Not many chapters left now, this was never going to be as long as my other stories, not sure I have the will power for that length now. This is my last week at college, at this point I finish Thursday, due to the tutor cancelling my friday class, but tomorrow may be the last day because of the whole strike action thing, just need to find out if my other tutor is striking on Thursday. None of this matters to you, except it's one less thing getting in the way of updates. I'm going to try and pick it up as soon as I've finished. The next chapter shouldn't take to long, because it's the one I've really been wanting to write.


"You sure you're gonna be okay?"

"You can't ditch school, Troy." Paige sighed, becoming irritated by his repeated question. "I'm okay. Aiden doesn't know where you live. He can't find me." She paused. "Your mom is only going to be gone a couple of hours."

"You'll call if you want me to come back?"

"I won't." Paige huffed. "Just go, and say hi to Gabriella for me."

Troy smiled faintly, remembering the day just over a week ago that he had finally introduced his girlfriend to his cousin, after, of course, the latter had promised to keep quiet about what was going on. "Will do."

"She did like me, didn't she?"

"Right now." He frowned. "I think she likes you more than she likes me."

"Maybe if you told her..."

"I've already told you that's not an option."

"Why?"

"You have no idea how much it'll hurt her." He claimed. "She's sensitive enough, without having to go through that again."

He watched as Paige's eyes narrowed at the words. "Again?"

He shook his head. "I've already said too much. Look, just drop it, I'm looking after her. I'm looking after her the only way I know how."

"By hiding things from her?"

"By protecting her from things like this."

"You're being ridiculous." Paige concluded. "Especially now Aiden's in Albuquerque. What if he finds her?"

Troy frowned as Paige brought up the text from weeks before, before defending his decision to continue hiding the situation from his girlfriend. "He doesn't know her, he wouldn't go near her."

"That's not what you were saying a few weeks ago."

"It's different now."

"How? Aiden likes pretty girls Troy." Paige reminded him. "He likes pretty girls. His type is pretty, that's all he cares about. If he ever sees her, he'll approach her."

Troy shook his head, suddenly anxious to get out of the house. "I'm already late, I'll check with Gabs, see if she'll come over after school, okay? As long as you keep your mouth shut."

-FP-

"So." Taylor teased. "Have you told Troy about this guy yet?"

"Things are good right now." Gabriella sighed. "I don't want to ruin it."

"Gabs." Her friend frowned. "You know what he's like, if you don't tell him, and he sees you with a guy he doesn't know, he'll either jump to conclusions or decide you're being abducted, with him, most likely door number two, either way, this guy gets hurt."

"Troy wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Usually." Taylor corrected. "He usually wouldn't, but this involves you." She hesitated. "I don't get what the big deal is Gabs. I mean, nothing's going on between you and this guy, right? Where's the harm in telling Troy about him?"

Gabriella sighed. "Troy's been... protective. I thought it was because of what I said, about maybe taking a break, but it's not, this is something else. He basically yelled at me yesterday for saying I'd walk home from school alone. I told him I didn't mind and that I didn't want to wait until after practice, but he wouldn't let me. If he's like that over me walking home, something I've done loads of times before, what's he going to be like if I tell him I've kinda become friends with some guy that just approached me at the park?"

"Maybe he's got a point." Taylor reasoned. "You should tell him."

"Why?" Gabriella snapped, stopping in front of her locker. "He's keeping things from me, why can't I keep things from him?"

"Is that was this is about?" Taylor queried. "You're punishing him?"

"Excuse me?"

"He's hurting you by keeping something from you." Taylor explained. "So you figured you'd hurt him by doing the same?" Gabriella stayed quiet. "It's not the same, you know. He's trying to protect you, you're trying to hurt him."

"How do you know?" Gabriella put in, taking out the books she needed for her first classes. "How do you know he's not just saying that?"

"Chad told me." Taylor confirmed. "What happened to you trusting Troy with your life?"

"Chad knows!"Gabriella exclaimed. "He'll tell Chad whats going on but not me!" She paused, turning to her friend. "And he told you! Am I the only one who doesn't know?"

"I don't know." Taylor corrected. "Chad just told me that Troy explained it to him, and that it is about protecting you. He wouldn't say any more, believe me, I tried."

"I'll tell him about Aiden when he tells me what's going on." Gabriella decided, slamming her locker shut.

"This is ridiculous." Taylor claimed, follwing her friend down the hallway. "You're mad, I get it, we all get it, even Troy gets it, but this, this is stupid, tell him about Aiden before he finds out from someone else and jumps to conclusions."

"Who else is he going to find out from?" Gabriella responded. "You're the only person I've told, are you going to tell him?"

Taylor watched as her friend stormed off, unaware of how they'd got from an everyday conversation to a tensed disagreement.

-FP-

"Can I have her back now?" Troy called through the door of his cousin's room.

"No." Paige's voice returned, followed by the distinct giggle of his girlfriend.

"What if I said please?"

"Babe you've had me all day." Gabriella pointed out, looking towards the door. "You gotta learn to share."

"I didn't have to share you before."

She laughed at the sound of his whining. "Which is why you have to learn now."

"What are you two even doing in there?"

"Girl stuff." The blonde answered. "Want us to paint your nails?"

