Angels and Guardians Pt. 03

Ashley piped up quietly, "I haven't."

Jasmine whipped around and faced her. "Bullshit! Liar Liar, pants on fire!"

Ashley didn't know where this came from. "What are you talking about? I haven't been with him, yet."

Jasmine looked at her with her hands on her hips. "Oh yeah, I'm really sure you never peeked the whole time you were with him in the hospital," she yelled sarcastically. "I think you're hot blooded enough to have even sneaked in a quick feel," she challenged. The other girls laughed.

Ashley dropped her head. "Fine, I did. Peek, that is." Jasmine looked expectantly at her. "Alright, you got me. I watched them change his bed, clothes, give him sponge baths any chance I got. You happy now?"

Jasmine still suspected more, and she wanted a full admission to complete her little show for the girls. "Not quite. You're holding something back, I can tell."

Ashley sighed and nodded. She looked at Joe. "I'm sorry, I sorta played with it a little out of curiosity."

The girls all laughed, but not too hard, as they all knew they would have done the same if they were in that position. Joe just grinned and said, "Fine, if you all don't mind, could I share your locker room today?"

Jill opened the door, and the girls all motioned him ahead of them as a response. Inside, they all undressed and entered the showers with minimal horsing around. Joe was a gentleman, showering at the far fixture, sneaking an occasional glance at the bathing beauties on the other end. All in all, it was business only as they got ready and marched into the school hallway.

The first hour of the day for Joe was filled with schoolmates welcoming him back and asking for his view of the wreck. A few classmates sympathetically chastised the TV station to Joe for making him and Ashley look bad. He patiently maneuvered through the repeated conversations, and by the third period, things returned to normal. His teachers all welcomed him back enthusiastically, usually commenting on the speed he caught up. "Well, I had a good tutor," he'd reply, pointing with his eyes toward Ashley if she was in the same class.

They went to their practices after school. Being a Monday, both teams started out with conditioning exercises. Then football had drills on basics, while the cheerleaders worked to learn a new dance routine, and later, stunt practice. Joe was normally focused like a laser on the drills, but he found himself looking over to check on Jasmine and Ashley on their tossed stunts. By the end of the outdoor drills, Joe had lost count how many times they got dropped. But, it was almost always on their butts, and he told himself it was part of their sport. His team was led inside for weight lifting and some video review of their last game. The coach knew the last part was boring for Joe, and had an idea. He instructed Joe to do the critique for the offense part. Joe praised or criticized the plays of various positions, giving tips and instructions on how the players could do things differently to help the quarterback do his job. He also gave the team reasons on why he called a specific play, letting them know whether he was trying for a home run, or just toying with the defense. His coach admired his review, as it looked like the other players now had a better understanding of their parts.

The cheerleaders finished their practice about the time the football squad went inside. The six seniors rolled up their sleeves, and pushed up their shorts legging while lying on the bleachers, trying to top up their tan in the mild fall afternoon. Ashley heard her phone chirp, indicating a text message. She looked at the screen and exclaimed, "What the hell?!" The others looked at her and she said, "14 messages and 2 voice mails?" She started thumbing through the messages and told the others, "Something's up." Most of the messages were from acquaintances at the school, telling her to watch the news when she got home. She listened to the voice mails and her heart sank as she heard her dad's voice.

"Kitten, we need to talk. Your mom and I might have jumped a little early at you, and we're sorry. Please come home tonight so we can discuss this. We love you."

Ashley had already planned to stop by there with Joe to pick up some things, but now she really wasn't looking forward to it. She expressed this to her friends, and they took turns trying to give some advice to an impossible situation. The consensus eventually was that she should hear them out, but stand firm if she didn't want to go back home permanently. They saw the players leaving the team's meeting room, and since they were just keeping Ashley company while she waited to give Joe a ride home, they said their farewells. As they passed Joe on their way to the car, each received a hug goodbye.

Joe knew something was bothering Ashley the second he saw her. "What's wrong," he asked. She related the text messages and the voice mails from her dad to him. Joe hugged her and told her that she could only take one step at a time, and that he'd be there to face the music with her. She nodded and they put their bags in her car and headed for her house.

