Title: The Manager
By: Hannah Quinn
CHAPTER TWO
“Is this the best you can do, little girl? Huh? Ask her, ref! She’s done!” Naya Mercado lived for this kind of thing. A natural villain, she absolutely enjoyed beating the crap out of the Barbie doll known as Tonya Reese for all the world to see. When the Hispanic beauty had first arrived on the scene, she hadn’t been very good. Like a lot of women in this line of work, she’d been hired for her looks over her talent. But studying under a very prestigious Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor, she had become a bit of a bad ass on the scene. She was no Mitsuko, but then again, who was? But she had her eye on the Japanese warrior and her Grand Marshal Championship. Beating floozies like Tonya here was a necessary step on the way to the top. And right now, she had Reese in a devastating gogoplata hold. Careful to keep her shoulders elevated off the mat, she had her opponent’s left arm and head trapped. There seemed at the moment nowhere for Tonya to go, and Naya could feel her fading fast. The crowd booed this development, but she’d never much cared what they thought anyway. This was even easier than she thought it would be tonight. The blonde was clearly off of her game. “You step in the ring with me, you better come to fight, little girl!”
Tonya Reese couldn’t quite understand what was going on. She couldn’t remember the last time she found herself losing focus in a wrestling match, but tonight just felt…off. It was as if her concentration had been constantly clouded, every attempted maneuver feeling sluggish, and lacking that extra “umpfh” she usually held. Locked in Naya’s vicious gogoplata, Tonya could already feel herself begin to fade. Her shoulders sunk as she felt the essence of herself giving in to the torque and wrench of the treacherous submission hold. “No...I can’t...give in.” she thought to herself, trying to urge herself to continue. She had faced Naya before, and had experienced this exact maneuver in the past. But why...why did this feel so much worse than it had before? The sole of her boots planted against the canvas, Tonya stomped on the floor. Once. Twice. Three times, all in a contrived rhythm in an effort to get the crowd’s support. She needed their energy, Tonya needed to feel the strength of the audience consume and lead her to an escape. Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
Her stomps had united the crowd like wildfire, chants of “Tonya! Tonya! Tonya!” echoing throughout the arena as they were accompanied by rocking stomps from the bleachers. Feeling their energy, Tonya would ball her hand into a fist and slowly rise it into the air as if to tell her audience their effort was working into her favor. Squirming, and trying to create space for her head and neck, Tonya would try and steal a glance towards the crowd, hoping to see their energy just as much as she felt it. It was then that her eyes caught something, or more specifically, someone.
In the center of the crowd stood that same raven-haired woman from before. Their eyes met and suddenly it felt as if the crowd went totally silent. She couldn’t hear their cheers, their stomps, or even feel the energy they had been feeding her. Instead, her focus just kept on her. What was this feeling? What was she experiencing? It lasted but a second, maybe two, and as Tonya blinked the woman was gone. The cheers of the audience now resurfacing, their unity heard, Tonya tried to put the thought in the back of her mind and managed to pry herself away from Naya’s grip. Fresh, arena air kissed her cheeks as she back pedaled, her back bouncing slightly off the ropes as they prevented her from falling. Scanning the audience, she tried looking for her again. She couldn’t remember her name. Sarah? Selene? Se..Sirena? It couldn’t have been her, could it? Amongst the thousands in attendance the odds were unlikely, but she couldn’t shake the thought away. Feeling drawn to look towards the entrance ramp, she allowed her curiosity to take over. Where did she go? Or...was she even here to begin with? Her attention captivated, Tonya took her eyes off Naya as she now felt the need for answers. She needed to know what that was! Her mind just wasn’t on the match anymore.
Naya sat there on the mat for a moment, just completely perplexed. The blonde had escaped the hold with a clever bit of maneuvering, which was frustrating. But there had been no follow up at all, which was confusing. The caramel skinned women looked over at her opponent, brushing her light brown hair out of her face. Huffing out, she gestured as if to wordlessly say, “Excuse me?” But she stood up. Reese’s attention was in the crowd, walking as if beckoned forward by somebody. Weird. Maybe Kristy was sitting in the crowd, and Tonya was trying to say hi? Whatever the case, she had picked the absolute worst time to have such a lapse in concentration. Walking up behind the transfixed Tonya, Naya wrapped her arms around the waist of her opponent. “Bye, puta.” With her grip in tight, she bent at the knees and threw herself backward, lifting the blonde up overhead. Dropping Reese right on the back of her head and neck, shoulders pinned to the surface of the mat, Mercado popped her hips up, balanced perfectly on the tips of her toes in an immaculate bridging position. “One, two, three! Ring the bell!” Naya let go with a shove, dropping to a seated position. Brushing her hands together, she cackled. “Bring your A game next time, little girl. This is the big leagues. There are no off nights!” She got her hand raised as she stood up, and walked away, muttering to herself in disgust. What a waste of her time. “Give me a worthy opponent! I want Mitsuko!”
