Next Day, School Parking Lot, 2:55 P.M...

The time for mind games and verbal back and forths was over. It was now time to either put up or shut up. A big crowd had formed within the parking lot. As a result of Lio's part in all of this, it seemed like almost every kid in the neighborhood had pulled up to witness the showdown. Speaking of Lio, a lot of the students were confused as to why the self-proclaimed Man of the Hour, wasn't present. After all, he was the one that really kickstarted the entire even. They had absolutely no idea of what transpired the night before, and the vicious assault he had been on the receiving end of. One person who was present, however, was the ever so conniving and entitled, Carmella Van Dale. As expected, she hadn't come alone. Alongside her was her boyfriend, Colin Cassady, looking as imposing as ever, and her two shallow puppets, Maria Kanellis and Melina Perez. Every single person I just listed, had this smug and arrogant look on their faces. Carmella took a look at her phone to check the time, laughed, and then motioned for Big Cass to silence the crowd so she could say what she wanted to say.

"Ay, bozos! My girl wants to say somethin'! You either shut your mouths, or I shut them for you!" He demanded.

Of course the kids listened to him for fear of getting their faces smashed in by the overgrown teenager. Carmella smirked at the immediate obedience shown by the crowd, believing that's what she deserved anyway.

"Thank you for that, babe. Now, I don't if you all noticed or not, but it is currently 2:56 P.M. If you all remember correctly, I was told to be at this very location at 3 in the afternoon on this very day. Well, we are currently 4 minutes away from that set time. And I don't know about you people, but it seems to me that the Goth weirdo and her little band of idiot misfits, are havin' second thoughts about this whole thing. I can't blame them though. If I were Price and his midget girlfriend, I would take my ass back home. Hell, I wouldn't even have come here in the first place. The pale outcast isn't worth it, and I would've realized that a long time ago. It's like he hasn't learned a damn thing since he took his sorry ass out of here and moved. You all remember the absolutely retarded things he would do, just so he'd be accepted. What a fucking dunce. There's a reason why a lot of you, "betrayed" him as he likes to put it. He's a desperate leech, a parasite. We just refused to be his hosts. And he's proving my point, by blindly following this pale bitch's orders, so he can fight for her approval. Like that shit matters anyway. She's probably using him too, and he has no idea. Dumbass. It just goes to show that Shane Price is, and forever will be, nothing but a pathetic, subservient, little bi-"

"Business man? Little business man? Well, I guess I've always been good with dealing with money."

Carmella's tirade of insults had been abruptly shut down from a voice in the crowd who had heard quite enough. The crowd of kids turned around and the person was revealed to be a boy. That boy was none other than the very same Shane Price that Carmella had spent the last couple minutes tearing apart verbally. That ever present smile was plastered onto his face as he looked around and saw all the people he hadn't seen in months.

"Well... Did y'all miss me?!" He yelled out.

Some kids smiled, some kids started to feel a little guilty, and some kids were surprised to see how he looked now. A lot of them, especially the girls, took notice of his changed physical appearance. Murmurs of people saying stuff like, "He's kinda hot now", and, "He got bigger", could faintly be heard. Shane continued speaking.

"Nice to see some of you guys. Lookin' good, Madison, Angelina. Bro, Robbie! I missed you a lot. Hold on, where's... There you are, man. Ryder! Great to see you again."

He kept going, naming off various members of the crowd, much to the chagrin of Carmella, Cass, Maria, and Melina, who were all visibly starting to get pissed.

"Oh my God! Shut up, loser! No one here cares that you've been gone!" Maria yelled at him.

"Yeah, shut it!" Melina added.

Shane grabbed at his chest, and feigned being hurt by their words.

"Oooof! That one stung. That one stung a lot. And I came all this way to see you guys, too. Why ya gotta be like that?... I'm... I'm heartbroken. Can't you tell how heartbroken I am right now?"

