Need You More Than Ever
Hiya guys, thanks for all of your reviews, they really mean a lot to me. Anyway, I had some free time (finally) so I've managed to write chapter 13, please read and review.
Chapter 13The paramedics pushed everyone back, desperate to get to Gabriella and stop the bleeding. Troy however, was adamant that he was staying with her and it took his dad and Chad to hold him back, so that the paramedics could get near.
As Troy was thrashing around, trying frantically to get away from his dad and Chad and back to Gabriella, the paramedics quickly worked, taking the bandages off of her foot and quickly starting mouth to mouth.
They were constantly murmuring words to each other that none of the gang could understand, and which made them all panic even more. Quickly, one ran back to the ambulance, returning only a moment later with a stretcher as they quickly manoeuvred Gabriella's still limp body onto it and looked back to the rest of the group.
"What are you doing with Gabby?" Chad questioned, his voice hoarse as tears streamed down his face and Troy suddenly stopped thrashing to watch the paramedics.
The first paramedic looked at Chad and cringed slightly, "This girl needs surgery as soon as possible, if she doesn't, the bullet will find it's way into her main blood stream and eventually up to her heart, which will kill her. However, we're not sure if surgery is the answer, it may be that it's too late already." He looked down as he finished and all of the girls burst into hysterical crying, each hugging their families for comfort, as their parents and the guys all looked at the paramedic in shock, trying to digest the information that he had just given them about possibly the sweetest girl that any of them had ever known.
The second paramedic looked at the teenagers, a sad smile gracing her features, "You guys all need to go to the hospital as well, and I mean now. You've all been through a great trauma and you're clearly in shock." They all nodded and started to walk with their parents to their own cars, but Troy stood, rooted to the spot.
"No," he stated strongly, as everyone turned to look at him and he caught the eye of the male paramedic, "I want to go with her, I promised her that I would never leave her alone again and I meant that."
The paramedics turned to Troy's parents, who nodded slightly.
"Alright son, but hurry, we need to be there as fast as possible," and with that, Troy and the paramedics ran back to the ambulance and sped away as the others followed at a slightly slower speed.
Arriving at the hospital, the gang were all rushed off to be examined, before any of them could even ask how Gabriella was doing, or where Troy was.
Coming out of the exam room, still dazed, the gang all drifted into a hallway, one by one, before clutching each other in a massive group hug and subconsciously walking towards the admitting desk, completely ignoring their concerned parents.
"Excuse me," Taylor started politely, and the admitting nurse turned to look at them, smiling reassuringly at the teenagers.
"You're looking for Gabriella Montez right?" She asked, with a soft voice. The group all nodded together as one and she smiled at them again. "She's just gotten out of surgery," as she said this, the whole group physically brightened, "She's currently in room 587, on the fifth floor, if you want to go see her." The nurse smiled again, before turning back to the filing cabinets.
The gang looked at each other before all racing for the lift doors, banging into people left right and centre and knocking each other out of the way as they all tried to barge into the empty lift as one, their parents trying to follow hopelessly behind as the group of teenagers ended up falling into the open lift in a heap, each screaming at least one other.
"If you lot aren't quiet right now, we're taking you all home," Mrs. McKessie whispered, "There are other sick people in this hospital, who need genuine rest."
The gang all mumbled sorry, each looking suitably embarrassed as they helped each other off of the floor.
Mrs. Nielson smiled at them, "It's ok guys, we know that you've had a rough night and you're just concerned about Gabby, but we're going to go home, because we have a feeling that you aren't leaving to soon." The whole group nodded, looking at their parents as if daring them to try and contradict them. Mrs. Nielson smiled again, "However, Chad's parents are up in the cafeteria, if you need anything, because they want to be here for Gabby as well, and I believe that the Bolton's are also there." She finished, looking at the teenagers, that were all nodding, but were each looking at the control buttons, and each one edging closer towards them, before Ryan suddenly lunged, hitting the number five as they all called a goodbye to their parents.
The families all looked at each other and laughed, rolling their eyes, before heading for the door.
