Titel: Into better days
Rating: rated M because of the content of later chapters
Disclaimer: The real people I'm referring to belong to themselves of course. Their characters and gimmicks belong to the WWE.
Pairing(s): eventually Mason/Evan

Summary: High school can be hell. But what happens if some of the 'outsiders' decide to stand together, facing all the injustice each of them had to suffer in their past? A loose alliance soon transformed into friendship... and more...

Warnings: Violence, strong language, sexual content

I. - One for all and all for one

It's been just another ordinary day. The sun was blinking through the trees that edged the street and the parking lot of St. Helmsley High School. The scenes that happened at this first day of school were just as ordinary as the weather was for a day in mid September in Chicago. The parking lot was crowded with cars and students greeting each other after the summer break, updating each other about the newest gossip in town. Buses arrived and more hordes of students surged on to the schools forecourt. Already the cool kids, the nerds and jocks and all other subcultures met up in groups, chatting and curiously eyeing the other groups and, of course, all the students that did not belong to a group, making their way up to the school's main entrance alone. As every year those students along with the new ones were cannon fodder for the older and much cooler kids.

Phil got out of his car, stretching and scanning the scene as all the others did. But as opposed to them he didn't give a single fuck about what was going on in front of him. His eyes still half closed from the neglected sleep of the former night, he just blankly stared at them. He took off his jacket, reviling two muscular arms covered with numerous colourful tattoos, and threw it into the back of his car. On the other side of the car his friend Daniel did the same.
"It's quite warm today", the smaller boy declared, scratching his unshaven chin. He obviously got a lot more sleep than his inked friend and overlooked the crowd on the parking lot with some interest. He spotted a tall black-haired guy leaning against a black Vauxhall. Their gazes met and as Daniel waved, the tall man locked his car and approached them.
"Morning", he murmured in a deep and sonorous voice. He gave Daniel a quick hug and patted Phil on the back who was able to respond with a mumbled "Mornin' Wade". The greeting between them didn't turn out as warmly as the other student's ones, but as opposed to them the three young men had seen each other quite a lot during the summer break. Except for a one-week-camping-trip Daniel did with his family and a 2-week-vacation Wade did to England to visit his relatives in Preston, they spent almost every weekend together. And, for the matter of fact, almost every evening during the week. That's what happens if you're in a band, you'll practically spent every spare minute with your band mates.
Together the three young men made their way to the entrance, taking a seat at the massive stone-balustrade of the stairs leading up to the front door of their high school. Daniel drew a crumbled package of cigarettes out of his back pocket, took one and offered the package to Wade. The English-born took one, muttering a short "Thanks", and after lightening it he took a deep drag, closing his eyes and sighing in contentment. He brushed away a streak of hair and enjoyed the warm late-summer sun on his skin. They remained silent and Phil stared on his boots, still quite tired, whereas Daniel indulged himself in watching the students that passed them by. Most of them greeted the three of them, waving at them or shaking hands with the two more awaken ones. Even though the jocks and upper class kids used to call them freaks, Phil, Wade and Daniel were among the most popular kids around. Mostly, because of their punk and grungy looks and the fact that their music was quite popular among the younger population of their part of town.

But lets turn away from the little group for a moment to take a closer look at some of the other students. Of course there were the football players, a bunch of pumped up morons accompanied by a noisy crowd of cheerleaders. There were the gothics, dressed in black and avoiding the company of any human being that was not part of their elite group. There were the upper class kids that drove big and expensive cars, wearing the latest and most expensive outfits and looking down to all the other students as if they were just some scum underneath their fingernails. There were a lot of other people: the ones from the art club, the physics-nerds, the choir and the school's orchestra, the marching band and a whole lot of other athletes. But if you dare to take a closer look, it's always the desolated that are the most interesting individuals.
One of them was Cody Rhodes. He was your average maths-nerd, with big glasses, corduroys, and chequered button-down shirts that looked as if he inherited them from his great-grandfather. He was smart, no doubt, with his intelligence not limited on mathematics but also on other subjects. But in school it doesn't matter how smart you are. On the opposite, the smarter you are the more likely you will be the victim of the united army of the school's bullies. It was the same for Cody. The bullies loved to give him a hard time but instead of desperation and sadness, intense hatred and anger grew inside the slender body of the boy.
Another one of them was Mason Ryan. He was quite the opposite of Cody, tall, with heavy muscles, and no fear of any bullying whatsoever. He wasn't all that clever, at least in regard of school, and already had to repeat a year, but his figure and calmness always prevented him of being bothered or mocked by others. The downside of this was the fact that Mason didn't have a single friend. Always wandering the corridors and sports grounds on his own he had nobody to talk to. Some students just ignored him, whereas the majority just feared that he would hit them with one of his big hands anytime they decided to address him. But opposed to his looks, Mason was kind in nature and felt very sorry that he had to be all on his own all the time.
Then there was Evan Bourne. He was smart, helpful, part of the swimming team, quite popular with the girls and very cheerful overall. But because of his fragile nature and his calm disposition rumours about him being homosexual spread among the students. This didn't derogate his popularity among the girls, but his male classmates and especially the members of the football and hokey team looked down at him with disgust and even severely attacked him physically on his way home from practice.
The last one to mention was a new guy, Sheamus O'Shaunessy. His family just moved to America. It's been only three days since they arrived in one of Chicago's suburbs and the Irish-born already hated it. It was too warm and his pale white skin tended to blister underneath the hot sun. He didn't have that much contact with other kids of his age so far, but his trips to the local shop and the park had shown him that it would be difficult to make any friends with such a funny accent as his. The looks the people in front of his new school gave him just aggravated this feeling of being a zoo animal.

