DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.

A/N: And here is the next chapter!

Saving Me

CHAPTER 6

CANDLE IN THE WIND

Gabriella stared at the roof. She was in her room and lying on the floor. It was something she did when she had time. Her stereo was on and it was playing soft piano music that she used to relax. And Gabriella needed to relax. Her mind was still reeling from the knowledge that somehow, against all odds, she was thawing. The numbness that she had experienced for the past four months, sixteen days, eight hours, fifteen minutes and thirty-six seconds, was receding. The ice that had surrounded her heart and imprisoned the emotions was melting, slowly, but surely. But what was worse was that Gabriella wasn't sure that she wanted to thaw. In truth, it frightened her to know that she would be able to feel properly again. It frightened her that she would have to confront the pain that she had been shielded from, the pain that she had watched her mother go through. Gabriella winced as she thought about her mother; Carmen still wasn't able to talk to her daughter. She could barely look at her and that was added pain, Gabriella knew that when she had said those words that she had been doing the right thing. She had been protecting her mother. But now, now that she was thawing? Gabriella wasn't as sure of herself; it felt like she was being reborn again. She had to deal with new feelings, even if they felt familiar. Sighing Gabriella rolled over onto her stomach as a new song came on, she furrowed her brow, she didn't remember this song being on their.

Goodbye Norma Jean

Though I never knew you at all

You had the grace to hold yourself

While those around you crawled

They crawled out of the woodwork

And they whispered into your brain

They set you on the treadmill

And they made you change your name

And it seems to me you lived your life

Like a candle in the wind

Never knowing who to cling to

When the rain set in

And I would have liked to known you

But I was just a kid

You candle burned out long before

You legend ever did

Loneliness was tough

The toughest role you ever played

Hollywood created a superstar

And pain was the price you paid

Even when you died

Oh the press still hounded you

All the papers had to say

Was that Marilyn was found in the nude

And it seems to me you lived your life

Like a candle in the wind

Never knowing who to cling to

When the rain set in

And I would have liked to known you

But I was just a kid

Your candle burnt out long before

Your legend ever did

Goodbye Norma Jean

Though I never knew you at all

You had the grace to hold yourself

While those around you crawled

Goodbye Norma Jean

From the young man in the 22nd row

Who sees you as something more than sexual

More than just our Marilyn Monroe

And it seems to me you lived your life

Like a candle in the wind

Never knowing who to cling to

When the rain set in

And I would have liked to known you

But I was just a kid

Your candle burnt out long before

Your legend ever did

Your candle burnt out long before

Your legend ever did

The song finished and Gabriella sat up, wondering how on earth that song had gotten on the CD. It didn't make any sense to her. No-one in her family had ever liked Elton John, they had never bought any of his albums that she knew of. But still the song hit home with her, bringing out a question that she knew she couldn't answer. Who was she going to cling to when the rain set in? Gabriella knew she wasn't a Hollywood superstar, but still she didn't exactly lead the perfect life. She had always held onto her dad when something bad had happened and now, well, he wasn't around. And it left her all alone. A feeling of loneliness washed over Gabriella as she realized that. And that's when it hit her, she had heard this song before. But not on the radio, it had come from her parent's room a few weeks after her family had been given the horrible news.

Flashback

"Your candle burnt out long before you legend ever did"

Gabriella frowned, where was that song coming from? They didn't own a CD that had that song on it, Gabriella was sure of that and what a sad song. Who would play that when they had just received the worst news of their lives? Slowly she walked up to her parent's room, the door was half open. Gabriella peeked into the room and almost gasped. Her father was sitting on the bed and staring out the window, watching as the rain fell. But what Gabriella was gasping at was his shoulders, they were shaking and it took her a moment to realize that he was crying. Gabriella had never seen her father like that, she had never seen him cry. It just wasn't what he did, he was the strong one, the one who always looked on the bright side.

"My candle's burning out" Carlos said and Gabriella felt tears begin to slide down her cheeks.

Quickly she backed away from the door and ran in the opposite direction. This was really happening, he really was going to leave.

Finish

Gabriella quickly pushed the memory to the back of her mind, she didn't need to do that now. She didn't need to go into memory mode, she didn't need to feel fragile. She didn't need to cry. What she needed to do was get to school and concentrate on her work. Gabriella stood up and stretched. She didn't look at the time, she knew that she had to leave about now so that she got to school on time. Picking up her bag she opened the door and walked out of her room, with one sidelong glance at the photo of her parents on her bedside table.

