Morning

7:15 am

Gabriella's alarm beeped loudly and consistently with no hint of mercy or resistance from its location on her nightstand. She rolled over with a groan and turned it off. She sat up with a yawn and stretched from under her rose petal floral sheets.

She took a minute to exam her room which was mostly decorated with all the items she brought from her previous home in New York. There wasn't much to occupy the room, but like her mom said, she could handle that on her own, with some money and everyday guaranteed low prices of Lowes. She had a small dresser with a mirror to the right of her bed, facing three windows with a window seat that had a great view of her family's swimming pool—enclosed within a fence that surrounded the entire house—and of the forest that stretched far beyond that. At the moment the sun shone brightly through the windows, which Gabriella took as a sign of encouragement to start her day.

She got up from under her sheets and remade her bed lazily. She walked to her dresser's mirror and yawned once more. She had a classic bed head look. She was watching her TV that was up on the wall opposite her bed last night and had fallen asleep before she remembered to wrap her hair for bed. She silently thanked her mom for being half Latina and Filipino so she didn't have to worry too much about fixing her hair. Her red silk pajamas were slightly wrinkled from tossing and turning all night and scowled at her unconscious color-coordination with her bed.

She slowly shuffled over to the bathroom that connected her and her sister's bedrooms. She brushed her teeth, washed her face and changed into her school clothes for the day; a light pink tank top under a green vest with denim mini-shorts.

As Gabriella, hopped down the steps, she noticed her family sitting around the dining room table, eating breakfast. "I'm hope you saved a plate of waffles and sausage for me, Ma."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie. I thought you were on a diet and only made enough for three. But, feel free to make yourself some cereal." Mrs. Montez said while looking at her food.

Gabriella frowned and looked at her mother sternly. "Why would I be dieting?"

"I don't know. You've been looking kind of pudgy lately." Her mom took a bite of her omelet and stared at her daughter with a look of confusion on her face. "What?"

Gabriella stopped pouring cereal into her bowl and slammed the cereal box of Fruit Loops on the counter and looked at her mother with a dumbfounded expression. "I'm a size 3, mother." She returned back to making her breakfast.

The rest of their family was simply ignoring the two, as they weren't trying to get in the middle of another one of their fights.

"You used to be a size 0, daughter." Mrs. Montez said in the same irritated tone as her daughter.

Gabriella sat down at the counter on one of the bar stools that was opposite the room from her mother and began eating. She took a few bites and addressed her mother once more. "The last time I was a size 0 was when I was 13."

"That was also the last time I saw you exercise. Goodness, Gabriella, why can't you be more like your sister. I swear I don't know where I went wrong with you." Mrs. Montez finished her breakfast and threw her plate into the sink.

"Ok! We're going to be late girls, so why don't we start getting ready to leave. Huh? Ok." Mr. Montez declared brightly before glaring at his wife, who went upstairs to start working from home as usual.

Gabriella through her unfinished breakfast into the sink, grabbed her backpack, purse, and jacket and stormed out to the car.

"Why don't you ever intervene earlier? You know mom always goes overboard when she and Gabby get into a heated decision." Tiara said to her father while grabbing her book bag.

"I'm just a man, cut me some slack." Mr. Montez said while putting on his suit jacket for work. "Now, go."

Tiara rolled her eyes at her dad and walked out the door as he held it open for her.

In the car, for the second day in a row, Gabriella stared out the window with her arms crossed without speaking to her father.

"Gabriella, don't be too mad. That's just her way of saying she loves you." Her dad said in a pleading tone.

"So she can call me fat and ugly without a single thought and I'm supposed to just write it off as tough love? That's not fair, dad, and you know it!"

"Life isn't fair sweetie. You need to understand and except her tough love. I know she's not the kindest person, but she does love you. Look at how much she's given up for you."

Gabriella scoffed. "Like what?"

"She had to give up going to college. She was accepted to Princeton, Stanford, and Yale, but she didn't go because she didn't want you growing up thinking your mother didn't care about you and sold you off to some other family like her mother did to her."

"That's not my fault. I didn't just sneak up her uterus. You and she had unprotected sex. It's not my fault!"

"Gabriella! First of all, the condom broke, and second of all, you will not use that tone with me. And don't bring up stuff about sex, we already had 'the talk' let's just leave it at that! Goodness!" Mr. Montez yelled. There was sweat brimming his forehead and he had an uncomfortable expression on his face.

"Yea and I'm still in the car by the way!" Tiara exclaimed from the backseat. She had her earphones in that were connected to her iPod touch, but it wasn't enough to block out their previous yelling.

"Whatever." Gabriella said.

Mr. Montez stopped in front of Daisy Junior High and turned his head so Tiara could give him a kiss on the cheek. "Bye, sweetheart. Have a good day."

"Bye, you too, Dad. Bye, Gabby." Tiara said in a cheerful tone and hopped out after kissing Gabriella on the cheek, too.

"Bye." Gabriella said in a monotone. After she left, Gabriella turned back to look outside the window and refused to look at her father.

Mr. Montez frowned at his first-born and pulled up in front of Clover High across the street. "I'll talk to her, OK? But, in the mean time, try to lay low and keep to yourself, OK?"

"Sure." Gabriella said. "Whatever." She mumbled under her breath as she got out the car. "See you at home."

"Ok, sweetie. Love you!" He called out before she shut the door.

"Yea, you too." Gabriella said before shutting the door. She walked to her locker deliberately, without running into Bridget. She was still a little upset with her mother and didn't bother to acknowledge the figure standing at its locker next to hers.

"Well, hello there." Troy said flirtatiously.

"Hi." Gabriella said while slamming her locker and walking away.

Troy followed her with a smirk and mischievous glint in his eye. "Someone's having a bad day." He said while falling into step with her.

"You know, I don't believe that's any of your business." Gabriella retorted. "I wish you'd stop following me."

He stuck his hands in his jean pockets. "You know, I don't believe that's going to happen." Troy said in a mocking tone. "And since we have the same class next, I believe I'm walking with you, not following. I'm going to do it every day, from now on."

"May I ask why?"

"Sure. You interest me. Most girls consider that an honor." Troy said with cocky grin.

"Oh, well lucky me." Gabriella said sarcastically. "Have you seen Bridget?" Gabriella stopped suddenly to look over the crowd of people, causing Troy to walk by her by a couple of steps.

"Why? You're friends with that dike?"

For some reason, Gabriella blew up at him. "You really are a jerk! She's not gay! And why did you have to use 'dike'?"

A crowd had started to gather and Troy was starting to get a little nervous. No one has ever raised their voce at him, not even his teachers or parents. "Could you quiet down? You're drawing unnecessary attention."

Gabriella rolled her eyes and scowled. She muttered "jerk" one last time before storming into homeroom.

Troy stood in the hall a couple moments in complete shock before following behind. His lips turned into a devilish grin as her thought of what to do next with this unique "feisty" one.

Hope you liked it. R&R please.