Then and Now

Hey guys, this is my new story, I hope that you like it, please review it and tell me what you think and whether or not you think that I should continue on with it.

Chapter 1

Sitting in the uncomfortable chair of the plane, squashed between the screaming toddler and the window, Gabriella Montez sighed heavily.

This would be her tenth move in only six short years. This time however, she was moving without her mother and had actually managed to make a few friends in her previous home. Her Mother had promised that she would not have to move again, at least not until college, and even then, it would be Gabriella's choice to move to wherever she wanted to go.

But all of that was before the accident. The accident that had changed Gabriella's life forever as far as she was concerned. Nothing would bring back the life that she had once cherished so much.

Three months ago

"Mom," whined Gabriella, "please, please, please go out and get me some aspirin. I feel like I'm dying here!" Gabriella finished by dramatically flopping backwards onto the couch, one hand pressed over her forehead. A ball of fluff jumped up beside her, and Gabriella instantly reached out to pat the long-haired Chihuahuas fur as Pippin whined softly, curling into her owner.

Laughing, Maria Montez eyed up her sixteen-year-old daughter and her dog, smiling at the pair. Any other teenager would have at least attempted to fake sick one day out of the school year, but not Gabriella, she had the perfect attendance record. It was only now, on the first day of the school summer vacation that she had become genuinely ill.

Shaking her head once more, Maria smiled back at her daughter, "Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, stop being so melodramatic," still chuckling, Maria pressed on, regardless of Gabriella's mumbles that she was being perfectly serious. "And anyway sweetie, how am I supposed to know what you want? Get up and come with me Gab."

Gabriella's head lifted up slightly so that she could look at her Mother, causing Pippin to whine and jump down. She glared at her owner before trudging to her own pillow in the corner of the room. Gabriella's long, dark curls splayed out on the cushions behind her, "Mom, as long as it gets rid of this headache, I really, really don't care what you get me, but I can't move without aching everywhere, even places I didn't know I could ache, so there is no way that I am moving from this chair," Gabriella muttered. Her head flopped back onto the sofa with a groan causing Maria to chuckle once more and Pippin to shoot her another disgusted look, turning towards the wall. Grabbing her car keys Maria headed out of the door. Maria stalled momentarily, calling a goodbye and I love you to Gabriella, smiling when she heard her only child yell the same thing back, laughing at Pippin's small yelps.

An hour later, Gabriella was still lying on the sofa, one leg dangling over the arm and the other resting on the floor. Now though, she had a small, wet towel pressed across her eyes and forehead, when the phone started to ring.

Groaning loudly again, Gabriella lifted her hand that already held the house phone to her ear and pressed the button. "What?" She snapped tetchily into the phone, not even bothering to check the caller I.D. first.

"I hope that you didn't check the caller I.D. on the other end before you answered that Gabriella Montez," a voice on the other end laughed. Gabriella smiled softly as she recognised the voice of one of her two best friends', Avril Valentine, float through the speaker.

"Sorry Avril, I didn't check, and I'm feeling a bit like death warmed up right about now," Gabriella apologised profusely, blushing slightly underneath her damp towel, feeling Pippin jump up beside her and start to lick her hand.

The laughter at the other end just continued, "Damn Brie," Avril managed to choke out, "Somebody else might have just hung up after a greeting like that, and if it were the likes of Duffy calling, she would have killed you there and then!" Avril chuckled softer now, referring to their other best friend, Gabriella's only other friend, before she burst into hysterical laughter once again. "You're blushing aren't you, Brie?" She questioned, but it came out as more of a statement, and Gabriella found herself blushing even more as she mumbled her agreement. Her actions simply causing more laughter from the other end of the line.

The two girls chatted happily for a further twenty minutes. During that time, they had managed to find themselves in a heated argument over whether Hairspray or Chicago were better musicals. However an incessant beeping in Gabriella's ear signalled that she had another call and she told Avril to hold on for a minute.

"Hello," Gabriella whispered nervously, far more used to prank phone calls and being verbally abused on the phone by the schools cheerleaders and jocks than anyone should ever have to be.

"Gabriella, it's just me sweetheart." Gabriella breathed out a sigh of relief as her Mother's voice echoed throughout her ear, "I just wanted to say that I'll be home in about ten minutes. Sorry that I took so long, but I bumped into Joan at the shops, and you know that when we start, we just can't stop."

Giggling slightly, Gabriella grinned at the thought of her Mom and Duffy's Mom, Joan. She knew that the two friends could literally talk for hours when they got together, much like the younger girls' themselves.

"Its fine Mom, really, I've just been talking to Avril, and I'm feeling a little bit better," Gabriella smiled again, "But anyway, what did you ge-." She was abruptly cut off by the sudden deafening squeal of brakes, and her Mother's scream, before the crunching of metal followed by the phone going dead. Leaving a silence that was ghostly.

