Monday March 30, 1987
Randy pulled up in the driveway of the Williamson house. Chevonne was waiting for him. Randy noticed she looked pale and tired.
"You feel okay?" he asked her as he handed her a helmet.
"I have a cold or something. I can barely breath through my nose, my throat hurts, my chest feels tight." She said as she put on her helmet.
"Maybe you should stay home." He said.
"No, I'll be okay." She insisted.
Randy wasn't sure but didn't say anything. She climbed on the back of the motorcycle and Randy backed out of the driveway and headed towards the school. Both were curious what the school would do about Mr. Johnson's death.
When they arrived at school, Randy noticed Chevonne was still very pale and didn't act like her usual self. They both grabbed their things and headed into the building. The halls were full of students going about. They spotted Roman standing with the twins and Naomi.
"Chevonne, you look like hell." Naomi said.
"Thanks, I am so glad you noticed." She rolled her eyes.
"You okay?" Roman asked her.
"Yeah, just a cold. I'll make it through the day and then get some extra rest tonight." Chevonne said.
"Do you want me to take you home? I don't mind missing part of first period." Roman asked.
"No, I will be okay." She said.
"If you say so, but if you feel worse and want to go home, let me know." Roman said and kissed her forehead.
She nodded. The bell for homeroom rang and they all headed to their respective homerooms. During homeroom, they had a school wide moment of silence for Mr. Johnson.
Chevonne made it through homeroom and managed to pay attention in her first period Lit class. She felt terrible and was pretty sure she was starting to run a fever. Even Mr. Hart asked her if she was okay, which she brushed off. When the bell rang she went to her locker to get her books. She felt a bit lightheaded and sat on the floor by her locker to try to clear her head. The bell for second period rang but she stayed on the floor, deciding to be late.
"Chevonne…..what are you doing?"
She looked up and saw Bray Wyatt looking down at her.
"Oh…hi Bray. I don't feel so well." She said.
He kneeled down beside her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No, I think if I just sit here a few minutes I can catch my second wind." She said. "But it is very nice of you to offer."
"You sure? Would you like me to get a teacher?" Bray asked.
"No, I will be okay. But thank you." She tried to smile.
"If you're sure….do you want me to wait with you?" Bray asked.
"Chevonne! There you are." Randy appeared at the end of the hallway.
"Randy, I am fine." She said.
Randy hurried over to them. "What's wrong? Why are you on the floor?"
"I better get to class. Feel better." Bray stood up.
"Thanks Bray." Chevonne said as he walked down the hall.
"What was he doing here?" Randy asked.
"He saw I was sick and stopped to see if he could help." She shrugged.
"You feel worse? You weren't in class so I came looking for you." Randy knelt down and touched her forehead. "You are burning up."
"I feel so cold." She finally admitted.
"Come on. I am signing us out and taking you to the medical clinic." Randy said. "No arguments."
She nodded and Randy helped her up off the floor. He took her book bag and helped her walk to the office. He spoke to the secretary and explained she was sick and he was taking her to the doctor and then home, signing both of them out.
"Randy, what about Roman?" Chevonne said as they walked down the hall.
"Yeah, he will wonder where you are." Randy said.
Zack Ryder came out of the restroom. Randy stopped him.
"Zack, do me a favor. Find Roman Reigns, the new guy. Tell him Chevonne was running a fever and that I took her to the medical clinic in town." Randy said.
"Who?" Ryder was confused.
"The new guy….cousin to the Uso twins. You know what, tell the twins to tell their cousin that Randy took his girlfriend to the clinic." Randy sighed.
"Oh the big guy, sure I will make sure he gets the message. I will tell him or the twins." Ryder said.
"Thanks. Come on Chevonne." Randy guided her down the hall and out of the building.
(9:30AM)
Roman walked into the medical clinic seeing Randy in the waiting room. He walked over; Randy looked up from the magazine he was reading.
"Roman, what are you doing here?" Randy asked.
"Some Ryder kid told me and Jimmy that you had brought Chevonne to the clinic that she was running a fever. I signed myself out and came down here to check on her." Roman said.
Randy smiled. "You just scored a bunch of points in my book."