Gabriella stared blankly at the blackboard, Taylor sitting beside her chattering away happily. As hard as Gabriella was trying to listen she couldn't, her mind was replaying the tune from the song she had heard over and over again. It was driving her mad. She didn't even like the song and now it was the only thing that she seemed to hear. Her mind drifted and she smiled slightly as she remembered seeing Troy that morning. They hadn't spoken, but they had exchanged a smile when he had walked into homeroom that morning. For a moment, Gabriella had felt protected and safe and it had only taken a smile from him to do that. How could he do that? He only knew three things about her, but still she felt more comfortable and safe around him than she did when she was sitting in her own home. His mere presence seemed to make everything seem okay. How did that work? She'd known him for two days. And out of those two days she had only had a proper conversation with him once and that was because he'd insisted on walking her home. Gabriella let out a groan and her forehead hit the table. Why did life have to be so confusing? Why did everything have to happen to her? And why did Troy Bolton have to force his way into her thoughts when he was the last person on earth that she wanted to talk to again? Gabriella sighed again as she realized that that wasn't strictly true, maybe a tiny part of her wanted to talk to him again. But what would she say? Would he ask her about that song again? Gabriella was jolted out of her thoughts by the bell, with the rest of her classmates she gathered her books and filed out of the room. Looking down she discovered that she had picked up the wrong book for her next class.

"I have to go back to my locker, Taylor, I'll see you later okay?" Gabriella said interrupting Taylor's lecture on Global Warming.

"Oh, okay, I'll see you" she said blinking as Gabriella walked off.

As Gabriella walked she wondered exactly what she was feeling, she knew that she was thawing but at the same time she didn't feel any real emotion. Unless you counted feeling fragile and completely vulnerable. Gabriella sighed as she came to a halt in front of her locker and stared at it. Vulnerability was something that she had felt before, she just didn't know what her weakness was and, really, Gabriella wasn't too keen on discovering it. But she didn't have a weakness to show these people did she? They didn't know what had happened to her, they didn't know who she had been, they didn't know her most embarrassing moments, how could they hurt her? Gabriella closed her eyes and rested her head on the cool surface of her locker, they could hurt her. Maybe her weakness wasn't what she thought it was, maybe it didn't matter if they knew her past or not, maybe she should be more worried about what they could say about her. Gabriella had learnt how quickly rumors spread in this school and she knew that if she set one foot wrong ten different versions of what she had done would be circling the school with half an hour of her doing it. Without knowing her past the kids at this school could formulate anything they wanted to believe about her, which could be her weakness. Gabriella wanted to hit something in frustration. She could stand being vulnerable but the fragility mixed with that? She could barely stand. She hated feeling fragile, she hated knowing that no matter what she did anything could break her. She hated thawing. All these new, but old, emotions swirled around her as she became fully aware of how she really felt.

With shaking hands, Gabriella spun the dial that opened her locker and yanked open the door. She placed the book in and reached for the right one, when her eyes landed on her phone which was lying in her locker face up. Her breath quickened and Gabriella felt tears begin to form. It was 11:15.

Flashback

"Gabriella? Come here" Carmen said her voice shaking slightly as her only daughter turned to her.

Gabriella turned around, her back to the window and the sunshine pouring into the waiting room. She didn't move closer to her mother, instead she stood there and hugged herself. Her brown eyes never betraying how scared she felt……or how fragile. Gabriella knew what was coming.

"What?" she asked her voice soft and determined. She knew that she needed to hear this.

She watched as her mother composed herself, she wanted to scream 'Get it over with!' but at the same time she wanted to wake up. She wanted to wake up from the horrible nightmare that was about to become her reality.

"At 11:15, peacefully and gracefully, you father past on" her mother's voice was barely a whisper, but to Gabriella it was like she had screamed it at her.

In front of her eyes Gabriella watched as her life shattered, like glass. She watched as the doctor offered her condolences to her mother, she watched as her mother shed the first tears since the night before. She didn't move, she did shed the tears that always seemed to be there. She just froze on the inside and on the outside. She stood there all alone and allowed her world to fall apart in front of her.

