Okay, this is a story that I've had the first chapter done with for a longgg (I can't stress that word enough) time, but I never got around to typing it. Well, here it is. I took awhile revamping it from what I had orignally written, and I hope I made it better. I hope you enjoy, and please R&R, I would really appreciate it.
Without further ado, here is 'By the Way'.

.~By The Way~.

Chapter One: Not Quite Enemies

The words that tumbled out of Vince's mouth seemed impossible to Raleigh. She certainly didn't think it was possible to use those words in the same sentence, unless of course there was a 'not' thrown into the mix. She stared at him with a blank face until he repeated himself.

"Raleigh, did you hear what I said?" Vince leaned forward onto his desk slightly to see if she was paying attention.

"What?" Raleigh was still busy trying to figure out if this was a dream or not. She snapped out her trance and looked next to her in horror. He just sat there smug and uncaring, relaxing like this storyline was no big deal.

This is impossible, Raleigh convinced herself. This isn't happening! I'm dreaming.

"I think it's a fantastic idea Mr. McMahon, I'm happy that you considered me for this storyline… especially since it leads to a championship win," the man next to her said, sucking up a bit. He wasn't afraid of doing that though, he didn't give a damn what anyone thought about him, either did Raleigh, which could contribute to a huge part of their hatred for each other.

Raleigh sat silently, contemplating what she did to Mr. McMahon to make him so mad that he is teaming her up with this guy, and she usually uses that term loosely when describing him.

"Are you okay with it Raleigh?" Mr. McMahon folded his hands and waited for a response from the disgruntled looking diva seated in front of him.

"Uh, yeah." Raleigh had weighted her options in her head before responding. She didn't have much choice, either be fired or work with this prick. Being fired may have seemed like a better choice a few minutes ago, but down the road it would have been awful to give up her dream because of him, it would probably only give him greater satisfaction, in some sick way. "I guess I'll deal."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mr. McMahon had no idea that the two shared a hatred for each other, actually, very few of the superstars knew that they had a real life feud. Raleigh didn't want to upset Mr. McMahon though, everyone knows what happens then. He can't stand whiners and complainers, Raleigh decided it would be better to keep her mouth shut and just deal with it.

"Nothing," her voice was barely audible, but Mr. McMahon seemed to catch on to what she said.

"Okay, then it's settled. You're storyline with Randy Orton will begin at the Royal Rumble, three weeks from now." Vince nodded as a cue for both Raleigh and Randy to leave his office.

Randy left first and let the door slam in Raleigh's face, she knew this wasn't going to be an easy storyline to get through, and she feared one of them might not make it out alive. Raleigh flung the door open and purposely went the opposite direction of Orton.

No need for more confrontation tonight, Raleigh thought to herself. She heard footsteps rapidly coming from behind her but she ignored them. She was praying internally that it wasn't Orton, God knows that he would follow her just to start something. She picked up her pace and by the end she was practically sprinting to her car. As she was pulling the door open a hand slammed it shut, nearly crushing her fingers in between the door.

When she was about to lose her temper she noticed the refection in the window and let out a sigh of relief.

"You will not believe who I have to storyline with," Raleigh said in an exhausted tone.

She turned around to face just the person she wanted to see, her best friend. She had to crane her neck a little to see his face, since he is slightly taller than she is. His light blonde hair was in it's usual position, a perfect mix of the pompadour and a faux hawk.

"Is it me?" A hopeful gleam sparked in his eye.

"Chris, if it was you, you would have been in the meeting, don't you think?" Raleigh never understood how Chris was a complete one-eighty of his in ring persona. Chris Jericho is known to be a whiny, pompous, egotistical dirt bag, to put it lightly. But in real life he was the sweetest and most innocent person she's ever met.

"Oh, right," realization grew across his face quickly. "Who then?" He went over a mental list of possible candidates who were on the same show as both of them when Raleigh's voice interrupted his thinking.

"Orton," Raleigh growled.

There were only three people, outside of Orton and herself, who knew the true loath that the Randy and Raleigh shared for each other, Chris, Jeff Hardy, and Melina Perez, all of which were very close friends of hers.

"Ha," Chris chuckled quietly. He quickly pulled his hand up to his mouth to fake cough when he saw the dirty look Raleigh was sending him. "Ahem," he pounded his fist on his chest. "Allergies," he shrugged slightly.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Raleigh shook her head thinking about the storyline again, she didn't know how to deal with this, and there was certainly no one who could save her from it.

"I'm sorry, that sucks," he said sincerely. "Did you tell Melina and Jeff yet, or do I have the pleasure of doing that?"

Typically the four of them would go out after a show to a local bar, or wherever they could find that served alcohol, you wouldn't believe how many times they had come across towns that had no bars, and the four would chat and share some laughs.

"No, you can tell them, I'm going straight to the hotel."

"To pout?" Chris rolled his eyes, and attempted to talk sense into Raleigh. "Come on, go out with us tonight. It won't be the same without you. It would just be the three muskrats instead of the four-"

Raleigh immediately put a stop to his sentence, sometimes he truly had no idea what he was talking about, and this was definitely one of those moments.

"Chris, it's the three musketeers, not muskrats. And there is only three of them, not four, so that made absolutely no sense."

"Well, you should still come, pweeeese?" Chris poked out his bottom lip and widened his eyes, giving Raleigh the old puppy dog pout he was so famous for. She could never say no to it, and he knew it, so he constantly used it to his advantage.

Standing on the rooftops,
Everybody scream your heart out.

Raleigh's cell phone blasted from her bag, she fumbled with it a few minutes before digging it out of the bottom, hastily turning it over to check the caller ID.

Vince.

She held up a finger to Chris who was just about to speak, causing him to close his mouth immediately.

"It's Vince," Raleigh reassured him. She didn't want him thinking she was choosing a call over him, over the year's Raleigh's learned that Chris takes things very personally, even if its something stupid like making him wait to talk.

"Ahh," he nodded in understanding. He let out an exasperated sigh, "good luck with that."

Raleigh answered the phone reluctantly, why is he calling me? She pondered to herself as she flipped open the phone.

"Hello?"

Either Vince talks extremely loud on the phone or Raleigh has her volume up eighty notches too high, Chris thought to himself while attempting to eavesdrop on the conversation. It didn't take much effort though, because Chris was right, Vince talks louder than normal on the phone, leaving anyone within ten feet of the phone perfectly capable of hearing the other side of the conversation.

"No, no it's okay. Yeah well I was just headed back to my room… yes. That would be okay I suppose. No I didn't mean it like that, it's fine, really. Alright, thanks." Raleigh hung up and looked into the face of a intrigued Chris.

Like her other two friends Jeff and Melina, Chris would not drop a subject until he found out exactly what he wanted to know. He was always successful too, pulling just about any information he desired from anyone, the boy had a way with words.

"What was that about?" Chris asked, arching one eyebrow to further prove his curiosity.

"Ugh, Randy," she admitted with no hesitation whatsoever. Raleigh figured she might as well just tell him to avoid the long process of harassment and questioning that she knew would ensue if she tried to conceal the truth from him.

"Yes… aaand?" He tacked on extra stress to the last word, hoping to persuade her to spill it quicker.

"You'll never believe what I have to do…"

So, what did you think of the first chapter? Let me know with a review! :D