Okay, so, whee! Here's Ch. 5. Oh, about the Ryan and silverware thing. My friend came over and we were watching HSM when she showed me her favorite part of the whole movie. It's after the whole 'Callbacks?' scene, and Sharpay is angrily pacing. Before she storms up and says "How dare she audition," my friend pointed to Ryan, who seemed to be smoothing out his napkin and placing his silverware in order. My friend loved the idea that Ryan wasn't exactly O.C.D., but he had certain, like, rituals that he had to do before eating. She asked (begged) me to include that in my fanfic, so, this is for you Em! If I get bad reviews it's your fault.

Disclaimer: It's not mine (sorry, to tired to thing of something; stayed up all night writing)

I Trust You- Chapter Five

The final bell rang, and there was a deafening cheer coming from the classrooms as students leapt from their seats and raced out the open doors to their freedom. For a few months that is.

Sharpay nervously looked for Ryan; she still hadn't seen him. She finally saw him coming down the hall. She sighed with relief.

"Ryan!"

He stopped and glanced around. He smiled when he saw her and walked over.

"I heard something happened in English class today."

"What'd you hear?"

"That you pulled a gun on the teacher after chucking the book at her face."

Ryan smiled slightly. "Well, not to that extreme, but I did get detention."

"What for?"

"I refused to read."

Sharpay suddenly remembered her brother's problem. She completely forgot that they had to read aloud in English class. She mentally kicked herself for not warning Ryan ahead of time.

"Sharpay!"

Sharpay looked down the hall and saw Gabriella and the rest of her friends coming down the hall.

"Are you coming with us?" Kelsi asked.

"To where?" Ryan asked.

"The mall"

'Crap!' Sharpay thought 'Ryan wasn't supposed to know about that!'

"Uh, I can't" Sharpay hoped they would leave.

"Why, Shar? It sounds like it would be fun." Sharpay looked at her brother. She knew where this was going. "Why don't you go, I have detention anyway. I'll tell mom and dad where you are when I get home."

Gabriella squealed with excitement "This is going to be sooo fun!"

Sharpay stared at her brother. She knew he had good intentions; he wanted her to have fun. She bit her lip. She didn't want Ryan home alone, but now she was stuck with going to the mall with her friends, leaving Ryan to fend for himself.

"Yeah." Sharpay sighed as Ryan smiled and said goodbye.

"Man, that kid is weird!" Jason let out a breath, like he had been afraid to breathe in Ryan germs or something. Sharpay sighed.

"Let's go!" Kelsi bounced on her feet. This was probably her first social outing ever. She clung to Jason's arm. 'She's weird too' Sharpay thought, but didn't mention.

Ryan sat in Ms. Snider's classroom. He had to sit for 45 minutes. It didn't seem that bad at first; all he had to do was sit in a desk and do nothing. He couldn't talk, read (or pretend to at least), or even sleep. After 10 minutes Ryan realized that 45 minutes was going to be a horribly long amount of time. Ryan looked at the pictures on the walls: one of Ms. Snider holding a book. Actually there were about twelve of those, a picture of her with a little girl who was holding a book, and a picture of her reading with tons of cats in the background. For some reason, Ryan knew she was a cat person.

Finally, Ryan's 45 minutes were up. He apologized again to Ms. Snider, wished her a happy summer, and took off. When he got to the parking lot, he saw the car still parked in the same spot; Sharpay must have gotten a ride to the mall with her friends.

When Ryan got home, he nervously opened the front door. Richard Evans usually is at work at this time, but he sometimes takes the day off, or comes home early. The house was completely silent, so Ryan left a note on the counter saying that Sharpay had gone to the mall, and that she'd be back before dinner. Ryan crept upstairs. He closed the door to his room and locked it. He lied down on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

At six o clock, Sharpay arrived at the house. Her mother was in the kitchen cooking.

"Hey mom, where's Ryan?"

"He's upstairs, but he should be down soon. Dinner's almost ready."

Ryan came into the kitchen. He smiled at Sharpay.

"Did you have fun?"

"Yeah…" Sharpay lied. She didn't have fun because she was too worried about Ryan. He seemed ok though, and their father hadn't returned from work yet.

"Sharpay, could you set the table please?"

Sharpay pouted "But I always have to do it! Why can't Ryan?"

Mary Evans turned and stared at Sharpay.

"Yeah mom, I don't mind. I'd like to help." Mary turned to Ryan. She gave a small smile.

"I guess…" She smiled at Ryan, but as soon as his back was turned she shot a nasty glare at Sharpay. "Thanks" she whispered as Ryan opened the cabinet to get plates "This will take forever!" Sharpay frowned in confusion "You'll see," said Mary.

Ryan placed four plates on the table. Then he brought out a set of silverware, a napkin, and a cup for each one. He carefully set a plate in front of each seat. Then he grabbed a set of silverware and a napkin. He placed the napkin right next to the plate and carefully arranged the silverware in order of spoon, fork, knife. The process took almost 5 minutes. Ryan grabbed another plate.

"Fine!" Sharpay snapped. She was always impatient "I'll do it!" She snatched the plate from Ryan.

"But-"

"It's ok. Ryan, I need to talk to you for a minute." Mary stood up and walked into the hallway, closely followed by Ryan. "Your father called, he had an extremely rough day at work." Ryan's heart began to pound. Usually the words your father and rough day meant a night of retribution…

"So, do you think you could try not getting on his nerves tonight? His temper will be short. Just keep quiet and try not to say anything stupid." Ryan nodded.

"Table's set." Sharpay said, poking her head out, just as their father came in the door.

Meh, sorry guys! It got a little long... Thanks for all the praise too! (uwah! I feel special!) I was excited to see that I had reached my 500 hits goal (in just a day and a half!). Thanks for your support!