After their little encounter precisely a week ago, Gabriella took it into her best interest to avoid all contact with Troy. That meant no minuscule glances, no bickering, and no appointments to hang with Alessandra at their residence. The project would have to be worked on at the library, to which she had no objections.

"Gabriella!"

She looked up from her notebook with a perplexed expression on her face and watched as her father subtly walked into her room, all the while continuing to call out her name as if she were miles away. He only stopped once he was a few feet away from her. "Your friend is at the door."

Gabriella decided to desist from asking why he was yelling at her, as she then noticed a working device perfectly planted in his ear. Work seemed to be taking over his life lately; he rarely had time to assist her in anything – even dinner.

Nodding, she sprinted past him and lightly trotted down the sturdy stairs until she took an abrupt stop at the closed door. When she opened the door, Allie was there with her bag slung over her shoulder and a vast smile shining across her lips.

"Hi." She said perkily as her body moved further, almost waiting for some sort of invitation to enter. Gabriella obliviously stared down upon her and shook her head slowly.

"Um, hi?" Gabriella mumbled, albeit beclouded by her appearance. "Not that I mind…but – what are you doing here? Is everything ok?" Even in the midst of it all, Gabriella was still driven to make sure there weren't any issues, though it was the last thing on her mind. Could she even consider this brunette as a friend?

Allie's face drooped a little, but her smile worked wonders on the convincing. "It's Saturday…we were supposed to go to the library today?"

And just like that, in only a matter of seconds, realization dawned upon her. They were scheduled to have a rendezvous at the library, but while she was working on math homework, the thought escaped her.

She swallowed thickly and stepped back involuntarily, her grip on the wooden door lessening as she tried to put on her best, fakest smile. "Let me just get dressed." Gabriella noticed the blue eyes glancing oddly at her pajamas, before they returned to meet her electrifying chocolates.

"You can come in and wait," Gabriella told her as she began walking towards her stairs. "Make yourself at home!" That was a horrible choice of words, she discerned after reaching her illuminated bedroom. She only knew Allie for what, 3-4 weeks? Yet, she couldn't quite categorize her as a friend, and that led to the mistrust. If anything was stolen or perhaps broken, her father would have her head squished into a blender.

Cavorting around her room aimlessly, she searched quickly to find an appropriate, yet random outfit to throw on. Her shirt was discarded seconds ago, replaced with a north face jacket now covering the tank top that once lay underneath her colossal pajama shirt. Tight jeans now rested smugly on her lower half and she slipped into the nearest black flip flops she could find. For a day in October, it was rather cold and windy in comparison to the recent days.

Gabriella grabbed her cell phone from her mattress and then ran her way into the hallway, until she finally approached her lengthy stairs. "Read—" Before she could effectively make it into the living room, she found herself clumsily tripping over the last two steps and flying forward, face first, onto the cold hardwood floor.

"Dammit," She groaned as her hands braced themselves against the floor, preventing her face from being smashed into oblivion. There was a momentary lapse of pain that shot through her, but easily absconded from her body once she was lifted up by Allie.

"You really are a klutz." Allie giggled sheepishly, letting her hand drop from Gabriella's forearm. "You ok, though? That was a pretty hard fall."

Gabriella merely nodded and swiped down her jacket, ignoring that snarky comment. "Just dandy." She answered. "Let's get going."

The two started for the door, Gabriella stomping in the lead, and Allie amusedly trailing behind. If Gabriella had been paying any attention at all, she would have acknowledged that her necklace snapped from the chain after her fall, and lay glowing on the floor.

"Holy cheese balls," Gabriella gasped at the sight of the Ferrari perfectly parked in her driveway, making her father's car look like a piece of shitty metal. "This is your car?" She asked an octave higher than her normal light sounding voice.

"You like it?" Allie breathed out, seemingly shocked by Gabriella's admiration. "It was a gift from Xa—my mother."

Gabriella was too distracted by the shininess of the car to hear the slip up, so nodded as she gently reached out to touch the black layering. "It's beautiful." Considering her father had a cheap car, and hadn't bothered investing for her own car, this was like heaven to be able to put her fingers upon it. Better yet, to step inside the magnificent car.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Allie put pressure onto the key, signaling that it had been unlocked when there was a brief ring from inside. "She doesn't bite."

Gabriella laughed shyly. "Of course not." She shot a look back at her house, seeing her father pacing in the window as he spoke into the tiny microphone, and sighed as she finally slid into the Ferrari. Truthfully, she'd rather be at the library with Allie, than stay at home and be endlessly ignored by her own flesh and blood.

Funny how things worked in this state of Albuquerque.


"Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things." Allie spoke in a quiet murmur as she read aloud the words from the laptop directly in front of her. Her eyes were so intently focused on the screen; Gabriella thought nothing might be able to break her away from her objective.

