Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.
A/N: I did not anticipate this chapter being so long, but what can I say the characters took control of me.
Last Time
That was the thought that broke down the levies in her eyes she had worked so hard to keep strong all the time she'd been here. She gasped for air and immediately the tears poured from her eyes.
She cried because of her painful injuries.
She cried because she was afraid – for both herself and her siblings.
She cried because she didn't know what to do.
She cried because, most importantly, she missed Troy so much so that it was beginning to take its physical, mental and emotional toll on her.
That was another thing Gabriella liked about the girls' bathroom; she could cry without anyone watching.
Chapter Twenty Four – Phone Call
"Ok, so anyone got any new theories today?" Troy asked hopefully as he sat down at the table. The gang shook their heads.
"I've been over every moment of Thursday man, I got nothing," Zeke sighed. Troy looked to the rest of his friends in hopes that one of them remembered something. Unfortunately all of their faces held the same disappointed expression. Putting his elbows on the table, Troy rubbed his forehead with his fingers. He had thought of nothing else but that Thursday for the past two days, what the hell was he missing?
"What if it's something else?" Kelsi suggested. Troy looked up at Kelsi,
"What do you mean?" he asked curiously, hopefully.
"What if the date is irrelevant? What if it's the numbers that are important?"
"So what? 1 and 16?" Taylor clarified. Kelsi nodded,
"What if those numbers are the next clue?"
The gang all seemed to be suddenly deeply in thought. Half the group looked down as the wheels in their head started to turn while the other half's eyes glazed over as the rest of the world disappeared so they could think.
"I need to make a list," Taylor announced interrupting everyone's thoughts. She rummaged in her bag until she found a pen and a piece of paper. "Ok, so we have 1 and 16. If we add them we have 17 and when we subtract them we get 15 or -15. If we multiply we get 16 and when we divide we get either 16 or 1/16. What else?"
"What about the fact that they're both square numbers?" Zeke pointed out. "Add 4 and 1 to the list."
"Or what if you just squish them together?" Chad suggested.
"What do you mean?" Troy asked.
"Like push the two numbers together and make 116," Chad explained.
"Is there anything else anyone can think of?" Taylor asked. The gang shook their heads.
"Ok, so now which number is it?" Sharpay wondered aloud.
"I'm thinking it's the square root thing," Jason said, "Gabriella is amazing at math."
"But she hates it," Troy murmured, "Why would she use math if she hates it?"
"Ok, so she wouldn't use math, that gets rid of everything," Taylor started crossing out numbers, pausing as she went down the short list, "except 116."
"What does 116 have to do with anything?" Zeke questioned. The gang shrugged their shoulders.
"She hates math, but she loves English. What if it has something to do with English?" Kelsi proposed.
"The book!" Troy exclaimed suddenly. "The book! The only other thing left was a book. It was on table with the note. The book, it has to be the book!"
"Well which book was it?" Sharpay demanded.
The excitement drained from Troy's eyes almost instantaneously. He shook his head, looking at the table in shame,
"I don't…I didn't look. I don't know," Troy stammered quietly. He was so angry with himself. How could he have been so stupid as to not have remembered? He remembered looking at the book - it was bluish - he just couldn't remember what the title read.
"Troy it's ok. We can just go to her apartment after school right?" Kelsi reminded him. Troy nodded.
"And besides we need to look at the book anyway. 116 has to be a page number. Something is on page 116, we just need to figure out what."
--
After the longest day of school in Troy's life he stood in front of Gabriella's apartment with the entire gang by his side. Truthfully, he was nervous. What if the book had nothing to do with it? What if they couldn't figure out what was on page 116? What if the door wasn't even unlocked?
Troy held his breath as he reached for the door handle, praying it was still unlocked. He pushed gently down and the door handle smoothly went down. Troy exhaled and pushed the door in, opening it so everyone could step through the threshold.
For a moment Troy hoped that he would see Lucas and Lily playing a board game on the family room floor while Gabriella cooked dinner in the kitchen. He hoped that she'd come rushing into his arms, happy to see him and tell him that all this had just been a misunderstanding.
But nothing like that happened. The apartment was still empty and lifeless. Troy's feet took him to the table with a dying potted flower and the book. He carefully picked up the book and ran his fingers over the title, The Time Traveler's Wife. Troy couldn't help but grip the book tightly, it was probably the last thing Gabriella had touched. Before he knew it the gang was standing around him peering at the book he held.
