Well, I guess this means there WILL be more than 5 chapters. :D I'm not totally satisfied with this chapter - not a whole lot happens, but it had to be written to get to where things DO happen. Know what I'm saying?

And hey, how come most of you didn't review the last chap? Tsk tsk tsk. You had me really worried there. ;P

I hope you review this one! :)

-ssn

P.S. This chapter is dedicated to UnwrittenTale. I included a small Jimella moment just for her. :D I hope you enjoy, mon ami!

X Ray Vision

Part Five

Jimmie was left amazed.

So much so that he refused to recall the conversation. Normally, he'd have replayed each word that passed between them with careful, deliberate consideration—but this was different. It wasn't the painful topic of their conversation that stopped him, either.

Sharpay had warmed up to him for the first time and he feared if he concentrated on it too much: he'd suddenly wake up in his bed and realize it had all been a dream. In order to possibly prevent that, he decided to simply acknowledge that it happened and let the flow carry him wherever else it may. If he continued to have a relationship with Sharpay then so be it. If it were just a fragment of his imagination—he'd start seeing someone about it.

Jimmie slid his board under his feet and glided into the halls of East High. The buzz of the hallway ignited the fire in his belly. He was flying.

He zipped past a glaring teacher and a slick smile spread across his features. He was so wrapped up in rebelling that he hadn't noticed someone heading towards him—until it was too late. Jimmie tried to skid to a stop but he lost control and flew forward straight into the arms of a beautiful girl.

Slowly, Jimmie opened his eyes to check the damage. But when his eyelids fluttered to life, a brilliant shade of brown beamed right back at them. Gabriella Montez was holding his limp, diagonally-slanted body in her arms; his head rested directly above her chest. His cheeks boiled in humiliation.

Jimmie jumped back and firmly positioned himself three feet away.

"Uh... hey there, Gabriella. S-sorry."

"That's alright," she hit him with one of her famous face-cracking grins, "it's not everyday I catch a flying Rocketman."

Jimmie's skin was on fire. He tried to laugh at her joke, but it sounded more like a honk than anything else. The level of his embarrassment crashed through the roof. He cleared his throat and fought to keep his voice from wavering.

"I hope you're not late for class or-or anything."

"No, actually, I was just on my way to talk to Sharpay. Wanna come?"

"Say what?" Jimmie's brows fell.

"Troy and I are meeting up to ask her about the prom. ...Wasn't it your idea? I think that's what he told me."

Jimmie felt like a bomb had just been dropped on his head. According to his plans, he and Sharpay were supposed to be heading off to the beach tonight. He'd forgotten about it completely. With such late notice, he was skeptical she'd agree.

"You're only asking her now?"

"I know it's late—I'm sorry. But she does have a knack for avoiding people."

Jimmie bobbed his head to the side—that was definitely true. However, Jimmie "The Rocketman" Zara was equally good at finding people who didn't prefer to be found. He'd proved to himself that much. Suddenly, his face lit up.

"I think I can help."

-x-x-x-

Sharpay found an empty hallway and sat down against a row of lockers.

Already, the feelings of last night—acceptance, understanding, friendship—had disappeared. Sharpay hadn't expected to suddenly be cured of her depression, but she thought it might have lasted longer than one evening. She was wrong.

From the minute she walked in the door, Chad had harassed her. He sliced her about being dateless to Prom; it was pathetic that her only friend had been Ryan; her reign of terror was over. He struck every cord, every string that held her battered heart together, with sharp precision. Chad knew exactly what to say to make Sharpay hate herself.

She leaned her head on the cold metal of the locker and closed her eyes.

Sharpay didn't want to hate herself anymore. After all this time, it became exhausting. It made everything else she did harder. But the more she loathed herself, the farther away she pulled from the rest of humanity. Isolation was her only friend. But she wanted something real.

Sharpay wanted just one person to side with her. A shield from all the evils. She needed someone to say it was okay—to make her believe life was worth living. To take these burdens off her shoulders—it was too heavy to carry alone. And that one person would make all the difference in her life. She wanted—.

Her heart jerked.

