Author's Note: I don't have much to say. For once. Except that this is just leading up to something more important, but it's not quite a filler.

Read, review, enjoy.

Disclaimer:…

Chapter 19

Selfless Vs. Selfish

Sharpay

If there was one good thing that came from 'The Incident' (she would now only refer to Ryan and Gabriella's kiss like so), it was that Sharpay realized she had a family of her own. Not a perfect family (quite an annoying one actually), but a family she loved, and was stuck with regardless. Above all else, she had Ryan, and he was in desperate need of his sister.

The two sat on the polished bleachers of the East High gym on a Monday morning. Ryan was on the bench below, staring up at her with thinly veiled amazement. He had quizzed her on just about everything involving their childhood until he was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sharpay and Gabriella had switched places.

"So this is for real?" he asked for the third time. "Really for real?"

She nodded.

He shook his head. "It's just so…"

"Insane, crazy, nuts…there aren't enough synonyms in the English language."

They laughed even though it wasn't particularly side-splitting. As soon as their hilarity died, though, Ryan's face drooped into a pout.

"It's so humiliating!" He pressed his hands to his brow.

"What is?"

Ryan shook his head once more. "All the stuff I said when I thought she was you…"

Sharpay stared at him in disbelief. It never occurred to her that in a weird way, Gabriella had been eavesdropping on their conversations.

"Ryan. You didn't."

"I did. I thought she was you!" he protested at her groan. "Say what you want about her, the girl can act."

"What did you talk to her about?"

"Everything. I talked to her about…her." He sighed. "She must've been having the biggest laugh behind my back." He turned his round blue gaze up to her and Sharpay knew that for a moment, he wanted to pretend she was Gabbie. "How could she?"

Sharpay looked down at her brother and felt a pang of pity. Damn it. He really was crazy about her. But he was also angry. Angry and hurt. Still, even Sharpay could see he was being a tad unreasonable. Ryan couldn't exactly blame Gabriella for wanting to hear all he had to say about her. She had done the same with Troy.

So as the wiser of the two (and what a turn around that was), she should have been setting him straight, telling him to stop feeling sorry for himself and realize he had something good going. But then that might lead to him forgiving Gabbie, thereby starting a relationship with her. And then what? Sharpay would have to endure the pair of them holding hands everyday, making out in the hallways, and when they got home, she would hear of nothing but Gabriella Montez. Sharpay shook her head slightly. She couldn't take it!

"Well, I always knew what a little phony she was. You didn't think she was perfect, did you?"

"No," he muttered. "I just thought…I thought she was better than that. You know what I mean?"

Shar bit her lip. "Yeah. I know."

Ryan sighed. "All of a sudden I hate fortune cookies."

She patted him encouragingly on the back. "Let's get to class."

Gabriella

Gabbie gave a Troy a wide berth when she spotted him coming towards her in the hallway. He tried desperately to catch her eye, thereby luring her into talking to him, but she avoided his gaze.

Gabriella wanted Ryan. That much had been established. But that didn't mean she wanted to see Troy and Sharpay together. She would have him date anyone in East High, Taylor, Ms. Darbus, anyone but Sharpay.

"Sharpay! Over here."

Gabbie was making her way to the back of the class where she could effectively mope, when Martha Cox called to her. She was waving at her pleasantly.

"You wanna sit next to me?"

Not really. But she wasn't getting any of the hospitality she had wanted from Ryan (they had spent an entire day and night in the house silently glowering at each other), she was avoiding Troy, and Sharpay didn't really have many more friends. So Gabriella sat next to Martha.

"You okay, Shar?" was the first thing she asked. "You look a little down."

"A little down?" she murmured. "I'm below sea level."

Martha pursed her lips into an apologetic half-smile. Gabriella marveled at it for a moment. Here was a girl who was genuinely concerned, and she had no duty to be. She wasn't trying to impress anyone or keep up a façade. She was simply Martha, The Nice Hip-Hop Girl.

It was only then that Gabbie realized she had never been this kind of nice. She had never been the real nice, but rather the obligatory nice. Maybe that was what upset Ryan so much.

"Well, whatever it is that's making you feel that way, I'm sure it'll be okay. And if you ever want to talk about it, I'm all ears!"

Gabbie smiled a little. "Thanks. You'd make a really good counselor, Martha."

She blushed a little. "Nah. I'd rather be a friend. Less pressure!"

They laughed together as Mrs. Kirk, their Math teacher, glided into the room.

Ms. Darbus

It was starting to look as if Ms. Darbus had not done anything useful at all. The girls had walked several miles in each other's shoes and they still seemed to despise each other. She sighed to herself. What if all this ended in disaster? What if it was her true failing as a teacher?

Darbus tapped a finger on her desk pensively. Perhaps the problem was that they had worn each other's shoes, but walked in completely different directions. What if she could get them to walk together?

She snorted wryly, continuing to drum. That would require force. Her finger tapping slowed to a halt. Force she was willing to use.

Inspiration struck Ms. Darbus so hard she reeled for a moment. Darbus flipped open the contraband cellphone her nephew had insisted on buying for her forty-somethingth birthday. She looked through the contacts labeled PARENTS, found the number and dialed.

She was starting to think no one was home when…

"Yes?"

"Mrs. Evans? Hello. It's Ms. Darbus. From East High? I have a proposal to make…"

A/N: Martha was just inserted to cheer Gabbie up and make her realize some things about herself. The character can be sweet. Almost sickeningly, I find. But then, the world has made a cynic out of me!

I wasn't going to post this actually. I don't like to be overeager with my updating! But it just sprang to my mind and raced down into my fingers and I couldn't stop it.

And now, a shameless plug for Dernier Cri! Check out the AU Troypay, 'Whispers in the Dark'. I know that AUs can be the kiss of death (hence my not daring to write any) but the premise of this one is really cool.

Well. I think this has made up for the brevity of my initial A/N!