CHAPTER TWO: SNAKESPLITTER



Monday finally rolled around. Eve had barely ventured from the hotel all weekend, spending most of her time outside her room in the weight room or the pool. Once or twice, she'd dined in the restaurant and Sunday - to avoid a few wrestlers she'd seen headed to the weight room, Eve had taken a walk on the hotel grounds.

But as bad as waiting for the end of the weekend to arrive had been, it had nothing on the last several hours on Monday, waiting for the time when she could finally leave for the arena.

Linda's personal driver picked her up at the hotel and dropped her off at the employees's entrance, where Mick Foley was waiting to hustle her off to her own dressing room, which didn't have a name on the door. Linda really wanted to keep her a secret until the last possible moment.

Eve changed into her outfit and soon after, Linda came in with a hair stylist and make-up artist. A necessary thing. Besides, the women knew when not to gossip about something. It could cost them the jobs they enjoyed so much, especially working with some of the men. Linda watched them go about their work, waiting until after they had left to begin outlining how Eve's presentation at ringside would go.

This was something they'd discussed at their last meeting and now Linda was just finalizing the plans. Linda would walk down to ringside alone, as the cameras would be on her from the moment she left her office until after Eve had made her own way down to ringside. Mick Foley would make sure that Eve didn't get lost somewhere between her dressing room and the ring.

Eve received a few curious stares from other wrestlers hanging about in the halls when she finally emerged and began her walk with Foley. Goth types seemed to attract that kind of attention.

Eve felt a little in awe of it all, being in the presence of these stars. She toughened her spine a little when she remembered that she was now a member of their ranks and, with luck, would soon be as popular as they.

Eve and Foley met up with Linda, who stood waiting with a backstage coordinator, at the wrestlers's entrance to the arena. Sounds of a match and a large cheering crowd came from just beyond the barrier.

"The Dudleys/Hardys match?" Foley asked Linda.

Linda turned to reply. "Yes-"

DING! DING! DING!

"Well, it was," Linda said over the roaring crowd.

"The winners of this tag team match, the Hardy Boys!"

Eve began to take deep, even breaths. It was almost time for her to walk out there and display herself before thousands of people, possibly millions, when one considered the television viewers. It was a much larger audience then she'd ever had.

D-Von and Bubba Ray Dudley walked past them first, looking a bit disgusted with themselves for losing. Each spared her a quick glance but didn't bother to stop, exchanging nods with Linda and Foley.

Matt and Jeff Hardy, accompanied by Lita, followed a short time later, after taking time to bask in the applause of their fans. Lita and Matt came in first, walking side by side. They stopped when they say Eve, clearly curious. Jeff, following several feet behind, ploughed right into his older brother's back. He'd been so stunned by the sight of Eve that the rest of his brain had temporarily shut down.

"Easy, bro," Matt said as he gripped his brother's arm to steady them both.

Eve struggled not to smile while at the same time Linda came forward to introduce her to them. She shook their hands, Jeff's being the last, feeling lightning fly between them before slowly releasing him from their touch.

Matt and Lita shared a brief knowing look. The heat coming off those two was quite obvious. Could this be love at first sight?

"Cue Linda's music," the coordinator said into his headset. Seconds later Linda's theme music began to play. "Well, see you in a few minutes, Eve."

Eve turned to Linda and nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak. She didn't know why she was being affected this way. It wasn't because Jeff was famous, otherwise Matt should have affected her in the same way. No, there way something about Jeff, something between him and her that she couldn't allow to grow, not if she was going to make it on her own as she had promised herself that she would.

"C'mon, bro," Matt said to Jeff. "Lets get back to the dressing room."

"'Kay." Jeff followed Matt and Lita slowly, looking over his shoulder a few times at Eve. When he turned the corner he began to run, quickly passing Matt and Lita. He wanted to get to the dressing room and, more importantly, the television. He wanted to catch Eve's walk down to the ring.

Lita, watching Jeff dash by, couldn't help smiling. "Wanna play matchmaker?" She turned to Matt and saw that he was smiling, too.

"Lets wait a while and see how things go, first." Matt laughed and kissed away the pout on Lita's face that his words had caused.

"I just want your brother to be happy. He's been looking so lonely lately, especially when he sees how happy we are-"

"I love you, babe," Matt cut in. "I love you even more, that you're concerned about Jeff, but we only just met this woman. I think that we should get to know more about her before we try and fix them up together. Besides, goth-type chicks are kinda weird."

