Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of the reviews! I'm glad everyone is liking the story! I hope everyone went and saw Charlie St. Cloud! Zac Efron once again proved that he really is the hottest man alive... I've been having such a Zac Efron craving that I watched all three HSM movies in a row last night! That was definitly the highlight of my summer (which would also prove that my summer has been so boring) but anyways, enjoy!


Pick Me Up

Chapter seven

Gabriella woke up to the next morning to clanking and clashing downstairs. The sound of something being mixed in the blender had her pulling a pillow over her ears to block out the sound. The curtains in front of her window were already pulled open and the window was open half way, letting in a cool breeze. She assumed that someone had already come in to try to get her to wake up, but she had been up late and slept like a rock until now.

After pulling on a pair of pants, and covering her tanned legs and flower patterned underwear, Gabriella shuffled out of her room in a wrinkled t-shirt and jeans. Her curls were tangled together; she only brushed her teeth before going downstairs, not bothering to get herself dolled up.

The stairs creaked under her feet and the front door was open to let the sunlight into the foyer. She made her way down the hallway towards the kitchen and when she got there, she saw that the kitchen table was set and the rest of the family, including Troy, were making breakfast.

"Why didn't anyone wake me? I could have helped," Gabriella said while walking towards the kitchen island, sitting down at one of the bar stools.

"We figured you needed your sleep after yesterday," Mr. Montez said, sliding over a large glass that was filled with a fruit smoothie, she smiled, taking a sip from it.

Gabriella looked over at Troy who sent her a good morning smile when he caught her gaze. He was keeping an eye on the sausage sizzling in the pan on the stove and Mrs. Montez was next to him, stirring the eggs around until they formed into edible chunks.

"Aunt Tina called and invited you kids out for a boat ride today, Gabriella. Bethany will be there," Mrs. Montez said as she took the pan off of the stove and over to the table where she set it down in the middle.

"Who else is going?" Gabriella asked her mom, taking a seat at the kitchen table as everyone gathered around and put food on their plates. Troy was seated next to her, their elbows touched as they passed and scooped up food.

Mrs. Montez eyed her, knowing what she was asking.

"Serena is going too," Mrs. Montez said, passing Mr. Montez a bowl of fruit. "Don't be cynical about it, Gabriella. You need to get out of this house anyways. Serena isn't a bad person. She just doesn't make the best of decisions."

Troy looked over at Brandon who reacted with an eye roll. Brandon looked over at Gabriella who looked over at him with the same expression on her face. She popped a piece of fruit in her mouth and shook her head.

"What makes a bad person then, mom, if someone making bad decisions doesn't qualify?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah, explain that to us, mother," Brandon said, on his sister's side about this topic, and this topic only.

"Oh, stop now," Mrs. Montez said to Brandon, not appreciating being ganged up on. "A bad person is someone who cheats and deceives people…"

Troy took a drink of his orange juice, looking over at Brandon again, trying not to chuckle at the accuracy of those words with describing Serena. Brandon huffed and shook his head again, knowing that Troy was thinking the same thing he was.

"Also, someone who lies, definitely to their family," Mrs. Montez finished, causing Gabriella's fork to remain hovered over her food. "I know that Serena isn't the kind to lie, if anything, she's too honest."

Troy glanced over at Gabriella and saw the deep breath she took as her mother continued eating her meal. Gabriella's face grew sad and her posture changed from straight to slouch in only a few short seconds as she thought about what her mom said. Troy nudged her arm and exchanged a look with her, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"You know, I'm not really hungry," Gabriella said as she stood up, walking quickly away from the table and down the hallway. The rest of the family sitting at the table watched her leave, and Mr. and Mrs. Montez looked confused.

"She can't possibly hate Serena that much, can she?" Mr. Montez asked his wife, ignoring Brandon's comment about how anything is possible.

"Excuse me," Troy said as he stood up, pushing in his chair and going in the direction Gabriella went in.

