CHAPTER 10

((I'm back! Now I know the last chapter was a little extreme with Gabi dying and all that…but let me warn you it doesn't all of a sudden turn into a happy go lucky hop down the yellow brick road…I have a question…how come Dorothy never followed the Pink Brick Road…did anyone else ever wonder about that? The pink brick road is just as pretty as the yellow one…I know I know I'm way too random…but hopefully you're used to that right now…so Gabi died in the last chapter exactly one month and one hour after Troy…this next chapter skips to January 27, 2007…one month after Troy's funeral which is going to be Gabi's funeral…how ironic…I have to hand it to you all…you guys really step up and review when I threaten not to update again until I have a certain amount of reviews…so I'm going to challenge you all a little bit more…(evil laugh)…I am not going to update again until I receive 100 reviews…haha…just kidding…I wont update again until I receive 68 reviews…not too hard…only eleven reviews…urge your friends to read and review too…okay…okay…I agree with you I'm rambling a little bit too much…on to the chapter…read and review…please…remember 68 reviews…XOXO,CHRISTINE))

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but if you could...do you think you would
trade in all the pain and suffering?
ah, but then you'd miss
the beauty of the light upon this earth
and the sweetness of the leaving

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Taylor found herself looking in the mirror at that same black mournful dress that she had worn exactly one month ago to say goodbye to her best friend's boyfriend. Now, she would wear this dress to say goodbye to her best friend, which should hurt worse, but Taylor found not the cold feeling of death, but the feeling of obscure strong numbness, as if she had been repeatedly stabbed with a Novocain shot at the dentist's office. For the past two days, she had basically been in a trance, eating, sleeping, and crying. No one who had found out minutes after Gabriella died that Ryan was responsible for Troy had done anything about it or told anyone. They were just in too much shock. Ryan, meanwhile, had once again fled to his aunt's house to avoid everybody else. Sharpay had refused to go along, insisting she had nothing to hide.

"Taylor," whispered Mrs. McKessie, slightly opening her door, "it's time to go." Taylor nodded and got up, tears of silence streaming down her face like a waterfall, and left the room to head to the funeral.

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Chad straightened his tie on his suit, before heading out to his car to drive to the funeral. Once in the car, he bluntly turned up the radio to block out his thoughts, his numb thoughts. He had lost two friends in roughly one month. For a senior high school boy, that would be terribly traumatic. He wanted to kill Ryan. Ryan killed Troy, which lead to the death of Gabriella. He wasn't able to report Ryan to the police, at least not yet. The shock hadn't worn off. And besides, where would the police look for him. He had fled far away to avoid trouble. If he ever came back, Chad would kill him. He would rip him limb from limb until there was no more of him to be ripped. Everyone felt that way, even Sharpay.

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Sharpay was crying her eyes out in her room. She was so angry at Ryan she could kill him. Because Ryan was her twin, she felt obligated. She felt like it was partially her fault. She wasn't numbed like everybody else was, she was hurt. She was wounded. She would never recover from all the terrible stuff her twin brother did to her, to Troy, to Gabriella. Sharpay felt as if Ryan had killed her, too. "So this is how people with twin siblings in jail for murder must feel like," Sharpay murmured to herself. But then she felt it. "No!" she growled. "Most people's twin siblings don't kill their best friends!" She threw her chair across the room. "I'll kill you, Ryan! If you ever come back, I'll kill you!"

Meanwhile, Mrs. Evans had been listening sadly from outside Sharpay's bedroom. She hated to see her daughter feeling this way about her beloved twin, but at the same time she could see why she felt that way. After all, Ryan had killed two people very important to Sharpay. Mrs. Evans still couldn't believe it. Her son, her baby boy, was a nasty murderer. She couldn't bear it. She and her husband had raised him. She couldn't help but asking herself, "where did I go wrong?" She collapsed against the wall crying.

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Ms. Montez had reacted along the lines of Mrs. Bolton when it came to her daughter's death. Even though the two ladies had seemed quite different, they were quite the same when it came to the death of there children. Ms. Montez neither left the house nor stopped crying in the days between the death and the funeral. Relatives had been pouring in, attempting to console her, but none prevailed. If it weren't for Ms. Montez's relatives, she probably would not have made it to the funeral.

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The funeral was set for nine o'clock am. At eight forty-five, the assembly assembled. The casket was mournfully rolled down the aisle at nine o'clock on the dot.

"Dearly, beloved, we are gathered here today to say farewell to a dear daughter, classmate, and friend, Gabriella Montez, whose life was so violently taken from her by an incident involving her being hit by a truck. We, gathered here are her family, friends, and acquaintances, here to mourn her tragic death."

Chad held a weeping Taylor close to him while he was crying himself. Taylor had finally forgiven him for kissing Gabriella. She needed someone to lean on, and she figure out that Chad was always there for her and he loved her.

Sharpay sat alone in the back of the church full of rage. She was still so angry at Ryan. She cried fiercely, all alone, with no one to hold her. She felt lonely, full of pain. What was the point of living life like this? This was not what she wanted. This was not what she needed.

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After the funeral, there was a small reception in the school gym. Ms. Montez just couldn't be a hostess and mourn her daughter at the same time. Now that Gabriella was gone, she would be living alone, by herself, in the silence of her big house. Instead of speeches at the funeral, there were speeches at the reception instead.

"Gabriella was the best friend I ever had," Taylor announced, crying as she said this. "I only knew her for about a year, but in that year she was the best friend I ever had. The death of her boyfriend, Troy, was so hard on her, and I know that she is probably happier in heaven because she is with him. She always thought of him as the love of her life."

The next speaker was Dean. "I knew Gabriella when we were really little," he told the attentive crowd. "She was a crazy kid. We always had the most fun possible when we were together. I regret moving away and only keeping loosely in touch instead of strongly. After Christmas, we wrote back and forth like we should have years back, and look what happens, she leaves us all." That last insensitive remark caught Ms. Montez coldly in the heart.

"Get out!" Ms. Montez yelled crazily at him. "Out of here, now! Only people who respect my daughter's death can be here, and that is obviously not you! Get out! I never want to hear from you again!" Stupid Dean confusedly left the stage.

"What'd I do?" he dumbly asked.

"Everything," Taylor mumbled under her breath. "That's right. Get out you Troy wannabee. You wanted to be more than Gabi's friend. You were in love with her, but you were just way too stupid to be with her."

Sharpay had been ignored by the rest of the group. They thought that since it was Ryan's fault, it was also her fault. They just gave her dirty, mean looks, while ignoring her, causing her grief to go to a whole new level. She hated her brother, absolutely hated him. He created a life of hell for her. She would get him back if it was the last thing she did. Getting him back was now her number one goal. She'd do anything to get the sweet revenge.

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((I don't know about you but I personally thought that was a bad chapter…I don't know what you think…but I wanna know what you think…I'm gonna put up the trailer for my next story now but I wont start it officially until this story is over…remember I need 68 reviews to update again…so work together to get those reviews you need…XOXO,CHRISTINE))