Hey guys, sorry it's taken me a couple of days to get this chapter up I had a bit of writer's block! And then I wrote the chapter massively long so once again – chopped in half. Chemo is explained here and will start in the next chapter. Sorry 'bout that – especially one particular person (you know who you are ; who was looking forward to it hehe.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews – I especially loved the long ones I got that time! I love reading what you guys have to say, your comments and ideas and own experiences.

Also, if I spell things differently sometimes it's because I'm Aussie. I try and remember to put Mom instead of Mum but alot of other words slip under the radar...so use your imaginations ;) hehe.

Anyways here is chapter 12!

Charli xox


Chapter 12

Six days after Gabriella's surgery, Maria was sitting up on her bed next to her while they flipped through celebrity gossip magazines together. Gabriella was improving with each day that passed, and she was managing to get up and around for longer periods of time. That morning, pulling her IV pole along behind her, she had walked 3 laps of the oncology ward, before deciding she couldn't handle the odd number, and walking a fourth. She had then walked to the activities room at the end of the hall, where she sat for a while and made a bracelet out of some crystal beads she discovered in the craft supplies cupboard. She had been too tired to walk back to her room, however, allowing her mother to push her back in a wheelchair.

It was now Thursday – tomorrow would mark a week since her surgery, and it was also the day she was to commence chemotherapy. Troy had been back in school – albeit begrudgingly - since Monday, but had been dropping in to visit her every day – either on his way home from school, or after dinner. Lucille Bolton had been up to see her almost every day too and Jack had kept his promise and come to see her as soon as he arrived home from the conference he had attended.

Despite the dark cloud that was overhanging at the thought of chemo tomorrow, Gabriella was in a surprisingly cheerful mood. Troy had called her before school that morning to see how she was feeling and let her know he was coming by straight from school today with a surprise for her. His mysterious comment had kept her intrigued as she had walked those laps earlier, and she was still no closer to figuring out what it was.

A knock on the door alerted Gabriella to the fact that she wouldn't have to wait much longer to find out. She looked up expectantly as the door opened and she was greeted by the smiling face of her boyfriend.

"Hey!" she exclaimed happily, reaching out her arms towards him, wiggling her fingers.

"What's this I see, Montez? Jazz hands?" Troy questions with mock incredulousness.

Maria laughed, climbing off the bed as Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Just shut up and give me a hug," she said. Troy didn't hesitate to comply. Gabriella sighed into his chest, feeling safe and warm in his arms.

"How have you been today?" Troy asked into her hair, which was pulled back in a messy ponytail.

"Good," Gabriella replied, relaying all the details of her busy day to him.

"I'm so proud of you Gabi!" Troy told her sincerely, kissing her cheek.

A muffled laugh - closely followed by a soft thump and an oofcaused Gabriella's attention to snap towards the door of her room.

"What was that?"

Troy grinned, his eyes sparkling. "Remember that surprise I mentioned earlier today?" Gabriella nodded as Troy got up off the bed and moved to the door, his hand resting on the knob. "What would you say if I told you that your surprise was a bunch of boofheads who couldn't keep quiet if their lives depended on it?" he asked, opening the door to reveal the Wildcats – all grinning like crazy, Chad rubbing his arm where Taylor had thumped him.

Gabriella's jaw dropped as her best friends poured into the small hospital room, cheering and exclaiming 'GABI!!!'

"Oh my gosh, it's so good to see you guys," she managed to say, her eyes filling with tears of happiness, no matter how hard she tried to force them back.

"Surprise!" Troy leaned over and whispered in her ear.

Gabriella beamed. "Oh my gosh!" she repeated.

"It's so good to finally see you, Gabs," Ryan said, hugging her carefully. "We've been so worried about you. Sharpay had to go to the dentist...or something...straight after school, but I'm sure she is upset she couldn't be here too."

"Hey Gabster!" Chad teased – only he could get away with that nickname.

Gabriella laughed. "I've missed you and your hair, Chad."

Chad grinned and ruffled his own hair. "The 'fro missed you too, sister."

The whole gang laughed as they continued their hugs, greetings and exchanges of how much they had missed being together like this. When everyone had had a chance to see Gabriella, the room suddenly fell into silence. Ryan was the only one brave enough to ask the question on everyone's lips.

"We're so, so sorry you have to go through all this, Gabriella," he began. "How...how have you been doing?"

"Much better for seeing all you crazy 'cats again," she smiled, resting her head on Troy's shoulder. "Seriously though...I'm doing ok so far. It's been a big thing to try and get my head around and I don't think it has completely hit me yet but I'm fumbling through. I've been pretty tired and the surgery was hard on me but knowing that you were all thinking of me made it easier."

"You've been on our minds every day," Kelsi told her. "We were so desperate to come and see you for ourselves."

"I'm so glad you are all here," Gabriella smiled, feeling tired but unbelievably content.

"We've got something for you," said Kelsi, lifting a beautifully wrapped gift from her bag. A murmur of excitement rippled through the room as Gabriella accepted the present from Kelsi, pulling off the bow and carefully peeling back the paper.

"Oh my g...oh my...you guys are the best!" Gabriella choked out as she opened the scrapbook, taking in page after elaborate page. "This must have taken so long...oh my gosh, I love it so, so much – thank you!"

