9 Years Ago..
At Kathleen and August's house, a young Kenny Omega and Alexa Bliss were being suprivised by their Nanny, Vickie Geurrero. Kenny's best friend, Miz was over to play with him. Alexa always seemed to be stuck playing with the two boys. Growing up, Alexa was always Kenny's best friend but now that they were getting older, he seemed to have more fun with Miz.
"I am the king of France!" Kenny yelled out with a plastic crown on his head.
"And I am your right hand man!" Miz added.
Alexa rolled her eyes at the boys.
"You've asked for the hand of my sister, Princess Alexa!" Kenny continued his dramatics.
"Ew, no!" Miz responded.
Alexa herself made a disgusting face.
"And I reject your request! So I shall execute you! No one will be allowed the hand of my sister!" Kenny yelled as he pretended to take a sword to Miz' throat.
That's when the door bell rang. Kathleen opened the door to greet her dear friend, Sora Ibushi.
"I am so glad you're here." Kathleen told her.
"Trust me, so am I." Sora said.
Kathleen looked down to find a young Kota Ibushi hiding behind his mother.
"Oh my goodness. The last time I saw him he wasn't even walking yet." Kathleen told her.
"Same with me.. I haven't seen Ken and Lexi since we were having girls nights with the three kids running around in their walkers around us." Sora reminised.
"So you said you found something?" Kathleen asked suddenly.
Sora took a deep breath.
"Maybe we should talk somewhere else?" Sora asked.
Kathleen nodded in approval.
"He should be fine here with the others. Vickie has a good eye on them." Kathleen told her.
Sora bent down to face her son, Kota.
"I'm going to go talk with my friend here for a moment. Do you think you can wait here for me? Maybe you'll make some friends of your own." Sora suggested.
Kota nodded shyly before his mother followed Kathleen away. Kenny stopped playing with Miz and brought his attention to the strange boy standing in his living room. Alexa admired Kota's shyness, given that she was the same way strangers.
"I'm Alexa." She walked up and told him
Kota just let out a kind smile, not knowing he'd just met two people that would become the most important to him.
Present Day..
Friday morning at school, posters reminding everyone of the upcoming masquerade ball. Becky walked walked into school with Kota and Alexa by her side. Everyone turned their heads in her direction after what happened at school the morning before. Rumors and whispers filled the halls. Becky saw Sasha standing with her friends but she pretended not to see her. Seth on the other hand, made it clear that he was upset with her when he stormed off. Cody was leaning against his locker rather casually when he glanced up and met eyes with Kota. They shared a small moment as Kota passed by.
In the gym, Carmella was doing her duty as student body president by handing out tickets for the ball. There was a rather long line and she really just wanted to go to the bathroom and cry. But like usual, she faked a smile and pretended like everything was okay.
"I'll take two, please." Dean said, being the next person in line.
Carmella rolled her eyes.
"Really, scrub? You know it's weird to bring your cousin right?" Carmella asked.
"What? I wasn't-." Dean almost got caught in her back and forth game.
"Do you always have to act like that towards me?" Dean asked.
Carmella thought it over for a moment.
"Sorry scurb but ppointing our all your flaws is a particular hobby of mine that I don't plan on giving up anytime soon." Carmella assured him.
Dean let out a sigh of frustration.
"I'm asking Renee." Dean filled her in.
Carmella paused for a moment before getting oddly quiet.
"Two tickets to the mascarade ball." Carmella said as she handed the tickets to him.
Dean grabbed the tickets and began to walk away.
"Wait." Carmella said suddenly.
Dean stopped and looked back as Carmella got up from her seat.
"How are you going to ask her?" Carmella asked.
"Uh.. I don't know. I was think I would literally just say, "Wanna go to the ball with me?" Dean told her.
Carmella shook her head and punch Dean in the shoulder.
"Are you kidding me?" Carmella asked.
"Um.. OW!" Dean yelled.
"No.. I am not allowing you to ask my best friend to the ball with such disappointment. You need me help." Carmella told him.
Dean thought that over for a second.
"No.. No, I don't." He said as he shook his head.
"We're going to need to do something extra special." Carmella said as she began planning everything out in her head.
"We?" Dean asked.
"Let me make some calls." Carmella said as she hurried away.
Dean stood there in complete confusion.
"What the hell just happened?" He asked himself.
Before class, Renee was doing some research in the editorial room. Her blonde hair was up in a high pony tail and her usual classic red lips were on display. A string of robberies on the eastside had caught her attention. She read an article about suspected gang involvement. Just as she was losing herself in her work, there was a knock at the door. She looked up to find Becky standing in the doorway.
"Wow, I'm getting definite Betty Cooper vibes right now.. Only hotter." Becky said.
Renee looked at her with a bit of confusion, not knowing if she should take that as a complement.
"Um, hi." Renee said.
"I hear you're really into investigative journalism." Becky said as she walked over to her.
"I guess you could say that." Renee told her.
Becky sat down in a chair on the other side of Renee's desk.
"I need your help." Becky told her.
"My help?" Renee asked.
"Someone is trying to frame me and I think you can help me find out who's behind it." Becky said.
Renee responded with reluctant eyes. Becky was probably the last person she wanted to work with but it was hard for her to turn down a story.
That afternoon at lunch, April was sitting with the others trying to study while she was eating.
"Hmm.. I've always wanted to have a nerd as a friend." Becky commented as she examined April.
"Becky." Alexa let out.
"I'm not a nerd. I'm just a badass at learning." April tried to joke.
Dean couldn't help but burst out in laughter.
