Rise and shine, Wildcats! It's time for your daily meal of Albuquerque Gossip!

The daily sightings of your favorite seniors have been updated: GM and RE taking a stroll down Albuquerque Park. Should we bring up the word, affair? CD and TB practicing basketball at the East High gymnasium. We just got back from school and you're already pre-warming up for the season. No wonder their heads are so big, it's full of BASKETBALL. SE and KN at a spa, getting pedicures and head massages while Vietnamese ladies whisper words in their own native language. ZB baking again on his new pastry recipe. Is this dude obsessed with cooking or what? And let's not forget our oblivious friend JC. He's just catching up on first day of school homework. Seriously, there wasn't any homework besides getting your parents to sign the rule sheets teachers hand out on the first day.

They do weird stuff, and yet they're still normal. NOT. If they were normal, they wouldn't be under my radar.

You know you love me.

xoxo,

Gossip Girl

Chapter 7

"Oh my god, my mom's getting married! This is going to be so exciting!" Gabriella skipped cheerfully while Ryan trailed behind. "I have this perfect idea, but she won't let me help her plan out. She even said Auntie Hannah is going to be the maid of honor. I'm her daughter; I should be her maid of honor!" Gabriella had been talking about her mother's future wedding for so long. Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Gabi, I'm glad you're excited about your mom and her new fiancé but seriously, you've been talking about it since we got here an hour ago. It sounds like Troy proposed to you." Gabriella's eyes widened at the comment. They're only seniors. Troy wouldn't propose to her. Nah, she had enough things to worry about. Troy won't propose to her. They don't even know if they're going to the same colleges yet. She thought about yesterday's conversation she had with her mom and her future family.

Gabriella plopped down on the beige couch located in the living room where her mother had told her to wait for her. It was no doubt Gabriella was furious. How could her mom remarry without even telling her? How long have they even been seeing each other? Did that dude in the kitchen know that her mom and his dad were dating? If he got to know, how come she didn't get to know? So many question roamed in her mind when she felt someone sit next to her.

"Yo." Yo? He greeted her with a 'yo'? Does she look like a gangster who understands the ghetto language?

"Do I know you?" she hissed like a bear randomly growling at his predator.

"I'm Isaac Cortez. I guess I'm your new step-brother." Gabriella viewed his attributes. He was a little bulky to be his age but his face looked a little younger. His black hair was spiked up naturally and his chocolate brown eyes were weirdly the same color as hers. He didn't look Latino like Gabriella but from his last name, she could tell his dad's side of the family should've been Native American. His bushy eyebrows covered the top of eyes. A/N: If you need a visual, just think of Taylor Lautner (:

"How old are you?" she asked curiously.

"I'm turning 16 in three months."

"Wait, you're a junior? I thought you would be my age."

"I'm guessing you're a senior?" Gabriella nodded. If she wasn't related to him or mad at her mother right now, she would've thought he was cute.

"I think we started on the wrong foot." She shifted her position on the couch and stuck her manicured hand out. "I'm Gabriella Montez. And I guess I'll be your new step-sister." Isaac smiled and shook her hand.

"That's more like it," Gabriella heard her mother cheered happily. Her arm was around the man that was introduced as her new stepfather. Gabriella smiled at her mom's grin. "Gabi, I'm really—"

"Mom, no need to explain. How did you guys meet?" Gabriella interrupted but finally excited to hear about her mom's meeting with her new husband.

"We met at Italy. Harrison was a doctor on an international meeting with some doctors there and you know last year I went there to visit Domenico and Stefano from Dolce and Gabbana. I was on a taxi back to my hotel and when I got out, I bumped into him. We exchanged sorry's and then I guess we started talking from there since we realized we were staying at the same hotel. We kept in contact since he lived in Louisiana and I lived here even though I traveled a lot." Danielle paused there to smile at Harrison. Gabriella saw that her mother was actually truly happy. Ever since her father, Steven Montez, left her and her mother, her mother has been traveling more and whenever she came home, she would lock herself in her workroom. It was kind of surprising that her mom would wear sweatpants; she never wore sweatpants ever since her father left.

"You have a story to continue, Mom. How did he propose?" Danielle laughed at her daughter's curiosity.

"So I went to Ecuador before your school started and I told him I'll be at Ecuador. Somehow he found out where I was and arranged this beautiful dinner at La Hacienda in Quito and he stuck the ring as a topping on my favorite cheesecake. He got down on one knee when the dessert arrive and he asked me. And I took the ring, licked the frosting off, and gave it to him to let him put it on for me. And then I said yes." Hearing Danielle's romantic story, Gabriella giggled excitedly.

"Oh my god, I just had the perfect theme for your wedding!"

"Gabi, honey this is my wedding. We'll let you pick your theme for your wedding when you get married to Troy." Gabriella blushed at that comment. Isaac raised his eyebrows.

"Troy? Who's he?" Danielle laughed.

