Chapter 7

Mistakes and Mishaps

XD

I stood there angrily outside of the Evans' front door. I had no idea why I did what I did. I leaned my head back on the door and thought about how over-dramatic I was being. I saw Sharpay's hurt expression crossing my mind. Sighing, I checked my watch: Three minutes had past and no one had barged out of the front door yet. Wasn't anyone going to come and see if I'm alright?

Having had enough, I walked down the Evans' front steps; they probably think I'm too much of a goody-two-shoes to do something like that. They're probably laughing at the image of me, strolling around the new streets looking dazed. Well, I'll prove them wrong. I'll show them Maddie Fitzpatrick can do just about anything with her keen sense of direction! Stupid Sharpay…

I stormed down the driveway and walked down the sidewalk, making my way through the semi-crowded neighborhood. It was filled with teenagers, all giving me odd looks and shared surprised glances with each other. What is with this town? What? They've never seen a girl walk down the street before?

"Ice Queen…walking? … Fight…Porsche." I heard snippets of people's conversations as I passed by. I was angry and I didn't even know why. Maybe this walk will clear up my mind. I shoved past people and gave everyone a glare if they looked at me, this was really starting to tick me off.

After fifteen minutes of walking, my stomach growled in hunger, begging me to feed it. My throat was itchy and the cold dry air I was breathing in wasn't really helping. The skies darkened above; exhausted and irritably, I stopped in front of a nearby café and dug into my back pocket, praying I would find money crumpled in it. Now, if I was with London I wouldn't have this problem, I thought bitterly.

I finally produced a ten dollar bill. After straightening out the bill I pushed one of the glass doors open, a gush of cool breeze sweeping over my body as soon as I stepped inside. The café was warm and cozy. It had a deep orange painted on the walls -- not the vomit, eye burning kind but a soothing, kind of dark orange. It looked kind of piney, but then again it didn't. Against the wall there was a huge flat-screen TV with two couches positioned before it.

The couches were a deep shade of lime green, the difference kind of similar as with the orange. There were many perfectly chosen pieces of artwork hanging on the sides of the walls. On the other side of the room there was a jukebox so you could pick which song you wanted to listen to. There were also small metal tables and chairs scattered around the room. This place was infested with teenagers all chatting, or watching some stupid soccer game on the TV. Many were, in fact, crowded around the TV cheering on their team; some others were hanging around by the jukebox and the rest were just sitting with their friends, chatting up a storm.

Suddenly, all the noise came to a halt. Only the TV was heard, and it hardly sounded like anyone was breathing except me. All eyes were, unfortunately, glued to me with every movement I made. I took a step forward and it was like everyone was holding their breath, waiting for something to happen. I looked down at my clothes and then looked back up again. I wasn't wearing anything bad, just a pair of jeans with a long T-shirt with a picture of a skull over a guitar and tons of glitter.

I shrugged it off and walked over toward the cashier. It was a guy who looked like he was in his early twenties; he had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. If I hadn't been in such a fowl mood, honestly, I probably would've thought he was cute. As soon as I walked up to the register everyone seemed to learn how to breathe again and recommenced chatting with their friends, continuing on with their lives; they were still very aware of my presence, though. I could sense they were talking about me. I'm not deaf and I'm not dumb, but apparently some people here were because a few of them were pointing conspicuously at me.

"Hey Sharpay. Your usual, right? Where's Ryan?" the guy behind the counter asked me before I could even get a word out.

"I'm not Sharpay, I'm Maddie," I stated angrily, "and I'd like to have a French Vanilla." I left out the please on purpose because he called me Sharpay. The boy let out a forced laugh before he continued to talk.

"Very funny, Sharpay. Now tell me, where's Ryan?" he asked again.

As if I wasn't pissed off before...

"I am not Sharpay! I'm Maddie! Ryan's home! Get me my coffee!" I stomped my foot and clenched my hands into a ball. The guy gave me a weird look before he started up again. These Albuquerque people never catch on, do they?

"Earth to Sharpay, welcome back. You'd think, me being your older step-cousin and all, I'd get some respect…" he mumbled to himself and went to get my coffee. I turned around to find everyone looking at me again. I glared at anyone who caught my eye and they all turned around, pretending they didn't care. I was already in a bad mood, and this was definitely not something I needed.

"Here you are," I turned back around, "one Soy Latté." I frowned at the boy, was it his first day or something?

"But I wanted a French Vanilla!" I glared at him, I was really beginning to lose my cool.

"But you always have a Soy Lat—"

"Never mind!" I turned around and stomped out of the Café.

