Don't own HSM.

Chapter 1

The rain gently pattered against the window of the Bolton house, ensconcing the family's only son with peace and comfort. Troy looked out his bedroom window and smiled inwardly; the rain always made him feel happy. Troy secretly reveled in the fact that rain made him happy, knowing full well that everyone else on the planet preferred sunshine. The rain, however, was the only depressing thing that could be connected with Troy Bolton's life. He had great friends, an amazing girlfriend, good grades, the desire of every girl in school, and the envy of every guy. He also had great parents who loved him... sort of. Troy's mom and dad did indeed love him, but his father was a little introverted; he didn't seem to ever want to say much. He also seemed to be a little cranky sometimes... well, all the time. Troy never really took a real concern to the way his father acted, because he did love both him and his mother, and he never provided any reason for either one to distrust him.

Troy turned away from the window and laid down in his bed. As he pulled his covers over himself, he thought about kids that didn't have it as good as he, and hoped that they would all turn out alright in the end. Troy closed his eyes and fell into an easy and restful sleep.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

BUZZ.

If it were possible for a hand to look disgruntled, Troy's would have as it snaked its way through the nest of blankets that hid the boy from view. It pounded menacingly on the bedside table a few times before it made contact with its target: the dreaded alarm clock.

"Stupid fucking alarm..." tiredly escaped the boy's lips as he drug himself out of his haven of warmth and into the cold abyss that was the bathroom. Troy rubbed his eyes and yawned before stripping out of his boxers and looking at himself in the mirror. He scrutinized himself for having such a fast metabolism. In order to keep his weight up for basketball, Troy would have to force himself to eat twice as much as the rest of his teammates and lift heavy more often than Troy would have liked. Still... he thought, I look pretty sexy.

Troy yawned once more as he turned on the shower and stepped in, the water successfully waking him up. He got out the shower and went back into his bedroom to get a pair of boxers and some clothes. Not really paying much attention to what he picked, he through on an outfit that seemed suitable enough, or at least to Troy. He didn't really care what he wore, just as long as he was comfortable. And besides, the girls at East High probably wouldn't care what he wore anyway. He smiled at the thought and made his way downstairs to the kitchen, where his parents were already at eating their breakfast.

Troy bid both of them a "Good Morning" and sat down after kissing his mom. He yawned once more and laid his head down on the table, trying to mentally prepare himself for eating breakfast. He really wasn't a morning person. Actually, he definitely wasn't a morning person and being awake this early makes it hard for him to eat. He sighed and slowly sat up, telling himself to get a bowl of cereal so he wouldn't lose any weight or the muscles he gained that the girls seemed to love - especially Gabriella. He stood up and finally got himself a bowl of cereal. As he was pouring the milk, his father, Jack, started telling him about the huge chance of wining they had for the championship game, just as long as the teem kept their heads in the game.

"You have to keep the team focused. If you ever repeat this, I'll deny it, but without you, the team will fall apart!" Jack said a little too loudly; he has always been excited about winning championships. Troy smiled at his dad and chuckled a little. "Yeah, I'll keep 'em focused. And way to make me feel pressured," Troy said jokingly. A glimpse of annoyance could have been seen from Jack before comprehension dawned on him and he smiled back at his son. "Sorry, son." Troy just smiled at his dad and shook his head before turning to his mom, his mind already on dinner. It's very weird how Troy had no desire to eat breakfast or lunch, but when it came to dinner, he was too enthused.

"What's for dinner, mom?" Troy asked, his mind already wandering to chicken, beef, turkey, and everything else that his mother has ever made. Lucy smiled back at her son, glad that he so enjoyed her cooking, and responded, "I don't know yet, honey. What are you in the mood for?" Troy sighed heavily, already deep in thought... "Hmm... well I dunno, anything's good with me." He grinned, "I eat pretty much anything."

Lucy smiled a half-smile, realizing that she still needed to come up with some idea for dinner, but at least Troy would like... whatever it will be. Troy finished eating his cereal and got up to put his bowl in the sink while looking at the clock. "Aw, shit..." he mumbled to himself before looking at his parents. "I gotta go, or I'm gonna be late!" He grabbed his school bag and headed for the door.

"See you tonight, Mom. See you at practice, Dad."

Troy ran out the door and jumped in his truck, heading toward school.

