Painfully Perfect

Disclaimer: I don't own HSM.

Author's Note: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. You are all amazing. Here's my first update of 2008! Oh, Mr. Evans gets a name too. :) Michael! Anyways, I really wanted to get something up, so enjoy.

Chapter 16

It was all a blur. Everything happened so quickly. Gabriella's scream echoed throughout the house as Troy, Ryan, Zeke, Chad, Taylor and Kelsi ran up the stairs. Gabriella's mouth was still in an 'O' shape, and she was shakily pointing to Sharpay as she backed against the wall and slid down it. Troy rushed to her side and glanced into the bathroom where he saw Sharpay.

"No...it can't...no," He mumbled as he wrapped his arms around a now crying Gabriella and stared into the bathroom. Ryan took one look at Sharpay's lifeless body and ran down the hall as far away as he could from the bathroom. He slid down Sharpay's door frame and stared straight forward. Oddly, his demeanor was calm. Zeke, however, knew that was the farthest from what emotion Ryan was experiencing right now and he ran next to his best friend and offered comfort.

Kelsi sat next to Sharpay's body, fear filling her eyes as Taylor sat right next to her and Chad called 9-1-1. "Please! We need an ambulance."

Everything happened in a rush. Soon enough, paramedics were scurrying into the house. Sharpay was put on a stretcher. Taylor and Kelsi hugged each other as they cried. Chad tried to help the paramedics out. Zeke tried to snap Ryan out of his state of shock. Gabriella was sobbing quietly in Troy's arms. The paramedics were calling things across the room, bombarding questions at the teens. And then suddenly, the house was still. The silence was deafening.

The only sounds that rung through the room were the small escaped sobs from the girls in the room. "Come on guys. We need to get to the hospital!" Chad shouted urgently. Taylor and Kelsi stood up and followed Chad down the stairs. "We'll meet you three there," Troy called after them, standing up with Gabriella.

"Ryan, come on we gotta go," Zeke whispered to the pale blond boy.

Ryan's body was frozen. Troy walked over next to Zeke and helped him pull Ryan up. They led him down the stairs behind Gabriella, left the house, and raced to the hospital.

As soon as they reached the hospital, Ryan slowly got out of the car and walked over to a garbage can, coughing up his lunch into it. Zeke patted Ryan on the back and handed him a tissue as they entered the hospital with Gabriella and Troy. They found Chad, Taylor and Kelsi quickly and they all proceeded to the front desk.

"Here to see a newborn baby?" The receptionist smiled sweetly, accustomed to seeing large groups of teens when babies were born.

"Actually, a friend of ours was just brought here.." Kelsi spoke quietly.

"Name?" The receptionist frowned slightly at the worried looks on their faces.

"Sharpay Evans."

"Oh," she started slowly. "She'll be in the ER right now. I expect it'll be awhile. You can wait in the waiting room until she's put in a room if you'd like."

"Thanks, that'd be great," Taylor said heavily. Zeke excused himself from the group and headed outside as they sat down so that he could inform Sharpay and Ryan's parents.

As the group headed towards the chairs, the receptionist called Troy back. "I'm sorry, but could you sign this waver?" She asked quietly. "It's for her operation and I see her parents aren't here."

Troy's eyes widened at the news of Sharpay needing surgery. Was it really that bad? But, Troy nodded and filled out the form quickly before going to sit down with his friends.

Ryan was still in a state of shock. He sat stiffly in a chair and his eyes were blank. Gabriella, who had stopped sobbing, but still had tears streaming down her cheeks, sat down next to Ryan when she saw the look on his face. Troy leaned forward and sighed heavily as Chad sat down next to him, Taylor to his left and Kelsi to hers.

Gabriella placed a comforting hand on Ryan's shoulder. Suddenly, he was pulled out of his daze and he flinched as he turned towards Gabriella. She stared at him with lost eyes before quickly pulling him into a hug. He was still, until he slowly wrapped his arms around her. They sat hugging for a moment before Gabriella released her grip and held Ryan's hand comfortingly. Zeke sat down next to Gabriella's left a couple of minutes later and said, "You're parents are leaving their party thing now, Ry. They're going to try to get here as fast as they can with the traffic."

For at least an hour, the group was completely and utterly silent. By now everyone had cried or was crying, even if they were just a few tears. Everyone except for Ryan. He knew that if he started he would never be able to stop. He was trying to keep his cool as best as he could, doing everything in his power to keep from crying.

"RYAN!" Mrs. Evans voice suddenly rang through the room and before Ryan knew it, he was in his mother's arms. Mr. Evans took a seat across the room from Ryan's now empty seat as Ryan's mom let go of him. She stared into Ryan's eyes and could find no emotion evident. "What's going on?"

