Well, this is finals week (which is probably why I spent so much time writing this chapter) so I can't promise anything coming out in the immediate future. Expect it next weekend and if I get one out sooner, it'll be like a wonderful surprise :)
Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical or its characters. And I don't own the 'lost in the closet' joke. A variation of that one belongs to Frasier
Three Strikes
Three day's after Sharpay's release, Troy found himself lying on his back in his bedroom, trying to circumvent his intense boredom by bouncing his basketball off of the wall. "If you don't stop that within the next three seconds, you're going to be doing your dads yard work for the rest of the month," he heard his mother warn through the closed door. Troy bounced the ball one more time before setting it aside and responding with a "Sorry". After almost a month of three hour daily commitments to Sharpay, Troy felt as though he'd lost the ability to entertain himself. Rolling onto his stomach, he reached for his history book. 'Getting ahead is never a bad thing' he told himself.
Ten minutes later, a yawning Troy heard his phone ringing from somewhere within his pile of dirty clothes sitting in the corner of his room. Excitedly, he jumped up and dug for the phone but was immediately disappointed when he saw Ryan's name on the screen. He'd been hoping Gabriella would finish decathlon practice early today. Figuring Ryan was better than nobody, he adopted a cheery tone and answered on the last ring.
'Hey man, thanks again for coming. I hadn't anticipated this being so difficult," Ryan said as he led Troy into their enormous house.
"Oh, it's no problem, really," Troy assured him, though not completely convinced of the truth of that statement. "So, where is Sharpay anyway?" but before Ryan could answer the tune to Humuhumunukunuku filled the air. "Sorry," Ryan excused himself as he pulled out his phone, "Hello?"
Troy took this opportunity to check out their house. It really was impressive, although a little too white for his liking. He didn't want to touch anything for fear of soiling it. Troy examined some professionally done family portraits that were hanging on the wall as he listened to Ryan finish his conversation.
"Ok, honey. Calm down, I promise you can get through this," he said into the receiver reassuringly. "Now, take a left, two rights and another left," he paused to listen to the other end and nodded his agreement with whatever was being stated. "All right, good. See you soon, sis."
"Sharpay lost?" Troy asked wondering why Ryan even let her out on her own. "Yeah, she wandered into her closet again. I had to talk her back to her bedroom."
"Please tell me this won't be too boring," Sharpay whined as Ryan shoved the video tape into the VCR.
"But you love musicals," Ryan reminded her.
"But you hate this one," Troy muttered.
Sharpay gave Troy a curious look before turning to Ryan and chirping "Ok, but I get to control the popcorn distribution!" Ryan raised his eyebrows but said nothing on his thoughts of the subject. He simply agreed to her demands and handed her the large Tupperware bowl full of buttered popcorn.
The three teens assumed their positions on the couch, facing the television. Sharpay was in the middle sitting cross-legged, furiously eating the popcorn that she had placed in her lap. Ryan, sitting on her left, was spending more time watching her reactions than the tape. And Troy was on her other side, squished as far from Sharpay as was physically possible, while still technically sitting on the couch.
As the tape ran out, leaving the screen blank, Sharpay set the empty popcorn bowl onto the floor and turned her attention to Ryan. She gave him a questioning look, indicating that he had to lead the reactionary conversation. He cleared his throat, "Well? Twinkle Towne. Your thoughts?" he asked cautiously.
With that she turned a furious glare to Troy who immediately jumped up and took three enormous steps backwards. "You didn't tell me you could sing!" she exclaimed. "I, um, well...we never really discussed, ah, well ...yeah, I do." He stammered, unsure of what answer Sharpay was looking for. Brightening, Sharpay jumped up and ran over to Troy, giving him a big hug, from which he recoiled out of instinct. "You were incredible," she gushed, still embracing him. "And did you guys see the girl who played Minnie?"
"Gabriella?" Troy asked, taken aback. "Well yeah, of course we saw her. She goes to school with us."
"What about her?" Ryan asked hoping an insult would be following, not for Gabriella's sake, but because that insult would indicate Sharpay's recollection of the girl. "Well, she had the most beautiful hair I've ever seen. I mean, obviously I haven't seen much hair in the past couple days, but hers was absolutely gorgeous." She went on but Ryan stopped listening as he slumped back into the couch.
At first Troy was thrilled to hear somebody, and Sharpay more specifically, compliment his girlfriend, but then he saw Ryan's reaction and realization dawned on him.
"Sharpay?" he asked, interrupting her monologue on the qualities of hair, "You don't remember this, do you?"
Stunned into silence, Sharpay gave Troy a stricken, wide-eyed stare and slowly shook her head no.
