Hey y'all! Oh, sorry. I must've been channeling Paula Deen there for a second. I hope you all had a good holiday!
So, I'm sorry it took me a little longer to update this time. This has been an interesting holiday season for me (to say the least) and I allowed myself to get a bit distracted.
Well, like last time, I'm going to precede this chapter with a short question answer session stimulated from my reviews:
Clotisy and OoIce QueenoO, I totally agree with you, Troy should chill when it comes to Sharpay. But we have to understand his side of the story. He is in the midst of major internal struggle (What are these new emotions that I feel whenever Sharpay's around? Why does Gabriella not do it for him anymore? And will that girl ever shut up? Oh crap, they are in the same room together!) and the only way he feels he can deal with all these things are to bury them and pretend nothing has changed. Which is why he is still mean to Sharpay (when Gabriella's around...) even though he secretly doesn't want to be. But, don't worry, Sharpay hardly notices.
And yes, OoIce QueenoO, Ryan and Sharpay are still twins. I absolutely love them as twins so I wouldn't be able to stand myself if I took that away. I just think, as twins, they have such an interesting relationship!
King Philip wants to know what Gabriella's church retreat is about and all I can really say to that is, technically, the retreat is like any normal church retreat that takes place over a random (yet aptly timed) weekend. It's what unexpectedly happens to her during this retreat that is for me to know and you to want to know.
Also, King Philip, I'm glad you noticed the popcorn thing. Did anybody else notice that? You're right, the popcorn is a symbol of the new Sharpay discovering parts of her old self.
And lastly, King Philip, play nicely! I don't need you chastising my other reviewers! I actually like the fact that they ask questions, so you can just shove it and mind your own damn business!
Anyway, enough of my rambling. Thanks to all my other reviewers, and on with the story!
Why Utah?
Friday
"What do you mean you won't be seeing me off on my church retreat? I'm going to be gone all weekend! Don't you want to be there to say good bye?" Gabriella whined to Troy after he had broken the bad news to her.
"Look, I told you. My dad has a killer practice planned for the whole day tomorrow and I can't get out of it, I already tried. Besides, you'll be back Sunday night and I promise you I'll be right there to welcome you home. Is that reasonable?"
"I suppose it'll have to work. It's just weird that you're dad has you practicing on a Saturday."
"Yeah," Troy looked down, not willing to look her in the eye. "All day."
Saturday
"Tell me again. Why did we have to drive an hour and a half to get to a mall? I'm sure Los Angeles has plenty of perfectly fine malls." Sharpay asked as she, Ryan and Troy walked through the rusted entryway of a rundown mall in eastern Utah.
"Uh, Shar? Honey, we live in Albuquerque," Ryan replied feeling less anxiety over this factual slip than he would have experienced two weeks ago.
"SHT! I know that! It's all these people here that didn't," Sharpay hissed while glancing around for anybody who may have overheard her brother. It appeared as though her cover hadn't been blown, so she pulled out her mega-sized pink studded sunglasses and placed them over her eyes. This way nobody would be able to recognize the fact that they don't recognize her.
Hating that Sharpay's question went unanswered, Troy decided to supply it for her. Wasn't it his and Ryan's personal responsibility to help with her memory, anyway? At least, that was the argument he used to allow himself to tag along on this exploratory trip into Utah without feeling guilty about lying to Gabriella as to his whereabouts. "We just didn't want you to feel pressured by classmates that'll be at the Albuquerque mall. This way you can experience the mall for the first time...again ...without anybody watching you."
"Wow, Troy! You just said two sentences to me without an ounce of disdain," Sharpay said with true astonishment.
"And then you had to speak," He replied, more annoyed at being called out on this fact than he proportionately should be.
With as much attitude that she could contain within her petit frame, Sharpay angrily slammed her hands on her hips and raised herself onto her tip toes in order to achieve equilibrium in height, but just as she was about to respond he turned and simply walked away from her. With a gasp, Sharpay quickly ran after him shouting "How dare you wa-". Unfortunately, her visibility handicap, which can be attributed to the sunglasses she decided to wear indoors, coupled with her preoccupation with winning the bicker war with Troy left her oblivious to the boy kneeling in her path to tie his loose shoelace. Before she knew what had happened she was sprawled across the floor as her Sunglasses went flying beneath a portable popcorn stand.
Troy heard the commotion behind him and he turned in time to see the fall. Without hesitation he ran to help Sharpay up off of the floor but Ryan, who had stayed by Sharpays side throughout their quarreling, was already at her aid. In an attempt to mask his apparent eagerness to help her, Troy quickly went to the boy who had been knocked from his kneeling position and helped him up instead. Once Sharpay was safely standing again, she busied herself with dusting off her clothes and looking around for her sunglasses.
"Its you!" She heard the unidentified boy gasp. Looking up from her primping, she saw that the scene was completed with a terrified look in this boys eyes and an accusatory finger pointing directly at her.
"Oh Ryan, I told you somebody would recognize me here."
