Troy yawned as he walked out of the locker room, leaving behind the talking and yelling of his teammates to head off to homeroom early so he could finish a late book report.
There was barely anyone in the halls as he rubbed his eyes and flicked his hair out of his eyes as he turned the corner. Gabriella was supposed to meet him in homeroom as he wasn't expecting to see her sooner than that since she was at practice right now.
"Bolton!" Troy turned his head and saw the blonde haired football captain jog a little to catch up with him as they did the guy handshake.
"Hey Jake. What are you doing here so early?" Troy asked even though it wasn't as early as it seemed. It was almost time for the bell to go off to warn them that they had only minutes before they had to be in homeroom, but the thing that Troy was thankful for was that it was extended so he should be able to at least get a rough draft done for his book report.
Jake's shoulders shrugged up and down as he walked side by side by him. "It was crazy on the road today." Jake explained. "You heard about it yet?"
Troy felt his face contort into confusion. He was at school by 5:30 due to his dad waking him up so early so he could get his stuff together for early morning basketball practice. "No, but that explains why barely anyone is here." Troy motioned to the halfway full hallway.
Jake nodded as he situated his backpack on his shoulder differently. "Yeah, on the corner of Washington and Johnson I heard that this one tree fell down and the police have it roped off pretty much all the way down the two streets. No one can get through and that's the street half of the school has to take to get here. I don't think the tree's that big though because Gabriella and I go past it everyday and I don't recall a big tree, but whatever." The blonde explained with a sigh.
Troy nodded his head understanding as he knew that he lived closer to the school than Gabriella and Jake since that was the road he drove to get to Gabriella's house.
"How did it happen?" Troy found himself asking as curiosity got the better of him, but he saw the blonde's shoulders go up and down in a small shrug as they turned the corner and headed towards their homeroom with no signs of Ms. Darbus waltzing around.
"I have no idea, but it must be pretty bad if they're not letting anyone through. And I did hear sirens going." Jake said as Troy dropped his book bag down on the ground next to his seat. "I got to go meet Haley. See you later man." Jake and Troy did their guy handshake as Troy watched him walk out of homeroom again and he made his mind now concentrate on his late assignment.
She entered the school with a huff. She fixed her scarf in one hand movement: her right hand reached down and gripped the end of the scarf and threw it behind her left shoulder. She was late by twenty minutes as the warning bell had just gone off indicating that they had seven minutes left to get to homeroom, but as she could tell from the halls many students weren't there yet and she found this strange.
She turned the corner as she remembered what made her late in the first place: some traffic thing going on as the police were redirecting traffic. She figured it was just a drill or them going through training or something like that, and she thought it was stupid. After all they were on a road that half the town took in the morning to get to school and their work.
She turned a corner once more as students rushed past her to get to their homerooms. It was Wednesday and they had a thirty minute homeroom instead of a ten minute homeroom which she found incredibly stupid since they only had a couple of things to announce and it shouldn't take that long, but for some teachers it was hard for them to follow the principal's directions so it took them longer than necessary.
She walked into her classroom and was surprised to see that the basketball Captain was already in there even though they still had five minutes to get to class. He sat by himself instead of having his friends with him reading a book? There were only a couple of other people in her classroom doing their late homework and she must have caught Troy's attention by accident as he looked up and she offered him a small smile.
She had talked to Gabriella on Sunday like she did every Sunday after church and Gabriella had been telling her that Troy and her barely got to see each other anymore and then she went on about some golf thing Saturday and she knew instantly what Gabriella was talking about since she belonged to the Evens' country club.
"Hello Mr. Bolton." She greeted him as she began to take off her scarf along with her jacket.
"Hey." He greeted back as she furrowed her brow trying to think why Gabriella wouldn't be with him now.
"How are you today?" She made polite conversation as she set her jacket down on the back of her computer chair. She then picked up the remote that went to the TV that was connected to the wall in the back corner of her room. She turned it on knowing it would be on mute and the news station with captions.
He nodded and shrugged, "Could be better if it wasn't for this report that's due first period." His face showed distaste as she nodded all to knowingly how boring reports could be. That's why she became a drama teacher instead of a math teacher, because in drama you could just be yourself, you didn't go by some book.
"Very well, I'll leave you to get to it then." She said as she sat down in her chair and more students filtered into her room as they now only had one minute.
She turned on her computer so she could get ready for attendance as the bell went off and only three fourths of her twenty students were in their seats. She peered over the top of her computer and wondered if her missing students were stuck in traffic due to redirecting of the police.
