Chapter 1

A month and a half had passed. It had been a hectic six weeks for Zac and Vanessa at that. More so for Vanessa. After a private celebration the newly engaged couple called their parents on three-way so they could tell all four at once the news of their engagement. They did have to celebrate before calling anyone, after all. Their mothers had convinced them to let them plan an engagement party for when they returned home. It took all that Zac and Vanessa had within them to convince their mothers to wait for a few weeks upon their return home before beginning the party planning. They wanted to spend time having their own special celebration with their families before sharing the news with their friends and the rest of Hollywood. Starla and Gina heard their arguments and reluctantly agreed to wait for a month or so.

As soon as they returned to Los Angeles, the mothers had wasted no time at all and Vanessa had been thrown into plans for the party by both. It seemed that before 10:00 every morning she had received at least twelve calls from both Gina and Starla with decisions to be made for the party. It had gotten to the point where she would have to turn her phone off at night, only to have eight voice mails between the two moms when she turned it back on in the mornings.

As was the case this particular morning. It was two weeks before the party and- as had become her ritual for the past month- when the alarm sounded that morning, Vanessa reached over to turn it off and turned her phone on, waiting for the tell-tale tone signifying her voice mail. After counting the tones to find that she only had three voice mails already that morning, she let out a relieved sigh.

"Oh, thank God," she said. When Zac turned over on his back to look at her over his shoulder with questioning eyes, she continued. "Only three this morning!" she told him with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

He just let out a snort before he responded. "Baby, you know they're just doing this-"

"-because they love us and want to do this for us. I know. But Zac, they're driving me crazy! Do you care what color napkins we have? Do you care in what font our names are embossed in said napkins? Do you care about-" She stopped as he pressed her lips together with his index finger and thumb.

"You're right. Point taken. No, I don't care."

"I love those women so very much, but I swear to you, if they're this bad when it comes time to plan the actual wedding…" she let her voice trail off as she made the first phone call of the morning to her mom. Starla would be next.

"What will you do to them?" he asked in amusement.

"I don't know, but I'll think of something very, very torturous. Maybe I'll withhold our first born from them. I don't know, we'll see." She turned her attention away from her fiancé as her mom answered the phone. "Hey, Mom. Good morning! Just returning your call. What's up?"

Zac gently touched her elbow to get her attention. When she turned to look at him, he whispered to her "I'm going to start the coffee" and pointed toward the door of the bedroom. As she nodded her head, he leaned up offering her his lips for a quick kiss and got out of the bed, making his way down stairs and leaving Vanessa to continue the conversation with her mom.

As he was picking up her cup of coffee and turned around to take it back upstairs to Vanessa, he saw her making her way downstairs, holding the phone to her ear.

"Yeah… No, I know what you mean… Right… Right… Well, I'm not sure exactly. We've not talked about it yet. We were waiting until after the party to talk about that… No, I understand… I'll go talk to him about it now… Okay, Starla… Yeah, I'll call you back… Okay. I love you, too! Bye." As she hung up the phone, she threw it across the room gently- she didn't want to break it, after all- and let out a frustrated groan. "Okay, so Baby, when do you want to get married? We need to set a date so it can be embossed in the same napkins that we don't care what color they are!" She sat down at the table and put her head in both her hands. "They love us. They love us. They love us. They're doing this because they love us." This had become her morning mantra that she repeated every morning. It had become as vital a part of her morning as her first cup of coffee.

"We don't call them crazed fans, we call them moms." When she heard Zac voice the same line that he'd said in an interview a couple years ago, she lifted her head out of her hands and turned to look at him as he slid down in the chair next to her.

"You may call them moms, but I call them the Crazies!" He let out a small chuckle and held his arms out to her. She took the hint and stood to move into his lap, wrapping her hands around his neck and leaning in to press a small kiss to his neck.

"I hope that they just let us plan the actual wedding the way we want it. It is our wedding, after all, right? I mean, you did propose to me, not our entire families, right?"

His response was to merely lift her left hand to his lips and place a small kiss to the diamond that rested perfectly on her finger, since they had taken it to be sized as soon as they got home. "Go shower," he told her. "We told your parents we'll be there in a couple of hours. Mom, Dad, and Dylan will be leaving San Luis in about ten minutes." Vanessa just gave him a confused look as if questioning how he already knew that. "Mom called me this morning before she talked to you and had already asked me about the date. I told her that we hadn't talked about it yet. Apparently, she didn't like my response so she called you." She just rolled her eyes at their moms' impatience and he let out a laugh at the reaction he knew she'd have to his news.

"Seriously?" she asked. "You've got to be kidding me." She stood up at that point and moved to the stairs. She paused at the bottom step and look at Zac over her shoulder. "They are so lucky we love them!" He shook his head and laughed once more as he watched her make her way the rest of the way upstairs and to the shower.

