Author's Note: Every time I feel like the story's ending a new idea pops into my head! Still. We're a lot closer to a conclusion than we were ten chapters ago! If that makes any sense. Which I don't think it does.

So! A new OC shall make an appearance. I hopey you likey.

Disclaimer: I dare them to sue me…

Chapter 22

Fate Wears A Cowboy Hat

Sharpay

Her mother could be so considerate sometimes. Sharpay had rifled through the bag Mrs. Evans packed for Gabriella, and was elated to find her polka dot bikini.

Shar figured that while they were out in the desert, she might as well get some tannage. Even though it wasn't for her own body, she loved the feeling of ultraviolet rays warming the skin.

Sharpay promised Gabriella the TV for the rest of the day, in exchange for her helping to move one of the couches out onto the sand. It worked well for both, mostly because they were out of each other's sight for a while.

Shar reclined with her sunglasses on, allowing her mind to fill up with emptiness. This little mini-break really wasn't so bad. She could stay here another few…

She was just dozing off when a long shadow slid over her. Sharpay sighed.

"What do you want, Gabriella? You're blocking my light."

"Hey." Sharpay's eyes popped open at the dozy, foreign voice. That was definitely not her.

She lifted the shades slowly, uncertainly, and felt a strangled cry escape her at the stranger standing beside her.

He was tall and gangly, his frame overwhelmed by a camouflage jacket, laden with politically aware badges. His jeans were torn and faded, his sneakers moldy. On his head he wore a cowboy hat, from under which stringy blonde hair hung. Sharpay would have clucked her tongue at this walking fashion disaster had she not been so scared he was going to pull a knife on her.

"Who the hell are you?" she whisper-screamed.

"Oh." His long face remained impassive, eyes blinking slowly behind horn-rimmed glasses. "I'm Ty."

Sharpay sat up slowly on the couch, feeling horribly exposed all of a sudden.

"Um…Gabriella?" she called. No response. "Gabriella!"

"What?" She heard her own voice whine from inside the house.

"Could you get out here please?"

"I'm watching Le Coeur Du Poisson!"

"Forget the freaking soapie! We have a…visitor."

A pause before Gabriella as Sharpay hurried out of the house. She stood on the porch uncertainly while Shar tried to bring her over with a discreet inclination of her head.

"Hello. Who are you?" she inquired.

"Hi." He droned and gave a small wave. "I'm Ty."

Gabriella blinked. "Um…what are you doing out in the desert, Ty?"

He shrugged. "Just kinda like, walking."

Sharpay stared around. Well, obviously. There wasn't a car in sight. Before either girl could think of anything to say or do, Ty asked:

"Do you guys have, like, anything to drink? I'm kinda dying of thirst here." He sounded more like he was dying of dullness.

"Well…yes."

Sharpay shot Gabriella an incredulous look from the couch. She shrugged in alarm and stepped aside as Ty shuffled past her, into the house.

Gabriella

Gabbie stared at him from the kitchen. He was seated at a safe distance on a couch, slurping 7 Up and staring at the TV.

Gabbie stood close to the knife drawer. She felt a strange desire to protect their invaded territory. Also, it was possible that Ty was a homicidal lunatic, so knives were always useful.

Sharpay as Gabriella clambered up into the house. But instead of joining Gabbie in the kitchen, she hurried towards her room.

"Uh…where are you going?" She could not keep the panicked pitch from her voice.

"To change into something more decent!"

"I'll come with you!"

Shar paused. "Uh…no." As she slammed the door, Gabriella hated her all over again.

Ty had not looked away from the TV once. She was startled to hear him drone suddenly:

"These French actors are good."

She nodded. "Mm-hm."

Silence as Sophie sobbed at her father's feet. Gabriella watched him uncertainly. What was he doing wandering in the desert?

"Um…so, Ty. Why are you all the way out here?"

He shrugged. "It's kinda, like, a long story."

Thankfully, Sharpay had not left her to die. At that precise moment she re-entered in a t-shirt and jeans. She stood on the other side of the kitchen counter and leaned back against it, surveying the house guest.

"Well, I've got the rest of the weekend to hear it."

Ty sighed. "Well, my parents came back from this anniversary dinner thing, right? And they walked in on me when I was like, jamming Oblivion on my computer. So my dad gets all pissed, right? He's like, When are you gonna make something of yourself, Ty? You can't make anything of yourself sitting in front of the computer all day. And I was like, That's what they said to Bill Gates. And then he was all, Get up or get out. And I was like, Fine. So I got out. And for a little while it was like, road trip. But then my car was like, no gas. So I ended up ditching it and just walking. I thought I would totally die out here. But then I found you guys."

Gabriella exchanged a glance with Sharpay. Had his brain been friend by drugs, or did he talk like this normally?

"So…what are you going to do now?"

Ty shrugged and sunk further down into the couch, his gaze retreating to the TV. "Guess I'll just hang here with you guys."

Her eyes flew open. "But you can't do that!"

"Why not? You live here?"

"Well. Not exactly…"

"Right," he intoned. "So you're kinda like squatters. And I am, too. So you can't just like, kick me out, right?"

Gabbie rolled her eyes. He was a little annoying.

"But there are only two bedrooms," said Sharpay.

"That's cool. I'll crash on the couch. I'm used to it. This one time, my friend, Vance had this totally bodacious party…"

Gabriella shook her head. Ms. Darbus would pay.

Sharpay

Sharpay stood stirring the instant mac and cheese. She barely paid attention to the awkward conversation going on behind her.

