Welcome...to WWE High School!

Chapter Twenty-Five: John

Finally, Friday had arrived, and classes were over. No more school for the whole weekend, and besides that, we had a football game tonight. That's pretty great too.

As I thought about the game and the team, I saw Roman Reigns go to his locker a few feet away from me. Something seemed up with him today--actually, all week. But I couldn't figure out what it was.

Oh, right: Dean Ambrose hasn't been here all week. Maybe it was just weird seeing Roman without his friend.

"Hey, Reigns," I said, calling out to him. "You ready for tonight's game?" 

"Yup," he said, pushing books and papers into his locker. "I feel really good about this one."

"Me too. And also, I've been meaning to ask...do you know where Dean is?"

"Yeah, Roman," said Seth Rollins, coming up to us. "Where is Dean?" He acted smug, but I wasn't sure whether it was any more smug than usual.

"Why were you listening to our conversation?" Roman asked. "And don't act so innocent, you know full well what happened to him."

I still wasn't sure what was happening, but now I know that it was yet another mix-up with the Shield.

"All I know is that he won't be able to come to wrestling practice for a while...am I right, Reigns?"

"Just shut up. I have a football game tonight, and I want to try and focus on that, not on tuning out your stupid mouth."

Maybe Seth figured that, since Roman's way of tuning someone out might be a swift punch to the jaw, he should leave quickly.

Roman looked at me, maybe remembering that I was still there. "If you still want to know, Seth injured Dean. Dean's been taking advantage of the fact that he gets sick leave. That's why he hasn't been here all week."

I nodded as I watched students walk to the gym. 

"You heading to wrestling practice?" Roman asked, shouldering his bag.

"Yeah. I'll be there in a sec,"I said as I packed my things.

Maybe I should've been preparing for the game tonight instead of wrestling. Maybe I shouldn't be trying to balance being captain of the football team with being a wrestler, but I had something I wanted to do tonight at wrestling practice, anyway...

I walked into the gym, and saw--well, not exactly who I was looking for, but maybe he could direct me.

"Hey, Chris?" I asked our coach. "You know where Triple H is?"

"Triple H? Pretty sure he didn't plan on coming tonight. Why?"

"Never mind. It can wait until Monday."

"As long as you don't plan on joining Trips' little squad, I won't ask what you want with him. And, Wyatt, will you please SHUT. THE HECK UP?" Chris added, as Bray Wyatt started to chuckle.

That didn't stop Bray, though. He only laughed more. And aggravated Chris more. I decided to go find a seat and let them talk it out.

"You want more from me, Bray? You want another match?" 

Bray Wyatt smiled. Chris must've taken that as an affirmative gesture, so he continued. "If this is really what you want, let me warn you: I am the best in the world at what I do. If you want a match against me, then let's go. On Monday, you and me. And...you know what? Let's get extreme, Wyatt."

Suddenly, the whole gym became very interested. Extreme? We rarely had those...especially at a practice.

"How extreme? Well... how about we get the chain link? How about you and me have a little steel cage match? You remember the rules, right? First one out is the winner."

Whispers buzzed through the gym. "Those are still around?" "I haven't seen one in forever!" 

Chris turned around to the rest of us, who were still invested in his conversation with Bray. "Now, unless anyone has anything else to say, then let's start practice. First up, we'll have...Dolph Ziggler vs. Mike Mizanin."

"Ah, excuse me, Chris..." Miz interrupted. "How many times to I have to tell you to call me Miz? Also, I won't be wrestling tonight. I have decided that Damien Mizdow will wrestle for me tonight."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Mizdow?"

"Yes. Damien Sandow? Well, since I got the lead in the school play...no applause, please," said Miz to the silent students surrounding him, who obviously had no intention of clapping at all. "Damien received the honor of being my understudy. Stunt double sounds cooler, though--anyway, I think he can wrestle for me tonight, thank you Jericho."

Oh, brother.

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I finished putting on my football gear, and sneaked a look at the field. There was a decent number of people in the stands, some from the Away team, and some from here. The cheerleaders were already on the field. I could see Summer Rae, Eva Marie, Alicia Fox...

And Nikki Bella.

Darn it, you know you shouldn't be looking at her. Or thinking about her. Or watching her cheer--

Shut up, man. She's done with you. Focus on your game.

Oh, football half. You're back just in time for the season.

Coach Austin came in to give all of us his pregame talk, and I felt pumped when we finally ran onto the field. We could do this, we could win this game.

 Sure, I still needed to worry about asking Triple H about our next big event, but that could wait until Monday, because right now is game time. And looking at all my teammates, I knew that we were going to kick butt. Because our time is now.

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Eyy, guess what? I UPDATED QUICKLY THIS TIME! 

I tried to get this out yesterday, but it was late at night and I couldn't think of how to end it because my brain felt like mush. Whatever, it's out now. It's all good.

Anyway, I know that the next chapter will be out soon, for sure. I've already started writing it, so it should go smoothly. It'll probably be out my Monday or Tuesday, at least. Hopefully sooner. 

Talk to you later, Rosebuds!