CRY ME A RIVER

not a songfic – just the title – has nothing to do with the song)

I do not own HSM. Otherwise I would be rich! Anyways, I do not own the characters, I just used them in the story. It is somewhat based on the movie but with a different story line. All the people are the same. Their personality has not changed. Except for Troy. There is also Dylan, Zac Efron's real brother in this. So it is a mix between the movie and reality. OK I'm going to stop talking so you can read the story. lol

Dylan's POV

I watched my brother being dragged into another room of the small apartment. Tears were running down my face as I heard my brother's muffled screams. He eventually stopped and all I could hear were the loud blows that echoed off the walls. Soon, I saw my father come out of the room with bloody knuckles and I watched him open the front door and walk out.

Before he slammed the door shut, our dad said, "You're next when I get back!" I heard him lock the door from the outside so we couldn't leave.

I winced at the thought of what would happen to me until I heard my brother Troy gasp in pain. I quickly got up and ran to my father's room.

"Troy…get up!" I said quickly. But he didn't respond. "Troy come on…you have to get up before dad gets back. You know what he will do if he finds that you're still in his room." Troy did as told at the thought of our dad, but every time he tried, he would groan out in pain as more blood seeped onto the dirty, old carpet. I started to cry because I knew exactly what would happen if he was still in the room when our father got home.

"DAMN IT TROY! YOU HAVE TO GET UP!" I screamed. I pulled on Troy but quickly let go as he screamed in pain. I didn't know what to do. Every time I tried to pull him up he screamed as if I was shoving a knife into his ribs. I knew they were broken, but I had to find a way to get him out. Soon I heard the front door creak open.

I whispered," Dad's home…you have to get up…please!!!!! Please Troy get up." At that Troy quickly rose to his feet letting out a blood curdling cry. We both saw our father standing in the door way as I tried taking Troy's weight in my arms dragging him to the other room.

Dad slowly walked towards the both of us. "HE'S OUT OF THE ROOM AND I WILL CLEAN UP IF YOU DON'T HURT HIM ANYMORE!", I yelled at my father who was real close to striking Troy. Dad stopped and glared at me with this coldness that I never thought was possible to give to your own son. He hated me. He hated Troy. That was all that was running in my head.

"Clean that shit up," my father said pointing to all the blood on the floor, "When you're done you can wait in there till' I come get you." He then walked away and I knew what that meant. I was going to have to get beaten because he knew I helped Troy get out of the room.

The thing was, was that my father told us that we could not help each other once we were beaten. We had to do it ourselves to show him that we were strong enough and that we could take the beatings, otherwise he would beat the other one to a bloody pulp.

I cleaned up the mess and I sat there as I saw Troy gasping for air and coughing up blood in the bathroom. I knew he needed to get to the hospital, but there was no way in hell dad would take him. I thought he was going to die as he let out painful moans as he pulled himself into the bathtub, clothes and all. Hhe turned on the shower letting cold water hit his face. I knew that was exactly what I would be doing in about 10 minutes or so. I finished cleaning the blood out of the carpet and set out a tarp on the floor so Troy wouldn't have to clean it up when dad was through beating me. He could just throw away the plastic sheet. I sat on the bed waiting for my dad to enter and I could see that Troy figured out what was going to happen to me. My dad came to the entrance of the room and stared at me with such hate that I shuddered under my breath. I let out a moan as my father punched me across the face but I tried to keep it in not giving him the satisfaction of hearing my screams. I could see my brother struggling to get out of the bathroom, getting closer and closer to my father. Then all I could see was my father letting out a grunt and fall to the floor. My brother had a bat in his hands. Then he collapsed to the floor. I dragged Troy to the car leaving my dad unconscious. I knew we would get it later but I needed to get Troy to the hospital.

2 weeks earlier…

Troy's POV

I was limping down the hallway of my school, because my dad had almost broke my leg the night before. I was trying to be unnoticed but I was the most popular guy at East High. I knew it wouldn't last long before someone recognized me. I struggled to get to my locker as I saw my girlfriend skipping down the hall towards me.

