Scott sat in his make-do office in the Albuquerque stadium, his mind racing at what Trey, no wait, Troy, had told him. Troy Bolton. The thought was unbelievable to Scott. How could he not have known? He was at party celebrating Troy's birth. He remembered looking at this child, so small and fragile, yet with large ocean-blue eyes that seemed even then to burn with determination and courage. How could he have looked into those eyes so many times, and not recognised that same fire in them? It was dimmer of course, but it was there, and it was what gave Scott the courage to believe in this boy in the first place. He remembered going to a bbq at the Bolton's house when Troy was 4. He was a strong young lad with so much spirit and a passion for life. He remembered watching Jack and Troy playing basketball on a fisher price mini set that Troy had received at Christmas. The smiles they wore lit up their eyes, and together they lived in their own world where there was only them. He wondered if Troy remembered this, or times like these when life was good for him. He didn't reckon so; Troy was very young at the time. But on the other hand, times like these shared between Troy and Jack were not rare; they spent almost everyday together as Jack dedicated everything he had to his son. But Scott knew it wasn't all good times, he knew Jack began to push Troy harder and harder as the varsity years approached. When Troy was to turn 13, Anna planned a party for Troy and all his friends. But that week Troy was accepted to a basketball camp in Ohio. Troy didn't want to go; he was to young to travel half the country alone for 2 weeks, and he wanted to have fun on his birthday with his friends and family. But Jack cancelled the party and sent him anyway. It seemed cruel at the time, but Troy always found a way to excuse his father's actions, as harsh as they were. They really connected those two. And Troy always rose to whatever challenge Jack set him, reaching higher and higher ground beyond anyone's expectations. He remembered one night in December a few years ago when Troy was 15. The weather in New Mexico reached an all time low and Troy had the flu. He was terribly sick and had been for weeks. But Jack made him play the championship game anyway. Troy gave it his all, but in the 2nd quarter he collapsed and was rushed to hospital where he spent the next 72 hours. Scott and Anna had known then that Jack was expecting too much of the young boy, and that soon Troy was going to want to find his own feet in this world. Maybe that is what went wrong. The tighter jack held on, the harder Troy pulled away. Such is life.

Scott's thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the door. Jack Bolton entered, looking pale and in shock. Scott stared at his former teammate and long-time friend, wondering if he would ever look at him the same. He drove his only son to feel that living on the streets was better than living under the same roof as him. Scott continued to stare until Jack cleared his throat.

"I want my son back." Scott stared at him and shook his head slowly.

"That is up to him. He is not mine to give."

"He's just a boy."

"And yet he has faced and beaten circumstances and hardships we so-called adults would not have survived. You don't respect him for that? Still you place him beneath you?"

"He is my child. Mine."

"Having a child doesn't make you a father anymore than owning a piano makes you a pianist. He is his own person."

"What would you know about parenting? Nothing!"

"You're right. I don't. But I do know something about Troy and that is this. Tonight is for him. He got here by himself, on his own terms. Tonight is about the glory he deserves for his work, not the glory you deserve because you are his father. If you never do anything else selfless for your child, at least do this: let him have tonight. Because God knows more than anyone else he deserves this." Jack didn't agree. He did deserve some credit for all the years he trained Troy. But he knew how strong-willed Scott was and how useless it was to argue. He stayed silent for a minute and let out a sad half-laugh.

"I followed all the rules… And you; you followed none of them… And they all liked you more… Even my own son." He gave Scott a sad and somewhat envious look and then returned to his seat in the crowd.

Scott walked into the change room and rounded up his team, including Troy, who had stopped throwing up.

"This changes nothing. Tonight is still for you. It's still yours. So go own it." Troy gave him a small smile. Then he walked to stand in front of the whole team.

"Alright guys. First game of the season. So I want you to go out there, find your feet, find your rhythm, have a good time, AND LETS KICK SOME GRIZZLY BUTT!" The team let out a huge cheer and ran out onto the court. Troy lagged behind and Scott said to him.

"Hey kiddo. You got it. So tonight. I want you to flaunt it." Both of them smiled and ran out onto the court together to warm up.

As the final buzzer went, Troy had a huge smile on his face. Jay and the rest of the team all leapt on top on his before lifting him up on their shoulders. All of them were laughing and on a huge high. Together they had completely wiped the floor with the Grizzlies, setting the scene for the rest of the season. Troy had completely dominated. ¾ of the baskets on the scoreboard were his and he was sure it was the best he had ever played in his whole life. The media were in a frenzy: the spurs really did have a secret weapon, and a powerful one at that! After finally escaping hugs and cheers of his team and shaking hands with the other team, Troy had to face the reporters. The commentator came over with a cameraman for a short interview that Scott told him to stay for. Troy's face was suddenly projected over the big screen and crowd went quiet to hear him speak; a rare honour.

