Troy Finds Out

By CorbinBleuFanatic1

Normal POV

Chad Danforth had reluctantly gone to sleep, at the urging of his mother. He had been up for the past two weeks, unable to eat or sleep. All he could think about was what was happening to his girlfriend and her best friend.

Chad sat upright, breathing hard. He had just had another dream about Taylor McKessie. This time, Taylor was within arms reach but Chad found he couldn't move. He was forced to watch as Taylor was murdered. He couldn't do a thing to help the love of his life.

"Damn."

Chad closed his eyes and thought back to the day he had discovered Taylor missing . . .

Chad Danforth stared at the TV, remote in one hand, soda bottle in the other. He groaned.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Tracey Danforth asked her son.

"Nothing good is ever on TV," he complained.

His mother laughed. "More than five hundred channels and you still can't find anything to watch?"

Chad shook his head and settled on an MTV reality show.

Boring, Chad thought, but it's better than nothing.

He took his cell phone out of his pocket and started playing a game. Mrs. Danforth seized the opportunity to take the remote from him. She put on the news.

"Hey!" Chad cried. "I was watching that!"

"I'll turn it back on if you can tell me what you were watching."

"MTV," Chad told her.

"What show?"

"Um . . . uh . . . " Chad paused, racking his brain, trying to remember what show had been on the TV before his mother changed the channel. Finally he gave up and shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno."

Tracey smiled, picked at the pizza she heated up for dinner, and watched the news.

Chad put his phone down, reached over to where his mom sat, took a piece of her pizza, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"You know," his mom started, "if you're hungry why don't you heat up your own pizza?"

Chad smiled at her. "Well, why would I do that when you're right here?" He took another piece and washed it down with the rest of his Coke.

"The search for Heather Mills, the student from the University of Maine who disappeared while driving home to New Jersey to visit family, is still on . . . " the news reporter said, catching the attention of mother and son.

"Hey, I heard about that," Chad said. "Didn't she disappear in September?"

Tracey nodded her head. "Yeah," she agreed. "In fact, she disappeared right before school started." She looked at the TV. "Wow. Her parents must be going crazy." She looked at Chad. "I know I would be."

As if on cue, a shot of Heather Mill's parents appeared on the screen, along with her two older brothers and younger sister, pleading for their daughter's safe return.

"Please," her mother sobbed. Chad rolled his eyes, trying not to be disrespectful. Who doesn't love a good hysteric woman? Heather Mill's brother wrapped his arms around his mother. "Please," she said again. "We just want our baby back. If whoever took her is watching this, please find it in your heart to let her go!"

"It's been six months," Chad told his mother. "Do they seriously think she's going to come home after so long?"

Tracey shot him a glance. "If you were in her position, wouldn't you be doing the same thing?"

Chad cracked a smile. "If I were in her position . . . Well, let's just say . . . I'd make one ugly woman . . . "

Tracey laughed and hit her son over the head with the nearest pillow.

"Hey!" Chad cried. "Watch the 'do, Ma! I just got it the way I want."

"And it's still messy!" his mother joked back.

"Haha," Chad said, laughing too, eating the last piece of her pizza.

Tracey sighed and got up to get another piece of pizza that Chad hopefully doesn't devour.

Chad loved spending time with his mother. His father had left seven years ago without a word to anyone. His mother hated Richard Danforth for leaving the family but at the same time she welcomed it. He was abusive both mentally and physically. He hit her when he came home drunk, which was more than a lot, as Tracey remembered. He yelled at Chad when he made the smallest of messes. The day Richard left was the day Tracey had enough guts to stand up to him.

Richard balled his hands into fists and raised them above his head, ready to hit Tracey. Chad had stood in front of his mother, vowing to protect her no matter what. Richard just shook his head, grabbed his bags, and left. No one's seen him since.

Chad looked down at his watch. "Shit," Chad said under his breath, or so he thought.

"Hey!" Tracey called. "Language."

