Gabriella woke up to the sun shining brightly through her open curtains. Her mom was hovering above her. "Rough night?" Maria asked, softly.

"I told him," Gabriella croaked, tears welling in her eyes once again.

"I kind of figured," Maria tried her best to smile. She always covered it up so well, but no one knew that on the inside she was slowly breaking. "Troy called," she added, handing Gabriella her phone.

Gabriella flipped it open. "And texted…several times…" She said.

"Maybe you should call him back," Maria suggested, rising to her feet. "It's you choice." She kissed her daughter on her forehead and left the room.

Gabriella bit her lip. She slowly went down through her contacts in her contact book and found Troy's name. She stared at it for a while and finally pushed the green call button. "Hey, you've reached Troy. Do your thing at the beep…" Gabriella sighed as the phone gave a tiny beep.

"Hey, Troy, it's Gabriella, um, just returning the call," she said, flipping the phone shut and throwing it on her bed. She walked into the bathroom. Her hair was a mess--all over her head and her eyes were red and puffy from all the crying she had done the previous night. But the most important thing that stood out to her, was that she was as pale as ever.

She felt her heart's beating begin to pump faster. Her head was spinning. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she fell to the tile floor. "Gabriella!" Was the last thing she heard. Her mom screaming her name.

Troy sighed and finished filling out the extra long paperwork. It would take forever, but it would surely be worth it. "Hey, Troy!" He heard Chad call. He looked up.

"You have a missed call from Gabby," Chad said, jogging up to his friend. Troy reached for the phone.

"Did you get it done?" He asked Chad, pushing 'call' and putting the phone up to his ear. Chad nodded.

"Yeah, and I got extra ones, too."

"Hey, it's Gabby, you know what to do!" Came Gabriella's cheerful voice from her voicemail. Troy groaned and snapped the phone shut.

"Voicemail," he muttered, to the curious Chad. He sat down and continued with the paperwork. Then, his phone went off again.

"It's your mom," Chad said, picking it up from the table.

"Could you get it?" Troy asked.

"Okay," Chad replied, opening the phone and placing it to his hear. "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color? Yeah, it's Chad. Oh my word, are you serious?!" Troy looked up. Chad's faced was shocked. "Okay, we're on the way."

"Dude, what's up?" Troy asked.

"It's Gabriella," Chad replied. "We have to get to the hospital." They wasted no time. Troy left the finally finished paperwork where it was, in hopes that the lady who worked there would find it. They hurried off toward the hospital.

Troy burst into Gabriella's hospital room. There she was, lying frail and fragile, asleep in a hospital gown, on a hospital bed. Maria was there, too. She was staring out the window.

"Maria?" Troy asked, jogging over to her.

Maria turned to face the two boys. There were tears in her eyes. "Oh, thank the Lord you're here! I thought you weren't coming!" Troy wrapped his arms around her in a hug. She cried into his shoulder and he barely managed to keep his own tears from escaping.

"Do you mind if I…have some time alone with her?" Troy asked hopefully.

Maria nodded. "Oh, of course." And she and Chad left the room.

Troy pulled up a chair next to Gabriella's bed. "Hey, baby girl," he whispered, softly, listening to the rhythm of the heart monitor. "I just want you to know that I love you and I'll always be here for you." He closed his eyes and rested his head on the side of her bed. "And I'm gonna stay with you until you get better." He placed a sweet kiss on her cheek and rested against the chair, closing his eyes, yet again.

Chad came in. "She looks so…sick."

"Well, what do you expect?" Troy snapped. "She does have cancer."

"I know that--"

"Obviously not, if you--ugh, never mind." Chad sighed and started to leave the room once again, wishing there were a way he could help.

A doctor came in. "When does she get to go home?" Troy asked, quickly.

"Probably not for a while," the doctor replied. Chad stopped at the door. "She needs a lot of treatment. We're still going to continue with the treatment, it might put off the…" Troy looked down. Chad left the room, with one thing on his mind.

Lucille and Maria came into the room next and the doctor left. Gabriella's eyes fluttered open, once the door slammed shut. She looked, wide-eyed around the room. Troy was here and that was all that mattered. He reached down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, caressing her cheek with his thumb. She leaned into his touch.

Maria smiled and so did Lucille. Ah, the beauty of young love, especially when it was her daughter that was in love. And at such a young age, too! "Hi, mommy," Gabriella whispered. Her voice wasn't very strong at the moment, so she could barely talk above a whisper.

"Hey, sweetie," Maria replied, still smiling. "Do you feel any better?"

Gabriella nodded as Troy sat down on the bed next to her. Gabriella moved over a little, to make room. He grinned charmingly at her and she smiled the best she could. "I'm sorry," she leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"Why should you be sorry?" He asked, softly. "I'm the one that should be sorry and I honestly am."

Gabriella smiled. "I missed you so much," she croaked as he wrapped his strong arms around her.

"I love you," he cooed into her hair, rubbing her back.

"I love you, too," Gabriella replied. Maria laughed and shook her head.

"We have quite a movie here, don't we?" Lucille asked.

"Pull up a chair," Maria joked.