Friday night at eleven-thirty, Gabe snuck out of his room, taking care not to wake his brothers. The entire Bolton household, save himself, of course, was asleep, and he knew that Shane's party would last until at least two in the morning. Creeping down the stairs, he ran a hand through his hair and adjusted the black jacket he was wearing. He then slipped out the front door and began the walk to his friend's house.
"Gabe!" Courtney shrieked as she saw her date walk through the door. "I've been waiting for you!" She yanked him into the middle of the room and shoved a beer can into his hand before taking one for herself.
Gabe eagerly opened the can and rapidly drank the contents of it. He then reached for another one. Once finished with that, he walked over to Shane, who appeared to be drunk. "Hey, dude, got any cigarettes?" he inquired.
"Yeah. They're on the table," Shane slurred.
Hurrying over to the dining room table, Gabe located a cigarette. After lighting it, he brought it to his mouth and blew while standing with his feet crossed and one hand placed on the wall.
"Hey, Gabe!" shouted Courtney. "Let's go! There's still bedrooms available!"
Gabe quickly finished off his cigarette and threw it carelessly into the ash tray that was beside him. He then followed Courtney upstairs and into Shane's bedroom, where he locked the door.
"Just to tell you, I'm not a virgin, so don't think you have to go all fucking easy on me," Courtney told Gabe. "I can't stand when guys think they have to be gentle. I like rough sex." She licked her lips.
"Well, you're in luck, cause so do I." Gabe tore Courtney's tight black dress off. "Now, get ready for the best damn night of your life."
Two hours later, Gabe put his clothes back on and left the room, abandoning Courtney, who was asleep in Shane's bed. He knew what his parents would say if they found out that he was having sex, and just the very thought of their words made him laugh aloud. When Troy and Gabriella had told their children about sex, they had encouraged them to wait until marriage. They didn't even think it was right to touch one another in a sexual way or see each other naked before the wedding rings were on their fingers. Maybe that's why my fucking parents had so many damn kids, he said to himself. They were so fed up with being fucking prude that when they finally got to have fun, they couldn't stop. I don't see how it was fun for Dad to only have sex with one girl in his entire life, but I guess he's just so damn old-fashioned to think.
"Dude! What up?" Dave, one of Gabe's friends, asked as he stumbled over to him. Clearly, he had had too many drinks that night.
Glancing at the clock on the living room wall, Gabe replied, "I was just grabbing a quick cigarette and another beer before going home."
"Why go home?" Dave spoke.
"Two words: lame parents," came Gabe's answer as he rolled his brown eyes. "They don't understand the meaning of fun." Walking over to the table, he took a cigarette between his fingers and lit it. Once he was done, he tossed it into the ash tray and headed into the kitchen, where he grabbed a can of cold beer from the refrigerator.
"Gabe!" Sasha, one of Courtney's friends, shouted, her heels clicking on the floor, as she rushed over to Gabe. "Do you have fifteen minutes?"
"Yeah, sure," shrugged Gabe.
"Great! I just checked and there's a bedroom open, so what do you say?"
Immediately putting his beer down, Gabe allowed Sasha to take his hand and pull him upstairs and into a bedroom. Wow, two in one night! he thought. This is fucking wonderful!
The next morning, Gabe walked through the doors of the Bolton house to see Troy and Gabriella sitting at the table with cups of coffee and French toast, Troy in his suit and tie and Gabriella still in pajamas. Evidentially, they were having breakfast together before Troy had to leave for work.
Upon hearing the front door quietly creak open, Troy and Gabriella turned their heads.
"You went to that party, didn't you, Gabe?" Gabriella spoke.
"Uh...no...I just went out for an early morning run," Gabe lied.
"Gabe, don't lie to us," Troy told his son. "I can smell cigarette smoke and beer. You were at that party your mom was telling me you wanted to go to the other day." His voice was stern. "Go to your room. You're grounded for the rest of the month. No TV, no internet, no video games, no texting, no phone calls, no going out with friends, and, especially, no parties."