Price's trolling antics managed to gain a few laughs from the crowd, which didn't sit well with Carmella and her goons at all. Especially Big Cass.

"Fuckhead, shut up! And what are you morons laughin' at, huh?! Cause I don't see a damn thing funny." The tall kid scolded.

"Oh shit it's Cass! Congrats on the relationship with Mella over there. Hope you guys stay together forever and ever. Yo, everyone's here to see us. That's crazy! But... But I can't help but notice... Someone's missing."

Carmella started to get nervous.

"Price, just shut up and walk away. It looks like your people were too scared to show up anyway, so just be like them and go!"

However, despite her orders he continued.

"Yeah, someone's missing for sure. Anyone seen Lio?"

That reintroduced the curious thoughts the kids had at first. Again, he was the guy behind all of this, so why wouldn't he be here to watch it himself?

"No? No one has? Oh. Well, that's pretty understandable, considering he's in the FUCKING HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW!" He angrily revealed.

An audible gasp could be heard from the group of teens after Shane revealed that information.

"What do you mean, bro?" Zack Ryder called out.

Carmella was panicking. She nudged Cass.

"Babe, do something." She aggressively whispered to him.

"Listen, you little blonde son of a bitch! Either you come over here and take this ass beating like a man, or I come over there and fucking destroy you!"

"Well, at least I get the courtesy of it being face to face, or actually being able to somewhat defend myself. Lio didn't, when you ambushed him! Lio Rush is 5'2 and like 124 pounds. You're damn near 6'7 and a fucking monster! I can't believe you'd do that! Goddamn coward! You beat him until he was bloodied, and then threw him in a goddamn dumpster! But, but... I know the only reason you did it was because of the cunt standing next to you. You're all gonna pay. When I said you fucked up, I was serious. But after what happened to Lio... Now you're double fucked."

There was angry grumbling now throughout the crowd.

"You beat up Lio? Dude, what the fuck?" A boy named Kassius Ohno called out.

"Yeah! Seriously, for what? Why would you even do something like that?" A girl named Jojo asked.

The kids directing their anger at the 4 of them started to cause the big man to defensively lash out at them.

"The little bastard had it comin'! He tried to make my girl look bad! That's what he gets! That's it. You're friggin dead, Price. I'm gonna destroy you!"

Shane's serious and pissed off expression morphed back into a smile. He laughed at Cass.

"Big bro, that's what you think. However, I assure you... You're sadly mistaken."

CRACK!

A sickening thud was heard, and Colin crumbled to the floor, clutching his right leg in pain. As he laid there, shouting obscenities and rolling around, a certain... pale female stood over him, holding a baseball bat. She had been hidden in the giant crowd of students, so no one saw it coming. Carmella, Maria, and Melina were too shocked to do anything, and Shane continued to look on with a smirk on his face. He nudged a kid to his right.

"Told him so."

Paige then turned her attention to the three girls who were looking on in horror. She had a dark look on her face that told the story of a girl who'd had enough.

"You fuckin' skets are next." She told them as she stepped toward them.

They backed up, trying to get away from the enraged British girl. The only problem was, every path they found was then blocked by a clump of kids.

"Fucking get out of the way, idiots!" Carmella barked desperately.

A huge boy named Keith Lee folded his arms.

"What you had happen to Lio is unforgivable. You need to atone for what you've done." He proclaimed, refusing to move.

"AAAAH!" She yelled annoyed.

Right when they thought they'd found an opening, Maria felt something poke her in the back.

"Where are you going? You're gonna miss all the fun."

The three of them turned around, and there stood a sinister looking Little Miss Bliss. She also had a bat in her possession. Remember the Harley Quinn comparisons from earlier in the story? Well, ladies and gentlemen, we've come full circle.

"Oh you little bitch." Melina said, scared out of her mind.

Price was loving every second of this. The girl he despised the most along with her two lackeys, were trapped with no possible chance of escape.

"I'm gonna enjoy making you pay for everything you've done to Paige and my boyfriend. I really am." Alexa said.

