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D a r k n e s s in H e a r t
Author of 11 Stories |
Changes
-Chapter One: Birthday-
Summery: It’s the first day of senior year for our gang, and they haven’t seen the Evans Twins all summer. So imagine the when they come back from vacation…normal! No glam, no glares, no attitude, and…NO drama club! What happened?
Author’s Note: Yes yes, another Evans Twins drama fic. But it isn’t that bad, ‘cause I haven’t read one so far like this one. Lols And I’m not just saying that because this fic is mine. Oh, and they’re kind of OOC, but it’ll work for the story…XD So anyway, enjoy! Review if you got any questions, and I’ll answer them in the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Evans Twins, High School Musical, it’s characters or any reference to them/the movie itself. Disney holds all copyrights. I’m just a fan.
A petite blonde sat in her last class of the day, tapping her pencil on her desk, irritant. After finishing her final more than 30 minutes ago, Sharpay Evans found herself getting more and more impatient by the second, her big brown eyes following the hand of the clock.
So naturally, she was the first one out of there when the bell rang.
“Yes! FREE-DOM!” She heard a familiar whoop and roar, spinning around to find her friend, Chad Danforth. She stopped and looking around to check no one was looking, grinned, waiting for him to catch up with her.
Hey, there was still an image she needed to keep up with. Once the Ice Queen, always the Ice Queen.
At least to most people.
Chad was smiling so large you could see his back teeth. He jogged up to her and waved.
“Hey Shar! Are you as happy as I am that school’s out?” He asked, giving her a brief hug.
Sharpay giggled, true, her and Chad had never gotten along until recently. After winter vacation they had just clicked suddenly, and before she knew it, ‘The big idiot just grew on me.’ She thought, still chuckling.
“Chad, I think it’s impossible for anyone to be as happy as you are right now.”
Chad just grinned again and slung his arm over her shoulder, steering her over to the spot where their friends were already waiting for them.
“Hey Shar, hey Chad!” They chorused, from the looks of it also extremely happy.
They waved back in unison, finally joining the group. “Hey you guys!”
“So,” Chad started off, dumping his bag on the grass and plopping down himself, “who else is jumpin’ up n’ down now that school’s out! I know I am!”
Everybody laughed, shaking their heads, Chad giving an indignant ‘What?’ at their stares.
Sharpay looked around at all the faces surrounding her and smiled. There was Troy, basketball man, and his girlfriend and her best friend, Gabriella. At first, she hated them for stealing the lead roles in the last winter musical, but she got over it, and was glad she did. There was science genius Taylor, who came into the group attached at the hip to Gabriella, and ended up as Chad’s girlfriend and her close friend. She was a pest in the beginning, but Sharpay grew to love her anyway. Then of course, with Troy comes his loyal follower, Chad. All four of them were such awesome people; Sharpay had to wonder how she didn’t see it before.
She couldn’t believe how lucky she was, everything was going for the better over this past year. She had friends, and for the first time in her life, it wasn’t just her and her brother.
‘Wait a minute…’
“Hey, Gabs?” She poked her friend in the side, causing her to squeal loudly. Sharpay laughed.
“Jeez, Shar! Don’t DO that, you know I’m ticklish!” Gabriella scolded, a smile on her face nevertheless.
“Sorry Gabby. But have you seen my brother? He’s not here yet.”
Gabriella thought for a moment, “Uhm…Oh! Ryan and I had our last final together, we were gonna leave but he got some phone call and told me to go ahead without him. He’s probably still inside, that was only like 10 minutes ago.”
Sharpay looked slightly worried, resting her chin in her hand. “That’s weird, no body calls Ryan except us. Who could he possibly be talking to!”
Gabriella and Sharpay exchanged an amused look, before bursting out, rather loudly, I might add, with, “SECRET GIRLFRIEND!”
They slapped hands over each other’s mouths as the other three stopped talking and turned to them, staring.
They bushed faintly, before erupting in giggles.
“Who has a secret girlfriend?” A new voice sounded behind them, scaring the crap out of the two girls.
Sharpay looked up, tilting her head back father than usual to see her brother staring down at her, one brow raised.
“Uhh…No one…?” She offered weakly, a sheepish grin on her face.
Ryan looked at her weirdly, before pulling her up from under her arms. He turned to the others watching them, and smiled. “Sorry guys, but we gotta get going. See you tonight?” He barely waited for their replies as he swiped her bag from the ground and dragged her off down the street.
“Ryan!” Sharpay exclaimed, half running to keep up with her twin. “Rude much?”
Ryan slowed a bit, holding her hand a bit gentler, but still dragging her nonetheless. “Sorry Shar…” He sighed. “That was mom and dad on the phone. Mom called and told us to come home like, right now, and then Dad said something in the background and before I knew it, they were fighting again and I had to wait forever for them to stop.”
