Chapter 3: Brown Eyed Girl
A/N: Thank you to all of the reviewers. This is quickly becoming my most popular fic yet! I'm still undecided on the pairings for this story and suggestions are still welcome. This chapter is open to interpretation though so it can go in any direction at this point.
Two birds rested on the roof of a house, greeting the new day with a song. The sun was slowly rising in the east, sending rays of light streaming into houses. A combination of these two occurrences was enough to wake Maddie from her sleep. The sun reflected off of the wall and onto her face. Turning over, she put a pillow over her head to block the light and sounds from rousing her any more. After five more minutes of shifting in bed to attempt at going back to sleep, she gave up. She pulled the blankets back, yawning as she stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. A quick scan of her surroundings brought panic and fear into the forefront of her mind. The room was unfamiliar as was the very large bed that she was sitting in. The fear was soon replaced by relief and excitement as the previous day's events played through her head. Glancing at the wall clock told her that it was a little past 7:30, a perfectly normal time to wake up and not seem too excited. She went into the bathroom and prepared herself for the day ahead. Sharpay had said that her mother was probably planning something so she dressed for a long day.
"Good morning. How did you sleep?" Her mother had stuck her head into the room to see that Maddie was ready for the day ahead.
"I slept great but I woke up early because I'm so excited." She got up off of the bed and followed her mother down the hallway.
"Ryan, time to wake up." He was shaken awake by his mother. Without complaint, he slid out of bed and blinked a few times. He then noticed Maddie looking into his room from the hallway.
"Good morning. You ready for today?" Ryan asked as he passed her on his way to the bathroom.
"Yeah, what are we doing?" Ryan just shrugged his shoulders before closing the door behind him. The last door in the hallway was closed, as usual.
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty." Sharpay immediately pulled the blankets over her head as her mother went around the room opening the windows. She gestured for Maddie to pull the blankets off of her and she complied.
"Mom, it's freezing." She sat up abruptly and opened her eyes to see that it was Maddie that had pulled her sheets away. Maddie stood there like the cat that ate the canary and pointed to the woman standing in the corner. Her mother leveled her a steady glare and Sharpay took the hint, quickly getting out of bed.
"Don't worry, she won't be mad at you since you blamed me." She playfully jibed. Maddie half smiled in response, sorry that she had angered her new sister.
"Come wait with me downstairs. Those two should be down soon." Maddie followed her down to the kitchen where her father was sitting at the table. He was dressed in a business suit and had the newspaper in front of his face.
"Sara, I better start going. My flight leaves in an hour." He put the paper down and finally noticed Maddie standing there.
"Oh, you must be Madeline. Sorry I couldn't see you last night, I had a late meeting." He kissed his wife on the cheek and then awkwardly shook Maddie's hand before leaving.
"Don't worry about him either. He loves you too. He is just really awkward when it comes to showing affection." She smiled as she poured two glasses of orange juice.
"So today I thought we would just show you around Albuquerque. You know get a lay of the land. You will be living here for a year after all." Sara put her empty cup into the sink and filled it with water.
"Sharpay told me to not take up the whole day because she wanted to hit the mall. I agreed so she'll be helping you pick out a new wardrobe. Is that okay?" She explained to her what Sharpay had asked her the night before. Inside, Maddie was clapping gleefully at the thought of all new clothes. She would be able to make an entirely new impression at school and wouldn't have to be the poor workaholic.
"Yeah, that would be great." She replied calmly.
"Come on Ryan, the sooner we leave and get the tourist stuff out of the way we can hit the mall." Sharpay led Ryan to the front door and stopped to look into the kitchen.
"Well, are we going to leave or are you going to sit there and stare?" Sharpay put her hands on her hips as their mother rolled her eyes.
Later at the mall
Sightseeing done for the day, Sharpay insisted that they be taken to the mall as their mother had promised. She dropped them off near the entrance and waved goodbye to her children.
"Bye mommy!" Sharpay waved goodbye in a fake cheery tone. When the silver Mercedes was out of sight, she dropped her hands quickly and turned heel for the front door.
"I thought she would never leave." Sharpay muttered as Ryan and Maddie followed her through the doors.
