Until We Bleed

by: LunarEclipse360

A/N: This chapter jumps a lot and that's only because, well, my mind plays off everything like a movie. The way I see it in my head is the way I write it, which is probably why I don't think I'm a good writer. Also I changed Alejandro's death age from fifteen to seventeen back in chapter 25, but I changed it like an hour after I posted it (I have memory problems so this is why I'm just mentioning this now).

Warning: rated M for sexual situations, language, drug use, sex

Chapter 28

He didn't come home that night.

Or the night after.

Or the night after.

She sat up for the first night, awaiting his return, but was disappointed when he hadn't come. A fitful sleep came hours later as she lay across the couch. His disappearance caused her to worry and she was unable to sleep the next night. On the second night, she tried calling his cell phone, but there was no answer. She didn't know if that meant that it was dead or if he just wasn't picking up.

On the third night, Gabriella had grown tired of lying on the couch and moved into his room. It was there that she managed to drift into a dreamless sleep using his embedded scent on the pillows and sheets to comfort her.

She awoke that same night to the sound of what she thought was the front door slamming. Her body jolted upward as she listened for footsteps or some kind of sign that he had returned. But when her ears were met with complete silence, she pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees. Sobs wracked her petite body as she began to cry. She wished he would come back; wished she could tell him the truth.

/0\

"Gabriella!" Sharpay called as she knocked furiously on her best friend's front door. "Gabriella Marie, open the damn door!"

Sharpay hadn't heard from her best friend in a couple of days and it scared her. She tried calling, but there was no answer. Fear rose within her after the hundredth time she received no answer. So, she decided to pay the brunette a visit. She needed to know that Gabriella was still alive.

"Goddamn it, Gabriella, open this fucking door!"

When the door opened minutes later, Sharpay felt her heart going to pieces as she gazed upon Gabriella's face; tear-stained cheeks and blood-shot eyes. Without saying a word, she pulled her best friend into her arms and held her as Gabriella began to cry all over again.

/0\

"So what happened?"

Sharpay had stood in the doorway, holding her sobbing best friend, for a good half an hour before Gabriella calmed down enough for them to move inside. They took a seat on the couch where the brunette proceeded to stare blankly at the black television screen until Sharpay decided to ask what had gotten her so depressed.

"He found out...and then he left...and he hasn't been back since."

The blonde didn't need to ask who Gabriella was talking about. No one else could have had this effect on her best friend except for the blue-eyed idiot who'd managed to steal Gabriella's heart. Wrapping her arms around the brunette's shoulders, Sharpay tried to find the right words to say.

"How long has he been gone?"

"Four days."

"Did he say anything before he left?"

She shook her head. "No. He...he wouldn't even look at me."

"Why didn't you tell him the truth? Why didn't you tell him that you have no choice in this wedding?"

"I tried...believe me, I tried, but he wouldn't listen...he wouldn't even give me a chance." Tightly clutching the throw pillow that she had been holding onto, Gabriella fought off another wave of tears. "I'm so worried about him. I tried calling his phone, but he hasn't answered. He probably hates me for lying to him."

"So what if he does? That gives him no right to do this to you."

Gabriella turned towards her friend. "What am I gonna do, Shar?"

"Well...you're gonna tell him the truth."

"How? How can I tell him when he won't even speak to me?"

"Let me take care of that."

"But we don't even know where he is."

"I have an idea." Sharpay dug inside her pink leather Louis Vutton purse and pulled out her iPhone. It took her three seconds to find the number she needed and quickly pressed dial. "Hey, it's me. Is your best friend there?"

/0\

Chad Danforth had been caught off guard when his best friend showed up at his door; eyes blood-shot, the smell of booze on his breath and the scent of marijuana on his clothes. He hadn't asked any questions. The broken look in the male's blue eyes told him not to. Without a second thought, Chad set up a bed on the couch and lent him some spare clothes. Once he had sobered up, Chad attempted to get information from him, but he refused to say anything. That was four days ago.

"How much longer are you gonna stay here?"

"Are you kicking me out?"

"No, but I do think you're being childish."

"Childish? About what?"

"About whatever it is that Gabriella did or said to you."

Troy's eyes darkened slightly. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Sitting up, Troy allowed one leg to dangle over the side of the couch while he pulled the other towards him. "She's getting married."

"Married? To who?"

"I don't know. All I know is that she lied to me."

"About?"

"About her relationship to the guy she's supposedly marrying."

"I thought you said you don't know the guy?"

