Disclaimer: I still don't own High School Musical or the almost (though slightly modified) reference to ascii27's story 'To Speak for the Dead'
The Truth
"And when we come back," Billy Bush flashed a cheesy grin at the camera, "we have the inside scoop on the falling out between former best friends Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens. We have what really happened that fateful day on the set of their final Disney Channel Musical, stay tuned."
Sharpay walked into the entertainment room where Ryan was broodingly watching Access Hollywood. As the screen changed to commercial he grabbed the remote, turning the volume down. He then looked over to Sharpay expectantly as she plopped down onto the couch next to him with an unconvincing display of innocence.
"So!" she said brightly, dropping her act as soon as she realized that Ryan wasn't buying it. "How did your date go with Gabby?" Then, raising one eyebrow suggestively she added, "Did you seal the deal? Take the girl for a whirl? Score the whore?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Just stop right there!" Ryan exclaimed indignantly putting his hands up in defense. "Gabriella is not a whore!"
Surprised, Sharpay glanced around the empty room as though somebody else could have spoken. "Who said that she was?" She asked sounding convincingly affronted.
"You did, just now!"
"Oh!" Sharpay exclaimed with a light hearted chuckle and a dramatic hand positioned gracefully at her chest. "I'm sorry about that. I only meant to think it!"
Ryan gave her a disbelieving look but decided to let the comment slide. "Anyway," he continued, forcing the conversation back on track, "I didn't go through with it. When I saw her walk into the coffee shop I decided I didn't really want to sleep with her. Didn't want to ruin that innocence, you know how it is." He finished his statement dismissively and distractedly noticed that the show was back on. Before Sharpay could prolong the conversation unsolicited, Ryan quickly grabbed the TV remote and turned the volume up.
Sharpay gave a slight "Harumph," but allowed the conversation to stall as she settled back into the couch.
"In an exclusive interview with the girls' former director, Kenny Ortega tells us about the atmosphere on the set during their last few scenes together." The still grinning Billy Bush said, introducing the following interview.
"It was strange, at first," Kenny said to the off camera interviewer. He was sitting in a director's chair on the Access Hollywood sound stage wearing a button-up, short-sleeved plaid shirt and a faded, blue Disney branded baseball cap. "They used to be best friends. Maybe they'd just spent too much time together, I don't really know the reasoning behind their fight. What I do know is that, by the end of filming, they were very cold with each other – exchanging snide remarks about the others appearance and career. I had tried to get them to stop because that negative energy was transferring onto film. If it appears as though the on screen best friends hate each other, that is because the off screen best friends hated each other."
"Oh my God," Sharpay gasped, hastily grabbing the remote and muting the television. "You like her!"
Ryan snapped his head around to look at his sister. "I do not. I absolutely do not!" he stammered guiltily while he emphatically shook his head and tried to grab the remote from her hand.
"Yes you do!" she exclaimed in triumph, holding the remote out of his reach and pointing her finger at Ryan accusingly. "You only turn down a lay when you like the girl! I never understood that about you, by the way."
"I do not!" he repeated. "And how did you know that?"
Sharpay paused pensively. "I don't know. I just, sort of, knew," she said with a flippant shrug. Turning the volume on the TV back up, Sharpay and Ryan both dropped the conversation and instead returned their full attention to the small screen.
Troy started at the sound of his cell phone ringing right beside his ear. Yawning, he flipped off the television that had been quietly humming in the background and sat up slowly. He vigorously rubbed his eyes, attempting to wake himself up. He'd been dozing on the couch after a grueling pre-championship basketball practice. His phone was still ringing.
Finally picking up the phone, Troy quickly glanced at the caller ID ('unavailable') before flicking it open and reluctantly answering.
"We've got some work left to do," a gruff voice whispered in his ear.
"Huh?" Troy thought he recognized the voice but he was desperately praying that he was wrong.
"I like you're prudence but you can stop playing dumb. This is a secure line, the terrorists aren't listening. Now, we're going to hold a tactical meeting in Montez's family room in oh-two-hundred. Your presence is required."
Troy sighed, glancing at his watch. "Fine," he agreed. "But why at Gabby's?"
Troy waited patiently for an answer but was only greeted with dead air. Jack had hung up before Troy had even asked the question.
"Hey Troy, who was that?" Coach Bolton asked as he wandered into the room, languorously munching on some microwaveable, theatre-style buttered popcorn.
"Oh, um, nobody! That was nobody. Just Chad playing a prank, I think, or something like that." Troy quickly answered, trying to think of a way to change the subject. "Popcorn! Hey, can I have some?"
The coach suddenly glanced at the front door distractedly, muttering quietly to himself while clutching the bag of popcorn close to his chest.
"Uh, dad?" Troy asked, the concern evident in his voice.
All of a sudden his dad shoved the bag of popcorn into Troy's hands mumbling something about needing to find his baseball cap before he turned on his heel and scampered out of the room.
"But you're wearing your baseball cap!" Troy exclaimed to his dad's rapidly retreating back.
Just then the front door loudly burst open, allowing for a panting Sharpay to confidently march into the house and slam the door shut behind her. Troy watched as she distractedly stomped toward him, the 'cla-clump...cla-clump' of her heals soundly resonating through the quiet house.
"Troy!" Sharpay shrieked anxiously, clearly having difficulty controlling her volume level. "Troy, I remembered something big!"
Troy didn't need to say anything. He immediately handed her the bag of popcorn and guided her to the couch with a concerned expression playing on his face. "Ok, Shar," he said soothingly with a reassuring smile. "Tell me about it."
