Update 12/1/2009: This is the new chapter 10

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I love hearing feedback. Warnings/spoilers: underage drinking (attempted), sexual assault (attempted), drug use (not intentional), and a gag using those condoms. The usual stuff that happens at a high school dance. Nothing graphic though.

Tiara's name is purposely misspelled throughout this story. No one likes her enough to pronounce it correctly.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable

Chapter 10: We'll All Get Through This Together or A Night to Forget

It had been 45 minutes since she ran away from Chad. She knew she was channeling her high school self, but she could not help it. This place always brought out the worst in her. She talked to a couple of her old so-called friends who were now seniors and juniors. Most of them now considered Tierra to be their leader. After speaking to the girls for 5 minutes, Sharpay wondered how she could have ever been like them. Anita was the only one who thought for herself. The rest were mindless sheep. The others only cared about having the hottest boyfriend, the best wardrobe, and being popular. Sharpay cared about none of those things. She did care about clothing, now it was more of a "does this outfit make me look professional" way. Not in a "does this outfit make Chad think I'm hot" way.

This is why she wanted Chad with her. She didn't belong in this place. She should probably go apologize to him for running off. She was just too proud to do it. She was so mad at him for lying to her for so many years. Why was he so afraid of people seeing the real him. Then she thought about how few people actually knew the real her. She could count on her hand how many people knew who Sharpay Evans really was.

After 10 additional minutes of prowling the dance floor looking for teenagers acting stupid she went back to the chaperone's table. She kept seeing the various groups keep to themselves. This seems strange because the system of social apartheid was abolished two years ago. The whole situation was making her uncomfortable because she kept seeing the ghost of her 10th grade self everywhere.

Currently Ms. Ortega her 12th grade honors English teacher was the only one sitting at the table. She remembered having this class with Chad last school year. He was supposed to take AP12 but Taylor found out he was in the class and assumed it was a clerical error. She forced him to give her his spot. "I thought you graduated last year"

"I did, I am back as a chaperone for the dance. I'm participating in A of U assist other schools program."

"That's good. So how are your classes going?" Sharpay spent the next 5 minutes talking to Miss Ortega about her classes this semester. She did find it strange that the only people she could talk to were the faculty. Her former high school friends kept expecting her to be some brain dead sorority girl or some drama queen.

After 50 minutes of people, only asking him about the basketball team Chad was regretting pissing Sharpay off earlier. He is seriously considering taking theater 115 next semester as his art credit. Apparently, he was better performer than he thought if most people still only saw him as the stupid jock. He tried to talk to a few of his former teammates about his English class this semester. The concept that someone can be both good and evil depending on the perspective was too much for most of the team to understand. Most of his former friends believe he was only taking the class because watcher man is on the curriculum. Anyone on the team could comprehend the concepts of the class kept their mouths shut his they were too afraid of the new Captain Ricky.

Chad hated Ricky. Ricky was the most arrogant player on the team last year. He thought he was better than everyone else, because he was the only junior that was a starter. He was nasty to everyone and made fun of anyone who could actually think for himself. Worst of all he would always talk about who he slept with the night before, as if been a slut made you a better man. Just being in the same room as that patronizing bastard made his skin crawl.

Chad did have a little fun when he scared Jimmy away from Sharpay. Although the boy was almost as tall as Chad was now he was still easily frightened. (Probably because of Ricky's scare tactic and intimidation) Chad told him that if he touched his girlfriend again, Chad would e-mail Troy a copy of that "letter" that Jimmy wrote him last year. Chad did not realize he refer to Sharpay as his girlfriend.

Chad spent a good portion of time trying to block out the possibility that his best friend lie to him for the last few years and is most likely Kim's baby daddy. He had no real way of knowing right now. It wasn't as if he was going to call is best friend up and ask him if he slept with her 2 ½ years ago. Considering that, Kim told the two of them specifically not to tell Troy that Alex was her son, he had a feeling that his suspicions were true. The whole line of thought was too much for him. At this point, he was seriously considering draining the contents of the bottle of rum he just confiscated from one of the juniors.

