Chapter 27: Finders Keepers

In July, the trip to Charleston and the interview with Keith Burton took place. He and Gabriella departed ways with the understanding that she would contact him by the end of the week with her decision. Upon their return to California, Troy and Gabriella were able to fully discuss their thoughts. It took one particularly heated argument one evening for Gabriella to finally make the call to Mr. Burton the next morning.

"I know why you're putting off this decision," Troy told her in the midst of the argument. "You're procrastinating because you're scared."

"Scared?" she scoffed in disbelief. "Scared of what, Troy? I'm the one out of the two of us who has lived in eight different cities in my life, who has gone to four different schools between the grades of eight through twelve. How can you sit there and tell me that I'm scared of yet another move to yet another city?" she demanded, her voice rising slightly throughout her argument.

"I'm not talking about the move, Gabriella," he told her exasperatedly, trying hard to keep his voice level and not yell.

"Then please, by all means, tell me... what exactly is it that I am scared of, Oh, Wise One?" she bitterly demanded.

"You're scared of being in a whole new city on the complete opposite side of the country as our parents alone with just me. You're thinking to yourself 'what if I freak and run from him again?' and that scares the crap out of you." Despite his best efforts to keep his voice level, Troy finally lost the battle and practically yelled the last part of his statement, causing Gabriella to freeze in her tracks, shocked at his accusation.

Her jaw dropped as she stared daggers at Troy. "I can't believe you think so little of me," she said, her words barely above a whisper. She spun on her heel and stormed out the door of the apartment. When it slammed behind her, Troy's spoken words finally registered in his mind.

"Ah, damnit, Bolton! Where the hell did that come from?!" he asked himself.

He gave Gabriella about twenty minutes to calm down before he went to looking for her, finally finding her sitting in one of the swings in the courtyard of the apartment complex. He knelt down in the grass in front of her and after he poured his heart out to her in apology and made sure she knew that he knew he reacted like a jerk, she finally admitted to him that she had decided to turn down the job about two days prior. What had her scared was the call she would have to make to Mr. Burton to let him know.

"I just keep thinking 'what if I'm turning down the best career opportunity that I'll ever come across?'" she admitted. "That's why I haven't made the call to him yet."

"Babe, listen to me..." he started, as he reached up to wipe away a tear that he wasn't sure if she knew had fallen or not "...we're going to Atlanta. After hearing you say you're going to turn down the job in Charleston, I feel pretty certain in saying that's where we'll be in two months. Atlanta is a much, much bigger city than Charleston and I can almost guarantee you that there are more- if not better- attorneys there. You, my dear, are not going to go without a job. Do you hear what I'm saying?"

She framed his face with her hands and gave him a small kiss. "And I can guarantee you that I can't wait to be in Georgia with you. Charleston was insanely beautiful and I'm so glad that we took the four days that we did. But it's not for us, you know?"

"You do know that if you change your mind, all you have to do is say the word and I'll pack us up myself. I'll even take the time to lovingly hand wrap any knick-knack collectables that I'm sure we'll posses over the years in bubble wrap. I'll gladly take you anywhere, as long as you're happy."

"I can't tell you what it means to me to hear you say that," she told him. "But for right now- for the next three or four years- Georgia is where we need to be."

And the next morning, Gabriella made the call to Mr. Burton, thanking him for his consideration of her, for his time in interviewing her, and for his understanding in the reason for her turning down the job. It was for this reason that by the middle of September, both parts of the Bolton-Montez couple were settled in their respective apartments and graduate schools in Georgia.

The first semester of classes for both was a stressful one. Not only were they dealing with the transition of not living together any longer, but they also were dealing with classes within their respective Master's programs. Gabriella was uncharacteristically having a hard time adjusting and found herself more often than not during that first month and a half unable to spend quality time with Troy when he came for the weekend and blowing him off more and more for her studies. Finally, around the beginning of November, she found her routine and the tension eased for the two, which was why she was looking forward to the upcoming Christmas break when they would be traveling back to Albuquerque together. Classes weren't set to resume until the second week of January, granting them almost a month of relaxation with their families- Maria would fly in on Christmas Eve and stay until the day after New Year's- and the few friends who were still around.

"Do you think it's coming soon?" Taylor asked Gabriella one afternoon three days before Christmas during a shopping trip. The two girls still had a few items on the Christmas lists and decided to take a much needed girls trip to the local mall in hopes of completing their tasks.

"Do I think what's coming soon?" Gabriella asked in return. She had been rummaging through her purse, thereby almost missing the look Taylor was giving her. Taylor cleared her throat to get her friend's attention and Gabriella looked up to see that Taylor had stopped in her tracks and was pointing above her head at the Kay Jewelers sign, giving Gabriella a pointed look. Gabriella turned to look over her shoulder to see what her friend was pointing at and gave her a pointed look of her own and rolled her eyes in response.

"Taylor..." she said, warningly.

"Hey, I'm not interfering this time!" Taylor's defense was genuine as she held her hands up. "I'm just trying to invoke some girl talk."

