"Welcome to the fall out
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here, the tension is here
Between who you are, and who you could be
Between how it is, and how it should be.
Yeah
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor"
-I dare you to move, Switchfoot.
A/N: Taker's real name is Mark, but I'm pretty sure ya'll knew that! RR
Randy laughed and scooped up the little girl. She squealed as Randy tossed her in the air.
"Be careful" The Undertaker, warned Randy, watching the young man toss his daughter in the air
Randy caught the little girl, gave her a tight hug and passed her back to Mark.
"Thanks for baby-sitting" Mark said hugging his daughter
"Not a problem. Lily's one of the coolest kids I know." Randy said, lightly pulling on the child's hair
"I'm cool!" Lily said, causing Mark and Randy to laugh.
"How come you had time?" Mark asked, knowing that Randy was usually busy with one thing or another
"Vince let me take a break, because my girlfriend lives in New York"
"So when do I meet her?" Mark asked, as they walked down the hallway of Madison Square Garden
"When she gets here" Randy said making faces at Lily
"What?" Mark said puzzled
"Oh, she won't be here until around 6 I'm guessing" Randy said, looking at the man in front of him
"So why do you have the afternoon off?" Mark asked, bewildered
"No idea. I tried to tell Vince but…" Randy trailed off, handing Lily his cellphone to play with. She had been trying to get the thing all afternoon.
"Smart ass" Mark said, knowing very well the boy hadn't tried to get out of an afternoon off.
Randy looked away from Lily and grinned at Mark. "What would you have done?"
"The same thing as you…except not baby sit" Mark laughed at him
"Hey, it's your kid. I was doing you a favor!" Randy said, looking at the top dog from the other brand. "What are you doing here anyway?" Randy asked Mark
"I was actually considering switching brands…but with Lily…"
"I'll watch her. I love the kid…and having you here, means I get extra training from one of the big dogs" Randy said
"What makes you so sure I'll help you?" Mark said, amused by the young man in front of him. Most guys his age, were out looking for girls, or trouble, or both.
"Daddy! Be nice to Randy!" The three year old said, looking at her dad, eyes wide.
"That's what" Randy said, taking the child from Mark.
"Looks like I've been sold." Mark said as Randy's phone began to ring
"Randy, can I answer your phone?" Lily asked
"Sure Lil" Randy said, and helped her flip the phone open
"Hello?" Lily asked
"Hey, is Randy there?" Riley asked, not quite sure who was on the other end of the phone
"Who this?" Lily asked
"Riley…Who are you?"
"Lily! Randy played with me all afternoon! And he bought me popsicles! And he said you were pretty and you would play with me later!" The three year old, who recognized Riley's name,said, causing Randy and Mark to laugh.
Riley laughed on the other end of the phone, a sense of calm coming over her, for the first time since she spoke to her mom. "Sure sweetie. Do you mind if I talk to Randy now?"
"Ok, but only for a little, ok?"
"Ok sweetie" Riley said
"Hey" Randy said taking the phone from Lily
"Hey, made a new friend?"
"Yes dear and she's absolutely beautiful!" Randy said tickling the little girl
"Should I be jealous?" Riley asked laughing again
"She's also three"
"Ahhhh. Whose kid?"
"Mark's"
"And I'll just act like I know who that is" Riley laughed
Randy laughed also and shifted Lily to his other side, refusing to give her back to Mark as they continued towards catering. "So what's up babe?"
"Slight change of plans"
"You aren't coming?" Randy said, his voice dropping
"No, I'm coming, I'll move hell if I need to, which I think I might actually have to do" Riley said
"What did your parents do?" Randy asked, knowing it concerned them
"Parent-Teacher night."
"What the…"
"My thoughts exactly…and they want to meet you"
"What the…"
"My thoughts exactly."
Randy sighed. "What are the chances of you getting here by 6?"
"Slim to none"
"Just leave. Please?" Randy asked, his voice sad. Lily kissed him on the cheek, and he hugged her tighter.
"Randy…they are my parents…"
"Can you…."
"I'll try to make it…" Riley said, feeling horrible
"Do you have a plan?" Randy asked giving up almost all hope
"I'm thinking I could be out of school by 8, at MSG, train permitting by 8:45, assuming I catch the express D, actually I could take the 4 too, now that I think about it, and then meet up with you, and you could just come back with me and meet them, and I could run away after that." Riley said
Randy stayed silent for a second trying to comprehend everything Riley had just told him. "Ok the train thing, you lost me, but as long as you come here, I'm fine. And I think you said I'm meeting your parent…that's….ok I guess." Randy said
"I'm a Bronx girl; I talk fast, and memorize train schedules" Riley said laughing
"Never doubted it baby" Randy said, following Mark into catering
"Good. Talk to you later. Bye" Riley said
"Bye baby…just be here ok?" Randy said, looking around the cafeteria
"I swear I will" Riley said hanging up. She lifted her had as she heard a familiar voice, once again questioning her well-being.