"No." Troy refused. "I want my girlfriend."

"Good things come to those who wait." Gabriella responded, unable to contain her laughs.

"Is that a promise?"

Gabriella bit her lip, managing to stifle her amused response before answering. "Not while your mom's in the house."

"Paige!" Troy called. "Tell mom you want to go out."

Both girls laughed at the comment.

"Is he always like that?" Paige queried as she heard her cousin give up and move away from the door.

Gabriella nodded. "Pretty much, except recently, he's been a little off, it looks like things are going back to normal." She hesitated, glancing towards the door then back at the blonde. "Why are you staying with Troy, again?"

Paige frowned, instantly catching on to what was happening. "Just some stuff going on at home. It's better I'm not there."

"That bad?"

"You could put it like that."

"He's been pretty sketchy on the details." Gabriella continued, becoming more frustrated as the conversation continued. "Is it really that bad?"

"I guess." Paige continued to evade the questions. "Your hair looks really good like that. I should teach you."

Gabriella nodded, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Have you ever had anyone in your life, that treats you like you're weak? Like you can't look after yourself? I hate that."

Paige sighed. "Gabriella, he doesn't want you to know. I promised."

She watched as the brunette rolled her eyes, the annoyance in her tone obvious as she responded. "You aswell? I swear, anyone would think I'm incapable of doing anything myself."

"If it helps," Paige started. "He won't tell me why he doesn't want you to know. I've been trying to get him to tell you for weeks. He won't listen."

"So you tell me." Gabriella tried. "He's not the boss of you."

"They've been good to me." Paige reasoned. "This is the one thing I can do. Aunt Lucy and Uncle Jack won't let me help, all I can do is help him."

"You're helping him protect his male ego." Gabriella claimed. "Not me."

"Gab..." Paige turned to the door, listening for any sound on the other side. "Okay." She paused. "But you can't tell him I told you." She hesitated again, glancing back at the door. "I had this boyfriend..."

"Okay?"

"Not really." Paige frowned. "I was stupid, I should have known better, I DID, know better, but I thought that..."

She jumped when the door slammed open, took in her cousin as he stormed into the room without a word, grasping his girlfriend's arm and pulling her up. He turned on his cousin, still gripping onto Gabriella. "We had a deal."

"She should know, Troy." Paige excused. "Someone has to tell her."

"I'll tell her." He claimed. "I'll tell her when it's over and she doesn't need to worry about it."

"Still here, you know." Gabriella frowned, trying pull out of the tight grip. "And I want to know."

He pulled her from the room sending one last glare at his cousin before leading her down the stairs and towards the kitchen, where he finally relaxed his grip. She turned to him, watching for a while as he paced.

"You're mad at me." She observed moments later. "You're mad at me, yet you're the one keeping secrets." She failed to mention her own secret.

"You put her in an impossible position." Troy snapped. "Of course I'm mad. Why can't you just let me protect you? What's so bad about that?"

"I don't need protecting." Gabriella argued. "I'm not as weak as you like to think I am. I don't need you to look after me."

"I need you to be happy." He retorted, and his words almost immediately made her weaken, made the weak feeling of guilt run through her. "I need to know you're happy."

"I'll be happier when I know what's going on." She claimed, turning away from him.

"We've been through this." He tried. "You're better off not knowing. I'm sorry if that upsets you, but that's the way it is."

"If it was that bad," Gabriella fumed. "Then Paige would agree with you, she wouldn't have even thought about telling me, but she did, which tells me that you're making this bigger than it has to be."

"You're being difficult."

"And you're being an ass." She scowled, turning on her heel. "Call me when you decide to stop."

"Gab..."

"I have to go." She snapped. "I'm meeting a friend."

She stormed out of the door, heading towards the park where she had first met Aiden, sitting down on the familiar bench some twenty minutes later before taking out her cell and texting.

"You okay?"

She smiled softly, glancing up at the teen as he approached. "Had another fight with Troy."

"I was serious, you know." He teased. "When I said you should date me instead."

"What about your girlfriend?" She questioned. "The one you came here to find."

"Just about giving up." He sighed, his eyes flicking to her hair before meeting her eyes again. "She didn't exactly leave an address."

"You never did tell me why she ran off."

"She didn't." he claimed. "Her dad hated me, sent her away, it took a while for me to figure out she was here somewhere."

"Aiden." Gabriella frowned, noticing his eyes go to her hair again. "If you love her, you shouldn't give up on her."

"It's not as if she's tried to contact me."

"Doesn't mean you should give up."

"I guess not."

They fell into silence for a few seconds, before Gabriella broke it. "Have I got something in my hair?"

"What?" He asked. "No, why?"

"You keep looking at my hair."

"It looks nice." He claimed. "Did you do that yourself?"

"No." Gabriella admitted. "A friend of mine did, Paige. She said she'd teach me, but we haven't got round to it yet."

"Well," He decided, a newfound spark in his eye. "It's nice."

Gabriella frowned, noticing the change in his demeanour, unsure as to whether or not it was a good thing. "Thanks." She stood up. "I should probably go. I was kinda mad when I left Troy's, he'll probably start calling my house to check I got home soon."

Aiden nodded. "Tomorrow? Same time?"

She smiled. "Sure."


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