The two girls were about to just starting swinging on them, and the crowd was ready to see it. Shane was too. At least... he should have. Out of nowhere, his attitude toward this whole situation flipped still felt wrong and his smile was once again faded until it devolved into a frown. He facepalmed.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this bullshit... Guys! Guys, wait! Wait a second!" He yelled out to his two companions.

Paige and Alexa heard him and stopped at the very last second before connecting with their hits. They looked over at him.

"What happened, babe?" Alexa questioned.

"Mate, what's wrong?" Paige asked confused.

He sighed.

"Everything. All of this is wrong, dude."

"What? What do you mean? This is the revenge we've been waiting for." Alexa said, not understanding her boyfriend's words.

"Yeah, I know. Still...Man, you're about to beat the shit out of three girls with aluminum baseball bats. Don't get me wrong, they're horrible people, but no one deserves that. Seriously, that's aggravated assault. I'm pretty sure you could get in some serious trouble for that." Shane stated.

"What?! But what about what Cassady did to Lio yesterday?! He's in the bloody hospital for Christ's sake!" Paige countered.

"Yeah, he did. And look at him now. He's writhing on the floor in pain because you whacked him in the back of his leg. He got his comeuppance. These chicks? I'm literally having you do the same thing to them that they had Cass do to Lio. I'm no better than they are."

Paige and Alexa thought about what he'd just said.

"Oh... for fuck's sake, fine."

Knight dropped her bat and walked into the crowd, next to Shane. Little Miss Bliss followed suit and did the same thing reluctantly. This left Carmella, Melina, and Maria alone, in the middle of all the kids. Along with Cass, who was still on the ground. They were relieved that no bodily harm was going to be brought toward them.

Meanwhile, Paige was curious.

"Well, now what? Do we just go home?"

Shane laughed.

"Soon. Now, watch this. I won't have them physically harmed, but I will make sure they never mess with you again... Through these kids. There's a reason I brought up Lio being attacked in the first place."

He then went on to speak directly to Carmella.

"Now, you listen to me. I don't like you, and as much as I would like to see these two cave your fuckin' face in with a bat, again it's wrong. But, I came here because you were fucking with my sister. I'm going back to New York, tomorrow, okay? However... If I ever find out that you, or anyone else, has done wrong by Paige, you better believe I'm coming back... And I won't be as merciful. You understand?"

Carmella fearfully nodded.

"Good. And for the record, I may have let you off the hook, but these guys?", He said, motioning to the crowd, "These guys probably won't by the looks of things."

They were all royally pissed off at the three teenage girls. The two biggest ones, Keith and Kassius, were both closing in on them with evil intentions.

"Welp... Good luck with that. Ta Ta, Mella." Paige sarcastically said.

Paige, Shane, and Alexa all started to walk away from the parking lot and back home. As they did, they could hear Zack Ryder shout, "Throw em in the garbage where they belong!"

"Well, we did it. We took care of our little Carmella problem." Paige said, happy.

"Yes we did, Midnight. And we did it with integrity and class... That's probably the first time I've ever done something like that in my life." Shane responded.

"Actually... same here. Usually, I just start hitting things." She agreed.

Alexa folded her arms as she walked and pouted.

"Hmph. I wanted to hit her with the bat."

Knight wrapped her arm around her.

"I did too, but for once, this tosser over here had the right idea."

"Whatchu mean, for once? I'm Shane Mothafuckin' Price! All my ideas are good ideas! I'm awesome!" He fake bragged.

Little Miss Bliss and Paige shared a look that said, "Yeah, we should've seen that coming."

"You know, Lexi? Maybe we should go back to the school, get the bats, and bash Shane's bloody brains in." Paige brainstormed.

"Ya know, that sounds like a plan... What a good idea." Alexa said, mocking her boyfriend.

"Man, why are you two always so mean to me?" He asked.

