Here's another well-deserved long one...

Chapter 21 – Personal Space, Sherlock

"Brandon, you ass!!! Get out!!!"

It was mayhem in the Montez house again, unrestricted panic due to Gina being at work that Tuesday afternoon. It was lunchtime at East High and Gabriella had stolen Troy and herself from the halls of the school, sneaking away in Troy's car back to Gabriella's for some well-needed, attempted privacy.

The thought of even having to slip out was beyond anything that Gabriella's stressed nerves could handle all at once. Her anger was always triggered by one specific memory – or mistake – that Troy had created nearly six months ago. When he had opened his big mouth and told Brandon about them finally making love to each other for the first time. She just kept gritting her teeth at that. He had to have known that this would happen eventually. Everyone knew that Brandon was one of the nosiest people in all of Albuquerque, even surpassing most of the snottiest teenage girls that lived in the highest, most spoiled of classes. It was what caused him to be extremely overprotective, which he promised to cut back on now that he and Troy were unofficial brothers again.

Truly they weren't that close that they had to tell each other everything. It was like they had synchronized watches that they set so that they would breathe at the exact same time. Troy was the one who, since Wolf died, lived by the "rules are meant to be broken" line. And wasn't he the one who had given Brandon his infamous nickname, Sherlock? The title was given an extension by Mike when they met in the same dance class at age seven, Sherlock Jackson due to the dance hero that they both shared. Although most of the time, it was just cut back to Sherlock.

The couple had entered the house noisily and oblivious to the walls around them. Troy had started carrying her in bridal style, but when the door was shut to lock out the world, they abandoned the little control that they still had in their systems and let their teenage hormones take over. It took them a few long minutes to finally reach her bedroom and as soon as they did, the clothes went flying so fast they had no time to become un-reusable for afterwards.

It all went by too fast for them to become satisfied: one second they were crying out each other's names in pleasure and the second, they were gently kissing in each other's arms, laughing about how angry they predicted Brandon to be when he realized they were gone.

"On a scale of one to ten," Gabriella giggled, running a hand through her unruly hair. "How high is the bar set on the level of cussing he'll do?"

Troy pursed his swollen lips for a second, rolling his eyes around to come up with a logical answer. "Twenty-five. Fifteen hells, seven shits, and three fucks. Maybe more than that; we'll need an air horn to keep it at least PG-13."

Gabriella was about to reply when the doorknob clicked open.

"Wrong," the third voice said "It should be at least up to forty-two."

Gabriella snatched the bed sheets to cover her exposed upper region and screamed "Brandon, you ass!!! Get out!!!"

Brandon crossed his arms and leaned against the side of the doorframe, glaring down at them with a sarcastic smirk. "Cutting school and having sex in the same lunch period? Surely now you're just getting desperate."

Troy grabbed his boxers from the ground, slipped them on under the covers, and stomped over to his best friend. He shoved him out of the room by his shoulder and growled "Of course we are. You keep begging for a threesome."

Once the door was slammed shut, Troy turned around to see Gabriella almost half-dressed already, her eyes glassy with furious tears. He noted that she wasn't putting her socks back on; she was going into her closet and coming back out with her tallest, thinnest black stilettos. Afterwards, she was slipping on her chunkiest rings onto all of her fingers.

"Gabs, what are you doing?" Troy cautiously asked, taking a few slow steps to her.

"Get dressed," she barked, standing up and clicking her shoes together menacingly. "I'm going to need your help with this."

Troy sighed and leapt over to her, grabbing the last two rings from her small palm. "You don't want to do that."

Gabriella snatched his closed fist and tried to pry open his tight fingers. "He's gone too far this time, Troy! Following us home?! Who knows how long he's been out there eavesdropping!"

Troy moved his hand behind his back, even though Gabriella still hadn't managed to retrieve her weapons. Still calm, he rationally said "You're right, but that's still no excuse to rip his face off."

"If I do, he won't be able to spy anymore!"

"He'll still have ears to hear."

"Not if I take those first and shove them down his damn throat!"

"Oww," Brandon teased from the hallway.

Gabriella threw her fist against the door surface and screeched "Screw you, Brandon! When Troy lets me out, I'll murder you!"

"You mean when you let him out. Didn't you drag him over here to be your little slave, anyway?"

The heels left the floor as she hurled her body towards the door and prepared to break it down, but Troy caught her before she had the chance. She was completely horizontal, Troy's right arm holding her legs together and his left keeping up her torso. He told her to open the door and as soon as she did, he said to Brandon "Jump back."

