CHAPTER 27

((Hey…im in a good mood…well sorta…actually I don't know…we won our playoff game by 2 actually we were ahead by 10 at the start of the fourth quarter…but come on its my team…its what we do…I hurt my knee…again…and I got a bloody nose…oh yeah and I think I broke my finger…brutal…I know…the team we played had some "issues" with sportsmanship…they liked to be very flagrant when they got mad…oh well…we beat them…that's all that matters…so…26 chapters not bad…it's a lot of writing…which means that stuff like this has to end…im not ending it now or in the next chapter…Im thinking the magic number is gonna be 31…maybe 30 or maybe 32…gimme your opinions on that…I like both the stories im writing and I like how im getting a chapter out a day…but I don't want to be one of the people who starts writing less and less and then stops in the middle of a story…I was one of those people with my story in the charmed section…after 3 chapters I just well stopped…and finally I just decided to delete it and I did…I wanna update frequently on both of my stories…either I end this one in about 4 to 5 chapters…or I take a nice long sabaticle I think its called…im not saying there wont be a sequel there could…so enough of that…here comes chapter 27…R&R…XOXO, Christine))

Gold Star For Being Sneaky

After looking all over the place in the locker room, Troy and Chad were very discouraged.

"It can't have just walked away," said Troy.

"Oh yes it can," replied Chad. "it could have walked away in someone else's bag."

"But nobody knows I'm engaged except the gang. And I trust all the gang members. At least the guys, anyway. Sharpay is still a little shaky in the trust column, but this is the boys' locker room. There are people all around. She couldn't have come in here without getting caught."

"She was too happy to try to sabotage it," Chad pointed out.

"She's an actress, you idiot," Troy yelled.

"Troy think about this for a sec. You can't tell me that you really think Sharpay stole the ring. Come on, Troy. Don't be ridiculous."

"But…" Troy began. Chad gave him a long stare. "You're right. It wasn't Sharpay. But then, who was it?"

"I don't know, Troy," replied Chad shaking his head. "I don't know. It could have been anyone."

"This is so not good," Troy banged his head on a locker. "Gabby's gonna kill me, or worse, break the engagement."

"Relax, Troy, we'll find the ring."

"I hope you're right."

"Me too."

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Taylor and Gabriella were in a decathlon team meeting. They were discussing strategies for the next decathlon. Yes, decathlons do take strategy for all you who are wondering.

"How are you gonna get Taylor out here without Gabby thinking that something's weird?" asked Troy.

"I'm gonna appear to be alone," replied Chad. "Can't a boyfriend want some alone time with his girlfriend?"

(Imitating Taylor) "Chad, we've been over this a hundred times. No interrupting me to make out in the middle of a decathlon meeting. Don't. Never. If you do, I will be a pissed off girlfriend. And you know what girlfriends do when they get pissed off."

"Sorry, Troy, I'm not interested. And just so you know, you are a guy, not a girl. And if you have any questions about the difference, go ask the health teacher, okay?" He patted Troy on the back. "I support you." Troy used a little hand gesture to reply to Chad's statement. "Okay, okay, relax. I don't care if Taylor will get mad. She'll be unmad when we tell her what happened."

"Unmad?" asked Troy. "You get a gold star for being stupid." Chad doubled the hand gesture. "Okay, okay."

Chad stuck his head in the doorway. "Psst, Taylor. Taylor." He whispered hoping that Gabriella wouldn't notice. Like always, everyone did, and they turned their heads.

"Chad, what did I tell you?" asked Taylor pretending to smile.

"No, this time it's an emergency. Seriously." Chad gestured for her to come.

"What's the matter, Chad?" asked Gabriella. "Is it Troy? Is he hurt?"

"No, Troy's fine," replied Chad. "Taylor, now."

"Can't it wait?" asked Taylor.

"No," replied Chad. "Seriously. I'm not kidding around."

"Fine," Taylor moaned and walked outside. When she saw Troy's panic-stricken face, she turned from angry to concerned. "Tr-…"

"Trouble," Chad said hastily cutting her off so she wouldn't say Troy. "Yes. Lot's of it. We'll just be a sec." He added to the team. He pulled her off down the hall to an empty class room. He shut the door. "Trouble. Lot's of it. Troy lost his engagement..."

"I didn't lose it," Troy cut in. "Somebody stole it."

"Whatever," replied Chad. "We've gotta find out who took it. We need your help."

"What do you need me to do?" asked Taylor.

"We ned you to distract Gabriella after the meeting. We don't care what you do. Just get her off campus, and make sure she doesn't find out. I don't care where you take her, just get her away from here. Far away. Where she can't possibly hear about it. Somewhere where…"

"Okay, I get it," replied Taylor. "I could take her too the mall, and then she could come back to my house. Oh, and maybe I can get the girls involved too, then we could have like a girls night out."

"Whatever just as long as she doesn't find out," replied Troy.

"Got it," said Taylor. "Okay, I better get back to the meeting, otherwise the decathlon team with think were making out in here."

Chad kissed her once then said, "okay, let's go."

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"So," said Troy. "What are we gonna do?"

"Well, I thought maybe, we could go to the office and say that I lost my cousin's wedding ring. I could say that I am the best man at his wedding and I brought the ring to school because I am about to go to his house, and then I could say that I think it was stolen during basketball practice."

"That's not a good plan," replied Troy. "No offense. You don't have any cousins getting married."

"Yeah but the office doesn't know that."

"Everyone else does."

"Wait," said Chad. "We are both idiots. Oh, we're so stupid. It's so stupid how we're so stupid."

"Just say what you are going to say," said Troy.

"One of the guys probably stole it while you were in the shower."

"But how did they know?" asked Troy.

"They could have seen you take it off, and been jealous and decided to steal it."

"Who would do that?" asked Troy.

Then, finally, it dawned on them. "T.J." they both said in unison. It all made sense.

"Didn't he go to the locker room in the middle of practice?" asked Troy.

"Yeah,' replied Chad. "he probably stole it then."

"I'll bet you anything he did."

"No, because I would lose."

"Exactly."

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T.J. smiled. He had heard the whole thing. He had been spying on the two of them. He quickly ran out to his car and stuck it in the spot where his convertible cover placed itself when the top was down. (it is electricly controlled to land in a spot, and when it is up, you can store lots of stuff there) He put the top down, and drove up to the school entrance. They could search his whole car and they'd never find it.

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"Look, there he is," said Troy as they walked out of the school.

"Hey, dude," said Chad walking up to the car. "You have something of mine. You stole it out of Troy's locker while we were in practice. I need it back. Give it, now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" spat T.J. "Are you accusing me of stealing?"

"You never miss a thing do you?" said Chad sarcastically. "We know you have it. Don't try to play dumb on us."

"You can search me all you want," said T.J. "I don't have it." T.J. got out of his car. "Go ahead, look. I'll even turn out all my pockets." He did. Troy and Chad began to look in the car. While Troy and Chad were both looking on the floor, T.J. sneakily grabbed the ring from the hood and put it in his pocket. "Just in case," he said to himself.

Troy and Chad didn't find anything. "So it isn't in your car,' said Chad. "But we know you have it, and no matter where you put it, we'll find it."

((evil T.J… such a bad person…u know the drill…review time…hope ya like it…More tomorrow hopefully…im not sure…XOXO, Christine))