All of them were targets of Daniels 360-degrees view but he didn't spent any time thinking about them. His mind was drifting to a new song stuck in his head. He had to tell his mates about it, but he decided to wait until lunchtime to make sure he had Phil's full attention.
While he was daydreaming Cody made his way up the stairs to the school entrance. Suddenly a hand reached out for him out of a group of people and pushed him hard. With a appalled yelp he tripped. One hand reached for his face, protecting his glasses from making contact with the solid stone steps. With his other hand he tried to catch his fall but he slipped and slammed his knees and face hard against the ground. Laughter accompanied him when he picked himself up and hurried into the building without looking back. His face was red. Red from blood dripping from his nose and chin, but also red from the embarrassment and anger that burned inside him. He wouldn't put up with these things any longer!
Outside the students were still laughing, calling the fleeing boy names and laughing even harder. The noise bothered Phil. He could feel the glimpse of a headache growing inside his head. He jumped down from the balustrade he was sitting on and forced his way through the crowd towards the door. The nudged and thrust aside students looked at him in disapproval but nobody dared to say something to the tough and rowdy boy.
Daniel and Wade followed their band leader with their gazes as he stormed into the building, disappearing into one of the numerous corridors. They finished their cigarettes and with the first ringing of the bell they followed all the other students into the building, making their ways towards their classrooms and towards a new year of school.
But it shouldn't be as ordinary as the start may let you think it would be. This year things would change, drastically change. Cody was sure of that when he sat down at his desk. Thoughts rushed through his mind, circulating around each other, forming ideas and visions, drowning out the noisy class in his back and an already enervated teacher struggling for attention in front of him.

