Chapter 15:

"Wait, Gabi?" Taylor asked, thus getting the attention of the entire group. They all waited quietly to see if it really was their friend.

"Yeah, hey, you didn't answer my question."

"Question?"
"Yeah, what are you doing with the sweater I loaned you months ago and you never gave back?"

"Where are you?" Gabriella gave Adam a quick hug, and he took the boys back to the Montez's house where they would be staying.

"Turn around genius," she said as she and Troy walked into the noisy cafeteria. Taylor immediately spun around in her seat between Chad and Kelsi. The rest of their friends' gazes quickly followed her. In a flash, they were all up and surrounding Troy and Gabriella. The group made as much noise as they wanted, they didn't mind the weird stares they were getting. Troy and Gabriella were bombarded with questions from all their friends.

"God, where were you guys?" demanded Chad.

"You had us worried sick!" Bri exclaimed. Sharpay was the first one to realize that they were standing in the middle of the cafeteria.

"You guys," she said. "Here's a thought, let's sit back down, and then force Troy and Gabriella to explain themselves."

Everyone took their regular seats at their table. Gabriella rested her head on Troy's shoulder; she was still wiped.

"Okay, now start from the beginning," Jason said. Troy started while Gabriella listened.

"We found out that Ian had gotten loose the evening of the Talent Show. We were gone by midnight. Gabi had a close family friend at her house, so we went to his house back east. I wouldn't let her go alone, so I was allowed to go with her. We've been in New York City the entire time," he explained. "Did I miss anything?" Gabriella shook her head.

"That's about it," she said. "We hung out in New York, and did our school work via email or even fax machine."

"So the teachers knew?" Chad asked, slightly hurt that nobody had told him about Gabriella and Troy leaving.

"Yeah, they knew, but only the basic facts. That Ian was on the loose, and we'd be out of state until he was caught, for safety reasons," replied Troy.

"And you didn't want to tell any of us so we wouldn't worry? So you didn't call or contact anyone, but got all our messages?" Zeke asked.

"Yeah, we got all of them, I found them amusing," Gabriella said as she sat up.

"They didn't completely break off contact," Kelsi said, speaking up. "Gabi called me about a month ago. It was the day after we saw the thing on Ian on the news. Remember, I told you that it was my cousin?" Sharpay and Taylor nodded.

"That was you?" demanded Taylor.

"Yeah, don't get mad at Kelsi, I asked her to lie for me, I didn't think that she'd actually do it though! We've rubbed off on her some." Jason wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, and kissed her cheek, causing her to blush.

"So who were you staying with?" he asked. Kelsi bit her tongue; she wasn't going to tell them everything.

"You'll get to meet him tonight, he's staying here for a few days, seeing the sights and junk," Gabriella replied. "You all can come to my house for our usual party and such."

"Alright! You both are late with your turns," Sharpay said. "What movie are we watching?"

"What if we watch Rent again? For old times' sake?" suggested Troy.

"Oh no, I don't know if that's a good idea. I gave it to the boys to watch at my house, so their Dad will be really tired of it by the time we get home. Scratch that, he's been tired of that movie since like it came out," Gabriella informed him. Troy smiled. Nobody knew what she was talking about.

"You gave Rent to a four year old and a two year old?"

"They're five and two, and they've seen it tons of times. I wouldn't give them a movie like that if I wasn't sure that they had seen it already."

"Okay, if we don't watch Rent, what do we watch?" Taylor asked.

"Let's figure that out later. Right now, we have Gabi and Troy back!" exclaimed Sharpay. The gang all clapped and cheered.

By the time Gabriella got home, she was dead tired. Everyone was set to come to her house around six, but Troy was coming around five. He was going to go home first, to see his Mom before going to Gabriella's.

"Gabriella!" Rosa Montez exclaimed the second Gabriella walked into the house. She gave her daughter a crushing hug. "It's so good to have you back again!" Gabriella could tell that her Mom was crying.

"Hola Mamí. It's good to be back." Gabriella returned the hug. The Mother and daughter walked into the kitchen. In the family room, Adam was reading a book while Lennon and Monty were trying to put together one of Gabriella's old puzzles. It was part of the collection of toys the Montez's kept at their house for when the two boys came to visit.

"So, Adam said that you went to see that big Rent performance. How was it?" Gabriella sat at a stool at the island while Rosa leaned against the counter across the island from her.

"It was awesome, if only Adam knew all his lines." Rosa laughed.

