Ch-60

Everything felt numb to me. I didn't know why this was happening all over again. I had thought that that woman was behind me. Heck, I had almost forgotten that there was a time when I used to call someone else 'Mum' who wasn't named Kathy.

In the meanwhile, the media were having a field day, with every news channel across the UK showing the same damning interview all the time.

"I'm here with Carla Armitage, the biological mother of one Troy Armitage," a female reporter said. "We all know Troy from films like [The Sixth Sense], [Billy Elliot], and [Harry Potter]. Carla, please tell us something about you."

"I am not the best mother," Carla, who was wearing a neat navy blue cardigan and looked much healthier than the last Troy remembered, said slowly. "Even I know that, but I was unwell when Troy lived with me last. I love my little tyke more than anything in the world, but ever since I lost my husband, Troy's father, I went into depression. I lost the will to live, and I found solace in things that I shouldn't have. But I'm much better now, and my probation is over. My therapist believes that it will do me a lot of good if I can get Troy back in my life. For some time, I did my utmost to not even see how my son was doing, because I was overcome with guilt over giving him up. But he has become so big now, that it is impossible to not see him when I look at the news or any media."

"And has his newfound fame affected your decision to try reconciliation with him?" the reporter pressed.

"Yes," Carla agreed. "I looked up my son and what he has been doing for the last few years. He has racked up quite a bit of awards from what I could see, but there were things that worried me greatly. Most damning of all, his first film. You may not know this because the film wasn't released in the UK, but it is called [Sex Education]. I somehow managed to get a VHS copy of it, and I was appalled to see my son act in such filth. The worst part is that the film was written and directed by Steve Kloves, Troy's adoptive father, who is now producing [Harry Potter]. Who writes a film about sex that is centered around a child in their care? A pedophile, that's who!"

"That's a very serious accusation!" the reporter said pointedly. "Are you saying that Steve Kloves…" She didn't finish the question.

"No," Carla shook her head. "I don't know enough to comment on that, but a writer writes what he wants to see or feel. Just ask Steve Kloves what was going through his head when he wrote my son in all those horrible scenes. I can't in good conscience let my son be near such a man."

"What about Troy's adoptive mother, Kathy Kloves?"

Carla scoffed out loud, "That bitch was a co-writer and producer of [Sex Education]. She and Steve Kloves made hundreds of millions out of [Sex Education] and [Harry Potter]. They are earning this money all because of Troy. What were they before Troy came into their lives? Some lowly writers, barely making ends meet. They are nothing but money-hungry dogs who profit off of my son. I will not have it any longer."

That was as far as I could see the interview before I smashed the telly with a bat in frustration. I knew that I wasn't the only one feeling agitated over the situation when none of my parents rebuked me for my actions.

That fucking interview uprooted the normalcy out of my life. If the reporters and paparazzi were annoying me earlier, now they were downright hostile. The shooting of [Harry Potter] had become a nightmare because of the media circus and the impending court summons.

Yes, court summons. The bitch hadn't just given an interview, but she had filed a case for my custody in the family court as well. In fact, she had given the interview right after filing the case.

As much as I wanted to take a break from shooting, I couldn't. My airtight contract made sure of that. While my father may be the producer of the film, Warner had made sure I couldn't use his undue influence to affect the shooting of the film. Everyone on set was treating me differently, giving me looks of sympathy or even pity. I hated it. But I couldn't do anything there.

The only recourse available to me was hiring the best barrister that money could buy in London to handle the case against my family.

"Don't worry, Steve, Kathy," Keith Langford reassured us. "I have my full team on this case, and they will scrape through the entire history of that woman. From the looks of it, she is just grasping at straws and came after you only when Troy was named the third highest-earning actor of the year in the whole world. Given that she willingly signed over Troy's custody to you both, most likely her case would be thrown out of the window like old trash. She doesn't have any legal rights over Troy anymore."

That was a little reassuring to hear.

"But we have to take care of the PR side of things as well," Mum pointed out. "She has brought so much bad press for Troy and our family. How is our countersuit going?"

"For defamation?" Keith asked for confirmation. "I have filed it. Don't worry, by the time I'm done with her, she will be so far deep in debt that she will have to file for bankruptcy to stay afloat."

"Does she even have any money to her name?" I asked Keith. "Last I remembered, she had used up most of my father's life insurance money."

Keith shrugged, "I can't know for sure unless she files for bankruptcy. She is not a company or I could have found out easily."