He didn't have to be told twice when Gabriella growled and tried to punch him again, launching her ringed fist towards her brother's unmentionables. She wriggled and squirmed in Troy's arms and tried with all her might to push herself just a little more forward, trying to reach any of Brandon's body. He tiptoed a few steps up to his furious twin's fist limit, about a centimeter away from where she could touch him. Just as she was about to bulgingly hit her target, he lurched backward, chuckling furiously as the violent language was emitted from her throat.

"Watch it. I don't have enough sympathy to keep her like this for much longer."

Brandon rolled his eyes and raised his arms defensively. "I'm not asking you to," He turned to stare at Gabriella and smiled like a cobra, slow and sly. "From what I hear, she likes to play rough."

As he ignored Gabriella's increased struggles, Troy flashed Brandon a warning glare and shut the door in his face again, this time locking it tightly. He dropped Gabriella to her feet, shaking in her heels but still immobile with fury. Her jaw was wired shut like she was preventing herself from screaming in Troy's face, releasing her lava of anger all over his defenseless, calm exterior. He was still half-naked, only clad in his green and blue boxers. But Gabriella had no room in her red-tinted conscience to marvel at his gloriously sculpted torso; she was focusing all of her energy on not tearing off his legs so that he wouldn't follow her on the way to the door. Although, she didn't know if she would get the chance to try. He was holding her as tight as he was while they were in bed.

"Are you okay now?"

She didn't reply verbally. She just kept glaring at the door and heaving air from her nostrils to her lungs like a pissed-off bull.

"Gabriella," She finally looked up at her boyfriend who was giving her a very stern look. "Are you okay?"

Gabriella looked down at his chest and locked her jaw again, speaking through her teeth. "Yes…"

Troy took her chin in his hand and kissed her forehead, feeling her facial muscles relax a bit. "Are you sure?"

She shook her head. "Nope, not even a little."

He faced her again, smiling lightly. "Come on, it's not that bad."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Troy, he was violating our privacy! How could he stoop this low?"

"I know you're upset, but you have to do the healthy thing and calm down. It's not good for you to be holding in all of this anger and-"

"I don't have to hold it in, you know."

"Gabby…"

She snorted and looked away from him. "Fine, I'll control myself."

"Good girl." A ghost of a smile pulled at the corners of Gabriella's mouth.

Troy grinned, taking her face in his hands again and laying a sweet kiss on her lips. "I'm going to get dressed. Can you go get my shirt without killing your brother?"

Gabriella scowled at the locked door and locked her jaw again. She could almost feel his body quivering from the severe laughing that he was still doing. She smirked when the picture changed. Now he was still trembling, only it was in sudden fear from Gabriella straddling him on the floor, her closed fist right above his nose and mouth. She smiled even wider. Her hand pressed down on his strong chest one more time before her fist came down and split his lip, draining all of the blood from his head into his throat.

"Gabriella!"

"What?"

Troy sighed and dropped his hands from her face. "You're going to beat his ass, I knew it."

Gabriella whimpered, taking his hand in hers again. "No, no, no, I'm fine, seriously! I promise you, I won't kill him. Give me a chance, please."

"Promise?" Troy raised an eyebrow.

Gabriella grinned seductively, placing a deep kiss on his collarbone and feeling his body stiffen. "Would I lie to you?"

"Well, th-there was that time last year when you snuck off to your dad's without telling me, a-and…uhh…"

Gabriella silenced him with a finger on his lips, moving her head closer to his and leaving her mouth so close to his that she was kissing her finger. "If he's still alive by the time we get back to school, I won't allow myself to have sex with you until Spring Fling night, promise."

"Okay, something that only you would suffer from."

Gabriella rolled her eyes and leaned up to his ear, barely whispering into his hot flesh. "I said no sex, not that you wouldn't get pleasured."

He jumped back a few inches, his eyes widening as he replied. "Whoa, you said the thought of oral repulsed you."

"That just goes to show how much I love you."

An irritated knock came into the room's atmosphere and Brandon's voice broke through their conversation. "Lunch ends in ten minutes; wrap up your sick little quickie."

The brunette's teeth ground together and a growl escaped her throat as she muttered "Why I oughtta…"

Troy grabbed her hands. "Gabriella, control…"

She kept her teeth gritted as she murmured "I'm under control, I'm fine." Gabriella unlocked the door and left the room to leave her boyfriend to find the rest of his clothes. Gabriella dropped off his brown button-down shirt and left the door closed again, leaving him to think to himself as he shrugged on his top. That anger went away fast. How can she stand being out in the same room with Brandon without-

"GABRIELLA, STOP!!!"

I spoke too soon.

Troy darted from his girlfriend's bedroom and raced down the carpeted stairs to witness the same image that Gabriella was imagining just a few minutes ago. She had Brandon pushed down on the ground with his arms pinned to the floor by her knees, straddling him high up on his heaving chest. One hand was clasped tightly around his neck and the other was clenched into a fist a few feet above his nose. Brandon's wide eyes were fixed directly on her white knuckles and he demanded her to get herself under some sort of control. "Get off of me, are you insane?!"