"I knew my lines, it was just, that, I was umm, stressed," Adam said in hopes of defending himself.

"Sure you were Adam, you keep telling yourself that," Gabriella said. She turned back to her Mom. "It was fun. I really wanted to come home though. I was stressed."

"You still want to go back in the summer with Troy for two weeks?"

"Of course I do!" Rosa laughed.

"All I'm doing is checking. Oh honey, they called me in to work today. I kept trying to tell them that you've been gone for a month and I wanted to spend some time with you, but they wouldn't listen. I'm sorry. I'm off all next week though, and I told them that there's no way that they can drag me in, so we can spend next week together after you get home from school." Gabriella hid her pain fairly well. It was something she had learned after her encounters with Ian.

"Oh no, it's cool. We can go shopping or to the movies next week. My friends are coming over. They're dying to know who Troy and I were staying with."

"Don't I get any say in this?" Adam called from the other room.

"Do you want me to have my friends over next weekend, and just hang out tonight?"

"No, it's fine. I was only being a pain."

"You do that well."

"What kind of daughter have you raised Rosa? She always treats me like this." Rosa laughed.

"You both have always had a relationship like this, so it's nothing new. I didn't raise her any way." She looked at her watch. "Mija, I've got to go." She kissed her daughter's cheek. "I'll be back around midnight. Have your friends gone by 12:30 if I'm not back by then. Did you hear that Adam? You're the chaperone."

"We're all going to die," Gabriella said under her breath, but just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Yeah, teenagers out of here by 12:30, but alcohol out of here by 10:30 so they have some time to sober up before I send them on their merry little ways."

"Very good. I'll see you all later. Bye Monty! Bye Lennon! Bye Adam! Adios Mija."

Monty and Lennon waved goodbye to Rosa while Gabriella got up to go in the family room. She slid off her flip-flops, and lay down on the couch.

"Tired?" Adam asked. All he got was a groan. Lennon got up, and scrambled onto his Father's lap.

"I wanna watch Rent again Daddy. Please?" The five year old began to pout.

"Aww come on, don't I get a break? You've watched it twice since we got here."

"I wanna watch it again. Please?" Adam rolled his eyes.

"Fine, if it keeps you quiet. Monty, you want to watch it too?" Monty shook his head as he got up to go lay down with Gabriella. He lay down on top of the teenager, and she draped an arm over his waist. They were soon both fast asleep.

Adam put in Rent for his oldest. Lennon got a hold of the remote control for the DVD player, and proceeded to watch One Song Glory continuously; Adam lost count after seven. Gabriella and Monty remained fast asleep during the whole repetitive process. Somehow, Monty's thumb had found its way to his mouth. At 5:10, Troy unlocked the front door to the Montez house, and walked right in. Adam had been warned by Rosa that Troy and Taylor usually didn't knock, and both had keys seeing as her daughter has had a habit of locking herself out.

"Hey everyone," Troy said as he came into the kitchen.

"Shh!" Lennon snapped as he turned around. He was sitting as close to the TV as Adam would allow, and was watching La Vie Bohemé for the fourth time.

"Okay, sorry. Where's Gabi?" asked Troy.

"Asleep on the couch," Adam replied.

"Great, I need to borrow her car. I was going to ask, but now I won't." Troy dug through Gabriella's backpack until he found her keys. "My Mom's car is in the shop, so they've been using mine instead of getting a rental. I'm going to run to the store to get soda for tonight. I'll be right back. Lennon, you wanna come?" Lennon shook his head.

"No, why would he want to go? He's been watching to same scenes over and over again since Gabriella got home," Adam said in a semi-frustrated tone. Troy laughed.

"Have fun. I'll be back in ten minutes." He shoved Gabriella's keys in his pocket, and left.

Fifteen minute later, Troy returned to the Montez household with four bottles of soda for the get together that would take place in less than half an hour. He sat down with his back up against the coffee table, and talked to Adam until he heard the doorbell ring. The whole time, Lennon had been bouncing in his seat, lips moving to the words of the entire movie. The second he heard the doorbell, he bolted for the door; Troy hot on his heels.

"Freeze!" exclaimed Troy when he saw Lennon's hand on the doorknob about the open the front door. Lennon pouted, and backed away from the door. Troy picked him up, and held him sideways on his hip. He opened the door, and found Taylor and Chad standing there. "I thought you never knocked at this house Tay."

