CHAPTER 6
Troy's dad pounced on him the moment he walked through the door.
"Where have you been?" Coach Bolton demanded.
"I went to Uncle Matt's," Troy responded, heading steadily for the stairs.
"Where were you at lunch and after school?" Troy's dad persisted aggressively. Still Troy continued towards the stairs. 'You can call me a coward,' Troy thought, 'But dad is like a bomb – and he's about to explode.'
"TROY!" his dad bellowed. "IF YOU DON'T COME HERE RIGHT NOW YOU'RE OFF THE BASKETBALL TEAM!" Reluctantly, Troy walked into the kitchen where his dad was making himself a cheese and pickle sandwich.
"Our team," Coach Bolton said in a voice of forced calm, "Is not going to win on Friday if you are not 110% focused. How do you expect our team to work together if you are off singing in our team practices?"
"Why did you ask where I was if you already knew?" Troy asked unwisely and immediately regretted it; his dad was sure to explode. He was right.
"DON'T GIVE ME THAT CHEEK, YOUNG MAN!" Mr Bolton stormed. "You're so cocky because you're the captain and the coach's son; you think you can get away with anything, don't you?! Well, I can put you straight on that; I'll treat you like any other member of the team. The only reason you've missed basketball practice at all in the last three years is because of this singing thing. So here it is in black and white; if you miss one more practice or match, including the game on Friday, then you're off the team."
Troy gasped. "But, dad!" he cried, his face ashen. "I've got the callbacks on Friday!"
"And you've also got a very important basketball game," his dad responded. "And this match is very important to me-"
"But you think the callbacks aren't important to me?" Troy cut him off. "Gabriella and I have been rehearsing for this for weeks, and I can't let her down."
"As I was saying," Troy's dad continued, "This match was very important to me because the coach of the other team was the captain of the basketball team of my school's rival school when I was at school. I've never told you this but…in my last match of my senior year, the last match of my school career, we were one point down and we had ten seconds to go. I was doing a lay up, I know I could have scored it, but he fouled me as I was taking the shot. The referee didn't even call it as a foul…so we lost. This match is the only chance I'll have to prove myself to him – his son is the captain of his team – but I guess I'll just have to tell him that my son is away at some musical audition."
Troy's dad looked so devastated that Troy was left speechless. If he was denied the chance to get back at David Granger, the bully from middle school, would he feel upset and let down? The answer was yes, he would. But still…if Gabriella put Scholastic Decathlon over the callbacks, he would feel just as let down, and that was how Gabriella would fell if Troy picked basketball.
""So, Troy, will I see you at the game on Friday?" Troy's dad asked, interrupting Troy's thoughts. He looked so confident that Troy would choose basketball, but Troy…Troy couldn't decide.
"I don't know, dad," he replied finally, and saw anger flash across his dad's face again.
"Well, I guess you have a choice to make, don't you?" his dad responded before exiting the room. Troy sunk to the floor, his head in his hands. Why did his dad always have to make things so difficult for him?
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