September 4

Friday

Gabriella's Bedroom

Kirsten sighed and sat up on Gabriella's bed. She crossed her legs and prepared herself. Her history with Troy was full of repressed memories and regretted actions she wished she could take back.

Gabriella sat up after seeing Kirsten reposition herself and did the same. She faced her and gave Kirsten her full attention. She wasn't aware of how emotional the story might be for Kirsten to tell.

Kirsten took a deep breath. She was stalling and realized Gabriella was so patient she didn't seem to notice. "Ok," she sighed again. "We met in the sixth grade and he was the new kid. We rode the same bus and had the same bus stop. He lives three houses down as a matter-of-fact—,"

"Wait," Gabriella interrupted. "You still weren't invited and you lived right down the street?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yes, but I don't blame him. Let me finish." Kirsten said before Gabriella could say something.

Gabriella nodded and Kirsten continued.

"At that age Troy was still very cute and I noticed his good looks the very first time I met him, which was the main reason I even bothered to introduce myself." Kirsten chuckled. "Back then I had my little ponytail and glasses. I was always wearing skirts and sandals, even during the winter." Her smile faded a little. "Anyway, as weeks went on he became really popular, but I was selfish so he always had to spend time with me before anyone else. We became best friends.

When we got to middle school, we started liking each other and became boyfriend and girlfriend. He was such a great kisser—"

"Still is." Gabriella said softly with a blush after noticing she said it out loud.

Kirsten smiled sadly. "Yea." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, during the summer before ninth grade, I cheated on him." Gabriella gasped and Kirsten nodded. "I know. I don't even remember what came over me. I guess it was because Luke was so much older and could drive and had his own car." She paused. "I lost my virginity to him."

"How did Troy find out?" Gabriella asked softly, directing all her attention to her.

"I told him. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but Troy deserved better and the guilt was eating me alive! It got even worse when Luke dumped me the day after I told Troy. I lost Troy and I lost Luke. I never forgave myself for hurting Troy or for letting Luke take advantage of me." Kirsten didn't dare let herself cry again. She swore she wouldn't waste another tear feeling sorry for herself.

"If you don't forgive yourself, you'll never get over it." Gabriella moved to sit next to Kirsten and hugged her. "I'm sure Troy's forgiven you already."

"No he hasn't! If he did, he wouldn't be screwing a different girl every night or stringing Georgia along like the jerk he is now. I'm the reason he's the school jerk. I broke his heart and he's not going to let that happen to him ever again." Kirsten tried to hold the last of herself together as tears brimmed her eyelids.

"Have you apologized?"

"Of course I—" Kirsten paused and took a breath. She sat up suddenly from leaning on Gabriella's shoulder. "I never said I'm sorry." She covered her mouth with her hand. "I never said I'm sorry," she whispered, bewilderedly.

"So he wasn't mad at me? He was uncomfortable in the truck because of you?" Gabriella asked.

"Yea, he relaxed when I got out. Being nice to you meant being nice to me and he doesn't want that."

"I'm calling him," Gabriella said urgently while grabbing her purse.

"He won't come over if I'm here, Gabriella."

Gabriella already grabbed her phone, but didn't dial realizing the truth in Kirsten's words. "Well, tomorrow I'll invite him to go swimming here. I'll tell him you're gone if he asks."

"Ok." She shrugged her shoulders dejectedly.

"I know how to cheer you up." Gabriella smiled devilishly.

A few hours later, Kirsten was happy as ever after all the dancing and laughing Gabriella made her do.

"Ok. It's time for you to meet the better parts of my family. Come meet Tiara." She grabbed her hand and led her through the hall and knocked on her sister's door.

"Tiara." Gabriella called. "There's someone I want you to meet." Gabriella heard a giggle and walked in to see Tiara with a boy with her on her bed.

Tiara was smiling flirtatiously at the boy and playing with her hair while the boy leaned in for a kiss.

"Tiara!" Gabriella put her hands on her hips.

