It was April, and Matt was finally 21. I saw Shelton over Christmas, and he gave me this pretty locket. It was Pure silver with a blue crystal in the center of the heart. On the back he had inscribed: no matter where I am, my "heart" is next to yours. Love, Shelton. I nearly cried when I read this. I gave him a leather Jacket, and Halo 2 for X-Box, since he wanted it so bad.
I was hanging out with the girls at the mall, Me, Kristin, Rachael, Macy, and Crystal. We were all having a good time, and we were in our favorite store: Hot Topic. I had picked out some all black bondage pants, a black tube top that stopped right above my bellybutton, and a blue fishnet top to go over it. My dad had decided to let me dye my hair semi-permanent black, and Macy was helping me put some temporary blue streaks in it to match my new outfit. I was excited because my dad was taking me, Matt (who had time off) and mom to meet his side of the family. I was kind of nervous, seeing how I didn't know what they'd be like. But I figured that since Dad was a sweetheart, his parents had to be too. I had decided to bring along a photo album of all of my friends, the first one a picture of Shelton and me that we had taken by the pool in our bathing suits. He was behind me, arms wrapped around me and he was kissing my cheek.
"Ari, come on, you've gotta try this outfit on!" Kristin said, throwing the bondage pants, tube top and fishnet at me. I tried it on, and came out of the dressing room.
"Dude, you look HOT!" Crystal said, smirking.
"Really?" I said, not believing her. I personally thought that the tube top was a little bit too small, and needed a bigger size; I couldn't believe how slutty I looked.
"Totally, just maybe go a size bigger on the tube top, and a size smaller on the fishnet, and you'd be perfect!" Macy said, noticing that I couldn't really breathe. Rachael got the right sizes, and once I tried it on, I knew it was perfect. The tube top now fit snugly, but I could breathe, and it barely showed off my bellybutton; it showed enough skin without
going over the top. I bought a couple of black rubber bracelets, (you know, the ones they call sex bracelets) and a new belly button ring, this one was a dangling blue crystal charm.
"Your total is $117.97 miss." The cashier said, smiling. I whipped out my dad's credit card that he'd given me to buy the outfit for this family get together. When I got home, I put away my things, after making sure my dad approved of course, and went down to the pool to relax. I was on my thirteenth lap, when I heard someone calling my name. I swam to the wall and looked up.
"Princess, we're leaving in about two hours for the cookout. Now would you go get a shower? Matt's already done." My dad said, smirking at me.
"Okay daddy," I said in a sing-song voice while getting out of the pool. I showered, put on my new clothes and played Halo 2 with Matt. He was dressed in a pair of Jeans and Pint T-shirt underneath a white one with a pink and white fitted. He had on pink and white Air force ones.
My mom came down the stairs in some jeans, a black tank top underneath a red button-down shirt, and some black tennis shoes.
"Wow mom, you look amazing." I said as Matt nodded.
"Thanks, baby." She smiled as she put on her gold earrings. My dad, amazingly, wore clothes along the same lines as Matt; he had on Jeans, one of his old 'Word Life' T-shirts,(It wasn't ratty, it was an older design though) and some blue and white tennis shoes.
"Ready to go?" he said, smirking at us. We all nodded, and we got into his Black Escalade and we drove towards West Newberry, a neighborhood I was not comfortable with going to. I found myself wishing Shelton was there for support. I opened my scrapbook that I had brought along to show my new family, and I looked at the pictures I had in it. Some of the earlier ones were of me and Matt with mom and dad, and some of the wrestlers like Uncle Randy Uncle DeWayne, Uncle Eddie, Uncle Rey, Uncle Paul, and Uncle Batista, Grandpa Ric, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Glen. Soon, Kristin began to show up, then Macy and Crystal. Finally, Rachael, Lamar, Eugene, and Marco started showing up. Shelton, Matt, Jeff, Amy, and Shane were in the scrap book too. I smiled to myself, thinking that this day was going to be great, but when I opened the door of the car and got out; I knew it was going to be a long day.
I looked around. We were at a country club, the complete opposite of what I was used to. It was quiet, pleasant, and I started to settle into the atmosphere, even though I was getting some looks, we all were.
"I'm not so sure about this one, girly," my brother muttered to me in Spanish.
"Me either, but let's just get through this, okay big bro?" I said back in Spanish.
"Stop speaking in Spanish, it's rude." Our mom said in rapid Spanish, glaring at us. Dad took mine and mom's hands and Matt fallowed behind us, still looking apprehensive. We walked up to an older couple who were in deep conversation.
