Disclaimer: Hello. I don't own anything besides my O.C.s. So sad. Now read it!
Chapter 29: Clueless
"Tell us!" Sharpay and Rachael squealed as the four walked down the hallway at school on Monday. They had been trying to get the answers out of Cloe and Ryan all weekend. "Why?" Ryan and Cloe chorused in frustration. "Ryan is my brother!" Sharpay yelled at Cloe. "And Cloe is my best friend!" Rachael yelled at Ryan.
"We will never tell you what you don't need to know." Cloe stated. "And, no, you don't need to know." Ryan told them. "Plus, Ryan and Sharpay should be keeping an eye out for Troy and Gabriella." Cloe reminded them, "Meanwhile, Rachael and I will hunt down Theresa."
"Oh, I really hate it when you're right!" Sharpay snapped at her, "Come on, Ryan." She grabbed his arm and dragged him off in search of their suspects. "Where do we start?" Ryan asked his twin. "Where else would a genius be?" Sharpay retorted rather rudely, "In the science lab!" They headed off in that direction.
As they approached the room, they saw Chad and the jocks walk inside. "Something isn't right." Sharpay said, pulling Ryan to the doorway to see Chad, Taylor, the basketball jocks, and the science squad talking and – by the looks of it – scheming. The two stepped back from the room a bit.
"They must be trying to figure out a way to make sure Troy and Gabriella actually beat us out." Ryan stated, "Now…the jocks run most of the school, but if they get Troy into the musical, then they've conquered the entire student body." "And, if those science girls get Gabriella hooked up with Troy Bolton, the science scholastic club goes from drool to cool." Sharpay said as realization and anger set in, "Ryan, we need to save out show from people who don't know the difference between a Tony Award and Tony Hawk."
They continued walking down the hall. "Once they control the school, who knows what else they'll go for next?" Ryan said, "It might be us. Even by sabotaging the show, they've got us." He looked at his twin sister seriously. Sharpay gasped. "We can't let that happen." She responded, "There may be more people behind this than we thought." "Let's go find Troy and Gabriella just to be sure." Ryan agreed as the two set off.
Meanwhile, Cloe and Rachael had searched everywhere for Theresa, but couldn't find her. They had stopped in the bathroom to catch their breath. "How hard can it be to find a bushy blond-haired midget?" Rachael asked. "Not that hard." Cloe stated, ushering a stunned Rachael into one of the stalls. Rachael gave her a questioning glance, but Cloe silenced her.
Just then, Theresa walked into the bathroom and Rachael understood Cloe's reasoning. "A plan to take over the universe?" Theresa muttered, "I got it! Big Ben goes digital. It would throw so many people off!" She paused a moment, then shook her head. "No, too complicated." she stated, "Ooh! How about sending out flying pigs to rob the world of spoons? Then, they'll all be forced to eat soup with a fork…or a Spork, but who uses those anyway?"
She walked over to the mirror to look at her reflection and frowned. "Who am I kidding?" she said to herself as she pulled out a list, "All of these suggestions sound like they were written by a nine-year-old on crack!" Then, she paused and remembered, "Oh yeah, I wrote this list when I was a nine-year-old. Minus the 'on crack' part."
There was a sudden noise behind her and Theresa slipped the list back into her pocket. She turned around and carefully examined the room. She walked over to the stall the noise came from. Then, she opened it. No one was in there. She shrugged and left the room after checking the other stalls, only to find them empty.
When she was gone, Cloe and Rachael sighed. They looked down at the floor beneath them and thought about what had happened. They both thanked Rachael's uncontrollable burst of power, which had turned them invisible and floated them to the ceiling. That is, until they remembered they were short bursts of uncontrollable power. They immediately became visible and fell to the ground. They both moaned in pain. Rachael had landed on top of Cloe, who landed in a very uncomfortable position.
Why Ryan had insisted on talking to Troy alone, Sharpay had no idea. Instead, he'd left and she was marching down the hallway on her own in the hope of finding Gabriella. Then, Sharpay had an idea. She knew where Gabriella – and possible Troy – might be.
Suddenly, she felt a strong tingling feeling starting at her fingertips and crawling up her arms. She knew what that meant. Before she had time to think clearly, she closed her eyes and was totally concentrated on finding a safe place to hide. The next thing she knew, she felt like she was inside a vacuum. Everything compressed in on her. "Next stop," a hollow voice called, "the first floor girls' bathroom of East High School."
Gabriella had just come out of practice with Kelsi for the callbacks. She'd had so much fun, but for some reason was exhausted. She walked into the bathroom at East High and heaved a satisfied sigh as she walked over to the huge mirror. Looking at her reflection, she contemplated her first few weeks at East High.
It had seemed like she's managed to find a best friend, an almost-boyfriend, and a worst enemy all within the space of a heartbeat. 'What is wrong with everybody lately?' Gabriella wondered. It had seemed like Sharpay was on her back from the beginning. Even Sharpay's twin brother, Ryan, had changed. Normally, Ryan was a nice, easy-going kind of guy. Right now, he was as tense as his evil counterpart. What was his problem? The brunette shrugged and figured it was probably the stress he was getting from Sharpay and their call backs.
