Standard disclaimer applies.

Summary: Troy succumbs to the pressure put on him by his father and peers and turns to performance enhancing drugs, but the effects prove to be too much. Will his friends continue to stay by his side through the roughest part of it: accepting that he might never walk or play again?


Heart of the Game
Part III


"When I tell you to go left, you go left!"

"You think the opposing team's defenders are going to fall for that weak fake? Where's your drive Troy!"

"If you're going to continue to play like this, then the team has no chance of winning the championships, don't you see that! You're the heart of the team, Troy! So put some heart into your game, now!"

Jack Bolton was, at the moment, a man of many worries. He loved his son beyond words, and his only wish for Troy was for a promising future for him. When he pushed the boy to his hardest, it was because he believes with all his heart that Troy had more in him than that. He had untapped potential, and if Jack was able to bring it out, than Troy would unquestionably become the greatest basketball stars in the history of the school, perhaps even the league. That's the only reason he pushed Troy the way he did, and to the extent that he did. He held no grudge against Gabriella, she was just a girlfriend; relationships have a time to be delved in, but the moment was crucial for Troy to ensure that his future is secure. Then he can go gallivanting with Gabriella for all he cared and bring more basketball playing Bolton's into the world.

The sound of the opening door shook him out of reverie as his head snapped back to see whom had returned. His wife had gone out grocery shopping earlier, and since he'd not heard the revving of the car engine, he assumed that it was his son.

"Troy? Come in here for a moment."

The was a stall pause the door, before he heard the light, almost soundless footsteps traveling towards him before Troy's downtrodden face came into view.

"Yeah?"

"Have a seat," he motioned to the empty seat across him in the study room. As Troy soundlessly made his way to the chair, Jack kept his eyes glued to his son's every movement. Was it just him, or did Troy seem like he'd lost some weight? He couldn't help but wonder to himself as his eyes followed Troy until the boy had come to a stop and taken seat.

"What happened today, Troy? You and Chad go a long way back, and I've never remembered a time when you two had gotten into a physical brawl."

Troy merely shrugged. "I don't know…" he trailed off, as if pausing to allow Jack to prepare for oncoming revelation, but none came. Troy merely leaned carelessly against the back of the chair, arms crossed over his chest and eyes looking at everything except his father, sitting hunched in the chair, elbows resting on his knees as he looked at his son, trying, but failing to catch his eye.

"What the hell is the matter with you, Troy?"

"Nothing…nothing the hell's the matter with me. What the hell's the matter with you, dad?" he scoffed.

"You're what's wrong with me, Troy!" his father shot to his feet, eyes raging with the flames of anger, coupled with the worry at his son's behaviour and somewhat…fear, of whatever Troy might be doing to himself to end up like this. "You're my son, Troy, and seeing you like this…so unlike yourself, worries me. You punched out your best friend, seldom go to the cafeteria during lunch time anymore and don't join your mother and I for dinner. Those bags under your eyes show that you don't seem to be sleeping well. You're easily irritated and…you seem to have become a completely different person--"

"Different?" Troy joined his father on his feet, eyes shining with incredulity at his fathers' accusation. "How would you know if I'm acting different? You never seem to be able to look past the whole basketball issue and just see just who exactly I am! How the hell would you know if I'm not 'being myself', or acting like a completely different person? You don't know me well enough to pass that judgement!"

Jack could only blink at Troy outburst, throat feeling dry and he suddenly lost the ability to speak, though Troy didn't even give him a chance to answer before spinning on his heels and walking away, up the stairs and into his room. Jack heard the distinct sound of a door being slammed as his knees buckled for under him, sending him reeling into the chair. Troy had never spoken to him like that and in that tone, and now, he did it twice in one day. Jack didn't know what to do, or say to his son, or how to confront him; but one thing he could be sure of was that there was something sinister to be blamed for Troy change in personality.

Thus the night passed without anymore conflicts. Troy had adamantly refused to come out of his room for dinner, citing that he wasn't hungry. Jack stayed silent through out the whole meal, not answering when his wife asked, and visibly winched when the topic of Troy was brought up. Troy's mother had finally decided to give up the game of twenty one questions after the twenty-second question his father had refused to answer, or would beat around the bush was asked. She had just decided, in a moment's decision, to brush it off as one of those father/son feuds that are a part of family life.

- - - - -

Classes the next day passed on smoothly, albeit tensely. Troy, seated in his usual spot at the front of the class had walked in just moment after Mr. Darbus had entered, leaving no room for inquiries from Gabriella, Chad or the rest of the team. He was also the first one to leave, following closely behind the teacher as the others were still busy with putting their things away and by the time Chad or Gabriella had made it out the classroom door, Troy had disappeared among the crowd in the hallways.

