Everyone has bad days, there's no point in denying it. Some people step in gum, some people break up with their boyfriends, some people realize that they have a huge zit on their nose. But our problem… was much, much bigger.
Gabriella sat in the airport, her plane being delayed four hours because of bad weather. She just shrugged it off. No rush to get home, really. She got a coffee and a Snickers bar and sat on a bench next to the Cinnabon stand.
Gabriella slipped her backpack off and placed it on the floor. She pulled out A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens and started to read. Smiling as she read the part when Scrooge changed his ways, her cell phone rang. Gabriella fished out the phone just before it stopped ringing.
"Hello?"
"Gabi, it's Taylor," Taylor said urgently.
"Oh, hey, Taylor, what's up?" Gabriella replied nonchalantly, taking a bite out of her Snickers.
"Look, something happened at the hospital. When are you going to be home?" Taylor said, her voice shaking slightly. You could tell she was trying very hard to steady her voice.
Gabriella almost spit out her coffee. "What do you mean 'a problem'?" Gabriella asked loudly.
"Gabi, calm down. It's no big deal… just a little… complication," Taylor said.
"'Complication?'" Gabriella screamed. "What kind of 'complication'?"
"Well, Troy just…" Taylor stopped. She didn't want Gabriella's hope to get up. She just wanted Gabriella there in case of the slight chance Troy woke up. "He needs you, Gabi. Get home as quickly as you can." And she hung up.
Gabriella's face contorted into dread as she heard the dial tone. She lowered the phone from her face and turned it off. She looked around. Gabriella hadn't even noticed that she had stood up and walked away from her seat on the bench.
Turning around she saw her coffee, her half-eaten Snickers, and her Charles Dickens book but her backpack had gone missing. Someone had stolen her backpack when she turned around. She had two shirts, a skirt, a pair of muddy jeans, and her Algebra homework in there. But most importantly, hidden in the pocket of the jeans was a picture of she and Troy, smiling and joking around after his basketball game. On her trip it was her most prized possession and now it was gone. MIA… missing in action… whatever you called it, it was gone and never to be seen again.
But Gabriella had a bigger problem. She was stuck at the airport in Oregon when her boyfriend was in a coma in New Mexico… and he needed her.
She rushed up to an attendant.
"Excuse me," Gabriella said. "Please tell me that the flight to Albuquerque is starting soon."
"I'm sorry, ma'am," The woman said. "But the flight is going to take longer than we thought. The weather here is getting worse and the weather in Albuquerque is even worse than it is here."
Gabriella stopped dead in her tracks. "So-so it's going to take longer to get to New Mexico?" Her voice cracked. She hadn't even noticed that she was crying. But the second she did, the tears threatened to pour harder now. "Look, ma'am," Gabriella said, trying to keep her voice steady but doing a very poor job of doing so, "I need to get to Albuquerque now. Is there anyone who can help me?"
The woman now looked horrified at the fact that this teenage girl was sobbing, almost inches from her face. Gabriella was causing quite a scene. Onlookers were pausing to stare at the two.
"Ma'am, would you like a tissue?" The woman offered.
"No, I would not like a tissue. I would like a plane to Albuquerque!" Gabriella screamed. "And don't call me, ma'am. I don't want you to treat me like I'm a psychotic old woman. I'm only 17 and so is my boyfriend who is currently lying in a hospital bed in Albuquerque almost dead. I need a plane there. Please!" Gabriella was sobbing hysterically now.
"Ma'am… uh… Miss-"
"Gabriella. Gabriella Montez," Gabriella huffed, out of breath because of her speech.
"Miss Montez… we all have our problems. I, however, need to deal with a pipe breakage in the West Terminal. You… need to calm down or I will have security come and take you off the premises. Can you calm down for me?"
Gabriella was now angry instead of delirious.
"We all have problems?" Gabriella repeated in amazement. "Is that how you treat your customers? We all have problems? Well, let me tell you something, ma'am," Gabriella spat. "While you're off fixing a pipe, I'm fixing a broken past, mending a broken heart. Crying my eyes out over the man I love's body because it's my fault he's in a coma. I'm the one suffering because my father died and I blamed him! I blamed my boyfriend and yes, it was a stupid thing to do. Do you not think I realize that while he's lying in a bed unable to move…probably unable to live anymore? You can fix your pipe but I can't fix my heart. So please, by all means make sure that pipe is fixed but next time, treat your customers with more respect."
