"Did Em ask if you can watch Molly this weekend?" I ask Gabriella during Calculus.

"She didn't," she shakes her head, "where are you going?"

I scribble down the problem our teacher has put on the board and then turn towards her, "LA for the night. Gonna crash at Chris'."

She ignored me for a minute.

If there's one thing you shouldn't do around Gabriella, it's talk to her in class. Especially Calculus. She's like a math whiz so she's always focused, always paying attention. And that's exactly why I sat next to her the first day. So she could help me out in here.

When she was done with the daily warm up, she turned towards me, "I can watch her."

"Great. I'm leaving around 5 tomorrow."

"You want me to go pick her up or will you drop her off?"

i shrug, not really having an answer for her. "Well, are you busy around five? If not, I'll drop her off before I leave."

She shakes her head.

But then realizes she is busy. "Oh, I'm going with Morgan to her eye doctor appointment because she needs new glasses and she's getting her eyes dilated so she probably won't be able to drive back. But I can just go get her after."

"Okay, yeah, that's fine. You have a key, right?"

"Yes," she nods, opening her binder to take out her homework, "what time is Em leaving to Santa Barbara? Right after school?"

"I think so, yeah. My parents are leaving around 12 that day."

She agrees.

And now I feel better about it.

Because my parents gave me the responsibility of being in charge of the dog since Emily had these plans first.

"Hey, you got the answer right," Gabriella tells me as she's looking over my paper.

"Really?"

"Yes," she laughs, "and you didn't even copy me."

I laugh, raising my hand as the teacher is asking for the answer now. "And now I'm going to give an answer for the first time this year."

It was right, just like she said.

But she's never wrong. Ever. At least about Calculus. Like I've said, Gabriella's a math whiz.

Mrs. Jacobs started scribbling notes on the board as soon as she removed the daily warm up from it and of course, Gabriella began jotting them all down. Sometimes I like to sit back and just watch her because of how focused she is. It's really cute, actually. And she hates when I interrupt her, try talking to her, pass her notes... which is actually really annoying on my part. But you know, I get bored sometimes.

"Those notes aren't going anywhere," I whisper to her.

"Shut up."

"You're scribbling like a mad woman."

She turns to me, looking annoyed as usual, "this is how I have an A in the class."

I feign resentment. "I have a B, thank you very much. And by the time college applications roll around, you know the night before they're due, I'll have that A and then you're stuck with me fort he next four years at Brown. Or probably not... you're probably the only one getting in."

"Stop," she laughs, "you'll get in. You not only have the grades, but your dad freaking went there."

"Oh yes, alumni power. I'll put a good word in for you."

"Stop talking."

This is how it is almost every class. It's me annoying her and her trying to learn.

I should probably stop.

When I open the door to my house, I'm freaked out that I hear laughing.

No one's supposed to be home.

I mean, I'm not even supposed to be home, but Chris called me when I was halfway there and told me he was at urgent care, throwing up.

So, of course I turned around. I was going to hang out with him and since he can't, what's the point?

But seriously. Who the fuck is in my house?

My parents left this afternoon to New York and my sister was supposed to leave right after me. My cousin was going to pick her up. Is it Gabriella? I know she said she'd come get Molly, but why are her and Morgan hanging out in my house when she has a home of her own?

But when I walk further into my house and see that there's people in the pool, I start to freak out a little bit.

Until I realize it's Em.

And she's laughing while straddling some guy in the pool.

Her best friends boyfriend.

My sister is in the pool, straddling Brady Smith and laughing without a care in the world.

What the fuck is going on here?!

The moment she sees me, she stops laughing and she immediately pushes herself off of him. Brady turns around and the look on his face was pure shock and embarrassment. They got caught. And I can't believe this is happening right now. No, it can't be happening right now. IT can't be happening AT ALL.

But it is. This is very real. This is happening. In my house. In my pool.

My sister and her best friends boyfriend.

"What the fuck, Emily?" I couldn't hold in my anger.

"Troy, stop..."

She immediately gets out of the pool, grabs a towel and comes over to me, "it's um, it's not what it looks like."

I couldn't help but laugh at that bullshit answer. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?"

"Dude, honestly..."

"Shut the fuck up," I tell Brady.

And then I turn around and go inside and Emily immediately follows me in, leaving Brady outside for a minute. I didn't want to look at him, let alone talk to him. So he needs to stay outside. Actually he needs to go home.

I can't believe what I walked in to. I never would have expected this. My sister... WITH HER BEST FRIEND'S BOYFRIEND.

Gabriella's boyfriend!

"What the fuck are you doing Emily? Are you serious? You're hooking up with Brady!?"

"I'm not hooking up with him... it just... happened."

"Oh, it just happened!?"

She nods, "yes, Troy. Please please please you cannot tell Gabriella about this. She doesn't have to know."

Is she kidding me right now?!

Of course she has to know. Her boyfriend is cheating on her. Her best friend is betraying her. Of course she has a right to know. She doesn't deserve this. Gabriella is one of the best girls I know and she is the last person that deserves to be treated like this because of they way she treats everyone. She treats everyone with respect and compassion and she... she doesn't fucking deserve this one bit and I hate that it's my sister doing this to her.

"Why aren't you in Santa Barbara right now?"

"Well, I can ask you the same thing," she says, "why aren't you in LA?"