Ryan could barely choke out a word as he resumed between Gabriella and Kelsi and Alyson sat next to her husband.

"We're not exactly sure. She's been in the ER for little over an hour now," Gabriella's voice quavered.

"Why is she here? We didn't hear much on the phone," Michael spoke calmly.

"I...Sharpay was lying in Ryan's bathroom unconscious. The blood...it was blood everywhere...it...I...I'm sorry." Gabriella started crying again, the image of Sharpay replaying over and over in her mind.

"And what do we do now?" Alyson whimpered, squeezing her husband's hand for support.

"Right now, Sharpay is in surgery. So...we wait," Troy spoke gently.

"We wait," Alyson repeated.

--

Sounds of the hospital were the only noises heard in the waiting room. Silently, Sharpay's friends and family waited, hoping for good news. Two hours later a middle-aged man entered into the tiny waiting room. His thick, curly brown hair was receding ever-so-slighty. His build was tall and muscular, but his eyes were striking. There were a deep violent shade of blue and they held millions of stories within in them. "Troy Bolton?" The doctor called, his voice deep.

Troy looked up with a shocked face. "Uh, yeah?" He asked nervously.

"You signed the waver for Sharpay Evan's surgery?" He questioned.

The room was still. "Yeah, but her parents weren't here. The receptionist asked me to. I...she's my friend, I didn't mean any harm, I just--." Troy was rambling before the doctor cut him off with a small smile.

"It's not like that, son. I'm here to inform you that Sharpay is out of surgery." He glanced around the room, suddenly realizing they were all here to see Sharpay. "I'll lead you up to her room if you'll follow me."

The walk to Sharpay's hospital room was silent, filled with worry about Sharpay's health. There was a small bench across the hallway from Sharpay's room, B303. They didn't know how they were going to decide about who was going to see Sharpay first. "Why don't you kids go in first? All at once, alone...however you like. Alyson and I are going to talk to Dr. Gilbertson and then head down to the cafeteria. Let Sharpay know we'll be back up to see her, okay?" Michael spoke clearly. Taylor and Zeke nodded their understanding as they watched Sharpay and Ryan's parents retreat down the hallway.

"Who wants to go in first?" Kelsi spoke quietly moments later. They just looked around at each other before Chad spoke up. "Why don't we just all go in together, at least for right now?" The group agreed and one by one they filed into Sharpay's hospital room, Ryan discreetly staying behind.

Once the door was shut quietly behind Troy, they all pulled up chairs around Sharpay's room. The beeps of the heart monitor filled the room. Tears sprung from Gabriella's eyes at the sight. She moved right next to Sharpay's sleeping body and held her hand, Zeke doing the exact same on her right side. The once vibrant, glowing and beautiful seventeen year old Sharpay Evans now looked like she was stuck in the body of an eight year old. Tears burned in the back of Zeke's eyes as he traced over the deep scars on Sharpay's fingers.

Slowly, Sharpay's body moved and she started to stir. "Sharpay?" Zeke breathed. She woke up with a start, her eyelids flashing opening and she took in her surroundings.

"Where am I?" Sharpay's voice came out hoarsely in a low whisper, her eyes filled with panic.

"You're in the hospital, Shar," Gabriella cried to her best friend. And suddenly the memories came flooding back to her. She passed out, there was blood everywhere. Sharpay pulled her hands out of Gabriella and Zeke's grip and buried her face in her hands, ashamed and embarrassed. Tears slid down her cheeks and her small body shook.

"It's okay, Shar," Chad said, sliding an arm around his shaking friend. She looked into Chad's eyes. Her face was pale and her makeup was scarce. Tears filled her eyes and threatened to fall as she tried to gain her composure. She pushed her arm down so she could sit up, but stopped when her hand filled with pain. She looked down and saw two tubes connected in the back of her hand. Following the long lines, she saw an IV bag and suddenly realized it was nutrients that the doctors were trying to restore in her body.

Sharpay gripped the IV tightly and tried pulling it out, her hand hurting severely. Zeke noticed and yanked Sharpay's hand and held it. "Sharpay, what are you doing?" He asked, his voice panicky.

She stared into Zeke's eyes pleadingly. "Zeke, I need to get it out." Her throat hurt terribly as Zeke stared at her bewilderly.

"No, Sharpay. You can't." Sharpay stared at him for a moment and laid back down in the bed, propping herself up slightly with a few pillows. The blond girl stared at the ceiling to avoid everybody's eyes but she could feel them resting on her heavily.