"The Time Traveler's Wife! Of course!" Taylor exclaimed, "That's one of Gabriella's favorite books. We discussed it just the other day."
Troy opened the book and turned to page 116. He cleared his throat and started to read from the page,
"Christmas Eve, Two. Saturday, December 24, 1988 (Henry is 25). Henry: I call dad and ask…and then I walk down to the staking rink." Troy looked up from the page, "Anyone get anything out of that?" he asked.
"Well, there were four places Henry went on that one page." Kelsi observed. "Korea, Florida, Belmont and Randolph, which one is it?"
"I think we can rule out Florida and Korea because we've already established she's in Connecticut." Zeke stated.
"So that still leaves Randolph and Belmont. We still don't know which one." Troy reminded them.
"Actually we do," Sharpay said. All heads turned to look at Sharpay curiously. She simply held up her blackberry. "According to Google, Randolph, Connecticut doesn't exist, so it has to be Belmont." She looked back down at her blackberry, typing in Belmont, Connecticut. When the screen loaded Sharpay looked completely bewildered.
"What?" Kelsi asked anxiously.
"Belmont, Connecticut doesn't exist either," Sharpay whispered.
While the rest of the gang argued about whether Gabriella was in Korea or Florida and what they should do next, Troy stared down at the page in front of him. Two words stuck out at him, "Christmas Eve". Those two words sent him back to his own Christmas Eve, the one he'd spent with Gabriella.
"Brie, I think it sounds like that Christmas fantastic. I didn't know you lived in North Carolina though."
"Yup, I lived in North Carolina for the first 8 years of my life, and then it was about 4 months after that Christmas that we moved to Connecticut. It's kinda weird though, even after all these years I still think of North Carolina as my hometown." Gabriella explained, while she tipped her mug up so she could drink more of her hot chocolate.
Troy's eyes went wide. North Carolina was Gabriella's home. "Home" wasn't Connecticut "home" was North Carolina. How could he not have seen it sooner?
"…Why the hell would they go to Korea?" Sharpay exclaimed. Troy furrowed his eyebrows, he had obviously come into this conversation at the wrong time.
"North Carolina," Troy said simply.
"What?" Sharpay asked in disbelief. "Where did that even come from?"
"On Christmas Eve," Troy motioned to the top of page 116, "Gabriella was telling me that she used to live in North Carolina. Then she went on to say that North Carolina was home to her. They're not in Connecticut they're in North Carolina," Troy explained confidently.
The gang grew quiet as they waited for Sharpay to type in the town names attached to the new state to see if such a place actually existed. After a few minutes she looked up at her friends,
"Both Randolph and Belmont exist in North Carolina. Oh wait, no Randolph is a county," She looked up from her screen with hopeful eyes, "So it has to be Belmont right?"
The gang let out a sigh of relief. For the first time they felt as if they were actually getting somewhere. That they were actually getting closer to figuring out where Gabriella was.
"Ok! Ok, so now look up Montez in Belmont, North Carolina at ," Taylor instructed excitedly.
Sharpay's eyes were locked onto her blackberry screen as she typed in the search at .
"Ok," she said slowly, "So, there are 4 Montez household's in Belmont, Angela Montez, David Montez, Martin Montez and Tomas Montez."
Kelsi had already taken out a piece of paper and a pen, "Ok, read me the telephone number and address of each one."
"Why?" Zeke asked.
"We need to get calling," Kelsi answered simply, "What were you planning on doing?"
15 minutes later after 3 unsuccessful phone calls there was only one number left. Thomas Montez's number. Taylor used *67 to make her caller ID unknown and called each of the number's pretending to be a girl from Gabriella's English class who needed help with an English project.
Now that there was only one number left, Taylor took a deep breath and dialed the last number. Before she pressed the talk button she looked up at her friends. They were all sitting around her. Troy was directly to her right and Kelsi to her left. Troy's eyes were anxious and terrified, but so were everyone's.
"Here goes," she whispered pressing talk and holding the phone to her ear.
Ring…
Ring…
"Hello" a gruff male voice answered.
"Hi, my name is Jessica I'm in Gabriella's English class. I was wondering if I could speak to her," Taylor asked politely. The gang held their breath as they waited for Tomas' response.
"I'll get her for you," he said.
