(A/N): Before this begins, I'd like to mention this is set in a world where wwe is kinda real, but at the same time, not really. Like, all the matches haven't been already planned out... So, anyone can win. But there is still fake storylines. But then again, in this story, most people's wrestling name is their real name. Yeah, hate me for making things easier to understand... I don't really care.
My name is Sophie Yasmin (Has-min) Lee. I'm about to tell you about the year following my eighteenth birthday, and how it ruined my life so badly, I had to get an annulment from parents. A week before I turned 18, I dropped out of high school, and was offered a 12-month contract in the WWE. In that 12 months, I met my three best friends, who I wouldn't trade in for anything in the world. This was also the year I practically formed my own religion against the McMahon family and was accompanied to the ring by the whole WWE locker room at my WrestleMania match.
I guess I should begin at the very beginning. Before 2012, before April 7th, 1994… I guess probably around August or September 1993… I dunno… I just used math and science for that one. So I could write about all the gross details and start at the beginning of the night… or I could start with the boring part at the end of the night.
Boring part it is then. Ahem…
"So… Just Cecilia… Are you gonna tell me YOUR last name now?" Shawn said, putting the hotel phone down for a minute.
Cecilia had just came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, she slightly smiled and shook her head.
"I told you, this is a one time thing only… And who the hell screams out their own full name during sex anyway?!" Cecilia said, furrowing her eyebrows.
"I am self-confident!" Shawn protested quickly before putting the phone up to his ear again.
"You still there?" Hunter asked from the other side of the line, "look, there's this kid down in the reception asking for your lady friend… I passed her on the way to the gym and she looked like she needed some help. She says Cecilia's her… Mom… And that her dad's waiting in a car down the street."
"Ah… Well shit then, I'll let Cecilia know, man. I'll talk to you soon." Shawn said, before hanging up the phone.
Meanwhile, down in the hotel lobby, Hunter was asking the girl some questions that will become really important to the story later.
"What's your name, sweetie?" He asked the girl, who looked no older than 10.
"April Lee, but call me AJ," the girl answered, grinning heavily.
Hunter slowly lowered an eyebrow.
"Oh… my middle name's Jeanette… That's why people call me AJ." AJ said happily.
"How old are you?" Hunter asked.
"I'm 7… I was born on the 18th of March in 1987." AJ answered, still smiling like an idiot.
"Okay then, AJ who is born on the 18th of March, why didn't your daddy come here as well?"
"Oh… He always stays in the car and smokes these big-"
"AJ! Sweetie!"
AJ and Hunter turned their heads to see Cecilia coming out of the elevator, Shawn followed closely behind her. Cecilia was wearing the dress she wore the night before. Shawn was wearing a semi-presentable top, and his tightie-whities.
Cecilia quickly reached AJ and picked her up, AJ quickly frowned.
"It was nice meeting you, Hunter," Cecilia said quickly, smiling a bit. She looked over at Shawn and tossed a business card at him before quickly walking away.
"Hey! You never got to tell me your name!" AJ called to Hunter as Cecilia walked away, speedily walking out of the lobby and down the street.
Hunter and Shawn looked at each other for a moment, Shawn looked down at the business card before looking at Hunter again.
"SCORE!" Shawn eventually said, pumping his fists in the air.
"Shawn…" Hunter sighed, turning his head to look at his best friend after shaking his head.
"ah, Jesus Christ…" He muttered, looking away after seeing that Shawn was only wearing his underwear. Hunter sighed and looked up in the air.
"Shawn… You're not wearing any pants…"
"Hunter, that's ridiculous… Why wouldn't I be wearing any…"
Shawn bursted into screeches as he dashed towards the elevator.
And that's how the era of Sophie began, with my biological father pressing the emergency button on an elevator just because he wanted some pants.
I always liked to think I was smart, it wasn't until the mid-winter of 2012 that I finally processed that I was failing every subject except for PE. My stepmom suggested tutoring, the tutor had barely had me for a week before telling my dad that I was a lost cause.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Helmsley, but this just isn't working out…" The old guy said, shaking his head. "Sure this method works for little kids all the way up to kids that are just starting out in high school. But I personally believe it's much too late for any kind of hope that your daughter will have any kind of academic future. Even now, universities are already recording grades. Unless your daughter wants to repeat her whole senior year, which by the way, is her choice and not yours if she is offered the opportunity, this is Cameron."
Hunter looked outside to see Cameron playing air guitar in the front seat of the car.
Shawn, Shawn, Shawn, Shawn, Shawn, Shawn, Hunter thought, she's Shawn all over.
Although Hunter really didn't mean it that much, the statement was true. Just about the only thing Cameron had that made her not look like Shawn was her olive skin and dark hair. She'd always been the biggest clown there was, besides Shawn of course. That's what made Hunter jealous, whenever Shawn came to visit, that's when Cameron was the happiest.
That statement was true, I was happy when Shawn came to visit. I thought I'd never tell Hunter this in a million years, but sometimes I thought things would be better if Shawn was my dad. You see, a long time ago, probably in the late nineties, it was just Dad and I. Then, when I was about 8, Stephanie came along.
That's when things started to change, my dad and Stephanie got married, then they had a kid, then another, and then another. Then soon my dad's life began to revolve around his new family, and over time, I felt more and more like the kid who just lived with them. That annoyed me a lot, things like my dad and I aren't supposed to change. That's just the way families work.
