Krystina grabbed her towel and wiped her sweat drenched face. She was at another brutal training session at the great Stu Hart's dungeon, a loving nickname all the wrestlers used to refer to the home based wrestling school. Krystina watched two other students work each other in the ring. The two wrestlers were still struggling with the concepts that Stu was trying to teach them. The old man sighed in annoyance,
"No, No! For the millionth time!" He grabbed one of the sparring wrestlers and for his age the Hart patriarch executed the move perfectly, "Why can't you two understand a perfectly easy concept?" He groaned in frustration. He looked over at one of the wrestlers, "Jones, step out" the bald headed wrestlers left the mat, visibly disappointed. "Benoit, show them how it's done." He motioned to Krystina and she obeyed eagerly, jumping into the ring. Stu watched them intently as she and the other wrestler began to spar. Krystina watched her opponent attentively as the other wrestler began to move towards her. He lounged at her with a clothesline and she ran towards him at full force until the last minute before his harm would have made contact with her. She suddenly dropped to her knees sliding underneath his legs. She could hear the other wrestlers cheer as she quickly got off the ground and made sure to keep an eye on her opponent. Her opponent quickly recovered, running back towards her. And throwing a right hook at her. The move seemed to be in slow motion as she caught the fist and quickly forced it into his back. He tapped his thigh with his free hand, signaling for her to let go immediately. Without missing a beat, she ran towards the ropes and threw her body back against it for momentum. Like a slingshot, she hurled forward with a knee attack that successfully connected with her opponent's chest. The room was in an uproar as the Hart patriarch got everyone's attention. He held his hands up to silence everyone. Slowly but surely everyone quieted down as he began speaking,
"That's exactly how it's done ladies and gentlemen! In this business, you not only have to make sure your moves are precise each time so you don't hurt yourself and your opponent but you also have to tell a story in the ring." The trainees heeded the former wrestler turned trainer's word. He turned to Krystina and the other pupil she sparred with, "That was very good you two. Everyone else, keep working on it. You'll get it." His eyes scanned the room making eye contact with a few of the people there, "I suggest you all keep practicing because you only get one chance in this business," He paused a moment to give his statement some impact before he added, "If you're even lucky to get one." He glanced at the clock on the wall. He sighed as he began to dismiss them,
"Okay Ladies and gentlemen, we've been at this for ten hours, why don't we call it a night? I will see you all bright and early tomorrow at seven." Everyone said their goodbyes to Stu Hart and each other as they disbanded. Krystina went over to her locker where she went to retrieve her bag. She felt a tap on her shoulder. As she turned around she saw the blonde haired person she had sparred with in class,
"Hey Griffin! Great job on the mat today, you really made me look like I knew what I was doing out there." The young man stifled a laugh,
"Are you sure it isn't the other way around?" He teased. Krystina couldn't help but giggle. She lightly punched him in the arm, which turned into playful fighting between the two of them. Once they stopped Krystina dismissed his comment,
"Whatever Griffin, you don't give yourself much credit." The two of the suddenly became aware of a third person in the room as they turned around and saw Stu Hart who was watching them. The two looked up at his face as they waited for him to say something. The older man had a serious look on his face but they could see a playful gleam in his eye,
"Benoit, in my office please." Griffin dismissed himself as he turned to his friend,
"Bye Tina, I'll see you tomorrow." She tried to give him a look that said 'please don't leave me you bastard' but she knew that he couldn't stick around so she waved to him,
"Yeah, I'll see you later. As soon as Griffin left, the older man beckoned the young wrestler over by extending his hand out to her and placing it on her shoulder. He led her to his office,
I've got some great news to tell you. A talent scout for the WWF is visiting the school to scout out potential talent that they may want to sign." The young woman's heartbeat began to quicken,
"Wow. That's amazing! If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you mention anything to the others while we were all huddled?" By this time, they were in the office and the elder Hart had closed the door behind him,
"Because he's here on my request." There was a playful look in the trainer's eye as he told the truth, "I got a call from them a couple of weeks ago saying that they were looking for new talent since a few people had left the company." The older man paced around the room glancing at the pictures that occupied the walls of his office, "You must be wondering why the called me?" the young woman nodded as her teacher looked back at her. She could feel her heartbeat roaring in her ears as he continued, "Well, you know that a good majority of the people I train end up working for the larger wrestling companies. Over the years, I got the reputation of supplying good talent so the companies come to me first knowing that I will give them good wrestlers that will perform at the top of their game. Which brings me to why I didn't tell everyone the news. There are two or three people they are coming specifically to see: Griffin, Jones," The trainer and the young woman's eyes locked onto each other, "And you." The young athlete felt her heart skip a beat. The World Wrestling Federation was interested enough in her to come check her out? She must have had a funny look on her face because the Heart Patriarch started to chuckle,
