Thanks for the reviews everyone! Don't own HSM.

Chapter 4

Troy woke up a few minutes before his alarm went off. He stared at the clock and decided to just get up early. He turned the alarm off before getting up and taking a quick shower. He chose something to wear and quickly through it on before heading downstairs to get something to eat. He sat at the kitchen table as his dad sat in the living room, pretending Troy didn't exist. He looked down and saw that his cat was rubbing up against his leg. The cat really was a handsome cat. His coat was sable colored, creating stripes of darker and lighter color. He had longer hair that was extremely soft. Troy reached down and pet the cat, who started purring. He made a mental note to think of a name for him, but not now. Now, he wanted to talk to his father.

Troy finished his breakfast and went into the living room.

"Dad? I just want to know... why did you quit working at East High?"

"Well, I didn't want to work at the school that I sent my son to, especially when I beat him."

Troy's mouth just stood slightly agape as those words pierced his heart. His dad seemed to say that he intentionally beat him without the slightest bit of feeling; they were just so nonchalant, so uncaring. Troy closed his mouth and found himself unable to swallow. He just nodded his head a few times and headed toward the door. He the turned around and went back into the living room.

"Dad, I just wanted to let... to let you know that I'm leaving for... school."

He saw that his dad nodded and turned around and walked out. True, it was still very early to be going to school, but he couldn't see himself staying in that house. If he thought about it, Troy wasn't really all that upset, just shocked that his father was so blatant about it. He had some shred of hope before that maybe his father did still have some kind of feeling for him. That it was just a phase.

Troy walked down the sidewalk and told himself that he needed to buy his cat some food.

He finally made to his destination: Gabriella's house. Of course it was a little early to be at her house too, but he wasn't ready to go to school yet. He knocked on the door and noticed that a light was already on downstairs. This made Troy feel a little better because that meant that someone was up and he wouldn't be waking someone up from a deep sleep, at least. He took a step back and waited a few moments until Mrs. Montez, looking very much like her daughter, opened the door. Troy tried to give her a smile, but couldn't find it in him to do so. Instead he looked down at his feet.

"Hi, Mrs. Montex. Sorry it's so early... I'm really really sorry, but I was wondering if Gabby was up? If she is, could I talk to her?"

Mrs. Montez was slightly surprised that Troy was at their house so early, but knew that Troy had a tendency to do things like this: coming to their door early in the morning or late at night.

"Good morning, Troy. Of course, you can speak to Gabriella. She should be down in a few minutes. You can wait for her in the living room."

Troy smiled and continued to look at his feet as he stepped inside the house.

"Thanks." He said as he walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. He sighed, trying to organize his thoughts and figure out what exactly he wanted to tell Gabriella. He knew he had to tell her something. He couldn't let what happened the night before ruin their relationship and he had woken up that morning determined to fix it. Then, after what seemed like no time at all, Gabriella was standing in the doorway. Troy looked up and looked at his girlfriend and, at once, Gabriella was sitting next to him, her hand on his cheek.

"Troy! What happened?"

Gabriella seemed to be whispering, probably so as not to draw her mother. Troy, however, looked blankly at her before remembering that he had a bruise on his face from his father. He slowly raised his hand up to his face, covering her hand as well as the bruise.

"Gabs... I... I'm sorry..."

Troy took a deep breath and tried to talk to her. He was sure she would understand. He hoped she would understand. Then, all at once, he buried his head into her shoulder and started crying, quickly wetting the top of her shirt. Gabriella was so taken aback by the fact that Troy was crying that she didn't know what to do except pat him lightly on the back. She completely forgot about the night before and any feelings of anger or regret she had were expunged.

"Troy... what's going on? You're... you're crying. Any you have an awful bruise on your face!"

Troy looked up at Gabriella and wiped his eyes.

"My mom is a coke addict and my dad kicked her out. Now he... he hates me because he says it's my fault."

