Hey, thanks to everyone who reviewed, the last chapter got the most reviews of all by now! Thank you. And someone called "autumn" (I think) wrote a LONG one and said something about e-mailing when I update, but there was no e-mail. If she could PLEASE send me a message with the e-mail, I'm willingly to keep her up-to-date…
And I have ideas for this story, the drama isn't over by now…don't worry.
So please enjoy and review. 8 REVIEWS TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!
LY and enjoy Mitchi

"What? It's true!"

Then the conversation faded and they spend the rest of the day, trying to think of something other than Troy's condition.

Gabriella

The Next Day

Troy was still sleeping. No one left overnight in case he woke up, but he still slept. I sat holding his right hand, trying not to look at his left forearm too often; yet, I still wanted to see how badly he cut himself.

Chad and Nick were sitting in the two other chairs around Troy's bed, occasionally making small talk. I listened to the slow, but steady beep of the monitor, which showed Troy's heart frequency.

Lucille stood up and said she needed fresh air. She took a walk while the boys and I waited in Troy's room. After her walk, I saw her walk toward a doctor to ask him something. I still held Troy's hand and looked at the door, through which I could see Lucille talking to the doctor.

Suddenly I felt something move in my hand. I turned my head and looked at Troy, but nothing had changed. Then I felt it again. I looked at Troy's hand in mine and saw it twitch again. My eyes widened and I turned to Chad and Nick. "He moved his hand."

They stopped talking and turned to look at Troy more closely. "Are you sure?" I nodded and as I felt his hand lightly squeeze mine again, I saw his eyelids start fluttering.

He groaned and his eyes opened a bit. He needed adjusting to the brightness of the light in the hospital room. He began mumbling things. "I'm fine…I can play on…please…"

"Troy?" Chad asked. Troy opened his eyes fully and looked around. The first thing he saw was me, sitting next to him and his brother a bit away. "Troy we're not at the game…we're at the hospital," Chad said quietly, figuring that Troy had a terrible headache.

"At the hospital? Good joke…" His eyes opened again and when he saw Nick and I, his eyes went wide, shocked to see it was true. He didn't say anything, because he was tired and shocked. His eyes nearly closed again when I heard someone talking rather loudly outside the room. I recognized the voices of Lucille, the doctor, Jack, and Sarah! What were Jack and Sarah doing in the hospital? Especially in front of Troy's room?

"Sir, you have to leave!" the doctor said firmly.

"But my wife – she's pregnant and needs help!" he exclaimed. I could hear his fake worrying in his voice.

"She can stay here, but she has to stay on the other side of the hospital!" It was the doctor again, trying to keep Jack from the glass door, where he'd be able to see Troy.

"Jack, leave! You've done enough!" Lucille shouted.

After those words I heard Troy groan again, dizzy from sleeping. "Mom?"

"But he's my son! I have a right to see him!" Jack retorted, not knowing that everyone else knew about how he treated his son.

Suddenly he started squeezing my hand tightly, his eyes wide. I turned to him lying there, looking totally scared of his dad's presence, even though he couldn't do anything to him. "Troy… It's all right. You're safe."

Finally the doctor managed to get Jack away, not mentioning that they found out about the abuse. Troy relaxed again and let go of my hand. Jack left and the nurses brought Sarah to another part of the hospital.

I turned to Troy, while Lucille and the doctor told the nurses not to let Jack or Sarah near him. Troy lay there, not saying anything, his head slightly turned away and his eyes half opened. The look of fear was still visible in his eyes but had eased already.

Then the door opened and Lucille came back in with the doctor. "I'm sure they wanted to scare him if he was awake," the doctor said. Lucille nodded and looked up to see Troy awake. She rushed over to her son, sitting down next to him, but Troy ignored her and closed his eyes as she brushed some of his hair back.

"When did he wake up? Did he notice what was just going on?" the doctor asked, looking at Chad, Nick and I.

"He got really scared," I answered. "His entire body tensed."

The doctor looked at Lucille. "Their plan seemed to work…but we'll make sure they don't come anywhere near here. His wife is on the other side of the hospital."

