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Amy smiled and waved as she entered the cafeteria. She instantly caught sight of Stacy and Jay, who were sitting across from one another at a corner booth. She made a beeline over.
"Hey, you two." She removed the knapsack from her right shoulder and slid into the booth beside Stacy. "What are you up to?" She winked at Jay, who was grinning.
"Oh, just getting to know each other even better than we already do," the slim blonde replied with a sweet smile. She glanced at the young man, meeting his bright blue eyes.
The redhead snickered.
"Well, aren't you two just adorable?" she teased. She meant it. She'd never seen Stacy like this, not even over Shane McMahon when she'd been most charmed by him.
"Yeah, I think we are," Jay quipped. He chuckled, ducking his head ever so slightly as he blushed.
"We're going on our first official date tonight," Stacy told her friend.
"Awesome! Where are you taking my girl, Jay?"
"My girl," the blond corrected. "There's this club a couple of miles from here... I figured I'd take her to a concert there. Dinner first, of course."
Stacy was positively beaming. She couldn't believe she had ever given that jerk Shane the time of day when the reality was that she had always had more than an interest in Jay.
"Let me go grab some grub," Amy said, standing and pulling her wallet from her bag. She could see that Stacy and Jay had already gotten lunch, judging by the trays between them.
The redhead was quick in making her selections and soon returned with a cheeseburger and fries. She had a bottle of water with her, so she'd forgone buying a drink. As she placed her tray down on the table, she glanced around. They were missing one.
"Hey, where's Adam?"
"Oh, I almost forgot - he's back at the dorm, sick."
Amy grimaced at this revelation. Her boyfriend had seemed fine the day before.
"Oh, no..."
Jay made a face as he elaborated.
"Yeah, he had to run to the bathroom to puke during Statistics class. Professor Flair made him go see the nurse." He shook his head. "Turns out he had a hundred and one fever," he said. "I hope I don't catch that nasty stomach virus."
"Eww... Poor guy," Stacy said, wrinkling her nose but also feeling sympathetic toward her friend.
Amy suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore. It was due to worry rather than disgust at the details. Nonetheless, she munched on her meal.
"Aww, poor Adam," she breathed. "I guess I'll go see him later, then... Maybe bring him some soup."
"He'd definitely like that," Jay said. "Just make sure you only bring him broth."
The redhead nodded, duly noting this as she ate some fries. She was surprised and disappointed. Why hadn't Adam sent her a text message to let her know he was sick? She supposed it was either because he was too out of it or didn't want to worry her - or maybe a little of both. Somehow, all possibilities touched her.
*
Paul scowled as he caught sight of Stacy Keibler and Jay Reso sitting with Amy in the cafeteria. He wasn't headed that way in particular but on his way to the football field, and their table happened to be in his line of view on his way. He wondered where that blond bitch Adam Copeland was, and why he wasn't there with them.
"Hey, Paul! Wait up!"
The quarterback turned at the voice of his best friend, stopping to allow him to catch up.
"Hey," he said absently.
"Didn't you hear me? I called you like three times," Shane complained.
"Nope... Sorry, though," Levesque said, his gaze trailing back toward the cafeteria.
McMahon instantly followed his friend's line of vision and smirked.
"Oh, I see... I totally get it now," he said. He glanced back over at Stacy and shrugged. "I don't know what she sees in him."
Paul scoffed as well.
"That little punk and his BFF Copeland got nothing on us."
And as far as he was concerned, that was the truth. He and Shane came from affluent families. From what he understood about Jay, he came from a modestly lower middle-class family. As for Adam, it was pretty much the same except that he didn't have a father. Word was that his mother had never married the man because he'd up and left her before Adam had been born. Paul found it hilariously ironic, because he'd always known the guy was a bastard.
"Well, I heard a little nugget of what could be good news for you," Shane began, the smirk still present on his face.
Paul eyed him expectantly.
"Yeah? And what might that be?"
"Copeland's sick," the dark-haired young man revealed. "Some sort of stomach thing. Plus, he's running a fever. He was excused from classes for the rest of the day... Which means..."
"Which means," Paul continued for his friend, a wide, sadistic smile spreading across his face, "he won't be around to interfere if I choose to get close to that red-haired bitch later today."
"Precisely." The elder McMahon sibling patted him on the back, a small smile touching his lips. "Oh, and by the way," he added, "it looks like my sister and that twerp Irvine have been getting really close as of late."
His smile vanishing, Paul turned his gaze back to Shane. He could feel his blood boiling again already.
"Is that so?"
"Oh, it's so," came the reply. Shane couldn't help but smirk again, as he knew they would be on the football field in no time. He only
hoped Paul would be in a mood to rough up Chris Irvine. He would take great pleasure in getting to witness that.