Vicky asked for the day off the following day to think about it, half expecting to get a no, and was surprised to be given till the following Monday to give the matter some thought. She was also asked, if she liked it, to bring the character up to date a little. So Tuesday found her at home in Orlando enjoying the brilliant sunshine with her best friend. It had them both chilling on the deck as they drank a beer and looked at the situation, Vicky hopeing to gain some clarity from her friends thoughts.
"I don't get it, Vick." Her friend said, before sipping at the bottle. "You've been after a chance like this for years. Why don't you want to take it?"
"That's just it Cass." Vicky replied with a sigh. "It's a chance, but they basically want a female Undertaker. I mean, you can see what a height that is to measure up to, right?" She leant forwards on the lounger to scratch her leg, and then sat back again.
"Yeah, I see that. But what if you could?" Cass looked over at Vicky as she drank.
"What if I could?" Cass drank from her bottle before carrying on.
"Yeah. Hear me out. What if they wanna give you a streak? What if they wanna make a pay per view yours, so to speak, like Taker has Survivor Series? What if they wanna put you in for cage matched, no DQ matches, the works?"
"If they wanted to see me fall flat on my face with amazing skill, sure. I'm a fucking step, Cass. A step. And when I go in on Monday, they'll probably be ready to fucking lynch me in the locker room." She frowned, imagining the faces of the girls in the locker room angry as they yelled at her for being boosted when they had been in NXT for ages, that it was their turn etc.
"It won't be that bad, surely? And you'd get to do more work with the guys. Hell, you might even get your own figurine to go with the Roman, Dean and Seth ones you have." Cass added. "You might even get to work with them!" Vicky burst out laughing.
"I won't get to work with them! I'm not THAT important! Hell, I didn't even get put on Total Diva's."
"Would you even want to be? All your private life out in the public like that?" Vicky pulled a face that said clearly no, she would not.
"Fuck no. You know I wouldn't." She flipped down the sunglasses on her head. "My point was, I'm not important enough for that shit, y'know? I was always destined to be a step."
"Except clearly you weren't." Cass said, gesturing to her friend with her bottle. "Somehow, you came to their eyes. Maybe they were eyeing up your ass, I dunno…"
"The Undertaker eyeing up my ass? Hah, fucking as if!" Vicky exclaimed, laughing
"Well, maybe Cena then. But regardless, they noticed you, ass first or not, but they did. And they either went to Steph, or Steph went to them, to get this persona for you. You should take the chance. Even if it lands you back as a step, at least you tried." Vicky looked over at her friend and raised her sunglasses, cocking an eyebrow at her friend.
"You sound all adult like when you make sense."
"I know…it won't last." She replied finishing her drink, and holding her empty bottle out to her friend. "Beer me."
All week, Vicky agonised over the decision. Could she live up to being the Lady Undertaker, as Steph had put it? Could she hold that crown? And what if Cass was right? What if they wanted to give her chances like Undertaker had, a streak at a pay per view, cages and hell in a cell matches? Could she handle it? Could she manage to live up to the name they were crafting for her? She allowed herself to indulge in drafting a few things to bring it up to date, and sketched a few new character clothing ideas, looked up wrestling moves that would suit the persona and scribbled them down too. But by the time her week off was over, she still didn't know what she was going to do.
She arrived at the arena on Monday early as usual, and parked up her motorbike in the car park nearest the entrance to the arena. Her stomach churned as she debated once more turning and running off for a few days more, but realised she had to make a decision, and today was the day. Going inside, she was pointed towards the locker rooms. Vicky felt the eyes of everyone on her back as they watched her pass, waiting for someone to lash out, someone to complain it wasn't fair. But it never seemed to come. She reached the locker room, and found she wasn't the only one there. Charlotte, Sasha, Becky, Natalya and Nikki Bella were there already. Vicky decided to keep quiet and just change and get out before she could be lynched.
"So, come on then Vicky, when do you debut as your new persona?" asked Becky, coming over to sit next to Vicky as she put her shoes on.
"I..uh…I haven't quite agreed to it yet." She found herself admitting, and also wondering how the hell they knew.
"Are you serious?" Charlotte's incredulous face peeked out from the other side of a changing room bench divider, accompanied by similar remarks of disbelief by other wrestlers. "Why the hell not?!"
"Well…it's…it's a lot to measure up to, and I'm just a step…" Vicky began, but fell silent at the disbelieving looks the other women were giving her.
"Vicky. You got pulled out in to the ring on a complete improvisation by Kane, John Cena and The Undertaker. Let that sink in. THE UNDERTAKER. If you truly were "just a step" as you put it, there's no way that Taker would have risked his career on you. Cause that's what they did, they risked their careers. If you didn't play along, they would have looked like idiots." Natalya said sagely. Vicky found herself realising the truth in this. "All of us here know how hard you work. You might not realise it, but we do."