Before Sharpay could revert back to reality and ask the boy why he was pointing at her with his mouth hanging open in such a rude manner he turned and sprinted away from the trio.
"What are the odds?" Troy said to Ryan as they proceeded to silently, yet dramatically, disputed over who would be the one to explain this situation to Sharpay.
Once the fleeing boy was gone from sight, Sharpay turned to the other two boys who had accompanied her to this mall and asked, "What was that about?". Ryan and Troy abruptly dropped their argument and turned to face her with their hands behind their backs and unnaturally innocent expressions on their faces.
"What was what?" Troy repeated in an effort to buy enough time to find something else to distract her with. "You know, I love your shoes."
"You really like them?" She exclaimed excitedly before taking her turn in pointing an accusatory finger at Troy as Ryan tip toed around the other two to end up behind Sharpay's back and out of sight. "Oh, no you don't, Troy Bolton! You already used that one on me once today. Not this time, now tell me what that was all about."
Behind Sharpay's back Ryan did a victory dance as Troy sighed and resigned himself to the task of relaying this particular story to Sharpay.
The edges of the scene is faded and the picture is discolored, as is the case in all memories.
Sharpay is in a large, black escalade barreling down a residential street. She is talking on her cell phone with her music blaring out her rolled down windows and Ryan is sitting in the passenger seat fiddling with a video camera. It was at the same time that she was rolling through a four-way stop that a young puppy broke free from his restricting leash and happily started to chase down a squirrel, yipping and barking the whole time. With no regard to any other object on, or off, the road, both puppy and Sharpay maintained their paths which, sadly, ended with puppies paw beneath her tire.
Sharpay hangs up her cell phone and gets out of the car as Ryan starts to film.
"Aw, Crap," She said in reference to the whining puppy lying motionless on the ground. Off in the distance the sound of a little boy's sobs and screams can be heard slowly approaching. As Sharpay was in a hurry to be somewhere, she opened her purse and pulled out a wad of cash. Throwing it down next to the puppy, she turned to the boy who had almost arrived and shouted "Sorry kid. Here's some cash. It should be enough to cover the vet bill." With that she hopped back into her SUV and speeded away.
"Oh my God, Episode 23 of my Weblog, 'Showing Generosity to Strangers'. Except, I didn't leave him enough money. And that next week his parents transferred him to a different school district," Sharpay finished the story for Troy.
It was with this memory, fastened with the few other pieces of herself that she had discovered over the past two weeks, that she was finally led her to her ultimate conclusion:
Sharpay Evans was not a nice person.
Sunday
Troy was startled from his sleep by harsh knocking on his front door. 'How is it that I seem to be the only one woken by this?' he wondered while he groggily got up and answered the door.
"I've been thinking about this all night and I've decided I have to apologize to that boy." Sharpay announced as she brushed passed Troy and headed straight for his kitchen.
"What time is it?" He yawned as he closed the front door and following her, stumbling, further into his house. By the time he entered the kitchen, Sharpay had already put the coffee into the maker and was pouring the last few drops of water in before turning it on.
"It's already seven thirty. You really overslept today." She replied sitting down at the kitchen table. Troy joined her as his mind slowly processed the words she had spoken. Finally, "Seven thirty?! On a Sunday?" Sharpay nodded, but her thoughts had already moved onto her plans for the day. Thinking back onto this moment, Troy decided it was because of his early-morning, pre-coffee inability to process and respond to information in a normal capacity that caused him to agree to Sharpay's plan.
Two hours and five cups of coffee later, Troy was fully awake and on his way to Utah, for the second time that weekend, with Sharpay in the passenger seat. Sharpay had found where that boy's family currently lived and she was determined to apologize to him.
"So, how did you find his address if it's unlisted?" Troy asked, not completely understanding or believing her story, though a little afraid to hear the complete truth.
"Oh, that's not really important. All that matters is that I have it and we're on our way there." She replied sternly. Troy didn't think this was a point to cross her on, so he wisely remained silent. Instead, he turned up the music, allowing Sharpay to review her "self-notes" notebook that he and Ryan had dictated to her while she was still in the hospital. They completed their journey in this manner. It wasn't long until they pulled into the driveway belonging to a small ranch with a matching dog house barely visible in the corner of the backyard.
"This is it," Sharpay whispered, more to herself than to Troy. Sharpay took a deep breath and suddenly it looked as though all her nerves had vanished. A big smile appeared on her face as she hopped out of the car and bounced up to the front door to ring the doorbell. This abrupt change in behavior surprised Troy. It was exactly how the old Sharpay would react to this situation, compartmentalizing her feelings and putting a mask on for protection. It was strange for Troy to see the new Sharpay do the same thing without even realizing her actions. With this random display of memory, Troy knew he should be happy to see parts of her past subconsciously showing up in her behavior. But he couldn't help to feel a twinge of disappointment instead. 'And that damn guilt keeps coming back,' he thought as the new emotion managed to stifle the disappointment.
