Chapter 5

Sharpay carefully unpacked her favourite pink bikini. She'd saved it when all their stuff had been repossessed, but she hadn't thought she'd get a chance to wear it at Bontins. She picked up her matching monogrammed towel (imported from Turkey) and pinned her hair back with her Tiffany hairband.

'You look fabulous, darling,' said her mother from her spot on the sofa bed. 'Where are you going?'

Sharpay was about to tell her, and then she remembered what Jason had said about the party being strictly staff only.

'I have to work late,' Sharpay said. 'Ryan too.' Then she remembered what she was wearing. 'It's swimwear night at the restaurant.'

'Wonderful, darling,' said Peaches, who was only half listening. Sharpay hadn't expected that to work.

Ryan came out of the bedroom wearing pink swimming shorts that matched Sharpay's bikini.

'Are you ready to go?' he asked, as he put on sunglasses at 8pm.

'Sure,' Sharpay said, putting on her own sunglasses. 'We need to get some drinks though.'

They said goodbye to Peaches, who barely realised they were leaving, and walked to the little shop they had seen on their way into the holiday site. It looked more run down than they remembered and Sharpay wondered if it was actually open.

'Is that seriously what it's called?' asked Ryan, looking at the sign.

'Maybe 'BJ's on the Beach' means something else in England?' said Sharpay as she tried the door and found that the shop was indeed open.

Ryan doubted it but decided not to question it any further. The cashier ignored them as they made their way over to the alcohol section, which took up most of the shop.

'OK we've got £3, do you think that will get us much?' asked Ryan.

'No idea, I'm still not used to this weird currency,' said Sharpay.

They had a look at the shelves and saw that it would not get them a lot. Or at least, not a lot that was nice.

'How about this?' Ryan said, holding up a bottle of something calling itself 'Caribbean Twist'.

Sharpay inspected the label. 'It's pure sugar. All of our teeth will fall out.'

'We would fit in better if that happened,' said Ryan.

Sharpay laughed. 'Fine, it's all we can afford anyway. Just don't let anyone see that's what we brought.'

They made it to the pool building exactly 45 minutes late, which was Sharpay's preferred arrival time for parties. She usually liked to send someone in beforehand to play her theme tune when she walked in but sadly she didn't have any friends here. She'd have to take a risk with what they were playing already. Did they even listen to the same music in England?

They entered together, slamming open the double doors for full dramatic effect. They stopped and posed as they always did, but to Sharpay's horror the song she could hear was not by Ariana Grande or someone similar but Axel F by Crazy Frog. It took all she had not to scream and run out of the building. She had never been so upset that everyone was looking at her before. Some people were whispering to each other, and she was sure she heard someone ask who invited them.

'Why are you wearing swimming costumes?' someone in the crowd yelled.

'It's a pool party,' said Ryan, confused.

There was laughter and Ryan could see now that everyone else was just in jeans and other casual wear. He was starting to think that this was a bad idea.

'The pool's been shut for a year, idiots!' someone else yelled. There were more whispers now, and Ryan heard someone say 'useless rich kids' loud enough for him to hear over the awful dinging of Crazy Frog.

Sharpay and Ryan shared a look which said 'Should we just get the hell out of here?' but they would lose the rest of their dignity if they left now. They had to own this blunder.

They sidled over to the drinks table and snuck their meagre offering on to it, before pouring themselves glasses of wine that someone else had brought.

Sharpay had never been at a party where everyone seemed to hate her before and she wasn't sure what to do. Normally she would mingle but tonight she was stuck at the drinks table with her brother. Talk about lame. Never mind losing all their belongings, this was the real low point.

'Poor people throw real shit parties,' Ryan said to her. Sharpay just sighed, remembering the last party she'd been to on a private yacht.

After about half an hour of being shunned they were surprised by someone saying hello to them.

'Oh, hey Kelsi,' said Ryan.

'Don't let anyone see me talking to you until they're too drunk to care!' she said, hiding her face with her drink-free hand. 'Sorry, you guys are just not popular right now. But you two looked so sad over here on your own I thought I'd take pity on you and say hi.'

Sharpay frowned. 'Actually we don't need any pity, thank you. We were doing just fine over here and-'

'Sharpay,' Ryan interrupted. 'This is Kelsi. We met the other day. She does...something here.'

'I'm the entertainment manager,' said Kelsi brightly.

'That's you?!' Sharpay shrieked. Ryan gasped, this was news to him as well.

'Yep.' Kelsi tipped the hat she was wearing. 'That's me, the mastermind behind such entertainment as "creepy magician" and "Wednesday night bingo".'