Her parents greeted her at the door with hugs, but they looked decidedly unhappy when they saw Joe. He broke the uneasy silence by saying he was only there to help Ashley collect her things. They told Ashley and Joe to sit in the living room, where they could talk. Ashley told them that she couldn't stay long, as she had homework to do. Her mom asked her to be patient, that what they were going to say was important. Her dad said first he wanted to show her something. He clicked on the TV and had the TiVo unit play a news bit they recorded earlier. Joe immediately recognized the man at the podium as the CEO of Channel 3's parent company.

"Good morning. Weatherall Communications first became aware of one of our station's tragic defamation of two high school students yesterday when we received complaints from some of their viewers. We have reviewed the tape of Saturday night's news broadcast, and deemed the comments made by their anchors as unacceptable. Furthermore, the way the event was edited, it cast the two students in an unbecoming light. Through the complaints we've received over the last 36 hours, we have learned that the perceived image of these two starkly contrasts their real life behavior. Regretfully, the piece our station aired had twisted what was a story of heroism and unexpected talent into a false sex story. Our affiliates are not in the business of making tabloid-like stories for ratings. Therefore, as of noon today, Channel 3's license is revoked. Local programming will be replaced with national broadcasts until a new franchise owner is found, and the station's staff can be replaced with competent, ethical people who want to report the news as it actually happens. The current staff, who seem only interested in creating sensationalism in hopes of bringing up their numbers will be out of a job at noon. Weatherall deeply apologizes to it's viewers in the south, and especially to the two young people who may have suffered embarrassment as a result of our misguided station's decisions. Thank you."

Joe and Ashley sat stunned. Her dad started speaking. "While I still don't approve of you dancing in that manner, I'm glad the record was set straight for you. I'm sorry we didn't trust you."

"Please, honey. Come back home. We were just shocked to see you on the news, prancing about," her mom said.

Ashley went from shock to anger at her parents' words. "What the hell? You chastise me for having a bit of teenaged fun, behind what was supposed to be a closed curtain, no less. You don't believe my explanation. But, NOW you believe me because the correct story is now national news?? I can't believe you two!!"

Her dad shook his head. "We didn't know. You've been gone from home so much since the accident, we didn't know what to think. Next, you come home with a bruise you say came from Bill. Then this comes up."

Ashley turned red, her eyes blazing. "I was helping Joe catch up in school! In doing so, I found out that he and my friends are very close, and I started hanging with them. Bill surprised us in a parking lot, and he hit me. The talent show bit they aired was just fun, and since I like Joe, I got caught up in the moment. Maybe a little too into it, but it still wasn't nasty or anything. You didn't care enough to see the show for yourselves. I've told you nothing but truth, and you don't believe me. It takes a stranger across the country to tell everyone what I've told you for you to believe what I say. I love you both, and I'm sure you love me, but I can't take it here anymore!"

"Please, honey, come back home. We'll work this out. You're going away to school after the summer anyway. Just finish out the year. If you stay in town for school, you can find an apartment. But you should really stay here at home for your senior year," her mom tried to reason. "Where have you been, anyway? At Jill's? I'm sure her parents don't need to have you under their feet."

"Mom, I've been staying with Joe and his parents. Actually, I've moved in."

"How could you move in? All of your stuff is still here," her dad said. "I'm sure it's more fun being in bed with Joe, but you can't borrow his clothes forever."

Ashley had it. The not-so-veiled insult was the final straw. She got up and yelled, "I'm not sleeping with him. I wish I were!" Oops, she didn't mean for that to come out. Joe, to his credit, sat there noncommittal. As far as she knew, he didn't seem to catch that. "Anyway, his parents offered one of their spare rooms to me. They've gotten me clothes, shoes, a computer, just about anything I need. In return, I help keep the house clean, and be their hostess when they invite company over. I only came by to pick up some pictures and my cheer uniform."

"Well, if you're leaving like this, you're getting nothing more from us. That includes the uniform we bought for you!"