Keith had protested a little about me attending this meeting, but I made it clear to both my parents and him that I needed to be there because I could provide valuable information about my egg donor that they could use against her in court.

"Don't worry, Troy," Keith reassured me. "You go on with your life as if nothing is different about it. It will take time for the court date to arrive. You shouldn't stop working because of that."

It wasn't as simple as that. Mine wasn't some desk job where I had to type on a computer all day long. I had to portray the emotions of a different character in front of cameras and make it believable. That would be so difficult to do when my life has just been upended.

"He's right, Troy," Mum said soothingly. "As much as I'd prefer you to stay with me at home, you need to show a strong front. Maybe, we can even send a message to Carla through a statement?"

"That would be unwise," Keith interjected. "Judges don't like it when the court's authority is sidelined in favor of a media trial."

"But she started it!" I let out in frustration.

Keith raised his hands to pacify me, "I know, and she would be punished for it by the judge presiding over the case. But we have to show that we are better than her. So no talking to the media. At all."

Mum looked troubled by the news, "What about the BAFTAs? They are scheduled for the next week and Troy is nominated for [Billy Elliot]."

"I'm not attending it," I announced before anyone could argue over anything. "Talk to Universal, and tell them that I have a mental breakdown or something." Seeing their look of silent acceptance of my request, I asked my parents the next question that was bugging me, "On that topic, what is Warner's reaction to this news?"

Mum shared a look with Dad before saying, "Nothing you need to worry about."

"Tell me," I insisted. "Please. I need to know what that woman is costing me and my career."

After what felt like an eternity, she slowly said, "Let's just say that the third movie in the series is no longer in the picture until after the second film has been released and is a major hit."

I sat there dumbfounded, not knowing how to respond. [Harry Potter] was everything to me. If I lose the role, I'll kill her. Damn the consequences.

(Break)

Emma Watson didn't know how to behave around Troy anymore. Ever since his parents were being sued by his birth mother, Troy had been behaving abnormally. Usually, he required the least amount of retakes in his scenes and was most eager to help anyone around the set. However, since shooting had resumed the day after the news broke out, Troy had become the worst performer on set. Not just that, he was quick to anger and snapped at anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way. Later, when he had calmed down, he would apologize to whomever he snapped at that day, but that didn't stop people from walking on eggshells around him.

"Don't worry about it too much, love," Rosie, Emma's dedicated makeup artist, said when Emma asked her opinion about it. "That's a norm for these big Hollywood heroes. We crew members know this and have learned to work around them. Sure, he's going through a rough patch in his life, but that gives him no right to shout at someone. This is what happens when you achieve too much too soon at this age. Make sure you don't follow this trend."

Emma didn't contradict Rosie's statement, but deep down she knew that Troy was not like this. Just a week before the whole incident, she had asked Troy for help with her math homework, and he had spent three hours with her going through every question she had trouble with. She had spent a great deal of time with Troy while shooting the first film, and this was the first time he was not an absolute gentleman.

Jamie was also a little nervous around Troy, and for good reason, but Emma knew how close the two boys were. So she did one thing that most of the crew and other cast members of the film were avoiding. She walked straight up to Troy's trailer and walked in directly without knocking. And while she was at it, she dragged poor Jamie alongside her as well.

Troy quickly turned away from the telly that he was watching just moments ago, changing the channel to some music channel. Emma couldn't see what Troy was watching earlier, but it didn't matter much to her.

"Emma! Jamie!" Troy called out in slight anger. "Don't you have basic manners to knock before entering someone's private room?"

Jamie freed his hand from Emma's grasp and took a hesitant step back. He looked as if he was about to apologize, but the younger girl beat him to it.

"Don't you have basic manners to treat others decently?" Emma shot back.

Troy looked exasperated for a moment, "Is it about Scott? I apologized to him, didn't I?"

"It's not just about Scott!" Emma shouted, quite opposite to her calm demeanor. "It's also about Ricky, Derek, John, Summer, and Alice. These are all the people that you have aggravated in the last week alone. Do you know everyone on set is scared to talk to you nowadays? Including Chris, Jamie, everyone."

Troy turned to his male friend and asked, "Is it true, Jamie?"

Jamie looked uncertain as he glanced down at his feet. "I don't blame you. I know it's difficult right now, so I thought… I mean… I know you'll be better in a few days. So…"

"See!" Emma said pointedly. "He's not even comfortable telling you the truth. And the three of us used to share everything. Don't do this, Troy."

