I didn't mean to throw my sister under the bus and bad mouth her, but I couldn't help it.

It's true.

Anyone with eyes knows Emily is jealous of Gabriella.

Which really sucks.

Because Gabriella is the kind of girl that wants everyone to succeed in everything they do. She's not competitive whatsoever. She cheers everyone that she loves on. I mean, I remember one day, I was really getting under her skin, and she told me to fuck off but then five minutes later, she was helping me with my chemistry homework because I had a test the next day. She's just a good person. And it comes naturally to her. She doesn't throw anything in your face. And Emily is one of those people that has to try hard at things. It's nothing bad, but when your best friend is basically perfect, it can get to you.

It definitely got to Emily especially after she realized she didn't have the grades to apply to any Ivy League school like Gabriella.

So, I don't know if she really likes Brady.

Or if she went with it because he was giving her attention.

And getting attention from him meant she was on the same playing field as Gabriella, you know?

But whatever.

I'm not going to talk about it anymore unless she brings it up. Because this little trip isn't so she could let all her feelings out, unless she wants to, it's so she could get away from everything and have a little fun. And not think about it.

"Do you want me to order some pizza?" I ask Gabriella as we're getting settled in, "or we could go out and get something?"

"Pizza sounds good," she pulls off her sweatshirt.

"Hawaiian with jalapenos?"

She smiles at me, throwing her sweatshirt on top of her luggage, "yes, please."

I ordered the pizza right away and then sat down on the couch.

Coming here is my favorite thing.

It's just a nice little getaway from home and it feels homey enough to relax and do absolutely nothing. Most of the time, I come with my family so we just hang out, bring friends, BBQ, swim and stuff. But when I bring friends, we party it up. Today, though, I know we're going to keep it low key.

Which is completely okay with me. Because Gabriella is a low key person.

I am, too.

Unlike my sister who loves being out and about.

It's nice to just stay in.

"What do you wanna do? Binge watch a show or play board games?"

"Either one," Gabriella tells me.

"Come on, pick," I take my shoes off and make myself comfortable, "you know my mom... we have every game imaginable."

She laughs, getting comfortable on the couch.

And then decides she wants to play monopoly. "I haven't played that game in so long."

"Monopoloy it is."

I get up and go over to where my mom stashes all the board games.

And as I'm getting it, I look up and see a picture of our family and Gabriella's family together. We came here two summers ago. I brought along a few or my friends and we annoyed the shit out of Emily and Gabriella. To be fair, Grant had the biggest crush on Emily and that was his way of holding it back. That same trip, I pushed Gabriella in the pool with her clothes on not knowing her ipod was in her hand.

She was pissed. Really pissed.

She yelled that I was so immature and to grow up.

And then the rest of the trip, we didn't really talk. I felt bad but at the same time, I thought it was funny. Looking back, it's not.

I was immature.

But I think I've really matured. Who knows.

While I'm looking at this picture, I also think about how our parents are going to feel.

Gabriella's mom is the nicest woman I've ever met. I pushed her daughter in the pool and she still made me a sandwich twenty minutes later. I don't have reason to go to Gabriella's house too often, but when I am there, she's so nice. And her dad is so cool. And they've accepted Emily as another daughter.

This will crush her mom. I know it will. And I hate that.

Mostly, it will crush MY mom because it's her daughter who is betraying her best friend and going behind her back.

I don't even want to think about it.

My mom didn't raise her like this. She raised us to respect people.

"Troy?"

"Hmm?" I turn around and see Gabriella giving me a weird look from the couch, "what're you doing?"

"Oh nothing," I stand up, "just thinking."

About what?"

Fuck. Why did I say that? Now I have to give her an answer. "About that time I pushed you in the pool with your ipod in your hand. At the time, I thought it was funny and a good idea, but looking back, I was an asshole. What part of that is actually funny? No wonder you hated me."

"I didn't hate you," she laughs, "no, I just... you were annoying. But you grew out of it."

"Thanks, I think I did."

She grabs Monopoly for me and then moves from the couch to the ground, "I was so mad at you. I had just downloaded so many Taylor Swift's songs."

It was during her and Emily's Taylor Swift phase.

"I'm sorry," I laugh, "I used to annoy the shit out of you guys."

"It's okay," she shrugs, "I'm sure I annoyed you, too. I was... particular."

"Nah, you were fine."

She gave me a smile as she organized all the money and all the cards. She took out all the pieces and laid them out.

This was not how I thought my Friday night would turn out.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Oh my gosh, these are sooooo good," Gabriella gushed over her eggs benedict.

