Clue: A Secret Uncovered
"Kick, step, kick, turn, turn, kick, step, turn!" Usually it was Sharpay yelling these words to her brother, longing for perfection within every move, but it seemed now that the roles were reversed. "To the beat, kick, turn, turn, kick! Step, arm, step, arm, turn, turn, kick! Sharpay, are you all right? Have you forgotten your steps? Turn, arm, arm, step, step, kick!"
Sharpay danced and twirled around when she lost her balance and fell to her knees. She was clearly confused. This had never ever happened to her before. It was humiliation, and worst of all, it had happened in front of her back-up dancers.
"Gretchen, Angelique, Martina, Desiree, Florence, practice has finished for today. You can leave. Drew, Sean, Martin, Oliver, Ivan you can take a small break. In half an hour exactly I want you back to rehearse Act Three. No please let me have a word with my sister!" Ryan coordinated.
"Wow! You're almost as good as me at that!" Sharpay admired. "Maybe you should try some leadership classes I can offer you, including yelling and being mean and a stuck-up snob, in other words, the perfect Ice King!"
"What happened, Sharpay?" Ryan asked protectively, hugging his sister. "It's not you, forgetting the steps of our dancing routine. Are you all right? I mean, no offense but usually you are the one coordinating and yelling and being mean and a stuck-up snob, in other words the perfect Ice Princess."
"I love your sense of humour, probably because I have the same!"
"Seriously, Shar, are you ok? I don't want you to get too tired!"
"I'm fine, Ryan, really. See, I can do our routine. Kick, step, kick, turn, turn, kick, step, turn! Kick, turn, turn, and kick! Oops, I was late by half a second there. Sorry, I promise I'll work on it!"
"Sharpay, you've been thinking about him again, haven't you?"
"I've been thinking about whom, exactly?"
"Your secret crush, come on! Shar, you can trust me. I won't tell anyone. Just tell me who it is. It will make matters so much easier, I promise!"
"I'm sorry, I can't!" Sharpay insisted. "Don't you see Ryan? I'm pretty confused myself. He's sweet and nice and great but there's still something holding me back."
"Let me guess: is it Troy Bolton, Chad Danforth, Mark Sindall or Jason Cross?"
"It's one of them," Sharpay sighed.
"That's enough for me," Ryan smiled. "I don't want to put to much pressure on you. You can now go. The boys and I will work on Act Three, because there's so much work to do!"
"You're like the greatest brother ever!" Sharpay hugged Ryan and left the practice room.
Ryan was left alone in his thoughts. He had been correct! His sister interest was indeed someone from the basketball team. But, then, the entire basketball team had started to act weird as far as Sharpay was concerned in the last weeks. What did they want from her? If anyone was to hurt her, Ryan would certainly make his life miserable. Not many people knew but he had taken martial arts classes when he was younger, excelling in capoeira and kung fu.
He had an idea. He called Drew, Sean, Martin, Oliver and Ivan on their mobiles to tell them that today's rehearsal had been postponed for another day. Then, he took his folders and went to the gym, where the basketball team was supposed to have a practice session. Weird enough, he didn't find anyone there…
"Where could they be," he kept asking himself until he stumbled upon Taylor in the hallway. She was wearing her white lab coat, which meant she was rushing to her chemistry class. Still, Ryan took the time to interrogate her, with his subtle, characteristic way.
"Hey, Taylor, what's up lately?"
"Hi Ryan!" the always chic Decathlon Captain returned with a smile. "Oh, there's work and work and more work, always for us. You see, there's a set of difficult equations the team is currently working on. They are so difficult that they say Einstein himself had difficulty solving them. You know it's about the logarithm of pi squared to the tangent of the circle which forms a scalene triangle and according to Newton's Laws of Motion…"
Ryan didn't understand a single thing. He could swear all these were nonsense to him. He knew though, if he played his cards right he could learn what he wanted. Taylor was like an open book: "Well, if you ever have any trouble, I'll be here to help!"
"Thanks, Ryan, that's sweet of you but you're only a B+ in math," Taylor said, sounding like she'd actually called him a super doofus. "On the other hand though, there has been something else troubling me for the past few days. It's Chad. You know, for the last few days he has been pretty distant. I think he doesn't like me anymore. What can I do Ryan? I'm afraid he's cheating on me!"
