Chapter 19

Mr. and Mrs. Bolton

Troy was tired and thirsty. He had been walking for two hours, but he just didn't feel ready to return to his grandfather's house quite yet.

Troy had done a lot of thinking about what to say to his parents, but he finally concluded that a plan in this situation was about as helpful as an umbrella on a windy day. He would just have to wing it.

Troy did manage to sort out his thoughts, though. First he came to terms with the fact that he would not be playing for the Red Hawks next season.

He pulled out his cell phone and called the head coach. Troy explained how something unexpected had come up, and he would not be able to play for them.

The coach had sounded disappointed, and for a fleeting second, Troy wondered if he had made the wrong choice by turning down the scholarship, but the moment passed when he hung up with the coach. Troy continued walking.

He found himself near the restaurant Sharpay had just started at. He looked at his watch. It was 5:00. She would be getting off of her shift soon.

Troy wandered around until he found a bench near Granata's Italian Villa.

After just a few minutes, he spotted a blonde in black pants and a white button up shirt leaving the restaurant. It was Sharpay.

Troy got up and jogged over to her.

"Hey," he said.

Sharpay looked at Troy in surprise. "Hey, I wasn't expecting you," she said.

"Yeah. Well, my grandpa told me that my parents were coming tonight, so I decided to take a walk. Then, I realized that I was near Granata's, so I decided to meet you when you got off of your shift."

Sharpay smiled. "It was very sweet of you to wait for me."

"Uh, thanks." Troy could feel himself blush a little, but he tried his hardest to not let it show. "May I walk you home?"

"Gosh. I don't know. I'm really tired, and I was just going to ride the bus," she replied apologetically.

"Well then, I'll carry you," Troy said, swooping Sharpay off of her feet as he began to walk a few steps in the direction of his grandpa's house.

"Put me down!" Sharpay screeched. "I'll walk!"

She was laughing, and Troy joined in.

The two fell into step with one another as they began the two mile walk back to Troy's grandpa's house.

Troy felt himself tense up as they approached the house. His parents' car was parked in the driveway next to his green jeep.

No matter how much time he had to think through everything, he still wasn't ready to see them, but there was no turning back as he opened the door for Sharpay and then followed her into the house.

His parents were sitting in the living room with his grandpa. They turned around when he entered.

His parents stood up. Everybody was still for a moment, but then his mother hurried over to her son and embraced Troy in a huge hug while she burst into tears.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she sobbed. "I was worried."

She pulled back, Troy never returning the hug. He couldn't. Not yet.

Troy's dad approached him. "I'm glad you're okay, son," he said cautiously.

Troy nodded. He just stood there, looking past his parents, out the back sliding glass door at the orange tree. He knew it was his turn to say something, but he just couldn't.

Then he remembered that Sharpay was still standing next to him. "Oh, um, this is my friend Sharpay. We met last week." He saw his parents put their guard up. It was like they thought he had run off and slept with the first girl he saw. He tried to ignore their looks. "Sharpay, these are my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bolton."

"It's nice to meet you," she said, looking at them.

They both nodded at her, not saying anything.

"Well, I suppose you guys probably want to catch up, so I'll get out of your way," she said.

Troy could tell that she felt awkward. He didn't blame her. She was walking into the middle of the family feud of the decade.

She disappeared down the hallway into the guest bedroom that she had been occupying for the past few days.

Mr. Bolton cleared his throat. "She, uh, seems like a nice girl."

Troy sighed. He might as well explain her to them. There was no need for them to keep on judging Sharpay.

"I met her in Texas. Her parents let me stay in their guest room for a week. Then, when I heard that grandpa was sick, she asked if I could give her a ride to Los Angeles. She had never seen the beach before. So she's been staying with me and grandpa," he explained.

He could see his parents relax a little bit.

After a long awkward silence, Mr. Bolton said, "So, you were in Texas?"

"Yeah."

"What were you doing there?"

Troy bit his lip. His dad was trying to make small talk, and it was killing Troy. Suddenly he didn't want to beat around the bush.

He looked at both of his parents. He felt angry, but not explosive.

"I think you know exactly what I was doing there. You are totally aware that I heard you talking about how you bribed the Red Hawks to get me on the team. I was running away from you guys. Do you have any idea about how wrong it was of you to bribe the scouts to get me a place on the team? I don't care how long I had dreamed about being a Red Hawk. It was still wrong."

His parents were examining the pattern in the tile on the floor.

Troy wanted so badly for them to tell him that what he had heard was a mistake. He wanted them to tell him that he earned the full ride without a bribe, but the looks on his parents' faces confirmed his worst fears.