"Fine," Gabriella told her and softened her stance. "Do I think the ring is coming soon?" she repeated the question and waited on Taylor's head nod before she continued. "I really don't know, actually. Troy's a... a hard book to read sometimes." The two started walking again before Gabriella completed her thought. "I mean, I won't lie... I'm ready. After what happened this spring, I'm more than ready. Obviously, I don't think a wedding will come for probably another year or so from the proposal itself, but still. I'm ready. I'm ready to plan, I'm ready to stress, I'm ready to... well, I don't know. I'm just ready!" It was hard for Gabriella to contain her giddiness as she gave a little jump around and squealed, causing Taylor to laugh at her best friend.

"Girl, we need to get you some decaf!"

With that, Taylor grabbed Gabriella's hand and led the way to the nearby Boba Tea at the food court for a brief break.

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Later that evening when they returned from the mall, Taylor and Gabriella met Chad and Troy back at the Bolton's. Lucille was in the midst of preparing the hamburger patties that would later be grilled by Jack for dinner when the girls arrived and after the appropriate greetings, Gabriella attempted to sneak away into Troy's room with the bags which contained the presents for her mom, Jack and Lucille. Troy however wasn't willing to let her away so easily.

"Babe, where are you going?" he asked, as he reached out to wrap an arm around her middle to stop her as she passed by him sitting on one of the kitchen stools at the island.

"To hide these." She held the bags up to show him what she was talking about.

"But baby..." Troy whined, trying to pull her closer still. "I haven't seen you all day!" He was unsuccessful in his attempts to hold on to her. Gabriella found a good way to ward off stress throughout the rough first semester was in the gym and had become a lot stronger than she was at her graduation just six months prior. Therefore, she was able to push him away a lot easier than in the past.

"I'll only be gone for a minute," she said over her shoulder in a well, duh tone as she walked in the direction of his high school bedroom.

"Dude, the quicker you let her go, the quicker she'll come back!" Chad told him teasingly as he wrapped his own arms around Taylor and held her close to his side. She released a soft chuckle as she dipped a chip into the homemade ranch dip that Lucille was famous for. The three watched as Lucille rolled her eyes and shook her head at her son's dramatics.

"I don't have to put up with you three!" Troy pouted as he stood from the stool at the bartop and walked into the living room.

"Ever the drama queen..." she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that, Mama!" he called from his spot where he was slouched on the couch pouting, earning laughs from the other three who stood mere feet from him.

Several minutes had passed and Gabriella had yet to emerge from Troy's room and he was getting concerned.

What could be keeping her? he thought to himself as he kept looking over his shoulder in the direction of the bedroom. He tried to go unnoticed in his secret glances, but Chad knew him too well. Just when he was discreetly stealing yet another look over his right shoulder in the direction that his girlfriend had disappeared moments before, Chad came into the room and plopped down next to him on his left.

"What's on your mind, Hoops?"

"Geez! Don't do that!" Troy grabbed at the left side of his chest above where his heart sat and turned his attention to his best friend. "She's been in there for a while," he said, glancing over the back of the couch yet again in the direction of his old room. "Do you think she's okay?"

"Dude, she's fine. She's just trying to find a good hiding place, that's all," Chad told him.

"I'm going to check on her." Troy started to stand but Chad's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"No, you're not." Troy's questioning look caused an exasperated sigh to escape from Chad. "Hoops, man, if you go in that room now, you two will never come out. Let me go check on her." He gave Troy a manly pat on the back and walked off in the direction of the bedroom before Troy could argue again.

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The sight that greeted Chad when he walked into Troy's bedroom was unexpected. He looked around until he saw Gabriella to his left, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the closet. That wasn't what was surprising, though; what was surprising was what she held in her lap- Troy's old East High basketball bag that he brought back to Jack and Lucille's when he made the move to Athens... the one that was currently home to the engagement ring that Troy showed to Chad when he first obtained possession of it from Maria a year ago.

"Gabster?" he said softly to get her attention, causing her to jump in her spot on the floor.

"Chad?" she said in an almost whisper.

"Whatcha got there?" he asked.

"This is it... this is the same box he showed me." She looked up at Chad in an attempt to read his expression. When he raised his eyebrows in response, she rushed on. "I wasn't snooping, I swear! I was putting the presents up on his shelf and the bag fell. As I was putting all the clothes back in, the ring box fell out."

"The ring box...ring... box...I'm still not getting it," Chad told her, shaking his head slowly as he tried to play dumb.

"C'mon Chad. I know you know about this. He can't keep something like this from you, of all people!"

"Did you open it?" he asked after pondering her statement.

"No!" Gabriella's eyes went wide as she shook her head violently in hopes to get him to believe her.

Chad nodded his head. "But you know what's in it?"

"Sort of..." she said with a shrug as she allowed her voice to trail off in thought, then brought her eyes up to meet his, frantic. "I just need you to tell me if Troy has plans to propose to me or not," she begged.

"Well of course he's going to propose to you. Who else would he propose to?" Chad asked incredulously.