"I don't think so!" Ryan rushed to say. "You are a lovable girl, Taylor and a very bright one too." Her face was beaming with happiness at the compliment as Ryan went on, "Speaking of Chad, do you know where I could find him? I have to talk with him about something, maybe reminding him to ask a wonderful girl for a date!"
"You will find him, with the rest of the basketball team in that usually empty classroom in the first floor, near the stairs. I'm not permitted to go there because they mostly talk about men's issues, as he said" Taylor giggled. "Thanks, Ryan, you really made my day!"
"Thank you, Taylor" the actor added wittingly and took his way towards the –usually empty- classroom.
"Can we have the results, please?" Mark asked. "I'm dying to know!"
"Not before we torture you first!" Troy acknowledged. "That would have been too easy!"
"The truth is," Coach Bolton started. "You and Chad were really close. You have both had your good and bad moments throughout the competition and, frankly it was a very difficult choice. Still, one of you had the very edge over the other. Would you both take a minute to talk to us and explain your experiences?"
"Right!" Chad started. "I've been in that position before and I'm very stressed out again. Guys, I really want to win the competition! I try and try and each stage seems more and more difficult, but I really like Sharpay and…"
"What are you talking about?" Mark interrupted, clearly angry. "You are ungrateful! You have Taylor, and she's a very special girl! Guys, seriously, I can't see why we started that competition in the first place. You all, with the possible exception of Zeke, have wonderful girlfriends! I should win. I don't know guys… It doesn't seem right! I quit!"
"You quit?" Troy blurted out. "But… you won this round! You did beat Chad by one vote!"
"I did?" Mark smiled bitterly. "Well, Troy, this would make me happy, very happy otherwise. Sharpay is not a simple crush for me; I really have feelings for her. I sometimes envy you for having girlfriends but what if I am the winner and she doesn't want me to? Have you ever thought of that?"
"Well, there's only one way you will know!" Chad, are relatively remained silent, remarked. "You are still in the race, unlike me. In a way you are right, Mark. Speaking for myself, I should be grateful for having Taylor: she's simply the best. She's smart and classy and funny… We are meant to be together. Still, if the competition started from the beginning, I'd participate again! How can you leave aside all the excitement, the effort? For my part, I just hope my girlfriend never knows I was in this, because that would hurt her unbelievably!"
"Chad is right Mark." Coach Bolton added. "You are known to be a good player and I'd never expect you to quit! On the other hand, since we are all in this, I'd like to ask you not to question anyone's motives as to entering this competition. Each of us is responsible for his choices like…"
"…like in the game. Other than that, we're always a team!" Mark cheered. "Alright, I'm in! Thank you everyone!"
"So, why don't you choose next round's challenge?" Chad laughed. "Our time is almost up!"
"Fine, I'll tell you my idea. It is simple, really, but flexible: Let her inspire you."
"What?" Zeke asked, almost terrified. "That sounds way too girly!"
"Still, it isn't!" Mark defended his idea. "True love means inspiration. The greatest songs and the most classic plays were composed in the name of love. Each man who respects himself has a muse. Coach Bolton said before not to challenge anyone's motives for entering this competition!"
"Fair enough," Troy responded, "that's fine with me. So, I guess what we have to do is… be creative?"
Mark nodded, giving the signal for the end of the team's meeting. The time given would be an entire week again… The basketball players started to exit the class slowly. They chatted among themselves and gave each other ideas. Jack Bolton locked the classroom and left by himself.
No one had paid attention to a male figure by the stairs, who has eavesdropped the whole meeting. He was a tall young man with blond hair wearing very fashionable clothes and a matching fashionable hat. If someone came closer, he could be heard talking to himself: "So, that's what they've been up to… a race! And if I quite understood, my sister is the price! These basketball players certainly got nerve…"
Author's Note: It was a close one that duel between Mark and Chad. Mark had 4 votes to stay while Chad had 2, and two of you would be happy with either result. So, Mark stays while Chad still has Taylor. Ryan on the other hand not only is hard to impress as jade-kwl-name-eva remarked but is now threatening to ruin the competition! Don't get him wrong, though! He's not a villain; he just loves his sister and doesn't want her to be hurt… Maybe he's overprotective, but I'd love to have a brother like Ryan! But then, he is too handsome to be my brother (he could be my boyfriend, if he liked… hehe!) which makes Mario (aka my real brother) quite ok I guess… Just kidding, I love him and I'm a very overprotective sister too! Well, hope to see you soon.