"Hi Troy!" Gabriella said.

Trying to get the words out without showing pain, I said, "Hey babe."

Gabriella looked a little worried as she saw the bruise on my face that my hair was sort of covering. "What happened to you baby?" Gabriella whispered. I told her it was nothing, that I was messing around with my brother and we both punched each other in the face by accident. I told her it was a pretty funny story. She didn't believe me but decided to let it go.

I slowly walked away, leaving her to walk to class by herself. I felt bad but I didn't want her to ask anymore questions. I turned around to see if she had gone. She had. I watched her walk slowly to her class in the opposite direction looking really sad. I hated seeing her this way but what was I supposed to do. Just tell her straight up that my dad beats me and Dylan for the hell of it and let the day slide by like nothing happened? That would never work. I walked into the class and every one screamed my name saying I did a great job at the basketball game the other night, even though I missed two baskets. No one cared about that but my dad. That was the reason I was limping. I missed one free throw and missed a layup at half-time. When I got home my dad kept on kicking me until I couldn't even scream anymore.

In class, all I did was lay my head on the desk and slept. Ms. Darbus walked up to me and slammed a ruler down on my desk, waking me up abruptly. "Troy Bolton, there is to be no sleeping in my class no matter what!" she said. I thought, if only you knew the reason…I heard the bell and quickly got up trying to avoid my friends, but I knew that wasn't going to work. I saw Chad in the corner of my eye and turned around. He slapped his hand on my back and I winced. "Good job man, you were awesome!!!" Chad said, not noticing the pain across my face. I bet Mr. Bolton was proud of you when you guys got home. (AN: Troy's father is also the couch of the basket ball team.)

"Yeah right…" I murmured.

"What was that?" Chad said not quite hearing what I had said.

"Nothing"

"Okay dude."

I made my way to the next class which was Chemistry. We were learning about combustion and balancing formulas. I sat next to Gabriella. She hadn't said anything to me the whole time until I spoke up.

"I'm sorry"

"For what?" She knew exactly what I was talking about but she just wanted to make sure.

"For leaving you in the hallway earlier. I just have a lot on my mind and I needed some space. I'm really sorry"

"It's okay…just…tell me how you really got that bruise on the side of your face?"

"I told you…me and my brother were fighti..."

Gabriella interrupted,"Don't give me that shit Bolton…I know your brother can't punch that hard…just tell me!!!"

"Gabi…it has nothing to do with you so just DROP IT!" I said coldly.

"It has nothing to do with me...it has nothing to do with me….you know what Bolton. It does because you are my boyfriend and I think I have the right to know what is going on with you!" She said scowling.

It pained me to say this but I couldn't let her know what was happening…I just couldn't. "Then…I guess I'm not your boyfriend anymore…"

She just stared at me with disbelieve. I saw tears starting to from in her eyes. I can't believe I just said that, I thought to myself. Then her tears went away, "FINE…I DON'T NEED YOU ANYWAY…HERE, YOU SHOULD HAVE THIS BACK!" She threw her promise ring at me. I felt so bad for making her feel this way. I watched as she stormed out of the room while the teacher was calling her. I just sat for the rest of the class period on the verge of crying but I didn't let it show.

Class was over and I limped passed the girls bathroom. I heard crying. I knew it was Gabriella. She looked at me, disgusted, as she brushed passed my arm, wiping her tears away. I walked around the halls until I heard the final bell. I was so glad that I could leave this place, but then I kind of wanted to stay because I didn't want to go home to my dad again. I walked out of the school and then I saw the whole basketball team run towards me.

"Hey Troy wait up!" They all said in unison.

I kept walking trying to give them a hint that I didn't want to talk right then.

They didn't get the hint. They ran up to me causing me to stop. I turned around.

