About time I uploaded this chapter, I know. Thank you for all the reviews for the last chapter. A lot's happening in this chapter-a lot of reveals a big surprise, a little promo.
Now who's ready for the draft tonight? Any predictions on who's going where? I really hope Dean keeps the title, but i have a bad feeling he won't :(
Ava was at the performance centre early that morning, unable to sleep and hoping a tough work out would make her feel better. Her dad and Christina had gone away on a last minute trip for a couple of days, so Regal had left her his key to the performance centre knowing she sometimes went in before everyone else to workout. Ava's workout hadn't helped much. She was making her way back to the female locker room when the developmental stars were gradually starting to make their way in and to the locker rooms. When she saw Sami, Enzo and Cass in the corridor, she was hoping they didn't notice her as she hurried along. The universe wasn't that nice.
"Avery, chica, what's the rush? Have you got some hot date I don't know about, because you know I'll take offence to that?" Enzo called over to Ava.
For a moment, Ava considered ignoring him. After the night before, the last thing she wanted was to go over there when Sami was there. She wasn't ready to face him, not after her complete freak out. After what she had told him.
"As if I'd keep something like that from you. I just want to get out of these sweaty clothes. Plus, I've got a lot to do today. I'll see you later, yeah, Enzo." Ava managed to avoid eye contact with Sami while she spoke. Technically, she wasn't lying. She was going to be busy with work, especially as everyone was going to be heading to New Jersey for Wrestlemania week in a couple of days.
Watching Ava hurry off, Enzo looked from Cass to Sami. "That was weird, right? She wasn't herself. She got pretty quiet last night too. Has something happened with her family?"
Sami knew what was wrong with Ava, he knew that he was the reason she had acted weird. She thought he was judging her, that he thought differently about her now, which wasn't true. He needed to talk to her away from everyone. "I don't think so. she's probably just having an off day." Sami lied.
Ava was stood in the shower, letting the hot water pound down on her achy muscles. Her mind was elsewhere, remembering yesterday evening. With her dad and stepmom away, Ava had invited Sami, Enzo, Cass, Bayley and Carmella over. It had been a fun day, but after the conversation had turned to relationships and some unintentional remainders of everything that had happened in New York, Ava had gone very quiet and couldn't stop thinking about New York and Rory. Sami had noticed Ava's change in behaviour.
"Did something happen in New York?" Sami asked, his voice gentle, knowing he was on dangerous territory. He had stayed after the others had gone to help her tidy up, and because he was concerned about her.
Ava hoped her face looked less shocked, less like she had been kicked in the gut at the question. She tried to keep her voice calm and her response sounding like her usual self. "Yeah, I got kicked out of Julliard. It's not exactly a secret."
Sami put the glasses on the island, staying where he was but his eyes were solely on Ava. Something wasn't right with her, hadn't been since she first arrived in Florida two months ago. Behind that fierceness and wit, was something she wasn't telling anyone. He had noticed it properly for the first time after she freaked out at the cinema, after Alex Riley had tried harassing her into a date. Since then, there had been other times when something would happen or something said and her demeanour would change. Especially when New York was brought up. Sami worried about her. She had become one of his best friend; he cared deeply for her. The thought that something bad had happened made him sad and angry.
"I know that. I meant, did something else happen there? Something bad? The way you freaked out earlier when Carmella joked about your smile. I've noticed it a few times since you've been here, situations where you seem to retreat and shut people out."
Ava, as usual, got defensive. "You know what Sami, you're adding two and two together and getting seven. I don't know what you're on about me freaking out earlier, am I not allowed to get a little embarrassed about compliments?"
Sami looked at Ava sadly, her reaction, the look on her face told him everything. Even if she wasn't ready to tell anyone. "I got it wrong. I'm sorry."
Ava didn't look at Sami, "You should go. I'll finish this myself." Ava walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, leaving Sami to see himself out. She couldn't face him.
Sami waited a couple of minutes before going to check on her. He hadn't meant to upset her and he didn't want to leave things the way they were, or Ava alone and upset. He found her sitting on one of the couches, staring blankly at the coffee table in front of her. He went and sat on the couch next to her. The silence was thickening.
"Ava, I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted was to upset you." His voice was gentle.
