Chapter 26: The Big Surprise

~Sam's POV~

The past two days has been a little hectic because of what I found out from Jeff. We all had talked to Vince about the storylines and some of it has been settled, but not everything. Right now, Paul was out doing errands, and Jeff was in the living room, watching television. My tutoring session with Kellie has been going good. I was able to finish most of the homework assignments that she had given me and still had time to be with Jeff. Right now, I am sitting in the dining room with Kellie and we're almost finished with the tutoring session. I was about finished with the homework that she had given me from yesterday. "Kellie, I still don't get this math homework. Why do I need to do this when I already have a job with the WWF?"

"You need to pass your math class in order to graduate. You do want to graduate from high school, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then please finish this. You have two more months of high school left until you graduate from high school. You're already ahead of your class. Your class is still two chapters behind."

I sighed heavily, "All right, I'll do the homework. I just don't understand this problem."

"All right, let me see," she said as she looked at the problem and started to explain what I need to do. About half an hour later, I had finished finally the homework assignment and the tutoring session. "Ok, you had a great session today. It's unbelievable of how far you've come."

"Thanks, Kellie," I replied as I cleaned up my books.

"Ok, you know your assignments until next week, right?"

"Yeah, I do. It's a lot, but I'll be able to finish it by next week."

"Ok, good. Then I'll talk with you later," she said as she got up.

"Ok, I'll talk with you later," I said as I closed my last book and put it aside.

Kellie went to the entrance of the living room, "Bye, Jeff."

"Bye, Kellie," Jeff replied.

"Give Paul what I wrote for him, all right?" she said as she headed toward the front door.

"Ok, will do," I said as I opened the door for her.

"All right, kiddo, I'll see you next Wednesday."

"Ok, see you on Wednesday," I said as I closed the door. I went to where I sat in the dining room and groaned as I looked at the books.

"What's the matter?" Jeff said as he came into the dining room.

"Nothing, it's just I have a lot of homework and I need to work out a schedule out to do my homework and the training," I replied as I tried to massage my neck.

"I can't help you with that, but let me give you a massage. Take a little break from doing your school work," Jeff replied as he started to massage my neck.

I moaned, "Ok."

"Why don't we go into the living room, since it's more easier and more spacious," Jeff suggested as he helped me stand up. I nodded and went into the living room and lied flat down on my stomach in between the couch and the television set. I heard Jeff laughing before he started to massage my neck and shoulders.

He massaged my shoulders for 25 minutes, until we heard Paul call in, "Babydoll, Jeff, I'm home."

"We're in the living room," Jeff called out.

"Babydoll, I have your surprise for you," Paul called out again.

I jumped up and ran to where Paul was coming in and saw my mother, "Mom!" I ran up to her and hugged her tight.

Honey, you're killing me with your hugs," she said as she laughed.

"Sorry," I said as I loosened up and smiled up to her. "I just missed you, that's all."

"Honey, I missed you, too," she smiled as well walked into the living room. "Hello, Jeff."

"Hello, Mrs. Copeland," Jeff said as he came up to her and hugged her.

"Call me Helen, please. Mrs. Copeland makes me feel old," she said as she laughed. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing ok," Jeff said as he sat down.

"He is not," I said as I looked at him. "His mom is sick."

"Samantha," Jeff said.

"What? I can't help it. I'm worried about you," I said as I went up to Jeff and hugged him.

"Jeff, I'm so sorry to hear that," mom said. "If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here, ok?" She sat on the other side of Jeff and held his hand.

He started to cry, "Oh, Jeff," I said as I allowed him to cry on my shoulder. I looked up to mom and my eyes started to become watery.

Mom asked, "Jeff, do you want me to hold you?" I felt Jeff nod, I let go of him and he went into moms awaiting arms and started to cry more. I just sat there, wanting to take away his pain.

After some time, he had stopped crying and pulled away from mom, "Thank you so much for doing that."