"I don't. I just know his name. He called a few times while she was in the hospital. I asked her about him and she told me he was just a friend." He scoffed. "What a fucking lie that was."

"So you're...jealous?"

His blue eyes rolled in annoyance. "Yes, Chad, I'm jealous. And, yes, I do like her. Happy to hear it now?"

"Very much so. But what are you gonna do?"

"What is there for me to do? Nothing. Not a Goddamn thing. She loves him. She's gonna marry him."

"Are you sure she loves him?"

"Of course. Why else would she marry the guy?"

"Troy..." Before Chad could continue, his phone rang and he sighed before stepping into his room to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me. Is your best friend there?"

"Hey, Shar, and, yeah, he's here."

"Make sure he doesn't go anywhere. Gabriella and I are coming over."

"As long as I don't tell him that piece of information, believe me," Chad looked at Troy, who was staring blankly at nothing, "he's not going anywhere."

"Good. We'll be over in a few."

/0\

"Sharpay, why are we here?" Gabriella asked as they stood outside of Chad's door.

"Because we need to resolve this issue right now."

"But he won't listen to me."

"I know, but I'll make him listen to me." She knocked on the door and seconds later Chad appeared. "Where is he?"

"Is that anyway to greet your boyfriend?"

Smiling, she pecked his lips. "Hi. Now, where is he?"

Chad motioned for her to come inside, but Sharpay was stopped by a hand on her wrist. She turned to Gabriella, who wore a mortified look on her face.

"I can't, Shar."

"Then you stay out here, while I deal with the jackass."

Nodding, Gabriella let go of Sharpay's wrist and watched her best friend disappear inside. The door closed slightly, leaving a sliver open to allow her to hear the conversation. Sharpay stalked into the living room and crossed her arms when she found Troy lying down with an arm over his eyes. She waited for him to acknowledge her presence, but when he didn't, she hit him on his leg.

"Ow! What the...?" His blue eyes met Sharpay's molten brown eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to beat some sense into you."

He sighed and moved so he was sitting the right way on the couch. "If this is about your best friend, then you're wasting your breath."

"What is wrong with you? Do you realize how hurt and upset Gabriella is?"

"How hurt she is? Like I give a shit how hurt she is. She's the one who lied to me."

Chad cringed as the first swear word flew out of his best friend's mouth. He was glad he had taken Destiny to the babysitter that morning. He did not want her to hear the words that were bound to be thrown around in the course of this argument.

"And if she would have told you, what would you have done, huh?"

His blue eyes turned purple. "I wouldn't have let myself feel anything for her."

"Even if she feels something for you?"

Her eyes appeared before him; that look in them that sent his heart into a frenzy. But that hadn't been real. It was only his mind producing things he wanted to see. "Feels something for me? Why would she feel anything for me when she's marrying someone else?"

"She doesn't have a choice."

"Why wouldn't she have a choice?"

"Believe me, the fact of the matter is, she has no choice."

"Oh, I get it. You can't choose who you love, right? Is that where you're going with this? She has no choice because she's in love with Max?" Venom spewed from his lips as he said Maximilian's name.

Sharpay was furious. "No dickwad; she doesn't fucking love Max. She never has and never will."

"Then she must be in it for the sex. Did she tell you if she fucked him, yet? Or have they not gotten to that point? I hope I get to meet him one day so I can tell him how much of an animal she is in bed."

"You're such an ass."

"And you're a bitch. Are we done here?"

"No, not until you go apologize."

"Apologize? Apologize for what? She should be the one apologizing to me; for stringing me along like that."

"She didn't make you do what you didn't want to do."

Glaring, he stood. "You know what? You can go fuck yourself, cause I'm done here. I'm done with your bullshit and I'm done with Gabriella's."

"Troy, don't you think you're being a little harsh?" Chad asked.

"Oh, so what, now you're on their side?"

"I'm on no one's side. I just think you're being childish. I mean, two weeks ago, you were trying to fight back the feelings you had for her and now you're upset because she lied to you about her relationship with another guy? Two weeks ago, you would have never let it get to you, so why now?"

Voices all talked at one time. He didn't want to listen to the more prominent one in his head, so he drowned it out, instead choosing the one that fit more to his liking. "Because...I thought that she actually did feel something for me...and then I realized that it was nothing more than my imagination."

"That's not true." All eyes turned towards the door, where Gabriella stood; fresh tears in her eyes. "It's not true. What you saw...it was real."

Snapping out of his stupor. "I'm sure it was," he responded sarcastically.

"Why can't you believe me?"

