Monday, Cafeteria, 7:47 AM...

"That... that's not a good idea at all, Dean." Shane said to his troublemaker of a best friend.

"What makes you say that?" Ambrose asked.

"You just told me, and correct me if I'm wrong, that you want to impress your girlfriend by challenging Montez Ford to a foot race."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"That's what I thought. And you are aware that Montez is legitimately the fastest kid in the school, right? Like he's captain of the track team and everything."

"Which makes it a great idea, think about it. How impressed would Becky be if I creamed him a race? She'd be friggin pumped!"

"And I would be too, but Dean... HE'S THE FASTEST KID IN THE ENTIRE SCHOOL! I don't think you fully understand what that means."

"Yeah, I do. It means he's the fastest kid in the entire school. You already said it twice. It's cool. Me and Becky have been training for a little while. It'll be fine."

And I'm proud of you for training man, I really am. But Ford walks faster than most kids here can jog! You really wanna race that dude?"

"Yup. In fact, I already challenged him, and he accepted." Dean said, proud of himself for going through with it.

"You... you fucking lunatic."

"What? You think I can't beat him? I'm offended, sir."

"No, Dean. I don't think you can't beat him."

"Oh? Oh, cool. Then why did you tell me it's not a good id-"

"Because I KNOW you can't fuckin beat him! Seriously, I know I ask you this a lot, but what the hell is wrong with you? You racing Montez isn't gonna end well, point blank period. And you know you can't beat him. Why would you even think about putting yourself through something like that?" Shane asked, desperately trying to understand his friend's logic.

"I already told you why! I wanna impress my girl! I want... I really want her to think I'm cool, dude." Ambrose sheepishly stated.

Shane immediately noticed the sadness and sincerity of his words, and quickly switched from annoyed to concerned.

"Man, I get that you wanna look good in front of Becky, but you gotta really think things through before you jump into situations like this. This is a prime example of why you don't make decisions based off the first thing that pops into your head."

Ambrose sulked and put his head in his hands.

"You keep telling me that. You'd think that I would just start listening to you after a while." He morbidly joked.

"Oh, don't even get me started with that. Look, when and where is the race supposed to go down?"

"Uhhhh... today. After school, at the track in the park across the street."

Shane closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, took a deep breath, clearly exasperated as a result of his friend's antics.

"Alright, you gotta go find Montez and tell him that the race is off. That's the only way this is gonna end well."

"I can't do that, man." Dean protested.

"What do you mean you can't do that? Why?"

"Because... I kinda... maybe... sorta..."

"Come on, spit it out."

"I stole his chain and told him the only way he'd get it back was if he accepted my challenge."

"You stole his chain?! Where is it?!"

"In my pocket. See?" He said while pulling said chain out.

"Why the hell would you do that?!"

Dean just shrugged.

"Insurance policy in case he said no. Anyway, I can't just walk up to him and be like, "I was just joking, here ya go. We're cool, right?" He'll punch me on the spot, and I really don't feel like fighting today. Maybe tomorrow, but definitely not today."

Shane sighed.

"Well it looks like I'm gonna have to go take care of it... again. I swear, imma start charging your ass a fee for every time I get you outta shit. Hand over the damn chain."

"Man... you know I don't have any money." Ambrose responded while giving his friend the stolen piece of jewelry.

Shane couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"That one sentence made more sense than anything you've said all day."

"Huh? But the day just started. Who says I'm not gonna say something that makes even more sense later on?"

Price looked at his friend with an, "Oh my god, I wanna hit this man so badly right now" face, before shaking his head.

"Just a hunch, Dean. Just a hunch."

It was around that time that the bell rang and it was time for all of the students to take themselves to their respective homerooms.

"Alright, I'm gonna try to find Montez at lunch today. Now, let's go. Miss Neidhart is definitely gonna give you detention if you're late to homeroom again."

"That's not guaranteed." Dean said defiantly.

Shane raised an eyebrow at him.

"You tryna find out?"

The shaggy haired troublemaker went over the options in his head. Either just go to homeroom on time, or risk being sent to the dreaded DT room for the 4th week in a row. As much as he loved to tempt fate, he for once decided to take the safe route.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm comin'."


