Painfully Perfect

Disclaimer: I don't own HSM.

Author's Note: Hey everybody. FIRST OF ALL: I want to apologize for the long time between updates and that this chapter isn't the best (in my opinion) and it's a bit choppy. Let's just say it's a filler chapter. And please ignore any spelling errors cause I'm posting this late at night and don't have time to read through it. Haha, okay, I want to thank everyone for your reviews. They mean so much to me to know what you think! You guys rock! This chapter takes place one week later, so it's a Monday. Just a heads up in case there is any confusion. The individual review replies are at the bottom as always. Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 8

Sharpay sat in her room, staring at her science homework, her stomach rumbling. Her head would occasionally droop downward before she'd snap it back up so she wouldn't fall asleep. She glanced at her clock, seeing it was six-thirty. She had a half an hour before dinner. Staring at her final science problem, she quickly scribbled down the best answer she could come up with and shut her book. Suddenly her head dropped onto her bed and she lay passed out.

Twenty minutes later, Sharpay began to stir as she heard a knock on her door. Ryan entered her room and sat down on the edge of her bed. "Sharpay," Ryan whispered softly to his sister. "Wake up."

Sharpay slowly pulled herself up and looked into her brother's eyes. "What?" she asked irritably.

"I'm just letting you know it's time for dinner. So come on," Ryan said as he grabbed his sister's wrist and pulled her up. Sharpay was lighter than usual, something Ryan casually noticed.

"I want to sleep Ryan," Sharpay whined, her hair hanging limply around her face. "I'll eat later." She tried to pull herself from his grasp, but Ryan wouldn't let go.

"Just come eat, okay? Then you can go to sleep."

"Fine!" She snapped sharply at her brother and took off towards the stairs slowly, trying to stay balanced.

The smells of the kitchen filled Sharpay's mind, making her empty stomach groan. It had been another long week of barely eating for Sharpay. She was pleased with herself for losing five pounds last week, bring her weight to 109. But she wasn't getting the results she expected.

As Sharpay sat down at the table with her family, she stared at the food. That night for dinner they were eating steak, mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley. The family said grace, but all Sharpay could think about was the delicious food sitting in front of her, making her mouth water. "Maybe I'll just eat a little bit." Sharpay quickly grabbed the smallest piece of steak, a small spoonful of potatoes and three carrots and set them daintily on her plate. After eating the piece of steak and savoring it for as long as she could, she thought she saw Ryan looking at her but when she looked back at him he was staring at his plate. "Maybe I can eat just a little bit more, just so Ryan doesn't get suspicious," Sharpay thought, but it was just an excuse to herself to eat.

Sharpay shoveled her plate full of food and devoured every bite of it. Ryan gave a satisfied smile to himself and stopped worrying about Sharpay once and for all. His sister was back. At least, that's what he thought.

--

The next morning Sharpay woke up a half an hour later than she usually did and was still exhausted. It was six o'clock as she pulled herself out of bed and headed into the bathroom. Sharpay stretched as she removed her clothes to weigh herself and shower. "109 still?" Sharpay thought to herself as she swallowed, irritating her sore throat. She had made herself throw up again. Although Sharpay hated making herself throw-up, she had decided to eat this morning again, just to make sure Ryan wouldn't get suspicious. "But only one more time." She hopped into the shower, letting the steaming water wash away all of her insecurities.

Twenty minutes later, Sharpay stepped out of her shower, wrapped a white fluffy towel around her body and headed to her closet to pick out her outfit for the day. It had taken ten minutes but she finally decided on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans matched with a blank tank top that hung loosely on her body and a white zip up hoodie.

"Good morning Sharpay!" Mr. Evans called happily to his daughter as she entered the kitchen.

"Morning Dad," Sharpay said cheerily as she sat down at the table. She looked across to her brother who smiled warmly at her before turning her attention to her mom, who entered the kitchen carrying a plate of French toast.

"Morning Mom!" Ryan squealed to the older woman.

"Morning sweetie!" Mrs. Evans said as she set the plate on the table and pulled out her chair. "Dig in!"

Sharpay's stomach growled at her as she loaded her plate with three large pieces of French toast, six pieces of sausage and three big spoonfuls of fruit. It took ten minutes, but Sharpay had devoured every morsel of food on her plate, her stomach feeling satisfyingly full. "Maybe for once I can just be full...so it can be like I ate normally," Sharpay suggested to herself.

"You are so stupid! You can't just be full for once because you'll gain back all the weight you've lost! You know exactly what you have to do ," the voice in Sharpay's head yelled to her.