"Because you're still gonna marry the fucker."

"I told you," Sharpay started, "she has no fucking choice."

"Then why, the fuck, is she marrying him?"

"Because I have to!" Gabriella shouted, before disappearing into the hallway and down the staircase.

Confusion swept through him. "W-What?"

Sighing, Sharpay calmed herself before continuing. "The only reason why she's marrying Max is because her Father told her she has to. She. Has. No. Choice."

His blue eyes narrowed. "She does have a choice. She can tell her Father to 'fuck off' and be done with it. If she chooses to keep up with this damn arranged marriage, then that's her problem. I refused to be dragged along just so I can be thrown away later."

Without another word, Troy left Chad's apartment.

/0\

It wasn't like Gabriella to cry in public, but she couldn't help it. Troy's words stung. They stung and they prodded and they picked away at her already breaking heart. She was somewhat glad that it was dark out; no one could see her crying. The sound of a door closing, followed by footsteps made her look up and she saw Troy's form begin down the street. She wasn't sure if he saw her or not, but she began to follow him anyway.

She followed him for a good twenty minutes; curiosity flooding her when she recognized the area in which she had dropped him off that night after Sharpay's beach party. What was here that he possibly could go to? When he stopped at one of the warehouses, she ducked behind a couple of crates as to not be seen and watched him scan the area for anything that seemed out of place. She hoped that she was well hidden. The tears that had been falling earlier had long since stopped and she was somewhat glad because it made spying easier to do.

He knocked on the door three times before it opened. Out stepped a tall, blonde haired male who seemed to know Troy. He smiled and said a few words before allowing Troy to step inside. Gabriella didn't move from her spot. She waited, patiently, for Troy to reemerge, but when a half an hour passed by and he didn't, she knew she had to take action. Standing, she walked over to the door and knocked like Troy had. The door opened and the tall male looked down at her, confused.

"May I help you?"

"Um...I'm looking for Troy Bolton."

"And how do you know he's here?"

"I was following him," she admitted, albeit blushing in embarrassment, "and I saw him come in here."

"This is for your own good, sweetheart, I think you should just go home."

She shook her head. "Not until I see him."

The man sighed before motioning her inside. She stepped inside the warehouse and found that it looked nothing like it did on the outside. It reminded her of one of the speakeasies from the 1930s.

"Follow me."

She did so, following him down the long hallway. When they came to a door, he gestured for her to wait while he peered inside. She heard his voice murmur something followed by another voice before he opened the door completely and allowed her to walk in. Confusion came over her when she was greeted by a short, stocky male, seated behind a desk. On his lap, sat a scantily clad blonde female; her blue eyes holding a question in them.

"Please, don't be shy; step in further." Reluctantly, Gabriella stepped further into the room. She watched as the man stood up, knocking the woman off his lap, and moved to the front of his desk. The female opted for seating herself on the edge of a glass table; her eyes seeming to scream at Gabriella to leave. "Liev tells me you're looking for Troy Bolton."

Turning her gaze from the woman, she nodded. "Yes. I followed him here and I just wanted to know if he was okay."

"Oh, he's better than okay. Believe me." The man turned to the blonde and smiled. "Daisy, why don't you show this young woman to the room where Troy is?"

The blonde, Daisy, nodded and stood, walking up to Gabriella. "Please follow me." Gabriella followed, but the second they were in the hallway, Daisy turned to her. "Please, please, I'm begging you, leave now. What you find here you will not like."

"Excuse me?"

"The Troy that you will find behind these walls is not the same Troy you know outside," she said, her Southern drawl coming out more than it had before. "Please, you must go."

"I will not leave until I see him." She turned to walk further down the hall, but she was stopped by a hand on her wrist.

"I know you have strong feelings for Troy, I can see it in your eyes, but if you don't want that to be tainted, you must leave."

Gabriella was about to say something when the ring on the woman's finger caught her gaze. "Where did you get that?" she asked, recognizing that piece of jewelry to be the one she thought she lost nearly four months ago.

"Morris gave this to me. Why does it matter?"

"Is there something wrong, ladies?" the stocky male from before asked when he was alerted by one of his men that they were still in the hallway.

"Are you Morris?" Gabriella asked.

"I am."

"Where did you get this?" She lifted Daisy's hand, showing him the ring.

"It was used as payment for a debt by one of my customers."

Shutting her eyes, Gabriella had a horrible feeling that she already knew who it was, but she refused to believe it. "W-Who?"

