Brain Drain

Chapter Eight

SURPRISE!

The two blonde headed twins sat in the waiting room to see Sharpay's doctor. It was nothing serious, but the doctor just wanted to check up to see that things were all peachy keen. It was most likely that they were because Sharpay had progressed a lot since the accident had happened. There had been no more memory lapses and she had been informed of everything that had happened in the past, making her what she was now, even though that wasn't the Sharpay Ryan knew and loved.

The waiting room for the doctor was quiet and almost no one was talking, there were a few occasional murmurs but not much chatting. You could also hear the receptionist on the phone very clearly talking to patients who needed to make appointments. It was that quiet you could hear the buzzing of the light sitting right above Sharpay and Ryan.

The twins hadn't really talked to each other once they had arrived; they talked on the way there, but not much inside. They respected the doctor and his patients who wanted peace and quiet. Although Sharpay was some what of a talker, she remained quiet until they got into the hallway to enter it.

"Ryan I'm scared," she said, almost audible. Ryan rubbed her bare arm, comfortingly.

"It'll be fine, there's nothing wrong with you, so what could he say except that you've done well?" He showed her a small smile, which formed on his pink lips naturally.

"They could say I've done worse." She said, but Ryan just shook his head.

"You're so much better now, you know practically almost everything!" Sharpay smiled, and they entered the doctors room.

The room was lightly tinted with cream paint on the walls, making it look bigger than it originally was. It smelt like a can of fresh paint, like the walls had just been painted, but you could tell it was just a smell that lingered in the air a lot. There were three chairs, a desk, a computer and a couple of books on shelves planted around the room. Even though the room wasn't that small, and there weren't many things in it, Sharpay felt claustrophobic, like she was standing in a crowd of four hundred people, but she wasn't, she was in a doctors' room, with three people instead of four hundred.

They stood there in front of the doctor feeling out of place, and awkward. Ryan took Sharpay's hand, making her feel more comfortable with herself. She smiled, and looked at the doctor.

"Hi Sharpay, take a seat." The siblings both took a seat on the red foam chairs, Sharpay nearest to the doctor and Ryan next to her but furthest away.

"So how are things holding up?" The doctor looked straight to Sharpay to answer, but she looked to Ryan for help.

"She's been fi-…"

"I believe I asked Sharpay."

"Uhm…" Sharpay felt so uncomfortable and not confident at all. But this was the doctor's idea; he wasn't just snapping at Ryan for no reason, he wanted Sharpay to answer, to build up her confidence. He wanted to get through to her that it was okay to talk to people confidently even if you didn't know them properly.

"I-I guess I'm doing fine?" She said, questioning herself. "People are nice to me, I guess and-and well, yeah. I've learned a lot from my past." Sharpay perked up. "Did you know that me and Ryan got to do all of the musicals, like we wanted to?" The doctor smiled, and just listened. "Yeah, we did. Well, except for one, but we let Gabriella and Troysie get the leads, right Ry?" She turned to him.

"H-Huh?" He asked, off into a world of his own.

"Didn't we let Gabriella and Troysie get the lead roles before?" Ryan nodded.

"O-Oh yeah, yeah. We did." He replied, not really paying attention.

"Gabriella's so pretty, you know?" She smiled, thinking of her best friend. She loved her so much, but not in a lesbian type way, just as a friend, Sharpay knew that. Gabriella was so nice to her, even though she didn't have kindergarten and everything with her and they'd just met, she thought that they were best friends because they'd become so close! But what Sharpay didn't know that this relationship was all set up for their plan to work. The gang needed Sharpay to look up to someone nice, and understanding to learn from and then, she would become nice, kind, and hopefully smart too.

"She's been the nicest to me, out of the whole gang. She's my bestest friend ever, and I don't ever want that to change, it's so cool having a best friend. Although I have Ryan, I do need a girl best friend to talk about girl stuff." Sharpay looked at the doctor as if he didn't know about girls. "When they have their period." She said in hushed tone to the doctor.

