Title: Beautiful Disaster
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I only own Summer Harrison. And I'm not making any money… which I do actually need…
Author's Note: I felt a need to address this before any new readers start this story. It is not a mary sue. I can understand that it would seem that way after this first chapter, but to get more in depth of the main character's personality, you ahve to get past the first chapter. I meant for this to be a satirical social commentary/dark comedy. Obviously if people aren't getting past the first chapter, I haven't done a very good job at setting it up, but I'm still asking you to give it a chance and at least read the second chapter too. That's all I have to say right now. Thank you. Continue reading.
"You can't be serious," Summer Harrison deadpanned as she glared up into the stoic face of her looming agent across the expensive mahogany desk in that way she so hated. He would not – could not – put a sense of fashion like hers into the style-challenged world of spandex and tights. Images of ill-fitting outfits and polyester taunted her as she cringed at the possibility of being forced to wear something so tacky. Honestly, those people wouldn't know the difference between Christian Dior's Rebelle Shopper Bag and his Cannage Shopper Bag. It was just… tragic. She suddenly felt like crying at the thought of working with those fashion-illiterate people everyday.
"Completely serious," Jeremy Burrows stated, hands supporting his weight on the heavy desk so that he could tower over his client. "You're not four-years-old anymore. You need to appeal to a more mature audience and build a new fan base."
"Why, because I'm legal now? We need to bank on the fact that old pervy men can legally fantasize about me?" Summer shot back, disgusted at the thought of selling her image to a bunch of grown men with no real sex life. "Well Hilary Duff is older than I am and she still appeals to ten-year-olds!" she argued, standing up to look Jeremy in the eyes, unwilling to agree with him.
Jeremy rolled his eyes upward. "She's what, a few months older than you? And like I said, you need to establish a new fan base. Hilary Duff on the other hand already has people who know her and are interested in her work more than who she's dating and where she's partying. And what do you have?" he retorted, his voice loud than it was a second ago.
"Well," Summer started, placing her hands on her hips, "I have, or will have once I inherit it, more money than she'll ever make. I have the number seven spot on Maxim's Hot 100 List this year. I have guys lining up to buy me dinner and shower me with gifts, including her boyfriend. I have clubs paying me to party. And, oh yeah, I have this little thing called talent," she listed confidently with a proud smirk.
"No!" he practically shouted. That was how Jeremy believed that he got through to Summer. He started by talking normally, then as his speech continued, he grew louder and louder until he was practically spitting in her face because he was so into his oration, and all the while, Summer couldn't manage to get in a word. "NO!" he repeated, this time in full shouting-mode. "YOU HAVE GOSSIP COLUMNISTS PONDERING HOW YOU WENT FORM A SUCCESFUL AND CUTE LITTLE CHILD STAR TO AN OUT OF CONTROL AND SEEMINGLY OUT OF WORK PARTY GIRL! WHATEVER FANS YOU ONCE HAD, YOU LOST THE SECOND A STORY WAS PUBLISHED ABOUT YOU AND YOUR 'WILD NIGHTS' AND 'CANOODLING' WITH THIS GUY OR THAT GUY!" Summer felt that first disgusting drop of wetness hit her cheek as Jeremy yelled loudly and harshly, who obviously did not care enough to sugarcoat the matter. "So it's this," he started, his voice quieting, "or a soap opera audition."
Summer stared at him, her mouth agape. "What?" she managed to get out in the midst of her shock, anger, disbelief, embarrassment, and wanting to slap the satisfied smirk off Jeremy's face at the mere suggestion.
"The only other job offer you have right now is a spot on 'All My Children,'" he replied smugly, obviously enjoying Summer's limited options.
Summer for a brief moment thought that she had just imagined Jeremy's talking. "Are you threatening me with the Daytime Emmys?" she questioned, head tilted to the side as though she were trying to decipher a foreign language.
"As a matter of fact, I am. This is the bottom line, Summer, both jobs have corny storylines and most of the cast forces their acting. However, I figured that you might want to travel and perform live rather than work in a studio for the better part of the day," Jeremy explained, having calmed down since his tirade.