Figuring she'd just remembered another moment that epitomizes the qualities of old Sharpay, Troy readied himself for a conversation centered on reminding her of the new Sharpay's positive qualities. That assumption explains why he was so surprised by her statement when she looked him square in the face and seriously replied, "I remember the accident."
A damp Sharpay stepped into the bright sunlight magnified by the sea of windshields just outside the back doors of East High; her phone was already held in her perfectly manicured hand. She wasn't rushing to her car like every other peon in this craphole they call an education facility for two reasons: 1) she had to wait for Ryan to finish taking his Spanish exam that he'd skipped out on the first time and 2) she had parked illegally in the teacher's parking lot in order to avoid the mad crush of students attempting to leave the student parking lot.
Taking a small, shuffling step (which was all that her designer heals would allow) toward her convertible, Sharpay typed her voicemail code into her phone's keypad. Putting the phone to her ear, she distractedly searched through her purse for her keys as she listened to her messages.
"Yoohoo, Sharpay," the first message began. It was left by a taunting female voice that Sharpay knew to be Gabriella. The girl had taken to leaving Sharpay strange messages, usually revolving around sin and hell and burning, fiery deaths. "You know, some people consider it rude to ignore phone messages, especially after other people have left twenty or thirty of them. Admittedly, not as rude as dumping holy water on you in the girls locker room but your impression of being possessed by the devil–"
"I was humming my audition piece! And STOP calling me!" Sharpay's own voice could be heard in the message as she had interrupted Gabriella during the recording.
"Well, even Taylor agrees with me that–"
"Wait a minute, don't you drag me into this now. Come on Gabs, give me the phone. Now, why don't we just hang–"
'End of first message' the electronic voice croaked. Sharpay rolled her eyes in irritation at Gabriella's ridiculousness and deleted the message.
'Next message'
"Well hello there Ashley," Sharpay cringed. She didn't know who this was but he had been leaving her creepy messages all week. She had a suspicion it was one of her stalker-like Youtube fans. "I know you delete my messages, Ashley, and I don't appreciate it. I know this because I am watching you. Your hiding place has been compromised. By the time you delete this message, the terrorists will have you and you will soon be dead. Bwahahahha!" It wasn't a laugh, that was actually the noise he ended the message with.
Sharpay hated feeling this unnerved, she considered herself to be nearly as ice-like as her reputation implied. But after listening to this guy's messages, she didn't feel quite as untouchable as was usual. There was something in his messages that seemed to speak truth and it scared her. Pushing that thought aside, Sharpay pressed delete and opened her bag to store her phone back in it.
"NO! Luke! Don't do it!" Sharpay heard a panicked sounding voice screaming from behind her. Actually, the voice sounded familiar, like she heard it every day.
Whipping around, she saw an old, hairy looking man who clearly didn't know what style shirt works best for his body type running straight at her with barred teeth and a wildly brandished gun.
Sharpay didn't even stop to think, she reached into her still open book bag and grabbed hold of the mace that she always kept handy and started spraying. She heard the man scream but couldn't see him because she was looking away and keeping her eyes held firmly shut.
"Sharpay!" she heard that voice again. Why does it sound so familiar? "Sharpay, run!"
"Zeke?" she asked, recognition hitting her abruptly. She turned to face the direction in which the voice was coming from and accidentally opened her eyes. Realizing her mistake, Sharpay squeezed her eyes shut again but too late. Turning, she sprinted to her convertible and shoved the keys in the engine. Sniveling from the tear gas, she threw the car into drive. Forgetting that Ryan was still in the school she frantically raced out of the parking lot and down the street directly in front of the school.
It was at this point that her head cleared enough for her to realize that, thanks to her reckless spraying techniques, she could barely see and yet she was attempting to drive. Though it was clear that driving in her present condition was dangerous, the fear of her attacker stopped her from pulling over. Instead, she decided that she could blearily and painfully see enough to make it down this road and, as soon as she gets far enough away, she'll–
"And that's where it goes black," Sharpay finished quietly, tears threatening though her dignity ensured that they didn't fall.
Troy sat still, ingesting the information he'd just received. Fortunately, he'd already spent enough time with Jack Bauer to believe the truth in Sharpay's memory. Unfortunately, he was unsure as to how Sharpay expected him to react. He scratched his head awkwardly and exhaled loudly, making sure to avoid eye contact.
"Oh my God," Sharpay gasped in dismay. "You already knew!"
"Well," he timidly glanced up at her angry features. "Not exactly."
"Oh my God!" Sharpay jumped to her feet and threw the empty popcorn bag down in anger. "How could you know and not tell me? This is my life we're gambling with, you know!"
"Well, how do you think you would have taken it? Honestly." Troy shouted, leaping to a standing position and matching her aggressive volume level.
Sharpay shrunk back from his unexpected outburst. She considered his question for a second and finally conceded with a sigh and a subtle nod, "I probably wouldn't have believed you."
Troy was stunned. Had he just won that fight? He was prepared for a whole other round! Unable to hide his exultant grin, Troy wrapped his arms around the small girl. "You remember Jack, right?" Troy asked, softening his voice. At Sharpay's nod, he continued, "Well, he's holding a tactical meeting to decided what we are going to do with these terrorists. Considering it is as much your problem as it is his, do you want to come?"
Sharpay didn't say anything. She just nodded into his chest.
I'm sorry, it's slightly shorter than usual. I think it's a combination of this being a good place to pause and that this week is finals week and I should probably get to studying. You know how it goes.
Well, let me know what you think in the Review!
