I DO NOT OWN ANYONE OR ANYTHING IN THIS STORY BESIDES THE OC'S.
Lindsey's Point of View-
As days passed, it slowly arrived to Friday and the day that Dustin was flying Cody and I with him to travel with WWE for a few days. I was nervous, excited and anxious about how things were going to go this weekend, we were going to start training hopefully this weekend so that made things even worse when it came to my feelings. School went by, the day was me staring at the clock watching as the hands moved slowly around the circle that told the time until the time reached the time the school was let out and I hurriedly went to my locker then beat feet out to the front of the school seeing Dustin sitting in his car waiting for Cody and I as I slid into the backseat.
"How was school?" Dustin asked.
"It went by so slow." I said as he chuckled as Cody finally climbed in.
"How'd you get here before me?" Cody asked.
"Don't ask how…" I said as Cody rolled his eyes as he buckled up as I buckled up as well as Dustin pulled off as I pulled out things from my backpack working on homework as Dustin drove us to the airport. I got out and went to the trunk grabbing the suitcase Dustin had bought me to use that was filled with stuff that was needed this weekend as I followed the men into the airport, I had never flown nor been in an airport so I was lost so I followed their lead as we walked through the line and put our bags over the counter for them to weigh them and check them in as we went through security where we had to go through metal detectors and our bags went through the scanners and it greeted us on the other side of the metal detectors. I pulled my backpack onto my back as I followed Dustin to the terminal where I slid into a seat next to Cody.
"I'm going to go get us each a snack…" Dustin said as we all nodded as I looked out the ceiling to floor windows at the runway and planes that were outside.
"Have you ever flown before?" Cody asked pulling my attention away.
"No, kind of nervous…" I said shrugging as he nodded.
"Nothing to be nervous about…" Cody said as I nodded, "If you get scared, you can always hold onto me." Cody said.
"Ew, no." I said disgusted as Cody chuckled. "How is everyone backstage? You grew up with these people, you know." I said as Cody smiled.
"Nothing to worry about, they will love you and adopt you into their family."
"Their family?" I asked confused.
"Everyone backstage is like a big family, everyone travels together for close to 300 days a year so they spend a lot of time together and everyone knows everyone and when someone gets a new boyfriend or girlfriend, it spreads or when someone new comes into the company everyone flocks to them so you will probably be introduced to everyone." Cody said as I took in a deep breath scared about meeting any of the talent and was nervous what they will think or say. "There is nothing to be worried or scared of, Dustin pretty much already told everyone you were coming and they understand what happened, they are excited to meet you." Cody continued to say
"How do you know this?" I asked.
"I told him last night after you went to your room to work on your comic." Dustin said as he sat down opening the black plastic bag pulling out a soda bottle sticking it out toward Cody and Cody grabbed it from him.
"How lovely." I said as he handed me a drink, "You told people about me? Like everything?"
"I told them only what they need to know." Dustin said as I nodded as I nervously opened my drink as he handed me the snack he bought me as I ate at it as we waited the length to our flight as we headed through the line and onto the plane. "Let Lindsey sit on the window seat." Dustin said.
"No, I don't want to look out the window. Let me be in the middle." I said as Dustin nodded as Cody slid in to get the window seat as I slid in and sat in the middle seat buckling up and tugging at it to make sure it was tight as I tapped my fingers against my knee and shook my knee nervously as Dustin reached over resting his hand on top of mine and stopping my knee.
"You will be fine." Dustin said as I nodded as I leant my head back against the head rest as the plane was filling up before the plane was to take off and when it did, I grasped at the arm rest until we were leveled out and I relaxed some more when we got into the air. I pulled out my homework and began to work on my homework so I didn't have to worry about doing it throughout this weekend since I wanted to enjoy this weekend to the max because this was my all time dream coming true. I am finally being able to go to my first WWE event, I am finally going to be able to meet a WWE superstar that isn't Dustin, and I will be able to be backstage at en event. We landed at the city that we were supposed to be in, we got off the plane and headed to the baggage claim where we claimed our suitcases and Dustin had to rent a car. As Cody and I waited aside waiting for Dustin, I saw a few stars walking through and I would try so hard not to grab Cody and go 'oh my god, that is so and so' whenever I saw them. Dustin came back with keys to our car for the weekend as he led us to it as we settled in, I was just soaking all of this in and trying to remember every single detail to tell Angelina and write into my journal, maybe I'll turn this whole thing into a book. We arrived to the arena and I was all confused as Dustin was talking to the security guard as to why we were at the arena, I thought we would go to a hotel and I wasn't ready for this.
"Why are we here? What about the hotel?" I asked nervously as I grabbed the handle of the door.
"I have to be here by a certain time or else I'll be late, we'll check in after the show." Dustin said as I nodded as I was trying to swallow the nerves feeling the butterflies in my stomach already but yet excitement that I would be getting into the ring and meeting other stars would be nice. I climbed out when the car was parked and I didn't want to grab my whole suitcase so I went to the trunk opening my bag only grabbing the stuff that was needed for the training shoving it into my backpack. "Do you have the spare lock?" Dustin asked.
