Chapter 8: White Horse
"What do you mean you have no room for her" AJ seethed into the phone. She had made reservations for Natalie to start daycare while she was at school over a month ago but now she was being told that they had lost her paper work and there was no more room for her daughter. "So what am I supposed to do while I am at school? Huh? Gah … can't you just squeeze in one more baby? Fine … BYE" she slammed the phone down and let out a huge sigh.
"I for one am glad my little princess isn't going to some day care where we don't know what happens to her" Steve cooed at the baby. She laughed and reached up to touch his face. He took her little hand and kissed it.
"Well Steven James what do you propose I do with your princess while I got to school?" AJ asked him in a very annoyed tone. Steve straightened out and gave her a fierce look.
"Listen girly you may have a baby but you are still a child and as such that does not give you the right to run off with that smart mouth of yours and I have the my second and third periods as prep periods so I can watch her during those two classes and I know John has his first period free so he can watch her also. So you already have three classes you can go to without too much hassle. Then you have lunch which I'm such that motley crew of friends you have will have no problem with Natty hanging out. After lunch you yourself have a free period and then your mother is off from work so she could swing by and pick the baby up so you can go to your last two classes in peace."
"I doubt John would be willing to do anything for me" she replied sullenly.
"What makes you say that pumpkin?" Steve asked taking his attention from the baby.
"We had a fight the day after I got back and we haven't spoken since then" she admitted. Her parents had asked her about the absence of John lately and she had just shrugged and said he was busy.
"I'm sure you too will work it out you always do" Steve dulled out his quota of feel good advice for the day.
"Uh huh" she replied. "You mind watching the baby for a while? I gotta go talk to someone".
"Go" he practically shooed her out the door. She walked the length of her yard and crossed over into his. Taking the old warn steps two at a time, she reached the front door and brought her hand up to knock. She shook her head and turned around and walked back down the stairs.
"AJ" she turned around to come face to face with John's father. He looked happy to see her. She stood there awkwardly, she placed a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Hey Mr. Cena" she replied back shyly. "How are you?"
He gave her a warm smile. "I've been good thank you for asking. Are you here to see John?"
"Yea I guess I am"
"I'll go get him".
John came out of the house a few moments later in noting but basket ball shorts. A worried look across his features. "Is everything ok?" he asked. "There is nothing wrong with Natty is there?"
"No, she's fine" the young girl informed him. John's features seemed to relax and it truly hit her how much he cared for not only her but her daughter as well. He didn't have to come out and speak to her, just like he didn't have to ask about the welfare of her daughter. But he did because he cared.
"So what brings you by?" he asked getting directly to the point. He wasn't going to make it easy on her by any means.
"I was wondering if you would mind keeping an eye on Natalie during your free period" she came right out with it. "My daycare fell through and it is too late to try to get her into anywhere else. So I'm making due the best way I know how but I need a little help." She closed her eyes and waited for something along the lines of hell no.
"Sure I don't mind" she opened her eyes again and looked at him as if he were crazy. Why should he help her? She had been nothing but a bitch to him since forever. But yet here he was agreeing to take care of her daughter so she could go to class. "You shouldn't feel bad about asking for something like that. I want to help you but you need to let me."
"Thank you".
"See you in school tomorrow" he gave her a smile before turning around and going back into his house.
--
"Mom … I can't find Natalie's socks" AJ was rushing around with her 3-month-old daughter in her arms. Today was her first day back and it was already completely stressful.
"They are right here Ashden" Anita took the baby from her daughter so she could pack her school bag. "Natalie's diaper bag and your lunch are sitting on the table try to have a good day sweetie I know it's going to take some getting used to but believe me one day you will look back on these years and smile."
"I highly doubt that" she grumbled taking the baby back from her mother.
Miz and Morrison and John were waiting for her out front. "Since when did you three start riding to school together?" she asked.
"Baby!" Miz exclaimed stealing the baby from her.
"Ignore him" Morrison said. "We've actually found out that we can tolerate each other".
"And since I kinda disowned all the people I thought were my friends and I realized that eating lunch alone sucked I've kinda had to become friends with them".
"Gee thanks man I am touched"
"Gimme her" John took the baby from Miz and placed her into the car seat that all 3 boys spent all morning installing. He took the back seat next to Natalie and Miz sat on the other side of her.
"You guys didn't really need to go out and get a car seat" she laughed at their eagerness.
"Natty is part of our group now so where we go she comes too" Morrison explained.
"Miz you're gonna make her cry with those stupid faces" John told his friend shaking his head.
