Be warned, there is some mild cursing. Please read with caution. Thanks.

"Will the defendant please stand."

I was hiding in Chad's shoulder because I could not look the old man in the eye. This same old man that Chad and I helped in the diner about three weeks ago who was knocked down by Brandy, the same old man that killed most of my classmates off and a few other teens that didn't go to East High, the very same old man that killed Martha Cox.

"Case 4096, Ethan West is being tried for 26 cases of second degree murder and 12 cases of raping minor girls." The judge boomed.

Ethan, the man who used the help of a cane stood proudly without it and was brightly colored in an orange jumper.

"Ethan, today we are going to hear why you did what you did to those teenagers. You may speak."

"Well your honor if you will just look at-"The attorney stammered out.

The judge banged on his gravel and the whole room jumped. "I said Ethan, not his attorney. We've heard enough out of you." The judge locked eyes with Ethan. "Ethan, the floor is yours."

Ethan cleared his throat. "Your honor, kids these days wouldn't you say they're something else?"

The judge nodded. "They're a new generation yes."

"Have you ever looked at a teenager and wanted to pat their shoulder and tell them how great they are? For mowing the lawns without asking for a payment? Or for washing your car without being asked to?"

The judge nodded again.

"Those children are what made our country great, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes."

"But then, when that same child doesn't bid you a good morning when you're out taking a morning walk. Or when that same child bumps your down and says its YOU'RE fault for being in THEIR way. Doesn't it make you want to strangle them? And continue to choke them until the light fades from their eyes?"

The court room erupted in gasps. Chatter began to erupt and the Judge banged his gravel again calling for silence. Once the courtroom quieted down, the Judge let Ethan speak.

"Your Honor, I'm sure I'm not alone here. I mean these children now need discipline, they need action they need-"

"For you to be killed!" A woman cried out.

The Judge looked at the sheriff that stood at the front of the courtroom. The sheriff quickly escorted the woman out of the room. While the other sheriff was out, another one popped up next to the Judge.

"Continue Mr. West."

"You're Honor. These children that I have helped, they all did something disrespectful. Most in which needed to be taught a lesson."

Ethan began to pick off the names of all the students and teens that he killed.

"The last one, Martha Cox she cut me off on the highway. So, I followed her home. She didn't even see it coming, nor did she even apologize."

"So, let me get this straight Mr. West, you killed all of these teenagers because they did something to you and didn't give you an apology?"

"That is correct."

"For the love of God." I mumbled. Was this guy serious?

Needless to say that after Ethan, the old mad confessed to that it didn't take long for the judge to sentence him to the death penalty. For once, our parents and tax payers were happy to use their money to put this wacko to rest. As the courtroom began to clear out the group and our parents, including Shea and Braiden didn't move. I didn't realize that I was still tightly holding Chad's hand.

"Sorry." I said as I let his hand go.

Chad rubbed his hand. "No worries. I needed something to hold onto as well."

I smiled at Chad and my hip vibrated. I pulled out my phone and saw that I had a text.

What did I miss? –R

Pulling out my keyboard I typed back to Ryan that Ethan admitted to all the killing and he was sentenced to the death penalty.

Did you want us to come by? –TayTay

A few seconds went by and my phone vibrated.

No. I'll be okay. Thanks though. See you Monday. ily. – R

I love you too dude. Stay strong. –TayTay

"Was that Ryan?" Gabby questioned.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, he doesn't want us to come by. Which of course we should at least stop by and give him his favorite cookies. You know, that's your cue Zeke."

"You got it Tay." Zeke winked and wrapped an arm around Sharpay.

When our parents deemed it okay, we all quietly left the courthouse. Our parents were going to continue to drive us to school for the rest of the week then we would be able to drive ourselves. I was able to sleep in my own bed again.

Star P.O.V.

"What the hell is going on here?!" I screamed.

A blow was delivered to my face. Instead of cowering away like I always did, I stood right back up. I took a deep breath and screamed loudly. I didn't see the dirty gym sock coming.

"Look you little bold bitch. Sit the fuck down, and shut the fuck up okay? Are you just TRYING to get us killed?" My dad whispered.

It was dark now, moments before I could see now I couldn't. I was pretty sure that I had my eyes open but when I would close my eyes my vision didn't change. I brought my hands up to my face and something was indeed covering my face. My dad had put some kind of sack over my head and tied it to something that I couldn't find. It wasn't constricting yet, but I couldn't touch my face. All I know is I had to keep my tongue away from the front of my mouth or a nice and tasty wave of sweat and dirt would kiss my taste buds. When I got this sack off my head, my dad was so going to get kicked in his balls with a steel toed hammer.

While my head was submerged in the sack I had learned that my dad had duct taped the sock to my mouth. So now I had dirty sock in my mouth and duct tape to worry about.

I think I had fallen asleep, I'm not really sure. All I know is I felt rough hands pawing at the sack around my head.