"Yeah." I said nodding as I tightened the grip on my bag as I stared at Dustin as he slammed the trunk shut as I followed behind the two men as they were each saying hi to people, I stood there awkwardly staring at each person until I was introduced or stared at them in awe because I was idolizing them from being a fan until I was introduced. I wanted to ask for autographs or pictures but didn't want to blow this for anyone as we arrived to a door that had a sheet of paper on it that read female talent. "That is for you Lindsey, meet you at the ring in twenty minutes…could you find your way to the ring?" Dustin asked.
"Um…" I asked nervously as I looked around as I played with the straps of my bags, "There are signs posted for it right?" I asked pointing to the sign that was posted across the hall.
"Yeah, just follow the signs to the ring." Dustin said as I nodded as he gave me a hug, "If you get lost or anything call me or Cody."
"Don't call me." Cody said.
"You'll be the first one I'll call." I shot back at Cody as he chuckled as Dustin smiled.
"Come on Cody." Dustin said as I smiled as I watched the two of them walk down the hall. I pushed the locker room door open as I slowly slid my head in looking over the locker room not seeing anyone in there as I slid in and walked into the room finding the bathroom portion where I claimed a stall changing into the spaghetti strap, sports bra, and basket ball shorts before I walked out to the sink where I lifted my feet up pulling my knee pads up my legs to my knees then I leant back against the sink as I pulled on the wrestling training boots that Dustin had invested in for me lacing them up and tied them as I walked out to the main locker room sliding my bag into a locker and put a lock on it before I slid out of the locker room before I could run into any of the female talent knowing that I would freak and fangirl out over seeing any of them. I followed the arrows on the signs to where the ring was as I saw a couple people in the ring, no one I had recognized so I stood aside around the ring where the crew would be during production kneeling down watching the people in the ring work.
"Hey there princess, what is a young lady like yourself doing down here?" I heard a recognizable voice say, I looked up seeing Ted Dibiase Sr. leaning against the railing.
"I…um…I, well…I'm Lindsey, I'm waiting for….uh….Dustin." I said nervously as I swallowed a nervous ball that was in my throat.
"Aw, you are Lindsey, it's nice to meet you Miss Lindsey and Dustin is going to train you as well as his brother?" Ted asked as I nodded, "Well, you are a pretty little lady and I can see you making it far if you dedicate yourself. Have you ever trained?" Ted asked as I shook my head no. "Well, my son is training in the ring right now and the other fellow is Bob Orton's son…future generations upcoming…your parents never wrestled?" He asked.
"No…" I said shaking my head no and looked down at the mat I was kneeling on.
"Nothing to be ashamed of, but you are in the wrestling family now and God had a reason for you to be here." Ted said as I nodded.
"Hey Mr. DiBiase, how's it going?" Cody asked as he approached us from behind where Ted stood giving him a hug as I stood up and saw Dustin follow suit.
"It's going good, was just chatting up Lindsey…she's a sweet girl." Ted said as I blushed.
"Yeah she is, we'll see how her wrestling goes." Dustin said.
"I'm sure she will do just fine." Ted said giving me a reassuring wink, "Boys, let these two have some ring time…we'll practice more tomorrow." Ted yelled into the ring seeing the two guys in the ring get out, one looked somewhat like Ted Sr. in which I assumed was his son and he looked to be Cody's age, the other must have been Bob Orton's son and he looked to be a couple years older.
"Alright, Cody get in there and show her the warm-ups…" Dustin said as I was nervous as I got to my feet and walked closer to the ring, I leant against the apron as I watched as Cody jumped onto the apron and climbed into the squared circle watching him do the warm-up that they do trying to make note what was expected of me and just seeing the front rolls and back rolls and other rolls he was doing along with the two different bumps he had done had me scared to attempt this. "You ready to give it a try?" Dustin asked.
"Uh…I don't know…" I said nervously as I didn't want to back out but I wasn't sure if I could do this. "Why don't you work with Cody and after you guys get done, then you could work with me? I don't want to hold Cody back." I said.
"You won't hold me back…" Cody said as he leant against the top rope.
"Yeah, you aren't backing out now are you?" Dustin asked as I shook my head no, "Then get in there." Dustin said as I nodded as I climbed onto the apron and slowly got to my feet staring at Cody who stepped on the bottom rope and pulled the middle rope up for me as I stepped between the ropes and slid through them and stood to my full height as I ran a hand through my hair as I nervously looked to Cody then to Dustin.
"Have you ever done a roll?" Cody asked.
"No, what if I face plant?" I asked.
"If you do, I'll laugh…" Cody said as I gave him a dead serious glare as he chuckled, "That is the absolute worse thing that could happen, but hey nothing worse than that could happen…"
"Alright…" I said nodding as I walked to the corner and Cody stood beside me as I looked ahead then over to Dustin.
