A/N: Hey all. I'm supposed to give a shout-out to my cousin, Jackie, so…um…yeah. Here's your shout-out. I hope you're happy! I'll dedicate this chapter to you! LOL. Anywho…I know all you Troy fans were very happy that I didn't kill him off, and that I had him wake up. To be honest, and I know that Jackie knows, I am more of a Corbin Bleu person than a Zac Effron person. Jackie thinks I'm crazy and I'm sure half of ya'll do too, but anyway…my babbling is done. If all my readers are like me, than I know that they just skip the A/N and just go straight to the story. I call those people, people who don't dilly-dally around (lol, my grandma's saying). ANYWAY, here's the story.

Chapter 13

Gabriella slowly woke up that Wednesday morning. She felt so at peace. Light was streaming in from her balcony window. Gabriella suddenly bolted up from her bed. She had forgotten to set her alarm clock the night before, so she had slept in. She quickly glanced at the clock.

"9:54!" she screamed at the clock as if somehow it was wrong. She wanted to see Troy that morning before the funeral, but now there was no time. She told her mother that she wanted to see him, but she must have forgotten.

"Ugh!" she cried as she limped to her near-by bathroom, quickly undressed, put on her plastic cast protector for when she got wet, and she showered. After taking a ten-minute shower, she limped to her sink and applied some waterproof mascara and some foundation to her face. She then put smoothing gel in her hair, and dried it quickly. She half limped, half ran out of the bathroom, and started searching her closet for her black skirt and white blouse that she had picked out for the funeral. She was so flustered that she put her skirt on backwards. When Gabriella finished dressing she quickly maneuvered herself using her crutches and the guardrail downstairs to find her mom.

"Mom?" she yelled while coming down the stairs. She wasn't in the kitchen. Gabriella bellowed again down her basement. No answer. Where was her mom? She slammed her arms down on the counter in frustration. Where on earth could Mom be on the day that I'll need her most? Gabriella asked herself in frustration. She quickly grabbed the portable phone from its dock and pounded the numbers to dial her mom's cell number. The voice mail picked up and Gabriella practically slammed the phone back into its dock furiously. She started to cry in frustration. She needed her mother.

Just then the phone rang. God had sent a miracle to her, she thought as she pounced on the phone. "Mami?" she exclaimed into the phone.

"No, Gabriella. It's me, Ryan," she heard a voice say into the phone.

Gabriella sighed in disappointment. "Hi, Ryan," she said politely.

"Hey, your mom called me and asked me to pick you up for the funeral. She said that she'd be a little late coming to it."

Gabriella was annoyed, "Ryan, why'd she call you. Why couldn't she just tell me to drive myself?"

"Gabriella, I don't know why she asked me. She must not want you driving after all this. And besides, you have a broken leg, remember?"

"Ryan, it's my left leg. Who uses their left leg to drive?"

"Gabriella, I don't know. Just go with the flow, and respect your mom's wishes. I'm on my way now. Are you ready?"

"Yes," she flatly responded.

"Good, I'll be there in about 5 minutes." Ryan hung up. Gabriella pounded the phone back into the dock and sighed. Why couldn't her mom trust her?

True to his word, Ryan was there in about 5 minutes with Sharpay and her parents with him. Gabriella opened the door before Ryan could even reach the door. She quickly maunervered herself with her crutches outside and locked the door behind her.

It took about 15 minutes to get to the First Christian Church of the Nazarene. The parking lot wasn't very full, because the service wouldn't start for another half hour.

Gabriella carefully got out of the car and helped Sharpay get out also. Her father quickly ran to the trunk and grabbed her folded up wheelchair. He and Ryan lifted her up and carried her to the seat. Gabriella noticed that the chair was customized. Typical Sharpay, she thought to herself with a light chuckle.

The church was quite big, much to her surprise. Her small, Catholic parish wasn't too big because she lived in the richer neighborhood. Most Catholic New Mexicans were poorer because they had emigrated here from Mexico. Her church was nice, but it could only seat about 150 people at a time. She was sure that Taylor's church could easily seat about 900 people.

They looked around the small gathering area and saw Taylor's mom helping to set up posters filled with pictures of Taylor. Gabriella had noticed a few of the same ones at the service last night, but she didn't pay too much attention to them. Grasping her crutches tightly, Gabriella went over to one of the posters. There was a giant picture of Taylor in the middle. That was the picture she took for homecoming. She saw two smaller pictures of Taylor and Chad together. Chad had his arm wrapped around her middle and smiling a cheesy smile in the goofy picture, while Taylor stuck her tounge out sideways while she matted down Chad's afro. Gabriella chuckled at that. She hadn't seen that picture before. She then looked at the non-goofy homecoming picture. Chad was standing up straight and had his arm around Taylor's waist tenderly while Taylor grinned blissfully at the camera. She moved on to other pictures. A few of them brought back a lot of memories, but a lot of them were when she was younger. There was the classic picture of Taylor falling asleep in her highchair to Taylor's senior picture. She cried softly, as she finished looking at the last poster. Taylor's mom had appeared and rubbed Gabriella's back soothingly Gabriella turned around and smiled at her best friend's mother. She was being so strong through out this whole ordeal.

