The beat of the music grew louder as she walked through the halls of her sister's boyfriend's house that new years eve. She felt his eyes on her again, which felt like the hundredth time that night. As she walked to get yet another beer to wash away all thoughts and feelings she had about her ex-boyfriend Jerel, she found herself checking her phone yet again for new messages. Nothing. She sighed while opening her Budweiser, as she couldn't take the taste of the Keystone Light, which was the only other beer there, then heard Troy, who was her 19 year old sister's best friend who had been starring at her all night, say "To Carmen's sister being wasted before 10!"
Carmen's sister. That was one thing she could not stand about her life. Always being compared to Katie or being introduced as "Carmen's sister". Carmen was gorgeous, smart, athletic and talented and had all the love and support of both parents and 19 years old, just a few years older than Gabriella. And Carmen was the main reason of her insecurities. Gabriella. Gabriella Maria Montez. That was her name. And this is her story.
10:30. Just an hour and thirty more minutes until it was a new year, a new beginning, 2009 had not been Gabriella's best year. She had made many mistakes and had cried many tears over people who weren't even worth her time. But it was soon going to be a new year, a better year, she convinced herself. Gabriella was sitting in a big chair as she watched the New Year's special on TV as she sipped on a beer trying to resist from texting her ex-boyfriend. Then out of nowhere, Chad, Carmen's boyfriend, sat down next to her as he pulled Gabriella closer, trapping her in the chair. Gabriella could smell alcohol on him and knew that he was wasted, and Gabriella could start to feel that buzz from the beer, so she thought nothing of it. That was, until her friend, Fiona, walked into the living room and gasped, almost dropping her beer as she saw Gabriella and Chad in the chair.
"No, no, no, no." Gabriella quickly said as she tried to get out of the chair, knowing that Carmen would soon walk into the living room, but she failed.
Fiona, who was 17 just as Gabriella was, turned in hopes of stopping Carmen from walking into the living room, but she had failed and Carmen's mouth dropped seeing her boyfriend of a year all cuddled up to her little sister. "Chad!" Carmen hissed as Chad just starred at her in a drunken state, and then Carmen grabbed his arm and pulled him up, "Come on!" she ordered him, and then dragged him out of the living room and downstairs and into Chad' bedroom.
Gabriella looked at Fiona, then at Julia who was Fiona's older sister and Carmen's best friend who had seen everything, "Come on guys, don't give me that look." She said before getting out of the chair, seeing as she was finally able to, pulling her short dress down some as it had ridden up as she sat in the chair and then walked down the hall way and towards the kitchen. But she ran into Troy, who stopped her and cupped her face with his big hands. Gabriella looked up at him and into his gorgeous blue eyes, and her breath caught in her throat. Troy pulled her close to him and leaned in, causing Gabriella to push him back, "What are you doing?!?!" She yelled as Fiona and Julia watched in the background. Gabriella would have been fine with kissing Troy, because she was attracted to him, but she knew that if Carmen or Chad ever found out, he would be a dead man and she'd be yelled and tormented for it for the rest of her life. But the extremely wasted Troy kept his hands cupped on her face.
"No, wait, wait." He slurred out as he then pushed Gabriella's cheeks back somewhat, "Oh my god. Carmen!" He said out of disbelief that she looked exactly like Carmen if you pushed her cheeks back just a little bit.
This caused Gabriella to angrily slap both of Troy's hands away and push him out of the way as she walked into the kitchen and Fiona followed right behind her. How dare he? How dare he compare her to Carmen! Gabriella thought that Troy was different from everyone else but tonight just proved her wrong. But deep down she secretly wished that it hadn't. Troy was a fun, sweet, sensitive, extremely attractive guy and he was almost everything that Gabriella wanted in a guy. Plus he wasn't a complete hick like everyone else was in the small town that she was forced to live in. Beaufort, North Carolina where the only good thing about it was that it was right on the ocean and it was almost always warm out. As Gabriella leaned against the counter of the kitchen she began to think about a million different things that she was worried about in her mind, completely spacing out. But the main thing was about why she was so attracted him Troy. Sure, he was good looking, masculine, muscular, sweet, funny and many other things. But he was also a complete player, going from girl to girl at the college that he went to. Which was another thing that was wrong with him, he was in college. With her sister, he was an even best friend with her sister! It wouldn't have been right, but yet she wanted it anyway. Why? She had never been attracted to him like this before tonight. Why now?
"Gabi!" Fiona said, waving a hand in front of Gabriella's face, taking her out of her trance, "Did you hear me?"
"Sorry Fiffers, I was zoning out. What'd you say?" Gabriella said as she ran her hand through her perfect dark curls that went down to the middle of her back, before grabbing another beer as she had another thing to drink from her mind.
"I said, I totally thought that Troy was going to kiss you!" Fiona squealed excitedly, "Everyone was watching! It was pretty intense. But I'm glad that he didn't, cause I actually like Troy and Chad would've kicked the living shit out of him if Troy had kissed you. Then Carmen would've kicked the shit out of him too." She continued to ramble on, almost laughing as she thought of how many people would've beaten him up.
"Yeah…that would've been, uhm, bad?" She said, questioning it, then realized that Fiona knew that she was questioning it, "But it would've been funny to see Chris the living shit out of him…" Gabriella said trying to make it seem convincing, not making eye contact with Fiona. Then took her beer into the dinning room to play beer pong with some of the guys.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Troy walk down the stairs and then a few minutes heard his truck start up and pull out of the drive way. She sighed some and then turned back to the game of beer pong she had started with a girl Caitlyn against Caitlyn's boyfriend Dylan and his friends Travis.