Nursing the back of her head, Tonya folded onto her side as the suplex was released. How could she be stupid? The audience roared their disapproval, Naya’s attitude unfavorable as Tonya quietly rolled herself to the lip of the ring and collapsed to the outside. Even now, she still felt that cloud, her shoulders just feeling so heavy as she fought to catch her breath. “What’s wrong with me?” she whispered to herself, that flash experience still echoing throughout her mind as she tried to piece together the puzzle. It just didn’t make sense. Positioning herself on her knees, she swayed her blonde hair back and let out a disappointed sigh. Naya’s entrance music was still blasting throughout the crowd, Tonya still scanning it hoping for any type of glimpse of the woman again.
Nothing. No one within her vision even resembled the part. “Just stop thinking about it, Tonya.” she whispered to herself, raising off the floor as she began a her loser’s journey around the her side of the ring and up the entrance ramp. The walk seemed all too familiar, but at least she wasn’t battered and beaten after a steel cage match. As she would reach the top of the stage, she would quietly turn herself around and wave to the audience before disappearing behind the entrance curtain. “I really hope Kristy’s there.” she murmured to herself after a sigh. Any type of affection, big or small, was precisely what she needed, “Please be there.” Together Kristy and Tonya had decided upon a “secret spot,” the only area in the arena where they both felt they could let their guard down and just be themselves during television tapings. Where was it? The third bathroom stall of the furthest restroom. It wasn’t Tonya’s first choice, but Kristy often convinced her otherwise. She had to have known by now that Tonya lost. There wasn’t another place she could be. Quickly walking through the gorilla position, she would just as quickly find herself in the hallway.
The sound of slow, sarcastic clapping could be heard. Two women stood between Tonya and the rest of the stretch of hallway, and they were the last two people she wanted to see right now. “Amazing performance. I daresay we’ll be hearing Dane Meltorz raving about it on this week’s Wrestling Watcher Weekly. I mean, come on. How could you not be dazzled by Tonya Reese’s total lack of effort and concentration? One in a million, kid. That’s what I’ve been saying all along.” These were the harsh words from Celeste Whitehall, Tonya’s rival since wrestling school. Blessed with a gigantic bosom, the toned muscles to match, and killer green eyes, she had augmented her beauty with her method of standing out, which was twofold: blonde and dark brown hair and her girlfriend, Valorie Evans. Evans was petite, sporting dark brown hair that was almost black. Everywhere she went, she had Chuck Taylors on her feet and an expression that suggested either curiosity or disdain depending on how you looked at it. Tonya had never beaten Celeste in a match, and even worse, she resented the fact that the two of them were openly gay. It just didn’t seem fair. But then again, outside of Mitsuko, there was no bigger star in Wrestle Parade than Celeste. She was even on the cover of this year’s video game! “Well? Cat got your tongue? What the hell was that out there, Reese? Are you trying to get fired?”
Lips pursed, eyes closed, Tonya simply wasn’t in the mood to deal with either of these women, especially Celeste Whitehall. Every word spat out of mouth oozed with condescension. Every letter held intent to pry between her fingernails and crawl underneath her skin. It wasn’t that she didn’t know what to say. She knew exactly what she wanted to say. It’s just that...she couldn’t. Tonya Reese held herself at a standard. As low as Celeste would go, she wouldn’t allow herself too. Of course, she could have. She could have claimed that Celeste and Valorie’s undying need to flaunt their relationship was a cry to get noticed. Everyone knew Valorie’s history. The girl humped anyone and anything willing to give her the light of the day. As for Celeste? Was anything about her real? Giant breasts, big hair, big arms, it was freakin’ miracle she could even maneuver herself out of bed. She certainly wasn’t carrying two pairs of bazookas in wrestling school.
“D’aww, look at her ‘Lestey,” Valorie chimed in, her squeaky voice enough for anyone to want to instantly wince, “Trying to be the ‘better’ person. It’s so...cute!” Hands previously held behind her back, Valorie hopped into a skip, circling around the ever-annoyed Tonya Reese. Reaching forward, she pinched her cheeks before leaning into her face. “If you squint, you can see little miss blondie turning green,” her lips curled into a smile, “and it ain’t easy being green, wouldn’t you agree, ‘Lestey?” Patting Tonya on the shoulders, she wasn’t done. “You so wish you were us. You would do anything to just sample….this.” Spinning herself away, Valorie positioned herself in front of Celeste and rung her arms around her neck. Tip-toeing, she puckered her lips and they shared a lingering smooch. An audible “smack!” concluded the affair as she excitedly clapped her hands. “You’re strawberries today, how scrumptious!”
“You know what?” Tonya’s nails dug into the palms of her hands as she tried to resist the temptation to finally speak her mind. Celeste and Valorie didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel genuine. It wasn’t her and Kristy Marvel. Celeste flaunted her status like her livelihood depended on it. She paraded Valorie Evans around knowing that it struck a nerve. The trio of them, Celeste, Kristy and herself were part of the same class. As her friendship with Kristy blossomed, Celeste was there. As Tonya mustered the courage to ask Kristy out, Celeste was there. As Tonya struggled for the perfect anniversary gift, Celeste was there. Just where and what happened? “What is with you? What did I ever do you, huh? Is it because you’ve always been better than me? Because I’m not afraid to admit that. I know it’s true, everyone knows it’s true. I can’t beat you, so what is this? What do you want from me?!” Without waiting for an answer Tonya threw up her hands and backed away. She didn’t care what Celeste or Valorie had to say. Not anymore. Walking backward, away from the scene, Tonya felt she had one last thing to add, “You might be on the cover, but everyone just uses you as Mitsuko’s punching bag. People actually want to play as me.”