The doctor just smiled and nodded his head; he was amazed at the progress she had made. She wasn't talking in her baby voice anymore and she looked a lot older as well. She had started wearing more different types of clothes than just wearing jeans and a top all of the time.

"Sharpay?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to wait outside for a minute while I talk to your brother in private?" Sharpay shrugged and walked out of the room, leaving the two males inside. Ryan looked towards Sharpay's doctor who was now smiling like a little boy who had just gotten his first puppy.

"She's made amazing progress," he stated, smiling to himself.

"Yeah, I know." Ryan said, agreeing with the doctor. "She's such a different person now to when she had the accident, it's almost like she's changed overnight… well she kinda has." He let out a chuckle, "I'm glad to be seeing more of my sister in her now. Would you like us to do anything else for her?" The doctor nodded.

"Yes, you could keep jogging her memory, reminding her of everything that happened in the past that you haven't told her already, think about birthdays, family get togethers, anything that will make her remember more things and make her into what she was before the accident."

"Okay. Thank you for your help."

"It's no bother Ryan, look after your sister." He nodded and the two shook hands, then Ryan left and took Sharpay home, getting ready for the surprise that was to come for her.

--

"SURPRISE!" The friends shouted out to Sharpay as she walked in the door. Sharpay stopped in the doorway, a look of shock on her face.

The hall was filled with 'Congratulations!' banners and balloons all over the place, the walls were decorated with multicoloured streamers and the whole gang were holding presents.

"Oh my GOSH!" She shouted, giggling and jumping up and down. "You guys are the best! What are all these presents for?" She said, gormless to what was happening. Gabriella jumped out of the crowd.

"They're for you silly! Because of the progress you've made! We're all so proud of you." She smiled, a proud look on her face showed Sharpay that they were all sincere about this.

"Oh my god!" She jumped and hugged Gabriella. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Okay okay, calm down girl." Taylor said, laughing.

"It's no bother, we all like you now." Chad said as Taylor elbowed him in the stomach. Fortunately, Sharpay didn't notice the now bit, and that made everyone even more happy.

"Yeah, we do." Troy smiled. He smiled his famous Hollywood smile at her, the one all the girls hoped to get from him. The smile that meant that he liked and loved everything about her, but of course… Sharpay didn't know about this smile, so how would she know that he liked her? God knows.

"Can I open presents now?" Sharpay bit her lip, she knew this was rude, but she loved presents and she wanted to open them right away.

"Sure you can, sweetie." Gabriella said and Sharpay rushed over to everyone who had put their presents on the floor. First, she opened Gabriella's.

She ripped open the packaging, to find more packaging, and more, and more until she came to the actual present. It was a friendship bracelet that Gabriella had made herself; it said 'Sharpay & Gabriella BFF.' Sharpay looked at it carefully.

"What does BFF stand for?"

"Be-…"

"Best Friends Forever." Jason cut in. Everyone looked at him. "Hey, I know some weird stuff, okay?" They all shrugged and returned to watching Sharpay open presents.

She got lots of other presents, including a watch from Taylor, a basketball from Chad (no surprise there) and some cakes from Zeke. She stood up and looked at everyone, asking if that was all of the presents gone.

"No." Troy said, appearing from behind the crowd, he stepped in front of it and handed her a box. "There you go, hope you like it, Shar."

"Thanks Troy." She looked at the box, and slowly unravelled the paper off of it. Her eyes grew wide when she saw it, it was the most perfect thing anyone could give to someone for a present. She took it out of the box, it glittering in the light of outside.

"It's-It's beautiful." She said, showing everyone the silver necklace with a heart hanging on the end of it, a diamond directly placed in the center. She placed it around her neck and clipped it together, not seeing the inscription on the back of the heart that Troy had put on it for her.

"You're welcome," he said, sighing as she didn't look at the back. "Someday she'll notice Troy, someday." He thought to himself, as everyone circled around her and gawped at the necklace.

"That's so pretty, Sharpay." Gabriella said, but she silently wondered why she hadn't gotten a necklace like that from Troy. Would that have been too much to ask or something?

