"I've only been here 12 weeks and I'm in hell," Summer said as she paced the locker room once again. She was slowly beginning to fall apart because more rumours were spreading round about how she supposedly beat Torrie up backstage. She was covered in more bruises and instantly Summer got the blame.
Dawn wasn't helping either, stirring up more stuff between herself and Mark. None of it was true but he still tormented her in the corridors and embarrassed her in catering. Most wrestlers had turned against her now, because rumours were spread that she was a home wrecker and was about to destroy some marriages. It wasn't true but nobody believed her.
She still had her brothers, Hunter, Glen, Rey, Steve and Shawn but other than that, everybody pretty much hated her. The divas even got to Ashley, she was forming a budding relationship with another superstar but rumours were flying around saying that Summer wanted him too. Photos had been photo shopped of Summer together with the wrestler and Ashley went crazy.
"You bitch I thought the rumours weren't true!"
"They're not, Ashley you gotta believe me!"
"I can't anymore, how could you do this to me!"
"Ash I haven't done a thing wrong, I wouldn't do such a thing!"
"Whatever you little lying bitch! I should have believed Mark and Dawn all along, you're nothing Summer!"
"Ashley please"
"No I can't do this Summer, you're a lying bitch! The locker room was much better without you being here!"
"Ash"
"No I hate you, don't ever speak to me again!"
That conversation always ran through Summer's head, Ashley was her best friend who she thought would stay with her through thick and thin, but she folded at the first hurdle. Summer paced the room again trying not to cry, "Sis we're still here, we believe you" Jeff said watching his sister pace the room. He knew she'd been through a lot but she needed to focus. It was the debut match with both Jeff and Matt and everything needed to be perfect to get the fans to take to it.
"Jeff I can't focus"
"I know sis but you gotta try"
"How can I Jeff? We've been placed into a storyline from hell with 3 horrible people!" Again Summer was right, Vince had finally seen the commotion backstage with Summer and Mark and thought of a storyline for them all. It would be Summer, Matt and Jeff in a storyline with Mark, Glen and Dawn.
Glen hated the idea because he took a great dislike to Mark after being brainwashed by Dawn. But he didn't have a choice and had to play heel for a while. "Don't worry, our first match is a tag match with me and Matt with Glen and Mark, you're just at ringside" Jeff reassured Summer who still couldn't shake the nerves and anger off.
"It's no use Jeff, we've gotta practise it all now anyway"
"Well we could discuss you getting involved, maybe doing a couple moves on Mark"
"I like that, yeah I can show him I'm tough"
"See there you go" Summer smiled a little but the pain in her heart was too much. She'd lost some good friends through these past few weeks, and the one that hurt the most was Ashley. They were closer than closer and told each other everything, but now Ashley had more fuel for the divas to start new rumours. Summer only hoped that Ashley had enough decency to not sink to that level and tell her secrets.
"Sis you still with me? We gotta head to the ring now" Jeff said tugging at his sister's arm to get her to move.
"Okay, I just need to throw on some suitable pants to practise in and I'll meet you there" Jeff nodded then headed out the door fully focused for practise. Summer quickly threw on her pants and headed out the door, but regretted it when she heard familiar voices.
"Oh there she is" she turned to see Stacy, Ashley, Torrie and Dawn all linked arms smiling. Instantly she noticed that Torrie hadn't got one bruise on her body that was nearly completely exposed due to her skimpy outfit.
"Gee where are all your bruises gone?" Summer asked glaring at them all. Torrie looked panicked but Dawn said, "She has to cover them up because they're so bad"
"Hmm nice save, anyway I got somewhere to head to"
"Well don't start crying for your mommy when you do"
"Excuse me?" Summer said turning around putting her hands on her hips.
"Ashley told us, crying for mommy during your sleep and crying, aww big baby Summer" Summer glared at Ashley who tried to look innocent.
"How'd you know about that?"
"Duh I've shared hotel rooms with you" Ashley said then giggled with Stacy, "I think I saw a little teddy bear in your bag too, wow you really are a big pathetic baby in this business"
"Yeah take a hike sister!" then all 4 women pushed passed her to head to somewhere. Summer tried to remain calm, but it didn't help when she heard Mark's sinister evil laugh.
"Aww what's big baby gonna do? Cry like always?" then he walked past her to head to the arena. "See you out there big fat baby" he called and laughed again leaving Summer trying to fight away tears.
