Chapter 25

Just to let all my dedicated readers(if I have any left) know, I am now free to update whenever the heck I want! FINALLY! Jeez. That took long enough to clear up. Anyway, mentioning the dedicated readers, ARE YOU THERE? I got no reviews for my last chapter. That was seriously depressing, especially considering it had been like, 3 months since the last update!

They were almost ready to go. They had checked out of the hotel and loaded everything in the cars, but they were still missing one thing- Ryan.

"I'll look around back." Kelsi said. They had looked almost everywhere, but Ryan was still no where to be found.

She had reached the pool in the back of the hotel when she found him. "Ryan, what the hell are you doing?"

He laying in a lounge chair, pants legs up to his knees and his shirt unbuttoned. "I'm trying to get a tan!" He yelled in a voice that screamed, "duh."

Kelsi rolled her eyes. "It's like, 65 degrees out you idiot!" She yelled.

"But it's sunny!" He said, raising his eyebrows, thinking he had said something clever.

"Yeah, but it'll probably take you another good three hours before you can see any difference!" She said.

His face fell. "Oh."

"We're leaving, so, unless you want to stay here and, uh, "tan", you should probably come with us." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Coming!" He yelled, jumping out of the chair and managing to trip over a chair leg in the process. She pretended not to notice, and shook her head, walking away.

Ryan followed her to the car. "Nuh-uh." He said, once he saw that he was set up to ride in the same car as Sharpay. "I am NOT riding with her!"

Troy, Gabriella, Taylor, and Chad all looked confused, while Jason and Kelsi both tried unsuccessfully to hold in a laugh. "Why?" Taylor asked after no one offered an explanation.

"You don't even want to know." Kelsi said, and they figured that, since it was Ryan and Sharpay, they really didn't.

"You can ride with us." Jason, who was driving, said. "I get why you don't want to ride with her.."

"You told him?" Ryan asked Kelsi.

"Yep." She said. "But don't tell Sharpay or she'll probably kill me."

"How could I tell her? I'm not speaking to her." Ryan got in the car, slamming his door for dramatic effect.

It was finally time to leave. Sharpay, Zeke, Taylor, and Chad pulled out of the parking lot first, followed by the rest. All of them were happy to be leaving the hotel and going home.

Kelsi looked over at Jason, and he smiled at her "Let your new life begin." He said, reaching over and squeezing her hand.

She smiled back. It couldn't get any better, she thought.

If only they knew what was coming.

Robbie had no specific plan. All he knew was that something had to be done about Jason. As in, Jason needed to die.

After all, it was what he deserved. He had taken the most important thing in his life away from him, and he didn't deserve to live after doing that.

And he knew, he just knew, that once Jason was gone, Kelsi would get over whatever she had been going through in the first place- delusions, he assumed- and realize that she was still in love with him. He had been the one, after all, to accept her, love her, take her in, put up with her stupidity, when no one else had. Back when she was just a lonely nobody college student, he had found her, and turned her into something. His. At least, that was how he saw it.

He had driven across 2 states in half the time it would have normally taken to drive across one. He never considered the possibility that they might not be back in Albuquerque. His mind had pretty much gone blank altogether when it came to anything but getting revenge. Nothing else seemed important enough to even think about.

He had always been one of those people, though, the ones who, once they had their mind set on something, it stayed there. And this, this, was probably the most determined he had ever been in his life.

It didn't matter how many complications were thrown in his way. Nothing was going to stop him. He would get revenge.

They had been driving for 24 hours. They'd stopped a few times for pit stops, to eat, and to pick up Kelsi's new phone. Jason had driven, then Taylor, then Chad, and then they started all over again. They were in shifts; 4 hours each. They had refused to let Kelsi drive, no matter how much she insisted that she didn't mind.

Jason had just started driving again; they were in the last leg of the trip, about three-fourths of the way across Texas. Kelsi had her head on Jason's shoulder. She knew she should have been excited like the rest of them that they would be home in less than four hours, but to her, just being there with Jason was enough. She didn't care if she ever saw home again as long as she could stay with him.

They had pretty much stopped talking once they reached Texas. Chad and Taylor had had a fight and were not speaking, the third time it happened since the trip started, and Kelsi and Jason had stopped trying to make conversation when they realized that they weren't going to make any progress. After all, they could about the really important things later. They had all the time in the world, right?

Wrong.

Robbie was about halfway through Texas when he spotted them. Luckily, he had a good memory of cars and he recognized Jason's right away. When they stopped at a gas station, he realized the other one belonged to one of her other friends, whose named he couldn't remember- not that it really seemed important at that point.

He had been trailing them for the last two hours, being discreet enough that none of them noticed. Now, he was just waiting for the right moment.

Almost four hours had passed; "Albuqeuerque Exit-20 miles". When they saw the sign, they all cheered. Home. Had there ever been a sweeter word?

They were all ready to be home; Sharpay was ready to see her daugter. Zeke was ready to get back to his restaurant. Chad and Taylor were ready to get away from each other. Gabriella and Troy were ready to get back to wedding planning. Ryan was ready to sleep in his own bed. Jason and Kelsie were ready to get back to each other.

They all had expectations. They didn't know that their fantasies were about to be severely disrupted.

They had reached the Albuquerque exit; when they turned, Robbie turned too. It was almost 10 o'clock at night; they were almost alone on the road.

He waited until they were right beside the highest point of the ditch, then he made his move.

He sped up, ramming into the side of Jason's car.

Bump. "What the hell?" Jason looked over. Kelsi screamed when she saw that it was Robbie. Bump.

The car started slid over to wear it was almost hanging off the road. Robbie moved his into theirs, forcing them farther and farther off the road until there was just no more room.

They felt themselves fall over the edge, the car flipped, and then there was nothing but-

Darkness.

Oh my gosh, I'm pretty sure pretty much everyone hates me right now. Hahaha! I know, that was pretty much the worst thing that I could have possibly done, but once the idea got in my head, I HAD TO! Oh, and sorry it's such a short chapter, but I think I said all that needed to be said. And sorry for switching back and forth a millions times at the end, but I just wanted the effect :) I'll try to update really soon so you don't all lose your minds :) But until then, REVIEW LIKE CRAZY :) :) :)