AN: So, thanks for the reviews, love Chadpay, yadda yadda yadda.

Title: Cruel to be Kind
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: Ryan likes Taylor, but he can't date until Sharpay does. Chad is the only one deemed brave enough to tame the wild beast. But he didn't expect to find a human being behind her facade.
Genre: Romance/Humor
Chapter: Chapter 5

"What happened?!"

Chad and Ryan trudged up the steps of their school the following Monday, three days after Bogie's party. Ryan had finished telling Chad about how Sharpay had been in a rage all weekend, barely coming out of her room and refusing to speak with anybody. Chad had remained quiet, and then Ryan asked the previously stated question.

"Well..." Chad bit his lip. "I kind of... maybe... didn't kiss her."

"Did she want one?" Ryan asked.

Chad nodded uneasily. "She kinda closed her eyes and leaned in..."

Ryan shoved him in the shoulder. "Why didn't you do it!? You had her!"

"She was drunk!" exclaimed Chad. "I didn't think she would remember."

"Well, obviously she did," snapped Ryan, "and now she's pissed. Great job."

Squirming, Chad said, "Maybe she just needs a couple days to cool off."

As soon as he spoke, someone rammed into him at full speed, causing him to fall into Ryan. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Sharpay stalking away.

"Maybe a week," said Ryan sarcastically.

"Hey, well, you're the one who made her all pissed," burst out Chad angrily.

Taken aback, Ryan said, "Me?! What did I --"

"You were an ass to her at the party," Chad reminded him. "You made her upset."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "She's my sister. It's what I do." Eyeing Chad suspiciously, Ryan added, "But why do you care so much? You would have done the same thing to her, if you weren't being paid to take her out."

Chad gaped. "I – well, I --" he sputtered. "Look, you making her upset, led to her getting totally wasted, which led to her puking on me, and then me driving her home, and her trying to kiss me. So, in theory, this is all your fault."

"No, it's your fault," corrected Ryan. "You just gotta win her back, man. Homecoming is coming up, and I wanna ask Taylor."

"Sharpay has to go to that, too?" asked Chad irritably.

Ryan nodded. "Part of my parents' crazy rules."

Chad threw his hands in the air. "So, it's all on me again, isn't it?"

Ryan pulled out a small wad of cash from his pocket and held it out. "Here's another fifty bucks," he said. "Get her back."

Chad looked at the bills for a few seconds and sighed, shoving them in his pocket. "Okay."

--

After school, Chad made a point to follow Sharpay. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he had to figure out something. She wouldn't even let him talk to her. He tried going up to her after lunch, but she'd completely ignored him, almost slamming her locker on his fingers.

Ryan was right – why didn't he just kiss her? Why did he have to have so much Goddman integrity? He should have just kissed her and got it over with. Then, he could be making plans for his second paid-date with no trouble at all. But no, instead, he was stuck trying to fucking "win her back," as if they were in some sort of chick flick.

Making sure he stayed two cars back and one lane to the left, he saw her pull into a shopping center. He parked a row away from her and watched her get out, heading into an art studio. Thoroughly intrigued, he followed at a distance.

He entered a few moments after she did, and spied her across the store checking out some easels. A saleswoman greeted her and Sharpay smiled politely back, a kind smile that he'd seen for the first time on the night of their date. The woman began talking to her, and Chad to the impression that this was not Sharpay's first time inside the store.

She was led over to the paints section, and Sharpay enthusiastically said something to the woman. The saleswoman then left her alone and Sharpay browsed through the paints thoughtfully.

Chad slowly sidled over to her and silently looked around next to her. She didn't notice him, as she was studying the paints very closely. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, her brow furrowed, her eyes squinted in concentration, a tiny bit of her tongue sticking out between her lips. A tiny grin crept upon his features, as she ran a hand delicately over a set of paints.

"Excuse me, I've lost my oil paints," he said finally, and she jumped. "Do you know where I can buy more?"

Sharpay glared at him. "What are you doing here?" she growled.

"I just told you," he said pleasantly.

Shaking her head, she pushed past him. "Ugh. Just leave me alone."

"Come on, you can't avoid me forever," he persisted, turning around to face her.

"Sure I can," she said conversationally, resuming her search for paints.

Rolling his eyes in frustration, Chad said, "Jesus Christ, you don't have to get your panties in a twist over next to nothing."

