Helllller.
I've written this four times.
This is the one I actually like.
Hope you like it tooooo.
Oh, and anonymous reviewer, MAi- this is sort of a continuation of the July chapter? I think? I guess? I'm totally shrugging right now.
YOU READ NOW.
August 21st
6:38 AM
Sharpay's Bedroom
The Sharpay Evans Morning Routine:
1. Greet the morning
Her eyes fluttered open as reality flooded her conscience. She was in that place between dreams and actuality, where she was forced to remember that life wasn't going to go her way that day. That she was going to face persecution.
That day was the first day of school.
2. Get out of bed
She flung her 3,000 thread-count duvet off of her body and rolled out of her king-sized captain's bed. She nudged her feet into pink memory foam slippers and draped a silk robe over her slender body. As enticing as life was at home, she knew that she would be judged for her utter glamour that day.
That day was the first day of senior year.
3. Interrupt Ryan's morning yoga
She shuffled out of her room and down the expansive hallway to two looming cherrywood doors. Without knocking, she turned both crystal knobs and pushed the doors open. "Ryan," she barked.
Her brother sat in the middle of his carpeted bedroom, his pale legs crossed in a confusing style and peace painted on his face. "Namaste," he breathed, and a tranquil smile came to his face.
"Cut the Gahndi shit, you'd better be ready to leave in the next hour."
"Chad's picking me up at 8 o'clock. You can go without me."
The impact of Ryan's statement made her cheeks turn pink and her stomach twist. It was difficult for her to grasp the idea of Ryan having friends other than her. Friends like... them. She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight from one leg to the other. For once, she had no witty comeback.
"Or... you could come with us," Ryan offered. His eyes were still closed and his frail hands were fixed on his knees.
She sneered. "I'd rather walk," she said before spinning on her heel.
4. Daily maintenance
She sauntered back into her room, crossed the rose-colored carpet to her en suite bathroom. She found herself in the relflection of her industrious mirror, dotted with light bulbs and framed with pictures of herself. Her wavy blonde hair looked flawless despite the time and the manner in which she had rolled out of bed. Her skin was even, despite her lack of foundation. Her eyes were bright, despite what everyone thought about her.
So, she didn't understand.
How could her own flesh and blood abandon her to be...one of them? She was gorgeous, no denying it. Why was it such a hardship for people to understand and accept it? She looked away from herself and reached for a velvet-y pink towel that hung on her heating rack. She drew a hot shower and after stripping off her Prada pajamas, stepped into her oasis of foggy heat and pelting water.
The humidity began to smell of soft whipped silk as she lathered her body. She was flushed and her mind immediately flashed to familiar hands that had touched her in all the same places. Hands that she would most likely see that morning. The morning of persecution. The morning of senior year.
July 15th
9:22 PM
Lava Springs Light Tower
The night was extremely balmy and she fanned her face with her palm. She pressed all of her weight against the concrete edge of the light tower that overlooked the entire golf course and she sighed.
Exactly eleven days before, she and Troy Bolton had been caught kissing under a storm of fireworks by Gabriella and the Wildcats. The entire thing had been planned to Sharpay's benefit, but the feelings had seemed so real. They were real for a while. Until everything fell apart...
Conformity and Gabriella got the best of Troy and he found himself crawling back to her. 'I'm sorry, Shar,' he had said with a sigh. 'I know what I said about Gabriella being unreal. But... she's the one I want to be with, the one I can see myself being with for a long time. I mean uh... we can still be friends, right?'
Friends who never spoke. Friends who never acknowledged each others' existence. Troy continued his fun popular antics with his friends and Sharpay continued her glittery lifestlye without them for ten entire days...
And suddenly, she glanced down to the dark golf course to see Troy Bolton stroll across the grass, his golf bag in tote. She observed him closely five meters away, as he pulled out one of his golf clubs and took a few practice swings before dropping a golf ball onto the ground from his pocket. He cut back his club and drove it forward with such ease, watching as it silently sailed into the night.
Before she thought, Sharpay spoke. "How do you make it look so easy?" She immediately wished to take back her words. It was the first time she had spoken to him since Independence Day, and she was speaking as if he hadn't practically broken her heart?
Troy's head turned in sharp and confused angles, wondering who had spoken to him. He finally whirled around to see Sharpay Evans leaned against the ledge of the light tower a few meters away and a few meters high. To her surprise, Troy smiled. "Can I come up?"
