"JESSIMAE! JESSIMAE! GET IN HERE GIRL, I NEED ANOTHER BEER!" her drunken father shouted from downstairs. "I'm…I'm coming!" she shouted back. When she got downstairs, the sight of the fat, drunken, slob on the recliner wasn't the least bit surprising to her. She's not too sure what happened in the head of her father when her mom died. He used to be such a loving man a while back…kind of like he is to Adeline now. However, after her mother lost her battle to breast cancer, it was a whole new direction in her dad's life. So far, she's gone to school with bruises, cuts and even some broken fingers at some points over the years. "Here" She whispered, handing him his sixth beer. Suddenly, as Jessimae was going to walk away, she felt a large beefy hand grab her tiny wrist. She turned around to see her dad looking at her with such evil in his eyes that it made her heart jump. "Bitch, you ever yell at me like that again, I'll bash that ugly face in." he threatened. "Dad, I was just answering you when you called me." She whispered. "You talking back to me girl?!" he shouted, now getting up off the chair. "No! Dad I was…" her statement was cut off by a hard push that sent her flying over the coffee table. When Jessimae got back up, she glanced in the mirror next to the TV and saw blood trickling down her face. She couldn't take any more from her dad tonight so she bolted out of the house when she saw he was walking over for more. "YOU GET BACK HERE LITTLE GIRL!" he yelled as she ran down the front steps.
It was starting to rain which added to the dark misery that Jessimae was dealing with right now. She didn't bring anything to clean the blood off her face, and what made it worse is that it didn't stop bleeding. The blood was down to her neck now and she came to the conclusion that there was a glass vase that was on the table that she hit. Jessimae didn't know where she was going at this point. She just started walking, hoping that she wouldn't run into Ashley, Kristina, or Maria at some point. AJ and Brianna live too far away for her to stop at their places so she just felt completely screwed. She was quietly singing a song to herself as she made her way to the park when she noticed headlights slowly trailing her. Jessimae turned around and squinted through the rain and fog to see what was going on and noticed who was driving the vehicle. Roman Reigns started waving her down with a look of worry, but somewhat of a smile on his face. "Hey! What are you doing out here?" he leaned over and called through the passenger window. "Um…just going for a walk." She mumbled. "In this?! And what the hell happened to your face, Jessimae?!" He asked, now very worried. There was no way she could tell Roman or anyone about the abuse by her father so she always had to come up with some lame, ordinary excuse that made her look even more like a loser. "I fell down a hill earlier and uh…hit my head on a rock." She falsely explained. "Well come on in." He offered. Jessimae was a tad bit hesitant with his offer, because not only was he a stranger to her, but Roman was the most popular kid in her school. To Jessimae, it was odd that he was being so nice and accepting to her, and she wasn't too sure if she could trust him, but, then again, it could be her own insecurities and stereotypes getting the best of her. She slowly opened his door and sat down in the nice seat feeling extremely awkward and way out of place. He reached over and opened the glove box and pulled out a mini first-aid kit. "Well, I guess we should clean you up." He chuckled. "Why are you being so nice to me?" she finally blurted out. Roman looked at her and was somewhat shocked at her question and the way she spoke. "Why?...Am I not allowed to be?" he asked. "Roman, let's be real here. You're the most popular kid in school. Not one person that you hang out with knows who I am, but you're in a rush to talk to me at your games, pick me up off the road, and be incredibly nice to me. What have I done to make you want to talk to a loser like me?" she asked, trying to fight the tears welling up in her eyes. Roman just smirked at her and lightly grabbed her chin with his two fingers and began wiping the alcohol pad over her cut causing her to wince from the burn. "First of all, you're not a loser Jessimae. Don't talk about yourself like that, because the 'most popular kid in school' is telling you that you're definitely not. Just because you keep to yourself, you're quiet and don't do what most idiotic high schoolers do, doesn't make you a loser. Second, I don't know what type of boy you assume I am, but I don't look down on anyone in this world. Believe that or not, but I wasn't raised that way, Jessimae." He stated, sort of making her like him a tad bit more and actually making her slightly smile. Especially at the fact that, as he was cleaning her cut, he couldn't stop taking a good look in her eyes every now and then. "Wow, that's um…very different, Roman. I like that, though." She smirked. Roman pulled back onto the road and began driving around town, not going anywhere specific. "Yeah, I really can't stand mean people at all. There's no point to it…even if you have your own insecurities, find another vice. That's why I can't stand those three girls that were picking on you at the game. What are their names again?" he asked. "Oh, Ashley, Kristina, and Maria." She mumbled in disgust. "Yeah, them! God, those girls are obsessed with me." He chuckled. "So why do they pick on you all the time?" he asked. She looked down at her twiddling thumbs. "Like you said, just…an easy target, I guess…" she whispered, feeling her head where Roman stuck the band aid. He looked over at her and sighed. Roman couldn't stand when people were so hard on themselves in life when they didn't have it all as bad as they think. He stopped the car in a McDonald's parking lot and turned the car off when he reached over and pulled the mirror down above the semi frightened girls head. "Jessimae, I want you to take a good look in that mirror and tell me what you see." He said sternly. She looked over at him completely shocked. *What's he a fucking psychiatrist now?!