A/N 1: Thanks everyone for all the reviews, and congratulations to Latisha
C – you were exactly right! Since it was nearly a unanimous vote to put
Jean with Evolution, that's where she'll be put for now...but I'm not
guaranteeing anything about how long she'll stay there!
Chapter 10:
Trish paused for effect and smiled down at the younger girl's pleading face.
"Jeez Trish, put the girl out of her misery," Amy said, rolling her eyes at the blonde's theatrics.
"Oh hush Amy, you know you want to know too!" Trish said.
"Soo???" Amy declared innocently.
Trish laughed. "Rene Dupree," she said finally.
"WHAT?" Amy flipped out. "Rene? But...but...he's the biggest jerk around!"
"He is not!" Jean protested, standing up for him. "He was really sweet to me. I honestly don't think that I ever would have made it to Vince's office without his help!"
Amy paused for a second. She did have to admit that it was really nice of him to help Jean find her way to Vince's office, especially if Jean had ran into him the way that she had described, but then again...from her experiences with Rene, and those of her friends he usually came off as an asshole. He was incredibly cocky, and he always had to have the last word, no matter what. "I don't know," she finally said. "That's just not the Rene that I know, so it's hard for me to picture him being this nice sweet guy."
"It's true though," Trish said. "I saw it with my own eyes. He was being really nice to her. I've never seen him be that nice and polite to anyone other than Sylvan and Rob Conway."
"Maybe he's just changing his attitude," Jean suggested. "It could be that he doesn't like the way that he's being portrayed in the company."
"Who knows." Amy shrugged and looked at her watch. "Well, we're done for the night, so if you want to go with me and collect your cousins, we can head back to the hotel for the night. What time does your flight leave...what the hell???" Amy cut herself off abruptly as three men ran past her.
"You're just jealous!" Jeff yelled to his pursuers, the Dudley Boys, who were being closely followed by the cameramen. "Matt and I are a much better tag team than you two will ever be!"
"You have NO idea what you're talking about Hardy!" D-Von Dudley yelled as he and Bubba attempted to catch up to Jeff. "Bubba and I are the best tag team in the WWE and you know it! You're just a second rate tag team trying to be the best, and you know what, it's not going to happen because that position is already occupied by me and Bubba!"
"Yeah!" Bubba echoed as he managed to catch up with Jeff and tackled him to the floor from behind. He and D-Von then pretended to beat the crap out of Jeff, ending with a knockout shot from a chair that was leaning against the wall. "See if you ever mess with us again Hardy," he said arrogantly as he and D-Von strolled off camera leaving Jeff's unconscious body lying there.
Jean looked shocked for a second as she stared at her cousin's motionless body lying in the middle of the hallway. She paled as she remembered what it felt like to have someone beating you mercilessly and fell into a flashback.
~Flashback~
"You stupid bitch! Get your ass in here! I told you NOT to be late for curfew, and WHAT do you do? You waltz in the door TEN minutes late and act like NOTHING is wrong! This is MY house and you obey MY rules. That means you're home AT the time that I TELL YOU, not whenever the HELL YOU feel like it!" Frank screamed in her face as he pulled her in the front door of their house and slammed the door shut behind her. He backhanded her across the face, sending her skidding across the hardwood floor to land in a heap against the leather couch in the living room across from the front door. He walked up to her as she tried to stand up and furiously started punching and kicking her body until she lay in a lifeless ball on the floor. "Get UP you stupid WHORE! Get your ass to your room and you better NEVER disobey MY rules again!" Frank yelled at her.
Jean bit her lip as she attempted to pull herself to her feet. Every part of her body ached, and she really thought that he might have broken a few of her ribs this time. She'd managed to pull herself up to a halfway standing position again when Frank suddenly backhanded her again and she fell backwards over the couch, only to roll off and hit her head on the coffee table next to it.
"When I tell you to get UP, I mean get up NOW, not five minutes from now. So get your goddamn ass up to your room where I don't have to see your ugly face you fucking little bitch!" Frank screamed, his hands clenched into fists.