It was silent for a few minutes before Sharpay croaked out in a low whisper, "Where's Ryan?" Everybody looked around, expecting the blond boy to finally speak, but were shocked when Ryan wasn't even in the room. Troy glanced out the door and saw Ryan sitting still in shock outside the room. "He's outside, Shar. Do you want to talk to him?"

Sharpay nodded very slowly after a moment's hesitation. The gang shared an unspoken understanding and filed out of the room, allowing Sharpay and Ryan to talk by themselves. Silently, Sharpay waited patiently for her brother to enter. Finally she heard the slam of the door and saw Ryan's eyes staring right back at her. His gaze was overpowering and she flipped onto her right side, her back turned away from Ryan. Her eyes were extremely wide, glazing over with tears. And everything was silent.

The silence seemed to last forever. Ryan had barely blinked, just kept his eyes on his sister, a million thoughts running through his mind. Eventually, Sharpay couldn't take it anymore. "Why aren't you talking Ryan?" She asked, turning back towards him and positioning herself cross-legged on her bed.

Ryan Evans was thought to be one half of the perfect two. Sharpay and Ryan, perfect. It was just a word they were associated with in both negative and positive ways. Everybody thought of Sharpay as the leader. She was outspoken, demanding, beautiful and intimidating. That was her kind of perfect, or so everyone thought. Ryan was the quiet, thoughtful, nearly emotionless, overshadowed part of the perfect twosome. Only those closest to Ryan knew he was full of life and his emotions ranged over a wide spectrum. Ryan was the only person in Sharpay's life to be able to bring out her true emotions in any situation. But right now, Ryan was trying to keep his 'perfect' how everybody thought it should be. He knew that if he uttered one word right now he wouldn't be able to stop. If he allowed one silly tear to fall, they would never stop. For his sister's sake, he was trying to be perfect.

"Ryan, I need you to talk to me," Sharpay's voice croaked quietly. Ryan stared Sharpay in the eye and shook his head, the tears filling the brim of his eyes.

Breathing deeply, Ryan finally spoke. His voice was low and filled with anger, confusion, fear and sadness. "Why?" And then the tears fell and the words spilled out. "Why Sharpay? I don't understand it. You are beautiful. You are my sister and you did this. You're anorexic, Shar. It's a brutal word, a brutal world. I hate it. I hate that you let this tear you apart. I knew something was wrong, but I told myself that you were a good girl and that you wouldn't follow this path. I asked you about it so many times Shar. So many times. And you lied. You lied over and over and you didn't listen to anybody. And then for awhile, Shar, you were better, but you fell back into it again. I don't understand it. I don't understand how you turned my sister, the sister I thought was perfect, beautiful, kind and gentle and so much more, I don't understand how you could turn her into this little girl who thought that self-harm would make her better. I don't get it Shar!" Ryan spoke in one breath, tears of every emotion streaming down his face.

Sharpay was scared by Ryan's outburst. Tears streamed down her face. She didn't know how to answer him. "Ryan, I need to be perfect. I need it. And now I can never have it. Do you get that?"

Ryan stared at Sharpay in disbelief. "I don't get that, Shar. You thought starving yourself and turning yourself into a walking skeleton would make you perfect?"

"No, Ryan," Sharpay choked out, blinking repeatedly. "Ryan, you don't get it. And I wish you could. Do you know how many times I wanted to tell you? Or anybody? So that they could take all the pain out of me? I was in so much pain Ryan, but I felt like I needed it. Heck, I still feel like I need it. I want to be accepted, I want people to like me. I wanna be that person people look at and think 'She is perfect.' That's what I want Ryan. And now I can never be that. Because everybody knows. Everyone at school is going to know. 'There goes Sharpay, the little anorexic girl.' You don't understand it. I needed this, Ryan. It was something I could control and now I lost it."

Ryan was frightened by this revelation. "Sharpay, people love you. There is a hallway full of people out there who's last hope is this. Sharpay, you are amazing. I can't even--," Ryan stopped talking and just let the tears stream down his face, Sharpay gripping onto his hand and doing the same. And there the Evans twins sat, the perfectly broken Evans twins.

Author's Note: Hmm, kind of short...but I'm going to stop there. Lots of stuff will be explained in the next chapter! I didn't go through and reread it so, sorry for any mistakes. The easiest part to write was Ryan finally talking to Shar. His first little 'rant' was easiest. Haha, anyways...So basically, I was thinking I could write an epilogue about what happens in Sharpay's life or maybe a sequel where she goes to rehab? I have some ideas, but I want to know what you guys think. And it depends if I'm up to it because I'm basically over HSM. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Review with thoughts :)