"It's no problem. You know that you can depend on me anytime," mom said reassuringly.

"Babydoll, you finished your tutoring session with Kellie?"

"Yeah, I did. She wanted me to give you something. She wrote it down," I said as I got up from the couch and headed toward the dining room. I looked for the note that she wanted to give Paul. I finally found it in between my math and history book. "Here, daddy," I said as I handed him the note.

"Thanks, babydoll," he said as he took the paper from me.

"I'm going to join mom and Jeff in the living room and catch up with mom before doing my homework, ok?"

"Go on and talk with your mom," he said as I walked toward the living room.



~Paul's POV~

I opened the note that Samantha had given me, "Dear Paul, I recently had a meeting with the school principal. I recently found out that Samantha would be receiving an award on the day of her graduation. The award has never been given to a high school student, but to college students. The award is called 'The Nobel Prize for Prestigious Student.' She is the very first high school student to ever receive an award. The College Board of Trustees had found out her high school transcripts and wanted to reward her for her success. Please do not let Samantha know about this. This is something that the school staff wants to surprise her with. I'm not sure if her mother knows, but if she doesn't, please let her know. Thanks much, Kellie." I was in awe that she would be given such an honor from the college board of trustees. I never knew that they wanted to give this award to her. I decided to inform her mother about this. I was sure that she didn't. "Helen, could I talk with you for a minute?" I asked from the entrance.

"Of course. I'll be right back, kids," Helen said as she got up from the couch and walked towards me.

Once she came to where I was standing, I led her out of Samantha's earshot, "There's something that you need to know that I just heard from Kellie."

"What is it, Paul?" she asked as I handed her to note, she looked at me puzzlingly.

"Read the note, and you'll understand," I said and she started reading the note. After a few seconds, she looked up shocked.

"Oh, my goodness," she said.

"I know. I was shocked myself when I read that. She's going to be surprised on her graduation day," I said as Helen nodded.

"We should do something to celebrate this when she does get the award," Helen said.

"That's true. Do you know if she's going to be valedictorian?"

"Well, it's hard to say because another student is a little below her GPA. The principal said that he would call me and let me know by the end of next month, but he said that Samantha is more likely to be valedictorian," she responded.

"That's good news. Let me know once you hear from her principal I'm sure that Vince would love to have a party for her," I said as I took the note and folded it up.

"How is she doing with her training?"

"She had a great session yesterday, though she seemed very worn out still, but she did great. I am hoping to have at least an hour to train her today.

"Ok, is there anything that you want me to do?"

"Just stay with Jeff. I'm sure that he could use some support from a mother figure right now," I replied.

"That's true. What's going to happen with the story now since Jeff's mother is sick? I mean will he be going home?"

"Yeah, he will," I started to explain what would be happening with Samantha's character. Helen just nodded when I finished explaining to her what's to be expected from the month that Jeff and Matt will be off. "Won't Jeff and Matt have time off together to spend time as a family?"

"They will be having that. I think it's going to be happening towards the end of the month, but right now it's vague because Vince is trying to work something out with the scriptwriters. They are hoping to work something out with Jeff and Matt's schedule. Nothing has been confirmed. Jeff will be leaving tomorrow instead of Sunday to be with his family."

"I see. Does Samantha know about this?"

"Yeah, she does. I can tell that she's trying to be there for Jeff but at the same time she's trying not to be too stressed out or anything."

"Oh, I hope her stress level doesn't go up or anything."

"So do I, Helen," I said as I shook my head. Helen and I continued to talk for a few minutes, until Samantha came back to get a head start on her homework. I told her that after an hour that she will be doing her training and she agreed.



~Jeff's POV~

An hour later, Samantha was getting ready to train with Paul downstairs in his basement where he had a ring set up for training. I stayed in the living room with Helen as we talked about life and how I was doing since I found out about my mother's condition. "Jeff, do tell me more about your mother's condition," Helen replied lovingly.

