But then you went and changed the words, now my heart is empty...
Gabriella leaned forward in her lifeguard's chair, sighing. Things had been pretty boring lately; no one had needed rescuing since Sharpay had tumbled into the pool. No one talked to her unless they were flirting with her or being obnoxious. It really was a good thing that no one was drowning, but she didn't like how much uninterrupted time she had to just sit there and think.
The subject that most often occupied her thoughts was Troy, but that wasn't as good of a thing as it used to be. She wasn't sure if he had changed during the summer, or if she was just getting a better picture of who he had been all along. Either way, he had forgotten her, abandoned his friends, and broken his promises one too many times.
The number one thing on Troy Bolton's mind this summer was Troy Bolton, and Gabriella was a smart girl; she cared about him, but she didn't have to take him constantly breaking her heart.
She had taken this job because of him, and now she was one strike away from losing it… because of him.
Sitting atop her chair, high above the pool and its occupants, she couldn't feel lower as she realized something that broke her heart a little more: she was being dragged through life instead of marching through it.
Gabriella quickly wiped a tear from her cheek, knowing what she had to do.
Suddenly, something bright yellow caught the corner of her eye.
It all happened in a matter of seconds: Gabriella looked up and saw a tall blond running way too fast out of the main building while looking over his shoulder…
"Watch out!" Gabriella screamed, but he didn't hear her in time.
He sprinted straight into the pool, only realizing what was happening and yelling in surprise a moment before he went underwater.
Adrenaline shot through every inch of Gabriella's body as she dove into the pool and kicked her legs powerfully to reach the boy, hoping he hadn't swallowed too much water. She got her hands on him and their heads surfaced at the same time, but then there was a huge splash seemingly out of nowhere that sent them both underwater again.
Keeping her composure as best as she could, Gabriella regained her grip on the boy, and they resurfaced again. She pulled him to the side of the pool as he coughed violently, and she made sure his hands were securely grasping the edge.
Trying to suppress his coughing, Brady looked into the eyes of his rescuer, trying to say something but unable to get it out. He watched her eyes glaze over as he held her gaze.
Gabriella grabbed the edge of the pool, feeling how time seemed to be making up for how fast it had just gone by slowing down drastically. When he looked at her, all sound went away, only to be replaced by a dull roaring in her ears that sounded like ocean waves. For a few seconds that passed like hazy summer days, he was all that occupied her consciousness.
He had turned his head away as to not cough in her face, and she gingerly reached her hand out and touched his arm. He moved his lips to say something, but she couldn't hear it.
"What?" she said quietly.
"Save him!" he finally choked out, breaking Gabriella from her trance by jerking his head in the direction that the giant splash had come from.
Gabriella looked in that direction and immediately screamed, "Mr. Fulton!"
Time went back to an exaggerated speed and sound quickly flooded back into her ears as she crossed the distance to Mr. Fulton, who was struggling to keep his head above water.
He was thrashing so fiercely that he didn't realize she was trying to save him, making her job incredibly difficult. She got kicked several times and was nearly elbowed in the face before she got a good hold of him.
"Stop splashing!" she yelled, trying to prevent him from dragging them both back underwater. "I've got you!"
He was too set in his panic to hear her, and they both went under together. She tried her best to kick and push them both upward, but his weight and the force of his struggling was too much for her.
She was running out of air much faster than Mr. Fulton was running out of fight, and she was trapped, unable to get away from him. Trying to get them both to the surface repeatedly and failing miserably, Gabriella had the sudden urge to burst into tears and scream for help, but doing that would have ended her even more quickly.
It was her job to rescue other people, but now it looked like she wouldn't even be able to rescue herself.
Then there was a flash of yellow, and suddenly Mr. Fulton was pulled away from her, allowing her to reach the surface and gasp oxygen back into her lungs.
"Pull him out!" a voice yelled.
Gabriella looked just in time to see Taylor and Ryan run up to the poolside and quickly pull a writhing Mr. Fulton out of the pool, up and away from the boy in yellow who had just saved her. Mr. Fulton was clutching his right arm and letting out punctuated yells of pain between bouts of trying to catch his breath.
"Are you okay?" Taylor yelled to Gabriella, to which Gabriella only gave a slight nod.
Taylor took that as a yes and turned her full attention to Mr. Fulton, who was coughing up water. Ryan, who had first aid training, was watching Fulton intently but did not appear to be too worried, much to Gabriella's relief.
She felt a sudden drop in her energy when her brain let her realize that no one was in immediate danger anymore, and she was swiftly losing the will to keep herself up. All she wanted to do was collapse and not move from wherever she landed for a good, long time.
"Hold on!" Brady shouted shakily when he looked back and saw an unsettling resigned expression on her face.
He put his arms around her, acting as her life jacket, and her tired arms went around his neck as she tried her best to choke down a sob.
"It's okay," he said gently, obviously disturbed by how shaken up she was. "I've got you. You're safe now, okay?"
When she didn't respond, he repeated, "You're safe now."
Safe, Gabriella thought, letting the word tumble around in her head for a moment. She finally closed her eyes and nodded, allowing herself to believe him.
All too soon, he asked her, "Do you think you can you make it to the stairs?"
"Yeah," she breathed, forcing down feelings of panic and letting go of him.
"I'm right here beside you, okay?"
She nodded and then started paddling halfheartedly toward the stairs in the corner of the pool.
When they both reached the stairs, he quickly climbed onto them and then offered his hand down to her. They both made it up the steps, and then Gabriella wearily wrapped her arms back around Brady, leaning into him while she tried to get her breathing back to normal.
"I'm Brady," he said to the top of her head as he allowed her to collect herself.
"I'm Gabriella," she replied, not moving. "Thank you for saving me."
Brady gave a small smile. "Back at you, Gabriella."
He looked toward Mr. Fulton and the two who were tending to him.
"Is he okay?" Brady called to them.
"His arm is broken. He hit it on the edge of the pool when he went in," the guy wearing a flamboyant hat responded.
"He should be fine. We're going to drive him to the hospital," the girl decided out loud.
"Are you guys gonna be okay?" Brady asked, looking at them and then down at Gabriella as she shuddered involuntarily.
"Yeah, go ahead, we've got him," the girl replied knowingly.
Brady nodded to her gratefully and was about to pull Gabriella inside to dry off and calm down when he noticed the rest of the people around the pool watching them.
They had cleared out of the pool and witnessed all of the chaos that had just happened, but now they were just lingering, waiting to see if the show was over.
"Pool's closed! Stay out of the water!" Brady yelled, scanning the area with a serious expression.
He then snagged a nearby towel that looked dry and draped it around Gabriella's shoulders. They turned their backs on the people who were still watching them as if they were characters on a movie screen, and this time, Brady made sure to watch where he was going instead of looking over his shoulder.
A/N: This went way longer than I originally intended. And it's way more serious. Huh.
Just so you know, I see this as happening during the day prior to when the announcement about junior staff not being allowed in the show and "I Gotta Go My Own Way" would have happened.
Moral of the story: don't look over your shoulder while you're running super fast. Also, don't kick the lifeguard. No, seriously, don't do it.