"Hand It over. " called a voice from the side.

"Hi Coach Bolton. Don't you usually avoid these things?" Chad asked as he handed the bottle over to the coach. For a moment, Chad wondered if Coach Bolton had any idea about his possible status as a grandfather.

"I did mostly for Troy sake even though he never showed up. Now I have four years to make up for. I wish I chaperone that spring dance two years ago." That last part was whispered under his breath.

"So do I," Chad mumbled, wondering if his presence would have kept Richard from drugging Sharpay.

"So how are classes this semester?"

"I just like to thank you for not asking me about the basketball team."

"Are things going that bad?"

"Coach Roberts practices make yours look like kindergarten gym class. I am also one of only two freshmen on the team. We're still working on our team spirit issues. I like my classes a lot more than sports right now. It's nice to actually be myself for once."

"Sounds about what Troy said about Berkeley. Apparently, I am nowhere near as bad as his new basketball coach. All of his new friends are from the drama department."

"It's probably not as bad for me because I have Sharpay, even if she's not speaking to me at the moment. I'm not sure how much Troy told you about the Gabby situation."

"That she hardly ever calls him unless she want something. The first message he has received from her in the last five days is a picture of her flashing at a party last night. Except for that one thing a few years, ago my son pretty much tells me everything." Chad wondered if that one thing was Kim. "I even know about you and Sharpay or rather I saw the video."

"Which one exactly?" Chad asked angry that his friend decided to forward the video. Never give anything remotely embarrassing to Troy digitally. He has this annoying habit of sharing the clip with other people. For example, every time Gabby sends topless pictures to Troy he usually sent the clip to Chad with a caption like "Why am I dating her again?"

"The one involving the water fountain"

"Oh god," Chad said in pure embarrassment. Sharpay show him that clip two days ago. If you did not know that they were pretending, you would think that they were doing what they were pretending to do yesterday in the dressing rooms.

"Is there any chance I could get that back?" Chad asked gesturing to the bottle.

"Not a chance."

After talking to a few more her former teachers Sharpay was actually starting to have a good time. She was even forgetting about why she hated school dances. In addition, Jimmy was doing his best to avoid her, which was a plus. She was positive that Chad said something to him, which was fine with her.

She was about to apologize to Chad for her diva Sharpay moment earlier in the evening. However, she saw him surrounded by the cheerleader contingent. There was no way she was going anywhere near him as long as the young and the shallow were throwing themselves at him. She had no idea why seeing Chad with another girl made her so upset. It wasn't as if he was really her boyfriend. He was just a friend. Before she knew it, she was running to the restroom to have a good screen or cry. Chad had her so confused right now she didn't know what she was doing half the time.

She was about to walk through the door when she heard sophomore Kerri Jackson AKA the smart cheerleader complain about her boyfriend, new basketball captain Ricky Warren. Apparently, Ricky was the new Troy Bolton. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near as good of a person, if the bruises on Kerri arm were any indication. At the sound of the girls talking, Sharpay decided to stay back and listen to their conversation. Eavesdropping was Sharpay's favorite activity.

"He said he was sorry." Kerri said to her friend.

"Wife beaters say that to their victims all the time. This time he only bruised your arm. Next time what will happen? You've got to get away from him." From the voice, she could tell it was Kelsey's younger sister Jackie Nielsen trying to talk some sense into her friend. Unlike her sister, Jackie preferred to be on stage. She was outspoken and refused to take anything from those around her. The freshman was the polar opposite of Kelsey. Sharpay love having Jackie in the class she was working with.

"It doesn't matter because it was a onetime thing. He was just upset." Kerri said in defense of her boyfriend. Sharpay barely remembered the now sophomore, but she knew the defense was flimsy at best.