"See?" Chad asked, turning to Gabriella who had a look of distress carved onto her face as her mind played over whatever things that could be troubling Troy.

Things were silent through the entire period; gone was the usually present chatter and laughter coming from the basketball clubs, Troy at their head, or the banter that had been going on between the science students and aforementioned club, which lately turned out to be more playful than malicious. Chad's mind was swamped with the thought of Troy, leaving Taylor in the cold, as even Gabriella was to preoccupied with her worry for Troy to be bothered with anything or anyone for the rest of the day. But it wasn't until the start of lunch time did things start to get even more troubling.

"Hey, Gabriella."

Hearing the jingle of bells ring simultaneously as clicking of stilettos, Gabriella threw a look over her shoulder from where she had been conversing intently with Chad, to where the Evans twins were making a parting in the sea of students as they made their way towards them. The bright ray of the sun above head shining down and reflecting on Sharpay's glittery cardigan almost made their eyes water. And the combination of the blinding light and Ryan's neon green beret was something of a lethal element to boot.

"Sharpay."

"Look, we're just here to tell you something that might be of some concern to you…Ryan, tell them," Sharpay motioned for her brother to step forward closer to the two. "Ryan saw something in the bathroom earlier that--"

"Are you going to tell them, or am I?"

"Sorry. Continue."

Clearing his throat, Ryan bowed down slightly, and Chad and Gabriella took this as a cue to lean in closer to him. "Well, I don't really know if this is cause of concern for you, maybe…since we've noticed the way Troy's been acting--weirdly," as if he suddenly noticed Chad staring at him, he repented. "Not that I'm saying Troy's weird, or anything, it's just--"

"Get on with it, Ryan!"

"Yeah, so I went to the bathroom and made it half way when I heard the sound of someone puking. So I peeked in and saw Troy retching the entire content of his breakfast into the toilet. It was not a pretty sight. It lasted at least about half a minute or so, before he straightened up and left. I naturally took cover between the door and the wall. But I'll tell you this; he looked like complete crap."

"Did you see anything else?" Chad interrogated further.

"Anything else?"

He seemed to be considering his answer, but upon deciding that there was nothing to gain by beating around the bush, continued on; "I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise, promise on the pain of death that you'll never tell anyone what I'm about to tell you right now. Okay?"

Sharpay and Gabriella nodded and Ryan placed a hand on his chest and held to fingers of his free hand in the air before him; "Scouts honour."

"Err…o-kay…" Chad raised an eyebrow at Ryan, who shrugged unaffectedly. "This is just an assumption, and by no means is this proven, but…I guess it has passed through the mind of the other guys as well, maybe, and--there no proof to back up this claim, but…but…err--I guess what I'm trying to say is," motioning for the three to come closer, he whispered so that there was no chance of anyone could overhear them. "I have had experience in this before and the signs, they're leaning to that as well, and…well…I think Troy's doing drugs."

Silence enveloped them as the Sharpay, Gabriella and Ryan scrutinized Chad's words.

"Troy? Drugs?" Gabriella muttered in disbelief. "There's no way…just, not possible."

"How would you know, Danforth?"

"I've seen it happen in my family, a few of my cousins," he uttered morosely.

"But if Troy…why?"

"Have you seen the way his dad's been ragging him in these past months? It's totally brutal. He's as bad with the team at school, but everyone knows that Troy's got it worse since they live under the same roof."

"But didn't his dad seem fairly understanding after the musicale?" Ryan asked, remembering the look on Mr. Bolton's face as he stood discretely in the back during Troy and Gabriella's performance.

"Yeah, he was cool for a while. Then this some big shot coach came around, I think he was a teammate of Troy's dad at some point in time and, well, I guess that coach just wanted to prove himself or something. It all went sour after that."

"But Troy…what are we going to do to help him? If he is indeed doing what you said he's doing?" Gabriella looked worriedly at Chad, then at the twins, worry clearly shining in her eyes.

"This is just a guess, but don't worry, I'll try and talk to him after practice later," placing a comforting hand on Gabriella's shoulders, he offered her a smile. "We'll help Troy get through this."

"If you need anything--"

Both were rather shocked to hear Sharpay announce suddenly, and turned their gazes towards her and her brother.

"We're just as ready to help. I mean…"

"We've got to have each other backs, right? Even if Troy and Gabriella did beat us out of the musicale," Ryan finished.

"Thanks guys. So I'll try and have a word with him at the next practice. I'll inform you three about any changes in the plan or something."

And with that, the four unlikely co-conspirators parted ways. Chad moved to the gymnasium for basketball practice and Gabriella to the science lab to find Taylor. Hoping that her worry would not overpower her ability to do work too much. Sharpay and Ryan continued on their way to somewhere nobody knew, doing things that no one were the wisest to, just as they usually did.

To be continued…