Chapter 5- Breathless

I sat in the car tapping my fingers against the door, my head lying back against the seat. My body felt weak and I did not know what was wrong. I did not know what to think, they said they would have test results in tomorrow, not twenty minutes, I felt totally and completely breathless anymore. I felt my heart thudding in my chest and I felt my eyes starting to close.

I felt tears poking my eyes and the frustration burn through my body; I held my phone tightly in my hand. I wanted to call Troy and talk to him for hours, forget about the world and never look back. I wanted to let him kiss me, which would leave me breathless, I wanted him to hold me and care for me. I rolled my head over and I sighed quietly. For once in a long time my parents had not said a word to each other, I felt the pain in my stomach grow. The worry in my stomach dropped down like a rock, I did not know what to do anymore. I just wanted everything to go back to normal, like last week when I went to see my half brother pitch at his college baseball game.

I watched as my dad's eyes glanced in the rearview mirror to look at me, "You doing okay honey?" I only nodded my head slowly, I was out of energy and more, I was ready to sleep for days uninterrupted by trips to the bathroom and getting more the drink. I licked my lips, why cannot everything just go back to normal…where my parents didn't fight and when Troy didn't shut me out. He was getting better, he was there for me but I wanted those breathless moments like when he surprised me on my birthday decorating my whole locker, putting a little cake inside, and the perfect present. A picture frame of when we went hiking on a school trip, on top of the mountain, my hair blown back and Troy's baseball hat put on backwards. He snapped the picture with our faces together and over looking the view. Words were written on the sides with puff paint, cute, adorable, sexy, beautiful, amazing, funny, hot, and the one that made me laugh was great kisser. I smiled thinking of the picture sitting in my locker.

My dad pulled the car into the parking lot, I unbuckled my seatbelt and I opened my door. My dad shut his door, which vibrated the car, I stood up shakily and then I grabbed his hand to get down. He gripped my hand tightly and he looked at me concerned. "You will be okay Gabi, you will be okay." He said kissing my forehead. I tried to force another smile on my face but he knew it hurt. He wrapped his arm around my waist.

We all rushed inside as fast as we could but I was slowing them down, I shuffled my feet along the path and tried to concentrate, one foot in front of another was in my mind. It was like that joke with the blonde, if she didn't have her earphones in that said breath in breath out, she wouldn't breath. It was somewhat crazy but its what I needed, my body hurt and I was tired of this. Once we walked in the doors the nurse showed us right back to where we were before. They rushed us back there to the point I thought I was dying tonight.

I slipped my shoes off and I got onto the table.

I laid down on the table again and within a minute the doctor came into the room, "Gabi, Mr. and Mrs. Montez, we are finishing up some test results right now about what we are thinking but we are 110% positive that we know what we are facing here and it isn't looking good by how Gabi is doing. Like within a few hours if we don't get this under control it could be…" she only glanced over at me and I felt tears burn my eyes. You could hear her swallow and she looked into my eyes. "Deadly, but we are thinking that if we know what it is we have it caught just in time." She added

"What do you think it is?" my mother asked, the doctor shifted her weight, "I'd rather get test results back before I explain more but this could mean a week or two in the hospital, maybe less if it is what we are thinking. We are hoping that it won't be as bad as we are thinking."

The tears were still pooling in my eyes and I did not want to let them loose, I did not want to hurt my parents. I sat up slowly and my dad watched me nervously. My mom got up to come and sit next to me, "its cancer isn't it…" I said looking up at her, my tears started to escape down my cheeks. "Because nobody would have rushed me back like this if it wasn't cancer and you say it's deadly." I cried harder and my mom brought me into a hug. The doctor gave me a long hopeful glance, "That is not what we are testing you for," she finally said to me, I heard the sigh of relieves from around the room but I still cried.

