Recap:

"Hee hee.. You actually waited up for me old man? How stu-" before Troy could finish his sentence, Jack gave a punch so hard that his teeth rattled. "We'll talk after you've sobered up."

Lucille Bolton who had been watching in shock from the kitchen, quickly rushed to Troy's side. Still slightly drunk, Troy pushed his mother away and stumbled up the stairs to his room.

He collapsed on his bed muttering, "Damn." Before falling into a dreamless sleep.

Troy woke up with the most terrible mid-splitting headache in his life. It didn't help much that the memories of last night's violent events came rushing back to his head. He was slightly annoyed when he tasted the sourness in his mouth and noticed that he was still wearing last night's jeans and a smelly shirt that stunk slightly of puke. Thanks to his biological clock, he woke up exactly one hour before school began.

After about half an hour, Troy had bathed and was dressed in clean fresh clothing. He had even taken the initiative to spray on some deodorant. Jock he maybe but Troy still cared about how he dressed and how he smelt. Rubbing a calloused finger over his basketball, his mind drifted slightly.

"Mum, do you think Dad will be coming?" a six-year-old Troy stared at his mother with giant blue eyes.

"I'm sorry he can't be here to celebrate your birthday honey. Daddy said he had a lot of work." Lucille gazed back at him gently. "But he did pass me this to give to you!" and from under the table, his mother pulled out a huge box tied with a red ribbon.

"COOL!" he screamed as he pulled out an orange ball with the huge word SPALDING on one side accompanied by the logo and underneath were some words that looked like "Never Fat?" his brows furrowed.

"Never Flat." His mother corrected. "Go out and have fun honey."

Troy bounced out of the kitchen, and quickly rushed out to play with his present. However, being the kid that he is, he got thirsty really quickly and hopped back on to the porch. Before he could rush into the kitchen, he was stopped by an angry loud voice that could only belong to his mother.

"JACK YOU PROMISED ME! YOU PROMISED YOU'D BE HERE!" Lucille's face was twisted with anger, "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR WORK! YOU MISSED HIS BIRTHDAY LAST YEAR AS WELL!" Tears were starting to fall, and outside the rain fell, as if the heavens were sharing her pain. Chokingly she sobbed, "Do you even know that last month was our wedding anniversary?"

Troy hugged his basketball and ran to the court, where he stayed wet, dripping and crying till his mother found him.

Troy sighed, casting a glance at the now brownish ball peeking from under his bed. The ball had deflated years ago and he had never bothered to inflate it again. It was just like his feelings for his dad. His love for his dad had been so full and rich. But ever since that day, he had never bothered about anything regarding his dad.

Slowly, he descended the stairs and made a sharp turn, knocking into a particular person carrying a hot cup of coffee.

"OW OW OW!!!" Troy yelped as some of the coffee splashed on his hand, causing him to drop his basketball.

And through a series of events, the basketball dropped directly on jack's foot, causing him to throw the saucer of coffee backwards in surprise. The basketball continued to roll and coincidentally, bumped into Lucille's shin. With the last element of surprise, Lucille shrieked and the cup of coffee finally landing on her head topped off the whole thing.

The whole Bolton family was quite a sight in their kitchen. Lucille was removing the cup on her head with such disdain on her face that Troy just burst out laughing. Jack and Lucille stared at him and eyed each other before both of them started chuckling too.

"You know Troy, you're pretty okay when you're not drunk." Jack ruffled his head affectionately.

"I'm off to school now mom." He flinched away from his father's touch, grabbing the basketball near her legs.

"Troy, I want you back as soon as school lets you out. I still have to punish you for yesterday's episode." Jack said softly, in an almost deadly voice.

Troy scowled before walking through his door. His dad's comment just killed the mood there and then. Opening his front door, he spotted a grumpy looking Chad waiting for him. Chad wasn't much of a morning person and he showed it through the very intense frown on his face. "Dude! I've been waiting for you for half an hour!"

"Sorry buddy, I—"

"Troy! CATCH!" Troy's mom with coffee still dripping off her locks, threw a slice of buttered toast at Troy. With amazing dexterity, Troy caught the slice of toast with his mouth deftly. Chad couldn't help but stare at Troy's mom. "Erm, HI MRS BOLTON MAM!" he shouted, waving somewhat enthusiastically, not wanting to show her the bad side of his morning grumpiness.

"What ith wit yoew?" Troy lifted a brown eyebrow. (he said: what is with you?)

"You can't show your bad side to the ladies." Chad grinned.

"Hey, that's my mom you're talking about!"

"She's still a lady."


Troy spent the rest of his school day barely paying attention. He finally got it together with Danielle who learnt the hard way that Troy wasn't interested in a serious relationship. And because she was so whinny after their sexual rendezvous, he had yelled at her harshly "What makes you think you're my girlfriend? I don't go steady with sluts no matter how hot they are!"

Danielle had continued to whine with tears in her eyes. Though she was obviously not a virgin, being thrown away like a worthless piece of trash hurt her badly. Troy quite annoyed with her thought furiously to himself, "Dammit, this girl just doesn't get it! Ugh, I'm too nice!"

"Tell you what Danielle, you can hang around with me whenever you like? How's that?" Troy said in a supposedly gentle voice.

"Oh thank you Troy, I thought you didn't care at all…" Danielle said in ragged sobs as she leant on Troy's chest like a desperate little dog.

Troy pushed her off gently saying "But from now on keep your hands to yourself."

Finally at 3pm, Troy dragged his feet home. Already tired from school (which is surprising considering how little he did), he simply dreaded his father's punishment, which he was certain, would involve work of some sort.

Jack was waiting for Troy with the car at the driveway. When he saw Troy and both of them made eye contact, he signaled for him to sit in the car.

Slightly surprised Troy did as he was told thinking 'Shit, if he's gonna give me a lecture I swear I'm just gonna sleep!'

"We're going to my workplace." Jack Bolton said as he strapped himself in, as if answering Troy's thoughts.

"Jack? I just gotta know, just what is your job?" Troy asked fifteen minutes down the road.

"You don't know?" Jack frowned slightly, "I'm an agent for vocal clients at Sonar Records. I deal with singers Troy, if that's too hard for you to comprehend." he added.

After another fifteen minutes which only silence passed between father and son, they finally reached Sonar records. It was a modest looking building, nothing too flashy except for the huge sign "SONAR RECORDS" in sleek metal. The place was cosy and surprisingly, Troy felt right at home. The place had a great atmosphere Troy had to admit.

Jack apparently was quite well known at this company. Every single person he walked by greeted him either out of respect or sheer cheerfulness. After walking around for like ten minutes, Troy was lead into a room where a young girl sat at the end of a long table.

"Troy, I'll like you to meet 'V', she's an upcoming singer that we've just signed on." Jack Bolton introduced a small girl wearing shades, a hat and a scarf around her neck. "Erm, hi." Troy stretched one hand out, while subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck.

"She's the client I'm talking about. You will attend to her every weekend. Since Miss V's extremely cautious about her identity, she probably won't speak much—

"WHAT?!"


Like it? Loved it? Hated anything about it? Please review people! I know many of you have me on story alert and favourite story/author and such but I really do need to read your views on my chapters. I can't help but admit I was slightly disappointed when I saw there were lesser reviews for my first chapter as compared to the trailer... So please make my day and press the blue/purple button! Thank you all! )