It's been 2 weeks since Brandon's attack and Gabriella now found herself living in the hospital. Chad, Zeke, and Jason went home the week before, but Troy still didn't wake up. They thankfully assured her that he wasn't in a coma. His cuts healed and his ankle seemed to be making some progress. Still with his recovery in the making, Gabriella still felt at fault.
"Stupid, stupid me," She thought to herself one afternoon. "If only I had been doing my homework instead of taking a shower, I would've stopped this from happening. This is all my fault." She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. Gabriella jumped and spun around, only to meet Chad's comforting eyes.
"Don't worry Gabby," He whispered "He'll wake up."
Gabriella nodded and wrapped Chad in a hug. "I know. This is just happening too fast."
Chad nodded and sat down on the chair, the pain in his leg getting to him. "You're mother told me to tell you to go home. You've spent too much time at the hospital. She wants to see you."
Gabriella shook her head furiously and spat "Not until Troy wakes up! I'm not leaving him! He's one of my best friends!"
"Gabriella, he'll wake up eventually. You know that. You just need to get some rest. Don't you miss home?" Chad asked, his voice full of concern.
"Of course I do, but I want to be here when he finally wakes up. I won't let him to wake up alone. I want to be here." Gabriella replied stubbornly.
Chad sighed. He closed his eyes for a few moments, thinking about her words. He finally lifted his head and said "Okay, how about you go home just for tonight and you come and visit Troy 2 and a half hours a day until he wakes up. Deal?" He held out his hand.
Gabriella looked at the hand for a while before slowly shaking it, accepting "Deal."
----
...2 Days Later...
Gabriella sat in the chair, staring at the healing teenager before her. It's been 2 and a half weeks and Troy didn't even stir. He just lie there, looking lifeless. It all brought tears to Gabriella's eyes. She knew that they weren't that close yet, but she couldn't help but feel connected to him in some way. She felt as though she's known Troy forever.
She flinched when she heard someone mutter "Time to go home Gabby."
"Alright Chad," Gabriella groaned. She stood to face the bushy haired teenager and started walking out when she froze.
"What's going on? Where am I?"
Gabriella turned. Her eyes widened even more when she saw the blue eyes that she's been missing for the past 2 weeks finally opened. She screamed words of joy as she ran over to Troy and hugged him tightly, gripping his hospital gown.
"Gabriella? What are you doing?" Troy asked in confusion, but still wrapping his arms around her.
"You've been asleep for the past 2 weeks Troy! Why shouldn't I be exited?!" Gabriella cried.
"2 weeks?! Are you serious?!" Troy asked, stunned.
"Yeah. I've haven't left this room until Chad forced me! God, this is so great!" Gabriella shrieked, hugging him again, Troy doing the same.
"You haven't left?" Troy whispered. Gabriella shook her head on his shoulder. "I was so worried about you. I thought that you would never wake up."
Troy felt the room heat up at her words. He smiled at the thought of Gabriella actually wasting 2 weeks of her life just to stay with an unconscious him. His smile dropped when he realized something else that he needed to cover.
"How did I get in here? Who did this to me?" he asked, afraid of the answer that he already had a pretty good idea of.
Gabriella hesitated. Looking down at her fingers, she muttered "Brandon."
"Son of a bitch." Troy seethed lowly in between his teeth. Gabriella looked into his raging eyes and immediately looked away. She couldn't take it.
"It wasn't just him. It was Michael, Todd, and Drew. They helped him, but he knocked you out with his foot. Chad, Jason, and Zeke tried to help you, but Brandon's friends got to them first. They tried to help, but they couldn't. Ask Chad all about it. I'm gonna go call the others."
Troy nodded, the angry look still on his face. Gabriella stepped out the door and phoned her friends, hoping that things would now be back to normal.
----
4 weeks later, Troy was finally able to leave the hospital. He had to use crutches like Jason, but he didn't mind. The only thing that he would miss about walking was basketball. Other than that, he was fine.
When he walked into East High, he was bombarded with questions such as:
"Oh my God Troy! Are you okay?! He didn't do anything to your face, did he?"
"Troy! Man, what happened? Did you get hit by a truck or something?!"
"Dude! What are you doing with crutches?!"
"Bolton, don't think that this gives you an excuse to be late to my class! You're locker is right beside this room and if you're late, detention!"
"Crazy old woman..." Troy muttered to himself, struggling a bit with the crutches. Chad helped him by carrying all of his books along with his own (He's walking with that padded shoe thingy that goes up to your knee. You know what I mean...). That's what Troy called a true friend.
