Thank you for all the reviews so far. Here's chapter 7...


TO REVEAL OR NOT TO REVEAL

"Outta my way, important business to take care of!"

Eve pushed her way through the bustle of students in the busy hallway, stopping only to smile sweetly and hand out invitations to those invited to her party. There were four main hallways in the school and she, Rosa and Maryse had three of them covered. She'd even roped in her new lab partner Layla to hand out invites on the forth one; the more hands that were helping, the quicker they'd be done.

"Hope you can come!" She said to everyone. Of course people would come; Eve was the new Queen Bee at Fitzwinter and there was a lot of hype surrounding her party. It had to deliver; failure was not an option.

Back when Maria was Queen Bee, it had never really occurred to Eve how much work seemed to be involved; how one tiny slip could ruin your social standing. Although Eve never really spoke to her about it, Maria just appeared to take the whole process in her stride and all she had to do was smile and click her fingers at people. Eve didn't know how she did it but she had a newfound respect for her best friend.

Well, former best friend.

"Hey Randy!" Upon seeing one of the members of the football team emptying books into his locker, Eve jogged over as fast as her wedges would carry her. "Here, it's an invitation to my party. I hope you can make it."

He gave the invite a quick once over before slipping it in his locker. "Thanks."

Everyone else responded with hugs and 'Oh my God, it's going to be awesome!' so his lack of enthusiasm worried her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I'm just...tired." It was clearly a lie but Eve decided not to pry too much. He forced a smile onto his face before saying "Hey, you must be stoked about your party – it's pretty soon."

"If everything goes to plan, it should be the best night ever. I just wish I could get a little more enthusiasm out of Matt."

"Oh yeah?" Randy's ears seemed to prick up.

"Obviously he's my date and all I want is for him to be a little more onboard. It's like recently, he's constantly got something else on his mind."

Randy knew exactly what that something was. The day of Maria's death, he had left the bag with his football uniform in inside the gym locker room. Just as one of Fitzwinter's football stars was about to exit the locker room with his bag in hand, he saw two figures inside the gym through the glass window on the door; Maria and Matt. He thought nothing of it until a kiss between the pair confirmed the unthinkable.

It was bad enough that Matt was cheating on Eve and Maria on John but the fact that Maria died on the very same day Randy caught them made it very difficult for him to come forward and tell his friends the truth. Through football, John had become like a brother to him and Eve was one of the sweetest, most genuine girls he'd ever met. The pair of them had been through enough and to add to it, no-one would gain anything from Maria's reputation getting ruined.

The whole thing had been eating at Randy ever since he found out and anytime he was around Matt, he just wanted to hit him for being so stupid. Anytime he was around Eve, he wanted to let her know how much better she could do.

"Have you noticed anything different about Matt? He hasn't said anything to me but I wondered if maybe he'd said something to you guys that he doesn't feel he can tell me?"

Randy slammed his locker shut, making Eve jump. "Whatever it is, maybe he doesn't want it to come out."

Eve raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you know, Orton?"

Randy thanked God as the bell rang and everyone began to make their way to class. "Uh, I'll catch up with you later, Eve." As he rushed off into one of the biology labs – suspicious, considering they were in the same class – Eve pursed her lips together thoughtfully. Randy Orton knew something and she wanted to know what it was. Unfortunately, that was put to the back of her mind as she got a text from Rosa.

Out of invites and I haven't started on the lacrosse girls. Invites needed ASAP or Beth's going to punch my teeth down my throat :S

'Eve the girlfriend' was going to find out what was going on with Randy and Matt but her main priority was the party being a success and that included 'Eve the Queen Bee' saving Rosa from one of Beth Phoenix's knuckle sandwiches.


Knowing there were only a couple of minutes left of her chemistry class, Mickie found it difficult not to let her gaze drift over to the window and out onto the track field. A freshman group were stood outside and by the looks of the things, gym teacher Ms Boyce had stopped caring about her class as she was nowhere to be seen. A couple of boys ran anyway, desperate to beat each other in impromptu races whilst a few girls were scattered on the bleachers, gossiping as they hunched over their cell phones.

Mickie allowed a small smile to cross her lips; she remembered those days. Freshman year, when everything seemed so easy and simple. Back then, it was her, Melina Perez, Candice Beckman and Ashley Massaro; the fearless foursome. The quartet went everywhere together and did everything together. They were inseparable. Everyone assumed that because they were a four, there were best friend divides between them but that wasn't the case; they were all equally close and didn't do anything without the other three present.

