Disclaimer: just the story is mine, with help from a few. unfortunately i don't have the honor of owning everything else.

Rated: M. today. for lots of things you'll find out as you read. i don't want to give away the story now!

A/N: hey guys, sorry for the wait! hope you guys like the chapter, we are like half way through the story now. btw, in your free time, go to its a webpage for a new corbin bleu movie coming out and you should totally check it out! anyway, read on. :D btw again, its the new longest chapter.

Appreciate

Chapter 6

Sharpay was sitting on her bed, waiting for her phone to ring. It was getting dark and she hadn't seen or heard from Ryan since yesterday and her car was missing. She had left seventeen voice messages for him so far, and called over twenty times. The phone rang and she jumped with excitement. It was a number she didn't recognize but she answered anyway.

"Hello?" She said anxiously.

"Hi, Sharpay?" Sharpay's face dropped. Probably the one person she wanted to hear from least was on the phone. Gabriella.

"Yeah. Look, Ryan isn't here so-"

"Actually Sharpay, I want to talk to you." Sharpay could tell Gabriella was a little scared, as well she should be.

"Oh. Well. Okay. Go." She said.

"Well, Ryan came to my place last night, he, uh, slept here. So I just want you to know he is okay, cause I know if my brother left and never came home, I'd be nervous." Sharpay let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you!" She said, whole-heartedly.

"You're welcome. But that's not all I called about." Gabriella paused. "Last night, when your brother was here, he was really upset. He told me about your fight." Sharpay groaned.

"Of course he did. Now you probably think I'm even more of a bitch."

"Actually, no. I just wanted you to know how sorry I am, about you and Troy." Sharpay was a little shocked to hear that, but let her continue, "Ryan told me that he dumped you, and what happened with you and Chad was nothing. I wish I could go back in time so I would have never walked in on you guys and jumped to conclusions. Troy..." She paused, a few tears coming to her eyes, "Well, I heard a different story from him. He lead me to believe you had cheated on him, and then he broke up with you. Never did he mention he broke up with you first. Trust me, if I had known... I wish I had known." Sharpay could hear the sadness in her voice.

"Gabriella, It's fine. Really, I'm over him and couldn't care less what you guys thought of me." That was a lie. But she wanted to sound somewhat comforting.

"No. If I had known how he broke up with you, and why..." A tear streamed down her face. "I had no idea he... he l-loved me. And I'm sorry he told you that. It's no way to break up with someone. And I'm sorry you think I'm taking everything away from you. I would never do anything like that intentionally." Sharpay actually felt sorry for Gabriella. She could tell something else was up, though. She had never heard Gabriella sound so scared.

"I'm glad you know the real story, and thanks for all the apologies. I'm okay now. But, something tell me that more happened between you and Troy than you want me to know." Sharpay said. She heard a few sobs on the other line, "Gabriella, are you okay?"

"No." Gabriella said, wiping her eyes. "This morning when Ryan and I were getting dressed he said-"

"Whoa! What?!?" Sharpay nearly jumped off of her bed. Gabriella slapped her forehead realizing what she just said. "Getting dressed? Did you... you and Ryan... last night?!?! Ohmigod!"

Gabriella's face was reddening. "Yeah," She whispered. Sharpay began to laugh, "I always thought you were so innocent! Guess I was wrong about that! Wow... you and Ryan." The was silence on the other end and Sharpay calmed herself, "Sorry. Continue." Gabriella laughed a little.

"Well, this morning while we-" Gabriella stopped herself and heard a giggle on the other end."Anyway, Ryan told me the real story. About you and Troy. I had already made plans with him for lunch, so I went. Well, when I got there, I yelled at him and ran out. He came after me and kissed me, roughly. I tried to get out of it but... but he wouldn't let go." Gabriella choked on her words and remembered how scared she was. Sharpay couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"Gabby.." Sharpay paused, realizing she was referring to her with a nickname. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Its not like its your fault. But I don't know what to say to Ryan."

"Just be honest. Believe me," Sharpay paused and thought about how much Ryan loved her. "He will be fine." She looked out the window and saw her brother's car pull in, " Ryan just got home. Hey, why don't you stop by?"

"Really?" Gabriella said, skeptically.