"Ok, Shar. Maybe Twinkle Towne was a bust but I've tried to block that memory, myself. Perhaps it's a good sign that you can't recollect it. Instead, I'm going to take you to your absolute favorite place. It happens to be the happiest place on Earth." Ryan said explaining his plan to Sharpay as they both got into his sleek, black BMW. Sharpay's eyes lit up and she excitedly cried out, "We're going to Disney World?"
Ryan gave her a disgusted look and replied "Of course not. We're going to the hair salon!" He said the last part with the same amount of fervor that Sharpay had demonstrated with her guess.
"Oh, ok." Luckily, Sharpay was too curious to feel any disappointment.
"Your roots are starting to show so I figured two birds with one stone, right?"
"You can go bird hunting at the hair salon?"
As the twins walked through the entrance of the salon, Sharpay was accosted with a variety of smells that seemed vaguely familiar. She took her time looking around as Ryan followed her, hissing the back stories of all the stylists into her ear. Apparently she wasn't going to be telling people she has amnesia.
"Your usual stylist is named Veronica, but you call her Ronnie, and yes she hates it. She's from the Ukraine and she is trying to save enough money to move her family here. You're getting your hair dyed and styled today, and you pretend you can never understand her, despite her remarkably good English. Again, she hates it. You usually dominate the conversation, but I would suggest implying laryngitis today. Got it?"
"Yes. Except. What's laryngitis?"
Ryan rolled his eyes, exasperated, and pushed her towards the waiting stylist.
"So, Sharpay. What is it we're doing today?" Veronica asked.
"What?" Sharpay asked with a shaking voice. She was too nervous to comprehend what was being said to her, "Oh, I'm getting it dyed and styled." Veronica nodded and led her to the wash sink to shampoo her hair.
Ryan watched the conversation anxiously, but allowed himself to relax after the initial exchange. 'Maybe this will work' he wished. Picking up a magazine he prepared to sit back for a couple hours, glancing up every now and then to check on the progress of the appointment. Sharpay appeared to be much more comfortable than when she first spoke, she was even moving her arms animatedly as she chatted with Veronica. Ryan smiled triumphantly at this and turned his full attention to the magazine in his hands.
It wasn't until the word 'natural' floated across the waiting area and into his consciousness that he jerked his attention back to his sister. She was sitting in the same position she'd been in an hour ago, but Veronica had a brush of dark hair dye and a stack of tin foil at the ready. Ryan jumped from his seat as Veronica's brush approached the fake blonde hair attached to Sharpay's head. Running toward the chair he reached out his hand and screamed "NNNOOOOO!" Startled, Veronica dropped the brush on the floor, cursed in Russian, and turned to Ryan with an accusatory expression.
"Shar, we're done here," he said as he yanked the smock off of her.
"No we're not. Ry, I like it here. We're staying!" She proclaimed, crossing her arms over he chest in defiance.
"Sharpay, there is no way I'm going to allow you to dye your hair back to its natural color. You are either touching up the roots or we're out of here. With an extra small tip," he added with a glance toward Veronica.
Taking the hint, Veronica appeased his demands, "Oh, Sharpay, this color really does look great on you. I think Ryan is right. You dyed it blonde for a reason, remember?"
"No," Sharpay whispered, but nodded her head in dejected agreement.
An hour later, Sharpay slammed the car door closed in an attempt to express her irritation with her brother. Ryan got in the car after her, entirely impervious to her anger. Instead, he decided to focus his attention back to reacquiring her memory, completely disregarding her resistance to his efforts.
"I've got one more plan. And this is sure to work."
"Can we just go home? I'm tired."
"It'll only take a couple minutes," was his reply.
Ten minutes later, they pulled into the empty parking lot of East High School. "You spend two thirds of your life in this building. I'm sure everything will come flying back once you get in there."
Sharpay got out of the car and slowly walked toward the entrance, intimidated by the vastness of the building. Once inside, Ryan stayed behind and waited for Sharpay to take the lead. Three silent minutes later, the two were still just inside the front entrance.
"How about we start with your locker?" Ryan suggested, unable to sit back any longer. They approached a set of lockers that looked identical to all the others they had passed along the way, except this set had one pink locker located at the end of the row. "So, do you remember which one is yours?" Ryan asked, expectantly. He figured this was a good place to start, considering it is impossible for Sharpay to not know which locker is hers. And her correct guess will, in turn, provide her with the confidence boost she (and he) so desperately need.
She hesitantly looked from the set of lockers and back to her brother. She wanted to remember. She needed to remember, for Ryan's sake. He was trying so hard to help her, it just wasn't working. Slowly, she took a step towards the left end of the row, but quickly stopped when she heard Ryan involuntarily make a disapproving noise. Turning, she took another step, but this time to the right. Sensing his approval, she slowly continued. Finally, she was left with the choice of the pink locker, or the plain locker directly next to it. Closing her eyes, she tried to sense which locker was hers. Surprisingly, that didn't work, which left her with logical reasoning. 'Could it be the pink locker? That would imply I really think I'm special,' she thought, 'But I'm not special, and that Gabriella girl seemed like she was the school diva. No, this must be a trick. The pink locker must be her locker so, clearly, mine is the one next to hers.' She concluded, indicating to Ryan her final guess.