"He was upset because you wouldn't sleep with him. He practically tried to rape you." At the mention of the R word Sharpay began to shake a bit. She thought yesterday's revenge would help her get over what Richard did to her, but the nightmare still came. This dream was the worst one yet. Richard didn't just hurt her, he also assaulted Chad. She was so scared by the dream that she actually called Chad at 2:20 AM just to see if he was okay. She ended up sleeping in the spare bed in his room again.

"But he didn't hurt me Jackie." Kerri said in pure denial.

"What do you call that bruise on your arm? You got that because you ran away from him. What if you can't run away next time?"

"That's none of your business Jackie."

"You're my best friend. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"You are just jealous that I have a boyfriend and you don't. Maybe Ricky was right, it's best if I stick to my own kind."

"What does that mean? Just because I don't jump up and down with pompoms doesn't mean I don't care about you. Besides, you are so much better than those wannabes*. I don't have a boyfriend because I don't want one. I definitely don't want one that hits me when I won't put out."

"Whatever," Kerri said running out of the bathroom.

Walking over to the upset girl Sharpay asked quietly "Are you okay Jackie?"

"You heard most of that didn't you?" Jackie said as she wiped a single tear from her eyes.

"Pretty much. I am sure your sister told you I love listening to other people's conversations. Information is power. Besides I'm a chaperone at this event and I need to know if I need to look out for something like stupid boyfriends putting GHB in their girlfriend's drink."

"I hate her boyfriend Ricky. He is changing her. I don't trust him at all. She's buying into his popularity hierarchy propaganda."

"I distinctly remember the popularity hierarchy being overthrown by an overly perky brunette and the captain of the basketball team. I have video of the entire school singing We're All in This Together at a basketball game."

"Well it looks like the British diva and her partner in crime is undoing your good work. She and Ricky are doing their best to reinstitute the system. By the way things are going the status quo should be back in full force by October." Sharpay didn't bother telling her that she was one of those trying to keep the status quo in place. Two years and hindsight can do a lot for ones position on the issue.

Chad looked at his watch for the 50th time that night. It had only been 78 minutes and 23 seconds scent Sharpay left him with Ms. Darbus and Chad was missing her greatly. If he had to listen to one more idiotic cheerleader throw herself at him, he was going to scream. Compared to these girls Penelope was a saint and a genius. He was currently trying to get shallow cheerleader number three to let go of his arm when idiotic cheerleader number two started talking to him again.

He noticed Sharpay standing by the refreshments table. The look of murder in her eyes gave him hope that she would scare the little cheerleaders away for him. Instead, she ran out the door. This did not look good for him. He was tired of this little game with Sharpay and decided to go after her.

"I have to go" Chad said pushing shallow cheerleader number four away from him.

"But we're having so much fun," called out shallow cheerleader number one.

"Yes, but I'd rather be with my girlfriend." Chad said hoping that would get the girls to get away from him.

"Isn't she on the other side of the country?" Shallow cheerleader number four asked knowingly.

"I'm not with her anymore. I am dating Sharpay Evans. " As he said the words Chad wondered if you say a lie enough times does it eventually become the truth. He spoke with Taylor for exactly three minutes and 27 seconds yesterday about nothing of importance whatsoever. In the same period, he has spoken to Sharpay on the phone alone for a combined total of 73 minutes and 48 seconds. This includes a 25-minute phone call at 2:20 AM where he calmed Sharpay down after another Richard nightmare that ended up with her sleeping in his room again on the spare bed. He could go for days without talking to Taylor. After 82 minutes and 21 seconds of being away from Sharpay without even a text message, he was starting to go through withdrawal. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to ponder what this meant. He needed to get away from the cheerleaders and other shallow teenage girls.

