Divas Prison. Ch4

Paige had managed to get some sleep for the first time in what felt like forever. Being able to make a connection with her cell mate had been such a relief that her body had allowed her to let go. Last night was her first night in state prison of a ten year sentence for armed robbery. She had been terrified but her cell mate, Becky, had been friendly. Like her, she was inside due to making a bad decision that had cost her. They had bonded a little but hadn't got to know each other properly yet.

The sleep was ended with a loud buzzer and the lights suddenly turning on. There was no windows in the cell block so the lights coming on bright so suddenly would have woken anyone, but the buzzer was terrible.

Paige went to the sink to throw some water on her face. "Did you sleep?" Becky sat up and asked. Paige was a little startled, this was the first time she had woken up with someone else in the cell with her. "A little, more than recent nights. Thanks for talking to me yesterday, I was really scared to meet you, or whoever I was going to be in with."

"It's no problem, we are going to be in here together for some time to come. You seem like a sweet kid, and I'm as easy going as you can be in this place, but they're not all like that." Paige wasn't surprised to hear that, there were bound to be a lot of people on the block that needed to be avoided as much as possible. She had a look out the small window and the door but couldn't see anything much, just a couple of guards walking about. "So what happens now?" She asked Becky. "Well lights have been on a while now, should be letting us out into the middle soon so we can get some breakfast, don't know about you, but I'm starved." Paige did feel hungry, but still wasn't sure if she'd be able to eat anything.

Then that same buzzer she heard yesterday and the door made a noise. "Let's go." Said Becky as she pushed on the door and Paige followed, trying to stay close to Becky for now. All the other inmates were coming out of their cells at the same time. Most were making their way over to an area which had been set up to serve all them food from one point. Becky and Paige got in the line and waited for their turn.

When they got there, Becky and the girl serving exchanged greetings, seeming friendly with each other too. "Sorry, I should introduce, this is Paige, got locked up with me yesterday, Paige, this is Emma, she's the only thing that makes the food in here tolerable."

"Hey! Don't make me out to be some kind of cooking whizz, that's not fair on the new girl, she hasn't had my food yet, plus I don't exactly have the best stuff to work with." Emma said back, she wanted to throw some food at Becky but the glare from the guard quickly changed her mind.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Maybe I'll see you around." Paige said as she took her tray, followed Becky to a table and sat down. In all fairness to Emma, the food was better than anything she was served in jail before she arrived here. Nothing as good as before that, but at least this was edible. While eating, Paige took the chance to have a better look at the cell block, there really wasn't a chance to do so on her way in and the cell door window was to small to see much. Other than all the numbered doors of the other cells, there was a shower area that left very little room for modesty, there was no door and a waist high wall but enough room that several people could use it at once. This was no surprise, she knew it was likely she'd have to get used to showering with other women.

There was no windows to the outside in the block, just adding the the feeling of imprisonment that was taking over. There was a door marked 'Yard' which had no window but gave that small feeling of hope that Paige felt she needed to keep going, she hadn't had any time outdoors since being arrested except for getting on and off the bus to prison. It was good to have something to look forward to.

That almost daydream that was going on in her head was suddenly interrupted by sudden screaming and shouting. She looked across to see that two of the other inmates had started fighting. They were yelling all kinds of abuse at each other, grabbing each other's hair and throwing fists as much as they could. "Oh no, here we go again" Becky said as she put her head in her hands in what's seemed like frustration and annoyance all at once, she didn't even turn to look at the fight but Paige couldn't take her eyes off of it. She also noticed that the guards weren't rushing in to stop it. She expected them to be piling in to break it up by any means necessary but nothing happened, at least not until the two women took each other to the floor, the guards then pulled them apart and put both women in handcuffs. The head guard Sting, as he was apparently known to them, walked in right after and looked at them both. "Again? Why can't you all just get along? You're both going to the lock for 48 hours, I hope you're pleased with yourselves." He then shouted "and lockdown this whole block for the morning!"

"I knew it, that selfish pair of bitches, come on, we've got to go back to our cell." Becky said in disgust as the guards carried out the order from their boss. Paige looked around but found herself being pushed towards the cells by a guard so she picked up her pace and followed Becky back inside, the door was then slammed shut behind them.

"So what was that about and why are we locked up again so soon?" It all had happened so fast Paige's head was spinning and she felt annoyed to be back in her cell again so quickly.

"It happens every time. When any fight breaks out they call for lockdown and we all have to stay in our cells for as long as they want us to." It's to try and stop the fights but it's been going on for as long as I've been here so it's not going to change." Paige now understood Becky's reaction to the fight, she knew what was coming. A lot of the others were banging on their doors and calling to be let out. There was a huge amount of noise but Becky seemed oblivious to it. "Everyone seems pretty angry over it." Paige said, trying to learn more about the life she had recently arrived into.

"Of course they are, after breakfast is meant to be our time to do our things, classes, work, whatever. Now that's gone thanks to them and all we get to do is stare at the same walls again." Becky was clearly getting more and more annoyed so Paige decided to stop pushing the issue for now, the last thing she wanted was to have her cell mate angry at her when they were locked in together. "Ok" she said quietly. She fixed her bunk up and laid down for a while. Becky realised what she had done and although still quite angry, didn't want to take it out on her new cell mate either. I'm sorry, it's times like this when being in here gets to me, getting locked down over someone else's stupidity." The banging and calling out continued. "And you're right, nobody's happy about it. They may be in for it when they come back from the lock. I just hope if that happens it won't be done right in the guards faces or we just end up in lockdown again." Becky got a book from her belongings under the bunks and started to read. Paige made a mental note to get hold of one for herself as it sounded like being on lockdown may be a regular thing but for now she had nothing so tried to get some rest as the banging and shouting slowly declined as they all eventually gave up.

