Summary: Growing up in Ohio, Mike didn't have many people that believed he could achieve his dreams of becoming a professional wrestler. Except for one. His high school best friend, Rebecca Lopez, believed in him from the start. The two had known each other since their freshman year and became friends all from sitting next to each other in their first period class. Ever since, Mike had her back and she had his. The two noticed they had a lot in common; they both loved wrestling and WWE. They bonded over wrestling and often spent time together watching it on the television and PPV's. Thus, they did everything together up and until graduation. Once Mike got the chance, he left Ohio to go to college in Florida and pursue his dreams. Leaving Rebecca behind. Rebecca remained a wrestling fan and watched as her high school best friend, who had clearly forgotten about her, make it big. It isn't until WWE holds a challenge to find their next diva, the 2013 diva search, that the two become face to face once again.


Chapter 1

"Being a WWE diva is more than being a pretty face and having a bit of athletic background. Being a diva is being smart, sexy and powerful. You have to have the knowledge of wrestling so you can get far in this business. You have to have the beauty and charisma to capture the crowd's attentions. However, most importantly, you need the wrestling ability. If you believe you have all of these things, I need you to step over to the left," said the diva's champion and spokesperson of this diva search, Layla El. WWE had placed her in the position because she was the champion and with Layla being a former contestant and the winner of the diva search, they knew she had what it takes to lead this competition.

As the English born champion stared at the group of 20 girls in front on her, 19 of them stepped quickly to the left. Except for one. Layla looked to the brunette, her chocolate brown eyes staring into the woman's hazel ones. Layla could tell she was nervous and very young in age. As the brunette chewed on her bottom lip and tried to avoid Layla's eyes, Layla stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"What's stopping you from stepping over to that side of the room?" she asked in a soft whisper. The girl tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and looked up at Layla.

"I'm nervous but I don't know why because I know I can do this; I know I can be a diva," the girl responded, her words in a rush.

"Take a deep breathe," Layla started. The girl obeyed. "I know you're nervous. I was nervous too. There were hundred's of beautiful girl's around me fighting for that same spot I wanted. I know how you feel. I also know that you can do this. It's OK to be nervous but don't give up on this."

"Thank you. I really needed that."

"You're welcome." Layla rubbed her arm soothingly. "What's your name?"

"I'm Rebecca. Rebecca Lopez."

"Nice to meet you, Rebecca. Go on and step to the left; I'm rooting for you." She winked at Rebecca, causing a smile to form on the face of the perky brunette. Rebecca took a step to the left and made herself the last girl in the line. She was ready for this. Nothing was going to stand in her way and stop her from achieving her dreams.

The women stood to the left and the producers helped Layla go over her lines. The plan was for the diva's champion to come out and introduce the twenty contestants and judges. As Rebecca read over the guidelines, she realized this was almost like NXT voting wise. The four judges would cast their votes and so would the WWE 'universe'. In the end, only one girl would win and be given the title of the 2013 Diva's Search Winner and a cash prize of $50,000 along with a WWE contract. This contest could benefit anyone but especially a long time wrestling fan and Rebecca knew she had that.

"OK, ladies. Get into a single file line and get ready to show the universe what you're all about," said one of the backstage hand's. Layla positioned her title proudly on her shoulder and stood at the front of the gorilla position. Her theme music hit and she turned quickly towards the girls.

"Good luck to all of you and don't forget to smile!"

. . .

Monday Night Raw: March 3rd, 2013.

It was a roaring night in Cincinnati, Ohio. The crowd was anxious from all of WWE's talk of the 2013 Diva Search being kicked off here tonight. When the diva's champion's theme song came on, the crowd erupted into cheers.

"Approaching the ring," Justin Roberts started as Layla showed up at the top of the ramp. "From Miami, Florida, the diva's champion, Layla!" The fans in attendance roared once again when he called out her name. The men in the crowd whistled at the English-woman. She high fived a few fans in the front row before climbing up the steel steps and into the ring. Justin handed Layla microphone.

"Hello, WWE Universe!" she yelled out, a wide grin showcased on her face. "It is my pleasure to be the leading judge of the 2013 Diva Search and I want to thank all of you, here in Cincinnati, Ohio, for being the host of this contest tonight." This caused another cheer from the crowd. Layla waved her hand and giggled.

"Without further or do, I'd like to introduce the other 3 judge's that will be joining me." She pointed to the ramp. The crowd fell silent as the anticipation picked up.

"Awesome... I came to play!"

Everyone in the U.S. Bank Arena was on their feet cheering for their hometown hero. Coming down the ramp was Eve Torres, Rey Mysterio and the most must see WWE champion of all time, The Miz. As the trio made their way to the ring, the crowd continued to hoot and holler. Layla handed Miz the mic and a smile crept on his face.