Troy jogged up the stairs and made his way to Gabriella's room, wondering if she was more upset about having to spend her day with Serena or hearing the characteristics of a bad person according to her mom.

When Troy approached Gabriella's room, he saw that she was shifting through her dresser drawers, tossing out different colored bathing suits onto her bed. A beach bag was open next to the bathing suits and Gabriella didn't seem worried about throwing anything directly into it.

"What's up?" Troy asked as he leaned against the door frame.

"I don't have a bathing suit," Gabriella said to him, tossing a few more skimpy looking tops and bottoms of mismatched suits out of her drawer.

"No, I mean, what's with the quick escape?"

Gabriella closed the drawer she had been shifting through and sat down on her bed, taking out a towel from the beach bag and refolding it. Once it was tightly rolled up, she put it back, trying to find matching bathing suits.

"I'm a liar," she said with a shake of her head. Troy walked over to her desk chair and sat on it backwards so that his chest rested on the back and his arms folded around the back so that he faced her.

"No you're not," Troy said to her.

"Troy," Gabriella said somewhat angrily, stopping her frantic searching to look at him. "I picked you up from the freaking side of the road and brought you here to trick my whole family into thinking we're the perfect pair and to make my ex boyfriend jealous. What would I be considered?"

"A clever thinker?" Troy said unsurely.

"What happens if we're caught?" Gabriella asked Troy. "My mom will never forgive me. I never thought of that when I brought you here."

"Don't think so much about it," Troy said. "No one is going to hear anything from me."

"You're not who I'm worried about," Gabriella admitted.

"Don't psych yourself out, Gabriella," Troy said as he stood up from the chair and grabbed two parts of a bathing suit. A match.

"Here's a bathing suit," he said, smirking when she grabbed it out of his hands.

"You just had to pick the skimpiest one, didn't you?" Gabriella asked with a small laugh.

"Hey, it came out of your drawer," Troy chuckled, scurrying out of the room when he heard Mr. Montez's voice coming up the stairs and when Gabriella threw the bathing suit at him.

...

Brandon and Troy were waiting on the driveway for Gabriella. They were both in bathing suit bottoms and t-shirts and they were leaning against Brandon's car with sunglasses pulled over their eyes.

"At this rate, we're going to get there at sun set," Brandon said in annoyance as he looked at his water proof watch. His black sunglasses covered his eyes, but Troy guessed he had followed his statement with an eye roll.

"I don't get how it takes women so long to get ready. Especially since the only thing Gabriella has to put on is a bathing suit," Troy agreed.

The door leading into the garage was heard closing and Gabriella appeared with an unhappy look on her face. Her flip flops smacked against her feet as she walked towards the car. She was wearing beige shorts and a white shawl type sweater that revealed her toned stomach and baby blue bathing suit top, but kept her shoulders and back covered. She had a beige sunhat on that flopped around her head.

"Bethany's not coming," Gabriella stated while yanking the backseat car door open. "Mom and Aunt Tina are staging an intervention."

"For what?" Brandon asked as he got into the driver's seat, pulling out of the driveway once Troy shut the door.

"They want Serena and me to settle our differences once and for all. Mom didn't like that I didn't talk to Serena at the reunion," Gabriella answered, pulling her hat off and throwing it to the side.

Brandon adjusted the rearview mirror so that he could see Gabriella and he sighed, knowing that she wasn't happy.

"We don't have to go," Brandon said, causing Gabriella to raise her eyebrows.

"Yeah, and where are we going to go for the rest of the day in bathing suits?" Gabriella asked.

"To Timbers Lake," Brandon answered.

"We haven't gone there since high school, it probably reeks of pollution."

"Do you have any other suggestions?" Brandon asked in annoyance. "It's either the possibly smelly lake or an expensive yacht with Serena."

"The lake it is."

...

There was no sound other than the sound of the wind in the trees and the summer birds when they got out of the car. The parking lot was empty and the occasional grill was scattered around the lot. Since housing was built around the lake, this area was strictly a private area, but since Brandon and Gabriella knew a few people around the lake, they were allowed to come.