Taylor had to hold back her gasp. This was the right house! They were going to get to talk to Gabriella!
"Ok, thank you." Everyone's eyes widened when Taylor didn't hang up the phone after apologizing for calling the wrong number.
Taylor could hear Tomas yelling for Gabriella, then she heard muffled, slightly angry, voices, shuffling, a door open and close, and finally a very confused familiar voice pick up the phone,
"Hello?"
Taylor couldn't contain her excitement any longer, "Gabriella!" she cried.
"Taylor?" Gabriella whispered disbelievingly.
"Yes! Oh my god Gabriella! I can't believe we finally got to you!" Taylor exclaimed. Troy turned to Taylor, his eyes wide and concerned, but mostly overcome with joy.
"Put her on speaker!" Sharpay suggested excitedly. The gang agreed vehemently.
"Gabi I'm going to put you on speaker ok? Everyone's here." Taylor explained before she pushed the speakerphone button.
"Hi guys," Gabriella breathed.
Troy caught his breath. His Gabriella was on the phone, talking to them. He was so overcome with joy, he couldn't form words.
It seemed though that everyone else was having the same problem. Everyone was so happy to hear Gabriella's voice that no one knew what to say next.
"Guys…?" she whispered unsure as to whether her friends were still there.
"We're here Gabi," Kelsi assured her, "We're all just a little overwhelmed to hear your voice," she confessed.
"Oh Kelsi, I can't tell you how happy I am that you called. I was so afraid that you wouldn't figure it out, that I'd made it too hard," Gabriella exasperated.
"No, no we got it in the end, don't worry," Taylor promised Gabriella.
"We just had to put all our noggins together," Jason added.
Gabriella laughed lightly. "I miss you guys," she whispered.
"Oh we miss you too!" Sharpay exclaimed. A quiet fell over the group of friends, everyone knew what he/she wanted to say, but each was too afraid to ask it, well, except Chad,
"Gabs what happened that night?" he asked, his voice slightly softer than usual.
Gabriella took a deep breath, "There was a knock at the door and I assumed it was Troy just coming back because I had just made him leave like 10 minutes before. I was going to tell him to go back to the party," she smiled slightly to herself before her mood turned dark again, "But it wasn't Troy at the door when I opened it. It was my dad. It tried to push the door shut, I really did, but I just wasn't strong enough. Then," Gabriella paused to collect herself and figure out how to explain what happened next, "then he yelled and I backed up. He threatened and I packed. I woke up Lucas and Lily and we left. I did everything I could think of. I was just so afraid."
As Troy listened to Gabriella's story, his head fell to his hands. He hated the picture that had formed in his head. He hated himself for letting it happen. When Gabriella's story finished Troy heard her sniffle as if she was fighting back tears. His head shot up and he looked over at the phone.
"Oh sweetie it's ok, it's going to be ok. Don't cry." Sharpay soothed.
"You did everything you could Gabi," Kelsi reminded her softly.
"Yeah, I don't know how you figured out how to leave us all those clues. That was pretty amazing if you ask me," Chad pointed out, trying to lighten the mood.
Gabriella chuckled lightly, though it was obvious she was still tearful, "It's just hard. I miss you guys," she admitted again.
"Oh Gabi we miss you too," Taylor reassured her.
"Gabriella," Zeke began softly, "Maybe you should call somebody," he suggested.
A sob escaped from Gabriella's lips, "I…I can't. My dad keeps the only phone near him at all times. I…I never have access to it. Besides, what if…what if they take Lucas and Lily away from me? I can let that happen."
Troy wasn't sure why he hadn't said anything. He wanted to say something, but he just couldn't. He was afraid she didn't want to hear his voice. He was terrified she hated him. His heart couldn't deal with that if it was true. So, he remained silent.
He couldn't stand hearing her cry though. He hated that he could hear the sharp pain in her voice, that there was nothing he could do to ease it. Thankfully Kelsi managed to find the right words,
"Shhh," she soothed, "We'll do research and figure out something else out."
"I…I don't know what else there is to do," Gabriella cried softly.
"We'll find something Gabi. We will," Sharpay promised.
"Is there any way we can talk to you more often? Do you have a computer?" Taylor asked.
"I have no internet at home. He took that away," she sniffled.
"What about at school? Does your school have computers?" Zeke questioned.
"I think so," Gabriella murmured.
