Disclaimer: I own nothing all characters are property of the WWE.
Chapter 1: Paige
Her mum was beyond nutters.
Paige Knight shot the elder woman with bright red hair a death glare beneath her sunglasses and turned up the music on her iPod to drown out her mother's long ranting over how this was her last chance at fixing up her act and if she fucked this up than military school it would be.
"Love I'm doing this because I care for you dearly, but enough is enough for Christs sake! Things have been difficult for all of us this year but that's no excuse for you to act out this way and I'm being serious now Paige this is the last straw." Saraya Knight stated frimly her British accent heavier than normal due to her anger. The woman was frustrated to boot and it didn't help that their drive to the airport wasn't going as smoothly as she hoped with them getting lost twice already despite the GPS.
The brown haired girl simply stared straight out the window hoping her mother would get them lost again so she would end up missing her flight to America. She had purposely typed in the wrong address in the GPS to delay their drive even though she knew her mom would eventually notice but she prayed by than it would be too late and the plane would have taken off once they reached the airport.
She didn't care what her mom thought was best for her what would she know anyway? She was the one walking around pretending everything was alright and that nothing had changed.
As if it would numb the pain any less. It angered Paige to see her mum act this way and she would be lying if she said it wasn't what fueled her to act up as of late.
Saraya Knight had always been the stricter of her two parents making sure her kids knew the rules and followed them without question assuring them it was for their own good. It was her own form of tough love and Paige had always understood it knowing despite her mother's rough exterior she loved each one of her children very much. If anything it was from watching how her her mum held herself together that she was the way she was.
Sure she wasn't the type of girl most mothers would desire but she wasn't a bad kid either despite what others might say about her choppy born hair, trademark leather jacket, and lip piercing. Those who knew her best would only say she was just slightly rough around the edges.
She often found it difficult to make friends because of this as most of her peers quickly wrote her off as weird, scary, or simply to different to even make an attempt to befriend and as of late that proved to be true even more. As much as she hated to admit it her mum was right these months had been incredibly difficult for Paige with their family practically going bankrupt, as their family owned gym was losing business since a new state of the art gym had opened not too far away and had taken most of their clientele. That wasn't even the worst of it as they had to end up selling the gym to keep up with their house payments and other bills that she had seen her parents stress so much over till they had come up with the unfortunate decision to let the business go.
She remembered how much it broke her father's heart to see him having to sell the gym which had been in his family for so many years and how much she and her brothers and sister were saddened they wouldn't take part in the family business any longer. It hadn't been even been a week since the foreclosure on the gym had taken place that the worst blow to the Knight family had finally come. It was on the night of Paige's 16th birthday that Rowdy Ricky Knight had succumbed to a fatal heart attack.
That night Paige felt she had lost absolutely everything. She had locked herself in her room for weeks after that refusing to talk to anyone not even her family. She had shut the few friends she had out completely, started skipping school, and had tried to find ways to forget the vacant space in her heart that her father had left.
While her mum had always been her rock her dad had always been the shoulder she could cry on, the one she wasn't afraid to let her true feelings out with because she knew he would never think any less of her for it. She couldn't talk to her mum because she just would not understand as her mum's insistence that no matter what life throws at of you, you must rampage through it and remain strong. However it wasn't that easy for a 16 year old to deal with such a tragedy so their conversations always seemed to end up in some kind of argument with both women screaming and shouting at each other at the top of their longs and almost even violent if it hadn't been for her brothers holding them apart. Now that he was gone there was no one she could tell what she was feeling inside so all her frustrations anxiety and stress had built up so intensely inside her that she was desperate for some kind of release. At first it started off with just a couple hits of weed that she had purchased from one of the sleazy stoners at her school. Normally she would never have even spoken to any of them as she always found them pathetic and their smoking a disgusting habit but she had sunk herself so deep into her own despression their promises of weightlessness and freedom sounded so appealing she had finally given in.
Suddenly it went from a once in a while kind of thing till she was doing it regularly to the point where she couldn't even afford to buy it anymore. Instead she had turned to her mother's liqueur cabinet for some comfort and while it took more than her fair share of whiskey and vodka to do the trick it was well worth it. Still it didn't take long for her mum to realize why her booze had dwindled significantly leaving Paige again without a vice to let go of her troubles. Her mother had grounded her for the rest of that summer and wasn't allowed out if it wasn't with her or one of her older siblings. It had sucked to be stuck inside during summer but it didn't stop her from craving the high that the weed provided, her hunger for it was begging to be fed and grounded be damned she needed her fix.
