AN: Hello all. This is the final installment of WSB, and it is now time for us to part ways. The journey was fun while it lasted, but now it is over.

HAHA sorry, you guys are probably like "wtf are you dying?" Alas, I am not. And while this story is ending, I still have my other stories.

Oh, and, I WILL PROBABLY NOT WRITE A SEQUEL TO THIS STORY. I had to bold that to make sure you read it. I just can't seem to think of any ways to make a good sequel to this so that it's not like all those "10 years after HSM ended" stories. However, most of you read Time Will Tell, and while that story only has a few chapters left, I am planning a sequel for that one. And I have another story that I'm working on, The Light of Love,, and I'm brainstorming another.

So fear not! MadiWillow is still up and kickin'!

Title: Where She Belongs
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: Ms. Montez's company transferred her back to San Diego, California. Troy and Gabriella lost touch after the move, but what will happen when they meet up again in college?
Genre: Romance/Drama
Chapter: Chapter 11

Where am I?

Gabriella was standing in the middle of... nothing. There was nothing anywhere. For as far as she could see, she saw nothing.

What is this? What happened?

She strained her memory, but couldn't remember ever arriving at a room like this.

And then she saw it. A bright, yellow light, far along down this white place of nothing.

Strangely, Gabriella felt herself drawn to this light. She walked toward it, curiously at first. But the light wasn't getting any closer. She started to walk faster, and soon she was running. It didn't look as if she were going anywhere. The light was just dancing out of her reach, but she wanted more than anything to reach it.

She groaned outwardly. And then she heard a voice, somewhere far, far above her, saying, "Gabriella? Gabriella... wake up..."

Is that...

"Troy?" she heard herself whisper weakly.

There was no immediate answer, and then Troy's voice answered, this time closer, urgently. "Yes, Gabriella, it's me! Gabriella, wake up. Come on, Gabriella, come back to me!"

She looked around but couldn't find him

Where are you? Are you the light?

She started toward the light again, and this time it started getting closer, but almost instantly Troy's voice said, "Gabriella, no... you're slipping away... please... don't go..."

Gabriella took another tentative step towards the light, but Troy kept on pleaded. "Gabriella, no, please... don't go... I love you..."

And then she remembered. She remembered their fight, the rain, the accident... her thoughts right before she passed out...

"Troy..."

"Yes, Gabriella, come on! Come on, don't leave us!"

The light was tempting. It was hovering so close to her. She wanted nothing more than to touch it, to see where it would take her... but then she realized she wanted to be with Troy more...

She turned around and saw, instead of more nothing, a pitch-black tunnel a few feet away. She took a couple steps toward it, and Troy's excited voice said, "Come on, Gabriella! Everyone's here – Taylor, Sharpay, Ryan, Kelsi – they all flew in when they heard. And your mom is here too – well, not in the room, that's just me here-,"

She was afraid of the tunnel. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to go through it. But Troy's voice was coming from it... so it had to be good.

Gabriella broke into a fast stride as she entered the tunnel, and then she heard Troy's voice, as if he were right next to her, exclaim, "Gabriella!"

She opened her eyes. She wasn't even sure when she'd closed them. But she wasn't in a blank room anymore; now she was in a hospital room. She was lying in a white bed – like she couldn't get enough of that color – in a hospital gown. The shades of a window to her right was open, and sunshine was streaming in, giving her a headache.

"Oh, Gabriella!" Her vision was obscured again when a figure threw themselves on top of her, hugging her tight.

"Um, Troy?" gasped Gabriella, awkwardly hugging him back. "This hurts-,"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Troy sat back in the chair that he had been occupying earlier, which was situated right by her bed. "I can't believe you're awake!"

"What... happened?" she asked, her head throbbing painfully.

"Well, you were hit by a car last week-,"

"Last week!"

"Yeah," said Troy apologetically, as if he could've helped it. "They'd had to perform emergency surgery, because your brain was bleeding. They were able to fix it, and said you would be perfectly fine – if you woke up."

"Wow..." breathed Gabriella. "What's the date?"

"It's Sunday. April 7th."

"I missed a whole week of school?"

"Yeah," Troy laughed. "Don't worry, at least it's not longer."

Gabriella nodded. "So. Everyone else is here?"

Troy nodded. "They came down Saturday afternoon, as did your mom, and left Sunday night. Well, not your mom. She's staying at a hotel. But everyone came back right after their classes on Friday, since it's Spring Break now. They're staying at my place, since my roommate moved in with his girlfriend."

Gabriella laughed, even though it caused her head to pound and pain to sear across her stomach. "Do his parents still pay for it?"

Troy laughed too. "Yeah, they don't care."

Then Gabriella sighed. "Well, I guess my Spring Break will be spent making up homework." She paused and then burst into tears. "Troy, I'm so, so sorry!" she sobbed.

Troy sat up straight, alarmed. He leaned forward and asked, "Why?"