"But Dad-"
"No 'buts.' Give me your phone, then get up those stairs and into your room."
"My phone? Dad, no!" exclaimed Gabe.
"No texting or phone calls while you're grounded." Troy repeated while holding out his hand.
Reluctantly, Gabe snatched his phone from his pocket, slammed it into Troy's hand, then stomped upstairs. "I hate you, Dad!" he shouted before disappearing into his room.
"I'm sure he doesn't mean that," Gabriella quickly comforted as she grabbed one of Troy's hands and laid her cheek on his shoulder, knowing that even if he didn't show it, he was somewhat hurt by his son's words.
Wrapping an arm around Gabriella, Troy pressed a kiss into her hair before glancing over at the clock. "I gotta get going," he announced with a sigh. He rose from his seat, took both his and Gabriella's plates, forks, and coffee cups into the kitchen, then headed toward the front door, where he waited for his wife. When she approached him, he took both her hands in his and leaned in to kiss her lips. "I love you," he smiled.
"I love you, too," Gabriella returned.
Troy placed a hand on Gabriella's stomach, where a small baby bump was beginning to form. "You have your appointment this morning, right?"
Gabriella nodded. "Yeah."
"Who's watching the kids?"
"Well, T.J. and Juliet agreed to keep an eye on the younger ones. Eli would, too, but he's going to be in and out since he'll be taking Daniel to baseball. It's not a major appointment today, it's just to talk about how I'm feeling and stuff, so it shouldn't take too long."
"I wish I could go with you. I promise that I will next time, though."
"Sounds good," came Gabriella's response.
"Alright, well I gotta get going. Love you." Troy gave Gabriella another kiss.
"Love you," said Gabriella with a smile.
Later that day, Gabriella stepped into the house after her doctor's appointment to see nothing but chaos. Juliet was in the middle of the living room holding Jordyn, who was crying, T.J. was talking to an angry Colby, Karina was sitting in a chair chatting on the phone, and Carly was standing in a corner, her arms crossed over her chest and a pout on her face.
"Mom, you're here! Thank goodness!" Juliet exclaimed.
"What's going on?" asked Gabriella.
"Carly and Colby wanted to watch a movie and they were fighting over which one, then while T.J. and I were trying to work out the problem, we asked Karina to keep an eye on Jordyn since soon after you left, she threw up, so I didn't want to leave her alone for even a minute, and all she did was sit there talking on the phone. Then, Jordyn walked up to her and she yelled at her to go away, so Jordyn started crying."
Without even taking a minute to set her purse down, Gabriella took her youngest daughter from Juliet. "Did she only throw up once?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Well, I'll take care of her now. You should go start getting ready for the art program. Dad's gonna be home in an hour."
"You don't need any more help?" Juliet checked.
"No, I don't think so. I have T.J., and Eli should be back with Daniel soon, so they can help. And Gabe...he didn't leave the house at all, did he?" Suddenly, the events of early that morning flew back to Gabriella.
"I didn't see him," Juliet replied before heading upstairs and into one of the bathrooms that was in the house to shower.
"Gabe!" Gabriella called up the stairs. "Could you come down here and help with your brother and sister, please?"
A minute later, Gabe appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "I'm not taking Jordyn again," he announced immediately. "Taking care of babies...not my thing. Too much work."
Ignoring her son's remarks, Gabriella told him, "I need you to help T.J. with Colby and Carly. They're arguing right now. Jordyn threw up this morning, so I gotta go take her temperature."
At that moment, the door swung open and Troy walked in. "I got done earlier than I thought I would," he announced, walking up to Gabriella and kissing her on the lips. "How are you, sweetheart? Everything go okay at the doctor?"
Gabriella nodded, finally allowing her purse to fall off her arm and onto the end post of the stair rail. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine."
"Daddy!" shouted Carly as she ran up to Troy and hugged him.
"Hey, honey," Troy greeted, embracing his daughter in return. "I didn't see you yet this morning." Smiling, he lifted her up and placed her on his shoulders.