About an hour and a half later, the couple pulled into the driveway of the Hudgens' house. Vanessa couldn't help but notice that only one of her parents' cars was there, causing her to voice her curiosity.

"Hm. Mom's car is missing. That's odd."

"Maybe she changed her mind and went out to pick up some Scott white, paper napkins instead of trying to fight over the color."

"Yeah, because we could be so lucky," she said as they got out of the car.

As they made their way up to the porch steps, Vanessa noticed something that caught her attention hidden in the bushes off to the left of the porch. As she leaned in to get a closer look, it became apparent that it was a bicycle. One that she didn't recognize. Her parents lived in a neighborhood that was fairly popular and housed a lot of families. It was also right next door to Stella's school, which meant that she not only walked to school, but a lot of her friends lived in the same neighborhood and spent a lot of time at the Hudgens. It took a while for Stella to believe that her friends came over to spend time with her and not try to catch a glimpse of her famous sister. She even went through a period of time after the second High School Musical- a time in her sister's career where things started to really take off for her- when she wouldn't have any of her friends over, even those that she had known since they were in preschool and therefore Vanessa knew them too when she was ten and they were three, well before anything started professionally for her. With all of Stella's friends constantly at the house, Vanessa quickly learned what each of their modes of transportation were and what they all looked like. This was one that she was not familiar with and it piqued her curiosity.

"I wonder whose bike that is?" she questioned out loud.

"What?" Zac asked.

"That bike. It's a new one to me. I know all of Stella's friends' bikes and I've never seen that one before."

"You read too much into things. Maybe one of her friends got a new one," he pointed out as Vanessa placed her key in the lock and proceeded to unlock the door. As she pushed the door open and began to walk into the living room where she heard the TV on, Zac turned his back to close and lock the door.

"Mom? Dad?" Vanessa called into the house. "Where are you guys?" As she walked into the doorway of the living room, the sight that greeted her was enough to stop her in her tracks. There, on the couch, sat- well, laid- her fourteen year old sister with another body on top of her. "Whoa," she said under her breath.

"Hey, Baby, did you find where your parents-". He immediately stopped when he felt Vanessa's lips on his own. Not knowing how to respond, he brought his arms up and placed them on her hips in an effort of drawing her closer and not caring why Vanessa suddenly felt the need to give him this type of attention- especially in her parents' home, a place where any display of her affection always made him slightly uncomfortable. As he took a step backwards so that they were leaning against the door and deepened the kiss, Vanessa pulled back and caught him off guard. "Wow. What was that for? I mean, not that I'm complaining, but-"

"Nothing. It just dawned on me that I hadn't given you a proper greeting this morning," she said as she ran her fingers through his hair. She was looking him in the eyes, hoping that he couldn't pick up on the fact that she was hiding something. He squinted his eyes and studied her face.

"What are you hiding?" he asked accusingly.

"What? Nothing," she told him as she began to squirm in his arms. Crap! I'm busted, she thought to herself. I need to somehow warn Stella.

"Babe, I can read you like a book. I know that you're hiding something. Your eyes are giving you away." Suddenly, it dawned on him that she didn't even make it into the living room before her attack on him. "Wait a minute. There's something in the other room that you don't want me to see." He started to pull away from her and walk towards the living room when she tugged on his arm.

"Have I told you that I love you?" she asked in her angelic voice when he turned back to face her.

"Van-" he started.

"I mean, 'cause I do. I love you so much…" she let her voice trail off as she stood on her tiptoes trying to reach his mouth once more, only to have him put his hand up to stop her.

"I love you, too, but what do you not want me see? If you don't tell me, I'm going in there and I'll find out for myself."

"Zac, it's not a big deal-"

"Then why are you not telling me?"

"Because I can-" She stopped when he started to walk away. "Zac? Zac, wait! Zac, don't! Baby! Stella!" Vanessa called out to her sister in warning before running after Zac herself. She didn't get but just a few feet before running into Zac's back, which had tensed up with the sight in front of him. She took a tentative peek around his back to take in the sight before them.

Stella was sitting up with the doe- eyed expression that she and Vanessa both had gotten from their mom. The boy that was on the couch with her was wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, looking just as sheepish as Stella.

"Zac!" she exclaimed while jumping up from the couch and running to her soon-to-be brother-in-law, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Uh-huh," he said, not returning the hug and giving the boy the stare down.

"Hey, Stellz," Vanessa started, only to be cut off by Zac.

"Who are you?" he asked the boy.

"You must be Craig," Vanessa said, referring to the boy that her sister told them about on her birthday- the one she had her first date with- and being the first of the group to remember their manners in the process.

