Here's another installment of Bayley's Universe for you guys' reading pleasure. I will admit that this is written under the influence of me having a few cramps and aches, but I still like how this chapter turned out. In this chapter, we're getting two new character introductions, so...let's see who the new people are. Enjoy, my dolls. =)
The next day, Roman and the other older Gems were up and awake at around 8:30 in the morning so that Roman could get ready for his meeting at the middle school in town with someone to talk about trying to enroll Bayley in the school some time soon. The dark-haired Gem had spent a good amount of time looking through his wardrobe as he tried to find something that would be appropriate to wear. And so far...he was having no real luck.
"Damn. Who knew so much went into making good impressions with humans?" Dean asked as he helped Roman sort through his clothes.
"It's not just humans, Dean. It's pretty much everyone everywhere you go," Seth said, helping Roman out as well. "Of course, you'd probably be more aware of this if you actually gave a rat's ass about what other people thought of you."
"Well, it's a good thing I don't then, Mama Seth," Dean said, sticking his tongue out at the two-toned Gem.
As Dean and Seth went back and forth, Roman continued to look around his closet until he found a short-sleeved grey plaid shirt and a pair of black slacks that he felt would probably work. Turning around to show the other Gems what he found, Roman asked "What about this? You guys think this would work?"
Seeing the shirt and slacks, Dean said "I think it would. Besides, you're just going to a school, Ro. I don't really think you need to get too dolled up."
"Dean's right, Roman. What you have right there will work just fine," Seth said, nodding his approval.
"Okay. Guess I can go on ahead and get ready," Roman said. Stepping out of his closet after Dean and Seth left, Roman went about getting ready for his meeting. All he could hope for after all of this is that he'd be able to enroll Bayley in the school. After getting his clothes on, using some black tape to cover the gems of his hands and wrapping it down onto his wrists, and pulling his hair back into a ponytail, Roman felt ready...or at least, ready as he could be. Leaving out of his room at last, Roman ventured out into the living room to see that Dean was sitting on one of the couches and Seth was sitting at the kitchen island with Bayley, who was sitting in front of a bowl of cereal and who was clearly still a bit sleepy as the younger brunette hadn't changed out of her Care Bears pajamas and she had yet to put on one of her signature headbands or pull her hair into her signature side ponytail. Letting out a soft chuckle, Roman said "Well, isn't someone up a bit early today."
Looking over to Roman, Bayley smiled and said "Mornin', Ro."
"Bayley was asleep, but I'm guessing me and Dean talking might've woken her up," Seth said, an apologetic tone coloring his voice.
"It's okay, Seth," Bayley said around a yawn as she looked over to the two-toned Gem. "I was probably gonna wake up soon anyway. I'm really excited about Ro goin' to the school for me today, and I couldn' get much sleep last night, anyway."
Hearing the excited yet sleepy tone in Bayley's voice, Roman smiled before saying "Well, I guess I shouldn't keep you waiting any longer, should I, baby girl?"
"Guess not," Bayley said as she let out a little giggle at Roman's nickname for her. Watching as Roman headed for the door, Bayley called out "Ro, wait!"
"Hmm? What is it?" Roman asked, curious about what Bayley could probably want.
Sliding off of the stool she was sitting on, Bayley dashed over to Roman and gave him a hug. Pulling away from the older Gem, Bayley looked up at Roman and said "Good luck, Ro."
Looking down at Bayley, Roman smiled and, ruffling Bayley's bedhead, said "Thanks, Bayley." Nodding down at Bayley and then at Seth and Dean, who respectively gave him a nod and a thumbs-up, Roman headed out of the house and down the path that led into town. After he reached the foot of the hill, Roman walked into the city on his trek to the middle school. He was still trying to think over just how his talk would go with the people at the school, because...well, to be perfectly honest, the art of conversation was not one of his strong suits. But, he was going to try today.
'I'm doing this for Bayley. I had better not mess this up,' Roman thought as he got closer to the school. A few minutes of walking later and Roman found himself standing at the gates outside of Emerald Pines High School. Taking a breath in and letting it out, Roman proceeded to head inside the school building. Pushing open one of the double doors, the dark-haired Gem was greeted with the sight of an empty entryway that led into three different hallways, each seeming to lead to a different connecting hallway. Feeling a bit confused at first about which direction to go, Roman then decided to take the hallway heading to the right when he happened to see a sign on the wall that had "Office" along with an arrow pointing down the right hand hallway. Making his way down the hallway, Roman soon found himself standing outside of a door that had "Office" on a sign under the window on the door. Grabbing hold of the door handle, the Gem gave the metallic fixture a turn as he eased the wooden door open and was greeted with the sight of a room that he guessed was where one would have to wait before meeting the head of the school as he saw a desk covered with a computer, papers, and different writing tools in the middle of the room that had someone seated behind it, chairs along the walls, a bookshelf that was full of books of some sort, and doors along the far side of the room that had different words on them, "Security Guard", "Vice Principal", and "Principal" being three that caught his eye. 'The Vice Principal and the Security Guard must be people that all have some kind of power at the school with the Principal being the one with the most power,' the dark-haired Gem thought. Making his way up to the desk, Roman then stopped as he waited for the person behind the table to finish what they were currently doing at the moment before he tried to get their attention.
The person behind the desk, a woman with wavy red hair that went down her back and who was dressed in a green floral print top and a pair of navy blue capri pants, was busy putting some files in folders when she happened to notice that there was someone standing on the other side of her desk. Jumping in surprise a bit, the woman cleared her throat a bit before saying "Sorry for making you stand there and wait! Welcome to Emerald Pines Middle School. My name is Maria Kanellis and I'm the receptionist here. Is there anything I can help you with this morning, sir?"