The two teenagers jumped apart and off the bed.

Sheepishly, Tiara spoke. "Hey, Gabriella."

Gabriella checked over the embarrassed boy who looked like he was trying to be invisible. He had caramel-colored skin and waves. He was wearing black jeans with a red Aéropostale t-shirt on and he was actually very good-looking in Gabriella's opinion. She looked over at Tiara and examined her newly curled hair. She realized the two would make a really cute couple. She then noticed she was wearing her pink miniskirt and black halter.

"Tiara, who is this? Do mom and dad know he's up here? And why are you wearing my clothes?" Gabriella asked angrily.

Tiara held her hands together and kept her eyes down. "Actually…they do. They didn't mind and mom gave this to me. She said she bought this."

Gabriella sighed, exasperatedly. "Of course. Well I just came in here to introduce you to Kirsten, my friend from school. She's sleeping over and I wanted you to know."

"Hi." Tiara waved sheepishly.

"Hey." Kirsten waved back awkwardly.

"Um, Gabriella," Tiara said while reaching for the boy's hand and grabbed it after he walked around the bed to her. "This is Terrence."

"Hi." A deep voice sounded through the room from Terrence. "I go to school with Tiara."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Gabriella. I guess he's sleeping over, too?" She asked towards Tiara.

"No, ma'am. My mom doesn't want me sleeping over my girlfriend's house in fear of any unsupervised activities we might do during the night." He said respectfully and then biting his lip while looking at Tiara.

Tiara blushed and bit her lip too.

They leaned towards each other and Gabriella interrupted. "Do you know where Dad is?"

"In the basement looking for something," Tiara said softly while leaning towards Terrence again.

"Well, bye." Gabriella said quickly and left, shutting the door.

"You left them in there alone? And shut the door?" Kirsten asked in disbelief while following Gabriella down the stars.

"If I didn't my dad would, even if he saw them making out on Tiara's bed." Gabriella said while shaking her head.

"That's not right." Kirsten said while shaking her head.

"I know. But, if I don't give her privacy I get grounded." Before Kirsten could say anything they were in the basement and Gabriella spotted her dad. "Hey, Dad. I want you to meet Kirsten, my friend from school."

"That's nice sweetie," he said while keeping his head down in a closet rummaging for something.

Gabriella mouthed a 'sorry' and turned back to her dad after Kirsten shrugged her shoulders in an 'its fine' sort of way. "What are you looking for, Dad?"

"My camera." He moved to an old cardboard box from their move. "I want to take a picture of Tiara and her boyfriend, but I can't find my goddamn camera!" He said with a frustrated groan.

"Call mom. She might've taken it to take pictures of her new born nephew. She probably took a picture before she left."

"Ok. Thanks, sweetie." He said while standing up straight and wiping his face with his hands. "Oh, hello." He directed towards Kirsten. "Oh you are lovely." He smiled.

"Thank you," Kirsten said sweetly.

"Kristen? Is that what Gabriella said?"

"No, I said Kirsten, Dad." Gabriella said, annoyed.

"Oh. My apologies. Now are you two going to be at the house all day tomorrow?"

"Actually, I'm inviting another friend over for a pool party. That OK?" Gabriella asked with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Sure, sweetie. Have fun. I'll be visiting the office from two to eight tomorrow. Tell Terrence he can stay as long as he wants. Goodnight, sweetie." He walked by them up the stairs and at the top he turned back around. "Nice meeting you, Kirsten." He left after Kirsten waved and said "You, too."

"So what you think?" Gabriella asked Kirsten while standing on the basement steps.

"I find your family very interesting." Kirsten said with a soft giggle.

Gabriella smiled and soon joined Kirsten in a fit of giggles. "Ok. Come on." They walk back upstairs to Gabriella's room and sat down on her bed.

"Wait. Didn't your dad tell you to—"

"He'll stay as long as he wants anyway." Gabriella turned the TV on and they laughed as a funny episode of George Lopez started playing. "Love this show."