"That's Gabi's boyfriend. They've been going out since March." Isaac made an 'o' shape with his mouth and nodded. Gabriella stood up from her place and walked over to her mother and Harrison. She gave her mom a hug, which her mom gladly returned and looked at Harrison. He was an exact replica of Isaac except a little taller and he had a few gray hair sticking out on the sides of his head. She pulled back from the hug.

"I think we got off on the wrong feet," Gabriella said to Harrison. He nodded.

"We certainly did. I'm sorry if us being here has caused a tension between you and your mother." Gabriella shook her head.

"Not at all. I'm happy to see my mom happy. If you're the only source to her happiness, then so be it." Harrison smiled and reached out to her for a hug. Gabriella accepted as she felt her mom encircled her arms around both her daughter and her fiancé's waist. Soon she also felt Isaac wrapped his arms around his new family.

"Wait till Jocelyn and Kianna hear about this. After Kianna's wedding, I think she's still in her planning-a-wedding mood." Ryan pursed his lips.

"Sorry I couldn't make it to Kianna's wedding." Gabriella shook her head in understanding.

"We know you needed time alone. I just thought that maybe going to the Caribbean Islands would've let you relax for a weekend."

"I know but I guess I just needed time by myself. After Gossip Girl posted that blog about me and the girl I was with, I think I'm going to stop with girls altogether for the sake of my sister."

"Stop with girls altogether? Are you going gay on us?!" she joked. Ryan chuckled.

"No, I mean take a break. It's senior year and I guess we should all just be focusing on getting into a good college." Gabriella nodded. She hasn't thought about what she's going to write for her college application essay. She wanted to talk about how moving to Albuquerque had changed her life in a way but she didn't think it was enough to stand out for the deans to accept her for the talent she could offer to the schools.

"Yeah, college," she muttered. She wanted to go to NYU ever since she learned her mother went to NYU to study fashion. She wanted to be as successful as her mom and she knew NYU could teach her that but learning that Troy wanted to go to Dartmouth instead of somewhere near NYU, she couldn't help but think that she may be holding Troy back from the school he really wanted to go to. He chose Columbia since it was in the same city but it didn't mean he could be happy there. Either way, they still won't be able to go to the same school and that scared Gabriella. People have told her high school relationships don't last, that they're meant to just stay in high school. She loved Troy, she knew that, but she also wanted him to be happy and if letting him to go to his dream college meant him being happy, then she would let him. Hopefully in the future when they have to make the choice, they'll both decide on the best one.

"I think we should get home soon. Shar doesn't like me staying out late so much."

"Shar's always the dictator in your house huh?"

"Well since Mom and Dad aren't home so much, Shar's usually the one who orders people around while I just sit back and relax."

"I really can't think how you guys still have a strong bond." Ryan shrugged.

"It's a twin thing."

"Oh that feels good," Sharpay moaned softly as the massager pinched at her soft spot. She really needed this after the breakup with Zeke. She loved Zeke but she just couldn't help but think of all the possibilities he would do behind her back if she didn't let him go. She removed the cucumber slices off her eyes and looked at Kelsi next to her. "Like your foot massage?" Kelsi nodded, pulling out a groan as the Vietnamese lady who was tending to her pressed on a spot on her foot. The musical girls continued on their massage for a few minutes. After they paid for their day's worth of relaxation, they left the little salon and headed off in Sharpay's car.

"Can you drop me home? I'm meeting up with Jason later." Sharpay smirked.

"So how's you and dumb boy?"

"He's slow, not stupid." Sharpay laughed at that cliché joke.

"Right. So have you and him…?" Sharpay wiggled her eyebrows, causing Kelsi to shake her head violently.

"No, me and Jason are very well virgins."

"Virgins? Wow, you must be really innocent then. But… I'm not so sure about Cross."

"What do you mean?"

"Jason may be slow but surely for girls, he gets them pretty quick. Our boys have always been the ones who attract girls a lot. Luckily, we girls got them tied down pretty well."

"Well you and Zeke aren't together anymore. Doesn't that mean he can date any girl he wants?" Sharpay tapped the steering wheel.

"I guess. I don't control him anymore." Kelsi noticed Sharpay's expression. It didn't seem like Sharpay wanted to continue on this topic. Sharpay still loved Zeke; Kelsi had noticed that. If Ryan didn't have sex with that freshmen, maybe she and Zeke would've stayed together. No, if Kelsi didn't send out that text to Gossip Girl. Kelsi sighed under her breathe, not wanting Sharpay to ask her what she was sighing about. It seemed like everything that happened was because of that one text. She shouldn't have sent out that text…

Sharpay soon arrived at Kelsi's front driveway and waited for Kelsi to snap out of her thoughts. "Kelsi, your home is here." Kelsi looked up at Sharpay and nodded.

"Thanks for the ride, Shar." Kelsi got out of the car and left into her house. Sharpay pulled out of the driveway and started on her destination home.

