Chapter 3: Waking Up
Disclaimer: I don't own anything…or anyone (sadly enough), so don't ask me.
Sharpay groaned slightly as she began to regain consciousness. The amount of light shining through the slight crack in the curtains suggested it was sometime late in the afternoon. She sat up slowly, steadied herself, and began to take in her surroundings. She was sitting in a bed, which was situated in a blue and purple colored room with a Tinkerbell theme. Stickers, posters, and even Tinkerbell themed animees were plastered on the walls.
The room was small and it was a mess. There was a wicker basket style chair by the vanity mirror and a closet with barely any extra space in it. Music sheets and papers cluttered the space on the small desk in the corner. CDs were spilled everywhere. Not a single carpet covered the wood floor. Then, it dawned on her; she wasn't at her house at all. She was alone in a room in a house she'd never been to before. Her eyes widened in fear.
"Oh, my gosh! Where am I? This is not my room!" Sharpay whispered in fear, as she slowly crept out of the bed, and walked over to investigate the closet. She looked inside with silent horror. "What happened to my walk-in closet and all my fashionable clothes?" she asked in a hoarse whisper, "And what happened to my chart of what to wear each day for each event so I don't repeat an outfit?" She backed away from the closet. "Why doesn't any of this make sense?" she muttered as she spotted the mirror and headed for it, "At least I still look beautiful."
When she reached the mirror, she looked at her reflection and screamed. "OMG!" she cried, grabbing her face, "What happened to me?" She felt like Sharpay, but she looked like… "Kelsi!" Zeke screamed, immediately appearing in the doorway of the room and Sharpay turned to him, "What happened?" He began to calm down, seeing the girl was alive and standing. "So, I see you're awake." He breathed, "What was that all about, Kelsi?"
Sharpay stared, petrified, hoping to find out why she was Kelsi and not herself. "Kelsi?" she gulped, trying to work out an explanation in her head. "Yeah, that's you." Zeke grinned, "Remember? You're my sister." "Sister?" Sharpay questioned. She had no idea that Zeke and Kelsi were siblings. "Right." Zeke confirmed, wondering what was wrong, "Are you going crazy or has that faint made you forget?"
Sharpay groaned and stomped her foot on the ground. "Why does this have to happen to me?" she whined, fear and confusion taking over her body. Zeke, figuring he should let her sit alone to work things out, quickly offered to get her something to drink. "How about some chamomile?" Sharpay asked, realizing she'd given herself a headache and badly needed to calm herself down.
"Tea?" Zeke questioned unsure. "Yeah, don't you have any?" Sharpay asked him in a demanding tone. Zeke stared at his sister in shock. She'd never asked him for tea before. In fact, she would never touch it when he'd offered it to her. Now, all in one day, she'd turned into a monster and was now asking for tea. Something had happened, but he figured he wouldn't ask.
"Well, yeah we do, but…" he answered, confusion evident in his voice, "I thought you'd want a sugary drink or something to keep you awake." "Gross!" Sharpay retorted rather rudely, as she showed a disgusted expression, "Why would anyone want to drink that stuff?"
Zeke smiled slightly in agreement, but it quickly faded as he realized Kelsi was angrily tapping her foot on the floor and crossing her arms impatiently. "Um…" he began before he was cut off. "Just get me what I asked for while I figure this out!" Sharpay yelled at him, desperately in need of a drink.
"Okay." Zeke stated, eyeing her suspiciously as he walked out of the room. The moment Zeke had gone down the stairs, Sharpay walked back over to the bed. The fear had only momentarily subsided into confusion.
She sat down on the bed and breathed deeply, moaning to herself. "It's just a dream…" she stated to herself, in an attempt to calm down, "a really bad dream…a nightmare." She groaned at the thought. "That's it!" she realized, "I'll just pinch myself to wake up. I'll be in my own bed. It's probably this whole day getting on my nerves."
Sharpay looked down at her…or rather Kelsi's…wrist and was about to pinch it, but she noticed the nail marks. Sharpay gasped at how deep they were. They were still only slightly bleeding. What made it even weirder was that she could feel the stinging pain.
For a second, Sharpay felt guilty about hurting her ex-best friend. "She bit me, though." She muttered to herself, hate taking over all of her emotions, "I'm going to enjoy this." She closed her eyes and continued to attempt and pinch herself.
Zeke walked into the room with a cup of tea, saw what was going on, placed the tea on the desk, and grabbed the girl's wrist before any damage was done. "Kelsi!" Zeke reprimanded her for what she was doing, "What are you attempting to do?"
