Author's Note: Sorry for the late update! School. You know the story. The Darbus will make an appearance! Coz she started this whole crazy thing after all! Keep reading and hopefully enjoying!

Chapter 10

Selfless Love

Sharpay

Sharpay had a plan. And for the first time in a long time, she was on the side of good. Every night she went to sleep, Shar thought of Mrs. Montez, sitting downstairs, alone, watching CNN, alone, and then going to bed, alone. It just didn't seem right! If "Lola" was her mum she would do anything she could to make the woman happy. As it were, Mrs. Montez was her mum, therefore it was her responsibility to ensure her happiness, before all her hormones dried up and she became a sad old spinster.

While she was under house arrest, i.e grounded, Sharpay took the opportunity to dig up dirt on Michael Alman. He was forty-five, a mere five years Mrs. Montez's senior, he was on the PTA with her, and that would mean he had a daughter. Her name was Marie and she was a year below Sharpay. Mr. Alman was a widower which was brilliant. Well, not brilliant per se. Not for his dead wife, at least. But definitely good for Mrs. Montez!

Sharpay had never heard of Marie in school which was either a good thing for a bad thing. She could be a reclusive goth freak, or one of those "nice" ugly girls. She sought her out in the cafeteria last Monday and was glad to find she was neither. Marie was plumpish, with large blue puppy eyes like Mr. Alman and curly blonde hair. She had the look about her of someone who was always thinking.

"Hi," she said, trying to be as open with her body language as possible. If Gabriella was to have a stepsister they should really get off to the best start possible. "You're Marie Alman, right?" She seemed to hang out with all the oddballs that were not nerdy enough to be nerds but not cool enough to be with the in-crowd either.

"Hey." Apparently the husky voice wasn't caused by smoking because Marie had it, too. "Gabriella Montez?"

"What? Oh! Right! Gabriella. I almost forgot." She giggled sweetly. Marie looked uncertain. "I hear you've got a band going?" she dived right in.

She nodded. "Me, Ronnie and Kim." She gestured to the two other girls, a red-head and a black girl with curly hair. They waved.

"You any good?"

"We like to think so!" she laughed.

Sharpay as Gabriella grinned. "Very cool. Because I am in desperate need of a band…"

Sharpay flopped down next to Troy five minutes later.

He rubbed the small of her back a little. "What were you up to over there?" he asked.

She smiled. "Well, I'm having a little party of my own…"

But she was not having a party. Not yet at least. It was all part of Sharpay's elaborate scheme. She was playing Cupid and it was pretty damn fun…

"What party?" But Mrs. Montez was not so receptive. "You're not having a party."

"But it's a fundraiser!"

Sharpay had it all plotted out. She was organizing an alcohol-free social at her house, which the Drama Club and whoever else they wanted to bring could attend. They would be charged at the door and there would be "bouncers" by the backyard, keeping out gatecrashers. She had run it by Ms. Darbus as it was in aid of the department she ran. At the heart of everything, Mrs. Montez and Mr. Alman would be spending time together. Because Sharpay as Gabriella would need to go over to the Alman's every other day to hear "The Hedlunds" play and pick their best songs for the afternoon. Therefore it would only be polite for Mrs. Montez to stay a while…

"I don't care," her mother said firmly, presenting Sharpay with a ham and cheese sandwich. "Your name is not even going to be mentioned in the same sentence as 'party' after that stunt you pulled."

"But, Mum, it was one time!" She was almost accustomed to Gabriella's squeaky whine. "All right, I made a huge mistake. It's just that, everybody else was going and I don't usually go to parties because you never let me! And I've never really been to any costume parties with my friends because…we move around too much!" She knew that last addition had dented Mrs. Montez's armor. "It'll never happen again. And I've been getting such good grades!"

Well actually, Sharpay hadn't been getting good grades. Gabriella had. They had been doing each other's homework assignments and then swapping, the closest they had ever been to working together. Sharpay was stuck on her average Bs (sometimes) and Cs (most of the time) with the very rare A. But it felt really good to get back a paper and see a gleeful A+. Even if it wasn't her own.

Mrs. Montez sat down reluctantly at the table, across from her. "I don't know, Gabriella. Fund-raisers are a big undertaking."

"Well, not if I have a few members of the PTA on my side. And I've already organized a band. It's an all-girl group. So you don't have to worry about weird, shirtless, beer-guzzling head-bangers."

She smiled a little. "Well, you know how I feel about those weird, shirtless, beer-guzzling head-bangers. So who is in this group?"

She tried not to smile too coyly. "Interestingly enough, Marie Alman is the lead singer."

Mrs. Montez hesitated. "Marie…Alman? As in…Michael Alman's daughter?"

"The very one! Funny, huh?"

She seemed to be fighting a grin very hard. "Yes. Very funny. Ha ha." She stood hastily and busied herself doing nothing about the kitchen.

Sharpay knew Gabriella wouldn't be happy about this. She would probably hate her even more for it, in fact. But that wasn't anything to her. For rest of the day Mrs. Montez could not seem to stop humming. So Shar knew she had done good.

Gabriella

"And I've never had someone, that knows me like you do, the way you do…and I've never had someone, as good for me as you, no one like you…so lonely before, I finally found…what I've been looking for…"

Gabriella thought her heart might burst as she looked at Ryan, sandy-blonde hair tousled, large blue eyes on the sheet music in his hands, lips parted as he sang in a way that nearly pushed her to tears.

