Author's Note: Dear readers, wherever you may be…things are going to get hectic! So STAY TUNED! Shout out to omg, it's sunkissed blonde, Incandescent Angel, and of course, my formerly future, now present best online friend, Dernier Cri! That statement will probably only make sense to her, by the way. I'm not sure it even makes sense to me!

DISCLAIMER: I am far too lazy to think up my own fortune in the cookie for this chapter! So I fully acknowledge that the words of wisdom in that curved, golden delight come from the writers of Freaky Friday!

Chapter 3

The Last Final Straw

Sharpay

Sharpay climbed into the van after Ryan. They greeted Kelsi and Ms. Darbus as she closed the door behind them.

"I really like your outfit, Sharpay," said Kelsi.

"Of course, you do." She had not quite forgiven Kelsi for finally growing a spine and standing up to her at the callbacks, therefore helping Troy and Gabriella crush her dreams.

"You look great, too, Kels," said Ryan warmly.

Sharpay rolled her eyes but said nothing. She supposed Kelsi did look okay in her red top and dark jeans, hair loose around her pale little shoulders. Dating a Wildcat had given her a lot more confidence it seemed, whereas all it gave Sharpay was a heightened sense of prestige. But her pride had taken a hard knock when Zeke dumped her. She was not one to be defeated, though. Sharpay would get back on that horse. She just needed to find an almost exact replica of Troy Bolton.

Fifteen minutes later Troy and Gabbie were climbing into the van. Sharpay was startled at the way her heart skipped a beat when she saw him. It was an unfamiliar feeling. The last time she had it in relation to a boy was when she first tried Zeke's cookies.

Well, really, Troy could make anybody's heart stop looking like that. He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a crucifix glinted at his chest. Simple yet effective. She glimpsed his butt with a smidgen guilt as he slid into the back seat with Gabriella.

"Hi, Gabbie," said Ryan and she could tell that he was struggling to control the rapidity with which he spoke. "I uh…I really like your dress."

"Thanks, Ryan." She smiled that smile that was so perfect it could not be human and Ryan could barely reciprocate it. He seemed to collapse back into his seat and Sharpay could tell by the way he squeezed his eyes shut that he was wishing he could have said something less gay.

She grimaced for him. He would get over it, the way she was getting over her Troy infatuation. And he would find someone better. Well…he probably wouldn't. But it always helped her to say it to herself.

She busied herself re-applying lipgloss to her pretty pout.

"You really look beautiful," said Ryan suddenly, when there was a lull in the general conversation.

Gabriella smiled, softly now. Like a freaking fairy princess or something.

"Thank you."

"Doesn't she look beautiful, Sharpay?" She glared at him. He was making another desperate attempt to convey his emotions without conveying anything and it was only out of pity that she spoke.

"She looks…simple."

"Thanks, Sharpay." Gabbie's tone was wry now. "You look…different."

Sharpay ignored her and turned to Troy. "Well, now that we're on my favorite subject, what do you think of my outfit, Troy?"

He shrugged in that helplessly charming way of his. "If you were going for inappropriate you nailed it." There wasn't a trace of malice in his voice, just mild amusement.

She gave something between a smirk and a smile because she did not want to show exactly how pleased she was.

Sharpay sat back in her seat and in the dimness of the car, exchanged a wistful look with Ryan, knowing he was thinking and feeling the exact same thing.

Gabriella

"God, have you noticed how much Ryan's been staring at you all night?"

Gabriella looked to the other side of the round table. Ryan turned away as soon as their eyes met.

She frowned slightly. "Don't laugh at him, Troy," she whispered back.

He grinned in that harmless way of his. "I'm not! It's just, he kind of looks like puppy that hasn't been fed."

Gabbie shook her head and Troy resumed conversation with Kelsi, realizing she was not amused. Throughout their relationship Gabriella realized that Troy had something of a cruel streak in him. She did not like it. Not that she wanted him to be perfect or anything, just more sensitive. He was almost arrogant at times. But she could not blame him. With everyone in school labeling him a "superstar" he was bound to be a tad egotistical.