"You were right!" she wailed. "You guys were all right. Right before I fainted after the accident, I was thinking... and you guys were right. I do love you, Troy, more than anything else in this world, and I was trying to deny. I don't know why, but I was. And I also didn't want to hurt Jeremiah's feelings. You guys were right about everything!"

Troy was silent as he watched her. "Are-are you serious?"

"Yes, of course!" she cried, sniffing and sputtering like a toddler. "I love you, and not Jeremiah, and I'm gonna break up with him when I see him. I love you. But I'll understand if you can't forgive me, I mean, I was horrible-," Gabriella's sentence was cut short by Troy's lips on hers. They stayed like that for a few minutes, kissing passionately, before Troy broke away, a goofy grin plastered on his face.

Gabriella still had a few tears in her eyes, and Troy brushed them away with his thumbs.

"So, I guess that means you're okay?" she asked weakly. He smiled, and she smiled back. She reached onto her left hand and yanked the ugly yellow ring off her finger, slapping it down on the table beside her bed. "I hate yellow..."

"Troy?" came a soft, sad voice from outside the hospital room. "Do you wanna come out for a few minutes to get some food? You haven't eaten in days."

"Come in, Kelsi," said Troy, barely keeping the excitement out of her voice.

"Why do you sound so-," started Kelsi as she opened the door. Then she saw Gabriella, sitting up and awake, and looked back and forth between the two. She screamed bloody-murder and ran over to Gabriella, engulfing her in a huge hug. "Oh, my God! OH, MY GOD! YOU'RE AWAKE!" she screamed into Gabriella's ear, which did wonders for her head.

"Yes, Kelsi, thanks," laughed Gabriella, her stomach and head aching. "Can you be a little quieter? It's giving me a headache."

"Oh, sure!" whispered Kelsi. "Oh, wow, I'm gonna go get everyone else, it's just me and Ryan here, we'll have to call them! And your mom! She's gonna be so happy!"

As Kelsi ran from the room, a nurse walked in. "What is this commotion?" the nurse, who was old and wrinkly, with auburn hair pulled up into a tight up-do on her head, asked snappishly, and then stopped short at the sight before her. "Miss Montez! You're awake!"

Gabriella nodded. It felt as though her brain was banging into the sides of her head every time she moved it.

"Mr. Bolton! Out!" said the nurse sharply. "We need to run some tests on Miss Montez."

"Oh, but-," Gabriella protested, but the nurse held up a hand.

"Nope, he has to go. Shoo, now!" She nurse waved her hands and Troy quickly left the room. "Now, Miss Montez," the nurse strode over to her, marking some things on her clipboard. She examined her eyes, her ears, and the rest of her face. Finally, after a few minutes, she put her clipboard down on the foot of her bed and asked, "Does it hurt when I do this?" She put her hands on Gabriella's stomach and pushed down, hard.

Gabriella responded with a cry of pain, sitting up a little.

"Hmm, yes," the nurse murmured, making some more on her clipboard. She sat down in Troy's vacated chair and said, "Miss Montez, did Mr. Bolton tell you anything about what happened?"

"Well, just that my brain was bleeding and I had to be put in surgery," said Gabriella weakly, massaging her now throbbing stomach.

"Yes, well, that's the cliff notes version," said the nurse disapprovingly. "Yes, your brain was bleeding and yes, we did have to perform emergency surgery, but you actually had a worse head injury than that. When paramedics arrived on the scene, they could see a bit of your brain from a hole in your head."

Gabriella gasped, horrified, and put her hand to her head. She felt a small bump, which was extremely sensitive.

"Yes, we had to stitch you up after surgery," said the nurse in a matter-of-fact tone. "Your heart stopped at one point during the surgery, but we were able to bring you back. However, that's how you slipped into a coma."

Gabriella nodded. She could tell how lucky she was to be alive.

"We weren't sure if you were going to wake up, especially this soon without any long-lasting head damage. You're pretty much a medical miracle!"

She smiled weakly. "But why does my-?"

"Ah, your stomach," the nurse interrupted. "Well, you broke four ribs and cracked three others. They have only slightly healed this past week. You may have trouble walking for a while. If that is the case, we have a wheelchair you can use." She gestured towards a folded up wheelchair leaning against the far wall.

The door suddenly burst open to reveal Gabriella's mom running in. Her hair was a mess, as if it hadn't been brushed, or washed, for that matter, in days – which, when Gabriella thought about it, it probably hadn't. She could barely see where she was going, because she was crying so hard.

"Oh hija!" she sobbed as she threw her arms around her daughter. "You're awake! Oh, you're awake! This week has been the worst week of my life! I didn't know if I would ever be able to talk to you again-!"

"Mami!" cried Gabriella, suffocating under her mothers strangling arms. Her mom was also leaning heavily onto her stomach. "Mom-,"

"Um, Miss Montez?" came Troy's voice cautiously somewhere above Gabriella. "I think you might be hurting her-,"

"Oh!" Gabriella's mother stood up. "I'm sorry, Gabi! Oh, I can't believe you're awake!"