She gestured towards the back of the tower. "Take the stairs," she said nonchalantly, though her heart was dipping in an anxious rhythm and she was beginning to feel lightheaded.
Troy swiped something from his bag before jogging up the winding steps that led to the top of the tower. Sharpay was there, and he was instantly flushed with the same ecstasy he had when they had kissed. He leaned against the concrete edge with her and they didn't say anything for a while, enjoyed the company and the view and the night and the lack of pressure and Gabriella...
"Want some?" Sharpay suddenly asked. She offered a garish yellow package to Troy. His stomach growled at the sight of the half-empty bag of Swedish Fish. "I stole them from Ryan."
"Want some?" he asked in return and revealed a silver thermos. He uncapped it and the smell of Captain Morgan stung both of their noses. "I stole it from my dad."
They both laughed and made an unhealthy feast of Swedish fish and alcohol and conversation became as smooth as Troy Bolton's golf drive. With each swig of the warm liquid and the jack of sugar from the candy, both Troy and Sharpay had become increasingly comfortable with each other.
And just for a moment,
things were good.
August 21st
7:00 AM
Sharpay's Bathroom
She emerged from the shower, shining and smelling of expensive body products. She refused to remember the rest of that night, instead she began to comb through her damp blonde hair with her Nars anti-tangle comb and worked her way towards her last, favorite, most important step of her morning routine.
5. Be fabulous.
August 21st
7:15 AM
Troy Bolton's Bedroom
"Troy, rise and shine, darling, it's time to wake up..."
"Troy, muffin, breakfast is getting cold. Don't be late for your first day back to school..."
"Troy, sweetie, you've pressed the snooze button three times already. Time to get out of bed..."
"Troy, I'm beginning to get a little impatient..."
"Troy, don't make me call in your father..."
"Shit! What the...?" Troy Bolton rocketed out of bed, his chest locked in an ice box, his mind in a state of surprise. His breathing was shallow and he looked up to see his father standing over him with a satisfied smile and a bucket in his fist.
His white t-shirt, his face and his hair were all soaked with freezing water, chunks of ice sliding off of his stomach and pillow and onto the floor.
"I wasn't kidding, sunshine," Mrs. Bolton sang from his door. "Shower up and put on some new clothes. It's the first day of senior yeeeear..."
"You heard the lady," Troy's father prompted before turning around and marching out of the room. "You'd better be read to go in the next twenty minutes, son!"
Troy Bolton sighed and roughly shook his mess of stringy brown hair. The sun was inching over the ledge of his window, but it was still three in the morning in his mind.
Senior year.
Two words that determined everything that he was going to do with his life. Senior year had to be perfect, for his sake and his father's. He couldn't let all of the hard work of his previous years go to waste, so he hoisted himself out of bed and stumbled toward the bathroom with a positive attitude.
It was up to him to make senior year flawless. He had to chase his grades and encourage his friends and stay out of drama...
As he shrugged off his soggy clothes and tripped on his way into the shower, his mind immediately went to one girl. Sharpay Evans, the epitome of drama.
He yelped as the shower sprayed water colder than that of the water Coach Bolton had dumped on him. He sloppily scrubbed his way through a shower, trying to ignore the memory that poked him in the back of the brain. A memory that really called for a cold shower.
July 15th
9:31 PM
Lava Springs Light Tower
He liked the warmth of the Captain Morgan that tickled the bottom of his stomach and gave his inhibitions a thrill. He liked the soft taste of cherry in his mouth and he liked the way Sharpay's bare foot was slyly tracing the back of his calf.
Why was she always barefooted? It was a thought Troy knew he would only have if he was undoubtedly tipsy.
Their conversation took random alcohol-laced twists and turns. They went from talking about senior classes to talking about Gabriella. They went from talking about Gabriella to talking about relationships. And somehow from relationships, they found themselves discussing how blatantly virginal they both were. They were both somewhat embarrassed to reveal to one another that they were virgins.
And Troy suddenly took strong notice to Sharpay's plaid shorts and her tank top that was taut across the chest. Sharpay liked how strapping Troy looked in white. And they were suddenly gently kissing and they were suddenly easing themselves onto the concrete floor of the light tower and they were suddenly relieving each other of clothing...
