Alex

"Come on, Joey! Harder, harder!" Alex yelled at his friend as Joey tried to put his opponent in a leg lock.

"Keep it up!"

He could see Joey's eyes screw up into little balls and his face went scarlet, the look on the others guy's face was priceless. The referee called three and the match was over. Alex applauded and patted his buddy on the back as he came out of the ring.

"Good job, man."

The sweaty wrestler smiled back at his friend.

"Thanks, Alex."

They walked over to the changing rooms and pushed the large door open. Inside a bunch of men were showering or getting ready to go out. One guy sat in the corner with a bloody nose and a broken arm. They shook their heads as they passed him, neither had seen a beating like that in a long time. Alex came up to his locker and swung it open, pulled out his clothes, and sat down on the bench.

"So what are you doing tonight anyway?"

Joey peeled off his top and said,

"I was thinking about going to the Alpha Kappa party later, you want to check it out?"

"I got to stay behind tonight. Extra practice."

Joey rolled his eyes at Alex and asked,

"So you really are a robot, then?"

Alex laughed and gave his friend a playful shove into the side lockers.

"You know if you want to make pro you got to practice."

"What you do and a normal person's practice are two completely different things."

Alex lied on the bench and lifted himself for some crunches, in between sets he answered Joey.

"You know that gala next week could get recognized by a scout. Who knows what could happen after that."

"Ah-ha so it has a motive. But haven't you forgotten about that one small hiccup in your plan, the fact you're a pre-med."

Alex kept at his crunches, trying to focus on his breathing.

"You can't ignore me forever, or your so called medical career."

Joey shook his head and shut the locker. He walked down the line of lockers and turned out of the door. Alex heard the swoosh of the door as it closed quietly. It was now Alex time. Time to condition, time to practice, time to visualize. He had a gala to trump in six days. First, stretches then cardio then resistance then more cardio, this time usually the treadmill with a sixty degree incline. He would have ran outside, it what he preferred but the problem with Iowa was it happened to be a very flat state.

He got up from the last ten crunches and put his leg up in front of his face and started his stretches.

¨ · · ¨

The atmosphere was tense. It was always better that way. Alex readjusted his duffel bag on his shoulder and walked towards the main ring. Gateway Arena was a huge stadium, the biggest he had ever wrestled in possibly. He had been initially placed in two matches. If he won both or one of them he could me on to the semi-finals which were the following week. The scouts were out on the prowl now though. They looked for potential more than deliverance. Teams had to mould their wrestlers, make them a part of the team but they had to have the basics down pat.

Alex spotted a few opponents he had taken on before, but not his first challenger of the day. He headed to the changing room and set up in a secluded corner. A burly man walked and came up towards Alex. He pulled up his shorts and said sarcastically,

"The shows later tonight."

The joke flew over the man's head, or he chose to ignore it, he instead handed Alex a notice with his name highlighted.

"Your first opponent broke his leg last week at a division match. Therefore he forfeits. Your guaranteed a place in the semi-finals. Congratulations."

"Mmm," was all that Alex said in return.

"Something wrong?" the man asked.

"It's not nearly as fun winning when you don't do anything."

The man silently sniggered.

"Don't worry, you'll be working hard enough. We've changed around your second match. Your now up against Lloyd Davis."

"Lloyd Davis? You've got to be kidding me, he wasn't even on the table."

The man turned and began walking away, he paused on his heel to add,

"We've made an acceptation." And he left the wrestler with the notice in his hands.

Lloyd Davis had been at the top of the tables since he was twelve. Down on the mat with him, is supposed to be like taking on a brick wall. There was no getting on him and there was no getting up once he had you pinned.

"Well looks like I will have to do some work today."

Twenty minutes he heard his named called on the intercom. He was already at the side of the mat, watching the others wrestlers. It was good to see the enemy, no not the enemy, just the competition. Lloyd came out from a side door and walked up to the other side of the ring. His coach and a trainer was behind him. Alex's coach was on the phone in the lobby figuring out why the team's hotel reservations had been booked for the following Tuesday.

"Great support," he thought as he stepped onto the blue mat. Lloyd was doing some quick stretches, mainly superficial and a chance to flex for the crowd. This guy was impressive though. The singlet he wore was stretched to the max, his biceps were huge and his thighs were as large as both of Alex's put together. This guy would have looked better in the WWF.

The referee took his place in the middle of the mat and called the two men forward. Alex stood almost as tall as Lloyd, but his presence seemed to make Alex about two feet tall. The two absently listened to the referee's commentary. They stared each other in the eyes trying to test one another before the match started. They heard the bell and they backed into their respective corners.

The bell sounded again and Lloyd took no time in coming towards Alex and kneeling to take his legs. Alex was instinctive and backed up and tried to wrap himself around Davis's back. The bulk of it was too big and he couldn't take and he ended up stumbling over Lloyd's shoulder. He managed to roll back into a standing position before Davis could turn on him. He was taking this to quickly, calm down he breathed deeply. He saw Lloyd duck again and this time Alex returned the grab. They both fell to the ground. Lloyd's grip was crushing, but so was Alex's and his smaller arms were much effective for grabbing underneath the giant's armpits and squeezing his lungs. Both short of breath they lessened their grasp and managed to both roll away from each other. Alex got his feet quickly, before his opponent could so he ran through his potential moves. He knew Lloyd could go at this for hours so he was going to have to do something big. A light bulb went off in his head and he got back into fighting mode as Lloyd rose to his feet and spread his broad arms. Alex backed up and far as he could and began to rush towards the wrestler, when he was about a meter away from his feet he came down on his knee and laid his back flat. He was effectively flipping Davis over his back and then be able to pin him.

But Davis was too big and spread his legs as he saw Alex lower himself. Alex fell flat on his face, and the firm grip of an arm lock saw to the end of the match. Alex got up and didn't bother to shake Davis's outstretched hand. He grabbed his towel from the side of the ring and stepped out towards the changing rooms. Tonight would require some hard drinking. A small tap on the shoulder came at the entrance of the locker room door. He pivoted quickly and saw a small, white haired man, who was wearing a blazer and holding a clipboard. He was a scout.

"Alex Karev?"

"Yeah." Alex wasn't in the mood to be tossed around.

"I'm Steven Collins, I'm with the Olympic wrestling team."

Alex kept his mind shut and his thoughts blank. He couldn't hope, it never worked.

"What are you doing this Thursday?"

"Nothing, sir."

The Collins shook his head.

"That's not true. You'll be in New York. I want to put you on the Olympic squad. Stamina and stability like that is exactly what we need on our team."

Alex rocked on his heels, its what he did to keep from screaming and crying and throwing the small man in the air and dancing.

"That sounds like a good plan."

"Good, I'm glad it does, here's my card. I'll call you with your flight details."

A good day's work, Alex thought.