The next morning, Gabriella turns her head to bury it in her pillow, only to feel a solid chest. She looked up and blushed as she found Troy looking down at her, smiling as he played with a strand of her hair. "How long have you been awake for?"

"Just a few minutes Baby, sorry I didn't take you up to the guest room last night, I must've fallen asleep too."

She shook her head and nuzzled his chest. "It's ok Wildcat."

He grinned down at her. "Wildcat huh?" She blushed and bit her lip, making him tip her chin. "Don't get all shy Brie, it's cute."

She looked up at him adoringly, the pink tint still covering her cheeks. "I'm sorry I've gotten like this, it just feels like I always have to be the mature one and all, sometimes I just want to not be the strong one and have someone hold me for a change."

"What do you mean Baby?"

She shook her head. "Please don't tell my brother about what happened last night."

"He's one of my best mates."

"I know that and I don't expect you to lie to him exactly, I'll come up with a reason if he wants to know why we left the party, I just don't want to give him another reason to worry, please?"

"As if I could say no to you Brie."

She grinned and found some buried confidence, leaning up to kiss him. But it was interrupted when she felt the two girls jump onto her, the boys following in after them. She pulled both girls into her arms and grinned down at them. "What are you girls doing? Did you have a good sleep?"

They nodded, the younger twin replying. "We missed you."

She kissed both their cheeks. "I missed you too." She turned her attention to her brothers, inwardly shuddering at the coldness on her older brother's face.

"Girls, go play. Now please." His cold tone made the girls confused but they complied with their brother's demands. Once the girls were out of the room, he turned to the Wildcat captain, ignoring his sister for a moment. "Bolton, you better have a damn good reason why I found a text from my sister saying that you were taking her here, only to find you asleep on the couch with my 15 year old sister."

"Chad, it's not -"

"Don't tell me it's not what it looks like Bolton, you're sleeping on the couch with my sister and -"

"Chad." Gabriella interrupted. "First off, you need to lower your voice, the girls do not need to see you angry. Secondly, you can't come in here guns blazing and not give Troy a chance to speak, we didn't do anything wrong." He nodded curtly and looked to Troy for his response.

The boy took Gabriella's hand and responded. "I brought Brie home because she really did want to leave the party. We came home and talked on the couch for a bit but I didn't touch her man, not the way you're thinking. What I did do though, was ask her to be my girlfriend, so with yours and Locky's permission, I'd like to be with your sister. After that, we must have fallen asleep at some point during the night."

Chad exhaled sharply, "I'll get to the relationship stuff in a second." He turned to his sister. "G, why did you want to leave the party?"

"I've never been a party girl Chad, you know that and I missed Locky and the girls, I don't like being away from them."

"So why didn't you get me?"

She smiled softly at him. "It's like you said big brother, you've given up a lot for us and you deserve to have a night to be able to be a teenager, I didn't want to ruin that for you." She saw he was about to interrupt but she stopped him. "No Chad, I wasn't going to stop you from having fun, you deserved to have that night and there was no way I was taking it away from you, so it doesn't matter."

"Gabs, can I talk to you privately?"

She nodded hesitantly and felt Troy squeeze her hand, she smiled at him before standing up and following her brother out of the room. "What is it Chad?"

"He didn't touch you or pressure you or anything?"

Gabriella shook her head. "Chad Daniel, Troy is supposed to be your best friend and he has been since we got to East High, are you telling me that in the time we've been here that he's given you the impression to be the type of person to touch or pressure me. He knows I'm 15 and he respects me, we haven't even kissed yet if that makes you feel better."

"So you want this?"

"Yes Chad, you know how much I liked him and you've known that I liked him for a while, you're my big brother Chad and you know I love you, and you know that 9 times out of 10, I'd agree to and with anything you say... but this isn't one of those times, I really like Troy and I want to be with him. As much as you try to protect me, you're not my dad superstar, so if I want to be with Troy, I'm going to be with him, with or without your blessing, no matter how much I want it."

Chad sighed, "I'm not keen on the idea, I don't like the way guys talk about you at school and I don't like the idea of a 15 year old with a 17 year old but I suppose if you had to date any guy, I'd prefer it to be Troy. But the second he hurts you or does anything remotely wrong, you come to me and he's a dead man."

She giggled and hugged her brother. "Thanks Chad, I love you."

"I love you too Sis... Are you happy?"

She blushed and bit her lip. "I'm really happy Chad, Troy makes me feel good, feel things I haven't felt before and I'm really glad that he likes me back."

He nodded and they walked back into the room, Gabriella taking her seat beside Troy. Chad spoke, "look Troy, I'm sorry for how I reacted just now, it's just, I'm really protective of Gabriella and I don't want to see her get hurt. But you have my blessing, if she has to date a guy from East High, I'm glad it's you so you can date my sister, but if you hurt her in anyway, you're dead understood?"

He nodded. "Thanks Chad, I'm glad to have your blessing and you don't need to worry, I won't hurt her."

Chad nodded before continuing. "Now last thing and I know Gabs isn't going to like me bringing it up but I'm going to anyway. I know what is said about her by the guys in our grade and I know what the guys talk about when it comes to the girls in our grade, but she is only 15 so if I find out that you -"

"I know Chad, don't worry, nothing's going to happen unless Gabriella wants it to."

Chad nodded. "Ok then, I guess that's it."