But the good thing about Ryan was that there was no delusion of grandeur about him. Whether or not Sharpay was pulling the strings Ryan was who he was, and he knew what he wanted out of life. He knew how to treat people. He had a good heart, and she thought him very brave, more so than people realized. Plus he could pull off a red fedora better than any boy on earth she knew of.

Both Troy and Gabbie knew Ryan had a crush on her. It was just one of those obvious things they never really talked about. And when Troy made fun of him or teased her about it she got very uncomfortable. But, of course, they never fought.

"Earth to Gabriella, earth to Gabriella!"

Before she knew what was happening the wine cork from Ms. Darbus' bottle had bounced of her forehead and into her bowl of chicken chow-main. She looked away from Ryan quickly.

Sharpay was giggling innocently. "I was trying to get your attention! You were like, a million miles away. What? Would you rather I threw a piece of pork?"

Gabriella looked indignantly to Ms. Darbus who was engaged in theatre talk with Kelsi. She tossed the cork back impatiently and it landed right in the middle of Sharpay's bosom. She did not have much going for her in the upper region but the dress seemed to squeeze and lift everything into the right place and Sharpay ended up having to fish it out, quite ungracefully. Gabriella caught her glancing at Troy and she turned just in time to catch him staring. Then he saw her glaring quietly at him and proceeded to focus on his plate. Ryan's lips were pursed in a vague smile.

Her cheeks flushed suddenly with annoyance. Was it the cork in her food? Or the sneer curling Sharpay's insolent, pretty little mouth. Who knew? Who cared? Gabriella managed to dip all five fingers into her glass of water and flicked it at Sharpay.

She flinched as if it were acid. "Careful, you brain with legs! This is a thousand dollar dress!" They had Ms. Darbus' attention.

"That Halloween costume?" Gabbie said before she could stop herself. "I could have sworn it was a rental!" She flicked a bit more water.

"Gabriella!" Ms. Darbus exclaimed.

"Well, she started it! I was j-" Gabriella gasped. The table went silent. Sharpay had just filled up a table spoon with water and thrown it into her face. So juvenile.

Now Gabbie was a nice girl, but she was no wimp. She snatched a piece of sweet 'n' sour pork from Troy's plate and lobbied it at Sharpay. Ryan intercepted with his hand and Sharpay proceeded to pick up a piece of stir-fry chicken. She hit Troy. Before either girl had time to think, or listen to Ms. Darbus' angry chiding, noodles and chicken and sauce and water were flying and Troy, Ryan and Kelsi were ducking under the table and the whole restaurant was silent as the girls shrieked and cursed. In all the commotion neither girl noticed Ms. Darbus nod hastily to the Chinese woman emerging from the steamy kitchens.

It took Ms. Darbus' finally standing up and yelling in a way that would make banshees cringe:

"ENOUGH!"

Gabriella halted in the middle of flinging a fistful of noodles and it seemed to be taking Sharpay all the willpower she possessed to not to chuck Ms. Darbus' glass of red wine. Hot shame and embarrassment flushed her cheeks now. Troy, Ryan and Kelsi just looked shell-shocked.

"If this restaurant were built in East High," Ms. Darbus looked ready to explode, "you two would be expelled!"

The word expulsion was enough to make Gabriella feel faint.

Right at that moment, an old Chinese woman with a round sweet face and sleek black hair pinned back, approached their table. Gabriella totally expected to be screamed at in Chinese but all the owner did was smile a little. She was carrying a small silver tray of what looked like fortune cookies.

"Good evening, everyone," she said with soft geniality, as if nothing much had happened. As if two skinny young girls were not panting like dogs and covered in noodles. "Fortune cookie?" she offered. There were only two on the plate. Ryan reached out and Ms. Darbus promptly slapped his hand.

"I think this is the last time Gabriella and Sharpay will be out for a long time," she said tersely. "Let them have the cookies."

Sharpay shook her head slowly. "I'm not hungry any m-"

"Take. The. Cookie." Her eyes looked about to bulge out of her head. They obeyed without another word. "Go clean up."

They both clasped the curved, golden treats in their hands and made their way swiftly to the bathroom. Gabriella got there first and quickly locked the door on Sharpay. The crazy blonde proceeded to bang on the door.

"Hey, I need to use the bathroom, too! I've got freaking egg rice in my hair!"