It was July 4th again at the fusion of Troy and Sharpay's mouths. They forgot that Troy and Gabriella were back together and they forgot the pressure they were both under to be flawless. They exchanged precious gifts in the cramped space of the light tower to the tune of breathy gasps and somewhat experienced hands.
And just for the moment,
things were rapture.
August 21st
7:40 AM
Troy Bolton's Bedroom
He grabbed for his empty backpack as his mother called for him. He raced down the stairs, pushing that night to the back of his mind. Remembering what he had done with Sharpay Evans wasn't part of the game plan to create the perfect senior year. He shoved a bagel between his teeth and was out the door and stepped into an uncertain morning.
August 21st
8:05 AM
East High School Parking Lot
Her perfectly manicured nails drummed the glossy pink leather of her steering wheel. She sat in the buttery seat of her convertible, debating whether she should get out of her car or drive home to fake sick. It was the first time ever that she was making an entrance without Ryan. She felt angry towards him again.
How dare he make her sit there in the parking lot like a loser where everyone could see her? She was Sharpay Evans.
Old, beat-up, used, mint condition, and okay-looking cars trickled into the senior parking lot, all containing giddy seniors who were ready to take on their final year of high school. She felt eyes burn her through tinted windows and suddenly snatched her Louis Vuitton out of her passenger side and opened her door.
She was Sharpay Evans. Ryan or no Ryan, she was fabulous and didn't have to rely on anyone to prove it. She began her fierce walk across the slab of concrete towards her awaiting entrance.
But she wasn't two feet away from her car when people began pouring out of cars. Familiar people. People she didn't want to see.
Chad and Ryan jumped out of Chad's rusty station wagon. Gabriella and Taylor emerged from Taylor's sensible Honda. Martha and Kelsi hopped out of Martha's mini van. And Troy Bolton stumbled out of his old truck in all his sleepyhead glory. They were immediately hugging and squealing over each others' new looks, as if they hadn't seen each other everyday at Lava Springs.
Sharpay sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing she wouldn't be able to pass the group of Wildcats without being seen. So she continued her fierce walk into what she considered the shadow of death and immediately catch the eyes of all of her classmates.
"Morning, Shar," Ryan said politely.
The rest looked on silently, and Sharpay looked to Troy and caught his eye. Gabriella was under his arm comfortably, like everything had ended the way she had wanted it to.
Gabriella Montez was in for a surprise.
July 15th
9:42 PM
Lava Springs Light House
As she attempted to catch her breath, Troy Bolton lifted her weight off of her and sloppily yanked his jeans up to his waist. He knocked over the thermos of Captain Morgan with his heel and squashed the rest of the Swedish Fish under his foot in the process. "Sorry," he muttered. "I... it's getting late."
Sharpay sat up slightly and immediately reached up to fix her hair. She self-consciously re-adjusted her bra and tank-top, a feeling of unsatisfaction dumping from her brain onto the rest of her body. She felt unsettled, like losing her virginity was an awkward part of a dream. "You should go."
"I should." Troy slammed on his shirt. "See you tomorrow."
"You will."
He staggered down the winding steps and disappeared and Sharpay came to her feet and looked into the night and cried. Just a little.
August 21st
8:06 AM
East High Parking Lot
"What are you staring at?" Gabriella wrinkled her nose at the odd look Sharpay Evans was giving her.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." There was that secret smirk on the blonde's face that got her everything she wanted. Gabriella had never fully forgiven Sharpay for all she had put Gabriella through.
"Then I think you should know, Sharpay, that I'm over all of your antics. I'm not going to let you ruin senior year for me or any of my friends."
Sharpay's brown eyes flashed with a mystery before she looked to Troy again. She choked back a laugh at his deer-in-the-headlights expression. She felt bad for him for only a second. But did he feel bad for her when he left her that night, pants at her ankles? Did he feel bad for her when he begged her to keep what had happened to herself?
Sharpay Evans took a few more fearful steps towards the lovely couple and brought her voice to a purr. "Then, I think you should know that Troy hasn't been completely truthful with you about what went on this summer."
Gabriella's eyes widened and she looked at Troy. His stomach clenched as she moved away from him. "What is she talking about, Troy? There's more?"
His throat sealed off and Sharpay leaned forward to whisper in Gabriella's ear.
"Oh, yeah, there's more. Way more. So, consider your senior year...already ruined."
Wow, I love Sharpay as a bitch. Loveitloveit.
Review!