They made their way towards the beach area, and the guys carried the various towels and chairs they had brought with them. A cooler was the only thing Gabriella was carrying, and it was filled with what she assumed was beer and Coca Cola.

"It looks the same," Brandon said once they got to the water. He dropped what was in his arms on the ground, not bothering to organize it in any way.

"Yeah, if you ignore the houses," Gabriella agreed, seeing the houses that were tucked away at the lake's edge. They were all partially covered by trees, but the docks that protruded from the land hinted that they were all there.

"You don't see lakes like these in Albuquerque," Troy said as he flicked his flip flops off.

"Is that where you're from?" Brandon asked as he pulled his sunglasses over his eyes and grabbed a foam football from a bag.

"Yup," Troy said, carelessly pulling his shirt off.

Gabriella did a double take when she saw Troy's tanned, toned chest and she quickly wiped her lips with her sleeve as if she had gotten dirt or sand on them, but she was just making sure she wasn't drooling. She bit the inside of her cheek and grabbed a towel and a bottle of suntan lotion from her bag.

"I'll be on the dock," Gabriella announced, dragging herself away from the hotness that was Troy. Brandon and Troy jumped into the water, and before long, they were tossing the football back and forth while Gabriella stripped down to her bathing suit and laid on her towel to get her day's worth of sun.

Gabriella's eyes were squinted underneath her sunglasses and she could feel the heat of the sun already browning her skin. Her protective chap stick was drying up on her lips and she quickly applied more before the sun had a chance to turn her smooth lips into burnt ones.

She was aware of her brother and Troy a short ways from her and she noticed that they were getting along well as she heard them laughing and shouting at each other about the game they were playing. Gabriella rolled over on her stomach when she was getting tired of keeping her eyes shut.

"Psst, Gabriella."

Her eyes opened slowly when she heard a voice coming from the water and she leaned on her elbows and looked down at the water to see Kyle treading water in front of her. Her heart pounded, and he only smiled.

"What are you doing here?" Gabriella asked in a whisper, checking behind her to see that her brother and Troy were still playing catch.

He chuckled, flicking water from his hair with one quick shake of his head.

"I live over there," he said, pointing over to a house that had a shiny speed boat parked by a dock. The house that the dock belonged to was medium sized, but the whole back was almost completely overwhelmed by windows. It was definitely a sight to see—it was definitely expensive.

"Since when?"

"Since this year. I figured since I had the money to get a house, I'd move out of the apartment," he explained, smiling at her. He seemed to be surprisingly happy to see her, but she wasn't sure she was okay with that. "What brings you here? I see you're taking a day out for the guys."

"Yeah, it was kind of a spur of the moment kind of thing. We wanted to take a trip out here since we haven't been around for a while."

"Do you remember when we all came out here for the Fourth of July after graduation?"

"How could I forget?" Gabriella asked with a laugh. "You nearly killed me when you swung off of the rope by the giant tree and whacked me in the head with your foot."

"I gave you CPR afterwards, didn't I?" He laughed, smiling at the memory.

"I didn't need CPR."

"You could have fooled me," he replied, chuckling when she shook her head. She perched her chin on her arms that were crossed in front of her and looked down at him.

"Gabriella, who are you talking to?" Brandon called over to her. Gabriella's eyes widened and Kyle submerged under water and disappeared as Gabriella sat up, turning towards her brother.

"There was a baby turtle!" Gabriella lied.

"Don't you know that animals can't understand you, Gabs?" Brandon teased her, throwing the football at her. She screeched and caught the ball before it hit her in the head and stood up, throwing it back at him. "Get off your butt and get in the water!"

"I'll be there in a second."

Gabriella casually turned around and kicked her flip flops off, glancing over at the house with the windows. From where she stood she could see Kyle pulling himself up onto the dock and walking towards his house without a care in the world.

