Chapter Twelve

A/N – Here's a Christmas (holiday) gift from me to you! An update :)

Ryan kept sending concerned glances over to Sharpay…and it was starting to get on her nerves. Ryan had followed her all throughout their house on Saturday after practice, practically forcing her into her room to rest. His mind connected not feeling that well to being an inch from death. She did as she was told, curling up in bed with Ryan bring her some soup, just to appease him.

Now they were seated next to each other on the cramped yellow bus as it headed for the Art Museum. Sharpay tried her best to ignore Ryan's glances by staring out the window at the passing scenery. They would be there a lot sooner than they thought they'd be, it was Monday morning so not many people were out on the road since many were either in school or at work. She knew why Ryan was worried about her today…it had nothing to do with 'not feeling well' before…it had to do with the fact that she wasn't nearly as excited at visiting the museum now as she had been before. For Sharpay Ice Queen Evans to not be excited about anything creative was a sure sign of the apocalypse.

She had never been happier than when the bus pulled right up to the main steps of the museum, it meant a distraction for Ryan…though she doubted he'd be very distracted with his 'little' sister acting so oddly. She rolled her eyes at that. He was only two minutes older than her and he made sure that she was reminded of that at least once a week.

Ms. Darbus ushered them all inside telling them that they were free to do what they wanted as long as they stayed in the museum and met back there at 5. Then she was gone, somewhere to get her creativity going, before anyone could even say Musical…

Sharpay and Ryan wandered over to Kelsi, Chad, Gabriella, Taylor, and Troy, before all walking off around the museum. It was a really good day, they had gotten to see Roman artifacts and the Medieval suits of armor in only the first few hours before heading over to the Egyptian section.

Sharpay kept her finger's crossed as they stepped into the Egyptian section. She had done some research on the museum and found that they had had an Egyptian section. Sharpay had been so excited to go to that section. Some of the memories were becoming clearer to her, she could now recall most of the ones from Egypt and was hoping that visiting that section, seeing some of the artifacts, might help her to clear up the rest of them…and maybe even spark something in Troy…

They spent nearly 45 minutes just looking at all the artifacts that the museum was able to accumulate…but nothing. No memories became clearer and no hint of recollection in Troy. She had nearly given up hope of clearing up anything when they arrived in the hall of music, a magnificent hall filled with instruments from all different time periods. They had some ancient forms of instruments and even some classical instruments from only a few centuries ago.

Sharpay couldn't suppress a small smile, as she looked at all the different instruments. There were some that she had never even heard about, and some that she couldn't even fathom how to play, but then…they passed the violins and pianos.

Sharpay's smile fell, as she was barely able to stifle a gasp when she saw it. Her piano!

Well…not hers…but it was…Soleil's? Yes, it had been Soleil's.

She walked slowly over to it, staring at it intently. She reached out, just wanting to brush her fingers over the keys one more time when someone grabbed her hand, stopping her.

She looked up to see Ryan staring at her, laughter in his eyes, "What are you doing Shar?" he asked trying to hide his laugh, "You know we're not supposed to touch anything."

She let out a forced laugh, "Right…" she shook her head, pulling her hand back as she stared at the piano once again. "It looks just like it did…" she whispered to herself. She glanced up to see everyone staring at her with odd expressions; she hadn't realized she'd said that loud enough for them to hear. "I…I mean…I'm just amazed that it's in such good condition…you know, being a little more than 150 years old…"

"Yeah…" Chad said, laughing semi forced as well, "Really impressive…"

Sharpay rolled her eyes at him, the most excited he'd gotten so far had been when they passed a Roman plate with two women playing some sort of ball game.

They headed out f the section, making their way to the food court. Surprisingly the food in the museum's cafeteria wasn't that bad…at least, it was much better than the school's cafeteria food. They still wanted to check out the Japanese Zen garden and the paintings before they left.

They had just left the Zen garden, the guys practically pulling the girls away from oohing and ahhing at the koi fish. Now they were just wandering around the art section, looking at the paintings lining the walls.

Sharpay stopped for a moment, digging through her purse to try to find her lip-gloss. She managed to find it, applying it while keeping an eye on her friends as they continued along the walls, Gabriella and Taylor occasionally looking through the booklets they had picked up at the entrance. She went to place her lip-gloss back in her purse when her gaze drifted away from the gang and along the other paintings on the walls. Her eyes landed on a hallway just next to her, more paintings lining it, but the one that caught her attention was the one at the very end. She glanced back at the group before turning and walking straight down the hall, eyes firmly planted on the one painting.

Ryan turned to ask Sharpay her opinion on one of the paintings they were looking at entitled 'Tickle Me Pink'. If anyone could tell you what was what with anything involving the color pink it was Sharpay. His eyes widened slightly when he realized that she wasn't there. "Hey," he started, getting the attention of the group as they walked a little ways away, "Have any of you seen Sharpay?"

"Yeah," Gabriella said, "She was just behind…" she looked around them as well, "I…guess not…"

Troy looked around, squinting when he saw something lying on the floor. "I think I saw her back there," he said nodding in that direction, "I'll go get her…you guys go on, we'll catch up."

The group nodded, waving slightly as they continued walking, Ryan shot him an appreciative look. Troy nodded before walking off to the small object on the ground. He picked it up, it was lip gloss…probably Sharpay's. He looked around wondering where she had gone…then he saw her…at the end of a hall of paintings, standing before one at the end.

He shook his head before half walking, half jogging down the hall to get her. "Hey, Sharpay!" he said stopping just beside her, "What are you looking…" He trailed off when he finally looked at the painting she was staring at. A look of confusion marred his face as he too stared at the painting, something stirring within him. The painting consisted of a blonde woman sitting before a piano, facing it so her face could not be seen. She was playing it, her body language indicating that she was enjoying it.

He stared to raise his arm, reaching up as if to touch it when Sharpay suddenly grabbed his hand and brought it back down, "Troy!" she exclaimed turning to face him, as if just noticing he was there. "You're not allowed to touch the paintings."

He turned to face her, confusion evident in his eyes as if he didn't understand why he shouldn't touch the painting. "But…it's mine…I …I mean…it seems…familiar…" he elaborated, turning back to stare at the painting.

Sharpay nodded, "I know…" She stared at the painting a moment longer before turning to face Troy. She looked closely at him seeing something akin to familiarity flashing through his eyes. Was he remembering? She didn't know. She looked back at the end of the hall before looking back at Troy. She was almost positive that Ryan or someone had sent him to find her. It would only be a few moments before Ryan's paranoia would send someone else to find them both. She sighed, she couldn't wait to see if Treves' painting would spark something in Troy…she didn't have time…they were supposed to leave soon…

She slowly backed away, pulling Troy with her since she had yet to let go of his hand. The small tug seemed to be enough to snap him out of his thoughts because he turned as well and led her down the hall and back to the group.

A/N – I fully anticipated for this chapter to be longer than it was…but it just turned out to be short. But I can make up for the shortness with the next chapter…official Troypay!