Jean put a hand to the back of her head to feel the knot forming there and managed to push herself to her feet by using the coffee table. She slowly made her way around it, trying not to stumble and although she tried to stay out of Frank's reach on her way to the hallway, she didn't quite succeed, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her up to him.
"You ungrateful little bitch. You have no idea how much shit I have to put up with when it comes to you. You're nothing but a waste of a space, a sorry excuse for a human being, and a complete waste of air and tissue. Get the fuck out of my face you stupid whore, and maybe if I'm lucky when I wake up you'll be dead and I'll never have to deal with you worthless piece of shit again," Frank chuckled as he thought of the delightful situation he had created. "Of course, I can't kill you because then your mother would suspect something...but of course you could always kill yourself. No one would miss you after all. But then again, it's just a friendly suggestion," he finished, staring down at her with cold eyes. "Now get the hell out of my face," he said as he shoved her down the hallway, only to laugh as she tripped over her own feet and landed face down on the carpet. "Now that's a sight that can always make me happy," he gloated as he saw her lifeless body laying there by itself.
Jean tried not to make a sound as she attempted to push herself up again, at least long enough to open her door and make it into her bedroom. She finally managed it about five minutes later, and stumbled into her room, holding onto the door for balance. She managed to shut it by leaning against it, and locked it behind herself and made her way over to her bed and collapsed on it. She didn't have the energy to change or take off her make-up...she just wanted to try and forget that her life was even happening. She longed for the way that things had been before her mother had married Frank...and she just wished that one day her mom would wake up and realize what she'd married, and then everything would be fine again. ~End Flashback~
Jean winced in remembered pain as she stared at Jeff's body, and forced herself not to run to his side because she realized that they were still filming for the show. What seemed like decades later, the cameramen turned their cameras off and walked away, and Jean ran over to him. "Jeff, are you okay?" she asked nervously.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jeff said, sitting up quickly now that he was informed that they were off camera.
"Oh my God, Jeff...that just scared the life out of me," Jean admitted, her face pale.
"Oh God, Jean, you weren't supposed to see that!" Jeff exclaimed as he realized what his cousin had just witnessed. "I didn't want you to be around when we filmed it because I thought it might bring back..." he trailed off as he saw the sad look on his cousin's face. "It did, didn't it?" he asked guiltily, a feeling that only increased when Jean simply nodded instead of answering his question. He quickly stood up and pulled her to him in a hug, remembering to put his arms around her shoulders after what had happened when Matt tried to tickle her earlier. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that sweetheart, but I swear on my life that it will never happen again."
"I love you Jeff," Jean said as she hugged her cousin tightly, "and I know that you'll do whatever you can to protect me. I have no idea what I would do without you, Matt, and Amy in my life."
"HEY!" Trish protested as she and Amy reached them in time to hear the last comment. "I love how I get left out of that!"
Jean turned her head away from Jeff's chest and laughed. "Don't worry about it Trish, my life wouldn't be the same without you either."
"Good!" Trish said with a smile. "Besides, if it wasn't for me...you wouldn't have the information that you wanted," she winked.
"So true," Jean agreed. "I very much appreciate it." She definitely appreciated Trish's attempt to bring the attention away from what had just happened to a lighter situation. She didn't know how much that Amy had told Trish about the situation, but she was grateful for it.
"Well, anyway, let's go back to the hotel now," Amy suggested since all of the excitement was finally over. "And to go back to my previous question – what time is your flight leaving in the morning?"
"At 10:45," Jeff answered her. "We've got a direct flight back to North Carolina, and then Dad is picking us up at the airport to take us back to my house."
"I get to see Uncle Gil? Yay!" Jean cheered happily when she found out that she got to see her favorite uncle.
"Yes, yes you do," Jeff said indulgently, patting her on the head. "That's a good little girl," he teased.
"Oh bite me Jeffrey Hardy," Jean said as she moved away from him and rolled her eyes. "Can we go now?"
Amy laughed at the two. "Yeah, Matt's already got everything loaded up so we just need to catch up with him in the parking lot and head back to the hotel. Hey Trish, were you going to ride with us?" she asked, turning to the blonde.