Troy jumped out of his car, grabbing his backpack and headed toward the door, along with the rest of the students trudging into the building. He jogged up the steps to the third floor, where his locker was, and opened it. He deposited his books inside just as his best friend, Chad, showed up to his own locker which was luckily right next to Troy's. "Hey, Chad! What's up?" Troy asked cheerfully, genuinely glad that he had his friends to take away from the monotony of school.

"Eh, nothing much. Just, you know, going to school." Chad smiled at Troy. Just as Troy opened his mouth to respond, Gabriella walked up, dressed in a skirt that made Troy feel just great.

Troy smiled mischievously at his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hey, Gabs! How was your night?" He closed his eyes and buried his nose in her hair, taking in her amazing scent. "Ahh... you smell... awesome." He took in another deep lung full of his girlfriend before she gently pushed him away, laughing. "Thanks... I think. I'm just so relieved to know that my boyfriend loves me for my smell." She smiled up at him and grabbed his hand, saying, "I had a great night. I finished my final paper for English already!" She said excitedly, before realizing how nerdy that sounded and calmed down almost immediately. "Umm, anyway, how was your night?"

Troy was still trying to quiet his laughter from Gabriella's outburst before he answered amid chuckles, "It was good, too." He happened to look over and notice Chad leaning up against his locker, patiently waiting for them to finish their conversation with a smirk on his face. "Oh, Chad... yeah... sorry." Troy smiled sheepishly at Chad and rolled his eyes and stood up straight. "Don't worry about it, dude. Let's just get to class before Darbus roasts us over a fire." Troy grinned at his best friend and girlfriend before they all walked together to home room.

The trio walked into home room just as the bell rang and they received a glare from Ms. Darbus, the theater teacher and their home room teacher. Gabriella went to the back to sit with Taylor McKessie, her best friend and fellow bookworm, where they immediately started whispering amongst themselves about the latest competition. Troy and Chad, on the other hand, began making their way to their seats near the window and fellow member of the basketball team Zeke Baylor. Troy immediately dropped his eyes to the ground and tried to ignore the smirk on Chad's face as the other girls in home room almost creamed their pants right at the sight of Troy. They finally got to their seats where Troy immediately provided Chad with a light punch on the arm, who responded by evolving his snicker into a full, obnoxious laugh.

Gabriella looked up to see what they were laughing at, and upon seeing Troy's reddening face, smirked to herself and caught Troy's eye. He looked at her with the cutest eyes that looked so apologetic! Her heart just melted at how upset he was making himself. She has every bit of faith in him that he wouldn't cheat on her so she didn't bother getting jealous of what she knew she had. To show him this, Gabriella smiled and winked at him, which elicited an automatic change in his demeanor. He brightened up and grinned back at her.

"Ahem."

This not-even-a-word pierced through everything that had just occurred and quieted everyone immediately. Troy turned around in his seat to face front, and Chad stopped laughing immediately.

"Thank you. This is not recess, you know! And that... noise distracts those who prefer to see the world through silence. A silence that can often be found in the audiences of theatre performances! Ahh, which reminds me: Practice for our fall musicale will start at free period today." Ms. Darbus always knew how to connect everything to the theater. Every time. She also was obsessed with the school musicals, her life and classes revolving around it. Even though Troy was a part of the musicals and did enjoy participating in them very much, he, and everyone else in the room, eventually got tired of hearing the word "musicale." Ms. Darbus smiled joyously at the class and handed out scripts to Troy. Gabriella, Sharpay, and Ryan, who were all playing the leads in the show, This And That. It was written by Kelsi Neilson, and was about the true ups and downs of high school. Troy especially liked the show because he could relate so well to it. It wasn't some fairy tale story that was so full of magic and perfect people that no one would believe it. He felt that it would truly touch people in the ways that would bring them back to their high school days, or further solidify the fact that high school will always be the same.

The bell rang just as Ms. Darbus opened her mouth to continue on her rant about the wonders of music and how it speaks to the soul. Gratefully, everyone jumped out of their seats and ran out of the door, silently thanking the bell.

Troy walked out of the classroom to find Gabriella walking toward him. Immediately, he felt a little pang of guilt and started to apologize.

"Gabs, I'm really sorry about earlier. I didn't know that would hap-"

Gabriella put her hand up, a slight smirk on her face. She shook her head and smiled up at Troy, saying, "Troy, listen. It's okay. I mean, who wouldn't want you with the way you look?"
At this comment, Troy looked at his feet and blushed a little, opening his mouth to say something else, but Gabriella stopped him with a tight hug. "It's okay. I trust you," she breathed into his ear, bringing his smile back to normal.