"Make a random e-mail account and e-mail one of us as often as you can," Zeke explained. "We need to hear from you Gabi."
"I should have thought of that earlier. I can't believe I didn't, that would have made it so much easier for you guys," Gabriella rambled, slightly angry with herself.
"It's alright Gabi, don't worry. You're doing everything you can," Sharpay assured her.
"I'm trying," she whispered.
Another silence fell over the gang. Kelsi looked over at Troy curiously. His head had fallen back into his hands. She was confused as to why he hadn't said anything to Gabriella. Kelsi knew he wanted to talk to her - you just had to look at his face to figure that out, but she just didn't know why he wasn't talking to her. She was a little bit worried.
Gabriella broke the silence, changing the subject,
"How are you guys?" Gabriella's voice seemed forced, as if she was trying to sound optimistic.
"Other than you not being here, I'd say we're all doing pretty ok," Sharpay spoke for the group, "The drama club is holding auditions for this year's musical this week."
"And we're preparing for the scholastic decathlon this Saturday," Taylor told her.
"Oh good luck, I know you'll do really well. How's the school taking the big win?" she asked.
"We're all pretty excited about it, there are banners everywhere!" Jason exclaimed.
"Darbus was kind of confused though, she called it front to front championships. Fail" Chad explained.
Gabriella laughed softly before she paused, as if she was trying to decide something.
"Gabi?" Kelsi asked trying to see if she could get Gabriella to say what she was unsure about saying.
"Where's Troy?" she mumbled.
Troy's head snapped up immediately, his eyes wide. Everyone looked over at him, waiting to see what he would say. However he said nothing, mostly because he didn't know what to say. If Gabriella was asking for him, did that mean that she wasn't angry with him? That she wasn't disappointed in him? He wasn't sure.
Kelsi finally saw that as much as Troy wanted to speak to Gabriella, he was afraid to do so. She grabbed the phone off the table and quickly turned off speaker phone,
"He's here Gabi. We'll let you talk to him privately."
Kelsi handed Troy the phone, which he took unsurely.
His body somehow stood him up and his feet walked him to Gabriella's bedroom, all the while his brain trying to figure out what the hell he was going so say. Slowly he put the phone up to his ear; he could hear Gabriella's nervous breathing. Maybe she was just as nervous as he was.
"Brie?" he whispered.
"Troy" Gabriella breathed, "Oh Troy, I miss you."
"I miss you too so, so much," Troy murmured, closing his eyes. "I'm so sorry I let you down."
"You didn't let me down. What are you talking about?"
"I let him get you. I broke my promise," Troy reminded her. "If I had only stayed a little bit longer."
"No, no Troy. This isn't your fault. Please don't ever think that, it breaks my heart to hear you say that" Gabriella told him.
"But Gabriella-" Troy began.
"No, you didn't call up my father and ask him to come get me. You've only helped me Troy. It's just made my day to hear your voice. So, no being mad at yourself. Ok?"
Troy sighed, "You're too good to me. I love you." Troy wasn't sure if he was able to completely let himself off the hook for breaking his promise, but he would try, if that was what Gabriella wanted.
He also couldn't quite forgive himself for that brief period of time he had hated her, but he took comfort in the fact that she wasn't angry with him or disappointed in him. He supposed that he would just have to try to forget about those dark few days because he was certain that he'd been foolish for those days. He knew he loved her more than anything because living without her was destroying him inside.
"I love you too Troy," Gabriella said tenderly.
Troy smiled, he had missed hearing Gabriella confess her love to him.
"How are Luc and Lily doing?" he asked. There was one question, which he was pretty sure he already knew the answer to even though he secretly hoped he was wrong, that was tugging at his heart. He figured this might be the best way to address the subject.
"Um…they've been pretty miserable," Gabriella admitted shamefully, "They're taking this hard, but I don't know if I can blame them. I can see they're afraid and hurt."
"They'll be ok, they're two tough kids. Tell them I miss them."
"I will. They'll be thrilled to know you guys called."
"And what about you Brie? How are you doing?" Troy asked softly. Troy could sense Gabriella's hesitance, "You can tell me, you know I'll be able to tell if you're lying."
Gabriella took a deep breath, "I'm just overwhelmed. I'm angry that he found us, I'm scared about what will happen, I'm exhausted from everything and I'm miserable without you," her voice cracked," But right now I feel a weird sense of peace talking with you, like everything is going to be ok."
