A/N – Thank you so much for all the
reviews, I really appreciated them!
Disclaimer – I do not own
any of the HSM characters.
It was four in the afternoon and Taylor had just returned home from a disappointing doctor's appointment. She took her Beagle puppy, Sammy, for a walk to blow off some of her steam. Now, she was entering her apartment with a handful of mail in one hand and a leash in the other.
Taylor took off Sammy's leash so that he was able to walk around freely while she went through the stack of mail in her hands. "Junk, bill, bill, junk, bill…" She let out a frustrated sigh and let the envelopes fall to the counter without bothering to open any of them.
She walked to her kitchen trying to find something to eat. In opening the fridge, she felt dizzy and waited awhile before taking out an instant TV meal. As soon as she closed the refrigerator door, she saw a memo pad that just added to her frustration.
On the memo pad, she was reminded of Troy and Gabriella's engagement party. "Great… I have to face him again." Memories of that awful day about six years ago came rushing back to her and she shook them off. No, he dumped you and you are not wasting your tears on him. While she told herself this whenever she thought about Chad, she couldn't help but still wonder about what could have happened.
Taylor felt a tugging at the flares of her pants. As she looked down, she smiled seeing Sammy. Sammy was a gift from Gabriella while Taylor was going through yet another tough time coping. She was told to consider it an early birthday present and Taylor couldn't say no once she looked into the puppy's eyes. "Oh Sammy, what's wrong? You want water, huh?" Her smiled widened when she saw the puppy yawn.
Before she heated up her 'dinner', she went into her bedroom to change into pajamas. She took off her shoes and looked for the shoebox to place them in. Thinking that it was the baby blue box on the bottom of her closet, Taylor opened it to find her wrong. Inside were pictures, letters, and anything that reminded her of Chad. Letting her shoes drop to the floor, she looked through the box. So many times she tried to get herself to throw it away, but she could never do it. No matter how bad he hurt her.
She shut her eyes, trying to stop the tears from flowing. "What did I do to deserve all of this?" She would ask herself this question time and time again. Still to this day, she would still wonder about Chad and his reasons for breaking up with her. Looking down into the shoebox, she saw a picture of the two of them on their one year anniversary. They looked so happy, but according to him, they weren't.
Taylor closed the box not wanting to think about him right now especially after her horrible morning. Then, she remembered about the food she had planned on eating and decided that she wasn't hungry anymore.
HSMHSMHSMHSM
"So how are you feeling," Gabriella asked Taylor. The two decided to have a girls' day out to splurge on clothes.
"Okay," Taylor sighed. "Gabi, I don't really feel like talking about this right now…" She pretended to seem interested in a dress before placing it back on the rack.
Gabriella nodded, "I'm sorry."
"So… you and Troy excited about the big day," Taylor asked, changing the subject.
"Oh yeah," Gabriella smiled. "You better cancel anything you have prepared that day or I will be pissed to say the least." The wedding was in December in a chapel next to the ski lodge where they first met.
"If I make it until then," Taylor mumbled sadly, picking out two more shirts to purchase.
"Huh," Gabriella asked, looking at Taylor's direction. "Did you say something?"
"N-nothing," Taylor replied quickly. "It's nothing."
HSMHSMHSMHSM
Gabriella entered her apartment to see Troy, Jason, and Kelsie having conversations on the dining room table. She placed her shopping bags down and went over to greet her friends. Kelsie worked at East High, she was continuing to compose the high school's winter and spring musicals. As a part time job, she gave kids piano lessons. Jason played basketball alongside Troy.
"Hey," Gabriella smiled, walking around the table to kiss everyone lightly on the cheek.
Before she sat down herself, Troy held onto her arm a little longer, "That's all I get?" He made a pouty face and she couldn't help herself. She leaned down once again to kiss him softly on the lips.
"You two have got to be the corniest couple ever," Jason teased and received a light hit to the arm from Kelsie.
"How'd shopping with Taylor go," Troy asked as soon as Gabriella took a seat. "How is she?"
"Last time I spoke to her she was in pretty rough shape," Kelsie replied sadly. "I guess it's hard to deal with so many things all at once."
Gabriella nodded, "She's been doing the whole radiation thing for the past couple of months. But then she told me that a couple of days when she had a doctor's appointment, they told her that the leukemia had progressed."
Troy could tell that Gabriella was having a hard time saying this all being that Taylor was on of her closest friends. He reached his hand across the table to place it on top of hers and rubbing it.
Gabriella continued, "She been so down and moody lately, you know? I want to help her but she keeps pushing everyone away."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Kelsie said, "But, I think it had to do with Michael leaving her as soon as she broke the news to him. What a jerk!"
Troy and Jason nodded their heads in agreement.
"I think the only person who can make her happy is Chad," Jason suggested.
Gabriella, Kelsie, and Troy looked at each other thinking the same thing. 'Maybe he's right.'
A/N – sorry for the long wait! My computer broke down recently and I couldn't post a new chapter up. Already, I'm experiencing writer's block, so if you want more chapters please tell me some of your ideas. )