Times changed though and the only one that Mickie had stayed close with was Melina. Candice had left Fitzwinter halfway through sophomore year when her parents moved their catering company out to San Francisco. At first, they called and emailed all the time after she left but soon enough, the phone calls became less and less regular and each time they spoke, all Candice spoke about were her new friends Torrie and Victoria and how much she loved California. Needless to say that as time moved on, the phone calls and emails stopped.

Then there was Ashley. After it was clear Candice was no longer a member of the group, the girls' perfect friendship seemed to crumble. The blonde in the group stopped being the sweet-natured girl they once knew and she rebelled; staying out late with the older kids, drinking, smoking, not doing her school work and dressing provocatively. She wasn't the girl that Melina and Mickie loved and much of the time the trio spent together resulted in arguments. Eventually, Ashley's parents saw the change in their daughter and quietly sent her off to an all-girls school in Utah, leaving things on a sour note with her two best friends.

In some ways, it wasn't all bad. The problems Mickie and Melina had experienced with the other two girls had just shown that they could rely on each other above all else and that their friendship would survive no matter who came and went. For a little while, it even toughened Mickie up, showing her that sometimes stuff happened that didn't turn out the way that you wanted it to.

Despite the events that followed, Mickie would have given anything to return to the simpler days of freshman year.

"Miss James, if you want to stay and help clear up the beakers from today's experiment, you just have to ask." Looking up, the brunette realised that at some point during her daydreaming, Dr Clement had dismissed the class and everyone else had left.

"Sorry, I was in a world of my own." She gathered up her textbook and stationary, to which the teacher just smiled before leaving the room, muttering something about his lunch break.

A couple of seconds later as Mickie was heading for the door herself, there was a knock and she was greeted by John Cena.

"Hey." The captain of the football team greeted Mickie with his signature genuine smile. "Is Dr Clement around? He said if I swung by at lunch, he'd have my test from last week graded."

"He just went to the teachers' lounge. I think he said something about a turkey sandwich and a packet of Cheetos?"

John chuckled, giving the teacher's desk a quick onceover for his test paper. "Yeah, that sounds like Clement." Silence surrounded the two before he continued. "So, how've you been? I haven't talked to you since the funeral."

All it took was a quick mention of the funeral and thoughts of Maria flooded back into Mickie's head. "I've been better." She shrugged. "What about you?"

"I'm okay actually. I dunno about you but for me, it gets a little easier every day."

Not for Mickie; that aching hole in her heart just remained. "Yeah, totally."

Leaning back against Dr Clement's desk, John told her "If you ever wanted to talk...you know, about Maria, that's fine. I don't know what you're feeling, Mickie, but I'm here for you–"

Their conversation was cut off by the door opening and Layla sticking her head inside, a cheeky smile on her face. "How long does it take to get a test marked?" She joked, coming inside when she saw the teacher wasn't around.

"Clement isn't in here." John replied. "Micks, have you met Layla El? She joined last week. Layla, this is my friend, Mickie James."

"Pleased to meet you." The Brit smiled enthusiastically.

Mickie wasn't sure if she was just misinterpreting the situation but something told her there was more than friendship between John and Layla and she didn't like it. Who did this new girl think she was, coming into their school and making a move on him so soon after Maria? Did she have no class? And what was John doing with her anyway?

Not receiving a response from Mickie, Layla's cheeks reddened so she turned to her male friend. "I said I'd help Eve hand out invites to her party so you can go to lunch without me."

"You were helping her all morning."

"Apparently she ran out of invites and then Rosa started saying something to me about needing facial reconstruction surgery...I don't know, I'm a little confused by the whole thing."

"Well, where are you meeting them?"

"Courtyard."

"I'll walk you." John and Layla both smiled at Mickie, shooting her a nod before they disappeared out of the classroom, leaving the brunette alone once again.


Jeff knew he had to confront Matt about Maria and he couldn't wait any longer to do so. His original plan to pounce on his brother as soon as they got in from school was flawed as Matt had football training until six and then called home to say he wouldn't be back for dinner because he was eating at Eve's.

After spending the night listening out for the front door, the sound of Matt's key turning in the lock alerted Jeff at midnight – half an hour after his parents told him to be home, despite the fact Mr and Mrs Hardy had gone to bed an hour earlier. Before heading up to his bedroom, Matt grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and dropped a ten dollar bill on the kitchen table – some cash he owed his dad.

