Brain Drain

Chapter Twelve

I'll Always Be There For You

Sharpay's eyes flickered open, adjusting to the morning light that was shining through the window next to her. Her thick, blonde locks were tousled across the hospital pillow, and her bangs were in front of her eyes. She lifted a clammy hand to sweep them away, slightly moving her head to the other side of the pillow and closing her eyes again. She had a major headache, and it hurt.

She could remember everything, and that's what was hurting so much. Her former life, before the accident, and the new one that they'd made her into like some perfect little clone of Gabriella.

Everything was so screwed in her mind, everything so muddled up and confusing. She remembered before the first accident, when they had changed her, and after this accident so all of the memories had clashed and she had realised they had betrayed her.

The blonde let a crystal clear tear fall down her stinging cheek, she felt someone's thumb wipe it away and she darted her eyes to the side. It was Troy, she glared at him but her expression fell. She couldn't be mad at him, he was the only person that she couldn't be or stay mad with. He was just kind of different to everyone else, kind of special.

He sat there, smiling softly at her. His brown hair was swirled perfectly around his face and his lips were curled upwards into a sincere smile. Sharpay's eyes wandered over his morning stubble and his cerulean eyes, smiling back.

"Hey," he said roughly but ever so gently. She nodded, but didn't speak. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I've been better," She whispered hoarsely, trying to move into a more comfortable position.

Troy nodded; he'd been here for two days and hadn't quite slept. He could feel the bags forming under his eyes and he was really drowsy. He was glad that Sharpay had awoken though, that took a whole load off of his shoulders because he knew that it was partly (or mostly) his fault why she was sitting in this hospital bed.

"The doctor said that you're doing better since the actual accident," he started. "And that you didn't hurt yourself as bad as the last time." Sharpay met his eyes again.

"I remember everything."

His eyes flickered, "Even before?" Sharpay just nodded again. "You must have hit your head again and it must of… some sort of… gave you your memory back. Well, at least that's good, right?"

"Yeah."

"Look, Shar. I'm really sorry. I was stupid and I shouldn't have kissed you in the first place, I mean, my hormones got the better of me and you were really nice and I've always thought you were really pretty. It's just I couldn't help myself and I shouldn't have called you an ice queen, you didn't deserve that."

Sharpay took a while for that to settle in. She was grateful for his apology, but sorry didn't make everything better. She wanted to forgive him, she really did, but she couldn't. He'd done too much to her, he'd confused her, he'd worried her and he'd kissed her.

"Please say something," Troy pleaded.

"Thank you." She mumbled under her breath, and sat up, pushing her hair out of the way. "How long have I been here?"

"Two days."

"And you've been here all this time?"

"Yes, I had to look after you. I felt too guilty."

"Thank you, Troy."

"You're welcome, Shar." They shared smiles with each other.

Sharpay looked down to the hospital night gown she was wearing and she wrinkled her nose, letting out an "Ew, what's this?" She laughed and then saw something sparkling on her neck. It was the necklace Troy had bought her; she picked it up and looked at it, grinning. She turned it over and read the inscription again;

I'll always be there for you,

Love Troy x

And that was true, he had been always there for her during the accident and now – At least he'd kept his word.

Sharpay looked up to him, "You have been there for me, haven't you?" She asked, playing with the necklace.

"Yeah, I have Sharpie. You don't know how much I care for you." Sharpay nodded, she did know how much he cared for her. She really did. They'd been best friends for a long time now, they had just drifted apart.

"Of course I do, silly." Troy laughed.

He was glad to see the smile that was planted genuinely on her face. He didn't know why but when she smiled, it seemed like the whole world had stopped and somehow it could even make him forget his own name.

He didn't really understand why he felt this way all of a sudden. Now, she was normal again, mean and unkind, but somehow she still felt like that six year old girl again in his heart.

"I'm glad you've got your memory back, anyways."

"Me too, I felt stupid not knowing anything. And thanks to you guys I was really confused and such, but you know. I kinda still am, about my relationship with the gang. I mean, they're gonna hate me again, aren't they?"

"Not necessarily."

"Don't mention this, but I kinda really liked being best friends with Gabriella."

Troy raised an eyebrow, "Oh. My god, really?" He mocked her voice; she lifted a hand and hit him playfully.

"Yeah, she was really nice."

"Gabriella is nice Sharpay, that's not new." She laughed. "You should tell her this when she comes."

"She's coming? Oh great…"

Everything was quiet for a moment, then the brunette turned to see Sharpay's twin brother standing in the doorway; he stood up and decided to leave. He quickly kissed Sharpay's head and scattered out of the room.

