A hot sunny day covers Albuquerque. Summer's finally here and every families are out to the beach to relax and ease the heat away. As everybody gets out of their house to head to the beach, one girl stayed behind alone in their house. She watched from afar as teenagers like her went out with their family. She's jealous, you can tell that.

Gabriella Montez looks out through the window to see her neighbors go into their cars and drove off to the beach. Her parents died two months ago, leaving her with the house. Her parents had saved some money for her but it's not enough for her to pay for her tuition. In over a month, she'll be in college and she needed a job to pay for her bills.

Leaving the house, she locked the door and out to find a job. Although she's not in a happy mood, she needs to find a job to support herself. It's not going to be good but she needs to try. Like what they say, "Try and try, until you succeed." For now, all Gabriella can think is about job, job and job.

--

For the 13th time on that day, Gabriella had no luck in finding a job. It's now 3 in the afternoon and she hadn't eaten lunch. Exhausted enough, she decided to go home and continued searching a job tomorrow.

While she was walking, she remembered that her godparents live in Albuquerque, ten blocks away from their house. She decided to go to them for luck and maybe she can have a job to them. Walking further, she arrived at her godparents' house. She knocked two times until someone opened the door.

"Excuse me; are Jack and Lucille Bolton lives here?" Gabriella asked nicely.

The man looked at him, "I'm Jack Bolton. Who are you?"

"I'm Gabriella. Gabriella Montez, daughter of Julio and Carla Montez." She replied lending her right hand for a hand shake.

Jack looked at her again to take in her features. "You're Gabriella. I and Lucille's goddaughter?" Gabriella nodded. "Wow! You've grown, aren't you? Come on in." He opens widely the door for her to come in.

Lucille came walking to the living room. Jack made Gabriella sit down.

"Hun, you remember Gabriella?" Jack asked motioning his hand over to Gabriella.

Lucille looks intently to Gabriella before she spoke up. "Gabriella Montez? Julio and Carla's daughter? What are you doing here?" she asked walking up to her to give her a hug.

"I'm fine. I'm just wondering if I can… umm… get a job here?" She asked nervously.

"Why? What happened? Where are your parents?" Lucille asked concerned.

Gabriella looked down as she mentioned about her parents and started to tear up.

Jack and Lucille kneeled in front of her. "What's wrong?"

Gabriella sobbed as she spoke up, "T-they died two m-months ago."

Lucille hugged her whilst Jack rubbed her back. "Sweetie, don't cry. I know for sure they don't want to see you crying right now. Its summer and you should be having fun."

Composing herself up, she sniffed a little before speaking up again, "I can't. I need to work or else I'm not going to finish up college."

"Tell you what. You can stay here until you finish college. We'll pay for your tuition and other stuffs you needed. Lucille and I will work on that." Jack offered.

"Yeah, sweetie. But if you really need a job, feel free to work here in the house. Besides, I don't think one person can't hurt helping me in the house sometimes. What do you think?"

Gabriella made a small smile, "Thank you very much. I promise you can count on me." She hugged the both of them.

"I should be going now. I need to pack some stuff back home and I'm still not finished." Gabriella said heading towards the door.

Jack looked at his wristwatch, "It's just 4:30 pm. Maybe you can move in here tonight. Grab some of your stuffs and tomorrow we'll get it. I'm sure our son won't mind."

She mad a small laugh and waved goodbye.

--

One hour later, Gabriella arrived at the Bolton resident. As always, she knocks on the door two times. The door opened and this time it's not Jack or Lucille who opened the door.

"Mom! There's a stranger at the door!" Troy yelled and he looked intently at Gabriella. "Who are you?"

"I'm Gabriella." She replied lending her right hand for a shake.

Troy just looks at her hand and walks back to the couch slamming the door. She took back her hand and drops it to her side. Lucille came rushing to the door to see it's closed and opens it again.

"Gabriella! Come in. I'll show you to your room." Lucille led her up the stairs to her room. Gabriella can feel that someone is glaring at her.

Following Lucille to her room, she asked her. "Is the guy downstairs your son?"

"Yeah. He's Troy. Remember him? You two used to play when you were little."

She only nodded trying to think of Troy when they were little.

Lucille had opened the door for Gabriella's room and she noticed that her mind is out somewhere. She snapped her fingers in front of her but no response.

"Gabriella! Are you still listening to me?" Lucille asked shaking Gabriella lightly.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Spaced out"

Lucille nodded her head and walked inside the room. "Here is your room. The bathroom is at the end on the left; our room is 2 doors away from here and the room across is Troy's room."

"Okay. Thanks."

Lucille walked out the room closing the door. Gabriella stayed in the room and unpacks her things. She brought all the necessary things she needed. From clothes to make-up and her gadgets.

Laying down on the bed, thoughts runs through her head. She finally had some people she can call a family for now. She's contented enough just to stay in a house where people are always around and have no problems to worry. Or she thought so…

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A/N: Here's the 1st chapter. So what do you think? Isn't Troy rude enough to her at first? If you have suggestions for the upcoming chapters, feel free to write it on your reviews. Have a nice day… or night.

- ashli15 -