The next day, Sharpay walked into school with more makeup on her face than she had ever worn in her life. She had completely depleted her supply of foundation to cover up the bruise that Jeremy had left on her chin. She was able to cover the ugly green and purple of the bruise, and hopefully no one would notice the slight swelling that had occurred even though she had iced her chin for hours.
Thankfully, her arm brace was an unobtrusive black that blended in with her attire of the past few months. She was never as grateful for her wardrobe change as she was now. She dint think that anyone would notice the brace, and if they did, well, then she would just say that she hurt her arm doing tennis.
After arguing with Ryan for hours about whether or not to tell their parents about what happened, Sharpay finally won and Ryan had agreed not to say anything to them. Hopefully he wouldn't renege on his promise like the others did yesterday. Sharpay shuddered to think what her father would do if he ever found out.
Reaching her locker, she flinched when she tried to use her injured arm to open the combination lock.
Things couldn't get-
She stopped herself before she finished that thought. She'd learned her lesson about that saying. So instead, she thought, things weren't going to get any better.
In the course of one day, she had been accused of having an eating disorder and being pregnant, almost kidnap, almost raped, sprained her wrist, had a bruise on her chin, and had actually cried in front of Zeke.
Next to the kidnapping and rape, that one was the worse of everything. He was going to think that she did it just to get his attention and sympathy. She would have preferred to cry in the confines of her room instead of him. And the fact that she had kissed him didn't help either. He was going to think that she was still the same attention needing tramp that she had always been. She didn't blame him for it either.
What had possessed her to kiss him? Crying in front of him would have been bearable, but kissing him? He had a girlfriend for God's sake. As much as she wanted to hate Odette and not care about what she did, she couldn't. Odette was prefect for Zeke, more prefect for him than Sharpay could or would ever be. She hadn't ever done anything to Sharpay for her to hate Odette. If anything, she should be thanking Odette. If it wasn't for her, Sharpay wouldn't have ever realized what kind of person she actually was after she saw Zeke stare at Odette the way he did.
Sighing, she gathered her things from her locker and closed it. Turning around, she thought about the things that drama club needed to finish when she came face to face with Gabby, who was looking at her anxiously.
Great. They had told their girlfriends. Even though she had said that they could, she was hoping that they wouldn't. Too late now.
"Hi Gabby," Sharpay said to her.
"Hi," Gabby answered. "How are you doing?"
"Fine," Sharpay said. Maybe they hadn't told them anything. Switching her books to her uninjured side, she said, "Any you?"
"Fine," Gabby echoed as her eyes trained on the arm brace. "How's the arm?"
So she didn't know. "Its alright. I hurt it playing tennis yesterday at home," Sharpay lied. If Troy ever decided to tell her the truth, Sharpay was sure that she would understand.
Gabby's eyes went back to Sharpay's face. "You don't have to lie, I know."
Sharpay's shoulders slumped. Of course Troy had told her. They didn't seem like the type to keep anything from each other. Why had she thought otherwise?
"He hasn't bothered you-" Gabby started, but Sharpay cut her off.
"I'm really grateful that you're concerned," Sharpay said, not meanly. "But I'd rather forget about the whole thing. No lasting damage was done, I'll get over it. And to answer your question," she said, stopping Gabby from speaking up. "No, he hasn't bothered me, and honestly I wouldn't tell you if he had."
Anger flared across Gabby's face. "Why not?"
"Retract your claws," Sharpay told her. "I wouldn't tell you because you'd tell my brother and then him and the others would go on a Jeremy hunting party and then they'd all be going with you to prom in orange jump suits."
"Oh," Gabby said as Sharpay watched the anger deflate out of her. "That's nice of you, but I think that if Jeremy comes near you, you should tell someone."
"I don't think that he'd be so stupid," Sharpay said, but she hid the doubt she had in her own statement. "He might be an attempted rapist, but he's smart. I wasn't bluffing when I said that I'd press charges on him if he did on the boys. The thought of being sodomized has a wonderful effect of making people do what you want."
Gabby smiled. "I'm glad that you're alright. If you need anything, just tell me, OK?"
Smiling back, Sharpay said, "Promise." As Gabby started to walk away, Sharpay said, "Oh, and Gabby? Thank you."
Smiling again, Gabby said, "You're welcome."
Leaving her locker, Sharpay was in a much better mood than she was earlier. Gabby wasn't as bad as Sharpay had thought she was. Maybe a little too prefect, but not bad at all. Maybe she would take her up on her offer and help her go dress shopping. Sharpay still wasn't going, but she started to like the thought of helping Gabby find her perfect dress.
Feeling happier than she had in a long while, Sharpay turned the corner and heard, "You were with her? She was the reason why you ignored all my calls yesterday?"
At Odette's outraged voice, Sharpay quickly back up behind the corner she just turned. She prayed that Odette wasn't talking about her to Zeke, even though she knew that the prayer would go in vain. Even though they weren't talking loudly, from where Sharpay stood, she could hear them clearly. After a quick debate over what to do, she decided listen to their conversation. She could berate herself about it later.