As soon as they reached the fifth floor, the whole gang spilled out of the lift and started to race sown the corridor, dodging people and trolleys every minute.
They all came to a screeching halt outside of room 587, except for Chad, who went flying straight past, before coming back up to the gang, his head held low as the rest of the group laughed weakly.
Slowly, Zeke reached out to turn the handle of the door.
"You guys can go in you know," a voice behind them said and the gang all jumped, turning around to see Troy stood behind them with a cup of coffee. He smiled at them weakly, before lightly pushing past them and walking into the room, his expression an extremely sombre one.
The gang all looked at each other before carefully following Troy into the room, seeing him sit down and put his head in his hands beside a sleeping Gabriella, the machines providing the only sound in the room, a rhythmic beeping noise.
"She's ok then right? I mean she's just sleeping," Sharpay tentatively walked nearer to Gabriella and smiled softly, taking one of her hands.
The rest of the gang nodded, each taking a seat and pulling it up to the bed, Chad grinning and patting Troy on the back, "See man, I told you that she'd pull through! I mean she's our Gabs, she can't leave us and she knows that," he grinned.
Troy's head snapped up and he glared at the rest, making their smiles falter, "No Chad she's not alright," he spat, the whole gang looked at him in shock, he'd never spoken to any of them like that before, "she's in a coma Chad, one which the doctors are 99.9 sure she is never going to wake up from." The whole gang turned tearful, "I just don't know what to do, I need her, I can't live without her," Troy's voice broke and he suddenly broke down in sobs, falling to the floor and crying hysterically as Chad knelt down next to him, gently trying to comfort his best friend, Ryan joining him moments later, as the rest of the group started to cry their own tears.
After a few minutes of crying, Troy sat back up in his seat again, the tears still streaming down his face, but his breathing more controlled, as he lovingly took hold of Gabriella's hand again. "Do you guys think that I can have a few minutes alone with Ella?" He asked softly, almost as though he was afraid of the answer. But surprisingly to him, the whole gang nodded, knowing that Troy needed some time alone with her.
"Bye Gabby, don't give up, we need you," Jason said softly as he gave her a tight hug and left the room.
"Come on Gabs, you can pull through this, we know that you can, after all, you're the one that helped us all break the status quo," he bent down and hugged her, whispering in her ear, "and I haven't thanked you for bringing Shar into my life yet." He smiled sadly; straightening up and following Jason, putting a warming hand on Troy's shoulder as he passed.
Kelsi lightly walked up to Gabriella, looking fairly frightened, "G, you can't leave us now, if you do, I'm gonna have to go back to writing plays for brothers and sisters and I don't think that I can take working with Sharpay again," she whispered the last part, but Sharpay heard her and frowned, "we all need you, G, you're the glue that holds this group together, the one that brought us together in the first place." Kelsi quickly bent over and hugged Gabriella, before fleeing from the room and into Jason's arms, the tears flowing freely.
Taylor looked at the others, who gently nodded to her as she slowly approached the bed, taking a hold of Gabriella's hand and gently rubbing her thumb along the back of it. "Brie, you're my best friend, before you, I only had the people on the scholastic team, and they weren't really my friends, they just wanted me there to win for them, but with you, I felt real friendship for the first time, and you brought everyone else into my life, if It wasn't for you, I don't really know where I'd be right now Brie, you're my best friend and I need you. Plus without you, the scholastic team has no chance of beating West High, so we need you, so that we can wipe the floor with them, again, don't forget Brie, you're breaking free," Taylor smiled slightly, finishing on a lighter note, bending down to kiss Gabriella's cheek and giving her hand one last squeeze before going to join the others outside of the room.
Ryan sighed softly, taking hold of Gabriella's free hand and gently placing his other on her head, smiling softly at her, "Hey Gabster, you know that you can't leave us right? We all need you, we've got so much to say thank you for, we all take you way too much for granted, and Kelsi's right, you are the glue that holds us all together, without you I'd still be in Sharpay's shadow and I wouldn't have any of the amazing friends that I now have," he smiled slightly at the others in the room, who smiled back, "you're my true little sister Gabster, and I need you just as much as everyone else, so come back to us." He finished quietly, placing a gentle kiss to her forehead before stepping out of the room.