She walked onto the beach, and then made her way into the water. She plugged her nose and slipped underwater to get her hair wet, and then, after wiping her face dry of water with her hands, she joined Troy and Brandon.

"Do you two have suntan lotion on?" Gabriella asked, throwing the football over to Troy.

"Would you stop worrying, Gabs, I don't want to hear mom's voice at all during our get away."

"I do not sound like mom," she said, catching the ball when Brandon threw it over to her.

"What ever you say," Brandon replied, causing Gabriella to chuck the ball at him harshly, hitting him in the shoulder.

"Watch it, sis, or you'll be going under."

Gabriella laughed, picking up the football when it floated on top of the water after she missed it. The conversation slowly turned to something different; the weather, then sports, and even though the day wasn't how they expected it to be, Gabriella was having fun.

...

Troy, Gabriella, and Brandon were all sitting on their own towels, all of them dry after stopping their game a few hours ago. They were laughing and telling stories while eating junk food and drinking pop. Gabriella had put her shawl back on, but the guys were still just in their bathing suits.

The sky was darker now that the afternoon was setting in, and even though they could have easily gone home, they decided to live off of what they brought for a few more hours until they absolutely had to go home.

"Oh yeah, Gabriella would have fake weddings in the backyard all of the time! By the time she was in high school, she was already looking at wedding dresses," Brandon ignored Gabriella as she pelted him with Cheetos, and Troy laughed loudly as Gabriella whined for Brandon to stop talking about her childhood.

"Every girl does that, not just me!" Gabriella explained. "Just like you pretended you were a spy when you were little."

"Ah, I did that too, man," Troy laughed, taking a sip of pop.

"See, we all pretended to be someone we weren't when we were younger. I'm not that weird," Gabriella said, throwing another orange puff at her brother when he gave her a look that indicated that he thought otherwise.

"My sister-in-law got her wedding dress from Italy," Troy said since they were talking about Gabriella's obsession with weddings.

"No way!" Gabriella's eyes twinkled with excitement and surprise. "It must have been so expensive."

"My brother said they spent half their budget on that dress, so that's why they ended up having a small wedding," Troy answered.

"Was her dress pretty?" Gabriella asked.

"I guess."

"You guess?" Gabriella asked in shock. "She spent tons of money on a dress and you're not sure if it was pretty or not?"

"She's my brother's wife? Am I supposed to think she's pretty?" Troy asked, unsure. Brandon chuckled, shaking his head.

"You just had to bring up the dress, didn't you?" Brandon asked.

"I had no idea what I was getting myself into," Troy laughed, seeing Gabriella start to day dream slightly.

"I can't even imagine what kind of dress I'm going to wear," Gabriella sighed, knowing that this conversation was one she should be having with one of her friends, rather than her brother and fake boyfriend.

"Well, this is when I leave and let you two awkwardly talk about marriage," Brandon said. "I'm going to the car; do either of you need anything?"

"No, we're good." Troy said with a smile, looking over at Gabriella when Brandon left them alone. "So, you're a hopeless romantic and wedding fanatic, huh?"

"You could say that," Gabriella smirked. She stood up, grabbing Troy's hand to pull him up with her. "Let's walk."

Troy and Gabriella made their way towards the dock, holding hands since they knew they had shown little affection towards each other since they got there, and if they didn't want Brandon to get suspicious, they had to start now. They sat at the edge of the dock, swishing their feet in the water and stayed silent for a few minutes.

"What did you and Kyle talk about?" Troy asked.

Gabriella's mouth fell open and she looked over at Troy quickly, wondering how he could have possibly saw Kyle earlier that day. He only shrugged, leaning back on his hands, so that Gabriella had to look back to see him.

"You saw him?" Gabriella asked, looking out at the water that was reflecting the orange and red of the afternoon sun.

"Briefly," Troy answered. "How'd he find you here?"

"He lives in that house over there," Gabriella said, pointing to the house across the lake. "I didn't know that, though."

