DPSG1/N: By my friend. All reviews will be forwarded to her and I shall reply to you as she commandeth. I read it, but didn't proofread myself. I'm assuming she already did that...however, if you spot an error of some sort while reading, we would really appreciate knowing about it. Thank you so much and enjoy.
Life at Lava Springs continued on after the rivalries that had erupted for the Lava Springs talent show. It was early August now, with Troy and Gabriella once again staring dreamily into each other's eyes while they worked, and everything seemed to be back the way it should be.
Except for Ryan Evans. He enjoyed hanging out with his new found Wildcat friends and he was happy that Sharpay was finally going out with Zeke, but the fact was that Ryan had a problem.
It was 2 AM and Ryan lay in his bed whimpering softly. It was summer in Albuquerque which meant it was hot, but it shouldn't have been this hot. He was shaking as if from cold and yet he felt as though he were burning up. His bed was literally dripping from the sweat coming off of his body and sleep wouldn't come.
This just wasn't normal for a seventeen year old, healthy male. Ryan knew this. He also knew it was normal to bleed from your mouth every time you brushed your teeth, and it certainly wasn't normal to develop large bruises from barely bumping into objects.
Ryan had a problem, but the real issue was that he didn't want anyone to know. Because if people knew, he would have to be taken to the hospital and diagnosed and everyone would treat him differently with those pitying glances. Just like they had when he was eight.
Of all people he was afraid would find out it was Sharpay. His twin had the eyes of a hawk and could sense something was wrong just by looking at you. She knew every symptom in the book from his last bout, and she would know. There were no two ways around it.
But the least he could do was keep it a secret as long as he could, though it might only be days before she noticed. Hopefully it would be longer.
Sighing in frustration Ryan turned on his side and shivered again before shutting his eyes to catch a few hours more of sleep before morning came and the Wildcats would be back at Lava Springs.
-HSM---HSM ---HSM---HSM---HSM---HSM---HSM---HSM--
Ryan meandered down past the golf course on his way to breakfast at the club house. In the summer all the Evans' meals were taken down there since the family cook worked in the club house in the summer months. Fortunately this meant that he could request his friends as waiters and give them a break by requesting all of the wildcats to keep him and Sharpay company. It made breakfast more fun than it had been for years.
This morning Ryan had gone with the comfortable look with his favorite pair of jeans (Shar absolutely loathed them), and his navy 'New York' t-shirt. He decided to go hatless for once and he had a comfortable pair of brown and white sneakers on. So he wasn't exactly stylish, but he certainly was happy.
Throwing open the glass double doors to the clubhouse, Ryan strolled in not surprised to see Sharpay and the rest of the Wildcats sitting around and eating breakfast.
" 'Morning, Ryan!" Gabriella called out when she saw him.
Everyone else turned around and shouted to him too. Ryan grinned, greeted the girls with 'good-mornings' and the guys with high-fives, and then sat down between Kelsi and Sharpay who had saved a seat for him.
Sharpay waved at a waiter, "Yoo-hoo! Take his order!"
As the waiter rushed over Ryan blushed and tried to say, "I don't think I'm too hungry …" but he stopped mid-sentence as Sharpay looked at him.
Sharpay glared, "Look at yourself! You look like you've lost a ton of weight! You have to eat!" Turning to the waiter, "He'll take scrambled eggs, waffles with whipped cream, hot chocolate, and bacon." She turned back to Ryan, "Anything else?"
"Nope," Ryan muttered, his face still red as he stared at the table. His stomach had felt queasy just listening to Sharpay name off the food.
Sharpay waved the waiter away before turning back to Ryan. She paused before squinting her eyes in her probing way and after staring him for much too long asked, "What's wrong with your face?"
Ryan stared back, his mind reeling with the shock of the odd question. "What?"
"I said, what's wrong with your face?"
"I heard you, I just wondered what you meant."