"Yeah. You and my brother obviously need to talk, and I wouldn't mind talking either." Gabriella could sense Sharpay's smile through the phone.

"Sure. I'll be right over."

"Okay. Tootles!" Sharpay hung up and smiled. She was actually... excited. Her smile turned into a frown when she heard the front door slam. She walked out of her room and looked down the hall to see Ryan stomping up the stairs. His eyes were red and puffy and she knew he had been crying. Sharpay had never really seen her brother cry. He had always been the strong one. He looked up at her before walking into his room and shutting the door. She walked over and knocked.

"Ry, please let me in." There was no answer., "Ryan, please." She heard shuffling and motion on the other side of the door, and knew her brother was directly on the other end, " Look. I've been thinking a lot about what you've said, and you're right. About everything. I've been, probably the worst sister in the world to you, and you have been nothing but an amazing brother to me. I don't know I didn't notice before but, I'm really, really sorry Ryan. For everything. I want us to be good again." She paused and sniffled a bit. " I hate having you mad at me. I love you." She said, wiping a tear from her eye.

His door slowly opened, revealing a torn Ryan. She leaped onto him and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly. Sharpay smiled into her brother's shoulder. She missed him.

"I love you too, Shar." He kissed the top of her head. She pulled back and looked up at him. His eyes were glossy.

"Ry, what's wrong?" Ryan looked away, "Nothing. Everything is good now." Sharpay could tell that was a lie.

"Yeah, okay. Cause that's not a lie." She said sarcastically. She could tell he wasn't ready to talk about it so she changed the subject. "So," She began, "Have fun with Gabriella last night?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" He said, obviously confused.

"She called and apologized about everything, even though it wasn't even her fault, like at all, which I'm just starting to realize. But anyway, we started talking and she let something slip about you two getting dressed this morning, and well, one would assume that-"

"Yeah. I get it." He said, frowning a little. Sharpay continued to look up at him and knew there was seriously something wrong with her brother. Well, if he won't talk about it with me, maybe he can talk to Gabriella.

"Ryan, don't even pretend nothing is wrong. Even your acting skills can't hide how hurt you are." He remained silent and focused on a corner of the room. "Well, Gabriella is coming over, so if you refuse to talk about it with me, maybe she can help." Ryan looked back to Sharpay.

"She is the last person I want to talk to." His tone became bitter and he turned around to walk towards his bed.

"What? Why-" She was cut off by the ringing of the doorbell. "Look, Ry, if you really don't want to talk I'll-"

"No, you know what? I think we do need to talk. I'll get it." He cut her off and cut up off of his bed. He marched past her and practically ran down the stairs. Sharpay followed slowly. Ryan got to the door and opened it ferociously, causing Gabriella to jump.

"Hey!" She said happily, stepping in for a hug but Ryan took a step back. Sharpay watched from the bottom of the staircase.

"Hi." He said shortly. Gabriella frowned.

"Ryan, what happened?" Gabriella said, full of concern. He faked a laugh.

"It's funny how you're the one to ask." He turned around and started to walk towards Sharpay. She had a contorted look on her face. She clearly wanted to know what was going on.

"What? What are you talking about?" Gabriella asked, hesitantly. Ryan whipped his body back around.

"Seriously? You don't know?"

"No." Gabriella said timidly. Ryan chuckled again.

"So, you're just going to stand there and lie directly to my face? I expected a little more from you." Gabriella was shocked with the anger in his voice. She looked over to Sharpay, but she just shrugged her shoulder's. The room was silent.

"Fine. I don't need you to confirm what I already know anyway." Ryan walked towards the door and started to shut it, put Gabriella stuck her hands out and pushed back.

"No! Ryan! What's going on?" Ryan stopped pushing on the door and let Gabriella stumble forward.

"What do you think, Gabriella? Maybe the fact you went to lunch with Troy. Maybe the fact he loves you. Hell, it might just be because you kissed him. Yeah. Let's go with that." Gabriella's face dropped. Sharpay ran over to Ryan.

"Wait, Ry-" She tried to tell him but he didn't care what she had to say.

"Not now, Shar." He said, gently pushing her out of the was.

