Crowned

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Chapter28

The graduating class of 2005 walked to their seats as the music played, everyone had the same light blue cap and gown. The Astor turf on the Columbia football field was still wet with the morning dew and Paige's Jimmy Choo's sank in as she walked down the center isle of chairs. The index cards that contained her speech played around in her hands as she took her seat. Paige looked around, she saw her parents, her brothers, but she didn't see Randy. Paige felt a tad bit dizzy, she had eaten four Krispy Kreme doughnuts and chased them down with a Starbuck's iced white chocolate mocha, only to throw it all up. The daily binging and purging was finally getting to her. The ceremony went on, the Dean spoke briefly, and then Professor Kraft came to the podium.

"Every year, we award the Columbia Lion award to a student who has excelled beyond their years, shown leadership academically and socially, a shining star amongst the rest. I had the pleasure of having this student in my class this year. She was never afraid to speak her mind, we may not have always seen eye to eye, but I have great respect and gratitude for her. This student not only made the Dean's list every semester for four years, but she did it with only three B's and the rest were A's, but she also won the Miss USA 2005 pageant. Our Columbia Lion of honor this year is Paige Santino." The audience applauded as she stood from her seat and came to the podium. She scanned her eyes over the audience again, she saw Randy rushing to his seat next to Luke. He looked incredibly sexy in a pair of gray slacks and white button up dress shirt that had the sleeves pushed up to the elbow. Paige smiled at him before looking at the index cards that she put on the wooden podium.

"Good morning graduating class. Four years ago, we walked through the front entrance of the campus, not knowing what to expect from the 'real world'. Would you make friends? Would you like your major? Some of you spent the first couple weeks of school trying everything you could to make that sorority or fraternity want you. Some of us are miles from home, and for some of us, home was just a drive across the Hudson River." Paige continued on with her speech as pictures snapped from all direction, she was finally coming to a closing. "So, my fellow graduates, we have studied hard, whether it took us all week or cramming at two A.M the day before the exam, and we partied even harder. But nevertheless, we stand here about to step out into the real world, party hunting has now turned into job hunting, and no matter where life takes us after this, we will always have Columbia. Thank you." She closed her speech with a smile as the audience applauded. Paige went back to her seat with the other graduates in the back of the stage. The class president made a speech and then the long precession of handing out diplomas began. Each long row of students would come down off of the risers one row at a time. It seemed to be taking forever to get to the S's since the graduates were called in alphabetical order.

"Spencer Ricci…. Harlan Russo….Melanie (Mel) San Martiz…" Paige stepped up behind Mel. "Paige Santino," Paige stepped up and got her diploma, shaking the Dean's hand, smiling for a picture and then walking off. Randy thought she looked so beautiful with her hair glistening in the sun and her smile beaming brightly. Soon, they got to the last student, after the last row was in place on the lawn, the dean spoke again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce you to the Columbia University graduating class of 2005. Congratulations." Several whoops and cheers came from the students. They all pulled off their caps and threw them in the air in the traditional graduating style. Paige caught her cap as it came down.

"Ah, we made it!" Mel said excitedly as she turned to Paige and hugged her, placing a single kiss on her cheek.

"Paige, Mel!" The two turned to see Holly walking towards them, Holly was in the front row because her last name was Adams. She ran across the football field towards the two of them, and the three hugged.

"We're finally out!" Holly beamed. A Beta-Pi named Alex walked by them.

"Hey ladies, party at the frat house tonight, I expect to see you all there. It's not like you haven't been to plenty there before." He told the three as he passed. Paige looked over and saw her family and Randy. The three linked arms and began the walk across the grass, diplomas and caps in hand.

Paige jumped up on Randy with her feet off of the ground. She looked down into his blue eyes.

"You're supposed to be in Colorado." She said to him.

"Are you kidding, I wouldn't miss this for the world. How many more times am I going to get to see you graduate?" Paige smiled at him and kissed him.

"You're not going to get in trouble are you?" She asked.

"Well, I might…" He started. Paige smacked him on his arm.

"Randall Keith Orton, I will not have you lose your job for me." She told him sternly. Randy cringed at the use of his full name.

"I'm kidding, I won't get in trouble, and stop using my full name Paige Violet Hayden Santino." He told her, she too cringed at the use of her full name.

"Aw, I'm sorry." Paige delved back into another kiss, until someone cleared their throat. Randy and Paige broke apart almost on instant and looked over to see her dad.

"Randy, would you mind putting my daughter down?" Paige's cheeks turned a bright red as Randy let her down. Paige's mother was immediately taking pictures of the two. She took a dozen pictures of Holly, Paige, and Mel together. These last moments together were the most precious.

Paige looked around and didn't see Peter.

"Hey, has anyone seen Peter?" She asked.

"He was just here a minute ago." Luke commented. Paige saw Peter coming toward them with his hands deep in his pockets. He walked up to them and looked right at Mel.