Then simultaneously they replied, "Because you're an idiot!"

Shane chuckled.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm an idiot... An idiot that loves both of you very much. Now, come on. Big boy is tired, and he wants to go home."

That made both girls smile. Then, they all made their way back to Paige's House.


10:42 P.M...

Tonight was the last night before it was time for Shane and Alexa to head back home. So, of course, instead of letting him sleep, Paige insisted on hanging out one last time before then. Shane couldn't refuse, and so the next few hours after they got back from the school were filled with the three of them, well, hanging out. They watched cartoons together, Paige told embarrassing stories about Shane, which in turn caused Alexa to do the same. Poor guy was blushing like every 10 seconds.

"You know but I think the funniest thing was when I caught him wanking on the floor." Paige admitted, laughing while saying it.

"Paige! What the fuck, dude?!" Shane exclaimed, not expecting her to pull out THAT story.

Alexa nearly choked on her spit she was laughing so hard.

"What?! On the floor, Price?! Really?!"

Price tried to explain himself, while covering his face due to how red it was at the moment.

"The... the bathroom was taken. There-there was nowhere else to go. It was my only option. I needed to get rid of my... problem, so I could go to sleep."

"You know what's even worse? I was sleeping, and his little moans are what woke me up. Man didn't even have the decency to keep his mouth shut." She continued.

"Can... can we please not talk about this anymore?" He practically begged.

Paige and Alexa saw the embarrassment on his face and decided to stop before he literally died of it.

"Aww, mate. We're just takin' the piss. We all know each other here. There's nothing to be ashamed of." The Brit reassured him.

Alexa gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"If it's worth anything, I think a lot of the dumb stuff you've done just reinforces how cute you are. I love your quirks." She told him.

Shane gave a small smile.

"Um, thanks guys. I appreciate it. Uh... group hug?" He asked while stretching out his arms.

The two girls brought it in, and the three teens embraced each other once again. Fast forward to the present, and they all were resting for the night. Shane on the couch as usual, and the girls upstairs. Only problem was, Paige... She couldn't sleep. One thing was going through her mind, and she couldn't let it go. It's documented that she has feelings for the blonde boy, and this whole ordeal did nothing to make them go away. In fact, it just amplified them even more. She rubbed her forehead with both hands and groaned softly. However, she knew that he'd done a lot for her these past few days, so she figured the least she could do was thank him, one on one.

"I've gotta do this now before I lose the chance." She thought.

The raven haired teenager slowly got up, and carefully stepped over the pullout bed, as to not wake up the sleeping petite princess. After carefully exiting her room, Paige made her way downstairs. When she made it down there, she saw Shane under a blanket, softly snoring as he slept. She giggled at the sight. Then, she walked over to the couch and gently rubbed his hair to get him to wake up. It worked, and soon she heard him yawn. He stretched and rubbed his eyes.

"What is it morning, already?" He tiredly asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. Sorry to wake you, love, but... I just needed to talk to you about something." She shyly said.

That was out of character for her, and Shane recognized it, so he obliged.

"Sure thing. Let me just, uhhh, sit up."

He did just that, and then patted the space next to him, signaling for her to sit down. Paige took the invitation, and faced him.

"Well, what's on your mind, Midnight?" He asked with a friendly smile.

"I just wanted to thank you so much for doing this. You put a lot of thought into this, and I really appreciate it."

"Oh, you don't have to-"

She cut him off.

"Yes, I do, Shane. I know you said you're did this because you needed to pay me back, but the truth is, you don't owe me anything. All the times I took care of you, and looked out for you... I did it because I liked it. I liked having a boy around all the time liked me for me. Not because of attraction or sex or anything like that. You've helped me more than you think. And... and..."

Tears were starting to well up in the British girl's eyes. Instinctively, Shane took her hand in his and squeezed it.

"It's okay, Paige. Say what you need to say. It's alright." He soothingly said.

"And... That's why it hurts me when I realize... your heart belongs to someone else."

