A/N : Thanks to the courtcourt1465978 for reviewing so much and thanks to everyone else too! If you're reading this then please please please review! Reviews make the world go round, as it were! This chapter has a bit in it that is not too pleasant, but it's sorta the whole point of the story! Right well I won't ramble but once again, REVIEW! Ta xx PS : Please read the A/N at the end!
Disclaimer : I won nothing! Nada! Nil!
PRESENT DAY
Gabriella was pulled from memory lane by a small shake of the shoulder.
"Gabriella?" Troy was looking at her questioningly.
"Yeah, sorry I was just thinking about that time when I was on holiday in England and went in to hospital. Do you remember coming to visit me?" Asked Gabriella, looking Troy in the eye.
"Of course! How could I forget that? The best vacation ever, when people ask me where I went in the summer of 2005, I say Bristol Children's Hospital, England." Troy finished with a grin and a wink.
When he winked at her, Gabriella's insides did a triple back flip. Gabriella sighed and looked out of the window, was it always going to be like this? Her wishing she was Troy's girlfriend while watching him fall in love with another girl. Gabriella thought of Mia, her curly blonde hair that fell in ringlets down her back, her big baby blue eyes. She was everything Troy deserved, beautiful, smart, talented, she'd been head cheerleader ever since sophomore year. It made sense that he was in love with Mia, not Gabriella.
"So, Gabriella as I said you may be with us for another fortnight, but if you improve rapidly we can let you go after ten days." Dr Thomas said, standing up to leave.
"Thank you, doctor." Said Gabriella, smiling faintly. When he had left the room she said, "I'm tired, is it okay for me t go to sleep?"
"Of course, honey. Now I know you're awake I can go home and pick up some more essentials. I didn't want to leave the hospital, just in case something happened while I was away. I had Lucille go and pick up some things the day you were brought in." Said Maria.
"Aww, mom! You shouldn't have stayed, I was okay." Said Gabriella.
"I know, but I was so worried" Said Maria, giving Gabriella a hug before leaving the room.
Gabriella avoided Troy's gaze. She didn't think she could look him in the eye without bursting into tears.
"I'll stay until you fall asleep" Said Troy.
"No, you go home and get some rest. You look awful" Said Gabriella.
"He has hardly slept for three weeks" Said a voice from the door.
Gabriella looked up to see Sharpay standing in the doorway with the biggest bunch of pink flowers she had ever seen. Gabriella couldn't help smiling. Sharpay always had to go one better than everyone else. If someone got a dog for their birthday then Sharpay would have to have a pony, if someone got an A in a test, then Sharpay had to have an A+.
"Hey Shar, it is o good to see you." Said Gabriella giving her friend a one armed hug, the other arm had a drip in it and hurt when she moved it.
"You have no idea how worried I was. I haven't slept for three weeks, let alone eaten." Sharpay said, exaggerating just a little bit.
Gabriella laughed; she knew her friend was exaggerating. That was one of the things she had grown to love about her new best friend.
"So tell me, what's been going on in the three weeks I've been snoozing?" Gabriella asked, making her two best friends chuckle.
"Well, Taylor and Chad are friends but not dating. Taylor has a new crush, Lewis Freyar. He's on the mathletes, I told her it was social suicide but she just would not listen" Said Sharpay, her voice rising with every word. "Anyway, Chad is still single" Sharpay finished lamely.
Gabriella thought she saw a glint of something in the blonde's eye when she said the last few words. She'd had an inkling for a while that Sharpay's feelings toward Chad were maybe a little more than pure friendship. Gabriella looked at her friend quizzically, but didn't say anything in front of Troy. Sharpay saw Gabriella's look and bent her head, embarrassed.
"Did you tell her about the fight between Taylor and Ryan yet?" Sharpay asked Troy.
"She hasn't been awake for two hours yet!" Said Troy, exasperated. "Give me a chance, Sharpay"
"Oh my god. Do I have to do everything around here?" Sharpay exclaimed, a little over-dramatically. " Well it all started when Taylor said to Ryan that she didn't like his hat. And you know what Ryan gets like about his hats. So the he said, 'what are you talking about, you bug eyed fish face. So the she said 'shut up you skanky poodle'. So then she said…"
Gabriella let Sharpay's voice wash over her like the shore let the ocean flow over the sand. She nodded in the right places but really her mind was far away, in a place that no-one could penetrate, a place where she could be who she wanted without some-one telling her that she was doing her hair wrong or her make up should be like that. A place where Troy loved her back and all was right with the world. But she was pulled back to reality by a new voice adding to the two already talking.
"What's up, houseys?" Boomed the voice from the doorway.
"Chad, you idiot, its homeys not houseys" Said Troy, laughing.
"Well I liked the sound of houseys better, so there" Chad Stuck his tongue out at Troy and turned to beam at Gabriella. "You're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you, the last time you were asleep. I tried to wake you up but you were dead to the world."
"That would be because she was sedated, doofus" Said Sharpay hitting Chad over the head with her Chanel purse.
"I knew that, I was just kidding" Said Chad, none too convincingly.
"No you didn't, but it doesn't matter" Said Gabriella with a smile.
