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From the outside, Sharpay Evans-Bolton had everything she ever wanted in high school. She was a famous actress of stage and film with two Oscars, three Tony's, four Golden Globes, and six MTV movie awards. She had homes in the Hollywood Hills, Monaco, Tokyo, and Manhattan. She was married to the person she was in love with through all of high school and half of junior high. She had millions of adoring fans, who would pay to see her read the phone book. The icing on the cake was that Gabriella Montez-Caraballo worked for her.
Of course, life was not like her high school fantasy. Gabby functioned as Sharpay's cut through lawyer, not as her slave. Sharpay always suspected Gabriella was not as sweet as she appeared on the outside. It turned out she was right, Gabriella was absolutely vicious at the negotiating table.
Sure Sharpay won tons of awards, but not the way she wanted to. Both of her Oscar awards were for best original song in a film and four of her MTV movie awards were for best kiss. Half the time people just saw her as a blonde idiot or eye candy. The media saw her as a sober Lindsay Lohan with more acting skills, but just barely. She had tabloid journalists digging through her trashcans and they followed her everywhere. She had no privacy whatsoever, it was miserable.
Her adoring husband loves her more like a brother than a lover and was essentially using her as his cover. Actually, he was sleeping with her brother. Troy’s stupid agent was worried that fan girls would stop throwing their panties on stage and buying his albums if they knew that pop megastar Troy Bolton was definitely not a ladies' man. Said agent has convinced Troy that for the sake of his career, he needs to stay deep in the closet. (Actually, she thinks it’s her father-in-law who’s responsible but she doesn’t say anything.) Because she loves Troy as her best friend if nothing else and she doesn’t want her brother’s boyfriend making out with random strangers to play straight, she became his cover and later his wife. Besides her wonderful brother convinced her it would be good for her career. Because she loves her brother, she agreed to the whole thing.
In addition, in her high school fantasies, Sharpay didn't have fans that send death threats and dead blood covered roses. After receiving the second bouquet of dead flowers drenched in animal blood, Gabby, Troy and Ryan had her on the first plane back to New Mexico. The three were absolutely petrified because of the note attached to the flowers described what the sick fan wanted to do to her sexually before he murdered her in such a revolting way that she couldn't even repeated it in her mind. She threw up twice after reading the note.
It wasn't that she didn't love her old hometown. It was one of the few places where the press didn't follow her everywhere. People respected her here and left her alone. It was just that they were forcing her to stay with Chad Danforth.
The man drove her crazy in high school and college. Sure, he was a top detective with the Albuquerque PD and was an expert in many different forms of martial arts, but he was still annoying. She didn’t care if he was an excellent shot and knew how to kill somebody without very little effort. They could have hired someone with his skill level to protect her in New York and she could continue working. Instead, they decide to hide her in the middle of nowhere surrounded by bodyguards, police, and her ‘husband’ and brother’s overprotective childhood friend.
The first day, she threw a tantrum when she found out she couldn't even leave her hotel room to go shopping until they found the person trying to kill her or they decided he was no longer a threat. Essentially, she was on house arrest for the duration. She didn't even bother talking to Chad, except when she had to. She blamed him for her exile/captivity.
On the second day, she read scripts from movies that she would probably not be able to do. At least, it gave her something to do, because Chad was essentially ignoring her that day. After several hours of reading, she concluded that she could write something better than 90% of the scripts she read that day. In almost every script, she was asked to play the same role of the pretty idiot.
On the third day, she decided it would be in her best interests to talk to the person who was protecting her. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of asking him about his college girlfriend and former fiancée Candy. Apparently, she left him because he joined the police force after college.
After that very short conversation, she decided to go over to Fan Fiction World to see what her fans were doing to the various characters she has played over the years. She used to love reading and writing thing for that site in college. It was very disconcerting for her to find out that everyone sees her as a shallow bitch and essentially like to write stories about her various characters dying in the most vicious way possible. She wasn’t brave enough to look at the RPF stuff. That night, she cried herself to sleep.
On the fourth day, she decided to grab her handy dandy laptop and actually work on a script. She always wanted to write a play or film. This activity kept her from going stir crazy for the next few days. The police still had no leads on the person sending her obscene packages.
On the fifth day, a third package of blood-covered flowers was sent to her L.A home. This time there was no note, instead there was just a computer-generated picture of her mutilated body. Chad did not teller about this. Instead, she found out about it on one of her fan sites, that somehow managed to hack into the police report. Chad was absolutely furious about that breach of security in the case.