Ryan took the seat that Troy hadn't moved out of for two days, and looked into her chocolate eyes. He moved his hand leisurely over to hers, resting it on top apologetically. Before he knew it, she had snatched it away and crossed her arms. Her eyes were full of distress but her face was angry, and he knew why. He'd messed everything up; they shouldn't have even tried anything in the first place. They should have just told her the truth, told her what she was really like. But it was too late now, it was time for apologies.

"Shar," She turned her head to the right, completing ignoring his calming voice. She was being stubborn, but she had a perfectly good reason to be. "You know I love you right?" Ryan waited for an answer, but he didn't get one. "Well, I do. And I really hope you actually know that, I've been stupid. I know I have and I shouldn't have made you something you're not. I love you the way you are. You're my sister, and you mean everything to me, I'm really sorry."

Sharpay closed her eyes, still facing the other way. Her hair was sticking to her face, but she didn't care. She didn't give a damn about what she looked like right now, or what she was wearing. Her own flesh and blood had lied to her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, stroking her now damp cheek.

"I remember everything again."

"Oh god, I'm sorry Pay, I really am."

"You could've told me."

"I know I could have, but I didn't. That's what I'm apologizing for, and I really hope you take it, Pay." Sharpay shrugged and turned to look at him.

"Okay, okay, but … I don't completely forgive you." Ryan stifled a laugh and a small, warm smile appeared on her lips. She looked over to him, and he looked back. She could be mad with him, she just didn't want to right now. Ryan was her brother, Ryan was her everything.

"I've missed you, sis."

"Couldn't say the same about you," The real Sharpay was back.

Ryan shook his head in wonderment, "Glad to have you back, sis." He quickly said, before he stood off of his chair and went for the door. The stopped there though, and turned around to look at her again, "There's a whole bunch of people outside who're very anxious to see you and talk to you." he swallowed kind of loudly, "Can I send them in?"

Sharpay blinked but didn't say anything. She just leaned back in her bed with a huge sigh. This was getting kind of crazy, kind of scary. But she spoke the truth before; she did want to be friends with Gabriella – the entire gang actually. They were so nice to her when she was nice to them… maybe they could still be friends once they talked things over and everything was forgiven and forgotten.

There was a knock on the side of the door and she looked up to find Kelsi in the doorway. The small pianist looked really scared, but Sharpay found her so cute, she couldn't help but offer her a small smile, "Come on in…" she hoarsely whispered and Kelsi smiled in relief and stepped inside to take a seat in the chair Ryan and Troy had formerly occupied.

"Hey Sharpay…" Kelsi mumbled and awkwardly tried to hug her.

Sharpay patted her back just as awkwardly, "Hi Kels…" she stared at the other girl; they'd been friends long before high school, long before there was such a thing as 'the gang' and breaking free, they'd been friends since they were kids, "What's up?"

Kelsi's glasses were reflected in the faint sunlight coming from the window, and Sharpay found her very breakable right that second, "I'm really sorry, Sharpay." She said, trying to sound confident, "I'm sorry I went along on this charade, and I'm sorry you got hurt, I just… I just don't understand why you'd try to kill yourself."

Sharpay's neck did a spasm, huh? She stared at Kelsi with wide eyes and a confused look went across her face, "I did what!?" she almost choked on her own spit in surprise, "Is that what they told you, Kels? That I tried to kill myself. Oh please, don't you guys get flattered."

Kelsi stared at her in surprise but then a smile came across her face as she lit up completely, "You didn't try to kill yourself?" she asked, in complete joy, "It was what the doctors said, and since no one else was involved, they assumed that… Oh wow! This is so awesome, I'm very relieved, Shar."

"Yeah, so am I." Sharpay just mumbled and shook her head in surprise. She couldn't believe they'd actually assume that she wanted to die because of it. Sure, at some point she had wanted to just leave it all behind, but then she thought of all the good things too, and it had just seemed way too desperate.

"But hey? What about the note you left?" Kelsi questioned, curious, of course. "That seemed like a suicide note!"

Sharpay swallowed loudly and got ready to explain everything, "Well," she begun, "after I locked myself in my room I spent a lot of time crying, and then I just thought all of this mess over. And like when I first crashed my car, I felt like I needed to think things over, and I do that when I drive." She paused and Kelsi seemed to listen, completely devoted to her story, "But… but I was scared, and then I saw a picture of Ryan and I, and it all seemed too much for me to… get through. So, in a moment of complete brain drain, I wrote that note for you guys, and I was very set on smashing my car and just ending everything…"

Kelsi reached a hand out to grab hers tightly, and Sharpay didn't say this, but she really appreciated it.