The threat of Sharpay did not work. The threat of Ms. Darbus giving all of them detention if they didn't stop propositioning one of the chaperones did work. Chad quickly left the gymnasium to find Sharpay. After 89 minutes in 19 seconds he was ready to end this silly fight with Sharpay. He saw her leave the ladies room and making her way to the entrance for the roof garden. She seemed less likely to rip his head off than a few minutes earlier. That was always a good sign. As he made his way through the hallway, he heard a voice coming from Sharpay's old double locker. He was very thankful that they forgot to change the combination when it was given to the new owner. He quickly remembered what the combination was from that one time he broke into the locker last year and rescued the occupant from inside.

He was shocked to see it was Taylor's 12-year-old brother Jason stuffed inside the locker.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you a little young for high school." Chad asked the younger boy.

"Aren't you a little old to be here?"

"I'm a chaperone."

"You're a little young to be a chaperone?"

"Don't ask it was Sharpay's fault."

"You are doing a wonderful job." Jason replied sarcastically.

"Hey I could have left you in there. So why exactly are you here?"

"I'm a freshman." Chad knew that like himself, Jason was a member of the gifted kids club. His IQ was actually a good 20 points higher than his sister was. Not that IQ really matters when it comes to getting good grades. Even Chad flunked a class or two by not paying attention. Taylor's parents opted to skip Jason ahead two years. When this dance is over, he is going to call his mother and thank her for refusing to let him be skip ahead more than he was. It is bad enough that he was a year younger than Sharpay.

"Why exactly where you stuffed in a locker?"

"Ricky. This year he has turned the basketball team into the nerd terror squad. The only members of the basketball team not participating are Jimmy and Nicholas Cross. Ricky and Tiara are trying to bring back the status quo to East High. It's only been a week and the cafeteria has already returned to the social apartheid that Taylor talked about when she was a sophomore."

This was not his problem anymore. He was out of this school and away from this stupid system once and for all. Then he remembered how scared he was for anybody to find out that the co captain of the basketball team was a genius. He looked at the scare 12 year old in front of him and realized that for Taylor sake he needed to do something. More importantly, Chad needed to do something for the scared 13-year-old boy he once was who was too afraid to be himself. He could not do this himself. Chad needed the most diabolical mine in the history of East High. Now all he needed to do was go apologize to her.

After her conversation with Jackie, Sharpay was too shaken up to go back into the dance. Sharpay always thought that the garden was one of places, other than the stage, that she could actually be herself. Unfortunately, she walked in on two students "christening" the new swing.

"Seriously Sandi, I thought you had more self respect than to fool around with your boyfriend on the school roof. I suggest you take this to his car at the very least." Sharpay said as she threw the pack of condoms that Kim gave her earlier in the day at the hormonally charged couple. So embarrassed by the entire encounter they both ran away immediately.

"You know we usually give detention to the students we catch up here, not condoms." Coach Bolton said from behind her.

"Like that will help. Do you have any idea how many good make out spots there are in the theater? I just wanted to get them out of here"

"That was a very creative way to do it. So why exactly are you hiding up here."

"Why are you here?"

"Doing what chaperones do at these dances do, keeping my fellow parents from become young grandparents. After the incident two years ago at the spring dance, one of the chaperones comes up here every half an hour to make sure nobody is using it as a making out spot."

"I can stay up. I am kind of avoiding Chad.

"Is this because of you and him being…"

"We're just friends." He looked at her the same way Troy did when he knew she was lying. It must run in the family.

"I saw the tape. You're not friends, you'll never be friends."

"Are you going to continue quoting Buffy the vampire slayer? I really don't want to hear about love not being brains."

"What?" Coach Bolton asked her not knowing what she was referring to.

"Never mind. Nothing on that tape was real." She was wondering whom she was trying to convince more at this point Mr. Bolton or herself.

"Yes it was. Even if you are pretending, part of it was still real. Even on some subconscious level, it was still very real. I have known Chad sense he was a fetus. You know the teachers had a bet going on when the two of you would get together."