"Dad! You gave that to me as part of my birthday!" Her mom frowned at her husband, indicating to let that pass. "I just can't believe you! Come on Joe, help me get my things!"

Joe got up and got out his checkbook. He offered to pay her parents for the uniform. Her dad said, "No, just take it. You've taken our daughter away, now help her take everything else."

Joe responded, "With respect, sir, this is between Ashley and you. My parents have welcomed her into our house as one of our own family. She is free to stay or leave as she pleases. We didn't ask her to come to us, she chose to after you two fell out with each other. My wish is that y'all could have reconciled your differences." He saw that the verbal shot landed its mark, and he went upstairs to help Ashley.

She was true to her word. Packing did not take long. A couple of shoe boxes of pictures, some awards from her performance in school and cheering, and the uniform. She gathered those items, handed some of them to Joe, took the uniform, and headed back downstairs. Her mom stopped her at the door.

"Honey, listen. We just want what's best for you."

Ashley wanted none of it. "Well, things might have been different if you had seen the entire show yourself. I still don't know why you couldn't go, it was Saturday! You both were off work! But, NOOO! You couldn't bother yourselves to see a high school program. And now, you trust what's on tv more than you trust me...TWICE. I am sorry it's come to this, but I cannot live here any longer. Bye." With that, she tearfully jerked the door open and strode to the car.

Ashley and Joe rode to his house in silence. His mom had dinner waiting for them after they put her things in her room. After dinner, they took turns showering and ran through their homework together in the breakfast nook. Ashley told Joe that tomorrow, their classes would have quizzes, as announced last week. He reviewed the material she showed him for those subjects, asking a question here and there. She enjoyed helping him review, as he brought up parts she didn't think about. In turn, it made her that much more prepared. After their homework, they went to the den to watch tv.

Joe's mom came downstairs and found them in the den. "They are so cute together," she thought. Joe was sitting on one end of the couch, Ashley was next to him. She was laying with her head in his lap, watching the projected programming on the wall. Joe was gently stroking and petting her hair absentmindedly. They heard her pad down the stairs, and Joe turned to see her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," his mom said.

"You aren't, we're just watching 'Mad About You' reruns," he answered.

She smiled. "Well, you might want to turn to the cable news."

Joe hit a few buttons, and the new channel displayed on the wall. He was about to ask what they were looking for, when the ticker at the bottom read, "Weatherall Communications revokes affiliates franchise license over 'non professional' news broadcast." A few minutes later, the cable channel ran a feature story about the decision. It started off with clips that were recorded of the wreck aftermath, and led into the talent show clips. The reporter was saying, "This clip is where Weatherall stated that the local station intentionally misled their audience as to the character of the two involved in the high profile accident a few weeks ago." The clip played with the comments about "the real show" starting, some of the edited "Ashley's Song" performance, followed by the anchors' snickering comments. "Weatherall's CEO held a press conference this morning after bending to viewer outcry defending the two students." The press conference they saw at Ashley's house played. "Weatherall's spokesman elaborated later, saying that before the decision was made, they contacted the students' principal to inquire about their character. Their principal related a characterization of the two that indicated what was shown in the news, was not anything like how the pair acts day-to-day. She told the communications representatives that the flirtatious performance had been addressed with the pair, but it really was just kids fooling around on stage after the show was over. This information prompted Weatherall to act on the local station, terminating every position and closing the building. They say they are open to issuing a license to a new franchisee in that market, but in the meantime, local programming will be replaced with a national feed that is normally sent to satellite providers. I'm Amy Brighton for...."

Joe turned the volume down and looked at Ashley. "Wow," was all he could say. Ashley agreed.

His mom commented that a small pebble in a large lake could still send ripples to every edge. "That's why we tell you that you need to be careful whenever media is present."

"Message received Mom!"

"Ok. Well, I wanted to tell you some business." She looked at Ashley in his lap.

"She can stay, can't she. It's not like we're gonna talk about top secret stuff."

"But we do, sometimes, Joe," his mom reminded him.

"Not tonight, though, right?"