"Nah. Thanks for the offer, but I'm catching a ride with Lisa. We've got a date with Ben & Jerry's ice cream and the new Matt Damon movie," Trish said with a grin.
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Amy said with a smile. "Anyway, I'll see you later then!" she said as she herded Jean and Jeff out to the parking lot, rolling her eyes as the two continued to fight like children.
"You are so immature Jeff! I swear, I don't understand how you can be that much older than me, and still act like you're...oof!" Jean was interrupted as she turned the corner and ran into someone and landed on her butt on the floor yet again. "This is so not happening," she complained before she even looked up from her position on the ground. "Wasn't once enough for one day?"
A familiar voice above her laughed and said, "I guess not. Maybe we're just destined to run into each other."
Jean looked up quickly into the familiar face of the hot guy..err, Rene. She had to keep reminding herself that he had a name now. "Maybe," she flirted back, shyly. She didn't think that she had a chance in hell with this guy, considering that he was so hot and obviously famous since he was in the WWE. He was probably a lot older than her anyways, she thought unhappily.
Rene smiled down at her disgruntled face and held out a hand to pick her up off the floor. "C'mon little one," he said as he pulled her up. "We really don't need to make a habit of this," he teased.
"Hey, it's not like it's my favorite way to meet people," Jean said, putting her hands on her hips. "Not to mention, I think running into a brick wall would only be slightly more painful than running into you!"
Rene laughed. He really liked how she always had a comeback for everything that he said. It didn't happen very often that he found someone with an attitude that could go toe-to-toe with his. "I suppose I should take it as a compliment that I'm better than a brick wall."
"You should," Jean said and tossed her hair. "Anyway, I gotta go because we're going back to the hotel and I have a flight to catch in the morning."
"What?!" The question escaped Rene's mouth before he even realized what he'd said. "Uhh, I mean...why do you have a flight to catch? Vince signed you to the WWE."
Jean laughed. "Yeah, but I have to move all of my stuff into Jeff's house before I can officially join the roster."
"Oh....I see," Rene said slowly. *She's going out with Jeff Hardy...that really sucks. The first decent girl to join this company ever since I've been here...and she's already taken before she even starts. This really, really sucks big time. Why do I always get screwed over when it comes to girls? Hell, when it comes to life lately. It seems that every time that I get my hopes up, it turns around and slaps me upside the head and says nope, not gonna happen buddy!*
Amy tried to hold back a laugh at the depressed look on Rene's face as she realized the conclusion that he had obviously come to, and she decided to put the boy out of his misery since she realized that he really wasn't the ass that he came off as most of the time. "Rene," she said, catching his attention, "this is Jean Hardy, Jeff's cousin. Jean, this is Rene Dupree."
"Oooh," Rene said gratefully, happy now that his misconception had been corrected. *Yes! Maybe I do still have a chance!* he cheered inwardly. "It's nice to meet you," he said jokingly to Jean. "After running into you all these times, it's nice to finally be introduced."
"Likewise." Jean laughed at Rene's sarcasm. "So I'm a little clumsy," she said and shrugged innocently.
"A little?" Jeff interjected, looking at his cousin.
"Hey! Nobody asked your opinion!" Jean protested, giving her cousin a dirty look.
"And since when has that ever stopped me?" Jeff asked.
"Good point," Jean agreed. "Since you never know when to shut up!" she said, and then took off running for the parking lot. "Nice running into you Rene!" she called out as she tried to escape her cousin.
Amy laughed as Jean made it out the door just out of Jeff's reach, and ran straight for the SUV and Matt's protection. "They're both such children," she chuckled to herself.
Rene smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you for the introduction," he said politely.
"You're very welcome," Amy said with a smile. "But anyway, I better go catch up with them before they kill each other. Have a good night Rene!" she called over her shoulder as she jogged off to catch up with everyone else.
"You too," Rene said as he began to walk off slowly in the opposite direction. *So this is what acceptance feels like,* he thought to himself as he made his way back to his dressing room. *I'm not used to the other wrestlers being nice to me...they usually treat me the same off-camera as they do on-camera...*
A/N 2: Please read & review and let me know what you think of this chapter! Do you like the way that I'm taking Rene's character or do you think that I should make him more of an asshole?
