Author's note: Hello, everyone. It's the first chapter of my new story. Those, who read my other one- "Real life", don't worry, I'm not giving up on it. This story is of totally different type, but still I really hope you will like it.

CHAPTER 1

Life is just one damned thing after another

Erbert Hubbard

Sometimes one mistake can ruin your whole life. One minute, one wrong move, one wrong word, one wrong turn- and everything's falling apart. This line is so thin, so fragile, so easily to be broken. Just one mistake can be enough to ruin everything. And what is worth- it can even be not your mistake at all, but you are the one who suffers the consequences. Is it fair? Of course, not. Why does it happen? No one knows. It just happens and you can do nothing about it. That is reality. And reality can be harsh.

Troy Bolton knew all that too damn well. Two years ago his and his twin-sister- Cameron's lives changed drastically. Their lives went down hill, and with every day it was getting only worse. How did it start? It started with a mistake. One man was driving drunk and he didn't notice it was a red light, neither did he notice their mother's car. He crashed into her, he survived- she didn't. And again was it fair? Hell no, but that's life. And life isn't fair. If it was fair they wouldn't have lost their mother at the age of fourteen. If it was fair their father would never have started drinking. If it was fair he would have never started shouting or hurting them. But it all happened and that wasn't fair.

After their mother's death, their life turned into a nightmare. Their dad became an alcoholic; he lost his job, and as they didn't have enough money they had to move to another house. And everything became worse. Their father started drinking even harder, then he would shout at Troy and Cameron. And it hurt, it hurt them a lot to hear those insults from someone who used to love them so much. And if it wasn't bad enough, their father started hitting them, mostly Troy, as he was trying to protect his sister. After all he was her big brother, even if he was older just by 15 minutes, still it was his responsibility, his duty to protect her. And he would do everything he can to do so.

Since their father was too busy abusing them and drinking, Troy and Cameron had to find jobs. They got hired together in one café and had the same shifts. During school they worked half-time, but in summer they preferred to work full day. Honestly they wanted to do anything just not to stay at home.

Troy and Cameron had to lie to their father about their salary, as he spent all the money on his alcohol and on himself. And if they wanted to have something to eat, they had to hide some money.

Now it was summer and they worked eight hours every day, but for the weekends. And that made Saturdays and Sundays their worst days. However today was one of the most risky days for them- it was a payday. That's why Troy and Cameron were carefully dividing money. When they finished, Troy took the money for their father, while Cameron hid the rest of it in her pocket.

"You ready to go, sis?" Though he knew how stupid his question was.

"Not really."

"Hey, Cam." Troy jokingly punched her shoulder. "Come on, it's gonna be fine."

"Sure." But they knew they were lying, nothing was fine and it would never be.

And they went to the place that was supposed to be their home, which in fact wasn't. After all home is the place where you feel safe, something that they never felt when their father was around. This house was the last place they wanted to go, but what other choice did they have?

When they came to the door, they froze for several minutes trying to gather some strength. Troy looked at his sister with concern, when she nodded her head Troy opened the door and they entered the house. They wanted to sneak quietly in their room but their plans were ruined on the spot, as they were already being waited for.

"Hello, dad." Troy gulped nervously. Then he carefully pulled out their salary and put it on the nearby table. "Here is the money."

However his father didn't stop looking at him, and from his expression Troy knew something was wrong, seriously wrong. Just in case he stepped protectively in front of Cameron. Then he noticed that his father held some money in his hand. Troy's heart sunk, that was their money. They were SO screwed.

"Maybe you can explain me this, boy." Jack asked in a low and calm voice, which was a bad sign, a very bad one.

Troy felt how Cameron stiffened in fear; he was shaking himself wishing he could just disappear. He gently touched Cam's hand trying to comfort her and to gain some strength too.

"I'm waiting boy. Answer NOW!" This time he raised his voice making Troy flinch. He understood perfectly well where it was leading to, and the only thing that mattered now was to make sure Cameron would be alright. He slightly squeezed her hand which was a sign for her to go to the room as soon as it was safe.

"What do you want, dad?" Troy walked to his father to get his sister out of danger. "Wanna know what it is? Well that's money. You know something you get for your work." Troy continued in mocking tone getting on his father's nerves. "But I guess you don't know that, cause you don't have a job." He saw his dad clenching his fist, Troy knew making him angry was very stupid but that was the only way to protect Cameron. If it meant to be beaten up- so be it. "Anyway no one will be stupid enough to hire some idiot like you."

At that moment his father's fist collided with his face sending the boy to the floor. Troy quickly got back to his feet and touched his now bleeding lip.

"Is that all you got?" He continued to tease his father, because he saw Cameron making her way to the room, and so he needed his dad's full attention on him, which he certainly was getting. Jack sent another punch this time in Troy's abdomen making the guy double over in pain. He tried to catch his breath but never got a chance to, as he was thrown across the room. Troy landed on a coffee table making it crash under him. Pieces of glass cut his skin. Troy hissed in pain, as his back was just killing him. He would give anything to make this excruciating pain go away. But when he raised his head, he saw his father coming up to him. Troy tried to stand up, but he couldn't as it was too painful. So he tried to back away but was stopped when Jack put his leg on his chest.

"Going somewhere?" He pinned him down and pressed harder until the boy let out a scream of agony. Then his father kicked Troy in his side with his leg. The blow was so hard that he was sent flying again, this time he crashed into a wall.

"Not such a smartass now, are you?" Jack pulled Troy up by his neck strangling him. Troy tried to resist, to fight against his father's grip, but he was held tightly. His vision blurred, his lungs were screaming for air.

"Dad" Troy managed to say, but Jack didn't pay any attention to him. "Please…"

He didn't have any strength left; his hands fell limply to his body, all he could see was darkness. His body became limp, as there was no air left. That was it- he couldn't fight any longer.

That's it, for now. Tell me what you think and whether I should continue or not.