"Hands into fists, that is rule number one in wrestling is to have your hands in fist if and when possible, that way it'll lower the risks of someone stepping on your fingers." Cody said as I nodded as I clenched my hands into fists, "Put your hands above your head, the other foot in front of the other and just rock a little and a count of three just go for it…your body follows where your head goes…don't focus too much on getting to your feet right away, just get the roll down." Cody said.
"I'm supposed to get to my feet from a roll?"
"Yeah." Cody said as I looked back ahead of me, "On the count of three, just go for it." Cody said as I nodded as I heard him count to three lightly as I pushed myself off hoping that I made it over and my eyes clenched shut expecting my face hit the mat but when I had opened my eyes I sat on the mat facing the same turnbuckle I was looking at before I had closed my eyes and my legs bent with the feet planted on the ground as I looked over to Dustin smiling as I looked back over my shoulder at Cody who smiled. "Told you that you wouldn't face plant." Cody said as I nodded as I got to my feet as I smiled as I was happy that I was actually able to do that one and built my confidence to be able to do the other rolls, Cody walked me through the back rolls and through the different quarter rolls.
"Now, in order to learn a bump, first lay down." Dustin said as I sat down and laid down and Cody sat beside me confused but he smiled as Dustin instructed me on the bump practice before to know what to do when you take the bump which was just throwing myself back against the mat and thrusting up, it was like the opposite of a sit up. After I had done twenty of those, Dustin rolled into the ring with us. "Now that you have done that, you ready for the bump?" Dustin asked as I bit at my bottom lip.
"I…I think so." I said nodding.
"Most important thing is to tuck your neck…do you want to do it by yourself or do you want assistance?" Dustin asked.
"Assistance?" I asked confused.
"I could push you over Cody." Dustin said as Cody smiled.
"How?" I asked.
"Cody could be on his hands and knees behind you and I could push you causing you to trip over him." Dustin explained.
"I'll go for it myself." I said as Dustin and Cody nodded as I stood middle of the ring looking at the two men that were watching me as I let out breaths before I closed my eyes and threw myself back against the mat. My eyes were clenched shut more than when I did the front roll hoping that I was remembering to tuck my head in and hoped that this wasn't too painful when I hit the mat. I felt myself hit the mat, taking the bump that I was supposed to take, I opened my eyes and I looked up looking over at Dustin and Cody that were looking down at me. "How was that?" I asked curiously as I sat up beginning to get up.
"Good, do it again….give me ten of those…and Cody, teach her how to get up from a bump correctly." Dustin said as he climbed out letting Cody show me the proper way to get up after a bump along with explaining the reason behind why it had to be done that certain way along with learning how to take a bump from a knee position which was harder than taking the first bump. I had fallen what seemed like over hundred times trying to get the whole thing down pact and right, receiving clotheslines from Cody to learn how to fall on cue of sorts. "Out, let the pro's practice." Dustin said as we rolled out of the ring as I grabbed the bottle of water I had chugging it down as I felt sweat on my body as I wiped at my forehead. "Go wash up, I want to go introduce you to a few people so come find me when you are done." Dustin said as I nodded as I stood up from the squatting position heading to the back where I went into the locker room where I tried to stay out of the way of the women that were in there because I didn't want to be kicked out of the locker room and these people were legends to me so I was afraid to even be in their presence. I grabbed my duffel bag and backpack that I had brought with me as I texted Dustin to see where he was as I pushed of strand behind my ear that was missed out of my ponytail as I hung tightly onto the strap on my bag as I was trying not to make eye contact with the talent cause I didn't know anyone opposed to Cody. I felt my phone vibrate as I stopped and looked at the text that Dustin wrote saying he was in catering and I headed there knowing I could go for more water. I walked into catering seeing Dustin with a few people that I didn't recognize so I knew that they probably weren't talent so I approached after I picked up another bottle of water.
"Hi." I said sheepishly as Dustin smirked.
"Anna, Francis, and Matthew, this is Lindsey. She is the girl that is great at drawing and she is working on a current comic book. Show them your drawings." Dustin said as I nervously set my duffel down and pulled my backpack open and pulled out the drawings and the comic as they looked it over seeing them nod.
"We like your work…how old are you?" Matthew asked.
"I'm 16, almost 17." I said honestly.
"Well since we can't hire you and you can't do an internship, well you could for high school credit if the high school allows it." Anna said.
"You want to hire me?" I asked shocked.
"Yeah, you can work on the comic strips at the end of our magazines and you can doodle designs for shirts if you want…I'm sure there will be more we can give you if you think you can handle it." Francis said as he looked up at me as I smiled and nodded.
"I want to do it." I said.
"Wait a minute, do I have a say?" Dustin asked.
"May I Dustin?" I asked looking to Dustin in an beg and hoping that he will say yes.
"You can do it, ONLY if you promise to keep grades up and I mean, better than Cody's and that shouldn't be hard." Dustin said as I nodded.
"I can do that." I said as Dustin agreed as I jumped up and down in excitement before I gave Dustin a big hug as I hugged the three others in excitement.