Juliet is who?
Chapter Nine: Aftermath
A/N: There is no excuse to why I wasn't updating I was lazy, I guess. But, now that it's summer, expect more updates coming your way!
Sharpay's POV
I watched Gabriella walk away with my mouth hanging open. Did she just congratulate me on getting the part of Juliet? No one congratulates the person that beats them! I had thought that she would take a couple more days to cool off. Maybe Wednesday… I had even planned an apology kind-of-thing. You know, I'd start with saying hi to her in class, asking for her help doing homework, all that stuff.
Though, I reflected, walking to class, this would save me quite a bit of trouble, I suppose. Now I wouldn't have to buy her lunch or anything. I could just leave her be, while I practice for the play.
Which, leads us to my next problem; Troy Bolton.
You would figure that, out of the 384 girls at this school, I would be the only one who wouldn't want to kiss Troy Bolton. And I would be the only one that has to. I mean, come on! I would much rather kiss Zeke, who happens to be my BOYFRIEND!
This leads us to my third problem; Zeke.
Now, I love Zeke (even though I haven't told him yet), and he is my boyfriend. He also happens to be a bit… sensitive. He's not confident. Admitting to the school that he loves to bake was probably the most daring thing he's every done. I mean, I kissed him before he kissed me! Geez! So, you can only imagine how Zeke will react to this problem. Here are some examples;
"Are you breaking up with me?"
"I bet you would rather go out with Troy!"
"You deserve Troy."
"You liked kissing him, I could tell."
I was still debating this problem as I sat down in Mrs. Darbus' classroom. What to do, what to do? When I turned behind me to ask Ryan's opinion, I was met with a sight weirder than Gabriella apologizing to me.
It was Ryan. Humming. Now, this is not an uncommon sight (or sound) to me. But, I mean, humming the day after you were turned down for the role of a lifetime? That's queer. And if you know Ryan well (which I do), you would know that he isn't the greatest sport. He was mad for days when he landed the second-biggest male role in a play that we did. And the other role was only longer by five lines. I counted.
So you might see why I was worried for Ryan's mental health. This was not usual Ryan behavior. However, I could not ponder this much, as Mrs. Darbus had started speaking.
"Good morning, class!" She trilled. "First off, I would like to say a big 'congratulations' to those who got roles in the production of Romeo and Juliet." Mrs. Darbus beamed at Troy and Gabriella. "And, don't forget, there will be a dry read of the script today in the auditorium right after school. Now, please, everyone, bring out the scene summaries that I asked you to do last night." As Mrs. Darbus started to walk around the room, I turned around to look at Ryan.
"Ryan!" I hissed, "Why are you so happy?"
In response, Ryan turned his head downward, apparently doodling on his scene review.
"Ryan!" I hissed again, slightly louder. "Ryan!!!"
"Ms. Evans!" Mrs. Darbus called across the room. "Is there a problem you would like to share with the class?"
My cheeks burned. "No, Mrs. Darbus."
I folded my arms and slouched in my seat. Did she always have to call me out when I raised my voice in class? Didn't the drama club president get a few perks?
The rest of the class went by in a blur of Shakespeare and homework assignments. The minute the bell rang, I grabbed Ryan, pulled him out into the hallway, to the music room, and plopped him down on the piano bench.
"Ryan," I threatened, holding my finger in front of his face, "You will tell me why you are so happy when you just lost the role of a lifetime RIGHT NOW!"
Ryan gulped. "Well, you see, I, um, erm, didn't want the role." Ryan's voice was barely more than a whisper as he said, "Sorry, Sharpay."
I ignored his apology. "WHAT?! You didn't want the role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet?! Why?"
Ryan looked down at his hands. "Well, I didn't want to kiss you…that's gross."
I sighed, exasperated. "Ryan, I'm sure we could have worked something out with Mrs. Darbus, I told you that before we even auditioned!"
"There might have been some other reasons, too…" Ryan trailed off, still looking at his hands.
"What other reasons, Ryan?"
"Um, like, when I'm rehearsing, I don't get to spend much time with Kelsi. And," he hurried to cut me off before I had a chance to say that Kelsi could suck it up, "I wanted to take a break from acting for a while."
I couldn't believe what I had heard. Ryan wanted to take a break from acting. Ryan wanted to take a break from acting. Was this my brother, with whom I had starred in more school productions than most people do in a lifetime? The Ryan I knew loved acting. Who was this imposter?
"Who are you," I asked, slowly approaching him, "And what have you done with Ryan?"
Ryan pushed himself back against the piano, trying to get as far away from me as possible.
"You don't have to overreact, Sharpay. It's just one school production. One!"
"Purposefully missing one school production could mess up your career! Do you know how important it is to be able to act out Shakespeare if you want to be on Broadway? Half the shows they do are by Shakespeare!" I knew I was exaggerating just a smidge, but really. They don't do petty plays like 'The Three Little Pigs' or 'Twinkle Town' in College or on Broadway or in movie theatre, after all.
"Aren't you exaggerating just a bit, Sharpay?" Ryan asked. "And, well, maybe I don't want to be an actor."
I gasped. "You…don't…want to be…an actor?" I was trying to process this. Ryan… not acting? What else could he do?
"I just mean," Ryan said hurriedly, "That acting is a very hard area of work to get into. And, we are going to be going into our last year of high school in, what, four or five months? Shouldn't I have something else that I can train for or have as a second option?"
I swallowed. Then swallowed again. And took a deep breath. Oh, boy. I was starting to feel faint. He was deciding to spring this on me now? In the middle of school?
"Um, Sharpay?" Ryan asked, concern in his voice. "Are you OK? You're looking pale."
I gave a slightly hysterical laugh. "Oh, I'm fine… just fine…" I then ran out of the room towards the girls' bathroom. Thank goodness I had a free period right now.
After splashing cold water on my face, and then applying some make-up, I felt a little bit better. But, really, couldn't Ryan have told me this sooner? Was it really tactful to tell me right in the middle of school? Couldn't it have waited until we were back at home, where I could have sat down and yelled at him on my own sofa?
But, I have to concentrate on the situation at hand. Like…what did Ryan really say? He said he wanted to take a break from acting. So he doesn't want to give it up permanently. Good. And he wants to 'take a break' to spend more time with Kelsi, and to try other things. Like find other paths in life, for if acting totally bombs, or your career goes downhill. Now that I think about it, actually, a lot of young actors go to University and College in-between films and stuff. And Ryan never said that he wanted to give up acting as a career. He wanted to have a second option. Which is good, too. In fact, I think I should probably think of a second career option. Just not yet.
But just because I think Ryan might have a point, doesn't mean that I have to talk to him for the rest of the day.
A/N: Yes… it's done. Remember, reviews are always appreciated and welcome. I also enjoy CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. No mean criticism.
Tootles!
TheFabMax