126Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing
Changes to Come
Sharpay reached her hand into her jacket pocket and discreetly pressed the button on the side of her phone, successfully silencing its slight buzzing. Mrs. Evans looked back at her and gave a subtle though very shrewd look, warning her not to disrupt the celebratory mood. Sharpay nodded and quickly looked away, her annoyance with the world around her getting the best of her façade.
"Alright, everybody. Put on her happy faces, I think I see him!" Mr. Evans instructed the trio as they stood in perfect formation in the middle of the airports luggage claim. Sharpay released a heavy sigh before purposefully arranging her features in a pleasantly welcoming manner. This was the first time she'd be seeing Ryan in months, after all. She should be welcoming him home pleasantly, not angrily like she was currently feeling.
Sharpay craned her neck, peering over her parents shoulders, searching for a glimpse of her absent twin brother. It had been so long since she'd last spoken to him, she actually felt a twinge of fear in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know what to expect, with flashes of numerous wild changes in his appearance and attitude flashing through her mind and increasing her anxiety.
However, these images were soon put to rest when she saw a familiar bright green bowler hat bobbing through the crowd on the head of a tall blonde boy wearing flamboyant, yet stylish, matching clothing. Clothing, it should be noted, that didn't have a single wrinkle in them, as if Ryan had not just spent the past three hours on a cramped, stuffy airplane.
"My boy!" Mr. Evans greeted his son formally. His arms were held wide and a proud smile was on his face as Ryan took the final few steps towards them. With a grin, Ryan approached his father and thrust his hand forward, meeting his dad's hand halfway and giving a firm, almost business-like hand shake. As the Evans children had always been taught, why hug when a hand-shake is just as good?
"Ducky," Mrs. Evans crooned, waiting her turn politely to greet her prodigal son.
"Hi mommy," Ryan returned, kissing her on the cheek and then stepping back to allow his mother to appraise him. Mrs. Evans gave an approving nod and moved aside to finally reveal Sharpay.
Ryan glanced at her and quickly looked away with a clouded expression blanking any emotion from his eyes. "Hey sis," he said casually, without feeling.
"Ryan," Sharpay returned, cautiously, naive of the background from which this behavior was coming.
"Excellent," Mr. Evans boomed, unaware of the strained atmosphere between his two children. "Shall we go?" He asked to nobody in particular as he turned on his heal and marched out the door, leading the familial processional all the way to the car.
"Troy, honey, make sure that your shirt is tucked in nicely and come downstairs. We have guests!" Mrs. Bolton turned, slightly exasperated, and faced the room before her with a brave face. If she had to be stuck with the Bolton side of the family for the afternoon, than there was no way Troy would get to hide out in his room.
Troy shoved his hand down his pants several times in a lame attempt to straighten his shirt than headed on heavy feet down the stairs. He wasn't sure he could take one more inquiry about his life. Why did everybody expect him to have the answers when he wasn't even sure if he'd made the right decisions?
"Troy!" a great booming voice greeted him as his foot hit the final landing.
"Uncle Howard! How are you?" Troy asked, trying his best to be polite for his traditional relative.
"Oh, just dandy ever since I got the new battery for my old ticker," he thumped his chest, indicating where his "ticker" was located and gave Troy an overly exaggerated wink. Troy laughed nervously and tried to back away without causing offense. He knew it was common practice for his aunts and uncles to spend their holiday's discussing their various ailments but he was in no mood to partake in this kind of talk this year. His own ailments were still too high on his list of anxieties for him to be able to listen to the discussion without instantly thinking he'd acquired the symptoms.
"But let's not talk about this old fudder," Troy's uncle continued amiably. "I want to hear about your girl!"
For a split second Troy thought his uncle was referring to Sharpay, but he quickly remembered that that would be quite impossible. In fact, nobody in the room except for himself even knew there was anything less than fairy-tale endings going on between him and is….former?...girlfriend.
"So?" Uncle Howard prompted after Troy had only responded to his proclamation by standing awkwardly, eyes flicking back and forth as his mind seemed to be reeling over something undoubtedly important. "How is the little academia fairing on the west coast?"
"Oh! Um, she's fairing….quite….quite well. I suppose…" Troy trailed off, his eyes flickering again as his mind took off in another direction. Troy thought about the way Gabriella seemed to have fallen off the deep end on the 'west coast', as his uncle had so daftly put it, and he silently wondered how it was possible for one person to change so quickly.
"Wonderful! That is wonderful to hear. Speaking of hearing, is that wedding bells I hear in your future?" Uncle Howard cupped his hand to his ear and pretended to listen to a bell ring on the smooth sound waves through time.
"I - um…what?" Troy asked, completely perplexed.
"Don't lose your breath, boy. I just thought, you'd followed her all the way to California. This relationship is obviously heading in the chapels direction."
"Right." Troy only wanted to laugh casually, to indicate that he was only pretending to be confused. Unfortunately, his nerves had been shot with this conversation and his laugh came out at a much more hysterical tenor. That mixed with his sweating, nervous behavior, gave Troy the air of a lunatic in need of an asylum.
