Painfully Perfect

Disclaimer: Sadly, no. I don't own HSM. Or The Notebook.

Author's Note: Ah, the long awaited update!!! I swear I've re-written this chapter at least four times, so I hope you like it! Haha, thank you so much for everyone who reviewed last chapter. This chapter is sort of long, I guess. Anyways, Enjoy!

Chapter 5

The next morning Sharpay woke up to her alarm beeping and her whole body aching. She threw her hand down on her alarm clock and turned it off before dragging herself into the bathroom. For Sharpay, it felt like hours to get to the bathroom, but it was only a couple of minutes. Right away Sharpay swallowed two ibuprofen with two tall glasses of water. Next, Sharpay removed her sweatpants and tank top, stepped on the scale and waited. Eventually when Sharpay looked down it read 118. Sharpay sighed sadly and hopped in the shower.

--

Sharpay was wearing a khaki skirt with a white long-sleeved shirt and had her hair half up. As she headed down the stairs she started thinking of excuses to get out of breakfast.

"Good morning Sharpay!" Mr. Evans said happily to his daughter.

"Good morning dad," Sharpay replied cheerily.

"Morning Shar! We are having pancakes, sausage and melon for breakfast. How many pancakes do you want?" Mrs. Evans asked politely.

"Oh mom, that's so sweet. But, uh, I didn't eat dinner with Ryan last night because I was so full from lunch. But I got really hungry late last night. So at 3:30 this morning I went and had a bowl of pasta and pesto. So I'm still full from that. Sorry Mom," Sharpay said sincerely.

"Oh, well no problem. We'll have plenty in case you get hungry."

"Thanks, Mom," Sharpay said sitting down at the table. Ryan came rushing down the stairs for breakfast just as soon as his mother put the food on the table.

"Morning everyone!" Ryan said happily. "Breakfast looks delicious Mom." Sharpay watched jealously as Ryan took a huge bite of his pancakes that had been smothered in syrup. She was so hungry but couldn't ruin her progress. She grab two slices of melon and slowly took a large bite of one of the pieces. Sharpay didn't chew it, she just let it sit in her mouth as she pretended to chew. She sucked all the juices out of it and then when no one was looking she grabbed her napkin and pretended to wipe her mouth as she spit her food into it.

"Well mom, breakfast was great but Shar and I have to go! We'll see you and dad after school," Ryan said standing up from his chair. Sharpay was zoning out and only snapped out of it when she heard Ryan yell her name from the front door. She quickly kissed her parents goodbye on the cheek and rushed to the car.

"Sorry Ryan. I zoned out."

"Yeah, I could tell," Ryan said with a laugh as they drove off to school.

--

"Hey guys!" Ryan said happily to his friends. "What's up?"

"Talking about basketball!" Chad said enthusiastically.

"And boring us girls," Taylor said with a fake yawn.

"Yeah, us girls will see you guys in homeroom," Gabriella said. "Come on Shar. We can talk about our sleepover."

The four girls, Taylor, Gabriella, Sharpay and Kelsi, walked to homeroom and Sharpay was feeling dizzy. She was extremely relieved when they finally made it to homeroom so she could sit down.

"So," Gabriella started,"tomorrow I was thinking you guys could sleepover. My mom already said it was okay. Taylor your mom said yes right?"

"Mhm. She'll drop us off around five thirty."

"Us?" Gabriella questioned.

"Well, my mom said yes too! So I'm carpooling with Taylor," Kelsi announced excitedly.

"How about you Shar?" Gabriella asked.

"Sure. My parents won't care," Sharpay said nonchalantly.

"We can give you a ride if you want Sharpay," Taylor offered.

"No, that's fine. I'll just meet you guys at Gabs." Sharpay smiled and turned her attention to Gabriella who started speaking.

"My mom said that the guys can come over too, but just till eleven or so. It should be fun!" The bell rang and the rest of the students in Ms. Darbus's homeroom filed in.

"Hello ladies," Chad said coolly. "What did you talk about?