He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself to no avail, before continuing."And I... uh... I was leaving my house and I... fell down the steps because I was in a hurry."

Gabriella was once again lost for words once Troy told her what happened. All she could do was pull him into a tight hug.

"Troy... I'm sorry."

She didn't really know what else to say so she just held him as he calmed down. Then, Troy pulled away and sat up, running his hands through his hair, making it look even more messier than usual. He then smirked at her, saying, "And now here I am crying like a baby on your shoulder. I'm sorry... I shouldn't cry. This is just too much, though." He sighed shakily and rubbed his knees. Gabriella put her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him, hoping that she would be able to make him feel better.

"Hey, I'm always here if you need to talk. That's why I'm your girlfriend." She kissed his cheek softly, then nuzzled his neck and laughed. "Nice hickeys."

Troy smiled, even though he knew all along that Gabriella would understand. At the mention of his hickeys, he touched them with his finger tips, a slight blush encroaching on his cheeks. "Yeah... now I'll get more stares, what with the bruise and the hickeys." he sighed, then laughed, relieved that those were the extent of his problems for the moment. "Oh well." He wiped his eyes once more before standing up and putting his hand out to Gabriella.

"C'mon Gabs. We better get to school."

"Yeah... I guess you're right."

Gabriella grabbed Troy's hands and they left for school.

Throughout the walk to school, Troy debated on whether he should tell Gabriella about his father beating him. He knew that she would understand, but he didn't know if he was ready to say anything to her. He also was worried that she might say something to an adult or the police and his father would get arrested, leaving Troy without a place to stay. For the time being, Troy thought it best not to tell Gabriella. Maybe when his birthday in May got closer. The only problem was that it was only November. Nonetheless, Troy felt like a whale had been lifted from his chest because he told Gabriella at least something.

The two walked into the school and headed for their lockers, where Chad and Taylor were waiting. They all grabbed their books and headed to homeroom for another riveting story told by Ms. Darbus. Troy sat down with Chad and the rest of the basketball team that was in his homeroom while Gabriella went to sit with the other smart kids in the back. Troy had been mentally preparing himself for school the entire walk. He was ready when everyone in the room looked at him when they saw his bruise. There were even a few audible gasps. Then frantic whispering replaced the dumb stares and gasps as people noticed the bruises on his neck. It seemed they were more concerned about those than the one on his face.

Troy had forgotten about the hickeys and immediately started blushing deep red when he remembered. He just put his head on his desk, successfully hiding the marks. Chad, on the other hand, laughed at Troy and whispered to him, "What? Did you get some last night?" troy just grunted, not wanting to talk about any happenings of the night before. He also didn't have the guts to admit to anyone that he was a virgin. Of course, being the most lusted after boy in East High, everyone naturally thought Troy was a sex god. But they were wrong, and Troy planned on people continuing to just assume he had gotten it in at some point.

Darbus quieted everyone down and started on her daily announcements, none of which anyone listened to anymore because they were posted on the walls by the lockers. Troy just closed his eyes as he listened to Chad whisper to the rest of the team about how awesome he thought Mr. Opese was. Troy had to agree. Sure, he wasn't a big fan of his dad right now, but even an unbiased person would agree that Mr. Opese was better for the team than Jack Bolton. Period.

RING.

Troy's head shot up from his desk as the bell for first period rang and everyone started walking out the door. He got up and followed everyone, finally finding Gabriella and grabbing he wrist before she could get very far. She turned around and smiled at him. "What's up, Wildcat?"

Troy smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her forehead. "I just wanted to thank you for everything this morning. You have no idea how much better I feel, and I promise, we'll finish what we started last night."

Gabriella smiled at him and kissed his nose. "I know. I'm ready whenever you are." Then she winked and walked away.