Sharpay nodded in understanding, sighing too. “Say no more. Jeez and on our birthday too…what’s with that?”
It was odd, but the fact was that June 14th, also known as the last day of school, was the Evans twin’s big ‘one eight’, and they would be the gracious hosts of a HUGE end-of-the-year/birthday party tonight.
Something about the way she said it made Ryan burst out laughing so hard he had to stop walking. Sharpay pouted. “Ryan are you laughing at me!” Peals of laughter still poured from his lips, and she couldn’t help but smile too.
“C’mon, let’s get home before World War III starts, I want a good seat.”
“What was that all about?” Troy commented, turning to his friends.
They all shrugged, but Gabriella was the first to respond. “I don’t know, Ryan was fine last period. Now he looked really…is distressed the right world?
“I’d say more like, worried.” Taylor pitched, watching the twins walk farther away from them.
Chad looked deep in thought. “There’s something going on, and I’m sure it’s not good.”
Instead, all they heard was silence.
The house was barely lit, most of the blinds and curtains pulled shut. Nothing was broken, which was a very good sign, and everything was just the way they had left it this morning.
Ryan heard a soft sigh of relief from behind him, and turned around facing his twin. She looked at him as if to say ‘thank god, right?’ and he gave back a smile and a nod.
“Ryan! Sharpay! Could you come into the breakfast nook please!”
The twins heard their father’s call from deep inside the house, light pouring out of the kitchen doorway into the empty entryway, and exchanged glances, before walking inside.
To say the Evans were a normal family was anything but true. Their parents fought constantly, horribly, and it usually ended up with tears and their mother flaking out for the night, coming back the next morning and resuming her daily duties without so much as a hint to anything that happened the previous night.
In truth they were so much closer to their father, and Sharpay could even say she harbored a bitter hatefulness for her mother. Nothing was ever physical, but occasionally things would be thrown out of frustration, without an intended target. Ryan could recall a time when their parents were arguing in the music room, with them cowering in the corner, and their father had pushed the piano, not knowing the wheels weren’t locked. Ryan ended up with a broken leg, and Sharpay a concussion.
The elder Evans relationship was one more difficult to explain than that of the mind of Leonardo Da Vinci.
And he was one complicated man.
The scene inside was far from one that the twins had expected.
The room was pleasantly lit, the sunlight streaming inside from in between the drapes. It was clean, almost too clean, and the marble counters sparkled with a sheen they hadn’t seen since the almost-mansion was first built. The gentle hum of the dishwasher filled the silence in the air.
Walking across the eerily pleasant kitchen, exchanging slightly alarmed glances, they turned left into a large breakfast area and found their parents, mulling over two cups of lukewarm coffee, distant and sullen.
Their father turned to them upon their entry, smiling as best as he could.
He nodded at them, as if to say hello. “Sharpay. Ryan. Take a seat.”
They sat down at the end of the long oak wood table, as far away from their parents as possible. Something wasn’t right. Sharpay couldn’t take her eyes off her mother. She looked as though someone had painted her eyes grey; she saw no emotion in them whatsoever.
Their father looked at them with a sad smile, as if comprehending, and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted.
“Don’t.”
The twins stared at their mother. It was the first word they heard her speak since yesterday.
Their father looked at his wife questioningly, and she shook her head, a bit more light seeping into her eyes. She turned her gaze to her children, looking at her with apprehension. She smiled gently.
“Cancel your plans for tomorrow morning. We’re going to have a family discussion.” She said simply, and Ryan and Sharpay almost groaned out loud at the words ‘family discussion’.
‘Family Discussions’ were never really ‘discussions’ at all, it was more like a ‘sit down and watch your parents scream at each other’ session.
Oh boy.
“Uh-Mom…?” Sharpay spoke timidly and quietly, and Ryan thought it funny to imagine the shock the student body would have at seeing her like this.
Her mother smiled at her, just like she always did. Fake. “Yes, hun?”
Ryan decided to finish for her, wondering the same thing. “Can we still have our party tonight?”
Their mother’s smile grew, still as forced as ever, and she gave a small laugh. “Oh of course, you needn’t worry about that. Your father and I will be leaving soon, so you’ll have the house to yourself as planned.”
Ryan patted his sisters’ hand under the table, wondering why she was so suddenly on edge. He smiled at his parents. “Thanks. May we please be excused?”
Their father nodded a yes, clearly distraught once again, and waved them away. Ryan thanked them and took Sharpays’ hand, guiding her out the door. They heard his voice again before they could go.
“Oh, and kids?”
Ryan and Sharpay turned around, chorusing a small, “Yes?”
Their parents both smiled this time, real, genuine smiles, and at the same time replied,
“Happy Birthday.”