Then there was Shawn, no matter how many years went by, no matter how much money he had and no matter how many kids Stephanie popped out, he was always there.
But people do crazy things when they're scared.
Shawn and Hunter both looked down at Sophie tiredly, both were holding mugs of coffee.
"Why are we drinking coffee?" Hunter asked suddenly.
"Because if we fall asleep… We'll go into a coma, and we won't be able to hear Soph crying…" Shawn yawned.
Both Shawn and Hunter silently groaned as Sophie, for the second time that night, woke up, yet miraculously stayed silent.
Shawn tilted his head slightly as they both looked down at Sophie. She was simply staring upwards towards the glow-in-the-dark star stickers. The light in the room was off, so the stickers gave the room a pink-ish glow.
Shawn looked up at stared at the stickers on the ceiling as well, Hunter tapped his fingers on the crib lightly and sighed.
"Jesus Christ, Hunter," Shawn said quietly after a while. "Cecilia's not coming back, even know she promised she wouldn't even leave, not to me, but to Sophie. The day she was born, Cecilia told Sophie she'd never leave." He looked down at shook his head.
"I fell in love with a liar, I fell in love with a leaver… and what does she leave behind? A poor, defenseless kid who I am barely keeping alive." Shawn said, reaching down into the crib and stroking one of Sophie's cheeks.
"Shawn?"
"Yeah?"
"I can adopt Sophie, I'm not asking because it's best for me, I'm asking because it's best for Sophie."
"What kind of request is that-"
"Just think about it, Shawn. I mean, think about what kind of dad you'll be, think about if you can be both a dad, and kind of a mom for Sophie as well. And besides, you're a rolling stone, you barely stay in one place for more than half of year."
"That can change, Hunter, do you really think it's going to be like that forever? I can change."
"People don't change, Shawn. Cecilia said she was going to change, she said she was going to be a better person. Look what happened, her and AJ are back in New Jersey with Sonny… Cecilia's probably convincing herself that Sophie never happened!"
"Hunter-"
"Shawn… I'm better at taking care of things than you are. Hell… You can't even keep a Tamagotchi alive."
"Hey, hey, a Tamagotchi does not make a noise when it's hungry… Or when it needs to be cleaned, or when it's sleepy, or when it needs it's diaper changed."
"Listen, I can take care of Sophie. She'll be really good with me, I can give her a better name than Sophie… What kind of a name is Sophie?"
"I like it, it reminds me of flowers."
"What are you a woman, Shawn?"
"I still like it."
"Listen, Shawn… I just want to help."
"Really?"
"Yes, I do."
Hunter and Shawn simply stared at each other for a moment, annoyance lurking in both of their eyes.
"I have to think about this," Shawn said after a while, breaking the silence, before walking out of the room.
"Make sure you do."
I know what you're thinking… The 'Asshole' sirens are going off in your head at the moment. I don't blame you, that's what happened to me the first AND LAST time I was told that story.
So, I guess I should just start telling the story of how I got here. No more flashbacks, no more Shawn… For a while anyway.
I suppose you're wondering what Shawn's did after that, well, he stayed in Connecticut until I was about 5 months old. A week before I turned eighteen, he was living somewhere near Fort Lauderdale. It was pretty hard to keep up by then. My dad was right, Shawn hadn't changed. He was still a rolling stone. Even though I just wanted him to stay in Connecticut… It seems as though whenever I want something, even really badly, there's always a massive mountain standing in my way.
ANYWAY, back to April 2nd. It was a Monday… And I was about to get on the school bus even though I was seventeen years old. I had miraculously gotten my drivers license six months earlier, but my dad refused to buy me a car unless I got my grades up. Somehow.
So, it was the day after Wrestlemania, Dad and Stephanie and my three sisters had gotten back earlier that morning. My sisters came and jumped on me right before falling into a I-have-gone-more-than-24-hours-without-sleep induced coma with Stephanie. Dad stayed up... Sometimes I liked to think that Dad is a vampire... He fed off of the happy and living and never seemed to sleep.
In case you haven't realised yet, I semi-hated my dad. And myself... But I hated my dad more... No... I hated myself more... Definitely hated myself more.
"Not even that fucking sorry!" I said, as a car almost hit my as I ran through the heavy rain. I didn't have an umbrella, result: total and complete anarchy.
I reached the bus just as the door began to close, the bus driver grumbled and opened it again. I dripped water everywhere as I stepped onto the bus and handed the bus driver my school bus pass.
He scanned it and simply handed it back to me.
"It's been cancelled, Cam." The driver said. Everyone called me Cam… Everyone.
I closed my eyes and grumbled.
"Ahh, fuck it, like today's going to be important anyway," I muttered and stepped off the bus. The driver simply drove off, unaffected.
I watched the yellow bus disappear into the rainy fog before walking back home.
I walked back inside and proceeded to shake off like a dog before heading to the kitchen.
"Hey dad!" I called loudly, "the bus driver told me my bus pass got cancelled, so… I came back!" I added, looking up.
I was met with silence.
"Fine then," I sighed, beginning to lower my head again, "I'll just chill out on the couch all day- What the-"
The most peculiar sight I had ever seen greeted me.
It was a doll… A wrestling figure, I should say, standing in a toy wrestling ring.
Just one thing…
The figure was me.