"Really?" It took her by surprise. "But I just turn up and do my job…"
"And yet you make us look amazing, which is a little more than just turning up and doing your job, girlie." Becky said. "For the love of god, take it. Take the shot. Else we'll kick your arse all over the damn locker room."
Maybe they were right, Vicky found herself thinking as she headed to see Stephanie, her hands playing with the envelope that now contained not just her new persona, but things to bring the character up to date. Maybe it is my time, maybe I am supposed to be something more than a step…maybe…just maybe I can be a superstar too. She smiled a little at the thought as she reached the door, and took a deep breath before knocking.
"Come in!" a voice called, and Vicky wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on the bottom of her t-shirt before going in. Stephanie greeted her with a warm smile as she came in, and gestured to a seat in front of her. "Good to see you, Vicky. I guess you're here about the persona?"
"Yes Ma'am." Vicky managed respectfully, but also trying to not sound like she was going to vomit. "Well, I've thought about it a lot and well, if you guys feel I am ready and able, you know what you're looking at in regards to ability, so I'll do it." She said, rushing the words a little.
"Are you sure? You don't sound too sure." Steph said amused.
"I'm sure. They picked me for a reason, right? Not sure what it is yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. I'll be your Queen of Coffins. When do we start?"
"Tonight. We start your transformation tonight, by having you take a finisher from Roman Reigns."
"Erm…he's a lot taller than me…" Vicky gulped awkwardly and Steph laughed.
"I'm kidding. We'll work our way up to Reigns. No, tonight you'll get injured by Seth accidentally while interrupting on behalf of Kane." Steph said, smiling reassuringly.
"That's not really sounding much better. He's still bigger than me." Vicky replied, causing more laughter.
"Only by a few inches, Vicky." Steph said, standing. "Come on, let's go see if Seth is here yet. It'll be easier to get you two acquainted before everyone shows up."
And so, Vicky found herself being lead down corridor after corridor, superstars male and female alike giving her a smile and a wave, at least those few that had arrived anyway. Becky Lynch gave Vicky a questioning look and a thumbs up as she passed, silently asking if Vicky had accepted. Vicky nodded with a small smile, and Becky burst in to a grin, giving a double thumbs up in response. They walked for what seemed like forever to Vicky, and she was wondering how Steph kept track of where changing rooms were in each arena, and realising she'd probably been to them all at least three times in her career by now as they reached the guys locker room. She banged on the door, and it was answered by Big Cass.
"Hey, Steph, what can I do for you?" He asked, t-shirt clutched in his hand as he propped the door open. He flashed Vicky a smile and a nod. "Hey Vick, how you doin?"
"Hi Cass, is Seth there yet?" She asked, as Vicky tried to remind herself that she probably wasn't as invisible to everyone as she thought, and that The Undertaker was right and that everyone did know her name. She settled for giving Cass a slightly shy smile, at which he gave her a smirk and a wink, before calling out to Seth. Seth yelled back to give him a minute as he was just in his boxers, and he'd be right out. Steph called that it was fine, and she let Cass shut the door.
"Do you always do that?" Steph asked, as the door finished closing.
"Do..uh…do what?" Vicky asked confused.
"That little shy smile at Cass." Steph asked with a little grin of her own. "Do you like him…or…?"
"Oh! No, no I just don't know a lot of the superstars very well, that's all. Y'know, I know them by name, but I tend to keep myself to myself," Vicky replied, feeling rather embarrassed and like she was digging a hole.
"I'm teasing you, Vicky. It's ok, I know you've never really chatted much to the guys, you've never really needed to I guess. We'll fix that, you won't be that shy around them before long."
"You aren't going to shove me in the locker room, are you?" Vicky asked, suddenly alarmed, and took a step or two back from the door area. Steph laughed even more.
"No, not yet I'm not. You might die of embarrassment at the sight of Enzo in the nude." She replied as the door opened. "Ah, Seth, there you are. Seth, this is Vicky. Your victim for the night." Seth looked at Vicky and smiled at her, offering a hand which she accepted, and he shook warmly.
"My victim for the night huh? Hope I'm not hitting that pretty face."
"Really Rollins? Can't one of you three go five minutes without hitting on anyone?" Steph asked as Vicky blushed, making both Steph and Seth laugh.
"Well, Roman's not here yet, someone has to fill in. And Ambrose is in the shower so…that leaves me." He added with a shrug and a smile. "So, what am I doing?"
Enjoying it so far? Let me know! Leave a review! thanks xxx Zelks xxx