Chapter 10:
Trish paused for effect and smiled down at the younger girl's pleading face.
"Jeez Trish, put the girl out of her misery," Amy said, rolling her eyes at the blonde's theatrics.
"Oh hush Amy, you know you want to know too!" Trish said.
"Soo???" Amy declared innocently.
Trish laughed. "Rene Dupree," she said finally.
"WHAT?" Amy flipped out. "Rene? But...but...he's the biggest jerk around!"
"He is not!" Jean protested, standing up for him. "He was really sweet to me. I honestly don't think that I ever would have made it to Vince's office without his help!"
Amy paused for a second. She did have to admit that it was really nice of him to help Jean find her way to Vince's office, especially if Jean had ran into him the way that she had described, but then again...from her experiences with Rene, and those of her friends he usually came off as an asshole. He was incredibly cocky, and he always had to have the last word, no matter what. "I don't know," she finally said. "That's just not the Rene that I know, so it's hard for me to picture him being this nice sweet guy."
"It's true though," Trish said. "I saw it with my own eyes. He was being really nice to her. I've never seen him be that nice and polite to anyone other than Sylvan and Rob Conway."
"Maybe he's just changing his attitude," Jean suggested. "It could be that he doesn't like the way that he's being portrayed in the company."
"Who knows." Amy shrugged and looked at her watch. "Well, we're done for the night, so if you want to go with me and collect your cousins, we can head back to the hotel for the night. What time does your flight leave...what the hell???" Amy cut herself off abruptly as three men ran past her.
"You're just jealous!" Jeff yelled to his pursuers, the Dudley Boys, who were being closely followed by the cameramen. "Matt and I are a much better tag team than you two will ever be!"
"You have NO idea what you're talking about Hardy!" D-Von Dudley yelled as he and Bubba attempted to catch up to Jeff. "Bubba and I are the best tag team in the WWE and you know it! You're just a second rate tag team trying to be the best, and you know what, it's not going to happen because that position is already occupied by me and Bubba!"
"Yeah!" Bubba echoed as he managed to catch up with Jeff and tackled him to the floor from behind. He and D-Von then pretended to beat the crap out of Jeff, ending with a knockout shot from a chair that was leaning against the wall. "See if you ever mess with us again Hardy," he said arrogantly as he and D-Von strolled off camera leaving Jeff's unconscious body lying there.
Jean looked shocked for a second as she stared at her cousin's motionless body lying in the middle of the hallway. She paled as she remembered what it felt like to have someone beating you mercilessly and fell into a flashback.
~Flashback~
"You stupid bitch! Get your ass in here! I told you NOT to be late for curfew, and WHAT do you do? You waltz in the door TEN minutes late and act like NOTHING is wrong! This is MY house and you obey MY rules. That means you're home AT the time that I TELL YOU, not whenever the HELL YOU feel like it!" Frank screamed in her face as he pulled her in the front door of their house and slammed the door shut behind her. He backhanded her across the face, sending her skidding across the hardwood floor to land in a heap against the leather couch in the living room across from the front door. He walked up to her as she tried to stand up and furiously started punching and kicking her body until she lay in a lifeless ball on the floor. "Get UP you stupid WHORE! Get your ass to your room and you better NEVER disobey MY rules again!" Frank yelled at her.
Jean bit her lip as she attempted to pull herself to her feet. Every part of her body ached, and she really thought that he might have broken a few of her ribs this time. She'd managed to pull herself up to a halfway standing position again when Frank suddenly backhanded her again and she fell backwards over the couch, only to roll off and hit her head on the coffee table next to it.
"When I tell you to get UP, I mean get up NOW, not five minutes from now. So get your goddamn ass up to your room where I don't have to see your ugly face you fucking little bitch!" Frank screamed, his hands clenched into fists.
Jean put a hand to the back of her head to feel the knot forming there and managed to push herself to her feet by using the coffee table. She slowly made her way around it, trying not to stumble and although she tried to stay out of Frank's reach on her way to the hallway, she didn't quite succeed, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her up to him.
