The Final: Kiss the Girl
The music was right, the atmosphere was right, the party was right. Sharpay Evans was the luckiest girl in the world. It had taken her ages to lose Gabriella to the crowd, come to the meeting point she had seen on the letter and meet at last her secret admirer. Sharpay couldn't see his face for it was dark and he was wearing a mask, as the Spring Dance was a ball masque. She had drunk enough champagne to be cheerful and the atmosphere around her seemed to be blended.
Still, something about her secret admirer looked very familiar. It could have been his voice. It could have been the way he stood. It could have been the way his hands were moving as he spoke. Sharpay couldn't tell. At first she was too preoccupied to guess who her crush was, but then she relaxed and enjoyed their unique date. It was so great. She felt like she'd known the man near her for ever.
Hmm… could it be Zeke? No, Sharpay had seen him with her adversary, Evelyn the cheerleader captain. In a way, she was happy for him. Sharpay had never really liked Zeke, but the way she was treating him was harsh for even her standards. Now, he seemed to have gone over his crush… Could it be Jason or Chad? Nope, they were together with Kelsi and Taylor. Then, could it be Oliver or Martin from the Drama Club? Neither, as she had spotted them somewhere too… The only people remaining were Troy and Mark. Could it be one of them?
"So, what are you dressed up?" Ryan asked. Everything was going according to plan. Being company to his sister wasn't very difficult. The tough part was to compliment or speak to her like he was in love. This could get really embarrassing. After all, she was his sister and under normal circumstances the scene would seem gross. Other than that, he enjoyed her company.
"I'm the Ice Queen, can't you see?" Sharpay replied playfully, making a graceful turn and a curtsy. "What are you dressed up as?"
"I'm the Emperor… from the tarot cards," he replied.
Sharpay laughed. "You seem more like… a pirate to me. So, it's the tarot then. Do you believe in fate?"
"Yes, I do," Ryan responded, unsure of what to say.
"You are a great dancer…" the blonde commented, as they were swirling across the cafeteria which had been transformed into a dance floor. "You are way better than my brother at rehearsals and he's like professional. I believe in fate too. It was meant to be… you and me… tonight…"
Ryan bit his lip. He felt extremely uncomfortable not because Sharpay mentioned him but because he realized that his own sister was getting in love with him. What could he do? Suddenly, the plan didn't seem like a good idea. He made the quick decision. He would stick to it, hoping that everything would be fine. But hope, of course doesn't make anything guaranteed.
"I want to see your face," Sharpay added with a flare of passion in her voice. "I want us to kiss."
"I don't think that's a very good idea…" Ryan remarked, but as they were dancing he couldn't get away from her. With terror, he saw his sister leaning closer, her lips coming to meet his lips. She stayed there for a really long passionate smooch which seemed like eternity. The plan had backfired, and Ryan stood frozen. This made easier for Sharpay to pull the mask off him, and to see –at last- the face of her secret admirer.
Troy stumbled across Mark in the middle of the dance floor. They exchanged mutual glares, and this could only mean one thing: neither had found Sharpay yet.
Mark was the first to calm down. "Relax, Troy. I haven't seen her either. Gosh, I checked everywhere, spoke to every girl with a brown dress but she is not to be found anywhere. Mate, I believe that for a moment we should set our differences apart and collaborate, just in the sake of locating her…"
"You're right," Troy nodded. "Let the best one win, Markey!"
"I hate it when you call me that! Stop, Troey… well, whatever! You are lucky; 'Troey' doesn't sound right!"
"I know. Listen, Markey, I mean Mark, I noticed something. Sharpay said she was going to be dressed as the Ice Queen, right? Right," Troy answered for himself. "Since when do Ice Queens prefer brown over white?"
Mark thought for a second. "I get your point. For some reason, Ryan tricked us. He knows about the race. He has already confronted Chad and I'm pretty sure he has confronted Jason too."
"Apparently," Troy agreed. "What you believe we should do now?"