Troy stayed where he was and watched as his girlfriend walked down the hall. Then the bell rang for the start of Troy's math class. Had it really been four minutes already? troy couldn't believe it. Now, he was going to be late... again. He raced to his locker and grabbed his book before running to Mr. Mac's classroom. He ran into the room, muttering his apologies for being late and looked up to meet the eyes of an older woman whom he had never seen before. She looked quite perplexed as to why he was in her classroom. Troy turned to face the class and saw an entire class of sophomores staring back, almost every one of them with their mouths hanging open. Then, much to Troy's dissatisfaction, a girl pointed and said, "It's Troy Bolton!" Suddenly, the classroom erupted with laughter and squeals and talking. Troy immediately took a step back, blushing terribly, when a girl pointed to his neck and said, "Gabriella Montez is so lucky! I would give anything to that boy!" Suddenly, what seemed like millions of comments were being said.

"I'll make that bruise on your cheek feel better!"

"Please date me!"

"I love you!"

"We're getting married someday!"

Troy stared wide-eyed in fear at the group of girls in front of him before running out of the room. Sophomore girls were really obnoxious.

Shaking his head and trying to stop blushing, Troy walked one classroom over into his math class, saying, "I know, I'm sorry. I went into the wrong room and almost got attacked by a bunch of sophomores." The, Troy sat down, not once looking at Mr. Mac. Math class was the same as usual. Troy trying his hardest and still failing to understand anything.

After school, Troy and Gabriella walked into the auditorium for play practice. They sat down in the front row and talked while they waited for everyone else to show up. As Sharpay and Ryan walked in, Gabriella asked Troy how his day was. A light amount of color appeared on his face as he recounted the tale of the crazy sophomores. This story, however, made Gabriella almost wet herself with mirth. Troy looked at Gabriella and couldn't help but smiling at her infectious laughter.

"Hey. It's was traumatizing! Those girls are scary."

At this, Gabriella laughed even harder, causing Troy to join in.

"Well, Troy, you're not afraid of anything. Except Sophomore girls? That's hilarious."

Troy just responded by shaking his head and wrapping his arms around Gabriella.

"You're funny, Gabs."

Sharpay and Ryan immediately walked up to the stage and started warming up for practice. Sharpay said, "You have to admit, Troy. It's pretty damn sad that you're so scared of little girls."

Ryan smiled at this, but did not say anything. Troy, however, stood up and pointed a finger at Sharpay just as Chad and Taylor walked in. "Hey! You don;t know what they can do! They say anything and I'll bet they'll rip my clothes off if I stand too close!"

At this, Sharpay had to sit on the stage so she wouldn't fall over from laughter, and Gabriella had exploded into a fit of giggles again. Chad and Taylor laughed a bit and looked at Troy with amused expressions on their faces.

"Where did that come from, Mr. Bolton?" Taylor asked, showing Troy a toothy smile.

Once again, Troy had to tell the story of the phantom Sophomores and, once again, everyone broke out in a fit of laughter. Chad clapped a hand on Troy's shoulder, saying, "You are their idol, man!"

Troy laughed while he shrugged Chad's hand away. "I don't want to be some fucking jerk off toy! I just wanna be me." At this thought, everyone in the auditorium broke out into yet another fit of laughter, even Ryan who was usually pretty reserved.

Just then, Ms. Darbus walked into the room with a usual flourish. "Alright, alright, settle down." She said as she stepped up to the stage. She then went on to direct the few students into certain positions and had them start running lines while she thought about how she wanted to block the scene. Luckily for Troy, they were still allowed to use their script during practice, so it wouldn't show that he hadn't even looked at it once. The young actors listened attentively and wrote down their blocking next to their lines. Now their job was to study everything. They had to know lines and blocking, not to mention their songs and dances, too. And they now had until Christmas Break to do it. It always seemed like enough time, but then everything hits you all at once and you're cramming to get those last few lines down. Practice ended pretty well, since everyone knew their lines and now just had to perfect them. Troy and Gabriella once again left together. It seemed that everything that has been going on in Troy's life actually made the two grow closer.