"Mom, Dad, how are you two?" he said, shaking his dad's hand, and kissing his mother's forehead. They smiled and looked at mom, me and Matt. "This is my wife, Antoinette, or AC for short."
John's mother smiled, hugging my mother saying "so you're the one who's stolen my Johnny's heart away."
Matt and I grinned at each other.
"Johnny?" we laughed at the same time, granting us a look from dad and a swat in the back of both of our heads playfully.
"Now John, I saw pictures, but you never told me that your daughter was so pretty. Her eyes are a brilliant green, and I noticed that she must have died her hair. She's gorgeous Johnny. I'm your grandma Helen. What's your name missy?" she said, smiling at me.
"My name is Ariel, but my friends call me Ari, or Munchkin, since I'm so short." I grinned, smiling at the older couple.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ariel. But who is this strikingly handsome young man behind you?" she looked to Matt.
"I'm Matthew, but everyone calls me Matt, or Monster, because I have a pretty bad temper if pushed enough," he grinned shaking grandpa's hands.
"Well, Ariel, Matthew, I know you probably don't want to be stuck around all of the adults all day, so why don't you go on and introduce your selves to some of the younger people while we talk to your parents?" grandpa said, smirking at the relief on our faces.
"Okay, grandpa. We'll see you later," I said, smiling at him. It felt good to see that grandpa was a big of a sweetheart as dad was.
"Take care princess, keep your sister out of trouble Matt," dad said, smirking at Matt and kissing me on the forehead.
"Okay, daddy. I'll behave," I joked, walking off with Matt.
We were looking around for some kids at least around our age or between our ages, talking to each other in Spanish, just so we were able to talk about people without them knowing. Just then, a girl came up to me and started trying to order me around.
"Uh, I need about three towels, and a peach tea cooler." She said, expecting me to go get it. "Hello, aren't you listening, do you're job, foreigner!" she said, scowling at me. I glared at her, Matt's hand on my shoulder the only thing stopping me from jumping on her.
"I don't work here," I said slowly and softly. Anyone who knew me well knew that meant I was at the jumping point. The jumping point means I'm about to snap and you have about 2.5 seconds to get out of my face before I slapped you.
"Well then if you don't work here, then what are you doing in this country club? You don't belong here, and neither does your friend," she said, eying Matt. I hugged my scrapbook to my chest, the cover facing the girl. She read the front, which bore a picture of me, mom, Matt and dad, along with my full name on the cover, and her eyes instantly held remorse.
"Holy shit, I'm sorry, it's just, you don't look like you're apart of the Cena Klan...I mean, you look...Latino, not that that's a bad thing or anything, my mom just always told me that minorities inside of a country club meant that they worked there...I'm so sorry, forgive me?" she said sincerely.
"What do you think, is she trustworthy?" I said in Spanish to Matt, smiling at her so she didn't know what we were saying.
"Yeah, she seems alright. Misguided, but alright." he said back in Spanish to me.
"You're forgiven," I said, putting my hand out and shaking her hand.
"I'm Kathryn Marie Cena." She said, smiling at me and Matt. "My friends call me Katie, or little John, because I look just like my uncle John, who I haven't seen since I was six."
"I'm Ariel Nicole Cena. My friends call me Ari or munchkin, because I'm incredibly short. John's my dad, he adopted me and Matt ten years ago." I said, smiling back. "This is Matthew Jacob Cena. We call him Matt, or Monster, because of his short temper."
"Hi Matt. My brother James is in the pool house with the rest of the guys, they're playing an X-Box if you want to go play with them instead of listening to 16-year olds gossip." Katie said, smirking at Matt, knowing what his answer would be.
"See ya later, Munchkin, bye Lil' John...OKAY!" he laughed.
I laughed in reaction to what he said, and Katie looked confused.
"What's so funny?" she said, absolutely oblivious.
"You don't watch Dave Chappelle? He does the best Lil John impressions." I said, still trying to catch my breath from laughing so hard.
"No...and who's Lil John?" she said. I stopped laughing.
"You don't know who Lil John is?" I said, incredulous.
"No, is he a new movie star or something?" she said. I stared at her. I had to figure out what this girl listened to, so I could get her into some real music.
"What kind of music do you listen to, Katie?"
"A lot of country, especially Toby Keith." She said, smiling.
"Any rap?" I said
"No, mother says that it's all just a lot of noise."
"Rock?" I said, hoping to get a yes.
"No, mother says rock musicians worship the devil."
I looked at my cousin appalled.