"Juliet said that Jordyn threw up this morning while I was gone," said Gabriella, "So I was just about to go up and take her temperature."
"She threw up?" Troy repeated.
Gabriella nodded. "Yeah. And don't forget, you need to get yourself ready to go to the art program with Juliet. She's upstairs getting ready for it right now."
"Will you be okay if I leave?"
"I'll be fine. Eli will be home any second, so I'll have him, and T.J.'s here."
"Sweetie, Eli's going over to Abby's later for her birthday. He told me he was getting there around three and that they were hanging out with friends before he took her out for dinner. And T.J.'s going out with Sarah." Sarah was T.J.'s girlfriend.
Letting out a sigh, Gabriella said, "Well, I'll have Gabe...I know he's not too fond of helping with the younger ones, especially Jordyn, but he'll just have to deal with it. I mean, he's grounded, so what else is there for him to do? And anyway, you can't not go with Juliet after you told her you would. You haven't spent time with her in a while."
"Yeah." Troy placed Carly back onto the ground. "I mean, I really want to go with her, but I'm just worried about you, especially since you're pregnant and all."
"Hun, I take pregnancies really well. You know that. I only have a slight bit or morning sickness in the beginning every now and then and I get headaches every so often, but other than that, I'm perfectly fine," assured Gabriella. "Now I gotta go take Jordyn's temperature." She turned toward the staircase and, letting her hand touch the railing lightly, began climbing the stairs. Once in the upstairs hall, she turned left and entered one of the bathrooms. She then carefully set Jordyn down on the counter and, after digging through several drawers, pulled out an ear thermometer. Now, Gabriella was normally a very neat and organized person, but with nine kids, it was hard to keep every room in top shape at all times, so it wasn't uncommon to have to spend time searching for a specific item.
"You don't have a fever," murmured Gabriella, half to herself, a minute later when the thermometer beeped, indicating that it was finished reading her daughter's temperature. "Does your tummy hurt?" she queried in a louder tone as she pulled an alcohol wipe from the medicine cabinet and used it to disinfect the thermometer before putting it back in its place.
"No," said Jordyn, shaking her head back and forth swiftly and kicking her feet around restlessly.
"I think you must've just eaten something your tummy didn't like." Lifting her daughter into her arms again, Gabriella exited the bathroom, flipping the light switch off on her way out.
"Mom," Karina, who had finally gotten off the phone and gone up to her room, spoke.
"Yeah?" acknowledged Gabriella.
"When are you gonna take me to buy make-up?"
"Honey, you're only in fifth grade. You don't need make-up yet, and I don't want you wearing it. A little lip gloss is okay, but you don't need mascara and all that stuff yet."
"But Isabelle wears it!" Isabelle was Karina's best friend, and the most popular girl in fifth grade.
Gabriella suppressed a groan. She always tried to like all her children's friends, but she had never seemed to be able to like Isabelle. The few times Karina had insisted she sleep over, she had been awfully rude. She'd gotten sassy with both Troy and Gabriella, made messes she hadn't bothered to even try to clean up, and her general attitude proved that she lived under a roof that offered no discipline. She worshipped the dirty blonde curls that cascaded over her shoulders and stopped in the middle of her back and lived for tight, low cut tank tops that revealed more than what any ten year old girl should reveal, and shorts that barely covered her butt. In truth, she looked more like a high school junior trying to impress all the senior guys than an elementary school girl. Gabriella didn't understand how such a girl could have a name like Isabelle. In her mind, that was a name that should belong to someone such as the queen of England. "Sweetie, listen. You're still young. You don't need to worry about make-up, even if Isabelle's wearing it. You-"
"But Isabelle said that all the guys like when girls wear make-up," Karina interrupted.
"Honey, guys should be the furthest thing from your mind right now," Gabriella responded. "You're only in fifth grade. What would you even do with a boyfriend if you had one? At your age, he probably wouldn't be able to pay to take you to dinner or anything."
