At lunch that day, Gabriella followed Taylor into the cafeteria to meet her friends. She saw two girls already sitting there and Taylor introduced them as Martha and Kelsi. As they got talking, they started asking questions about her. "So Gabriella, how are you enjoying East High?"
"It's been ok so far, it's a lot different from my old school though."
"Where was your old school?"
"Back in Denver, my sister and I were at the same school back there but obviously East High and East Primary are two different campuses."
"Why did you move to Albuquerque, it's kinda a random place to come to?"
Gabriella's eyes widened but she hid it well. "We have family here but I don't really want to get into why we moved here, it's not really a first day conversation."
Luckily for the girl, their conversation was interrupted as Sharpay sat down with the group and introduced herself. They spent the rest of lunch together until the bell rang and it was time for chemistry. As she was walking out of the cafeteria, Troy knocked into her, snapping. "Watch it."
She rolled her eyes, "whatever," before saying goodbye to her friends and going to her locker before going to class. The teacher was already in the room by the time she arrived, not seeing many people there. She approached the woman. "Excuse me, I'm new to this class, I'm Gabriella Montez."
"Ah yes, Principal Matsui mentioned a new student. Ok most of the class is full but I'll get you to sit at that middle bench."
She nodded and took the seat. Troy walked in a few minutes later and groaned. "You've gotta be kidding me." He walked up to the table. "Why are you sitting here?"
"This is where I was told to sit, not my fault."
He scoffed. "Whatever, at least there's no one important in this class."
She rolled her eyes and turned back to the teacher and organised her books in front of her. 'It's gonna be a long year if I'm stuck with him acting like this.'
When they got home that afternoon, they found Lucille standing outside Lilliana's door. "Is something wrong?" Gabriella asked the woman hesitantly.
"She was quiet when I picked her up and as soon as we got home, she ran in here and locked the door. I've been trying to get her to open up and talk but she won't unlock the door."
Gabriella sighed, "do you want me to try?"
Lucille shook her head. "No it's fine, I'm sure she'll open up in a minute."
"She can be pretty stubborn when she wants to be and if she doesn't want to talk about something, she'll keep it bottled up." The teen watched as the woman sighed and hinted for Gabriella to try. "Hey Sweet Girl, can you please open the door for me?" She waited a few seconds and didn't get a response until she saw a piece of paper slide under the door: Is it just you? She noticed Lucille reading it over her shoulder and watched as she walked away, dragging the boys who were keeping their distance behind them. When she was sure they were gone, she whispered against the door. "They're gone Livie, it's just me, please open the door."
The little girl opened the door and jumped into Gabriella's arms, gripping her tightly and holding her like a lifeline. The teen shut the door and sat down on the bed, keeping her sister in her arms and stroking her hair until she was ready to talk. "I missed you."
"I missed you too Baby, did you have fun at school today?" Lilliana shook her head. "Why not? Did something happen?"
"I wanna go back home. I wanna go back to our old school and to Tatum and Clara and you could come play with us at lunch."
She kissed the top of her sister's head and traced patterns on her back. "I know it's a big change, it'll get better though, I promise."
"I didn't get to say goodbye." Lilliana whimpered - revealing the true reason she was upset.
"I know and I'm sorry Livie, but just because you can't see them at school doesn't mean you can't still talk to each other. I'll figure something out."
"Thanks Bria."
"No worries Sweet Girl, you know I'd do anything for you. You know, you could've told your mom why you were upset, I'm sure she'd understand." Lilliana shrugged. "I know you're not fully comfortable with the idea yet, but she does love you. Why did you lock yourself in here?"
"Lucille kept asking questions and I just wanted you, so I locked myself in here so they'd leave me alone."
"A bit too much to deal with in one day huh? I know you miss your friends but did you have fun at school today?"
"It was ok, I just went with Jakie because I didn't know anyone. The teacher's are nice and I had music, art and english today. Did you have fun at school?"
The junior smiled. "I'm glad you have fun today. It was ok, a lot different than our old school but I think I made some friends today so that's a plus."
Lilliana grinned. "That's good Bria."
Gabriella moved the strands from her sister's face. "Are you ok now?"
The little girl nodded and cuddled closer. "You always make me feel better."