"I told you what happened," she heard Zeke say, and to her ears he sounded like he was tired. "Jeremy was trying to rape her. What did you want me to do? Just let him drag her to his car?"
"Oh please," she heard Odette say, and she could practically hear her roll her eyes. "Knowing her she probably planned it with him."
That hurt, but Sharpay knew that with everything she had done, she deserved it.
Zeke sighed. "She had her back to us the whole time, how could she had planned it?"
"I wouldn't put anything past her," Odette said. "And why were you the one who had to take her to the hospital? Why couldn't Chad, Jason, or Troy take her and you bring her car to her house?"
"Are you serious," Zeke asked, and Sharpay heard the anger that started to begin in his voice. "She was hurt. Who in the hell cared who took her? You act like we ran away together."
No, just kissed each other.
"Are you really going to ask me that question," Odette asked. "You were alone for the first time in God knows how long with the girl that you had feelings for since you started high school. I have every right to be mad and upset."
A locker door slammed. "I'm done arguing with you about this. I'm not going to apologize for taking her to the hospital when she was hurt."
With that, Sharpay heard him walk away from Odette in, luckily, the opposite direction from her.
They were arguing over her. Her earlier mood evaporated in an instant. If she had known that it would cause that many problems, she would have insisted on riding with someone else. Now, Odette and Zeke were mad at each other and Sharpay was sure that Zeke felt guilty because of that kiss in his car. Hopefully he wouldn't tell Odette about it. Sharpay would deny it on the Bible if she had to if it meant saving Zeke's relationship with Odette.
Not of thinking about what she was doing, Sharpay turned the corner again, and walked up to Odette. "He was just doing me a favor," she said to Odette.
Giving her a glare, Odette fired back, "I bet you just loved being alone with him. How long was it before you tried to sink your claws into him?"
"I didn't," Sharpay said, letting the insult roll off of her back. "After we all saw that my wrist was hurt, I was put in the nearest car. It just happened to be Zeke's and he took me to the hospital. Nothing happened."
Odette gave a humorless laugh. "You have to be crazy if you think that I'm going to believe that. You've hated the fact that he could actually be happy with someone other than you. You led him on all last year and over the summer, not caring, but the moment he found someone else, you started to. Everyone knows how you are Sharpay. You're a whore. I wouldn't be surprised if you tried to fuck him while he was driving."
Sharpay took the verbal punches without showing in outward reaction. "He loves you," she said to her. "Whatever he felt for me is in the past. He was just being the kind of person that he usually is when he took me to the hospital. He wouldn't ever leave you for me. You're right, when you first started to date, I was jealous. But I'm not any more. I'm happy for the two of you. Don't let me be the reason that you break up with him."
Odette continued to stare at her angrily, then she abruptly turned away from Sharpay and walked away from her.
As Sharpay stared at her retreating form, she prayed that she had helped.
--
After Ryan told her that she wasn't allowed to stay after school alone, something that she normally would have raised hell for but didn't see anything wrong with it in this case. She decided to skip lunch and go to the auditorium to do more work for the play.
As she painted the props, she was wistful at the thought of not being in the play. She had been in all the school productions as the lead female character since starting high school. It was strange being behind the stage instead of being on it.
They were doing Cry Baby. A play that Darbus had picked specifically for Sharpay to get the roll of Alison. With Ryan only wanting to Baldwin, saying that it would make him more rounded, it was the prefect opportunity for Sharpay to shine once again as the lead character. A few months ago, Sharpay had every intention of being in the play, so she had learned her lines, and everyone else's.
Not that it mattered now. She was going to try to get threw the rest of the year without making any ripples. And that included no musicals, even though Darbus had somehow convinced her to be the understudy to not only the part of Alison, but to Wanda and Hatchet Face as well. She cringed at the thought of the last one, but hopefully nothing would happen the three girls who were playing the roles.
Returning her attention back to her painting, she started to sing a song from the play. "I whisper to angels, what I'd do for him. He doesn't know, how much I adore him. Oh can't someone answer, a teenage prayer."
"Consider them answered," a voice from behind her said.
She froze for an instant, then jumped up and spun around. "Get away from me Jeremy."
Sharpay fought back the fear-induced nausea that assailed her. She'd seen enough movies and was smart enough to know that if she showed him fear, then he would torment her until school ended. She didn't know what he could possibly want. The only thing that she could possibly think of was to scare her and to call her bluff.
"I'm not near you," Jeremy said casually, looking at her with a smirk. "But that can change." He took a step closer to her and she fought the urge to step back. She had to prove to him that he couldn't scare her.
"You must not listen well," she said with disdain. "I told you to stay away from me and my friends, or I'd press charges against you."
He gave a short laugh. "Please, I let you think I'd go along with it when those jocks were there." He gave her an evil smile. "But they aren't now."
He took another step towards her and she didn't move an inch. "What are you going to do without your body guards? Poor little Sharpay. All alone with the big bad wolf."
"You're forgetting something," she told him calmly.
"And what's that," he asked her.