"She likes it"
No sooner had he said this did the baby start to cry. "Dumbass" John muttered as he took her toy bear from her diaper bag and made it dance in front of her eyes. Instantly cheering her up.
"See I know what my girl like huh" John cooed at the baby.
"You guys are freaking me out" AJ commented.
"When I told you that people were here for you I wasn't kidding AJ"
They pulled into a parking space and AJ took a shaky breath. "You'll do fine" John assured her rubbing her shoulder a little bit. She got out of the car and stood against the hood just looking up at the school that last year had caused her so much misery. John was the next out of the car and he had the baby in his arms. He adjusted her so that she was resting against the crook of his left arm and with his other free arm he wrapped it around her shoulders. "We are all here for you" he told her. "We won't let you do this alone."
She nodded as they began to walk. As they got closer AJ mentally went over her appearance. She was lucky she was able to get back into her size 2 jeans fairly quickly after Natalie's birth. She was wearing a dark green Hollister t-shirt and on her feet she had decided on black Roxy flip flops. She had gone back to glasses but they were the more trendy glasses. She couldn't help but feel a little surge of confidence having the best looking guy at that school have his arm around her. Then again Miz and Morrison weren't slouches in the looks department either. So she had 3 of the best looking people in that school walking her to class. They were finally at the set of stone steps leading to the main building. AJ sucked in a breath as she could feel people looking at them. John's embrace became a little tighter. She grabbed onto Morrison's hand. He rubbed the back of her's with his thumb. They made it through the front door and into the main hall of the school.
"I gotta see McMahon" she informed them.
"I'll walk with ya" John offered. "Since I'm first up with Natty". She nodded thankful for his support. They said good bye to Miz and Morrison and made their way towards Mr. McMahon's office. He was standing outside waiting for AJ.
"Ms. Williams I'm so glad to have you back" he seemed eager knowing that she was back in the school. This made no sense to her because she had spent a very limited time here the first time around.
"Mr. Cena why are you here?" he asked.
"Moral support" the young man replied with a smug grin.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Not really"
The principal rolled his eyes. "Well let's continue this in my office". He let both of them into his office and closed the door behind them. AJ was sitting next to John now; he had Natalie on his lap resting against his chest. He was making quiet funny noises to keep her entertained. He seemed so at ease with Natalie it kinda bugged AJ.
"Ms. Williams I want to assure you that nothing like what happened last year will ever happen again" Mr. McMahon started off by saying. "As you may know Mr. Orton is in jail and Ms. Kelly has been expelled and banned from the campus."
AJ looked at John who nodded confirming what Mr. McMahon had just said to be true. "We have a no tolerance policy for those things now and if anyone gives you any problems I want you to come to me right away and I will take care of it" AJ nodded.
"Yes sir" she replied.
"Then you are all free to go" he dismissed them.
"He didn't even mention Natalie" AJ commented.
"What's he gonna say it was on his watch that she was conceived" John replied a little too bitterly for her liking. "He ain't gonna do shit to help you". His temper was flaring, AJ always got a little scared when this happened. "He knew what Orton and Kelly did to people and yet he did nothing and it wasn't until he couldn't turn his back from it did he decide to do something".
"John you're scaring us" AJ said just as Natalie began to whimper.
"I'm sorry it just makes me mad"
"Don't worry about it he's a jerk" she told him. "I've got to get to class but thank you again for watching her" she slung Natalie's diaper bag over his shoulder and took off.
--
"Here we are Natty" he sat down with the baby in the library. "You want to explore the world of Wuthering Heights with my little lady?" he asked her as he pulled out his copy of the book and began reading out loud to her.
--
A boy dressed all in black had a seat next to her. His crazy rainbow colored hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He had a rather large tattoo running up the entire length of his arms and hiss neck.
"Hi, I'm AJ and looks like we'll be lab partners all year" she tried to be courteous. The boy with the green eyes gave her a skeptical look.
"Jeff" he replied stiffly.
"Are you new here?" she asked.
"No … I left half way through the year last year" was his reply.
"Yea me too" he gave her a strange look.
"So when are you gonna start making fun of me" his tone was one of condemnation. "Hopefully you'll come up with something I haven't already heard".
"I wasn't going to make fun of you" she replied a little caught off guard. "I was just trying to be friendly … this place can be a viper pit".
He laughed at her. "What do you know of it?"
"I was drugged and raped by Randy Orton last year and then he decided it would be nice to play a tape he made of the two of us on every computer in the school and to make matters worse I am now raising his 3 month old daughter" it was Jeff's turn to be caught off guard.