She stuck out her hand and counted off on her fingers. “We passed our finals,” she held up the first finger. “it’s our 18th birthday,” she held up the second one. “we’re finally adults,” the third finger went up, and the finally the fourth. “And the biggest party of next year is happening at OUR house, FOR us!” She dropped her hand lazily and turned her head to her brother.
“Do you know how immensely awesome this party’s gunna be? Everyone’ll still be talking about it after summer’s over!”
Ryan laughed at his sister; with her it was always social.
“Just chill Shar, everything will be fine! You’ll see, this party’s going to be so great, and whatever bad omen,” he put spirit fingers in her face, and she laughed and swatted them away “is coming we can deal with tomorrow. After we have the greatest night ever. Cool?”
Sharpay sighed and got up, bouncing in apprehension on the tip of her mattress. “No, not cool. Ry, I feel like something really bad is going to happen tomorrow.” At her brother’s look, she continued. “I know, I hate all that psychic crap too, but I can’t shake the dread I have in here.” She patted her stomach, making a face.
Ryan grinned. “Ginger Ale usually helps with that kind of thing.”
Sharpay shot him a look, rolling her eyes. “Dread, Ryan, not gas.”
He laughed, sitting up as well and folding his hands in his lap. “Everything will be fine, Shar.” He stressed, smiling. “Just go tonight and have a blast, it’ll take your mind off why on earth Mom and Dad went weird on us, and we can deal with it tomorrow.”
And with that, Ryan got up and out the door, offering a small wave before he shut her door.
Sharpay shook her head, looking out her balcony window at the setting sun.
‘I hope he’s right…’
“Maybe we invited too many people!” Sharpay spoke loudly, heading to the kitchen with Gabriella and Taylor.
“Nonsense! The more the better!” Taylor exclaimed, most obviously in the party mood. The other two girls exchanged glances, before laughing loudly.
Gabriella opened the door to the kitchen, the three of them stepping inside and sighing in relief when the music became nothing but a dull wubber of noise. “Phew…at least its not rock or that new weird crap they play on the radio all the time…But that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t kill your ear drums!”
Sharpay nodded in agreement, fishing more refreshments out of the refrigerator and pantry. “I know! As soon as I find out where Ryan hid the remote I’m SO turning it down!”
The girls giggled, Gabriella and Taylor taking tray by tray of food from out of Sharpay’s hands. “My god, how big is your fridge! How did you fit all this in there!” Gabriella asked, in reference to the amount of food literally covering the large island in the middle of the kitchen.
Sharpay waved them over. “Come see for yourself!”
Gabriella and Taylor gasped. “Dang girl! It’s like a walk-in closet!”
Sharpay just shook her head and nudged them out of the way, before closing the large steel doors. “So you guys are having fun, right?” She asked, preparing some entrees for her guests.
The other girls nodded. “Of course, it’s an awesome party Sharpay! But seriously, who did you invite! There’s so many people here! And half of them I’ve never seen before!” Gabriella asked.
Sharpay literally stopped to think about it. “Well there’s all the seniors, and then our entire class of 2008…and then a select few sophomores, and then most of them brought friends who probably invited more friends… aaaand there you go.”
The girls just stared, before giggling. A sudden look of remembrance on their faces and Sharpay knew something was up.
“What’s wrong, you guys?”
Gabriella and Taylor exchanged glances. “We were just wondering what was up with you guys today, after school? Are you and Ryan okay?” Taylor spoke up, looking concerned.
Sharpay looked confused for a moment, before her mouth formed a perfect ‘o’ and she spoke. “Oh that. Well you guys know our parents fight a lot.” She watched them nod their heads before continuing. “Well, Ryan got a call from our parents after school saying they needed us home right away, and when we got here they looked like they had something really important to say, but couldn’t.”
She took a moment to take a deep breath, having spewed that all out in one sentence. “But at the last second our mom changed her mind and now we’re having a ‘family meeting’ tomorrow morning to discuss whatever it is…” Sharpay grabbed as many trays as she could and headed for the door.
“Something’s not right with them.” She stated simply, not turning around.
“And I don’t think I want to know what it is.”
It was 2 AM, and even though the party had ended around 12, the gang decided to stay and help clean up. It took a whole two hours and six people, but the large house was once again clean.
Sharpay held in a yawn, leaning her back against the wall and watched her brother shut the door, also yawning.
“Ugh I’m so extremely tired…” Ryan said, followed by another yawn.
Sharpay nodded, pulling at her dress. “I need to get out of these clothes…they’re so not comfortable!” She laughed along with her brother, heading up the double staircase to their rooms.
Silently, the both turned down their respective hallways and to their doors. Sharpay paused at hers.
“Ry?”
“Yeah Shar?”
She hesitated, before shaking her head.
“Nothing…G’night, Ryan.”
They had no idea what the next day would bring.
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