A/N: Someone in the comment section asked me if I planned to continue this story. It's been more than a year, and there are a lot of reasons that I haven't finished this yet. Sometimes real life gets in the way of writing. In this case, a lot of things piled up and made writing anything hard, and this story seemed to get the worst of it. I had soul crushing writer's block for nearly a year, stemming in part from the death of my best friend. (Some of you may know this, as I've mentioned in Mizard's notes.) I'd stopped writing this before her death, but had planned to pick it back up after NaNoWriMo last year. Then my friend died and all my plans went out the window. I still plan to finish this story, and it's close to done, but it's probably going to take me a while to work through all the issues and shoehorn it into my schedule around school, family, and my other stories (Mizard of Odd and Zzyzx Road, currently). The inspiration is finally there again. Time is the issue now. Thanks for bearing with me through this, and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this. Hopefully, in the long run, it'll be worth the wait.

A/N: I don't own the Wrestlers. Not even in this younger form. :P Also, I'm making up place names and descriptions as I go along.

A/N: This chapter's title comes from INXS's song, "Devil Inside."

Walkin' After Midnight

Chapter 25: Words Are Weapons, Sharper Than Knives

Jeff grabbed his stuff from his locker and waited for Serena before they went out to meet Shannon and Phil. When they exited the building, however, they only saw Phil by the car. "Where's Shan?" Jeff asked. Phil tilted his chin to indicate Shannon and Ashley, who were having an intense conversation by Ashley's car. "Wow. How long's that been going on?"

Phil sighed. "Since we got out here. She grabbed his arm and said, 'We need to talk' all seriously, and they've been like that ever since."

"Oh God," Serena said. "Do you have any idea how much the ride home is going to suck?"

"More than usual?" Phil said.

"Way more than usual." She turned to Phil. "So I talked to Daffney after lunch…"

"Speaking of things sucking," Phil muttered.

Serena ignored him. "And I gave her my number and stuff. She's going to meet us tomorrow night at the bar. But in the meantime, I was thinking maybe we could all hang out somewhere tonight?"

"All who?" Jeff asked.

"You, me, Phil, Daffney and Shannon? He can invite Ashley, I guess, but…" She eyed the two of them, noting the angry look on Shannon's face and the annoyed one on Ashley's. "She'd totally ruin it, anyway."

"That's never stopped her before," Phil said.

"You know what?" Ashley chose that moment to shriek at Shannon. "Fine. Hang out with your stupid friends. I'm tired of trying to help you, Shannon!"

"Whatever," Shannon said, walking toward his friends. He paused midway there and turned back. "You know what's funny? I got asked more than once today what I see in you. I guess now I can tell them that it's that you're easy." And with that parting shot, he turned again and headed for his friends a second time, a smirk on his face.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone turn purple like that," Phil said thoughtfully.

Serena hid a laugh behind a cough. "It's not a shade Ashley wears very often," she said after a moment.

"You guys ready to go?" Shannon asked casually. "Hey, Serena, you coming?"

"Uh. Let me call my aunt."

"No hurry." Shannon leaned against the car, whistling, as though he was completely undisturbed by the scene his now ex-girlfriend was making.

"So that's what you saw in her?" Phil finally ventured.

"Nah," Shannon said. "But she wants to date Orton and be a cheerleader, so whatever." He glanced around. "Parking lot's kinda full, huh?"

"Not as full as it was a minute ago," Phil said.

Shannon grinned. "I know."

"Oooh." Phil laughed. "Wow. That was mean."

"She deserved it," Shannon said. "And worse, probably. Someone told me she and Orton have been seeing one another in secret for like a week."

"Someone?" Jeff said, frowning.

Serena hung her phone up. "My aunt says it's okay, so long as I'm back by nine tonight. Um, why are you looking at me like that, Jeff?"

"Someone told Shannon about Ashley and Orton having a thing," Jeff said.

"Oh." She shrugged. "That sucks."