"Then rephrase your questions," she said rolling her eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
By this point the entire rest of the table had their eyes upon the twins' odd conversation. Gabriella had her head cocked as if trying to understand a young child speaking, Troy's eyes attested to the fact that he was lost, Chad was grinning at the absurdity, and Kelsi looked nervous for Ryan's sake. Taylor continued eating her eggs while scrutinizing them like some bizarre species, Jason blinked rapidly in confusion, Zeke's eyes were wide and surprised, and Martha had completely stopped eating and was staring at her plate in a form of unease unconsciously imitating Ryan's own state of discomfort.
"What're you talking about, Shar?" Ryan asked again uneasily.
Sharpay if possible stared harder her scrutinizing gaze becoming harder, "I meant when I gave your order you turned green. That would constitute something being wrong with your face."
Clearing his throat he murmured back, "Right. Well my face and I are not green. We're fine."
Sharpay shrugged, "I'll believe you when you eat."
Ryan smiled back with his most sincere fake smile, "Course, Sis, but I'm not real hungry."
"Prove you're fine by eating," she ordered her gaze becoming harder and just plain scary. "Otherwise you're getting on a scale and I'm taking you to a doctor if you're below 140 pounds."
"Hey, I never said I wouldn't eat!" Ryan exclaimed his eyes wide. "I'm fine! I don't need to see a doctor." Then pretending to be oblivious to her real meaning cried, "What are you implying? That I'm anorexic?"
"Just eat," she growled in response.
By this point all the Wildcats were feeling very uncomfortable about witnessing this apparently personal Evans's conversation. Everyone slowly turned their eyes away and began eating again. Kelsi just looked at Ryan with a comforting and yet concerned look. Ryan was sure his face was a brilliant red from listening to Sharpay's embarrassing tirade in front of everyone.
Moments later the doors from the kitchen opened and the waiter reappeared with Ryan's food. Everyone looked up from their food tentatively at Ryan. With a deep breath Ryan put a smile on his face, put the napkin on his lap and began to cut his waffles. Slowly he took one bite.
His stomach cramped up on him and he swallowed as best as he could. Sharpay and the others appeared satisfied, however. Sharpay nodded and went back to the flirting with Zeke as she had been before Ryan came in. Everyone else turned away as well and continued their conversations.
Ryan again picked his loaded fork up toward his mouth in slow motion before his stomach suddenly revolted. Before he knew what he was doing, Ryan had dropped his fork on his plate, knocked his chair over backwards and was half-way to the door before he fell to the ground dispelling the one bite of waffle he had just managed to eat. He held his stomach and whimpered softly, when he realized there was a comforting hand on his back.
He looked up into Kelsi's brown eyes that were filled with concern. He waved his hand as if to intone that he was fine before turning to finish his bout of nausea with some dry heaves.
When he was finally done he pulled his legs toward him until he was sitting cross-legged on the floor. He looked around and only now noticed that the Wildcats were all standing up and at different places in the room, from Gabriella talking quickly into her cell-phone, Zeke and Chad rushing forward with rags and a bucket, Taylor holding a glass of water out to him, Kelsi rubbing his back in comforting circles, Troy, Jason, and Martha standing by the table uncertainly, and finally Sharpay kneeling in front of him her face with a calm mask but with fire behind her eyes.
Taking the water from Taylor, Ryan's shaking hands brought the glass to his mouth where he began to sip slowly. He brought it down quickly as his stomach began to rebel again. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling of the hand circling on his back and on keeping the water in its right place in his stomach. After a moment he was able to open his eyes again.
Sharpay was able to keep her voice even as she said, "Ryan, how long have you known?"
"Known what?" Ryan murmured, still not wanting to admit the truth.
"How much did you lose?" She continued.
"Only about … thirty…" he whispered.
"POUNDS?" Sharpay asked her eyes bulging.
"…Yes…"
"Ry …" She crouched and stared him in the eyes, "How long have you known it was back?"