"What's that look on your face for?" The young woman stuttered,
"I-I-I can't believe that you would recommend that they come check us out…" the older man cut her off,
"Well, why not Benoit?" You're the first one here, last one to leave and you learn the moves that are taught to you quickly; You deserve this shot." She felt tears sting her eyes as she realized that her hard work was finally starting to pay off. The Hart Patriarch put his hand on her shoulder,
"Not to mention that you're a second generation wrestler but you're as humble as it gets. Some of these jerk offs feel as if they're owed this spot. Yet here you are the daughter of Chris Benoit, an active member of the WWF roster, crying because you can't believe that a talent scout is coming to check you out. If that isn't humility, then I don't know what is." He patted her shoulder affectionately,
"Let's call it a night but promise me you won't tell a soul." Hart turned to leave but paused as he looked back at her, "Well, you can tell Griffin but not Jones. That guy is a jerkoff." The young woman nodded as a laugh escaped her mouth. She followed him out the office and the house where she bid her trainer goodbye. She walked out to her bright purple and pink Ford F150 truck and got in. She pulled out her cell phone and called the first person she wanted to tell. She dialed the number and heard the phone ringing. She silently prayed hoping that he would pick up and answer the phone. To her dismay, her call went to voicemail. She heard her dad's voice begin to speak,
"Hey this is Chris, I'm sorry I missed your call but if you leave your name and number at the tone I'll get back to you as soon as I can, thank you." As soon as the tone sounded she began to talk,
"Hey daddy it's Tina, Mr. Stu gave me some great news and you're the first person I wanted to tell it to," She rested her head on the steering wheel, "Well, I guess you're busy so I'll talk to you later. Love you." She ended the call and sighed in frustration. She really wanted to tell her dad the good news but she knew that he had a very busy schedule working for the company. She shifted through the phonebook in her cell phone until she found Griffin's phone number. She hit the dial button and waited while the phone rang. After three rings, she heard the familiar voice,
"Hey Tina, long time no see," he said the last part sarcastically causing her to laugh, "To what do I owe this pleasure?" She felt her eyes rolling to the back of her head as his sarcasm almost caused her to have a mini stroke at how forced the sarcasm sounded. She dismissed his sarcasm as she remembered the real reason she called,
"Are you sitting down because I have some great news!" She heard the silence on the other end, "Are you still there?" the young man responded instantaneously,
"Yeah! Tell me what the good news is!" Krystina made gleeful noises as she couldn't contain her excitement,
"Okay, but you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone else." The young man couldn't contain her excitement anymore as he urgently answered,
"I promise, please tell me!" Krystina giggled,
"Looks like a WWF talent scout is coming to check out the class, but he or she is particularly interested in you, Jones and me. The best part is that Coach Hart strongly recommended us to them." There was a stunned silence that lasted so long that at one point she though that thecal got disconnected again until she heard him murmur,
"No fucking way…" She twisted a strand of her hair around her finger,
"I know right?" Seeing as you're my bud, I thought I'd let you know so that you would get some good sleep and you'd be at your best tomorrow." She felt him smile on the other end as she continued,
"Well, I'll let you get back to watching your massive gay porn selection…" She heard him laugh loudly,
"Very funny Benoit, you're a real fucking comedienne. Are you sure you shouldn't be doing stand-up comedy instead?" She laughed as she quipped back,
"No, your wrestling moves are jokes that can write themselves Griffin." The young man groaned,
"You had to go there Benoit. You've wounded my pride." She smirked,
"Well, you know it's true." Griffin groaned once more as he quipped,
"Shut up." The two of them laughed until Griffin brought up a point,
"Hey Tina if the scout likes us and signs us how long do we have with Coach Hart before we leave?" The realization that they may have to leave before the class let out didn't register until Griffin pointed it out,
"I don't know. I guess it would be up to Coach. Maybe we leave and graduate tomorrow, next week or hell we may even probably continue until everyone finishes the last year." She dismissed the thought, "Let's just get some sleep for tomorrow." She could feel something was troubling the young, blonde trainee but before she could ask what was wrong he cut in,
"Yeah, you're right. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night Tina."
