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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter fifteen

It's Her Birthday

Gabriella woke up to Rosy cheerfully wishing her a happy birthday and the room was suddenly engulfed with sun, causing Gabriella to squint as she smiled softly. There was a birthday card on her nightstand that was already opened. It was from her grandparents, but other than that one card, she'd gotten nothing else. She slid out of bed, hugging Rosy as she exclaimed that that was the only gift she could give her and with another thank you, Gabriella excused herself to change into something other than pajamas to wear.

The White House was quiet like it always was, but usually on this day it would be loud and full of cheerful people smiling at her happily. Today though the only person Gabriella had seen that morning was Rosy and no one else was walking around the house, doing their jobs.

Her confusion grew as she saw that the only person that was outside was the lawn mower and he never was too fond of her. She looked in each room of the house, only finding a maid, plumber, and a florist who was arranging a bouquet of purple flowers. She remembered that it was Gabriella's birthday though, and wished her a happy one, giving her a flower with a smile.

Gabriella twirled the flower in her hand, walking towards the kitchen by herself, worried that she missed getting on a plane to go to a press conference or something important. She walked into the kitchen, seeing only a cupcake with an unlit candle in the center of the island, only a note and lighter with it.

She picked up the note, frowning when she saw her dad's handwriting.

"Gabriella. We had a last minute press conference to go to and didn't want to wake you up, so we left you with Rosy, your favorite White House staff member. Happy Birthday." It read simply.

"You have to be kidding me!" Gabriella said to herself, tossing the note down as she sat down into the barstool, harshly pushing the cupcake over to her.

She picked up the lighter, pressing down on the black button angrily, wondering if she lit the White House on fire anyone would notice. She clicked the button a few more times, seeing the flame appear and then disappear quickly. After a moment of playing with it, she lit the candle, looking around the empty kitchen.

"Really?" She said to no one. "You are all going to make me sing to myself? I don't even get twenty four candles?"

Gabriella eyed the pitiful flame that stood alone and sad, just like her and as she rolled her eyes at herself, cursing, she blew out the candle, making a wish, and then, because this wasn't a traditional party, she sang because otherwise her wish wouldn't come true, but she knew it wouldn't anyways. They never did.

"Happy Birthday to me." She mumbled in a monotone, slouching over the counter, and then sitting up because she would fall asleep as she bored herself to death. "Happy Birthday to me. I hate being the President's daughter…" She sighed. "Happy Birthday to…"

"You." She heard a male's voice finish the song for her from the kitchen door that led out to the backyard and she closed her eyes quickly, wondering if this would be the year her wishes started to come true.

Gabriella felt adrenaline pumping through her veins as she turned to see Troy standing in the doorway dressed in normal-everyday clothing. She stood up immediately, rushing over to hug him as he smiled, holding her tightly as he spun her around.

"Please don't tell me you jumped the fence." She laughed against his neck, different emotions coming to her all at once.

"I won't tell you then." He joked, setting her down carefully as they looked at each other happily, his eyes sparkling like hers while she thought of something to say.

"So… how did you get in here?" She asked curiously.

"Well, I had your dad's favorite Lakers player give him a call." Troy explained with a smirk.

"Oh, that's cruel." She joked, knowing that her dad wouldn't be able to resist Chad Danforth. They stayed quiet for a minute again, and as Troy smiled, he saw the tears running down her face as she tried brushing them away, shaking her head.

"Hey, why are you crying? Are you okay?" He asked her worriedly, brushing her hair back slowly as he looked at her wet face.

"Yeah." She squeaked, nodded at him with a short laugh. "I've never gotten what I wished for on my birthday until now." She explained.

"You wasted a wish on me?" Troy asked with a smile, giving her a look that meant he was joking as she looked at him playfully in anger. She hugged him again, not knowing how long he'd be there for.

Troy pulled away slowly so that he could kiss her, laughing when she made the first move before he did and as they stood by the kitchen doorway Gabriella heard a soft laugh from outside, causing her to pull away first, glancing towards the door.

"Did you hear that?"

"No." Troy said quickly, covering her eyes with his hand as she tried peeking out the door. "I actually have a surprise for you."

"I don't like surprises." She said to him, holding onto his arm as he covered her eyes with his hands, leading her out to the back.

"Yeah well, you surprised me on my birthday, so I thought I'd do the same." He said close to her ear, sending chills down her spine as she smiled.

"Aw, so you're getting me a table and punch bowl?" She joked with enthusiasm, smiling still as he laughed; stopping her once they walked a few more feet forward.

Gabriella was in the middle of joking with Troy when he pulled his hands away from her eyes. He stepped next to her, seeing her gasp and then start to laugh excitedly while looking over at him, giving him a playful shove as she saw the scene in the backyard.

The White House staff was all standing there by a table with a punch bowl and snacks on it, along with a huge birthday cake, with red shirts that read 'IT'S UR B-DAY' in colorful bolded letters on the front of them. She continued to laugh as she saw Sharpay and Taylor with her parents, all of them smiling at her.

"Surprise!" They all shouted loudly when they saw her.

"I can't believe you did this." She said quietly to him, still staying in her spot across from the group.

"I can't take all of the credit. It was your dad's idea." Troy explained, leading her over to the group where Taylor and Sharpay were the first to greet her, squealing as they hugged her and exclaimed that they missed her.

Gabriella hugged each and every person there, telling them thank you and all the while she smiled, laughing too as people made jokes about her believing that they all forgot about her.

She was in the middle of apologizing to her dad, telling him that she shouldn't have been so mean to him when Sharpay and Taylor grabbed her arm, laughing as everyone mingled together and they pulled her to a large oak tree that had a piñata that was shaped like jeans and Gabriella laughed as Troy handed her a bat to whack it with.

"I don't know if she needs that, Troy." Taylor giggled, seeing the crowd forming behind them to watch.

"Yeah. She can punch it and it'll break right open." Sharpay finished for her, laughing as Gabriella playfully frowned.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, laughing as Troy did while the staff and her parents laughed too about the new inside joke of the White House. "Is there seriously candy in that?" Gabriella giggled.

"I don't know. Charles filled it." Troy replied as he tied a bandanna over her eyes, leading her towards the hanging pants.

"Come on, Gabs! I want some candy!" She heard her dad laugh behind her and as she poked the bat aimlessly in the air she finally felt it hit something and with one good swing of the baseball bat, she heard everyone laugh, seeing the objects pouring out.

Gabriella laughed loudly as she pulled the bandanna away from her eyes and she saw a pile of handkerchiefs on the ground, still spilling out.

"No candy?" Troy laughed to Charles, seeing him shrug.

"That was the only things I had a huge supply of!" He explained laughing as Gabriella tossed the bat to the ground, going back to the group.

"Those better not be the ones that I gave you!" She said to him jokingly, smiling as Troy wrapped his arms around her and as she leaned her head against his shoulder, the group smiling at them lovingly, knowing that this is really the only thing she wanted:

Her backyard decorated for her, her family and friends together and happy, and the guy that she loved wrapping his arms around her as if he'd stay there forever, protecting the woman that he loved. And as everyone started singing Happy Birthday they all had a feeling that that was exactly what he would do. Because now, it really was his job.

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unknownbyhim22