One night when the yearning became too much to bear she managed to sneak out undetected and had found her way to a big party one of her peers had texted her about where they assured her there would be a dealer there with an endless supply. She wasn't sure how far she'd get with attempting to convince them to let her have a freebie since she had no money but she figured it would be worth a try. At first it seemed like they would be willing to let her first hit go free of charge, but than she needed more and she obviously couldn't pay for more but her appetite needed to be fed and she was beyond desperate. In the end she payed with the only way she could. Her body. The dealer wasn't bad looking and she had put the condition that she had to be high first but it still didn't take away from the disgust she felt when it finally dawned on her what she had done. She remembered puking almost right after and leaving the party in tears screaming out to the heavens over her mistake but it was necessary she had tried to convince herself it was a small price to pay that it was worth it in the end. She repeated those same words to herself every time she stripped for any one that was willing to take her up on her offer.
The last straw as her mother referred to had been when she had once again sneaked out to a party where her regular dealer had a special gift as he liked to refer to waiting for her. She had expected weed as always but was surprised to find it was a couple pills that he promised would take her on the ride of her life. Red flags had raised in her head immediately but she had already had plenty to drink beforehand and wasn't thinking straight so she took them wanting that release that the weed had provided her. Unfortunately it provided a lot more than she bargained for since when she finally woke up from her high she was surprised to find herself in a hospital bed.
She had apparently overdosed at the party and one of the 'concerned' party goers was sober enough to drop her off in front of hospital where they found her barely breathing and had told her she almost didn't make it.
So that's why she was here in this car today driving off to the airport to attend this boarding school in Florida where they specialized in reforming troubled teens into respectful citizens of society.
What a load of bullshit she thought as she skimmed over the pamphlet. She crumpled the damn paper tossing it out the window and blasted her iPod's volume up higher untill she felt her mum yank her ear buds roughly from her ears.
"I said enough! Now take that bloody GPS and put in the correct address!" Her mom practically growled her eyes focused back on the road. "Cut the bratty attitude and be thankful your cousin Wade and his family were more than willing to pay for your tuition."
Paige's nostrils flared with annoyance but reluctantly did as she was told.
"Don't worry mum I promise that the first thing I'll do is thank dear cousin Wade Barrettt for granting me this wonderful opportunity in hell." She replied back angrily punching in the correct address for the airport this time
"Paige!" Her mother warned. Her tone very serious this time.
She irritably sat quiet for the rest of the ride, too tired to argue any further and accepting of her impending doom for she had no other choice.
The long flight to America had been absolutely horrendous for the 16 year old and the minute the plane landed she thanked her lucky stars that it was finally over.
As soon as the flight attendant announced they could leave the plane Paige pushed and shoved her way through the crowd earning her a few nasty glares that she ignored. She wanted to get the hell of this damn thing and would not stand waiting in her seat any longer for she had gotten stuck sitting in front of a negligent mother of two terrible toddlers. The insufferable woman payed more attention to her iPad through the whole flight rather than keeping her kids in line resulting in Paige's seat getting kicked from behind by her hyperactive son and her bratty daughter throwing loud screaming temper tanturms for every little thing that upset her.
It had been a nightmare that for the life of her she couldn't wake up from. It had gotten so bad that Paige had just about had enough and yelled at the two little monsters uncaring of who she offended to;
"Shut the fuck up before I wring both your necks myself!"
The two children instantly shut up with fear and their mother who was blasting her music on her iPad finally looked up and gave her a curious look.
Paige only shrugged and said. "You have two lovely children."
From than on the ride went smooth enough but she really couldn't distract herself from the overgrowing need to get smashed again whether it was with booze or weed she needed to find herself a supplier and quick she just hoped she'd be able to do it without big brother watching.
The thought of her cousin Wade Barrett watching over her 24/7 like a hawk had her more than irked but he couldn't keep his eyes on her all the time he had to have a life of his own.
When she finally made it to the airport entrance it didn't surprise her at all to see Wade waiting front and center neatly dressed as always, except his hair was much shorter than the last time she saw him and had even grown out some facial hair.
"Wade." She greeted casually crossing her arms over her chest unsure of how else to greet him. It had been about 7 years since she saw him. Wade had been shipped off to the school at 16 like Paige except for a completely different reason than hers. Her dear cousin fell in the wrong crowd back in England and soon he wasn't known as Wade Barrett potential scholar but Bare Knuckles Barrett the toughest underground fighter of all of Norwich, England.
"Cousin I had hoped when we saw each other again it wouldn't be under these circumstances." Wade said grimly grabbing a hold of her luggage and leading her towards his car.
Paige rolled her eyes but followed him. Seemed he wasn't too pleased with having to watch her either
so perhaps they could come to an agreement after all.
"Listen Wade, I don't need a babysitter I don't know what mum told you but I'm telling you now that I can take care of myself. You can do your thing while I do mine and-"
"You being here is proof that you can't take of yourself so don't give me that bull, Paige." He said bluntly without looking at her as he loaded her baggage into his trunk and gestured her towards the passenger seat.