"So what do you think?" he asked after a moment of silence. "Anywhere near as good as Troy?" They sat facing each other, cross-legged on the front lawn of the Evans' house. It was a warm day. She had forgotten the date, the time, the year…

And I've never had someone…"Hm?" The words still reverberated in her head, making it hard for her to form a thought. "Oh." She smiled. "Better." That knows me like you do…

No one like you…"You think so?" I finally found…

"I do." What I've been looking for…what I've really been looking for. "Kiss me," the words fell from her mouth before she could stop them.

Ryan's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

She leaned forward without another word and as her lips grazed against his and they breathed the same breath, Gabbie wondered how she had ever lived so long without kissing him…

"Sharpay? Shar? He-lloooo! Sharpay!"

"I'm not Sharpay!" Gabriella shrieked before she could stop herself. Her eyes flew open to see Ryan peering over her.

"Then who are you?"

Gabriella gaped. "I-I'm…Sharpay. Of course. Who else would I be?"

Ryan shook his head and hopped off the bed. "Well, get up then! We've gotta get ready for school…"

Gabriella put on Sharpay's blue skirt, white blouse, glittery blue heels, and walked downstairs, in a daze. What the freak was that?!

Even though Ryan had been the one to wake her up she got downstairs first and found Mrs. Evans at the kitchen island, drinking coffee and poring over a newspaper. She had not seen the woman since all of Monday. She couldn't understand how it was possible to not see your mother for the whole day, when she was in the same house.

"Morning, Sharpay."

"What? Oh. Morning. Mother." She sat down and poured herself some muesli. She didn't know how much longer she could eat this tree bark.

"So nice of that Mr. Alman to bring you home," were the next words to come coyly out of her mouth.

She nodded reluctantly.

"Bit of a dish, wasn't he?" she said, not looking up.

Gabriella grimaced. "No comment. On second thoughts, I have a comment. You're married."

"Like that's ever stopped her." It was Ryan, dressed in a white shirt and…oh God…suede, aquamarine trousers. Oh, for the love of color co-ordination! Gabriella as Sharpay stared down into her bowl as he entered, not because of the horror that was his outfit, but because her dream still lingered with painful clarity. It had been so real, his lips against hers, soft and warm, his hand on the small of her back, and the smell of that cologne he always used…

"Good morning, Ducky," said Mrs. Evans wryly.

"Morning, mum." Ugh! How could she ever want to make out with someone nicknamed Ducky?

But he had been so perfect in her dream, messy and cute and safe…

After a silent breakfast with Mrs. Evans, Gabbie picked up the keys of Sharpay's pink convertible and Ryan followed her out into the foyer.

As they headed for the door Gabbie stopped in her tracks abruptly. Ryan followed suit.

"What?" he asked. Without a word she snatched the blue beret off his head and grabbed at his shirt, untucking it.

"What are you doing?" Ryan exclaimed as she messed up his hair. "This is like…a wardrobe malfunction. Except on purpose!"

"I know. Isn't it totally hetero?" She unbuttoned the collar and rolled up the sleeves swiftly. "Gabriella would love it."

His expression changed with incredible swiftness. "You really think so?"

She smiled a little. "I do."

"Shar," he said slowly. "This is not like you."

"What? Trying to help my brother land the love of his life is uncharacteristic?"

He paused. "Yeah, pretty much."

She giggled but felt a twinge of guilt all the same. Wasn't she giving him false hope? And wasn't it even crueler because it was coming from her? Yes. But there was no point doing a 180 degree turn now. And anyway, he needed to get out from under Sharpay's thumb! If she really loved Ryan she would let him be him. Because there was a whole other side to this guy without Sharpay, people just hadn't gotten to see it yet. And he did look really…

Gabriella blinked and opened the door hastily. "Let's go. We're going to be late." For a moment she had fallen back into her dream. And that was something she did not want to do.

Ms. Darbus

It had happened. She knew it had! She was cynical at first, even after the non-existent earthquake the girls seemed to experience. Ms. Darbus had watched Sharpay and Gabriella for the past few days, whenever they were in classes together. There were occasions when the blonde would answer a question that, with all due respect, the real Sharpay simply could not answer. And she sometimes espied Gabriella walking with a ridiculous sway of her hips. Besides all that "Gabbie" had pitched the fund-raising idea to her that afternoon and she could almost see Sharpay's party-planning glee shining through.

By George! Trulyincredible. And she wasn't even much of a believer in the supernatural.

Now, how did that fortune go? According to Lu-Ling…a journey soon begins, the prize reflected in another's eyes. When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back…

Ah, that was the rub. Selfless love. She snorted quietly to herself as she cleared up her desk for the day. It would take more than body-swapping to get Sharpay and Gabbie to even almost like each other.

And as the brilliant teacher she was, Ms. Darbus was already cooking up a plan to get the two to finally bury the hatchet. Before they swung it in the wrong direction and took of somebody else's head…

Author's Note: Girl power! Let's try and get Shar and Gabs to Work, Work, WORK IT OUT! Reviews appreciated mucho.

I LOVE RENT! Roger is FINE! Capital F-I-N-E. Gawd! Nothing gets me like wavy hair, a broody demeanour and a leather jacket! Sorry. Just watched it. Had to get that out.

GBU (God Bless U!)