Author's Note: Well, I won't keep you guys! But thanks for the reviews.

And, Co, I understand where you were coming from. I just wanted to know what I could do to make it more believable.

Chapter Fourteen: Scooby Doo

The room buzzed with frantic activity- the girls screaming and crying, the guys trying to find a doctor or nurse. The machine droned on with its never-ending beep while all of the gang tried desperately to get someone to help. Finally, a hoard of doctors and nurses rushed in, pulling things from pockets and ordering the kids to get out of the room.

Gabriella only shook her head and clenched on tighter to Troy's hand. "I'm not leaving him," She kept repeating. "I'm not leaving him again."

Chad looked at Gabriella, noticing that she was the only thing keeping the doctors and nurses from getting to Troy. He whispered softly in her ear, "Come on, Gabi. He'll be fine. Come on."

Gabriella sobbed and shook her head again. Chad gently pulled her by the other hand and she finally let Troy's cold hand slip from her fingers and relax onto the bed. Chad led her blindly out of the room, trying frantically to get his sobbing friend and his numb self out of the room.

"He woke up!" Chad felt the words brush past his ears. He felt a large lump fly out of his stomach but felt it churn again at the next words. "Troy, this is going to hurt a bit, but we need to get your heart pumping better."

"Chad?" Troy asked. Chad froze and Gabriella got pulled out of the room by Ryan who pulled her immediately into a hug. The door shut and Chad was ushered over to Troy quickly. Chad pulled Troy's weak hand into his own and stared at his friend. "It'll be okay, Troy."

Troy nodded and clenched tightly onto Chad's hand. Chad felt his fingers being squeezed together but did nothing to stop it. Troy's shirt was taken off and the machine groaned into life. Troy looked at Chad, fear in his eyes. Chad shut his eyes to Troy's obvious pain and waited.

……

Troy was feeling better twenty minutes later, his heart working well. The electricity shock had helped Troy jump start his heart and have it pump better again. He was now awake, happy as a clam, sitting up in bed and staring at his food. He picked up a lump of what seemed to be noodles on his fork.

"What's this?" He asked, turning to Gabriella who was sitting on his right side. She shrugged and he plopped it back on his plate with a sigh.

"Maybe it's dog food," Zeke suggested.

"No," Troy said shaking his head with a giant smile. "Dog food tastes better." Everyone laughed and Troy announced, "I'm hungry!"

"Well, then eat your food," Sharpay said smiling. Troy was still on drugs, meaning that he was a little loopy, his brain flying all over the place. So far, within the six minutes he had been awake, the gang had discussed bananas, goldfish, and Zimbabwe.

Troy shook his head. "You eat it! I'm going to ask for an I.V."

Everyone laughed again as Troy's gaiety spread through them. Troy was alive, healthy, and happy (although they were pretty sure his happiness came from the drugs). Gabriella ran a hand over Troy's face, brushing his bangs off his face. They quickly fell back onto h is forehead and Gabriella gave her first tiny laugh. "You need a haircut," She declared.

Troy shrugged his shoulders and said, "Hey, has my dad been here yet?"

Everyone exchanged glances. They looked at Troy who was staring up at them innocently; his hands playing around in his food- if you could call it that. Ryan gave Troy his answer, "Not yet."

"Oh," Troy looked… disappointed. Something that the gang never thought could happen. He played with his food a bit more and said, "I'm going to be in trouble." He didn't look at his friends but kept his hands in his food.

"Troy, you can't help it if you need to go to the hospital!" Kelsi said. Troy looked at his food as if it was super interesting and said, "Yeah, but I could've tried harder."

"Troy, that could've made it worse," Zeke said. "Don't worry about it. Once we tell on him, everything will be fine."

"But we don't know where he is!" Troy said.

"That'll be easy!" Sharpay said. "We give a picture to the police and tell them where he normally is. He's got to go home sometime soon."

Troy looked up and blink, utterly confused. "I don't know what he looks like."

"Troy, you've lived with him for seventeen years," Chad said.

"Wait," Troy said, raising a hand to rub his neck. He cringed and put it back down. "Who are you talking about?"

"Who are you talking about?" Gabriella asked, sitting on the edge of Troy's bed. Troy blinked and said, "The guy who broke in!"

"Huh?" the gang said in unison. Troy nodded, confused. "Yeah! Who were you talking about?"

"Your dad!" Chad said, throwing his hands in the air.

"He wasn't even home last night!" Troy said. "I was home alone and I left the door unlocked! Some guy came in and stole my dad's wallet… What did you guys think happened?"

Everyone remained silent; they looked at Gabriella. "Troy, you can't trick us! The house wasn't ransacked. It would be if someone broke in!"