"Not nearly as insane as you are for saying that stupid little comment!"

Brandon struggled to move his head away from her quivering fist and tried to reason. "It was a damn joke! When were you going to tell me that you lost your sense of humor?!"

Gabriella tightened her grip on his neck and growled "What, I can't even the score? Or have you forgotten about your little outburst on my nose last year?"

That was when Troy decided to step in and grab her by the waist. "Gabriella, that's enough. You're better than this."

Brandon scrambled away from the outraged teenager and hid behind the couch. "Do you have a good hold on her?"

Troy rolled his eyes. "You're stronger than me, Brandon, grow a pair." Brandon just narrowed his eyes.

"And for the record, Sherlock" Gabriella shouted. "I know that oral is another form of sex! Why can't you just mind your own damn business, you prick?!"

"I knew you were lying…" Troy murmured to himself, a tad bit disappointed that she was fibbing. "Gabriella, what's gotten into you?"

"Do you really have to ask? This little shit said 'you know that oral is just a sluttier form of sex, right?' Let me go, Troy!"

Troy lifted his eyes to glare at Brandon. "Not cool."

"Not a lie. I don't want my sister degrading herself while she's hunched all over your-"

"BRANDON!!!"

Brandon crossed his arms and shrugged. "Gabriella, I'm going to let you-"

"You're going to let me?! Let me do what? You're not dad, Brandon!"

"Since he's not here, it looks like I'll have to be since you two have apparently lost your minds!" Troy opened his mouth to retort, but Brandon cut him off. "And, Troy, don't you even think about saying that you were the victim. You could have easily told her how ridiculous she was being."

Troy raised an eyebrow and washed his eyes over Gabriella's body, stopping shortly to gaze at her quickly rising and falling breasts. "Come on, now," he nearly chuckled. "You can't honestly be that stupid."

"Don't push it," Brandon held up a stiff finger. "Gabriella, I'm telling mom when she comes home today and saying that you cut school."

"It's lunch!"

"You left the period before. I went to the bathroom fifth period and passed Mr. Long's room."

Gabriella finally snatched herself from Troy's embrace and stomped right up to Brandon's face, staring him dead in the eyes. "You can't do this to us, Brandon! No one ever said that you were the dictator of my life!"

Brandon returned her glare and barked "I'm not a dictator! I seem to be the only responsible one in this situation and as that person, I'm the one who has to make sure that you don't end up pregnant!" Troy rolled his eyes again.

Gabriella didn't flinch. She just stepped closer to him, so that they were bumping noses, and seethed the first thought that came through her mind in between her teeth. "Last time I checked, it's not all too responsible to be in a long distance relationship with someone and not even come close to physically expressing yourselves to each other. If you keep this up with Isabelle, you're going to end up heartbroken, either from her breaking up with you or with her cheating on you so that she can finally feel attractive to someone. Stop being such a chicken, Brandon, and take Troy's advice. Grow a pair if you can."

Troy grabbed her arm and dragged her to the front door, muttering in her ear. "Gabriella, that was uncalled for."

"It's true!" she spit back. Glaring at her frozen twin again, she snarled "See you at school, you virgin."

Not even the sound of the door slamming shut could bring Brandon out of the haze that his brain had been isolated into. His arms were still crossed and the frown was still fixed on his taught lips, his body completely motionless. The only activity that could be seen were his eyes quivering with the small tears that he was unaware of. It wasn't until what his sister said had finally sunk in that he blinked them away, sucking in a sharp breath. He looked to the floor and let it out slowly, but loudly, before covering his face with a hand, closing his eyes. He stayed that way for a few silent minutes before shoving his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans and strolling out of the house with his head low and skyscraper-high confidence crushed before he even got the chance to gloat.

--

"Knew it was just a matter of time before she finally snapped."

Gina scoffed and slapped her ex across the arm with an oven mitt. "Chase, you're not helping in the slightest."

"We're supposed to be helping him?" He grinned teasingly. "I thought this was just an open conversation. Don't we live in the free country of America?"

Brandon shook his head slowly at his father, who was obviously a little too proud of himself for coming up with that little quirk so quickly on the spot. "You've really been watching way too much Comedy Central, dad."

Chase shrugged and took another long sip of his coffee. "Better than the news, I'll tell you that. Haven't you noticed how depressing it is?"