"So I changed and got my keys and just… drove." She swallowed and turned her head upwards, to look into the ceiling, "But then… then my cell phone rang." She squeezed her eyes together, "It was Troy, he-he wanted to talk, he wanted to make it alright, I guess, make up for his behaviour or something…" she trailed off and locked eyes with Kelsi again, "So I talked to him while I drove my car, and it was very dark. And then suddenly I had to turn a corner and I dropped – I dropped my cell phone, so I had to bend my head and find it beneath the seat. I'd just agreed with Troy that we should talk things over the next day, and everything seemed to much brighter right there after he'd sort of apologised. I just wanted to go home and burn that note before anyone found it…"

Kelsi's fingers were still squeezing hers tightly.

"But as I searched beneath that seat for my fucking cell phone, I drove straight into a tree." Sharpay finished, "I remember it completely."

Kelsi nodded softly as she let all this sink in. "Wow…" she mumbled.

"Yeah." Sharpay just said, and couldn't help but let a lone tear slip, "Everything was so good, even if you guys had been lying to me… I was kind, we-we were all friends… No I'm just gonna… gonna be mean again."

"But Sharpay," Kelsi said and almost laughed aloud, "you know it doesn't have to be that way. We can all be friends. You just… you just have to be the kind and wonderful Sharpay we've all seen you as these past weeks. I know it's gonna be tough for you first, but you'll get used to it. And I think it'll really all be worth it."

Sharpay didn't reply, she just stared at Kelsi with a bunch of questions in her eyes. Kelsi stood up too and dropped Sharpay's hand from hers. She paused in the door, just as Ryan had done,

"Think about it." she ordered in a kind voice.

Sharpay heaved out a heavy sigh and turned her eyes to the window.

--

"…and so we're really sorry, Sharpay." Taylor finished, a kind yet sorry look across her face and written in the dept of her brown eyes.

"Yeah," Chad quickly added, actually looking kind of sorry too, "we really are."

Taylor tried to smile, "I hope you can forgive us?"

Sharpay stared at the weird couple in wonderment. She didn't actually know what they were doing there, except she had been listening to their apology for a very long time now – at least thirty minutes. She hadn't really paid much attention though, just let them speak; she'd been wondering why Gabriella hadn't showed up yet. Next to Troy and Ryan, she was the person Sharpay was most anxious to see and work things out with. For all she cared Taylor and Chad could take a hike.

But on the other hand… as she had listened to them without objections, she had seen that maybe if she actually took time to hear them all out once in a while, then maybe they really could stand to be her friend, and maybe they wouldn't categorize her as mean anymore. If that was all it took… maybe she could live with it. Sure, she'd often enough have better things to do than listen to all their crap, but she'd deal if it meant she got great friends… It wasn't that hard at all, now when she really thought about it. And maybe after a while, after haven listened to crap she didn't want to hear, maybe she'd start to care and actually want to hear it? It was a possibility, and Sharpay kind of hoped, right that moment, that'd she soon care that much.

When Sharpay didn't answer, Chad leaned forward in the chair and stuck his hideous face up in hers, "Sharpay? Can you hear me?" he wondered, enunciating each syllable very clearly – just in case the crash had damaged her hearing.

She offered him a huge, sarcastic smile, "I can hear you perfectly, Danforth, and yes, you're both forgiven if you'll just please be kind enough to remove your huge nose!"

Chad quickly sat back in the seat and Sharpay couldn't help but giggled when his left hand went for his nose in wonderment, and Taylor's smile became huger and much more real.

"We're really forgiven?" the black beauty questioned; Sharpay knew it was important to her to leave it all behind, to let it be forgotten, because it was evident that she felt really bad. And Sharpay wanted to forget it all too – Taylor had been a good friend to have, too, and she, Kelsi and Gabriella had all been awesome to chill at the mal with.

Sharpay nodded, "Yes, you are, Tay."

"Even if Chad and I were behind it? You'll still go to the mall with me?" Taylor continued on.

Sharpay sighed, "Yes, I will, Tay. Just…" she locked eyes with the other girl, "Just promise never to lie to me like that again, and once you leave this room, make sure Gabriella comes in!"

Taylor quickly jumped off of the side of the bed, "Aye, aye, Ma'am!" she said, and did that funny thing with her hand, "We'll be doing that right this second." She snatched Chad by the arm and quickly pulled him with her out of the room.