"All right," I replied as I sat up more straight. "From what my father told me that she had been getting all these unnecessary headaches for quite some time. He took her to the doctor's office often and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. It kept up like that for the past few months, until recently, where they went to the best doctor in North Carolina and the doctor found out that she has a brain tumor. The doctor said that the brain tumor had already spread over most percent of her brain and was going down her spine. The doctors said that it would be possible that she would have at least 2 to 4 weeks left to live, but they're not sure as of yet."

"Oh, Jeff. I'm so sorry that you have to go through this especially at a time like this. It's never a good time to find someone you love is going to die," she said softly. "I wish I could do more to help you out."

"You just being here is more than enough. It just means so much that you are allowing me to depend on you."

"You can always depend on me for anything, Jeff. I already look at you as a son, even though you're not my son-in-law," she said as she laughed.

I smiled at the comment. "I am hoping that Samantha and I would get married down the line. I know that we're young right now and we should be talking about it later on, but I feel as if as though I found my soulmate," I replied.

She smiled and said, "Did I ever tell you about how I met my husband?"

"No, you didn't."

"All right, then let me tell you. You might find this shocking, but it's true," she said as I sat back and listened to her story.

By the time she was finished, I looked at her in awe, "Did you really get married that young?"

"Yeah, I did. So I wouldn't be shocked if you decided to marry her soon, but I know that your relationship with her is new. Take your time right now; she needs to feel the joy of being in a dating relationship."

"Who needs to feel the joy?" a female voice said. We looked up and saw Samantha and Paul coming in all cleaned up from their workout.

"It's nothing. Jeff was just asking me about something that he needed advice on."

"Oh, ok," she said as she came and sat on my lap and kissed my chin. Paul sat on the loveseat next to us.

"You two look so cute together," Helen gushed.

"Mom!"

"What?" she said.

"Did you really have to say that?"

"Say what?" she said innocently.

"Mom, you know what you said about Jeff and me," she whined.

"I didn't say anything, sweetheart," she replied as she smirked.

"Yeah, right, whatever," she said as she put her head against my chest. Then Helen got up and got something out of her bag and stood in front of us with a camera and took a picture. "Mom!"

"Now what?" she said in exasperation.

"Why did you go and take a picture?"

"I did it because I wanted to and you looked too cute," Helen said as she smiled at us. Samantha groaned. "Oh, stop complaining, young lady."

"I'll complain if I want to," she whined as she stuck her tongue out at Helen.

"I give up with you," she said as she took one quick picture of us together.

"MOM!"

"I'm sorry, but I had to," she said as Paul and I laughed. We spent the rest of the day talking, and laughing. Paul and I offered to buy dinner, but Helen insisted on making us a home cooked meal and we agreed. While Helen was cooking with Paul's help, I stayed with Samantha and helped her with her homework. By the time Helen was finished cooking dinner, Samantha had finished at least half of her homework. She totally surprised me with how fast she did her homework. We enjoyed the rest of the night by watching movies in the living room. Samantha and I took the loveseat as Paul and Helen watched from the couch.



~Paul's POV~

The first movie had ended and I was ready to put the second movie in as I saw Samantha and Jeff sleeping together. "Helen, you should take a picture of this," I whispered to her.

Helen looked at them and smiled. She got her camera and took a picture of them sleeping together. After the picture was taken, Helen said, "I'm surprised that the flash didn't wake Samantha up."

"Why is that?"

"She's a light sleeper."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but she usually sleeps deeply if she had been busy the whole day."

"Well, she's been busy the whole day, plus her body is relaxing more after the incident earlier this week."

"That's true."

"Why don't you go to bed? I'm sure that you're tired already."

"Yeah, I am."

"You know where you'll be staying in right?"

"Yeah, I do. What are we going to do about Samantha and Jeff?"

"Let them stay there. I'm going to get a blanket for them."

"All right," she said as we headed toward our bedrooms and got ready to sleep