"You make any extra movements; you will get cut with this bloody knife. Do you want that?" My dad demanded.

I didn't say a word. "Godamnit. You are just like your fucking sister. Does no one respond when spoken to anymore? "My dad cut away at something until I jumped. "Shit."

My dad had grazed me with the knife and I could feel myself beginning to bleed. "I told you to stay still. What do you do? You move." My dad sighed and before I knew it, light flooded my vision.

I blinked a few times and I was in a different room than before. The room was the size of a closet and it was warmly lit. I was sitting in a chair and I was tied to it. With a simple flick of my dad's wrist the ropes. I would have jumped up, if I didn't still have the sock in my mouth.

"Now you're free, why won't you sing pretty little bird?"

All I did was look at my dad.

"Oh. The duct tape." My dad snapped.

Without warning my dad ripped the duct tape from my mouth. I didn't scream, I didn't even blink instead I spat the sock out. Right in my dad's face.

"Oh you cleaver little bitch, just like your-"

"Damned sister. I got it. I got it. Where are we now? Canada?" I questioned.

My dad smiled and lightly patted my cheek. "Never you mind dear. You and I are going to have bonding time."

All I could do was roll my eyes. "You aren't touching me you old bastard."

My dad's face lit up. "Oooh. She DOES talk dirty. You're sister never did that."

Standing up, I pushed my dad out of the way and began to walk towards the door when my dad magically covered it with his body.

"Tsk Tsk princess, I told you we're having family time right now. Don't you want to spend time with your old man? I mean your old bastard of a father?" My father waggled his eyebrows at me.

"Only when hell freezes over and when heaven turns to the new hell." I looked around the room and realized grandma was nowhere to be found. "Where's grandma?"

"Oh now you care about your grandmother. You didn't care about her when we were on the train and you were continuing to defy me."

"I'm not going to ask again, where is grandma?"

"She's out for the moment."

"I swear to God dad if you touched a single hair on her head-"

"Will you two shut up?"

My grandma rammed the door open and my dad cluttered to the floor. Even though my grandma was on team evil dad I still worried about her. She wasn't getting any younger and as food got scarcer to come by, she was losing weight faster than I was. Even though I hated every fiber of her being along with my fathers, pity was eating me up inside. Only if Taylor were here would she know what to do.

My dad looked at my grandma and they talked quietly with their eyes. "sooo…?"

"It's done."

"What's done?" I asked.

Grandma looked at me. "Jesus Aaron, what did you do to her? She's bleeding a river over there."

Oh yeah. My hand went to my cheek and then I fell to the ground.

Maybe about half an hour I felt someone or something addressing my wound and placing something cool on my forehead. I slowly opened my eyes expecting to see my grandma but instead I found. . .

"Dad?"

My dad jumped a little bit but continued to wipe at my cut. The fuck is he doing touching me and fixing me?

"Why are you-"

"Don't worry I didn't touch you. I've only touched your face."

"But but you, you don't do. . ."

"Stuff like this? No, I don't, but you know since you fell and I caught you I thought, 'hey maybe since I cut you I should clean the cut.'"

My dad continued to clean my cut and I tried not to slap myself awake. This was a dream right? My dad addressing my wounds and keeping his hands to himself? Total dream.

"You know I'm not totally evil. I do have a heart."

"You're choosing to use it now? Why didn't you use it when you were murdering your daughter in cold blood?"

My dad sighed. "You don't understand, it wasn't like that Star Taylor is-"

"We did it!" A voice cried out.

"What did you two do now?" I said sitting up.

My grandma was dressed in a waitress uniform. She came in and handed my dad a wad of money. Great, first they kidnap me and now they're stealing? How much faster can I end up in foster care or maybe even juvie?

"I got the job!"

"Job?" I asked.

My grandma gave me a duh look then looked at my dad. "You didn't tell her yet did you?"

"Tell me what? Don't make me scream."

"You scream I will surely smack you into next week little girl. You're father and I decided that we need to start over. A fresh start, and since your face is still being plastered all over the place you can't work or leave our sights. If someone spots you, a lot of shit is going down. Do you want that?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "You're giving me the option to say what I want? How nice of you."

"Why can't we tie her up again Aaron?" My grandma asked.

My dad looked at me. "Because if we tie her up and she gets loose she might murder us in our sleep or something. I don't know about you but I'd prefer that didn't happen. Not when I want to get to know my little girl."

My dad walked over to me and dropped to his knees. "I have a lot of making up to do and if you'll let me I'd like to try and be a better father to you, since I was such a horrible one to you and your sister. Will you let me Star?" my dad pleaded.

Stepping away from my dad I crossed my arms over my chest again. "If I was stupid I'd say sure. But I'm not stupid and I do not believe you. Ever. Nice try asshole."

