"What the hell is a paradox?" Troy mumbled, struggling to decipher the English homework that he still had yet to finish. The hallways of East High were getting crowded and Troy and glanced at his watch, relieved when he realized that Gabriella would be here in a few minutes. At least then she could help him with the terms that he was too frustrated to focus on right now.

After getting home from dropping Gabriella off the night before, Troy had gotten a talk from his mother about how he needed to prioritize. Troy had kept his patience and told her that he wouldn't forget about his school work, and reminded his mother (quite cheekily, in fact) that Gabriella was the reason that he was passing Chemistry. His mother had sighed with a smile and told him to go and get his work done before he fell asleep. Troy had given her a hug and had done as she said, knowing deep down that she was beyond happy about how close he had gotten to his girlfriend.

I think Brie is probably mom's favourite out of the girls that I've dated. And I have to say that I'm definitely thinking the same way as she is.

Troy shook his hair from his eyes and glanced up as he heard footsteps approach his locker. Heart sinking, Troy nodded in acknowledgement to Chad and moved his books as he settled down onto the tiles beside Troy, his ever present basketball on his lap.

"Hey, man, do you know what a paradox is?" Troy asked, not really thinking that Chad cared about poetry or English class.

"A para-wha?" Chad repeated. "Dude, you know that I sleep through English class. Why are you asking me?"

"'Cause Gabs isn't here to ask and neither is Taylor."

Chad shrugged in agreement and then grabbed Troy's backpack, beginning to dig through it in hopes to find something to eat. Troy ignored him and focussed on his homework, jumping as his phone began to dance around the floor beside him. Troy dropped his pencil in relief and answered it before Chad could see who had called.

"Hello?"

"Troy, hi. It's Maria."

"Hey! Are you and Gabriella having a good time?"

"Well, actually, that's why I was calling…is she with you?"

"Brie? No, she told me not to pick her up for school this morning because you were going to drive her to school before work." Troy replied, his brow furrowing in confusion as a bubble of dread burst into life in his stomach.

There was a minute of silence on the other end and Troy's heart began to hammer in anticipation.

"Maria?"

"Yes, I'm still here…she's not here, I thought maybe she might have forgotten and gone to school with you. So you haven't seen her?"

"No, I'm sorry Maria. Do you want me to check around the school for you?"

"No, no, that's fine. I'll just call her cell phone."

Troy heard the tremor of fear in her voice and felt his heart skip a beat. Something was definitely not right.

"Give me a call and let me know if you hear from her, okay?"

"I will, and if you see her, tell her to call me."

"Deal. Bye, Maria."

Troy let his phone clap shut and hurriedly shoved his books into his backpack, which was still sitting by Chad's side.

"Hey, dude, what's up? I was-"

"Not now, Chad." Troy muttered, zipping his bag up in agitation. Chad immediately sensed something was wrong and he stood up, following Troy as he set off down the hallway.

"Dude?"

"Brie's not at home."

"Well I should hope not, the bell is going to ring in about five minutes."

"No, I mean, she wasn't home this morning, and I didn't go and pick her up this morning. Maria just called me to ask if I knew where she was."

Chad's eyes widened and he kept pace with Troy's long strides.

"She was supposed to ride in with her mom this morning, and Maria said that she was already gone when she got up this morning."

"It's not like Gabriella to forget things…" Chad pointed out.

"She didn't forget. Something's wrong." Troy said, his voice dangerously monotone. His eyes searched the corridors but already, Troy knew that he wouldn't find her familiar brown eyes anywhere in the building.

Troy's phone rang again and he raised it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Her phone's off."

Maria's voice was on the edge of hysteria and Troy fought to keep his own terror under control.

"Troy, her phone's never off. Something's seriously wrong."

"I just finished searching the school, but she's not here either. Do you want me to come over? Maybe I can do something to help."

"Oh, Troy, no. You have school."

The bell rang shrilly, interrupting her statement.

"One missed day won't hurt me."

"Come over after school, Troy. I'm sure she'll be back by then. I have to get to work, anyhow."

"Okay. Hey Maria?"

"Yes Troy?"

"She's okay. We'd know it if she weren't."

Troy thought he could hear a muffled sob, but he couldn't be sure.

"Thanks, Troy. I'll call you if I find out anything."

Troy shoved his phone into his pocket and scurried down the hallway, slipping into his desk just as the final bell rang. Instinctively, he turned around towards Gabriella's desk, but it sat abandoned and lonely. Troy sighed and faced forward again, subjecting himself to a lecture about chrysanthemums and why they were relevant to the time of Romeo and Juliet.

Hours later, Troy knocked hastily on the front door, and then slipped into Gabriella's house, hope rising as he heard steps thumping down the stairs. For a moment, Troy was wholly convinced that for some reason Gabriella had ran off to the library for the day, studying for a test that she was beyond ready for, and was coming to tell him how sorry she was for ditching him today and wanted to know how his Chemistry quiz had gone. That fantasy was blown out of his head as Maria bounced down the last stair, her face twisted in worry.

"Nothing?" Troy guessed.

Maria shook her head and beat the cordless phone that she was holding against her other hand.

"I've checked everywhere, called everyone that I could possibly think of. Nothing, no one's seen her since yesterday."

"I guess I was the last one to see her." Troy murmured, running a hand over his face in fatigue. "I've been going through everything in my mind, but I can't think of anything that was out of order…"

Troy leaned against the front door and glanced out the frosted glass as he tried to recall the details about their date, what they had talked about. Nothing was relevant, but he spilled it out to Maria anyway, his cheeks flaming as he explained how his mother had interrupted their kiss. Maria didn't tease or poke fun like she normally would have, too worried about her daughter to find anything humorous.

"It was just a normal rehearsal, and a normal date afterwards…" He finished, squinting at a distorted shape outside the window.

Suddenly, he started and spun to face Maria completely.

"THE FLOWER POT!" He cried so loudly that she jumped in surprise.

"The what?" She replied breathlessly.

Troy spilled out his story to her, explaining how Gabriella had noticed that their pink flower pot had been on its side when they had returned home and she had needed to tuck the spare key back where it had belonged.

Maria paled and grabbed his shoulder to steady herself. Troy's breathing was ragged and he felt a tremor trickle through him.

"Someone broke in." She squeaked, putting two and two together.

"I'll call the police" Troy got out, reaching for his cell phone. He called 9-1-1 and explained what had happened. They agreed to send out a team to their house and Troy relayed the message to the distraught woman.

"Oh, my Gabi" Maria sobbed, depending on Troy for support. Troy felt tears gather in his eyes, but he pushed them away and swallowed the lump in his throat.

"She'll be okay. She will, Maria. You have to stay strong." He choked out, his voice hollow. "I promise that she'll be okay."

She has to be. He added silently. I don't know what to do without her.

AN: How was that? Not too bad I hope! You'll get to see things from Gabriella's eyes in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading and please let me know what you thought!