Just as had been said, the doors opened again as the guards sent them all for lunch. This was even more of a case of deja vu for Paige as she got her food from Emma, who was the only one allowed out during lockdown so she could do her job to help get all the food ready, and sat down at a table with Becky to eat. A bit more work clearly went into food here, or maybe Becky was right about Emma.

As Paige was eating, their table was approached by a tall woman with sort of curly hair. Paige assumed that this was another friend of Becky's coming to talk to her so she focuses on her tray, but soon realised that the woman was staring at her but didn't return the stare she was getting. "Hey new girl!" Now she looked up. "The Boss wants your dessert, hand it over." Of course Paige had no idea what was going on, except that the woman wanted to take the cupcake she was given. She wasn't sure what to do, but Becky spoke up before she could decide. "Get the hell out of here Naomi, leave her alone and let your buddy make do with what she's given.x" Naomi, as apparently she was known, looked towards her table before turning back and getting more aggressive but not letting guards see it. "So you need her to speak for you do you girl? Trust me, you don't want to upset The Boss. Just hand it over and there won't be a problem." Paige didn't want to start making enemies already but at the same time if she showed weakness to the other women, it could make life even worse for herself. Becky spoke up again. "It's not happening, now do you really want to cause an problem and get us all locked down again, but not before I do more damage than last time. Or, you can go sit down." Knowing Becky had her back gave her the confidence to stand up for herself. "I'm not giving this up." She said, taking a bite of the cake. Naomi looked back again and got some kind signal from her table as she backed off. "Bad decision newbie, you'll regret this, your girlfriend won't always be around to fight your battles." She said as she went back to her table.

Paige finished her cupcake, which tasted all the better for what just happened, and turned to Becky "I was starting to think you were friendly with everyone, I guess I was wrong, but thanks for sticking up for me."

"Like i said, we're locked up together so it's good we watch each others backs. We all need friends, especially in here, but I'll never be friends with that group."

"So who are they? Who's this Boss she was talking about and why did she want my dessert?

Becky had a look of disgust as she talked. "They're nothing but a bunch of bullies. The Boss, as she wants to be known, is called Sasha Banks, she's not the boss of anything round here, but she wants to be. She's got a couple of girls believing she's going to run things around this block but there's no way that's happening while Lita's around."

This was another name Paige hadn't heard yet but it sounded like she should. "Who's Lita?"

"Lita is the top dog in this block. She's been here a long time and she'll be here longer than you or I. She's well connected in here and outside, you don't want to cross her. She's over on the big table there." Becky pointed her out. Lita had bright red hair and tattoos. She sat with three others, two of them were big and muscular. "It might be good if you try and meet her when we get out in the yard after lunch, show her respect." Paige was no position to question Becky right now so decided to follow her advice.

When they first got out into the yard, Paige took a moment to look to the sky and just enjoy being outside for the first time in days. That wasn't an easy thing to do as all the fences, razor wire and towers everywhere were constant reminders of where she was. The area they were in was fairly big, enough room to walk around without getting in others way. There were table and benches around the outside and phones in one corner. "So where will I find Lita?" She asked Becky. "She's normally at the corner table, it's the most secluded spot so she can talk away from prying eyes and ears. Paige started to move in that direction but stopped when she realised Becky was walking in the other direction. "You're not coming?" She asked. "Oh no, you're on your own for this. Anyway, I've got to make a call, we've got to have a little space from each other when we share a cell you know. Just remember to be respectful. I'll see you later." Becky gave Paige a pat on the shoulder and headed off to the phones. Paige began to walk towards the far corner table. She could see four people, the same four that were eating together at lunch. The blonde was the first to spot her approaching. She bent over towards Lita and the redhead then looked up at Paige. Immediately the two bigger women got up and as Paige got close to the table she found that the two were blocking the way. "There something we can help you with?" One of them said in a manner that was making Paige feel intimidated. She found herself talking into her chest. "H...hello, I'm Paige, I'm new here. I was told that Lita was an important person here and that I should come and show respect." We was almost quoting Becky but it seemed to be enough for the two women to look back towards Lita, but she gave a wave of her hand away from her as to say 'get rid of her'. "That's smart, but you don't just walk up to Lita like she's anybody. That's why she's got Chyna and I to stop you and anyone else. My names Victoria and if you ask, you find out that nobody messes with us. Now get out of here." Paige didn't wait to be told twice and walked away, getting a quick chance to talk to Emma before they were ordered back into the cell block, and after dinner, back to their cells. Becky hadn't asked before but it was the first question after the cell doors finished banging. "So, how did it go with Lita?"

"It didn't. Her two guards got in my way. I used your line about showing respect but they waved me away without a word."

"Hmm, usually she likes being made to feel important like that but you tried. It might not be worth pushing it for now. Her 'guards' as you called them, Victoria and Chyna, are tough as nails. They'll do whatever she says."

"I think you're right." Paige said, "I've already upset one person, maybe that's enough for one day."

That day didn't last much longer, as the lights went out, Paige laid on her bunk and went to sleep.

A/N: so we've met a few of the others on the block, Paige hasn't been making many friends. Next time there will be more firsts as her introduction to prison life continues and we will find out more about Paige herself.

If anyone has a particular diva from any era they'd like to see included in the story, please let me know by review or message.

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