Gabriella turned on her heel and stormed off, the woman in a daze because she had obviously never been spoken to like that before.
Gabriella smirked and walked over to her seat, suddenly feeling worse. Her screaming made nothing better, just worse. That woman was probably going to make sure she was removed from the airport and then she would never get a plane ride home.
Gabriella collapsed into her chair, her eyes laden with tears. Gabriella placed her head in her hands and cried. She cried until he thought she could cry no more only to find out that she could. She could cry more but she didn't. Instead she sang quietly to herself.
I know you were my fairytale
My dream when I'm not sleeping
My wish upon a star that's coming true
But now even I can tell
That I confused my feelings with the truth
When there was me and youMeanwhile, Chad was also dealing with a problem. He had to make sure to keep an eye on Ryan while the rain tried to make sure he didn't. It came down in a white sheet now. Almost nothing was visible. Chad also had to deal with another problem. He needed to make sure that he didn't slip on the slick blacktop and hurt himself but maintaining both tasks proved to be impossible as Chad watched Ryan quickly dash across the parking lot.
Chad darted across the lot, his basketball shoes slipping in the water. He, Zeke, and Jason had shown up in their uniforms coming straight from practice to the hospital. Mr. Bolton was a true team player. Even though his son was in the hospital he held practices…everyday. Chad thought it was a way to keep Mr. Bolton's nerves down but truth be told, it was a way to keep Mr. Bolton from visiting Troy and finding his only son hald-dead in a hospital.
"Ryan!" Chad bellowed across the almost empty lot. He leaned against a green Sudan. "Ryan, please! Come back!"
Even through the roaring winds, Ryan had heard him. He stopped and turned around, looking around for a sign of his friends and he found Chad, leaning breathlessly against a green car.
"Ryan!" Chad screamed once again, "Ryan, you can tell me! You can tell me what you did!"
Ryan didn't walk over to Chad. He just collapsed onto the ground.
"Ryan!" Chad yelled in horror. He ran over. "Ryan! Ryan, are you okay?"
"No," Ryan sobbed. "Chad… I've-I've done something awful."
"It can't be that bad," Chad assured him.
"No!" Ryan sobbed harder. "You don't understand!"
"If I can't, I'll try," Chad said, looking Ryan right in his bright blue eyes.
"I-I can't," Ryan said, defeated.
They sat in silence for a while, rain pounded on their heads. Ryan's bright blonde hair soon became shades darker because of the water and the loss of sunlight. Chad however, was unphased by this problem. It was nothing compared to what he had been through for the past couple weeks.
"Ryan, why don't we go inside? Catching a pneumonia won't help the situation," Chad said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You can try to explain inside."
"No," Ryan said suddenly, standing up. "No. If I have to tell anyone it'll be you. Only you. I need to tell you now."
That's when Ryan started to unravel the truth.
Gabriella sat with her head in her hands on the bench next to the Cinnabon stand. Tears left shining streaks down her face and dark patches on her jeans. Suddenly, Gabriella's leg started to vibrate. Her phone was ringing.
Without even checking who was calling, Gabriella answered her phone and quickly said, "Hello?"
"Gabi, okay… stay calm… but Troy's…" Taylor began.
"No. Taylor. He can't be. He can't be…" Gabriella couldn't bring herself to say the word "dead". Not even if her life depended on it. Suddenly, Gabriella watched the bars on her cell phone's screen go down. She was losing battery.
"Gabi, Troy's dying…" And the phone went dead
Gabriella felt her blood run cold. She had left her charger in her backpack.
Meanwhile, Chad was doubting his cell phone would ever work again, charger or not, because of the rain soaking it but he didn't care. The only thing he cared about was Ryan… the only thing he really cared about was Ryan's story.
There are many ways to start off a bad conversation. "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?" is a popular one. There's also the "I don't know how to put this…" or even the "I think you better sit down." But when a conversation starts off as "I put Troy in the coma," you know the conversation is going to be interesting.