I roll my eyes, "fuck you, Emily. You ditched Santa Barbara once you knew I was gonna be out for the night so you could hook up with Brady?"

She shakes her head, wrapping her towel around her tighter, "no, it just... it happened."

It didn't just happened.

This has been going on. I know it has.

It all fucking makes sense now. It makes so much sense.

"So, this all just happened? Why? Because you were working on a paper together, bouncing ideas off one another? It's not because you went to dinner with him last Sunday? Nothing happened that night Gabriella left Ben's party early? How fucking long has this been going on!?"

"Not long," she says, "um, a couple of weeks. I just... I couldn't help it."

"Yes, you could have! You could have realized he was with your best friend and not done anything! Regardless of what he does, you control you!"

And then she starts to cry.

I can't.

I can't deal with her bullshit tears. I can't.

"It's real," she tells me, "I really like him and he really likes me and we feel really bad about it."

"Emily, you can't be for real! He doesn't give a fuck about you."

"YES HE DOES!"

I roll my eyes, "oh, really?! Then why hasn't he broke up with Gabriella?"

She shrugs, "because he can't just dump her out of the blue. She doesn't deserve that after six months, you know?"

Okay, now I laugh. I let out a big laugh.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! She doesn't deserve getting cheated on period! Or being betrayed by you. What if he did break up with her, then what!? He'd get with you and you guys will keep it a secret or would you have told her? Enlighten me, Emily. Do you not give a shit about your best friend? You want to lose her? You want to break her trust and be the biggest asshole ever? What the fuck was going through your mind? WHAT IS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" She yells, "I don't fucking know. I don't have anything figured out! Apart from the fact that I really, really like him."

"You're telling her."

Emily shakes her head, pleading to me, "no, no, I can't tell her, Troy. You can't tell her."

There's no fucking way I'm keeping this a secret.

But I am also not going to be the one who breaks this to her.

"You have to tell her. Tomorrow."

"Please..."

I feel very protective over Gabriella. Like I've said he's been apart of this family since we were in the fourth grade. My mom loves her so much. My dad thinks of her as another daughter. And here my sister is stabbing her in the back when she was supposed to be her best friend. I'm on her side. She knows that.

And I fucking love my sister to death, but a wrong is a wrong and I'm not gonna sit back and let her do this to her.

All of a sudden, the doorbell rings causing me to walk away from Emily for a minute.

I open it and my heart drops.

It's Gabriella.

"Hey," she smiles, "you're still here..."

"Yeah," I tell her, looking over my shoulder for a moment to see if Em was coming over but she wasn't, "um, what're you doing here?"

She looks at me weirdly, "um, I came to get Molly?"

Oh right, fuck. "Well, I'm not going to LA anymore so there's no need. Sorry. Bye..."

"Bye?" She laughs, "wait, let me come in. I know Brady's here."

"What?"

I mean, I want her so badly to know what Brady and Emily are doing behind her back because she deserves to know but I would never, ever want to break the news to her and see the look on her face. It will seriously kill me. Because she doesn't deserve any of this.

She pushes through the door, "his car's out front. Are him and Em working on their paper? I thought she was leaving right after school?"

His Porsche is out front.

How the fuck did I miss that fucking thing?

It's too late now. She's in the house and she's walking through.

"Gabriella, wait!" I try to stall, hoping Emily is getting herself ready for the worst, "wait..."

"What?"

But she doesn't stop. She just keeps walking.

Emily is now outside with Brady and they're both standing around in towels, talking to each other, looking upset.

And then they both turn to see Gabriella coming outside and their faces drop even more than when I caught them in the pool a few minutes ago. I don't want to see any of this. I don't want to witness it. Be around it. It feels so wrong.

"What's going on?"

"Gabs," Emily says, coming towards her, "what're you doing?"

"What're you doing?" She says and by the look on her face, I can tell she knows something is up.

Emily looks back at Brady who has a towel around his shoulders, looking like a cat has caught his tongue. It's bad. This whole scene is bad.

But then she looks at Gabriella and lies.

"We were working on our paper, it got really hot and we decided to take a little swim. I didn't go to Santa Barbara after all. What are you doing here? Do you wanna join us? I have one of your bathing suits upstairs in my room. You left it here."

"The water feels so great," Brady chimes in, finding his tongue.

Gabriella doesn't say anything for a moment. And then looks back at me. It's written all over my face... she knows something is up.

She's not dumb.

"You're lying to me huh?" She says calmly.

"What?" Emily looks worried.

"What is my boyfriend doing here, working on a paper that is supposed to be his own? And why when I got here, did Troy try to hold me back like he didn't want me to see what was going on? What the fuck is going on here?!"

Emily broke down. And Brady stood back, not saying anything once again. I just wanted to punch the guy and tell my sister she's a fucking idiot.

Gabriella obviously caught on to what was going on.

"I'm so sorry," she says, "I just... it happened. We never meant to hurt you, Gabs..."

"You were cheating on me... with my best friend?" She asks Brady.

"I'm sorry, Gabs..."

And then she turned towards Emily, "and you... you went behind me back and hooked up with my boyfriend?"

Emily has tears running down her face and I don't even feel sorry for her.

"I gotta get out of here."

"Gabriella!" Emily calls out to her, "I'm sorry!"

But she didn't turn back. She went in the house and kept walking.

And I didn't blame her one bit.