"Sorry, Ma," Chad apologized, grabbing his coat. "I have to pick Taylor up for our dinner."

"All right, sweetie," Tracey answered. "Have fun!"

"I will," Chad called into her. "Bye, Mom!"

Chad walked the few blocks to Taylor's house, figuring the walk would do him good. He soon changed his mind.

"This is ridiculous," Chad muttered. "Troy's hanging out on a beach with a bunch of Jamaican girls in bikinis while I'm freezing my ass off out here!"

Within minutes, he arrived at Taylor's, brushing the snow out of his curly brown hair. He knocked on the door, trying to look presentable for Taylor's mom and dad.

Her mother opened the door. "Oh, hi, Chad." She seemed confused as to why Chad was standing on her doorstep. "What are you doing here . . . ?"

"It's our anniversary, remember?" Chad wondered. He was confused too. Had Mrs. McKessie forgotten about their dinner even though Chad mentioned it to her just last night? "I'm taking Taylor out to eat."

"But . . . Taylor's not here." Mrs. McKessie paused, a look of terror coming over her face. "She went out to the movies right after school. I figured she went out with you right after the movie ended that she and Gabriella went to." She paused again. "I haven't seen her since this morning."

Panic seized Chad but he tried to smile at his girlfriend's mother. "I'm sure she's fine, Mrs. McKessie. Maybe she and Gabi went to the mall, or something, when the movie ended. You know how teenage girls like to shop." Chad tried to laugh it off but deep down he and Mrs. McKessie both knew something had to of happened to Taylor. She'd never not show up and forget to call. Something had to of happened.

"Don't worry, Mrs. McKessie," Chad reassured her. "I'll find her. I promise."

"I'm sure she's okay." Chad didn't think Mrs. McKessie believed it any more than he did.

Chad said goodbye to Taylor's mom and ran the few blocks' home to get his cell phone. He called Taylor's cell first but got the voice mail. Then he tried Gabi's.

"Hey, you reached my voice mail," her voice said. "Leave a message and I'll try to get back to you ASAP, okay? Thanks!"

There was a beep and Chad rambled off his message, ending with, "Call me as soon as you get this! Please, Gabs. It's an emergency."

When he hung up, a feeling of dread passed over him. He was even more sure that something had happened to both Gabi and Taylor. Gabi always answers her cell phone and Taylor always calls to tell her parents where she's going to be.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

That night, after Chad had called the police to tell them what he thought he knew, Troy Bolton called.

"Hey, man!" Troy said. "How's New Mexico?"

"Cold," Chad muttered. "How's Jamaica?"

"Awesome!" Troy exclaimed. He noticed the sadness and bitterness in Chad's voice. "Hey, what's wrong? I've only been gone a day and it sounds like you're ready to bite someone's head off."

"Taylor missed our dinner date . . . "

"That's not like her," Troy interrupted.

"I know," Chad said, not wanting to say what he was about to. "Troy . . . "

Again, Troy interrupted. "Have you tried Gabi?" he wondered. "She might know where Taylor is . . . "

Chad let out a sigh. "I tried calling Gabi's cell but I ended up getting her voice mail. So I tried her home phone." He paused. "Her mother doesn't know where she is either."

"What?" Troy practically yelled.

Chad sighed again. "No one's seen her or Taylor since school ended for the weekend. I gave Taylor a kiss and she got into Gabi's car for their annual movie night. No one's seen them since. It's as if they just disappeared."

"Did you call the cops?"

"No, my girlfriend is missing, along with her best friend, but I figured, why the hell should I call the cops?!" That was sarcasm of course. "Yes, Troy. Of course I called the cops!"

"What did they say?"

"They said to call back when they've been missing for twenty-four hours," Chad explained. "They said that Tay and Gabi went off somewhere and just forgot to call."

"Did you tell them that Taylor and Gabi always call if their going to be late getting home?"

"Yes, Troy, I did . . . "

"And?"

