First Meeting

“Here we are,” Sarah said, stopping in front of a black gate. She pushed the button on the intercom,

"Morning. My friend's here for the tryout?"

"They're about to start. Better hurry,"

Sarah looked at Suzanna sideways, making the latter wilt slightly, before saying, "Thanks. We will," as the gate opened. They drove into the fairly large lot towards a large, yellow-brick building.

Suzanna took a deep breath before grabbing her duffel bag and preparing to exit the car,

"Okay. Wish me luck,"

Sarah reached over, pulled her into a headlock and gave her a noogie,

"Goooood luck, little Suzy,"

"Gaaah, I told you not to call me that! Let me go, you're making me late,"

Sarah kissed her on the top of her head, before letting her go,

"See you later," Suzanna said, before running inside.

Sarah watched her until she was inside, then sighed and did a quick prayer,

"Please Sweet Virgin, take care of her,"

She began to drive out of the property, as she did a black SUV with the PSW logo on it. The SUV stopped in front of the building and out came Simon. He sauntered into the building,

"This is an utter waste of my time,"

Meanwhile, Suzanna was in awe of the facility. The building was huge with separate corners for different kinds of training and fitness, a massive running track encircling a quintuple of wrestling rings.

She approached a registration table where an Afrikaans woman with platinum blonde hair, wearing round glasses and a purple tracksuit checking through a tablet,

"U-um, Hello. I'm sorry I'm late. Is this where we register?"

"No worries, we were dealing with some delays on our end, so you still have time to- SWEET STARS ABOVE!"

The woman almost jumped out of her skin when she looked up at Suzanna,

"What beanstalk do you 7-footers keep climbing down from?!" She yelled, fixing her glasses which had slipped out of place.

"But… I'm only 6 foot 9…"

The woman slumped back into her chair in apparent exhaustion,

"'Only 6 foot 9', she says" She chuckled and stood up, extending a hand for fist bump,

"Sorry about that, we had a lot of big recruits to choose from. Call me Coach Alexa, nice to meet you,"

Suzanna slowly returned the greeting with a smile, 

"Suzanna Lee' aja, nice to meet you too. So you're a trainer?"

"Well, of course. That's why I'm Coach Alexa," Alexa sat down and looked at her tablet, "Could you spell your surname please?"

"L-E-E-Apostrophe-A-J-A,"

"Here we go. We just need to confirm some details. Hometown?"

"Ginland,"

"A native to the great fighting city. If you do well, the promotional people are going to love you,"

Suzanna blushed with excitement. Alexa continued,

"Date of birth?"

"11 August,"

"So you'll be 21 this year? What made you want to be a wrestler?"

"My uncle, Ma'am. He was one a-and I wanted to follow in his footsteps,"

"Oh, where'd he work? Also, it's Coach. All that 'sir' and 'ma'am' stuff is for the people in suits,"

"Oh, sorry. H-He was mostly independent, but he worked with PSW on occasion,"

As they spoke Simon walked by, hands in his pockets, taking the slowest footsteps anyone had ever seen.

"Hold on a minute. Lee'aja?" Alexa asked,

He stopped and looked in their direction as Alexa continued,

"Are you, by any chance, related to The War Chief?"

Suzanna nodded.

"Oh my God! No wonder they let you try out. You've got to be some kind of genetic freak,"

Suzanna's discomfort at such a description was so frighteningly apparent it made Alexa unconsciously move her chair back a little. She quickly attempted to reassure her,

"Uh... I mean- Oh, damn, sorry. I meant that in a good way. The War Chief- Your uncle was an absolute beast in the ring, so I figured that you have to be pretty good yourself, right?"

Suzanna rubbed the back of her head and replaced her cringe with a nervous smile and chuckle,

"W-Well, I hope so,"

Alexa awkwardly laughed along, secretly put off by how expressive Suzanna's face was... and how wide her mouth was... and the length of canines and pre-molars.

(Wait, what does she mean she "hopes so"?)

She finally noticed Simon looking at them,

"Thompson! Where the damn-blasted hell have you been?!" She screamed, jumping out of her seat and running towards him. Suzanna turned around and the two made eye contact.

It was like an English Mastiff staring down a Great Dane, while a Boston terrier stood between them, angrily barking at the Mastiff.

Alexa jumped up and grabbed Simon's ear, pulling him down to her level,

"You listen to me when I'm talking to you! Do you have any idea how important today is?"

He straightened himself, leaving her to dangle and flail about while still clutching his ear. Suzanna just stared at him with big, wide eyes, while he studied her up and down.

(Oh my God, it's Simon Thompson! He's standing right there. He's looking at me. What do I say? What do I do? Wait, why is he here? Is he a trainer? Is he going to be judging us? Are we going to have to fight him? Oh no! I'm not ready for that! This is a nightmare. He's still looking at me. Say something. Why can't I move? He's going to-)

Simon looked at her with a mix of concern and confusion, because her eyes were getting bigger. Alexa noticed too and stopped chewing him out,

"Nothing about you makes any sense," He said.

Suzanna snapped out of her trance as he started walking away,

"Huh?"

He pointed towards a female locker room up ahead to his right,

"The locker room is that way. Best of luck,"

"U-uh..."

Alexa, who was still dangling from his ear started to lecture him again,

"Hey, that's my job! Don't ignore me. Mrs Gamal said she wanted to see you the moment you walk in, so march!"

He continued walking, completely unfazed by her.

"He's so different from when he was on TV..." She then slapped both sides of her face.

"Stupid stupid stupid! Now he thinks I'm weird," She started to nosebleed and fall forward, "Uh oh... too hard..."

She then fell onto the table, completely destroying it.