Stomping away from my dad I picked a corner and curled myself up. I kept my eyes on my dad and grandma. Normally you shouldn't put yourself in such a tight space but since the room was already small I didn't have much of a choice.

Three weeks later. . .

I sat straight up. I wrapped my arms around myself to try and control my shaking. I had another nightmare about Taylor and this time I was the one that killed her. Rather, I saw through my dad's eyes on how he killed her. I had a gun in my hand and I pulled the trigger. Bang. Her brains and blood were spattered along the walls and her lifeless eyes were staring up at me. Moments after I killed Taylor, she came after me. The gun didn't work on ghosts and she was going to kill me. She had wrapped her cold hands around my neck and just as I was slipping under I woke up.

I quietly whimpered and hoped no one heard me. I had the closet room all to myself now, the door lead to a slightly bigger place that I only got to see four times a day.

"Star? Are you alright?"

Crap someone heard me. I couldn't fake sleep even if I wanted to, I was too afraid to close my eyes. I knew I would see Taylor's lifeless eyes staring back at me.

"Star?"

I didn't say anything, instead I looked up. My dad towered over me. "Are you okay? Did you need to use the bathroom?"

I shook my head and wrapped the sheet closer to my body. Of course when I went to bed I always slept very lightly in case my dad tried anything. Lately though when grandma and dad put me to bed, yes they would seriously put me to bed, my dad wouldn't come back in the room. Grandma always fetched me from the room.

"Bad dream?"

I didn't say anything. My dad sat down on the ground, in front of me and kept his distance.

"I have bad dreams too you know, about your mom."

"Mom?"

Dad smiled. "How much of her do you remember?"

"I remember that she was always happy. And I loved her hear her sing to me."

"She had a beautiful voice." My dad commented.

"Is that why you killed Taylor? Because she weakened mom?"

My dad sighed. "No, that's not why I hated your sister. Yes, Taylor's birth was very strenuous on your mother but no I never hated your sister. Not one bit."

"Then why did you do what you did?"

My dad sighed again and sat up a little straighter. "Sweetheart, I'm possessed. There's a demon inside of me."

I blew a raspberry. "Come on now, if that was a joke that was a very bad joke."

"No joke. I seriously do believe that I'm possessed with a demon. When I drink it makes it easier for the demon to take over me. That's why I really should go to church."

"I know you won't believe me but the demon inside of me is what makes me do the things I do. I know it's no excuse for the things I've done to you or your sister but if I could go back in time, I would."

"No amount of sorry will fix anything, but I'm sorry Star. So so so very sorry."

Then my dad did something he's never done before. He began to cry. I didn't know what to do. I hated it when people cried, when they started crying I started crying.

"Dad, come on. Don't do that thing with your eyes. You know how I feel about tears."

My dad ignored me and continued to bawl his eyes out. "Because of me, I tore our family apart. You're against me and Taylor couldn't even stand the thought of being near me. You're mother probably won't even let me into heaven with her. I wouldn't let myself into heaven."

"Okay dad what do I have to do to get you to stop crying?"

My dad continued to ignore me. Sighing, I did what Taylor would do I wrapped and arm around my dad and let him cry into my shoulder. My instincts screamed at me to not get near him but I did. I stayed on guard and prepared myself in case he tried anything funny. But it never came.

When my dad stopped crying he gently held me in his arms, the same arms that I grew up in before he took a turn for the worse; the same arms that would throw me high into the sky and catch me and tickle me into a fit of giggles. Maybe my dad really was buried somewhere down inside.

"Alright look." I gently pushed myself away from my dad. "I still don't trust you. Not even a little bit. But I'm willing to attempt to trust you."

My dad nodded his head. "The second you change or hit me or even raise your voice at me I'm shutting you out and pretending that you don't exist to me. Got it?"

"I swear it Star. I won't let you down."

"You better not asshole."

My dad chuckled. Within a few minutes he tucked me back into bed and quietly left my room not without whispering goodnight into the air.

So this is a surprise update. I was sick this week and started working on this on Thursday. Luckily I was sick for Thursday only and only missed that one day of class. Thank God for college letting you pick the days you go to school. President's week is coming up so maybe I'll update then. You guys are soo going to hate me for making daddy dearest have a heart all of the sudden. Good news is you can still hate grandma. And by the way, Taylor and Star's dad is named Aaron. I'm sorry for the confusion on that. From here on out his name is Aaron. If I can find the time I'll change his name in any other chapters that his name is mentioned. If you have any concerns let me know, once again, happy reading guys and you make me really happy with all your foot traffic and such, makes my cold and twisted college heart happy. On a side note, I do NOT own High School Musical in any way, shape or form. I only own crazy Ethan, Bitchy Grandma and heart filled daddy dearest. Oh and adorable little Star. I do NOT support Child Abuse, Rape or Killings in any way, shape or form. These are very serious matters and are NOT to be taken lightly.