"Too bad nobody won." Sharpay said sarcastically.

"Actually, most of the dates were for after graduation." Sharpay decided to ignore that statement.

"If you're such an expert on Chad Danforth, maybe you can explain why he lied to me for so long. Why he spent most of high school pretending to be the dumb jock when in reality he was some super genius? If he is as smart as I know he is, why did he not graduate earlier? Why did he not follow Taylor to Yale? Between his basketball skills and SAT scores, I'm sure he would have got in without any problems."

"How much you know about Chad's mom?"

"That she's really nice and she is a lawyer who specializes in civil rights legislation. After the divorce, she took a job with an advocacy group in DC. She looks good for someone who has a 17 year old son."

"That's because she was 17 when he was born."

"What?"

"It is a long story. Essentially Caroline Sanchez was just as smart as her son, except her parents forced her through school at an accelerated pace. She graduated high school at 14 and came to A of U for the honors program. She was not ready for it. She had a brilliant mind, but emotionally she was not ready for college. She pretty much rebelled against her parents by doing many stupid things, like sleeping with half the basketball team."

"Were you one of these basketball players?"

"She was just a friend. I graduated two years before all this happened. Anyway, during her junior year she ended up pregnant by my friend Charlie Danforth who was four years older than she was. The two really did not know each other that well. When Mr. Sanchez found out, he forced the two to get married. Fortunately Caroline was able to take an accelerated course load for the duration of the pregnancy and graduated two weeks before Chad was born. She went to law school when Chad started kindergarten."

"What does this have to do with Chad trying to conceal his intelligence?"

"Caroline thought her problems were caused by her parents pushing her. When she found out that Chad was exactly like her, she refused to push. She let him take the classes he wanted to take. When they wanted to skip him ahead a few years, she said no. She said she wanted Chad to have time to mature before starting college. Could you imagine Chad in college two years ago?" Sharpay shuddered at the thought. Chad was barely mature enough for college now.

"How did he end up skipping preschool?"

"That was Troy's fault. Troy would not go to kindergarten without Chad. Since Troy and Chad are only six months apart, they practically grew up together. We tried everything to get Troy to go to school without Chad. It didn't work. I ended up asking the school board if they would let Chad start kindergarten a year early. Because Chad's test scores were so good, they agreed. They have been like that ever sense. Chad did not apply to any ivy league school because he knew Troy couldn't get in."

"Then Troy leaves him for Berkeley and Gabriella. This explains why Chad was so freaked out last year."

"Once he explained the real reason why I was okay with it." Chad said sneaking up behind Sharpay.

"How much of that conversation did you hear?"

"Most of it," Chad replied to her quickly.

"I'll just leave you two alone for a while," Mr. Bolton said as he left the two alone on the roof.

"Thanks coach" Chad said to the departing man.

"I'm sorry" both yelled at the same time.

"Why are you sorry?" Sharpay asked quietly.

"Because I made you mad by not being honest with you. I know you have had so many people lie to you in your life and I just became another one. If we are really going to stop being enemies, we need to be honest with each other. Why are you sorry?"

"Because I went straight into pure diva Sharpay mode, instead of talking about what was bothering me."

"Can you two please kiss and make up later. Chad, I don't want to see you make out with my sisters replacement." Jason called out from the side.

"We're just friends," Sharpay replied automatically

"I'm still with your sister"

"I'm 12, not stupid. I do not care. I am not going to tell Taylor. Can we please talk about the Ricky problem?"

"You mean the fact that he likes to leave bruises on his girlfriend when she says no?" Sharpay said quickly

"What do you mean he hurts his girlfriend? I am talking about him stuffing freshman into your old locker." Chad answered

"I thought we were here to talk about how Tiara and Ricky are trying to take control of the school to bring back social apartheid and the status quo?" Jason asked from the sidelines.