"Oh Ryan, I forgot to print off your homework. I'll go do that quick and then we can go," Sharpay told her brother as she jumped up from the table. She walked as quickly as she could up the stairs and into her bedroom. Once she had clicked the print button, she started pacing the length of her room. Sharpay hated the fact that she had made herself throw up twice, but realized that if she ever "over-ate" she would have to suffer the consequence of getting rid of it.

She rushed into the bathroom, quickly locking the door behind her. Sharpay flipped the knob on the sink to make the faucet start running as she knelt down next to the toilet. Breathing in a heavy sigh, she stuck her forefinger and middle finger down her throat as far as she could and removed them as she felt her breakfast coming back up. The back of Sharpay's throat burned as the acid hit it. After repeating the gesture twice more, she flushed the toilet and felt a little guilty, but tried to push that out of her mind.

As Sharpay grabbed Ryan's homework off the printer, she popped a mint into her mouth and headed down the stairs.

--

"So how was basketball practice?" Gabriella asked Troy as they sat in homeroom by their friends.

"Great. I'm so pumped for our next game! How was shopping?" Troy asked with mild interest.

"Really fun! 'Cept for this saleslady who was a totally crab."

"I'm still mad that she mad fun of me for being short," Kelsi pouted, receiving a hug from Jason.

"But you are," Chad pointed out.

Taylor playfully smacked the back of Chad's head. "Ouch." Chad said rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry Kelsi," he quietly mumbled.

Kelsi giggled. "It's okay Chad. I forgive you."

His face lightened up as the bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom. The teenagers quickly exited the classroom and went to their next class. Gabriella, Taylor and Sharpay walked leisurely to math.

The three teenage girls entered their class just as the bell rang again. They quickly sat down in their assigned seats and turned to their teacher. "Good morning class. I hope everybody did their homework because today we are having a pop quiz." A smile crept onto the old lady's face, giving her an eerie look.

A chorus of groans and protest were silenced once the quiz was distributed. "When I say 'begin', you may flip over your test. You have forty-five minutes. We will grade these in class. This will count for five percent of your final grade for this quarter. No cheating. Begin!"

Sharpay looked down at her test and her mind went blank as the words in front of her blurred and then refocused. The problem showed a square with six circles inside and a triangle inside of that, along with what Sharpay was supposed to solve. "If the area of each circle of the diagram is Pi divided by 4 and the distance between the center of the circles P and Q is the square root of 3, what is the area of ABCD not covered by the circles? How am I supposed to know?" Sharpay thought to herself as she reread the question. This was going to be a long test.

--

Sharpay sat around the lunch table with her friends, listening to their conversation.

"I'm so happy I aced that math quiz!" Taylor squealed to Gabriella.

"Me too! I was so worried I was going to fail!" Sharpay felt a pang of jealousy as she took a small bite out of her dry salad. "Oh, Sharpay! What did you get?"

Sharpay flashed a fake smile. "Not as good as you," She spoke through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I'm sure you didn't do that bad."

"Trust me, I did," Sharpay mumbled as she thought about the bold red C- that was stamped onto her test, helping herself to another bite of salad. "So do you guys want to come over again on Wednesday to study for chemistry like you did last week?" Sharpay asked as Kelsi joined the girls at the table.

"That'd be so much fun. I did really well on that test, so I think we should study together again," Kelsi replied to her friends.

"Sure! What time should we come over?" Taylor asked.

"You can just ride home with me after school," Sharpay said slowly as Troy, Chad, Ryan and Zeke sat down at the table. "Hey everybody! What's up?" Chad asked happily as he took a bite out of his sandwich. The group started making conversation as Sharpay just sat there and listened, occasionally taking a small bite out of her salad.

Sharpay's head was spinning so she rested it in hands. She stayed like that for a couple of minutes before she felt a warm hand touch her shoulder, causing her to jump. "You okay Shar?" Zeke asked to his friend.

Sharpay blinked a couple of times and looked at Zeke. "What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. I just have a little headache," she told him.

"Want me to take you to the nurse?"

"No Zeke," Sharpay said, putting emphasis on 'no', "I'm just fine." Zeke watched Sharpay closely and noticed her head slowly drooping. Sharpay quickly rested her head on her hand again as the room in front of her spun quickly, making her feel sick. "Shar are you sure your okay?" Zeke asked again quietly after a few minutes.

"Uh, I actually think I will go to the nurse," Sharpay said as she slowly pulled herself up. She swayed a little bit before steadying herself on her chair.

"Want me to walk you there?" Zeke said as he stood up.

"No, it's fine Zeke. I can take care of myself," Sharpay said bitterly before turning to the stairs. Zeke watched Sharpay's retreating figure until he couldn't see her anymore and then slowly sat down.

--

"Sharpay, sweetie! It's time for dinner!" Mrs. Evans called while walking up the stairs to her teenage daughter.