"Sharpay's eyes snapped open and she pulled her wrist away. "I'm trying to wake up from this nightmare!" she shot back at him. "I'm not a nightmare!" Zeke reminded her, "I'm your brother! I've brought up your tea. I'm sure it will set you straight." He indicated the tea on the desk and left the room.
The second he was downstairs, Sharpay screamed in frustration. "I'm Sharpay and I'm in Kelsi's body…I think." She muttered to herself, allowing herself to think out loud, "But, if I'm in her body, who's me?" Then, it clicked. Hearing it out loud made her realize who was in her body.
Meanwhile…
Kelsi was just starting to open her eyes. She lifted her head up off the pillow in the bed she currently occupied. She sat up slightly and propped herself up on one arm, so she could look around. The room was entirely pink.
Pink curtains decorated all of the windows and the canopy bed, in which Kelsi was sitting. There was a large walk-in closet and a giant desk at the end of the huge room. Fuzzy dark pink wall-to-wall carpeting covered the floor.
Kelsi's jaw dropped slightly in amusement. "Wow!" she whispered, "This is just about the coolest place on the planet! Now, where am I?" She noticed the chest at the end of the bed, got up, and walked over to it. She knelt down in front of it, opened it up, and began to search through it.
"There's a whole bunch of things in here, but where is my stuff?" Kelsi wondered in confusion as she pulled out a bunch of scarves and placed them on the floor, "Where's my room and what am I doing here?" Ryan walked past the room, did a double take, and walked back to the room, to stand in the doorway. Just then, Kelsi found a tube of lipstick, the thing she despised more than Sharpay, and chucked it absent-mindedly towards Ryan, who ducked. The tube had just missed his head and he gasped.
"So, you finally woke up." He stated, and Kelsi jumped at the sound of his voice and turned to look at him, "Look…before you scream…" "Why would I do that?" Kelsi asked a look of confusion washed over her face at the sight of Ryan Evans, who laughed nervously.
"Um…did I step into an alternate universe or something?" Ryan asked unsure of what was going on, "That's what you do when you don't like something." Ryan plugged his ears and squinted his eyes shut. Kelsi stared at him with a questioning glance. Ryan opened his eyes and unplugged his ears.
"Wow, I really must have walked into an alternate universe." He mused, leaning against the doorway, "I mean, that was your favorite shade of lipstick. You know…the one you threw at me." Kelsi scrunched up her face in thought.
"Wait." Kelsi told him, "I have this super huge room, wear pink lipstick, scream when I don't want something, and you live here?" "She's gone crazy!" Ryan exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air as he walked into the room.
"That can only mean one thing." Kelsi realized, "Can I have a mirror?" Ryan sighed before picking one up off the desk. "I knew it was too good to be true." he muttered before handing it over. Kelsi grabbed it and looked at her reflection. Her jaw dropped. She looked like Sharpay!
"How could this happen?" she panicked. "What?" Ryan teased, "Did you sprout a zit after that faint?" Kelsi looked at him and sat on the bed. "Faint? Zit? Me?" she stuttered, desperately trying to work out what happened. "You've either gone crazy or lost your memory." Ryan stated in confusion, as he walked over to the bed, "Haven't you, Sharpay?"
"Sharpay?" Kelsi gulped, "Why? How? When?" "I'm going to get you some tea." Ryan offered, shaking his head and heading for the door. "No thanks, I'm kind of hungry." Kelsi stated, realizing she was starved, "Do you have any Sugar Grahams?"
Ryan stopped and turned to look at her with accusation, "How did you know about that?" he asked. He'd been hiding them and eating them when Sharpay wasn't looking. It was one of the things he did to avoid her many dieting rules.
"They're only the best cereal in the world." Kelsi shrugged off the awkwardness of the question. Ryan smiled slightly, but quickly frowned in confusion. "I know, but…never mind." He decided he'd rather not ask too many questions, "I'll get you a bowl of it right away…with Low Fat milk?" He stalled, trying to find the catch to his sister's strange behavior.
"Is that all you have?" Kelsi questioned shyly, "Because…I was kind of hoping that you had some regular milk." She smiled at Ryan hopefully, and he stared back in shocked amusement. "We do." He reassured her and walked over to the doorway, "I'll get you a bowl of it now." He left the room.