"Yeah, I got mad at Gabi for leaving, so I took her key of my key ring, and promptly forgot to put it back on.," she explained.

"Lemme go Troy! I wanna finish watching the movie!" Lennon exclaimed as he wiggled in Troy's grip.

"You know what's going to happen."

"But I wanna watch it!" Lennon finally broke free of the teenager's grip, and bolted for the family room.

"Who's the kid?" Chad asked rather bluntly.

"That's who we were staying with in New York."

"You were staying with a five year old in New York City for a month? Sounds like fun!"

"No, his Dad's in the other room genius." Troy began to lead Chad and Taylor to the family room, but Taylor remained standing in the doorway. "What's wrong Tay?"

"That kid seems really familiar. He looks like some kid Sharpay brought a picture of in to school a few days ago."

"Now why would Sharpay have a picture of him?" Chad asked. Taylor shook her head.

"The main focus wasn't him. It was that guy from Rent, Adam Pasc-" Taylor trailed off. "Who did you stay with, Troy?" Troy smiled mischievously.

"Come and meet him for yourself," was all he said. Taylor rolled her eyes; men. She followed Chad and Troy into the other room.

Adam was still reading his book, Lennon was jumping up and down, singing along to La Vie Boheme (still), and Gabriella and Monty were still asleep on the couch through all of this.

"Lennon! Are you trying to drive me insane by playing the same songs over and over again?" Adam demanded in a hushed tone so he wouldn't face Gabriella's wrath.

Lennon looked over his shoulder, and asked simply, "Is it working?" Adam groaned.

"You've been spending too much time with Gabi." Lennon flashed a baby smile, and went right back to what he was doing.

"Hey Adam, this is my best friend Chad, and Gabi's best friend Taylor." Adam put his book down, and looked up.

"Hello, welcome to your worst nightmare. I hope you don't mind watching Rent over and over again, because you will be until you leave," he said before shaking both Chad and Taylor's hands.

"Nice to meet you," Taylor said.

"Same here. It's nice to finally put some faces to names after hearing about you guys for a solid month."

"Wow, a month with two teenagers in the house, something you'll have to get used to," Chad commented.

"Not for about ten years. Plus, if I get tired of them, I'll send them to live with Gabi."

"I'm sure she'll love you forever then," said Taylor.

"I'm sure. Hey Lennon, why don't you wake Gabi up?" Lennon bounced up and down as he went over to where Gabriella and Monty were sleeping. "Wait, wait, WAIT!" Adam picked up Monty. "Okay, continue."

"Adam, what did you feed him?" Troy asked.

"McDonalds. Then he took a nap this afternoon, Monty didn't if you couldn't already tell, and Rosa gave him sugar coated cereal or something before leaving me to put up with him." Adam sat back down, with Monty curled up in his lap.

Meanwhile, Lennon stood above Gabriella's stomach. He suddenly sat down, causing her to groan.

"Wake up Gabi!" he squealed. Gabriella groaned, and took the pillow she was using, and threw it in Lennon's general direction.

"What do you want?" she grumbled, eyes still closed. Lennon began to bounce up and down.

"Wake up! Wake up! Daddy says that it's time for you to get up! You're friends are here!" Slowly, Gabriella opened her eyes, and sat up. Lennon didn't get up off her stomach, proving it to be slightly more difficult than it usually would be.

"Hey guys," she said sleepily.

"Morning sleeping beauty," Chad said. Gabriella scowled, and threw a pillow at him. She hit him square in the face. "Oww! Not cool Gabi!"

"Yeah, well, you annoy me, and that's not cool either." Chad shoved Gabriella's feet off the couch, and sat down. Gabriella slammed her feet down in his lap.

"Don't bug me Chad Danforth, I'm still tired."

"Yes ma'am. I know much better than to mess with you when you're tired. It's one scary thing!" Gabriella began to kick his thigh with her foot. "Hey, this is abuse!" Gabriella immediately stopped. Abuse. That was one word none of them brought up; it held too many horrible memories for Gabriella. The second the word slipped past Chad's lips, he realized what he did, and leaned over to hug his friend. "I'm sorry Gabi." Gabriella returned to hug.

"Don't worry about it. I'm going to go get my bathing suit on. I'll be right back," she replied before sliding off the couch, and skipping upstairs.

A/N: Crappy place to end a chapter, I know, and I'm sorry! The next chapter will be the last one, and then there will be a sequel…eventually. Much love!

Tina101