Same Day, 8:15 A.M., School Hallway
"Yeah, she's crazy about me. Not that I blame her. I am Dean Ambrose after all. No female can resist my good looks and my boyish charm."
"If by "boyish charm", you mean refusal to do anything that makes a lick of sense, then yeah. You got a ton of it. You're practically dripping with boyish charm." Seth snarkily responded.
The two long term friends were currently standing by Seth's locker. Seth, just like everyone else who knew him, was skeptical of Dean's out of nowhere romance with Alicia Fox.
"But seriously man. Are you sure about this? You know she's crazy, right?"
"At this point, I don't really care. I haven't had a girl in a really long time, and I was getting really lonely. Plus, in a way, she's perfect for me. She's into the same weird shit as me, and unlike my last girlfriend, she's down to do stuff with me."
Shane raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"What kind of stuff?"
"You know, Dean stuff."
"That's the worst kind of stuff."
"No, it's the best. I do the best stuff."
"Ambrose, you steal from the school constantly, you just sacrificed one of your closest friends to big ass Braun Strowman, you "borrow" money from Seth and never pay him back, and according to Coach Helmsley, you once deflated all the footballs we had cause you were pissed that you didn't make the team."
"Ok, and your point is?"
Shane sighed in defeat.
"Nothing bro. Nothing."
"Well, if you got nothing, then maybe I should leave, cause we got company, and I don't feel like sticking around. I'll see you in homeroom."
Dean turned around and left, while Shane started to smile. He already knew who it was.
"Look who's finally made her triumphant return." He said as he turned to face the petite princess.
She decided to go with her tried and true response.
"Shut up, Price."
This time though, the saying wasn't filled with malice or disdain. This time, it had a somewhat playful demeanor.
"I knew you'd say that." He said, now facing her. "You ready?"
"I'm scared out of my mind." Alexa answered.
"Don't be. This is the start of a new Alexa. People change all the time, remember?"
"That still doesn't make me feel any better. Look around. The fact that I'm even talking to you right now without screaming at you is drawing attention."
She wasn't wrong. Every student that walked pass the duo all had a look of shock on their face.
Shane shrugged his shoulders.
"Who cares?"
"I do, dumbass! That's literally the main reason why I'm scared!"
"Settle down, Alexa. People are gonna notice you mellowing out sooner or later. You want to get rid of your persona, right?"
"Yeah... Yeah, I do. It's just... I wonder how people gonna take me changing. I've made some people's lives a living hell in the past. What if they try and get their revenge because they think I turned soft? What if they try and hurt me?" Alexa asked with a genuine look of fear in her eyes. When Shane saw it, he was brought back to the night him and the guys saved her from danger. She had that same look back then.
"Alexa, listen to me. I'm not gonna let that happen. I refuse. No one's going to lay a hand on you." The boy said with a slight growl.
"Price? Are you okay?"
Shane snapped out of his angry trance.
"Sorry, sorry. Just know, no matter what happens, I got your back, alright?"
Alexa gave a small smile.
"OK, I trust you."
Shane patted her on her head.
"Thanks, short stuff."
In response, Alexa grabbed him by his blonde hair.
"Don't call me that, and never touch me like that. I am NOT a dog, understand?"
Shane was shook.
"Uh, sure. Please, let go of my head. It hurts."
She let go, and smiled.
"Good boy. See you in homeroom." And with that, she turned around and walked away.
Shane rubbed his head in pain.
"Jeez, that girl's stronger than she looks." He said aloud.
He then made his way to his own locker to grab his stuff and head to homeroom himself.
Cafeteria, 12:15 A.M...
Alexa was sitting with her normal clique, except for Emma. Everyone suspected that she was off talking to Xavier Woods, who was probably in the library.
"You know, they'd be kinda cute together." Sasha said.
"Eh, I wouldn't mind seeing that happen. Lord knows Xavier would be better off with a girlfriend. He hangs around Big E and Kofi all the time. I don't think he's even talked to a female since he's been here." Seth added.
Everyone laughed at that, including Alexa.
"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised. But, if they end up together, then more power to em." She said nonchalantly.
The whole table stopped eating and turned to Alexa. They were all staring at her like she had two heads.
"Uh... Did I say something wrong?"
Another girl at the table, Liv, spoke up.
"That's why we're surprised."
"Yeah, normally you'd say something like, "That nerd better not even think of putting the moves on my friend." Seth said in his best Alexa impersonation.
"I don't sound like that!" She responded.
"Whatever, the point is, what gives? You're not angry at all?" Sasha asked, wanting answers.
Little Miss Bliss simply shrugged her shoulders.
"Whatever Emma does is her business. I'm not gonna get involved."
Again, the whole table stared at her in disbelief.
"What's the problem now?" She asked exasperated.
"Getting involved and being angry is like your whole thing!" Sasha pointed out.
"Who are you and what have you done with my friend?" Seth asked, almost not joking.
"I have no idea what you people are talking about. What's the problem?"
"There's no problem. We're just caught a little off guard is all." Liv answered.
On the outside, Alexa had a non interested look on her face, but on the inside, she was freaking out.
"Damn it! They noticed already! That wasn't even 10 minutes! Quick, change the subject!" She thought.
"That's alright, anyway, what'd I miss yesterday? Anything happen?"
"Well, you missed practice. Coach Del Rey was pissed. You better have a good reason for not showing up." Sasha warned.