Sharpay had a huge smile on her lips. She was glad that Gabriella liked the necklace; if her best friend hadn't liked it, then it would have put a damper on her mood. "I'm gonna… I'm gonna go upstairs for a few seconds, okay?" she told them. She had to have a few moments for herself. This was all too overwhelming. Being at the Doctor's office and now this surprise party. She had to let herself calm down.

"Sure, go on upstairs, Shar." Ryan said, and gently nudged her out of the room. He wanted to get her out of there for awhile, because he needed a few minutes with the guys. He had to tell them about what happened with Sharpay at the Doctor's office. She'd said some pretty weird things, and he was wondering if they had anything to do with it.

Sharpay shot him one last smile before she happily bounced up the stairs, and he turned around to look at his friends, "I need to talk to you guys." He lowly told them, so all the people not involved wouldn't hear him, "Come on with me." he continued and nodded his head to the side, towards the kitchen.

They all followed him into the kitchen, where he shut the door close. They were confused, and when he turned to them, looking all serious, they got even more confused.

"What's up, Ryan?" Kelsi asked, her eyes shining through her round glasses.

Ryan searched for the right words for a few seconds, before he decided on what to say, "I uh… I went with Sharpay today, to her Doctor's appointment, you guys know that, of course." He paused, "But something weird happened… The Doctor was asking her all these questions, and she just started talking about all the stuff she had started to remember… But for some odd reason… It didn't really fit with what actually went on."

Taylor tried to glance to the side in worry, without Ryan noticing, but he had eyes for everything right this moment. He saw how Gabriella crumpled beneath his stare, and how Kelsi nervously fiddled with her thumbs. He saw how Chad swallowed loudly and how Troy seemed to find the ceiling incredibly interesting oh so suddenly.

"Is there something you guys are not telling me?" Ryan said, voice fast. He wasn't usually a scary person with a firm voice, but right this moment, they all knew they shouldn't lie to him. He'd just get even madder, and that definitely wouldn't be good.

"Ryan…" Gabriella softly begun, as she took a step closer to him, and reached out for his arm, "Don – don't get mad at us… please."

"What have you done?" he asked her, eyes searching hers for answers. But he only found regret and a gazillion 'I'm sorrys' floating through them.

"We… we sorta figured we wanted to uhm… how do I put this?" she questioned herself as she bit her lip, "To yeah, change Sharpay a bit."

"What do you mean by change?" Ryan demanded to know. He didn't like where this was going. Not at all.

Taylor stepped up, and butted in, "We fixed her past a bit Ryan. No offence, but she wasn't the nicest person around. We decided that if we made her out like a good person, she might be a good person when she came back to normal, and then we could all be friends, and she wouldn't treat us like crap."

"YOU WHAT!?" Ryan exclaimed, fury streaming trough him. Never had he been so angry. This was it! They just couldn't have changed his sister's life, they just couldn't! What kind of people did that?! How could they even look themselves in the eye? How could they …

"We figured it'd be okay.." Chad tried to say, but Ryan cut him off;

"Okay?! How can this frigging be okay!?" Ryan yelled, but when he realized Sharpay was upstairs, and people were in the room next to them, he lowered his voice, "You changed my sister? I loved her the way she was! And I honestly thought you did too. How could you do this? The Doctor said that she'll only get back to normal when she remembers! How can she remember things that didn't happen?! You've possible screwed everything up by this!" he wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand and turned to Troy, "And you – I really thought you liked my sister too."

Troy bit his lip, "I liked the old Sharpay. She was the girl I had a crush on. The girl I kissed that Halloween. And you know? After we told her these 'lies' she has been getting more and more like that. Don't you dare say we don't want what's best for her, because I do! And I'm sure everybody else does as well, but we just… We really thought this through; we planned her past. We told her she and you offered the parts as Minnie and Arnold to me and Gab. It's not much of a change, Ryan, when you really think about it."

"But what if she never remembers? What if she doesn't get back to normal?" Ryan lowly asked. He was warming up to the idea. Sure, he hadn't let them start this had he known, but when it already had begun, maybe it wasn't so bad? Sure, he'd miss his old Sharpay… But maybe this really was best for her? She's get more friends, that's for sure.