Becky then let out a laugh of her own before Alexa and Kota joined in.
"You're cool, I like you." Becky told her.
April looked around the table and let out a small smile of her own, never having had anyone she could laugh with like this. She particularly gave Kota a few glances, remembering the business card anonymous left for her last night.
Kenny was having a hard time sitting with his friends. Sitting so close to Seth especially was putting him on edge. Everyone could feel the tension buidling but they tried their best to avoid it.
"Fork." Renee blurted out as she got up from the table and walked away.
Miz, Sasha, Cody and Maryse all let out a small laugh, loving how Renee just blurted random things out at times.
"She can't just say, I forgot my fork?" Miz laughed.
"It's too many words man." Roman added.
Seth couldn't stand Kenny's silent treatment.
"So what, you just gonna hate me forever now?" Seth asked.
Everyone got quiet as Kenny looked up from the table at him.
"You slept with my sister." Kenny said seriously.
"Your adoptive sister." Seth corrected him.
"She's still my sister!" Kenny yelled as he slammed his hands on the table.
Seth shook his head as a few people in the cafeteria brougth their attention to the situation.
"Look I get it with Lexi, okay? That's why I would never.." Seth began to say.
Miz felt a rush of guilt come over him.
"But this is different. She's-." Seth tried to continue.
"She's what? One of your girls you sleep with every other night? I mean hell, you've slept with half the fucking school man!" Kenny yelled at him.
Everyone got up from the table with caution.
"I think you guys need to calm down." Roman tried to calm his friends.
"Oh wait! There is actually one person you haven't slept with yet." Kenny took a low blow, knowing that talking about Renee would get under his skin.
Seth let out an unbelievable laugh.
"Or have you? I mean hell, with the amount of time you guys spend together who knows what goes on behind closed doors." Kenny told him.
"Stop talking." Seth tried to warn him, knowing that KEnny was intentionally trying to anger him.
Kota looked on with concern from his table.
"Actually.. If apparently anything goes with you.. If trust and loyalty mean shit then I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I hooked up with her, right? I mean that would piss you off at all would it?" Kenny continued to aggitate Seth.
Roman and Miz looked to one another with concern when they saw Seth clenching his fists.
"You wouldn't get pissed off knowing she that for once she's looking at someone else the way she always looks at you?" Kenny asked.
Just as Seth went throw a fist, Miz stopped his arm. Roman took it upon himself to stand between the two of them.
Kenny and Seth stared at each other for a moment with rage in their eyes.
"I trusted you." Kenny said before stomring off.
Everyone was now watching as Kota stopped Kenny.
"Are you okay?" Kota asked as he put his hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes.
Kenny looked at him with such hopelessness that it broke his heart. Cody casually watched the interaction between the two with a bit of curiosity. Kenny just shook his head and pushed Kota's hands off of him. Kota looked back as Kenny stormed out of the cafeteria.
Seth tried to take a deep breath to calm himself. That's when Renee returned with her fork to find everyone standing, with worried looks on their faces.
"Um.. I got my fork.." Renee told them, not knowing what had just happened.
Dean himself gave Seth a skeptical glance. He wasn't able to make out the entire conversation but he had a feeling there was a mention of Renee in there somewhere.
That evening after their work at the volunteer center, Roman noticed April had a few extra books to carry as she began making her way down the street. He watched for a moment as her things nearly outweighed her to the ground.
"You need a ride?" Roman asked suddenly.
April stopped suddenly and looked back at him.
"No.. thanks." April told him.
Roman shook his head and laughed.
"It's just a ride." Roman assured her.
April let out a sigh of frustration with the situation as the street lights flickered.
"I promise I won't bite." Roman said.
April continued to think things over. It was late, she was tired and it was going to be hell trying to carry all of her things home. She knew she would regret it but it would have been dumb to refuse.
"Okay." April gave in.
The two got into Roman's car in silence. April sat as far to the right of her seat as she could.
"I don't think you can get any further away from me." Roman told her.
April just looked out the window.
"So what's your deal? You're always studying and you have a job.. then you volunteer here?" Roman asked.
April took a deep breath.
"I study because I have a scholarship to keep up if I want to stay at Fitzgerald Prep. I work to help out at home and I volunteer at the youth center because I love working with kids." April told him.
"That's a lot for a teenager.." Roman told her.
"Maybe to you it sounds like a lot.. But on the eastside, you do what you gotta do." April said with a bit of defensiveness in her voice.
Roman looked at her for a moment.
"Why are you so judgemntal about anyone that's not from the eastside? What do you have against them?" Roman asked.
April looked at him for a moment as a rush of anger came over her.
"You guys don't know what's it's like.. You don't understand any of it." April told him.
"Right.. I'm just a rich kid from Fitzgerald Prep that doesn't care about anything or anyone but himself. I don't know a thing about what it's like over here.. Not a damn thing." Roman said with a bit of anger himself.
"Turn here." April said before looked back out the window.
The two of them were both regretting the entire car ride.
"Right here." April told him.
Roman put on his blinker and pulled over to the side for the road.
April immediately got out of the car, slamming the door behind her. Roman looked out the window in disbelief as he watched her walk inside. That's when he saw her house. It was small and old.. Something about it took him back to his childhood.
8 Years Ago..
On the Eastside of town, a funeral was being held. A young Roman Reigns stood with his mother as they watched his father's lifeless body make it's way into the ground. His father was everything to him and now he was gone. Roman was almost too young to understand his loss but he knew that it hurt. It hurt more than anything in the world.