In response, Sharpay scoffed, "Don't think for one minute that you had any affect whatsoever on my panties."

Chad smirked. "Then what did I have an affect on?" he challenged.

"Other than my upchuck reflex," she sneered, "nothing." She picked up a set of oil pants and shoved them into his chest. He reached up and grabbed them before they fell, and she marched out of the store without buying anything.

"Shit," he mumbled under his breath. This was going to be harder than he thought.

--

"Gabriella, I need your help."

Said girl cocked an eyebrow at the boy standing at her doorstep, pleading with his hands clasped together in front of him. "With what?"

"Sharpay," he grumbled.

Her lips cracked into a smile. "Oh, yes, Taylor told me about what happened." She stepped outside and closed the door behind her, taking a seat on her front steps. Chad followed suit, looking miserable. "You should've just kissed her!"

"But – she was drunk!" he exclaimed. "Why does no one get that?"

"Chad, you nobleman," she teased. "Didn't wanna take advantage of the vulnerable drunk girl?"

"Shut up," he said through clenched teeth. "Can you help me or not?"

She pretended to think. "Hm... what exactly do you need help with?"

"I told you," he sighed. "Sharpay."

Smirking, mischievously, she said, "That doesn't really make me understand better. Sharpay... what?"

Chad scowled, and Gabriella smiled innocently back.

"I need your help in getting her not pissed at me," he mumbled. "Happy?"

She shrugged, feigning her innocence. "I just needed to know what you wanted," she said. She fell into a silence, tapping her fingers on the cement below her and biting her tongue in thought. "Well..." she said after a moment, "Sharpay loves attention."

"Yeah," said Chad sarcastically. "So what do you propose I do? Parachute out of a plane with a large 'I'm sorry' sign? That might be problematic."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "It doesn't have to be that kind of attention." A smile slowly formed on her mouth as she said, "You know, I have an idea. Keep an open mind..."

--

After third period ended, Chad discreetly walked over to the administration office with a pounding heart. He couldn't believe Gabriella had talked him into doing this. It had taken nearly a half an hour. She'd had to call Troy and Jason for reinforcements, and they further explained the desperate nature of the situation: desperate times call for desperate measures, they said. When Chad still hadn't bought it, they'd told him that he'd brought it on himself, by not just kissing her.

Chad had sighed, not wanting to argue his case any longer, and gave in.

And that's how he found himself forking over forty of his much loved dollars to the school office's teacher assistant. Chad whispered instructions in his ear and the boy nodded in understanding. He slipped inside and a few moments later emerged, with a microphone.

"You have thirty seconds," he said in a low rush.

Chad jogged down the hall to the lunchroom, trying not to think about what he was about to do and thus chickening out.

He entered the lunchroom on the second story, clutching the microphone and looking down at the first level. His eyes sought out Sharpay and he sighed out in relief; at least she was there.

Taking a deep breath as the music began blasting, he brought the microphone to his mouth and began to sing, "If you change your mind, I'm the first in line. Honey, I'm still free. Take a chance on me." His voice and the music echoed throughout the speakers in the lunchroom, as well as every single room in the school that had an intercom.

Every single face in the lunchroom looked up at the sound of the mediocre singing voice, but Chad was only watching a certain blonde. Her mouth had dropped when she saw him, and she appeared to be frozen.

Sharpay couldn't understand what he was doing. Was he really singing? And could it possibly be for her? Her stomach inexplicably jolted at the thought, making her light-headed.

Chad marched down the steps, singing, "If you need me, let me know, gonna be around. If you've got no place to go, when you're feelin' down."

Everyone could tell that he was looking at her, and she felt her cheeks heat up. She put her hand to her forehead as she felt hundreds of eyes on her, and then looked up again to see Chad standing on a table in the middle of the room, pointing at her.

"If you're all alone when the pretty birds have flow, honey, I'm still free. Take a chance on me."

She wanted to smile but she didn't want everyone else to see that she was enjoying it. She pursed her lips to keep the smile from forming and looked down.

Two male on-campus police officers skidded into the lunchroom to see Chad standing on the lunch table, with the microphone in his hand. They rushed forward and yanked him down, dragging him out of the room. Laughter erupted through the cafeteria as Chad allowed himself to be led away and he continued singing, even after the music had been turned off, "Gonna do my very best and it ain't no lie. If you put me to the test, if you let me try. Take a chance on me. Take a chance on me."

