Midnight

A Troypay Story

CHAPTER 2- THE NIGHTMARE FLAT


"Sharpay, wake up!" Troy whispered as he gently tapped her. She slowly woke, blinking rapidly at the bright light. "They've taken Amy off the ventilator."

"That's great!" Sharpay jumped out of her hospital bed then stumbled and fell, Troy broke her fall.

"Now that could have been nasty. Lucky I'm here to save the day."

"My hero." Sharpay said sarcastically. "I kind of lost my bearings there."

"Hmm." Troy agreed. He supported her as she walked to where Amy was sleeping. A nurse walked in and joined the happy scene where they all looked down and smiled at the little baby.

"This little girl" said the nurse "Is amazing. She has made the most incredible recovery I have ever seen, considering she was born so early. She really is a remarkable child."

"Just like her mother." smiled Troy.

"And she really looks a lot like her father."the nurse said as she looked at Troy.

"Oh no, I'm not her father. I'm just a friend." said Troy.

"A good friend." Sharpay added.

"I'm sorry, I just thought, because you were here and, she does look oddly like you-"

"Don't worry, it's fine. And she does have my wonderful blue eyes." Troy joked.

"They'll probably change colour, actually. I mean, most babies are born with blue eyes, then they gradually change." said Sharpay, who'd been doing her homework.

Troy looked at his watch.

"Oh crap, I told Gabriella I'd be home before she woke up..."

"Why?"

"Well, she said she wanted to pretend I hadn't gone at all, and if I was there when she woke up, she could do that."

"Not a controlling person at all, your wife!" joked Sharpay.

"I can tell you're getting better, you're insulting Gabriella again!"

"Ha ha. Very funny Bolton."

"Anyway, give my love to little Amy, and call me if you need anything. Actually, call me even if you don't need anything. It's nice to hear a voice that's not Gabriella's once in a while." He hugged Sharpay goodbye as he left the room.

"He's cute!" said the young nurse.

"Yeh he is" Sharpay giggled "Totally off limits though." she sighed,

"I take it this Gabriella is his girlfriend then."

"Wife, actually. I almost crashed the wedding. I didn't have the courage to when it came to the moment. I just thought, if it was me... marrying him I mean, and if Gabriella was to ever crash my big day, well I'd never forgive her. Never. So I could never do it to her, no matter how much I wanted to. Wait a minute... I barely know you and I've just spilled out my life story!"

"Sometimes it helps to let it all out, tell someone the truth. Even if you don't know them." the young nurse said as she left the room.

6 months later

"Don't cry Amy, it's a great day today. This is your new home." Sharpay said as she got out of her pink car. A hooded teenager laughed at her from across the street. "What are you looking at Beevis?" she shouted. Amy began crying louder. "No I wasn't talking to you Amy. Ssshh, come on, this is a special day! Grandpa Evans has bought us a house, well a big flat anyway. He says I'm too irresponsible for a house." Amy mimicked Sharpay's sad facial expression. "It's OK he loves us really he's just sad that Jake didn't stay with us. But he doesn't know anything... he thinks he does, but he doesn't. He doesn't even know who your daddy is, because, between you and me... it's not Jake." Sharpay paused. "What am I telling you this for? You don't understand 95 percent of what I'm saying! Well I guess I should tell you about your real daddy-" Sharpay paused again. She had reached her destination. She looked at the piece of paper with the address her father had given her written on it. This is definitely the right place, she said. She shyly pushed open the rusty double doors. They revealed a shabby old building, with peeling wallpaper and carpet stains.

"OK ew!" squealed Sharpay as her very high heel sank into the sheepskin rug on the floor. "It smells of meatloaf in here... If upstairs isn't better I'm calling daddy."

Sharpay angrily made her way upstairs. There was no elevator, just a stone staircase.

"I don't like the look of this place Amy. Not at all." She stepped over a man who appeared to be asleep in the middle of the staircase. "What the fudge?" Sharpay had made a no-swearing policy when she was around Amy. She made her way to the 5th floor and found her room number, checking again to see if she had the right place again. She pulled her handkerchief from her jean pocket and wiped the door handle, then disposed of it in the almost-full bin in the corner before opening the door. An ear piercing scream filled the whole place. An angry man next door bashed violently on the wall.

"Shut the hell up bitch! I'm tryin' a watch my TV show!"

Sharpay shouted back. " Don't you dare use that language in front of my baby!" Amy giggled.

"Aww! You laughed. You actually laughed. That is so cute! I was worried about you laughing, coz all my baby books said you were supposed to have your first laugh at least a month ago, and you know what it's like to be a mother, well you don't, but anyway..." Amy laughed again. "Yeh, I'm calling daddy." Sharpay frantically dialed the numbers on her cell phone.

"Sharpay?"

"Daddy, you won't believe this. You were totally ripped off. The flat you bought me is HORRIBLE. It's old and ugly and falling apart and there's spiders and did I say it's ugly and it's falling apart? Oh and there's a man living next door who swears in front of Amy and watches TV and I can't-"

"Whoa, princess. I thought this might happen."

"You mean, you knew the flat was like this?"

"I didn't realize it was this bad. But me and your mother have spoken, and, we feel you need to learn to look after yourself, and the only way to teach you is, well, the hard way. So until you are earning enough money to look after yourself, you have to stay in the flat."

"What? WHAT?"

"Your brother is a shining example of-"

"Don't mention that two timing dummy to me."

"My point is Princess, in the long run, you're going to thank us for this."

Sharpay put the phone down.

"This is not over." she said. And she searched through her contacts to the one person she wanted to talk to.

Calling

TROY

End Spkr