"Only … a month or two …"
Taking a deep breath to hide her rage from her brother she said in a crisp, icy tone, "And why didn't you tell me?"
His blue eyes met hers in a quiet pleading way that she could never resist, "…denial?"
"Tell me the truth," Sharpay said, glaring.
"I don't want to do it all again," he began. "I wanted to keep singing and dancing, and I didn't want chemo, and hair loss, and everybody looking at me and pitying me … and … and … I just wanted us to have a normal summer and senior year."
Sharpay could tell it was the truth, but she was still angry that he hadn't thought it out. "And how would this year be normal if no one knew and one day you just keeled over and died, hm?"
Ryan's eyes traveled down and stared at the floor, "Guess it hadn't really … occurred to me…"
"Well let it occur to you now," Sharpay said softly. Looking up she called to Gabriella, "Is the nurse on the way here yet?"
"Yeah, she's on her way," Gabriella responded, but her eyes were remaining on Ryan as he sat on the dining room floor. Chad and Zeke had begun to clean up the mess in front of him, while Sharpay waved Troy and Jason over to help Ryan to his feet. They bent on either side and held him steady while the world spun drunkenly for him. They helped him sit down just in time for the door to burst open and reveal a middle-aged woman carrying a large bag at her side. In a flurry she was standing over Ryan.
"Ryan Evans, what did you think you were doing?"
Ryan groaned softly and said, "I don't know, Annie, I'm sorry. Just ask Shar. I really am."
Sharpay rolled her eyes, "I won't back up the fact that he's sorry. I personally think that he's proud he made it two months without us knowing."
Annie's mouth gaped open, "TWO months?"
Sharpay nodded curtly, "And knowing Ryan, since he said one to two months, it's probably more like three."
Annie shook her head as she pulled out a damp rag which she applied to his forehead. "You're burning up, boy," she said as she continued her administrations. "With a fever like that, we're going to get your blood-work done first thing tomorrow."
"Why not today?" Sharpay demanded, obviously unhappy at the news.
"Because," Annie said as she began to stroke Ryan's blonde hair, "Today Ryan is going back to the house and will be relaxing on the couch while I call the hospital and set up the tests."
Sharpay huffed softly and muttered, "If he dies today it'll be all your fault."
Ryan's head was still spinning, but he managed to groan out, "I'd be a lot worse if I was going to die."
Gabriella finally broke in asking the question all of the Wildcats were thinking, "Um, guys? What exactly's going on?"
Sharpay frowned at her brother before turning to face Gabriella, "Ry's Leukemia is back."
Little gasps came from the girls, and the guys eyes all went wide as they all scrutinized Ryan.
Ryan shook his head slowly, "No, just maybe its back."
Sharpay threw a fist down at the table, "You idiot!" she cried, "Of course its back! Otherwise you wouldn't have been hiding this from me for three freaking months!"
"Two," Ryan corrected quietly.
"And if it's too late for any good treatments and you die," Sharpay said, her eyes snapping with anger, "I will completely blame you at your funeral!"
Annie glared at her, "Sharpay Evans! That is not appropriate!"
Suddenly pent up tears began streaming down her face, "But if he dies …"
"I'm not going anywhere," Ryan said, attempting to stand up, but Annie held him down, "Shar, I haven't given up … just don't … don't give up on me. Not yet"
Sharpay groaned and whispered, "Ry, I haven't given up on you … but you just made it so much harder," She looked him straight in the eye as her voice changed back to normal Sharpay, "Just think for once, will ya?"
"Will do," he murmured.
"Alright, let's get you in the golf-cart, mister," Annie said, doing her best to sound cheerful. Unfortunately both twins glared at her. Annie sighed, "Fine, you're making me do this: Ryan Evans, get your butt into that cart, or so help me if I don't call your father and make him come home. And Sharpay, if you aren't with me, you're against me, little missy, and as such I'll make sure your brother's not the only one in trouble."