"So Trey, great game tonight. You certainly made yourself known and there and showed us what you got. How do you feel?" Troy laughed.

"Hahaha, yeah I feel great. Better than I have in a long time." Troy still had a huge smile plastered on his face but was a bit breathless from the game.

"You certainly caused a media storm before tonight's game. Were you nervous about playing?"

"Haha yeah I was scared shitless actually. But it's all part of the game really."

"Anything else you'd like to say?" Troy thought for a minute.

"Yeah. I just wanna say that, to everyone who has a dream: go for it. I hit a rough patch a few years back, and a lot of people gave me a hard time about it, and said I would never make anything of myself. But from having nothing, here I am tonight, with half the country watching. I did it. And I did it by myself and on my own terms. And no matter what, I'll always have that." Troy stopped and started laughing. "And it feeeeeeels gooooooood!" He half-yelled. Before giving a nod to the man and returning to the change rooms. Troy knew he still had to face the past, and a lot of people he'd rather not see, but for now, he couldn't have felt better. As soon as he walked in a huge cheer erupted from the team, especially from Jay, and Troy loved it. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have had nothing, and now have a whole group of guys who loved him and were watching out for him. Like his own little family. Especially Jay. Jay had sort of appointed himself Troy's 'big brother'. Troy always had an inkling that Jay knew he was younger than he said, and so the Canadian born party animal had become the best friend Troy could ever have asked for. Scott came over to Troy, smiled, and simply said.

"You did good kid." Troy grinned and gave him a huge sweaty hug. Then Jay yelled out to the team.

"We're all going out celebrating tonight! Come to my hotel room, No. 308, at 9:00pm and we're going clubbing! WOOOHOOOOO!" Troy laughed, as did the rest of the team as they shouted their agreement. Despite the fact Scott now knew for sure Troy was only 18, he didn't say anything to stop him going. Troy wasn't your average 18 yr old, and he was smart, he could look after himself.

The team all went back to the hotel and showered. Troy dressed and combed his hair and got ready to go out. He still had 45mins before he was going out though, so he left quietly before the team asked questions and walked silently for 5 minutes, until he reached the house he used to call home. Usually, when something stressful happened, Jack would sit in his office at school and get drunk. Troy hoped to God he still did that as he walked around the back of the house. He stood at the back door for what felt like an eternity. He couldn't bring himself to knock, but he couldn't leave either. He was stuck in limbo. He half hoped that his mum would decide to take out the trash so she would find him with him having to make the decision whether or not to knock. Before he could stop himself he knocked softly on the door. Half on him hoped she hadn't heard, or wasn't home. But the other half wanted her to hear so he didn't have to decide whether or not to knock again. But only too soon he heard the lock being twisted and the door flew open. In the doorway he saw a figure that was so familiar, yet so foreign to him. Even though it was him who knocked, he wasn't ready for this and the sight of her hit him like a second stream train in the gut. Both were silent. Troy couldn't decipher the look on her face, was it shock and horror? He couldn't take it any more. He lowered his head and muttered.

"I'm sorry. This was a mistake. I shouldn't have c-" But he was interrupted by his mother flinging herself at him, the sound of her loud sobs all he could hear. For a second he didn't comprehend what had happened, but when he did he wrapped his arms around her tightly and clung to her, tears now rolling down his face to. He wasn't sure how long they stood there; time had been escaping him of late. He hadn't cried since the last time he was in this house; he hadn't let himself. But right now, it was beyond his control. After what seemed like an age she let go. Troy was both relieved because he couldn't handle crying anymore, and sad because he had so long missed the safety of her embrace. Being there again felt like he was finally home. Anna spoke, wiping away her tears.

"How bout some coffee dear?" Troy gave her a small smile.

"That sounds great."

For the next half an hour they talked about a lot of things. Troy filled her in on what he had been doing for the past few years, and she filled him in on all the latest Albuquerque gossip. Troy found out that Chad and Taylor were still together (who da thunk?), as were Zeke and Sharpay and Jason and Kelsie. Gabi and Emma had become inseparable best friends and surrogate daughters to Anna. Ryan had won the young playwright of the year award and was slowly making a name for himself as he planned to move to NYC after graduation. There was a lot more Anna had to tell Troy was he had to go meet his friends. It was a bittersweet parting. But it was a 'see you later' it wasn't goodbye. Troy had to go to this official Spurs club dinner in 2 days and so he asked Anna to accompany him. And of course she jumped at the chance. Anna gave Troy a long hug goodbye.