When he went back into the hallway, he jumped upon seeing his brother stood at the top of the stairs. "You scared the crap outta me." He laughed, ascending the stairs. "I thought you'd be asleep."

"I needed to talk to you so I waited up." The younger Hardy was straight-faced.

"That doesn't sound good. Come in, don't wanna wake up Mom and Dad."

The brothers went into Matt's bedroom. He flicked the lights on and closed the curtains whilst Jeff pulled the door behind him, leaning back against it. Matt turned the radio onto a low volume and sat down on his bed before asking his brother "So what's up?"

To the surprise of many people, the Hardy boys were close. Their differing interests and opposite social circles often made others assume they didn't see eye to eye but growing up, they'd looked out for each other and that bond was strong even throughout adolescence.

Ever since Jeff discovered the truth about his brother, however, the admiration he once had for him was sinking. "I know, Matt."

"Know what?" The older brother took his cell phone out of his jean pocket and started texting.

"I know."

"Okay, well I don't know what you're talking about."

Jeff stayed static in the doorway. "I know that you slept with Maria."

It was impossible to tell how Matt felt when Jeff said that because he expressed no emotion, keeping his eyes fixed on his cell phone. When he finally looked up, he shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah you do."

"And how do you know this? Do you have some sort of incriminating evidence against me? There is none."

"The pair of underwear belonging to Maria in that drawer over there." Jeff pointed over at the chest of drawers where he'd first found the evidence. "And don't try and pass then off as Eve's because I know they're Maria's."

That caught Matt off-guard. There was nothing he could say that would defend his actions. The look on his little brother's face was the reason he and Maria had kept their rendezvous a secret; the disapproval, the utter disgust, the way no-one seemed to understand.

"Come on then. What've you got to say for yourself? How're you gonna explain the fact you cheated on Eve?"

"Firstly, maybe you wanna keep your voice down?" Matt hissed threateningly, squaring up to his little brother. There was only a year between them and although they were exactly the same height, Matt knew he was stronger and he thought he could take Jeff if it came to blows. "Secondly? Get off your moral high horse, you've never even had a girlfriend–"

Jeff chuckled softly, knowing it wouldn't have been long until that came up. "Maybe but that's probably better than having two at once and being shady about it–"

"I was 'shady about it' because I love Eve and I didn't want her to get hurt."

"If you really loved her and you didn't want her to get hurt, you wouldn't have fooled around with Maria."

"So this is about Maria? Of course. You've always had a little crush on Maria and you've annoyed because something happened between me and her."

"This isn't about me, this is about you cheating on your girlfriend with her best friend, who happens to be dead now." Jeff fought back, the mention of Maria's death stinging both Hardy brothers. "Was it a one-time thing with Maria or was it more?" A lack of response from Matt gave Jeff his answer. "Oh my God, you have to tell Eve."

"No Jeff, I don't. You may be the 'smart Hardy' but you've got so much to learn. You've never been in a serious relationship so you don't understand the problems that occur and the sacrifices you have to make. You don't get that sometimes, problems occur and you have to bend the truth to protect people–"

"You don't have to have been in a relationship to know that cheating is wrong! You honestly think you can keep this from Eve?"

"I honestly plan to."

"Sorry bro but I just can't let you do that. Eve needs to know–"

Matt's anger overtook every other emotion in his body and he grabbed his brother by the collar, the most conflict that had ever surfaced between the two in years. "Why the hell are you getting involved?"

"Because it's not fair on Eve!" Jeff shoved his brother off, surprising his brother with his strength as Matt stumbled back onto his bed. "What if the roles were reversed and Eve had slept with Cena? You'd want to know, right?"

"That's different, you're my brother and you're meant to be on my side."

"I'm always on your side, Matt, but you've screwed up and it's been a secret for long enough. If you don't tell Eve, I will."

"You're shitting me, right?" When Jeff's expression didn't changed, Matt scowled. "You're a dickhead, you know that right?"

"Just tell Eve the truth." Jeff didn't say anything else, instead he left Matt's room and went into his own bedroom, leaving his older brother furious that his secret had come out. Matt told himself his brother was too much of a wimp to actually go through with what he said but the look in his brother's eyes told him something was different this time around.


Please leave a review :) xx

NEXT TIME – A nightmare shakes Mickie to her core and Eve's party is on everyone's lips.