"Moooommmmmm, please please please please pleaseeeee can I just stay at home tonight?" I begged my mother for the thousandth time.

"No babe, I already told Lucille you were going, so guess what? You're going." Damn. "What's so bad about this Troy kid anyway?"

I groaned and flopped down onto her bed as she did her makeup. "Well one, he's captain of the varsity basketball team. So he's obviously arrogant. Two, he's just all around popular. So eww. And three, I don't like people! That's what's wrong with him!"

"Is he cute?"

"Mommy, seriously!"

"Oh come on babe, if he's cute he can't be so bad." Oww. A pillow just came into contact with my face. Who did that? Oh wait, I did. "Now go get dressed, we're leaving in half an hour. And wear a bathing suit, they have a pool and the kids are going swimming."

"Awww, come on, could tonight get any worse?" I whined as I stumbled out of her room.

--

Forty five minutes later, we were finally in the car. After an argument with my mom, I wound up wearing my favorite Hobie bikini, lime green with black cheetah, a black

flow-y Volcom tank and short jean cut-offs. Nice, but also makes it look like I didn't try too hard. Which is good, cause I didn't. My hair and makeup I just left the same as they were for school, cause who really gives a shit.

"Hun, I know you don't want to go tonight, but please just pretend to be nice. Please?" My mom asked as we pulled into a neighborhood were the houses started to get just a little bigger…

I pretended to think about this for a minute, "Buy me another one of those Betty Crocker things?"

"Deal." She smiled as we parked in a row of cars already lined up on the curb. Holy wow. This house is big. Alright Gabs, here's the plan: just put on your iPod and keep walking. If you keep walking it will look like you're busy to get somewhere and no one will bother you and you can- wow that's a nice pool.

Before I knew it my mom had led me into the backyard and was introducing me to Lucille… er, Mrs. Bolton. "Hi Gaby, it's nice to finally meet you. Your mom talks about you all the time." Smile and nod Gabs, smile and nod. "I'm sorry there's not a lot of your friends here tonight, but Troy and Chad are over there playing basketball. You should go say hi." She smiled innocently.

"Well," I looked at my mom pleadingly, but she just scratched her nose with her pinky, a sign she invented for times like these to say 'who pays for your phone bills?' So that left me no choice but to mumble out a "fine" to Mrs. Bolton and head over to their basketball court (yeah, they have a frickin basketball court in their backyard!)

"Dude, I think she's stalking us" I heard Chat mutter as I approached them. Troy turned to see who he was talking about,

"What the hell are you doing here, Montez?" Wow for someone with such a nice face, you sure are stupid.

"My mom works with your mom, Bolton." Duh.

"Ok, so that's why you're at my house. But why are you over here at my court?" Wow, fag.

"Cause your mom said I should come say hi, and my mom threatened to take away my phone if I didn't."

"Dude, what do you need a phone for? Not like you have any friends." Chad said, checking the basketball at me. I don't really know what the purpose of that was; maybe he was trying to make it hit me or something? But that didn't happen, because after playing basketball for five years, it wasn't that hard to catch the ball. And right at that moment my phone went off, as if to prove a point to Chad. Tucking the ball under my arm, I reached to grab my phone out of my pocket.

"Montez, give me the ball." Troy said. I ignored him and continued to type a response to Sharpay. I miss her. Sure, she wasn't as bitchy as me and Taylor, but any girl that has to take meds is a friend of ours. "Montez, ball!"

Putting my phone back in my pocket, I flashed Troy a look. "Dang, chill." Instead of throwing the ball back to his expectant hands, I turned and shot it into the net. A perfect shot without even hitting the backboard, I might add. Troy and Chad both shot me a look, but I pretended not to notice and walked away.

"Mommyyyy, when can we go home?" I asked, pulling my headphones out after finding my mother.

"Gab, we just got here 45 minutes ago. They're not kicking us out until 10, it's only 7. Chillax, go find someone to talk to." Mother, I don't like you anymore. I decided I'm going to go live with the penguins in Antarctica. They live peacefully without any human interactions. But they do have those big scary seals… hmm, I guess I'll stay.

"Fine." I huffed as I walked away, putting my headphones back in immediately. I found an empty lounge chair by the pool and plopped down in it. Who does my mom expect me to talk to? All the kids here are middle school or younger. Well, with the exception of Troy and Chad…. shudder. Speaking of them….

"Montez, take off those clothes and get in!" Shouted a shirtless Chad from the pool. Umm wow, so, without shirts, Troy and Chad are…. sexy. There's just no other way to describe it. How does basketball work your abs like that?