"Come with me Katie, we're going to the car for a second." We walked back to where my parents were talking to some other adults, a man who seemed to be enjoying himself, and a woman who looked thoroughly pissed about something. She looked oddly familiar, though I couldn't place it.
"Uncle Johnny!" Katie screamed, running to my dad and jumping in his arms.
"Kit Kat! Come here angel! How are ya?" he asked, smiling at his niece.
"I'm great. Guess what?" she said excitedly.
"What?"
"I'm a debutante! Can you believe it? I'm a deb!" she said, smiling proudly.
"Wow, well, I was a White Knight, and it's an amazing experience." My dad said, smiling. I looked at my dad, and I noticed that his smile didn't reach his eyes. His eyes held a look that said he was upset about something.
"Daddy, can I have the keys to the truck, I want to give Katie a couple of CD's." is asked, smiling for good measure.
"Depends on which of my CD's you want to give her." He said, smiling back at me, handing me the keys.
"I'm giving her MY Lil John, Nelly, Linkin Park, Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, 112, Usher, Ludacris, Eminem 50 Cent, ...you know, MY CD's." I smirked at my father adoringly.
"Okay, go ahead, princess, even though the 50 Cent CD is MINE." Dad said, slapping my forehead lightly, and then kissing the same spot.
"See ya later...Uncle Johnny!" I laughed. "Wait till Uncle Randy and Uncle Wayne hear this one..." I said, loud enough to hear while we walked towards the car.
"Ari, you're clothes are outrageous! Mother would never let me out of the house like that!" Kristin said, as we walked towards the parking lot. I laughed as I looked at Katie's outfit. She was wearing a baby pink flowing knee-length sun dress with white pumps and a sun hat.
"Dude, you dress like a poindexter!" I said, laughing at her.
"A what?" she said, confused.
"An old person. My dad dresses cooler than you do!" Katie looked hurt. "Katie, I was just kidding. Lighten up dude!" I said, nudging her playfully as we got into the Escalade, me on the Drivers side, her on the Passengers.
"Katie, I hope you don't mind, but I need a Sprite bad, and some Mickey D's. I'm starved." I said, starting the truck up, and peeling out of the parking lot.
"You eat McDonalds?" she said, incredulously.
"Yeah, doesn't everyone?" I said slowly, afraid of her answer.
"Mother says..."
"Do you listen to everything your mother says?" I said, popping in a Linkin Park CD.
"Yeah, don't you?" she said, nodding her head to "In the End" absently.
I smiled to myself, watching her start to head bang at the song progressed. I turned the song up and started to sing aloud.
I tried so hard, and got so far...
But in the end, it doesn't even matter.
I had to fall to lose it all...
But in the end, it doesn't even matter...
"Welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?"
"Yeah, let me get a number 1 and a sprite, and...what do you want, Katie?" I said, looking at my cousin, who was engrossed in my scrapbook.
"Uh, do they have salad? I have to watch my weight so that I fit into my gown for Catilian." She said, not looking up from the pictures of all of my "uncles" in the WWE and me.
"The salad here sucks, so I'll get you some nuggets and a fry." I turned back to the speaker and added Katie's chicken nugget meal. I got the total and drove to the window. When I paid, and got our food, I started pigging out on my Big Mac meal, Katie looking at me like I was crazy.
"What?" I said, laughing at her face. She was amazed that I was eating a Big Mac.
"How are you so tiny? I mean, no offense, but you eat like a horse!" she said, laughing.
"Hey, a girl's gotta eat! But what's Catilian?" I said, taking another bite of my burger as I pulled up to a stop light.
"Well, it's a ball to introduce distinguished young ladies into society when they turns 16. My mom was a Deb, Uncle Johnny was a White Knight, or escort for the Debutantes. It's an amazing experience. We get to waltz with our dads, and with our escorts, who are usually our boyfriends, and the girls wear all white ball gowns with long white gloves. The guys wear all white tuxedos, and the father's wear black tuxedos, and it's a beautiful experience." She said, with a dreamy look in her eyes. I smiled, because that's how I looked when I talked about wrestling.
"Wow, I couldn't do that, I can't waltz, and I don't like dresses all like that." I said, grimacing at the thought of me in a ball gown.
"What was my uncle John like when he wrestled?" she said suddenly.
"He still does, he was just injured for about a year, he's coming back on Monday night. Wait a minute, you've never seen my dad wrestle?" I said, amazed.
"Nope, Mother says that it's barbaric and that it's full of nothing but barbarians, and thugs. She wouldn't let me watch."