Suddenly, there was a rustling coming from the closet. Kelsi gasped as a girl dressed in black jumped out of the closet. Kelsi let out a small scream. The girl, realizing she'd been caught, smiled at her. "You finally woke up." She stated, dusting herself off.
"How did you get in here?" Kelsi asked fearfully. "I climbed in through the bathroom window." The girl responded with a shrug, "Nothing big." "Why are you here?" Kelsi asked, worried that the girl had been spying on her.
"I was looking for some cool clothes for the concert tonight." The girl explained, "I love Evanescence. But there was nothing in black. My favorite color is black." There was a long pause in which the two girls stared at each other. Kelsi finally broke the long awkward silence. "Okay…" she began with a creeped out expression, "You can leave now."
"All right." The girl responded with a shrug, "I'll just have to raid someone else's closet." "Who are you?" Kelsi asked, not knowing what was scarier: the fact the girl was in the room with her or the fact that she was in Sharpay's house in Sharpay's skin. "Bye." The girl responded excitedly and left the room, leaving Kelsi to stare.
When Kelsi was sure the girl had left, she sighed. "I'm Kelsi, but now I must be Sharpay…or in her body, at least." Kelsi attempted to figure out what was going on, "But where am I? Maybe I died! Where's Sharpay and why am I here?"
Ryan walked into the room with a bowl of cereal. He sat on the bed next to his obviously troubled sister, "Who was that?" he asked her and she shrugged, as he handed her the bowl of cereal, "Here's your cereal. I don't know what's wrong with you. It's not like you to act so strangely. It's like you're a whole other person." Kelsi looked at him with wide eyes. "What was that you were talking about before?" Ryan continued and stared back at her. "Oh…" Kelsi stated, looking into the bowl of cereal, "I'll worry about that later. But, for now, will you stay in here with me and make sure that everything goes right?" She'd never noticed how soft Ryan's blue eyes really were. They were warm, comforting, and caring.
"Sure, but…why?" Ryan responded, trying to catch her eyes. "Because I like your company." Kelsi admitted, finally looking up at him. It was Ryan's turn to look down at the bed. "Wow, I never thought you'd say that at all." He said, looking back up at her, "I mean, you've never depended on me for anything before. So, while this is still possible, I kind of want to do this."
Ryan leaned over and hugged his sister. Kelsi noted to herself that his hugs were warm, soft, and pleasant. "Thanks." she giggled uncontrollably, as Ryan let go, "And thanks for the cereal. You're a great…brother…to have around." She was, after all, Sharpay…for now.
Later on that night, the phone in Sharpay's room rang. Kelsi walked over to it and picked it up. "Hello, this is Sharpay Evans!" she answered cheerfully. "No, you're not!" a familiar voice screamed from the other end of the phone, "I am!"
Kelsi gasped. "Wait! I'd know that voice anywhere." Kelsi stated excitedly, "It's me! I'm alive, safe at home, and I didn't die!" "What are you talking about?" Sharpay asked from the other side of the phone. "Nothing…" Kelsi shook her head, "Do you know what's going on? I don't."
"Well, neither do I." Sharpay began, "But I'm thinking that we've switched bodies…somehow." Kelsi laughed. "Well, is that all?" she asked sarcastically. "First of all, it must be true. Second of all, we should try to be each other from now on." Sharpay explained in frustration, "And last and most importantly, quit being sarcastic! I don't do sarcasm."
"I find that hard to believe." Kelsi laughed, and then added, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say that out loud?" "Well, I'm sure you'd look fabulous in some of the more fashionable clothes." Sharpay stated dryly, "That is, if you had any! But, I'm not complaining."
Kelsi sighed. "All right, I get the point." She said, "But being you is going to be fun!" "Being me is not fun." Sharpay informed. "And being me can't be easy." Kelsi added. "Sure, it is." Sharpay stated, "All you do is show up to school looking like a boy."
"Tomboy." Kelsi corrected, "There's a difference." "Whatever…" Sharpay continued, "We'll just have to keep this a secret until we figure out what happened." "All right." Kelsi caved, "We'll do that." "Fine." Sharpay grunted, "See you at school tomorrow." With that, the two girls hung up the phone, wondering what would happen the next day.
(A/N) Hey…this is your crazy author speaking. This chapter was good, huh? Or wasn't it? I would really like to know. At this point, I'm pretty sure the only things keeping you guys reading are the constant cliffies. Am I right? Well, you'll be happy to know that I do enjoy throwing them out to you and I hope you enjoy reading them. So, R&R or else the cliffies will never end. Please, please R&R! I beg you! R&R!