Gina took the pot-holders into her hands again and opened the oven door, whipping out a fresh batch of triple chocolate fudge brownies. The thick aroma immediately filled the kitchen so fast that Brandon had to blink quickly to recuperate and Chase had to drop his plastic frappuccino cup onto the counter before it fell to the floor. They could barely restrain themselves from tearing into them while Gina turned her back for a second to grab the cutting knife. "Wouldn't know, I don't watch it. I'm a little too busy dealing with this stupid sex drama that Brandon keeps – hey! Get your finger out of there!" She smacked Brandon's index finger away from the glass pan and snatched it away from the two ravenous males.

"Mom," Brandon whined. "Aren't they for me anyway?"

Gina rolled her eyes and turned back to tending to the brownies. "I never said that, sweetie, I hinted that they were supposed to help you feel better about what your sister said, not that you could hog them all down in one sitting."

"Could you blame him if he did?" Chase piped up, smiling sweetly at Gina. "They're to die for." She smirked back at him, blushing. "Aren't you in training?"

"Mother, that was six years ago."

Gina nodded, waving them off to try and help them cool faster. "My point exactly. You've kept up your figure for this long, why lose it now?"

"'Chocolates are the key to mending a broken heart.' That's what you always told me every single time I broke up with Amy."

"Brandon, you were much too young and naïve to figure out that I was kidding. That never works, believe me." Chase looked down at the counter top, taking a long gulp of his iced drink and saying nothing.

Brandon, however, brushed off the awkward atmosphere quickly. He sighed. "Well, I never got the chance to try it. And probably never will, now that Izzy's in the picture." He looked down at his left ring finger, smiling tenderly as the diamond from Isabelle's side gleamed brightly, as if she was smiling right back at him. He hadn't taken the ring off since it was placed there, even in gym class where they weren't allowed to wear jewelry. Brandon inwardly chuckled at the irony that Jack was now the head coach, letting the promise ring be the only exception since he knew the effect that it would have on him if it was removed. Brandon tried to take it off when Jack tried to compromise with him, but as soon as it reached the middle of his finger, the space where it had been burned like fire and he got a feeling in the pit of his stomach, leading up to his brain and making him an anxious mess. Jack immediately stopped him once he saw Brandon's face suddenly pale.

Chase broke through his son's memory wall abruptly. "You're really serious about this girl, aren't you?"

"Ohh, yeah." Brandon and Gina answered in unison. Gina giggled as she sliced even squares out of the chocolates. Brandon continued "Of course, dad. I've never been more serious about anything in my entire life."

Chase nodded slowly, pursing his lips in thought. "You must be if you've been keeping it long distance for this long. She's a nice girl. A lot like Troy."

Gina agreed. "I know. I've never seen a pair of cousins that were more like siblings."

Chase bobbed his head again, looking down at the counter and taking his coffee in his hand again. "Beautiful, too. A lot of guys would do things they're not proud of to get anywhere near her."

"One of the reasons why I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

Chase tried to bite his tongue, but in his mind it soon became too large to fit inside his mouth. There was only one way to relieve the pressure of asking his son the question that would most likely harm their relationship and strain his trust in his girlfriend. "San Francisco's a pretty good distance from here. Are you sure that it's not…too much space?" Gina's head wheeled around so fast she diced three of the squares into triangles and her eyes expanded to twice their size. She mouthed "Chase, no!"

Brandon's, however, narrowed into curious slits. "Dad, Izzy wouldn't cheat on me. She'd chop half of her hair off and dye it brown before she'd do something like that."

"Blonde's can grow back quickly. And California's known for the lightening sun, so…"

"Dad, no. Never." Brandon shook his head at his uncomfortable father and glared right into his eyes, letting him know that he knew exactly what was going on in his soul mate's life. Her voice was usually the first one that he heard in the morning and the last one before he fell asleep at night, telling him to move his butt in order to get to class on time and wish him sweet dreams, which were generally about her anyway. She was the gas that kept his feet moving ahead and the oxygen that lingered in his lungs every time he inhaled a glimpse of her face in his head. Everything seemed to remind him of her: Troy's ocean-blue eyes, Sharpay's long wavy hair, Gabriella's wardrobe style, and Michael's ability to listen to every single word that comes out of Brandon's mouth. It was these small, everyday notifications that kept her in Brandon's mind, but none of them could compare to the real thing. Every month on that one magical weekend when she would visit and jump into his arms as soon as he walked through the door, Brandon was filled with a strange thrill that sent his mind into a spiraling whirlwind and turned his nerves to mush. Just having her in his arms was enough for even the worst day to seem like one of the best in his life, all because he knew that those moments were limited. He'd never valued anything so much in his entire life.

Brandon's gaze must have been as intense as his thoughts, because Chase seemed to read all of this in his son's eyes. He nodded once again, whispering "Okay. I believe you."

"Thank you." Brandon replied with a slight smirk.

