We finished up in Sacramento and San Jose. We had a couple days to get to LA. We just took Molly's sister to the San Francisco airport. She was a nice girl as well. She planned to come see us when we went to Georgia. Molly, Troy and I were sitting on the bus, we were looking out the window.

"Hey Gabi, Look Stanford." Troy said, pointing to a sign. He turned to Molly. "Gabi is a genius. She was so close to getting into Stanford. Since she didn't she helped me with my music career. We moved to Nashville after high school. She got half of her General Ed done on a tour bus."

"You didn't get into Stanford?" Molly asked me.

I bit my lip. "Actually I did get into Stanford." I said, avoiding Troy's gaze.

"What?" He said, looking over at me. "You lied to me?"

"I got into the Early Honors Program." I said, letting out a breath of relief. "They wanted me to leave two months before graduation, but I couldn't go. I couldn't leave you. We already planned on going to Nashville and I couldn't let you down." I said quietly, glancing over at Troy.

"Why didn't you tell me? You were so set on Stanford before I came along! You should have went Gabi!" He said, running his hands through his hair.

"It wasn't your decision to make Troy. I didn't want to me thousands of miles away from you Troy. I wanted to help you with your music. I knew I would have been unhappy if I went." I said, crossing my arms. "I don't regret not going. Not at all."

Troy sighed, frustrated. He got up and walked to the back to cool off. I sighed. "Is that why you really didn't go?" Molly asked me quietly.

"Partially." I said with a small smile. "But he can never know that."

"Why don't you just tell him?" Molly said.

"That is the million dollar question." I said sighing.

"He's talking to Madison." She blurted out then covered her mouth. "Shit, I wasn't supposed to tell you."

I brought my gaze up to her. "What do you mean talking?" I asked slowly.

"Like talking, talking." She said. "She told me they've been flirting and they exchanged numbers."

"Oh, that's good for them I guess." I said quietly, picking out my nails. "Did they hook up?" She froze up and that just answered my question. "I'm going to go lay down." I said, walking to my bed. I closed the curtain and curled up in my bed. I closed my eyes. Maybe it was time to move on now. I crawled underneath the blanket. I'll move on. I'll be okay.

I didn't really come out from my bed the next couple of days. Molly went back to her trailer and Troy has barely spoken to me. I didn't feel like talking to him either. He didn't tell me about Madison himself, even though it probably wasn't a big deal to him. He probably didn't think it would be a big deal to me either.

I was reading a book when I felt my phone vibrate from beneath me. I looked at the time. It was almost nine. We were about an hour away from our Hotel in L.A. My mom was calling me, which was weird since she already called me today.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Gabi." I heard a muffled sob coming from my mom.

This concerned me. I sat up. "Mom? Are you crying?"

"David… He.." My mom trailed off.

My gut dropped I felt tears forming in my eyes. I pulled back the curtain from me bed putting my feet on the floor. "What happened mom? What's going on?"

"David got into…. An accident. His car is totaled." She said, bursting out in another set of tears. Troy walked out of his room. His eyes locked with mine, he stopped in his tracks. "He was killed on impact."

I froze. David? Dead? This can't be right. "No he's not. I just talked to him earlier. Please tell me this is some kid of sick joke."

"I'm so sorry Gabi." She said, sobbing into the phone. "You need to come home. I love you." She mumbled before hanging up.

I dropped the phone on the floor of the bus, staying still. "Gabi?" Troy asked quietly. I looked up at him again and burst into tears. He wrapped his arms around me tightly. "What happened?" He asked quietly.

"David got into an accident." I said sobbing, pushing my head into his neck. "He's dead Troy. My Brother is dead." I dug my nails into his shoulder, letting the sobs shake my body. "He can't be Troy." I said quietly. "He can't"

Troy rubbed my back slowly, hugging me tighter. "I'm so sorry Gabi." He said kissing the top of my head.

I pulled away from him. I sniffed, wiping my face slowly. "Why didn't you tell me about Madison?" I asked in between shaking breaths.

Troy looked over at me but didn't make eye contact. "Gabi…" He said.

"No. Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, sitting up straighter.

"Let's not talk about this now." He said calmly.

I shook my head furiously. "No. Let's talk about this now." I said, sniffing. "Why didn't you tell me Troy?"

He sighed. "I don't know why." He said looking at me. "I just didn't."

I shook my head in disbelief before I got up and walked away from him. "Joey, we need to drop me off at LAX. I'm going home." I said, wiping my eyes.

Joey looked over at me. "What why?"

"Family Emergency." I said quietly, avoiding my eye contact. "My brother died." I whispered.

Troy walked into the room. "Cancel the next couple of dates. We'll start again in Albuquerque."

Both Joey and I looked over at him. "What? Troy, We can't just cancel." Joey said.

"Well, there is not going to be a concert because I'm going to be in Albuquerque." Troy said looking at me.