"Hey dude, where have you been all day. You seemed really distant…"

"….uggghhh…..I broke up with Gabriella….." I said waiting for the yells that were soon to come.

"WHAT!?!" They all said.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Chad said in anger.

"Its not your problem so just leave it alone alright guys!"

"No, we will not leave it alone. You guys were meant to be and you just broke up with her? Well there must be a reason…what did she do?"

"Nothing"

"Then what's the problem?"

"IM THE PROBLEM! JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE. I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!"

"…fine…come on guys" They all started to walk away.

I can't believe I just blew up like that. They were right. I lost my girlfriend. What the hell was wrong with me? I took a detour and walked around the lake trying to take as much time as possible before I returned to that hell-hole I call a home. I finally got home to see Dylan in his room. I walked over to see tear stained cheeks and blood all around him. I ran to him and asked what happened!?! He was just sitting there with bruises all over his face and I lifted his shirt to see that there was a piece of metal lodged in his side.

"DID DAD DO THIS TO YOU?!?" I screamed. He didn't answer. I picked him up and took him to the hospital. I had to lie and tell them that he tripped and slammed his side against the fence that had the piece of metal sticking out. They believed me and they let it go. I was just sitting their in disbelief that Dad would go this far in hurting him. I was crying and crying for hours it seemed like, hoping he was okay. I then called up Chad, who was my best friend, telling him that my brother was in the hospital.

"I'll be right over man" Chad said.

I thought, if only I hadn't taken my time to get home, I could have prevented this, then I saw Chad running down the hall arguing with a nurse saying that his friend was in the hospital. I walked up to him telling the nurse it was okay. She left.

"How is he!?!" Chad said.

"I don't know, they haven't said anything. He's still in…surgery." I said with tears running down my face.

"I'm gonna call Gabi!" Chad said quicly.

"NO!"

"Why the hell not?!?"

"She has enough to worry about. She doesn't need to know about this." I said thinking, that will just make her more suspicious and…I can't have that, I snapped back to reality when I saw the doctor heading towards us.

"He will be fine, he is in intensive care right now because the metal was real close to his liver and was about a few centimeters away from puncturing it." The doctor said.

I gasped at the fact that I almost lost my little brother. I asked if I could see him but he said not for a few more hours. They are still running some tests. (AN: I don't really know anything about surgery and hospitals and stuff so I will probably get some things wrong. Tell me if I'm incorrect so I can change it a bit.)

I noticed the Chad was talking to someone on the phone; the he hung up as soon as he saw me.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked worried that he had called Gabi.

"I'm sorry, but I had to call her."

"No, you didn't have to….GOD WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID?" I screamed. He just looked at me and then he gave me a hug (AN: A manly hug, there not gay) I cried into his shoulder and then I saw Gabriella running down the hall.

"Gabriella…look…its okay. You don't have to be here." I said wiping the tears away.

"But I want to be. You brother is hurt and I can tell you are hurting too. I'm glad Chad called me."

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier…I just….I-I…"

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me now. We can talk later"

"…okay…"

The doctor said, "You can see him now."

"Thanks"

Gabriella and Chad waited outside the door while Troy walked in eagerly to see his brother. He wished he hadn't because he found him all cut up and bruised.

"Hey kid…how are you feeling?" I asked.

"I've had better days…" he said with a smirk.

I laughed a little. "So what happened?"

Dylan sighed. "Dad was just yelling at me because I spilt Kool-Aid on the floor and then I started yelling back sayin it was no big deal! Then he pushed me against the wall and just started landing blows to my head, and then I fell to the floor and then everything went black. All I can remember was seeing dad with this piece of scrap metal in his hands and then….he…..Dad just sho--"

Gabriella came in.

"What about your dad?" She asked curiously with a worried look on her face.

Hey guys! This is my first fanfic. I hope you liked it. Tell me if I should continue cuz if I don't get any reviews then I will just stop…lol.

cEcE