Longing to Break Free

Chapter Two

6:50.

Gabriella couldn't help but keep gazing at the clock. Troy was late. Sure, he wasn't that late, but still that didn't stop her from having a worried feeling form in her stomach.

She had been hanging out by herself for a few minutes. Music was blasting and the place was decorated for a party. She wasn't really in the mood for a party at the moment though. She watched as all the party guests strolled into the room, mostly just students from East High.

So far she did not see a sign of Troy anywhere. And why did that worry her so much? Did he not get the note? Did he possibly go up to her balcony rather then the front door? Was he still at her house wondering where she was at? Or had something else happened?

Something else. Somehow, she couldn't help but wonder if something else did happen. She didn't want to think about what the something else was.

Because that was the feeling that she felt right now, was that something did happen. And that something wasn't good.

6:53. Chad would be here any second now. But where was Troy? Troy had been talking for a few weeks already about surprising his best friend on his birthday and the fact that he was not here bothered her. It bothered her a lot. Something didn't feel right. She gazed around the room and spotted Jason hanging out by Ryan Evans. She wandered over to them.

"Hey guys!" She exclaimed. She was trying to sound somewhat cheerful. She tried to act as though nothing was bothering her.

"Hey Gabriella," Ryan smiled at her.

Jason looked at her in surprise, "Gabriella, I could have sworn that Troy said you two were coming here together. I was going to ask you about why he wasn't with you."

Gabriella swallowed. Why was it that that only made her worry more? "Well I came here early to help Taylor. I tried to leave him a message on his cell phone but he wouldn't answer. I left him a note at the house telling him I came early. He still hasn't shown though."

Jason gazed at her in concern, thought for a moment, and then relaxed, "I'm sure he's just late. He will be here before you know it."

Gabriella wanted to believe that but she wasn't so sure. But even so she didn't want to show how worried she was becoming just yet, "Right," She went brightly, "I'm sure he will get here."

Suddenly from the window she could hear Sharpay Evans cry out, "He's here! Chad just came! Everybody hide!"

Gabriella felt her heart sink. Chad was here and Troy wasn't. And knowing that Troy was going to miss surprising his best friend worried her. It was starting to worry her a great deal.

She just couldn't shake this feeling that something wasn't quite right with this.

Troy had gotten roughly thrown and trapped into the back of a van. After the man had pulled a gun on him earlier, he had dragged Troy around for awhile until he pulled him over towards a van. He had only looked at the van very briefly, and didn't at all see the man the entire time. It was difficult to do so considering a gun was held against him the whole time.

Now he found himself tightly tied up with rope, gagged, and blindfolded. He tried screaming but it was just pointless. He couldn't see a thing with the blindfold on. He had been absolutely terrified the entire time he had been trapped in here. It was freezing in here and horrifying knowing that he was stuck in here with no way out. Panic and fear overwhelmed him. He hated feeling so hopeless. He shifted uncomfortably. In this type of situation, it was rather difficult to get comfortable. The feeling underneath him as the van moved was rather bumpy. He moaned as every part of his body ached badly. The man had been somewhat rough on him as he struggled to escape earlier. It was terribly painful sitting here tied up in the back of the van hardly able to move.

He was absolutely just petrified. He had absolutely no clue who was doing this or why. Was it someone he knew? Someone he didn't know? It scared him to death not knowing who this was. He had no clue what was to become of him. What was even more frightening was he had no idea if he would ever escape this.

How long was he going to be trapped like this? For a long time? That thought made him struggle awhile more and he tried to bust out of the ropes somehow. He moved around as much as he could, but suddenly hit his head hard on the side of the van during his attempt to escape.

He groaned as he quickly slipped into unconsciousness.

Everyone else had started dancing around Taylor's living room but Gabriella sat on the couch. She was starting to worry like crazy.

Suddenly, she jumped up; she just couldn't stand it any longer. Troy should be here by now. And the fact that he wasn't told her something. Something bad had happened. She could feel it. Something had prevented him from coming to her and this party. There was no way Troy would of missed his best friends surprise party. Just this afternoon he had told her he wouldn't miss it for the world. So the fact that he wasn't here now like he said he would be really was starting to freak her out.

"Okay, where is he?" she suddenly heard Chad speak to her, it was the first time he had all evening. She jumped, looking at him nervously.

"I mean, you'd think he'd be here, he is my best friend after all," Chad continued, but stopped as he got a better look at Gabriella's face. He suddenly looked at her in concern, "Hey, what's wrong? You really don't look so good, Gabriella."

"He should be here. That is what's worrying me," Gabriella somehow managed to say, feeling nervous as she spoke to Chad.

"Why isn't he here?" Chad asked in sudden concern, "Did he have other plans or something?"

Gabriella shook her head; she could suddenly feel tears threatening to come out, "No. He was planning to come here. He was. He should be here. He should have been here awhile ago. I don't get why he's not." And with that she suddenly started crying.

"Hey what's wrong here?" Jason joined in, as he noticed the worried expressions on both Chad and Gabriella's face, "Why is she crying? And why hasn't Troy gotten here yet?"

"I'm worried something has happened to him," Gabriella suddenly burst out, through her tears, "I can't stay here any longer. I need to go and find him!" She started to head to the door, but Jason stopped her before she could.

"Wait a minute! I'll go look with you," Jason went quickly; "I don't think you should go looking by yourself!"

"I'll come to," Chad spoke up, "Something about this isn't right."

"But it's your party!" Jason told him, "You can't leave it. I'll go!"

"No I'm going," Chad went immediately, "She has me worried all of a sudden and i want to make sure that my best friend is okay. The three of us will go out and look for Troy, just let me tell Taylor that we'll be out for a while but we will be back."

Gabriella sighed and she looked at Jason, "I would have been okay by myself but I suppose it doesn't hurt having you come. I just hope we find him."

Chad suddenly came back, "I told Taylor we were leaving and she understood why. She also said she'd call us if Troy were to show up here later," He tried to smile, "Let's just hope that when we return Troy will be with us."

Gabriella looked at him and couldn't help but frown. Why did she want to really believe that would happen but for some reason she couldn't help but feel like things just wouldn't turn out that way?