"Drama Queen… spoiled little rich girl… Ice Queen reigns again!" I heard what they all said, and I found it my place to ignore them. Not one of them knew me; they didn't know anything about me, and they never will. Ice Queen… that's the second time today! And that crazy guy said he's my step-cousin. Step-cousin, honestly! Was he trying to play me for a fool?

I stomped along the sidewalk with my head bent. It had become noticeably darker since I came out of that stupid café, but I ignored it. I no longer desired any stimulating liquid to ease my soul and calm my worries. The people on the sidewalk made sure they didn't come into contact with me, watching where I stepped so there wasn't any annoying collisions occurring. I saw that I was no longer walking on the sidewalk; instead of cement, grass and dirt was under my feet. A cold, gentle breeze made me shiver and hug myself in pity.

I looked around, having no idea where I was. I couldn't even see the café from here. I looked up, the sight of a park greeting my eyes. How cliché, it's just like in all of those stories. The girl goes to the park, someone finds her and they live happily ever after. This obviously was not the case with me. I checked my watch, noticing I had been gone for over half an hour now and still no sign of Sharpay, Ryan or her nitwitted friend Gabriella. I don't know why I don't like Gabriella. Maybe it's because she reminds me of London? Who knows.

I walked over to the swing set and made myself comfortable. I thought about Sharpay. Why was I mad at her anyway? A single raindrop fell on my head, jolting me back into reality. I looked up into the dark purple sky and watched as the raindrops fell down until it became an official rainstorm. I didn't move. I simply sat there ignoring the rain, ignoring my hunger, ignoring the thunder, ignoring the world.

I wondered what they were doing now. I checked my watch again, only seven minutes had passed. Wow, time flies when you're sitting in the rain. Why would Sharpay want to hide me from her friends? I know she 'showed' me to Gabriella, but what if she decided to store me away into her closet until her friend left? I felt like some article of clothing she just got from 'Aunt Helen'. I scowled at Aunt Helen, whoever she was. I frowned at the thought of Sharpay. I am so pissed at her right now.

I wished I was back in Boston. I'm sure this would've never happened. I'm sure I would've never felt this disowned. I smiled when I thought about everyone. Sure I was happy when my mom told me I wasn't really Liam's sister, elated even, but I'd give anything to hear him calling me 'Fatty,' or to see Zack and Cody, Mr. Moseby, Carrie and London, even Esteban and Lance.

Okay, so maybe I didn't want to see Liam, or hear him at all. That little brat ruined my sweet sixteen, and a girl only turns sixteen once in her lifetime! Well, it turned out okay, in the end. Tears of confusion made their way down my cheeks, I sniffled and I pictured myself running away. Running away from everything, from everyone. Maybe I was being unreasonable, maybe a little over-dramatic.

I thought about how long I must've been gone, what Sharpay, Ryan and Gabriella must be doing right now. I wonder if they really care. It looked like they cared when we first met. Then again, looks can be deceiving. I just feel so loved knowing that I'd been gone for almost an hour and there was still no sign of them. You'd think they'd find me by now. Well, if they were even looking, which they probably weren't. It was best not to get my hopes up.

Maybe, maybe I could really become a runaway. I could dye my hair black and cut it really, really short. Then, I could change my name to… to Michelle! Michelle Gowen. And I'll move to Mexico and have little Mexican babies.

'You know, Maddie, for a supposedly smart girl you really do think of some stupid things,' I told myself bitterly. I watched with fascination as three of my mascara-mixed-with-water teardrops fell onto my hand. Two of the teardrops joined together to form this big one, while another drop remained by itself, going in the opposite direction. How ironic.

I saw a pair of black shiny shoes pounding against the grass hurriedly making their way towards me. I didn't look up and I didn't even move when they halted to a stop in front of me. I knew who it was; I just didn't know why that person was here. It was as if that person really cared, standing in front of me appearing to be soaking wet. The person called out my name softly and asked me if I was okay. Finally, someone who cared, someone who was actually worried and concerned when I ran away. He pulled me into a hug and even though I didn't smile on the outside, I smiled on the inside. My hero had finally arrived.

Ryan and I stood there in the rain hugging. We didn't talk, there was no communication going on. It was as if he had done this on numerous occasions. We stood there, for however long I didn't care. I didn't care that my hair, outfit, and makeup were all ruined. I was just happy someone came to save the day.

XD

I finally finsihed, I'm not to fond of it but whatever. If you like it, you're awesome, if you don't, you're still awesome. Different people, different opinions. Thanks to Sophia for correcting all the mistakes I made. Review?

Ash