"It will be," Troy assured her, "I'm going to make sure of that."
"I know you will."
"Brie," Troy's voice was even more was serious now, "Is he hurting you?"
There, he'd said it. He asked her. He clutched the phone as he waited for her response.
"Yes," she managed to choke out. "But it's ok. I'm ok," She tried to assured him tearfully.
Troy's grip on the phone tightened, that was the response he had been expecting but not the response he needed to hear. He couldn't bear to know her sick father was beating his children.
"It's not ok Gabriella. I'm going to make it stop. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make you safe again," Troy promised fiercely, his grip on the phone iron tight.
A comfortable silence fell over the pair as they basked in the sound of their lover's breathing. Troy closed his eyes, trying desperately to pretend Gabriella was sitting safely next to him. However his dreams were quickly interrupted when he heard her father yell for Gabriella. He heard Gabriella gasp quietly and his eyes shot open.
"I have to go Troy," Gabriella said painfully.
"E-mail me and you ever can call me, it doesn't matter what time it is. We'll figure something Brie. I know we will."
"I will. I love you," Gabriella whispered.
"I love you too," Troy murmured.
"Goodbye," she said quietly.
The dial tone rang in Troy's ear as he kept the phone clutched in his hand. He closed his eyes and shook the phone indecisively before he finally pressed the end button. He hadn't wanted the phone call to end. He craved Gabriella's voice again. He fell backwards onto the bed, his legs hanging off the edge as he stared up at the ceiling.
--
Gabriella hated pressing the end button. She could have talked to her friends forever, that half an hour she'd spent on the phone had taken her to another place. Only now was she pulled back down to earth – or rather hell.
"GABRIELLA! Are you off the goddamn phone yet?" he father yelled. Quickly wiping her tears, Gabriella inhaled and rushed out into the living room, where her father was lounging on the couch, drinking a beer and watching a football game. She gingerly held out the phone and he quickly snatched it from her.
"Finally! What the hell were you talking about?" He demanded.
"Just our English project. We didn't get a chance to finish it in school, it's due tomorrow," Gabriella answered softly.
"Well next time finish the project in school like everyone else! Is dinner ready yet? I'm starving."
She shook her head, "No it'll be about half an hour longer."
Her father's face reddened immediately with anger, "Oh for God's sake! All I do I give and you can't even get a fucking dinner ready for your father!" He threw his hands in the air as he stood up, towering over a terrified Gabriella. She could smell the thick scent of alcohol in his breath.
"I'm sorry," Gabriella mumbled.
His hand collided with the side of her face, "Sorry doesn't cut it. Go finish the dinner." He growled.
Gabriella nodded quickly, turning around to scurry back into the kitchen, her hand comforting her stinging cheek the entire time.
She went straight for the vegetables she'd been cutting prior to the phone call. Her mind managed to drift away from the steady chopping motion and back to the conversation.
She was so thankful that they'd figured it out and called her. Hearing their voices was like music to her ears and hearing Troy's voice, oh it was her version of heaven at the moment. She could tell he'd been worried and she hoped that he wasn't so worried that it was going to start interfering with his life.
Gabriella sighed as she wiped the excess carrot off her knife. She pushed the carrots to the side and grabbed a bag of green beans to start preparing them.
She wasn't quite sure what her friends thought they were going to do, but she hoped that they would figure something out because she felt like she was all out of options. She knew she couldn't call the police because she also knew that right after that she and siblings would be separated and she was certain that she couldn't let that happen. Ever.
She had faith though her friends would figure out something while maybe she'd try to work something out herself. She felt relieved that she knew she had a way to communicate with her friends, but she was also terrified because she knew that if somehow her father found out she was dead.
The phone call had been helpful in boosting her spirit. For a while she'd truthfully forgotten she was in North Carolina, while her friends were back in New Mexico. Now that they were gone she felt alone. Hearing their voices had brought back a myriad of memories from her time in New Mexico. She'd remembered what cooking was like when laughter filled the air and as she continued to cook, she tried to remember that feeling. The feeling of happiness.
A/N: Ok, so there you have it. I hate the ending, but I really wanted to get this up tonight. I hope you still managed to enjoy chapter! Thank you for reading! Please review with your thoughts.
Oh, obviously, I don't know The Time Traveler's Wife, but if you haven't read it I recommend it!