Troy and Gabriella walked home together, talking about everything from Taylor to Sharpay to how much math sucked. Gabriella offered to help Troy with his math, but he refused, determined to learn it on his own. He dropped her off at her house after kissing her goodbye and walked the three blocks back to his house alone. As he drew closer to the house, he felt a knot in his stomach form. He still was nervous to enter, but did so anyway because he really did not have any other option. He opened the door and walked into the living room, where he saw his dad sitting on the couch with his arm around some woman.

Troy couldn't help but be surprised. I mean, sure, Jack was single now... technically. Troy never really knew what happened about the divorce and he didn't really want to know. Anyway, Jack did have the right to date, but Troy still thought it was a little soon to be with someone else already. Jack looked up and smiled at Troy affectionately, which was another shocker. He stood up, along with the strange woman, and said to Troy, "Troy, I'd like you to meet Amanda. She's my new girlfriend. And she's not an addict to anything."

Amanda smiled at Troy and put out her hand, saying, "It's very nice to meet you." Then she turned her eyes back to Jack and said, "You have a very handsome son."

Troy forced a smiled and shook Amanda's hand, muttering an awkward 'thank you' to her comment about his looks. He then looked back at his dad, unsure of what to think, and said, "Dad, I'm going upstairs. I have to study my math. I'll be down for dinner."

At that, Troy escaped up to his room, shaking his head at the weird vibe he got from his dad's new girlfriend. He was also kind of surprised to see that his dad treated him with some respect. He sighed as he sat down on the edge of his bed and opened his math book, trying just like he did every night to understand the elusive material. His mind began to wander at once and he decided to take his phone out and text Gabriella. So my dad has a new girlfriend.

He looked back at his math and wrote a few problems, biting on the eraser in his concentration. Then, Gabriella responded: Well that was fast. Are you okay with it? Is she at least nice?

Troy didn't respond for a moment before typing: I guess I have no choice about it. She's nice, but I get a weird vibe from her... maybe it's because everything is moving so fast.

Troy once again went back to his math and made a move to pick up his phone to read Gabriella's response, which read: Sorry to hear that. Let me know if anything else happens.

Just as Troy was about to respond to his girlfriend, he heard a knock on the door and absentmindedly said, "Come in." He had a feeling it was Amanda, since he knew his dad would never knock. Sure enough, she walked through the door and smiled at Troy. Troy smiled back, thinking that he could like this woman and maybe she would get Jack off his back. She took a step forward and politely asked, "Can I sit?"

Troy looked down at the bed next to him and nodded, quickly picking up and moving his books. "Sure."

Amanda sat down and smiled once again at Troy. "So I know this is all going a little fast," she said, "but I really like your father and he really likes me. I just hope you would understand that I'm not here to replace your mother. Even though she may have not done a good thing, she still was your mother and gave you everything you have today."

At this point, Troy really liked this woman. She seemed kind and understanding. He responded, "Yeah, I know. I just feel like he's moving a little fast. It's only been a few weeks... since..." Troy didn't finish his sentence but Amanda knew what he was trying to say. She nodded and placed her hand on Troy's thigh. She winked at him as his expression changed of one of happiness to one of confusion and fright.

Troy put his own hand on the upper part of his thigh, almost touching his groin, blocking her hand from going anywhere. She just looked at him like nothing had happened and said, "You know you really are quite handsome." She began to snake her hand farther up his thigh, running her palm over the top of his hand and onto his groin. At this point Troy had no idea what to do and was momentarily in shock. After a few moments, his brain registered what was happening and he quickly shoved her away from him and stood up, yelling, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Amanda just looked at him with lustful eyes and very intentionally fell down onto the floor. She then started beating her fist onto the dresser, and started screaming.

"Troy! What are you doing? I'm not trying to step in on your life! Don't hit me!"

Troy just looked at this evil woman with a look of pure horror on his face. She just looked smugly at him and winked once more.