"Thanks, Gabs. I knew I loved you for some reason," he whispered before chuckling a little.

"Meet me in our secret spot during free period."

That was all that Gabriella said before promptly turning around and walking away, leaving Troy scratching his head. Just then, the starting bell for next period rang and Troy realized he was late. And for math, too...

Troy ran into the classroom about five minutes late, panting and looking around in almost a panic, hoping he didn't miss much. He couldn't really afford to miss anything, because he sucked at math and it took every ounce of concentration he could muster to get anything right. The teacher, Mr. Mac, looked over at him from the board and shook his head disapprovingly.

"Mr. Bolton, you're late. Why?"

Troy looked at Mr. Mac sadly, mentally kicking himself for being late, but nonetheless answered the teacher's question.

"I forgot to stop at my locker and had to run back to get my book... Sorry."

"Yes, well... try to be on time from now on; you really can't afford to miss any of my class."

Mr. Mac knew very well that Troy struggled with math and didn't want to see him fall behind because he really was a nice kid. Not unlike Mr. Mac, every other student in the class knew that Troy had trouble and did not knock him for it. After all, Troy was the most popular kid at East High. It would just be cruel to tease him like that. Mr. Mac turned back to the board and finished writing an equation down. Troy looked at it for a moment, trying to figure out what that weird looking 'S' next to a few numbers meant. He could remember reading something about it in his book... something about taking the power and flipping it around or adding to it or something... but he couldn't remember. He quietly turned around and walked toward his seat before Mr. Mac's voice sliced through the air.

"Mr. Bolton. Not so fast. Come solve this integration."

Troy sighed and walked back up to the board. He stared intently at the problem before picking up the chalk and doing the only thing he could remember. He brought the power down in front of the variable and subtracted one from the power. He smiled, pretty sure that he had done it correctly. he looked up at Mr. Mac hopefully to see Mr. Mac smirking at the equation.

"Well, Mr. Bolton... you didn't do it correctly, but I'm glad to see you can finally differentiate. In order to integrate, you have to employ the other trick. That is, add one to the power and then divide by the new power." Mr. Mac demonstrated this next to Troy's incorrect answer, and Troy nodded. He actually felt a small amount of happiness at finally learning how to differentiate, but was still kicking himself because he couldn't integrate. He sighed and looked at the right answer one last time before looking back up to Mr. Mac.

"Oh... right, sir. Sorry."

"No big deal. Just keep working. You can take your seat now."

Troy walked past the greedy eyes of the girls and sat down in his seat. He took out a piece of paper and pencil and began writing the correct equation into his notebook, making a mental note to study it later on that night. Mr. Mac then went on to begin teaching about something that Troy couldn't even visualize. Something about twirling shapes around the number line and then finding the area and volume of the solid. Troy just shook his head, wondering why someone in their right mind would ever want to do math like that. Troy looked back down to his notebook, already not listening because he knew whatever was being taught was way beyond his grasp. He thought that he would confuse himself even more by trying to pay attention.

So his thoughts turned elsewhere. to Gabriella, to be exact. Troy closed his eyes and he thought about the way his girlfriend walked down the halls, and the way her legs moved, and her hair and the way she smelt and how it felt when she touched him and. Well, the list could go on forever as far as Troy was concerned. He was completely and utterly in love with this girl. Just the thought of Gabriella made Troy begin to feel a bit of longing in his boxers. Shit, he wanted her bad. Troy grinned to himself, remembering that he was supposed to meet Gabriella on the rooftop garden next period. Free period. Troy sighed longingly when the bell suddenly rang.

Fuck that class was short. I must have been daydreaming for a long time.

Troy excitedly got up from his seat and headed out the door straight toward the staircase that would bring him up to the roof.

Gabriella was sitting by herself on a bench on the roof, quietly waiting for the arrival of Troy. She had been thinking about him all day, and wanted to make sure he knew she loved him and trusted him. After all, those dumb girls knew Troy was dating Gabriella and they continued to undress him with their eyes every day. Gabriella was so used to it by now, but apparently it still bothered Troy. Or at least made him nervous. Weird, she thought, how someone so hot could be so self-conscious. Just then she heard footsteps coming up the stairs and sure enough, Troy had arrives, breathing a little heavily and still carrying his books. Gabriella smiled at him and stood up, walking over to him.

