That's the good part."

"Mr. Stark-Rogers read the whole thing. That is why he reassigned us different topics this morning after the hat of miserable final project screwed us over. He didn't want either of us to be upset."

"That's why I now have to write a 10 page paper about whether Darth Vader was good or evil instead of analyzing the portrayal of adultery in modern media." Which Chad is really, really thankful for, considering the weekend he just had.

"I have to do my essay on Nelson Mandela and the concept of who gets to decide who is a hero. I prefer this to my original topic of analyzing depictions of child abuse in comic books. Although, now I have to read his biography. Have you read his biography? That book is three inches thick." Sharpay said with a pout. Just then, Amanda caught up with them.

"I think it's still better than what you originally picked out from the hat of doom," Chad remarked as Amanda came towards them.

"Hey, you ran out of there so fast you left her bag," Amanda said, handing it to Sharpay.

"Thank you," Sharpay said to her.

"I should've changed the subject when they mentioned Penelope's boyfriend. I know that's a hard subject for you. You never told me outright, but I assume the recovery book is on your bookshelf for a reason."

"It is, and that reason is Malick," Sharpay confessed.

"Thank you for confirming that. You didn't have to. I promise I won't say anything, not even to Nikki. That's too personal." Sharpay smiled at Amanda's reassurance.

"Thank you. This is hard for me to talk about, and I don't want everyone to know. I am thinking about telling Nikki, but I'm kind of annoyed at them for the betting thing. One of these days, Marc is going to walk into our bedroom with a black light." Sharpay was only half-joking.

"He won't go that far." Sharpay glared as Amanda reply.

"Only because Kim would probably break their new deal," Sharpay remarked.

"He likes you. He's just a little off because of the stepdad stuff. He was a little worried about money before Kim's offer. I think he's serious about not going back home this summer." Amanda explained. Chad gets that a little too well.

"Which is the reason why he's not stopping the betting pool and giving everybody back the money without taking his cut? At least not until he was provided with an alternative."

"Exactly. Which at present is about $1000. That's probably at least a month's worth of groceries and rent even more if Marc gets a roommate. Kim's offer makes the situation less bleak, but I don't think he wants to turn her into a piggy bank."

"How many people have been betting on us?" Chad asked.

"You really don't want to know. However, I came up with the solution for the pool problem." Amanda said as she passed her cell phone to him and Sharpay. On the screen look like something similar to an Excel document.

"What's this?" Sharpay asked Amanda.

"That is a list of everyone who is participating in the when will they have sex betting pool. For all the other bets, there is a way to validate the results. For this one, they will only know if you tell them. Here's my idea. Pick someone on the list that you like. Then choose that day to tell everyone that it was your first time together. No one's going to know that it's a lie." Chad thought that idea was brilliant. "That way, Marc will get to keep his cut, and we can just end this all."

"Inauguration Day," Sharpay said without prompting.

"Why that day?" Amanda asked Sharpay.

"That is the day Taylor chose for the pool. If anybody deserves the money, it's her." Sharpay argued.

"What about spring break? Because I can use a new computer. If Marc is staying here, I'm probably going to be staying with him." Because she doesn't want to go back home either. "With what your dad is paying me, I can definitely help with rent."

"One, my dad will be getting you a new computer for your job. Two, do you really think people will believe we made it that long?" Sharpay asked with a laugh.

"You're right. You should go was something more plausible." Amanda said as they entered the science building.

To be continued…