She wanted Jimmie.

She wished he was here right now. Sharpay sunk further into the locker. The resistance she once held against him pooled on the floor like a stage curtain revealing the show. The spotlight shone on her head, now. She was ready to open up.

Sharpay only hoped Jimmie was ready too. It was a lot to take in, after all.

Suddenly, a hand patted her knee. Her eyes shot open. Gabriella was kneeling in front of her, a friendly smile made up her face. Sharpay looked up. There stood Troy right beside her. A sarcastic smile found its way onto her face.

"Well, if it isn't the two most romantic tree-huggers like ever." The words dripped from her mouth mercilessly.

Troy rolled his eyes; Gabriella giggled.

"Nice to see you too, Sharpay," she replied.

Sharpay's face remained blank. "Do you want something?"

Gabriella nodded, the smile never fell out of place. She elbowed Troy.

"Oh right," he stumbled forward a little. "Yeah, do you want to come to my party? We're having Prom down by the beach." He scratched his head. Sharpay raised a brow.

"You're inviting me? Did you think I'd actually come, or is this just the "make sure no one's excluded" protocol your parents put you up to?" Sharpay stood up and crossed her arms.

Troy opened his mouth, but couldn't find the words. Gabriella stepped in.

"Sharpay, not everyone is invited. Some of Troy's friends, and a few of mine. We want you to come." Gabriella softened her smile.

"Why?" she spat. "I'm not friends with either one of you."

"You used to be..." her voice slowly crumbled to a whisper.

Sharpay narrowed her eyes. "So, now that Ryan's dead—I'm not worthy of your friendship? Is that it?" Her words struck like daggers.

"Sharpay, no!" Gabriella looked alarmed.

"Why would you think that?" Troy whispered, concernedly. The more they tried to convince her otherwise, the more Sharpay resented it.

"Don't play games with me, Troyella. I don't have time for this bull." Sharpay turned her back and began to walk away. Gabriella reached out to call her name, but someone beat her to it.

Jimmie suddenly slid out from the shadows: the hall adjacent and Sharpay's only exit. She stopped in her tracks.

"Jimmie!" Her voice went up in volume from the surprise. "What-what are you—?"

"I want you to come, Shar," he watched her carefully. "They're not trying to trick you, trust me. Just come and … and be my date."

Sharpay's brows curved in deeper. What was this? Some kind of gang-up? Why was he here, defending them? Was he in on all of this? She didn't know what to do. She thought she was ready to let him in, but the panic in her chest told her something else. She averted her gaze.

"I have to go," she spat.

She pushed past him and ran down the hall.

-x-x-x-

Jimmie sprang into action.

His eyes merely gazed over the dejected pair down the hall, before spinning around to catch up with Sharpay. Being here as back-up made him tardy for homeroom, but after he found and smoothed things over with Sharpay—he'd have detention. Jimmie had gotten detention plenty of times, for far sillier things—this time, he had a true and noble cause. Sharpay made everything worth the fight.

"It's okay! I'll talk to her!" he called over his shoulder.

He turned the corner and drowned in a raging sea of people.

As appeared before him, homeroom had let out, and switching classes caused much more of an uproar than Jimmie had expected. How would he find Sharpay now? He could scarcely stretch his arms forward without them being trampled on. He tried to jump and search over the hundreds of heads, but that was inefficient at best. Jimmie sighed.

Suddenly Donny was squished up against him. They were caught in an impossible net of people, neither could move without getting run over. Donny's cheek was pressed against Jimmie's.

"Oh, hey, Don." Jimmie could feel Donny glare.

"You know, I called you 20 times yesterday—what were you doing, dog?"

"Well," Jimmie tried to laugh but it was difficult in his current position, "ow—you have my attention, now." Donny jabbed him in the ribs. "Ow, dude! We're already crammed as it is—I'm sorry, alright?"

"You can't just disappear on me like that! I thought that maybe—" he stopped. Jimmie got the hint and sighed.

Finally, the crowd broke apart. They peeled away from each other. Donny was still glaring at Jimmie, but Jimmie had a softer facial expression.

