A/N: Sorry that this one is super short, just wanted to get something out there for you guys and I needed to just write to try and bridge the chapters. So on with the story and be sure to check out my stories when you have a moment or two.

No Account- As I'm sure you know by now a German Suplex is one hell of a move and can hurt like no other. Hayden is curious and has more than just one project on his hands.

YouYou098- I won't spoil anything too soon just know that the incident left Ashley a mess and she is still trying to recover. Lucky for her though Hayden is back and doesn't give up easily.

Guest- I don't want to spoil anything but all will be revealed later on, you are on the right track though. Glad you are enjoying the story.

MaverickMike- I should give Hayden someone like Paul Heyman to follow him around and hype him up LOL!

Surayo- Awesome that you know what a German Suplex is, yeah I should have had Steven stay down for much longer, I'm sure we will see it later on. Ashley hasn't dealt with her problems well hopefully Hayden can help. Glad that you are excited for your new episode.

CB73- Steven is pretty thick headed and I'm sure that a few more German Suplexes will be thrown around again. Ashley's past is something that Hayden can help her with and help their friendship now that they will have time to spend together.

Thanks for all the reviews keep them coming, as you can see I read them all. Be sure to check out my other stories too.

To my Fiancee who is away for her last semester of college. I love and miss you.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Mexican ;p

Disclaimer: I don't own anything... Sadly


October 21st, 2019

Ashley managed to power through the first half of the day after her incident in the hall way with Steven. She was still pissed off that the bastard couldn't get it through his thick skull that she was not interested in him. She really regretted going on the 'date' with him last year. Ashley though was more angry at herself for becoming overwhelmed when Steven had gotten a few steps too close and made her freeze.

Ashley shook her head in an attempt to stop the memories and emotions from coming forward again. Heather, Rebecca, and herself were sitting in the lunch room and were still getting the occasional look in their direction. Heather and Rebecca were worried for their friend as she had been quiet for the entire first half of school. The two friends looked at each other, over to Ashley, and then back to each other. They gave each other a nod, a silent form of acknowledgement that their friend needed help and they were going to help her.

"Ashley." Heather tried.

Getting no response Heather looked to Rebecca to try and get their friends attention.

"Ashley." Rebecca repeated a little louder.

Still getting no response Rebecca lightly grabbed Ashley's hand to get her attention. The second Ashley felt someone grab her hand she snapped her head up, pulled back her hand, and clenched it into a fist ready to fight whoever had just grabbed her. Rebecca and Heather backed up as far as their chairs would let them to get out of Ashley's reach.

Realizing what she had just done and how it would look to everyone else Ashley quickly put her fist down and unclenched it. She cleared her throat and pulled herself closer to the table to dig into her tray. Sensing that it was safe Heather and Rebecca pulled themselves back to the table. They sat in silence for a few moments before Rebecca got tired of waiting and wanted to get this started.

"Alright Ashley, what the fuck was that earlier?" Rebecca asked with zero tact.

Heather glared over at her friend for her bluntness at just diving in head first. Rebecca never bothered a look over at Heather and just kept her eye trained on Ashley. Ashley had frozen mid-bite at Rebecca's question and had to carefully construct her answers for her friends. She hadn't told them and wanted to keep it that way.

"Don't worry about it. It is something that I need to work through myself." Ashley answered softly.

"Bullshit." Rebecca answered back.

"Bullshit, that we won't worry about it. You are Ashley Hofferson, you don't just freeze like that, you don't freeze over anything. We are your friends Ashley and we want to help you now tell us what happened." Rebecca explained.

Ashley had placed her fork back down on the tray and kept her head down. She didn't want to talk about this. It was her problem she would deal with it, she didn't want anyone else to know about it. She lifted her head and prepared to answer Rebecca when the sound of a tray being placed on the spot next to her forced her attention elsewhere. She looked up to see Hayden removing his back pack and sitting down next to Ashley.

"Perhaps this isn't the best place or time to ask Ashley such questions Rebecca." Hayden responded coolly.

The response shocked all the girls into silence. Hayden had apparently heard at least the last part of their conversation. Taking a moment to gather their thoughts Rebecca narrowed her eyes at Hayden and prepared to give him a piece of her mind when Heather put a hand on her shoulder to stop her tirade. Seeing Heather shaking her head Rebecca sat back with a huff and waited for someone to pick up the conversation again.

"Now then, I have a question for all you ladies." Hayden asked as he swept his gaze over the girls.

He waited until Ashley was looking up at him to change to subject and hopefully put Ashley in a better mood.

"What did you all think of the duel last Thursday?" Hayden asked.

Hayden knew that a change in subject was needed. Ashley was still down and her friends while they were trying, weren't doing much to try, and bring her out of it. He figured that the change in subject to something new that they had all tried would be a welcome distraction. He looked around and could see the girls were all deep in thought about how to answer. To everyone's surprise Ashley answered first.