The bell rang and in an instant the corridors were filled with brawling students. They all headed towards the cafeteria or towards the doors leading to the big patio of the school complex. Happy that the first part of the day was over, Phil threw his books and papers into his bag and stormed out of the room. On the corridor he looked around, searching for his band mates. He spotted them leaning against their lockers and he headed towards them, making his way through the crowd. The first day of school clearly wasn't his favourite day of the year, but at least he was almost fully awake by now.
"Lets go outside, I have to talk to you!", Daniel shouted over the noise of the laughing and chatting people around them as Phil approached. Together the three of them made their way towards the doors. Outside they decided to not take a seat at one of the tables and benches provided. Instead they walked along the side of the science building in the direction of the sports grounds. They sat down beneath a huge oak tree at the edge of the football court.
"I have a new song for us", Daniel said. "Is it good?", Wade asked, already chewing on a sausage he brought himself for lunch.
"I guess so", Daniel responded. "At least the guitar part is and the lyrics as always depend on Phil's ideas." He took a sip from his bottle of water and started to fumble at his cigarettes again. "Do you think I'd tell you about a song that's shit?", he growled, realising how stupid Wade's question was. The Englishman remained silent and kept chewing on his sausage.
"We should meet up later at Phil's and I'll play it to you." Daniel decided not to get frustrated by Wade's obvious lack of interest and kept babbling about the new song, lighting his second cigarette of the day. Phil barely listened. He leaned back on his elbows and drew a can of Pepsi from his bag. He enjoyed sitting in the shadow of the big tree, the ceaseless pribble-prabble of his friend in his ears. He yawned and quickly licked his lower lip, playing with his labret piercing. In fact, the dark-haired boy was close to falling asleep again.
A pained scream startled him and he sat upright. He looked at Wade and Daniel who stared back at him as equally puzzled as he was. "What was that?", the Englishman asked, turning his head towards the football yard and the potential source of the noise.
"A scream..." Ignoring Daniels insertion Phil and Wade stood up, eager to find out who gave off the tortured howl.
At the far end of the yard, nearby the big grandstand, they spotted a crowd of approximate twelve people. The bright red fabric of the blazers hypothesized that the majority of the crowd consisted of players of the school's football team. Again a chocked cry cut through the warm summer air. "Coincidence?", Wade asked, looking down at the smaller man. "I don't think so", Phil responded and together they ran towards the bunch of people. "Wait for me!", Daniel shouted. His cigarette still in his mouth, he hectically collected the bags his older companions left behind and rushed after them.
Coming closer the whole scene reviled itself to the two faster men. As they assumed, most of the present people were part of the local football team. They had encircled a much smaller group of boys. One of them, Evan, was sitting on the ground, rubbing his face where, most probably, one of the football jocks hat hit him. In his back Cody was standing eye to eye with Randy Orton, one of the pumped offence players of the team. The tall athlete smirked at the brave yet pretty helpless resistance of the smaller man. The picture was completed by Sheamus being hold by two men. They grabbed him at his arms, holding the obviously furious Irishman in place.
Wade came to a hold in front of the crowd, standing there with his arms crossed and looking as displeased as he could, with his lips curled and his eyes lowered. Phil stood next to him, staring at the delinquents with arrogance. "Hey! What're you doing?", Wade inquired. Heads tuned towards them and Sheamus looked up at the sound of such a very well known accent.
"That's none of your business!", Randy snapped at them. Without taking his eyes of the intruders he reached out for Codys collar, pulling the smaller man closer.
"I beg to differ!", Wade exclaimed.
"If you think that you can ruin this wonderful and sunny afternoon of mine by making such a mess, you're clearly on the wrong track!" Phil shove himself in front of Wade. "It's the first day of school, which I do not enjoy es much as you might think, by the way, and you fucking idiots have nothing better to do than picking on some weaker students and bothering us with it?"
"It's. None. Of. Your. BUSINESS!", Randy shouted at the inked boy. "Besides, there's absolutely nothing you could do about it!" Saying this he pushed Cody so hard the young man stumbled backwards, falling over Evan, which caused all the jocks to burst out into laughter.
Wade made an attempt to throw himself at Randy but two of the other football players stepped in his way. "Haha, come at me bro!", Randy laughed at the sight of an enraged Wade, struggling to get past his team mates. "Do you think you can handle us all?"
"Maybe I can."
A dark voice made them all turn around. Mason Ryan just stood there, his massive arms hanging loosely at his side. Daniel, who finally managed to catch up with his friends, poked Phil, exchanging puzzled looks. It was practically the first time they heard the silent man talking.
Concerned murmurs arose from the red dressed pack. "Lets go, this turns out to be more stressful than I thought.", Randy stated, pretending to be all cool and at ease. He gestured at the two boys that were holding Sheamus and they instantly let go of him. The pack of athletes departed, leaving the strange group of young men behind.
"Thank you", Cody said as he stood up, brushing away the dust from his pants. Evan, who also got up, nodded in agreement. "I would have given them the beat up of their sorry lives if I'd had the opportunity!", Sheamus stated. He was still staring at the leaving assembly.
"I bet you would've", Phil snorted. He shook his head and turned around to leave and savor the rest of their break. Wade took his bag Daniel handed him and the three friends were about to walk back to their shadowy spot underneath the oak tree.
"Wait! … Please." They turned around again as Cody started talking.
"I'm sick of these things always happening to me!", the speccy boy announced. "Wedgies, my head being flushed in the toilet, the old why-do-you-hit-yourself-games... I'm sick of it! I'm sick of being verbally assaulted every time I set foot into this building! I'm sick of being pushed around by guys that are stronger than me! I'm sick of the pitiful looks my teachers give me when I enter the room, totally deranged! I'm sick of being unable to do the slightest thing about this!"
His head reddened in rage as he spoke. Next to him Evan nodded in approval. "I don't want to get hit in the face by those idiots anymore!", he whispered, still fingering his sore cheek.
"And what do we have to do with it?", Phil asked. He saw the difficulty of their situation, but as Randy said, it was none of his business.
"You could help us", Cody demanded.
"We?" The three young men looked at each other and chuckled.
"And you, too!", Cody added, turning to Mason who was still standing in the background, trying to sneak away unnoticed. The eyes of the huge boy widened. Why him?
Unflinching Cody continued. "You'll get something in return of course."
By saying this Cody ensured the full attention of Phil and his friends. Coming closer Cody told them about a plan that slowly evolved inside his head. At first, the idea was about a loose alliance from which every member should benefit. Cody offered private lessons for Phil and his friends, who in fact weren't all that good with regard to mathematics, physics and chemistry, and Sheamus, and Evan agreed to spent more time with Mason so that the tall man didn't have to spent his breaks all on his own. In return the four others promised to look after their badly treated companions. But none of them would have thought that this randomly put up group would transform in something much bigger.

Well, this is my first attempt on a fanfic for, what, over six years?
Please review, I'm always willing to advance