“What a nerd!” Celeste called out as Tonya retreated, her and her girlfriend guffawing so loudly that the halls seemed to ring with the echo. They walked the other way, arms around each other, the very picture of a couple that was inseparable.
Hiding her face between her hands, Tonya felt a sense of embarrassment. A video game insult, really? She didn’t even know where it came from. “Want?” she questioned herself, rolling her eyes, “Want?” How did that even sound “cool” in the moment? She could already picture Valorie’s dumbfoundment. Tonya never prided herself as the queen of insults, but that wasn’t even funny. Kristy was the one with an insult notebook that Tonya sometimes paged through, sometimes. Taking a detour, Tonya continued her venture to the furthest restroom. The night’s Wrestle Parade program was still in progress, the main event on the horizon. Until it was over, the restroom should have been relatively empty. Focusing less on what she said, and more on imagining another moment shared with her beloved, Tonya took a deep breath. Kristy’s lips had always felt so perfect against her own. Tonya’s small hands fitting ever so warmly into her bigger ones. Her face cracking into smile, she could already hear Kristy’s high-pitched laughter as she pictured herself sharing the “insult.” She loved the way Kristy’s face scrunched whenever breaking into laughter. “Oh, please be there.”
Finally arriving at the door, Tonya still felt a level of self-disbelief as their sanctuary was a restroom. A closet just wouldn’t do, and “behind the bleachers” felt way too juvenile. She understood the logic, but Tonya still longed for the moment where it didn’t have to come to this. She had honestly hoped “living a role” would have ended in high school but here she was, at twenty-four, seemingly doing the same thing. “Public perception is a plague,” she quietly groaned. Wiping away her disgust, she put back on her smile and creaked through the door. Almost immediately she drew her attention to the underneath the stalls, her eyes anxiously waiting to see Kristy’s sneakers. “Yeeeees~” she sung to herself, already feeling her spirits rise within her. Kristy was the type to always bare comic characters on her shoes and these looked like just the pair Tonya purchased for her. Taking her first happy breath for the evening, Tonya stepped forward and gallantly pushed open the door.
“Hello, dear,” came the sultry, dry tone. It was not Kristy Marvel, but Sirena Zigana. Normally, the stalker fan might try to calm the other person down, maybe a little panicked themselves. Sirena, after all, was breaking at least a dozen rules by being here. She had no business back here. How had she even managed such a feat? Was she magic? Was she not even real? Whatever the case, she was the very picture of calm confidence. She smiled, her right hand extended out, index finger beckoning Tonya into the very stall where it was supposed to be her and Marvel. “I wish to continue our conversation from earlier. Your focus is not where it needs to be. You let all these women walk all over you. It is time for a change, Tonya Reese. I am that change you so desperately need. Allow me into your life, and I can assure you that everything will change for the better. Doesn’t that sound nice? I know it does. It sounds so good. And you’ll barely have to lift a finger. Let Miss Sirena do all the work, all the thinking. Just let it happen…” She was moving closer to the blonde, her eyes definitely a shimmering, deep purple. It was more obvious in lighting like this.
Tonya’s breathing become alarmingly audible, her once relieved expression now replaced by mixture of both panic and curiosity. “But...but the shoes…” she whispered to herself, finding the strength to break the woman’s gaze and look back down at her feet. Without question, they were of the same design. Slowly, Tonya began to back away. The very woman she sought to find earlier was now before her but, how? This couldn’t have been a coincidence, could it? “Stop, just stop. Who the hell are you?!”
“I’ve already told you, dear. I am Sirena Zigana. And I want to be your manager. I want Tonya. I want Tonya. I want Tonya.” She moved forward as the blonde backed away, the beckoning finger tickling against Reese’s chin. “Give me Tonya. I will make all your dreams come true. You will beat Naya. You will beat Celeste. You will beat Mitsuko. This whole company will become yours. Video games, magazines, programs, television appearances...the world will be yours. Ours. But you must let me. You must let me take control.”
As Tonya continued to try and pull herself away, she was stopped by the giant shelf of sinks. “I was nice before, but this is going too far, Sirena,” she objected, aggressively swaying her finger away from her chin. “I don’t understand what your obsession is with me but it has to stop!” Anger began to rise in her voice, Tonya eying the exit as she maneuvered herself closer towards the door. “Enough of this! I don’t need you. I don’t want this. Just...leave me alone, okay?” Shaking her head, she turned her back towards the woman and darted for the door.
Sirena just smiled pleasantly, her hands retreating to a folded position in front of her waist. Watching as Tonya exited the bathroom in a hurry, her eyes seemed to sparkle. Until the end, the blonde hadn’t been able to look away from them, and that fact hadn’t been lost on the mysterious stranger. “Tell Kristy I said hello.”