On the six day, Chad found her crying as she read the web site. He held her as she cried. After that, he stayed with her and watched one of her favorite movies.
On the seventh day, they actually have a conversation without yelling or screaming. She was starting to see that maybe it was a good thing that Troy, Ryan, and Gabriella were forcing her to stay with Chad. Being with him was definitely keeping her mind off of the moron trying to kill her.
On the eighth day of her forced imprisonment, she decides to let Chad read the first draft of her crazy script. The story is about a Hollywood starlet who finds out her husband is in love with her brother and discovers her entire fantasy life was just a big lie when her life is threatened by a debilitating disease. He asked her what inspired her to write such a story. She lied and told him it was just something that came to her one day. The whole thing was much more sordid than her situation anyway.
She knows that he knows that she is lying. She told herself it is because he is her husband's best friend; he probably knew more about the Ryan/Troy situation than she did. His only comment is that she should add that the husband was mostly in the closet because he’s afraid to disappoint his manager/dad. It’s good to know somebody else blames Jack.
On the ninth day, everything goes to hell. At 5:30 AM, a fourth package of dead blood-covered flowers were found on the front steps of her mother's house here in Albuquerque. Sharpay is just happy that one of the servants discovered the package and not her mom. At 6:30 AM, a fifth package arrives at the hotel where she is staying. Instead of the usual package of dead blood covered roses, there is a marzipan breast with the words "not as good as the real thing" written in blood. The police later identified that the blood is human this time, instead of animal.
By 7 AM, the situation becomes critical when the body of a girl who looks a lot like Sharpay is discovered a block away from where she is hiding. For the sake of propriety and to keep herself from throwing up again, she won't think about the gruesome details. Chad tried to hide it from her but eventually he told her the whole truth. He held her hair back as she emptied the contents of her stomach in the nearest restroom.
Chad finally tells her the entire truth that day. The dead blood covered roses were not the first sign of this nut job. Her stalker has been sending her threatening letters and marzipan body parts for months. Only in the last two weeks, has the person escalated to the blood covered presents and dead bodies. By 8:00 AM, she is being rushed out of the hotel, in disguise, as Chad holds onto her for dear life. She is under too much stress to think about how good it felt for him to hold her.
4 hours later, there at some undisclosed location in the middle of the desert. On the car ride there, Chad tries to keep her mind off the psychopath trying to kill her by talking about all the silly stuff they used to do in high school. She admits to him that she had a crush on him in college, but was too afraid of Candy to try anything. He kisses her on the cheek and tells her that he wish she would have tried.
The situation is so critical now that Chad stays in the same room as her, at all times. There are also two other officers staying outside the door. At least with Chad there, she can pretend she is hanging out with an old friend instead of her being guarded constantly. The first night he sleeps next to her in an uncomfortable chair.
On the 10th day in captivity, she tries to work on her writing again. This time she is working on a script about a bunch of kids in high school that starts singing and dancing in the middle of the cafeteria for no good reason. She gets in two good hours of writing before she becomes too edgy to do any work. It feels like she is just waiting for this bastard to come and kill her. The only thing keeping her sane is Chad. It felt good to have someone to talk to, other then her therapist.
Chad comes up with this crazy Idea for the two of them to play a game of truth or dare. By the end of the game, she knew that Chad really did know all about the real status of her marriage. In addition, she learned that after a year at Yale, Taylor dropped out to be a pilot. Also, Chad's college girlfriend broke off their engagement not just because of his job, but because he didn't go to the NBA. Most surprisingly, he had a crush on her in high school and college. Apparently, he told Troy in high school to stay away from her because he wanted to be with her. If only she knew that back then.
She told him about how miserable she was being famous and how she wished she became a schoolteacher instead of an actress. He dares her to kiss him and she does. It is the most powerful and intends kiss she has ever experienced in her life. She wants to do it again, but does not dare.
Instead, they watch the complete final season of ugly Betty on DVD. She made multiple comments about how they kept putting Betty with the wrong guy for most of the series. Chad calls Betty an idiot for holding on to the unrealistic ideal of Henry for so long. His comment makes her think about her unrealistic ideals she used to have about Troy. She wonders if there will be a Daniel waiting for her if she finally decides to let go. They also talked about how Wilhelmina was vilified unfairly in the series.
When Chad goes to sleep in the chair again that night, she pulls him in into her bed instead. All they do is sleep. However, it was the first full night of sleep she has had since this ordeal had begun. In his arms, despite everything, she felt safe and love.