"So many things to do and so little time." She tsked as she circled Maddie. Sharpay slowly gathered her impression of Maddie's clothing and look before grabbing her hand and pulling her into the first shop she saw. This went on for several stores as Sharpay forced Maddie into fitting rooms, throwing various articles of clothing over the door. Sharpay hummed 'Popular' in her head as she made her way among the racks of clothing.
"Sharpay, you're going to turn her into your clone. You should let her pick some clothes too." Ryan interjected as Sharpay threw another skirt over the door. An 'ow' was heard when the hanger struck Maddie on the forehead.
"What's so bad about her being my clone?" Sharpay turned on Ryan and gave him a glare.
"N-nothing. I was just making a suggestion." Ryan stuttered as he took a step out of Sharpay's line of sight.
"Good, now call Fermin's Beauty Parlour and schedule an appointment for tomorrow. Miss Maddie is going to get the head-to-toe treatment." Sharpay left Ryan to make the phone call and disappeared again amongst the clothing. Maddie took that moment to step out of the fitting room in the clothing that Sharpay had been lobbing at her.
"I don't know about this Ryan. Is she trying to make me look exactly like her?" Maddie questioned as she twirled in place, allowing Ryan to critique her look.
"Don't worry about Shar, she's actually really excited about all this. Just bare with it for now. By the way you look nice." Ryan said as he closed the door in front of Maddie.
"Now get back in there and try on everything Sharpay throws over." He pushed Maddie into the fitting room because none other than Troy Bolton had walked into the store, Gabriella Montez leading him. He looked around reluctantly as Gabi excitedly ran through the racks. Ryan took his distraction as an opening and hid behind a clothing carousel. Troy spotted Sharpay near the back of the store but held himself back from speaking to her. He knew she would probably snap at him and Gabi and was afraid of a possible cat fight. He followed her with his eyes though as she threw a blouse over a fitting room door and walked away. An odd look crossed his face as he tried to decipher her actions. Before he could think about it to hard, Gabi had pulled him to the side and modeled a shirt for him.
"What do you think? Too pink?" She asked him as she held the shirt up to her chest for a size reference.
"Nah, it's fine. I just don't think you could possibly afford it, fifty bucks." He pulled the price tag up to her eye level so that she could read it. She sighed dramatically before putting it back on the rack.
"Once I get my next paycheck I'm coming back here and buying it." She said proudly as she went off into the store in search of more clothing. Across the store, Maddie opened the door to her fitting room and stepped out.
"Ryan, where did you go?" She looked up across the store and met Troy's gaze. Troy, seeing that he was caught, raised his hand up in a small wave and put a sheepish smile on his face. Maddie returned the wave, a blush creeping onto her cheeks.
"Damn, she spotted me. Hopefully she hasn't seen Gabi." Troy pretended to be busy with a pair of pants, thinking that Sharpay had seen him.
"Damn, he's cute. I wonder if Sharpay knows him." She turned around and ducked back into the fitting room to change back into the clothes that she wore into the store. Sighing in relief, Troy quickly sought out Gabi and pulled her out of the store. She protested his rough movement as he threw the shirt she was holding back onto the display table.
"Ok, grab everything that you liked and put it on the counter." Sharpay knocked on the door and Maddie appeared with an armload of clothes.
"How can we afford all of this?" She asked as she followed Sharpay to the cash register.
"Easy, mommy's credit card." She pulled out the piece of plastic and handed it to the cashier. Ryan casually walked up to the girls and put his arms around their shoulders.
"Find anything you like?" He asked as Sharpay pushed his arm off of her.
"Where were you Ryan? Nevermind, just grab the bags, I'll call mom and tell her to pick us up." Sharpay pulled Maddie with her out the door as they left Ryan to carry the bags.
"Don't you just love her?" He asked the cashier rhetorically, an adoring smile plastered on his face. He struggled under the weight but somehow managed to carry their purchases out the door and to the curb where they waited for their mother to arrive.
A/N: I meant to update sooner but I was half dead for the first part of this week. I just started my physical training to get myself ready for the fireman's test. I'm not yet elligible but in the next few years I will be so cross your fingers. My legs feel like lead and I have a limp but it'll all be worth it later. I hope. Anyway, reivew please and peace out.