"Just a sleepover I'm having at my house on Saturday for girls only. But my mom said you guys can come over till eleven," Gabriella replied as she pointed at Troy, Chad, Ryan and Zeke.

"Score!!!" Chad exclaimed, high-fiving Zeke. "We didn't have plans yet, now we do!"

"Okay, someone's way hyped up about this," Taylor said with a giggle.

Chad put his hand to his heart and said, "That hurts babe."

Everyone started cracking up at Chad, who joined in on the laughter, and only did they stop when Ms. Darbus yelled at them to be quiet so she could do announcements.

--

That day went by very quickly to Sharpay. She was glad when she could finally go home. All day her stomach had been rumbling and she kept getting extremely light-headed and dizzy.

Sharpay hopped into the car with Ryan as he drove them home. "Is anything wrong Sharpay?" Ryan's voice asked, bringing Sharpay out of her thoughts.

"No, not really. Why?" Sharpay replied.

"You just seem quiet. That's all." Ryan said and shrugged it off.

When the twins arrived home, Sharpay yelled a hello to her mom before heading upstairs to her room. She walked into her bathroom, locking the door behind her. She pulled off her skirt and shirt and stared at herself in the mirror. Sharpay was very upset by how she looked. Her collarbone was prominent and you could still see the faint outlines of her ribs poking at her skin. But that isn't what Sharpay saw. All she saw was fat and extra weight and she was convinced that's what everyone else saw. She turned away from the mirror and stepped on the scale. 117.5 pounds it read moments later. Sharpay was dismayed by her appearance as she pulled her clothes back on. She headed back to her room and did her homework for the next two hours. Only moments after she finished, her stomach growled at her.

Sharpay, who nearly fell over when she stood up, walked swiftly down the stairs and headed to the kitchen. She was surprised that it was empty but saw a note on the kitchen table from her mom. "Hey guys! Sorry I'm doing this again, but you're on your own for dinner because your father and I are going up to your Aunt's cabin. We'll be back late Sunday night so you're on your own for the weekend. Call us if you need anything. Love, Mom."

Sharpay squealed with excitement as she turned to the fruit basket on the far end of the counter. She was so hungry but didn't want to eat anything loaded with calories or fat. She eventually grabbed the smallest green apple they had and grabbed a knife and plate from the cabinets. Sharpay then cut the apple into quarters and grabbed the smallest one before devouring it. Savoring every bite, Sharpay's stomach groaned. She decided she would eat only one more quarter and save the other half for dinner. Quickly shoving another quarter of apple into her mouth, Sharpay grinned to herself. She cleaned up the kitchen as she put her apples in the fridge. Sharpay hopped up to her room and quickly feel asleep under her white down comforter.

--

The next morning Sharpay woke up to the sound of sizzling bacon and the smell of scrambled eggs. She felt a sharp pang in her hungry stomach and grabbed the wall for support as she got out of bed. Moments later, Sharpay entered the bathroom and weighed herself. 117. Sharpay tried to uncover a smile but it turned out looking like a weak grimace. With no hope, Sharpay jumped into the shower and turned the water the hottest it would go, letting the boiling water scald her.

After Sharpay stepped out of her shower and wrapped a towel around herself, her bathroom felt like a sauna. She slowly stepped over to her closet and pulled out a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a white tank-top with a floral design, along with a light blue hoodie. Sharpay quickly changed into these clothes, brushed her hair, applied a little make-up and walked downstairs to the kitchen.

"Morning Shar!" Ryan exclaimed from the living room where he was eating his bacon, eggs and hashbrowns. "You finally decided to join me," he joked. "There's lots more eggs and stuff in the pans on the stove if you want any. You can come join me in here if you want."

"Thanks for making breakfast Ryan. I think I'll just eat in here though," Sharpay said while scooping up some eggs, bacon and hashbrowns onto her plate. Sharpay set the plate down on the center island and went to grab a fork and a glass of water. When she eventually settled into her seat she stared at the food in front of her. "I can't eat this. I'll gain all the weight I've lost back. But Ryan's right there. He's going to notice." Sharpay thought to herself, but then she had an idea. "So Ryan, what are you up to today?" Sharpay called from the kitchen. As she said this Ryan stood up from the living room, turned off the morning news and walked into the kitchen with his empty plate and cup.