Sharpay looked at the last two remaining boys, Chad smiled and nodded at her to go next, she gulped slightly and stood up next to the bed. "Boo, you're my best friend, my sister and my saviour, all in one, personally, I think that you're my guardian angel," both Troy and Chad smiled softly, hearing Sharpay's words, hardly able to believe that less than a year ago, she had been the ice princess at their school. "If it wasn't for you Boo, I'd still be a total bitch, sure we may not have gotten off to the best of starts, but now I need you more than anything, and personally I wanted you and Troy to get the parts on the Winter Musical, you two performed it better than Ryan and I could have, although I will never admit that if anyone asks," she smiled again, lightly stroking Gabriella's hair, "I need you Boo, we all need you, otherwise I swear I will become a not nice person again, without you there to keep me on the right track, so wake up, for all of us, angel," Sharpay swooped down and kissed Gabriella gently on the forehead, looking at her one last time before leaving the room.
Chad got up off of his perch on the edge of Troy's chair and quietly walked around to the other side of the room, taking Gabriella's small hand in his own large one and smiling softly. "Hey Briella, little sis, we all need you Briella, even without you here now, we're all falling apart, none of us can do this without you Briella, you need to wake up, not just for all of us, but for yourself as well, you need to show your mother that you are stronger than she is and that you can beat this, because we all know that you can, you're the strongest person any of us know, hell, you even stood up to the ice princess…"
"I heard that!" Sharpay yelled from outside the room, immediately being shushed by the others.
Chad grinned, "See, even now in a coma, you're getting me into trouble, " he sighed and looked at her, a brotherly love surrounding his features, "After I lost my little sister Gabriella, I thought that the world would end and that the sky had fallen, but you pulled me through that, if it wasn't for you, I don't know what I would have ended up doing, you pulled me through it, and I'm going to pull you through as well, even if it's the last thing I do. After I lost Alexia, I thought that I'd never be a big brother again, but you made me realise, that blood doesn't always matter, cause you've always been my little sis, and I will be there to protect you, no matter what, and also, no matter what Ryan says, you're more my little sis than his, " Chad grinned cheekily and kissed Gabriella's temple softly, "I love you Briella, you're my little sister, always, so wake up, so I can beat up some more guys who think they have a chance with you!" Chad grinned before smiling softly at Troy and walking out of the room, hearing the gang laughing softly, glad that he had managed to make them laugh.
As Chad closed the door, Troy sighed and gently brought Gabriella's hand up to his mouth, kissing it affectionately, "Everything they said is true Ella, we need you, you are our glue and our angel, but most importantly, you're my angel and I don't know what I'd ever do with out you princes, you're my whole world Ella, you have to wake up, or I'm coming up there to join you, there's no way that I can live my whole life without you, you are my entire life, the thing that I live for, my world," Troy's voice broke as tears streamed down his face and hit the mattress, along with his and Gabriella's joined hands. "I need you more than ever Ella," he sobbed.
"You lot all talk way too much," a raspy voice said and Troy's head snapped up, his teary cobalt eyes looking straight into Gabriella's bright chocolate ones.
"GABRIELLA!" Troy yelled in shock, knocking the chair over as he stood up abruptly, astonishment covering his features as Gabriella laughed sweetly, music to Troy's ears.
The door burst open and all of the gang stood there, looking truly surprised, before all grinning like maniacs and launching themselves forwards, all of them diving on top of Gabriella, who lay in her bed squealing, as Troy and the others laughed in joy and relief.
"Get off of me," she squealed, "I'm just a very tiny person and you're crushing me," she giggled.
The boys all grinned and pulled themselves off of her, each picking up their girlfriends, who were each refusing to move.
