Just to clear up, Sharpay's full memory isn't back, she just got that one memory back. She'll slowly recover single memories as her healing process continues. Also, I'm sorry for something Sharpay says, you'll know it when you read it. I did not mean anything by it, it is just supposed to display Sharpay's ignorance.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone.
How to Make Friends
"And after the commercial break, we'll be getting the first look at the much anticipated Moroccan film set for Hot Air Balloon Down starring Vanessa Hudgens." The female host of Access Hollywood said smiling fakely into the camera. Sharpay rolled her eyes and picked up the remote about to change the channel but was distracted by Billy Bush's next promo.
"But first," he said still laughing at the scripted joke that had come out of Nancy O'Dell's mouth. "The search for Ashley Tisdale continues. We will explore new speculation as to why she disappeared." The television showed a clip of the Los Angeles police force, machine guns brandished while flaunting their seldom used invasion tactics as they stormed an obviously abandoned barn yard.
'It's a shame a girl that pretty can go missing while a skank like Vanessa can enjoy the fine eateries and celebrity treatment in Morocco,' Sharpay thought as she changed the channel to watch The Real World. During the last couple of weeks at school, Sharpay had not succeeded in participating in a complete conversation with any of her peers, excluding Troy and Ryan, of course. Figuring she was simply going about it in the wrong manner, Sharpay decided to study The Real World in order to unlock the secret of successfully connecting with another person.
"This is the story of five strangers," the show began. Sharpay settled back into the couch with her notepad and a pen. She was ready to study normal human behavior.
"Come on Chad, she'll just have lunch with us. She's different now, the accident kind of – well – she's not who she was." Troy pleaded with Chad at his locker that next morning.
"Fine, dude, but you do remember last summer, right? She does seem to have this magical ability that causes you to lose your head." Chad said trying to subtly talk Troy out of allowing Sharpay to eat lunch with them. He just knew it was a bad idea but when Troy wanted to do something, there wasn't much that could stop him.
Troy laughed, "Magical ability? Seriously, it'll work out, man, I promise."
Chad nodded but didn't return Troy's smile. He had a very bad feeling about this but he didn't have time to argue the point further. He said his goodbye to Troy and turned toward his next class, leaving Troy to finish putting his books away.
Troy looked over and watched Chad turn the corner. Just as he was about to refocus his attention back on his current task, he saw Sharpay on her way toward her own locker.
"Shar!" Troy called, slamming his locker door shut and jogging to catch up to the pink-clad girl. "Hey," he greeted as he fell into step next to her.
"Oh, hey! I'm glad you're here. I saw something on the way to school this morning but I can't remember what it's called, I was hoping you'd know. It was like a really big balloon high up in the air. I think it's propelled by something hot? Do you know what I'm talking about?" She asked speaking very quickly as she was in a hurry to get to her locker.
"You mean a hot air balloon?" Troy asked, slightly confused.
"Yes!" She replied excitedly jumping into the air. "I knew I'd just heard it yesterday!"
"Ok. Well, anyway, I was just wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with me and the rest of the group today?"
"Yeah, that'd be great!" Sharpay replied enthusiastically. Ryan had to make up a test at lunch that day and she had been fretting all morning about who she would sit with. She'd just settled on the bathroom stall when Troy approached her.
"Great! Well, I have to get to class, I'll see you later?" He said as he started to turn back to his locker for the second time that morning. "Oh, before I forget, I found this advertisement for a Head-Trauma Convention that I think you should go to. It was in the newspaper this morning." He explained as he handed her a newspaper clipping.
"Oh!" Sharpay exclaimed accepting the clipping as she tried to mask her surprise. This was an unusually considerate gesture. "Yeah, um, maybe. I'll think about it."
'Wow,' Sharpay thought nervously as she saw what Troy meant by the 'rest of the group'. 'There are a lot of people here to befriend'. She tightened her grip on her lunch bag, took a deep breath and straightened her posture as she slowly approached the lunch table. She had studied The Real World for three hours the previous night; she was as ready as she'd ever be.
"Wassup Nigga's?!" She proclaimed confidently to the group as she sank into her seat next to Troy. Everybody at the table quickly ceased their harsh whispering and instead stared angrily at Sharpay.
"What did you just say to us?" Chad demanded.
Sharpay looked at him with a curious expression. She was not expecting this angry of a response.
"Uh, Shar?" Troy leaned over, whispering so that the others wouldn't hear him. "I really don't think that word means what you think it does."
Sharpay turned her curious expression onto Troy. It worked on The Real World, maybe they just hadn't understood her. She tried again.
"Are you out of your mizzles? Just accept that I'm a little nizzle, for a bizzle, and we'll all be chizzle, yo."
"Oh, dear God!" Troy quietly exclaimed to himself shaking his head while looking down, unable to make eye-contact with who he was sure were now his former friends.
"That's it," Chad yelled as he irately jumped up from his seat. "You're done here."
"Wait, wait, hold on, wait. Just . . . wait," Troy repeated as he imitated Chad's action and jumped from his seat. 'Lord, say something real, Troy!' he immediately chastised himself as he continued to repeat his words as he held Chad back. "She was joking. She was just nervous because she knows you guys don't like her and she couldn't control what was coming out of her mouth. Just chill, man, she wont say any more, I swear." Troy said, hoping the others would buy his excuse.