--

Sharpay couldn't wait to see Chad after lunch, but she was unable to find him anywhere. He wasn't in English, and she couldn't seem to locate him anywhere throughout the rest of the day. When she trotted down the steps of the school once the day was over, she was just thinking that she was going to have to wait until the following morning, when she spotted him by his car.

She felt weird approaching him first, as every other time she had talked to him, it has been him approaching her; asking her out the first time at her locker, the second time at her car, the various times at her locker to apologize for the not-kiss. She felt strange going up to him.

"Hey," she said when she reached him.

He turned around at her voice and grinned. "Hi."

"So..." she said emphatically, "nice performance during lunch. The beginning was a little bit shaky, but you really found your stride during the chorus."

Chad nodded. "Yeah, I thought so. You should take your parents to the matinee tomorrow," he offered.

"I sure will." She smirked. "Hey, where were you in English today?"

"Oh." He shrugged. "I had detention."

"For singing during lunch?" she repeated, looking surprised.

"Yup."

Laughing, Sharpay said, "Wow, you got detention for me. That's pretty kickass."

He opened his mouth in indignation. "That's all you have to say?"

"What else do you want me to say?" she asked with faux-honestly.

"How about..." He thought for a few seconds. "Hey, so you like painting right?"

She looked at him suspiciously for the sudden change of subject. "Yes..."

Chad grinned coyly and grabbed her hand, opening the passenger door to his truck.

"Where are we --" she stammered, clambering inside nonetheless. "But – my car --"

He just smirked and shut the door.

--

"Paintball!?"

Chad had dragged Sharpay to the sign up, he'd forced her to put on the suit and goggles, and he'd practically shoved her into the paintball field. They weren't even really paintballing; they weren't using guns, instead just throwing the balls of paint at each other. But she still wanted nothing more than to head for the hills.

"Chad fucking Danforth, if I get paint in my hair --" she began angrily, but was cut off by Chad popping a blue paintball on her head. She froze, mid-sentence, her mouth wide open, as blue paint dribbled down her face and onto her suit.

She screamed bloody murder, ready to single-handedly remove all of Chad's limbs, but he'd thought ahead and was already twenty feet away from her. She sprinted after him, pelting him with as many paintballs as she could and running faster than she ever had in her lfie. After only a minute, he was nearly covered in paint.

"I think we've even!" he called, putting up his hands in defense.

Sharpay finally caught up to him and, breathing heavily, said, "We are not even! This is NEVER going to come out!" In retaliation, she popped a yellow paintball over his head. The paint spread quickly over his mop of hair, dripping off the ends of his curls and onto his goggles. She laughed maliciously but gasped when he threw a purple paintball at her stomach from a close range.

She coughed at the impact and doubled over. Chad took the opportunity to burst another paintball on her head, this time orange.

He tried to run away, but Sharpay was able to catch up with him. Using four at a time, she continued pelting him with paintballs until she was close enough to pop them right on his back. He turned around and grabbed hold of her wrists to stop her, but she stumbled and lost her balance, crashing into him and causing the two to topple to the ground.

"Oomph," he grunted as she landed on his stomach.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Work out those ab muscles and it wouldn't hurt so much."

"You could lose some weight," he retorted.

She opened her mouth angrily, sitting up and crawling off him. "I do not need to lose weight," she spat insolently.

"You're right, you don't." He sat up as well, sitting right next to her.

"I don't --" She started again, but stopped and blinked down at him. "What?"

He smirked and cupped her face in his hands. Bringing her head toward his, his lips met hers – finally – in a kiss. She placed her hands on his neck and deepened the kiss, while he put one arm around her waist, the other still fluttering near her jaw.

She pulled back first and ran her tongue over her lips, smiling genuinely at him. He simpered back.

Sharpay reached into her pocket for a paintball and surprised Chad by popping it over his head. She let out a shriek and jumped up, running away. Chad shook his head, causing bits of green paint to fly everywhere. He stood up and gave himself a moment to get over the shock, his hand continuously drifting to his mouth.

--

AN: Um... so... this was all basically right from the movie. Eh, sue me.

Bee-Tee-Double-You: the song Chad sings is Take A Chance On Me by ABBA. I recommend listening to it because it's, like, good... and stuff.