"I graduate and everything goes to hell. I knew she was evil." Sharpay said as she grabbed her cell phone from her bag.

"What are you doing?" Chad question Sharpay as he noticed her typing furiously.

"Staging a coup and we are going to need help." Sharpay said as she began to send text message everyone she could think to meet them on the roof.

20 minutes later, a representative of every major group at East High surrounded Chad and Sharpay. Everyone was represented from the newly renamed tiara contingent (formally Sharpay contingent) to the skaters. No one want things to go back to the way they were two years ago. However, most were too intimidated by Ricky and Tiara to fight back. It was ironic that two years ago he and Sharpay were so desperately trying to keep things the way they were. Now after graduation, they were trying to prevent a return to the status quo. They were currently trying to figure out how to overthrow Ricky and Tierra as king and queen of East High.

"It's all good to overthrow Ricky and Tierra. However, if we don't install responsible people in their place this is going to happen all over again in a couple months." Anita, one of Sharpay's former followers, brought out this point. Anita lived on the history channel and took more AP classes than anyone she knew. She just happened to like the latest fashion and boys. "You know that Nikki Gutierrez would take over the group in a minute if she could. She could be just as ruthless as Tierra."

"I really don't want to end up in a locker again." Complain Jason from the side.

"Why exactly did Ricky stuff you in a locker?" Sharpay asked wondering if they could use it against Ricky somehow.

"I accidentally over heard him talking to a bunch of his stupid friends about having a surefire way to keep Kerri from saying no to him tonight. I don't really know what he was talking about. I saw him taking a bottle of pills out of his pocket. Next thing I know I'm stuffed in one of the lockers."

At Jason's words, Chad instantly knew what was going to happen to Kerri. Jason was too young to know what was happening, but he and Sharpay knew. The look of fear in Sharpay's eyes told him that she had the same uneasy feeling. Sharpay quickly got up and walked over to the ledge of the roof. Apparently, she saw something in the parking lot and was running down the stairs within seconds. He knew he needed to follow her.

"What's going on? You don't think he's going to…" Jackie asked from behind him.

"I do not know Jackie. Just stay up here and work on the plan."

"Just make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"I'll do my best."

As he left this roof, he heard of one of the groups say "the only power they have is the power that we give them. If we stopped giving them power, they no longer have the power to hurt us."

Chad caught up with her at the front of the school. "What are you doing Sharpay?"

"He has her in the parking lot."

"What?"

"I could see it from the roof. I can't let him hurt her."

"Sharpay?"

"I have to do this. Come with me?" He knew she was right.

"Always," Chad said as he grabbed her hand.

When they arrived in the parking lot Sharpay observed the scene she expected to see. Ricky was on top of a very out of it Kerri. She knew the 15-year-old girl was trying to fight him off but could not. She wondered if this was her two years ago, She couldn't let that thought into her mind. She needed to get Kerri out of the situation."

"Seriously Ricky, how desperate do you have to be to drug up a girl to sleep with you." Chad called out from behind him.

"Shut up Danforth. This is not your problem."

"Yes it is." Sharpay said as she attacked Ricky from behind causing him to lose his grip on Kerri.

Unfortunately, he recovered quickly and tried to attack Sharpay. Chad ran to help Sharpay, but she did not need it. Within seconds, Ricky was out cold on the asphalt.

"Did I forget to mention I've been taking martial arts for the last two years? The first thing I learned was to use my attacker strength against him."

"What's going on here?" Yelled out the principle, who was followed by Coach Bolton and Jackie.

"Oh my god, what did you do to her? Jackie cried out as she ran to her best friend who was on the ground almost unconscious from the drugs. "What did you give her, you bastard?" Jackie yelled at the unconscious Ricky.

"It seems that Mr. Hot shot over here decided to drug his girlfriend. Sharpay saw what was going on from the roof and ran down here to stop it." There was nothing but silence after that as the two educators looked at the scene in front of them. Sharpay was the only one who had enough common sense to call 911.