Sharpay turned her nose up at this. 'That sounds awful, you should swap jobs with me.'

'Sharpay! Don't be rude!' chided Ryan, but Sharpay could see in his eyes that he was thinking the exact same thing.

'Wow,' said Kelsi. 'I guess I understand why the kitchen staff said all that stuff now!'

'What stuff?' asked Ryan, hoping it wasn't anything too hurtful, but Kelsi just laughed and changed the subject.

'So Coach told me you guys like dancing? Maybe you should take part in the Halloween talent show. Its open to all the staff-'

'Hey! It's you guys!' someone yelled at them. The trio turned to see Troy dragging a girl towards them. 'This is my girlfriend, Gabriella. We're going to get more drinks, do you need some too?'

'No thanks,' said Kelsi, but he wasn't listening. Troy moved towards the drinks table which wasn't far away and began pouring five vodkas and coke, each one being less diluted than the last. He handed them out and Ryan grimaced when he was given the one that looked to be 60% vodka.

'Gabriella's a lifeguard here!' said Troy.

Sharpay and Ryan looked at the empty pool.

'I don't think payroll know that the pool has been emptied,' said Gabriella. Her eyes widened. 'Oh but I shouldn't say that to you should I? What with you owning the place…'

'Why is that a problem?' asked Troy.

'I don't think tattling about that would help our popularity very much,' said Ryan, although it looked like Sharpay thought tattling about it could get her promoted or something. He elbowed her in the ribs to stop her saying anything and made her spill her drink all over Troy, who screamed.

'Ryan!' shouted Sharpay.

'It's lucky you brought that change of clothes,' said Gabriella. Troy ran off somewhere to change.

'He's not great at pouring drinks,' said Kelsi after she knocked back the rest of her vodka. 'That was way too strong.'

'You didn't have to drink it…' said Ryan.

'I don't like to waste resources,' Kelsi said. 'Taylor doesn't let us.'

Before Ryan could ask who Taylor was, he noticed that some people were arranging themselves in a big circle. Gabriella dragged their little group into it and then jumped into the middle.

'Hi everyone,' she said. 'As the lifeguard for this establishment, I'd like to establish a few rules.'

Someone booed.

'Number one, no running by the pool. It literally has no water so if you fall in you will smash your head open and maybe die. I want to make it very clear now that I have received no first aid training at all.'

'That's kind of a downer,' Kelsi muttered.

'Number two, EVERYONE DRINK MORE!' A cheer went around the circle. She picked up a red cup someone had left on top of a pile of pool floats. 'I'll start. Never have I ever… been to a staff pool party at Bontins!'

There was another cheer and everyone took a drink.

'This is more like it,' Sharpay said to Ryan and in that moment Ryan knew she was drunk, because Sharpay hated group drinking games. They were not classy at all. He blamed Troy and his bartender skills.

The game carried on, with increasingly TMI statements.

'I really didn't expect that from you,' said Ryan, shocked, as Kelsi was the only one to drink for round ten. She winked and walked off to get another drink.

Still reeling, he realised it was his turn.

'Uhh, never have I ever… totalled my dad's helicopter because he wouldn't buy me my own private island for my sweet sixteen?' said Ryan.

Sharpay drank but the rest of the circle just stared, their eyes bugging out.

'You did what?' asked Gabriella.

Sharpay blushed and snapped 'Well never have I ever carved my name into a $750,000 yacht forcing Dad to buy it!'

Ryan glared at her and took a drink. People were starting to look at them the same way they were when Ryan and Sharpay had first entered the party, and he thought that maybe these weren't experiences that poor people were used to.

After slightly too long a pause, Gabriella did an awkward laugh and continued the game. Ryan could have kissed her. If she didn't have a boyfriend. And if Ryan wasn't super gay.

'Hey! It's you guys!' someone said after a few more rounds. Ryan turned to see Troy wearing a fake mustache. Was he already so drunk that he'd forgotten that he'd already seen them earlier?

'Hey, Troy. You took a while to come back.'

Troy looked puzzled. 'I'm Trey,' he said. 'Who's Troy?'

None of the others seemed surprised by this turn of events, but Sharpay wasn't happy about it. 'I'm not stupid, Troy,' she said. 'You're Troy from reception. That's your girlfriend, Gabriella.' She pointed to the other side of the circle, where Gabriella was blowing her lifeguard whistle in Zeke's face and laughing hysterically.

'Wow, this Troy is a lucky guy,' Troy said. 'I wish I, Trey the maintenance guy, had a pretty girlfriend like her.'

Sharpay looked at Kelsi, who shrugged.

'If you don't understand it, you're not drunk enough,' she said.