1st Floor Hallway, 11:35 PM...

"Now if I was Montez Ford, where would I be?" Price asked himself as he walked up and down the halls of his school in search of the track captain.

As soon as his last class before lunch ended, Shane started sleuthing around, trying to track down Ford and smooth things over between him and Dean. He'd asked some of his fellow students that he passed in the hallway if they'd seen Ford at all. It was wrestling team member Chad Gable who suggested that Price check the gym for him. So, that's what he was gonna do. However, as he approached the gym, he realized a glaring issue with Gable's suggestion. The cheer squad had literally just finished using the gym to practice for an upcoming invitational they were apart of, and they were currently walking out of said gym. Meaning, unless Montez managed to sneak in there somehow, he was definitely not in there. All Shane could do now is shrug his shoulders, and continue his search. But before he could completely exit the area, a voice he was very familiar with called out to him.

"Price, is that you?"

The Irish boy turned around and smiled.

"Hey there, Short Stuff."

Standing in front of the gymnasium entrance was Alexa Bliss of course, front and center among the rest of the cheerleaders.

He walked back toward the gym to meet up with his girlfriend. Yeah, he was in the middle of doing something but in Shane's mind, Alexa was priority numero uno for the most part. The two teens embraced and Shane kissed the girl on the cheek. As always, the other girls could be heard commenting in the background. You know, the usual stuff like, "Oh, that's so cute" or, "They look so good together." Shane could've sworn he heard someone say, "I wish I would've gotten to him first", but that was neither here nor there.

"I really don't like these midday practices we've been having. Now I've gotta walk around all sweaty and gross for the rest of the day. Plus, Coach Del Rey's been trying to kill us, I'm convinced! Poor Bayley's in the nurse's office right now because she twisted her ankle." Little Miss Bliss vented to her boyfriend.

"Oh man that's rough. I'm sure Smiles will be okay though. She's a strong girl. And if it's any consolation, I couldn't care less. You're still my princess, no matter how sweaty and gross you are."

Bliss responded to Shane's joke by putting her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter and lightly smacking him in the chest.

"What the hell kind of comfort attempt was that? Most guys would say something like, "No babe, you're fine. You're always beautiful."

"And I'm not most guys. You of all people should know that by now." Price came back.

"Touché, Price. Touché."

At this point, another blondie decided to make her presence known.

"Well look what we have here. If it isn't Mr. McGrabbyHands himself." Liv said with a smirk as she approached the two.

"You're never gonna let that go are you?"

Morgan pretended to contemplate what answer she was going to give, striking a thinking pose and everything.

"Hmmmmm. How about no?"

Meanwhile, Alexa found herself confused by the exchange of words between her fellow cheerleader and her boyfriend.

"Let what go?" She asked.

Shane sighed, deciding he would just tell her and get it over with before Liv said something that would no doubt blow everything out of proportion.

"Alright, long story short, when I went to band practice a few days ago, I was really tired. Liv didn't know that, so she did what she always does and jumped onto me. I wasn't able to catch her completely and I didn't want her to fall and get hurt, so I had to maneuver my hands to get a full grip on her."

"And that full grip just happened to be on... this right here!" Liv finished while swiftly turning around to wiggle her backside around.

Shane facepalmed.

"You're having way too much fun with this. So yeah, that's what happened. I ended up accidentally grabbing Liv's butt."

Alexa lightly chuckled.

"That's... kinda funny, not gonna lie. Liv, stop shaking your ass."

"But why? It's soooo nice! Wouldn't you say so, hon?" Morgan asked Shane, continuing her onslaught of teasing.

The petite princess decided she'd have a little fun as well, and pretended to look at him questioningly with her arms folded.

"Well? Would you say so?"

Price gulped.

"No comment." He quickly answered, while a small blush started to form on his features.

Upon seeing him at peak nervousness, Little Miss Bliss decided to give the poor guy a break. She smirked and unfolded her arms.

"Good answer. Alright, Liv that's enough. We're gonna make him pass out if we keep going."

