Guess what, we hit three hundred reviews! I was beyond elated when I found out. It's all thanks to you guys!! In addition there were about four or five song titles and no one that said them got it wrong so good job! The line went "when you're young everything feels like it's the end of the word but it's not, it's just the beginning". Everyone got it so…hurrah! So without further ado here's the chapter!

Chapter 24: No Matter What

Gabriella's POV

"Troy!" I shouted as I awoke, grabbing the railings around me tightly. I retracted my arms when I felt pain shoot through one of them. I looked around, the white walls feeling foreign to me. It felt like I just woke up from the worst nightmare in the world, but unfortunately it was all real. The memories all rushed back to me filling my head with the images of the dreadful night before. The pain, the discoveries, the blood… it made me sick to just think about it. I swung my feet around the railings and came off the bed. My legs were apparently asleep because I fell down as soon as I touched the floor. Pain took over the entire middle of my body and I clutched it tightly.

"Gabriella!" I heard someone say. A petite blonde woman ran to my side and helped me up. She helped me lay back in the bed and went to the front of the bed and looked at what appeared to be my file. "How are you feeling?" she asked kindly.

"I'm okay. Feeling a little bit of pain in my arm and in my side" I said looking at the small cast on my arm.

"Well that's to be expected. You had quite a few injuries but according to your charts it's nothing that can't be healed" she said closing the folder and putting it back in the bin at the front of the bed.

"That's good but um… do you have any more patients" I asked trying to casually ask her about Troy.

"If you're talking about the boy you entered with, no I don't have him" she said raising an eyebrow.

"Well may I go see him?" I blurted out, trying to get right to the point.

"No you may not"

"Why!" I whined, annoyed and saddened at the same time.

"I'm sorry Gabriella but I cannot divulge that information to you" she said checking the packets of a clear liquid next to my bed.

"But I really need to see him, it's very important!" I said to her, sitting up. I winced and held my side, she was at my bedside in a second helping me to lie back down. "I'm fine" I said harshly, with a bit more hostility than I meant.

"I'm sorry but when I got this case I was told to just help you and listen to whatever you had to say" she said, trying not to look at me. I just glared at her because at this moment she was the only thing stopping me the one person I loved with all of my heart.

"Whatever" I said turning to the other side of the bed. I was going to see Troy, no matter what.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It's been two miserable days in this retched place and nothing has gotten better. For the past two days I've just been trying to distract myself from doing nothing because otherwise I'd just go back to thinking about the day that brought me and Troy here and I can't have that.

"Here's your dinner Gabriella" said Veronica, the new nurse that was given to me after I drove the old one away. As always I just drunk the juice and pushed the tray away which causes her to roll her eyes and leave the room. She hasn't even been here for a complete day and she's already tired of me, typical. I haven't done anything but just look out the window with a heavy heart and watch the clouds move away. It seemed as if each cloud contained me and Troy just lying together, finally free and happy.

"Brie?" a voice I hadn't heard in a while called out. I turned around and saw Sharpay walking in with a large teddy bear, some flowers and a dozen balloons. I felt myself smile, an action I haven't done in a while. She put everything on the night stand next to me and engulfed me in a warm hug that hurt my ribs but I didn't care right now.

"Shar! It's been way too long" I said as she let go. She chuckled and pulled up a chair next to the bed.

"So how've you been?" she asked me, putting some of her blond hair behind her ear

"Not so good actually, I've been pretty depressed these past couple of days" I said sadly. She took hold of one of my hands.

"Why, what happened?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

"Post Troy Withdrawal" I sighed. She rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"You'll see him soon enough. Just be patient" she told me smoothing back my hair which I'm guessing looks like a birds nest, but my appearance was the last thing on my mind.

"Shar I've been patient for two days. Everyone refuses to tell me anything and to tell you the truth I'm getting fed up" I said trying to fold my arms but the cast made it difficult.

"Stop that, you'll hurt yourself" she said unfolding my arms.

"I don't care my pain is nothing compared to what Troy must be feeling" I said looking down. She lifted my chin up and turned my head to hers.

"He'll be fine, you'll be fine. Then you'll both have a happily ever after" she assured me. Happily ever after? I'd like to see that happen to either of us.

"I'll get out with a couple of cuts and bruises and he'll be scarred with …" I buried my face into my legs, becoming even more depressed as reality continue to hit me.

"Brie what happened?" Sharpay said when she realized I stopped in an effort to keep the truth from her.

"What do you know?" I asked her, avoiding her gaze by looking at the needle attached to my hand, I grimaced.

"All I know is that I was going to your house to take you out shopping—"

"You were going to take me shopping?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes I was. I thought that you would need a new wardrobe"

"What was wrong with my old one?" I asked her, not offended, but just trying to see whether or not she was telling the truth.

"Gabriella that's not the point!" she said exasperated. I chuckled realizing that she really wasn't telling the truth. "As I was saying, when I got to your house it was blocked off by that yellow police tape, and something told me to come here. Then when I got here I asked for both of you, the receptionist told me that you were available but Troy wasn't because he was in Intensive Care—"

"Intensive care!? As in needs extra attention because they're severely hurt intensive care?" I interrupted.

"I'm not a doctor, I don't know Brie" she said dumfounded.

"No, no, no, no, no…" I repeated to myself over and over as I sat up and slowly came off of the bed. Sharpay was already on the other side, directly in front of me.

"You're not going anywhere" Sharpay said staring me down. I brushed by her and she followed to the side of me.