"Me, too." Kirsten said with a smile. "Popcorn?"

"Coming right up." Gabriella headed downstairs and opened a packet of popcorn and put it in the microwave. Her long forgotten cell phone sounded from inside her pocket and she answered the call. "Why are you calling me so late?" she asked with a smile.

"It's only nine-thirty," Troy said with a chuckle.

"Whatever. What's going on?"

"Nothing. When'd you start talking to Kirsten?"

"Since last week, why?"

"I was just wondering…"

"Hey, you want to come over tomorrow? We can hang out in my backyard swimming pool and Jacuzzi!" Gabriella said excitedly.

Troy chuckled. "Sure. I got to go now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"K…, actually, why don't you come over now?" Gabriella asked while grabbing a bowl and pouring the popcorn into the bowl.

"Uh…" Troy hesitated. He knew the invitation wasn't sexual, but it was enough for him to drop what he was doing. However, he didn't want Gabriella to know that and therefore, hesitated. "Sure. I'm not doing anything important." He looked at the bathroom where Georgia was and whispered. "I'll see you soon."

"K. There's a balcony attached to my sister's room and there's a window to my room right next to it on the right. There's a tree you can climb up to get to the balcony. Don't worry, we've climbed it, so I'm sure you can." She smiled.

Troy chuckled once more. "K. Bye."

"Bye." She giggled and hung up. She grabbed the bowl and went upstairs.

"The microwave's acting up or something? You really took your time." Kirsten said while reaching for some popcorn as Gabriella set the bowl down between them on her bed.

"Oh, I…I like being alone in the kitchen at night. The moon's reflection shines on the pool water's surface and it's really pretty." Gabriella lied. The pool was covered at night as advised by their real estate agent.

"K. I'll check it out later."

"No! Um, you can't really see it at certain times of the night and that was probably the last chance, so don't waste any energy going downstairs." Gabriella said quickly and then putting a smile on her face.

Kirsten stared at her suspiciously, but didn't say anything and continued watching George Lopez.

September 4

9:35 pm

Georgia's Bedroom

"Georgia, I got to go." Troy said while grabbing his keys.

"But, you just got here." Georgia said while walking out the bathroom in a robe. She started taking it off. "Besides…who else is going to undress me?" She asked seductively, removing her robe and revealing sexy lingerie from Victoria's Secret she bought earlier that night.

"You, I guess. Look, my mom's home early and she wants me home. I'll call you tomorrow and that's a promise."

Georgia almost laughed until she saw the serious look on Troy's face. "You've never promised me anything, Troy. What's going on?"

"That's something you'll probably find out on your own later. Bye." He kissed her on the cheek and left.

Georgia stared in amazement at the sudden show of sincere affection. However, she decided not to get her hopes up and got in her bed to fall asleep.

September 4

9:45 pm

Tiara's Bedroom

"Tiara, I love you." Terrence whispered while kissing her neck.

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes and turned on her TV.

He tried to move her halter top down.

"Terrence," she whined and held her halter up. She then pushed him off when he refused to stop. "If you love me you won't force me into anything."

He sighed. "Ok. What's on TV?" He sat up straight next to her and put his arm around her.

Tiara rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. "Nothing really. Want to order a movie?" She looked up at him.

"Why waste money on a movie we won't pay much attention to?" He asked with a smirk.

Tiara smiled and kissed him. It only took a few kisses for them to turn into French and soon the TV and lights were off—Terrence on top of Tiara. "I'm not having sex with you." Tiara stated bluntly after his third attempt to try and undress her.

"Ok. I won't pressure you," he whispered before kissing her once more. He moved his hands to her waist and left them there.

After a couple minutes, Tiara rolled over and pulled away from him softly. "Don't you have to—"

Terrence pulled her back in, cutting her off. "I'll go…when I feel…like it." He smiled into the kiss. "I'm all yours, baby."

"Mmm." She smiled and kissed him. The first of many kisses they would share that night.

Hope you enjoyed it!