"What's taking her so long?" Matt asked worried as they waited for the arrival of Summer to listen to the practise match.
"Lets just do this damn thing," Mark said letting Dawn go who was smiling smugly as she got out of the ring to lean on the apron.
"Not without Summer" Jeff said sternly,
"She's probably hauled up eating cake or sumthin'"
"Mark just back off her!" Matt said making Mark smirk.
"Not a chance of that happening Matty, she needs to pay"
"Pay for what? She hasn't done a damn thing wrong!"
"Yeah whatever, look here she comes," Mark said watching Summer walk down the ramp.
"Probably covered in cake crumbs"
"Back off Mark" both Jeff and Matt snarled at Mark who again smirked. Summer got into the ring and tried to hide her puffy red eyes from the crying she did backstage. She'd tried to suck it up and ignore it, but inside Summer was crumbling down. Her whole life was crumbling down all around her thanks to Mark and Dawn. She was living in hell and couldn't escape it.
"Lets just get this damn thing over with" Summer said ignoring everybody's stares. She was pissed off working with Mark and wanted nothing more than to get this over with.
Summer was banging the mat loudly trying to get the fans to respond and clap with her to get Matt out of the headlock that he was currently in. he was slowly starting to fade but could feel the adrenaline rush when the crowds went crazy. "Come on Matt!" Summer shouted banging the mat harder ignoring Mark's glares. He'd been glaring at her all night, even when she'd made her entrance with Matt and Jeff.
The fans went crazy when she was announced as their sister and she was thrilled they'd taken to the idea. She thought they'd boo and think it was awful, but they'd taken to it and every fan was clapping along with her bangs on the mat.
Eventually Matt got out of the hold and started to beat down Glen once more, but got over powered and knocked to the ground again. The match was a good 20 minutes and it was almost finished. Dawn just had to distract the referee, which gave Summer the opportunity to hurricanrana Mark to get him ready for the finish.
So when Dawn got up onto the apron she knew she had to move quickly, Mark had been tagged in and threw both Hardyz over the top rope to the floor. So Summer was perched onto the top rope before Mark turned around as planned, then she jumped and landed on his shoulders. But Mark completely screwed everything up when he turned her around so her head was nestled between his legs; he was giving her a tombstone!
"Mark what are you doing!" she screamed but it was too late, he came down onto his knees but he'd slipped slightly making Summer go full on head first into the mat. Her neck took most of the weight and something didn't feel right at all. He lay her down but she felt the room spinning and she couldn't feel her fingers or toes.
"Oh crap don't panic don't panic" she said quietly to herself. But she sighed a sigh of relief when she eventually got some feeling back into her toes and fingers.
"Move!" Mark hissed to her but she couldn't. Her body felt like dead weight and her neck screamed out in pain. "Push Me," she whispered to Mark who shoved her so violently it cricked her neck again and she gasped in pain. She'd made it to the outside apron to hear Mark and Glen being announced as the winners. They'd totally screwed everything up, they weren't supposed to win this match and Mark certainly wasn't supposed to tombstone Summer.
"Summer you okay?" the referee asked as he saw how dazed and confused she looked.
"Yep I'm fine, no problems" she lied completely but she wasn't going to show weakness. She didn't feel right at all though, Mark slipped up doing the tombstone and now something wasn't right within Summer.
"I'm gonna help you up okay" the referee said gently helping Summer to sit up on the outside apron. The room was spinning for a while but she steadied herself and made her way up the ramp with the referee behind her. Matt and Jeff followed shortly after looking pissed off.
They got backstage and Jeff went crazy, "What the fuck was that!! They completely screwed up the damn match! And he tombstoned you! That wasn't scripted! Are you ok?"
"I'm fine Jeff don't worry" Summer said lying through her teeth, her neck was numb but she continued to stay strong and not show weakness.
"You sure you're ok Sums?" Matt asked noticing his sister looked slightly dazed.
"Really I'm fine"
"He didn't drop you hard did he?"
"Nope, my head was between his knees"
"I can't believe he did that though" Summer was about to respond but the angry screams and shouts from Vince got there first. "Dammit! What the hell just happened out there! Dammit Mark dammit!" Vince was red in the face and looked really pissed. "That wasn't scripted Mark, you don't tombstone people unless you have permission! You could have hurt her dammit!"