"Find her, somehow. Hey, Troy I have an idea. It might be stupid but since we got that far, it may actually work. So, we try together to locate Sharpay. Then, when we find her we race towards her. The first one to approach her, kisses her, and wins her heart. Agreed?"
"I think so. I don't have any better ideas!" Troy smiled. "So, how do we locate her?"
A scream then was heard from the other side of the room. It was the same scream that Troy and Mark had heard some time ago at the mention of callbacks. They could have recognized that voice anywhere.
"On a second thought," Troy added, "locating Sharpay might not be that difficult."
"You are a pervert! You are despicable! I hate you!"
"Sharpay let me explain-"
"Explain, what? Explain maybe that you were my secret admirer all along? Explain why on Earth I kissed my brother? Explain why I was humiliated in front of the whole school? This is plain gross, Ryan, and frankly if you do want to explain, you've got some serious work to do!"
Sharpay was definitely making a huge scene. Half of the East High student population was looking towards the Evans twins, who had gotten rid of their masks and were yelling at each other, in what seemed as an epic sibling fight. Ryan looked really depressed as Sharpay was scolding him. He knew she was right.
"Sorry, Shar. I did it for you," he finally blurted out. "I didn't want you to get hurt!"
"Hurt, of course I'm hurt!" Sharpay cried. "How else should I take it? My own brother is in love with me! I was stupid not to see, not after these beautiful presents, the earrings with the rhinestones forming my initials and our Phantom of the Opera date. I mean, you obviously know this is my favourite musical of all time! I don't believe it!"
"Shar, I repeat, it wasn't me! I faked your secret admirer just for tonight! I don't know who brought you this presents, you hope it was that basketball boy, don't you? You know Sharpay… there is a race going on, with a prize and contestants…"
"Ryan, your obsession with that freaking show, So You Think You Can Dance is irrelevant. I don't see how it relates to the problem! You are never going to take part in it. They won't accept you. Get over it. Get over me!"
"I'm not in love with you, for the millionth time!" Some of the unwanted spectators seemed highly amused, as they thought of this as another well rehearsed comic scene from the dramatic duo. "And I was not referring to talent shows. I was talking about the basketball team! You won't let me explain!"
"Why would I? You kissed me, for God's sake!"
"May I remind you that you were the one who kissed me, and wouldn't let me go?"
"Yep, but this is because you waned to seduce me by having a nice time together!"
It wasn't getting anywhere. In the meanwhile, in the other side of the room, Mark and Troy were on their marks running towards the situation. That was the final, the moment they would be waiting for. Unaware of the drama going on, they started running with a simple objective: to kiss Sharpay. Funnily enough, the dance song changed at that moment, and the Ashley Tisdale's lovely voice filled the East High's corridors.
There you see her
Sitting there across the way
She don't got a lot to say
But there's something about her
And you don't know why
But you're dying to try
You wanna kiss the girl
Yes, you want her
Look at her, you know you do
Possible she wants you too
There is one way to ask her
It don't take a word
Not a single word
Go on and kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
My oh my
Look like the boy too shy
Ain't gonna kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Ain't that sad?
Ain't it a shame?
Too bad, he gonna miss the girl
So quickly everything occurred, Sharpay didn't understand a thing. The one moment she was in the middle of a sibling fight… The next second –smooch! - she was sharing a passionate kiss with Mark Sindall...
Author's Note: The voting is over as of 8.00 pm GMT, Wed, 11 July. (Hehe, I made that more official!) Here are Troy's supporters: doodleswriter357, chris tea xx, BlueEyedGirl19, Gorgeous Nick Stokes, xamyxjx, fibi3, littlewhitelie91, TroypayZashley. This gives him 8 votes. Here are Mark's supporters: countingsheep, MiseryluvsDeath aka Fidele, charmed4eva112, jade-kwl-name-eva, Stessa, Stargatecrazy, Regina Bianca del Mare Azzuro (yep, that's the author, me!). That makes it 7 votes. A general comment: that was really close. Markpay (or Shark… that was a great comment, XD) fans I hope won't be disappointed, but this is ending as a Troypay. Still, as you see from this chapter, even though the end is close… nothing is finished!