Their moment was interrupted by a knock on the door before Lucille opened it. "It's dinner time now, so could you girls come down now." They nodded and followed Lucille down to the dining room before they all took their seats. "Are you ok now Lilly?" The girl nodded. "Good, I'm glad you talked to Bria."
Troy interjected mockingly. "Yeah we're glad Bria made it better."
Lilliana glared at them both. "Don't call her that."
"Shh it's ok." Gabriella whispered to her, wrapping an arm around her before turning to the Bolton family. "That's always been her special nickname and she doesn't like anyone else using it. I don't mean this to sound rude, but would it be alright if you called me something else?"
Lucille nodded before turning to her daughter. "I'm sorry Lilly, I didn't realise it was so important to you that you're the only one to use it, we'll make sure to refer to Gabriella as something else." The woman looked pointedly at her oldest son.
"Sorry Lil."
After dinner, Gabriella told her sister to go up and get herself ready for bed while she spoke to the parents. She approached Lucille and Jack. "Mr and Mrs Bolton, can I talk to you for a minute?"
Lucille smiled, "of course you can Gabriella, and please call us Lucille and Jack, Lilly will feel more comfortable calling us that if she hears you saying it and hopefully she'll eventually be comfortable calling us Mom and Dad."
The girl nodded. "I guess I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I don't want it to feel like I'm stepping on your toes with how I am with her, it just takes some time for her to feel comfortable to open up to people."
The woman shook her head. "You don't need to say sorry, you haven't done anything wrong. You've been involved in Lilly's life and she knows and trusts you more than anything and that's not your fault that you share the relationship with her that we wish we had. It's hard starting at the beginning but I know we will build a relationship with her even if it's not as strong as we'd like it to be."
"Still, I feel like I should say sorry."
"No Gabriella, you're not the one who needs to apologise," Jack said sighing. "I was too harsh on you this morning and I think it came across different than how I meant it. When Lilliana was born, we were ecstatic to finally have our little girl along with our two boys but we only got two years with her before we lost her. And I was devastated that I wouldn't get to do the 'fatherly' things I'd always wanted and now that we've got her back, I was so hell bent on doing all the stuff that I'd wanted to be involved in that, to the point that I didn't really consider your feelings or even Lilliana's for that matter." He grabbed his wife's hand in his. "Seeing Lucille this afternoon trying to get through to Lilliana was hard but when Lilly slid the note under the door, asking only for you, it made me realise just how much she needs you. She'd be a wreck without you Gabriella and I've realised that we're gonna have to take a step back a bit and allow her to come to us when she's ready rather than try and fit into her life the way we want to."
Gabriella nodded. "Thank you and she'll love you guys, it may take her a bit to open up and come to you, but she'll get there."
Lucille smiled and placed her hand on top of Gabriella's. "We just want you to know that you've done an amazing job with her. I know that the people who took you were quite neglectful and that you would've practically raised her all by yourself. But we want you to know that you should be so proud of how you've been with her, you've raised an amazing little girl Gabriella and you're one of the best role models we could've asked for for our daughter. Thank you for treating her right."
Gabriella nodded with tears in her eyes. They all turned to look up at the stairs when they heard a quiet "Bria." Lilliana came and sat down beside her sister. "Bria, why are you crying?"
She shook her head. "No reason Sweet Girl, it's ok. It's a bit late for you to still be up."
The girl shrugged. "You didn't come in yet and I didn't want to stay in the room by myself."
"Alright, well how about you hug your mom and dad tonight and we'll head up so you can go to sleep?" Lilliana nodded, hugging the parents and they all exchanged good nights before walking up the stairs. Gabriella stopped at Troy's door. "It's a little too late to say good night to Jakie but how about you say good night to Troy." She nodded and Gabriella knocked on the door, hearing a 'come in' before opening it.
Lilliana walked over to the boy giving him a hug. "I came in to say good night."
He smiled at the girl. "Good night Lil, sweet dreams." The six-year-old whispered something in his ear, he sighed but smiled at his little sister before speaking. "Good night Gabriella."
The teen responded politely. "Good night Troy." Her and Lilliana left the room and went into their own getting into bed. Gabriella said good night to her sister, ending with her usual "Tomorrow's another day Sweet Girl and I love you everyday to the end of the universe. Sweet dreams Livie," placing a kiss on her forehead.
"I love you to the end of the universe." The little girl whispered before cuddling closer. "Sweet dreams Bria."