"Well, I'm going to Gabriella's tonight, like you are. But this afternoon I'm probably hanging out with Troy and Zeke at the gym. Then I'll probably drive over to Gabriella's with them if I don't come back home." Ryan opened up the dishwasher and put his dishes in the correct spots before shutting the door. "Why aren't you eating your breakfast Shar?"

Sharpay, who had already come up with a lie looked down at her plate then up at Ryan. "This is my second helping of stuff, Ryan!"

"Okay. Sorry. Would you mind cleaning the kitchen up? I've gotta go shower," Ryan pleaded.

"Sure no problem," Sharpay said with a smile.

"Thanks, your a doll!" Ryan said as he walked out of the kitchen. Sharpay listened as she heard him walk up the stairs and waited until she heard the shower running before getting up. She opened up the cabinet under the kitchen sink, pulled out the garbage can and pushed all of her food off of the plate and into the garbage. Sharpay rinsed off her plate and put it into the dishwasher, along with her cup and fork. She packed up the leftovers and then rinsed the pans before setting them into the dishwasher. After starting the dishwasher, Sharpay wiped down the counters and the center island before grabbing the rest of her apple from the night before out of the fridge. Savoring every bite of the last half of the apple, Sharpay threw the bag away and headed upstairs.

--

"Hey Sharpay! I'm heading out," Ryan called to Sharpay who was in her room picking out clothes.

"Where are you going? I thought you weren't going to the gym till later."

"Well we are. We're gonna go hang out at Chad's for awhile, then hit the gym and get lunch and stuff. So I'll probably meet you at Gabriella's later on."

"Okay, see you tonight. Bye Ry!"

"Later Shar!" Sharpay heard the door slam and then kept picking out clothes to bring to Gabriella's. A half an hour later, it was 10:30 and Sharpay was all packed to go to Gabriella's. She was bored and didn't know what to do to make the time go by quickly so she decided to straighten her hair. That took about forty-five minutes and Sharpay still didn't know what to do. She turned off the straightening iron and unplugged it to let it cool and then turned to the scale. Sharpay removed her jeans and sweatshirt and stepped on the scale. 117. "I haven't lost any weight since seven this morning?" Sharpay thought to herself, outraged. In a huff, she jumped off of the scale, put her jeans and sweatshirt back on and went to go lie down in her bed. Sharpay noticed that her hands and feet were freezing so she tucked herself under her comforter and quickly fell asleep.

--

Sharpay woke up to her phone beeping over and over. She pulled herself up so she was sitting on her bed and started moving her hands around trying to find her beeping cell phone. "Eight missed calls?! What time is it?" Sharpay looked over at her clock and saw that it was seven. She was supposed to be to Gabriella's an hour and a half ago. With no new messages or voicemail, Sharpay jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. She took a brush to her hair and made it look perfect again, reapplied her make-up then grabbed a pair of shoes out of her closet. As she slipped them on she was overcome with a spell of dizziness, causing her to grab the wall to support her. Once it passed, she grabbed her bag and went as quickly as she could out of her room, down the stairs and into her car.

As Sharpay drove to Gabriella's, she noticed her heart was beating really fast. Too fast for it to just be nerves or anxiety. As she pulled into Gabriella's driveway she turned off the ignition and rested her head against the steering wheel, waiting for her heartbeat to slow. After ten minutes it had slowed down only a bit, so Sharpay grabbed her bag out of of the seat next to her, locked her car and headed up to Gabriella's front door. Sharpay rang the doorbell and heard a bunch of talking from behind the closed door.

"Sharpay!!!" Gabriella screamed as she opened the front door. "You're here, finally!" She added with a laugh.

