Holy fuck, you look HOT."

I pushed my hair out of my face and smiled at Savannah, "yeah? You like the dress? I wasn't so sure if I should wear it or not."

Savannah nodded, "Oh my gosh, yes. I want you to wear this for the rest of your life. It looks SO good on you, who made it? And can I borrow it sometime, like maybe for my cousin's wedding that way the people there can't judge me for not wearing it as well as you."

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes as I put my clutch in our private booth where no one can get it, "it's Valentine and of course you can borrow it."

"Ugh, Valentino, my fave," she squeals before turning around, "let's get a drink."

We go over to the bar and she orders us both mojitos.

As we're waiting for them, I scan the room for one particular person, but I don't see him anywhere.

"Are you looking for your boyfriend?"

Fuck. She caught me. "No," I shrug, trying to think of someone I could be possibly looking for, "Um, I'm looking for Char, where is she? She told me she was running a bit late, but I thought she'd be here by now, she doesn't live far from here at all."

"She's here," Savannah tells me, "she's helping Morgan out with something."

Oh okay. Well then I guess there's no reason to be looking around now, right? But ugh. I want to see if Troy's here even though I'm mad at him. I'm so mad at him. Yes, I've been judged before but I thought he was different.

I thought he was a nice guy from Chicago who just takes the good with the bad and gets to know someone before they judge.

But I guess not.

"William's coming," Savannah tells me as she hands me my drink, "he should be here any minute now."

"S, that's exciting!" I take a sip and yep, it's perfectly made, "are you guys boyfriend and girlfriend now or what?"

"Not yet," she shakes her head as we make our way through a crowd of people, "but I'm pretty sure it's going to change soon. It's been about a month and we've hung out quite a bit so yeah, it's time. And I'm ready."

Savannah stops in her tracks as she looks down at her phone and in turn makes me run into her a little bit but thank God I didn't spill anything anywhere. She turns back to me and gives me a big smile and squeal and tells me she'll be right back. That she has to go grab William in the front.

I watched her leave and couldn't help, but smile. My best friend has a boyfriend pretty much and I'm so freaking happy for her.

"Gabs!"

"There you are!" I tell Char as I walk towards her.

"Yeah, I was helping Morgan with some of the Children's hospital presents, deciding where's a good place to set up the table for it," she fills me in, "the spot where it was originally located was horrible so I had to help her move it and shit."

That sucks. "Is your sister here or did she end up going with your parents to the Hamptons for the weekend?"

Char shook her head, "No, she's around here something. Don't know where, though."

Good. I love her little sister as if she was my own. "Are you still spending the night or should I stay at your place? Victoria came stay too if she wants. My parents are out of town, remember?"

"Let's do your place then!" Char's eyes light up, "yeah, yeah. We'll just borrow some clothes, unless you don't mind if we stop by on the way home."

"Oh I don't care," I take a seat as we reach our booth, "either way is fine."

"Okay, cool," Char puts her drink down at the table and then turns around, "I'm gonna go use the bathroom, but if you see Cassie can you tell her that my sister was looking for her and if she asks why tell her that you have no idea because I don't know either."

I tell her yes and then she's off to the bathroom leaving me alone here. It was lonely over here. It was upstairs and we could look down at everyone, but really, everything was happening downstairs. I guess it was just a good place to escape for a little bit but I didn't need escaping right now.

So I headed downstairs with my drink and went to find Savannah so I could say hi to Will.

But before I could even find them, someone stopped me.

"Can I talk to you?"

It was Troy Bolton. And he looked incredibly hot. "I don't have much to say to you."

He looked a little upset, "Well, then let me talk. Can we go someone a little less loud? Someone quiet?"

Ummm no. I'm not going to leave my best friends party when she hasn't even gotten on the mic and welcomed everyone yet. I didn't want to miss that. She always gave a small speech at the beginning and I LOVED hearing it. We were seriously 20 minutes into this party. People were still coming in and getting situated. She was giving them time. And I know the speech is coming soon so I'm not going anywhere with anyone. Especially him.

"I can't," I start backing up, "I have things to do."

But I don't. He doesn't know that, though. I walked away from him and then spotted Cassie who was laughing with Monique about something.

I walked up to them and said hey and then the music that was playing grew quiet. Everyone grew quiet, actually.

We all turned when we saw a spotlight shining in the middle of the stage and Morgan was up there with her mom and her sister and yep, this is speech time. Thank God I didn't go off with him.