* She thought to herself. "I don't understand Roman…what do you mean?" she fake smirked. There was nothing Jessimae wanted more than to get out of this car right now. If she wanted to do this, then she'd go to the guidance counselor at school. "What's not to understand about this? Just do it." He chuckled. After a few minutes of deep thought, Jessimae realized that Roman truly is no harm to her. Ever since he met her, he's been nothing but kind to her. Not only that, but he just got done saying that he practically accepts everyone in his life so why shouldn't she trust him? She let out a deep sigh and looked at herself in the tiny mirror which happened to be very hard for her to do. "What do you see?" he asked. "I see…Jessimae Miller." she whispered, being a smart ass about the situation. "C'mon!" he laughed. "In all seriousness, what do you see?" he added. "Um…I see a 17 year old girl…who is not the prettiest girl in town…um, who really needs to put a brush to her hair right now." She chuckled. "See that's your problem Jessimae! You point out all your flaws and things that aren't important. You can't live your life doing that. Is there anything about yourself that you do like?" he asked. She looked down at her feet and knew exactly what he was talking about and didn't feel the least bit insulted either. That was her biggest problem growing up that she inherited from her mother, and it didn't help that her dad made matters worse for her. "Well, I have really white, straight teeth." She chuckled. Roman smirked and lightly shook his head. "Well I guess that's a start." He laughed. "You want to know what I see?" he asked. She shot her head over at him feeling nervous with him, but flattered that he wanted to help her. "Not really, but beings that you're going to tell me anyway, knock yourself out." She laughed. "I see a very pretty girl, who needs to stop being so hard on herself in life and is a very sweet and chill person that a guy would kill to have as his." He explained softly. Jessimae so badly wanted to believe him and be flattered and get those feelings in her stomach, but nothing was happening. She didn't believe Roman at all and she hated sugar-coating. "Pfffffff!" she started cracking up laughing in his face which made him cock an eyebrow. "That is such bullshit Roman!" she laughed. "Wow! That's really funny." She continued after many more minutes of hard laughter went by. "Why do you have to sugar coat everything?" she chuckled. He just sat there stunned at her reaction. It definitely wasn't what he expected from her. "You think I was just saying that? You think I would take the time to help you out of the rain, clean up your wound to lie to you like that?" he asked in such a serious tone that it just about frightened Jessimae. "No…I, I guess not." She mumbled into a straight face.
Roman started the car and got back on the road, following Jessimae's directions back to her house. When he reached her driveway, he saw the terrified look on her face as she was looking up at her house, not knowing what kind of beating she was going to walk in on this time. "You okay?" he asked, interrupting her horrific thoughts. "What!?" she quickly replied. "You just look a little worried, you okay?" he asked again. She took one last look at her house and nodded her head 'yes' before trying to get out of the car. "Jessimae, wait!" he called out. She turned back around and looked at Roman with a look of mixed emotions. "I didn't mean to upset you or make you feel uncomfortable at all earlier." He stated. "It's okay…you were just trying to help." She forced a smile, earning one from him as well. "There's another step up." He chuckled. "What do you mean?" she whispered. "You're a very understanding person." He replied. Jessimae gave him one last big smile, which was actually real this time, and finally left the cute boys vehicle.
Jessimae made it to her front door and noticed there were no lights on in the house which relieved her to know that her father went to bed, or he passed out from drinking too much and Adeline had to shut everything off -which is typical. She slowly opened the door to see her dad in the dark snoring up an earthquake on the recliner. While tip-toeing past him, her foot got caught on the PlayStation cord and she pulled it right off the table, instantly waking her father. Jessimae never wanted to punch herself so hard before in her life. "That you Jess?" he mumbled. She let out a loud sigh, knowing that she was going to get punished for running out of the house tonight. "Yeah, I'm home now." She whispered as her dad was getting up and approaching her.