"Mel, can we talk for a moment?" He asked, Mel smiled and slowly nodded before the two walked away from the group.

"Is he doing what I think he's doing?" Holly asked.

"I think so," Luke replied.

Meanwhile, Peter was trying to get his words together.

"Mel, I like you, a lot. I have liked you for awhile now, but I just never got up the courage to say anything to you, because you were Paige's friend, and the age gap between us has been part of the problem. But, I couldn't let you leave without knowing how I feel." Without waiting for a response, Peter pulled Mel close and kissed her. Paige, Holly, Randy, Luke, and Carmine watched from a distance.

"Who is that and what as he done with my brother?" Paige asked suspiciously.

"He finally made a move." Carmine said to no one in particular. Holly's eyes shot up to him.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"He's liked Mel since you guys graduated high school." Carmine told her. Luke tried to put his arm around Holly.

"I know you still want me Holly." Luke said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Umm, no I don't, that was high school." Holly said as she removed his arm from her shoulder.

"Ouch, is little Luciano losing his touch?" Paige said in a mocking tone.

"You're not too old to get your ass beat at Madden." Luke said to her.

"You are so on. Two hundred, double or nothing." She shot back.

X-X-X

Paige sat on her father's very large RV. It had been given to him by Paige's mother as an anniversary gift the previous year to replace his old one. The RV had white leather seats in the front part, a cooking area behind that, and behind the cooking area was the bathroom, it slept up to twelve people with the many fold out beds and recliner chairs, the walkway between the two led to a full bed in the back, and another bed could be suspended over that bed. Being the family man that he is, Paige's father let Anthony bring Marie and their two kids, and he let Holly and Mel come along because they were leaving the big apple the following weekend. Paige sat there staring at the scenery as it passed by. Randy came out of the bathroom and sat next to her.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked.

"Nothing, I almost forgot how much I love it up here." She said and smiled at Randy. Paige had been walking on eggshells since they left for one reason only…her mother. Randy got a doughnut from the box in the cabinet and ten brought it over to Paige.

"Do you want one?" He asked, Paige was about to reach for the sugary dough delight in the box when she saw her mother glaring at her in the rearview mirror form the passenger seat in front, It will go to your thighs Paige. Page could hear her mother saying. Paige slowly pulled her hand back.

"Maybe later, I'm not so hungry all of a sudden, excuse me." She stood up and rushed into the bathroom, turning on the radio loud so no one could hear what she was about to do.

Paige came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. Her face was red and flushed, Carmine looked at her carefully, he had seen this so many times in the past.

"Paige," He called to her from the back, Paige walked over to him and sat down.

"What's up?" She asked.

"You're not doing that thing again are you?" He whispered to her with true concern.

"What thing?" She whispered back.

"The whole bulimia thing." He said quietly.

"I thought we agreed to never talk about it again, that's apart of my past that I want to keep buried." She told him.

"Okay, I don't want to see you go through that again." He told her, pulling her closer to him in a hug.

"Carmine, I went to rehab and I'm better now, you don't have to worry." She was lying through her teeth and she hoped Carmine didn't pick it up. Carmine let out a sigh.

"Okay," He let her go back through the little door to the front of the bus. Paige sat down next to Randy just as they were entering the Crystal Springs camping and hunting grounds. They parked in a spot in the woods by a fire pit, and everyone started to get off of the RV. Randy saw another car right there, and then saw…his parents, Nathan, and his sister Becky.

"Mom, dad, what are you doing here?" Randy asked.

"Mr. Santino realized that we had never met and invited us to come along." Bob told his very shocked son.

"Well, the more the merrier." Paige said happily. "Mr. and Mrs. Orton, these are my parents Tony and Susan Santino." Paige introduced them.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Mrs. Orton said as she stuck out her hand to shake. "Your daughter is such a lovely girl." Mr. Orton added. Paige looked at Randy, neither one of them wanted to be caught in between their parents.

"Well, you four can stay her and get to know each other, I am heading to the shooting range." Paige said. She disappeared back into the RV and came back with a brown vest on and a shotgun in hand holding it with the barrel pointing downward.

"I never took you as a hunter Paige." Nathan told her.

"It calms the nerves." She told him. She grabbed Randy's hand and pulled him down the dirt path towards the shooting range. Randy and Paige walked down the long line of stations at the shooting range until they found one that wasn't being used. Paige decided to let Randy go first because there was no way she could focus on hitting a clay pigeon at the moment. Randy had been shooting and to Paige's surprise, hitting most of the clay pigeons that were catapulted out into the green field.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked her suddenly, Paige raised a perfect eyebrow at him.

"Nothing is wrong with me, I'm fine." She told him.

"You've been really silent, and that usually means you want to talk about something, but you can't find the right words. So out with it." He demanded.

"Do you love me?" She asked hesitantly.

"Of course I love you." He told her.

"Is there anything that could change that?" She asked.

"No, nothing is going to change." He told her.

