OKAY so this is a warning i guess. this chapter's pretty intense. other than that, when i originally wrote it it was like twenty pages typed, so i broke it up into three chapters. i know it's a pain in the butt, so i'm sorry. but please review ??

Against All Odds

My Father's Gun (Part One)

Gabriella woke up and noticed it was still dark outside. She looked over at the clock and groaned when she noticed when it was only three o'clock. She lay back down, hoping to get at least a few more hours of sleep. She didn't usually wake up on school days until six or so.

She laid there for several minutes, praying that sleep would come. She knew she was one of those people that needed their sleep, or it wasn't pretty. As she lay there, she could feel her heart pounding and her hands growing clammy. She couldn't figure out why, but she felt incredibly scared.

She lay there trying to figure out why she was scared. The play was well over with, school was almost over with, and she and Troy were doing really, really well. Spring Break was only a week away and she knew that she was more than excited for that. She hadn't had any others awkward moments with Tim since that day he blew up on her, and that was almost a month ago. She had quit tutoring him, and the two almost never saw each other at school. She couldn't figure out what was bothering her.

She looked over at the clock and saw that only fifteen minutes had passed, and she knew that this feeling wasn't going away. She hesitated for a second before picking up her phone and dialing.

"Brie?" She heard a muffled voice answer.

"Troy." Gabriella responded in a weak voice.

"Brie, what's wrong?" Troy said, his voice becoming clear.

"I... don't know, Troy." Gabriella was on the verge of tears. "God, I sound like an idiot. I'm so sorry for waking you up. Go back to sleep."

"Brie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Troy. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm so sorry for calling. I don't know what my deal is. I'm so sorry." Gabriella rambled on.

"It's okay, babe. You want to talk for a little bit?"

"No, it's okay. I'll, just see you at school or something. I love you."

"I love you too. But it's really-" Troy stopped when he heard the phone click. He looked down at the phone for several minutes before getting out of bed and getting dresses. He wasn't sure if it was the sound in Gabriella's voice, or the fact that she never gets vulnerable like that, but he was worried.

He quickly gathered up the things he would need for school, and grabbed a fresh pair of clothes, knowing Ms. Montez wouldn't mind if he showered there later. After seeing he had everything he needed, he scribbled a note for his parents and made his way out to his car and left.

When he arrived at Gabriella's house, it was a little after three-thirty. He took familiar route to her backyard, and climbed up the tree as quietly as he could. When he finally climbed over the railing he looked into Gabriella's room. It was completely dark, but the moonlight was bright enough to illuminate the small huddled body on her bed. She was obviously awake, for she was sitting up and against her backboard with her arms around her knees.

Troy quietly opened the door and saw her head turn towards him. "It's only me."

"Troy?" She asked, her voice still weak and full of tears.

"Brie?" Troy said in a sweet and sympathetic tone as he walked over her bed. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, Troy. I'm so scared." She held back a sob. "I just woke up and felt like something was wrong. You didn't have to come over."

Troy sat down next to her and took her in his arms. "Yeah, I did. You shouldn't ever hesitate to need me Gabriella." He said kissing the side of her head.

"Will you lay with me?"

"Of course I will." Troy lay down on the bed and pulled her next to him. "Everything is going to be okay."

"I hope so. Thank you, Troy."

"For what?" He asked rubbing her arms.

"For being you. I don't know what I'd do otherwise." Gabriella said, her voice finally loosing its weakness and sounding sleepy.

"Get some sleep, pretty girl. I'll be right here when you wake up." Gabriella nodded, allowing sleep to come to her. "I love you Troy,"

"I love you too, Brie." Troy heard the sound of her even breathing and knew she was asleep. He situated himself better on the bed, and pulled her closer to him and fell asleep himself.

Two and a half hours later Gabriella's alarm went off causing both teenagers to wake up. "God, turn it off." Troy said with a gruff voice.

Gabriella giggled and hit the snooze button before turning to face him. "Hi. She whispered, looking up at him through her eyelashes. Troy smiled at her. "Good morning beautiful." Gabriella blushed slightly and smiled. "You're not mad at me?"

"Why on earth would I be mad at you?" Troy said propping himself up with his arm and putting the other arm around her waist.

"For calling and waking you up?"

"I told you. Don't ever be sorry about that. I'm never going to be mad about getting the chance to talk to you or help you out. Especially if it means I get to wake up next to you."

"It's pretty great isn't it?"

"I could definitely get used to it." He said with a smirk and Gabriella laughed at him.

"So what was going on last night? He asked more seriously.