Finish

Gabriella stood there unmoving as the first real tears since coming here began to slide down her face. They were her first real tears in four months, they were real because Gabriella felt the pain explode inside of her. She felt it wash over her taking complete control, it ran through her veins, it ran just below her skin. It squeezed at her heart, causing unbearable pain. Pain Gabriella couldn't even comprehend, it held everything and nothing at all. She felt as though her soul had given in beneath her, she was falling and she was thawing at the same time.

"Hey Gabriella" a voice said.

Gabriella didn't know what to do, she turned to him, knowing that she would completely break down when she saw his blue eyes. This wasn't fair, why did this have to happen here? Why did he have to walk up when it did?

"H-hi Troy" she whispered and met his eyes, which instantly changed from happy to concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked stepping closer to her.

Wordlessly Gabriella shook her head, it was beyond her control. She could have just nodded and walked away, but she couldn't something stopped her. Something so powerful that Gabriella didn't even want to try and defy it. Deep inside, Gabriella knew that that power was her heart taking over from her head for once.

"What's wrong?" he asked and again Gabriella couldn't reply, more tears spilt down her face and Gabriella let out a sob.

"Okay, come on" Troy gently took her books from her and placed them in her locker, he then shut the door and took her hand.

Expertly he weaved in and out of the crowd or students that were eyeing them curiously. Gabriella barely noticed, tears blurred her vision and she just wanted to let go. She just wanted to cry. Gabriella didn't notice him lead her through a door, she only faintly noticed the fresh air that slapped her face as he led her up stairs. Eventually her stopped and than turned to her.

"Okay, can you tell me what's wrong now?" Troy asked worriedly and Gabriella met his caring blue eyes before breaking down completely.

She stood there sobbing as she felt his arms tentatively wrap around her. She sobbed into his chest and than, too her horror, Gabriella felt her legs give way. She couldn't stand up, she just couldn't. Slowly they sank to the floor, Troy's grip tightening on her ever so slightly as her ting frame shook from head to foot in his arms. Gabriella clung to him as if her life depended on it, she had never felt so vulnerable, she had never felt so fragile, she had never felt so scared in all her life and strangely she had never felt so safe. He let her cry, he didn't say anything, he didn't try and force her to talk, he just let her cry and Gabriella had never had someone do that before. If it had been her mother, she would have been repeating the question 'What's wrong?' over and over again. Her friends would have tried to cheer her up, anyone would have tried to get her to talk and Troy didn't. He just let her cry.

After almost thirty minutes of crying, completely lost in nothing but her own pain Gabriella's sobs subsided and her shaking stopped. Troy rubbed her back gently as she pulled away from him. She tried to smile at him and than noticed his incredibly wet shirt.

"Um, sorry about that" she muttered looking away from his questioning blue eyes.

"It's okay. Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" he asked, Gabriella looked at him and the whole story came spilling from her mouth.

She found herself describing it in intricate detail, every feeling she had had, every thought that had went through her mind, everything and he listened. Properly. Troy didn't interrupt he just let her talk, the same way he had let her cry and he still held her. Rubbing her back softly whenever she stumbled, the way her father used to. Gabriella had never felt so safe or connected with anyone before. He was a complete stranger to her but she trusted him inexplicably. As she spoke Gabriella felt the pieces that had still been littering her life connect, not solidly but definitely connect.

"Wow" was the first thing he said when she had finished.

"Wow?" Gabriella repeated incredulously.

"Yeah wow" he agreed and Gabriella looked at him, with raised eyebrows.

"Gabriella, you have spent the last four months trying to attempt to come to terms with something that no-one in this school will ever have to deal with until later in life, do you know how amazing that makes you?" Troy asked watching her closely.

"Troy, it doesn't make me amazing, it just makes me………" Gabriella trailed off.

"Amazing" he finished and she tilted her head to one side.

"No it just makes me……different" she argued and he shook his head.

Gabriella bit her lip and she knew he'd given up trying to convince her. She didn't know where that left her. He was the first person who had actually said something like that to her and meant it. He didn't know her but at the same time Gabriella felt as if he had known her for a lot longer than anyone who had known her for that long. They sat in silence for a few moments before Troy spoke.

"So what was you dad like?" he asked curiously.

Gabriella thought about it and her mind drifted back to the song that she had played earlier.

"A candle in the wind" she replied with a small smile.

A/N: I like this chapter, it concentrates a lot on Troy and Gabriella. Oh and the song was 'Candle In The Wind' by Elton John, I'll try and update soon!