Gabriella smiled, massaging her stomach some more. "It's good to be back."

"Gabi!" came a booming voice from the door. Gabriella looked around her mom to see that Jeremiah had pushed past Kelsi and Ryan, who were standing in the doorway, to stride into the room. "Oh, Gabi, I've missed you." He put his hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair. She raised her eyebrows at him. "Where's your ring?" he demanded. "Ah, here it is. I'll help you put that back on-,"

"Um, could you all excuse us please?" asked Gabriella of her nurse, her mother, and Troy.

Miss Montez and Troy left the room, while her nurse added, "I'm Nurse Simpson, in case you need anything," before departing, closing the door behind them.

"What's wrong, baby?" asked Jeremiah, trying to grab her hand.

"Jeremiah," Gabriella sighed and took the ring from him, fingering it. "This... isn't working out."

"What's not?" he asked, confused.

"Us," she supplied. "You and me. Engaged. It's just not working for me."

"What, so you wanna just date again, without being engaged?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"Um. No. I don't wanna date you anymore."

Jeremiah stared at her for a moment and then broke out in a rage. "WHAT? YOU BITCH!" He shouted, slapping her across the face. Her cheek burned from the impact, but, for once, she decided to stand up to Jeremiah.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled. "You bastard! Why I ever stayed with you is a mystery to me!" She chucked the hideous yellow ring at Jeremiah, and, in her anger, managed to hit him right between the eyes, leaving a mark. "By the way: I hate yellow!"

"You're gonna pay for that, you fucking-," Jeremiah started towards Gabriella, who actually started to fear for her safety, but was stopped by a "Hey!" from the door.

The two of them looked around to see Troy in the doorway, looking more furious than Gabriella had ever seen him.

"Who the hell are you?" snarled Jeremiah.

"I'm... a friend," said Troy, and Gabriella was thankful. She didn't want Jeremiah to know that she and Troy were gonna start dating now, if that's what they were going to do.

"Well, I'm her fiancée, so you can just leave us the fuck alone," said Jeremiah, before turning back to glare at her.

"No, you're not," said Gabriella, her voice dangerously low. "We're over. Get out."

"WE'RE NOT OVER UNTIL I SAY WE'RE OVER!" Jeremiah yelled. She felt flecks of spit hit her face.

"Dude, just get out," said Troy warningly.

"How 'bout you just shut the fuck up?" hissed Jeremiah to Troy.

"Hey, look-," Troy started towards Jeremiah, but Jeremiah was quicker. He took a few steps forward and slapped Gabriella again.

She heard a bunch of yells from the doorway and looked up in time to see Chad, Jason, Zeke, and Troy wrestling with Jeremiah, dragging him out.

As soon as they dragged him out, Ryan bounded in. "They just got here, they walked in to see how you were doing and saw him slap you." Kelsi, Taylor, Sharpay, and Brooke walked in after him. "So that's Jeremiah, huh? The fiancée?"

"Well, not anymore," Gabriella said. She couldn't help but smile.

"And yet you're so happy about this because...?" prodded Sharpay.

Gabriella beamed. "Because I think Troy and I are together again."

Kelsi, Sharpay, and Taylor are joined hands and started to squeal, jumping up and down together. Brooke just grinned at her and stated, "Well, I wasn't really in on this plan to get you two together, since I didn't know you in high school, but I do think you guys would look marvelous together."

"Thanks," laughed Gabriella.

"Yay!" cried Taylor.

"What changed?" asked Sharpay.

"Well, I almost died," Gabriella informed them matter-of-factly. "You know, after I was hit, I didn't faint right away. I was still conscious. And I basically had an epiphany. I realized that life is too short to lie to yourself, and convince yourself of something when your heart is saying something completely different."

"How beautiful," joked Sharpay.

"Hey!" said Gabriella. "But, it's true. So I told Troy this and I think we're dating now."

"It worked!" exclaimed Taylor.

Gabriella pretended to be offended. "You mean you meant for me to get hit by a car?"

They laughed, and Ryan, slouching, left the room, mumbling something that sounded like "Girls..."

A few minutes later the boys came back, saying that they'd had to get security to remove Jeremiah from the building.

"That's one creepy guy," said Chad, shivering.

"So you dumped him? That's why he was so angry?" asked Jason.

Gabriella nodded.

"How come?"

She glanced at Troy and he looked back at her, grinning. "Because my heart belongs somewhere else."

Troy walked over to the other side of her bed and put his hand on her shoulder. They smiled up at their friends.

"So – you two – are going out now?" asked Zeke, wagging his fingers at them.

They nodded.

"Finally!" All of their friends chorused.

The two of them laughed.

Gabriella looked up at Troy and he looked down at her. As soon as their eyes met, she knew that everything was going to be okay. She and Troy would do fine together. Even if Jeremiah was a lunatic and he tried to come after her – she would be okay. They would be okay.

She was finally where she belonged.