At the end of the day, Gabriella and Gracie met up at the front door. "Ready to go home?" Gracie asked.

"Yeah. Lets just hope there are no you know whats planning to attack us. I've had enough all week."

"Same here."

They started to walk out the door when someone tapped Gabriella's shoulder. Screaming, she threw her hands up and froze the person. Realizing who it was, she gasped and unfroze him. "TROY!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. But next time, call my name. Don't do that."

"Ok. Promise. I was just wondering if maybe you could help me with some science. I'm not that good and I'm starting to fail."

"Sure. Lets go to your place."

"Actually, I was hoping to go to yours. My mom won't be home until late and my dad won't be home until at least eight."

She sighed. "Fine. Lets go." She said and they walked over to Galleria's car. Getting in, she introduced. "Troy, this is my older sister Galleria. Galleria, this is Troy. I met him on New Years. And Troy, you remember Gracie."

"Of course. Nice to see you again. And it's nice to meet you, Galleria."

"Same here." Galleria replied.

"Troy's hanging with me today. He needs help with science and his parents won't be home until later. His dad around eight at the least and his mom even later. So he's staying for dinner."

"Fine. But keep your door open."

"I'm an adult and you're not my mother. You're my SISTER. Neither of us wants another mother. What we need is our sister. You've been acting like this since Mom died."

"DON'T you talk to me about Mom!" She yelled cutting her off.

"We all miss her, Galleria. But don't think that you can just boss me around. I'm EIGHTEEN. I'm an adult too and I can do whatever the HELL I want."

Galleria parked the car in the driveway and Gabriella took Troy's hand dragging him to the front door. She unlocked the door with her key and then dragged him up to her room. She slammed the door shut and locked it. Thinking a second, she carefully froze it in case her sister decided to bother them. Troy was sitting on her bed with his science homework out when she turned around. "Are you ok?" He asked concerned.

Gabriella sighed and sat next to him pulling her book and homework out. "I'll be fine. It's just sometimes... she gets on my nerves. Ever since Mom died, she's been acting more like our mother than our sister and I can't take it anymore. Especially now. I need her as my sister. Gracie does too. Gracie was always kind of a trouble maker and Galleria always blames her for everything bad that happens. Two years ago, Gracie was caught shop lifting and was escorted home by the police. Grams was mad, but she quickly got over it."

"What did she steal?"

"A pair of three hundred dollar sneakers."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. I was a little mad at first too, but not at her. I was mad at myself because I'm older than her. I was mad that I didn't have the courage to teach her right from wrong and to tell her that Mom's death wasn't her fault."

"Who said it was her fault?"

"Galleria. Galleria was down at the lake when Mom's body was pulled from it."

"She drowned?"

"Kind of. But she didn't kill herself. She wasn't like that. We're not sure exactly what happened. Just that she drowned, but not by suicide."

"So what of Galleria?"

"Galleria was seven and when Grams got the call, she went with her to see our mom's body being pulled from the lake. When they got back to the house, at the time, Gracie was really troubled. Galleria stormed into her room and yelled at her that it was her fault that Mom went to the lake in the first place and blamed her telling her it was her fault that she died."

"That's horrible. Wasn't Gracie only three?"

"Yeah. But ever since, Galleria blames her for everything bad that happens to us."

"That's really horrible."

"I know. It's why since Grams died, she went into this sort of overly protective mode and tries to act more like our mother than our sister. She felt as though it was her duty as the oldest of us to raise me and Gracie. That it was her duty to keep us together."

"Sounds like she lost her way."

"She did. And that's what scares me. I'm afraid I'll never be able to convince her to just be our sister again."

"You will. Just give it some time."

"You really think so?"

"I know so."

Gabriella smiled and the two looked into each other's eyes. Troy smiled and started to lean in. Gabriella did the same and Troy closed the gap, cupping her face. He kissed her and she kissed back. After a minute, she pulled away. "Wow."

Troy chuckled. "You look cute when you blush."

Gabriella realized she was blushing and turned a slightly darker shade of red. "So what now?"

"Well, I like you. A lot."

"I like you a lot too."

Troy kissed her again and she smiled. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Of course." She replied and pecked his lips. "Lets get this homework done."

"Right." He replied and the two got to work.