Ava exhaled deeply, closing her eyes. "He told me I could get people to do anything with my smile. His hand was going further up my leg while he talked about my body." When she opened her eyes again, there was tears. "He said that he knew I was special the first time he saw me."
Sami remained quiet, just listening to what she said. He wondered who the 'he' was as a bad feeling coursed through his whole body.
"One minute everything was normal; he was just helping me prepare for the audition. It was the only thing I could think about and when they said we would be getting some one on one sessions, I thought I had lucked out further when I found out they would be with Rory. Everyone knew he was the best first year teacher there. I didn't think anything of him massaging my calf when the cramp kicked in, it was the norm in a class. The atmosphere quickly changed and he was this entirely different person, saying all this stuff while his hands were going higher. I stood up, I wanted to leave but it's like I was frozen to the spot while he started caressing my check and telling me about the pull he had with Katherine and Mario. I knew what he meant by that, the way he was acting, touching me." Ava stopped for a few moments, closing her eyes again while she took a deep breath. Sami still remained quiet.
"It all happened so quickly," Ava continued, wrapping her arms around herself. "I remembered how to move again, to speak. I shouted at him and pushed him away. I went to go but he grabbed my arm, his grip was tight and as I swung to get out of his grip I punched him. I ran so fast, so scared that he was going to grab me again and that if he did, I-I-I wouldn't get… away a second time." Ava struggled to get the words out, more tears sliding down her face as the memories played over and over in her head.
Ava turned to Sami. "I thought it was my fault, especially when no one believed me. I keep asking myself what I did wrong, if I gave him the wrong signal. There must have been something-"
Sami gently wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. He felt sick listening to everything she said, angry that this teacher had attacked her. He was relieved that she had managed to get away before the situation had gotten much worse. So much made sense now, her reactions. "No, no, no, you didn't do anything wrong. He's the one in the wrong, Ava. What happened wasn't your fault."
When Ava completely broke down, Sami wrapped his arms around her, holding her against his chest and stroking her back gently as she cried against him. After a while, when her crying was subsiding, he finally spoke again, "What do you mean no one believed you?"
"I didn't tell anyone until the following morning. I saw him on the way to the dean's office and he threatened me, told me no one would believe me and he was right. While I was in the dean's office, he came in and said he needed to speak about damage to school property, acted surprised to see me. He'd broken mirrors in one of the dance studios and blamed it on me, said I'd done it after he had changed his mind about the audition I'd been selected for. He also said that was the reason I had hit him. I tried explaining again why I'd hit him, but the dean took me admitting to that as an admission of guilt to everything Rory was saying. Mom and Andrew were the same, they didn't even listen to what I had to say. So I got kicked out and told I was lucky that Rory and the school weren't getting the police involved, which was only because Andrew gave a large donation to the school."
Sami was completely horrified. "How could they not believe you? And what about your dad and Christina?"
"Rory was really convincing and I don't have the best track record for staying out of trouble. It was the perfect opportunity for Andrew to finally convince mom that I'd gone too far and the best thing was to send me off to live elsewhere. Dad and Christina just listened to Andrew, never really gave me a chance to say my piece."
Sami was bewildered. "I don't get how they wouldn't listen to you though."
"I took the blame for something my friend did four years ago and since then it's always chucked back in my face. It's been an issue between me and dad since, I'm always first to get the blame because that's all he ever thinks off. Which angers me so it always just ends in an argument. I shouldn't be telling you all of this." Ava sat up and wiped her eyes. "I'm okay, honestly. You really should be heading home. We've both got busy days' tomorrow."
It saddened Sami that Ava felt the need to lie about being okay when she clearly wasn't, that she had become so accustomed to no one listening to her about this that she was now trying to brush it off as nothing. "Ava-"
"Seriously, I'm okay."
Ava was saved by her phone ringing, answering the phone, she mouthed again to Sami that she was okay and he should go. It was a lie, but she needed to be alone. "Yes dad, everything is fine. I haven't burnt the house down. You guys having a good time?" While she listened to what her dad was saying, Ava mouthed to Sami again that she was okay and he should go. Eventually he listened to her.
She wasn't sure how long she had been in the shower for before she finally got out, but it had been long enough for the locker room to be empty. Ava quickly dried off and put some cut off denim shorts, a white crop top and some converse on before making her way to the office.