-THE NEXT DAY-
"Hey, Jess! You got some mascara I can borrow? I'm all out." Adeline asked walking into her sister's bathroom. "Jesus Christ." She whispered, when she saw her younger sister's black eye from last night. "Is that uh…from whom I think it is?" she added. Jessimae turned around and gave her sister a look as if saying: "What do you think?!" "Sorry, um…where did you go last night?" Adeline asked. "I took a walk around town with a bloody forehead while you were safe in your bed, and getting fed a delicious hot meal, and enjoying life." Jessimae snapped, storming out of the bathroom and grabbing her bag to leave. Adeline was left there to sink in what was just said to her. There was no arguing with her about it, because Jessimae was right. Adeline was favorited by her father for some reason as Jessimae was left to not even have the slightest bat of an eyelash by her father when she did something good in school, or changed her hair style or anything. There was no getting through to her father that Jessimae was a human being with feelings just like her, because he looked at her as a punching bag to get his feelings out from all he went through in his life. Which, compared to most people, really wasn't all that bad…he was just an asshole.
The loud bell ringing drew Jessimae out of her thoughts as she walked down the school hallway. Her mind was so full that she excluded all her colleagues and teachers out of her surroundings. As she was rooting through her locker to make her way to homeroom, she felt a finger tapping her shoulder. Immediately, she knew who it was without even looking at them. "Sup stranger!" Jon shouted. "Why are you yelling?" she moaned. "What's wrong with you?" he asked, surprised at her reaction to see him. "Nothing, Jon. I'm fine." She mumbled, grabbing her text book and walking away. "Hey! What's wrong with you?" he yelled after her. Suddenly she felt his hand go into hers and spin her around really quick so she'd stop ignoring him. "What's your…." Jon stopped in mid-sentence when he saw her big black eye from her father. "What the hell happened to you?!" he panicked. "I'm fine, Jon." She mumbled, trying to tug her hand away. However, Jon kept his grip strong. "I didn't ask if you were fine, Jessimae. Now what happened to you?" He asked sternly. "Adeline and I were messing around last night. She accidently hooked me. Now I got to get to home room." She said hesitantly, pulling her hand away from Jon. Of course, Jon didn't believe a word she said because he knew Adeline would never be that rough with her baby sister. He could do nothing but shrug it off, and walk away though.
Jessimae was completely out of it during homeroom. She couldn't stop feeling sorry for herself that she couldn't get anything she wanted and that she was nothing but a failure…in her mind. Not to mention that she was getting every pair of eyes staring daggers at her bruised face. It was bad enough that she was a loser in school, but now showing up with a big black eye made her look even more bad. All she could do to make herself feel better right now was to bury her face in her arms for the next fifteen minutes of homeroom and pretend she was somewhere else. Although, her happy thoughts didn't last long when she felt a hand pat the top of her head in a joking manner. Jessimae didn't dare to lift her head, because she knew it was some girl doing her daily dose of picking on Jessimae Miller. "Hey you." A deep voice said softy above her. She lifted her head to match the face of the familiar voice and unexpectedly caught sight of Roman standing next to her. "Hey Roman." She whispered in a voice that was almost excited to see him, but incredibly nervous at the same time. "What happened to you!?" he whispered, wide-eyed and grabbing her chin to get a better look. "Nothing, my sister accidently hooked me last night when we were fooling around." She lied. Roman cocked his eyebrow at her. "Sweet little Adeline did that?" he asked suspiciously. Jessimae just nodded nervously when she could tell that Roman did not believe her statement. "Damn." He chuckled. "Why are you here?" she asked. Roman's homeroom was on the other side of the school, so Jessimae was a little confused as to why he was in her room, AND talking to her. "You remember when Jack and Titus got into a fight in here the other day?" he asked. Jessimae nodded with a smirk. How could she forget that fight?! "Well, to keep the peace in this crazy ass room, they switched me and Titus's homeroom. So I'm here now." He smiled. Jessimae kind of felt a little excited because he showed her that he truly wanted to be her friend. "Anyways, how were you last night when you got home? I didn't weird you out or anything right?" he asked, taking a seat next to her. "No, not at all. It actually um…made me feel better in a way." She smirked, this time telling him the truth, for once. "Oh yeah? How so?" he asked. Jessimae took a deep breath and let him know exactly how she felt last night. "Well, it showed me that at least someone other than my sister cares about me…I guess. I mean, from what I saw it looked like you cared, I know you don't know me personally but…" she was cut off. "You're right. I do care." He whispered, smirking. She couldn't help but stare into his beautiful grey eyes. It amazed her that this kid, the most popular kid in school, the star quarterback, just told her that he cared about her. There were no words that were able to come out of her mouth. They just sat there staring with much wonder in each other's eyes. All of the sudden, her mind was filled with the evil voice of her father. The things he'd say to her just to get the smile off of her face. Every time she'd feel a bit of happiness, that voice would intrude her thoughts. She remembered when she was trying to run away to her room after a bad beating by him, and even his words were just as bad as the beatings.