Shane's eyes bugged out of his head.

"Wait... so you're saying..."

"Yes. I don't just love you. I'm in love with you." She fully confessed.

"...You're not messing with me again, are you?" He asked, slightly skeptical.

She looked him dead in the eye.

"Bruv, I honestly wish I was."

And that's how he could tell she was 100% telling the truth. She'd never pass a chance to screw with him unless it was a really seriously matter.

"Wow, um... I don't- I don't really know what to say. I'm speechless." He admitted.

"Really? That's a first." She joked bittersweetly, "I've... just made it awkward, haven't I?"

"No, no, Midnight."

Paige looked at him, knowing he was full of shit. Under her glare, he cracked and sighed.

"Fine, yes. This is pretty awkward."

Knight brought her knees to her chest and buried her face in them.

"Ughhh. Why did I think this would be a good idea at all? I'm so stupid."

Shane wrapped his arm around her in an attempt to comfort her.

"Don't be like that, dude. Look, you felt like you had to get something off your chest, so you did. That's not stupid at all, trust me."

She looked up at him.

"You always know what to say, don't you?"

"Honestly, Paige? No, no I don't. In fact, I think I usually end up saying the wrong things more often. I'm just speaking from experience. Remember when I came up to you after school and I asked you what you meant when you said I was just like everyone else?"

"Uh, yeah. What are you getting at?" The pale girl asked confused.

"I'll tell you. If it wasn't for that day, this friendship? This relationship that we have? This shit would've never happened. I would've kept acting like a clown for acceptance, and then I would've left. Think about it. All the good times we've had, would've never existed, if it wasn't for you telling me how you feel. So why in the hell would you stop now, woman? Why?"

Paige took a moment to fully digest what was just said.

"Holy shit, you're right. Wow. I guess... I guess I shouldn't. But still, now what? It's not like you're just gonna dump your girlfriend and move back here with me."

"That may be true, but that's just how this whole thing turned out. You were most likely right when you said we'd have been together if I hadn't moved. But the fact is, I did, and I met Alexa, the love of my life. You know what, though? If it wasn't for you, I would never have felt the urge to help her and keep her from doing what I did, and pretend to be someone I'm not. You're the catalyst behind a lot of the good stuff that's happened to me over the past few months. If Alexa's the love of my life, then you're the glue that keeps me together. And for that... I love you."

In a move completely uncharacteristic of Paige, she lunged into him and buried her face into the nape of his neck. He felt some tears falling onto him, and held her tightly.

"I love you too, I love you too, Shane."

A few minutes passed and they were still in that same position. Shane then cupped her face in his hands and smiled at her.

"You feelin' any better now?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'd say so. I feel like I just dumped a bunch of emotional stress off my shoulders, so that's nice." She answered calmly.

"Indeed. So, now what? You're gonna go back to sleep?"

"Yeah. But, I wanna stay down here with you, if it's okay."

"You even gotta ask that, Midnight? Of course it's okay... You're not gonna try any funny business are you?"

Paige chuckled.

"No, I'm not. This is the last night before you leave again, so I just wanna be with you as much as possible."

"Okay then. Come on, get under the blanket."

She did as she was told, and the two friends were now sharing the cover.

"Can... can you wrap your arms around me again? I'm kinda cold." She requested.

"No problem."

As the two drifted off to sleep in each other's embrace, a certain petite blonde was watching from the staircase, with a small smile on her face.

"He's such a sweetheart."

Alexa then walked back to Paige's room and went back to sleep.

AN: Yo if you guys can tell where I got the inspiration for the end of the big confrontation, I'll love you forever. Here's a hint, it was a movie from the early 2000s. Anyway, this chapter marks the end of the 2nd Arc of the story if you wanna call it that. For the foreseeable future at least, Paige will be popping up less frequently. Unless, you want her in more, which in that case I'll find a way to make it work. As always, let me know what you think in the review section, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.