Ohmygahh.

It's been roughly thirty years since I've updated.

And I'M SORRY (for breaking all the promises I wasn't around to keeeeeeep).

Haha, I decided to take a break from writing for the summer and now I'm seriously regretting it. I find it difficult to get back into my groove and going back to school didn't help any either. This year already sucks and it just began. I mean, I'm already resorting to SparkNotes to do projects. What the fuck? I usually don't whip out SparkNotes until second semester!

So I'm sorry.

And just so you know, I tricked out the dates for this story so it would be accurate.

Read!

September 11th, 2001

6:46 AM

Troy's Bedroom

The morning sunrise spilled through his open window, pulling the city out of a slumber, back to reality. Today was supposed to be another average day. Catch the bus. Go to school. Shut up and listen. Go home. Do homework. Eat. Sleep. Lather, rinse, repeat. But for a reason even he couldn't explain, Troy Bolton's heart pounded furiously in his chest, the blue sheets of his bed spread gathered tightly in his fists out of anxiety.

It was 6:48 AM.

Where was she?

Every morning since the day she left for 'the greatest trip of her life', she had called him precisely at 6:30 in the morning to wake him up for the school day. She would giggle into the phone, a "Morning, sunshine!" drowning out the busy New York life in the background. But now, she was eighteen minutes late, and Troy had never wanted to hear his girlfriend babble on about the drama club at the top of the Statue of Liberty more than now.

Agonizing minutes ticked by, his blue eyes trained to the vast blankness of his ceiling.

It was 6:50 AM.

Where was she, dammit?

What could she possibly be doing that kept her away from her cell phone to make a ten minute call? To make him smile, to get him motivated for the school day, and wait for her return? He scrolled through a list of possibilities in his mind. Maybe she was sleeping in? Maybe the drama club was in the middle of a Broadway performance of Wicked? Maybe her cell phone had died after her last phone call which had lasted well into the night...

Troy rolled over in bed as a soft tapping sounded at his door. For the first time in a week and a half, Troy's mother had pulled him out of bed. And as he half-heartedly took a shower that morning, as he barely touched breakfast, as he dragged himself to school, the same thought exploded in his mind, smoke and debris clouding his conscience:

Where. Was. She?

September 11th, 2001

8:45 AM

Homeroom

"Hey, guys! As you can probably see, I can't get to my phone right now. I'm probably... shut up, Ryan. I'm probably in Times Square or... making out with Troy... shut up, Ryan! Anyways... leave a message and I'll..."

Troy snapped his cell phone shut after hearing that same haunting message for the third time that morning. At the feel of Chad's hand on his shoulder, Troy turned around to face his best friend, and before Chad could even ask, Troy spilled his soul, explained his tired eyes and disheveled hair. "Sharpay never called this morning. My mom had to wake me up." He gazed longingly to the empty seat in front of his, the seat where Sharpay sat.

Chad attempted to open his mouth again, but his friend, practically his other half, beat him to it. "I've tried calling her. Three times. Nothing."

"Well, maybe she's..."

"No, she's not."

"Or maybe they went to..."

"No, they didn't."

Troy couldn't help but be negative. He was utterly frustrated and confused, and needed to hear his girlfriend giggle if he was ever going to function correctly for the day. He slumped lower in his seat as the irritating shrill of the homeroom bell reverberate off of his empty mind. Their substitute teacher, as Mrs. Darbus had gone to New York as well, initiated class for the day, and not one strategy would ever grab a hold of Troy Bolton's attention. Not with a part of him unsettled.

It's just a phone call, he had to assure himself. She's probably just busy, he recited. And so wrapped up in his own thoughts, Troy almost never heard the crackle of the loudspeakers addressing the entire school, the sound of the Principal's voice, dripping with hesitance and grief. "Good morning students." The usual professional Mr. Matsui sounded completely overwhelmed. "I am overwhelmingly crestfallen to announce that this morning at 6:46 AM, a severe accident took place at the World Trade Center in New York..."

Troy inhaled sharply, becoming stiff in his seat. New York...

Sharpay.

As Troy's world quickly began crumbling around him, he tried his hardest to focus on the announcement the principal was making. Something about aircraft hijacking... suicide... the Twin Towers left in critical condition...

Troy could feel a million eyes burning the back of his neck. They knew. And somehow, the thought of everyone thinking the same fatal thought about his girlfriend, the thought of something actually happening to her. The thought of her smile, her laugh, every damn thing about her that made Troy only grin stupidly made him bound out of his seat, out of the classroom. He missed the rest of Mr. Matsui's address, but caught his last spew of 'grief and remorse for those lost that day'.

What if Sharpay was lost?

Troy instantly shook the thought off of him, let it roll off of his shoulders as he broke into a sprint, tearing down the hallway, wanting nothing more than to get away from it all and have a time to think about what was happening.

But, really, what if something was wrong?

He came to a screeching halt, almost colliding with the person coming around the conjoining corner. But he was caught by the shoulders, his heart locked and fluttering in his throat, his racking breaths tied to his chest. "Dad... Sharpay... she's there in New York..." his face was drained of color as he thought what was occuring. But his father only gave him concerned eyes, taking him by the shoulders and steering him towards his office.

"Troy, it's going to be okay. We're going to figure this all out. I'm sure Sharpay's fine. She's safe, Troy, I can just feel it..." Coach Bolton fed his son sugary, reassuring words and watched as Troy's breath steadied.

But another thought never crossed either mind.

As Troy came back to his senses, and as his father comforted him, and together, as they planned on what to do next, there was a missing link to the problem, one that held the key to Troy's shattering heart, the one that would determine Troy's sanity...