"Damn, I should have gotten them."

"That looks good, too," she says about my omelet.

It was.

But her food looked better.

We're currently having breakfast in downtown palm springs before we go on a hike. It's these trails that we love. We've walked them a bunch of times and every time we come to palm springs, we have to do them. Gabriella loves hiking, walking, running, staying in shape so I thought it'd be nice to do since I'm into all that as well. And then I thought we'd check out the art museum here, too, since usually, we don't do anything when we come here.

We just hang around the house and do some shopping on canyon drive. So, it'll be nice to do some things.

You know, to get her mind off things.

I asked if she wanted to go home tonight, but she wants to stay another night.

So, that's fine by me.

We had a great time yesterday. We ate pizza, played a long game of monopoly and then crashed on the couch. We didn't even make it to the bedrooms because we started watching an episode of Seinfeld that made us doze off. But surprisingly, it was comfortable and we slept fine.

"Have you talked to your mom?" I ask her, taking a bite.

"Yeah, I called her this morning. She doesn't know anything yet. Thought it was just a last moment trip."

"If you wanna go home later, we can."

She shrugs, "I don't really. But we can play it by ear. Maybe I will later."

I haven't talked to Emily.

She texted me about an hour after we left yesterday just to ask where I went. I told her to a friends and that's about it and I haven't talked to her since.

I'm not sure if she's reached out to Gabriella because I don't want to ask or bring it up, but I hope she has. Gabriella's a really forgiving person and she doesn't hold a grudge and Brady wasn't even the love of her life, so I think if Emily shows remorse, if she apologizes, they should be fine.

But the thing is, I'm not sure if she's remorseful.

She was crying yesterday, but it just seemed so insincere to me.

I'm not going to tell Gabriella that, though, and rub salt in the wound. She can decide for herself.

"Your phone..."

"What?" I snap out of my thoughts.

My phone's buzzing.

I look down at it and see it's Emily. Fuck. Speak of the devil. She's calling me.

I'm not going to answer it. Gabriella's in front of me. I'll call her back later. Besides, I'm still upset with her myself and it wasn't even my boyfriend.

"Troy, you can answer it," she tells me, "it's fine."

"Nah, it's fine."

"Look, I know since you were the one that discovered this whole thing, you kind of feel responsible for me and I'm not saying you're being nice to me because of it or anything like that, but I'm not going to make you choose between me and your sister. She's your sister."

I shakes my head, "no way. I'm not choosing a person. I'm choosing right from wrong. And she was wrong. And I wanna make sure you're okay."

Gabriella gives me a smile, like she appreciates me. "Thanks."

"I'll call her back," I shrug.

"Yeah, you should," she takes a bite of her food.

I'm just not in the mood right now.

I'm in the middle of breakfast and don't wanna talk. She can wait.

"You know," Gabriella starts telling me, "my mom would always say, Gabriella, Troy's a sweet guy, he just needs to grow up, you'll see. And I was like, yeah, right mom, he lives to annoy Emily and I. And she was just like, trust me, he's a nice guy."

"When did she say that?" I laugh, amused by it. Teresa Montez is the nicest lady on this planet, I'm convinced of it.

"Right after you and Chase put that fake sticker on my brand new car to make me think my window was cracked," she tells me.

Again, I laughed.

God, I was so immature. I wouldn't even dream of doing that anymore.

"Your mom's just so nice."

"I mean, she's right," she shrugs, "you are a nice guy. I think you would just hide it sometimes."

"Why?"

She takes another bite of her food and then washes it down with her orange juice. "I don't know. I think you thought nice meant boring so you would cover it up by playing all these stupid pranks, throwing people in the pool... and then one day, you just stopped. You grew up and realized that it doesn't mean you're boring, it just means you're a nice guy and that's it."

Gabriella Montez gets me. And that's weird to say and admit because she's not my best friend. She's not Chase, who is my best friend.

But she really does.

I feel like she sees the core of who I am and accepts me for it.

And I also feel like I can tell her anything and everything and she'll take it to the grave.

That's the kind of person she is.

She's the best kind of person. Which is why it's not fair that Emily and Brady did this to her. Brady is such a fucking idiot for ruining that relationship. He's not going to get better than Gabriella Montez no matter how hard he tries, no offense to my sister. She's as good as it gets. I mean, if I had a girl like Gabriella Montez, I'd do everything I could to keep her, not let her go.

And right now, she's sitting in front of me and it's all I'm thinking about.

How could someone let someone like her go?

I know I'd never.