"You don't need to worry about that, man. It was a long time ago—I'm done with stupid stuff like that."

"Well good. 'Cause you scared the crap outta me." Donny rolled his eyes. Jimmie pumped fists with him. Donny's face suddenly went blank. "You were with her, weren't you?"

"How did you know?"

Donny pointed across the lobby. Jimmie turned to see Sharpay standing 50 feet away, watching him. She looked so vulnerable. But when she met his gaze, she switched modes. Sharpay rolled her eyes in anger and stormed out of the building. Jimmie looked back to Donny quickly, pleading.

"Fine. Go."

"Thanks, man. I'll call you tonight!" He dashed away.

"Hey, you're supposed to be picking me up tonight! Remember?" Donny shouted.

"Yeah, yeah!"

Jimmie broke through the doors of East High and stumbled into the parking lot. He knew exactly where she was hiding.

-x-x-x-

Sharpay had been so stupid.

She slammed closed the door of her Corvette and screamed into her hands. Why had she thought a 16-year-old boy would be the one to save her? It was the dumbest decision of her life. Why did she even care about him? She should have seen the scheme lurking behind his stupid boyish charms. Sharpay figured out a long time ago: people would only hurt her. Why didn't she remember that?

A tap-tap-tap startled her. She shot open her eyes to find the stupid boy himself knocking on her window. She glared.

"Go away, freshmeat!"

"Sharpay, please, let me just talk to you. I know what you're thinking—and it's all wrong."

Her blood boiled higher. "Oh, now I'm an idiot too? Get away from my car or I'll run you over, coward!"

Jimmie stopped beating on the window, breathing bated, and rested his forehead against it softly. Sharpay's patience was running on empty.

"I don't want you to be mad at me, Sharpay." He spoke so sweetly.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't press the gas pedal right now."

He lifted his head up, staring in her eyes. He was hurt—she could tell. "I told you everything. I showed you my scars. What more do I have to do to convince I'm a good guy?"

Sharpay wanted to eat her words. How could she have forgotten so quickly everything he had revealed to her? She hadn't opened up at all to him, and still he always came back. He should have given up by now. But he hadn't.

Sharpay unlocked the doors. Jimmie's ears perked up. She sighed, deeply, and threw her head to the passenger side. Jimmie jumped into the seat beside her without another invitation.

"Look," she began curtly, "it's not you I'm rejecting, okay? I just don't want to go to Prom, especially not next to Troy and his crew."

She plucked the key from the ignition and rested her hands in her lap. She didn't want to explain everything that Chad had said or done that scared her from being in close proximity with him. It hurt enough to carry it alone. Making someone else hold a portion would be inconsiderate and mean.

"Has Troy ever done anything to you?"

Sharpay creased her brows. "No. He's just too oblivious to notice that everyone else in these parts hates me. His close friends included."

"It's Chad, isn't it?"

"I'm not scared of the bonehead, if that's what you're thinking." She looked at him sharply. Realizing it was a lie, she immediately glanced away. This boy had told her his darkest secrets and she had the audacity to lie right to his face.

"Well, I wouldn't blame you if you were—"

"I'm not!" Gosh, why couldn't she stop lying? She sighed and locked her eyes onto her lap.

"I think we should just forget about that loser and go because we want to be with each other."

His words released a chill over her whole body. She did want to be with Jimmie. How could he know what she felt, when she wasn't even aware?

"We?" she asked nervously. Jimmie shrugged.

"You said yourself we're pretty much the same person."

"I didn't say I liked it."

"You don't want to like it, but," he smiled, "you do." Sharpay reached out and punched his shoulder.

"I do not."

He laughed, "Yeah, you really do." Sharpay couldn't hold her laugh in. The bell rung. She smirked at it and turned to Jimmie.

"We're late."

"I … don't really want to go." Jimmie looked at her.

"Yeah, me either." She let out a deep sigh. Sharpay remembered her thought from earlier in that moment. She wanted to let Jimmie in. But she hadn't done that yet. It was now or never, she supposed.

"I guess I have some packing to do, huh?"