"It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen." She responded while looking up at Hayden.

He could see in her eyes that she was glad for the change in subject and was more than willing to talk about this. Hayden smiled at her and waited for the other girls to answer.

"Have to agree with Ashley it was really cool, your entrance really set the tone and had everyone in an uproar." Heather responded next.

"Thank you, I was going for something like that. Not everyone knows where I get it from though, I actually just borrow entrances that Pro Wrestlers in the WWE use." Hayden replied back honestly.

"It was a bunch of fairly attractive guys, trying to hurt each other, in a dark room. Good night in my book." Rebecca replied with two thumbs up and massive smile on her face.

The change in tone was something that everyone appreciated. Hayden was able to keep their minds occupied and keep the tone light and easy going, he hoped that it would help Ashley have a much better second half of the day. For the rest of lunch period Hayden managed to keep their minds and questions on wrestling. He answered their questions with ease and was happy that Ashley was interacting with them and for the moment was out of her funk. He knew that it might be a while before Ashley was truly okay but for now he would take what he could get, and if keeping her mind off of whatever happened is how he could help then that is what he would do.

They sat at the table until the bell rang and walked to the next class together as a group. As they were walking Hayden kept getting stopped by students and teachers who wanted to congratulate him on his win at the last duel and asking him to hang out with them.

Hayden thanked them for the offers and their praise but had to politely decline their offers to hang out for now and told them to take a rain check. Right now, his friend needed him a bit more than everyone else and that was where his focus was. They all walked into the room and Hayden figured he should sit by the girls today and found a spot next to Ashley and waited for the class to start. Students started to filter in and as Heather and Rebecca were caught up in their own conversation Hayden could see the shift in Ashley's eyes. She had just put on a mask for everyone else to make it seem like she had moved past the incident this morning. Wanting to reassure her without drawing the attention of Heather and Rebecca, Hayden fished out his phone and sent Ashley a quick text

'If you ever want to talk I'm a phone call or text away, and right now about 6 inches to your left ;p.' – Hayden

He stared ahead as he waited for the message to reach Ashley's phone. He heard the tell-tale buzz of a phone vibrating and could tell that it was Ashley's. He listened as she fished out her phone to look at his text. He heard her clicking away a response but kept his head trained on the front of the room.

'Thank you…smartass.' – Ashley

Hayden read the text and smile down at it. This was a start and if he could just reassure her a little bit then he could relax knowing she was okay. He turned to see her looking at him with a soft smile of her own. He returned the smile and gave her a small nod as the teacher walked in.

"Alright class, today you are all going to pair up for the senior project that is required for you all to graduate. Now I don't care who you pair up with but only two in a group, I'll give you a few minutes to pair up." The teacher finished.

The room erupted into a sea of friends calling from across the room and people scrambling to try and get the partner they wanted. Heather and Rebecca didn't bother moving as they knew that they would be partners like they were for every project. Ashley looked around trying to see if anyone else was taken. She looked at Hayden for a brief moment but dismissed the thought of him pairing up with her, he had friends who might want to be with him and she wasn't going to deny him that. She was surprised to find that after a few moments Hayden was still next to her and looking down at her.

"Want to be partners?" He asked.

Shocked into silence Ashley had to shake her head to gather her thoughts.

"What about your other friends?" She asked a little self-consciously.

"They will live, it looks like they all found someone anyway." He said as he motioned over to them.

Sure, enough all the guys that Hayden had been with on Friday were all paired up with each other and when Ashley looked around the class she could see that they were the only ones without a partner.

"Oh, I see, so you are stuck with me." She answered cheekily.

"Yep I had no other options I had to be with." Hayden quipped back.

"You had better pull your weight Haddock." Ashley shot out.

"Hey, I'm a wrestler, I'm more than capable of pulling, throwing, and slamming my weight around thank you very much." He responded with his nose in the air.

A moment passed between the two before they burst out laughing at each other. It took a few moments for them to gather themselves and look at each other again.

"So, for real you want to be partners?" Hayden asked.

"I would like that." Ashley answered.

With all the partners picked the teacher revealed that they had to do a research project about a certain country from Europe. Hayden and Ashley got Sweden, while Rebecca and Heather got England. The project allowed them to choose what they wanted to research about the country, it just had to contain a power point, small video, and explain how the country was doing in modern times.

Hayden and Ashley got to work right away and went to the computers in the back of the class and started to pull up information. They worked together for the entire class as Hayden was glad to be working on the project with Ashley. They could use it to build their friendship again and Hayden could use it to help Ashley in whatever way she needed. Yes, Hayden was glad for the project.


A/N: Sorry for the short chapter I just needed to get something out. Looks like Hayden has a more than just the class project on his plate. But I think he i up for the challenge. Be sure to leave a review, see you next time.