"I was kicked out of here last year for using crystal meth" he admitted. "I attended rehab and just want a fresh start".
"Amen to that brother".
--
"Here she is Steve" John pushed a stroller containing a sleeping infant into Steve's empty classroom. "Just changed her so she should sleep for a while".
"Where did you learn to change a baby?" Steve asked surprised.
"Please don't make fun of us but after we heard AJ was coming back with a baby me and Morrison and Miz asked my dad to teach us how to take care of a baby so we could help AJ out" he admitted a little embarrassed. "I can change a diaper in less than 20 seconds."
"Go to class"
--
"Hey guys mind if Jeff sits with us?" AJ asked as he Jeff and Natalie made their way over to the lunch table the guys were already sitting at.
"Umm … yea sure" Morrison was the first to say.
"Told you this was a bad idea" Jeff began to walk away.
"Hardy" John called out to him. Jeff turned around. "Everyone needs a second chance so have a seat."
Jeff nodded and had a seat next to Miz. Lunch went better than AJ could have expected. The guys seemed to really enjoy having Natalie around and people pretty much left them alone.
--
It was after school and AJ was putting her book back into her locker. The guys had gone ahead and were waiting for her at the car. "Well … well look who it is" AJ turned around and came face to face with the cheerleading team.
"Can I help you?" she asked in a less than confident voice.
"You really are stupid for coming back here ya know" the new cheer captain Melina taunted her.
"I have just as much right to be here as you do" AJ quickly found her backbone. "You people you hide by superficial stereotypes and it is pathetic … I feel sorry for you". She walked away from them feeling so much better than she had in a long time.
"Face it you are a slut you asked for what happened to you"
She didn't turn around and let them see that their comments had affected her. She walked briskly to the car and got in without saying a word to anyone. She kept her arms crossed over her chest the whole ride and would refuse to talk to anyone.
"See ya tomorrow AJ" Morrison said pulling away from the curb in front of her house. As she walked up the steps she could hear singing. She stepped into the foyer and followed where the music was coming from. Natalie was sitting in her bouncy chair while John was in the chair in front of her strumming a guitar and singing to her. She was just closing her eyes.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded of him.
He didn't answer her but continued playing "Please Come to Boston". When he had finally finished the song he turned his attention to her.
"Your mom had to run out for something and she kinda cornered me and asked if I would watch her for a little while" he stood up and kissed her forehead. "Sweet dreams princess".
"John … please just stop" she threw her arms in the air to add some emphasis.
"Stop what?" he asked confused.
"You aren't Natalie's father!" she yelled at him.
It took him a moment to recover. "Don't you think I know that" his voice had raised a little bit but he was not yelling. "Believe me I am painfully aware that she is not mine because if she were then she would have been created out of love not some horrific undeserved act of violence. If she was mine you wouldn't hate her."
"I don't hate her" she defended herself.
"You walk around keeping everyone at arms length because you feel that you can well you know what you can't it's not fair to me or to your parents or even Natalie"
"Fine is that what you want" she walked over and grabbed his face and kissed him roughly. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her. He felt her tongue against his lips and allowed her access into his mouth.
He pushed her away. Tears were streaming down her face by now. "Is that what you want?" she was hysterical. "Do you want to take me upstairs and use me like he did? Huh is that what you want?" she was shivering. He went over and wrapped his arms around her and held her until she calmed down.
"No, that is not what I want at all and you know it" he moved a little so that she could see his face but he was still holding her. He wiped her tears with the pad of his thumb. "I want to see you smile again and that won't happen until you get help. You seem to think by not talking about it and pretending that it never happened will make the pain hurt less but it won't. Orton forced himself upon you without feeling a bit of remorse. He is a monster but that doesn't mean you have to stop living your life because if you do then he wins. I am not going to lie I want you in the worst way and after kissing you like that it is very hard for me to control myself right now but I am not Orton and I would never do what he did to you. Please if not for your own sake or mine think about Natalie … she needs her mom to be ok."
"I promise you I will go to therapy" she swore to him. "But you need to realize that you can't help me with everything. I don't need some dude swooping down from his white horse to save me all the time. I need to fight my own battles."
"Duly noted" he hugged her and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you AJ".
"Deep down I know I love you too but I just can't right now".
He nodded. "That's ok no pressure".
"If it means anything you would make a great dad to someone".
"It's easy just looking at that little helpless face it's hard not to fall in love" he looked over his shoulder to make sure Natalie was still asleep. "Well homework calls so I'll see ya tomorrow".
"See ya".