"That's deep." Gabriella said sarcastically, leaning back into the brown wooden chair, currently sustaining her weight. She could care less about the irrelevant facts about the scientist – she just wanted the main points completed, so she could disappear and hand in this report.

"It's brilliant." Allie argued, trying her utmost hardest to get through to Gabriella. Though, she was off in space presently. "He was one of the most intelligent men to ever walk this planet, Gabriella. I mean…don't you just wish you could get a chance to go back into the 17h century and meet him? To experience what he discovered - learn his logic?"

Gabriella cocked an eyebrow. "Time travel back to the 17th century?" She immediately shook her head. "If anything, I'd want to go back to 1990s."

"But why? We have people who are still alive from that century – what's the fun in finding out something that has witnesses?" Allie responded and almost jumped up in her chair at how into the conversation she was. "There's nobody left from the 1800s, 1700s; nobody."

By the way she tried to get her point across, Gabriella felt herself falling into utter confusion. What was the big deal if she didn't want to go back that far, nonetheless, to meet some deceased scientist? And why was she so determined to make it evident of her opinions?

She opened her mouth, ready to respond with a statement prepared for bickering, but suddenly heard another voice overpower hers.

"Stop with that psychological shit, Al. Not everyone is like you."

Allie breathed deeply as she heard the voice. "Nobody asked you Troy."

"Exactly why I feel inclined to shut you up."

He was wearing a plain black t-shirt, not too baggy, but not tight enough for Gabriella to recognize the abs she now knew were there. His dark jeans hung low – she could faintly make out the blue of his boxers, which she found her mouth opening under protest. Surely her drool was flowing past her lips now, so she consciously placed her hand over her lips, forgetting how idiotic she looked.

"Why are you even here?" Allie barely shut her laptop, just making sure she could have a clean source to stare at him. "Don't you have something to do?" She hissed out the last words, craning her neck slightly as if to make him understand more clearly.

Gabriella fixed her gaze between the two, unsure of what to say or to do as she watched the siblings glare at each other.

"Me? Something to do? Nope." Troy stole a glance at Gabriella, his infamous grin making an appearance on his face, before he lazily sat down on the chair across from both girls. "Dad called me to check up on you. Make sure you weren't getting into trouble."

"Dad?" Allie clenched her fist dangerously, but Troy seemed to be the only one who noticed as Gabriella sat there dumbfounded. "Well, Dad, should not make assumptions. It is a library after all; there aren't many ways to get in trouble." She scoffed.

"Dad, was just being considerate." Troy ground out and dropped his notebook loudly onto the table, earning a blatant shush from the nearby librarian. "See? There's a lot of ways to get in trouble."

Much to Troy's amusement, Allie's fist had transformed into a deadly white shade. He knew the consequences of getting his sister angry, yet he continued to rile her up. "Go home, Troy. I have a project to finish."

He simply shrugged and shook his head. "I'll pass up on your offer." Again, his eyes took a slight shift to look at Gabriella, and this time was much shorter than previously. Gabriella gulped and looked down – she wasn't looking to get involved in brother and sister disputes. But, god, his eyes were so dazzling. She'd be lying if she said she didn't peak at him once more, only to find him and his sight on a nifty blonde bimbo.

"Troy, I swear—"

His hand rose, cutting her off from the sentence. This boy sure had a way with interruptions. "I have to talk to you about something." Troy thought for a minute, before leaning towards Allie. "Alone." He whispered.

Gabriella should have been offended by the look he then gave her, but it was uncanny to find her cheeks blushing profusely. This was like a total of three, or maybe four glances her way, without sending a rude one at that.

Allie stared at him for a good two minutes, her eyes laced with fire and frustration, until she finally stood up and walked to a corner. Troy flashed a toothy grin to Gabriella and carried himself over to his angry sister.

Gabriella slumped down in her seat, bringing her messy papers with her along the way. She wasn't sure what had just happened, but it was something she never wanted relived. This wasn't in character for her – she wasn't supposed to swoon over the man who she despised once upon a time. He treated her like utter shit, like she wasn't classified as a human, yet something pulled her towards him. Ever since that damn meeting in the janitors closet, and then even back at his house, she wasn't feeling all like herself.

Damn hi—

"Excuse me, miss," Gabriella's eyes jerked up to the speaker, an unfamiliar face to match with the unfamiliar voice. It wasn't at all correlated with Troy's deep, husky voice, and she berated herself for even comparing the two. This man was quite tall, and his green eyes were spiked with boredom. His black hair was neatly combed back, emitting an internal laugh, but she calmed down as she spoke.

"Yes?" She sat up straighter, clearing her throat in the process.

"Do you think you could help me find a book?" The man said politely, a hint of some English accent in his tone. "The librarian seems to be, uh, rather occupied at the moment." He used his thumb to point behind him; the librarian was disciplining a Goth looking chick, and some burly quarterback type.