She begrudgingly sat down in the car pulling her sunglasses back on realizing this would be a lot more difficult than she had anticipated. Wade had definitely changed since she last saw him and she wondered what was it that the school had done to her once fun cousin.
"I was told by Aunt Saraya to keep you in line and in check when it comes to your sobriety and I intend to do just that."
"Oh come off it Wade!" She whined. "What happened to you? You use to be so ace about shit like this! I mean you even use to do it!"
"Paige." He began, a stern look plastered over his face. "That's in the past. I was young I made stupid mistakes and I learned from it. I expect you to do the same while your at the school and believe me I will be watching. There are perks to being housemaster you know."
Paige's jaw dropped.
Housemaster? Wade was one of the school's housemasters?
He started up the car his way of ending the conversation but she wasn't done with him yet.
"Whoa wait! How the hell did you go from Bare Knuckles Barrett to Housemaster of-"
Pa-Pa-Pa-Party! Pa-Pa-Pa-Party!
Paige raised an eyebrow at the odd ring tone that sang from Wade's cell while he sighed in displeasure like he clearly wanted to do anything but answer the call.
Paige gave him a pointed look as his phone continued to ring. "Are you going to get that?"
Wade glared at her but finally answered the call via the blue tooth in his car.
"WADE!" A shrill voice boomed through the speakers of the car making both Wade and Paige cringe.
Her cousin sighed once more as he pulled out of the airport parking lot while Paige stared at the cars speaker in horror.
"Alicia hun I cant' talk right now I'm driving."
"Well if your already driving than why the hell aren't you at the school yet?!"
"I'm on my way now Foxy. I had to pick my cousin up at the airport but I'm running late because her flight got delayed-"
"I don't give a damn about your cousin right now Wade! I care about what's going to happen to my little sister and what we're going to do about her situation!" The female voice called Alicia continued to shriek making the brown haired teen annoyed by the second.
"Licia I already told you there's nothing more I can do for Caylee she already screwed up her last chance when she got into that fight with Sofia and at this point my hands are tied."
"Seriously?! So your not going to anything?! Not a damn thing?!" Her voice grew louder with each word and it took all of Paige not to curse the woman out.
"If this is your girlfriend Wade, than I know for sure that school's fucked with your brain. That bitch is beyond mental!" She stated incredulously.
Wade look ready to snap at her once more but Alicia beat him to it.
"Who the hell was that Wade?! That better have been that cousin of yours because if that's another girl I swear I'm gonna-"
The dark haired man quickly switched the rest of the conversation to his headset as Paige stifled a laugh at the entire situation.
"Alicia your not listening—I'm trying to explain to you—Look I''ll talk to you when I get to the school I have to get gas right now-"
From the looks of it to Paige it seemed that Alicia chick ended the conversation between herself and her cousin and not on a very good note.
They parked in front of a gas station and stayed silent for a while since Wade looked like he was ready to have a cow.
She turned to look at Wade ready to comment on what happened just to tease him but he already had his hand raised between them.
"Don't." He stated firmly unbuckling his seat belt and opening the door. "Stay in the car."
Paige huffed watching him go inside the station to pay and most likely find himself a bottle of aspirin not that she could blame him.
Searching through his glove compartment she almost let out a victory screech at the sight of an opened pack of cigarettes. She grabbed two in hopes that he wouldn't notice them missing and stuck them in the pocket of her jeans careful no to crush them. At least this would numb the hunger for a few days until she would find a way to buy some more.
She stared out dully out her window and caught for the first time a glimpse at Tampa, Florida her new home for the next two years. Dread lingered inside her since she left the plane and the reality of it all was finally hitting her. She wasn't going back home not right away at least if her mum and Wade had their way.
She was going to be stuck in that damn boarding school with people she didn't know and most likely would hate keeping her jailed like some sort of prisoner, all because they didn't approve of how she liked to spend her free time. How the hell was she going to survive?
She continued to stare her gaze falling on a nearby park but it was really the park's ramps, bowls, and grinding poles that had peaked her interest.
She had to leave her skateboard behind at home for mum didn't think it would be in her best interest to distract herself from her studies and correctional path with skateboarding. Except she knew it was really code for it'll keep you away from those stoners and junkies like the ones you met at the skate parks back home. Her mum was sneaky that way.
Turning to look back at the convenient store to see what was taking Wade so long she found that she wasn't able to spot him from her position in the car so she opted to look for him herself. He could scold her for leaving the car later she was bored and ready to get the school registration over with already.
Paige had just closed the passenger door when loud shouting from behind caught her attention.
Glancing back at the park she noticed three guys by the ramps all older looking than her arguing rather vocally about something and it seemed like it was about to turn ugly.
Peeking over her shoulder at the store again she still couldn't make out Wade and figured if she was quick enough he wouldn't even notice she had left.