"Are you sure you didn't know that?" Troy asked, causing Gabriella to look over at him. She looked somewhat offended that he thought she was lying.

"Yes, I'm sure. I wouldn't have come if I had known I was going to see him."

"But you do want him to see us together to make him jealous, right? After all, that's one of the reason's I'm here."

Gabriella didn't say anything right away. She was trying to figure out what to say that didn't make her seem like she wanted to run into him whenever she could.

"I asked you here to make the people around me think that I wasn't going to end up alone for the rest of my life. When Kyle's around, old feelings come up, I wouldn't expect you to understand," Gabriella said coldly.

"Luckily for you, I do understand. But if you want him to believe that you're dating me, you might not want to flirt with him."

"What makes you think I was flirting with him?" Gabriella asked with snappiness in her voice.

"You couldn't stop smiling," Troy answered, running his hand underneath her hair and moving it so that it fell over her left shoulder.

Gabriella's arms prickled with the feeling of goose bumps appearing on her skin and she turned her head to look at him. He was looking at her intently for a few seconds, before looking out across the lake at the house that belonged to Kyle. The windows revealed the light of many lamps that were on in the house and someone was walking back and forth along an upstairs hallway, probably looking out at them.

He sat forward, running his fingertips along her back before kissing her for a long drawn out minute. Gabriella's hand instantly went to his bare chest, and he trailed his nose along her cheek before whispering in her ear.

"He's watching us."

Gabriella's heart sank, but at the time she didn't think anything of it. She looked into Troy's eyes as he moved back to sitting normally and she twirled her foot in the water, watching as rippled circles formed around it. Her lips tingled and tasted like a mix of Chap Stick and coke, but even though she knew that Troy had kissed her because he knew they were being watched, she couldn't keep her heart from pounding uncontrollably.

"We were just talking about the past," Gabriella told him. "That's all there is left."

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Gabriella," Troy said with a shrug. "I believe you."

"Uh, guys, I hate to break up this lovely moment you're having, but I think mom found out that we're not where we're supposed to be," Brandon said, stopping his jog once he got to the dock.

"We knew she'd figure out eventually," Gabriella said.

"Yeah, but she left three voice mails on my phone already and I think it's safe to say that we're dead when we get home."

"She'll think I'm a bad influence," Troy said, standing up and taking Gabriella's hand to help her up as well. He didn't seem too worried, which made Gabriella giggle quietly.

"Gabriella, this isn't funny, she said that if we're not home by nine, she's sending dad out to find us."

"What time is it?" Troy asked as they made their way off of the dock.

"Nine," Brandon said.

With that, the three of them started to run as if their life depended on it. Since Mr. Montez was getting involved, they knew that they were definitely in for a long lecture and potentially an end to their two week stay at the house. That wouldn't be good for any of them.

...

When Brandon pulled into the driveway, each of them let out a curse word when they saw Mrs. Montez standing on the sidewalk going to the front door with her hands on her hips and a very angry expression on her face. Brandon took the keys out of the ignition and Gabriella and Troy scurried out of the car with guilty looks on their faces.

"What were you three thinking?" Mrs. Montez asked once they were all standing in front of her. "I tried to get a hold of you, Brandon, and you didn't pick up your phone, and Gabriella you didn't even have yours with you!"

"We didn't think it was a big deal, mom. Gabriella shouldn't have to be forced to become friends with Serena if she doesn't want to," Brandon said honestly.

"Where did you even go?" Mrs. Montez asked, disregarding what her son said.

"We went to the lake. We're twenty six years old, mom, we don't have to tell you everything we do," Gabriella said in annoyance.

"That's where you're wrong," Mrs. Montez replied angrily. "If you're living under my roof, you will do as I say and tell me where you are going, do you understand?"

"Yes," the three of them said together.

"Good, now is there a reason why you boys look like lobsters?" she asked.

Gabriella sighed, knowing that they hadn't listened to her when she told them they needed suntan lotion on. She handed Troy her bag and walked past her mom, towards the front door.