Roman shrugged as he sat down. "I wanted to be there for her. I could tell she wasn't feeling well this morning."
"She is with the doctors now. They have her in the back in an examining room. I called my mom to let her know where we were." Randy said. "She said she would find Mama Judi's work number and call her."
"Have they told you anything yet?" Roman said.
"No, I am sure it is nothing too serious. But I didn't want her to let it go too long and become something serious." Randy said.
They waited a few minutes more, watching the other people in the waiting room. Randy looked through a magazine to pass the time. After a few minutes a nurse came out.
"Randy Orton?" she asked.
Randy and Roman both stood up and walked over to her.
"You the young man that brought Chevonne Williamson in?" she asked.
"Yes, everything okay?" Randy asked.
"Oh she is gonna be fine. She is down the hall in room 3; you can go in with her now. The doctor is gonna be giving her some medicine in an IV and then we will send her home with some prescriptions." The nurse said.
"Thank you." Randy said.
He and Roman walked down the hall and found the room Chevonne was in. They walked in and saw her on a gurney with an IV in her arm. She smiled as they walked in.
"Roman, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I wanted to check on you." He said.
"You didn't have to, but I am glad you did." She smiled as he sat down beside her.
"So what did the doctor say?" Randy asked.
"Doctor said it was strep throat and a sinus infection. They gave me a shot of steroids to help reduce the swelling in my nasal passages. They are giving me an IV of fluids and antibiotics. They want to get my fever down. They also gave me some aspirin." She explained.
"You are deathly afraid of needles. If you agreed to an IV and shot, you must be sick." Randy winked at her.
"I decided I would rather get over my fear than be sick." She smiled. "Roman, I must look horrible."
"You look just fine. Don't worry about that." Roman assured her.
They stayed with Chevonne while the nurses hooked the medicine bags up to her IV. Randy went to call his mom on the payphone and tell her what the doctors had said about Chevonne knowing that even though it was something simple, his mom would strangle him for not calling.
"Doctor said about another hour and I can go home." Chevonne said when Randy walked back into the room.
"Good, I will stay with you until Mama Judi comes home." Randy said.
"No, you will miss baseball practice. You don't have to stay with me." She said.
"I will take her home and stay with her. Why don't you go to practice?" Roman said.
"You sure? I don't mind." Randy said.
"It's fine. I wanna take care of her." Roman said.
"If she needs anything, call my parents. If Judi has to work late, take her to my house." Randy said.
"I will be fine." Chevonne chuckled.
"Hey, you're my sister. And my parents would kill me if something happened to you." Randy kissed her forehead. "Feel better, I will call and check on you tonight."
"Thanks Randy, for everything." She smiled.
"Anytime." He smiled and walked out.
(12PM)
Chevonne unlocked the front door to the Williamson house. Roman followed her into the house, carrying her book bag for her. She carried the bag of medicine she had been given at the clinic.
"You need to rest and the doctor said some of the medicine would make you tired. Why don't you go rest?" Roman said.
"I will go change into my nightgown. Would you get me some juice out of the fridge?" she asked.
"Sure thing." He nodded.
Chevonne walked down the hall to her bedroom. She shut the door and quickly changed into her cotton nightgown that was on the bed from where she changed that morning. She pulled the covers back and climbed into the bed. She heard a knock at the door.
"Come on in, Roman." She called.
Roman walked in and handed her a glass of juice. "You comfortable?"
"Yes, will you sit with me?" she asked as she reached and took a teddy bear off her nightstand.
Roman sat down on the bed. "A bear?"
"He makes me feel better. He is special." She said. "Papa Orton gave him to me when I was 10 years old and had my tonsils out. His name is Horshack."
"Welcome Back Kotter, I watched that as a kid." Roman smiled. "Feeling sleepy?"
"A little bit." She curled up against him. "Thank you for being here."
"No thanks needed. Just get better."
"Who knew? The big, strong Roman Reigns makes a good nurse." She chuckled.
"Don't let that one get out. Of course, Jimmy worships Naomi and would do the same." He smiled.
"Tell me a story." She yawned and closed her eyes.
"Huh?"
"Tell me a story. Tell me one about your friends in California. Seth and Dean." She said.