"I am so sorry, son," his dad said, not able to make eye contact with Troy.

"We were doing what we thought was best, but we made a mistake," his mother said.

"A huge mistake," his dad added. "You know, it's very humbling when your own child is the one lecturing the parents about right versus wrong."

Troy took a deep breath. He was still angry, but he needed to forgive them if he was ever going to be able to look past what his parents had done.

"Listen, I am so angry about what you did. I was so angry that I even ran away without telling you where I was going. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you where I was going, and I'm sorry that I caused you guys to worry, but I'm not sorry for leaving. I needed time to calm my anger and think about what happened. And I forgive you guys for what you did. I'm still angry, but I want us to be able to move past this, too."

Troy studied his parents' faces. A wave of relief washed over his father's face while he saw tears forming in his mother's eyes.

"We forgive you for running off," his mother said. "And thank you for forgiving us. I can't tell you how relieved I am that you aren't running away from what we did forever. Once you left, I honestly wondered if we would ever see you again. You always read about those parents who did something stupid and then never heard from their children again. What we did was worse than any of those parents in the novels, and you were still able to forgive us."

Suddenly, Troy felt very tired. He was tired of running away, and messing up perfectly good relationships, and thinking about his grandpa's pending death, and even thinking about the possibility of dating Sharpay.

Troy could feel tears coming on, and he didn't have the energy to stop them. He was just so tired. As the tears began to fall down his cheeks and sobs escaped from his chest, he could feel his mother and father embracing him.

It felt so good. Troy had really missed his parents. They were good people with a few character flaws. Troy had spent the past two weeks realizing his own character flaws, and it was wonderful to be able to be the one forgiving, rather than the one apologizing for once, even if Troy did find the forgiving much more difficult.

After Troy calmed down, he and his parents sat down in his grandpa's living room and he told them everything that he had told his grandpa just a few days ago. Then he shared with his parents about how worried he was about his grandpa.

Troy's parents left for their hotel at about nine, and Troy still felt exhausted. He lay down on the couch and didn't wake up until noon the next day.

------------

Sharpay woke up the next morning at 8:30 to her alarm clock. She had to be at work at ten.

She walked into the living room, no longer caring about what she looked like in the morning. Troy and his grandpa had been so kind to her, and she doubted that they would care if they saw her without her hair brushed and make up on.

She saw Troy sleeping on the couch in the clothes he had been wearing the day before.

She found a blanket and put it over him before she entered the kitchen to find some breakfast food.

She looked outside at the sunlight, which was promising a beautiful day.

Sharpay took her cereal and fresh orange juice outside to the back patio, where she found Troy's grandpa sitting at a white plastic table on a matching white plastic chair writing something on a piece of paper.

He looked up from the paper and smiled.

"Good morning, kid," he said.

"If I'm intruding, I can just eat inside," Sharpay replied.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. You're more than welcome to eat out here."

Sharpay smiled and set her bowl and cup down on the table, joining Troy's grandpa.

He smiled at her again.

"You know," he said, "I've never had a granddaughter. "You're the closest thing I've ever had, and I just want to thank you for keeping me and Troy company. I'm just sorry that you had to come at such a weird time."

Sharpay smiled. What he said meant the world to her. Even though she had a grandfather in Nowhere, Troy's grandpa was still what she would consider the closest she ever had to a grandpa.

"So Troy tells me you got a job," he said.

"Yeah. Granata's Italian Villa hired me. I had my first day yesterday."

"You liking it okay?"

"Yeah. My boss is really nice and the girl I've been shadowing is really sweet too."

Troy's grandpa nodded. "I hear you're applying to colleges too?"

"Mhm," Sharpay answered. "I sent out applications to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Long Beach Community College, and Santa Monica College."

"I'm proud of you. You leave your home and are suddenly on your own one day, but instead of just bumming around, moving from one place to the next, you've come up with a plan. I hope you stick with it."

"Thanks. I really want everything to work out."

"You know, if I could, I would let you live here for as long as you needed. I really want to see you succeed. I don't doubt you will."

Sharpay blushed. "Thanks."

"Well," he said, standing up. "I have one final trip I need to make to my lawyer to finish up this will business. Have a nice day at work." He winked at her and then opened the sliding glass door and stepped into the house.

Sharpay felt a pang of fear as she realized that once Troy's grandpa was gone, she didn't have anywhere to go. He was such a nice man that even if she couldn't stay, she wished that he didn't have to die.

A/N: Sorry I didn't update yesterday...it's only Saturday, and I'm already having a crazy awesome weekend! Anyways, what do you think of this chapter? What do you think of the Boltons' renuion?