"You want to come over on Monday night, have some girl time? We'll go out to the arena, since the WWE is in Boston, and we'll watch some of dad's tapes and stuff. We can get you some clothes that don't come from Abercrombie. That's way too preppy dude, you're clothes are way too grown up. We need to get you dressed like a WWE fan!" I laughed.
"Okay, but who are these people in this book?" she asked, looking at my scrapbook again. I popped in the Lil John CD, and pulled into the Parking Lot and we poured over the scrapbook, me showing her and telling her stories about each person as we went through each page. When we got to a shot of me and Shelton by the pool at my house in our usual position, I smiled.
"Who is he?" Katie said, smirked. I noticed how much she looked like my dad. Her blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and her crooked grin were all identical to my dad's.
"That is my boyfriend Shelton. He's 18, and a rookie in the WWE. Matt is his tag team partner."
"Matt's a wrestler too?" she said, amazed.
"Yeah, and in two years, so will I." I said excitedly.
"You're going to wrestle? I mean, won't you get hurt Ari?"
"No, almost everything is scripted. And you have to go to training schools to learn how take hits and slams and stuff like that".
"Well, did you ever get hurt?" she said, smiling.
"Once, I rotated my body too much when my dad gave me a suplex, but I only bruised something, and I was like, 12 at the time and just learning. You want to learn some basics while you're at my house? Matt and Shelton, Amy, Hardy, Skittles, Shane, Lamar, Alec, Eugene, Marco, and the girls will all be there. My uncle Randy should be there, and my Uncle Mark, and Uncle Eddie, and Uncle Rey-Rey, and every one! They'd all love you cuz," I said, trying to get her in the ring. I could tell that once I got her in the ring, she'd be hooked.
"Sure, what's the worst that could happen?" she said.
"Dude, I'm glad we're related!" I said, hugging her.
"Same here, Ari, same here." She said, as my cell phone rang.
"Hello?" I said.
"Where are you munchkin?" my dad asked, he sounded really pissed.
"By the car with Katie, what's wrong daddy?" I said, sensing that he was on the verge of tears; his voice was cracking when he talked to my mom, and I could hear Matt screaming.
"My sister's being a total bitch...as usual, but will you tell Kit Kat to come back to the country club, we're leaving."
"Why dad? We just got here, and me and Katie really hit it off and she's coming over on Monday."
"Alright, princess, but her mother isn't going to like it. She's trying to convince our parents to disown me from the family because she's a racist bitch."
"Dad, calm down. You shouldn't talk to your sister like that, you always tell Matt not to. You're contradicting yourself," I said, trying to lighten his mood. It didn't work.
"Tell Katie to come back up here with you. And bring your scrapbook. Show them to your grandparents, they want to get to know you, since they talked with Matt."
"So we're staying for a couple more hours?" I said hope fully.
"No, me and your mother are leaving with Matt, and he's going to drive the Beetle back up here so you can get home."
"Alright daddy, I love you."
"Love you too princess."
"Bye."
"Bye, bye"
When I hung up the phone, I saw my mom, dad and brother walking down the stairs towards the parking low where Katie and I were. As they got closer, I noticed that not just my dad, but all three of them had tears in their eyes. I had NEVER seen Matt cry, since we got out of the orphanages. My dad I did once, when I was in the hospital the night we got adopted. The night he found out that I had gotten raped.
"Daddy? What happened? Matt never cries, and you haven't cried since..." I didn't even finish, I just hugged my mom, who was about to break down. Katie took care of my dad and Matt, just got in the car, after taking the keys and put on Simple Plan's "Perfect" really, really loud.
Hey dad, look at me
Think back and talk to me did I
Grow up according to plan
And do you think I'm wasting my time
Doing things I wanna do
And it hurts when you disapprove all a long
And now I try hard to make it
I just want to make you proud
I'm never gonna be good enough for you
I can't stand another fight
And you can't change me
Cause we lost it all
Nothing lasts forever
I'm sorry I can't be Perfect
Now it's just too late, and we can't turn back,
I'm sorry I can't be Perfect.
I wanted to go talk to Matt, but I knew there was no talking to him when he was pissed. I know that he's going to be okay in about a day or so, give him till Monday, then he'd have had about two days to calm down.
"We're gonna go princess, have fun with your cousin. I love you munchkin, and don't let anyone ever tell you other wise. You and your brother are my world, you know that, right?" my dad said, his voice breaking mid-sentence.
"Of course I know that daddy. And even if someone told me that, I'd just pull an uncle DeWayne on them and lay the Smack down on their candy asses!" I said, trying to make him smile. When he did, I hugged him, wiping the tears from his face, and kissing his cheek. I did the same to my mom, and then Katie and I walked back into the Country club.