Dusty was sitting at one of the desks when she got there.
"Don't sit down, I'm doing a promo class in a minute and I want you to sit in again."
"Dusty, I've told you before, I'm not getting on that mic. That's not what I'm here for."
"Not even for an old man like me," The American Dream had a slight smirk.
"Especially not for an old man like you," Ava grinned, sticking her tongue out.
"I still want you to come sit in, I want your opinion on some of the newbies. If they impress you then they've got something."
Two hours later and Ava was ready to hit herself with her mac. It had started off well with the mixture of veteran and complete newbie developmental stars all sitting around while Dusty had started off with some stories from his days wrestling. It had been fine when some of the people who had been wrestling for years before getting signed at NXT cut some promos with direction from Dusty. It had gradually got worse at time went on and people with less and less experience or others who simply lacked charisma got on the mic. Ava actually started to feel second hand embarrassment, some were just so bad. Each time she would just look at Dusty and he knew what she was thinking.
Just as she was wondering how much more she could take, Dusty decided it was time everyone took a break. Ava was quick to get out of there. Taking the mac back to the office before making her way to one of her favourite spots at the performance centre, especially when she wanted some quiet time away from everyone. The little spot against the wall out the back of the performance centre.
As she walked out the back door, she wasn't expecting anyone to be there, so she was surprised to see Sami sitting against the wall outside.
"Hey," he looked up at her. "Please don't run off."
"I wasn't going to." Sami just looked at her. "Okay, so I was considering it," she shrugged as she sat down. She kept a larger than usual distance between herself and Sami.
"I didn't mean to upset you last night." Ava remained quiet. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay and-"
Ava cut Sami off, "You believe me, you have no idea how much that means to me. But you had this pitying look in your eyes and I couldn't deal with that." She couldn't look at him as she spoke.
Ava wasn't lying, the fact that Sami didn't automatically think she was lying, that he sat there and listened to her meant so much to her. To her, the fact that only Leo and Tyler were the only ones to listen and believe her, was what affected her the most. It had made her doubt herself more. Made her believe that she must have done something wrong, that she had given Rory the wrong impression.
"I don't pity you, Ava. Seeing you so upset and knowing that something so bad happened to you made me sad and mad that he got away with it. I don't think you're to blame and I don't pity you, okay?"
Ava finally moved her head to look at him. "I thought you might think differently about me. I'm surprised you put up with me anyway, I don't always have the best attitude."
"I guess I must be a saint," Sami grinned before turning serious again. "I know you're probably going to tell me to but out but have you thought about talking to your dad about it again."
"There's no point. Things might have got better between us with me being here, but none of the would believe me about Rory. Dad and Christina still think that I had a crush on a teacher and things got out of hand after he reversed his decision on my audition. I told you, it all goes back to when I was 15."
"What did you take the blame for when you were 15? How can that affect what happened in New York?"
"My other best friend back home, Leo, he came out when he was fourteen and he had a hard time at school. We went to school with some homophobic jerks who I got into one too many fights with. Anyway, during spring break there was talk of this big party. Tyler and I weren't bothered about it, I've never been one for alcohol, but Leo wanted to go. He'd somehow got it in his head that if he went and had a few drinks, chilled out with everyone that maybe the jerks would back off. I thought I had managed to talk him out of it. He called me that night and he was pretty drunk and emotional, so I said I'd go get him and back to mine as it was closer. When I got there, there was older guys there doing drugs. Leo just kept saying he wanted to go back to his, so I got him a taxi. I was worried about some of the younger kids there though. I'd taken this bottle of vodka of a girl about a year younger than me, that's when the police showed up and one caught me red handed holding this vodka. I got away with a warning, but they drove me home and called dad. Mom and Andrew were away at the time and he was in San Diego for a house show, so he had been around the house too seeing me. when he got home, he completely flipped. I mean I'd seen him angry before, but this was a whole new level."
"So you never told him the whole story."
Aa shook her head, "I was trying to keep Leo out of trouble; he'd been through enough. I tried explaining that I'd been there but hadn't drunk anything or taken anything, but he wasn't having it. He was so angry; told me he was so disappointed in me that he couldn't look at me. That hurt so I lashed out at him. We both said hurtful stuff. That was the complete downfall of our relationship. I guess we've never been good at communicating, even before this."