"But we could just hang out!"
"Rina," Gabriella started, using her daughter's nickname, "I don't want you hanging out with a boy. Unless he's just a friend and you're hanging out somewhere like at home where Dad and I can keep an eye on you, I don't want you to be with boys."
"But Isabelle-"
"Isabelle's parents have different rules," explained Gabriella.
Karina rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you have to be so strict," she remarked in a bitter tone as she stomped over to her door and slammed it shut.
"What's going on?" inquired Troy, who had just emerged from the master bedroom where he had been getting changed into shorts and a t-shirt.
Gabriella let out a deep sigh. "Karina wants to wear make-up and have a boyfriend," she explained.
"A boyfriend?" repeated Troy. "No way."
"I told her she couldn't have one."
"Good. I don't need all my little girls growing up faster than they already are." Troy leaned over to kiss Jordyn's forehead, then told Gabriella, "If Juliet's ready, we're gonna head out. See you in a couple hours." He connected his lips with hers. "Call if you need anything. I love you."
"Love you, too," returned Gabriella with a smile. "Have fun."
As she walked through the doors of East High School with her father, Juliet caught sight of the pair of deep brown eyes she had been dreaming about ever since the beginning of the school year. Those eyes belonged to Jackson Baylor, the only son of her parent's friends Zeke and Sharpay Baylor. Every so often, Zeke and Sharpay would visit the Boltons and bring Jackson, who had made friends with Daniel after being on his baseball team while he was still in middle school, and their seven-year-old twin daughters, Myranda and Mia. Whenever they came over, Juliet made sure to make herself look extra nice, and a couple times she'd even had a short, somewhat awkward conversation with Jackson, but nothing more ever happened. In school, they would look at each other if they passed one another walking down the halls, but they never spoke there. However, Jackson hadn't shown any sign of being interested in dating someone else, so Juliet was inclined to think that he secretly liked her as well as she secretly liked him.
"Hi, Juliet!" a girl with long, straight, dirty blonde hair that was parted neatly on the side and pinned out of her face with a hair clip greeted with a wave. She wore slim glasses with thick, black frames and light make-up. Her outfit of flare leg jeans, and white flip-flops was simple, yet attractive.
"Hey, Christina!" Juliet returned. Christina was her best friend, and had been since third grade.
"Hi, Mr. Bolton," Christina said when she reached Juliet.
"Hi," Troy spoke. Christina was one of the Bolton kids' friends that Troy and Gabriella particularly liked. She was always polite, always smiling, and, in general, a very good influence, unlike Shane and Isabelle. While it was custom for her to greet her friend's parents, part of the reason she did it was because she had a small crush on Daniel, who was actually the same age as her, and wanted to make sure she was nice to his family. She would've been in eighth grade along with him as well, but she had started kindergarten a year early, making her one grade ahead of the other kids her age.
"Did you see that Jackson was here?" Christina whispered in Juliet's ear. She was the only one that knew of the crush Juliet had on Jackson.
Juliet nodded with a light blush and a smile.
Letting out a sigh, Troy managed a small, bittersweet smile. He knew exactly what the look on his daughter's face meant. He had seen it on Gabriella's face several times throughout the time he had known her. Before he gathered enough courage to ask her out, he had caught her looking at him while talking to her friends with that expression on her face. When they first started dating in their sophomore year of high school, that look had crossed her face whenever he would give her a compliment or wrapped his arm around her waist to cuddle her. In their junior year when they had their first kiss, that look came upon her, and it had returned when he told her he loved her a few months later. The night he proposed to her, he saw it again. When they were newlyweds, that look had come over her again while they were experiencing what it was like to make love to each other for the first time. So from that, he could safely conclude that his daughter had a crush on someone. Instantly, he started to worry. What if she started dating, and the guy she was with hurt her? What if he didn't treat her right? What if, when she dated, she wasn't his little girl anymore?
What do you think? I know Juliet's not little, but Troy still thinks of all his girls as his little girls:) Please review!
