"Hey, Chad, what's up?" I hate putting on this act, but what can I do? "How you doing?"
"Good, man. Hey…I was just wondering – we were, sorry – where were you today after school?" Chad asks, and I ignore his slip-up and Gabriella's voice in the background.
"I didn't realise I didn't have to be invited by the man himself," I say flatly, and hoping I didn't come across as bitter and resentful as I truly feel. "I had homework to do, just like I told Gabi, okay?"
"We didn't see you at lunch either; what's up?"
"Nothing…I don't want to sound rude, but what's going on? I mean, you guys, you don't want to know me most of the time. So tell me what I've been doing wrong all this time, so I can try and fix it," I cringe inwardly at how desperate I sound.
"I-I don't know what, uh, what you're talking about, Ryan," he stammers uneasily. I sigh in exasperation.
"Of course. Mind if I speak to Gabriella?"
"Hey, Ryan!" Gabriella practically shouts into the phone as Chad passes it on to her. "You wanted to speak to me?"
"Yeah, I want to talk to you. By yourself, I mean. When can I see you?" I glance over to my doorway and see Sharpay hovering there, with a smirk on her face. "Sorry, I gotta go. I'll IM you later or something, yeah?" I gabble into the cell phone and hang up abruptly. "What do you want, Shar?" I bring myself to ask after a short pause.
"No no. It sounds like it's more like what do you want? And from who?" Even from my bed, I can see that Sharpay is desperately struggling to conceal a fit of laughter, let alone a smile. I rise to my feet.
"Wrong idea, Sharpay," I say triumphantly before veering away from the subject slightly. "How long were you standing there for?"
"Long enough," Sharpay informs me breezily, strolling into my room. "Why don't we IM Gabriella now?" She taps my laptop's keyboard to revive it from sleep mode, and seats herself down in front of my computer, blatantly ignoring my numerous protests.
"Get out of my room and use your own computer!" I command, pointing to my door to emphasise my point. Sharpay chuckles to herself.
"Like Gabriella would ever want to date somebody like you anyway!" she scoffs. "She's Troy's girlfriend, remember?" Although she's an expert at showing no emotion, I still pick up on the slight hurt in her voice. While she loves Gabi as her best friend, I know it hurts her to hide her feelings for Troy.
"Shar…"I begin, but I don't really know what I'm supposed to say. "Sharpay…Look, sis-"
"Oh, shut up, Ryan!" she snarls and leaves my room, slamming the door as loud as she can. Must be a new record, I think to myself. There's no point going after Sharpay when she's like that – she'll just but my head off, yet again.
"At least life here is always eventful," I mutter to myself, sitting down on my bed again.