Chapter Four – Maria

Maria was seated in front of her vanity table, staring at her reflection in the mirror, her face a vision of apathy mixed with dispair. She had just moved to Stamford a few months ago, and she was already depressed with the fact that she didn't have a man by her side. She was friends with Lita and Candice, and she had her eye on John Cena, but nothing was coming to fruition with that.

She was debating on whether or not she wanted to go to Torrie's party tonight. Candice was insistent she go, but Lita didn't seem all that interested.

Her last period had been a study block, so she came home early. Anything to get out of that school, where idiots like Edge ran the hallways. The other day, he had filled Eugene's locker with worms and dead leaves. It smelled like a rotting corpse in Eugene's locker and when he opened it and it ruined all of his books, Edge just laughed at him and mimicked him. She shuddered; Edge was a total jerk, and from what she heard, she didn't feel all that confident about Randy Orton either.

But John Cena seemed different than that. He was funny, he was loud, he did everything big. And it was something about him that she absolutely admired. She loved sitting in her geometry class, staring at him out the window as he played football. If only he knew that she was totally in love with him. The last time she had this feeling was when she was in the eighth grade, with a little twirp named Mikey. He was a cheerleader at her middle school.

The cordless phone on her vanity surface rang, taking her out of her moments of deep thought, and she answered it on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Maria, Candice."

"What's up?" she asked, staring at the mirror as she played with her hair, making funny faces into the mirror.

"I got Lita to come along to the party. We just need you. What do you say?"

"I don't know..." Maria was still hesitant.

"I got word that Cena himself will be there tonight."

"You serious?" she asked.

"Dead serious. Want me to swing by and grab you when I get Lita?"

"Yeah. What time are you getting Lita?"

"Seven." Maria looked at her clock. It was six forty-five.

"How about I meet you at Lita's at seven-ten?" Maria asked. "I still have to get ready."

"You do your thing, girl. See you then." Maria hung up the phone. Her heart felt lighter. She was going to a party and John Cena was going to be there!

She went to her closet and pulled out a black leather miniskirt and a lime green fishnet top. She quickly changed and put on black knee-high boots that zipped up. She looked at her honey colored hair and she tried to decide what she was going to do with it. After giving it a quick tease, she left it at that. She was staring at the clock the entire time that she was applying her makeup; after all, she had a short amount of time to get ready and get to Lita's.

"Maria..."

Maria straightened up and turned around, staring at the open window. "Candice, you here already?" she asked, moving towards the open window. She looked out the window to find nobody down below.

"Maria..." the voice was in her ear, then all went black.