Gabriella smiled as she sat by the pool and watched as the kids played in the water, smiling and laughing.

I remember feeling that free, secure, happy. I missed that feeling. I craved that feeling. To feel loved. To feel important. To

feel cared for. To feel special. To feel geniuenly happy without a care or worry in the world. What happened to being innocent and pure? my childhood was stolen from me and replaced with Anorexia, Bulimia, Bipolar and depression. So many disorders that have ruined my life. I had turned into this fucked up selfish mess. One huge mistake. That's all I am. A mistake. An accident.

Gabriella sighed and pushed back anymore negative thoughts that we're about to form in her head. She pulled up her bag onto her lap and digged in to feel a small box that contained tablets. Tablets to control her depression. Anti-depressants. She slid one small orange tablet onto her hand and threw it into her mouth, removing the tase with a gulp of cold water. She smiled as she felt two strong musclaine arms wrap around her and instantly felt calmer. Troy sat down beside the brunette beauty and wrapped a protective arm around her, pulling her closer to him as he gently kissed her temple. Gabriella shot a smile at him. A weak but soft one. A grateful and heart-warming smile.

''Hey..'' Troy spoke softly, almost whispering. ''You okay?''

''Uh what.. yeah yeah I'm fine.'' I reply, turning my attention back on the kids by the pool.

Troy turned his head and soon picked up on what Gabriella was looking at and distracted by. He smiled.

''Be careful there, you could be mistaken for a pedophile.'' he chuckles lightly.

Gabriella giggles and shakes her head.

''You got any brother's or sister's babe?''

''I had a sister.''

''Oh.'' Troy frowns. ''What happened to her?''

''She was killed.. by my mother. Abortion. She was 28 weeks old. Ebony.'' I can feel my heart ache just thinking about it as I hold back the tears.

''I'm sorry babe..'' he whispered, taking Gabriella's hand and entwining their fingers.

She shake's her head. ''It's not your fault..''

''look, I know abortion is never the option but your mother was on drugs, your dad had left and there was only you. Did you really want Ebony to be brought up into that sort of enviorment?''

''I could've taken care of her. that was my little sister that she killed. My little sister that meant the world to me before even developing properly. My mother toke away the last part of me that was left. Ebony was my reason for holding on and now that's she gone..'' I feel a hurricane of tears flow down my cheeks. I can barely finish my sentence.

''Don't you even say that you have nothing to hold on for, ok? you have me. I need you. You can hold on for me because I'm not going anywhere. Not now. Not anytime soon. Not ever.'' Troy pulls her into his arms, wiping away her last few tears and continues to hold her until she stops crying. He feels her lips on his cheek and smiles as he pulls away.

''Thank you.'' she whisperes softly.

He smiles at her. ''My pleasure.'' he takes her hand, pulling her up and wraps an arm around her. Looking down at her with a reasurring smile on his face. ''Hey Brie?''

''What is it?''

''Well, I understand if you think it's a little too early for this but my parents know about you and they've been wanting to invite you over for dinner for a while now. I put it off because I was unsure of.. us but now that everything's clear. I thought maybe you'd want to come? what you say then?''

Gabriella giggled and nodded. ''I'd love too.''

''Great!'' he chuckles. ''Dinner's at 6:30pm tonight so I'll pick you up around 6?''

''Maybe I could get ready at yours? it'll save us alot of time. My make up and clothes are just upstaires.''

''Um yeah sure of course, that's cool with me!''

''Thanks!'' she smiled. ''Let me just go grab my stuff.''

Time had flown by and it was already 5:50pm at Troy's apartment. Gabriella was still getting ready in the bathroom whilst Troy was done and waiting for her on the couch downstaires as he watched basketball on TV. Gabriella did the final touches of her look for the night before finally walking out of the bathroom and heading downstaires to see a very relaxed happy Troy.

Troy's jaw dropped as he looked over his shoulder. Gabriella was dressed in a sleek tight black mini dress that showed a good view of her clevage and showed her skinny tanned legs along with her back being revealed leaving little to the imagination. She wore a dark shade of red lipstick and finished the look off with beige sparkly heels. Troy was speechless which made Gabriella giggle and grin slightly. She grabbed his hand and they headed out to the car.

''The dress is.. ni ni ni nice.'' he stuttered as he finally got his words out of his mouth.

''It's all for you.'' Gabriella whisperes in a gentle tone.

Troy can't help but smirk a little. ''Leaving little to the imagination though, aren't we?''