Sharpay laid down under her comforter and closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep but not far from falling asleep. "Sharpay?" Mrs. evans said sweetly as she walked into her daughter's room. "Aww." Mrs. Evans watched her "sleeping" daughter, tiptoed over to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Night sweetie," she whispered with care.

Five minutes later, Sharpay was positive her mom was upstairs as she yanked herself out of the comforter and slowly stood up. Beep! Beep! Beep! Sharpay's phone sounded, alerting her that she had new text messages. She ignored it as she shuffled into the bathroom. She was positive it was Zeke texting her the billionth time to ask if she was feeling better after going to the nurse. It annoyed her a lot, but she couldn't bring herself to text him back with a lie because she still felt guilty for making herself throw up instead of going to the nurse's office. Sharpay heaved a heavy sigh and stumbled a bit, regained her balance and stepped toward the bathroom scale.

Sharpay looked down and frowned with disappointment upon seeing the weight, 108.5, glare back at her. She approached the mirror, lifted up her light green t-shirt and stared at her reflection. She criticized every part of herself and pinched her stomach painfully. Her collarbone was prominent and you could see her top two ribs slightly poking out of her skin. Sharpay gave herself one last look of disgust before turning on her heel and heading to bed.

--

THUD! Troy and Gabriella watched as Sharpay slowly fell backward onto the stage, Ryan not being quick enough to catch her.

"That was great!" Ms. Darbus said as she stood up applauding. Ryan lifted his sister so she was standing upright as a large smile beamed across her face. Today Sharpay was the perfect actress, not Gabriella. "Let's take it from act two scene one."

The group of teenagers moved around the stage, the stagehands walking back and forth and the four friends taking a quick glance at their lines. "You did so good Sharpay!" Gabriella complimented happily.

"Yeah, it was fantastic! The show is gonna be great," Troy agreed. Sharpay's smile lit up the entire room. This was the best she had felt in weeks.

The large group of teenagers rehearsed for the next hour and half and then found themselves in the parking lot outside of school. "You guys wanna go grab a bite? To celebrate how good we did today?" Troy asked with a smile, wrapping his arm around Gabriella's shoulder.

"That'd be so much fun!" Ryan and Gabriella exclaimed in unison, resulting in a fit of giggles.

"Uh,why don't you guys go ahead? I've got a lot of homework," Sharpay said to her friends while staring at her shoes.

"Oh come on Shar! It'd be fun. You can do your homework anytime!" Gabriella pleaded.

"I really don't think I should..." Sharpay trailed off.

"Oh come on Shar! Please?" Ryan asked to his sister.

"Yeah Sharpay! Come on!" Troy said giving her his best sad look.

Sharpay scoffed. "Okay, fine..as long as it's not too long."

--

"La la la la la la," Gabriella sung to herself, sitting around Troy, Ryan and Sharpay, waiting for a waiter to come take their order.

"Hey. My name is Ashley. What can I get you today?" A tall blond waitress came and ask the four friends.

"I'm going to get a chocolate malt and a cheeseburger, hold the onions," Troy said, glancing at his menu.

"Make that two," Gabriella smiled.

"Actually, make that three," Ryan joined in.

"Can I get...a water and a chicken Caesar salad, hold the dressing," Sharpay said confidently.

"Sure! Your food will be up in a couple of minutes."

"You sure that's all you want Shar?" Ryan asked his sister.

"Yeah. I told you before I didn't even want come. I'm just not that hungry okay?"

"Okay, fine by me," Ryan said happily, buying his sister's lie. Gabriella eyed Sharpay for a moment before turning to Troy.

"You guys are going to have to help me. I can't get that first step down in act one," Troy groaned. Gabriella and Ryan fell into a fit of laughs, while Sharpay giggled quietly. "What? It's not funny!" Troy protested.

"Admit it, it's funny!" Gabriella exclaimed.

"Okay, maybe it is a little bit," Troy replied, a small grin tugging at his lips. "But I do need help with it."

"Come over on Friday and we can all work on it then hang out or something," Ryan offered.

"Sounds great!" Gabriella beamed, Troy nodding his head. Sharpay flashed a quick smile as she watched the waitress come over to the table with their food.

--

"Night guys! See you tomorrow!" Ryan called to Troy and Gabriella as Sharpay waved. "See, that was fun. And to think you were going to do homework," Ryan said in a teasing tone, ruffling his sister's hair. "I'm gonna head upstairs and take a shower! Night sis!"

Ryan bounded up the stairs as Sharpay walked to the garage, her leftover food in hand. Gabriella had insisted that Sharpay take her food home, considering she only had three small bites of it. Sharpay lifted up the lid of the garbage can and tossed the food container making a sounding thud at the bottom of the container. She smiled to herself and headed up to her room.