"Chad, I'm the reason that Troy is in the hospital," Chad stared at him dumbfounded. "No, really, I am!"
Chad thought that the emotional disturbance of Troy's coma was starting to get to Ryan, "Ryan, we all feel bad, but it wasn't your fault. I mean, everyday I keep thinking, if I was just there to warn him none of this would have happened! He's gonna be fine, Ryan, and no one could have done anything to help him."
"No, that's just it! You know how my mom's touring with a Broadway company? Well, we had just gotten a letter telling us that her tour was extending for another year…"
Chad interrupted, "Wait, hasn't she already been gone for two years?"
Ryan nodded and continued, "Then Sharpay got really mad and started yelling at me. That made me really mad so I went out to the garage and took the car. I wasn't even paying attention when I heard kind of a thud. I thought it was just someone's trash can lid…"
"But, alas! It was Troy."
"Oh, shut up! I looked, but I didn't really see anything. Then I saw this little girl, and she said there was this dead boy in the street, and I panicked. I just, you know, drove!"
The tears on Ryan's face mingled with the freshly fallen rain. His cheeks were bright red as well as his nose. His blonde hair had become stringy from the rain and it covered his blue eyes, once so lively now so dead. This had really affected him but everyone had taken for granted that he was just Ryan. Just Ryan, who was always happy and carefree… Chad now knew how wrong they were.
"So that's what happened," Ryan finished up. "That's why Troy is lying in a hospital, the once healthy, happy, carefree boy, a helpless, sick, almost d-dead one. And I'm sorry… I mean that with all my heart because without my friends I have no one and I would never do anything to try to hurt them."
Chad, however, had no answer to this. He was still in shock. How is it that Ryan, the happy, bright, funny, peppy boy, hit Troy? First Chad was angry but then he calmed down. It was an honest mistake… that was being kind. It was the biggest screw-up in the history of screw-ups but it wasn't intentional and nothing else mattered.
"Ryan, it's fine… you don't need to worry about it," Chad said, still awestruck.
"But how do you know? How do you know that I shouldn't worry about it?" Ryan asked, wiping the tears and rain off his face.
"Because Troy has been my best friend for as long as I remember. We're like brothers, best friends, teammates. We're always there for each other and we never let each other down. Troy's not going to let me down. He would never let his team down."
"I still don't know… I'm sorry… I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know what to do. Do you think I should tell the police?" Ryan asked, his aqua eyes turned to Chad's brown ones.
"I don't think it's necessary," Chad said, shaking his head.
"Are you sure?" Ryan questioned. "Why not?"
"Because—"
"Troy's awake! Troy's awake! Troy's awake! Troy's awake!" Kelsi's small voice bellowed. Chad and Ryan were not only startled about the news but they were startled about the fact that Kelsi had screamed so loud. They had been best friends with her for a long time and they had never heard her so loud before.
A couple hours earlier…
Gabriella lifted her head as she heard a voice blare through the speakers.
"The flight to Albuquerque has been-"
"Delayed," Gabriella said glumly through her drying tears.
"Rescheduled for twenty minutes from now at gate 5B."
Gabriella's heart pounded. She was going home!
Grabbing her cold coffee, unfinished Snickers, and her copy of A Christmas Carol, Gabriella ran as fast as she could to gate 5B.
The rest of the gang was gathered around Troy's hospital bed, all except Kelsi, Ryan, and Chad, Kelsi having gone to call Mr. and Mrs. Bolton unsuccessfully. Again and again she redialed their home phone (having no clue what their cell phone numbers were) but still no luck. She started screaming at the phone when she called the house for the twenty second time with no answer. Finally she told the doctors to get the information and do it themselves… she had to go see her friend.
Chad and Ryan slowly walked into the room, Ryan sniffling and Chad laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Ryan shot a look towards Chad who nodded his head. It was time Ryan confessed.
Ryan babbled out the story with great difficulty. A lump had risen in his throat and the tears threatened to fall again but the oddest thing was… no one seemed to care. The only thing that they were concerned about (including Troy) was Ryan's welfare. They wanted to know if Ryan was okay, to let Ryan know that he could always tell them anything, they wanted Ryan to be happy. The only person who this affected was Troy and he was the one who was the most supportive… in fact… Troy did something unbelievable.