"Yeah but she's fine ain't she? Still standing"
Vince growled at Mark and said "Keep up this pathetic attitude and I'll cut your salary Mark! You're nothing but a selfish asshole!"
Mark took his shades off to glare at Vince who wasn't backing off. "The chick is fine, the match went well, I will get paid and you better get outta my face" then he took Dawn by the waist and led her back to the locker room.
Glen however stood there with Vince looking just as angry. "He's not getting paid dammit! No pay!"
"I still am though aren't I? That wasn't my plan" Glen said honestly.
"Yes Glen your salary will go untouched" Glen smiled a little but said "I don't know what's wrong with him Vince"
"Neither do I Glen" Vince sighed and then looked at Summer who still looked dazed.
"Summer sweetie you ok?"
"Yes Vince I'm fine"
"You sure? I didn't know he'd do that"
"Neither did I but he did"
"I'll have to review the footage to see if there's a way to see what made him get so angry to change the match plan, he's never done that before"
"Mark seems to be spiralling out of control," Glen said shaking his head.
"And treating me like crap seems to make him feel much better" Summer nearly snarled out.
"He will be punished for that, a good suspension will do him good"
"More than a suspension" Summer mumbled, getting more and more frustrated with the pains in her neck. But she had to hide it; she wasn't about to make people think she was weak.
"Right well lets all go our separate ways, if you'll excuse me" then Vince walked off down the corridor to head back to his office.
"Right lets head off back to shower and change"
"We going clubbing?" Jeff asked Matt excitedly.
"Yeah sure, Sums you coming?"
"No I want to rest and ice my neck"
"Something wrong?"
"No its just sometimes the force he hits you with can give you whiplash"
"I know sis it's a bitch, okay then we'll drop you off at the hotel and we'll see you later" they all nodded and then headed off back to the locker room to change and head out of the arena.
The only thing Summer could think about was lying down and going to sleep, hopefully the pains would go away, it's just whiplash right?
The next morning Summer was in agony with her neck, she'd gone to sleep the night before thinking that she could just sleep the pain off, but she was wrong. Her neck had got much worse and it was difficult to move from side to side.
"Crap I can't move," she said to herself as she lay in her bed looking up at the ceiling. Her neck felt like deadweight and her left arm had started seizing up effecting her movement.
"No need to panic though, I don't need to be up now anyway" she looked over at the clock and it read 10:00am. It was a Friday and they were only scheduled for an autograph session, then they needed to fly out to a house show in Florida. Summer tried to sit up but her neck screamed out in pain.
"Okay so that didn't work, maybe rolling" then she slowly rolled onto her side to then sit on the edge of the bed. The first attempt failed and she'd rolled onto her stomach, which hurt her arm. "Dammit what's wrong with me?" Summer said to herself trying not to get upset. She hadn't got anybody in the room to help her, even though Matt and Jeff were down the corridor. She instantly tried to grab her phone but her left arm was deadweight so it just knocked it onto the floor.
"Oh man its gonna be one of those days, and I can't even get up" Summer sighed to herself but not being one to quit, she rolled herself over and eventually managed to sit on the edge of the bed. She examined her left arm and saw that it was turning a shade of blue and her fingers were crooked and curling up.
"Huh… that's never happened before" Summer said to herself, then just shook it off and tried to get up off the bed. She could stand for a few seconds before sitting back down because the room was spinning around.
"Jeez did I drink in my sleep? I feel like I've got a hangover!" Summer attempted to get up again and this time managed to stand up straight without falling. "My bag had to be all the way over there didn't it" Summer frowned when she saw her suitcase and travel bag dumped in a chair across the room. So she carefully walked over to the chair to pick up her bag, but her limp arm couldn't take the weight and it fell to the floor.
"Oh man this isn't funny anymore" Summer whined to herself as she crouched down to pick the bag up. She stood back up and then picked out some clothes, which consisted of some jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt to relieve the pressure on her arm. It was seizing up so she had to keep it close to her now.
"So how the hell am I gonna get dressed now?" she said to herself as she tried to lift her night shirt over her head. "Ouch dammit! Okay that didn't work" she held her arm close to her again and cursed when there was a knock at her door.
"Sums, you okay?" it was Jeff. Relief spread through her because he'd be able to help her get dressed, but then she knew she'd be admitting to weakness and so she changed her mind.
"I'm fine Jeff"
"Can I come in?"