Gabriella and Ty sat on either side of the counter, place mats and bowls before them. After a feverishly whispered dialogue, they decided that Ty did in fact seem like a harmless idiot. He was also a harmless idiot that needed to be fed. So for this one night they would be a friendly trio of squatters.

"So, Sharpay." She stared deep into the pot of yellow mush. "Kinda weird name for a Latina, huh?" More absent stirring.

"Sharpay," said Gabriella deliberately. "Sharpay!"

Shar blinked and turned round. "Oh. Right!"

Ty had remembered her calling Gabriella 'Gabriella' and understandably assumed that was her given name. Therefore Sharpay was now back to being 'Sharpay'. It was weird after all this time.

"Yeah," she said. "It is." But she was still in Gabbie's body.

"I woulda thought you'd be Sharpay," he nodded his head to the blonde white girl that was Gabriella.

"Well," she shrugged, turning back to her cooking. "Our parents are kind of nuts."

She took the pot of the stove with her oven mitt and began to dole out yellow glop.

"Wow," said Gabriella slowly. "I didn't think it was possible to mess up instant maccaroni."

"Shut up," she snapped, serving Ty. "If you don't like it, you can find something else."

She made a face. "Fine. I will." Gabbie hopped off her stool and began to search the kitchen cabinets. Sharpay glowered at her as she dished out her own portion.

Gabbie came back with a silver pack of Oreos.

Ty eyed her wistfully. "I like Oreos…"

"Beggars can't be choosers," Sharpay said stiffly and sat down.

He shrugged a little and hunched over his bowl. They sat in silence for several minutes before Ty looked up at the two of them and spoke.

"You guys don't like each other very much, huh?"

"You're very perceptive, Ty," said Shar, stabbing into her bowl.

He floated above her sarcasm. "So how come you're out here together?"

Gabriella shrugged. "Our parents and our teachers stuck us here in the hopes that we'd realize we actually like each other. They think it imperative that we be friends. We're kind of destructive when we fight."

"Why do you fight?"

"Uh…" said Shar, "because we don't like each other?"

"Yeah, I know. But like, why?" he asked profoundly.

The two girls stared at each other across the counter.

"Because she's a sanctimonious little whiner," Sharpay began.

"Because she's a scheming attention-whore."

Ty's dreamy gaze flickered from one to the other as they glared. "Maybe it's not that you don't like each other," he said slowly. "Maybe…you just like, envy each other."

Sharpay snorted. "And what could I want that she has?" A lot actually. And on the other side of the scale, Sharpay had a Ryan that Gabriella desperately coveted.

"What makes you say that, Ty?" Gabriella seemed genuinely interested.

"Well…my sister in college? She used to fight with girls all the time when she was in high school. And she said a lot of the hating came from one girl having something that the other didn't. So all the antagonism and stuff just came from envy. And the problem was that neither girl wanted to admit they felt like…inadequate."

Sharpay stared down into her bowl, trying desperately to conceal the raw nerve being exposed in her.

After a lengthy silence, Gabriella spoke.

"You're very perceptive, Ty."

Shar looked up and studied her. She really meant it.

Gabriella

Early the next morning, Gabriella shuffled barefoot, out of her room and towards the kitchen. She stopped to glance into the living room area and proceeded to walk on. Gabbie did a sudden double take. The living room was empty.

She walked out onto the porch and stared around. No Ty in sight. She felt an inexplicable, quiet sort of sadness. After an amazing night of junk food and cable TV, he hadn't even bothered to say goodbye. Typical male.

Gabriella drifted back into the living room and it was only then that she noticed a yellow post-it note on top of the TV. She skipped over, plucked it off and read.

Hey, guys

Well, by the time you read this I'll be pretty far gone. I called my parents and they were all like, worried. They're driving out to come pick me up. I'm pretty sure they'll let me play Oblivion for as long as I want now. Thanks for the hospitality and everything. Sorry, I kind of took most of your food. But I left some Oreos and corn chips and orange juice cause its healthy. You said that Darby chick is picking you up today so I figured it was okay.

Hope you guys like, kiss and make up. And maybe film it. But whatever.

Peace

Ty

Gabbie scurried over to the kitchen and sure enough, only the Oreos, corn chips and OJ remained of their weekend food supply. She shook her head slowly, and made her way to Sharpay's bedroom.

She walked in without knocking and Shar's snores ceased abruptly.

"Don't knock or anything," Sharpay groaned at the intrusion.

Gabbie thrust the note into her face, lips pursed.

Sharpay took it and read in a low murmur.

"That ass!" she exclaimed finally. Shar looked up to see Gabriella, shaking with silent giggles. She bit her lip against a smile and shook her head. "You know…I think I'm kinda…gonna like…miss him."

"Yeah," she found herself tittering. "He was totally like…awesomesauce."

Like water from a dilapidated dam, random feverish laughter burst forth from them.

They were still giggling vaguely when Ms. Darbus came to get them a few hours later.

"Is everything…all right, girls?" she asked anxiously as she helped load their bags.

"Sure, Ms. Darbus," said Gabriella. "We're okay."

A/N: One chapter to go! YIPPEE! Sorry to secret castle (she's got a great Troypay fic by the way, really original!) who mentioned it's more fun when Gabs and Shar are getting into trouble. I couldn't think of a way to cause much mayhem when they were stuck out in the desert! I don't think there's anything less interesting than sand.

So I just opted to use Ty as a final means for getting them to realise they don't actually hate each other all that much.

R & R, R & R, R & R!!!