"I'm fine Santiago." She said, not bothering to look at him. He sat in the chair, that was behind the desk that sat in the lobby. Glancing at Madison, he shifted so he was looking directly out the glass doors in front of him.
"You two need to learn something, and I have a feeling that if I don't tell you, you're going to end up learning it the hard way." He said
"Don't do this now. You're going to get in trouble" Madison said glancing both ways down the hallway
"I'm always going to get in trouble. The other teachers are allowed to give a damn about their students, why can't I?" He asked her.
It was a simple injustice of the world, Madison thought to herself. In most cases, it's the girl that's being told no. In this case, it's the male. He's a young male teacher in an all girls high school, and that's the problem. No one wants to trust him, or give him the benefit of the doubt. And all he's trying to do is watch out for us, just like any other teacher would do…
Mr. Santiago looked at Madison, as if waiting for her permission to continue. Riley had yet to look at him.
"Go" Madison said, taking a seat next to Riley
"Things aren't always going to go your way. If you make plans guaranteed something's going to come up." He paused as Riley chuckled.
"Work around it. Fight it. You two, are strong. I don't know what happened in the past, nor do I care to know. You two are here as friends now, and Riley, obviously something's going on that you feel you don't wanna share. Work around it. Fight it." He said, his gaze once again locked on the two glass doors ahead of him.
"You shouldn't be telling me this now" Riley said, still feeling lost
"Except for the fact that despite me being male, I know exactly whats going through your head right now" Her teacher said. 'And my heart' Riley added silently
Flashback
Riley was laying down, practically on top of Randy as they both looked at the TV.
"I don't know how you got me to watch this" Randy said, looking at Shane West
"Hush." Riley said. They were watching her favorite movie, one of them at least, A Walk to Remember.
"It's such a chick flick" Randy groaned
"I'm a chick" Riley said, adjusting herself, so her head was on his chest. Randy finally quieted down, and let his hands get tangled in her hair. Sometime later Riley felt a slight tug on her hair.
"Hmm?" She said looking at her boyfriend
"I dare you to move" Randy said, looking at her
Riley smiled and stretched her body and kissed him
End Flashback
"What do I do?" Riley asked, not really expecting an answer.
All her life, all Riley had done was live for her parents, work for her parents, do whatever it was that they wanted. Riley wanted to be with Randy. She needed to be with him, and the one thing she wanted, was being held back from her, because of her parents.
Madison paused, and then sighed. "Oh what the hell, whatever it is your doing, I'm coming with you" She said, not really thinking she had a choice
Riley paused, thinking for a second, and for some reason heard Randy's voice. "I dare you to move" Riley blinked, her decision made
"Mr. Santiago?" Riley asked
"What?" He asked, not breaking his gaze with his friend, the glass door
"I'm going…Cover for me?" She asked him
"No. I'll just pretend like I don't know where you are. Because I won't" He said, his meaning clear. Don't tell me a damn thing.
"My parents are coming tonight. Just…they'll figure out where I am." Riley said, rising and grabbing her coat
"If it's worth it, go" He said to his student, finally breaking his gaze with the door, and looking at her.
"I told him…"
"I know what you told him. It's whatyou're telling yourself that's scaring me" Madison said
"How is it scaring you?" Riley asked one of the few friends she had left
"Because you're going against your parents. And I've known you all four years Riley. You don't…If he…" Madison trailed off, worried.
"He won't" Mr. Santiago said
"What?" Riley asked
"Well, he might…" he began, and the stopped when he saw the look in Riley's eyes. "Fine, fine, if he does I'll hurt him, hows that?" He laughed
"Perfect." Riley said, hugging him before he could protest. "And thank you" She said, putting on her coat and leaving before he could say anything.
The teacher looked at Madison. "She touched me"
Madison laughed, and hugged him and ran out the door after Riley.
"Ok now they both touched me. Great. If I wasn't dead before…" He said, thinking that his job was as good as gone.
"What happened?" Jackie said coming down the stairs and looking at him.
"Good. You stay here, and when Riley's parents get here, warn me" Mr. Santiago said
"Okkkkk…by the way…."
"What?"
"They're here!" Jackie said laughing, as the young teacher groaned, not knowing what he had just gotten himself into.