Sharpay looked up, 'They don't like me?'. Despite this unpleasant revelation, Sharpay did catch Troy's hint and knew she had to do some swift damage control. She smiled at everyone's frowning faces as Chad managed to quell his anger and sit back down. Sighing heavily, Troy returned to his seat as well and prayed that Sharpay would inexplicably go mute within the next three seconds. Unfortunately, his prayer went unanswered.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the table as everybody quietly stared down at their own food. Knowing this awkwardness was her fault, Sharpay decided to be the first to break it.
"So, Taylor," Sharpay said cheerily, pretending the past conversation had never happened.
Taylor snapped her head up and fixed Sharpay with an incensed glare. "What?" She quipped.
"You got your hair cut, right?" Sharpay began.
"Yeah, I did," Taylor replied, smiling at the first person that day who had noticed her new style.
"Don't worry, I saw a girl on T.V. yesterday who had her hair cut just like yours and it looked fine once it grew out a couple inches!" Sharpay told her reassuringly. Taylor's smile quickly fell as she moved a self conscious hand to her hair and inadvertently flattened it in an attempt to make it look longer.
This was enough to bring up the heads of everybody at the table, again. They were all focused on Sharpay with their mouths open. Oblivious to this, Sharpay continued talking.
"Did you guys see the newspaper this morning?" She asked changing the subject.
"Actually, yeah," Zeke replied cautiously.
"I swear, it's like the media in America is subliminally supporting this nation's egotistical nature. Can you imagine being too oblivious to the world around you to know when you've insulted and subsequently lost all your allies? Instead of reporting on the world, we waste our lives reading about J.Lo and Ben's break-up, speculate on who's pregnant this week and all that other Hollywood crap!"
Zeke glowered at her. "My dad is the editor," he said coldly.
"And Ben and J.Lo split forever ago," Kelsi interjected.
Sharpay giggled nervously in response. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but something about this lunch did not seem to be going well.
"So, um, Kelsi! Composer, right?"
Angry at herself for pulling the attention in her direction, Kelsi simply nodded as she dared a pleading glance in Troy's direction. Unfortunately, Troy had yet to remove his gaze from his lap.
"You should know. I don't think less of you because you have to stay behind the scenes. Just because you have no stage talent doesn't mean you are less important." Sharpay told her, hoping to turn this failing, one-sided conversation around.
"I hadn't actually thought that until now." Kelsi said quietly as her stature seemed to shrink to half its size.
The atmosphere at this small lunch table had turned from uncomfortable to frigidly quiet in an overwhelmingly short period of time. Aside from Sharpay and Troy, whose gaze was still concentrated in his lap, every face at that table displayed some form of astonishment. They had no idea how they were all belittled so effectively in a matter of minutes. They all sat there quietly as the last few insults were being replayed in their minds. Again, excepting Sharpay and Troy, a single fact seemed to dawn on them all. One person had, so far, managed to escape Sharpay's cross-fire.
Jason Cross sat in his chair, looking down into his lap and clutching his arms close to his body. It appeared as though he was trying to become invisible but everybody at the table had turned to face him. Looking up, he realized he had no choice but to face the action like everybody else had. Sighing, he turned to Sharpay who seemed to have become lost in thought. "Alright Sharpay, I'm ready. Hit me with your best." He said to her resolutely.
Snapping back to reality, Sharpay focused her attention on Jason. "I'm sorry Justin. I just remembered I have to talk to Mr. Gaudé about my history grade. We'll chat later, yes?" Without waiting for a reply, Sharpay smiled at the group as she got up and threw her lunch in the trash before exiting the cafeteria.
Finally, the long school day had come to an end. Sharpay giddily skipped to her locker to grab her books before she met Ryan in the auditorium. This was her big moment. This was the school auditions for Lysistrata.
Sharpay and Ryan both took seats in the center of the auditorium. As Ryan had explained to her, they waited until the end to audition so as to show the rest of the student body how it should be done. According to Ryan, that was why they lost the roles to Troy and Gabriella in Twinkle Towne. They had, technically, not auditioned last. They were second to last.
As the auditions wore on, Sharpay became increasingly nervous and she could swear something up on stage was squeaking. She asked Ryan if he heard it but he just shushed her and continued to sneer at the poor performance by their fellow drama club member, Alan.
"As always, thank you for your persistence, Alan." Ms. Darbus crooned. Looking down at the sign-up sheet, she continued, "Now, it looks to me like we are finally at our last auditionees. Ryan, Sharpay, show us what you've got."
Sharpay slowly approached the stage. (Squeak) There was that squeaking, again! She knew she wasn't making it up. Ryan cleared his throat behind her and she realized she had stopped walking half-way up the stairs to the stage in order to listen for the squeaking. Taking a deep break (Squeak) she ignored the stage light that seemed to be wavering and fastened her portable mike onto her shirt.