Oh yeah Gabs, think about Chad's perverted comment. Middle finger, that should work. Smirk and look awayyy.. now. Alrighty, now that that's over, back to texting and Nickelback…

"What the fuck?!" Why the hell am I suddenly getting wet? Could it possibly have something to do with the two assholes standing above me with water dripping from their hair? Yes, it most definitely could. "What the hell do you think you're doing, fucker?!" I yelled as they yanked my arms and pulled me up off the chair. Chad grabbed my iPod and phone from my hands as Troy picked me up from my waist. "Troy fuckin Bolton, I swear, I will kill you! I will personally shoot you!" I yelled as I squirmed around, trying to get away. But, it looks like his mind is set. As we got to the edge of the pool I grabbed his arms, so when he threw me in, he came in too.

I swear, I don't think I've ever been more pissed off than I was when I came to the surface and saw Troy smirking at me. So, I did the one thing that any girl does when their mad. I slapped him. Hard. Nails included. "Damn you to hell." I hissed. Honestly, that shouldn't have made me as mad as it did. And I'm really not sure why it got me so mad. All I know is that I was still fuming angry when I pulled myself out of the pool. I yanked off my shirt and shorts when I got to my chair, throwing them on the arms to dry and stormed off to find my mom.

"I really don't care if you take away my phone, I'm leaving. Now." I rudely tore my mom away from her conversation with Mrs. Bolton.

"Gabriella, wait till I'm done talking before you-" Sorry mom, but right now I'm too pissed to be polite.

"Mom, Troy just threw me into the fuckin pool." Receive glare for language… "I wanna go home now."

"Troy threw you in the pool?" Mrs. Bolton asked, sounding genuinely concerned. I nodded. (Yeah, so, even though I just got thrown in the pool, it still seems like a big deal) "But why?"

"They just came up and grabbed me! I have no idea why!" Which is probably why I'm so angry…. The fact that I hate them doesn't help much either.

"I'm gonna go talk to that boy…" Eh, maybe I can put off leaving to see him get yelled at.

"Honey, I know you're mad, but that was rude." My mom scolded me. Ughhh.

"Mom I know, and I'm sorry, I've been having really bad mood swings all day and I'm just really pissed off right now." I apologized. She nodded, accepting my apology. In the background I could hear Mrs. Bolton yelling. I turned to watch; she was yelling her head off at him, and he kept trying to get a word in but she kept quieting him. He looked over at me at one point, giving me a death glare. I just smirked and waved. A minute later, Mrs. Bolton waved me over.

"Now Troy, apologize to Gabriella." Mrs. Bolton scolded her son.

"Mom, all I did was throw her in the pool!" He argued.

"Troy!"

He turned to me, "Sorry." He muttered, though I noticed his eyes were on me everywhere but my face.

"Troy, eyes above the shoulders! Apologize to her face! Don't laugh Chad, you're in trouble too."

He looked at me once again, eye to eye this time. "Sorry, ok?" Ohhh, he sounds maddd. Ha.

His mom spoke up again, "Alright, now go give her a shirt to put on."

"Aww seriously? Can't she just stay like that?" Chad finally spoke up from where he had been watching off to the side.

"I agree." Troy muttered.

"Troy Alexander Bolton!"

"Fine, I'm going, I'm going." He raised his hands in surrender. "Let's go, Montez." Not exactly happy with this decision either, I slowly trudged behind him into his house (his fucking huge house) and up the stairs.

"Just wait out in the hall." He said when we got to the door that I'm assuming led to his room.

"Fine with me. I'm scared I'll get herpes just from breathing the air in your room." I countered back. He shot me another glare before disappearing behind the door. Hate is a strong word, but I really really really really really really really really really really rea- oh look, he's back.

"You know, I'd like it better if you just stayed like that." He smirked a perverted smirk, took an advancing step that was too close for comfort, and reached out to play with my bellybutton ring. Instead of just slapping his hand away, I grabbed his wrist, dug my nails into and twisted his arm.

"Just give me the fucking shirt, Bolton." Wincing in pain, he handed me the shirt and I let his wrist go, revealing five red half-moons. I threw on the black East Al Basketball shirt he gave me. Sadly it had his name on the back, but at least it wasn't a shirt that would show the boobs stains that would surely have shown up in about one minute. Smirking at him one last time, I pushed past him and walked down the hall.

Hate is a strong word, but I still really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really….