"You won't understand," Troy shook his head, dismissing her claim. "You don't know what I'm going through right now."

"And whose fault is that, huh? You don't talk to anyone. How would I know what you are going through if you won't tell me?"

Troy didn't say anything for a few moments, just kept staring at a confident Emma and a hesitant Jamie. Finally, after a minute or so, he picked up the telly remote from the couch he was sitting on earlier and switched the channel back to what was being played before.

"–do you think, Anita?" a male news anchor asked a female.

"I don't know about you, Richard," Anita was saying, "but I can't help but agree with Carla Armitage. Having been in the entertainment industry as long as I have, I would never let a child under my care work in a film, let alone a film about sex. To those of you who may not know this, I used to be a writer before I started working here, and Carla is absolutely correct, we usually write about things we want to see or witness. At least I did."

"But can we believe anything from a mother who abused her child, gave up his custody, and is now back only after he has earned some big bucks in this last year?" Richard shot back.

"I'm not saying that Carla is a perfect mother, or that Troy should return to her. But no one can deny that Steve and Kathy Kloves have exploited Troy Armitage's childhood to make millions off of him."

At this point, Troy muted the television.

"This is what I have to deal with," he said emphatically. "Dad hasn't talked to me in days out of some sort of misguided guilt or something. Every day, people's perception is getting more and more negative. Those people you mentioned earlier, each and every one of them are of similar thinking—that my parents exploited me. I just know the looks they give me when they think I'm not looking. The entire media of Britain is right outside the doors of the studio, waiting for me to step out. I have become a joke to people. And if that wasn't enough, Warner has halted the pre-production of the third film because of this… scandal. Anything else you wanna know, dear Emma? Jamie?"

The sarcasm in Troy's voice was bitingly cold, yet that didn't deter Emma from taking the next step. She stepped as close to Troy as possible and engulfed him in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry, Troy," she whispered softly while rubbing his back slowly. "I'm so sorry. I can't help you, but I'll listen to whatever you have to say. Shout at me, curse me, take it all out on me. I won't judge you, but leave everyone else be. I don't want you to damage your reputation because of this. The crew members are talking, and I don't like what I'm hearing about my best friend."

Jamie, not shying away from the uncomfortable topic this time, stepped forward, placed a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, and said, "Me too. Lay it on either of us. We are the Golden Trio, right?"

Emma was not expecting Troy to start crying in her arms. The initial soft sobs turned into bawling as the two young friends hugged for dear life. She didn't even realize when Jamie joined them in a three-way hug. None of them said anything, just kept rubbing his back softly as Troy wept.

(Bonus Scene)

Malcolm was under a lot of pressure for the night. He was producing the biggest film award show on this side of the Atlantic, and he had made arrangements for everything, from award presenters to the time allotted for each winner for their speech. Everything was planned meticulously, only for him to find out at the last moment that BAFTA and Oscar winner, Troy Armitage, would not be able to attend the ceremony owing to the scandal he and his family were going through right now.

He didn't like it, but he understood. It must be hard for a kid to go through so much. So Malcolm did what any competent producer would do: he arranged for someone else to present the award Troy was meant to. In the eventuality that Troy won this year as well, Malcolm had sent a message for Julie Walters, Troy's co-star in Billy Elliot, to collect the award for him.

And everything went without a hitch. He just had to trim a few speeches here and there for the TV broadcast when the award winners went beyond their time limit, but overall everything went perfectly.

Or so he had thought.

He didn't know what was happening until he was slammed into a wall, and a man with a reddening face was standing in front of him. A man he belatedly recognized as Russell Crowe, this year's winner for Best Actor BAFTA.

"I don't give a fuck who you are," Crowe shouted in Malcolm's face. "Who on earth had the fucking audacity to take out the Best Actor's speech? You fucking piece of shit, I'll make sure you never work in Hollywood. I'll make your fucking life miserable for the rest of your days. I'll…"

Russell Crowe went on a tirade, but Malcolm was barely listening to him. He knew this was a psycho in front of him. Who else behaves so childishly for cutting your victory speech short? All he could think of at the moment was to save himself from this madman.

In the end, Russell Crowe didn't hit Malcolm as he was expecting, but he did kick a few chairs around the room before exiting.

Malcolm took a breath of relief as soon as he was alone again.

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