"Hi this is Sharpay Evans. I am in the parking lot of East High. I'm here with a 15-year-old girl who is almost unconscious. Her boyfriend was trying to rape her. Can you please send the cops and ambulance right away? I think she was drugged."

It was Tuesday morning by the time the dust settled. Chad and Sharpay were on their way to East High for a 12:00 PM meeting. Sharpay was thankful that it was Labor Day weekend and she had three days to recover from the emotional charge events of Friday night. Fortunately, for Sharpay her chemistry class was canceled today because her professor's flight back to New Mexico was delayed due to bad weather. Unlike Chad, she could not afford to miss a day of chemistry class.

"Why did they want to speak with us today?" Chad asked Sharpay as they made their way towards the school.

"I don't know Coach Bolton called me last night and said they needed to speak with us today."

"I thought the cops got our complete statements Saturday?"

"The 18 year old captain of the basketball team tries to rape a 15 year old and we keep it from happening. You know there's going to be a big investigation. In addition, I hit a student. There's a good chance I may not be allowed to continue helping out at the school. This is a shame because someone needs to keep tiara in place."

"I don't think you need to anymore." Chad said as they walked into the school. They noticed something was very off everybody was wearing school colors except for the British diva.

"Looks like somebody didn't get the text message about the new spirit day," Sharpay said to Tiara as she walked by.

The second thing they notice were the new campaign posters for Anita for student body president. The posters contain slogans such as "Change We All Believe In", "Death to the Status Quo", and "Social Apartheid Ends Now". As they walked by the cafeteria on their way to the principal's office Chad noticed that the normal groups in the cafeteria were completely gone. Everybody was talking to everybody else. Not that you could really tell since everybody was wearing school colors. It was impossible to pick up the skaters from the jocks if everybody was wearing red and white.

Finally, they noticed a signup sheet for a new round of basketball tryouts.

"Doesn't the coach have the basketball team in place by now? The season starts here in October." Sharpay asked Chad as they made their way into the principal's office.

"Normally I do. Especially considering East High does not have a football team. Unfortunately, due to Friday night's events, I have lost four of my five possible starters. Half the basketball team is suspended indefinitely because of what happened." Coach Bolton answered from in front of them.

"The police are still trying to work out the details of everything that happened." The principle called out from his office.

"Is that why you needed us both here?" Sharpay asked

"Not entirely," replied the principle.

The two slowly walked into the room and noticed Jackie sitting next to an older African American woman who looked a lot like Kerri. Immediately the two women ran up to Chad and Sharpay and hug them.

"Thank you for saving my baby. If it wasn't for you, she probably would have died." Ms. Jackson said as she let go up Sharpay.

"What?" both Chad and Sharpay questioned simultaneously.

"Ricky gave her too many pills. Add that to the medication she is already on, it was a disaster. Her body couldn't handle it. She most likely would have died of an overdose if you two didn't find her in time." Jackie said the whole thing almost in tears.

"Is she okay now?" Chad questioned

"She is alive. Psychologically, I have no idea." Ms. Jackson replied softly.

"There is really good counselor at the Raven Centre that specializes in this sort of thing. If you want, I can give you the phone number?"

"That's okay; I don't think our insurance will cover anything at the Raven Center."

"Don't worry this doctor does a lot of pro bono work." Sharpay said as she wrote the number down on a sticky.

"Thank you both for helping," Said Ms. Jackson as she hugged Sharpay again.

"If you need anything else just let me know. I will be happy to help." Sharpay told both women.

"There is one other thing. Remember that problem we were talking about Friday night before everything happened. We have a solution if you're willing to help Sharpay?" Jackie asked Sharpay.

"What do you need me to do?"

"So not only do you not get fired for beating up a student, you're considered a hero. You have a very charmed life Sharpay Evans. " Kim said to Sharpay as she helped the younger girl prepare the room for the drama club meeting that would be happening in less than 5 minutes.