Sharpay couldn't help but giggle when she watched them leave. She could get used to this, she was sure of that. Of course she'd have to be sweet little by little so it'd seem like they had to work for it (she was still Sharpay Evans, yeah!), but eventually she could actually see herself really hanging out with them, and sharing secrets with them. It'd be great to finally have friends like that once more. She'd really missed it, she realized.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when someone cleared their throat. She looked up to find Gabriella standing softly by the foot of the bed. Her eyes was red, and beneath them, trails of black from her mascara was left behind – she'd been crying, and Sharpay didn't know why, but that really moved her.

The Latina swallowed loudly, "You – you wanted to… talk to me?"

Her voice was soft and Sharpay had this weird feeling inside her chest; she had this sort of compassion, and she wanted to wrap her arms around the fragile girl and hug her and never let go. She wanted to whisper soothing things into her ear and make sure that she was alright. She'd never felt this sort of thing before; at least not like she remembered. She… she actually cared.

"Get over here." She said, and actually wasn't that surprised when she heard tears in her own voice; it almost cracked, "Get over here and give me a hug."

Gabriella seemed to breathe out deeply as she went around the bed. She stepped into Sharpay's now open arms and placed her head on her chest, crying once more. Sharpay felt her own tears start to fall; she was affected by the situation and by Gabriella's emotions and she thought that maybe that was okay.

"I'm… I'm so so-sorry Sharpay…" Gabriella hiccupped, having a tight hold on the blonde, which she didn't seem to want to let go of, "I – I'm sorry about.. about everything, and T-Troy and what we did-did." She clenched her jaw tightly and Sharpay brushed her hair gently, "I just wanna be… be your friend now."

Sharpay kissed her forehead – full of love, "It's alright, it's okay, Gabriella…" she whispered, her voice filled with care, "It's all gonna be okay, we're friends now, we'll forget everything, we'll just be… just be Sharpay and Gabriella, okay?"

Gabriella pulled back slightly and when Sharpay locked eyes with her, she had to admit that this girl had already won her over; she could see into her soul and Sharpay knew so much about her; there was no need to play it tough in front off her, because she knew what she was really like.

"Just Gabriella and Sharpay?" Gabriella questioned and pulled away from her, only to brush thousandth of tears away.

Sharpay nodded, "Mhm."

Gabriella giggled, "Thank you, Sharpay…" she reached for Sharpay's hand and there was a comfortable silence between them, until Gabriella spoke again, "By the way… Troy was here earlier, wasn't he?"

"Yeah?"

"I really think you should go out with him." Gabriella mumbled, kindness written across her face, "I mean… if you want to. I just – I wouldn't want you to say no because of me, I'll be alright. I just want what's good for you, and you guys would be perfect together."

Sharpay had been contemplating this matter, because, well, she might as well face the facts – she'd liked Troy since she kissed him on Halloween, and the only reason she had really flipped out earlier was because she felt younger than him and she wasn't sure whether or not it would all be okay with Gabriella. But if the Latina gave them her blessings, and would be happy for them… nothing was holding her back, was it?

Sharpay bit her lip, "Would that really be okay with you?" she wondered, still very much concerned – she just had to be sure.

Gabriella's face lit up, "Are you kidding me!? Of course it will be!" she seemed happy now and Sharpay's mood was very much affected by that, "Troy's so crazy about you, Sharpay, and… and I might not like him very much right now, but I will soon, because I do care. And I care about you, and I can see it in your eyes, just… just go for it."

Sharpay reached a hand out and grabbed Gabriella's, only to squeeze it tightly, "Thank you."

Gabriella squeezed back, before she dropped her hand, "Should I send him right in?" she asked, as she made her way towards that door.

Sharpay just blinked.

Bethany; Hey guys, it's meeee. So yes, it's over. Brain Drain is over. Are you sad, did you like it, did you hate it? Tell us, we'd love to have one final review from you. I want to thank Stessa for obviously writing this with me and I want to thank YOU, because you guys have been amazing sticking with us while we've (I've) been lacking updates. So remember, one last review? Thanks guys, love ya - Toodles!

Stessa: Hola ;b I think Bethany pretty much did the whole beg-for-one-last-review-part, so I'm just going to give you all my thanks for reading, and of course thanking Bethany as well. You're the best. And to Catie, of course, whom this was dedicated to – I love you, if you're even reading this, anymore.

Disclaimer; We don't own HSM.