"Good" Chad said, pulling Gabriella into a very tight hug. "Cos I missed my little sister."
Gabriella smiled. Whenever she was down she could always count on Chad to bring her up again. He was like Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice-cream. The best friend a girl could have.
"So what's up?" Chad asked. "Why aren't you allowed home? I mean you're breathing, right?"
"Right, Chad. But I can't go home until this infection's cleared up and I'm breathing without oxygen." Gabriella pointed to the IV containing the antibiotics and the oxygen tubes up her nose.
"Oh I see." Said Chad, his face clearly saying that he did not see.
The next few hours passed in a blur. The four best friends chatted and laughed like old times and it was after eight when a stern nurse came in too Gabriella's room and shouted for a full five minutes about patients being in hospital to recover, not socialise. Just as they were leaving the room Chad leaned down on the pretext of giving Gabriella a hug and said "I didn't know that Dragon Darbus had a twin sister." Gabriella tried to stop herself giggling but couldn't help it.
Three hours later Gabriella was still awake, the Salbutamol had that affect, it's a stimulant so it keeps you awake. Gabriella decided to listen to the music channel for a while. She turned the television on and plugged the head-phone's in.
"...And up next is a song by the great Martina McBride, Concrete Angel" The announcer announced.
Gabriella closed her eyes as the opening bars of the melody started to play. And then the lyrics came in.
She walks to school with the lunch she packed
Nobody knows what she's holdin' back
Wearin' the same dress she wore yesterday
She hides the bruises with linen and lace
The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask
Bearing the burden of a secret storm
Sometimes she wishes she was never born
Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved
Concrete angel
Gabriella's eyes flew open and, as the memories start to flood back, tears roll down her cheeks.
His hands were going further up her legs. She was begging him to stop but he was not listening. "Shut up or I'll kill you" he used to say.
The song continued and the trickle of tears became a river.
Somebody cries in the middle of the night
The neighbors hear, but they turn out the lights
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate
When morning comes it'll be too late
Gabriella tore the headphone's from her ears as the tears cascaded down her cheeks, she buried her face in the pillow and sobbed till her eyes were raw and her throat hurt. That song had brought back memories she'd hoped never to have to remember. There was no escaping them. They always came flooding back at the worst of times. She'd said that is she tols anyone her mother would die first, and then her. Gabriella had been helpless and alone.
When the nurse came in at 5.30 to change the drips she was surprised to see Gabriella sat up in bed, engrossed in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
"I thought you'd be asleep" She said.
"I couldn't sleep" replied Gabriella, putting the book down and looking at the nurse.
"Have you read it before?" Asked the nurse, gesturing to the book lying by Gabriella's hand.
"Yeah, more than once" Chuckled Gabriella, her friends and family always used to joke that she loved Harry Potter more than she ever loved anyone.
"I find them great to get lost in. If I ever need to escape from this world I loose myself at Hogwarts" The nurse said, sitting on the edge of Gabriella's bed.
Gabriella was amazed. She never thought anyone else would feel like that. Especially not a grown adult.
"Wow, I feel exactly the same way. But I never thought I'd find anyone else that did. Especially not an-" Gabriella trailed off, embarrassed.
As though she had read Gabriella's mind the nurse asked "Especially not an adult?"
Gabriella nodded, slightly embarrassed.
The nurse laughed, "I've always preferred the magical world to this one"
"Me too" Said Gabriella, smiling.
"I better get my rounds done, but you keep smiling and reading Gabriella." She said, turning to leave.
"Sorry, what's your name?" Asked Gabriella.
"Sorry I should have introduced myself, I'm Grace and I'll be looking after you until you go home in about a week" The nurse, Grace, smiled.
Gabriella leant back against her pillows and smiled to herself. All the sorrow and hurt of the previous night had been washed away by this woman. She was amazing; Gabriella thought she was like an older version of herself. Gabriella closed her eyes and the next thing she knew she was being shaken awake by a gentle hand.
"Gabby, wake up." the voice said, timidly.
Gabriella opened her eyes and looked sleepily at the girl who had awoken her. It was Annie, the younger sister of Kelsi Neilson, a good friend of Gabriella's.
"Hey Annie, what are you doing here?" Gabriella asked, wiping her eyes.
"Me and Kelsi cam to see you and I ran ahead and got here first. Kelsi id right behind me" And sure enough the door opened to reveal Kelsi standing there. At only 4"11, the petite girl was extremely pretty but hardly anyone saw past her round glasses. She was known for being extremely quiet and an exquisite musician. Gabriella was one of the few people that Kelsi had ever been completely comfortable around, and Gabriella was grateful for that.
"Hey Gabby. Annie, if you ever run away from me like that again I will kick your butt, whether you are ten years old or not." Kelsi panted, glaring at her little sister, who was a spitting image of Kelsi.
Gabriella laughed and moved over on the bed so that Kelsi could sit next to her. The next hour passed in a blur as the three girls talked about everything from Gabriella's health to what was new in Abercrombie and Fitch. After the girls had gone, Gabriella realised that for the past few hours she had been truly happy.
A/N: Right, What did you think? Hit the little blue button and tell meeeeeee!
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