Zeke stood up suddenly. "GROUP HUG!" he exclaimed loudly and everyone scrambled to gather around Gabriella's bed, surrounding her in a gentle – but meaningful – display of love and support.

Gabriella sighed contentedly. No matter what hardships were still to come, no matter how scared she may have felt deep down, and no matter how uncertain her future was right there and then, there was no doubt in her mind that she had the best friends in the entire world.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

Troy was lying next to Gabriella later that afternoon, once the rest of the gang had gone home. She had been so ecstatic to see them, but they could tell after half an hour she was starting to get extremely tired, so they had said their goodbyes and left with promises to come back soon.

Troy was helping her to look through the scrapbook and together they were smiling, laughing and crying as they reminisced over all the different memories encapsulated in the heavy album.

"That was such a beautiful thing for them to do, Gabi," Maria said.

"I know," Gabriella agreed. "I'm so lucky to have such good friends."

Troy rubbed his hand up and down her arm as she snuggled sleepily into his side.

"How are you feeling about tomorrow, sweetheart?" Maria asked suddenly. Troy felt Gabriella stiffen a little.

"A little nervous. But I keep reminding myself no matter how yuck it makes me feel, it's the good guys going in to get the bad guys."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Dr Zamitt smiled as he walked into the room. "How are you doing this afternoon?"

"Not bad, just a little tired," Gabriella replied.

Dr Zamitt nodded, perching himself at the end of her bed. "I'm just here to quickly explain the chemotherapy protocol that will be starting tomorrow, and to answer any questions you might have."

Everyone nodded and the doctor continued.

"Well, as I spoke to you briefly about earlier in the week, you will be commencing the 'CHOP' protocol. The letters just stand for the names of the different chemotherapy agents that are given. The drugs are administered in a three week cycle – one week on treatment, two weeks off. The reason there are two off-weeks between each cycle is to give your body a chance to recover from each treatment. Chemotherapy drugs attack fast growing cells. This is good as it means they destroy cancer cells but in the process they also knock out some of the good cells, destroying the body's defence mechanisms in the process. During the course of treatment you will be extremely susceptible to infection and should expect to end up in hospital with fevers caused by these low blood counts," he explained.

"What other side effects should we expect?" Maria asked. "I mean, you hear about the nausea and the tiredness and things like that but what else should we know?"

"Ok, well firstly, you are correct – most patients do experience a great deal of nausea and lethargy during treatment. There are drugs we will give you prior to and during each treatment to try and combat the nausea but everyone reacts differently and unfortunately it is a process of trial and error to find the anti-nausea medication that works the best for you. Other side effects that may appear are mouth ulcers, due to the fact that the lining of the digestive tract is often affected by the medication. Aching legs and joints are another side effect that many patients treated with Vincristine – one of the drugs Gabi will be treated with – complain of."

Gabriella spoke up softly. "And...my hair?" she asked, nervously wrapping a stray curl around her fingers.

"Most patients experience some hair loss whilst on chemotherapy. The combination of drugs that we will be treating you with can all cause hair loss and even though some patients find they don't lose all their hair, I would be lying to you if I told you that it wasn't probable. With the aggressive treatment protocol you will be commencing, you will probably find your hair will start to fall out somewhere between ten days to three weeks after the first treatment."

Gabriella tried hard not to tear up at the news that she had known all along was coming, but had just been confirmed. Gabriella's long dark curls were her trademark, and the thought of them being lost made her feel extremely vulnerable.

"It will be ok, baby," Maria told her. "I know it's upsetting, but it will grow back."

Gabriella nodded, fingering the ends of her curls.

"Now about tomorrow, in the morning we will need to do some pre-chemo testing. The toxicity of the drugs used to treat cancer can cause long term damage to your hearing, and your major organs such as your heart and kidneys. We need to record the function of all these things now so that we can continue to monitor any damage caused by the chemo. First thing in the morning we will take you over to Audiology for a hearing test, then to the clinic for an EKG, and Kidney Function test, and some simple blood labs."

Maria felt like she was suffocating a little as she tried to take in everything the doctor was saying. Surely it was enough that her little girl had this cruel disease and had to go through hell just to survive – now not only could the disease kill her, but the treatments required to save her life could cause permanent damage!

Gabriella, however, seemed to be taking the news in her stride as she turned to Troy and smiled bravely. "Those tests are gonna be a breeze compared to exam week with Ms. Darbus," she joked.

"You're a straight-A student, Gabs – you'll ace them," he winked at her and she giggled before he added in a whisper, "You're so, so brave."

And in that moment, she felt it. But later that night – when Troy had gone home and her mother was fast asleep in the stretcher bed beside her – Gabriella's brave face suddenly cracked and she found herself feeling like a scared, defenceless child about to try and stand up to a monster that she had no idea if she had the strength to fight.

In the darkness of her quiet hospital room, Gabriella clutched the scrapbook filled with memories of happier times and cried.


Poor Gabi :( Line for a hug starts behind me hehehe! Next up, chemo begins and Gabi feels R-O-T-T-E-N. Who will be her favourite nurse? Can you guess...? ;) Please review!!

Charli xox