Not understanding why this conversation was so distressing to Troy, Uncle Howard decided to simply move onto a more neutral topic. "So, Troy, how goes the basketball?"
"TROY!" a grovely voice that indicated of heavy nicotine abuse called from across the room.
Grateful to have any excuse to leave this conversation entirely, Troy jumped at the sound of his name. Smiling at his uncle politely, he quickly excused himself and scurried to the other side of the room where his other uncle, Rex, was situated.
"Thought you might've needed an 'scape," he growled in a gruff whisper, his eyes twinkling as he spoke.
Troy sighed and nodded in appreciation.
"Nothin' like holiday's with the fam'ly," Rex said with a chuckle and a shake of his head.
"Children, come downstairs. Rosa has fixed us a beautiful Turkey dinner!"
Sharpay cringed as her mother's voice clicked off of the intercom. The car ride turned out to be enough of a reunion with her brother. His stories of self-importance and perpetual glory were enough to make her nauseous and she was sure he wouldn't be bothered by her absence. In fact, he barely seemed to have noticed her presence, not once addressing her personally.
Whatever. She was fine with it. It's not like she couldn't get along without him. She'd been doing it all semester, hadn't she?
Sharpay stood slowly and brushed her skirt down with her hands. Wrinkles were not acceptable at family dinner; even less so at holiday dinner. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, Sharpay opened her door and proceeded down the empty hallway and to the dining room.
Both her parents and Ryan were already seated when she stepped in the room, and all talk instantly died away. Sharpay silently took her seat and smiled politely to her parents.
"Excellent," Mr. Evans said, smiling warmly at his daughter. "But before we dig in, your mother and I wanted to speak to both of you."
Mrs. Evans smiled approvingly at her husband, determinedly avoiding eye-contact with either of her children. Of course, this wasn't entirely new behavior from her so Sharpay didn't think twice about it.
"It seems that I've had a strain of bad luck, as of late. Most importantly, the activity in my offshore account has been ever so slightly more than conspicuous and it seems as though it may be getting investigated soon. Now, I don't want either of you to worry," he said quickly in response to the strangled gasps coming from the twins. "Your mother and I have been talking and we've decided this is the perfect opportunity to do something we were never able to do since your conception. We're moving to Ghana!"
"What!" Sharpay burst, unable to control the intense anger that was bubbling up inside of her.
"But, what about our schooling?" Ryan asked.
"Don't think we hadn't thought about that," Mr. Evans responded in an irritatingly calm voice. "We won't be leaving until the first of January. By that point, Ryan, you'll be heading back to New York. And, Sharpay, you can use this time to find a job and an apartment. It shouldn't be too difficult, I would think."
"What? I have a month to find an apartment? How is that even possible?"
Mr. Evans laughed as though his daughter had just told an amusing anecdote and turned to his wife, completely ignoring what Sharpay had actually said. "Shall we dig in?" He asked, rubbing his hands together greedily.
Too angry for words, and rather embarrassed that she seemed to be the only one having trouble with this bit of information, Sharpay jumped up from her seat. Her gaze shifted in amazement past all three of her family members, her mouth trying to form words that refused to come out. But, instead of flying into a rage, Sharpay scooted out from between the chair and table and ran from the room, ran through the hallway, and ran out the front door. She needed air, and quiet. And she needed to get away from all the expectant stares and formal behavior.
She didn't know where she was going, and she didn't know where she'd end up. But anywhere was better than where she had just been.
"She's just being her typical overly dramatic self," Mrs. Evans said to nobody in particular, for neither Ryan nor Mr. Evans had made any move to follow her. "Just let her be and she'll calm down soon enough."
For a short moment, the three stared at the door that Sharpay had just left through. Then, smiling her painted on smile, Mrs. Evans picked up the carving knife and handed it to her husband.
"Let's dig in!"
"Gabriella?!" Troy asked in pure shock. "What are you doing here?"
Gabriella fixed Troy with a pointed glare and said serenely, "Your dad ran into my mother at the grocery store. She's on account here in Albuquerque, as you know – "
"Actually, no I didn't know that," Troy interrupted harshly. "It's not like you tell me anything, anymore."
Gabriella rolled her eyes and waved her hand, dismissing his statement as unimportant. "Anyway, I wanted to spend the holiday's in Albuquerque, seeing as it's more of a home to me than any other city had ever been. But our little apartment doesn't exactly have the capacity for a full course Thanksgiving day meal. It seems mom and coach got to talking about this and he invited us over." Then her expression clouded over and an angry gleam appeared in her eyes. "Seeing as we never. Broke. Up." She said the last three words pointedly, reminding Troy that he hadn't told his parents about their little break, either.
That's certainly a mistake he'll never make again.
Troy nodded, keeping his lips tightly shut, then turned and walked out of the room. If Gabriella was going to be here for the meal, he'd have to stay away from her as much as possible. It was the only way to keep conversation civilized.
