Time Changes Everything

Waiting

"What the hell is going on?" Gabriella hears her mother's voice echo in her ear as a door suddenly slams.

Gabriella bloodshot eyes look up to see her mom's worried face run towards her only daughter and kneels down in front of her. She hadn't talked since she found out Troy was in a MRI and neither had Chad. Even though Taylor had called both of them, neither one answered. They didn't want to talk to their friends. All Gabriella had done for the past hour was let the tears run down her face as Chad rubbed her back soothingly. The two words kept playing around in her head. Brain damage. "I got a call saying Troy was up here. What happened?" She asks as Gabriella felt more tears slip down her face.

"Mrs. Montez..." Chad says in a raspy voice, since Gabriella couldn't say anything. "Troy fell into the pool and hit his head on the side... Gabs got him out and performed CPR... they're... they're checking for brain damage."

Mrs Montez's usually tan face suddenly pales as her eyes widen. Tears glossy up in them and she quickly tries to blink them away. Troy was like her son. Gabriella knew she was acting just as his real mother would react. "Oh my God." She whispers as she places a hand over her mouth. Gabriella suddenly rips her eyes away. She couldn't look at her mother like that, because it confirmed that something could go wrong, or was going wrong.

Her eyes look down at the floor again, finding the ugly off white tiles on the floor so much easier to look at then her mother. What if Troy did have brain damage? What if couldn't do the things he used to, like play basketball? What if he couldn't speak anymore? Walk? What if he didn't remember her? Her stomach drops. He was fighting over her, and if something was wrong, she knew she would never be able to forgive herself.

"I have to call Jack and Jody." Mrs. Montez exclaims and Gabriella suddenly rips her eyes away from the floor and looks up. She completely forgot about that. Troy's parents weren't even in the country. How would she explain to them that her son had brain damage in a fight over her? Mrs. Montez gets up and walks briskly out of the room. Gabriella was pretty sure that she didn't want to start crying in front of her daughter and Chad.

Gabriella takes in a deep breath and sighs. She looks over at Chad who looks back at her and their eyes connect. "It's all my fault..." Gabriella says in a small voice. "He was fighting over me."

"Come here." Chad says and holds his arms out. Gabriella falls into them and rests her head onto his chest. There were silent tears spilling down her face, but she wasn't making any noise. Her body was too tired to make any noise. "It's not your fault ok? You told him not to fight Bradin, and he did anyway. You saved his life Gabriella. If I know the asshole like I think I do, he'll come out fine and gloat about how he cheated death." Gabriella lets a small laugh escape from her throat.

"What if he can't walk Chad? Or talk? What if he doesn't remember anything?" She asks desperately.

"He'll be fine. I promise." He says and Gabriella suddenly remembers when she was in eighth grade, Troy said the exact same thing.

"You can't promise that. Troy promised me that my dad would be fine. And now he's six feet underground." She says and starts to shake. She couldn't loose him. She already lost her father; she couldn't loose the one person she loved more then life itself.

"Don't talk that way." He says and she suddenly feels his lap begin to vibrate.

"You'd better take that." Gabriella says and wipes the tear that was streaming down her face. "Taylor's probably having a heart attack."

Chad gives her a small smile then lets go of Gabriella's body. He stands up and pulls his phone out of his pocket. "Hey Tay..." He says and walks more towards the corner of the room. Gabriella pulls her knees up to her chest and places her chin down on them. Her body shakes a little as her mind replays what happened only less than two hours ago. Last night the only thing she was concerned about was how they could get the fastest back to Troy's house. Now... she was worried if he'd still be able to do what he could before. It had to be the second scariest day of her life.