"I was sick. It took me like 3 hours to muster up the strength to even leave my bed. No way I could've come to school, let alone cheerleading practice." Alexa lied.
"Well, you better hope she's willing to give you a pass, because if not, you're screwed."
Seth piped up.
"Funny, Shane's in the same boat. He missed football practice yesterday and Coach Helmsley was irate. Only difference is he wasn't sick. I ran into him in between classes this morning and I asked him what happened. All he said was that he had to deal with some personal stuff. Said it was really important."
No one noticed, but Alexa started to blush.
"Really important?" She thought. "Do I mean that much to him?"
"Alexa. Alexa? Alexa!" Sasha yelled, trying to get the petite princess's attention.
"Huh, what?"
"I said, it's a shame you were absent yesterday. The boy who you despise wasn't here. It would've been Heaven on Earth for you, right?"
"Uh, yeah. That would've been nice." She answered halfheartedly.
At that moment, the bell rang, and it was time to head to the next class. For Alexa, the timing couldn't have been any more perfect. She couldn't wait to get out of there.
"Alright, alright. See you guys later!"
Little Miss Bliss then left, almost sprinted, out of the cafeteria.
Seth had the last word.
"I still think she was abducted by aliens."
Football Locker Room, 6:05 P.M...
"Jesus Christ! My body feels like it's been trampled by a pack of 1 ton rhinos!" Shane complained.
"That's why you don't miss practice, bro." Seth said.
As expected, Coach Helmsley flipped out on Shane. He made him run 2 miles around the track, in his football gear, which made it even worse because of the added weight. Then, he made him practice with linemen, and do drills with them. Again, Shane's not the biggest guy in the world, so you can imagine how that went. In one drill, most of the linemen formed a circle and, 2 of them got in the middle, and tried to push each other out of it. Coach decided to put Shane in with none other than Big E. Before they started, Big E said, "Sorry about this, man." As expected, Big E completely annihilated the poor kid. So, suffice to say, Mr. Price didn't exactly have a good 2 and a half hours.
"I'm never doing that again. From now on, I'm gonna be the first person on the field." Shane proclaimed.
"That's the spirit!" Another teammate, Cody Rhodes chimed in.
Seth laughed.
"Yeah, if anyone knows about coach's punishments, it's Cody. You only went through this once. Cody's missed practice a bunch of times. He even missed a game. Helmsley nearly strangled him the next time he saw him."
"I had a good reason."
"No you didn't! You said you sprained your ankle and couldn't play, but me and Seth caught you at the park talking to Kaitlyn the same day!" Big E clarified.
Cody shrugged.
"Don't hate the player, hate the game."
The whole locker room laughed at that. At that moment, Coach Helmsley walked in.
"Hey, dummies! Hurry up and change! The sooner you go home, I can too!"
"Yes, coach!" The entire team yelled.
After about 10 minutes, the boys were all changed and were making their way to their own respective homes. Shane, Big E and Seth left together, but right when they were about enter the train station, he recieved a text message. It was from Alexa and it said, "Don't go home yet. Wait for me at the store by the train station." He texted back, "Okay."
"You coming with?" Big E asked.
"Nah, man. I'm gonna go get grab a bite to eat. I need energy after today. You fucked me up, remember?"
"Point taken. See ya around, Cash."
Seth and E left him alone, and Shane walked into the store. He then called her to ask where she was. She answered with an angry tone.
"Are you crazy? Why would you call me right now? I'm still in the school!"
"I just wanted to know how long I have to wait here." He explained.
She sighed.
"Give me like 5 minutes."
In the school, Alexa was rushing to get her things together. When she did, she went to leave, but Sasha stopped before she could.
"Whoa, what's the rush?" She asked.
"I gotta go. I got stuff to do at home."
"Oh, okay. See you tomorrow. Don't get sick again."
"I won't, I won't. Bye!"
She all but ran out of the school.
"Damn, I wonder what she has to do." Sasha thought.
About 2 minutes later, and she had met Shane at the store.
"You're a minute late, woman." Shane joked.
"Oh, shut up. Let's go."
They made their way from the store to the train station. The train was there as soon as they walked in, so they boarded it and sat next each other.
"Hey, this is an improvement. A month ago you would've yelled at me and told me to sit somewhere else."
"Who's says I won't do that now?" She responded with sass.
"Point taken. Anyway, how'd today go?"
"Eh, alright I guess. People were looking at me weird because I wasn't my usual bitchy self. Jeez, was I really that bad?"
"I didn't think so, but I guess some people did. Again though. Trust me, people will get used to this side of you in the no time." Shane affirmed.
"I sure hope so. I'm getting tired of people staring at me. It's annoying." She growled.
"Easy there, girl. Chill."
"Sorry, sorry."
The two sat in silence for the remainder of the train ride. They got off, and walked to their block. Once they were there, they said bye to each other, and they went to their respective houses.
"Good night, short stuff!" Shane yelled across the street.
"Don't call me that, stupid!" She yelled back.
Shane smiled and entered his house.
"Hey, dad! I'm...home?"
Shane's dad was sitting on the couch, with a not so pleased look on his face.
"What's wrong, dad?"
Shane's dad looked at him.
"I just got a phone call from your school. Apparently, you didn't show up yesterday. Care to explain?"
Shane gulped.
"Uh... It's a long, long story."
Happy New Year, guys! I meant to have this up by Christmas, but shit happened and I stopped for a little. I hope you guys enjoy! Peace!