"No problem," Finishing off his coffee, Chase chuckled. "Besides, she should be the one who's worrying. I don't think you noticed all of the girls – and guys – who were trying to get your attention at the championships."

Brandon rolled his eyes and groaned. "Good God, I just noticed how horny Highland is. That Andy kid must have the hardest head since he kept trying to hit on me. Do I even look gay to you?" He stood up straight, modeling his green and white button-down shirt along with his signature destroyed dark blue jeans. His favorite black converse sneakers topped off his normal, everyday look and complimented his perfectly styled, midnight-black hair and long, angled bangs that fell in front of his right eye. Chase and Gina looked him over and shook their heads at the same time. "Sweetie, you look great. Don't worry about that other kid. What could he possibly do to take you away from Isabelle?" Gina told him.

"Thank you, mom."

Chase cocked his head, a random thought suddenly jumping into his coffee-intoxicated brain. "Hey, didn't you say that West High always won?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"What happened to them this year? They weren't even in the top five."

Brandon flinched as he remembered Robbie, the monstrous, livid captain of the undefeated team. He had to admit that he had never forgotten the teen's dark green, enraged eyes and the power that had control on pretty much anyone who had ever looked into them. Everyone except his father, Brandon assumed, since the man looked borderline abusive and so high with control over his son that he had led Robbie to attempt suicide.

From what he had heard, Robbie had survived the incident and was out of the hospital but never showed his face in West High again. No one knew where he was or what had happened to him after his discharge, but no one really cared. Robbie was a juvenile bully who needed to be locked away, that's what everyone said. The school's violence scale had been lowered a little since his absence and there was a little less fear spread throughout everyone since he wasn't roaming the halls anymore. It was as if he never existed in the first place.

He knew that it was stupid, but Brandon couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Robbie. Were the rumors true, and his dad had really given up on him after they lost? He hadn't even visited Robbie in the hospital. What kind of person would be so heartless? Sure he was scary as hell, but Robbie was talented. Anyone could see that while seeing the man dance on the floor. Although his moves were a little too tense for Brandon's standards, he could tell that he was just stressed, no doubt from the horrendous pressure of his dad. He reminded Brandon a little bit of Todd's situation with his father, who didn't even want his son dancing at all.

Brandon gulped. "Umm…I'm not entirely sure. Mike said that when Robbie got suspended for fighting a while back before the competition and was kicked off of the team, his dad bribed the school to let him back on and somehow, the judges found out about it and disqualified them at the last second. No one knows who snitched on them, but the team was pissed without their secret weapon. People are even talking about Mr. Keelson bribing the previous judges to give them first place every year, but I doubt that's true."

Gina was almost done stacking the brownies on a glass tray and said "That's just plain stupid. That man should have known that it would have eventually gotten back to the authorities."

Chase shrugged. "If he's not in jail, then it must not be true."

"Exactly," Brandon sighed and looked down at the kitchen counter, feeling his father's eyes beside him fall onto the top of his head. "Brandon, don't worry. It's just a little sibling rivalry. It'll blow over before you know it."

Brandon shook his head a little and replied "I don't know, dad. You should've seen her face. You could practically hear her screaming 'I hate you' right at me. And then when she said that Isabelle would cheat if we didn't have sex soon…"

Gina brought the tray over to them and set it down on the countertop, smiling sweetly at him. "Brandon, it was a heat-of-the-moment thing. We all know Gabby, and I bet you all the money in the world that she's feeling terrible about it now."

"Then why hasn't she come home yet or even called me?"

Chase cut in suddenly. "Maybe it's for the best right now. You have been probing a lot lately and that usually causes a bunch of heat to build up and after she explodes, it's usually wisest to let her cool off before you say anything."

Gina rolled her eyes. "So you're telling him to let it slide?"

Chase shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not telling him anything, I'm suggesting. Do you object?"

She sat down beside Brandon and joined them in devouring the brownies. "As a matter of fact, yes. Brandon, you should know from experience that if there's tension between two people, it's always smart to try and talk it through before things get worse. The longer you let a problem linger, the more time you both have to come up with more reasons to become angrier. You don't want this to be hanging over your relationship with your sister so long that it becomes a five-year battle between you two. And this time, there won't be an insane gym teacher to blame. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Brandon nodded. "Yeah, I understand," He looked up and smiled. "Thanks, mom."

She took him into her arms and squeezed tightly, replying in his ear. "She told me about a book report that she has to do, so she should be home soon. Why don't you go and wait up, it shouldn't be too much longer."

After Brandon left the kitchen with a handful of two more brownies, Chase turned his attention back to his ex-wife. "Good job, Gina. That was really fantastic."