"Gabs, I'm-" He began, only to be quieted by a deep kiss from Gabriella. He looked a little confused by the kiss, but nonetheless quieted and looked at her.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not mad? I really do trust you!" She laughed at him. "C'mon, it happens to you every day! I'm so used to it I just can't get jealous anymore. And besides, I know you would never cheat on me. You're just too nice a person."

Troy smiled appreciatively at her and said, "Thanks, Gabs. I love you." Gabriella grinned at him and replied, "I loved you too." Then, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. Troy closed his eyes and reveled in the taste that was Gabriella. He took in the scent of her hair and the way her curves felt against his body. He sighed, granting Gabriella's tongue passage into his mouth. Troy was completely fine with that, and began to explore her mouth with his own tongue. Soon, the two were fighting for dominance of the kiss, a deep moan escaping Troy's throat. Gabriella heard this and her hands began to feel every inch of Troy's body, taking in the feel of his chest against her fingers. Her hands began to travel lower and lower down his body until they were at his waistline. She slowly unbuttoned his pants, hearing a deep moan escape his lips. She smiled inwardly at how she could turn this strong man to putty in her hands. She eventually found her way into his boxers and began stroking his member lightly, earning another moan of ecstasy from her boyfriend. Troy began to fondle Gabriella's breasts, gently rubbing her nibbles until they were hard. He then unbuttoned her blouse and unclasped her bra and let it fall down to her elbows, revealing Gabriella Montez in all her beauty. It made Troy go wild!

Gabriella continued to stroke Troy until he began completely hard and started pumping with a perfect rhythm. Troy bucked his hips deeper into her body and his breath started to hitch uncontrollably. He continued to fondle her, then kissed her so deeply, a small moan escaped her own lips, causing a smile to tug at the corners of Troy's very busy mouth. Troy mumbled, "Ah.. Gabs..." into his girlfriends hair and could feel a pressure building deep within him. "Mhmm... Fuck... I'm... I'm gonna..." he whispered raggedly into her ear.

Just as Troy was at his point of bliss, Gabriella let go with a horrified look on her face. "Oh, no!" She nearly screamed, "We have to get to practice! Shit, I totally forgot!" She hurriedly replaced her bra and blouse, while looking around for her notebook. She picked it up and looked back to Troy, and upon seeing his face, nearly wet herself with laughter. Troy looked like he... well like he didn't finish in time.

"Fuck, Gabs..." He said as he pulled his boxers up over his still extremely hard dick. "You think about play practice at... at a time like this?" He sighed in exasperation as he pulled his jeans back up to his waist and looked around for his books. He turned around to pick them up and felt Gabriella warp her arms around him. "Aww, I'm sorry." She said as she lightly nipped his ear. "We'll finish later, I promise. But we really do have to go to practice! We are two of the leads, after all, and Darbus will hang us for being late!" She looked at Troy's grumpy looking face and smiled softly at him and kissing him lightly on the lips. "I promise."

Troy sighed again and nodded his head, still trying to calm himself down. He really hoped he didn't get blue balls for this, but he could already feel the slight pain in his dick. He huffed out a lungfull of air and smiled a half-smile at Gabriella. "Okay... Let's go to practice before we get into more trouble." He grabbed her hand and they walked down the stairs together.

Ms. Darbus looked up at the clock, annoyance tugging at her features. Troy and Gabriella had a knack for being late for things, but that did not change the fact that she hated tardiness. She turned away from the clock and back to the students who deemed it important enough to practice for the fall musical.

"Now, patrons of the arts, we will start the practice by warming up. Everyone, separate into groups of two and proceed to do... the rag doll." Ms. Darbus finished the last part of her sentence with a huge flourish, dramatically drawing out the words 'rag doll.' Everyone seemed to roll their eyes at Darbus, but she did not notice. Ryan and Sharpay Evans immediately broke off into a pair and started dropping their upper bodies forward so that their waists were at a ninety degree angle. They then slowly, effortlessly, and perfectly drew their upper bodies up to stand up straight and tall. Chad, who was alone with Zeke because Troy conveniently decided to disappear during free period with Gabriella, looked around the auditorium, hoping that maybe Troy and Gabby would walk in late. He finally gave up in his hoping and started to mimic Sharpay and Ryan, who always seemed to be able to do everything concerning the shows perfectly. Too impatient to say silent any longer, Chad shot up and looked at Zeke with an annoyed look on his face.