"I haven't been poor one second of my life, and you may be a wolf, but I'm bitch. I'm fiercer than you could ever be. I would take you out before you even knew what hit you." She took a step closer to him and was gratified to sees him actually take a step back. "I'm only going to tell you this one more time. Stay away from me and stay away from my friends. You seem to think that because I don't do the same things that I used to, that I've changed. I'm still the girl who back stabbed her brother and didn't feel bad about it and I'm still the girl who got Becky Newman expelled because I didn't like the shirt she was wearing. If I can do all of that and more because of something as small as a shirt, what do you think I would do to you?"
She saw a flash of fear in Jeremy's eyes. "Don't ever underestimate me. I will destroy you and not think twice about it. Next time you see my friends, their girlfriends, or me walk in the other direction. I can have your family lose everything in an hour, and then I'd still bring you to court. Only God knows how many other girls you victimized. You'd be in prison for the rest of your life and I'd visit you everyday, just to torment you. Don't ever believe that I wouldn't."
With that, she turned away from him and went back to painting. She didn't turn until she heard him quickly walk away from her and out of the auditorium. After making sure that he was gone, she let out a sigh. She didn't think that she had all of that still left in her. She felt sorry for the next person to back her into a corner.
She realized that her hand was shaking furiously and put the paintbrush down. Sitting back, she started to take deep breaths to calm herself. She didn't want to cry, she knew she didn't. And even if she did, she wouldn't. She was just…terrified. She was smart enough to admit it. Threw her whole speech, she was terrified that he wouldn't believe her, terrified that he would try to finish what he had started yesterday, and she was terrified that she'd be terrified of him for the rest of her life.
She heard a footstep behind her and jumped up once again.
"Calm down," Zeke said. "Its just me."
Letting out a breath, Sharpay did what she was told. "Sorry, it's just that…"she had to think of something quick. She wasn't going to tell him that Jeremy had harassed her again. "I've been jumpy since yesterday. That's all."
Zeke looked at her for a moment then smiled. "You don't have to lie. I saw him come in here. I was fully prepared to kick his ass again, but I saw that you didn't need my help."
"Shit," she mumbled. So much for him not knowing. "Thank you," she told him.
"You're welcome," he said. "I haven't seen you that fired up in forever. How did you say it? Same old Sharpay we know and fear?"
Once again, her mood went south. He still saw her that way, and he probably wouldn't ever see her any other way again. "Same old me," she said with false brightness. "Bitch of East High."
Turning away from him, she once again went back down to painting.
As she painted, she berated herself. Why should he think any different of her? She'd spent her whole high school career being the most evil vindictive possible. Just because she knew she changed, didn't mean that anyone else would know or believe it.
Zeke dropped down next to her and started to help her paint.
When she looked at him, all he said was, "We have about ten minutes left of lunch. If I help you, we can finish this before the bell rings."
He went back to painting and she just continued to watch him. Zeke really was the sweetest guy in creation.
"I don't think that you should be helping me," she told him.
"Why not," he asked her. "Two pairs of hands are better and faster than one."
"Well," Sharpay said. "One pair of hand's girlfriend is mad at them because of the other pair of hands and that same pair of hands don't want to make things worse."
Zeke stopped his painting and it was his turn to stare.
"I heard you two arguing," she said. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop…well, I did, but I didn't mean to hear the conversation in the first place. I turned the corner and heard you two arguing about me. I really don't want to cause problems between you and Odette."
"You aren't the problem," he told her, and at her disbelieving look, he said, "Not the only one then. We've been having problems for awhile and-"
"Zeke," she interrupted. "Not that I don't want to help you with your problems, I just don't think that you should ask the girl you kissed for advice about your girlfriend, who happens not to be the same person."
He sat back and sighed. "You're right. What do you think I should do?"
"Stay away from me," she said even though that was the last thing she wanted. "After you walked away from her, I talked to her and I think that I might have gotten threw to her. It was pretty much me telling her that she shouldn't ruin things with you because me and that you're in love with her and wouldn't choose me over her."
"Oh," he said.
Before he could say anything else, Sharpay made a decision, the hardest one of her life. "Thank you…for everything. For still caring about me after everything I did last year and over the summer to helping me paint just now. You're probably one of the best friends I'll ever have. So I'm going to return the favor. You and Odette are crazy about each other. And you two aren't going to end because of me."
When she stood, he followed her. "I'm sure I'm a bigger problem between you two than you're letting me think. Like I said earlier, I think that it's best if we avoid each other." Rushing on when she saw him open his mouth to say something, she said, "You and Odette are perfect for each other and everybody can see that you were meant for each other. And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I was the reason you two broke up. I kissed you yesterday so that shows that I can't be trusted. Just think of it as me finally being the friend to you that you always were to me."
After she finished speaking, she quickly gave Zeke a hug that she wished could have lasted longer. Letting him go, she quickly gathered her things. Giving him a small smile, she left the auditorium and then let if fall off her face. Going to the bathroom, she went into a stall and quietly cried until the bell sounded, ending lunch.