Taking her opening stance near Martha, who was standing in for the chorus (Squeak), she cleared her throat and felt the miraculous dissipation of her nerves. So Ryan was right, being on stage was second nature to her. With this small boost of confidence Sharpay began to (Squeak) recite her lines:
"Ah! If only they had been invited to a Bacchic revelling, (Squeak) or a feast of Pan or Aphrodite (Squeak) or Genetyllis, why!..." Sharpay continued her line finding that she could successfully ignore the incessant squeaking that seemed to be coming from somewhere in her near vicinity. What she couldn't ignore was the light that she was standing under. ("...Except my neighbour Cleonice, whom I see approachinig yonder...") It kept trembling, causing the blinding light to waver in and out of her eyes. With blue spots circling her vision, Sharpay decided she needed to relocate her position on the stage.
Not wanting her movement to be obviously about the light, Sharpay decided to insert some improvisational action. Her dialogue was directed toward the aged chorus, so Sharpay turned to Martha and grabbed her hand and shoulder, acting as though she were providing support for an old woman. Then she slowly directed their movement downstage. Unfortunately, Sharpay's line ended right when they were both standing in the very spot Sharpay had begun.
Completely oblivious to this, Ryan began his rehearsed response. "Good day, Lysistrata..."
Sharpay let go of Martha and took a couple steps in Ryan's direction. There, out of the faulty spotlight and it looked like she was acting! Just then, the squeak that Sharpay was beginning to think was all in her head, noticeably increased in volume. So much so that Ryan actually faltered.
Clearing his throat and recollecting himself, Ryan raised his voice and continued with his line. Sharpay wasn't quite as disciplined. She, along with everybody else in the auditorium, looked over her shoulder in the direction the squeak seemed to be coming from. It was almost as though it came from the light she had just moved away from. In fact, the movement of the light seemed to be increase along with the louder volume of the squeak. As if it knew she was on the cusp of figuring it out, the stage light gave one final waver and, with a harsh final squeak, came crashing down.
Within the few seconds before the light made physical contact with the stage, three things managed to occur: 1) The audience loudly and dramatically gasped, all in unison, 2) Ryan allowed himself to be distracted enough to stop his acting and 3) Martha screeched loudly and dived out from under the heavy falling object. After all this, the light hit the stage with a deafening crash and sparks from the electrical connections spewed in every direction. Glass littered the floor and stage technicians cringed at the amount of money this had just cost them.
Everybody remained frozen where they were, too shocked by what they thought only happened in movies. Sharpay was staring at the very spot she had previously occupied, now destroyed by this stage light.
"You just tried to kill me!" She heard an angry voice accuse. Looking up, she saw that Martha was standing on the other side of the fallen light, pointing an indicting finger at her.
"What are you talking about?" Sharpay asked, thoroughly confused.
"You moved me to that spot because you knew the light was going to fall. You just tried to kill me!" Martha repeated.
"No I didn't, I was acting!" Sharpay exclaimed in a meek attempt to defend herself.
During this shouting match, Troy found his bearings enough to walk toward the stage. He, like everybody else, saw what Martha was proclaiming. He didn't want to believe it but the logic in his head was unwilling to defend her after being proven wrong so many times before.
"Sharpay, how could you do this?" Troy asked her quietly with disappointment permeating his being. "I honestly believed you had changed." He paused, hoping she would interject with an explanation. When she didn't say anything, he continue bitterly, "I guess I was wrong. An Ice-Queen never changes."
Without detecting the thick atmosphere he was about to enter, the head technician abruptly walked on stage and loudly announced, "For safety reasons I need everybody to clear the auditorium," before he, too, left to get his tools.
Sharpay remained where she was, returning Troy's gaze and feeling as though her world had stopped turning. She could sense all the other students grabbing their belongings and leaving the room but she couldn't seem to make herself mimic their actions. At one point Ryan touched her arm and asked her to follow but she didn't respond. She couldn't respond. He told her he'd wait in the hallway.
Troy watched Sharpay as her expression changed from shock to confusion and eventually to sadness. But when she remained silent, he forced himself to concede that she would not be able to supply the explanation he so desperately wanted her to have. Following the rest of the students, he dropped his gaze and slowly retreated into the hallway, leaving Sharpay alone in the large auditorium.
Once he was gone, Sharpay crouched down and buried her head in her arms, allowing herself to cry the tears that had been increasingly threatening since lunch time. She sobbed until she had nothing left and then took a few moments to collect her emotions that had fallen all around her. At last, she dried her eyes and was just about ready to bravely re-enter the world when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Hoping it was Troy coming back to apologize she placed a smile on her red, puffy face and quickly turned around, only to be forced to subdue her disappointment.
"It's O.K. Sharpay," Zeke said gently. "I believe your innocence."
Softened by his understanding, Sharpay gave the boy a faint smile and quietly said "Thank you, Zeke".
Eeek, its Zeke! Hahahah, just kidding...
Classes start again next week. I frown at that. But I successfully posted one more chapter before then. I smile at that!
Anyway, please please please review! Also, I'm thinking of changing the title (for purely selfish reasons, this title is too generic and wont show up when you do a search for it) and I would love any suggestions.
Thanks all!
