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Chapter 9. Brand New Day

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Troy woke up the next morning to find Gabriella running her fingers through his hair.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Sleep well?" Gabriella asked smiling.

"Thanks to you. After you came in here, I didn't have one more bad dream." Troy said before kissing her softly.

"Glad to hear." Gabriella said before getting up.

Again, it took a little longer than usual to get down stairs. But when they finally got down stairs, they didn't have to worry about a repeat of yesterday. When they entered the kitchen again they found a note.

Gabriella and Troy,

Had to go to work early. Hope you feel better today. There's plenty of food to eat. Try and take it easy. Gabriella, don't forget that the paramedics said to change Troy's bandages every morning and night.

-Jackie

"Nooooooo!" Troy screamed sarcastically after reading the last part.

"Come on. I'll try to make it as painless as possible." Gabriella said getting out the gauze and pain killer.

Troy sat down on the couch and took of his shirt. After Gabriella had gotten everything, she came over and started to undo the old bandages. They were better than the day before, but still looked pretty bad.

"We've got to let them air out before putting new ones on." Gabriella said removing the last of the bandages.

"Great. Now I get to look at my injuries for a whole half hour!" Troy said sarcastically.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've never really noticed until now what ripped abs you have." Gabriella said leaning up against his shoulder and running her fingers over his chest.

"Did I mention how much I like having my shirt off?" Troy said grinning.

Just then the door bell rang.

"Deja Vu!" Troy said as they got up and walked to the door. Luckily it was only Chad, Taylor, Zeke, Jason, Kelsi, Sharpay, and Ryan.

"Hey, guys! We heard what happened yesterday so we thought we'd come over to cheer you two up!" Chad said as they all walked in.

"Dang, Troy! You got beat up good!" Ryan said once he saw Troy's wounds.

"Yeah! Are you sure your ok?" Taylor asked.

"I'm fine. Infact, Gabriella was just about to put the bandages back on. Weren't you?" Troy said playfully while staring at Gabriella.

"Fine." she said before getting the gauze and wrapping it around his cuts.

"Here. I brought these for you." Zeke said pulling out a plate with cup cakes on it and plastic wrap over the top.

"I helped!" Sharpay added proudly.

"Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot." Troy said smiling a mile wide.

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After hearing, and completely understanding, what happened to Troy the previous night Mrs. Montez said that Gabriella could sleep with Troy. Just as long as they didn't do anything 'unwise'.

"Feeling alright tonight?" Gabriella asked as they slipped into bed.

"Never better." Troy said smiling.

When they had gotten settled, Gabriella leaned over and placed her head on his chest. Troy leaned down and kissed the top of her head before slowly drifting into the deepest sleep he had been in that week. When Mrs. Montez walked in to check on them a few hours latter, she saw Gabriella's arms wrapped tight around Troy and a huge smile plastered on his face.

THE END