Author's Note: This is random and has nothing to do with the fic but who here watches 'Pushing Daisies'? Ned is just (and I can't believe I'm about to use this adjective) divine! No male has ever induced so many fangirl squees in me (and I have squeed many times before).

But on a heavier note, how sad is it about Heath Ledger? R.I.P Heath!

Disclaimer: I can't not type disclaimer. I just can't.

Chapter 17

Van Milder- Part Deux

Sharpay

The afternoon wore on and the sounds of applause and chatter rose on the air. Sharpay as Gabriella clapped vehemently for The Hedlunds, all donning summer dresses that clashed charmingly with their instruments.

She stood by the doors that lead back into the house, watching the day's patrons. The turn out was good and Ms. Darbus sat inside, gleefully counting money. Sharpay had not allowed her bottom to touch a chair all day. She was already starting to feel weary. But the fatigue mingled with a deep satisfaction. So far so good. Now if only she could bring herself to put down the book and some place to rest…

"Ms. Montez, you look just about ready to pass out."

Troy materialized at her side with a plate of food and rested his free hand on the small of her back. Sharpay sighed, stepping closer and leaning into him with a cat-like glee.

"Methinks we need some place quiet?"

Had it been anyone else she would have protested primly. But how could she say no to that golden boy grin and a plate of Zeke's chicken croquettes?

'Some place quiet' ended up being Gabriella's room. And as Troy and Sharpay reclined on Gabbie's bed, the twisted irony of it all was not lost on the blonde. She found herself deliberately placing the plate between them.

Troy jiggled his feet to the music drifting up from outside. Sharpay watched him pensively. It was moments like this, quiet moments that made her remember. She remembered that her happiness was half-baked. This was Gabbie's bed, Gabbie's blue dress, Gabbie's boyfriend. So really, it wasn't even her happiness.

She turned her gaze from Troy's feet to his face. An absent look adorned it. She narrowed her eyes a little. But was he Gabbie's boyfriend? Was he hers?

Sharpay didn't like to boast (too often) but she knew that when in her body, Troy had liked her. In that friendly, vaguely flirtatious sort of way he had liked her. But there had always been a wall between them.

And now look at the position she was in! She had an opportunity to knock down the wall and see herself on the other side. Sharpay bit her lip. But no. Not even she would stoop so low. No matter how much she…

"You okay? You seem quiet."

"You, too."

"I'm thinking."

"Same here. What are you thinking?"
"Nothing productive. You?"

"Meh. Just science stuff."

"Well, I'm not so foolish as to try to get into the head of a genius."

She rolled her eyes at the randomness of their dialogue and turned to look at him. He was nothing special. What did he have going for him really? The Brady Bunch haircut. The cheesy grin. The dumb jockiness. But then, she liked his hair, she liked his smile, she liked his dumb jockiness, always laced with a disarming wit. She had flown beyond liking him…

"I love you," she said absently.

Sharpay watched his eyes widen to the size of side plates. "What?"

She clamped her lips shut when she realized what she'd just done. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"You what?" His question was not one of disbelief. He seemed to be buying time.

But Sharpay was too flustered to notice. Montez was going to kill her. But as she took in the look in Troy's eyes, she forgot, and her lips gave way to everything she had wanted to say to him since before Gabriella appeared.

She sat up, trying to distance herself without being distant.

"I love you," she breathed anxiously. "Is that okay?"

Troy stared up at her. "This is the part where I say something…but I don't know what it is."

She shrugged. "I love you, too would be ideal."

He shook his head, a lost look clouding his eyes. "I…can't."

"You…can't?"

For a split second she was devastated. But then her trembling lips turned up into a beam.

Troy sat up suddenly, looking incredulous. "You're smiling? Gabriella, are you happy? That I don't…"

"You don't love me." Sharpay forced the smile from her face. He didn't love Gabriella. And she was supposed to be upset about that. "Of course, I'm not happy! I am…very, very hurt. You have hurt me, Troy Bolton. I think we need some space," she added eagerly.

He seemed to be struggling to grasp all that was happening. "Space? You want to break up?"

"Yes." She hopped off the bed. Screw her conscience. If Troy didn't love Gabriella, then she was doing them all a favor.

"You're breaking up with me?"

"That's the general idea, yeah." She sidled towards the door.

"Gabbie, wait!"

"What?" Her hand clutched the doorknob. She did not want him to talk her out of it.