Lita punched Matt's shoulder. "Oww!" he yelped, rubbing the now-tender area.

"Serves you right. You of all people should know not to judge others by their looks." Lita kissed Matt to take the sting out of her words.


Eve one half-listened to Linda's speech, mentally going over the steps to her dance. If she messed up, a lot more people would see it.

"Nervous?" Foley asked.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well, the pacing kinda gave it away."

Eve stopped in her tracks and looked at her feet, pursing her lips as she did so. She hadn't realized that she'd been pacing.

"Just relax. You wouldn't be here if Linda and I didn't think you had the talent to make it."

There was no time left to reply then, as the coordinator approached Eve. "You're up."

*I'm up? I think I'm going to throw up!* Eve thought as she turned around and started toward the barrier. Her theme music began playing and she continued past the curtain. Going to the centre of the platform, she began her performance to the enthusiastic roar of the crowd. Such a reception was quite an ego boost.

Eve finished her short dance with no mistakes and started her walk down the ramp, soon joining Linda in the ring. Linda raised the microphone to her lips and was about to speak when another theme song began playing - her husband's.

Vince McMahon and his mistress, Trish Stratus, appeared on the platform.

*I have a bad feeling about this,* Eve thought, warily watching the pair. She moved a step closer to Linda.


Wrestlers backstage - besides the Hardys and Lita - watched tensely on the personal TV sets in their dressing rooms as Vince and Trish got into the ring. Vince went to the ropes and motioned for someone to bring him a microphone. He started bad-mouthing Linda and demanding to know just where she got off hiring a new wrestler without consulting him first. Insults between the two McMahons started flying while the two young women just eyed each other, staring daggers.


"Tell you what, Vince. If you're so certain I made a wrong choice in hiring Eve, why not have a match right now between her and your," Linda paused and shot a disgusted look at Trish. "Well, to borrow a few words from Y2J, your 'bottom-feeding trashbag ho'."

Trish, enraged by Linda's insult, charged her. Eve stepped in between them and braced herself. When Trish's body contacted with hers, she shoved the blonde hard.

Trish fell to the mat with a surprised look on her face. Vince leaned over to help her up and, boy, oh boy, was Eve ever tempted to kick the man in his behind.

When Trish was vertical again, Vince turned to Linda and said, "Linda, you've got it."

The McMahons left the ring and a referee appeared. Eve removed her jacket, keeping her eyes on Trish all the while. Adrenaline began to rush through her veins and she began to forget the crowd around her. The fight trance was upon her - a state in which nothing outside her opponent and the ring existed. The trance had served her well over the years - barring sneak attacks, of course - allowing her to block out annoying distractions.

Eve and Trish went at it for a few minutes, trading blows and moves. Trish pinned Eve three times, the first getting only a one count while the other two pins made it to the second count. When Eve got up from the last pin, she grabbed Trish's arm and whipped her into the ropes. Trish rebounded and headed back at Eve, preparing to clothesline her. With lightning speed and perfect timing, Eve dropped into a perfect splits, wrapped her arms around the backs of Trish's knees, and yanked her off her feet. Keeping her grip on Trish's legs firm, Eve brought her legs together, locked her feet over Trish's midsection, and flipped them both over. With her heels now digging into Trish's stomach, Eve used her upper body muscles to push herself off the floor and then reared back until she was kneeling.

Eve couldn't say for certain how long she held the move - seconds or minutes - before she felt the referee tap her shoulder. She released Trish's legs and stood straight, turning to see Trish crawl her way to the ropes and Vince. The referee grabbed Eve's wrist and held her arm high.

"The winner of this singles match, Eve!"

Linda joined Eve in the ring, bringing a microphone with her. "Well, Vince, still think I made a mistake?"


The roar of the crowd as they laughed at Trish and Vince's humiliation was deafening. All in all, it had been a pretty good start to Eve's new job.

Eve and Linda went back to her dressing room, where Linda had started gushing over Eve's victory and laughing when she thought of the look on Vince's face as Eve had made Trish tap out. "What do you call that move, anyway?" Linda asked, stopping the veritable waterfall of words to allow Eve to reply.

"I call it the Snakesplitter."