Liv saw the same uncomfortable look on his face as she did, so the mischievous cheerleader relented.

"Okay, I'll stop... for now. Who knows, maybe next time I'll be wearing my cheer uniform."

Shane did not like the sound of that at all. Well, he did, but he had a girlfriend and felt like he couldn't like it, but he's also a teenager so... Man, you know how adolescence goes. We were all kids at some point.

"Man... I wish Ruby and Rhea were here right now."

"Awwww, he misses Rue Rue and his big sister. How cute." Morgan said.

That statement also left the head cheerleader puzzled.

"Huh? Big sister?"

"Uh uh, nope. I am NOT explaining that one right now. Maybe later, but not right now. I'm in the middle of doing something right now anyway." Shane proclaimed, putting his foot down.

"Yeah, I meant to ask. Why are you over here anyway? It's lunch time. Usually you're one of the first people in the caf." Bliss inquired.

"I'm trying to get Dean out of trouble."

"AGAIN?" Lexi and Liv asked in unison.

"Yup, again."

"Well what did the moron do this time?" Alexa questioned.

"And on a scale from one to ten, how dumb was it?" Liv added.

"By Dean's standards? Hmm... probably like a seven. It would be higher, but in his defense, he did mean well."

"Right, so what did he do? Tell us, tell us!" Morgan impatiently pleaded.

"I'm getting to it woman, damn. Basically, Dean wanted to find a way to impress Becky and "make her think he's cool." So, he decided to go and challenge Montez Ford to a foot race."

After hearing that, the two girls reacted in different ways. Liv lost her shit and started laughing her ass off, while Alexa just shook her head in disbelief.

"Montez?! He challenged Montez?! To a race?! HAHAHAHAHA! You have got to be kidding me!"

"How that boy has made it to sophomore year without getting left back once in his life, I will never understand." Alexa said aloud.

"Dean's resourceful I guess. But yeah, that's what he did. And to make thighs even worse, he stole Montez's chain too. Said it was to make sure he'd accept the challenge. So now, I gotta find Montez, give him his chain back, and beg him to not embarrass Dean and also rip his head off."

"Wow... you're too good to that kid." Liv stated.

"What can I say, he's my best friend. Being his best friend is tiring as fuck though."

"Seth coulda told you that a while ago. But, if you're looking for Montez, I have an idea of where he might be. You know Bianca Belair?" Alexa said.

"I've heard the name, but never seen her I don't think. What is she, his girl?"

"Not anymore. They broke up last year. Bianca's the captain of the female track and field team. Apparently, they were so competitive with one another that it got to the point that they can't stand each other anymore. Went from friendly competition to full on hatred."

"That, and also Bianca said that Montez spent more time with Angelo than with her." Liv chimed in.

"Yeah that too. Angelo as in Angelo Dawkins from the basketball team, by the way. He's in our Spanish class."

"Damn, that's actually kind of sad. How is that gonna help me find Montez though?" Price asked.

"Well, just because they hate each other doesn't mean they don't still compete. In fact, I'm willing to bet that they should be coming around here to face off right about..."

"WOMAN, YO ASS GOT LUCKY LAST TIME. WIT A CAPITAL L! WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WILL BE HOLDING WHEN WE GET IN THIS DAMN GYM!"

"BOY, PLEASE! LUCK HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT! NOTHING, NADA! FACE IT, I'M THE EST! THE FAST-EST, THE STRONG-EST, THE-"

"AAAAHHH, NO! I REFUSE TO HEAR THAT RAGGEDY CATCHPHRASE AGAIN!"

"RAGGEDY?! WHO YOU CALLIN' RAGGEDY?!"

"YOU! WHO ELSE?! WHAT ARE YOU "THE DUMB-EST" ALSO?!"

Alexa rolled her eyes.

"Now."

"Sheesh, they're really goin' at it this time." Liv said, slightly enjoying the show.

Shane just watched in amazement as the two former lovers turned fierce rivals bickered back and forth. Never in his life had he seen that amount of anger shared between two people.

"Uh, babe?", he said to Alexa, "If we ever get to that point, or anywhere close to that point... I think we should just end it."