"Oh yeah, I'm so sorry about that Gabs. I just lost track of time. So where is everyone?"

"Just downstairs. You can leave your bag up here. I'll just call everyone up here, because the pizza will be here soon." Gabriella walked through the living room and pulled open a door in the hallway and yelled "EVERYONE! Come up here! The pizza will be here any minute!" There was a loud commotion as the guys fought for who would get up the stairs first. Chad ran up the stairs, followed by Zeke, Ryan, Troy, Kelsi and Taylor bringing up the rear.

"Hey Shar! You're finally here!" Ryan said to his twin sister.

"Mhm. So what have you guys been doing?" Sharpay questioned.

"Well," Taylor started with a slight edge to her voice, "we tried to put The Notebook in, but Chad grabbed the DVD case and Troy took the remote. And they put on basketball!"

"You seriously think you were going to get us to watch The Notebook?" Zeke asked with a laugh.

"We were going to try!" Kelsi joined in. "It was an old game you were watching anyways!"

"Kelsi, that game was a classic," Troy added.

"And you girls know you loved it!" Chad exclaimed.

The quarrel was ended with the ring of the doorbell. Chad jumped up out of his chair followed by Troy and Zeke who all answered the door. Chad grabbed the pizzas out of the pizza man's hands, Troy handed him a twenty dollar bill and Zeke threw four dollars at him for tip. "Thanks!" Troy added hastily just as the door was shut.

The gang all entered the kitchen together, the boys pulling up chairs and the girls grabbing cups, plates and napkins. As everyone sat down and started eating, a million excuses started running through Sharpay's head. But before she could use one she was confronted.

"Sharpay," Troy ask with concern in his voice, making everyone at the table stop talking, "why aren't you eating anything?"

Sharpay, who was used to having all eyes on her, hated having her friends eyes burn into her. "I didn't know we were eating here, so I ate before I came. I'm sorry Gabriella."

Troy, Gabriella and Ryan, who all seemed most concerned, all let out of a sigh of relief. "That's totally okay Sharpay. We'll have popcorn and snacks and stuff tonight anyways. So save your appetite for that," Gabriella said with a laugh.

"Thank goodness I got out of that one," Sharpay said to herself, relieved.

After the everyone was full of pizza and the kitchen was cleaned up, Gabriella suggested that everyone go for a walk around the neighborhood. Everybody quickly agreed and they decided they'd go to the park and the guys could play a little basketball. As they were walking Sharpay could feel her heart fluttering. It wouldn't stop, it was fluttering over and over. She put a hand over her heart and walked a little slower, worried about what was going on. After walking slowly for about five minutes, she quickened her pace to catch up with Gabriella, Kelsi and Taylor; Ryan, Zeke, Troy and Chad walking behind.

"Hey, Sharpay!" Zeke called. "Why are you wearing a sweatshirt and jeans? It's like almost ninety degrees."

"Uh, I'm just kind of cold is all," Sharpay said will unzipping the front of her sweatshirt, making it look a little less obvious. "Is that a problem?" She joked.

"Nope, nope, just wondering," Zeke said with a laugh.

As the group of friends approached the park everyone started running to it, except Chad, Sharpay and Gabriella.

"Why aren't you running to the basketball court with everyone else, Chad?" Gabriella asked with a huge smile.

"Well, everyone will be fighting over me to be on their team, so it doesn't matter when I get over there," Chad joked.

"Okay, that doesn't really make sense, but whatever," Sharpay said with a laugh. As she laughed she felt herself get light-headed and she slowly fell to the ground.

"Sharpay?!" Gabriella and Chad said in shocked unison. "Are you okay?"

As Chad helped Sharpay up, Sharpay lied and said, "Yeah, I just tripped on these stupid shoes."

"You sure you're okay?" Chad double-checked.

"Yeah, I'm totally fine," Sharpay said as she bounded off towards the swingset by Kelsi and Taylor.

Chad and Gabriella shared a confused glance before heading off to the park.

Author's Note: I think that was a good place to end. So, what did you think? REVIEW:D