"So was it you?" Jeff asked.

"No," Serena said. "I had no idea. I mean, I knew she liked him, but…"

Phil cleared his throat. "Actually… It was me."

Jeff turned to stare at Phil in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not at all. I saw them during lunch a few days ago. It was not pretty." Phil gave a dramatic shudder. "They've been using the old janitor's closet near my fifth period class."

"Ew," Serena said. "ew, ew, ew. I did not need to know that."

"Me either," Phil said. "Anyway, I made Shannon walk that way to his fifth period class today."

"It was completely out of my way and I got a detention for being late," Shannon said. "So Monday is going to suck for everyone even more than it already does. But yeah, sure enough, we hung out for a minute and they came trotting out just before the bell. Ashley's adjusting her skirt and Orton's nuzzling her goodbye."

"God. That sucks. I'm sorry, Shannon," Serena said.

Shannon shrugged. "No big deal. There's this cute waitress at the Burger House…"

Jeff chuckled. "Told you he'd have another girlfriend before the end of the day."

"Yeah," Serena said. "You did. So um, we're all still cool?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Shannon asked. "Just because your cousin is a bitchy, cheating slut doesn't mean that you are, right?"

"Right. I'm definitely not."

"Good. So come on. What's everyone waiting for, an engraved invitation? I've got a dirt track that needs work."

"Yeah," Phil said. "We suck at it, though, remember?"

"Sure, Phyllis, you do. Serena? Do you know anything about motorbikes?"

"Don't call me Phyllis!"

"Very little," she said.

Shannon sighed, resigned. "Well, you'll still probably be less useless than these two losers."

"Hey!" Phil said.

Jeff bit his lip. "Maybe we should get out tonight, go do something?"

"Like what?" Shannon said.

"Well, if there's a cute waitress at the Burger House…"

Shannon chuckled. "I like the way you think, Hardy. But what are we going to do with the fifth wheel over here?"

"Already taken care of," Jeff said. "Sounds like maybe Daffney can join us?"

Phil grumbled. "I'm not a girl, or a fifth wheel or in need of a girlfriend, especially not her!"

"One weekend won't kill you," Serena said.

"It might," Phil told her. Then he sighed. "Fine, tell Daffney to meet us there tonight. But I'm not kissing her!"

"I'm sure she'll be relieved to hear it," Serena said.

%

They arrived at the Burger House around six and were led to a round booth by the cute waitress Shannon had mentioned. She spent the entire time they were looking over the menus flirting with him. Phil rolled his eyes as his friends flirted and snuggled. "So where's Daffney, anyway?" he finally asked Serena. "She's not coming?"

"She'll be here in a few," Serena said. "She said she had to deal with something first."

"So I'll be off work in like fifteen minutes," the cute waitress told Shannon. "Do you want to go do something?"

"I'm the chauffer tonight," he said apologetically. "But tomorrow night, we're going to see the Dead Cartel, if you want to meet me there."

"Sure," the waitress said. "And if you want to just hang with your friends tonight, that's cool."

"You could always stay and hang out with us," Jeff said.

"Yeah," Serena said. "Oh, look. There's Daffney." She waved to the dark haired goth.

Daffney stopped next to the booth. "Slide over, straightedge," she said to Phil.

Phil sighed and slid further into the booth so that Daffney could settle on the end. "You guys order yet?"

"Not yet," Phil said, eying the waitress.

Daffney turned to the waitress. "Hi, Stacey."

"Hey, Daff," the waitress said. "So wow, it's been a long time."

"Three years," Daffney said. "Or thereabouts."

"How do you two know each other?" Shannon asked.

"Suicide support group," Daffney said. "We were the ones that failed."

"Oh…" Shannon said, frowning. "Uh… wow?"

Stacey laughed. "She's kidding. Our families go to the same church. We used to have Sunday school together, before Daff quit going and left me with the nerdlets."