Normally, the petite princess would get annoyed at Shane for a comment like that, but in this case, all she could do was nod.

"Yeah... I'm not gonna disagree with you on that one."

Nevertheless, Shane knew he had a job to do, so he began to try and get their attention.

"Hey, hey guys. Yo, over here... Guys? Montez, Bianca. Hello, hi."

Liv shook her head at the boy disapprovingly.

"Oh honey. That's not how you get attention. THIS, is how you get attention."

Alexa, knowing full well what was about to happen, simply covered her ears. She'd ask her not to do it, but she knew that wasn't going to help anything.

"I suggest you do what I'm doing, Price." She told her boyfriend.

"Uh, okay."

Morgan cleared her throat and... let it rip. (No Beyblade)

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The sound of the mischievous girl's ear splitting screech pierced through the hallway like goddamn broken glass. Everyone who had the misfortune of being within a hundred feet felt the pain. Bianca and Montez stopped their arguing at once, and covered their ears like the rest of the students around them. After another ten grueling seconds, Liv ceased her banshee like action, and coughed a little bit.

"Damn, that might be the hardest I've ever gone with that."

"Liv... what the fuck?!" Shane angrily questioned.

"What? Alexa warned you. Could've been worse if you didn't cover your ears. Plus, now you can actually talk to Montez. So, instead of yelling at little ol' me, you should be thanking me."

Shane looked at his significant other, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"She does have a point."

Price sighed.

"Fine. Thank you Liv. Just please don't do that again."

"Much like everything else you ask me not to do... no promises, sweetie."

"Goddamnit."

Morgan stuck her blue tongue out at her bandmate.

"You still looove me."

"Yeah, whatever. Alright, girls. Thanks for your help."

"No problem, babe. Go get your idiot friend out of trouble for ten thousandth time." Lexi told him, kind of joking but not really.

"I'll try."

And with that, the two blonde cheerleaders walked off to the cafeteria to enjoy their lunch period. Meanwhile, Shane walked over to Bianca and Montez, who were still reeling from Liv's attack on their eardrums.

"Ugh, I think my ears are still ringing." Belair complained.

"Huh? What did you say?" Montez asked as he genuinely couldn't hear her even when she was standing right next to him.

"Never mind."

"Hey guys, what's up?" Price politely asked.

"What? What he say?" Ford asked again.

"He said hi, idiot."

"Hey! Don't call me an idiot... if that is what you actually said."

Bianca rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the Irish boy.

"You the New Kid from the football team ain't you?" She asked.

"Yup. Shane Price, in the flesh. I take it you're Bianca Belair, the EST."

The athletic girl beamed at the use of her nickname.

"That's right! I'm the EST. Cause I am, THE strongest, fastest, and toughest girl in this school."

On the inside, Shane was thinking, "Rhea and Ruby would probably have something to say about the toughest part." Outwardly, he played along.

"That's what I've been told. And hey Montez, uh... you alright?"

By this point, Montez's ears were mostly fine, so he could hear Shane's hello.

"What's good, New Kid? Yeah, I'm fine. I'd be better if I didn't have this chick around me right now, but we can't have everything we want in life, CAN WE?" Ford asked, clearly throwing shade at his ex.

"You know what?! You finish your little conversation with the new kid, I'll be in the weight room. When you're done you can drag yo lil sorry ass in there so you can be humiliated again by me!"

And with that, she stormed off. Montez was visibly relieved by her no longer being there.

"Hallelujah! Man, I tell you. I don't know what I was thinking when I was dating her. Worst mistake of my life."

Now, Shane could definitely tell that the two of them were both to blame for the relationship turning sour and that their problems didn't completely fall on the shoulders of one or the other, but this wasn't the time for romance counselor Shane. So, he kept his words on the matter short and sweet.

"Welp, you can't change the past man. But anyway, I'm glad I managed to find you, cause I really need to talk to you about something."

"To me? About what? You wanna join the track team or something? I'm warning you man, it ain't like football all. It's waaaay more physically demanding. You gotta have grit, ya gotta have your stamina on point, ya gotta have ya mental health on point, EVERYTHING MUST BE ON POINT!" Ford enthusiastically explained.

