So, I changed the title . . . hopefully I'll be satisfied now

Disclaimer: I only own the plot


In A Silent World

Sharpay

Sharpay threw herself down, next to Ryan, on the family room couch in a huff of exacerbation. It was the day after the Lysistrata auditions and it was evident that nobody had developed amnesia during the night. Not only were Troy and his so-called "group" refusing to acknowledge her existence, but the entire school seemed to be following suit. Sharpay had not anticipated the influence of East High's basketball team on the social environment.

At this thought Sharpay released another grunt of displeasure. Without a word Ryan stood up and left the room with Sharpay's eyes following him the entire way. She couldn't be certain, but she had a feeling Ryan was participating in her forced exile.

"Fine!" She yelled after him. "Go run and hide, you coward! You are supposed to be my brother, remember? You can't change that fact!" She had no way of knowing whether or not he had heard her but allowing herself to candidly voice her thoughts did wonders for her current level of irritation. With yet another grunt, she hoisted herself up off of the couch and returned to her room. If she had to be alone, she was going to be alone in private.


Ryan

Ryan had left on purpose. But it wasn't for the purpose of which Sharpay had accused him. He was simply tired of paying all his attention to Sharpay. He knew it wasn't rational, but his thoughts were sometimes overrun with possibilities other than what Sharpay was claiming to be true. One of which: could she be faking her amnesia? Of course not, he knew she wasn't ('She's not that good of an actress'), but her accident did happen at a capriciously convenient time. He had just developed a small, yet dominant, sum of clout with the other students at East High. He had started developing into his own character, apart from Sharpay, and she had not been handling it well. Then she goes and loses her memory, consequently pulling all his attention back on her, yet again.

Frustrated with himself for thinking these thoughts, Ryan decided he needed to be separated from the entire situation in order to attain some serenity. He needed to clear his head, get some fresh air. Anything, as long as it did not involve his sister. With that decision, Ryan opened the back door, stepped outside, and took his first step on what he hoped to be a refreshing, tranquil walk.


Troy

With more effort than he was accustomed, Troy tossed his orange basketball into the air, only to watch as it sailed passed the backboard without making contact. He sighed and relaxed his stance. He could hide from his emotions through his game, but his game could never hide from his emotions. Finally relenting, he threw himself down in exasperation onto the grass. He knew he'd have to figure this out soon, otherwise feign illness every time his dad wanted to play basketball.

"Hey Troy," Coach Bolton called while jogging down the hill to meet his son at their half-court. "Want to play some one-on-one?" He had seen Troy struggling with his jump-shots and he didn't want that failure to be the end note. That was murder for sports players' confidence levels.

"Well, actually, I'm not feeling too well. I think I'm just going to go lie down," Troy quickly excused himself as he stood and retreated into the house and, after grabbing an apple, his room.

Troy pulled out his cell phone from his book-bag that was lying in the corner of his room and placed it on the bed next to where he rested. 'Maybe I should just call her'. Something was telling him that there was more to the story that could be revealed by Sharpay, given she ever decides to tell it. 'Doesn't everybody deserve a second chance, anyway?' he reasoned with himself. Without hesitation, Troy grabbed his phone, flipped it open and searched for Sharpay's name in his contacts list. His thumb hovered over the send button as his overactive analysis of the situation started working on another angle. 'Sure, everybody deserves a second chance. But Sharpay passed her second chance long ago. Not to mention the second chance that she wasted on the stage. She could have said anything at that point and I probably would have believed it. But she didn't'.

Troy closed his phone again and instead clutched it tight in his tense fist. 'On the other hand,' he thought 'She does have amnesia. In essence, her previous chances have been erased along with her memory. She can't be held liable for something she can't remember'. Frustrated with his indecision, Troy groaned loudly and threw his phone back onto his bed with such force it bounced off and landed with a clank on the floor. Instead of recovering the phone, he remained on the bed, agonizing over his internal argument and his resolve which consistently and rapidly swapped sides.


Zeke

After thirty minutes of dallied pacing in front of the Evan's mansion, Zeke purposefully approached the front door. 'Why am I so nervous?' he asked himself in a lame attempt to force his emotions into reacting more rationally. But deep down, he knew why he was nervous and that simple fact succeeded in canceling any calm his self-chastising had produced. Despite all this, Zeke continued on his current path because 'Who am I to disregard the plan?' With a deep, relaxing breath and a stiff, shaking fist he knocked on the Evans front door.


Sharpay

Hearing the knock at her front door, Sharpay quickly called off the butler and, instead, answered it herself. She didn't completely understand the purpose of a butler answering their door when somebody within her household would inevitably have to meet with that door-knocker anyway. Besides, she was secretly hoping Troy would be on the other side, this time.

Sharpay reached the entrance hallway and paused by the mirror hanging on the wall for one final primp. Placing her hand on the knob she adopted a jovial grin on her face before she swung the door wide open.

When she saw that her inquirer was Zeke Baylor she didn't even endeavor to hide her contempt. Despite him being the only living being currently treating her hospitably, she allowed her face to fall into a hardened glare. She was not in the mood to mollify any allies.

"What do you want, Baylor?" She demanded, not intending to invite him in.

Slightly taken aback by her unexpectedly cold tone, Zeke faltered before he could collect himself enough to reply "I, uh, just thought you would want some company."

"You thought wrong." was her simple reply. Considering their conversation complete, Sharpay took a step back and attempted to slam the door in his face, but this time Zeke was prepared. He planted his foot in the frame, effectively reversing the door's current path of motion. Pushing it back open, Zeke shoved his way through the entryway while calmly saying to a stunned Sharpay "You didn't let me finish. I brought cookies–"

"I don't eat junk." Sharpay interrupted while adopting a defensive pose with her arms crossed over her chest and her glare ever present.