"Where are they?

"Who?" Zeke asked, while trying to pick his upper body up without moving his legs or falling over, a feat that proved to be impossible for him. He finally gave up and just sat on the stage by Chad, who followed suit and sat next to him.

"Troy and Gabby! They're late. What could they possibly be doing that's so important that they need to miss practice?

"How do you even know if they're together?"

"Well... they're dating! They're attached at the hip!"

"Yeah, well... maybe they're just catching up with homework or something."

Chad groaned in aggravation at the thought of Troy and Gabriella ditching practice and leaving Chad and Zeke to suffer with Darbus. Sharpay suddenly walked over to the two and sat down with them, followed by Ryan. Even though she was a Diva at times, she was actually a very close friend to Troy, Gabriella, Chad, and Zeke. And even though Ryan was usually pretty quiet, he was always reliable as a friend and confidante to any member of the group. Sharpay had overheard Chad and Zeke's conversation and was getting fed up with their dumb boy conversation. Didn't they see what was going on? "Well, Chad, if you ask me, Troy and Gabriella were probably on a little 'mini-date'."

Chad looked over at Sharpay with an incredulous look on his face. "Well hello to you too, Sharpay. And what do you mean, a mini-date?" He had to smile in spite of himself because, even though Sharpay was a Diva, she had a knack for knowing things and was never ever afraid to speak the truth, regardless of who it might offend. Sharpay smiled back knowingly at Chad and Zeke and just shook her head. Zeke and Chad both scrunched their brows in confusion at Sharpay's mysteriousness when suddenly, Troy and Gabriella ran into the auditorium, yelling about how they were sorry about being late.

Troy looked a mess. he looked like he had just been in a hurricane, and he looked flustered, a red color encroaching on his ears. Gabriella, who looked a little disheveled but not as bad as Troy, had a look on her face like she was about to laugh. They both went over to the group and sat down. Gabriella seemed perky and smiled at all of them before offering a warm hello. Troy, on the other hand, just sat down and grunted grumpily at them all. Chad looked at Troy and asked, "Where were you two? You left all of us here to play doll house! No fair!" Troy just looked at Chad with an evil look in his eye. "We were... talking... to each other," was his response, at which Gabriella nodded enthusiastically.

Chad raised an eyebrow and looked at Zeke. They both looked back at Troy with dumbfounded looks on their faces. Then, a look of understanding filled Chad's eyes as his face softened. He just nodded, said, "Oh, okay. Well you're here now, so I guess we should practice." He stood up and motioned for the rest of the group to stand up as well, Zeke still with a confused look on his face, and Sharpay still sporting her all-knowing look. Just as they were about to start warming up again, the bell signaling the end of the school day rang. Troy, Chad, and Zeke walked out headed toward the gym, while Gabriella left with Sharpay and Ryan, headed to their lockers to get their bags and go home.

Once in the locker room and alone, Chad went up to Troy and sat next to him, looking at him expectantly. Troy just looked at Chad with an annoyed confused look on his face. "What?" He asked, wishing Chad would leave him alone because his blue balls were still bothering him and he just wanted to go home and furiously masturbate. But he still had to practice because, like his dad said, he needed to keep the team focused on winning the championship. Chad looked at him with a dumb expression on his face. "What were you and Gabriella doing?" Troy just shrugged and turned away to tie his shoe. Chad grabbed Troy's shoulder and applied a little pressure to make Troy look at him, his expression now one of amusement. "Well you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Just one question. Did you have fun?" Troy gave Chad a look of disgust and said, "What the fuck are you..." A look of comprehension dawned on his face and he shook his head at Chad. "Oh... well if you must know, no. I didn't have fun," he said sarcastically, hoping Chad would understand what he was trying to say. Chad sat back and sighed, looking at Troy sadly. "Aww fuck, man. Sorry to hear about that."

"Bolton! Danforth! Get out here now!"

"Oh shit," said Troy, standing up now. "We better go. I'll be late for another thing I shouldn't be late to..." Chad nodded and stood up, following Troy out of the locker room into the gym, where the rest of the team was waiting and Coach Bolton was looking a little peeved.

"Hurry up you two! We're wasting time!"