Shane was both amused and thrown off by the track captain's random passionate outburst.

"Nah man. As fun as that sounds, I'm not asking you about joining the track team." He clarified.

Ford calmed down suddenly after hearing that.

"Oh. Well, what is it then?"

"Um... it's about Dean Ambrose."

And once again, Montez's demeanor went from calm to... not calm.

"DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THAT WEIRD ASS, THIEVING, UNKEMPT ASS, DISRESPECTFUL MOTHAF-"

"Hold on, hold on, hold on. Tez, just hear me out. Dean may be... all of those things you just said, but man, he had a reason for doing what he did."

"Reason for what?! Stealing my chain?! My boy Dawkins got me that chain for my birthday back in May! And that rhymed! But yeah! You don't just jack another man's chain like that!"

"I agree wholeheartedly. And look, that's why I got it back for you, see?"

Shane quickly went into his hoodie pocket and pulled out the stolen chain in question. Montez's eyes lit up when he saw the jewelry. He borderline snatched it out of his hands.

"Yo, thanks! Great, now I can wear it while I embarrass the hell outta Ambrose, and then beat the hell outta Ambrose!"

That was not the response Shane was hoping for at all.

"Wait, wait! Montez, look. The only reason Dean did what he did was because he wanted to impress his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? Ambrose has a girlfriend? Who?"

"Becky Lynch, from the lacrosse team."

"Oooh, Becks?! That's my homie! And SHE'S dating Ambrose?! No way!"

"Yeah man, I'm 100% serious. Long story short, Dean wants her to think he's cool, so he figured challenging the fastest guy in school to a race and winning would make her do just that."

"That's... that's fuckin stupid." Montez stated.

"Trust me, I know."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why he stole my damn property!"

"He thought that was the only way you'd accept his challenge, cause he assumed you wouldn't take him seriously." Price explained.

"And he's right! But, that doesn't mean I wouldn't accept the challenge regardless. I'm goddamn Montez Ford! You could challenge me to anything and I'd probably accept it. I like winning shit! Everyone knows that!"

"True, but Dean doesn't really do well with thinking things all the way through. I know that's not a good excuse for straight up stealing someone's stuff, but it's the truth. He's just an idiot that really loves his girlfriend and wants her to be proud of him. So please, reconsider the embarrassing and beating him up thing."

Ford paused for a minute to fully take in everything Shane just said to him.

"So, let me get this straight. This man purposely pissed me off, stole my shit, and challenged me to a race he knew he had no chance in hell of winning... all in the name of love?"

"In a nutshell, that's exactly what happened, yes."

"And you want me to forgive him?"

"Uh... yeah." Price answered nervously.

"Ya know, I really shouldn't... but screw it, why not? I was mainly angry about the chain thing, but I have it back now, so I guess it's fine. Also, I'm cool with you and Becky so I'm doing this as a favor to y'all. BUT! And this is a big but! If Ambrose even thinks about pulling some shit like that again, his ass is mine! You go tell him that. Now, it was nice talkin' to you New Kid, but I have a wretch to go demolish! Good day, sir!"

And with that, the ultra hyper track captain marched his way to the weight room with visions of out-lifting his former significant other in his brain. Meanwhile, Shane let out a great sigh of relief. With his "mission" complete, only one thing was going through his mind right about now.

"Dean, you owe me soooooo much it's not even funny. " He thought to himself.

Then, his stomach growled... make that two things. He pulled out his phone and gasped when he saw the time.

"Shit! There's only 20 minutes until lunch ends!"

The boy then started to sprint over to the cafeteria, determined to get his grub on one way or another. As he ran, he passed by the girl's bathroom, and who else would be coming out at that very moment, but Becky Lynch. She saw Shane coming and waved.

"Hiya, Shane." She happily greeted him.

However, Shane had food and food only on his mind.

"Hi! No time for talk! Food! Now!" He managed blurt out while zooming right past her.

Lynch was genuinely impressed by how fast he was going and watched on as he disappeared down the hallway.

"Wow, that is some speed right there. Might be even faster than Montez."