Ms. Darbus was about to speak as an announcement came on. "Homeroom teachers, please dismiss any tardies as there is a hold up on one of the main roads. Thank you." The principals voice boomed as the loud speaker gave a squeak and turned off as she saw her students looking around curiously and Troy typing something into his cell phone as he tried to use Zeke's body as a shield so she wouldn't see.
"Mr. Bolton." Darbus said in a normal tone as his head snapped up and she could only feel some students eyes on them as others were busy talking about what was causing everyone to be so late. No one knew for sure because the teachers would have been notified, but right now it didn't matter.
"Yes?" He meekly replies as he looks up knowing he was caught trying to text message his girlfriend about where she was.
She watched as he slowly shut his phone ready to give it to her waiting hand. "You know my rule Troy: no cell--" She was cut off as everyone went silent and her classroom phone was ringing. She looked at Troy one last time before walking briskly over to her phone as this was unusual since she was always in the auditorium which didn't have a phone for her to receive calls from.
Troy let out a breath as he quickly pocketed his cell phone as Ms. Darbus was busy with her back turned towards him picking up her classroom phone. Troy tapped his pencil lightly as he tried to make his mind concentrate on what his thoughts were about the common play, Romeo and Juliet but all of a sudden Ms. Darbus' panicked voice echoed throughout the room, making everyone silent.
"That's impossible, she's right…" She trailed off as Ms. Darbus turned back around, scanning the room for someone as everyone was looking around confused and Chad caught Troy's eye as they both shrugged in response as neither one knew what was going on. "Gabriella?" Ms. Darbus called out to them as Troy looked back at her seat knowing she wouldn't be there. But she probably was just caught in traffic since the studio was on that side of town too with the tree.
Ms. Darbus' eyes seemed to connect with Troy's as panic flashed through her eyes and even though Troy didn't care for her as a teacher and her crazy drama program, he was learning to respect her for Gabriella's sack. "Troy, where's Gabriella?" She demanded in a tone that Troy didn't need asking of twice.
"At the studio." He responded immediately as he swore it just got quieter and Ms. Darbus nearly broke in front of everyone.
She turned her back on the class again and faced the phone while putting it to her ear again and Troy did everything he could to strain himself to hear. "Are you sure she was driving?" Ms. Darbus asked as she swiped at her hair to keep from falling in her face and Troy's heart beat faster at just hearing those words. But she was probably just having car trouble or something, right? No big deal, she always has car trouble with her jeep since she won't get rid of it.
There was a pause as Ms. Darbus let out a small gasp. "Oh God." The teacher breathed out. "She's unconscious? What about her mother?" The older teacher demanded as Troy's hands gripped the seat. What was going on? He whipped out his phone just incase he missed a text from her. He was trying to get a hold of her and it wasn't like Gabriella to not text him back.
There was another breath taking pause as Troy slammed his cell phone down not seeing any unread texts. "Her dad's already been called?…Her husband?" She sounded surprised as Troy barely felt the light hit on his shoulder from his best friend.
"Dude, what the hell is Darbus getting a phone call about Gabs for?" Chad hissed as Troy just shrugged him off reminding himself that no one else knew that Ms. Darbus was Gabriella's grandmother.
"A wh--what?" She stammered as there was a pause and he saw Ms. Darbus nodding her head. "I'll be right there. Give me ten minutes." She hung up the phone instantly as she turned around and Troy did a double take at her glossed over eyes that had tears hanging on her eye lashes. "Miss McKessie, you're in charge until the principal gets down here. Just sit quietly and if I hear that you've misbehaved you'll get detentions for the next month. I have to go." Ms. Darbus didn't even grab her coat as she yanked her purse off her desk and turned out of the room.
There was a silence for about five seconds before one of the skaters in their class exclaimed, "A car crash!" Everyone turned to look at him as he was pointing at the TV and sure enough, there was a car crash on their counties news station.
"Turn it up!" Someone called out as Troy turned his head, ready to rush to the remote knowing somehow this just had to do with his girlfriend, but Taylor beat him to it as the mute was taken off the TV and the woman's voice could be heard perfectly.
"I'm standing here where a car accident just happened twenty minutes before this due to a drunk driver witnesses say." Troy looked at the damage behind the lady and he racked his brain to try and remember what Ms. Montez's car looked like, hoping that his knowledge was wrong and it wasn't the car who's trunk was smashed by the small tree.