Gabriella ignored her, broke up the cookie and scoffed it before opening her fortune with shaky hands, her body working ahead of her mind. On the other side of the door, Sharpay was tearfully doing the same.

They both read in throaty whispers…

"A journey soon begins, its prize reflected in another's eyes. When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back."

She scrunched the paper up and threw it in the small waste bin by the sink. Gabriella was never one for fortunes, or anything related to the supernatural. Numbers, facts, statistics, that's what did it for her. What she struggled to get a grasp on (and this was one of a very short list) were her own emotions. She could not for the life of her understand why Ryan's pretty pout made her want to burst into desperate tears.

Sharpay

Sharpay scrunched up the fortune and tossed it away randomly. She could not regret what she had done.

She got to attack Gabriella! Gabriella was not clean and it was her doing! And Troy had been staring at her boobs! Yes, it was lusty and mindless- typically male. But at least that showed he acknowledged her as a girl worth having, even if only for her body.

But she had humiliated Ms. Darbus and for that she was sad. She had not been thinking clearly and even now she was not thinking clearly and before she could sort herself out the earth began to tremble, suddenly, violently. Sharpay leaned against the door, gripping the knob for support as the tremors worked their way up to her head, making her very teeth clatter. The lights flickered. On the other side of the door Gabriella shrieked.

"It's an earthquake!" she cried over the din. "What do we do?"

"I don't know!" was Gabbie's muffled response.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" she cried woefully. "Don't you have a textbook on this in your purse or something?"

Just when Sharpay was going to scream for Gabbie to open the freaking door the tremors stopped. The lighting stabilized. Three seconds later Gabriella opened the door, still looking like she had hopped out of a garbage truck. Sharpay noted dismally that she was no better.

"You okay," Sharpay muttered.

Gabbie nodded hastily. "Just a little shaken."

"Oh, you did not just say that!"

She suddenly caught onto her own pun. "Okay, that was totally unintentional!"

Sharpay smirked and then a second later realized she was supposed to be hating her. She pushed her way into the bathroom and they spent the next ten minutes fighting over sink space. There was no way of washing properly now, but they got most of the food particles out.

"Time to face the music," said Sharpay wryly.

"And you scoff at my puns!"

Sharpay felt much more confident walking back into the restaurant now. The patrons would probably be too "shaken" to even remember their food fight and Ms. Darbus would be too worried about them to be angry.

Sharpay stopped in mid-step and Gabriella walked right into her back. They stared about the place in silence. The room was as calm and elegant as it had been before the food fight. Their fellow diners were talking in low, comfortable murmurs, some of them turning to stare at Shar and Gabbie shrewdly.

"Jeez Louis," she muttered. "You'd think nothing had ever happened!"

They walked to their table uncertainly where Ms. Darbus was as angry as ever, but remained silent. Ryan and Kelsi were regarding them apprehensively, Troy looked amused.

"Man, that was scary!" said Sharpay uneasily, sliding into her seat next to Ryan.

"It was," said Ryan. "Those white meats flying all over the place…"

"That was a shameful display, you two," said Ms. Darbus stiffly. She said nothing else. Sharpay glanced at Gabbie.

"Er…did y'all not notice the big earthquake?" And was she still going to punish them? Ms. Darbus was acting a little too controlled for Sharpay's liking.

Three pairs of eyes focused on her, confusion clear in them now.

"What earthquake?" said Kelsi.

"What do you mean, what earthquake?" said Gabriella. "It was five minutes ago."

They all stared at her. "I think we've all had enough excitement for one night. Thank you for spoiling a perfectly good evening." She rose regally.

Sharpay's eyes widened. What the hell was going on? "But-"

"Get your things together, everyone. I'm going to apologize to Lu Ling for your behavior and then we're leaving."

She walked away, leaving an awkward, befuddled table of teenagers behind.

Sharpay crawled into bed after taking a hot shower, changing into her nightie, warning Ryan not to tell their parents what had happened or else she would kill him and then giving him a goodnight hug.

With Troy and Gabbie's typical canoodling and whispering sweet-nothings into each other's ears, the weird fortune cookie and the earthquake which apparently no one else had felt, the evening proved to be disastrous. But she still got to throw food at Gabriella. And for now, that would do…