"Oh…okay." He thought a minute. "Last year, Seth was dating this girl….Rachel. He was madly in love with her….you know when a guy loses his mind and would walk on broken glass if she said to. Anyways, when she turned 16, her parents bought her a brand new corvette. A few months after that….Seth found out she was cheating on him with some college guy. He was devastated. I have seen teenage break ups but it really hurt him."
Roman looked and saw Chevonne was barely awake.
"Well Dean was pissed as hell. He is very protective of his friends…and like I have said a bit crazy. Rachel was in the school musical….South Pacific. During the Saturday night performance the week of the play…..Dean snuck into the parking lot at school while the play was going on….and egged her car, I mean like 20 eggs. Then he took mustard and wrote out 'bitch' on the hood. Completely ruined the paintjob. He never got caught. Most of the school knew it was one of us three that did it but couldn't prove anything."
He looked and saw that Chevonne was asleep. He quietly moved off the bed and made sure she was comfortable. He kissed her forehead and then quietly left her room. He moved to the living room to quietly work on his missed assignments while waiting for Judi to come home.
Tuesday March 31, 1987
Roman knocked on the door to the Williamson house. After a few moments Elaine Orton opened the door.
"Oh hi Roman. Come on in. Chevonne is in her room reading." Elaine smiled and ushered him in. "She will be glad to see you."
"How is she doing?" Roman asked.
"She seems to be on the mend. She has not had any fever today and her color is much better. She is breathing better through her nose but her throat is still tender." Elaine said. "I stayed with her today while Judi is working. I figured she would rest better in her own bed."
"Glad she seems to be better." Roman said.
"Go on to her room and see her, but keep the door open. I was young once too." She winked.
Roman smiled at her humor and walked down the hall. He knocked on the door to Chevonne's room. She looked up from the book she was reading and smiled when she saw Roman standing there.
"Hi sweetie, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Just wanted to see how my favorite girl was doing, so I thought I would stop by on my way home from school." He walked over and kissed her forehead. "Elaine tells me you are feeling better."
"Yeah, breathing better and no fever." She smiled. "Mama Elaine is such a sweetheart. She insisted on staying with me today."
"I am glad you are doing better. I brought you some ice cream, I figured it would help your throat and Elaine says your throat is still tender." Roman handed her the paper bag he had been carrying.
"That is so sweet. Thank you." She smiled.
"I had them put a couple extra spoons in for you." He said.
"Thanks." She said as she opened the pint of strawberry ice cream. "How was school today?"
"The same routine but everyone is talking about Mr. Johnson's accident." He said.
"Do they know what happened yet?" she asked.
"Story is that he fell asleep at the wheel causing him to crash." Roman said.
"That's terrible. Such a wonderful person ended by something so….it just seems like such a waste." She said.
"The school is going to have a memorial service for him on Friday." He said. "In the meantime they have brought in a fill-in principal….some guy named Flair."
"What is he like?" she asked.
"Older guy, guess he is coming out of retirement to fill-in for the rest of the year. He already had to suspend one of the kids so I guess he is already is the swing of things." Roman said.
"Suspend someone? What happened?"
"Some boy…Slater something or other was caught in the girl's bathroom." He said.
"Heath Slater….that pervert. God knows what he was trying this time. He has turned into a real peeping tom lately." Chevonne said.
"Maybe he has learned his lesson." Roman shrugged.
"Who knows? He is a strange one." She said.
"You are looking better. Yesterday you were so pale." He told her.
"Thank you. I haven't been really sick in a few years. I guess I was due." She said. "You want some ice cream? It is really good."
"Are you still contagious?"
"I don't think so. They got me on enough antibiotics to be a pharmacy." She smiled.
Roman grabbed a spoon from the bag and began eating ice cream with her. "So what do you want to do when you are feeling better?"
"I don't know. Could we go back to the lake? I like the pontoon boat. And have you been to the drive-in in town yet?" she asked.
"I think I could arrange a day at the lake. And I am open to seeing a few movies at the drive-in." Roman smiled.
Note- Special thanks to oneandten, cdajr, and Raign for the reviews and private messages. I was so happy with the feedback it inspired me to update quicker. Also to avoid any confusion, if you didn't realize it already, Brandi in this story is Eden.