"I'll get the aloe," she told them.

...

Mr. Montez sat on the recliner in the family room while watching the news. He wasn't the least bit concerned about the fact that the three kids had snuck off to a place they weren't meant to be because he knew that Karma would come back and bite them in the butt. And it had in some sorts because both Troy and Brandon were sprawled out in the family room, feeling the sunburn kick in.

Their backs were red from the sunburn and their shirts were being used as pillows while they waited for Gabriella to come back with something to relieve the pain. Brandon was sprawled out on the floor next to the fireplace that wasn't on, and Troy was lying on the couch, trying to pay attention to the news instead of his pain.

"Who's first?" Gabriella asked, holding Motrin and a green bottle of aloe in her hands.

"Me!" Brandon said quickly, his voice muffled because his face was pressed into his cool shirt.

Gabriella laughed and sat on the floor next to her brother, tossing him the pain killers, which he swallowed with no water easily. She squirted a swirl of the green gel on his back and he moaned in agony.

"I hate you," he told her as she rubbed it on, giggling.

"You should have listened to me," Gabriella said to him.

"You should have listened to me," Mr. Montez said to them. "If you would have gone where you were supposed to go, maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"They were just trying to help, Dad. It was my fault, not theirs," Gabriella said to her dad, looking over at him.

"I wanted to see Serena as much as Gabriella did," Brandon said. "I think it's all Serena's fault for being so evil."

"I agree," Gabriella nodded.

Mr. Montez pressed a button on the remote control and shook his head while the TV clicked off. He stood from his chair and looked at his kids.

"At the end of the day, family is what matters. Remember that," he said as he made his way towards the stairs, so he could finally go to bed. "Brandon, come with me so that Troy and Gabriella can say goodnight."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Brandon said, getting up quickly so he wouldn't have to see any lip action between his sister and Troy. He walked slowly over to the stairs, trying not to brush anything against his back, and Mr. Montez purposely patted him on the back with a chuckle.

"Troy, don't forget that your bed is in the barn," Mr. Montez said while walking up the stairs.

"Dad," Gabriella sighed.

"Yes, sir."

Gabriella sat down on the floor next to the couch and Troy turned his head to look at her, instead of staring at the back of the couch. She smiled at him, handing him the Motrin, which he took just as easily as Brandon did.

"It's going to be cold," Gabriella told him once she twisted off the cap of the aloe bottle. Troy nodded, wincing slightly when his skin came in contact with the cold gel. Gabriella felt bad for hurting him, but after a few seconds, he didn't seem to mind it anymore.

"I don't remember the last time I got sunburn," Troy told her, noticing that she had changed into a pair of pajama shorts and a white t-shirt. It was obvious that she had gotten some sun too, but she was tan, not sunburned.

"Are you the kind of person who tans instead of burns?" Gabriella asked, trying to ignore how muscular Troy was.

"Yeah, so I wasn't worried."

"Never underestimate the sun," Gabriella told him with a smile.

"I'll remember that for next time."

Troy's eyes closed as Gabriella rubbed the gel on his back so that it was evenly spread out and covered everywhere that had burned. She closed the bottle and set it on the coffee table, leaning her back against the couch. She stayed there, not wanting to get up because the day of fresh air had tired her out and her energy was escaping her as time went on.

"I can't get up," Troy whispered, causing Gabriella to laugh quietly.

She looked over to see Troy with his eyes closed still and his head was resting on his right arm, while his left arm was dangling off of the side of the couch.

"Neither can I," Gabriella sighed, lying down on the floor and using her arms as pillows. "I'm sleeping here tonight."

"Your dad will kill me if I stay here," Troy said quietly.

"Maybe. But do you really want to get up?" Gabriella asked.

"No," Troy whispered, breathing deeply, accidentally brushing his hand against her head.

Instead of moving his hand, he played with her hair, as if it was a way to lull himself to sleep, and she fell asleep as he did, not noticing when he finally stopped and began to snore softly.


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unknownbyhim22