Hey there  Huge greetings. You guys are truly amazing. I love your reviews, they just make my day. And special thanks to turboman for telling me about the disease. I already know a lot about it (for many reasons), but thanks for taking the time, anyway. I appreciate it. And this chapter is written for AK-tutti, and our kangaroo Steve, whom we share. I cant wait to pick him up at the train station this Friday. I hope you two are having fun though.

Disclaimer; I don't own High School Musical.

Her Heartbeat

Chapter 7.

--

Laugh when nothing's funny, Dance when there's no music,
Sing like you've never sung before, Love till it hurts,
Cry when you're sad, Smile when you're happy,
And always live each day like its your LAST

--

Gabriella approached Ryan's table, taking a deep breath. She stood before him, "So, Ry. How was Sharpay doing yesterday?"

Ryan shot her a smile, "Pretty good. She woke up while we were there. Her and Troy made out pretty good."

"Oh my God!" Gabriella exclaimed, clapping her hands together, "Really? Are they going out?"

Ryan shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe, I think so. I know they are like in love with each other anyway, so if they aren't going out yet, they'll be going out soon. Was there anything you wanted?"

"Yeah… I just," she paused, "I wanted to ask if I could tag along to the hospital today? Or maybe tomorrow? I want to see if she's okay."

"But Gabby…" Ryan began, "We have the first rehearsal for the musical today. Troy is going to the hospital alone, and after that, he's taking Sharpay home. She's free to go after her check-up."

"Really?" Gabriella smiled, "That's good. Well, then I guess you and I will have to rehearse. Can I come to your house tomorrow after school then? I really want to talk to her."

"Sure," Ryan said, "Why do you, anyway?"

"Why do I what?"

"Want to talk to Sharpay."

"Because I could have been nicer to her." Gabriella said, "I want to talk to her, and maybe be like friends. Just some good old girl-talking. I figured that maybe there was a reason she is acting the way she is. You know, so icy."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, and you're right about that. Shar is pushing people away, because she don't want too many too close. She says she's gonna disappoint them someday. I dunno, but that's just Sharpay. She is weird that way."

Gabriella nodded, "You'll sit with us at lunch, right?"

Ryan shot her another smile, "Sure."

--

Troy gently knocked on the door to Sharpay's room, waiting her answer.

"Come in."

He opened the door, and found Sharpay on her bed, doctor Gellar standing before her, an injection in his hand.

"Well, hello Troy." He smiled, "You're just in time to see the show. Sharpay will start screaming in a minute."

"I hate needles." Sharpay smiled, her brown eyes already glistening with tears, "Will you hold my hand?"

"Sure." Troy said. He took a seat next to her, and took her hand in his.

"I'm doing this for you, y'know." Sharpay began, and by the look on his face, she continued; "The whole emotion thing I told you about? You see, this drug will help me with that. Now you can kiss me without my heart going mad. Well… It still will, but for several different reasons."

Troy chuckled, and watched as doctor Gellar slowly, but surely stretched out her arm, and gave her the injection. Sharpay flinched, and she got a scared look in her eyes. The tears started streaming. (A/N – that might as well have been me. I HATE needles, I even fainted one time I got an injection. And it's horrible when you get them a lot, because you cant go around fainting all the time, now can you?)

Doctor Gellar pulled away from her, and gave her a glass of water, which she quickly drank.

"Now, you should be free to go, Sharpay." He told them, "Your results are fine, but can you promise me one thing?"

"Anything for you doc. G." Sharpay said, shooting him one of her Hollywood-smiles.

"Don't dance. Don't run. Don't go to school. Don't sing. Don't… Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Sure, doc. G.!" she said, watching him leave the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, she looked at Troy, "So, not gonna happen!"

He laughed a little, "But you have to take care of yourself, Shar."

"Sure I will!" Sharpay smiled, "But look, I don't need this! I have a lot to do!"

"As what?"

"As living my life before I die." Sharpay said, pushing her covers away from her, "I don't want to be in a stupid hospital. I would much rather do all the stuff that they say I can't do and take the risk. And yeah, maybe it'll end in disaster, but at least I'd die after living my life!"