"Ryan, I-" Gabriella said softly, but Ryan stopped her, "Do you have any fucking idea how much that hurt? To see you and Troy... kissing? I mean, I guess I should have seen it coming. East High's Golden Boy or the Drama geek. Not really a hard decision, I know. But, for a while, I thought you were different. Different than any other girl at East High, because you actually liked me. And God knows I fell for you the first day you came here."

"No, that's not-" Gabriella felt a few tears travel down her face.

"No! Let me finish. After everything that happened the past couple months, with you and your dad, with us, all those amazing moments together. Clearly, they meant nothing to you if you could run back to Troy so easily. After last night..." Ryan paused, wiping a tear from his own eye. "I loved you, Gabriella. I thought you felt the same way for me, but today proved me wrong."

"I do love you, Ryan." Gabriella managed to get out.

"Really? Cause you have an awfully funny way of showing it." Ryan looked away, trying to hide his sadness and keep his ground.

"Ryan, let me-"

"You know what? I don't even want to hear it. For once, I'm going to be the one to walk out on you." Sharpay jumped back in again, "Ryan, just let her talk to you." He ignored her as he grabbed the door and began to close it for the second time.

"Ryan, please." Gabriella said, her mascara running.

"Goodnight, Gabriella." He said coldly, and shut the door. She turned around and began to run home, sobbing. She hated herself for letting this happen. She hated Troy. She hated everything and everyone in that one moment of time. All except Ryan, although, she knew he hated her. And why shouldn't he? I haven't given him a reason not to.

She finally reached her house and ran upstairs to her room, ignoring her mother's welcome. She slammed the door and collapsed onto her bed. She grabbed a pillow and sobbed into it. Withing minutes the pillow was saturated in make-up and tears. She screamed into it and threw it down on the ground. She looked around her room, everything reminding her of Ryan. She had to get out. She had to get away. She went to her dresser and grabbed her license. She put it in her pocket and quietly walked downstairs into the kitchen. She went to the counter and grabbed her mother's car keys. She bolted out of the house and ran to the car. She sat down in the driver's seat and rested her head on the steering wheel. She hadn't driven without an adult since she got her license, her mother didn't want her to yet. And to top it off, she was taking her mother's car without permission, but Gabriella didn't care. She just needed to leave. She started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. She started down the road, slowly gaining more and more speed.

She turned at the end of her development and soon she was gone.

Ryan closed the door and turned to a furious Sharpay.

"What the hell was that?" She yelled. She noticed a few tears falling down his face and softened her tone. "Why didn't you just let her talk?"

"Why? So she could tell me I'm right and she is sorry, but she has feelings for Troy now? No thanks, I wasn't really in the mood to hear it."

"Well, if you let her get three words in without you flipping out, you would know that she wasn't going to say that. Maybe she needed to be comforted by someone she thought would always stand by her!"

"Why would she need my comfort? She could just go to Troy."

"Well if you had shut the fuck up and listened you would have known!" Sharpay said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Known what? What are you trying to tell me Sharpay?" He yelled.

"I'm trying to tell you what you wouldn't give Gabriella a chance to say! She didn't want to kiss him! In fact, she tried to get out of it! But he wouldn't let her. He held her tightly and she couldn't move! Hell, if she didn't get away when she did, the bastard could have raped her! He came onto her, Ryan, while she was walking away from him. If you weren't so fucking stubborn maybe you would have known that and wouldn't have let probably the best thing that's ever happened to you walk out the door!" Ryan was taken aback.

"H-how do you know all this?" He asked, internally cursing himself.

"She told me when she called." Sharpay said quietly. Ryan ran his fingers through his hair.

"I was a complete asshole, wasn't I?" Sharpay nodded solemnly. Ryan groaned.

"I need to find her. I have to talk to her." Ryan said.

"So go." Sharpay nodded towards the door. Ryan walked over and enveloped her in a hug. She hugged back, "You're welcome." She said. He pulled back and smiled. He ran out the door to his sister's car. He quickly pulled out of the driveway and sped to Gabriella's house. He slowed down in font of her house and saw the empty driveway. He drove away, frustrated. He drove away, accelerated the speed. He had to find her.

A/N: oh man. So this is kind of a cliffhanger, because the car crash that was stated in the trailer, well its in the next chapter. I really hope you all don't hate me, but i really want it to happen this way. And its my story, so i can :P. R&R! Let me know what you thought. Stay tuned for the next chapter!