"He was trying to rape a 15 year old who he drugged up on only God knows what. It was self-defense. It also helps that he was 18 and technically an adult. The school board believes my actions were justified in the situation. However, Chad and I are band from ever chaperoning a school dance again, even if our children are students here."

"It's so cute. You two are already thinking about having children together.

"Shut up Kim." Sharpay said as the students began to enter the room.

Kim was shocked to see Jackie there considering everything Sharpay told her.

"Are you ready Sharpay?" Ms. Darbus asked she walked into the room.

"As ready as I will ever be."

"What's going on Sharpay?"

"Something I should have did last year." Sharpay said to Kim as she walked up to the stage. After Ms. Darbus called the meeting to order, Sharpay began to speak.

"I know most of you know me from the fact that I am the teacher assistant in the Drama I class. I am also the former president of this organization. Last year before I left, I was to nominate a possible successor to this position, as is the tradition. However, I was not ready to let go last year. After recent events, I believe I am ready to let go of the past and I nominate a person who I know truly loves the performing arts. I feel she will lead this organization in the right direction for the next few years. Therefore, I nominate Jackie Nielsen for president of the East High drama club. Does anyone second my nomination?"

"I do," Anita called out from the back.

"All those in favor of Jackie Nielsen becoming the new president of the drama club say I?" Everybody but Tiara agreed.

"All those opposed?"

"How can she run unopposed?" Tiara asked angrily.

"Tiara didn't you read the bylaws of the drama club?" Jason said sitting next to her. "The rules specifically state that if the former president of the organization nominates a successor that person can be elected without competition as long as the majority of members agree to it. Since we're both in the same math class, I'm sure you're able to tell that 22 to 1 is a majority."

At that, Tiara quickly left the room in a display of anger that was absolutely hilarious.

An hour later Sharpay sat in Kim's car as they made their way back to campus. Sharpay was riding back with Kim because she let Chad drive her car to basketball practice.

"Now I'm upset that I missed all the goodness this weekend, because I decided to hang out with my son and my stepmom for the long weekend. All the good stuff happens when I am not around."

"Not that much of Friday night was good. However, there were a few highlights to the evening. Unfortunately, those will not be repeated now that I have my brand new roommate. At least we are in the same chemistry class; I need all the help I can get in that class."

"So did you and Chad get to use my present Friday night?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sharpay said as she smiled mysteriously.

Friday night after the dance

Sharpay was emotionally and physically exhausted after the events of the evening. She spent the last hour dealing with the police and the principle. This was turning out to be the worst scandal in East High history. Unfortunately, Kerri was not the only girl being drugged that night.

Originally, they were going to go to the Ice club to meet up with a few friends from their film class after the dance. Sharpay just did not feel like being around anyone else tonight. Instead, they currently are sitting on Sharpay's bed watching one of her favorite musicals Bride and Prejudice. Sharpay was finding out that Chad made a very good pillow. Unconsciously, Chad's hands were making little circles on her thighs. She loved his touch. By the time the movie was over she was already half asleep in his arms.

"Sharpay, you need to let me get up." He whispered to her.

"Stay with me?" Sharpay whispered sleepily.

"I am, I just need to get up and moved to the other bed."

"No you don't." Sharpay said as she snuggled into him a little more.

"You want me to stay in bed with you?" He asked her quietly.

"Yes," that was all he needed to hear to give in to her. He kissed her on the forehead and wrapped his arms around her more tightly.

A/N: *I just like to say that most of the cheerleaders I knew in high school and college were hardcore athletes. This might have something to do with the fact that my high school won the state cheerleading championships several times. The cheerleaders depicted in the HSM films were shallow and one-dimensional with little exception. I am playing with that right now because it fits the chapter. Do not worry the college cheerleaders in this story will be hardcore athletes.