"Chad, you lunkhead!" Gabriella chided, picking a shirt up from beside her on the floor and throwing it at him. Chad's reflexes were still as quick as they were in high school and caught the fabric before it hit him square in the face, causing him to throw it back at her in retaliation with a chuckle. "Can you be serious about this?"

"I am being serious." Chad looked over his shoulder at the door, checking to see that the coast was still clear before lowering his voice and continuing as he leaned down to take the bag from her lap and stood to put it back on the shelf. "You and I both know - and you've known this longer than me - that Hoops is head over heels for you. He would've proposed at high school graduation but all three of your parents would've killed him on the spot. You guys have talked about your future. Even with all the crap that Tay caused and the whole mess a few months ago, you know it's Troy Bolton who has your heart. You know he has a plan for it," he said, tapping the box that she held gently in her hands as he sat back down in his spot next to her on the floor. "He's had a plan for two years now."

"So the ring I found..." she started while holding up the box that was still clutched in her hand, stopping her question only when she felt tears fill her eyes.

Chad nodded, confirming her suspicion. "First of all, you didn't hear it from me. Second, you'd better act surprised!" he warned.

Gabriella closed her eyes and took a deep breath and released it slowly. She opened her eyes and gave him a small smile. "Hey, Chad?"

"What?"

"Don't tell me anything else," she requested, shaking her head.

"Just one more thing that I'm telling you... this conversation-" he wagged his finger between the two of them "-never happened. Hoops would nail me to the backboard if he even thought-"

"No! You're right. Don't worry, he'll never know. I'm not going to say a word. It's just...he has a plan? He's had a plan for two years?!" she asked once more, allowing the slightest hint of a smile to grace her soft features.

"Mmm-mmm," he said, miming zipping his lips. "I'm not saying anything else."

"I didn't look at it," she rushed to defend herself once more.

"Don't worry, Gabs. I won't say anything." Chad stood and reached his hand out to take hers and help her up. "Now what do you say we go back out there, huh? Hoops is getting pretty antsy waiting on you."

Gabriella laughed a little, imagining the scene that Chad had just described to her. She placed a gentle hand on his elbow, causing him to release the grasp he had on the door knob and turn to face her again. "Hey, big brother?"

"Whaaaaaat?" Chad mocked whined.

Gabriella reached out to wrap her arms around his neck. "Thanks. I love you!"

Chad squeezed Gabriella, returning the hug. "Only for you Gabster. I love you too!"

Troy heard the hushed tones coming from the direction of the bedroom when the two finally emerged and turned to face his best friend and his girlfriend. He watched as Gabriella separated herself from Chad, Taylor, and Lucille and made her way over to the couch where he was sitting. She reached down and took his hands in hers and pulled him up to a standing position. He stood there as she reached up and wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug and squeezing with all her might. She then stood on her tiptoes and gave him a passionate- yet brief and gentle- kiss to his lips. Troy licked his lips in hopes of tasting any of her sweetness lingering there.

"What was that for?" he asked. "Not that I'm complaining, but..."

"Just because I love you," she told him with a soft knowing smile as she bit her lip.

"Enough of that, you two," Jack called in their direction, giving them a wink as he came in through the back door. "Come on in here and help your mom finish up. The burgers will be done in about five minutes."

"I love you, too," he responded, giving her another peck before he led her into the kitchen to join everyone else in the dinner preparations.

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1:37 am. That's what the bright green numbers read that stared back at him from his bedside table when Chad was awoken by the sound of his phone ringing. He blinked and rubbed his eyes in attempt to clear the sleep away and get his mind to focus as he reached for the loud device that dared disturb him. He sighed, seeing Gabriella's name on the screen. He swiped his finger across the screen of his Samsung Galaxy S3, accepting the call.

"Gabs?" he croaked. "It's almost two in the morning. What are you doing?"

"At the party-" she began, without so much as a hello.

"-is where Tay & I had our first date 6 years ago," he said.

"Chad!" she reprimanded.

"What? You're the one being cryptic here at-" he paused to take another look at the clock "-1:39 in the morning."

"I couldn't sleep. I've been thinking about the ring and I've made a decision."

"I'm almost afraid to ask..."

"I'm going to beat him to it."

Hearing those words come from her mouth on the other end of the phone caused Chad to sit upright in his bed, turning on his light and suddenly wide awake.

"Chad?" she said, to get his attention when no words came from his mouth. "Are you still there?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I've been trying to come up with the perfect way to make up to Troy for the distress I caused for that month we were apart. He won't say it, but I'm pretty sure he still has some lingering questions and doubt. This is how I can prove to him that he's the one I love. He's the one I want to be with."

Chad took a moment to let her words sink in. "So I'm assuming you're planning something?"

"Yes. For the New Year's Eve party next week at Jack & Lucille's," Gabriella confirmed.

Chad released a sigh as he rubbed his eyes with one hand. "Do I want to know?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Well, you have to know, because I'm going to need your help making it work."

Chad raised his eyebrows and allowed a brief pause. "Ok, I'm listening."

"I need your help because... I'm going to propose to Troy."