These thoughts were quickly forgotten when he watched what happened with Sharpay at the front door. She waited patiently for the door to open and when it did a woman wearing both an apron and all of her flour appeared. She studied Sharpay for a second before it was clear that recognition had occurred. Her face hardened and she pointed to the car as she was obviously asking Sharpay to leave. Refusing, Sharpay stomped her foot and crossed her arms. It didn't take much for Troy to hear their words now because both women's voices had risen in antagonism.
"I JUST NEED TO APOLOGIZE TO HIM," Sharpay screamed.
"IT'S A LITTLE LATE FOR THAT MISSY," the woman yelled back, equally loudly. Not waiting for a reply, she took a step back and slammed the door in Sharpays face.
"Well, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!" Sharpay shouted at the closed door, then quickly turned on her heal and stormed back to the car Troy was still sitting in. She sat down in the seat with a huff and slammed the door shut in anger.
"So. How did it go?" Troy asked, unsuccessfully trying to stifle his laughter.
"Oh, just shut it. I'm not leaving until I apologize to that damn kid." She replied still angry. Just then, childish laughter and puppy barking could be heard nearby. Both Troy and Sharpay, alerted by this noise, got out of the car to hear it more clearly. It sounded like it was coming from the backyard. Before Troy could stop her, Sharpay was shuffling ahead, ducking low every time she passed a window.
Once she got around the house she slowly approached the boy who was playing with his puppy. "Hey, kid," She hissed at him not wanting the boy's mother to be alerted to the situation and come out to shoo her away, again.
The boy turned around and inhaled a deep breath, about to scream once he saw her. Unfortunately for him, Sharpay was ready. She quickly ran forward and covered his mouth so that all that could come out were muffled whimpers.
"Stop it! I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to talk to you," She whispered forcefully into his ear. Whether he believed her or was simply too afraid not to, Troy will never know, but the boy stopped struggling and stood silently as Sharpay released her hand and took a step back.
"Now, I just wanted to tell you that-"
"MOM!" The boy screamed as he turned and ran toward his house. "MOM! SHE'S BACK!"
"Oh, for heavens sake," Sharpay sighed as she swiftly walked over to the boy's puppy who was happily chewing a bone and ignoring the screaming going on around him.
"Sharpay, is this really a good idea?" Troy asked hoping it wasn't too late to force some rational thought through her head, though he suspected it was.
"The kid brought it upon himself," she replied just before she grabbed the puppy who let out a surprised yelp and started running toward the street. "Oh, Sharpay," Troy sighed, rolling his eyes to the sky. 'Huh, It's not often you see hot air balloons anymore,' He thought fleetingly before being jerked back into reality with the boy's screaming.
"NO! NOT RUBY!" the boy screamed, turning his attention back to Sharpay once he heard the dog's yelp. He started chasing her and his puppy. Troy sighed again and then joined the other two in pursuit. He didn't want to be accused of aiding and abetting when this ended up in the court room. Upon hearing the boys' screams, his mother appeared in the back door just in time to see her son turn the corner around the house. "TYLER!" She screamed as she too followed after her son.
Because Sharpay was wearing heals and the boy was still young, their speeds were relatively equal. But Troy, who always wore sneakers, was much more practiced in this area of exercise. It didn't take him long to catch Sharpay and grab hold of her shoulders. She was acting on pure emotion and he needed to shake some sense into her.
"Sharpay, stop," he said firmly as he held her steady and looked her straight in the eyes. The boy and his mother were still approaching. "You are acting like a criminal. You just wanted to apologize to the boy so give him back his puppy and apologize, for Christ's sake."
Sharpay rolled her eyes and sighed but she inwardly knew he was right. She slowly turned around to face the boy and placed the puppy back on the ground. The puppy immediately ran towards the little boy who stopped and greeted his pet with enthused relief. But the mother didn't stop. She walked up to Sharpay with a furious air and started to lecture, "How dare you? This boy has done nothing-". Before she could finish Sharpay held up her hand as an indication to silence the woman. Too afraid of Sharpay's mental instability to refuse to concede, the woman instantly quit her rant.
Sharpay approached the boy and kneeled down next to him. "Hey, kid? I'm sorry I took your puppy. And I'm sorry I ran over him back in Albuquerque. And I'm sorry I didn't give you enough money to cover the vet bill." She turned to the boy's mother for that last part. The boy looked up at Sharpay and nodded, the woman didn't remove her gaze from her son.
Well, that was good enough for Sharpay. Her big smile reappeared as she straitened up and said to the small family "Tootles!" as she waved and bounced back to the car.
Troy cleared his throat, unsure of what he should do and very uncomfortable in his current situation. Without a sound, he followed Sharpay to the car and they both drove away without ever saying anything more to the boy or his family.
There you have it. Did you catch my allusion to HSM2? OK, to a deleted scene in HSM2, but HSM2 nonetheless...
Well, it may not seem like much, but it is actually full of subtle hints and allusions as to what is to come (and what may be already happening...)
Can you guess what they are? – and then tell me in the review?