"Good night Griffin." She hit the button that ended the call and put the phone away. She drove back to her hotel room that was included in her tuition. Since there were an odd number of female wrestlers that were accepted into Stu Hart's school, Krystina had volunteered to have a room all by herself. She hadn't regretted the decision for one second since everyday she was there at the school she always heard about the drama that was going on with some of the girls. She thanked the stars that she wasn't involved. All she had come here to do was to train and learn all she could about wrestling and it had brought her to this moment where talent scouts were noticing her talents while the others struggled with learning the moves. This had caused a rift between Krystina and the other female wrestlers due to jealousy. They believed that Stu Hart favorited her due to the fact that her father was a former student of Stu Hart and in turn she would get an easy ride. As a punishment, the other female wrestlers had ostracized her from their social group teaching her that even if someone was older than her it didn't mean that they were mature. Finally feeling the effects from working all day, Krystina got ready for bed, set the alarm and laid her head down. It wasn't much longer until she fitfully fell asleep. She kept dreaming several dreams of what could happen tomorrow.
Time went by like the blink of an eye and Krystina was awakened by the alarm going off signaling that she had to get up and face an important day. Still tired from the previous day, Krystina dragged herself out of bed. She stared at a spot on the floor for a few minutes as she willed herself to wake up and gather her thoughts. Once she stood up, she walked into the bathroom, removed her clothes, and hopped into the shower. After fifteen minutes, she finished showering, and got dressed. Reinvigorated by the shower, she brushed her hair and braided her hair into two pigtails. There was a knock on the door as Krystina finished putting on her shoes. The young woman, taken aback at someone knocking on her door called out cautiously,
"Who is it?" A very familiar voice answered her,
"It's Coach Hart, Open up." She walked up to the door and opened it. Standing there with her trainer, was Farooq, Bradshaw and her father. She noticed a fifth person and nearly blanched when she noticed who he was. Standing there in his impeccable, tailored suit was Vince McMahon, the chairman of the World Wrestling Federation. She shook hands with Mr. McMahon and the A.P.A and then hugged her father. She gave her trainer an apprehensive look,
"Coach, is Mr. McMahon the 'talent scout' you were referring to?" the Hart patriarch shrugged,
"If I told you Vince McMahon was coming to see you wrestle, would you have believed me?"
"Probably not. It's not that I don't trust you but because I thought that he had people to do that for him." Everyone chuckled and if it was possible she felt more nervous than she did before. She managed a smile as she looked over at everyone, "But I appreciate the fact that you all came to see us wrestle. Coach Hart has taught us a lot and I'm sure you will be pleased with the results." The chairman smiled,
"It's a pleasure to be here Krystina, it's been too long since I saw you. How long has it been?"
"Two years, sir. I was seventeen the last time we saw each other."
"So, you're nineteen now, correct?" The young woman nodded as McMahon carried on with the conversation, "Stu here tells me you're a talented wrestler. I can't wait to see you work in the ring." She smiled,
"Thank you, sir; I hope you like what you'll see." Stu Hart extended his arm, pointing to her bag,
"Well grab your bag and let's get going. We don't want to be late." The young woman nodded as she grabbed her bag and the group left the room. She locked the door behind her and they walked down the hall to the main lobby. Her nerves were destroying her appetite as her trainer looked over at her,
"Did you eat?" She shook her head,
"Honestly, I couldn't eat even if I tried." He shook his head as he chuckled. They continued walking out the door into the parking lot. Krystina saw a limo waiting at the curb and they all piled in with Mr. McMahon. She sat between her father and Bradshaw. Bradshaw rested his arm on the seat behind her. Her dad looked at Krystina who looked back at him and smiled a small smile. Krystina was silent the hour it took driving to the gym as the five men talked about different topics. Bradshaw who noticed her silence looked over at her and spoke softly as to not bring attention to them,
"Are you ok, kid?" She looked up at him, piercing him with her sapphire colored eyes,
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just nervous. It's like you said the last time we saw each other, 'not everyone gets a chance.'" She sighed, "Sorry, I can be such a kill joy sometimes." Bradshaw shook his head,
"I doubt you're a kill joy." I know too many of those and you're definitely not one of them." He patted her hand affectionately. She smiled as she felt a sense of tranquility fill her and at that moment she felt at ease. Bradshaw broke his gaze away from her and went back to talking with the guys as she went back to being quiet. The trip seemed longer than usual to the young woman but she attributed it to the fact that today was a very important day that could change her life forever. The limousine pulled into the driveway of Stu Hart's home and she felt her heart hammering loudly against her chest. She grabbed her gym bag and stood there looking at the house. She took a deep breath and walked towards the house ready to fight for her destiny.