"Fine. Just don't repeat anything you hear, okay?" Ashley looked over from Joe's lap and nodded in agreement.

His mom told Joe about several meetings they had with senior management. His parents were trying to woo them back to their way of thinking. She said it didn't seem to work, as several of them still pushed for the sale of the company. His mom shifted gears and started telling Joe about several projects in the pipeline. Ashley grew bored, knowing the information wasn't intended for her, and she fell asleep, her head still resting on Joe's lap.

Chapter 11

The Game

She woke up to her cell phone ringing on the coffee table. The room was dim with the projector turned off. The only light was provided by a lamp on the sofa table behind them and the lights from the pool outside. Ashley raised herself up from Joe's lap and picked up her phone.

"Who was it?" asked Joe.

"I don't recognize the number," Ashley shrugged. She had missed the call, but then it rang again with the out of area number displayed. She hit answer and said, "Hello?"

"Hello," a man's voice said. "May I speak with Ashley Roberts?"

"This is she."

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"Yeah, but it's ok. It isn't that late yet. Who is this?"

"I'm Steve White from Weatherall Communications. If you need me to call back tomorrow, I'll be glad to do so."

Ashley sat up straighter, now recognizing the voice from the news bits earlier. "Mr. White! Uh, no, now is fine. What can I do for you?" Joe's eyes went wide as he looked at her.

Steve White was immediately certain he had made the right decision today when he heard her politeness. "I think I should be asking what I can do for you. I was calling to apologize directly to you and later to Joe Smith for what our station did to you both two nights ago."

Ashley shook her head, not believing she was talking to one of the most powerful media tycoons in the world. "Well, Mr. White, I must admit that it caused some trouble here, especially with my parents. But I don't blame you or your company. The local reporter and anchors are who I want to say some un-polite things to."

"Perfectly understood. Me too. I'll call Joe in a bit to apologize to him, also, but I wanted to speak with you first."

"Why me?"

"Well, I viewed the unedited footage of the whole talent show to get a feel of what really happened. I must say, I am thoroughly impressed with your talents. I sure am glad Joe put himself between you and that truck, because the world sure could use the musical talent you displayed."

Ashley blushed. "Well, thanks for the compliment, but really most of that was not rehearsed. We were trying to keep my opening song to Joe a secret. The concert portion, we were just jamming on stage for fun."

"And the last song?"

Ashley sighed. "That was never meant to be seen outside our little group of friends. We didn't know the crew raised the curtain to clean up, or that the camera was still there. I'm starting to wish I had never sung it for Joe the night before on our way back from a game."

"Well, you have talent. If you lived out this way, I'd offer you a job with us. Somehow, I doubt I could interest you to come out here."

Ashley was flattered. "Well, thank you Mr. White. But my friends are here and I'm finishing senior year. I'd hate to move again before graduation."

"I understand that. But, I'd still like to do something for you. I spoke with your parents a few minutes before calling you. That's how I got your number."

Ashley uttered an "oh no."

"Well, it's ok. They were upset when they told me you don't live there anymore. But that's not my business. I'd like to send you something to show how sorry we are for our part in disrupting your life. What's your new address?" Ashley asked Joe what the postal address was and she relayed it to Steve. "Oh, Joe is with you?"

She replied, "yes, his family invited me to live with them until I leave for college."

"Did our broadcast make you move out of your folks' place?"

"It didn't help, but it was something I needed to do, anyway."

"Very well. Okay, well, I will get this expressed to you. Should see it Wednesday. Store my number from your caller ID, and please call me if I can ever do anything for you. It was a pleasure speaking with you, Ms. Roberts."

Ashley returned the sentiment and thanked him. She handed her phone to Joe.

"Hello, Mr. White!" he said.

"Hello, is this Joe Smith? Possibly Carter Electronics' Smith?"

"Yes, that is my parent's company. How can I help you?"

Steve White was just as impressed as he was with Ashley. Not very many successful parents have kids who are so well mannered. He had a very similar conversation with Joe as he had with Ashley. The end of the call was markedly different. "So, Joe I'd watch my back if I were you."