"Good morning, Maria. My name is Roman Reigns, and I'm here to speak with the principal this morning about enrolling my daughter Bayley into the school. I had emailed someone about this yesterday, and I got a reply back saying that I could come talk with the principal today," Roman explained.
"Oh, yes. Mr. Reigns. Principal Stephanie's been expecting you today," Maria said as she rose from her seat. "If you'll just follow me, I'll take you to her office."
"OK," Roman said as he fell into step with Maria. The two had only had a fairly short walk to take as they went to the door that had "Principal" on the sign on the door. Watching as Maria knocked on the door, Roman heard a voice on the other side ask "Yes?"
"Ms. McMahon? I'm here with Mr. Roman Reigns that's here to talk with you about enrolling his daughter," Maria said.
"OK. Send him in," came Ms. McMahon's reply.
Turning to look up at Roman, Maria said "Good luck in there."
"Thanks," Roman said, sending a thankful smile in Maria's direction. Grabbing hold of the doorknob of Ms. McMahon's door, Roman gave the fixture a turn and pushed the door open. Walking inside Ms. McMahon's office, Roman looked around to see that the Principal's office seemed to be a more cozy version of the front area where he was with Maria. Turning his attention to the woman sitting behind the desk, Roman saw that this woman seemed a bit more firm than Maria was as she had wavy brunette hair that went a bit past her shoulders and was wearing a red dress. Clearing his throat, Roman said "Good morning, Ms. McMahon. My name is Roman Reigns. I emailed you about enrolling my daughter Bayley in your school."
"Please. Call me Stephanie. And, yes, I read that in your email. Your daughter sounds very eager to start attending school here. Although, I was a bit surprised to read that you and her uncles have been homeschooling Bayley ever since she was a child. How are her uncles feeling about letting Bayley attend school?" Stephanie asked.
"They're pretty open to it. I think it's because they want Bayley to learn things we can't quite teach her and they want her to make friends," Roman said.
"And, how are you feeling about this? After all, I'd imagine that a father letting his only daughter attend school for the first time in her life is a fairly scary thing to even think about," Stephanie said.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Stephanie. It's actually scaring the hell out of me to let Bayley attend school," Roman admitted, his more paternal and guardian side coming out. "My brothers and I raised Bayley ever since she was a baby after her mother passed, and watching her grow up...it's been one of the most rewarding things I've ever been a part of. She's so sweet and caring and funny and smart that you can't help but love her when you get to know her. But, she can be pretty sensitive too, so letting her come here is making me worried for her because...I just don't want her to get hurt, you know?"
Hearing Roman say all of this was fairly touching to Stephanie as, while she couldn't directly relate to how Roman was feeling, she could somewhat feel how Roman felt as she could think about her own parents and how they felt when she decided to leave home and go to college. Just seeing and hearing them say that they were so proud of her always seemed to help motivate Stephanie on in her job so that she could be the best principal she could be. Leaning forward in her seat, Stephanie said "I completely understand how you're feeling, and don't worry. I'll do what I can to make sure that Bayley enjoys her time at our school."
"Thank you, Stephanie," Roman said, smiling his thanks at what Stephanie said. While there was still a part of him that wasn't too trusting of letting Bayley come to school, Roman felt he could at least put his trust in Maria and Stephanie to keep an eye out for Bayley when she would be in school.
"You're very welcome, Roman," Stephanie said, smiling to Roman. "Now, let's attend to the paperwork, and, once that's all taken care of, we can work on getting Bayley entered into the school's system. Then once the forms go through, I'll make sure to let you know when Bayley can start coming to school."
"That sounds fine with me," Roman said as Stephanie went about getting out the forms that he'd have to read over and sign. He actually couldn't believe that things had gone so well here. Now, all he had to do was get the forms from Stephanie, read them over, sign them, and then he'd be able to enroll Bayley in school. All he could do after all of this was just hope that the forms wouldn't take too long for Stephanie to process through and put into the school's system. The sooner Bayley could start going to school, the better for the ponytailed preteen.
Keep this in mind, the last sentence isn't meant in any way, shape, or form to be Roman thinking that he needs to hurry up and kick Bayley out of the house and into school. It's more meant to be read in a way that Roman's ready for Bayley to start going to school as soon as possible. ...Anyway! Looks like the two new characters introduced were Maria Kanellis (she's in TNA now, for people that may be curious about who she is), who is the school's office receptionist, and Stephanie McMahon, who is the school's principal (McMahon's must have ze powah!). *Ahem* So, looks like Roman's talk at the school went pretty well...despite the fact that he got a bit lost when he first walked into the building. Good thing there were signs that pointed him in the right direction of the principal's office. Roman's talk with Maria went well, and his talk with Stephanie went even smoother (if not a bit emotional on Roman's side when it came to him telling Stephanie a bit about Bayley). Now, all that's left after the paperwork clears (which is the biggest thorn in anyone's side when it comes to school) is for Bayley to start school. Bayley starting school is set to come next chapter (because, I'm pretty sure you guys don't want to read a chapter of filler that'd basically be Bayley waiting to go to school, so there'll be a recap of when the paperwork clears through for her), so, until then, don't forget to R&R please. =) (One last note. Kiddie Bayley when she's just getting out of bed = Adorable ~ !)
(And, just a bit of curiosity from me here, who would you guys like to see in school with Bayley and Sami? Any suggestions you guys may have for the two to make friends with (or otherwise (*coughs*getteasedby*coughs*)) or who you guys would like to see as some of the teachers, let me know in your review or a PM. I don't really have much in the way of other characters set, so I'd really like something in the way of a few suggestions here.)
