Recap-Troy's cell rang.
"Hello?" he answered….
Chapter 11- It's Gone
"Troy, it's your dad, I have news about the fire." He said.
Troy put it on speaker.
"Ok, what's going on?" Chad asked.
"The fire was caused by a heater malfunctioning in room 102." He said.
"For some reason it got over heated and just burst. It quickly spread throughout the whole school. It's gone." He added.
"W-what do you mean gone?" and upset Taylor asked.
"Guys, the school is completely gone. There's nothing left." He said.
"At the moment, there's no school until we find someplace for you guys to go." He said.
"I need to go now, I'll talk to guys later." He said.
"Bye." Gabbi said quietly.
"Bye coach." Chad said.
"Bye dad." Troy said. He hung up. They sat there in silence.
"What are we going to do?" Taylor asked.
"We can't do anything." Troy said. He heard a sniffle next to him. Gabbi was crying.
He wrapped his arms around her and she cried a little harder.
Only Troy and her family knew about how her dad died, he was killed on September 11th because of a fire caused by the planes that ran into the twin towers. It must've brought back memories.
"Gabbi, what's wrong?" Taylor asked as she sat next to her. Gabbi looked up at Troy.
"You should probably tell them." He whispered to her. She nodded. Taylor waited patiently for a few minutes for Gabbi to tell her.
"M-my dad used to work in the t-twin towers, and he was killed September 11th because of a fire caused by the p-planes that ran into the t-towers." She explained. Taylor wrapped her arms around her.
"I'm so sorry Gabbi! I guess the fire reminded you of him didn't it?" she asked her. Gabbi nodded.
"I think I'm going to go for a walk." Gabbi said.
"Do you want me to come?" Troy asked as she stood up. She nodded and took his hand.
They walked out the door and they could smell the heavy smell of smoke. Troy put his arm around Gabbi's shoulders and held her close to him. They walked in silence for a while. Gabbi felt better by just walking and thinking. Especially when she was with Troy.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her as they continued down the sidewalk.
"I do, but how? How am I supposed to talk about my dead father?" She asked.
"Tell me about your father. I don't know one thing about him." Troy said.
"Well, he liked to play tennis. He would take me every weekend to the high school's tennis court." She began.
"He always played cards with me. Every night. Sometimes we would stay up until midnight just playing. As soon as he got home, he always gave me a hug. Always. He was very protective of me. Wouldn't let me date at all. My mom would actually help me sneak out for dates." She said.
"He sounds like he was a cool guy." Troy said as they continued walking.
"He was. And I remember that he would come home at five on the dot. Not a minute later." She said.
"I remember this one time, he was five minutes late so he took us all out to dinner as an apology." She laughed. Then reality hit her.
"That was September 10th. My last dinner with my father." She said. She wiped a tear and sniffled.
Troy turned her towards him. He wiped a few tears with his thumb. "Brie, it's ok." He said. "He's always going to be watching over you." Troy said. She took a shaky breath and nodded.
"You're right." She said. She smiled after a few minutes.
"Now that's the Gabriella I know." He said. He put his arm around her again.
"Ready to go back?" he asked her.
"Yeah. I guess we kinda left a confused Chad behind." Gabbi said.
"He's always confused, nothing new." Troy said. Gabbi giggled. They walked back to Chad's house.
"Hey, you feeling better Gabs?" Chad asked. Gabbi nodded.
"Gabbi, my mom called, she's home and she wants us to go home." Taylor said slipping her hoodie on.
"Ok." Gabbi said.
Taylor gave Chad a quick peck on the lips and walked outside and waited for Gabbi.
"Bye Troy, I guess we have nothing to do until they give us a place to have school." Gabbi said.
"So I was thinking…" Gabbi trailed off.
Troy smiled as she started to continue. "…..that we can finally go on the shopping trip!" she exclaimed.
Troy's smile disappeared. Gabi giggled and kissed him softly. "Don't forget about our deal." She added before she walked out of Chad's house and started on her way to Taylor's.
The girls talked about what they could do that night.
"Oh, I have an idea, if it's ok with your mom…" Gabbi said.
"We could invite the girls over and have a sleepover." Gabbi suggested.
"Sounds fun!" Taylor said excitedly.
They walked into Taylor's and they walked into the dining room and sat across the table from Taylor's mom.
"Mom, can we have a few friends sleepover tonight?" Taylor asked.
"Absolutely not, it's a school ni-" she stopped remembering what happened earlier. "Yes, I suppose you can. How many?" she asked.
"Well definitely Kelsi and Sharpay.." Gabbi started.
"We could invite Becca, from the musical, and Stacey, from the decathlon." Taylor added.
"Ok. I don't see why not. Should I order pizza?" Taylor's mom asked looking through the phone book for pizza deliverers.
"Yes!" the girls yelled in unison. They giggled as they ran upstairs.
"Ok, I'll call Stacey, you call Becca." Taylor said as she whipped out her cell.
Taylor called Stacey…..
(Stacey/Taylor)
"Hello, Stacey here."
"Hey Stacey, it's Taylor, listen, me and Gabbi were planning on having a sleepover tonight at my place, can you come?"
"Yeah! I need something to take my mind off things that happened earlier anyway. Sounds fun, what time?"
"Well, it's 2:00 now, come at 3:00, ok?"
"Ok, see you in a bit Tay!"
"See ya!"
Meanwhile with Gabbi and Becca…
(Becca/Gabbi)
"Hey Gabs! What's up?"
"Me and Tay are planning a sleepover tonight at Tay's, you up for it?"
"I'm so there! What time?"
"Uh, three."
"Ok, I'll see you then."
"Bye!"
"Ok, I'll call Kelsi and you call Shar." Gabbi said as she began typing in Kelsi's phone number.
(Kelsi/Gabi)
"Hello?"
"Hi, is Kelsi there? It's Gabriella."
"Oh, hey Gabs! What's up? I haven't seen you since we were on the football field."
"Oh, I'm fine, me and Tay are planning a sleepover, so far we have Stacey and Becca coming, you in?"
"Duh!"
"Ok, come at three, ok?"
"Ok, see you in an hour Gabs!"
"Bye!"
Meanwhile with Taylor…
(Sharpay/Taylor)
"Hey Tay!"
"Hi Sharpay, I'm having a sleepover, wanna come? So far we have Stacey and Becca…" she was interrupted by Gabbi in the backround…
"AND KELSI TOO!"
All three girls giggled.
"You wanna come? You can be the movie lady again!" Sharpay always brought the best movies.
"I'm so there!"
"Ok, Come at three, ok?"
"Ok, see you later!"
"Ok, everyone's coming. Let's go get the basement ready." Taylor suggested.
"Ok." Gabbi said. They made their way to the basement and started cleaning it up as they waited for their friends to come.