"I fucked up, I fucked", Troy mumbled under his breath as he hit the cinder block wall of his holding cell, luckily he was the only one in there.

The events of tonight kept replaying over and over in his head, now he was in the one place he vowed his father he would never go, jail. As a young black man in America, the possibilty of him getting arrested were high, not because he would ever do anything wrong, but solely because of the color of his skin; Troy surely thought with his wealth, education, and good looks he would be exempt. Tonight, he can officially say he got his "negro wake up call" when the officers treated him like a common criminal. It didn't matter that he had on a clean suit, or that he was a student attending the top prestigious college in the country, they cuffed him with the quickness and sent him away. As much as Troy wanted to blame it on the "The Man", he had no one to blame but himself, he idiotically vandalized school property.

Sitting in his cell, all Troy could think about was what will his father say, and what will he do. He embarassed the family's name and legacy tonight with his actions. "I guess I can kiss being the student body president goodbye", "Damn, I guess I can kiss my inheritance goodbye", he thought to himself. However, Troy didn't mind the former, who was he fooling, the only reason he got in the race in the first place was to please his father, just like everything else he did in life.

When Troy was in high schoool, he wanted to try out for the varsity basketball team, but Dean made him join the soccer team instead. He remember his father saying, "No son of mine will be playing basketball ".

When it was time to choose a college, Troy mentioned to his father that it was his desire to go to Howard University, which was the alma mater of the majority of his mother's side of the family, but Dean forbade him; Winchester Univ. was the only option. "No son of mine will be going to an HBCU, you know better than that!"

Once he was enrolled in Winchester, his father made him pledge Alpha Phi Alpha, but Troy wasn't really into the whole frat thing, he always said if he did decide to pledge, he could see himself being a Kappa, but his father demanded that the Alpha legacy remain in the family.

After two hours went by, an officer approached Troy's cell, "Fairbanks, you made bail."

Hearing those words made Troy snap out of his thoughts. "Wait, you mean I'm free to go?"

"Yeah, your dad bailed you out."

The officer then walked Troy to the front in cuffs. When he saw his father standing there, he immediately put his head down, too ashamed to look at him. After signing his release papers, and getting his phone and wallet back, Troy was free.

Dean Fairbanks didn't say a word to Troy, he was clearly pissed. They drove in awkward silence all the way back to the Fairbanks residence. When they got inside the house, Dean went off!

"What the hell were you thinking!?"

"I wasn't thinking, I just blacked out."

"Do you realize what you did tonight? You caused a whole lot of problems for me and for you. I have to meet with the Board tomorrow to persuade them not to expel your black ass, and they may even get rid of me because of your stupidity! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Pops, I was just fed up. You weren't listening to me, and I was tired of being taken advantage of, tired of playing both sides, tired of being a puppet, and mainly just tired of fronting, pretending to be someone I'm not."

"Who are you anyway, huh? Because I'm not even sure anymore, do you even know?"

"I know I'm not some polished good boy you make me out to be, that I do know!"

"Well, that was obvious tonight, but as long as you're my son, you will be who I say you will be!"

Troy was heated, he was outdone with his father. "I'm a grown ass man Pop! I don't want to follow in your footsteps, that is not me, I can't be an Uncle Tom, can't do it. From here on out it stops, Troy Fairbanks will be doing him. I'm dropping out of the race."

"The school already made that decision for you Son, and where do you get off talking to me like that? You think you're the man now since you been in jail? Well you're not, you're a failure Son, a failure. I thought I raised you better."

"I guess I'll be that then" Troy doing his best to hold back tears, it hurt to hear his father call him a failure. The man he once respected, and once admired, thought he was a failure. He walked to the door to leave, he wanted to get far way as possible from his dad.

"Where the hell you think you're going?"

"Back to the dorms, I'm over this"

Dean laughed at how naive and gullible Troy was, "You think you can just go right back like nothing happened? This ain't over, they banned you from campus, until I get things right, you can't go to classes or do anything. Plus, I have to talk to a lawyer to get your vandalism charge dropped."

"Well I'll go anywhere than be here. I'm out"

"Son...Son...Troy come back here!"

Troy ignored his father and drove off in his old BMW, his car from high school that was parked outside. Luckily it still cranked and was full of gas. A million thoughts were going through Troy's head. He was not only hurt, but angry as well. The thought of him ruining his college career made him sick to his stomach.

Troy reached for his phone and turned it back on for the first time since he was released. His inbox was full of messages of well wishes and support. They all said they had his back, and would fight for him, but he didn't believe it until he saw it for himself. Going against his father's word, he drove to Winchester.

When he pulled up on campus, the plaza was full of students of all races holding up signs and posters, still protesting, but this time it was for his freedom and for his justice. From a distance he spotted Sam, Lionel, and Reggie leading the crowd in a "Free Troy" chant.

For the first time all night, Troy had a smile on his face.