Summer nearly snorted. Did Jeremy really think that he could bribe her with domestic travel to take this job? "I don't see how either option is really going to help me come back as a serious actress…" Summer replied, sitting down in her chair with her arms crossed, waiting for him to start his bullshitting.
Jeremy walked around to Summer's side of the desk and took a seat on the edge. "Regardless of your name, directions aren't even going to consider auditioning you until you prove that you can keep a steady job and take it seriously, which is a decision that your father fully supports. So you need to be on some sort of series to prove how responsible and reliable you are, and since no respectable primetime series is going to even think about casting you, these are you last two resorts." Someone was channeling Ari Gold today, but luckily for Jeremy the attitude didn't come with the hairline.
"I'm still not sold," she responded, pursing her lips together in a pout, especially after the mentioning of her father's lack of assistance in her pursuit to gain legitimate stardom.
"Well unfortunately for you the offers are quite limited. So it's this, a soap opera, or," he said, preparing to throw down his trump card, "you can always quit and go tell Daddy that trying to act again was a serious mistake," he practically taunted her. "It's up to you."
Summer stared adamantly at her agent, eyes full of annoyance and feigned hate, a look to which Jeremy was actually quite accustomed. It would only be a temporary thing… After a minute, she sighed. "Make the call."
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Summer muttered into her Blackberry as the limo pulled into the arena's parking garage, followed closely by the ever-present paparazzi. "I'm about to be surrounded by adults who roll around with each other in tights…"
Lindsay could only laugh on the other end, knowing that Summer was glaring at her that very moment. "Well I don't know what you want me to do about it, Muffin," she managed through her stifled giggles.
Please, it wasn't like Lindsay really could do anything. Summer just wanted some sympathy, not her best friend laughing at her, although she knew that she would do the same thing in Lindsay's position. But she wasn't, so it didn't matter! "Write me a note to get me out of work," Summer requested, with a perfectly executed pout.
"Yeah, 'cause that'll work." Still not helping…
Summer rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "Whatever. I'm here. I'll talk to you later, or something," Summer said, hanging up before Lindsay had a chance to reply. Yeah, it was bitchy, and she knew it, she just couldn't force herself to care.
Timing it perfectly, Summer slipped on her Chanel sunglass then quickly fluffed her curls and adjusted the collar of her black Gucci pea coat, finishing just as the chauffer opened the door for her. Swinging one leg out then the other, she purposely allowed her the hem of her dress to slide up further than it normally would have for the photographers. Once out of the car, she smoothed out the bottom of her green Vera Wang leaf-print bauble skirt dress and flashed the cameras a quick well-rehearsed smile. She decided not to overdo it and gave her head a flick to throw her side-swept bangs into perfect position, the smile never leaving her face. Having had enough of that, she called for her teacup Yorkshire terrier, Molly, who promptly hopped out of the limo and followed Summer obediently into the arena.
Taking off her sunglasses and throwing them back into her Fendi bag, Summer looked at the closed office door disdainfully before picking up Molly and turning on her brightest smile as she knocked. Vince McMahon opened the door and graciously ushered her in; Jeremy was already there waiting for her.
"Hi," Summer greeted, shaking hands with Vince. "I'm Summer Harrison." But it wasn't like he didn't already know that.
"Vince McMahon. I'm glad you decided to take our offer and join the company!" he enthused, offering her a seat next to Jeremy on the couch. "I'd like to introduce you to Stephanie Levesque, head writer for the show, Paul Levesque and Michael Hickenbottom who play Triple H and Shawn Michaels, respectively."
"Nice to meet you," she replied politely, impressed at their size, but refusing to be intimidated.
After the three returned the greeting, Vince continued. "So since you already have an established character, we thought that we'd use your notorious party girl persona and throw you in with DeGeneration X. Your role would basically be to help wreak havoc within the company by playing pranks and doing pretty much whatever the hell you want," Vince attempted to sell the idea to the celebutante.
Wasn't the point of the job to show that she could be serious about her job? Apparently not. Not allowing the thought to register on her face, Summer answered, "Sounds like fun!"
