Chapter Eight

"Like hello?" spoke a bubbly teenage girl-like voice.

"Hey Heather it's me," said John over the phone. He was in his locker room alone and decided to call his girlfriend to tell her the news.

"John! Like HI! What's up?"

"Umm, about your Christmas party…"

"Oh ya! Like you have to be there! People from daddy's record label are gonna be there and you like have to meet them!" she chirped.

"Umm, I'd love to but-"

"Wait, don't tell me you aren't coming," she said fiercely, interrupting him.

"Well I kinda have to do something for work…"

"WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY PARTY?" she roared over the phone, John moved his ear away in agony.

"I kinda have to go to Iraq," he answered.

"Are you joining the army?!" she shrieked.

"No, I'm going there to entertain our troops!" he replied. "And don't yell at me yet, I'm not 100 sure whether I'm going…"

"Well you'd better be 100 sure that you're coming to my party! Got it?" she asked.

"Got it…" he sighed, rolling his eyes. She then hung up, he shook his head and shoved his cell phone back into his pocket. Just the there was a knock on the door. "Come in!"

"Hey," said a sultry voice. He looked up and saw Torrie before him, in jeans and wearing his Word Life t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

"Yo," he chuckled. "I'm lovin' that shirt you got there…"

"I know, isn't it cool?" she asked, giving him a twirl.

"Very," he laughed. She smiled and sat next to him, making John extremely nervous.

"I came to talk to you about the trip to Iraq," she said. "Are you coming?"

"I don't know…" he shrugged. "My girlfriend's having a Christmas party and she really wants me to go…"

"Are you serious?" chuckled Torrie. "You're not going to see the troops because you want to go for a Christmas party?"

"Yeah…"

"Well these troops are sacrificing seeing their family everyday for months now, just to protect our country. Don't you want to thank them personally?" she asked.

"How about you, you wanted to be with Randy this Christmas," argued John stubbornly.

"Don't change the subject, I would like to but… there's troops are more important," she answered. He wasn't convinced. "It's a good thing to do John,"

"But you don't understand-"

"What?"

"My girlfriend, Heather, her dad works at a huge record label and managers are going to be there and well you know how much I've liked rap…"

"So you want to get a record deal?" asked Torrie.

"Yeah," he nodded. He knew she knew how he had loved his music and always wanted to be a hip-hop artist.

"John you suck!" she chuckled. His jaw dropped and eyebrows rose in disbelief. "You can't be serious, you could always meet these people again!"

"How do you know? They're really busy people, if I don't meet them at that party, their gonna meet some other fool and give them a chance…" he frowned. She sighed as she wrapped her arm around his and rested her head on John's shoulder. This surprised him, but he couldn't doubt for a second that he enjoyed having her that close to him.

"Here's what you can do, you go to Iraq and freestyle for the troops… how about that?"

"Sure, that's gonna get me a record deal!" mocked John sarcastically.

"No, but people are going to watch that episode of Smackdown, see what a nice person you are for entertaining the troops and see how amazingly talented you are," she whispered.

"Will it work?" he asked softly.

"Of course it will," she answered staring contently at his chiseled face. His handsome blue eyes, his strong jaw and charming smile.

"What is it doesn't?" he asked pessimistically.

"What do you want more?" she asked. "Wrestling or your rapping career?"

"Both," he answered.

"John you can only chose one thing," she sighed. "Just like you chose this… over me…"

He noticed the sadness in her eyes, tears forming too.

"Well I kinda chose both," he answered. "I'm here with you now,"

"But it's not the same…" she answered shaking her head, she let go of him and turned away.

"I hope you're coming," she said with discomfort in her voice. She put her back towards him and didn't show him the tears flowing down her cheeks. She quickly left John alone to think for himself. John watched her leave, he wanted to follow her, but something just held him back. He grabbed his phone and called Heather again. His heart pounded in his chest, worried of how she would handle it.

"Hello?"

"Hey baby, I can't come to your party, I'm going to Iraq, bye!" he then hung up and turned off his phone. He wondered why someone like himself was so afraid of his girlfriend, who was just a petite girl who he could sit on and crush her.

He shook his head and left his locker room and hurried to Torrie's. He knocked on her door and she answered it.

"Hey," he greeted. Then with a sigh he said. "I'm coming on the trip."

A/N: I'm sorry but there's going to be less updates from now on, I'm having exams from the 3rd of Jan' till the 18th... dies
Thank you anyway for reading!