"Even if I don't win Miss Universe?" She asked. Randy turned his body around and stepped closer to her.

"Do you think I give a damn about whether you win a pageant or not?" Paige slowly looked down, Randy slowly brought her chin up with his hand to make her look at him. "Paige, I don't care about that. Hell, I'd still love you if you killed…the entire Yankees team, I swear to you that there is nothing that will ever change the way I feel about you." He told her with a certain sincerity in his voice, Paige let a single tear fall from her eye before she kissed him. Sure, he said that now, but the bulimia would change things if her were to ever find out.

Later that night, the Santinos and the Ortons sat around the same table. Paige's father had made steaks out of the deer he had hunted, they all sat around the table talking and laughing.

"So, Paige, what's up for you next?" Becky asked.

"Oh, just Miss USA stuff, training for the figure skating season," She was about to go on when her mother cut in.

"You know Vanessa St. James is competing this year." She stated dryly, the mention of the name made Paige drop her fork.

"What's your point?" Paige asked, her temper was beginning to rise.

"Nothing,"

"Mom, you wouldn't bring up Vanessa St. James unless you really had something to say to me. The rest of the table looked on afraid to interject.

"All I'm saying Paige, is that Vanessa has one of the best coaches in the country, and has been training for this since you dropped out." Her mother said it in a soft tone that cut like a knife.

"So, you're saying I should never go back to skating, that I should just be a pageant queen for the rest of my life, because Vanessa St. James will always be better than me?" Paige asked, her mother didn't respond, which usually meant Paige had hit it right on the money.

"It's never enough for you." She said staring at her mother in disbelief.

"Paige honey, leave it alone." Her father told her.

"No, dad, I'm not going to leave it alone, she has put me through hell and I'm tired of it." She turned back to her mother. "You know, I can't think of one reason I have ever given you to be disappointed in me, I'm not on drugs, I've never been pregnant, I've made honor roll and the dean's list every single year, I have more crowns than I care for, I landed a perfect triple Lutz before I reached high school, I can play Chopin off memory, I got into an IVY league school for Christ's sake, but it wasn't enough for you for you…It will never be enough for you!" Paige's voice raised a little.

"Yes it was, and it still is." Her mother's voice rose to meet Paige's.

"No it wasn't, if it was, you wouldn't have made me get collagen shot in lips, and you sure as hell would have never taken me to get the slight curve taken out of the bridge of my nose. I was only sixteen, if you had ever taken the time to ask me I would have told you that I didn't want plastic surgery," Paige looked down as a tear came down her cheek and she let out a short dry laugh. "Is this what you wanted? Look at me mom, your plastic blond Barbie doll of a daughter. I hope you're happy, because you made me this way." Paige stood up from the table. "You know what? The second I get back to New York I'm resigning my title. I'm terribly sorry if I ruined anyone's night." She said sincerely before walking off down the dirt path. The table was dead silent for a good minute. Luke looked at his mother.

"Congratulations, you finally broke her." He said softly before rising from the table. Paige's mother also stood from the table and went to the RV, closing the door with a slam.

"Randy, you should probably go find Paige." Mel said quietly, Randy nodded and rose from the table, walking off in the direction that Paige went in. Peter and Mel kept flirting back and forth and the two soon got up from the table and went down another path, and Randy's parents went inside their mini-sleeper attached to the back of their truck. Carmine looked at the people left at the table.

"Well, anyone up for spades?" He asked. Marie stood from the table.

"I'm going to go check on the kids." She said.

"I'm in," Holly said, and the other two nodded, Paige's father just sat at the end of the table quietly before standing and going into the RV.

Randy followed the sound of small sniffles to a tree off the side of the trail.

"Paige babe, is that you?" He called out.

"Randy?" She called back before appearing from behind the tree.

"Yea, it's just me," He told her, he couldn't see her face in the dark, but he knew she was about to break down in tears, Randy moved quickly and circled his arms around her and pulled her close.

"I'm so sorry," She said, her voice muffled by his shirt.

"For what?" He asked.

"For not letting you in, there's a lot of things I never told you about, my relationship with my mother, the plastic surgery for starters." She said. Randy lifted her chin and madder her face him.

"I won't lie to you, I was a little shocked, but it wasn't your choice, and even if it was, it wouldn't change how I felt about you." He told her. Paige smiled softly.

"Why are you so good to me?" She asked.

"Because, I'm crazy about you." He told her and kissed her softly on the lips. Paige hugged herself to him. "Wait a minute, your breasts aren't fake… are they?" He asked.

"No, those are all mine, the ass too." She told him.

"Okay, because then we would be breaking up." He told her jokingly.

"Uh, way shallow," She told him laughing. Paige loved how Randy always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. Randy started to lead her back to the RV, but Paige stopped him.

"Can we not go back just yet, I don't want to face my mother right now." She smiled weakly. Randy silently nodded and the two continued down the path towards the main grounds.