"They said that they're seventeen. They said that they probably just forgot to call."

Troy was outraged. He was in Jamaica while his girlfriend was only God knows where.

"I'll be on the next flight down," Troy said and hung up.

Chad closed his eyes and tried to sleep but the more and more he tried to sleep the more and more he couldn't.

He was so worried about Taylor and Gabi that he couldn't even bring himself to eat nor sleep . . .

Chad sat up in bed and called Troy.

True to his word, Troy appeared at Chad's house the day after Chad told him about Taylor and Gabi. He said his parents didn't like the idea of him traveling back alone, as they wanted to stay and finish their vacation, but they had let him because they knew how much he loved Gabi. They figured they couldn't stop them even if they wanted to.

Troy answered on the third ring.

"Hello?" Troy asked. "Chad?"

It didn't sound like he had just woken up, even though it was two o'clock in the morning and they had school that day.

"Couldn't sleep?" Troy asked, even though it was a rhetorical question.

"No," Chad answered. "I haven't been able to in two weeks. You can't either?"

"Nah. I haven't been able to sleep since . . . well, you know . . . " Troy paused. "It's been two weeks . . . Do you think the police can seriously find them . . . alive?"

"Don't think that way, man," Chad told him best friend. "They'll be okay." In a whisper, he added, "They have to be."

"But it's been two weeks!" Troy insisted. "What if they're not in New Mexico anymore? What if they're not even in the United States anymore?"

"Just stop, will you?" Chad yelled, trying to keep his voice down so he didn't wake his mother. "Think positive, Troy. You can't help Gabi, or Taylor, if all you can think about is the worst possible thing that can happen to them." He paused. "Sure, it's been two weeks . . . but people have been found after longer periods of time. Just keep your faith alive, Troy. That's all we can really do at this point."

"But its so hard, Chad." Troy's voice cracked and Chad had to try hard not to cry himself. "Gabi is somewhere out there . . . and I can't even protect her. Do you know how hard that is?"

"Yes, Troy, I do. I broke my promise to Taylor."

"What promise?"

Chad sighed for a third and final time. "Before Taylor and I started going out, she was in an abusive relationship. When she told me what was going on, I helped her breakup with the guy. Then I asked her out, and I promised that I'd protect her forever . . . and I broke my promise . . . because right now, someone is probably hurting her . . . and I can't even do anything about it . . . "

Troy decided to change the subject. "So . . . are you going to school?"

"Yeah," Chad answered. "My mom's making me. She says she knows how much I'm hurting but she said that school will help take my mind off of things. Are you?"

"Yeah," Troy echoed. "My parents say it'll do me some good to get out of the house instead of moping around like I did that first week." Troy paused. "But going to school makes it even harder. I see all of Gabi's friends and all of my friends . . . and I know they're trying so hard not to show how they really feel . . . but everyone is walking around with such sad faces . . . and it makes it all too real. I know they're trying to stay strong and to stay positive but the more time that goes by . . . the less hope we all have."

"I know what you mean. My mom is trying so hard to get me to laugh or to at least give her a small smile . . . but how can I when the love of my life . . . could be dead right now?"

Troy sighed that time. "Hey, like you said, we have to keep faith alive. That's really all we can do at this point." He paused again. "I'll see you in school?"

"Okay, Troy. Try to get some sleep. That way, at least one of us will . . . "

Troy and Chad hung up, the same thought going through both of their minds.

Will they be okay?

Did you like it? I hope so! Please R&R! I like Chaylor fics and Cornique fics (obviously 'cause I like Corbin Bleu) so Chaylor is probably going to be the main couple. But Troyella is close up there. This will be a Troyella fic . . . but a few chapters later. Troy will have a flashback to the last time Troy saw Gabi before he went on vacation. There will be a major Troyella moment in the next chapter or maybe the one after . . . but I can't tell you any more than that. I'm under contract and they won't let me reveal anything else . . . I've told you too much already . . .

CorbinBleuFanatic1