"But it can be as deadly as anything else," she stated, that did not help my stomach, "But totally manageable." She said, "If we have what we think we are handling you will go through classes and everything." I closed my eyes tighter, "I wanna go home, I want Troy!" I cried into my moms shoulder. "Oh honey," my dad came and sat right next to me. "Baby girl," he whispered into my ears, "We will be home soon enough," I tried to picture Troy in my head, "I need Troy," I sobbed, my parents rubbed my back and I opened my eyes.

I felt my stomach churning with each passing minute that went by, I felt my mom's shoulder on mine. My dad was nervously tapping his foot up and down, that was his nervous habit and it was not helping me. My tears stopped flowing down my cheeks and I felt my world slowing down to the point every breath I took it felt like it was tough. The room air was thick and I just wanted to know so I could move on, I did not want suspense anymore. I did not want to be sitting here anymore; I wanted to be in Troys arms.

The clock ticked back and forth, for what seemed for like forever, Dr. Layla stood there just shifting her weight back and forth. She was looking at my file too and analyzing everything. Making sure everything last thing was right.

Another two minutes went by before the door to the room opened up, a nurse in blue scrubs walked in and she handed Dr. Layla a folder. She quickly opened it up and it was in her hand before the nurse shut the door with a click, the sound of the folder ripping caught my breath in my throat, this was it. Every this thing was, my life was going to be different in any minute and I wont be able to change that. This was something very different from the flu, it was more aggressive and I knew that it was not good. I knew it was killing me as we sat here. I knew whatever it was; it was going to change my life…forever.

I saw the doctor sigh before she looked up at all of us, I could even see the tears in her eyes, and I could see the hurt in her face like this was not what she wanted. I could feel my own tears starting to come into my eyes. It was cancer, it was cancer and they lied to me.

"I am so sorry…" she started, and that is all I had to do to break down in tears. My mom started to cry and we did not even know what we were faced up against but those words hurt, those words never meant anything good. I shut my eyes tightly not wanting to let the pictures in around me; I wanted to forget it all. I wanted it all to go away and I wanted to be somewhere for spring break, not in a doctors office. I wanted to be with Troy, watching basketball for once without complaining.

Dr. Layla gave us a moment before we looked up at her, "Gabi is a Type One Diabetic." She said, my mom gasped slightly and I only felt the tears come faster. My dad shifted and came over to sit with us; he brought me into a hug while I cried into his shoulder. I did not know exactly what is or what I was going to have to face but it just did not sound good. I knew that this meant some sort of hospital stay. I knew it was not good, I knew nothing good was going to come out of it.

"We can't dwell on this anymore here, she needs to go straight to the hospital, she can't go home, she can't go anywhere besides the hospital. They will be expecting you down at the Children's hospital okay?" she said, my parents only nodded there heads. I was too numb, breathless to even think about what was going to happen. I felt Dr. Layla give me a hug but I could not feel it. I could not feel myself breath, I felt…breathless.

I felt like I was walking in a fog after that, my parents got me out to the car. My dad buckled my seat belt and kissed my forehead. I sat in the backseat and the tears would drip down my cheeks, they landed on my hand, which was still clutching my cell phone, I knew I should call Troy and tell him everything but I couldn't bear myself to even say the three words that I needed to. I just wanted him to touch me and pushed back strands of hair. I didn't want to say it because then it would feel too real for me, I didn't want this so why should I have to deal with it? Why should I have to do something I do not want to do?

I kept hearing the words over and over again, those three painful words that crushed me 'Gabi is a Type One Diabetic' repeatedly and over was all I heard in my head, I knew the pain in my stomach was increasing slowly. I knew that I wanted it to stop; I wanted to scream telling it to stop. I wanted to scream telling everything just to stop!

I felt my mom's hand rest on my knee, "Oh honey," she whispered, she then looked at my lips, a soft smile was brought up to her face. "You look so cute; you are so dehydrated that your lips are like green, blue, and purple from all of your popsicles." She said I gave her a weak smile. I knew she was trying to hold her tears back herself, I knew my dad was trying hard not to cry. I was done trying and I just cried. I cried and cried.