Gina smiled, trying to hide her blush behind her long hair. "Thanks, Chase. You didn't do too bad yourself. It'll at least give him something to think about on his own."

"Good, good. So, how have you been doing?"

She grinned again. "Pretty good. Work's keeping me busy, so it's moments like that one that I get to talk to them about what's going on in their lives. I feel like I'm losing contact with my own kids sometimes."

Chase raised a hand and lightly touched her shoulder, trying to comfort her. "Don't worry; you're doing great with them. I've never seen them happier, especially Brandon."

She swallowed deeply, averting her eyes from him, but continuing all the same. "So what have you been up to? You can't just be sitting around the house all day."

Chase shook his head, grabbing another chocolate square. "Of course not. That's why I'm enrolled in culinary school." He filled his mouth with the hot brownie while watching Gina's drop wide open. "You're going to be a chef?"

"Mmhmm," He cleared his mouth. "For the past few months, I've been working at that restaurant and I've always wanted to get the chance to be the one living in the kitchen. So now I'm gonna try. You know that I've always loved to cook."

"Chase, that's great!" She threw her arms around him and buried her head in his neck. "Congratulations, I'm so proud of you!"

Chase stumbled backward in his stool a little, caught off guard by her pounce but soon recuperated and wrapped his arms around her as well, smiling to himself.

"Thank you, Gina. That means a lot coming from you."

--

Later that night, Gabriella sat on the living room couch with what looked like a battle zone around her. Piles and piles of rough drafts and revision papers lay scattered on the sofa, the coffee table beside the couch, and even the floor. She was scribbling furiously at a sentence that a few minutes ago had been perfect in her eyes, but now she was scrambling to get rid of it. Why couldn't she get anything right? She hoped that it had nothing to do with the fact that Brandon had been in the back of her head all day, his voice saying her name over and over and attempting to make her feel guilty about the whole ordeal that went down at lunch. It was working. She squeezed her eyes shut and felt her arms start to shake from the anger building up inside of her, threatening to break the pencil in half. Gabriella took a deep breath and loosened her grip on it, reminding herself that this was her last pencil and she wasn't running all over the house to find another one. She cleared her mind and kept breathing, blocking out the rare soundtrack of the world around her. 1, 2, 3, calm, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…

The front door slammed shut. Startled from the impact, Gabriella's entire body jumped and her fists, still closed around the pencil, jerked to a vertical position. She looked down at the short pencil stubs in each hand and felt herself get angry all over again.

"Oh, just screw it all," She held her head in her hands and set her elbows on her knees, trying to inhale again. "Mom, did you pick up that printer ink I asked for yet?"

"Gabriella, are we really doing this again?"

Gabriella looked up and frowned even deeper when her eyes set on Brandon, fresh from work which made him good and sweaty, adding to her irritation. His bare shoulders were dropped and his eyes, free of the usual sadness that filled them when he was upset, were extremely annoyed and fed-up. He wasn't the only one.

She laughed quietly without humor and looked down at her notebook. "You know, usually I would pack up and head upstairs, but in this case," She motioned to the tornado around her. "unless that big mouth of yours can print out a six-page book report for me, I'll just tell you to get the hell out of here."

Brandon rolled his eyes and started walking into the room, reaching into his bag to pull out a few pieces of paper stapled together. "As much as I need a printer right now, I'm not going anywhere until we talk about this."

"Alternate endings for Romeo & Juliet?"

Brandon didn't flinch, nor did his eyes show any inkling of laughter. "You know what I'm talking about. Why are you so mad at me?"

Gabriella shook her head and crossed her arms while still holding her glare. "You know why. I'm not explaining what should already be obvious."

Brandon didn't respond. He just cocked an eyebrow and waited for her to tell him herself.

"Are you serious?!" Gabriella's mouth dropped open. "You're just going to make this worse for yourself?"

He just shrugged, starting to enjoy this teasing game he had going with her. He had to stop himself from chuckling.

Gabriella threw her hands down onto her notebook, shoving it to the side and getting to her feet. "Fine. You wanna know what I'm pissed off? It's because you're just the biggest hypocrite ever, did you know that?!"

"How?"

Gabriella continued to raise her voice and use her hands along with her words. "You won't stop asking me about my sex life! Whenever Troy's over, you have to be in the same room and you're always less than five feet away! Whenever I go over there, you always call me back saying that mom needs help with something or Sharpay wants to hang out! We've barely had any alone time in the last few months, Brandon! It's starting to put a strain on our relationship! That's why I'm mad at you!"

Brandon sighed and said "Okay, I get it."

Gabriella shook her head and stepped closer to him. "No, you don't. You think you get this, but you don't because you're still a virgin. Sex changes things, Brandon. It changes people. I'm not the same little girl that used to run around here in pigtails that needs protecting. Didn't you tell me that yourself last year?"