"Erm," Gabriella hesitantly spoke, contemplating whether to be helpful and service this stranger, or to wait quietly for Troy and Allie's return. A sense of fear washed over her, though she wasn't too sure why. How would you make friends unless you associated with strangers? "Sure." She finished.

A smile formed on his face in admission to her acceptance. "Thank you so much."

Gabriella nodded and got up from the chair. "What's the name of the book?" She may have only been in this town for a short period of time, but accessing books and finding their location wasn't rocket science. Apparently this man must be lacking in the brain department.

He scratched the back of his neck in an oddly manner. "I believe it's; Extinction of the Lercerina's."

Gabriella pursed her lips, having never heard of that book, but there were a plethora of one's she hadn't heard of. "And who's it by?"

"I'm not 100 percent sure." He said.

"Oh, um, alright – I guess the title will have to do." Gabriella smiled weakly as she escorted him over to the secluded area, isolated from the rest of the tiny crowd in the library. It was all alphabetized according to the first letter of the title, usually the author accommodated the quest, but he was obviously in no place to guess who it was written by. He couldn't even find the damn area.

"So…" Gabriella started, continuing to rummage around for the story. "What's the book about?"

Feeling a shadow overpowering her, Gabriella reluctantly looked up from the stories to the man. He was towering her bubble with his arms across his chest, an amused look on his face. She gulped silently as her attention was transfixed back onto the books.

"A very beautiful woman who holds the power to ending a race." He spoke slowly, emphasizing each word with caution. "With her dead, it becomes, well…extinct."

Gabriella sighed as she continued searching. She couldn't find that damn title, and it may be her eyes skipping over it, so she put the effort into trying once more. "Sounds interesting."

"It is, very much so." The man inched closer to Gabriella's crouched figure. "Most people have wanted her dead; they just couldn't seem to find her." She suddenly felt a hand grasp her shoulder, and lightly squealed as she was lifted off the ground, and pulled against a rock hard chest. "Until now."

"What ar—"

"Make a noise, and this goes into your skin." Fear overcame her as a cold object pressed against her neck; to be what she assumed was a knife. He had it pushed quite roughly; there was no doubt that some blood hadn't already been drawn.

And as if he could read her mind, as she was about to plead for her life, he crushed his entire hand over her quivering lips.

"Gabriella?"

"Shush!"

"Don't fucking tell me to—"

"Troy, stop. Listen to the librarian."

Gabriella could vaguely hear Allie, Troy, and apparently the librarians voice mixed in a ramble. Her whimpers beneath the strong hand weren't enough to catch the attention of either of them, even as he began dragging her down the deserted isle.

She wasn't about to let herself be kidnapped and killed by this man though, not her on watch. She had been on this earth too short to be taken away so quickly. Marriage, kids, and pets – she needed to embrace each one, and that wouldn't be happening if she helplessly allowed him to drag her away.

With all her might, she bit down on the clammy skin of the hand on her mouth.

But her scared eyes then widened when the skin hadn't even been broken through. He didn't flinch, he didn't move his hand, and he didn't make a sign that it was painful.

"Can't just behave, sweetheart?" He growled into her ear as he jammed the knife further into her neck, this time she could feel a warm trickle of blood escape the new-found opening.

"She's not a fan of pet names." A voice parroted.

Gabriella felt like she could die of happiness right then and there, but her decision of staying alive had been kept in mind.

Before she could get a good glance at the man she knew spoke those words, she was released from the grip of the stranger and flung into the bookcase in front of her, causing her weight to knock a few books onto the floor. A soft grunt left her lips in a frenzy as she struggled to stand back up once more. Everything happened so fast, she wasn't entirely sure how she managed to get away from him.

"Oh my god, Gabriella," Allie's tortured voice came, and soon her body was kneeled next to her. "No, no, this wasn't supposed to happen yet."

"W-What?" Gabriella asked shakily as she looked up to Allie.

Allie didn't get a chance to respond, but it didn't seem like she was about to. Instead, she heard that heavenly voice of Troy's again, warning his sister that they needed to leave immediately.

"Gabriella, get up, we have to go." Troy hissed at her, handling the situation with ease when she hadn't moved even an inch. His arms scooped her up off the ground, effortlessly carrying her bridal style in the opposite direction of where she was once designated to go. Her mind was foggy, cloudy and blurry while she felt a sharp pain in her head.

And the last thing she saw, before everything turned black, was the man who had a knife pressed up to her throat before, lying on the floor with an opening in his chest. For the short moment her eyes were open, she was able to realize that the opening was directly in contact with his heart, and that said organ was on the floor next to his lifeless body.

Although, the silence of the librarian and other students went unnoticed, since they stood staring into thin air.

But it was the least of her worries, once she finally allowed her eyes to flutter closed.