When we got back to our grandparents, we were singing Eminem's "Cleaning Out My Closet", and just being silly, dancing around, and being teenage girls. We were having a good time, till I heard a familiar voice that spoke to Katie.
"Kathryn Marie Cena! What are you doing with this foreigner? She's as big of a disappointment to this family as her Nigger-loving father! And look at her clothing; it's distasteful. She looks like a whore!"
I closed my eyes tightly at the words, trying not to show how they had gotten to me. Katie and I turned around to face the owner of the words. My face dropped when I saw the face. It was the same woman who Shelton had cussed out in the hotel the night we hung out in Hardy and Amy's room. She looked at me, but didn't recognize me until I said something.
"No matter what you may think, I know my father loves me. He may not be my biological father, but he damn sure was always there for me no matter what, and that's all that matters. So if you think that you can pull the same bullshit speech about Latinas being thieves and all that jazz like you did in LA, think again, because I'm a lot smarter since then, and I don't need Shelton here to tell you that you're a racist bitch." I said. Then I ran off, trying to fight off tears, ignoring Katie's cries for me to come back. I reached an empty building and I went in. I sat on the floor and looked through my scrap book, trying to calm down before I started punching the wall or something. I kept trying to fight it off, but when I looked at the picture of me and Shelton, a single tear trickled down my cheek. I needed to get to a punching bag quick, or it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Ariel, Ariel sweetie is that you? Why are you on the floor crying? Come here sweetheart, talk to someone about it." I looked up to see my grandfather standing over me, that crooked half-smile on his face, his hand out to help me up. I reached up and took his hand. I got up, and he pulled me into a hug, stroking my hair just like dad does. Then his deep strong voice started to sing a song that I hadn't heard in almose five or so years when I used to have nightmares.
Smile when your heart is aching
Smile even though it's breaking
When you feel tears, being ever so near
That's the Time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying
You will see that life is more worthwhile
When you just smile.
I looked up and smiled. "My dad used to sing that to me when he first adopted us. Whenever I had nightmares abut the orphanage, or what happened there, he'd come in my room, kiss me on both cheeks, sing that song then say, 'emerald eyes, rosey cheeks, and a happy little girl in the morning'"
"I used to say that to his sisters. Only it was aqua eyes instead of emerald." He grinned and we walked back outside. We found Katie still arguing with the woman who'd pissed me off.
"I don't care mother; she's a good person, and an amazing friend. Why do you always have to try and make me you! I'm ME! Kathryn Marie Cena! And Ari, like it or not, is a Cena too! So on Monday, I'm going to spend the day with my cousin, and stay the night at Uncle Johnny's house. End of discussion." She turned on her heals, and saw me smiling at her. She came up to me, and I threw my arms around her.
"Thank you Katie." I said softly.
"Any time...cuz." She said, laughing. We turned toward grandpa, arms casually across each other's shoulders.
"Well girls, let's go and find your grandmother, she's been worried sick about you Ariel, because she saw you run off. We never thought to search in the gym." He said, chuckling.
"That was a gym? I didn't even look around! Dude, I really need to get to a bag..." I though out loud.
"Bag?" grandpa asked.
"A punching bag. Dad always taught me that if I have a lot going on, and I'm really stressed out and upset about something, to put on a CD that talks about how I'm feeling, and take my frustrations out on the punching bag." I said simply.
"Oh, okay, Ariel. Here's your grandmother we're both dying to look through this book of yours." He said, smiling that Cena smirk again.
"Well, here's me and Matt with a couple of the WWE Superstars. We practically grew up in the business. That's Uncle Randy, Uncle DeWayne, Uncle Eddie, Uncle Charlie, Uncle Rob, Uncle Mark, Uncle Rey, Uncle Glenn, Uncle Paul, Uncle Dave, Uncle Chris, and Uncle Jericho." I said. I started telling stories about different matches, and how wrestling is scripted and not many of the injuries are real.
"And who is this?" my grandfather said when we got to the picture of me and Shelton.
"That's my boyfriend Shelton. He's Matt's tag team partner." I said, smiling. "He's special to me, really special. He was there for me the first time Katie's mom verbally assaulted me. I mean, he's the best thing ever to happen to me, grandpa. I seriously think I love him," I said, touching my locket that he gave me for Christmas.
"Sweetheart, I think you might be in love." Grandma said smiling at me.
I think I am, grandma. I think I am."