"Hi, guys," she spoke into the mic, "I just want to start this off by saying I'm so happy so many of you could join me and my family for another amazing party that benefits the Children hospital, which is near and dear to my heart." She stops for a bit because I know she's getting a little sad thinking about her cousin. But she quickly gets back on here, "Your donation, big or small, is much appreciate and I know us Davis girls can't thank you enough for what you guys do. Honestly, we're so lucky and blessed and I know we're all in a position to be able to give back so the fact that you guys do means the world to me and I want you guys to have the best time ever tonight. Oh and I want to thank my best friends in the whole entire world- Charlotte Adams, Cassie Taylor, Savannah Watson and Gabriella Montez. Your endless love and support means the world to me and it's because of you guys that I keep this going."

Oh man, oh man, oh man. I did not expect to shed some tears tonight, dammit!

But I didn't care. We clapped, we all wiped tears away because for us personally, this party is so much more than just a party. It's about giving back.

"Let's get food, I'm starving."

I followed Cassie and we went to serve our some a bit of food.

It wasn't real food. Well, like meals. It was more like appetizers, or horderves if you want to get fancy, and desserts and things you can much on which was okay. I ate a bit before I got here because I knew what to expect already.

We all ate and then we joined everyone downstairs. And it seemed like everyone was having a good time. I know I was.

Until Troy Bolton came up to me again.

This time, though, I was walking through the crowd with Savannah to get my second drink of the night. And once he asked if he could talk to me, Savannah smiled at me and then bailed. In her defense, though, she doesn't know that I hate him right now and I no longer want to get to know him on a deeper level.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" he tells me as I cross my arms across my chest, "I didn't mean to say any of that."

"Oh, you didn't?" I question him, "but you believe it."

"No," he says, but it doesn't sound convincing, "I mean, does it really matter? I shouldn't have thought it. It was wrong and it was me judging and it's the last thing I do. It's not the kind of person I am but after being at your house a few times and your parents never being there, I don't know, I jumped to conclusions. And it always seemed like something was up. Like you were sad about them not being there so I just figured. I don't know."

What is he even talking about? When did I look sad about it?

I tried my best to think about all the times he was there. Let's see... the night I was drunk, they were at some party. The first time he came over when I was sober, they went to a dinner.

And then the other night they were just out. My dad was working and my mom was having coffee with Morgan's mom, helping her plan the party.

"You're reading it all wrong," I tell him, quite annoyed, "my parents aren't gone enough for me to be sad about it which is why you have it all wrong. And why I really don't care to talk to you right now. You know nothing about my life so stop pretending like you do."

"I'm sorry, okay?" he says as he looks right into my eyes, "I shouldn't have said anything."

It seems like he's being sincere, but I honestly have no idea. But he is taking the time to apologize so maybe he does want to make things better. I only apologize to people I still want to be okay with, or friends with, so...

I take a deep breath and then look around. Cassie's watching me and I know she'll ask about it later. Ugh. "You really shouldn't have."

"So tell me. Tell me why I have it all wrong."

What? He wants to know about my family? "What?"

He looks around and then shrugs and gives me a smile. "I really am sorry and I feel really horrible about it, so I don't know. Tell me everything so next time I'm over, I actually read everything correctly and I don't jump to stupid, insulting conclusions about your family and your life."

Wow. This is different. He's actually asking about my life. Most guys don't. They don't care about any of that. And that's probably why it doesn't work out.

Ryan already knew my family. He knew my life. So it was different dating him. It was a whole different ballgame.

And not that I'm going to date Troy, but still. I have a crush on him so this definitely lumps him in with the dating category, not the friends category which involves people like Cole who has asked about my family, but I don't think much of it since I'm not interested in him like that, you know?

"Okay," I tell him.

Then we both walk through the crowd and find somewhere quiet to talk.

"My dad's uncle was in the hotel business and so that's how he got into it," I explain to Troy as we're sitting in the garden outside, "my mom was 23 years old and she just had me and she was fresh out of college so she didn't really have a game plan. Her and my dad just moved here so he could work with my uncle while she took care of me during the day."

Troy looked like he was listening intently and that made me happy. It wasn't a half ass apology.

He just let me talk. "We were getting along just fine. We were staying at my grandma's house who lived in Bedford so he'd just drive to the city. And a year after he started working, it all came together. My dad felt there wasn't a hotel in the city that was very kid friendly. They were all for people who stopped by on business, not for any families wanting to just vacation but not in the tourist area, you know? So it started like that and by age 27, with two small kids, he was well on his way. And then by 29, actually on my 5th birthday, he opened the hotel and since then, it has expanded to a few places."

"Do you want to hear something funny?" he tells me after I'm done talking, to which I nod my head to, "whenever we'd visit Stacy or my grandma or any other family members here, we'd actually stay at your dad's hotel. My mom loves it."