"First of all," Troy said, angrily. "How would you know? You didn't look around the house! You just looked behind the couch for me." Gabriella froze, knowing it was true. The second she heard the coughing, she didn't see anything else but the boy she loved hidden behind a couch. "Second," Troy went on. "It wasn't downstairs. They went upstairs and stole my dad's wallet and Cassidy's jewelry."

"Troy," Zeke said sternly. "Are you telling the truth?" He acted as if he didn't believe it but deep down, something told him this was right. Jack would never send his son to the hospital. It just wasn't in his nature. No matter how badly he beat Troy.

"Yeah," Troy said. "I mean, he hasn't you know," He looked over the gangs' shoulders for other people. "beaten me since Cassidy got here."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Sharpay asked, not fully convinced yet.

"Between the time I almost died and the time my drugs fully kicked in was about four seconds. How would I have explained it?" Troy asked, with the drugs wearing off. "Besides, you guys wouldn't have believed me."

"Of course we would have!" Kelsi exclaimed. Everyone agreed.

"Really? If I told you that my dad just abruptly stopped beating me, you guys wouldn't be suspicious... at all?"

Everyone paused and looked around guiltily. Troy gave a small laugh and looked at his hands. "Yeah, I know you guys too well."

"Troy, it's not that we don't trust you," Zeke said, his mind begging for Troy to look them in the eyes- just once. "We just don't trust your dad. This is hard for us- to know what's happening to you- and it's hard to not be able to tell on him when anything goes wrong."

"But when I tell you nothing happened-," Troy began.

"We don't know if that's the truth or your dad making you say it," Chad said quickly. Troy cringed slightly, remembering the lie he told his friends a couple of nights ago... and the lie he was playing out now.

"Seriously, guys," Troy said, looking from one friend's face to another. "Nothing's happened since Cassidy got here. I guess she's changed him a bit. And good thing, too. With the baby coming, I was getting kind of worried." Still am.

"Oh." The group was quiet. Troy spoke again. "Guys, can you call my dad or something? He's probably getting worried about me."

The room couldn't help but to crack large smiles. Troy was free of his torture and all was good- you know, except he was in the hospital. Troy gave a small smile back, wishing that what his friends thought was true- that he was free from his father's wrath. Ryan disappeared out of the room to call Mr. Bolton and everyone else filed out, Gabriella in the rear. Before Gabriella made it through the door, Zeke shoved her into the room and clamped the door shut.

Gabriella stumbled backwards and Troy smiled, watching her turn around, flustered. Obviously, she wasn't ready for that. She walked slowly over to Troy, giving a tiny smile. "So," She said awkwardly. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine," Troy said with a smile. "You want to sit down or something?" Gabriella just smiled and she felt hot tears fill her eyes. She turned around to the door and jiggled the handled a bit. Zeke had a firm hold on the handle.

"You okay?" Troy asked, noticing Gabriella's movements. Gabriella nodded, sniffling. "Yeah. I'm okay."

"Are you crying?" Troy asked. Gabriella nodded and let the tears fall down her face. "I hate seeing you like this."

"I hate being like this," Troy pointed out. "But, you know, those drugs put a colorful spin on everything."

Gabriella gave a watery laugh and sat on Troy's bed. He laughed and said, "I'm not contagious." When what he really wanted to say was I love you. Gabriella laughed a bit and scooted closer to Troy; she swung her legs over the bed and crept closer to him.

"I know," She said, which in Gabriella Language translated into "I love you, Troy."

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He smiled as she snuggled closer to him. He wanted to cringe very badly, but he fought the urge to move. Gabriella's eyelids fluttered closed and she said, "Don't ever do that again."

"I dont' want to do that again," Troy said. "Electricity hurts."

Gabriella smiled, her eyes still closed. "How can you be so calm when you just almost died?"

Troy shrugged. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"

She looked up at him.

"I'm still here with you, aren't I?" He added. He lowered his head and she kept hers up and suddenly, their lips connected. Little did they know, the entire gang was sitting outside the tiny window on the door, looking in. They all looked at each other and smiled.

"You owe me ten bucks!" Chad said to Zeke. Zeke smiled and Sharpay said, "Ryan, you owe me forty!" Ryan looked at her. "No. You owe me forty."

"No. You owe me forty. You got a scratch on my car," Sharpay said.

"You totaled my car," Ryan said indignantly.

"Oh yeah," She looked innocently at Ryan. "Tie."

"Shar, you still owe me the money!"

"Shh! Don't ruin this beautiful moment!"

"Excuse me," A voice said. "Can I make it to my son, please?"

The gang slowly cleared the way for Jack Bolton to enter, making sure to make as much noise as possible. Sharpay stood in front of the door. "Actually, Troy died a few minutes ago. You missed it; sorry."