"Behind me this is the car that swerved off the road and up the curb to try and avoid the on coming car who held the drunk driver behind the wheel. No people were identified yet as the names won't be released for another couple of hours, but from the looks of it the tree did not fall down on the people in side of the car, just the back of the car."
Sirens could be heard in the background as Troy turned his head to look at everyone else only to see half of the kids looking at him along with Jake, Chad, and Taylor.
"Sir, can you please tell us what's happening with this ambulance?" The news reporter asked.
The guy looked at the woman hesitantly. "We needed an extra ambulance as at first we didn't know how many people were in the accident…That's all." The guy warned her as he walked off and Troy's eyes went wide as the camera tried to get a better shot at the person they were loading into the ambulance, but only got a set of curls that looked almost like Gabriella's.
Troy abruptly stood up in his seat as that was all of the news on the accident and they switched stories and it seemed like everyone's eyes were on him.
"Troy--" Taylor started as he shook his head knowing he had to get to the hospital. He felt like his whole world was shattering just hearing the words 'Gabriella' and 'accident' in the same sentence.
"Let's go." Jake said stepping out from the aisle of desks and Troy didn't need to be told twice as the two of them headed out of the room.
Troy's heart was pounding as his car door slammed shut. His stomach churned just seeing the building in front of him. His head snapped to the side to see Jake run out of his own car that was parked a couple of spaces away from Troy's and the two made their way inside.
Instantly he was met with bright lights even though they weren't even in the hospital rooms, the hospital smell that he hopes he never had to smell again, and people who were either working, talking, or waiting anxiously.
Jake and him didn't even have to go up to the receptionist desk as he could make out the back of Ms. Darbus' head and Carlos sitting, talking quietly as they both looked ready to break.
Troy turned his head at the same time as Jake and they both looked at each other, not sure whether to go over there or not just yet as they knew this matter probably had a lot more concern with family first, but Troy was just dying to hear what was happening, after all she was his girlfriend who he loves.
"Jake?! Troy?!" They both ripped their questioning eyes away from each other as they heard Ms. Darbus' shocked voice float through the air and he saw that she had been crying, and he figured that she had gotten the phone call nearly 15 minutes ago, of course that was enough time to just cry as he knew that his eyes were becoming a glaze color.
"Before you yell at us, we have a good reason to be here." Jake spoke slowly as he took a few brave approaching steps forward and Carlos and Ms. Darbus both stood up.
Troy didn't know how Carlos could have gotten there so fast unless the hospital called him first, which probably was the case in Gabriella's since he was probably the first one on her emergency contact information besides her mother and Ms. Darbus was the first one on Anna's contact information.
Jake looked at Troy to continue, but Troy didn't know exactly what words to form. He was just concerned about Gabriella, shouldn't that be enough? "How's Gabi? What's going on?" He asked as he saw Ms. Darbus shut her eyes regretfully, and Carlos looked at him sadly.
"We don't know yet." He admitted. "We don't know anything about both of them except what the police think might have happened during the car crash." Carlos sighed as he sat down again and clenched his fist shut, trying to keep the anger out of his voice as he thought about the drunk driver who hit them.
Ms. Darbus looked at the two boys before she sat down and Troy took a step forward next to Jake again. Things looked bad already, and he didn't know if he could handle knowing everything that could possible of went wrong.
"You boys can sit. I have a feeling we're gonna be here for a while." Carlos' voice was raw as he rubbed his temple with one hand, staring dejectedly down at the ground.
Troy and Jake both took seats next to each other and across from the two adults. "It's not Ella's fault Ellen, you know that right?" Carlos spoke out loud as Ms. Darbus sighed.
"I know." Her voice was low, as she held back tears painfully.
"The police said the driver died on impact." Carlos explained as Jake and Troy both held back a gasp. "It wasn't Gabriella's fault." Carlos confirmed just as a doctor with a surgical mask over his face stepped out from behind the closed door.
All four of them whipped their heads up. "Is anyone here for Gabriella Montez and Anna Montez?" Carlos and Ms. Darbus both stood up. Troy saw the doctor look at them sadly and he didn't know that it was possible, but his heart broke more. That look wasn't a good one, and he suddenly came to realize he was scared. Now that he had time to just think by himself, he came to the conclusion that he was scared. "Please come with me."
The two of them left as Jake and him sat in silence for what felt like forever but was actually only a minute. He swore the clock on the wall was mocking him as he could hear it ticking in the quiet atmosphere of the creepy all too clean hospital.