''That's the idea, babe.'' she laughs.

Showing so much flesh and revealing so much to Troy makes me sick to my stomach. I bet he's looking at my legs and arms thinking I'm as fat as a whale. He's too nice to say anything, though. I breathe in and hold in my stomach. I fiddle and pull my dress down so it covers most of my hideous fat legs and thighs. I wrap a cardigan around my shoulders, hiding my disgusting arms. I feel Troy's eyes on me as we stop at a red light and start to feel consinous, insecure, uncomfortable. My heart almost jumps out of my chest as he puts his hand on my thigh. I push his hand away and look out of the window, crossing my legs and moving my body away from him. I hear him sigh. His disappointment. I take his hand in mine and smile to myself as we sit in silence until we arrive.

''I'm sorry about the hand babe. It wasn't meant in a sexual way or well maybe it was but I would never force you to do things you're not comfortable doing. You know that right?'' he lifted up my chin, kissing me passionately.

''I never said I wasn't comfortable.''

''What's the problem then? why did you move my hand?''

''Nothing.. well, I'm just not sure if I'm 100% ready to go all the way. I'm only 17 and we've only been dating for just over a month. Meeting your parents is one thing but sleeping with you is a totally different thing so let's not rush. Ok?'' Gabriella looks at Troy and smiles.

Troy puts his hands in the air, ''No rush.'' he smiles and leans closer to give Gabriella a kiss. ''I'm a patient person.''

Gabriella giggles as she takes his hand ''Hm, I bet you are.'' they climb out of the car and walk into his parents house.

''GABRIELLA!'' a tall blonde tanned woman runs towards Gabriella with open arms, beaming as they hug. ''It's so good to finally meet you!'' she grins.

Gabriella smiles, nervously. ''You too, Mrs Bolton.''

I soon calmed down as I felt a hand on my back. All my nerves had disappeared as I looked back to see Troy smiling directly at me.

''Thank you.'' I mouthed the words at Troy with a soft smile.

''Shall we eat? the food is all ready and waiting to be eaten! Gabriella, do you like chicken and vegtables?'' she asks.

''You're in luck, they're my favorite foods!'' she smiles.

''Ah that's great!'' she replies as she starts to put food onto my plate. ''So Gabriella, Troy tells us you go to the same high school as him?''

''Coleman high school. Yes miss.'' she takes a bite of her chicken.

''That's interesting and what is it that you'd like to do when you leave? What colleges or universities do you have your eyes on?'' she asks, curious.

''I'm not so sure about that or even about going to university at all. The costs are so high and well, I think I've had enough of the whole educating thing.''

''Ohhh. Can you mother not afford the university that you may like to apply too?''

''Um, I haven't spoken to my mother for five years actually. I don't live with her and we don't keep in touch, Mrs Bolton.''

''Oh dear. I'm sorry to hear that. Troy will be attending the columbia university in New York later this year.'' she smiles, proud and happy as any mother would be.

Gabriella's heart drops into her stomach as she hear's his mother's words 'New York' repeat over and over again in her head. ''He's a smart boy.'' she forces a smile upon her face and takes her last bite out of her chicken before pushing away the rest and standing up. ''Please excuse me.'' she says before walking to the door and stepping outside to finally breathe in and out slowly. Letting the tears fall freely down her cheek.

After several minutes, Troy's dad, David appears at the door and lights a cigarette. He notices that Gabriella is crying and closes the door behind him. ''Love can go the distance.''

Gabriella shakes away her worries for a moment and looks over at David. ''Excuse me?''

''Love can go the distance. I assume your upset over Troy's leaving and going to New York later in the year well, love can go the distance. It might be hard and a struggle but if you love my son as you look like you do then it's worth it.''

she laughs, ''Yeah and he wouldn't fall for some hot blonde airhead cheerleader whilst he's there and replace me will he not?'' I reply sarcastically.

''I know my son and although he rarely ever actually falls for a girl, I do know that when he falls in love, he stays faithful, he's loyal and he'll fight for that one special girl. Who knows, it could be you next.'' he shrugs.

Gabriella slightly smiles. ''I care about your son. Please make sure your wife also knows that.''

David nods and smiles at her before he puts out his cig and heads back inside.

''Hey! there you are!'' Troy shouted.

''Yep, here I am. I'm sorry babe but I'm not feeling very well, can you take me home?''

''Home? but I haven't given you your surprise yet.''

she raised her eyebrow, ''Surprise?''

The excitement and butterflies are all I feel, I love surprises..