"You ungrateful little bitch. You have no idea how much shit I have to put up with when it comes to you. You're nothing but a waste of a space, a sorry excuse for a human being, and a complete waste of air and tissue. Get the fuck out of my face you stupid whore, and maybe if I'm lucky when I wake up you'll be dead and I'll never have to deal with you worthless piece of shit again," Frank chuckled as he thought of the delightful situation he had created. "Of course, I can't kill you because then your mother would suspect something...but of course you could always kill yourself. No one would miss you after all. But then again, it's just a friendly suggestion," he finished, staring down at her with cold eyes. "Now get the hell out of my face," he said as he shoved her down the hallway, only to laugh as she tripped over her own feet and landed face down on the carpet. "Now that's a sight that can always make me happy," he gloated as he saw her lifeless body laying there by itself.
Jean tried not to make a sound as she attempted to push herself up again, at least long enough to open her door and make it into her bedroom. She finally managed it about five minutes later, and stumbled into her room, holding onto the door for balance. She managed to shut it by leaning against it, and locked it behind herself and made her way over to her bed and collapsed on it. She didn't have the energy to change or take off her make-up...she just wanted to try and forget that her life was even happening. She longed for the way that things had been before her mother had married Frank...and she just wished that one day her mom would wake up and realize what she'd married, and then everything would be fine again. ~End Flashback~
Jean winced in remembered pain as she stared at Jeff's body, and forced herself not to run to his side because she realized that they were still filming for the show. What seemed like decades later, the cameramen turned their cameras off and walked away, and Jean ran over to him. "Jeff, are you okay?" she asked nervously.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jeff said, sitting up quickly now that he was informed that they were off camera.
"Oh my God, Jeff...that just scared the life out of me," Jean admitted, her face pale.
"Oh God, Jean, you weren't supposed to see that!" Jeff exclaimed as he realized what his cousin had just witnessed. "I didn't want you to be around when we filmed it because I thought it might bring back..." he trailed off as he saw the sad look on his cousin's face. "It did, didn't it?" he asked guiltily, a feeling that only increased when Jean simply nodded instead of answering his question. He quickly stood up and pulled her to him in a hug, remembering to put his arms around her shoulders after what had happened when Matt tried to tickle her earlier. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that sweetheart, but I swear on my life that it will never happen again."
"I love you Jeff," Jean said as she hugged her cousin tightly, "and I know that you'll do whatever you can to protect me. I have no idea what I would do without you, Matt, and Amy in my life."
"HEY!" Trish protested as she and Amy reached them in time to hear the last comment. "I love how I get left out of that!"
Jean turned her head away from Jeff's chest and laughed. "Don't worry about it Trish, my life wouldn't be the same without you either."
"Good!" Trish said with a smile. "Besides, if it wasn't for me...you wouldn't have the information that you wanted," she winked.
"So true," Jean agreed. "I very much appreciate it." She definitely appreciated Trish's attempt to bring the attention away from what had just happened to a lighter situation. She didn't know how much that Amy had told Trish about the situation, but she was grateful for it.
"Well, anyway, let's go back to the hotel now," Amy suggested since all of the excitement was finally over. "And to go back to my previous question – what time is your flight leaving in the morning?"
"At 10:45," Jeff answered her. "We've got a direct flight back to North Carolina, and then Dad is picking us up at the airport to take us back to my house."
"I get to see Uncle Gil? Yay!" Jean cheered happily when she found out that she got to see her favorite uncle.
"Yes, yes you do," Jeff said indulgently, patting her on the head. "That's a good little girl," he teased.
"Oh bite me Jeffrey Hardy," Jean said as she moved away from him and rolled her eyes. "Can we go now?"
Amy laughed at the two. "Yeah, Matt's already got everything loaded up so we just need to catch up with him in the parking lot and head back to the hotel. Hey Trish, were you going to ride with us?" she asked, turning to the blonde.
"Nah. Thanks for the offer, but I'm catching a ride with Lisa. We've got a date with Ben & Jerry's ice cream and the new Matt Damon movie," Trish said with a grin.