That made me smile. And happy. That's exactly what my dad wanted. He wanted people to want to stay there, he didn't just want to be for convenience.

I felt a little more relaxed now and I wasn't necessarily still mad at him. "The first year was tough. My mom was his unofficial business partner and they were super busy so honestly, we didn't see much of them. But it wasn't by choice, it was just really demanding and my grandma just tried to explain to us that this is what needed to happen if we ever wanted to stop living with her."

Troy was right back at listening to me and I was trying to remember everything.

"So we were fine with it, we'd go to school, come home and have dinner and that was our day," I continued, "but then my mom noticed that my brother was doing some homework and she was taken aback by how much he knew.. I mean, she literally had no idea what was going on with school and that's when she said that enough was enough, family comes first and my dad totally agreed because it was in their hearts, they just needed some reinforcement and someone to say it. So yeah, from then on, they made it a point to get whatever help they needed in order to not be away from us too long."

We heard the door open which caused me to pause my story, but no one was there. Weird.

Anywaaaay. "I never resented them for it. Looking back, they'd come home and they'd be loving and stuff so it's not like they wanted to be away. I saw it more of them having to be way, you know?"

"Of course," he agrees, "parents have to do what they have to do sometimes to give their kids the best lives."

"Yeah, I guess," I nod, "and so really, truly, to this day, if they get a business call during dinner and one of us are in the middle of telling them something, it goes to voicemail. They're home at least four nights a week for dinner. They only ever do business trips together and it's always only if we have nothing going on with school or any sort of party. Honestly and truly, it's like a normal suburb family except for the mom who can't cook which is where Lupe comes in. And we're not going to deny that we can do it all ourselves because we can't sometimes and that's okay. Nothing wrong with having a maid."

"No, of course not," he quickly defends the idea, "no, Lupe's great."

I smile. She is great. And she's like one of my unofficial best friends. "I guess that's really all I have to say about it."

"I'm sorry again. I didn't mean to come off like that because the last thing I want to do is offend you..." he paused for a split second and reworded it, "um, or anyone, really." What? What does that mean? Could he be... interested? Oh my gosh. No, Gabriella. Don't get your hopes up.

"It's fine. I'm used to it. I just, I've never really heard it said to my face so I reacted. I'm sorry for yelling at you."

He laughed and shook his head, "Nah, it's fine. I deserved it, obviously. My mom always told me to not judge a book by it's cover and there I was, doing exactly that, so I'm sorry."

Well, okay, if he says so. I'm not gong to continue this back and forth. He said sorry, I'm accepting it and we're moving on now. "It's okay."

And then after a few more minutes of conversing, we decided to head back inside. It was getting pretty cold out there and I didn't have my jacket.

He went one way and I went the other way to find my friends, but who I ran into was Stacy Smith who had a drink in her hand and a big smile on her face, looking like she had been looking for me and this wasn't a coincidence running into her.

"Hi," I step back a bit.

"Hey," she smiles at me, "great party, huh?"

I nod as I push some hair behind my ears and look around to see if I could find any of my friends. I see Morgan, but she's talking to some people I don't really know. "Yeah, well, Morgan knows how to throw a party."

She nods and also looks around, but finally has her attention back on me. "I like you, Gabriella, but let's be honest. Your track record with guys isn't really the best. You're in and then you're out just like that. And it's never them dumping you, you know? And you have that whole Ryan situation..."

"What?" I immediately spit out, confused by this whole thing. What is going on?

"Troy," she tells me, "I don't know what's going on between the two of you, sneaking off to the garden, doing some project together, but he's not one of us, he didn't sign up for this. And I really just don't want him getting hurt. He's my cousin. I'm just looking out for him."

Okay. Umm. Did he tell her something? No, right? But I have to make sure. "I don't know what he's been telling you..." I pause to see if she'll interrupt.

And yep. She did. "Nothing, but I clearly can see something's up..."

Yeah, that's the thing. Nothing is really up. Well on my part it kind of is. I'm interested. But I have no idea if he is. "Stace, your cousin and I are just friends, we're working on a project together, and I was just talking to him about something. Nothing romantic going on there. I promise."

She looked convinced. It doesn't take very long to convince her about something. Thank God. "Okay, well, I'm just saying."

"No, yeah, totally," I tell her looking back at Morgan who was still in the same spot. "Um, I have to talk to Morgan really quick so if you'll excuse me..."

She smiled at stepped off to the side so I could get through, "No, yeah, of course. I'll see you later."

I smiled at her and then walked off.

What the heck just happened? I was definitely not expecting that. AT ALL.