Panicking, Gabriella repeatedly tried ringing her Mother's cell phone. She screamed in frustration at the insistent message that the phone was out of the calling range. Pippin sat up straight next to the terrified young girl, the tiny dogs ears pricked upright as she gazed at her owned in confusion. Occasionally she nuzzled against Gabriella's hand, attempting to soothe her distress.

Now sat bolt upright, Gabriella was breathing heavily, her eyes wide with fright, one hand clutched tightly in Pippin's fur. She suddenly remembered that Avril was still on the other line and quickly pressed onto that call.

"Avril," Gabriella whimpered timidly, still breathing heavily, the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"Brie? What's wrong? What's happening?" Avril's tone was immediately more frantic as she too started to worry for her friend.

After hearing Gabriella's explanation of what was going on and how terrified she was, Avril had said that she would get a cab, pick up Duffy, and the two of them would be at the Montez's apartment as soon as possible.

True to their word, twenty minutes later, Avril and Duffy burst through the front door to the apartment. Their speed was a minor miracle for the area of New York that they lived in.

Instantly, they sat either side of Gabriella. Each of them hugging her tightly, as the three girls, the blonde, the brunette and the red head sat side by side, watching as dusk settled in and darkness fell over the lively area, the hours dragging slowly by. Pippin curled into a tight ball on Gabriella's lap, snuggling deeply into her knee.

Ten p.m. that night, six or more hours after the phone call, there was a knock at the door. Immediately, Gabriella sprinted for it, Pippin following directly on her heels. Wrenching the door open as soon as she reached it, her heart pounded frantically as she looked at the two police officers that stood there.

"Gabriella Montez?" One of them asked, almost silently. When Gabriella nodded her head slowly, the two faces instantly softened, "I'm afraid that there has been a terrible accident."

Gabriella paled drastically as those words rang through her ears. She could feel the presence of Pippin, Avril and Duffy straight behind her, ready to help their friend, no matter what happened.

"I'm afraid that your Mother, Maria Montez," the second officer continued, looking up to see the three young girls' nod their heads at the name, before continuing once more. "She was involved in a head on collision, I'm very sorry to tell you that she died on impact."

Instantaneously, Gabriella fell to her knees in the doorway, hysterical sobs shaking her entire body as she felt Duffy's arms surround her. The red head had also dropped to her knees and to pull Gabriella tightly to her, gently rocking the hysterical girl backwards and forwards, Avril saying goodbye to the officers, before joining her two sobbing friends on the floor. Pippin placed a paw on either one of her knees, nestling as close to Gabriella as she possibly could.

End Flashback

The weeks that followed were the worst three weeks of Gabriella's existence. As all of the rest of her family had died before she was born, or while she was only an infant, Gabriella and Pippin had lived with Duffy and her parents for the three weeks, and the three girls', along with Joan and Avril's Mother, Dianne, had managed to put together Maria's funeral.

Duffy and Avril had even managed to get Gabriella to sing three songs of her own choice at the funeral. She had decided to start with 'When You're gone' by Avril Lavigne, followed by 'Starts With Goodbye' by Carrie Underwood, although she rewrote the entire first verse, and whilst her Mother's coffin was being carried out of the church, she softly sang 'Tears in Heaven' by Eric Clapton. By the time she had finished, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Gabriella herself had tears streaming down her face, like mini waterfalls.

Three days later, the will had been read out, and Gabriella had found that she and Pippin were in for a shock change of scenery, as they would be moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico. After her eighteen short months in New York, she would be moving back to where her parents originally came from, to live with their best friends' and roommates from high school and college, the Danforth's. Gabriella vaguely remembered living next door to them, until she was three years of age, when the Danforth's had moved from Arizona, back to New Mexico, not that Gabriella herself had ever visited Albuquerque.

So now, here she was, on a plane to her new life, blaming herself for everything that had happened to her Mother, no matter how much Avril and Duffy had tried to tell her otherwise. But Gabriella knew in her heart of hearts that there was only one person that could make her believe that the accident wasn't her fault. He had broken his promise to her four months ago now, and had abandoned her to the punishments of the jocks and cheerleaders, as he had promised he would never do.

Gabriella sighed once more, realising that they had finally landed. She quickly grabbed her hand luggage and Pippin's carrier; swiftly disembarking the plane, and heading off to find her suitcase. Slowly walking through to the front of the airport, where hopefully, the Danforth's would be waiting to meet her.

Looking up as she walked through the double doors, Gabriella read the sign out loud to herself and Pippin, "Welcome to Albuquerque."

Hey guys, well that was the first chapter of Then and Now, please tell me if you want me to continue, and I just want to say that I would recommend any of the songs mentioned in this story if you've never heard them before, especially 'Tears in Heaven' by Eric Clapton, anyway please tell me what you think…