Chapter 12!!

Considering most of you probably won't read this since there was such a HUGE cliffhanger left on the last chapter, I don't think I'll put too much important info up here.

Enjoy! )

"Chad." She turned around and plastered a fake smile upon her face.

"Didn't you see me coming down the hall?"

"Guess not! You know what Troy says. I'm blind as a bat!" She was talking really fast and, to her 'joy', was giggling nervously.

"Emily, what's wrong with you? You've been avoiding me around school and on the phone. Please tell me what's up." He took a step closer.

'He's not making this easy is he?' her voice in her mind said.

'He doesn't make anything easy,' another voice replied.

'Darn it, Em, stop talking to yourself!' She rubbed her forehead.

"Emily, come on. You can tell me. I'm your boyfriend!"

Emily continued to rub her forehead. She was racking her brains for the words, but her searches came up blank.

"Em," Chad started.

" Chad, we need to talk."

"Em, don't you do this." Chad started to suspect what she was going to say.

"I don't think it's working out." Emily lowered her face and her eyes threatened tears.

Chad stood there. The words she said, they just didn't comprehend. It was almost as if he had been slapped, for no apparent reason. And that's how he felt, like he had been slapped.

"Emily--"

"I should go." Emily whispered so he wouldn't hear her voice crack. She walked around him, leaving the hallway. Leaving Chad in silence.

"I'm not hungry!"

"I haven't seen you eat in days!" Troy yelled at his sister. Ever since she broke up with Chad, she hadn't eaten.

"I haven't seen you eat so much either!"

Troy considered this for a moment. He hadn't. Gabriella had mysteriously stopped talking to him, and he was too depressed to eat at lunch. But usually he would go get a big snack after-school to make up for it.

"Em, just eat some!"

"I'M NOT HUNGRY!" She stood up from the table so fast that she knocked over her chair. Troy only saw the red blur of her Wildcats sweatshirt running up the stairs, then the sound of her door slamming.

Troy listened to the silence of the kitchen. His mother was gone, yet again, on another business trip and his father had a conference in Texas for the weekend. He placed his head in his hands and sighed.

'What's up with her?' He thought. He tried to search through every conversation they had had, trying to find anything that could help him. He thought he almost had it, but the doorbell rang.

Troy walked to the door, mentally cursing whoever it was at the door for interrupting his thoughts. He opened it to find Chad. He was standing there in his Wildcats letterman jacket, and his eyes were full of sadness. He'd been missing shots at practice for a week.

" Chad, she doesn't want to see you."

"I need to see her, Troy." His eyes gave a pleading look. Troy scratched the back of his neck, debating whether or not to let him in.

He sighed and let Chad in. "Emily! Company!" He called upstairs. Chad paced the room in silence and Troy sat on the couch. He put his head back in his hands. They sat for a few minutes in silence.

"Where is she?" Chad stopped pacing and looked at Troy.

"I don't know," he decided to call again, "EMILY! YOU HAVE A VISITOR!"

His call was returned with silence.

"Maybe she knows it's me."

"No, she would have at least yelled down a 'No I'm not coming out!'" Troy's face had deep lines of worry.

"EMILY! PLEASE COME DOWN!" Chad yelled in one last desperate attempt.

Troy heard a faint 'thump' coming from upstairs. He and Chad paled. They gave each other wide-eyed looks before bolting up the stairs. Troy reached the door first and almost fell through it.

He froze once he entered. " Chad, start my car. The keys are on the counter." Troy's face didn't turn and his voice had a touch of panic.

"Troy, what's wro—" Chad stopped. He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach and he couldn't catch his breath.

" Chad, GO!" Troy heard Chad's footsteps on the stairs and later on the clicking of the front door. He stood and looked at Emily's collapsed body. She wasn't moving, except for the faint up and down motion of her chest. She was barely breathing. Troy took a deep breath and picked her up. "Please be alright, Em. I'd never forgive myself if you weren't."

It was Troy's turn to pace the room, while Chad sat still in the waiting room. Jason was bouncing his foot, Zeke was doodling on some paper, Sadie was flipping nervously through a magazine and Natalie was chewing gum frantically.

Troy's cell phone rang and he stepped outside to answer it. " Troy? I got your voicemail. What's up?" His father's voice wound its way into his ear.

"Em collapsed, Dad." Troy sighed.

"What?" He practically heard his dad stop in his tracks.

"Um, Chad came over and we called her down, but she wouldn't answer. So we went to check up on her and she was lying on the floor not moving." He ran all his words together.

"Ok, ok. Where are you guys now?" Jack Bolton was trying to figure everything out.

"We took her to the hospital; we're waiting for the doctors to come out."

"I'll be on the next flight over."

Troy heard the click on the phone. He walked back into the room to find no one had changed. The hours ticked by slowly. Troy constantly checked the clock: 7, 8, 8:30, 8:34. Every time he checked the clock, the less time had gone by.

" Troy?" The feather-soft voice called out to him.

"Gabriella!" He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her. He knew how to make her feel better. "I thought you were mad at me?"

"I came to see Emily," she turned and walked over to an empty chair.

Troy was staring after her when the doctor walked up.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bolton?"

"Yes? Is my sister okay?"

"She's stable at the moment. We've been running tests on her. Sorry for taking so long."

"It's okay. As long as she's okay?"

"Like I said, she's stable at the moment. She's very dehydrated, malnourished and under a lot of stress."

"What does that all mean?"

"We haven't quite diagnosed her yet, so right now we are just treating the main problems."

"Why did she collapse?!" Troy didn't like how he wasn't getting answers.

"Because apparently, she hasn't eaten in a week."

'A week? A week? She hadn't eaten in a whole week? And I didn't notice?' He thought. He felt like he had let Emily down.

"Can we see her?"

"We?" The doctor looked at Troy over his glasses.

"Yeah, they're here to see her too." Troy pointed back towards the waiting room.

"I don't know, son. We need to keep her stress level as low as possible."

"We won't stress her out. We promise!" Sadie came up behind Troy.

"Yeah, if anything, we'll calm her down!" Natalie said whisking up behind Sadie.

"Hmm, alright…but only one at a time." He walked back to the front desk to do some things.

" Troy, you go first." Sadie suggested.

"Are you guys sure?" Troy looked at his sister's best friends.

"Of course we are." Natalie smiled at him.

Troy walked over to his sister's hospital room and put his hand on the doorknob. He lingered there for a moment, almost as if to gather his courage, and plunged into the room of machines supporting his sister's life.

You know I love cliffhangers!

I've been doing research on WebMD to diagnose Emily. I read one disorder thing and it fit PERFECTLY, without me even planning it! It was so creepy! But anyway, you'll find that out in the next chapter!

I'd also like to thank my reviewers who review often! You guys are great!

Jordan just read Chapter 11. She's freaking out. :-) ( Jordan just read Chapter 12. She's ripping her hair out. – Jordan)

Review!