"Troy. You don't need to go." I said looking up at him.

I saw the tears well up in his eyes. "He was my friend too." Troy said, trying to blink away the tears before turning to walk back to his bed.

I started crying again. "Can you look up the first flight please?" I asked Joey quietly, wiping my face. I walked to the back of the bus and Troy was laying on his stomach on the bed. I crawled on the bed with him, wrapping my arms around him. He looked up at me and I wiped his tears with my thumbs. We wrapped our arms around each other tightly, letting the sobs take over.

We got to the airport shortly after. I stopped crying once we got off the bus. I threw all of my clothes into my suitcases before checking them in. I grabbed my song book but left the guitar on the bus. I pulled my luggage out of the bus and put it on the scale. Once they took it they handed me a ticket and I ran to the security gate, leaving everybody behind.

Molly was calling me on the phone. "Hello?"

"Where'd y'all go? We're at the hotel waiting for you." Molly said. No body told her. I closed my eyes and sighed as I waited in line.

"Well I'm going back to Albuquerque because I got a phone call saying my brother…" I paused, making sure I wasn't going to burst out in tears. "He passed away." I said quietly. "Troy is coming too. We cancelled the next couple of tour dates up until Albuquerque. I might be able to convince Troy to go back earlier."

"Oh my God, Gabi. I'm so sorry." She said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I licked my lips. "Just bear with me. I'm going to be all over the place for I don't know how long. So just…" I trailed off.

"I understand Gabi. Send my best to your family. I'll pray for you guys." She said, into the phone. "I love you Gabi, I'm so sorry about your loss."

"I love you too Molls. I'll call you tomorrow okay?" I said quietly.

"Alright, take care Gabi." She said before hanging up. I emptied my pockets into the bucket and took off the slippers I was wearing. I put it on the conveyor belt. I stepped through security without any problems.

"Nice slippers." One of the security guards said.

I just shot him a dirty look before slipping them on. I put everything back in my pockets, walking quickly toward the Gate. I checked the time. The plane should be boarding soon. I sat down in the full terminal. I didn't expect a lot of people to be flying at this time but I guess it doesn't really matter when your in Los Angeles.

The guy sitting next to me was staring at me. Troy didn't come by yet. If he did there would- I heard screaming. I guess I spoke too soon. "Oh my god there's Troy Bolton!" I heard somebody yell.

At any other time I would have laughed but I didn't. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I looked at my old text messages.

12:06 PM From David: I love you Gabs! See you soon.

I closed my eyes. I can't believe he was gone. He wasn't supposed to go, at least not yet. I put my head in my hands, all I wanted to do now was go home.

"Gabi." I heard Troy say. My head shot up. He was being followed by a couple of teenaged girls. He kneeled in front of me. "We're going to board the plane okay?" He said only loud enough so I could hear. He held his hand out.

I took his hand, gripping my phone in the other. He held my hand as we walked down the hallway to the plane. We got our seats in first class. I don't know how Joey managed to find these last minute but I guess it was for the best since Troy was famous and all. I sat in the window seat, closing it automatically. I locked my seat belt on, anxious to get going.

Once everybody was seated the plane took off. We were somewhere over California right now. I opened up the window but all I could see was black. I sighed quietly. I turned over to look at Troy, he was already looking at me. "Thanks for coming." I said quietly.

"Like I said, he was my friend too. I knew how much he meant to you, He was your biggest fan, you know." Troy said. His gaze moved to the song book on my lap. "He told me he found one of your song books one day. He never told you because you would have been royally pissed at him. He told me to make you sing one of your songs, I'm glad he did."

Once I realized I was crying again, I wiped my tears carefully. My eyes and throat burned, but that was nothing compared to my broken heart. I know David and I had our differences but he was my first best friend, even when he didn't want to be. I let out a sob and buried my head into Troy's arm. "I don't want him to go." I mumbled quietly into his shirt.

I don't know if he heard me or not but he just hugged me, rubbing my back slowly. When I started to calm down again, he kissed the top of my head. "I didn't tell you about Madison because I felt like I was letting you down." He said quietly.

In more ways then one, I thought. "Why do you feel like you were letting me down?" I asked quietly, sniffling.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Since we met, it's always been just you and me. We're the dynamic duo, you know. I guess I just thought about if you found a boyfriend, I would be upset because you wouldn't spend as much time with me." I furrowed my eyebrows looking at him. I didn't understand his logic.

"So you thought I would feel better if you just didn't tell me?" I asked him.

"I just." He sighed. "It sounded a whole lot better in my head."

"Apparently." I said dryly, I pulled out my iPod. I was on emotion overload right now. I just needed to get away from everything. I put the headphones in my ears, letting somebody else's songs soothe my pain. I got through one song before pulling out my headphones. I yanked his out as well. "So she's your girlfriend?"