"This is all my fault. I caused this" I said to her, tears welling up in my eyes, as I walked toward the door, holding my side with one arm. She stood in front of the doorway, blocking my exit. She shook her head and I gave up as my anger and determination suddenly turned into sadness and depression. I collapsed into her arms and broke out into piercing sobs. She helped me back to my bed, as I clutched onto her red blouse still emitting violent sobs. It felt like everything was crashing down on me. I caused Troy so much physical pain that there's a chance that he might not make it. But I know that won't happen because Troy's strong he'll make it through…he has to. I probably was still sobbing because Veronica came back in and stood in the threshold looking at us with a curious face. I hid my face in Sharpay's shirt as I began to sit in the bed.

"Everything ok in here" Veronica asked in a monotone voice, as if it was forced.

"What do you think?" Sharpay asked her, anger in her voice.

"I'll handle it" Veronica said. As my sobbing began to slow down, I could hear Sharpay gently whispering comforting words.

"It's alright, its ok Brie. It'll all be fine" she said quietly, rubbing my back. I quieted down and laid back in my bed, wiping my eyes with the sheet. Veronica re-entered with a concealed item and headed toward the fluids.

"What are you doing?" Sharpay asked as she saw Veronica take out a needle.

"Just helping her settle down" she said calmly.

"I am settled down" I said stubbornly.

"You will be even more settled down in a second. I'm just putting something that will help you sleep into your system through your IV" she said releasing the liquid into the tube connected to my hand.

"That's not necessary" Sharpay said shaking her head, annoyed.

"Well I did it. Deal with it" Veronica told Sharpay with a hint of an attitude. Sharpay was about to open her mouth but I shook my head, not being able to speak. I could feel a calm sensation taking over my body. My eyesight began to get blurry and my eyelids began to close. Dumb Veronica, filling me up with some sleeping medicine to shut me up. Boy is this not the right field for her!

"Oh and by the way, I paid for your phone and TV so you can be entertained for the time being. Sweet dreams!" Sharpay said giving me a hug and leaving. She probably said something else but I was already counting sheep.

My eyelids fluttered open as I adjusted to the morning sun shining through my window. Lately I've been getting a lot of sleep, but truth be told I needed it. I yawned and stretched my arms, not feeling as much pain as I did the night before. Just great… I'm healing after just four days and Troy's probably getting worse. Veronica came in, pushing the cart with my food.

"Good morning Gabriella" she said in a forced polite tone.

"Morning" I said curtly as I pulled the food over to me.

"You're actually eating today?" she asked me curiously.

"No, I just wanted to see what you were going to say" I said taking the juice off of the tray, smiling. She scowled and pulled the cart away, exiting the room. As I finished off today's apple juice, man with long black hair tied back by a pony tail entered the room. He was short and had a deep voice.

"Hello Gabriella. I'm Dr. Roberts" he announced shaking my good hand and looking at my charts. "How are you?"

"I'm great" I lied.

"Well according to your nurses' reports and your chart, you're not that great" he said keeping his tone gentle.

"What did the nurses say?" I asked, imagining all of the horrid things they may have said.

"They said that you show signs of depression and have tendency to not be in control of your emotions" he told me.

"Well it's not true" I said stubbornly turning to the side.

"So you haven't been starving yourself the whole time you've been here" he asked me, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Well it's their fault! If they just let me see…someone then I wouldn't have to go to such drastic measures" I said rigidly. He shook his head.

"Killing yourself isn't going to get you any closer to see Troy. It'll actually put you further away" he said. I stared at him strangely, he seemed to know much more than he let on. How did he know about Troy?

"Is Troy one of your patients as well" I asked him. He shook his head.

"I don't handle ICU people. But I admitted you both" he said.

"Well then can you tell me how's he doing?"

"No, I'm not at liberty to release that information to you, but I can tell you how you're doing" he said coming to the side of my bed.

"But I don't want to know how I'm doing. I want to know how Troy's doing" I moaned, taking hold of his arm. I could see it in his eyes, he wanted to tell me but I guess the need to keep his job was preventing him from assisting me.

"I'm sorry Gabriella but as much as I want to help you but I can't" he said, his voice softening. I dropped my head and sunk back into my bed, defeated.

"The good news is that you'll be able to go home tonight. We just have to replace that cast with some bandages and change the bandages on your chest" he said putting the chart back. I didn't answer him; instead I turned on the TV and ignored his presence. He sighed and walked out of the room.

Later that night Sharpay came and picked me up in her limo, taking me back to her house. I just silently went to the guest room, changed into one of her pajamas and went to sleep. The next day I just stayed in bed all day, staring at the ceiling trying to clear out my mind, but it just gave me more time to think. I became even more disheartened every time I pictured Troy on the floor, his eyes closed, his body bruised and bloodied. I just cried until I couldn't feel anything anymore and fell asleep. The following morning I stayed in the bed until Sharpay burst into the room, apparently upset.

"Okay, I can't take this anymore. Be happy! Go outside, be social! Stop sulking and do something!" she yelled at me pacing back and forth. I just watched her wordlessly, she screamed in frustration. She left for a second then came back in with a white dress.

"Put this on, freshen up, and then come outside. We are going to see Troy, no matter what!" she commanded, stomping out of the room. A smile spread across my face, she had a plan.

Story Trivia: Just to test your memory, Name three things that happened the day after Troy and Gabriella's birthday.

A/N

I was going to put up the full chapter, but I also said I'd update in a week so I had to just put up the first half. The next chapter has a lot more dialogue and some medical stuff. BTW: 1) Read Stranger 2: Pain is not for gain. 2) About 2 weeks ago I finally saw Zac on Saturday Night Live (I was away for spring break) it was hilarious. I suggest you watch the entire thing (especially the 'I am your mother' part). If you saw it tell me what you thought of it, if you didn't: see it! 3) Listen to Taylor Swift's 'You belong with me' (awesome!) Anyway, time to get cracking on the next chapter. Peace!