"Err yeah sure" then she slowly walked over to the door to unlock it and let Jeff in. Before he came in though Summer dropped her left arm and uncurled her fingers so they at least looked normal. "Morning Jeff" she said cheerfully as she stepped aside to let him in. Jeff smiled but continued to examine Summers neck.
"What?" she asked confused when he wouldn't stop staring.
"Your neck is still swollen, did you ice it last night?"
"No I fell asleep when I got into my room"
"What's happened in here?"
"How'd you mean?"
"Your bags are all over the floor" Summer looked and remembered that she'd dropped her bag but couldn't pick it up so she just fished some clothes out that were closest to her.
"Oh that, just me being clumsy" then she headed over to the bag and again tried to pick it up, but her arms were like deadweight.
"Summer are you sure you're ok?" Jeff asked after hearing his sister groan in pain when she picked the bag up.
"Yes Jeff I'm fine, don't worry"
"I keep getting a feeling that you're lying, you seem to be struggling a lot since Mark tombstoned you last night"
"Really I'm okay"
"It took you nearly half hour to get changed last night, normally it takes you 2 minutes to shower and change, then you're jumping around ready to head out clubbing, but last night you seemed different"
"I'm okay, probably just whiplash like you said, it'll pass in a couple days and I'll get some painkillers for it" Jeff looked at his sister questioningly before he nodded and said "Okay then, I'll be there to watch you buy the medicine because you need it by the looks of it, your neck doesn't look right"
"It'll pass don't worry"
"I'm just thankful you're not scheduled for matches for a couple weeks"
"Why aren't I?"
"Because Vince wants to play it so that it's just the men fighting against each other, but he's got plenty of ideas for you and Dawn though"
"Like what?"
"Just little skits around the ring, you'll be out cheering us on and you two just keep bitching and talking trash to each other"
"I can handle that" Jeff nodded and said "Okay well I'm gonna get ready and I'll meet you in the lobby for breakfast with Matt, then we can head to the autograph signing"
"Okay I'll meet you in a little while"
"Later sis" Jeff gave her one more questioning look before leaving the room to get ready. Summer closed the door and tried to hold the tears back, she hated lying to her brothers and her neck was aching so badly. It was getting difficult to move around so she was gonna head to the drug store to buy some heat pads and tablets to ease the pain.
"Pull yourself together Summer and think about how you're gonna get dressed to meet Matt and Jeff" Summer smiled a little as she travelled over to her bags to get dressed trying to work some feeling back into her arms.
"Jeez Summer I didn't know you'd be that long" Jeff said as he watched his sister walk from the elevator towards them.
"Sorry guys, bad start this morning" She tried to make her arm look normal but she couldn't, as it was getting stiff so it was held close to her chest.
"Summer are you okay?" Shawn asked as he noticed Summer acting a little strange.
"I'm fine Shawn why'd you ask?"
"Because you're keeping your arm close too you and it doesn't look a healthy colour"
"It's fine honestly, I'm alright"
"Okay I believe you, just make sure you tell someone if you don't feel well"
"I will I promise Shawn" Shawn smiled a little as he and the rest of the group made their way into catering to eat breakfast together. Summer looked around and noticed that Mark was there along with his bitch gang Dawn, Stacy, Torrie, Ashley and the others.
But Dawn noticed Summer walking along and said "Aww hey how are you feeling after that tombstone, gosh that was a shocker" the rest of the group sniggered and Mark was just grinning widely.
"Let it go Summer, you look like you're in no condition to fight" Glen said leading Summer away by the small of her back.
"I know, I'm not interested in them" she was lying to everybody, every comment they made were driving her crazy inside. It wasn't funny anymore, especially with the crap about her beating Torrie up. If anything it was Torrie who was lying and just putting make up on to fake the injuries. But she knew if she tried to expose them she'd end up making a fool out of herself because nobody would believe her. Mark was so gullible, he was just eating their words up and making Summer miserable, and now the bastard had done something to her neck and she didn't know what.
"What's with the long face sweetie?" Steve asked noticing that Summer was staring into space looking miserable.
"Nothing sorry Steve, just zoned out there"
"There's gotta be summat bothering you though darlin' you don't look right"
"What'd you mean?"
"Well your arms for one thing, you can barely pick a knife up let alone use it" Summer knew that Steve was figuring out what was wrong but she remained quiet and carried on struggling to cut her omelette up. Eventually she uncurled her fingers that had turned purple and managed to wrap them around her knife to cut her food up.