Eyes still closed, she didn't see the troubled look on Daisy's face nor the sick smirk that overtook Morris' before he answered her.

"A man by the name of Troy Bolton."

The sound of her heart shattering within her chest cause her eyes to open and the first tear to fall. He lied to her. Here he was getting on her about lying to him about Max and, yet, he lied to her from the very beginning about her ring.

"W-Where is he?"

"Follow me."

"No," Daisy said, holding Gabriella back. "I know you're mad at him, but don't do this; don't go to him."

"I have to."

Prying the woman's hand from her arm, Gabriella followed Morris down the hallway; anger and hurt bubbling inside of her. She couldn't believe he had gotten upset about her lying to him, when he had been doing the same thing. She had a few choice words to say to him; a few choice words that only Sharpay Evans would say. All that, however, went out the window when Morris stopped at a door and opened it, allowing her to peer inside.

All thoughts rushed from her mind as her jaw dropped in disbelief. There, in front of her, was Troy Bolton, seated on a couch with two prostitutes—one with her mouth on his and the other with her mouth on his dick. But that didn't bother her as much as what she saw next. On the table in front of him were five lines of white powder. There had appeared to be a sixth, but only a small pile remained.

Cocaine. Leaning against the wall beside the door, out of view, she attempted to breathe, but her breath became caught in her throat when she fought hard to not cry. It's not his...it can't be his. He told me he didn't...that he doesn't...

Morris cleared his throat and let his presence know to the threesome. Troy didn't bother to pull his attention away from the girl he was currently sucking face with. It wasn't until Morris cleared his throat once more, did he finally turn it to the man at the door; the man he was still furious at after finding out that he was hitting his best friend.

"Can't you see I'm fucking busy?" he growled.

"I can see it perfectly."

"Then fuck off," he said and returned his attention to the girl beside him.

"Girls, can you excuse us?"

Knowing they couldn't say 'no', the two females left the room. Growling in frustration, Troy glared at the man in the doorway before fixing himself. Turning his eyes to the table, he failed to notice the brunette that had moved herself into the doorway and picked up the long straw.

"Is there a reason you're here?" he asked before leaning forward and proceeding to snort the next line. A sharp gasp caught his attention and he looked up, everything crashing around him when he met the hurt brown eyes of Gabriella Montez. "G-Gabriella."

Her whispered name escaping from his lips brought her back to reality and she found the voice of her feet telling her to run. So she did. She kept running, even as he called her name once more, and didn't stop until she was safely on the other side of those walls; back into the polluted air belonging to Los Angeles. She was able to breathe again, something she could not do just seconds before.

"Gabriella."

His fingers curled over her wrist, trying to get her attention, but he was only met by one swift slap to the face. When he recovered from the shock, he looked into her brown eyes; everything from hurt and betrayal to sorrow and heartache shining within them.

"You, asshole. You fucking asshole!" she screamed.

"Gabriella, please, can we talk about this?"

"Talk? Oh, no we're done talking. You made that perfectly clear when you decided to be a damn hypocrite and get on me for lying when you were doing just as much and twice as worse."

"What?"

"I know about the ring," she cried. "I know about my grandmother's ring and how you stole it...and then lied to me about it. How could you? How could you not tell me about that?"

"I'm sorry, alright? But I needed it."

"Needed it? Troy, you used it...to pay off a drug debt."

"I did need it. If I didn't pay Morris, then..."

"Then what, Troy? Would he have refused to feed your addiction; the same addiction you assured me you didn't have? You lied to me about that, too." She looked down. "You looked me right in the eye...and lied to me."

"Why does it matter, huh? So I lied to you about using drugs. So I used your grandmother's ring to pay off a debt. Why, the fuck, does it matter to you? It's my Goddamn life, not yours. If I choose to get high almost every day of the week, why should it bother you so much?"

She looked down; her heart hurting as images from a time long ago flashed before her. Birthdays, Christmases, Thanksgivings, family events...they were all tainted by it.

"Answer me, Gabriella. What's your reason for it bothering you so damn much?"

"Because I care about you!" she shouted, catching Troy off guard. "I care about you...and I don't want to lose another person I care about to drugs. My heart wouldn't be able to take it."

"Another?" he whispered, wondering what she meant.

"I...I can't do this," she said to no one before staring back towards the way she came.

"Gabriella, wait!" he called.

She stopped and turned. "You know what, Troy? You're right. You're completely right. It's your choice about what you wanna do with your life. And...if you wanna die here with people who couldn't give two shits about you...then so be it. It's your choice."

With that, she turned and left.