"–and celery and salsa for you. I took the liberty of picking out a few movies, as well–"

"I hate movies."

"–Besides, I know you know you can't reject me. I'm your only conduit back into the social world of East High."

"I don't need to be socially accepted."

With this last statement, Zeke threw his head back and gave a hearty laugh. When his amusement wore down he coolly replied "Now we both know that isn't true. You thrive on external validation. You need me, Sharpay."

Sharpay had no response to this. She knew it was, in small part, true. Surrendering her current position, she gave a curt nod then turned and walked back into the family room. Zeke took that as his indication to follow.


Troy

Back in Troy's bedroom he was slowly approaching his ultimate decision. He came to the conclusion that he wanted to call her. But desire was not a strong enough reason alone. His pride was what was holding him back. He shouldn't be the one debating this. After all, Sharpay is the accused.

Finally, he came to a decision.

Jumping off his bed, Troy gave his room a quick once over as he searched for his phone. Finally locating it, he pounced, hastily snatching it up and quickly dialed the number.


Sharpay

Sharpay jumped at the sound of her cell phone ringing. It was only a few days ago that she had found it and she had yet to use it. Excited, she scrambled to attain it in time; it seemed to have fallen between the cushions of the couch. Without even looking at the caller ID, she flung it open and slammed it against her ear.

"HELLO?" she yelled into the receiver, her enthusiasm causing her to momentarily lose control of her volume level.

Nobody responded.

"Hello? Who is this?"

Again, no response.

"Shar?" Zeke said, timidly. "I think that was a text message."

"A text message? Oh, of course. A text message, how silly of me," She looked at her phone's screen and sure enough it said '1 new txt msg', which came from an unavailable number. Curious, Sharpay opened the text message and read 'Check your e-mail, Ashley".

'Ashley?' Sharpay thought 'They must have the wrong number'. Slightly disappointed, she dismissed the text message and returned her attention to the movie.


Troy

"Hey dude, this really isn't a good time for me, if you catch my drift," Chad answered his phone when Troy called.

"Taylor there?" Troy asked, even though he knew the answer.

"Yeah. What do you need?" Chad replied trying to move the conversation along.

"I just wanted to know your opinion on what I should do about Sharpay. I can't decide on anything and its driving me absolutely batty." Troy said with the air of one releasing a load off his conscience.

Chad exhaled loudly. "You really want to know what I think?"

"Absolutely."

"I think you should do nothing. Sharpay is not your problem. She's hardly your friend. She is the one in the wrong. She is the one who should be stressing over this. You just need to chill and forget about her. Besides, you have a girlfriend, remember? Speaking of, where is Gabriella?" Chad asked.

"Oh. Shit." Troy said, instantly realizing that a) he forgot to pick her up from her church retreat and b) it's been almost a week and he hadn't noticed her absence. "Oh. Shit."


Ryan

Ryan had been out walking for nearly an hour. His emotions had run high for most of that time, but near the end they were finally tapering off. He was passing the church that he and Sharpay used to attend, about to turn around when he heard a strange noise. It was like a distant bird call, or a weak person praying for help.

The irony was not lost on Ryan, either.

Mindful that this could very well be a test from God, Ryan decided to investigate further. He jogged around the church, all the while listening for the noise to repeat itself. Standing at the back of the parking lot, facing the small abyss of woods, Ryan strained his ears. He was certain he hadn't imagined that noise.

"Somebody...please..."

There it was again! Ryan was sure the voice was coming from the woods. That last plea was much clearer than the first one. Determined to find this phantom voice, Ryan headed into the woods with confidence. These were a relatively small patch of woods, he just had to keep the person calling out to him and he would be able to find them.

"HELLO?!" he yelled.

"Help..."

Ah ha! Ryan directed himself in the general direction of the voice. Whenever he wanted to re-ascertain his direction, he would call out and the voice would always respond. Not even fifteen minutes later:

"Gabriella?"

Ryan stumbled into a small opening that appeared as though it had been turned into a make-shift camp site. Looking around, he could see some houses from a residential neighborhood through the trees. A huge tarp or 'Is that a hot-air balloon?' had been tied to the branches above, creating a temporary roof. Gabriella was sitting on a tree stump in the middle of the clearing, her arms were wrapped around her legs as she rocked back and forth shivering.

"Gabby, its seventy five degrees."

She didn't respond to him, she just continued rocking herself. Ryan watched (back and forth, back and forth, back and forth) unsure of what to do. He slowly approached her.

"Gabby!" he barked as he snapped his fingers in front of her face. She looked up at him curiously, and then her face clearly showed recognition. "Ryan?" She smiled as she stiffly stood and gave him an eager hug. "It's been so long. However did you find me way out here in the wilderness?"

Ryan chuckled and then softly responded, "Let's just get you home." Gabriella nodded in agreement.


Did
you notice Gabriella's absence? Don't worry, she's supposed to be acting kind of ridiculously here.

So, this story is the first time I've ever attempted to write creatively and I've just now realized that I think very visually. So, I am REALLY sorry if anything I'm trying to describe is confusing. I think I try to compensate for that by explaining things A LOT and now I'm worried it's too wordy. I don't know. My own insecurities, I guess.

I finally know exactly where I'm going with this story. I'm not gonna lie, I started it without an ultimate plan. So, if you think this chapter is pointless, you're wrong! Hahah... Think Harry Potter. The most insignificant sentences would turn out to shape the entire next book. Or something like that. Of course, I'm not doing it quite as masterfully...

Also, my semester started this week and my classes are murder, so my exhaustion and stress may have temporarily quelled my creative prowess.

Despite that, please REVIEW!