"It's not that I don't care about you. I just-"

"Yeah, okay. Whatever." Feeling she should do something conclusive before her grand exit, Sharpay blew Troy a kiss.

She flung the door open and fled, leaving an extremely perplexed ex in her wake.

On her way down the stairs, Shar was confronted by the Gabbie in her body coming up.

"Troy wants to see you," she exhaled before Gabriella could speak.

"He does? Why?" She narrowed her eyes. "What did you say to him?"

Sharpay shook her head and slid past her swiftly, feeling more of a villain than she ever had before.

Gabriella

Gabbie needed to get away. Every time she saw Ryan, all she wanted was to fall into his arms and be given more than a hug. She was sick of his cinammon bun hugs! She just wanted…more.

But more she could not have, and so she grabbed her chance at escape when Kelsi approached them for conversation. She left the two discussing sheet music and made her way to the only safe place she could think of.

On her way up to the bedroom, however, who else should she be confronted with but the Sharpay in her body, obviously flustered?

"Troy wants to see you." She sounded anxious.

Gabbie frowned. "He does? Why? What did you say to him?"

She shook her head a little but said nothing, and tore down the stairs. Gabbie looked after her, and then up to where her room was.

She poked her head through the door slowly and glanced around the place before her eyes rested on him. Troy sat on the bed, scratching the back of his head. He glanced up at her when she knocked.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"What?" He shook his head, as if clearing it. "Uh…yeah. I guess I do."

She slid in and closed the door behind her, wondering why she felt so cautious in her own bedroom.

Gabbie stood there, waiting for him to speak. When he finally did, it was worse than she expected.

"I think we broke up," he said quietly.

"Who?"

"Me and Gabbie."

Her eyes widened. "What?" she croaked.

Troy shook his head, looking down. "She told me she loved me."

She refrained from gasping in horror. That bimbotic little schemer!

"And…what did you say?"

"I didn't say anything! I couldn't."

Gabbie was overwhelmed now by the urge to flee. "Why are you telling me this?"

He looked up and what she saw in his eyes made her want to break something. Something blonde.

"You know why."

"No, I don't know why!" she squealed. "It has nothing to do with Sh- with me!"

"It has everything to do with you! Look," he stood and paced the length of the bed slowly. "I chose to be with Gabbie. You were always there but I chose her because she was safe. So I was safe. But when I'm with you, I'm not safe. I'm…scared." He stopped pacing. "I'm happy and I'm scared."

She shook her head. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say I like you! And now I've been dumped and I'm okay with it. But it doesn't feel right that I'm okay with it. This is kind of a lot for my brain to handl-" Troy halted, his eyes widening. "Don't." He rushed forward. "Don't cry, Sharpay, please."

Gabbie could not help it. The prickle built up behind her eyes and soon her vision was blurred. Tears brimmed and dropped down her cheeks rapidly.

But then Troy took her hand and she was reminded of what her nemesis had done. It didn't matter that they maybe sort of didn't want to be together anymore. Sharpay had no right to break them up. And now she was pissed.

She pulled her hand out of his. "I'm going to find her."

"Who?"

"Gabriella."

"Why?"
"She broke up with you, now I'm going to break her."

"Whoa, whoa!" He took her by the shoulders. "Sharpay, I am touched by your wanting to defend my honor but-"

She held up an authoritative hand. "Less talking, more ass-kicking."

With that she flew out of the room, down the stairs, Troy trailing behind rather pointlessly.

Gabbie had cried out of relief. She could see this even through her anger, her bitter sadness. It was over. They were over. And she was okay with it, too.

Sharpay

"How's your food, sir?"

"All right. The croquettes are a little dry but-"

"Shut up, they're perfect."

Sharpay moved away, half-crouching, from the affronted table and made for the one nearest to it. She was hiding under the pretense of being attentive to the guests.

Sharpay was not a bad person. She only did bad things. And she had a tendency to not regret doing those bad things. Ending Troy and Gabbie's relationship was one of those bad things. But it was for the greater good, wasn't it? Her greater good, damn it!

"GABRIELLA!"

Unfortunately, certain individuals could not see the good in anything that didn't benefit them.

Sharpay was practically under the table and it took immense courage to show herself. A furious blonde was storming towards her and everyone's focus turned to the pair of girls. In the background The Hedlunds continued to play, despite their quizzical looks.

"Sharpay," she hissed when Gabriella was a foot away. "This is not the time or place for a smackdown. I don't want to fight you."