"Troy? Could you help me set the table?" Mrs. Bolton's voice called from the kitchen.
"Absolutely!" Troy agreed all too quickly. At least this provided him with some form of a distraction.
Grabbing the formal dining ware from the ancient cupboard in their barely used dining room, Troy took the next forty-five minutes to slowly and deliberately place every single piece of glassware and china in its exact perfect position on the dining room table. And it could not be denied, his work was rather impressive.
Unfortunately, people within his home could only be avoided for so long, and dinner had finally reached its final stages of preparation. The food was placed on the table by many helping hands and Troy and his family and Gabriella and her mother all ended up sitting in their chairs around the same table, eating the same food and participating in the same awkward conversation.
Troy just kept his eyes down and did his best not to listen.
Sharpay walked along the neighborhood streets for what felt like hours. Her feet were hurting and her sweater was no longer effective against the dropping temperature. She hugged her arms around her upper body and hoped that something extraordinary might happen to relieve her from her current life.
But, instead, a buzzing in her pocket interrupted all thought of miracles.
Pulling out her phone, Sharpay looked at the brightly lit screen.
Josh was calling.
Sharpay sighed, hit the silence button, and shoved her phone back in her pocket. Now was definitely not the time. In fact, she hadn't really found the right time for him since her frantic return home after a slightly disastrous end to her weekend at Troy's. She'd tried to avoid all thought of that weekend, though every once in a while a blindingly vivid image would fill her brain and make her cheeks flush.
It was all too much to handle, at the moment.
With a slight shake of her head, Sharpay erased all thought of that weekend from her mind and continued walking.
What was she going to do? She'd never lived on her own before and, frankly, never thought she'd need to. Mom and Dad had always provided her home, her support….her life. And they were just taking that all away?
And, oh my god, she had to get a job. Sharpay fought back the tears that sprung to her eyes. She knew it was common for students her age to hold part-time jobs, and she certainly didn't think less of them for it. She'd just never considered it a possibility for her own life. She had so many other things to focus on, to spend her time doing. How was she going to have any time for anything if she was working?
The thought made her shudder and Sharpay decided that adding this little thought to her increasing list of things not to think about was a good idea. So, instead of planning where she might apply and what she might be comfortable doing, Sharpay focused her attention on a much safer topic. A topic that wasn't from inside her head. She finally spent a moment to figure out where she was.
Sharpay stopped walking and gazed at the houses around her. These houses looked familiar. In fact, she'd been to one of them before. Standing at the base of a driveway, Sharpay looked up at the large house in front of her and gasped as it finally hit her whose house she was standing in front of.
Her first instinct was to turn and run as far and as fast as she could. But that feeling quickly disappeared as another feeling of safety and security washed through her. Without having realized it, Sharpay found herself standing at this houses front door, with her hand reaching out in front of her and her finger pressing on the doorbell.
She waited, holding her breath and listening to the echoes of the doorbell, heard only faintly through the thick oak door. The bell died away and was soon replaced by heavy footsteps, increasing in volume as they approached the door. The lock clicked out of its socket and the handle turned. And just like that the door stood open.
Troy stood in shock for a moment, needing the time to register what he was seeing. He'd spent the past two weeks calling Sharpay obsessively, though she'd ignored every call until he finally seemed to have given up hope. But here she was, standing with her arms rapped tightly around her middle, her shoulders hunched against the cold and her face soiled from her time crying.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, not intending to sound quite so rude.
"I don't know," she responded.
"Oh….Um….Come in!" He finally exclaimed, his manners eluding him until now.
Sharpay took a moment, considering backing out, but it was too late. The door was open and she wanted to enter. With a resolute look on her face, she began to shuffle forward, but a shrill voice from down the hall made her stop cold.
"Troysie?" It called, the voice grating on Sharpay's ears. "Your mother wants to know if you want pie?"
One more second and Gabriella appeared behind Troy's shoulder, her hair perfectly made up and her smile turning into a smirk the second she saw Sharpay. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize we had company," she said, her tone implying the opposite.
Sharpay stood frozen, the look of regret on her face making Troy's stomach clench into knots. Then, Sharpay turned and ran down the steps, cutting across the lawn in order to escape most efficiently.
"Sharpay!" Troy called, about to run after her. But Gabriella grabbed a hold of his arm in what he considered to be an unnecessarily tight grip and pull him back.
"Let her go," she said forcefully. "Take it from a girl, she just needs some time to collect herself." They stood there until the blonde of Sharpay's hair disappeared behind the next house over. Humming a cheerful tune, Gabriella let go of Troy's arm and walked slowly back to the dining room, leaving Troy to stare in confusion at the spot that Sharpay had disappeared.
Here we are! Yet another installment to this thrilling tale of what seems to be perpetual heartbreak. This chapter is much more introverted than the last chapter, I had some fun typing out the thought processes of Troy and Sharpay.
I hope you liked it and, as always, let me know in a review!