"You can live your life like this too, you know." Troy said, "It's just different things you have to value and appreciate."

"Like what?" Sharpay asked, throwing all the things on her nightstand into a bag on the floor. She was still in her hospital gown, so she pulled some clothes out of the bag, before sipping it.

"Like the people surrounding you." Troy said, "The people that care for you and love you."

"I do appreciate them." Sharpay said, pulling her hospital gown over her head, revealing a red bra, "I'd just like to do regular teenage stuff too." She bend down and picked up a pink tee, which she pulled over her head too, "And don't look at me like that, Troy, it's just a bra!"

"Yeah, but it's a really nice one!"

Sharpay giggled and smacked him on the arm, before pulling the white shorts off too, revealing red panties, "And they're not special either!" she told him, taking on her jeans.

She picked up a pair of flip-flops from the floor and took them on, "I'm ready to go. Do you want to take me home?"

"Sure," Troy smiled, reaching out to take her hand, "Shall I take your bag?"

Sharpay threw it to him, "Thanks!"

"My pleasure." Troy smiled.

They walked out of the room. It went a little slow, because Sharpay wouldn't walk too fast. After reaching the reception, they met Troy's mom.

"Hey Troy!" she smiled, "What are you doing here?"

"Taking Sharpay home," Troy said, gesturing towards his… girlfriend? "Mom, this is Sharpay; Sharpay, this is my mother."

"Oh hi!" Sharpay greeted, sticking her hand out to shake Mrs. Bolton's, "You're doctor Gellar's new nurse, right?"

"Yeah, are you one of his patients?"

"Have been for years." Sharpay smiled, "Do you mind if Troy stay at my house for dinner, I think my sister will like to repay him for taking me home, by forcing some of her delicious ice cream into his mouth."

"That's all right with me," Mrs. Bolton smiled, "I'll see you later then, Troy."

"Yeah, bye mom"

"Bye!" she turned around and went down the hall. Troy took a faster grip at Sharpay, and they went outside and into his car. Ready to head the Evans resident.

--

"That's it for today, people!" Mrs. Darbus hollered, turning on the lights in the auditorium.

Gabriella sighed, and went to find her bagpack. She'd have to ask Ryan if she could catch a ride home with him. Sure, he'd have to drive a little longer, but she was sure that he didn't mind. He was a nice guy.

She turned to him, turning on her sweet smile, "Hey Ry, can I catch a ride with you?"

"Sure, any time, Gabby." Ryan smiled.

They went outside and found his car in the parking lot. Ryan turned the car towards Gabriella's house, and on the way they talked about this and that, and soon they were in front of her house.

"Thanks for the ride, Ryan." Gabriella nodded, "Say hi to Sharpay from me."

"Will do."

"Good!" she hesitated, but leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips. She pulled away, a blush creeping into her cheeks, "See you tomorrow."

With those words, she left the car.

--

"You can just throw the bag anywhere." Sharpay said, looking at Troy. She turned around to take in her room – the first thing she saw was the big ugly heart machine beside her bed. She groaned and sat down.

"Is that…?" Troy began.

"A machine to keep my heart beating, and my breath down." Sharpay finished, looking at him with big eyes.

Troy laughed and took a seat beside her on the bed, slowly taking her hand. "I like your room." He concluded, mainly because he didn't know what else to say. It was the first time he'd been in her house, and yeah…

"It's nothing special." Sharpay laughed, "It's not like I have a walk-in-closet and my own bathroom like our school thinks. We're wealthy yeah, but not rich. Most of our money goes to my hospitalizing anyway. Like these last couple of days."

"I see." Troy just answered, "But I like this anyway. It's casual."

Sharpay giggled, "Yeah well. It's not the material things that matters in our family. It's each other. You know, you grow to appreciate things more when you've lost your parents."

"How did they die anyway?"

"In a plane crash." Sharpay said, "When we were 3. Becca was still pretty young, not even 20, but she said she'd take care of us. She met Matt pretty soon after, and then they got married and had Brooke, while Ryan and I grew up. Well of course, I'm leaving out the detail of when we found out about my disease. It was when I was 4."