Steve frowned at her struggling and said "Darlin' what's wrong?"
"Nothing, Mark decided to screw the match up last night by using his famous tombstone on me and I landed awkwardly, his force probably gave me whiplash or summat"
"I don't think that's whiplash, and what was that bastard giving you a tombstone for in the first place? He's not authorised to do that without Vince's say so"
"I don't know, Mark's had it in for me since day one"
"Why?"
"Because I didn't introduce myself to him on my first day of working for this company and he took it badly I guess"
"Well that's a load of crap, nobody should be treated that way"
"He's been doing it since I first started, turned the whole locker room against me"
"Why?"
"Because apparently I've beaten Torrie up, stole Ashley's boyfriend, slept with half the locker room, told the younger superstars that they're crap, told the older generations that I don't respect them and they're old and washed up. Steve I could go on"
"That's not right Summer"
"I know but Mark's the leader of the locker room and what he says goes"
"So he believes them?"
"Yup, he's been on my case for weeks. Threatening me and calling me names, he even ripped up the photo I carried with me of my mom and me"
"Was it important that photo?"
"Yeah it was the only one I had of her before she died, and he tore it up in front of me and Dawn and Stacy destroyed my clothes and kicked me out of the locker room so I share with my brothers" Steve kept rubbing his hand over his face to try and calm himself before he punched the living shit out of Mark.
"So you haven't told Vince about this?"
"No I'm too afraid, Mark's got more power than me and if I go blabbing to Vince he'll confront Mark who will make it look like my fault and I'll get fired for spreading rumours"
"That's bullshit sweetie he wouldn't do that"
"He already threatened to on my 4th week here, said that he'd tell Vince that I'm trash and that he'd kick me out of the company"
"This is all shit darlin' I'm speechless"
"Yeah"
"How could you let this go on for so long?"
"Because it didn't bother me at first, it was all shit. But then it got worse and I found myself being hated by nearly everybody. The only people who haven't left me is Matt, Jeff, You, Shawn, Hunter and Glen. Everybody else fell at the first hurdle"
"You ain't gonna lose me darlin' even I can see that that's all crap. Torrie doesn't have a bruise on her today"
"That's because she paints them on with Dawn, but I can't say that because Mark will hurt me"
"He's threatened that too?"
"Yup, said he'd beat my skull in. I'm not saying I'm innocent in this because I have said some harsh things to Mark as a defence mechanism but it didn't work. Just made him angrier so he keeps calling me fat"
"And that's why you haven't eaten properly since I've met you?" Steve replied noticing that Summer was just pushing her omelette around her plate. Whether she couldn't hold the knife and fork properly, she was still not even attempting to even eat.
"He's just getting too me Steve" she felt the tears forming but swore because she was finding it difficult to wipe her eyes with her lifeless arms. "Why's he doing this Steve?"
"I don't know darlin' but you just hang in there, we'll figure out summat soon to get that bastard back"
"Can't you fight him in the ring?"
"Honey I'd destroy him but he's in a storyline with you remember"
"I wish you didn't remind me, he screwed the match up last night"
"That tombstone wasn't planned was it?"
"Nope, I was supposed to hurrincanrana him off the top rope to lead him into a twist of fate and a Swanton bomb but he changed the plans. He caught me and dropped me on my neck and shoulders"
"How though? Your head is supposed to be between his legs and not even hit the mat"
"I know, but he slipped and I came crashing down too hard"
"On your neck?"
"Yeah and I reckon it's whiplash but I can't explain the arm thing"
"I don't think that's whiplash sweetie"
"Well then what is it?"
"I think its-" he was cut off by Matt and Jeff who said, "Sis you ready? Autograph session at our calling"
"Yep I'm done, I'll talk with you later Steve"
"Sweetie make sure you do speak to me later, I need to tell you something and I'm worried"
"Well if its bad then tell me now"
"I don't think that's whiplash in your neck, you could have burst some fluid or fractured your neck" Summer stood there surprised but then said "Nah I think it'll be alright for now, I'm gonna grab some aspirin or summat"
"Make sure you do sweetie but I do recommend you see a doctor soon, that wont go away by itself" then he walked off to head out of catering leaving Summer slightly worried and confused about what state her neck could be in.