"What is going on in here?" A very stern looking doctor walked into the room and glared at each of the teenagers, before her gaze landed on Gabriella and his mouth dropped.
"Hi," Gabriella grinned making a small waving symbol with her hand, causing all of her friends to laugh and the doctor's mouth to drop further.
"What's up Doc? Never seen someone get out of a coma before?" Gabriella asked innocently, and the doctor ran from the room, yelling that they would be doing some tests in the morning, as the whole gang roared with laughter again.
"Oh, I forgot, I need to go talk to my parents about something, I'll be back in a bit guys," Chad yelled as he grinned at Gabriella and ran from the room.
"Ok, well that was strange," Troy laughed as he lay on the bed beside Gabriella, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder, as she sat up, grinning at him and the others all sat around the bed on the chairs, unable to stop grinning or laughing.
About ten minutes later however, the mood was made quite sombre again as Jason asked a question that had need prying on all of their minds, "Gabby," she turned to look at him, still smiling, "why did your mom say that you said that the last thing that you said to your dad was that you hated him?"
Gabriella's smile fell from her face as the whole gang, Troy included turned to look at her, "Well that's because it was the last ever thing that I said to him," she shuffled uncomfortably and sighed as she knew that she would now have to tell them the story that she wanted to avoid at all costs. "When my dad was called up, he didn't tell me until the day he left," she clasping and unclasping her hands in her lap, her eyes fixated on that one area, "he'd already done three tours of duty, each one lasted for four years, and after the third one, which finished when I was twelve, he promised me that he would never go away again, not ever. But when I was only thirteen, he started to get edgy, and he reenlisted, he was called up five days later, and I told him I hated him for breaking that promise to me. Every time he wrote, I never wrote back, I refused to accept any of his phone calls, and when he was on leave, I would deliberately go and stay with a friend, or just point blanc ignore him. The day that he was shot, I felt so guilty, he was coming home not even a week later, and he hadn't been on leave for about sixteen months. I ignored my dad, the man that I always used to be so close to, even if he was always away, for three years, and I regret that so much, if I had talked to him just once, I could have told him that I didn't hate him, I was just so annoyed that he lied to me, and then I was too damn stubborn to back down, to damn proud." She strated to sob uncontrollably, "I just wanted him to know that I loved him."
Troy wrapped his arms tightly around her and she cried into his chest, "He knew Ella, he knew," Troy whispered soothingly into her ear.
Half an hour later, Gabriella had calmed down, and the group were just talking about any random things from school, to the time when Chad cried for a month because Gabriella accidentally stuck some chewing gum in his hair, and it had to be cut a tiny bit to get it out.
"Briella!" Chad yelled happily, tripping over as he ran into the room, quickly getting up again and hurling his arms around Gabriella as she looked at him in confusion, and the rest of the gang laughed at how much of an idiot he was. Throwing them all a cheeky grin, he turned back to face Gabriella again, "Are you ready to become my sister fully?" He grinned at her as she and the rest of the gang still looked at him, confused.
"Chad what are you talking about?" Taylor asked, eyeing her crazy boyfriend up and down.
"Well you see Taylor," he started, still grinning with one arm around Gabriella's shoulders, "My Mom and Dad have just put in a request to adopt Briella." The whole gang gasped and squealed with happiness as Gabriella grinned.
Her grin quickly fell from her face though as she turned to look at Chad, "Chad, I cant possibly do that, I don't want to impose on anyone," she murmured as she shook her head softly.
Chad just rolled his eyes and pulled her back into a hug, "Briella don't be so ridiculous, my parents love you, they've always thought of you as their own daughter anyway, so they're extremely glad that they can help out. Actually, most of the time, I swear that they like you more than me," he finished with a slight frown as the rest of the gang erupted into laughter, glad that things were finally starting to return to normal.
Well there was chapter 13, the longest chapter of this story yet, only about 2 more chapters until Need You More Than Ever is finished, so for those of you reading Returned, I'm going to concentrate on getting that updated tomorrow, if I have the time. Anyway please review chapter 13 and tell me what you thought!