"Fine," Brandon replied exasperatedly. "I'll back off. But Gabby, you're my little sister and I just don't you to get hurt. Because you know as well as I do that sex can also – and 99 percent of the time does – hurt people."

Gabriella's mood had calmed now, and she even began to feel a tug at the corner of her mouth. "I know that, but this is Troy, our Troy. He wouldn't hurt me again."

"So what now?"

The tugs now turned into a full-blown grin. "All we're asking for is just a smidge of privacy and a few more inches of personal space. Now is that reasonable enough for you? Dad?"

Brandon rolled his eyes, smiling back at her. "Okay, you can have your stupid space. Just as long as you do something for me."

"I'm already scared."

"All you have to do is cut back a tiny bit. There's just so much that I can take before I have to draw the line somewhere."

"That shouldn't be too hard, since we've barely had any action to begin with. It's been six months, Brandon, and Troy and I have only done it about five times."

"Can you cut it back to four?"

She playfully glared at him and slapped him on the arm. "Don't push it, Sherlock. I'm just beginning to forgive you."

Brandon smiled timidly. "Really? Now the world makes sense again."

Gabriella turned her back to him and grabbed her homework again, saying "It's almost nine. Shouldn't you be calling your girlfriend?"

"As should you be calling our mother for that stupid ink. I don't feel like getting a single F in senior year."

Before Gabriella had the chance to walk into the kitchen and get the house phone, Brandon grabbed her arm and snapped her back into a tight hold. "Thanks, Gabriella."

She hugged him back, pressing her cheek against his sweaty chest and not caring at all. "Didn't have a choice. You're too hard to be mad at."

"Touché."

--

"Hi, Brandon!"

Brandon chuckled into the phone. "CallerID get fixed?"

Isabelle sighed dejectedly. "Not yet, so I set ringer ID's to all of my important callers until it does."

"Awesome. What's mine?"

She rolled her eyes. "What do you think? Never Too Late."

Brandon laughed, putting the phone on speaker and twirling his ring around on his finger. "Ohh, playing it obvious. Should've known."

"You're so delusional. So what's new down in the Alb?"

Brandon shrugged, looking up at the ceiling. "Nothing, actually. Sherlock struck again, so 'Troyella' was pissed at me for most of the day."

"Oh jeez, what'd you do this time?"

"Absolutely nothing!"

Isabelle's tone turned a little slower, as if speaking to a child with special needs. "If it's nothing, Sherlock wouldn't have entered this conversation. What did you make your business?"

Brandon answered with no hesitation or regret. "The safety of my only sister and her future. I don't understand women at all, babe, seriously."

"Maybe I can help if you tell me what kind of danger she's in to begin with. Is Gabby okay?"

"Well, if you'd ask her, she'd say that she's never been better, but I say she's completely lost her mind."

"Over what?"

"Her and her sticky fingers for your cousin."

Isabelle didn't respond for a second, making him think that the call had been dropped. "Izzy?"

"Brandon, you're kidding me, right?" she finally said in disbelief.

"Should I be?"

Isabelle huffed. "Sweetie, their relationship is none of your business and you know that. How would you feel if all they did was listen in on our calls?"

"That's what Gabby and Shar do when she sleeps over."

"Tell them I said hi next time."

Brandon grinned. "Will do. Fine, I'm sorry and I'll try to keep my nose out of it. But you do realize how hard it's going to be, right?"

Isabelle giggled. "I believe in you, Superman."

They laughed together for a second before Brandon stopped when he felt that faint tickle in his brain that told him that a matter from the day had still gone unsolved. He slowly started. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Anything. What's up?"

He silently exhaled and gazed back down at his ring, which was still sparkling even in the dark atmosphere of his room. He recapped "Back at lunch when Gabriella was screaming at me, she said something out of anger that won't leave me alone. I know she was just steamed, but the more I thought about it, the more twisted sense it started to make. Not all of it, but some parts could happen."

"What did she say?"

Brandon hesitated again, closing his eyes and taking another breath, trying to come up with what to say so that he didn't sound jealous or suspicious in any way. "Izzy, we've been going out for almost a year and most of that time has been spent thousands of miles apart from each other. Tonight, my dad said that he's never seen a love like ours and I agreed with him because I don't know if there is."

"He's right. Not many people could keep this up for this long. Where's this going?"

Brandon stopped for a second and just sat there blinking. How could he word this without sounding like an idiot? After discovering that there really wasn't one, he just jumped out onto the ledge and dove in. "I know that she's probably wrong, but Gabriella said that if we don't have sex soon, you'll end up feeling unattractive and either cheating on me or breaking up with me before you do it. I told you that it didn't make sense, but just think about it for a second."