The students at East High were back from Labor Day weekend. The gossip about Ryan and Colleen was declining and the gang didn't have to worry about Ryan anymore since he decided to just focus on his schoolwork. Sharpay and Zeke were still not talking to each other which made it a little awkward for the group to be together but not wanting to cause any trouble for their friends, they insisted on still hanging out with the group together and just not talking to each other.

Gabriella entered East High assertively with Isaac trailing behind. She stopped in her steps and turned around, ignoring the whispers that were traveling around about Gabriella Montez and the new mystery hottie following her.

"Let me see your schedule," Gabriella demanded. Isaac stuck his hand in his sagging jeans and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper. She read through his classes and handed it back to him. "Feel free to look around. Make some new friends but I swear if you start smoking with them, you'll have to go through me, got it?" Isaac smirked.

"If you weren't my future sister, I would've thought that was a way of watching me like a stalker." Gabriella narrowed her eyes.

"Don't flatter yourself, little bro." Isaac shrugged and left Gabriella. She turned around and went straight to her locker. After dropping her bag and her books in her locker, she went up to meet the gang already in a circle near Troy's locker. She wrapped her arms around Troy's waist from behind.

"What cha guys talking about?" she said popping up. Troy raised an eyebrow.

"Who's the hottie with the body with you?" Taylor brought up. Gabriella removed her arms around Troy's waist and stood right next to him.

"My mom is getting married."

"To that guy? He's kinda young for your mom though," Jason blurted out. Kelsi elbowed him on the side. He grasped it in pain. "I mean, it's okay if your mom is marrying him but I don't think it's legal for your mom to marry a minor." Kelsi shoved him again on his side. Taylor, Troy, and Kelsi rolled their eyes.

"That's the son of the guy my mom's getting married to. He's a junior right now," Gabriella corrected.

"Wow, he's a hottie. So you mean that's your future step-bro," Sharpay asked. Gabriella nodded. She heard Troy blew a sigh of relief.

"You thought he was my new target?" she asked Troy. He shook his head.

"No. Don't worry; I didn't think he was anything more than your brother." Gabriella nodded and let Troy swing his arm around her shoulder. In the corner of her eye, she saw Isaac talking to a guy with shaggy hair that was covered with a navy blue baseball cap. He waved goodbye to the guy and walked over to Gabriella.

"What's up sis?" Gabriella looked over at her friends. Sharpay and Taylor were jumping up and down at the sight of Isaac. She saw Chad clench his fists together and felt Troy's arm wrap around her tightly.

"You guys, this is Isaac." Isaac waved to them. They all waved back, especially Sharpay and Taylor. Chad grabbed Taylor's hand and squeezed it tightly, resulting Taylor to grab his arm and squeeze tightly with her fingernails so Chad would release her. "Isaac, this is Zeke, Kelsi, Jason, Chad, Taylor, Sharpay, Ryan, and my boyfriend Troy." Isaac nodded and looked at Troy specifically. Troy kept a poker face when he was looking at the Native American boy.

"Hi you guys. Umm… Gabriella I'll see you later. I'm gonna look around more."

"Do you want me to show you around?" Sharpay yelped hastily. Troy covered his mouth to hide his laughter. Sharpay shot a look at Troy but looked at Isaac again.

"Oh umm.. sure." Sharpay squealed and grabbed his arm.

"Let's go! We have many places to go!" She pulled Isaac down the hall. Gabriella watched them until they disappeared. When she turned back to her friends, she saw Zeke's face. His face was red; you could still tell even with his skin color. Kelsi patted Zeke's arm.

"Isaac's only a year younger than us. Sharpay wouldn't jeopardize her reputation to hit on him. Calm down, okay?" Zeke softened at Kelsi's words. Gabriella was worried though; what if Isaac had something else in mind? She's only known him since yesterday when she got home. She doesn't really know what kind of person he was back at his old home. He could be any kind of person; at a new school, you can start with anything. She didn't know what kind of person Isaac was but hopefully he won't be someone that will make everyone look at him differently.

We got a new hottie in town! Rumor has it that GM has a new step-bro. We're going to call him IC. Add an E and he'll be as cold as ICE. Ice baby ice ice! Lol.

Gossip Girl had done her research and let's just say everyone's in for a surprise. Isaac isn't your average guy. Hint for you gossip-addicts: our very own TB was once this kind of person.

You know you love me.

xoxo,

Gossip Girl

A/N: Okay I'm sorry that I haven't been updating. You can't really blame me since I'm a junior right now and I can't relax until like the second semester of senior year. It's been crazy since I have ONE AP class that takes up alot of my time and a US History teacher that teaches like it's an AP class. But anyway, I'm trying to work ahead of this story so I can just update this story with a chapter when I get the chance to get online. Hopefully this chapter will satisfy you until the next time. Thanks for sticking around!!

--Carol