"This is fucked up." He heard Jake breath out besides him. "She doesn't deserve this. Anna doesn't deserve this, and why the hell is Ms. Darbus here?" He asked as Troy sighed.
It wasn't really his place to tell Jake, but he knew that if he was in Jake's spot he would want someone to tell him why his homeroom teacher was at the hospital for his best friend. "She's Gabi's grandmother." Troy said after a while and Jake did a double take. "Don't ask because it's complicated, and I am still having trouble remembering it." He admitted just has Ms. Darbus came into view and walked over to the boys and picking up her purse.
Troy stood up abruptly to stand just above Ms. Darbus' height. "What's going on Ms. Darbus?" He asked even though he probably sounded rude, but he was scared and everything was telling him that something really bad happened to his Gabriella. "Where are you going?"
Ms. Darbus dabbed at her eyes to clear unshed tears as she tried to straighten herself up in front of the two boys. "Want the bad or the good news first?" She tried to make it light for them, but there was no way to do that in this situation.
Neither one answered as Ms. Darbus picked up her purse again and slung it over her shoulder. "I'm going back to school to get my things I left behind and I have to stop over at their house to pick up some things they're gonna need when they wake up, it looks like we'll be here longer than what we hoped."
Troy held in a gasp as his eyes clouded over with tears that he blinked back. He had to stay strong for them. There was no way that he was going to break down. He knew that when he saw Gabriella, she wouldn't need him bawling his eyes out. She would need him to stay strong, and he was going to do that for her. He loves her, he would do anything for her.
His head hurt as he shut his eyes briefly. He was dying to hear what the doctor just told them. He needed to know that Gabriella would be okay. She didn't deserve to be in a car crash like this. It wasn't fair and he would've done anything to switch places with her.
"That's it?" Jake asked as Ms. Darbus just looked at him. "You're not gonna tell us anything else? How's Gabriella doing? Where is she? She's not in surgery, is she?"
Her head shook slowly from side to side. "Boys, I'm not gonna lie to you. Things compared to what they could have been are okay for Gabriella." Troy winced inwardly. What about her mom? Gabriella was so used to having her mom around, nothing could happen to Anna either or else Troy had a feeling Gabriella would never get over it.
"Gabriella's unconscious for now. She has a concussion and a gash on her forehead, but they cleaned that out and now we're just waiting for her to wake up." Ms. Darbus offered them a small smile as Troy let out a sigh of relief.
"And her mother?" Troy squeaked as the woman in front of him sniffled and he had never seen her so vulnerable.
"She's in surgery. Her um…her uh…left lung collapsed." She admitted as Troy's and Jake's eyes went wide.
"She's gonna be okay though, right?" Jake asked as Ms. Darbus pulled away from them.
"I honestly don't know. I have to go so that when they do wake up they'll have what they want." But Troy somehow knew that the only reason why she was going was because she had seen her fair share of hospitals with her last two husbands, and now her only daughter and granddaughter were here and he couldn't even imagine what that felt like as he had never been put into this position before.
His knees shook a little as he flicked his bangs out of his eyes. He wanted to see her, he needed to see her. Just having a a concussion sounded too easy. As much as he didn't want to admit it, things like this don't happen everyday where you get into this huge accident and then you only come out with a small concussion.
Troy sighed, as he ran his hand through his hair. He couldn't stand still. He had to move. He had to do something. His love of his life was lying in a bed, unconscious as she could probably wake up any time and Troy knew that he would feel a lot better when she did and he could stare into her chocolate brown eyes.
"They're gonna be okay Troy. You heard what she said, Gabriella's just in a concussion." Jake tried to reason as his voice felt distant.
Troy couldn't help but picture the car that they saw on TV. The back part of it was under a tree, what if Gabriella and Anna had luck against them and the tree fell on them literally? What if it wasn't just a concussion? What if God was playing a trick on them and Gabriella wouldn't be okay? Or worse yet, one of them made it but the other person didn't, Troy knew that the mother and daughter were close even though they had different views on dance. But what if...there were too many what ifs.
"How do you know?" Troy rasped out as he felt his throat close up.
Jake shrugged next to Troy. "I don't."
Author's Note--So I know this chapter is incredible slow, but I just had to have this filler chapter to let you guys know what's up with Gabriella and her mom. And this chapter is sort of like a gift as I wrote this chapter sooner than what I thought I was going to and wasn't planning on releasing it until Sunday. So review a lot and I'll try to get the next one up soon. Thanks.