On the 11th day, blood covered baked goods in the shape of various body parts start showing up at her various house. Even Ryan receives a nasty blood covered baked good appendage. (Troy was with him at the time.)
On the 12th day, shot were fired on her mother's house. Fortunately, after the blood covered roses incident almost a week earlier, the police and her father forced Darby to go on a 'overseas vacation'. Chad was trying to keep her distracted by playing board games with her, but it wasn't working. Instead he helps her work on her script again. Writing with him is the only thing that is keeping her somewhat distracted.
By Day 13 of her force captivity, she was convinced that this bastard was going to kill her. If she was going to die, than she was not going to have any regrets. She finally gave in and kissed him again. She knew that by being with him, she was technically cheating on her husband. But is it really cheating when your husband has a boyfriend? In the 13 days that she was trapped with Chad, she fell in love with him.
The next day was the worst day of her life. It started out good with her waking up in Chad's arms. Unfortunately, the man that had been stocking her for months had finally found her. It turned out to be her ex boyfriend from high school, Zeke Baylor. The officers guarding her on the outside of the room were on the floor bleeding. She was sure that at least one was dead.
After another shot from his gun, Chad was laying on the floor as well, blood seeping everywhere. Before she could even think, she grabbed the heavy glass vase on the table and hit Zeke with it. She heard a sickening snapped as he went into the wall. She quickly grabbed the gun from the floor where it fell.
Apparently, everyone forgot about her five years of martial arts training or those weaks she had spent studying with Special Forces for a film role. With gun in hand, she quickly checked his pulse. The person who scared her for so long was dead. She didn't have enough time to feel guilty about taking a human life or relief at his death. She ran to Chad hoping that he was okay. His breath was shallow and labored. Before he lost consciousness, he told her the words she wanted to hear the most, "I love you."
Sharpay Evans was not a religious person. It was not that she didn't believe in God, it was just the only thing that was worshipped in the Evans household was money and power. The only thing money and power ever gave Sharpay, was this current situation. So for the first time ever, even though she didn't know how, she prayed to God. She promised to leave everything behind; the money, the power and the fame, if Chad will survive this. She cried out to the heavens, "I don't want it all anymore, I just want him."
Troy, Ryan, and Gabriella stayed with her in the hospital waiting room as they waited for word on his condition. Apparently, they have been in the Albuquerque area for the last 14 days even though no one told her. She stood in the room covered in Chad's blood, to out of it to think of changing. In the hallway, she confesses to Troy that she fell in love with someone else. He instantly knows whom she is talking about. He promises to have the divorce papers ready in a few days. He tells her that he sorry he could not love her, as he should have. He was happy that she found happiness with the one person he trusted the most.
Two days later, when Chad woke up from his chemical induced coma, she quickly tells him how much she loves him. The media followed her everywhere she went for the next couple of months, as she finished up the last of her contractual obligations. They could not get enough of the celebrity going crazy after being almost killed. They blamed her for the end of America's favorite couple, saying the divorce was some sort of symptom of Post traumatic Stress Syndrome. If they only knew the truth.
Sharpay didn't care about such worthless things anymore. She was going to make good on her promise to God and leave Hollywood behind. She had enough money stored away from her investments and royalties to live comfortably for the rest of her life. She was going to buy a nice house in New Mexico and live happily ever after with the love of her life. However, her fiancé decided to send her screenplay, that she wrote during her captivity, to her former agent.
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Two years later a very pregnant Sharpay stood up on stage accepting the Oscar for best original screenplay for "I Want It All". She laughed at the fact that she won in the wrong category because this screenplay was adapted from the life of Sharpay Evans. Nobody knew that though. Everybody, believed this brilliant work came from the mine of S.E. Danforth. No one knew that the brown headed woman in front of them was the same actress that they mocked years earlier.
Sharpay was happy with her life in New Mexico. She may not have it all anymore as she did in the past. However, she had exactly what she wanted; a loving husband and soon they will have their very first child. She had two more scripts in production and was currently working on another project. Best of all she could do all this from a home in Albuquerque. Maybe having it all is overrated.
During her Oscar acceptance speech, she thanked her first high school boyfriend for showing her the folly of her ways and for putting her on the path to her true love. Only the three people at her table and her lawyer knew exactly what she meant.
Troy also won an Oscar that night for playing the role of the closeted celebrity husband in the film. Most people thought it was an ironic casting choice until his acceptance speech. Troy finally came out publicly during the telecast by proposing to her brother. The whole thing completely overshadowed her but that was a good thing. Her former Father-in-law was probably having a heart attack right now.