"I'm so sorry mum. For everything."

"I'm not going to say it's ok Troy. Because it's not. But you were hurting and you did what seemed right for you at the time. But that's all in the past now. I love you and I'm so very proud of you." They both smiled, and with another hug, Troy returned to the hotel.

The team was all pumped up for a big night out. They knew they had training tomorrow, but that didn't stop them. They walked into the middle of town on their way to a club named Kokomo. While on their way there they walked past an outdoor restaurant that was jam-packed. A young boy of about 10 ran up to Troy excitedly.

"You're Trey Parker!" Troy smiled, this had never happened to him before.

"Yeah that's right." He said warmly, the boy beamed as his dad came over.

"You're my favourite player! Me and Dad were at the game tonight and we cheered the loudest!" Troy laughed and replied.

"You know what? I think I heard you!"

"Really?"

"Really really."

"Can I have your autograph? Please?" Again, a new for Troy.

"Uh, sure little man. What's your name?"

"Andrew Michael Carter." The boy said proudly. Troy laughed and wrote him a message on the program the boy had from the game. Troy handed it back to him and the boy grinned, he let out a whoop and ran off the show his mum. Troy laughed again, happy he had brought someone else happiness. He stood up as the father held out his hand to shake Troy's.

"Good game tonight son, you'll make us proud." Troy smiled and shook his hand.

"Thanks I certainly hope so." Troy then jogged off to catch up to his teammates. As the restaurant was so packed, Troy was blissfully unaware that the table next to the boy's, and in full view of what had just happened, sat a group of people who he used to refer to as 'the gang', all of them too deeply in shock to address him.

When they arrived at the club, they were instantly recognised by the bouncer and managed to completely cut the cue to get in. Despite the fear of being known to all those he had run from, Troy couldn't help but feel that fame did have some perks. Already being 9:30, the club was almost in full swing, and it certainly hit the roof when the team arrived. Troy and Jay got themselves a booth near the back and were rapidly joined by two very attractive girls in not very much clothing. Troy hadn't had much to do with the opposite sex since his 'Troy Bolton' days, so he was happy for the company. The four of them drank until they were quite, quite drunk. (this convo is very slurred and drunkly)

"Hey dude like you know before like before the game and like all that hahaha like you were like throwing up and shit, what was that about?" Jay asked.

"Hahaha I was so nervous because like the whole world was gonna see me, and like that I didn't mind, but like, don't tell anyone dude but this is where I used to live like, and so in the audience were like blasts from the past that were like, stream, no wait, steam training at me like crazy and it was like 'OMG if the whole world is gonna no me then like everyone who used to know me before I was Trey parker is gonna like knoew me, like see me again', it was so weird man I fully did not want that but then coach was like all nice and fatherly, well I wouldn't know what fathers are spose to be like, but I guess like that like, and I couldn't like let him down you know ahahhaha." Jay looked at him.

"Hahahaha I didn't catch most of that, I got the 'OMG' and the 'steam trains?' and stuff and coach being fatherly that's good hahaha. I bet your glad you played now. Hahahaha and I knew I was right though about you, you are so like not 23 hahaha and OMG your name isn't TREY PARKER!"

"SHHHHHH!" Troy said and they both started pissing themselves laughing until they both lost their trains of thought.

"So wait, what were we laughing about?" Troy asked. Jay cracked up again shaking their heads. Both girls were just laughing the whole time, as they too were so drunk.

"I know! Let's hit the dance floor." Jay yelled. So they did. Very hard. Troy head was spinning. Everything was just a blur of coloured lights, a thumping beat and a very sexy dancer with long dark hair grinding up against him (but he was of course too drunk to even get it up).

At 3am the club was dying down so they decided to go for a walk (aren't boys smart sometimes?). The walked into Albuquerque Square (made it up) in the centre of town where there was a huge fountain. Jay grabbed Troy and threw him in the fountain. Troy quickly responded by tackling him, and soon all four of them were in a huge wrestling match, all completely soaking wet. After about 5 minutes of this Troy felt a burning light in his eyes and just laughed at it. He felt himself picked up and put on his feet and in handcuffs. He vaguely noticed jay next to him in the same fashion. Troy just laughed. He didn't remember anything after that.

HAHAHA that drunk bit was so fun to write hahahaha. God drunk people are funny! Anyways, thought this was a good place to end. Thanks for all the reviews! Next chap Troy and the team at East High.