"How was Palm Springs?"

"It was good," I tell my mom, opening the fridge and grabbing a water.

"Who all went? You never told me."

I uncap my water and chug, like, half the bottle before answering her. "Oh, it was just Troy and I."

She looked confused. "Really? Where was Emily?"

"Oh, she stayed back. With Brady. Because they were hooking up so I didn't want to bother them. Decided to just go to Palm Springs for the weekend."

"WHAT?"

My mom's face was priceless. I'm not sure why I took this approach in telling her. This calm, out of the blue, casually mentioning that my boyfriend and best friend were going behind my back approach. But it's done and I know she has all these questions, but I just don't really have answers.

Because I haven't talked to either of them since Friday afternoon and even then, we didn't do much talking.

"They were hooking up being my back," I tell her, "Brady and Emily."

"No, Gabriella, you're lying..."

I laugh at how sad she looks. It's not funny. It's just such a fucked up situation that involves a lot of people, unfortunately. Emily was apart of my family just like I was apart of hers. So many people are getting hurt in the process and it fucking sucks.

I wish I was lying about this, though. How I wish.

"I'm not, mom," I take another sip of my water, "they were hooking up behind my back and I caught them on Friday."

"Why?"

"Why were they hooking up? I don't know, you have to ask them."

"Are you doing okay?"

I shrug, "I'm fine. I don't care about Brady, as bad as that sounds... when it happened, the only person I thought about and was angry at was Emily. And, though, I never thought about breaking up with him, I never thought about our future, you know? I never realized that I wasn't that invested in the relationship and I was just sticking around to stick around. Emily on the other hand... regardless if Brady was the great love of my life or not, she disrespected me and went behind my back and it was just a total slap in the face and the worst thing is, she hasn't reached out to me since I left her house."

My mom looks crushed. I hate it. "It can't be the end of your friendship. It's been 8 years..."

"I didn't choose this mom, I don't know..."

"So, what? How did you end up going to Palm Springs with just Troy?"

"Well, he was there when it happened and he asked if I wanted to go to get away from it all and it was the best decision of my life..."

Before my mom could say anything else, the doorbell rang.

It was Morgan.

"Sorry, I have to go."

"We're not done talking," she tells me.

I know we're not. She's going to want every detail. How I found out, what Emily's face looked like, what they said, Brady's reaction. How Troy found out. Everything. But I share everything with my mom that I don't care. I love talking to her about things.

But right now, Morgan is picking me up to grab some dinner.

And fifteen minutes later, we were seated across from each other at our favorite sushi place looking over the menu at all the delicious rolls.

"So, are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine," I nod, "I mean, perfectly fine not dating Brady anymore, yeah."

"And Em?"

I shrug, "Emily hasn't tried talking to me."

Morgan looks shocked. "What do you mean she hasn't tried talking to you? If I were her, I'd be on the phone every five minutes because obviously you wouldn't pick up your phone so I'd have to call back. I'd send flowers. A couple hundred texts messages, probably."

I laugh, knowing that's true. But I also know it would never, ever happen and I can confidently say that and believe in that.

"You would never do it in the first place," I tell her.

"I hate this."

"Me too," I close my menu.

She closes hers, too, "that was nice of Troy to pull you away from it all for a weekend."

I couldn't help, but smile when she mentioned Troy's name.

And of course she noticed. "What?"

"Okay, don't make a big deal about it, but I hooked up with Troy last night after he was saying all these nice things to me and I think he thought it was impulse and everything because he was being nice, but it wasn't. I mean, it was impulse, but I meant it. I like Troy Bolton, I think. And we made out a lot and I don't know if that's completely inappropriate because I just got out of a relationship, but I really liked it."

"You hooked up with Troy Bolton?" Morgan's jaw was basically to the ground. "Shut the fuck up. Are you kidding me? You've known him forever!"

"Which is the weird ting. I never knew how insanely attracted I am to him."

She still couldn't believe it.

And I didn't blame her. It's kind of crazy.

"So, you're sure you didn't just get caught up in everything? Like being mad at Emily so making out with her brother?"

"No," I shake my head, "it's the weirdest thing... I like him."

"What now?"

I shrug, "I'm not sure. We talked about it a little bi, but didn't really get into specifics."

Morgan shook her head and laughed, "I can't believe you broke up with Brady and the next night, you hooked up with Troy Bolton. He's so fucking hot, Gabriella. But like also someone who you consider family, so like how in the world is that going to work?"

I have absolutely no idea. And that's why this is such a trick situation.

But I don't think I wanted to walk away from it now. That kiss was too good. It was real and it felt like it was supposed to happen.

I'm just going to take it slow with him.

All I know is that I do like him.

So, we'll see.

It's clear Emily and Brady have been ignoring me.

The only class I share with Emily, we sit on the opposite ends of the room, so that's good.

I mean, I don't necessarily want to talk to her right now anyway.

But we need to.

Eventually, it'll happen because I need to know why. Why she went behind my back and did this. But it doesn't have to be today.

Today, I'm just trying to get through the day.

"You busy tonight?" My friend Sophia comes up behind me, scaring me half to death since my head was in my locker, "I know it's a Monday and all, but was thinking me you and Morgan could go to the bonfire Canyon is hosting. How fun does a bonfire sound?"

"Not very," I tell her, "I took a shower this morning, I don't wanna take one again today after I smell like bonfire. Besides, it's not our school."

"I know," Sophia laughs, "but Kyle goes there and things are moving along."

Kyle... her boo.

Well, this guy she's gone on a few dates with.

"Maybe," I tell her, "talk to Morgan and let me know what she says. I'm not saying no."

"Yay!" She disappears after.

All of a sudden, I see Brady entering the hall coming towards me. But when he looks up and sees me, he stops, looks awkward and then turns around.

He's ignoring me, too, which is completely understandable. But whatever. I don't have time for this, I need to get home. I grab the book I needed from my locker, closed it and then walked down the hallway to the parking lot.

As soon as I turn the corner, I see Troy coming out of a building carrying a book in one hand and his car keys in the other.

I haven't really seen him today.

He wasn't at school until after lunch so I really haven't had a chance to talk to him.

Now, we're here.

But as soon as I was about to approach him, Lindsey Green did first.

And after a few words were exchanged, he smiled at her, and then led her to his car where she got in.

No.

This isn't happening. Troy's hooking up with her.

His hook ups aren't exclusive to the weekends. I mean, I've walked into his house when he had some girl on his couch hooking up with her. How did that image leave my mind this weekend. How did I forget about what he does, who he is. He hooks up with girls left and right.

Suddenly, I take a seat on the closest bench and realize that I cannot do this with him.

Whatever it is. Or was.

Obviously, he's over it or he's just an asshole like Brady.

This weekend my head was in the clouds and now I'm brought down to earth and I'm realizing that Troy Bolton and I could never, ever work.

I don't even know what I expected today.

Holding hands through campus, kissing, laughing and talking? I mean, it's crazy. I don't even know why I'm feeling this way. Why I'm feeling frustrated and sad and mad about it all. Like, I've seen Troy Bolton in all his glory. He doesn't do girlfriends. He doesn't even go on dates! I don't know what I was thinking, but maybe that's it... I wasn't thinking. I was just so caught up in the fact that someone to Troy Bolton's caliber was kissing me!

Maybe I was in over my head. Maybe I got caught up. Maybe it was too good to even be true.

Troy Bolton doesn't do girlfriends.

And he probably realized that the second we stepped back into reality.

Ugh. Fuck him.