"You should've thought of that before you ended it with Troy," she snarled.

"I didn't mean to! It just sort of…unraveled."

"It didn't unravel. You"- and she jabbed her collarbone with a finger- "tore it apart."

Sharpay folded her arms across her chest, as a sign of defiance and because it kind of hurt when Gabriella poked her.

"He doesn't love you."

She gave a chuckle so manic not even the real Sharpay could have pulled it off. "And what would you know about love?" she whisper-screamed. "If I recall correctly, your first and last real relationship ended with you being called a frigid bitch in front of the entire school."

Sharpay's mouth dropped open. Not even she could have expected such cruelty from the mouth in which butter would not melt.

"Oh!" Gabriella added with innocent alarm. "And now in front of an entire charity event."

It was a good thing Troy and Ryan appeared at that moment. Troy managed to stop Sharpay from yanking her own blonde hair out and Ryan managed to pull Gabbie away before she could drop-kick herself.

As the two stood, panting and barely restrained, they suddenly became aware of their audience. Even The Hedlunds were silent.

Sharpay blew a lock of hair off her forehead, trying to regain her composure.

"All right, folks!" she called. "That was just a little teaser from East High's next production. The Wildcats Present: High School's A Jungle! Coming soon to an auditorium near you!" Quiet, uncertain applause followed this.

Sharpay, feeling pleased at her cover-up and being a pure thespian at heart, gave an impromptu bow, which Gabbie mimicked awkwardly.

She pretended not to notice Ms. Darbus glaring at them from across the lawn.

Gabriella

"I'm not finished with her."

"Oh, yes you are!"

Ryan practically threw Gabriella into the passenger's seat of the hot pink convertible Mr. Evans had sent them.

After Ms. Darbus yelled at them she told Gabbie to go home. Apparently her presence would be "nothing but counter-productive".

"I cannot believe you!" he hissed, holding the door with one hand and blocking her way with the other. "How many times are you going to fight before you figure out it doesn't do any good?"

"It cheers me up," she huffed.

He shook his head and slammed the door on her.

She waited for him to get into the car, arms folded against the flushes of embarrassment.

"No wonder Gabbie doesn't want me," he ranted, closing the door behind him. "How can she when my psycho sister is always trying to kill her?"
"She jumped on me! And Gabriella doesn't care if you have a psycho sister."

He looked rather assertive just then, huffing and puffing and glaring at her. She unconsciously shifted an inch closer to him.

"So what did she do to upset you this time?" he asked with a hint of derision.

She sighed and shook her head. If only he knew. If only she could let him in on this whole thing…

Gabbie shrugged but did not allow her eyes to wander from his. She had never seen him truly angry before.

"Meh. The usual." He rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry!" she added earnestly. "I didn't want to make a scene. Okay, I did. But it's in my nature, right?"

"Humiliating me is in your nature?"

She felt a pang in her chest as he rested his head on the dashboard with an air of defeat. Gabbie sidled over and touched his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she murmured.

The tone of her voice made him look up. She was suddenly aware of the few inches of distance between them. She could make out the little lines indenting his lips…

Gabriella only remembered who she was supposed to be after Ryan leaped away from her kiss.

"What are you doing?!" The look of horror on his face made Gabriella as Sharpay flush with despair. What was she doing?

"It's okay! Don't freak out," she pleaded. "This isn't what you think…"

Ryan seemed to be trying to push himself back through the door without opening it.

"I think you tried to kiss me!"

"Well, I did but-"

"Sharpay, what the hell?" he exclaimed.

"Ryan, I'm not Sharpay! I'm Gabriella in her body." He blinked slowly. She continued, hoping against all hope that he would not think her crazy. "Haven't you noticed how weird I've been acting lately?"

"Weird?" He gave a weak scoff. "You don't say! Well, I guess I only cottoned on at the part where you tried to kiss me!"

Ryan finally seemed to remember the function of a door handle and tumbled back, out of the car.

Gabriella stared after him in desolation as he walked briskly down the street, glancing back every now and again as if ready to run should she pursue him.

When he was out of sight she rested her head on the dashboard. It was official.

This day had sucked.

A/N: So she tried to kiss him (shudder)! But don't hold it against her. Let's not forget she isn't really his sister. But Ryan doesn't know that. Will he find out? We shall see

Anywho! Don't you dare leave this story without pressing the "GO" button! Even if it's to tell me I write like I'm on crack. Which I am certainly not