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Amy said with a smile. "Anyway, I'll see you later then!" she said as she herded Jean and Jeff out to the parking lot, rolling her eyes as the two continued to fight like children.
"You are so immature Jeff! I swear, I don't understand how you can be that much older than me, and still act like you're...oof!" Jean was interrupted as she turned the corner and ran into someone and landed on her butt on the floor yet again. "This is so not happening," she complained before she even looked up from her position on the ground. "Wasn't once enough for one day?"
A familiar voice above her laughed and said, "I guess not. Maybe we're just destined to run into each other."
Jean looked up quickly into the familiar face of the hot guy..err, Rene. She had to keep reminding herself that he had a name now. "Maybe," she flirted back, shyly. She didn't think that she had a chance in hell with this guy, considering that he was so hot and obviously famous since he was in the WWE. He was probably a lot older than her anyways, she thought unhappily.
Rene smiled down at her disgruntled face and held out a hand to pick her up off the floor. "C'mon little one," he said as he pulled her up. "We really don't need to make a habit of this," he teased.
"Hey, it's not like it's my favorite way to meet people," Jean said, putting her hands on her hips. "Not to mention, I think running into a brick wall would only be slightly more painful than running into you!"
Rene laughed. He really liked how she always had a comeback for everything that he said. It didn't happen very often that he found someone with an attitude that could go toe-to-toe with his. "I suppose I should take it as a compliment that I'm better than a brick wall."
"You should," Jean said and tossed her hair. "Anyway, I gotta go because we're going back to the hotel and I have a flight to catch in the morning."
"What?!" The question escaped Rene's mouth before he even realized what he'd said. "Uhh, I mean...why do you have a flight to catch? Vince signed you to the WWE."
Jean laughed. "Yeah, but I have to move all of my stuff into Jeff's house before I can officially join the roster."
"Oh....I see," Rene said slowly. *She's going out with Jeff Hardy...that really sucks. The first decent girl to join this company ever since I've been here...and she's already taken before she even starts. This really, really sucks big time. Why do I always get screwed over when it comes to girls? Hell, when it comes to life lately. It seems that every time that I get my hopes up, it turns around and slaps me upside the head and says nope, not gonna happen buddy!*
Amy tried to hold back a laugh at the depressed look on Rene's face as she realized the conclusion that he had obviously come to, and she decided to put the boy out of his misery since she realized that he really wasn't the ass that he came off as most of the time. "Rene," she said, catching his attention, "this is Jean Hardy, Jeff's cousin. Jean, this is Rene Dupree."
"Oooh," Rene said gratefully, happy now that his misconception had been corrected. *Yes! Maybe I do still have a chance!* he cheered inwardly. "It's nice to meet you," he said jokingly to Jean. "After running into you all these times, it's nice to finally be introduced."
"Likewise." Jean laughed at Rene's sarcasm. "So I'm a little clumsy," she said and shrugged innocently.
"A little?" Jeff interjected, looking at his cousin.
"Hey! Nobody asked your opinion!" Jean protested, giving her cousin a dirty look.
"And since when has that ever stopped me?" Jeff asked.
"Good point," Jean agreed. "Since you never know when to shut up!" she said, and then took off running for the parking lot. "Nice running into you Rene!" she called out as she tried to escape her cousin.
Amy laughed as Jean made it out the door just out of Jeff's reach, and ran straight for the SUV and Matt's protection. "They're both such children," she chuckled to herself.
Rene smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you for the introduction," he said politely.
"You're very welcome," Amy said with a smile. "But anyway, I better go catch up with them before they kill each other. Have a good night Rene!" she called over her shoulder as she jogged off to catch up with everyone else.
"You too," Rene said as he began to walk off slowly in the opposite direction. *So this is what acceptance feels like,* he thought to himself as he made his way back to his dressing room. *I'm not used to the other wrestlers being nice to me...they usually treat me the same off-camera as they do on-camera...*
A/N 2: Please read & review and let me know what you think of this chapter! Do you like the way that I'm taking Rene's character or do you think that I should make him more of an asshole?