All at once, Troy saw his father coming up the stairs with a look of pure hatred on his face. The look that Troy had hoped he would never see again. Jack stepped into the room and wrapped his hand around the back of Troy's head and pulled forward and down, throwing his son to the ground. Troy knew he had no chance of getting his dad to know the truth, so he just laid there as Jack went over to Amanda and helped her up, asking her if she was okay. She nodded her head and did a very successful job in looking shaken. She then walked out of the room, leaving Jack and Troy alone.

Jack turned back to Troy who was just laying there motionless on the floor, afraid to move. He grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled, forcing Troy to stand up.

"Don't you ever lay a hand on her again!" He said, sending a fist into Troy's gut, who didn't make a sound. Even if he wanted to make a sound he wouldn't have been able to because he could barely breath since every ounce of air was just hit out of him.

Jack continued, "If you have the desire to hit someone, pick on me! Not her!" He then punched Troy in the jaw, sending his son to his knees. Troy still didn't make a sound but he did send a hand up to cover his throbbing jaw. He was too out of emotions to express any at the moment. Jack kicked Troy's middle, causing Troy to fall down onto his side, unmoving out of choice. Troy had no desire to fight back. Just to get out.

Jack kicked Troy in the chest, this time causing a sharp gasp to be heard from Troy, but nothing more. Jack then looked around the room, not nearly finished with his son's punishment. He saw a metal towel bar on the bathroom door. he went over and pulled it off the door, causing the end support pieces to hit the floor with a loud clang. He then went back over to Troy who looked up and saw what his father had grabbed. He just closed his eyes as tightly as he could and grabbed onto the leg of his bed with both hands.

Everything was broken in his life. He lost his mother because he was... born. He lost his father because his mother was an addict. And now he was losing his life. Everything seemed to be falling apart. He couldn't talk to his friends, he couldn't sleep, he couldn't make love to his girlfriend, he couldn't concentrate on anything. Everything was his fault. But it wasn't his fault he was born. He... he never chose to be brought into this world, and he never chose for his mother to do drugs.

Troy opened finally opened his eyes about seven hours later. He only knew this because the only light in the room was coming from the bright neon lights of his alarm clock. 2:32.

The second thing Troy noticed was that he couldn't move.

The third thing Troy noticed was the blood covered pipe lying innocently on the floor next to him.

The fourth thing Troy noticed was that it was his blood. His fault that all of this happened. No... his parents brought him into this world. Not his fault.

After about a half hour of taking in his surroundings, Troy was finally able to crawl into the bathroom and turn the shower on. He crawled into the shower and sat on the cool tiled floor underneath the stream, letting the water wash everything that had anything to do with everything in his life. He sighed as he slowly kicked off his shoes and very painfully massaged his jeans and boxers down off his battered legs. He was amazed at the variation of color in his legs. They were a mixture of tan and purple. There were bruises everywhere.

"Fuck..." escaped Troy's lips as he slowly peeled off his shirt. Finally, the scratchy material was off his body and the water could come into contact with his skin. Eventually, he turned the water off and sat continued to sit.

Absolutely nothing was going through Troy's mind. There was too much pain, too much pink water on the floor around him. He tried to get up and reached his hand up to grab something to pull. After successfully pulling himself into a standing position, Troy immediately let go of what he had grabbed: another towel rack. No, he wasn't phobic of them, just not too happy with them right now. Not that any inanimate object would care.

Troy didn't want to look in the mirror, so he didn't. He just went into his room and pulled on a pair of boxers then climbed into bed and let the softness of the sheets envelope him. He sighed and breathed in the scent of the sheets deeply before hearing the spattering of rain on the windows. The rain always calmed him down. Always. He also heard the faint moans and gasps coming from his father's bedroom.

Really? At two in the morning?

That was the last thing Troy thought before unconsciousness overtook him once more in the most restful night of sleep he'd ever had.