11:30. Thirty more minutes Gabriella, just thirty more minutes until you can start all over. She kept telling her self as she found herself, so drunk that she couldn't exactly see straight, in the chair that Chad had trapped her in before. And once again, Chad walked into the room and trapped her in the same chair then pulled her onto his lap, all as Carmen was on the couch with Julia and Fiona. Oh, fuck. Here comes the drama. Gabriella thought to herself as Carmen stood up. "Get off of my boyfriend." She said, as she crossed her arms and starred down Gabriella.
"My pleasure." Gabriella said as she got off of Chad and sat on the floor on the other side of the room, next to Fiona, the music still blaring from the speakers and the TV on, just a few feet away from Gabriella and Fiona. She looked at her cell phone to find a few messages but none from Jerel. She felt her heart break a little but then told herself Gabriella; you know it's over between you two. He has a girlfriend now, get over it. She then sighed and poured the Champaign after looking at the clock. 11:54.
After handing out the Champaign to everyone who was in the living room, then put on a new years hat and 3D glasses with the lenses knocked out of them, then looked out of the window. She searched desperately for Troy's truck, wanting deep down for him to be her first kiss of the New Year. 11:57
Wait, Gabriella, aren't you in love with Jerel? An hour ago you only wanted to be with him. Who do you really want Gabriella? Someone who is still in love with you and tells you almost everyday? Or someone you know for a fact is a player and who will probably never fall for you in a hundred years? Gabriella nodded to herself knowing that she should probably focus on getting Jerel back, but she'd still keep looking for Troy. 11:58
Gabriella adjusted her dress once again, starring at the TV. She wished that she was thinking about something deep, knowing that she was a deep person with emotions but she could never put them in words, even in her own head. 11:59.
Then all of a sudden, while deep in thought of trying to express how she was feeling inside her own mind she heard people start to yell out numbers. It took her a second to figure out why, and then realized they were counting down the seconds until the New Year. New year. New me. Can't wait. Gabriella smiled to herself, as she looked at the TV, watching the ball drop. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Wait! Four. No! I need to be with someone, I need Troy-I mean Jerel! Three. Damn it! I have no one to kiss. Two. Sigh. One. Then everyone busted out in joy, as they all raised their glasses of Champaign to one another, then everyone either drank their Champaign or kissed their loved one. Gabriella looked around after chugging her Champaign wanting the feeling of being alone to just wash away. She was probably the only person in the world that could feel alone in a room full of people that cared about her. Gabriella looked at the couples kissing and she felt emptiness in her heart that wouldn't go away no matter how much she drank. As she got up from where she was sitting, after she noticed she was now the only one sitting down, other than the couples that were now in the middle of passionate kisses, she poured herself another glass. Then was hugged by most of the people in the room other than the couples as she faked a smile. Gabriella was always good at hiding her pain from people, it was just a talent she had. Plus she practiced because she never liked it when people were worried about her, she felt as if no one should have to be worried about her when they had plenty of other things to worry about.
Around 1 in the morning, Gabriella got tired of being around happy people so she walked over to Fiona and spoke into her ear so that she could hear her, "I don't feel that great…I'm going to go upstairs and crash."
"I'll come with you!" Fiona responded happily, then walked towards the stairs. Gabriella laughed as she watched her friend sway from side to side as she tried to walk a straight line. She just shook her head and followed after Fiona and up the stairs into Conner's room. Conner was Chad's ten-year-old brother who was staying at his dad's house that night so Gabriella and Fiona were able to stay in his room because that was the only room with two beds in the house. The two girls stepped around the toys, trying to find their way in the dark to the two beds. Gabriella crawled into one bed after kicking off her high heels, just deciding to sleep in her dress and Fiona climbed into the other one after taking her converse sneakers off and putting on shorts and a sweatshirt since Fiona had been smarter than Gabriella and had brought an over night bag to the party and had left it upstairs in Conner's room.
Fiona passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow. But not Gabriella, as she just lay there, with the blankets pulled up to her chin, facing the wall half asleep she began to think of everything that happened that day. Just as Gabriella's eyes were getting heavy and about to close she felt coldness on her back, then felt someone else get into the bed. "What the fuck?" She said, turning over to face whoever got into the bed.
"Oh shit, sorry!" She heard a panicked voice say, and then realized it was Troy's voice.
"Oh…I thought you left troy?" She said, secretly wanting to know where he'd been.
"Yeah, but I came back…sorry again," He said getting out of the bed, "This is normally where I crash." As he began to walk away Gabriella suddenly felt cold again even with the covers covering her completely.
"Wait!" She said softly, not wanting to wake up Fiona, "You can sleep here, I don't mind sharing." She said, and then realized that it had sounded completely inappropriate afterwards.
Troy turned and looked at Gabriella, he smiled as the moonlight was shinning on her face from the window. She looked gorgeous even though her hair was a little tousled from lying down, "Um…alright." He finally agreed and got back into the bed with Gabriella. It wasn't exactly a big bed, just a double. Both of them were lying on their backs, talking quietly about nothing. Then from under the covers Troy placed his hand on Gabriella's stomach as he turned on his side towards her as she lay on her back, not daring to even look at him, "Is this alright?" Troy softly and sweetly asked her. And all Gabriella could do was nod as she took a deep breath. Oh my god. She thought this is going to be a long night.
AN: Okayy, that's the first chapterrrr :) review and tell me what you thinkkk. And this is rated M for later chapters in the story and also underage drinking, language and drug abuse. pleaseeee review :)