X
"You're a stupid filthy bitch Jess! Nobody likes you and nobody will ever fucking need you bitch! Every one of those cunts at school that smile to your face and act like your friends don't fucking like you either! You think you're hot shit because you get good grades and all that dumb shit! Guess what bitch!? None of that's going to matter because nobody's going to accept your little ugly worthless ass to anything cause that's exactly what you are! You're fucking worthless, bitch! You deserve every punch to that ugly ass face of yours and nobody has sympathy for you because you're fucking nothing!"
X
"Jessimae. Jessimae!" Roman snapped his fingers in her lost face. He noticed tears welling in her eyes when she slowly looked away and started staring blankly at the floor, and he was dying to know what she was just thinking. "Hey!" He snapped once more, making her jump up and come back to reality. "Oh, sorry, I um…" she stuttered. Suddenly the first period bell rang and without hesitation or a goodbye, Jessimae was the first to be up and out of there. "Wait, Jess!" Roman called out, as he ran out of the room as well. "Hey Ro!" a voice shouted. Roman rolled his eyes in irritation when he heard Kristina's annoying mouse voice call his name. He turned around to see her, Ashley and Maria with seductive smiles on their faces. They were expecting him to be all touchy, feely with them because, well, they were hot, and he was popular. However, these three were the last things Roman wanted to deal with right now. Actually, he never wanted to deal with these three. "What do you need Kristina?" he exhaled. "Just wanted to talk, that's all. You look tense. What's wrong?" she asked, twirling her hair. Roman hated when girls tried so hard to get him. Maybe that was part of the reason he was growing on Jessimae so much. "Just…go to class guys. I got shit to do today and don't have time." He snapped, and with that, he stormed off. "What the fuck is his problem?" Ashley asked. "Not sure, but I have a feeling it has to do with that Jessimae bitch." Kristina said angrily. "It did look like he was going after her, didn't it?" Maria added. Kristina groaned, and stormed off as well while snapping her finger to order her two friends to follow after her.
Jessimae ended up at the back of the school by the dark staircase that was incredibly easy for kids to skip class, because it was the last place teachers looked. She sobbed for about two minutes with nothing but her father on her mind. She stuck her fingers in her hair and tucked her head between her knees while she cried. At this point, there was no other way out for her. Everything her father said to her, sunk in, and she felt was true. When she finally pulled herself together and was about to get up, she noticed someone move next to her. Slowly, she looked over and saw Jon sitting in the dark area under the staircase just looking at her. It was now, that she was truly creeped out by this kid. "Jon! What…what are you doing?" she stuttered. "I always come here during math class. I hate Mrs. Lange, and I hate math, so uh…here I am." He smirked. "You want to explain to me why you're here?...and crying?" He added, trying not to sound concerned, but was actually very. "Just a little upset that's all." She whispered. Jon cocked his eyebrow and just stared at her. This girl held up the biggest defense wall around people that it was unbelievable to him. Suddenly, Jon leaned over to her and grabbed her arm, and pulled her to his direction so that they were both hidden under the stairs. She was so light and easy to move that it took no effort, she just slid over. "Jon what the hell." She groaned. "What's going on with you? I really want you to talk to me." He stated, with his head practically lying on her shoulder from sliding down to meet her level. "It's just been…rough for me." She mumbled, wondering why she was all of the sudden caught up in either Jon Moxley or Roman Reigns. Jon looked at her and smiled when the light bulb went off in his head. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a rolled up sandwich bag that consisted of a joint and a lighter. "What's that?" she asked, even though she knew exactly what it was. "A little something that's going to make things…less rough." He smirked lighting the joint. "Jon! You can't do that! We're in fucking school!" she loudly whispered. "Sweet cheeks, when do you ever see any teachers come to this end of the school let alone by these staircases." He chuckled. He was right about that. Teachers pretty much abandoned this end of the school and are too stupid to realize that kids skip class there. Jon inhaled the pot and handed the joint to Jessimae. "Jon I smoke cigarettes, not pot." She giggled. "That's your problem, Jess." He whispered. "Jessimae" she glared. "Jessimae, you don't try anything new, adventurous, or crazy! You don't bother to create any stories that you can tell in your future." He stated. Jessimae looked at her feet and sunk in what he said, and he was right. It wasn't going to kill her to try it. She took the joint and brought it to her lips following with a big inhale. It was a little too much for her and she began coughing incontrollable. "Chill! Not so loud!" he laughed, patting her back. "With that noise, you're really going to get us caught!" he added. "Sorry!" She choked out, laughing. "I can't do that." 'Well, maybe you're not ready for the big shit. Open your mouth." He demanded. "What?" she asked surprised. "Just do it Miss Stubborn!" he said, inhaling more marijuana. She did as he said and he pulled her face over to face him. Jon leaned forward, his mouth about an inch away from hers and lightly blew the smoke in her mouth. She couldn't lie to herself, because as much as she tried not to like this kid, his mouth that close to hers made her head extremely light. "That, Jessimae, is what you call pussy pot smoking." He teased. "Not my fault my body couldn't handle it." She laughed. "Weakling." He joked. "Shut up, Moxley!" she laughed, sarcastically. "Do you come down here and smoke pot every math class?" She chuckled. "Well sometimes I bring oxycodone and shit. I ended up sleeping under these stair cases for five periods one day." He laughed. Jon and Jessimae spent the next five minutes laughing at just about everything from the high that were on. Jon slowed down his laughing and took a good look at Jessimae when he noticed something very different about her. The smile she had on her face. It was big and bright, and was not shown often. Jon admired it so much; along with the beautiful laughter that came out of it. With the attitude that this girl put on, he never thought that he was see this girl so happy before. With that being said, he really couldn't help his next step. He had no idea if it was him or the pot, but he pulled a still giggling Jessimae over to him and planted his lips firmly against hers. There was no lip movement, and no tongue. They were just stuck like that. Suddenly she pulled away after about a minute of holding the kiss and was extremely confused as to what just happened. "Jessimae, I'm…I'm sorry about that I…" he was cut off. "It's okay, Jon. I um…I need to go anyway!" she panicked and ran off, leaving Jon sitting there with his face buried in his hands. "What the fuck, Moxley!" he whispered to himself.
As Jessimae was running down the hallway, her arm was caught by Roman after he turned from the water fountain. "Where you running off to, stranger?" he asked, not being able to take his eyes off her shiner. Roman wasn't an idiot. He's been in fights and he's seen fights before. Not to mention, he knew Adeline very well, and he knew that that girl would never do damage like that to her sister, let alone in a joking manor. "Roman, I really don't have time to talk. I have to go." She said, tugging her arm away and continuing out of the school. Jessimae was starting to get annoyed that either Jon or Roman was over her shoulder now. As depressed as she got sometimes about not having as much attention as the 'pretty' girls or her sister, this was starting to get a little annoying. "Jessimae! Where are you going?!" he shouted in almost a panic when he saw she was going for the front doors. Roman was standing there completely confused and worried. He didn't know what to think of this girl and she was such a mystery to him. Suddenly, Roman felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked over, he saw Jon. This boy smelled like pot so bad that it burned Roman's nostrils. "Don't bother man. Those lips? They were already on mine. So uh, back off alright?" Jon stated with a smirk. With that, he patted Romans chest and walked away leaving Roman with a look of confusion on his face. *Why the hell did I just say that to him?! You need to put this pot away!* Jon ranted to himself up the hallway. Jon was beginning to wonder if he was sort of jealous of the connection building between Roman and Jessimae. He knew they liked each other since the football game. Never in a million years did Jon think he'd get jealous about a girl. However, now, he was starting to consider it. Roman was still standing there. Clueless as to what Jon was indicating, and how he never noticed her and Jon had a thing?!