"How did you notice, anyway?"

"One day, Ryan and I were playing on the swings in the park. Matt and Becca were there. It was pretty soon after our parents were dead, but it was one of our happy days. It was Becca's birthday, so we had an outing with a picnic and everything. Then we were swinging back and forth, and Ryan dared me to jump from the swing. He wanted to see who could jump the longest. So we tried, but when I landed in the sand, I suddenly couldn't breathe. Becca thought I'd hit my stomach hard, and that was all, but Matt noticed my pale face, and he took my wrist and felt my pulse. Two seconds after that I blacked out." She paused, "And when I woke up again, they told me that they had called an ambulance, and that I was okay."

"But you weren't?"

"They couldn't explain the disease and it's causes for a 4 years old, so they took it slowly. When I turned 12, they told me just how it was, and that I was going to die someday of it. But I wasn't surprised, I guess I'd seen it coming."

"I'm really sorry, Sharpay." Troy said, "I had no idea you had this disease. I can't understand how you can still be you."

"The disease is a part of me, Troy." Sharpay smiled, squeezing his hand, "It's been there since I was born. I wouldn't be me, if I didn't have it."

"I guess so." Troy smiled.

Sharpay shot him a smile, and leaned in a kissed him lightly on the lips, "I'm glad you're here with me."

"I'm glad too."

--

During dinner, the 7 of them chatted like they'd known each other for ages. Brooke and Ben took liking of Troy the moment he told them hi, and said he wanted to play ´Go Fish´ with them after dinner.

Becca and Sharpay mainly talked about everything, and how it was going to be for the next two weeks. And also all the arrangements. Sharpay was going to take two more pills everyday plus the ones she usually took. She'd have to be in bed for 14 hours, nights included. Which resolved in ten hours to sit by her computer, or walk around a little.

The time would be less and less everyday, until she was ready to only sleep during the nights.

Sharpay hated when she to stay home like that. It was a long time since she had been doing that, but she knew she had to do it. No more chit-chatting about it. It was for her own good.

Matt was talking to Ryan and Troy (when he wasn't talking to Ben and Brooke about super heroes), and they had a man-to-man talk. Both Matt and Ryan wanted to know what was going on between Troy and Sharpay, plus, they wanted to make it clear that if he ever hurt her… Well, it would do him no good.

When dinner was done, Sharpay and Troy played ´Go Fish´ with Brooke and Ben, while the other three cleaned the kitchen. When they had played for awhile, and the clock showed 7:30., Sharpay followed Troy to the door.

"You'll step by tomorrow, right?" she asked.

"Sure, Gabriella is coming too." Troy said, "She wants to make sure you're okay. I think something is going on between her and Ryan."

"Ryan has been crushing on her since she came to our school." Sharpay smiled.

"Well, I'm fine with it."

"I know." she looked at her wrist watch, "But I better go to bed. I want to catch some hours right now so I'll have more time with you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yup!" Troy smiled.

They kissed softly, and Troy left the house. Sharpay closed the door behind her, a huge smile on her face.

"He's cute." Becca observed.

"Beyond." Sharpay answered, dreamy. She giggled and walked up the stairs, hopped into her PJ and went to bed.

So, the end of this chapter. I hope this was better than the last one, at least I think the end got okay, though some of the parts were bad. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I cant seem to write Gabriella just right, but maybe that's because I don't find her too interesting. But she is a part of this story, and she'll just have to be there, I'm gonna force myself to write her better in the next chapter. Anyway, leave me a review, please? I just love them so much… : )

Friends quote from "The One Where Ross is Fine";

Ross: Hey, hey, hey... If you two are happy, then I'm happy for you. (Squeaky.) I'm fine!

Joey: Really?

Ross: Absolutely. (Very Squeaky.) I'm fine! Totally fine. I don't know why it's coming out all loud and squeaky, 'cause really, (deep voice) I'm fine. I'm not saying I wasn't a little surprised to see you guys kissing. I mean, at first I was like.. (Screams.) But now that I've had time to absorb it; Lovin' this.

Aaah lol, hope you don't get annoyed with the quotes? Anyway, tootles, Stessa.