"Hello, Cincinnati!" he yelled, his smile widening. The attendants responded back with a cheer. "Boy, do I just want to say it's great to be home and what a night it's going to be. We're here to kick off the 2013 Diva's Search. With us as judges, and when I say us I'm not just talking about the 3 people standing in this ring with me; you all will be judging too, we will not sleep or eat until we find the next WWE diva! And don't mind me if I say that this contest will be... AWESOME!"

Miz handed the microphone over to Eve who shared it with Rey. "Please put your hands together for the twenty ladies that will be in this competition!"

The crowd cheered as the women bounced down the ramp and into the ring. Their first challenge would be impressing the judge's and the universe with small speeches. The mic slowly traveled down the line and a few of the contestant's got cheer's. The mic got to the end of the line and landed into the hands of a short brunette. She looked extremely nervous as she chewed on her bottom lip. The camera noticed how she locked eye's with the diva's champion, Layla. Layla gave the girl a smile and a head nod. The girl returned the smile and began to speak.

"Hello. My name is Rebecca Lopez and I'm from Parma, Ohio!" she started. The crowd quickly cheered for her as they found out she was an Ohio native.

"Unlike most of these girl's, I'm not a model looking for some television time, I'm not a beauty queen; I didn't even go to prom, actually. I'm just another one of you. In fact, I'm just like each and every single one of you. I'm a huge fan of this business and I love wrestling more than a lot of thing's. I'm here to prove to all of you young girl's watching at home that if this your dream and this is what you want to do, there's no stopping you. I'm here to change the face of the WWE diva's and at the same time, be a role model for that 'nerdy girl'- and I use that term loosely- at home watching or maybe she's in this crowd tonight. I'm here to inspire and make Ohio proud! Thank you." There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that after that speech, Rebecca Lopez was going to be one of the finalists in this competition.

. . .

Backstage, the producer's had called out 10 names from a list. Rebecca felt a bit uneasy as her name wasn't called. She watched as the 10 women who were called took a step out and the producer's looked at one another before looking at the women.

"You ten ladies are eliminated from the competition. We're very sorry. Please get your things and exit the backstage area."

Rebecca immediately felt bad for those 10 women but she was also proud of herself. That meant she was a part of the 10 remaining in the competition. She was nervous going out there and didn't know exactly what to say. Not to mention, seeing Mike face to face after all these years had also messed with her too. She knew she had to stay away from Mike. Far away.

The brunette slipped on her plain black pumps and walked down the empty hallway. The show was almost over and the producer's had said the girl's could just hang around and get a bite of eat in catering if they liked. With her stomach grumbling, Rebecca quickly found her way there. As she opened the door and peeped inside, she was relived to see no one was around but a few backstage hands. Rebecca walked up to the counter and smiled politely at the waitress who returned the smile.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"Hello. Can I have a chicken caesar's salad with vinegar?"

"Would you like the vinegar on the side or drizzled."

"Drizzled, please. Thank you." The waitress went and put together Rebecca's salad quickly before coming back and handing it over. She took a seat at one of the many empty table's, her back facing the door, and dived into her salad. As Rebecca was enjoying her salad, savoring every taste of the twangy vinegar, the clicking of hard shoes behind her made her jump. The culprit swiftly came around the table and took a seat in front of her.

"Rebs.. it's you? How have you been?!" Mike exclaimed with a huge grin. Rebecca avoided his eyes and took a quick sip of your water. She decided to play dumb; maybe he'd leave her alone.

"What are you talking about, Mr. Miz?"

"What do you mean, 'What am I talking about'. We were best friends in high school, Rebecca. I know you remember."

"Sorry, you have the wrong girl." Mike shook his head.

"No I don't. Same name, same hometown.. you don't look the same but you know, it might be for the better."

"There are many people with my name that live in Ohio."

"No, it's you Rebs. I know it because you are the only person I know who eats vinegar on their salad's," he smirked. "And don't try and tell me it's not vinegar because I can smell it!" Rebecca sighed and looked up at her high school best friend.

"Yes, Mike. It's me."

"Why'd you lie and say it wasn't?"

"I don't know, I didn't want people to know I knew you because then they'd think your votes would be biased."

"Don't worry, Rebs. No one will care," Mike reached over and placed a hand over her's. "You really do look different. How have you been?"

"I've been OK. Still living in Parma," Rebecca answered.

"How are your parent's doing?"

"They're great, probably watching at home as we speak."

"Well, I'm sure they're proud. Especially after that amazing speech; you definitely won the crowd over with that one."

"Thank you. I just spoke from my heart."

"I know. I have to go get ready for my match, though." He pulled out his cell phone and tapped a few buttons before handing it over to Rebecca. "Put your number in, we can hang out tonight like old times after the show." Hesitantly, Rebecca put her number in before handing the phone back.

"Bye, Mike." He waved at her before leaving out. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips. She had tried her best to avoid him but of course, it didn't work. Her real reason for lying and avoiding him was because she didn't want those old emotions to come back. However, she could feel the butterflies stirring in her stomach the moment he called her by her nick name..


A/N: Thank you for reading. Please review and go to my profile to see a picture of Rebecca and her outfit in this chapter!