She stayed quiet for a moment, just sitting on her bed and staring at her wall with a blank look on her face. "Why would she say something like that?"

"She was angry and I guess just felt like putting me down. I knew that I shouldn't have told you; I don't want you feeling pressured or-"

"No, why would she even think that I would ever in my life cheat on you? That's the part I don't understand."

Brandon took a breath of relief, sinking back into his pillow and closing his eyes. "I don't know either, but the more it stayed in my head, the more anxious I became. I know you'd never do something like that."

"Hell would freeze over first before I'd do something that stupid."

He smiled and said "Reassuring," The grin faltered before he asked "So what do you think about the first part?"

Isabelle fidgeted in her seat and felt her entire body heat up. "The sex part?"

"Yeah, that. Do you think it's been long enough or do you want to wait until our rings change into the real thing?"

She smirked at that last comment and replied quietly. "I don't really know how to answer that. I'm not abstinent, but I'm not the kind of person to jump right into giving myself up."

"It's almost been a year, babe."

She rolled her eyes. "I know, and that's what's so hard about it. Brandon, I'd die before I let you slip away from me, but I'll have to think about it a little more."

He sat up straight in his bed. "You shouldn't even have to. I'm an idiot for even putting the thought in your head."

Isabelle cut him off with "No, it's not your fault. It's not like I haven't been thinking about it for a while now…"

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah, how about you?"

Brandon bit his lip and looked up to the ceiling again, letting all of the possibilities run through his mind. "Same here. It would probably be really awkward on my part because the only experience I have with that part of my body is emptying my bladder."

Isabelle's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Yup."

"Wait, so you've never…never even tried to…"

"Nope," Brandon felt the heat of her question creep up into his cheeks. "Never really had the urge."

The blonde continued staring ahead at her sky-blue wall with her mouth open. Her eyes were beginning to dry up from keeping them open for so long, but the shock of what he had just said overwrote it. "Wow…"

"Is that a problem?"

"No, no, it's just…holy shit, you've never had an orgasm?"

Brandon pinched the bridge of his nose and felt his face get even warmer. "Nope. I told you, the closest I've ever gotten to feeling one is when I hold it in for a few hours and then finally go pee. Why, is it not the same?"

"Not even close."

His eyebrows flew up. "Wow, never thought it was possible to feel anything better than that."

After giggling for a quick second, Isabelle planted her feet on her white-carpeted floor and stood up tall. "Okay, I'll tell you what. The very next time that we're alone at night and if we're making out heavily, we'll give ourselves up to each other."

"Izzy, no. You don't have to do that for my sake. I'm not even…well, I'm looking forward to it, but I've always heard that it's always terrible for the girl during her first time."

Isabelle retaliated immediately. "Brandon, you're a dancer who's specialty is in the feet and hips. I think I'll survive. So virtual pinkie-swear?"

Brandon ran a hand through his long hair and let his eyes fall back down to his ring again, staring at her name and the pink stone above it. It wasn't an easy decision, especially since his only defense against Gabriella was his virginity. If she ever found out, she's never let him live it down. And what about his parents? It was bad enough that one of their kids had premarital relations, he felt as if he was their last hope. He couldn't let them down.

But every time he heard Isabelle's name or saw her face, his heart and mind was sent into a frenzy that couldn't be tamed anytime soon. She had a body to die for and hung out with one of the biggest party girls in San Francisco. She would know what she was doing and take good care to guide Brandon through everything, not letting him feel unsecure or forced. And Troy had given him some of his condom stash, so was there really any reason for him not to agree? His parents would get over it if they needed to. If the tradition was really that important to them, they would have made a bigger deal about Gabriella losing hers. And as for Gabriella and Troy, they've been through worse. The gloating wouldn't even last that long; probably just a few hours until they got caught in each other again.

Was it all worth it?

"Pinkie swear. And let it be oh-so sweet."

She giggled again and said "Remember that I love you."

"Always and forever, sweetheart. No matter what." He yawned and then groaned, getting to his feet. "Crap, I'm getting tired. I'm gonna go get a shower and go to bed, okay?"

"Alright, same here. Big, stupid biology test tomorrow, anyway. Sweet dreams, Brandon."

"Goodnight, Izzy."

Just as he was about to pull the phone away from his ear, Brandon heard Isabelle yell "Wait, one last question!"

"Yeah?"

She paused for a second before sighing and asking him "Okay, think back to when you were at least ten. You've never even tried to-"

"Let it go, woman!"

Two or three more chapters before you can start pulling your hair out over what drama meets up with the gang :D

REVIEW!!! Thnx :)

~Rachel :)

Sneak at Next Chapter:

- One month later

- Troyella romance

- More hints to what's going on later