"No," he said curtly, clearly trying to contain his annoyance. "It's the pink one."
Sharpay was surprised, but knew better than to say anything to Ryan. It looked like the combination of frustration andaggravation that she seemed to be inflicting upon him was about to explode from within his head.
"How about we try the drama department?" Ryan suggested tersely. Without waiting for a reply, he headed in the direction of the school auditorium. Following, Sharpay looked at all the notices and signs posted along the halls. She tried to make mental notes of different classrooms and landmarks so that, come Monday, she wouldn't be totally dependant upon Ryan. But after passing what she thought was the same wildcat statue for the third time, she decided independence was not in her immediate future.
Lost in her thoughts of hair salons, confusing hallways, and ...Troy? ... Sharpay didn't realize she was in the auditorium until she ran right into Ryan, who had stopped walking upon entering the large room. "Here we are," he announced with open arms and a huge grin on his face. His previous annoyance seemed to have disappeared. Or it is well hidden. "This is our shared sanctuary."
Tired of being a disappointment to her brother, Sharpay decided to play along. With a huge grin she took the final steps towards the stage. Remembering Ryan telling her that she loved musicals she turned to him with the same grin and proclaimed "I remember!" with a giggle she skipped back towards Ryan and clasped his hands in hers, repeating "I remember now! We watched every production East High has ever put on in this room!"
With a grunt, Ryan ripped his hands out of her grip, effectively throwing her off balance. With a look of revulsion on his face he thrust his hands into the air and shouted "No! No, Sharpay! We didn't watch any production here. We performed them." He then turned and started to storm out of the auditorium but stopped when he reached the main doors. Without turning again to face her, he said over his shoulder in an eerily calm tone, "And don't you ever lie to me again". He then walked out, leaving Sharpay on the floor, with an overwhelming sense of dejection.
Ryan sat in his car for twenty minutes, waiting for Sharpay to follow him out. When she never came, he drove away without a single pang of guilt. 'If she wants to stay, then fine. Let her find her own way home'.
At the same moment that Ryan was pulling away, Sharpay decided she was finally calm enough to join him. She found her way back to the parking lot only to find it empty. Not a single car in sight. What bothered her most was not that he had left without her, but that she did not feel any surprise related to his departure.
Without even hesitating, Sharpay headed toward the only place she knew of that was walking distance from the school. As she walked, she repeated in her head the events of the past few hours. 'How can I be such a disappointment to Ryan? All I'm doing is trying'.
At long last, with sore feet and a worked up emotional state she finally reached her destination. She walked up to the door and took three calming breaths. She did not want to appear a complete mess but as the door slowly opened after three knocks, her composure seemed to go with it.
Troy stood in his open doorway facing a sobbing Sharpay. 'How does she know where I live?' he thought. Ruling that question out as slightly too rude to verbalize, he instead asked, "Sharpay? What are you doing here?"
"Ryan said. And I lied. And then he. And now I'm all alone," she said between her sobs. Without even thinking of the consequences, Sharpay stepped into the house and threw her arms around him.
Troy stood there for a second – arms at his side with Sharpay hanging off of him – trying to decipher what she had just said when the final statement hit him, "Hold up, Ryan left you?" He asked, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away so that he could look into her eyes.
Sharpay nodded as the tears continued to stain her cheeks.
Troy closed the door and led Sharpay to the couch. "Tell me what happened, Sharpay," he said gently as he protectively put his arm around her.
It took her a couple minutes to respond. Troy remained in that position, providing as much emotional strength as he could muster. Eventually, Sharpay calmed down enough to reply.
"I can't remember."
Sorry there's so much crying going on right now. I don't know where all this depression and anger is coming from but apparently I've got if buried deep down. The way I see it is, someone in Sharpay's situation would, at first, have very extreme emotions. Not knowing or remembering anything would be incredibly exhausting and would certainly infuriate me. I believe that it wouldn't be until that person experiences life again and creates new memories that (s)he will be able to stabilize his/her moods. I'm trying to represent these emotions through both the Evans twins. Sharpay is sad and desperate, Ryan is irritated and frustrated. All they both want is for Sharpay to remember again.
Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, Sharpay's last statement of "I can't remember" is referring to her entire past that she can't remember. Not the argument that she and Ryan just had. She isn't losing her short term memory, as well. Trust me, she remembers that argument!
And, as always, REVIEW!!!