"Thanks," Troy had said, pulling Ryan into a hug from the bed (he still wasn't allowed to get out of it.).
"Thanks?" Ryan asked. "Thanks? I put you in a coma!"
"I always wanted to know what it was like in a coma and you made it possible!" Troy teased. "No… I wanted to say thanks… because the coma made me realize that youth guarantees nothing and I took it for granted way too many times. This made me realize that I should hold on to the people I love and never let go… speaking of which… when's Gabi going to get here?"
A silence fell on the group of teenagers. Taylor fake laughed.
"Funny you should mention that… see… we're all going to laugh about this someday… She thinks you're dead," Taylor finished quickly.
"Dead? Why would she think I was dead. You told her I was dying to see her… didn't you?" Troy asked nervously, pushing himself up on his pillows with difficulty. He was at full alert now.
"Well… I got the dying part in before the line went…I hate using this word… dead-ish-ness… so yeah… all she kinda heard was "Troy's dying-" …I can't imagine her at her happiest right now… so um… don't kill me… I think she may be… depressed… and um… unable to speak right now…"
"'Unable to speak'?" Troy asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Her phone's in a slump of depression, too," Taylor tried to explain in the happiest voice she could muster.
"Her phone went dead?" Chad asked.
"Yeah."
Silence. The silence was interrupted by a scream in the hallway.
"Let me through!" Gabriella's voice screamed in the hallway.
Troy immediately slumped into the pillows, his eyes closed.
"Troy!" Ryan whisper-shouted. The tears on his face were still there.
Troy responded with a wink and shut his eyes again. Taylor opened her mouth to protest but was instantly quieted by the slam of the door.
Gabriella was standing in the doorway.
The scene was unreal. Troy was lying on the bed, eyes closed, chest barely moving. Jason let out a snicker that Gabriella had mistaken for a sniffle and Ryan's tears lingered on his face as he wiped his nose with his sleeve.
"Troy!" Gabriella said loudly.
She rushed over to the bed and threw her arms around him.
"Troy! Troy! I'm sorry!" She sobbed.
Troy lifted his hand and patted her on the back.
"It's okay, Gabi," He whispered.
"Troy!" Gabriella shouted and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "Troy! You're alright!"
"I would be if you let go of my chest," Troy choked.
"I'm sorry…. You need to eat. When was the last time you ate?" Gabriella asked, acting exactly like Troy's mother.
"Weeks ago… they don't feed me at the hospital," Troy said with a grin. He was just happy that Gabriella was back.
"Oh my God!" Gabriella squealed.
"Gabi, I'm kidding," Troy said.
"Oh." Gabriella hit Troy in the head with a gift shop teddy bear Sharpay had given him a couple of days ago.
"Ow," Troy said, rubbing his head.
"Don't you ever do that again, Troy! You scared me to death!" Gabriella screamed, hitting him once more with the teddy bear.
"And to think I could be dead right now."
"Troy!" That comment earned him another hit with the teddy bear.
"Sorry. I couldn't help it."
They were all alone… when this had happened they didn't know. It was kind of scary to think of… their friends were that stealthy that they could sneak away without being noticed.
Without warning, Gabriella leaned in and kissed Troy.
"I missed you," She said.
"I love you," Troy said back.
"Ohhhhhhhh!" the group cooed from the open door.
Troy turned to Gabriella.
"May I?" He asked.
Gabriella handed him the teddy bear and troy threw it right in the middle of the group, hitting Chad in the head.
"Ow."
Everyone laughed, including Chad as they walked into the room.
So through and through, thick and thin, small and large, friends are friends forever. And love conquers all. Amor omnia vincit. Reaching for heaven… together. That's just life.
As/n: We want to thank everyone for reviewing and reading. But you're not finished yet! We still want to know what you thought of this final installment of Man Am I in Trouble. Remember to look for our other stories including our newest: Falling through Time. But don't worry, that's not our last story. Goodbye for the last time in this story!
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