"What do you wanna do tonight?"

"I'm not sure, anything in mind?" I close my locker and turn towards Emily.

She was about to say something, but her brother interrupted her, grabbing her phone out of her hand.

Immediately she grabbed it back, "what the fuck?!"

"Mine's dead and I gotta call mom."

"Why?"

"I want one of those sandwiches from that place and she's by there because she went to the mall with grandma, we were texting about it before, but my phone died at the beginning of last period and I gotta make sure she's gonna get me one."

Emily rolled her eyes and handed the phone back to her brother.

And then she looked over at me. "Ben's having a party tonight. We should go. His parties are always fun."

"Eh, I don't know."

"Come on, Gabriella! I'm sure Brady will wanna go too. We can all go, I'll third wheel of course as usual. I heard everyone's going."

We both try to tune her brother out as he's talking.

He's loud.

"Fine, but I'm not going to stay long."

"Fine, okay," Emily nods. And then grabs her phone back from her brother. "I hope you told her to get me one, too."

Her brother laughs, "nah, I told her to get one for Brie, though."

Emily rolls her eyes, "stop."

"Stop what?

"Calling her that! She hates it and you know that."

"Yeah, but I love it," he tells her.

He looks over at me and give me a smile as he opens his locker and stuffs his book in there.

Troy Bolton.

Emily and Troy are fraternal twins so they don't look scary alike but they're twins so of course they do. Emily's gorgeous and Troy's... he's fucking hot. I've known them since the 4th grade. Naturally Emily and I are closer... best friends. But obviously Troy's mixed in there. Not really a best friend. More like an annoying brother who's constantly around. I mean, he's nice and everything, but like a brother, he annoys Emily and then annoys me in the process of that.

"What are you losers doing tonight?"

"Ben's party, how about you?" Emily asks him, "Jenna, Kristy or Lara? Maybe Trish?"

Troy laughs, "oh, you're just so fucking funny, sis."

It was kind of funny. And true. Troy's a certified player. Well, I guess maybe not since I think you have to be in a relationship to be a player, but he just dates around a lot. Not dates, just hooks up. New girl every weekend as far as I'm concerned. I don't know nor do I care.

"You going too, Brie?"

"I guess."

"With that douche bag boyfriend or yours?"

Another thing- Troy hates Brady and I've never really understood why. But the moment we got together 6 months ago, he's had nothing nice to say about him. Or our relationship. "Yes, he'll be there, too."

I don't even get mad at him anymore cause I'm used to it. Do I enjoy him calling my boyfriend names? Of course not.

But I just let it go.

"Stop calling him names," Emily defends him, "she never says anything about your girlfriends."

"They're not my girlfriends."

"Even worse," she rolls her eyes, "now, if you'll excuse us, we're going home."

Troy nods, "yeah, me too and you're giving me a ride. Luke bailed during lunch. Do you mind stopping by 7/11 on the way home?"

The question was directed at me since I'm the one who drove.

He drives me absolutely mad sometimes because of his stupid charm and the way he's so confident and out there and doesn't give a shit what anyone says, and because he's in your face a lot too. Just really talkative. But for some reason I can't say no to him. There's a little soft spot for Troy Bolton and it's because in 7th grade when some girl went crazy on me saying she was going to slap me if she ever saw me talk to her boyfriend again, he stepped in and protected me and defended me and I'll never forget that day. All my other friends who were standing around me said nothing. I defended myself but having him step in and back me up meant a lot to me.

I do give it back to him, though, and half the time, he does annoy me. But I could never hate Troy Bolton.

Or leave him here at school.

"Fine."

"Shotgun," he calls, causing Emily to roll her eyes.

Before I even pull out of my parking space, Brady came up to my car causing me to roll down my window to talk to him.

The second he saw Troy, you could tell he was taken aback. "Where you going?"

"To their house."

He peeks his head inside my car and sees her in the back and gives her a smile. "Oh, I didn't know you were back there. Thought you were going to the library to work on your report. I'm headed there now."

What?

"Oh, um, no I just checked out the books."

"Alright," he says and then looks back at me, "you guys going to Ben's tonight? I can pick you guys up?"

"Yes!" Emily says before I can even say anything, "we're going. Pick us up around 8. And don't be late. We know how you can be."

Brady laughs and then gives me a quick kiss before leaving. It was an awkward through the window kiss that I probably would have skipped to be honest. But he went for it, so I had to go for it

Troy turned back to Emily when he was gone. "What the fuck was that?"

"What?"

"Why are you asking him to pick you up for a party? You're not dating them, Em. Let them do their own thing."

She looks offended. "Oh my gosh, we're all friends here."

"It's fine," I step in. It is fine most of the time. Lately, though, she's always been around and it's not annoying but Brady and I do need our alone time so you know, it's not ideal. But Emily's my best friend. So whatever. "You guys are working on a report together?"

"I mean, we got the same topic, so figured we'd bounce ideas off each other."

"Oh, yeah, that's smart," I tell her.

I'm not a jealous girl.

And I'm definitely not jealous with my best friend.

So whatever.

I've never been a big partier.

And it's not like I wanna be stuck at home on a Friday night.

But I just don't necessarily want to be at a party.

My perfect Friday night would include some really good dinner, laying on the beach talking, hanging out, laughing, and then grabbing a hot chocolate or an ice cream. Some sort of dessert. With some good people. Or my boyfriend. Or just my best friend. People I want to hang out with.

Parties are okay. You can hang out with people, but you're also around drunks.

And I just can't handle that.

It give me anxiety knowing that people are gonna go home drunk and I don't know if they're driving or not.

Are they going to walk home? Will they be okay? Do they have a ride? It's all that runs through my mind during parties that I hate being at them.

"You sure you don't want a drink?"

"Yeah," I tell Brady.

"Alright, let me give this to Em," he says before making his way over to her by the beer pong table.

She's waiting for her turn and she's already two drinks in. This shit happens all the time we come to a a party. I feel responsible and I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for her and it makes me so annoyed. She's not doing anything wrong necessarily, but it's the exactly reason I hate coming to parties.

All of a sudden, Emily's laughing. "Brady! Oh my gosh!"

I walk over to them, curious what was going on. "What's up?"

Emily turns to me, still laughing. "he spilled this whole drink. Not on me, but still. He literally just made it for me."

It's not funny at all. I don't get it.

I've only been here thirty minutes and I already really want to go home.

As I sit through two games of beer pong and talk to Paige Brier for a bit, I'm praying and hoping that Em and Brady want to leave soon.

"Hey can we go?"

"What why?" Emily looks confused. "It's fun!"

"Yeah, Gabs, lighten up. I'm not even drunk and I'm having fun."

I don't even care. I want to go home.

And I'm going to go right right now. "Alright, well you guys stay, I'm gonna go."

"Okay!" They both say waaaay too quickly.

Well, of course. I'm a bored and getting rid of me will be so much better for them. They won't have to think about me sitting in a corner being annoyed the whole night. So, whatever, I don't take it too personally. Actually, I kind of chuckle at that and then make my way out back.

And sit on the steps of Ben's front porch while I try to think of who I can call to pick me up.

My parents are out.

Sophia and Morgan are out of town. My brother's away at school.

Fuck. I find myself dialing Troy's number.

But I don't hold my breath.