The hospital was about a twenty minute drive, I cried the whole way there when the tears started to dry up on my cheeks. My dad pulled up to a parking spot in the ER and they rushed me inside. I did not want to move, I just wanted to stop and be done. I felt like giving up already.

They took me back quickly; they did height, weight, and all that other stuff. I was then placed in an ER room, last time I was in the ER was when I fell and broke my arm. I was young and I cried but now I am sick, I am sick with some crazy thing and I did not know what it was! I took a deep breath and tried not to cry but it felt impossible.

I lay down on a bed and I felt ready to drift off to sleep, the room was not very big. My parents both stood by my side and my dad was sitting down holding my hand. My mom was behide him holding his shoulder. Tears were evident on her cheeks, I tried to smile for them but my own tears came down. I felt like every breath I took it knocked me away, I felt totally and completely breathless. I did not know how to deal with this; I just wanted to feel normal.

My dad looked at me and he kissed my forehead, "I'll be right back sweetheart. I have something to do really fast," he kissed my forehead and escaped the room.

Troy's POV

"He shoots! He scores!" Dakota yelled as Chad made a basket in the hotel parking lot. I laughed at the two celebrating, one of the two craziest on the team, for sure. "Dakota! You are firkin crazy!" Tommy yelled, we all laughed.

I lay back with Zeke, Garret as we drank and couples of sodas, my dad and a few other parents were standing off to the side drinking beers, and we were all playing basketball or hanging out, talking having a fun time as a team. We sat outside our hotel in a little private area.

"So you heard from Gabi today?" Garret asked me, I shook my head, "Nope not yet, but I think we will be okay. March Madness is just getting to her right now; once it all blows over, I think it will all be back to normal. It's different for her to see me like this, this is our first year together in March Madness, first anniversary is in two weeks" I said taking a sip at my Dr. Pepper, we had met right after the finals of March Madness, great timing because we would have never lasted.

"How sick is she?" Zeke asked me, I shrugged, "They think she has Mono but they were supposed to get the test results back today. She has been sleeping a lot lately, so I havent been bugging her and since she has been sleeping she has not texted me or called me today. It makes me a little nervous but I will be okay."

They both nodded there head, I watched as the team played together some more. Zeke and I both joined the game; I went up for a layup when I felt my phone start to vibrate in my pocket.

I missed the shot and I landed on my feet, I huffed as I tried to figure out how I missed the shot but my phone kept going off. I picked it up to see David Montez trying to call me, he only called me a few times but I knew something was not right with this call. I felt it in my stomach that something was seriously wrong. My blood drained from my face, "Guys I will be right back," I said holding up a finger, I quickly backed away and then I answered the call. I knew from the moment I heard his breath over the line something was not right, that boyfriend feeling or something I do not know but it was not right.

"Hello?" I asked I heard static and then some noises here and there.

"Troy?" David said, he was moving away from all the noise but the static was still there, bad connection I guess, mountains. I took a few steps closer to the hotel.

"Yeah? Is Gabs okay?" I asked him, I heard him doing something that I could not quiet make out but I got a sick feel in my gut that something was not right. "Mr. Montez?" I asked into the phone, I could helpless growing in my body my breathing growing rapid and scared.

"Troy- Gabi is in the hospital." He said, I panicked, "What happened? Is she okay?" I asked, tears growing in my eyes knowing something was not right, "I-Is she really sick?" I asked him, tears dripping off my face. I pulled my hand up to wipe them away but they kept coming.

"S-she will probably be fine, they found in just the right amount of time Troy but she scared, she is so scared. She keeps repeating your name and wanting you." He said, why is he keeping my in agony! I felt my breath leave but it was not coming back, I felt breathless "What is wrong with her?" I said starting to break down, "Everything was okay when I left! What happened?" I practically yelled into the phone, my voice cracking into pieces, tears falling down my face faster and faster.