"Miss Evans, please," Jack sneered.

"Um..." Sharpay searched frantically for an excuse. Normally, with a guy from her grade, she would kiss him and run away. As you can tell, that was not going to work this time. Well, it might- but... ew. She cracked open the door and stuck her head in. "Hate to break this up," She whispered. "But your dad's here."

"Shit!"

Gabriella jumped off the bed and smoothed her pants of imaginary wrinkles. Troy wiped his mouth and stared at Gabriella with a smile. "Wow. Bad timing, huh?"

Jack burst through the door. "Miss Montez, may I talk to Troy for a moment?"

Gabriella nodded and gave Troy a smile, leaving the room. Jack sat down on a chair and said, "So. You managed to get into the hospital."

"So. You managed to put me in the hospital," Troy said. "I just saved your sorry ass from a whole lot of trouble."

Troy explained his cover to his dad so that his dad wouldn't mess it up and tell one of his friend's parents a different story. Jack nodded and smiled. "Either you're really smart or your friends are really stupid because that was a stupid cover. My bet is on the stupid friends... unless you got your mother's genes."

Troy ignored the jabs and "yawned". "Well, I'm tired so I think I'll hit the hay."

"You won't right now!" Jack said. "You have to come home."

"Umm, I almost died. I have a feeling that they aren't going to let me out right now."

"I have a feeling that they will if I ask them to!"

"Or they'll wonder why you want me dead," Troy shrugged. "Whichever one."

Three days later, Troy was released out of the hospital and was brought back to school. When Troy got to his locker, he quickly did the lock and opened the door. His books spilled onto the floor in a heap. A piece of paper fluttered to the floor and Troy stooped down to get it. He pulled it to his eyes and scoffed when he read it.

"Watch your back."

Six years of friendship had not gone to waste- immediately Troy recognized Jason's handwriting. He crumpled the letter and tossed it over his shoulder, right into Chad's face.

"Dude," Chad said. "I just came to say welcome back."

"Sorry," Troy said. He took the letter from the ground and stuffed it into his pocket. He gathered his books from the ground. "Come on. Let's get to homeroom. I bet Darbus missed me."

"More than you know," Chad laughed. They both walked into homeroom, smiling and laughing. It was like old times, both happy and together, and not worrying about Jack- well, one wasn't anyway. Troy sighed when he opened up his notebook.

"Seems like someone was busy," Troy muttered to himself. Adorning the first page of the notebook, a huge colorul sign read, "FAKER!". Troy, although he knew that Taylor thought he was faking the abuse, knew it was Jason trying to get Taylor in trouble. The 'f' had the same loop on the end that Jason's did. He really needed a new tactic.

The bell rang and Troy gathered his stuff to get to next period. The day dragged by slowly. On his way to lunch, he made a quick stop by his locker. He twisted the lock and opened it, looking at the picture on his locker- the one of Gabriella and Troy during Twinkle Towne. He never really admired that picture if anyone was around. Luckily, the hallway was empty as everyone was headed to lunch.

Troy felt a pair of hands clamp on his shoulders and tug him down the hall. Just as a room came into view, he twisted around, out of the culprit's hands and looked. Jason was giving him an angry look and said, "I wanted to talk to you."

"Well, then talk," Troy said.

"Not in the middle of the hallway," Jason grumbed. He opened the door wide, revealing a janitor's closet. "In here. After you." Troy shot Jason a look. "No. You first."

Jason caught Troy off guard and shoved him into the closet. Troy lost balance and crashed to the floor. He was momentarily stunned but when he came around, he flipped onto his back, and watched as Jason shut the door and locked it with a 'click'.

Troy sighed. What else could he do? He banged his fists on the door and waited. No one was there. He waited about an hour- maybe two, he didn't know. He didn't have a watch on. Troy vaguely wondered if anyone was looking for him. Suddenly, he heard screaming.

"Troy!" Chad screamed.

"Troy!" Gabriella said after. Following, a chorous of "Troys" flew through the hall. Troy banged on the door slowly, rather bored. "In here."

Zeke was the first to the door. "Troy? How'd you get in there?"

"I got lost," Troy said sarcastically. He had been coming here ever since he was four because of his dad's position as East High's gym teacher. He knew the school probably better than most of the teachers.

"Well, why didn't you come out?" Sharpay asked angrily.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Troy asked, sarcastically. "Please. Just grab a janitor and get the keys. It's really hot in here."

"Okay, gang, let's spilt up!" Chad declared.

"Shaggy and Scooby, you go that way," Zeke retorted. Chad shot him a look. "Come on!"