"No. I've known her for a week." He said, rubbing his ears.

"But you've known her long enough to kiss her?" I asked.

Troy looked away from me. "It was just a first kiss." He said, like that would justify anything for me.

I didn't say anything. I put my headphones back in my ears, determined to stare out into the dark sky until the plane landed. Since the planes wheels bounced off the ground I was packing up my iPod, turning my phone back on, sitting up straight ready to take my seatbelt off.

"Gabi, relax." Troy said, putting my hand on my back.

"No." I said shortly, not bothering to look at him.

"Gabs, come on." He said.

My glare turned to ice once my eyes locked with him. "My brother just died and I'm waiting for this fucking plane to stop. My eyes hurt, my throat burns and my head is pounding. I just want to be at home where I can cry with my family and TRY to sleep in my old bed." I said, trying not to sound as bitter as I felt. "My chest hurts and it feels like I'm never going to stop feeling this anxious. And then there's you." I stopped myself before I blurted out what I really wanted to say to him.

"What do you mean, then there's me? What did I do to you?" He asked, crossing his arms. He was clearly upset.

"Nothing Troy, just nothing." I said.

He scoffed. "It seems like you've been holding back everything from me; Even since we were teenagers. I thought we were honest with each other all the time, but I guess I was wrong about that."

"I am way too tired to fight about this Troy. Call me up in about a week, maybe I'll have enough energy to argue with you then." I said, unbuckling my seatbelt, stepping over his legs and walking over to the door.

"Um, we were going to instruct you to get up." The flight attendant said to me, just before she opened the door.

"Well, It's too damn late for that." I walked off of the plane before anything else was said. I made my way over to baggage claim. The whole room was empty, except for me and the couple people trickling in behind me from the flight.

I stood with my arms crossed, waiting for the luggage to come down. I saw Troy stand next to me out of the corner of my eye. "I'm sorry." He said quietly. "Today is the wrong day to be arguing in general." I was quiet. "Do you want to share a cab back home?" He asked quietly. "Blink once for yes and twice for no."

I turned my head away from him. He was trying to make me laugh. I just nodded my head and walked up to the conveyor with my luggage on it. I pulled Troy's luggage off for him. I pulled mine off when it came. I rolled his case over to his. "You're welcome." I said quietly before walking out of the building with my suitcases.

"Cabs are this way." Troy said, pointing to the left. I followed him over to the first one. We put our things in the trunk before getting into the back. Troy told the driver the address and I sat quietly, looking out the window. "I liked that song you and Molly sang in Sacramento."

I cleared my throat. "Molly tweaked the lyrics a little bit but it seemed to work better." I said, turning my head to look over at him. "She's recording a couple songs, mostly stuff I wrote back in high school."

"I'm sure they're all great." Troy said, fidgeting with his phone. His phone vibrated and he answered his phone. "Hey… Yeah, we landed in LA… I don't know, a couple of weeks… I don't know if Molly is but you can, if you want…. I'm sure she wouldn't mind." I looked up at Troy and he looked at me. "Well you shouldn't use your vacation time for something like this… I'll be okay… It was Gabi's brother. Okay I will.. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay bye Madison." He said before hanging up the phone.

I tried my best not to give him a dirty look. I turned my head to look out the window. "What did she want?" I asked Troy.

"She wanted to know if we made it safely. She asked if Molly was coming down to Albuquerque and if she should come down." Troy said.

"Why would she come down? She didn't even know him." I said, watching my breath fog up the glass.

"For support, I don't know. She was just trying to be nice, Gabi." He said. He sounded mad. Whatever.

I watched as we pulled up to the house. "Brownie points for her." I said sarcastically, getting out of the cab as it stopped. The driver popped the trunk and I took out my luggage. I looked up at my house, the light was on.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Troy said, taking his bag out of the trunk, slamming it shut. He walked away towards his house.

I grabbed my bags and walked towards mine. I unlocked the door and pulled my luggage in. I set it by the door and walked around. Dad was sitting on the couch with the volume on low. "Hey daddy." I said quietly.

He looked up at me. "I thought I heard the door." He said. His face looked just as drained as mine did. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him tightly. "I missed you baby girl."

"I missed you too Daddy. Where's mom?" I asked quietly.

"She went up to bed a while ago. I can't sleep, I'm sure she isn't either." He said. "You should get some sleep though, you look exhausted."

I shrugged. "It hasn't been the best week." I admitted quietly. "I'm going to go check up on mom."

"Alright, I love you baby." He said, turning back to the TV.

"I love you too Daddy." I said before walking up the stairs. I walked into my parents room and my mom was laying on the bed with her back to the door. I climbed on the bed and wrapped my arms around her. She sniffled, letting me know she was still awake. I cuddled up to her and closed my eyes even though I knew I wasn't going to sleep tonight.

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