"Troy, she has Type 1 Diabetes." He said I felt my world stop turning for a moment, my mind went blank and the hollowness I felt throughout my body. Tears came rushing down my cheeks, I bit my lip as I tried to hold back a soft sob, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of my body cause I was breathless, I didn't know what to do and I didn't know how to respond to something like that, it was not something I heard everyday. It was something I did not know how to handle.

"I-is she okay?" I said my voice shaking with fear; it was the first thing my mind could form in a sentence. I could barely form a breath let alone a sentence.

"Right now, I am not so sure." He said, "She is in the ER right now, I just wanted to let you know." He told me, his voice was shaky and on edge, tired.

I sighed heavily, "Don't tell her but I will be there tonight" I said, Mr. Montez agreed and I turned around and went racing back to my parents. My footsteps felt heavy, I felt guilty. I knew I knew I should not have left. I should have never left her alone like that. My heart pounded in my chest and my lungs could not perform.

I went spinning around a corner to see my parents standing there talking to friends, I saw the basketball team glance my way before passing on back to there game. I wiped at my cheek and my parents looked up at me to see there eyes looking at me but they carried on there conversations. I felt like I was running so slow…

"Mom, Dad!" I called as I tried to skid to a stop, the tears did not stop but I saw my dad turn around my mom stop talking as they both caught my eye.

"What is it honey?" My mom asked as she set down her beer, "I-its Gabi," I said trying to pull away from her but she would not let go. "W-We have to go home like right now." I said to them, my dad glanced over me, "Whats wrong?" he asked me, his voice soft yet stern. "We have tickets for later,"

I wiped back several tears, "Type one diabetes," I said, his face softened and he nodded his head, "Come on lets go pack. We need to get back into town," He said, I did not have to be told twice, I rushed in the doors of the hotel and the only thing I could think about was Gabi. I could not wait on the impossibly slow elevator; the elevator was so damn slow. I had to get to her fast, I wanted to magically be there, to hold her, kiss her, comfort her and to tell her everything will be okay.

I pushed the door open to the stairs and I raced up them two steps at a time, I came to our level and I threw the door open. I fumbled for the car in my pocket but it would not come out. I groaned in frustration knowing I should not have, knowing Gabriella was not okay! I pounded my hand against the door and let my head fall for a moment before trying again.

I finally pulled the key out of my pocket and I accidently dropped it on the floor, I groaned in frustration. I bent over to pick it up and I slide it in the door, it denied the card. I felt more tears pooling my eyes; I knew I should not have come; I kick myself thinking about how I should have stayed home with her! I knew I was being a bad boyfriend, I knew I was being a jackass.

I got the key to work and I pushed the door open, my parents came in behide me. I picked up my bag and I started tossing things in the bag without a care in the world, I did not care if I forgot something. I did not care if I forgot everything; I just wanted to be home.

I grabbed all my stuff from the shower and tossed that into the bag. I looked around to see I needed nothing else; my parents were packing the same way as I was, fast and furious.

"I called the airport and a flight going to home is leaving in an hour, we have to go." My dad said, I slipped the bag over my shoulder and looked at him. I leaned over and grabbed my backpack, "I am ready to go," I told them

"Thank you," I told him as we started to leave, "Troy why thank me?"

"Because you are giving up your March Madness tickets to go home," I said, he smiled at me, "That just means you can go to school on Wednesday." He said winking at me, I felt my mouth drop a bit and he waved it off. "I am kidding, now let's go."

Here is the wonderful chapter! :D Now you all know what it is…Yes I do have type one diabetes…no my parents werent going through a divorice and I didn't have a Troy. Lol So anyways the whole diabetes part is a true story. They did think they I had mono, I did lose a lot of weight, I was weak and tired. It was the worst feeling in the world and I had no clue what it was either. I hope you are all enjoying this story because it is one of my favorites since it is so close to me. I do have a half brother though…that was true. ;) lol

Thanks for all the reviews and sorrryyy for the long wait!

PLEASE REVIEW!

Much Love,

Jo