"Don't look so relieved, Shannon," Daffney said with a smirk. "Stacey's the good girl. I'm the bad seed."

"Lucky me," Phil said.

Daffney turned to Phil. "Yeah, lucky you. So baldy here seems to think we've got things in common."

"That's what I hear."

Daffney nodded. "So maybe we ought to order?"

"You know what?" Stacey said. "How about this? I'll put your order in, then I'm off, so I'll bring it out when you're ready and have my dinner at the same time. Cool?"

"Very," Shannon said.

"Cool. But uh… what say we move to the banquet room? We have long tables and it's quieter back there."

"Why does the Burger House have a banquet room?" Serena asked.

Stacey grinned. "It used to be a Denny's. It's now officially either the second dining room or the party room, depending on what we're using it for. But it's empty tonight, and the boss doesn't give a damn if the employees eat back there with their friends. In fact, he seems to prefer it."

"Well then, that sounds awesome," Serena said.

"Great! If you'll all just follow me…" Stacey led them back through a door, into a room about half the size of the main dining area.

"Wow," Jeff said. "This is cool."

Stacey seated them at a table made for six, then took the orders. "Back in a bit!" she said, waving the order.

"So Daffney…" Phil said.

"So Phil," she said back.

He frowned, and she made a face. "I didn't know you went to church."

"Used to."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

Serena rolled her eyes. "Tell her about that band, Phil."

"Which band?"

"The one we're going to see tomorrow night?"

"Oh, right." Phil blinked. "Um. We're going to see the Dead Cartel tomorrow night."

"Yeah?" Daffney said. "I thought they were only doing eighteen plus shows out at the bar?"

"Shannon knows the bouncer," Phil said. "It's not a big deal, so long as no one's trying to drink or anything."

"Won't happen with you around, will it, straightedge?"

"No," Phil said proudly.

"As a matter of fact," Shannon said, "Phil's a big part of why we get in. Once I introduced him to the bouncer and the bar owner and promised he'd be with us at all times, they said no problem." He chuckled, shaking his head.

"As long as we don't let him bother the actual bar patrons, that is," Jeff said. "That time he went on a straightedge crusade at the actual bar was brutal."

"You didn't," Daffney said.

"He did. We were banned for a month," Shannon agreed. "Until we made him apologize and promise never to do it again."

Phil looked sheepish. "I was only trying to help."

Daffney laughed. "Somehow, I can see him doing that. It does seem like the crackpot kind of thing straightedge would do."

"Hey!" Phil said. "I have a name, you know."

"Oh, sorry. Didn't know you were so sensitive, Philly."

Phil glared at the goth girl. "Why can no one ever get my name right? It's Phil, damn it. Just Phil. Not Phyllis or Philly or straightedge. Phil."

"You know, you're kind of cute when you're mad," Daffney said, smirking at him.

"I'm not cute!" Phil grumbled.

"Nope," Serena said, winking at Jeff. "He's not cute, Daffney. He's adorable."

"And he knows all the best gossip," Jeff said seriously.

"Gossip, hmm?" Daffney turned to Phil. "Like what?"

Phil glared at his friends. "Thanks a lot."

"Come on, Phil," Jeff said. "You're always trying to share wh at you know. Daffney's interested. So share."

"You know Kelly the cheerleader?" Phil asked.

"Sure," Daffney said.

"Okay, so you probably know that she's got an eating disorder."

"Duh. That's old news."

Phil nodded. "Did you know that she's seeing a shrink for it twice a week?"

Daffney blinked. "How do you know that?"

"It's scary, right?" Serena said.

"Could have been a lucky guess," Daffney muttered.

"They put her on anti-anxiety meds," Phil continued. "And last week, she tried to take the whole bottle at once."

"She did not!" Daffney said.

"Yeah," Phil replied. "She did."

Serena turned back to Jeff, smiling. "What did I tell you? They're made for each other."

Jeff grinned and glanced past her to Phil, who was telling Daffney something else. "I guess they were," he said.