Troy turned his head slightly and his eyes opened a bit again. "Well," the doctor mused, looking at his papers, "Troy, now that you're awake, we have to tell you some things – important things." Troy didn't move, but just listened.

"Do you remember getting knocked out at the basketball game?" He nodded. "Do you know we're at the hospital?" He nodded again, looking at his heavily bandaged forearm. "Well, you should know that you didn't faint because of the impact when you were hit. You had a total breakdown, and we know why…we know what's happening to you." He tried not to sound too forward.

Troy's eyes darted to Chad and I, almost saying, "why did you tell?"

We didn't respond. "So Troy, we're not going to ask you now. You need to gain weight and get your strength back. You are to live with your mom and your brother for now on. The police will ask you some questions…when you're better again." He looked up to see Troy with his eyes fixed to his mom. His eyes showed no emotion.

"Well, that's it for now. Just call if you need anything…" He left again.

Troy

Why do they think I want to talk to the police? I don't need help. I could cope then, and I can cope now. I'm used to it. If they think I'll talk to the police, they're wrong.

Speaking of my weight, how much do they want me to gain? Besides, they can't force me! If I gain too much weight now, I have to practice harder again…

They stayed in Troy's room, trying to talk to Troy but to no avail. He blocked every attempt. After some time, Lucille left for a few minutes to call the school and explain that Troy wouldn't come to school for a few days. She didn't mention his cutting or the abuse, because it'd freak Jack out if he lost his job now since he couldn't get arrested until Troy talked to the police.

Lucille sighed after she hung up. Never in her life had she thought she'd be in this kind of situation – her own son, abused by her ex – husband. It was unbelievable.

Gabriella

Three Days Later

In the last three days, Troy had eaten very little, since it wasn't easy to get him to eat. We had to force him and even then he only ate a small part of his meal. His stomach was used to the emptiness, but he was improving.

The nurses changed the bandage on his left forearm once. We all left the room as he pulled his arm back when the nurse tried to change it in our presence. I didn't know how his arm looked, and I didn't want to know.

The gang didn't show up as they, like the whole school, believed Troy had only been knocked out, and that he'd be all right. Troy needed rest. Chad and I did our best not to tell anyone anything that he or she shouldn't know, and it worked out well. Only Coach Bolton glared at us every time we passed him, but he couldn't do anything. If he did, the whole school would find out and he didn't want that to happen.

The Next Day

Chad and I met up after school and visited Troy. He had been released from the hospital and went to live with Lucille and Nick that morning.

As we reached the house, Nick opened the door, looking sad.

"What's up?" Chad asked, but Nick just shrugged his shoulders and led us up to Troy, who was staying in the guest room.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked. "You know, I always wanted to stay with our dad as well, but now…" He looked down.

"Don't worry. He's going to be fine," I said as I gave him a short hug. Afterwards, Chad and I entered Troy's room.

As we entered, Lucille left, smiling at us. Troy sat on the edge of the bed, a plate with spaghetti in his hands. He just looked at the plate and placed it on the desk. When he turned around, he smiled a bit. "Hey…"

Chad sat down on the bed next to Troy, while I took the plate and sat down on the other side. "You know you have to eat them," I said while twisting some of the noodles onto the fork.

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm not hungry."

I shook my head. "But you need to eat them. Come on. I'll feed you."

He sighed and opened his mouth. "But not all of them…" "

I'll decide that," I smirked as I fed him the spaghetti. He swallowed every bite but when I was halfway done, he refused to eat more.

"Troy…" I begged for minutes and he finally gave in and finished the rest of the spaghetti. I went downstairs and put the plate in the sink.

"Well, glad to hear you got him to eat," Lucille smiled at me.

"I think he's improving." She nodded and I left off to see Troy and Chad again.

Troy

Later

Gabby and Chad left about two hours ago. When they left, Gabby pecked my cheek and Chad just grinned…he can't stop.

I lay in the bed and felt like I was going to explode. The spaghetti was too much at once, but I couldn't disappoint Gabby. As I lay there, I thought about how much I wanted to be free again, with no one forcing me to do anything. Oh, how I wanted my razor back!

Uh-oh…what will happen? Find out...and please REVIEW! 8 to the next chapter!!
LY Mitchi