Chad and Troy nodded and joined the rest of the team. As practice began, Chad and Troy stuck pretty close together. Troy was at least grateful that it was only Chad who figured it out. He knew that Chad would never ever tell anyone something that personal, and soon the two were laughing about it. As practice progressed and everyone began to get tired, Troy found himself losing track of what he was doing and daydreaming about Gabriella. Man, did he lover her. She really understood him and the two really were best friends. She wasn't just there for him to let his sexual tensions loose. He could talk to her about anything and everything and she wouldn't judge him. That's why the two had been such good friends for so long before they started dating. Troy stopped running when he realized that Gabriella and Chad were really alike. He knew he could tell either one of them anything, but certain things were better to tell only one of them. He knew Gabriella would be upset if she found out Chad knew about his and her little 'talking' session during play practice, and he was pretty sure that Chad wouldn't want to hear him complain about his math issues. He smiled at the thought that he had the best girlfriend and best best friend that anyone could ask for.

Suddenly, a fellow student through the ball to Troy and it hit him square in the face. Troy fell to the gym floor, rubbing his face and cursing under his breath. Coach and Chad ran over to him and helped him up, asking him if he was okay. Troy nodded and continued to rub his cheek. Chad then promptly started to laugh, replaying the image of the great Troy Bolton getting hit in the face with a basketball. Coach Bolton cleared his throat angrily at Chad, and Chad stopped immediately, saying "I'll, uhh, go run some suicides." At this, Chad ran to the opposite net and began his suicides. Jack looked at his son, annoyance clearly displayed across his face. Troy looked up at his dad and shrugged, looking apologetic. "Sorry, Dad. I guess I wasn't paying attention." Jack just put his hand on his sons shoulder and stared like he was looking into Troy's soul. "Troy. You have got to get your head in the game! Without you, the team will lose for sure! C'mon Troy!" Troy just looked apologetically at his father again and walked into the locker room to get changed.

After an extremely strenuous day at school, Troy walked into his front door to find a roasted chicken waiting for him on the other side. "Oh, Mom, this smells great!" he said excitedly as he sit down next to his father for dinner. She smiled at Troy, but looked a little tired. Troy noticed this and asked, "How was your day, mom? You look really tired." She nodded as she sat down and served herself some food. "Yeah... it was a long day. We had a very pugnacious patient today and I had to keep him happy. All. Day." She sighed and started eating. "Aww, Mom, that sucks. But at least you're making good money nursing, right?" Troy said with a laugh.

Jack smiled a little at his son's comment, because he liked the aspect of having a little bit of money in his pocket. He looked up from his plate and smiled at his wife. "Hey, Lucy, you're home with a family that loves you. You get to take a breather tonight before you have to go back to work tomorrow and do it all over again. But remember, you can do anything for eight hours. Hey! You can even look forward to coming home to see Troy and me," he finished and looked at the love of his life, truly amazed at how gifted this woman was because she could do just so much with so little time.

Troy just smiled at how in love his parents were, just so long as they didn't start having sex in front of him. It's bad enough he knew they had to create him at one point. Gross, thinking about you're parents doing that kind of stuff when you're in the other room. Troy glanced up at the clock and, after asking to be excused, put his plate in the dishwasher and went upstairs. On his way up, He yelled back to his parents that he had homework to do and disappeared into his bedroom.

Troy sat down on his bed and pulled his math notebook from his schoolbag and tried to understand what he had written earlier during class, but couldn't remember any of it. Why couldn't he remember math? Troy groaned and closed his book. He just didn't understand why he couldn't understand things the way Gabriella could. Gabriella. Troy began to think about earlier that day, getting aroused at the thought of it. he completely forgot about his blue balls when he got hit in the face with the basketball, and now all he wanted to think about was how amazing Gabriella was. He reached over to his phone with the intent on calling her and talking to her for hours, but he could hear a lot of noise coming from downstairs, so he got up and walked out of his room.

Troy walked down the stairs to find his mom lying on the couch, looking worse then she did at dinner, with a cloth covering her nose, which seemed to be bleeding. "Mom, what happened to your nose?" Troy asked, walking over to her with a concerned look on his face. "Oh, it must be from all the stress of today. It's just a nosebleed. I'll be fine." Lucy sat up, still covering her nose, and smiled at her son. Troy was just about to ask where his father was when he heard heavy footsteps coming from the other room. Troy turned around and saw his father glaring at his mother with the worst look possible. Lucy looked at Jack, but it seemed like she wasn't quite as surprised as Troy to see him like that. "Honey, what's wrong?" she asked innocently.

"This."

And troy saw his father holding a small bag of white powder.