Hugging her leather jacket closer to herself despite the warm weather she made her way over to them taking in their appearance one by one through her sunglasses.
The one closest on her left had skin a little bit darker than her own. A skateboard was cradled under his left arm and a confident stance that surrounded his good looks but that wasn't what had immediately caught her attention about him. It had been his unique hair that made him stand out the most among the the three for it laid half black half blond along his shoulders, like it were dividing him in two. She reluctantly let her eyes wander onto the next guy who was the biggest out of the three and arguably the most handsomest with his tanned skin and long dark hair. While his features seemed gentle enough there was something rather intimidating about them especially the way he stood tall between the two toned man and the third guy. Switching her gaze to the third guy she noted he didn't fall behind in the looks department either. He was the shortest of the three but just as muscular as the other two and could definately hold his own in a fight. He had dirty blond hair and cool blue eyes that looked somewhat crazed as he sized up the first guy like a rapid dog would a defenseless rabbit.
"Quit being a pussy Rollins and hit me already!" The blonde man charged at the blonde/black haired guy but was immediately halted by their taller companion who looked at him disapprovingly.
"Come on Dean do we gotta do this every single fucking time man! I already told you I'm not fighting you! I'm over your crap!" Rollins said frustrated standing his ground uncaring that Dean looked ready to bash his skull in.
"Rome get out of my mother fucking way man and let me kill the son of a bitch." Dean raged trying to fight out of the bigger man's grip to no avail. "See if you still won't fight me when I cut that pretty little face of yours you damn backstabber!"
Rome rolled his eyes at Dean like a father would at his son throwing another temper tantrum and actually managed to restrain the shorter man against a tree.
"Enough!" His icy glare bore into the blond who seemed stunned by his actions while two toned man shook his head defeated looking more than a little embarrassed.
"Let go of it already bro, I'm sick and tired of having to look over my shoulder every damn time I leave the school let alone my room-"
"Hey!" Paige interrupted two toned man sauntering over in front of the three having found the entire scene quite amusing and couldn't help but add to the tension or more so try to ease it.
All three man turned to look at the source of the voice and were taken aback by the mysterious brown haired lady before them. A mischievous smile played along her lips as she stared back daringly at them an unlit cigarette rolled between her forefinger and thumb.
"Any chance either of you got a light?" She asked bluntly her smile growing wider at the confused stares she received in return but it was the two toned man's who again caught her eye.
He stared at her differently than the others did like he almost couldn't believe what he was staring at. Curiously she focused her gaze in his direction trying to read him. She turned her body towards him but he shied away from her almost instantly his eyes shifting nervously trying to look anywhere but at her.
That was when the blond haired man stepped into her view raising a lighter to her cigarette. Gone was the psychotic look and instead a cocky smirk replaced it as she let him light it for her.
"For a sexy lady," he breathed watching her take a long drag, "always."
Paige let the smoke hit his face as she exhaled suddenly fascinated by the man's boldness and judging by the way he seemed a little jittery he most likely dabbled in what she was aching for. P aige noted that the he bigger man seemed amused by their exchange but remained silent not wanting to get involved.
She was about to ask for his phone number when she heard an irritating honking sound blast from where she just came from.
"Oh fuck." She groaned at the sight of her cousin standing by his car staring down at her menacingly. He pointed at her from where he stood and than at the passenger seat indicating that she better start moving unless she wanted him to do it for her.
"Thanks for the light." She states catching one last glimpse of two toned guy before she made her way over to Wade leaving the three men stunned.
"I thought I told you to stay in the car." Wade said angrily when she finally reached him.
"I got bored." She shrugged continuing to smoke until Wade snatched the cigarette from her fingers.
"In the car now!" He seethed his face turning red.
She slipped back inside the vehicle without a word figuring she had her fun for the day and Wade would probably find some way to punish her if she continued to mouth off.
Staring outside the car window as he pulled out of the gas station she noticed the two toned man from the park, the one Dean had called Rollins, riding his skateboard on the sidewalk. Headphones hung around his neck and he seemed distracted to her as his long locks whipped his angered face from the speed of the board. Unable to look away she saw him suddenly turn his head towards them having felt someone staring and was stunned to see it was her.
Paige slowly took off her sunglasses their eyes meeting almost instantly as he stopped riding and she realized Wade had come to a stop at a light.
They kept their gazes locked on each other neither one willing to be the first to back down until the traffic light turned green forcing Paige to break away from his eyes.
From the rear view mirror she saw Rollins had remained glued to the spot their car had just been leaving her puzzled at what just happened.
Author's Note: A new story from an amateur writer who hasn't written fanfiction in a long time, so please take your time to read and review and definitely feel free to leave constructive criticism. No pairings are set in stone quite yet so expect to see a lot of drama involving the romances.