Outside the bathroom, Sharpay had just landed and fallen into a garbage can. As she opened her eyes, she got up and muttered, "You just have to love those short, uncontrollable bursts of…" She cut herself off as she realized the people staring at her and quickly stated, "Febreeze. No comment!" She backed into the bathroom, really hoping that no one had seen her appear out of nowhere.
She headed into the seemingly empty bathroom, put her purse down on the sinks, and turned to the stalls. She had an eerie feeling that someone was in there with her. Sharpay walked over to one of the stalls, and then kicked it open to reveal no one. It was empty.
Sharpay watched it as the stall door swing closed. Then, she walked up and down the row of stalls checking to see if anyone was in there. When she confirmed it empty, she turned around. She jumped back as she saw her reflection in the mirror. 'Things might not be making sense,' she thought as she toyed with her hair, 'but, at least, I still look beautiful.' Then, she turned and left the room.
Gabriella's heart had almost stopped when Sharpay had burst into the room. She peered out from behind the wall separating the door from the sinks. She was shocked that Sharpay had walked right passed her. It was as if she wasn't even there. She had almost started to relax until she heard Sharpay's voice coming back. Gabriella quickly hid in the nearest stall just before Sharpay stormed into the room again.
"Wait a minute!" she screamed and paused before walking over to the sink, "I forgot my purse." Sharpay grabbed it and walked over to Gabriella's stall. "Plus, I know you're in there Gabriella." she stated in a harsh tone, "We need to talk!"
The brunette gulped as she gathered her breath and exited the stall. Facing the evil blond, Gabriella took the first shot. "Listen, Sharpay. I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry." Gabriella stated, "I never meant to get you angry with me. If it's the musical, I didn't even audition. Miss. Darbis overheard us fooling around. She's the one you should talk to, not me." At that, she pushed passed Sharpay and left the room, leaving the blond to stare in confusion.
Ryan was walking down the hallway searching for Troy, when he heard singing coming from an empty classroom. He stopped in front of it and put his ear to the door. It was definitely Troy practicing for the callbacks. Ryan started fiddling with the doorknob, but the room was locked. He pulled his ear away from the door and stopped. He got down on the floor to sneak a peek inside from under the door.
Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind. He got up, left the door, and headed into a nearby janitor's closet. Then, he focused all his abilities in attempt to transport himself into the locked room. Instead, nothing happened. He walked out of the closet and returned to the door. When he touched the handle, the door unlocked.
Troy's heart was about to thump right out of his chest. That was how scared he felt. Yeah, the Wildcat basketball superstar was…scared. The moment the door unlocked itself, he knew he's been caught rehearsing by himself for the callbacks.
The doorknob turned and the door slowly began to open. There was nowhere to hide, so he sat there rooted to his spot on one of the benches in the room. When the door opened enough for someone to look through, he saw Ryan's head appear though the crack.
Troy's face grew slowly paler as Ryan stared directly at him with eyes of fire. Troy didn't know why, but he was terrified. Maybe he was scared of being caught or maybe he was scared of Ryan…and his fist. For a dancer, he had a rock solid punch. Troy's jaw had almost been slammed through to the other side of his face. Once thing was for sure, he'd never expected it.
"Hey." Troy finally picked up the courage to say something. Ryan opened the door and walked into the room, silently closing it behind him, glaring at Troy the entire time. "Hey." he responded stiffly. 'What was up with this dude?' Troy wondered. Ryan wasn't himself. Something had happened.
"What's up?" Troy asked. "Lots of things." Ryan responded sternly, "Why did you audition for the musical?" Troy finally understood what Ryan was angry about. "Dude, I didn't audition." Troy stated flatly, "I'm only doing this for Gabriella."
So, he was right, Ryan realized. The innocent-looking brunette was behind it, but maybe Troy was in it for the joke…or the girl. That was definitely something East High's Golden Boy would do. "Nice choice of words." Ryan stated, "Just like your choice of words when you were talking to my girlfriend." Ryan recalled the moment Troy had stopped Cloe. His eyes flashed danger at Troy and knew he had to control himself.
The bombshell hit him and Troy finally got it. "Yeah…I'm sorry about that, dude." Troy began to explain, "It's just that…you're…" "What? A dancer? Is that it?" Ryan asked, anger turning to rage, "The things I wear to the things I do make me who I am inside?" Troy stared back at him frightened at the fury evidently clear in Ryan's blue eyes. That was another thing Troy hadn't expected from the blond. If he wasn't who everyone thought he was, then who was he?
(A/N) YAY! I'm finally done with this chappie. So, whoever wants to make a guess about what will happen next, will get a virtual cookie whether they get it right or wrong. So, R&R! I want at least 1 review for this chappie before I update the next one.