"Should I go with Velma or Daphne?" Zeke pointed at Sharpay and Gabriella.

"Should I take it that I'm Scooby or something?" Kelsi scoffed.

"Guys," Troy's voice came from the closet.

"Oh, right," Gabriella said. "Guys, go that way; we'll go this way."

"What if we need protection with the monster on the loose?" Sharpay asked.

"Guys!"

"Sorry."

A couple hours later found Troy, out of the closet and onto the basketball court. The lights blared on the team and Troy brought them together in the middle of the court.

"Okay, guys," Troy said to his team. "I know these guys were creamed by us last year, but they've gotten better. I'm not going to be playing much this game-," the whole team groaned. "Well, I'll play as much as possible, okay? But we need to stay focused and ready. You guys ready for this?"

"Yeah!"

The game started with a shrill blast of the whistle. Troy got posession of the ball and dribbled quickly down the court. He dodged in and out of the green and white clad team and made an easy lay-up. Within sixteen seconds, the Wildcats were already ahead.

The game went on quickly, the Wildcats beating the other team by twenty-six points. Troy smiled at his team, knowing that, despite the easy victory for them, they were trying hard. Troy noticed that the other team was looking extremely tired and upset; the slaughtering was too much shame for their enormous egos.

Troy signaled the ref for a time out and the whistle blew. The team gathered around Troy and Troy said, "Okay, guys. We're beating them by twenty-six points with six minutes left. I say, easy up on them a bit. Don't kill them but don't let up on defense. Okay?" Jason ran off quickly and Troy halted the team. "Seeing as Jason has missed every shot tonight... pass it to him." They snickered.

The team agreed and they spread onto the court. Chad recieved the ball and immediately passed it off to Jason. Jason dribbled down the court and lost posession almost instantly. Troy stole the ball from the other team and passed it off to Jason again. Jason dribbled again and missed the easy lay-up.

"Troy!" Jack shouted. "Stop doing that!"

Troy shrugged. "I'm just passing the ball."

The Central High Pirates noticed how the Wildcats were easing up on offense. They took great advantage to that. The defense was still strong though, thanks to Troy. Every ball that came near him never got by. They made a quick plan.

Troy realized how tired his team was, running uselessly up and down the court. The second that number 19 on the Pirates came near, he snatched the ball and dribbled quickly down the court. He stood at the three-pointer line and turned to shoot. Just then, the member that Jason was supposed to be guarding leapt out and slammed Troy in the side.

Troy felt the wind fly out of him and he started to fall only to be caught by Chad's quick hands. The referee blew the whistle and, much to the Pirates outrage, Troy got two free throws.

The first one, in Troy's fury, sunk right into the basket. At that point he didn't care whether he creamed the Pirates or not. But the second he looked upon their defeated faces, he stopped. Making sure to act like he was taking extreme care, he tossed the ball towards the net. It bounced off the rim and into the hands of Zeke who tossed in an easy lay-up. Troy cursed himself for having his stupid plan gain them more points.

The buzzer sounded. The Wildcats won by twenty-nine points. The team cheered for their victory but cut it short upon seeing the Pirates' faces. After all, they were the first people to beat West High that season- no matter how badly they sucked. Besides, they didn't hate the Pirates as much as they hated the Knights. They ran into the locker room; the cheerleaders buzzed onto the court singing the Wildcats theme song.

"Great job, guys!" Troy said with a smile. "You guys showed some definite class out there; thanks! Guess what! Next week, we've got a game against the Chargers! Let's cream them, too!"

The team cheered and filed out for showers. This was a good night. The Wildcats won, Troy was back in the game, and Troy wouldn't get in trouble for losing. It really was good...

"What the hell was that, Troy?" Jack asked, pushing Troy against the lockers.

The locker rooms had emptied of the rest of the team as Troy waited patiently for his turn to shower- when everyone was gone, that is. Jack had stormed in, angry as hell.

"I was just-"

"You were just letting them off easy, huh?" Jack asked. "What did I tell you about that? No matter how many points you are ahead, don't give up!"

"We didn't give up!" Troy shouted angrily. "We just eased up a little!"

"You're just weak," Jack sneered. "You just don't want anyone to look sad. Well, I refuse to have you be a pansy! I refuse to let you be my son and be as worthless as you are!"

Troy closed his eyes, trying to hide his tears behind his eyelids. The beatings, yeah they hurt. But the words, they hurt even more. He felt his head being grabbed by his father's hand and shoved into the locker. Hard. A punch to the face, a kick to the legs. It was just another night in the life of Troy Bolton.

"Don't touch him!"

Author's Note: Well... I wonder who it is... You do, too. Don't you? Please review! The Go button is just waiting for you to push it!