"I don't know. It was so weird Troy. I just felt like something was really, really wrong."

"Hmm. Did you like have a bad dream or something?"

"Not that I know of. It was so strange."

"Well, are you feeling better now?"

"Are you kidding me? I just got the best few hours of sleep I've had in along time. I had this amazing guy next to me last night."

Troy smiled at her, and they both turned their heads at the sound of the door opening.

"Gabriella, it's time to wake- well hello Troy." Isabella said looking at the two teenagers on the bed.

"Morning Bella." Troy said stifling a laugh. He knew she must have been confused.

"You sleep here last night?"

"No, well yes. I came at like three I guess."

"I was scared." Gabriella said quickly.

"Hmm. You must be something special Troy. She used to come to me with that kind of stuff. Not that I'm complaining, I'm the one getting a full eight hours of sleep." She said chuckling before stepping back out of the room. "You two get up and get ready. I'll make some breakfast."

"Sounds good to me." Troy said. He loved Isabella's cooking.

"Thanks mom. We'll be down in a little bit."

Isabella left the room and Gabriella looked back over at Troy.

"Who knew you and my Mom were on a nickname basis now."

"Eh, we're tight like that." Troy said smirking down at her.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. She is right about one thing though."

"And what's that?"

"I am something special."

Gabriella laughed and hit him playfully on the arm. "I'm going to shower, you can get in after me."

She got up and picked up her bath robe before walking into the shower. Troy fell back down and the bed, and closed his eyes as he waited for her to get out of the shower.

Troy and Gabriella walked hand in hand as they made their way into the school that morning. The sun shone brightly down upon them warming their skin and inviting them into a fun and lighthearted day.

"Can you believe we only have a month left until summer break?" She asked as they stood outside of the school.

"Yeah, it's awesome. And don't forget we only have a week until spring break."

"That lodge is going to be so much fun." She said with a wide smile on her face. She heard her phone beep and pulled it out to look at it. "Taylor's already inside. She wants me to meet her in the library to study for exams."

"Sounds good, I'll just meet up with Chad or something." They walked into the building when Gabriella stopped and looked around. Her eyes narrowed and looked behind her before looking back at Troy. She could feel her heart race accelerating again as the same fear that woke her up last night struck her again.

"What's up?" Troy asked with concern.

Gabriella shook her head, shrugging it off. "Nothing. It's nothing. You want to meet up on the roof during free period?"

"Yeah, sounds good to me."

"Alright, cool. I'm probably going to be working with Taylor for our first two periods. The teachers are being pretty lenient since Spring Break is next week, and finals are after that. So if you get a chance, sneak out and come see me." She winked at him.

"I'll try." He laughed. He leaned down and kissed her lips before they both went their separate ways.

Gabriella gave one last look at Troy, not knowing that it could very well be her last.

Troy sat on one of the benches in the science club garden and looked down at his watch. He knew he was still pretty early, but expected Gabriella to show up any minute. His phone buzzed, signaling a text had come in, and he opened it up to read it.

running a few mins late,
but i 'II be there in five.
love you, brie

Troy smiled at the message and put his phone back in his pocket. Seconds later he heard a loud noise coming from down in the hallway and stood up when he heard two more.

He walked down the stairs deciding to check out whatever the heck it was, and was shocked when he opened the door to the hallway. Students were running down the hallway screaming frantically. He looked to his left and saw someone lying on the ground and swore he saw blood on the floor.

"Oh my God." He said quietly. A large afro running by caught his attention.

"CHAD!" He yelled after his friend, who turned around and walked over to him. Troy pulled Chad into the stairwell and shut the door.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked with a shaky voice.

"Dude, someone's got a gun in the school. We have to get out, they're putting it on lock down. We gotta get out man."

Troy nodded at him and they both stepped back out into the hallway and began to run towards the door. Troy caught Chad's attention when he stopped at the door and looked back behind him.

"What are you doing??" Chad half yelled.

"Gabriella's still in the library."

"Troy, you can't go back." Chad said with a stern voice.

"Chad, I can't leave her. What if something happens to her." Troy asked, the fear evident in his voice.

"Troy this is crazy talk. You can't go back."

"Chad, she's with Taylor." Troy reasoned with his best friend. Chad looked away for a moment. Troy clapped his hands together when he saw his friend look back at him and nod his head and the two sprinted back into the school.

okay, so there it is. review and i'll have the next part posted by the end of the week. I PROMISE. wedding's all over, got a new laptop that rocks my socks off, so be expecting updates a lot. also, check out my other HSM stories. i'm working on two other's right now. so go have a look and let me know what you think :)