Vince grinned. "We have a couple other ideas for you in case you don't like that one. To begin with, Amy Dumas, who plays Lita, will be leaving the company by the end of the month, and we could possibly create a love triangle involoving you two and Adam Copeland's character, Edge. And then maybe we could do a twist and have you turn on him for John Cena in a few months. We also have Jeff Hardy, the Intercontinental Champion who's currently feuding with the Johnny Nitro, who has Melina and Kevin Federline in his corner. If you'd rather do something along the lines of a romantic storyline, putting you in Jeff's corner to balance out the playing field would probably be the easiest scenario than setting up the triangle, especially since it's been done before. And with that role, you can decide if you want to be physically active in the ring and learn a few wrestling moves. We can put you in matches against Melina and start a direct feud between the two of you if you want," Vince offered.
Put her in a ring? And with Kevin Fedierline? She didn't realize how low she'd sunk until Vince mentioned his name. Seriously though, it was about time Britney dropped his broke ass and got hot again! But being active in the ring was never part of the deal! No one would cast her if she came in with a black eye or a broken nose, unless it was for a battered girlfriend or something, but that was the type of character she wanted to stay away from this early in her comeback. Maybe a drug addict with a heart of gold would be better… whatever the role was, it had to be that breakout role that no one would expect to steal the film. That was the best way to win over the Academy and take home an Oscar; take them by surprise. Or play a mentally challenged person, but she felt that that was too cliché in Hollywood now with Tom Hanks and Dustin Hoffman having done it successfully over the last two decades. But anyways, back to the wrestling thing… NO! "I think I'd like to get used to the working environment here before I try to do get into the ring competitively. I feel like I need to concentrate on understanding how the show works before I try to bite off even more and learn to wrestle," she declined graciously.
"Of course," Vince nodded in understanding. "But just be aware that because of the fact that you're already a public figure, you're going to have a lot of say in your character and in what direction you go for the time being. Once we get you established as a WWE Diva, which is an honor, the creative team will take over your plotlines a lot more. But for now, since we're just trying to establish you as a character, you do have the opportunity to input your own ideas."
So this is what she had been reduced to: playing herself. She might as well have done a guest spot on some thirsty and lame ABC comedy series. "Will I get the chance to ever play a character that's not really me?" Summer questioned after a moment.
Vince's face didn't change, but Summer, with much satisfaction, could tell that he hadn't been expecting that question from her. "Perhaps in the future. But right now we need to take advantage of the fact that people already know who you are. So rather than take you and develop an onscreen persona that we have to incorporate into our show, we're just going to use what people already know about you and incorporate the show into your life."
He might as well have said no. They needed that wildness people associated with her to draw in more viewers. She wasn't stupid. Walking into the arena and seeing all the varying colors of Barbie Dolls told her all she needed to know about how they used the women within the company. Summer noticed that Vince's face had hardened a bit since the beginning of the meeting. Guess she needed to fix that. "I guess that I'm just worried that I won't be received very well by your audience. I mean, I saw all the other Divas, and I truly am honored to have been chosen to come on board as another Diva, but I'm just worried that I won't match up to them, physically and personality wise."
There were those soft wrinkles and that grin again. "I understand that it's hard to put yourself out there for everyone to just judge. But if you decided to do the DX angle, you have these two guys to boost you up," he gestured to Paul and Mike. "They are the two hardest working talents on the roster and definite fan favorites. And if that really isn't enough, which I highly doubt, we can always turn you heel and purposely put you against the crowd," Vince assured her with a grandfatherly tone. "The great thing about this company is that we can take the storylines any direction we want. If something doesn't work, we can change it the next week."
Summer sighed inwardly, never allowing her cheerful outer demeanor to fade. This was really happening. She had no other choice. "So where do I sign up for this DX thing?" she asked, forcing a joyous laugh.
This was for her future.
For her career.
For her legacy.
Author's Note: Hey everyone! So yeah, this is a new story I'm working on, and for those of you who started reading Thicker Than Water, I'm starting to write that again, so I'm hoping to get in an update soon. For those of you who haven't, go start reading! And for everyone, no matter what, REVIEW! I know it's not much right now, but it'll get there! Please:D Love you all!