Troy stopped by his locker and said to Chad "Thanks man. You can just drop it off here. Sorry for the hassle."
"Don't sweat it," Chad shrugged "It's the least I could do. When do you need me again?"
"Uhh... 4th period. Zeke's in my 1st and 2nd period and Brian's in my 3rd. You're free until then."
"K, see you later." Chad finalized. Troy waved and saw Zeke approaching him. He nodded and pointed to the ground. Zeke smiled. At that moment, Chad came rushing up to him. "What about 8th period? I have a doctor's appointment and none of us are in your class then."
Troy rolled his eyes. "Chad. Man, you're forgetting all the girls in that class. You know, the obsessed and clingy ones?" He gave his friend a knowing look. Chad slowly nodded and recalled "Oh yeah. Well then, on that note, I'll be off to biology. See ya."
Troy waved at his friend, shaking his head slightly. Chad could be so forgetful at times. He walked with Zeke to his homeroom when someone crept up behind him and covered his eyes with their hands.
"Guess who!" the mystery person exclaimed.
"Lemme guess," Troy noted sarcastically "She's about 5'7'', has dark brown hair, and I'm completely annoyed with her for wasting 2 weeks of her life to stay with me in a hospital." He heard the person gasp. Troy turned around and smiled "I'm just playing Gabby. You know I love that you did that."
"Ha ha, very funny." Gabriella rolled her eyes with a smile. "So, you ready to face my brother? You haven't seen him since then and he's in our homeroom."
Troy rolled his eyes. He knew that Brandon would be a problem today. He just didn't know how to deal with it yet.
"I'm ready for him," he lied. "He can't do anything because a: We're in school and the counselor is keeping a sharp eye on the people with crutches. B: I have another form of security. Jason, Zeke, and Brian are gonna stand by me 100 percent like they always have. Of course, I don't expect the same kind of protection that I got before because we're all momentarily crippled, but I'm willing to put my back into it if they are." He looked at Zeke, who nodded.
"Well, add to your security list because I'm not gonna let him lay a hand on you. I'm gonna make sure that he doesn't hurt you again. Matter of fact, I'm gonna hurt him worse than he hurt you easily."
"Gabby, you know that you can't make that promise. And since when do you hurt your brother? He's ten times stronger than you and you two are so close I came close to thinking that it was incest. No offense." Troy ended carefully.
"Non taken," Gabriella smiled "And who ever said anything about hurting him? There's a non violent way that I take care of this type of problem."
At that moment, Brandon came waltzing up to Gabby with a huge smile on his face. Troy and Zeke glared at him while Gabriella just kept talking to Troy, aware of him not paying attention.
"Hey Gabby! What's up? I haven't seen you in the past 2 weeks! Where've you been?" Brandon asked, already knowing the answer.
Gabriella didn't reply. She just kept talking to Troy, who now had a very confused look on his face. "What are you doing?" he mouthed.
Gabriella just kept on with the conversation. Brandon asked again "Hey Gabby? Hello, I'm talking to you. Can you hear me?"
Gabriella was in the middle of a sentence when she caught sight of Sharpay across the hall. "Hey Shar! Wait up! I'll talk to you later Troy." With that, she leaned up and placed a friendly kiss on Troy's cheek, leaving him and everyone else shocked. Brandon watched her speed off down the hallway with a mix of surprise, anger, and sadness within him.
"What the hell did you do to her? And what did I say about staying away from her?!" Brandon seethed, now glaring at Troy, who was just as confused as he was.
"Nothing Montez. She did that on her own. And since when do I listen to you? Now if you don't mind, I need to get to homeroom. Out of my way." Troy replied, annoyed.
"This isn't over Bolton. Next time you won't wake up to a sunny day." Brandon growled, stepping aside to let Troy out of his sight. When he was gone, his hardened face melted into a look of sorrow. Had his sister, his ultimate best friend, just give him the cold shoulder? This wasn't right. Brandon did something wrong and he needed to figure out what it was.
"It's Troy. I know it is. She's pissed off at me because I beat up one of her best friends. When will she realize that I do this to protect her? I can't just let her allow people into her heart, especially people like Bolton. I need to get her to realize that. She needs to know."
After having those thoughts, Brandon sighed and sulked down the hallway, his day over and ruined before it even started.
Okay, so what do you think Gabby's doing to Brandon? You'll find out in next chapter's intro but to get there, you'll have to REVIEW!!! Thnx :)
Rachel :)