The twins looked at each other and seemed to silently agree to do as their nurse told them to. They both knew they should listen to Annie: she had been more of a mother to them for 17 years than their own mother had.
The Wildcats all shared glances with each other, having found the one force in the world that could make the Evans twins back down. As Ryan, Sharpay, and Annie disappeared out the door, Gabriella looked around at her friends. "What did Sharpay mean about the Leukemia being 'back.'"
Kelsi answered for everyone, "When Ryan was eight he had it…. He nearly died." She ended in a whisper.
Gabriella looked extremely distressed, "That's so sad!"
Taylor finally slumped down into a chair and said, "I can't believe he wouldn't tell anybody when he knew it was back."
Chad shrugged as he wrung out the rag he had been using to scrub the floor with, "To tell you the truth, I'm not all that surprised. I mean, Evans is made of better stuff than we thought … he's tough."
Taylor shook her head, "It's not so much that he's tough, it's that he wouldn't think that he was really hurting himself more by not telling."
"I hope it's not too late for treatment," Kelsi said softly, looking at the floor.
Zeke's eyes went wide, "Is that possible?"
Martha picked a napkin up off the table to fidget with and sighed, "Yeah, I should think so. You know, I'd completely forgotten that Ryan had ever had it before. He was really sick, wasn't he?"
Troy began to nod, "I kinda remember that. I mean, I didn't know Ryan all that well, but I remember he fell asleep in that one class and no one could wake him up. It was pretty much the creepiest thing ever."
"Dude," Chad cut in, "I totally remember that! He was all pale and just lying there, and the teachers were calling the hospital and everyone was completely freaking out."
Martha started nodding too, "Especially Sharpay. She was really scared."
"Heck, everyone was!" Chad cried.
"What happened?" Gabriella asked, her eyes wide.
Taylor shrugged, "I wasn't in the room, but I was in the hall when they were carrying him out on a stretcher. He was in the hospital for a while after that though. Wasn't everyone saying he wouldn't last more than a few weeks by that point?"
Jason scratched his head, "Yeah, people were saying that."
"As morbid as it sounds," Gabriella began, "why didn't Ryan die?"
Kelsi was the only one who knew the answer to that, "Sharpay gave him bone-marrow for a marrow transplant. Apparently it worked," she said with a tiny shrug.
Troy looked at her his forehead scrunched up in slight confusion, "How'd you know that, Kels? I'd never heard that."
She blushed slightly, "Well, when Ry was sick I went to visit him sometimes. He'd always been really nice to me, and so I wanted to be nice back."
Martha smiled, "That was really nice, Kels!"
"Well," Kelsi said with a shrug, "Ryan needed a friend, and I thought I could be that friend … of course he always had Sharpay. But he told me that before they were going to try the procedure. He said Sharpay was pretty much the bravest person ever."
Everyone in the room smiled at that … it was a completely Ryan-like comment to make. Finally Troy looked up and said, "Hey guys, we need to get back to work."
Jason jumped up, "Yeah, Fulton's freaky when he's mad."
Everyone quickly scurried back to the kitchen to their tasks, while Kelsi and Gabriella remained in the room. Kelsi sat with her hands covering her face, whispering softly to herself. Gabriella walked over and put a hand on her back.
"Kels," she whispered to her friend, "Ryan got it into remission last time. I'm sure they'll do it this time too."
Kelsi looked up at her, her eyes wide behind her glasses, "I hope so," she murmured before giving Gabriella a half-smile and walking back to the piano room.
Gabriella watched her go before turning to toward the pool. "I hope so, too." Gabriella said under her breath.
You might see this as a continuation of sorts of my friend's other story, "Stocking up on Obsession," but it's got slight differences, so it pretty much is a separate, more elaborate story. The next chapter will be posted as soon as I'm done proofreading. Again, errors, questions, concerns, comments etc. are all appreciated. Thanks!