September 11th, 2001

9 AM

Homeroom

She was almost never noticed, sitting in the very last row in the seat tucked away in a corner. Quiet and reserved. But she was the person Sharpay could trust the most, the person Sharpay was able to go to for anything. Her eyes wide in horror, her stomach plummeting at the news that had just been broadcasted over the school's intercom, Kelsi Neilsen silently pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

And her worst fears, Troy's worst fears were confirmed to be completely true.

Heyyyy. just thot i would txt you before i go to sleep. new york is amazinnn and i wish u were here. we're checking out the twin towers tomorrow before going to see the lion king on broadway. i'll be sure to send you some pix. goodnite, loverrr! ily.

September 1st, 2001

5:38 AM

New Mexico International Airport

Their mouths were fused together in one last goodbye before she would be absent from his life for two weeks. His hands were buried deep in her blonde hair and she had a tight grip on the front of his shirt in a desperate attempt to memorize the feel of his mouth on hers.

"Troy," she finally gasped, pulling away from her boyfriend of one-and-a-half years. The heat of his frantic breathing ghosted over her cheeks as she spoke in a soft whisper. "Troy, I really have to go..."

He hushed her with another long, thoughtful kiss on her mouth. Stars bunched beneath her eyelids as she indulged and forgot where she was, why, she was there... "I wish I was going with you, Shar..." Troy muttered as he pressed his nose into the crook of her neck. She smiled to herself at Troy's statement.

"I do too."

And as he lifted his face from the soft skin of her neck, as his eyes examined her face-the crinkles that formed around her hazel eyes as she smiled warmly at him, the soft red of her mouth and the flawless finish of her skin- these words spilled from his mouth as if he had no control. they simply fit the moment and the way he felt, holding her that way, kissing her that way...

"Sharpay, I love you."

A shock of warmth exploded in her core at his words. She blinked once, clearing up the picture of her boyfriend gazing down at her, pure authenticity blazing in his eyes. Her hands rode up his shoulders up to his chiseled jaw where she slowly drew his face down to hers. His mouth moved over hers again, their tongues carefully exploring each other for the last time in a long time. It had been the first time Troy had ever declared to her that he loved her and to have to leave after something as epic as that would hurt.

"I love you too," Sharpay breathed and showered kisses across his jaw, down his neck. "I love you too..." his chest swelled at the relief of the words. She loved him too... They were cocooned in their own happiness for a while, where kisses rained down and they shared one heart... but only for a moment-

"Ms. Evans!"

The couple was catapulted back to reality by the shrill call of Mrs. Darbus. Her voice reverberated off of the clean walls and windows of the empty airport. It was then Troy and Sharpay remembered where they were, why they were there.

"If you don't mind, Ms. Evans, the drama class and I are prepared to board our flight," Mrs. Darbus snapped. Her billowing tunic was electric orange, a color too bright for the tired eyes of the rest of the drama students that were slowly moving towards the gates of their flight. "If you value your position as President of the Drama Club, you'll rip yourself from the arms of your infatuator in the next ten seconds... nine... eight..."

Sharpay sighed and rolled her eyes in Troy's arms. "Bye," she whispered and quickly kissed Troy once more before gathering her carry-on bag from the floor. "I'll be sure to get you a keychain, baby."

Troylaughed as his girlfriend moved towards the terminal. As she reached to wide open mouth of the tunnel, she turned once more and saw Troy standing feet away, hands in his pockets, glowing with her kisses.

"I love you," she mouthed.

"I love you too," he mouthed back.

And she stepped out into a great unknown, coated with warmth.

September 11th, 2001

10:14 AM

Troy's Livingroom

He winced at the television screen, watching as the horrific story unfolded. His stomach uneasily teetered, his conscience was enflamed, he was rocked to the core, thinking of Sharpay being caught in the middle of all of this. He watched, as lives ended, as families were destroyed in front of his eyes. He saw it all, he witnessed it all despite being a thousand miles away.

Phone lines were tied up around the world. Panic cast over the air. And those two towers that once stood prominently... they were now symbols of the state of Troy's mind: spilling over with smoke and dibris. He painfully watched each tragedy, he heartfully listened to each cry of lost and injured people. And his breath hitched, thinking of her once more.

He swallowed back the painful lump in his throat at the sight of fleeing people. He blinked to hold back tears at the thought of the way she held his hand, the way she called him his. The way he was able to treat her as more than a girlfriend, but as his best friend. Years ago, Troy Bolton promised himself that he would never cry. That it was a sign of weakness.

But now, knowing that Sharpay could be anywhere in any condition, whether she be safe, or injured or... worse, and he just couldn't be there to hold her, to kiss her forehead, Troy Bolton was the sole definition of weakness.

And the only thing left to do was to bury his face in his hands and let tears spring into his eyes.

And cry.

September 11th, 2001

3:44 PM

Troy's Front Door

A quiet reserved knock came at the door. A knock in which the wood was barely penetrated, in hopes of no one on the other side hearing, in hopes of not having to ruin any lives.

She loved Sharpay. She loved Sharpay and her enthusiasm, and the text message Kelsi Neilsen had received on September 10th, may not have meant anything. Maybe their trip to the Twin Towers had been cancelled. Maybe Sharpay had been too exhausted to get out of bed that morning. Maybe... there were so many possiblities.

This entire scenario could be a giant mistake, and Kelsi Neilsen would have given the world to be wrong about Sharpay. To witness Sharpay come home after hell had been split open and watch her fall into Troy's arms as exhausted as ever. But just in that moment, just to make everything settle, she needed to tell him.

The door swung open.

And Kelsi Neilsen spilled her soul, dumped out her heart. She was sorry. Unbelievably sorry that things had to end this way...

Once again, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in one million years. I was thinking of doing a sequel to this, but I don't know how the outcome should be. What do you guys think? Leave some feedback, yo!

Review!