"That's the point, dude." Chad said, trying to sound as sorry as he could, "We didn't want her to be like the old Sharpay. That's a person we didn't like, but this Sharpay – man, she's great. We all love her. And it's because of this, Ryan. We did this. We'll just… fill her in on a few more things and hope that she never remembers the real events. But I don't think she will, she'll be too caught up in being the Sharpay we once knew and loved when we were younger."

Ryan turned to Taylor, questions shooting through his eyes. She was so smart, she had to know what was best, "Do you really think this is a good idea, Tay? Don't you think it'll backfire in the end.."

Taylor swallowed hard and shrugged, "I came up with it." she admitted, and then offered him a smile, "I've thought it through Ryan, I think this'll work."

Ryan just nodded, still not totally convinced. So much could go wrong. And he would miss the real Sharpay. No matter what they said, she had been a wonderful, vulnerable sister to him. And he loved her like that.

"So what do you say, Ryan?" Kelsi softly questioned.

Ryan swallowed hard, and made his decision, "I might as well give this a chance." He said, and nodded to them all, "I'm in alright, but if I regret this, I'm telling her everything." He said, to make it clear.

They all nodded, happy that he had decided to go along for now.

--

"SHARPAY!?"

Sharpay jumped out of her chair and knocked her Barbie over. She stopped to bend down at pick it up, seriously contemplating whether or not she should bring it with her to school again. She shook her head to herself and turned to look at her face in the mirror.

She felt like she had grown a bit. She felt like she was acting more older-ish, so maybe Barbie would be alright at home. She smiled to herself through the mirror and grabbed her book bag, before hurrying down the stairs to meet up with Ryan, who was getting impatient.

"I'm here, big bro!" she said, and gave him a brief hug.

Ryan couldn't help but smile, "You look happy today." He said, as they went out of the door, and into their father's car. She got in on the passenger's seat, and he started up the car.

They chatted about everything and nothing as they drove to school, and Ryan couldn't help but notice just how much Sharpay had been smiling since her Doctor's appointment. She was wearing the necklace Troy had gotten her, and Ryan frowned, hoping this didn't meant what he thought it meant. It wouldn't be good if Sharpay started to fall for Troy again… First off, there was Gabriella, but second off… they were on two completely different stages!

They parked the car and hurried inside, ready to meet up with their friends. They made a stop by both their lockers to grab a few things, before they went into their homeroom, where everyone else was chatting, sitting around on chairs and table. Chad was playing something off of his cell phone.

"'Morning!" Sharpay sang and happily threw her pink bag on the table, before giving everyone a hug, ending next to Troy, and – to Ryan's dismay – awfully close, "How are we all doing on this sunny day?"

"Uhm, we're doing… good." Taylor said, clearly confused. She knew Sharpay had changed, but this was awfully cheery and happy. Even for the new her.

"That's great!" Sharpay said, and the smile really did reach all the way into her brown chocolate eyes, "I wouldn't want any of my gals or guys to be sad!" she paused again, "Y'know, I feel like singing!?"

"Oh please don't." Chad remarked.

"Silly Chad, I have a lovely voice!" Sharpay said, before she started humming something none of them knew.

Kelsi decided to butt in now, before she got too far into the song, "Say uhm, Sharpay?" she questioned, and the blonde princess stopped humming, "…where's Barbie?"

Sharpay let out a short laugh, "Psh," she said, and almost rolled her eyes at Kelsi, "I don't play with Barbie anymore. I'm a big girl." and with those words, she quickly jumped off of the table, and turned to find her own seat.

Gabriella and locked eyes with Ryan. They might have changed a few things in her past, but this outcome was great. And wasn't she growing up? Before they knew it, she would be wearing make-up, high heels and be going on dates again.

We know we've been terrible with updating this, but we really do try. And we're sorry for this short chapter. We do hope we got some important things out. Do you guys get that she's acting older in this chapter? We'll be dropping all those really childish things from former chapters, and be going in a more 'teenaged' direction.

Disclaimer; We do not own High School Musical.

- Stessa and Bethany.