Mrs. McKessie smiled back at Gabriella and then said, "Gabriella, I never got the chance yesterday to talk to you about what you said at the service."

Gabriella quickly started, "Mrs. McKessie, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, but it was the truth and…" she trailed off when Mrs. McKessie held up her hand to signal Gabriella to stop talking.

"Gabriella, I wanted to thank you for what you said. You opened my, and Frank's, eyes to everyone else's feelings. Frank and I no longer blame Chad for what happened, and we have called and apologized to him for Frank's behavior at the service, he will be coming today. Sharpay told me that Chad got distracted by Taylor, and lost control. The police told me that Chad wasn't speeding either, and he isn't going to be charged with recluse driving. I now understand that it was truly an accident."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have forced this on you like that, especially after all that has happened," she said as she looked down to her shoes.

"Gabriella, you have nothing to be sorry for. Frank and I are not the only person who lost someone that we loved terribly. You lost your best friend, and even more, Troy is in a coma---

"Mrs. McKessie, Troy woke up last night! You didn't know?" Gabriella said excitedly.

"No, I didn't! This is great news sweetie," Mrs. McKessie said as she squeezed Gabriella. Gabriella smiled and gave her a small squeeze also.

Mrs. McKessie and Gabriella broke apart and started to look at the posters. Mrs. McKessie would pause and point out pictures that she remembered taking of Taylor. Suddenly when she got to the picture of her and Taylor when she was born, Mrs. McKessie broke down. She started sobbing into her hands. Gabriella could faintly hear her mumble in anguish, "My…baby….dead!" Gabriella gave her a warm hug and patted her back soothingly. It was weird because she was now doing the same thing to Mrs. McKessie, that she did to Gabriella.

When she dried her tears, Mrs. McKessie looked up and then said, "Gabriella, I hope this isn't too much to ask but," she paused and tried to catch her breath. "Would you mind sitting with me and Frank in the front of the church. I hate to ask you to abandon your mom, but we just don't want to be alone. Taylor was our only child. She was our baby. We have nobody. Would you mind terribly? You were so important to Taylor; you are our last contact to our daughter."

Gabriella wasn't sure how she could refuse. She just simply smiled and said, "Mrs. McKessie, I would love to sit with you. My mother isn't here. She will be coming late so I would be alone for part of the service, and I don't want to be alone. Thank you so much for asking me," she gave her another squeeze and they went into the church together.

Soon, the church filled up completely. Gabriella noticed that some of the ushers even had to put up extra seats in the gathering area. Gabriella looked around for her mother but didn't see her. Soon, it was time for the family to leave and process in with the casket. Mr. and Mrs. McKessie insisted that Gabriella walk up with them behind the coffin. Gabriella felt very awkward, because of all the people staring at her. Even though she preformed in almost every winter musical, she felt more awkward than at any of those performances. Mr. McKessie bowed his head and solomely walked behind the casket slowly. Gabriella was standing in between Taylor's parents. Mrs. McKessie latched onto Gabriella as she processed up. Taylor had a small family so the procession was over with soon. While she was walking up, Gabriella didn't see her mother anywhere. Where was she, she thought to herself as she sat down.

The service progressed slowly. The minister preached about God's word and about Taylor's life. Somehow he would always tie Taylor in when he started preaching, which Gabriella thought would be kind of difficult. People were crying at every point of the service. When the minister started talking about how Taylor died, Gabriella cried out loudly. Everyone stared at her. Gabriella quickly covered her gasping mouth and muffled her tears. Up until then, Gabriella hadn't cried, but suddenly she couldn't stop. The minister continued, unfazed by Gabriella's reaction.

"Taylor sat in the front seat of the car. She was having a small disagreement with her boyfriend who lost focus and he crashed the car into a ditch. God had safely carried Taylor away to a better place at that point. She must have been welcomed into the gates of heaven and greeted by an angel of the Lord. She is now in paradise and looking down at her earthy family. We must all remember that she is with her true spiritual family now."

Gabriella had heard a slight noise during the minister's speech, but she didn't bother to look. She was too busy crying. Mrs. McKessie was holding her and stroking her hair gently. The rest of the service seemed to be a blur. Gabriella's mind ventured away to the accident. She remembered waking up on the cold dirt. Seeing the car, and realizing that Troy was on top of her, unconscious.

Soon, the service was over and the pallbearers, Jason, Zeke, Taylor's 2 cousins, and surprisingly Chad, carried Taylor's casket out. Gabriella hadn't noticed Chad before the service or during it, but she watched him pick up the casket carefully. He was wearing a simple black suit with a light blue shirt and tie on, and his hair was slightly trimmed.

The pallbearers processed out followed by the family members. Gabriella kept her head respectfully bowed as she walked past all the people, but something caught her eye so she looked up slightly. There, in the very back was a young man. He was wearing a black suit and was looking straight at Gabriella. He was in a wheelchair. Gabriella blinked and looked more closely at him. It was Troy.

A/N: I hope you are happy, Jackie. GOSH! I didn't write this tomorrow, but I wrote it tonight. I wrote lousy, just because it's dedicated to you. Ha-ha, I'm just kidding you!