"That was an amazing thing you did for your friend, taking the blame when all you'd try to do was help people." This was another reminder for Sami of the heart of gold he knew Ava had behind that tough exterior.
"Leo wanted to tell dad the truth. He felt so guilty. But I made promise me he wouldn't, told him it wouldn't change anything. So many times over the years he's come close to telling either mom or dad the truth, but I always manage to talk him out of it."
"I think you're an amazing friend and an amazing person in general," Sami smiled at Ava.
Scooting over so she was closer to him, Ava rested her head on Sami shoulder. "Thanks. You're not too bad yourself."
"Just know that I'm always here if you ever want to talk about anything."
"Yeah…honestly though, I'm just trying to forget about things and work out what's next for me."
"How about we get some coffee before we've got to go back." Sami stood up.
"Coffee sounds good, especially if I'm going to be listening to more god awful promos."
"If you think they're so god awful, why don't you have a go and show people how it's done," Sami grinned. The challenge evident in his tone.
"I wouldn't want to show people up," Ava retorted as Sami pulled her up.
Ava wasn't entirely sure how Dusty and Sami had got her to do it. One minute she was just sitting there with Dusty as a couple more people cut some promos, next minute she was stood in the ring with Sami, a mic in hand and a cocky look on her face Dusty had given them, like everyone else that day, the basics of what they're segment needed to involve. Sami had tried doing it with one of the newest developmental women, but it just wasn't working. Not that Dusty was going to give up with her. But for now, he wanted her to watch and learn. After another roll of the eyes from Ava, he told her that seeing as she was acting like she could do a better job, that she could get up there with Sami.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't quite here you from down there, shortstop." Sami crouched down a little, holding a hand to his ear.
"Oh sweetheart, don't apologise to me, apologise to the crowd because you sent them to sleep with your boring ass monologue." Ava tilted her head a little. "We get it, you're here to stay, you're the best, blah de blah."
"Hey, if you've got somewhere more important to be, don't let me stop you. You see, there's plenty of people that do want to be here, that want to do more with their time than stand around and gossip. I mean really this has nothing to do with you, it's between me and Adrian Neville."
"The issue with you, Sami is that you think you're something special, something new and exciting when in reality, their is another twenty of you out the back. You're. Not. That. Special. But don't worry, I'll make sure your match with Adrian Neville happens."
While Ava and Sami went back and forth with their little segment, Ava impressing the other's with her charisma on the mic. No one noticed the three men that had come in and were standing at the back, watching.
William Regal was a mixture of surprise and pride as he watched his daughter on the mic. He'd always thought with her dancing background and attitude that she would be good in the business, but he was shocked at just how good she was on the mic, drawing in the other wrestlers in the room. She had a natural charm about her; a mixture of charisma and magnetism, and a natural chemistry with Sami doing this segment. He was so proud of her in that moment.
Leo and Tyler had to pinch themselves to make sure they weren't dreaming. Was Ava actually stood in a wrestling ring cutting a promo with another wrestler. Even more shocking, was she was actually good at it and seemed to be enjoying it.
"One more thing, if you could leave the fighting to me and Neville. If you want to go interfere in a match, put some wrestling boots on and go fight one of the women."
"How about I fight you right here, show you what I'm capable of when I'm pissed off." Ava took a few steps towards Sami, glaring at him.
Dusty was excited, standing up. "Now hot damn that's what I call a promo! I forgot for a moment that you're not a trained wrestler, Ava. I was half ready to let this match happen! That is how you cut a promo, how you build up a match and get the crowd excited. You two had good chemistry in the ring, you drew us all in, the atmosphere you created."
Ava had just stepped under the rope out of the ring, Sami had placed a food on the bottom rope to make it easier for her. She was standing on the edge of the ring, about to jump down when she heard them.
"My eyes must be deceiving me, Ava Davis stood in a wrestling ring," Leo called out.
"Definitely something funny going on here," Tyler added.
Ava couldn't believe it as she, along with everyone else, looked to the back of the room where the voices were coming from. "OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!" She jumped down, making her way over to them.
When she reached them, Ava jumped into both of their arms, wrapping her arms around their necks.
"Surprise bitch, we're going to Wrestlemania with you!"