"Um, no, actually I'm Jacob," the boy said, standing to shake Vanessa's hand.

"Jacob?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows while shooting a look at her younger sister who was still standing next to a glowering Zac. Stella knew Zac enough to know that he was trying hard to bite his tongue and not say anything that could possibly get him in trouble with her sister or- worse yet- their father. Stella felt a hand on her shoulder and sneaked a peak at Zac only to regret looking at him as soon as she did so when she saw the fire in his eyes and felt his grip on her shoulder tighten.

"It's nice to meet you, Jacob," Vanessa told him, placing emphasis on his name and hoping that Stella picked up on her meaning. "I'm Vanessa, Stella's older sister, and that's Zac, my fiancé."

"Nice to meet you, too, Vanessa. I've heard a lot about you two."

"Yeah, we wish we could say the same about you," Zac finally spoke up. He felt Stella begin to fidget under the weight of his hand on her shoulder. He immediately remembered the manners that his mom taught him many years ago, so he let go of Stella's shoulder and moved across the room to shake the younger man's hand, taking great pleasure in squeezing it harder than he normally would and watching the boy struggle to not let his discomfort be seen.

Vanessa shared a look with her sister before speaking up. "Hey, where are Mom and Dad?"

"I don't know. They told me this morning that they had to go out for a few hours and that they should be back about the same time that Zac's parents get here."

"Uh-huh, yeah, well, that should be in about fifteen minutes or so." Vanessa told her with a hidden message of Get this boy out of here if you want to see him again.

"And?" Stella asked.

"And that means you should go before Greg catches you," Zac told Jacob, not bothering to hide his bluntness. "Don't let us keep you from anything."

"Zac!" Stella exclaimed.

"He's right, I should be going. I'll talk to you in a little bit," Jacob told Stella.

"Well, here, let me walk you to the door," Stella said, making a big deal out of taking Jacob's hand in hers and walking in the direction of the front door, but not before shooting a glare in Zac's direction. As the younger ones left the room, Zac looked at Vanessa and noticed the daggers she was silently shooting at him.

"What?" he asked. "What's that look for?"

"Seriously?" she questioned him.

"Seriously what?" No sooner was the question out of his mouth did he unexpectedly feel a hand hit him on the back of his head. "Ow!" Bringing his hand up to rub the back of his head, he slowly turned to see his fiancée's sister giving him the glare that had become so common for the day- and it was only 9:50 in the morning. "What was that for?"

"Seriously?" she asked, repeating the question she didn't know her sister had asked him a few seconds before. "Could you be any ruder to him?"

"Stella, he was all over you! Why do you have a boy in the house while you're all alone anyway?"

"What are you, my dad?"

"Stella-" Vanessa started, her voice considerably softer than Zac's.

"No, Nessa, I'm sorry that you have to hear this, but Zac, you're not my dad, nor are you my brother! Who gave you the right to be so protective of me and to tell me what to do? If Mom and Dad had come home and caught Jacob here, then I would have dealt with it. But you're not my brother yet, so quit trying to be! I've already got one older sibling who likes to tell me what to do, I don't need another!" Upon finishing her speech, Stella turned on her heel and raced from the room and up the stairs, leaving Zac and Vanessa staring after her.

"Seriously?" Zac asked. "Can you believe her? She's more of a drama queen than Ashley! What was that all about? I thought she liked that I looked out for her?"

"Zac, she does like when you look out for her. I think it makes her feel special. She feels like she's finally got an older brother. But she is only fourteen. You've never been a fourteen year old girl before; I have. Let me go talk to her." Seeing Zac nod in agreement, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a small kiss before making her way to the stairs and started the climb, only to make it not even halfway up before the front door opened and the sound of both mothers' voices stopped her.

"Vanessa, sweetie, come here and have a seat. Let's get started. We've got a lot to discuss and some final decisions that need to be made today," her mother called out to her.

"Mom, I'll be down in a few minutes. Stella just needs me to-"

"Sweet Girl, we don't have time!" Starla spoke up. "Some of the decisions have time tables on them and we need to get busy."

Catching Zac's eye, she slowly came down the few steps that she had already ascended and rolled her eyes. Struggling to not let the laugh escape that he was holding in, he leaned down to give her a quick kiss before letting her pass through the living room into the kitchen. Watching her sit down at the kitchen table as their moms spread out the notebooks containing their notes, he turned his focus to the top of the stairs and the bedroom door that had been slammed closed just a few moments prior and was now drowning out the sound of the loud music. He allowed only one thought to run through his mind.

I wonder how much of what Stella said she really meant. How fixable is this? I hate when any of the Hudgens are upset at me.