Monday, 7:54 A.M, School Cafeteria...
"Sing the song, man." Seth pressed Shane.
"Dude, I don't want to." Shane said refusing.
Big E was on Seth's side.
"I wanna hear you do it. Come on, Cash! If you sing the song, I won't hit you as hard during practice." He bargained, calling Shane by his newly acquired nickname.
Shane stared at Ettore.
"Big E, you and me both know that's not true at all."
Dean joined in.
"Just do it! We won't laugh at you if you mess up... That hard."
Shane finally gave in.
"You know what, fine. Just shut up so I can focus. Big E, go on YouTube and search up the instrumental. I can't believe I'm about to do this stupid shit."
The beat started to play, and Shane began.
"I DON'T REALLY CARE IF YOU CRY. ON THE REAL YOU SHOULD'VE NEVER LIED. SHOULD'VE SAW THE WAY SHE LOOKED ME IN MY EYES. SHE SAID BABY, I AM NOT AFRAID TO DIE. PUSH ME TO THE EDGE, ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD. PUSH ME TO THE EDGE, ALL MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD. PUSH ME TO THE EDGE, ALL MY- Alright, I'm not doing this anymore."
A girl from another table yelled out, "Good job!", and Shane blushed.
"Thank you!" He called back.
All 3 of his friends laughed to their hearts content. Big E laughing the hardest.
"I can't believe you actually just did that!" The big teenager yelled in amusement.
Dean followed suit.
"Yeah, seriously. I know how much you hate that song too."
"No shit, Dean. I don't like that song, and I don't like Lil Uzi Vert. I'm not down with all that devil worshipping shit, dude."
"Oh, come on. Uzi's not a devil worshipper." Big E said after he calmed down.
"Big E... Really? He wears upside down cross earrings and chains! The man had a song called 444+222 on his last album. You know what that equation equals. Don't tell me he's not one."
Dean chimed in.
"He does that for publicity. He knows that if he does weird stuff like that, more people will talk about him. It's one giant PR stunt."
"Whatever, man. I'm not buying it." Shane responded not convinced.
Seth was just sitting there confused.
"You guys know I have no idea what you're talking about, right? I mostly only listen to pop punk and heavy metal."
Shane smiled.
"It's alright, Seth. It's stupid anyway."
Right before Seth could say something back, Dean groaned.
"What's wrong, Dean?" Rollins asked.
"Coming behind you. We're about to have some company. Unwanted company, at least for me. He answered annoyed.
The 3 boys turned around and saw the princess herself, Alexa Bliss storming toward them. When she got to the table, Dean glared at her, and Shane waved and greeted her with a bright smile. Normally she'd respond with one of her signature spiteful stares, but this time she hesitated. As soon, as she saw him, the events from the previous weekend came rushing back into her brain. Especially the, uh, revealing image of Shane she had witnessed. A small, barely noticeable blush was forming on her cheeks before she snapped out of her awkward trance, and went back into Little Miss Bliss mode.
"Shut up, Price. Come on, Seth. I need to talk to you about something."
"Alexa, please not now. I'm having fun with my friends." Seth asked.
"Now, Seth!"
Seth sighed in defeat. Obviously he wasn't gonna win this battle. When Alexa wanted something, she got it. He got up from his seat at the table, and said bye to his friends. He then reluctantly followed her. Big E then got an idea.
"Hey, Dean. I bet you 8 bucks that he doesn't make it out alive."
Dean chuckled.
"Make it 10 and we have a deal."
Shane laughed.
"Come on guy. He'll be fine."
Big E and Dean stared at Shane, and Shane all of a sudden looked less optimistic about his statement.
"Hopefully."
Alexa brought Seth to a hallway that no one else was in to talk to him. Seth spoke up.
"Alright, Alexa. What's up?"
"What are you doing with Price?" She asked aggressively.
"Well I was just having a conversation with him and 2 other people."
"No, Rollins! What are you helping him with?!"
Seth was confused.
"Wait, how do you even know that I was helping him with something?"
Alexa was stunned by that question for a second. She obviously couldn't tell the whole truth, because that would bring up a whole hell of a lot of questions from Seth and she definitely wanted to avoid opening that can of worms.
"Uh, I overheard him talking to you on the phone on Saturday."
"So, you were eavesdropping on his conversations?" Seth questioned.
"What, no! That's stupid. What part of overheard did you not understand?"
"That just sounds like eavesdropping to me."
"Well, it's not! Shut up! Stop avoiding the question, Seth!"
Seth put his hands up.
"Okay, okay. I was just playing, calm down. Jesus, dude. Shane asked me to help him gain some muscle. He thinks it'll help him be more effective in the field. I give him advice on how to approach weight training and what workouts to do."
"That explains why he was using a punching bag that day." She muttered to herself.
"What?"
Nothing! Just... You're wasting your time on Price. That catch last week was a straight up fluke. He got lucky!"
Seth took a deep breath.
"Alexa, look. I don't know what your beef is with this kid, but I don't share it with you. Shane is my teammate and he's my friend. If he needs help, I'm gonna try the best I can to help him."
Alexa was not happy with that response.
"Why won't anyone listen to me? Price is nothing. He's a joke."
Seth stood his ground.
"I disagree, sorry. Alright, if this is the only thing you wanted to talk about, then I'm gone. See you later, princess."
He walked out, and Alexa was livid.
"They'll see eventually. When he's exposed as the loser he is, they'll finally understand. They'll understand that I'm always right about things like this. Always." She thought.
Seth made his way back to the table.
"Ha! Big E, you owe me 10 bucks! Pay me, bitch!"
"Damn it!" He responded unhappily.
"Owe him for what." Seth asked curiously.
Dean nervously laughed.
"We kinda bet on whether or not you'd be back from Alexa or not."
"What?!"
Shane quickly changed the subject.
"Anyway, how'd the talk with Short Stuff go?"
"Apparently she knows about me helping you out with exercising and she wants me to stop."
"Well, are you?" Shane asked.
"Of course not."
"Then I'm cool."
Dean shook his head.
"How are you not pissed off at that right now?"
Shane just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"You amaze me sometimes, bro." Dean told him.
"Speaking of amaze. You wanna show off that voice of yours again? I want you to sing Bodak Yellow now." Big E said mischeviously.
Shane looked at Big E with a blank face.
"Ettore... Fuck no."
Seth once again voiced his confusion.
"Bodak- Who? What is that?"
Shane laughed out loud.
"It's nothing, Seth. Absolutely nothing."