As Sharpay walked into her bathroom she hummed quietly in time with the water from Ryan's shower. Quickly removing her sweatpants and t-shirt, she stepped on the scale and looked downward. 108. "Sharpay! You've barely lost any weight in the past three days. You know what to do. It will help," the voice in her head called out to her. Sharpay slowly made her way to the toilet and dropped to her knees. Just as she stuck her fingers in the back of her throat, the bathroom doorknob twisted.

Author's Note: Hey guys! I hope you liked it. Sorry for taking so long on the update. Please let me know what you think...I'm iffy about this chapter but it's what you think that matters. The next chapter is guarenteed a bit more drama so look forward to that. Oh and I'd like to thank Bj (SoMuchForMyHappyEnding) for being amazing and loving CamCam as much as I do. Also, little.miss.sarcasm because her reviews make me smile and she is always there to help and she gives the best advice on how to make "dramatic endings" and just cause I'm the author so I can give her recognition. Haha :)!

Review Replies:

ascii27: Thanks so much. Haha I totally agree with you about the necklace. I think it's arrogant. Haha but I loved what you said about Sharpay and how she'd take one look at it and ask for an S. :) Hope you liked this!

Lady Charity: Yeah, I feel bad for Sharpay but I've got to be extreme with her "diet" or it wouldn't match the plot that much now would it? Haha, thanks for saying that you thinks it well written. That means a lot. I know who the first two people are who finds out...You'll have to wait and see. Hah, HSM2 was incredibly cheesy at parts but yes, satisfying all the same.

marri: Haha, bad Sharpay for lying! I'm glad you like it. They have it on your school records that you were anorexic:( I'm sorry about that. Uhm, eggs Benedict is like egg on english muffin with hollandaise sauce and baked alaska..how to describe it..I'm not sure but it's DELICIOUS. Haha.

charmarctravis: Wow thanks for all the reviews! I'm glad you like this story! It's always great getting a new reader. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)

BlackxRose19: That is such a wonderful compliment to hear that I write well. I really appreciate that a lot. I'm glad you like this! Hah yeah conceited with the T necklace Troy. Haha, I still find it weird how happy she is to wear a T necklace. Hah!

Stacy: Sorry for the long update! But I'm glad you just got into it! People will start finding out soon I think..In the next couple of chapters at least:)

Pumpernickel Muffin: I feel bad for Sharpay too! Sorry for the long update! Enjoy!

Zashleyrocks and Zanessa sucks: Hah your penname made me laugh :). Yeah the saleslady was a major pain but I described her as tall and skinny but she had no right to judge. Poor Shar!

SweetSmiles16: Thanks for liking how I take it slow. I was hoping people weren't getting sick of it. I hope you aren't mad that Ryan has..changed his views in this chapter. But people should start finding out soon.

xocrazililkelox: Thanks! Sorry for the long update period. Hah I hope you like it!

Mill1on: Are you excited you finally get to see HSM2 in a couple of days? Haha, you'll have to let me know what you think, especially about Troy and his T necklace. Haha, hope you really like this!

dianananerz: You think it's a cool story? YAY! Thanks for the review!

penciltopaper: I'm glad you love it! Sorry for taking forever to update. Do you like what's happening now? And thanks for the critique..I was trying to have it just be a pound a day at first..cause my friend was anorexic and lost a lot of weight right away then it got a bit harder to lose weight. But thank you! Enjoy!

little.miss.sarcasm.: Your reviews literally make my day. Haha well she did eat something this chapter..but that doesn't really count does it considering she got rid of it. Sorry. Yeah, I shouldn't have had it Sharpay walking around the mall happily but blah. I think I meant it more so that she was happy to be with her friends. And I'm really sorry I'm ruining Sharpay. I'm such a horrible person! Haha ;). Hmm, you'll have to wait and see who finds out after Gabi finds out!! Yeah she is being a meanie pants to Ryan. I love that he's concerned but uh..this chapter sort of changes it. :( Sowwy! Yeah evil saleslady makes me mad too! Sorry about her. And I love that you loved that I had Ms. Montez say "Mhm." That totally made me smile. I'm glad you loved it and YES let's talk soon. And now that I updated, like I promised: WE CAN WORK ON OUR CHAPTER YAY! Haha!

KatieMalfoy19: Thanks so much for the review Katie! I'm glad you love it and how serious it is. Sorry about Ryan's.."change of ways" in this chapter. But people will start finding out soon...in the next few chapters I expect. Enjoy!

withoutatacegirl: Sorry for taking forever to update! I hope you liked this chapter too!

Sarah -or- Miley Cyrus Fan: Here's the update, FINALLY! I want you to update! I love your story so much. Oh and I watched your Youtube videos the other day and loved them, especially Never Far Behind:)

You guys rock! Thanks for everything!