Not that bad // Rhea Ripley

13- Who Are You Now

"Sometimes you gotta fall before you fly."

Sleeping With Sirens

Monday, is like the hardest day to go through. I have a lot of two hour periods, and those are hell. Especially since today is like science day, and we only have Chemistry and Biology, except for an hour of English and then French for an hour and a half. We ate with everyone, and I was still overexcited for Friday. But I was also beginning to stress. For the moment it was manageable, but I knew it was going to get out of control in the days, maybe hours coming. I'm going to train at home too, weight-lift, do aerobics and cardio, so my condition will be the greatest on Friday. I won't work Thursday, to let my muscles and my body rest, or I won't be able to give the best of my self on the day. I finally sent a message to Phil, thanking him for the great opportunity and everything, since I couldn't bring myself to it on Sunday, because of the shock. Now that our English class has ended, I'm heading to french with Calum.

" Still excited about Friday I see?" He asked, amused.

" Of course I am!" I exclaimed. "I cannot wait!"

" Roxy, please, don't get too overjoyed." He said calmly." I trust your skills and all, but I don't want you to be annihilated if something goes wrong."

" I know, I'm sorry I just can't help myself."

The teacher told us to come in, and the hour and a half of torture debuted. I was almost falling asleep on my chair, when the bell rung. I made some of the way home with CalPal, but then we had to part ways. I came back to my house and did my homework in a record time. I then turned on some music, to start training. Rage Against The Machine seemed appropriate to the moment, so I settled down to that. I started stretching, and then did some exercises without weights. I then proceeded to add weights on my ankles, then on my waist, and to finish, on my wrists. The last part of the training, with all three kinds of weights was particularly hard and demanded a lot of effort from me. I trained for an hour and a half before deciding I had done enough. I put down the weights in their original places, and went for a shower. As I stepped out, Mom was calling me for dinner. I got in my pj's real quick and almost ran to the kitchen. I then ran again, but that was to get in bed this time. Tomorrow was my last training before the meeting with the ROH manager, I had to be really awake. I spent a really good night, strangely, and awoke next day, full of energy. Energy that was annihilated by my morning classes. During lunch, it got a bit better since I was with friends, but it went all the way down during my afternoon classes. But it suddenly reached sky high, when the bell rang, after my French class. I ran outside and was preparing to go to the dojo, but I saw a familiar face waiting for me in front of the school.

" Phil?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

" I'm picking you up, so we can directly go to the ring." He smiled. "I'm saving you a 15 minutes walk."

" Well thank you prince charming, can I hop on your coach now?" I asked impatiently.

" Ah, excited much, I see." He teased.

" Of course I am!" I almost yelled. "For fuck's sake now, please, I want to train before Friday!"

" Okay okay, don't be a bitch!" He laughed.

" You are the one being a bitch right now, punk!" I said as he entered the car.

" Hey that's a good name!" He exclaimed, while starting the engine.

" What are you talking about?"

" Punk, as a ring name. I still haven't found a great one. I wanted something with CM before, for personal reasons, but I didn't know what word to put after." He explained. "But CM Punk, yeah, that sounds really nice."

" I hope you'll give me credit for that one." I said.

" Hey I already almost got you a contract, what do you want more!"

" Okay, you're right on that one."

We both laughed all the way to the room, and wrestled there for almost 3 hours, before we both called it quits.

" Do you think you're ready for Friday?" Phil asked out of breath.

" I hope I am." I said seriously. "If I miss this one, maybe I won't ever get an opportunity again."

" You'll do amazing."

We changed and He drove me back to my place. He kissed my cheek as he was parking his car in front of my house. I blushed a bit and quickly escaped the car, before he could notice. I practically ran to my home, to get a shower, some diner and go to sleep, as I always do.

The rest of the week was boring. I went to my classes on Wednesday and then trained at home. I did the same on Thursday, except that I rested instead of training. And Friday seemed like the longest day I've ever had, even worse than Monday. I was really excited to perform, but also really nervous. Today, Phil picked me up from school once again. When we arrived to the gymnasium, a guy was here, dressed casually, but still kinda classy. I suppose he's the manager Phil told me about. He shook his hand warmly and then shook mine.

" So, you're Roxanne erm Colton that's right?" He asked me.

" Yep, that's me."

" That's funny Phil, is she anyways realted to Scott?" He asked him. Who the hell is Scott, I am confused.

" Well nope, I don't think so."

" Good good." He mumbled. "Now how about you two go get changed and show me some action alright?"

We both nodded, and I got changed in record time. I even got out before Phil, which is a first time. So I started stretching while the manager was asking me questions about my life, and my motivations. Then Phil arrived, stretched as well, and we got on the ring. The Manager set a timer.

" You guys have 15 minutes to show what she's worth." He announced. "Starting now."

We agreed with Phil that he would go easy on me so that I could show some impressive moves he taught me. And when I'm done with my demo, he would go a little harder on me, to show how I block, reverse, but also how I fall and everything. The 15 minutes went by in a flash, and when the man said stop, I was panting. It was kid of intense, and I had all the stress in me.

" Okay guys, come down."

We both climbed out of the ring, and Phil handed me a towel.

" Okay, first I wanna say, it's pretty impressive for a woman to do some of the moves you did, especially on a guy." He started out. " I'm gonna go cash on you okay?" He announced. " You lack some training and technique, but that's not a big deal, every wrestler in activity is still learning, you'll just maybe need to get some time where you won't appear on TV shows, but will still wrestle in cities, that's not a major problem. The big deal is, you're only 19, so you're not legal in the USA. And by the time you come of age, I can't guarantee you that there will still be a place for you in ROH." He said, and my world started to crumble. "I"m sorry miss, I would have really liked to work with you, you're a really talented person, and everyone can see that you truly love wrestling." I felt tears coming to my eyes, but I kept my composure as much as I can.

" Are you serious?" Phil interrupted. "Can't we find a solution for that? She'll be 20 this year, can't we find her a tutor for like 1 year or something?"

" Phillip, do you know anyone who'd be down to take care of a girl they don't know?"

" I can tutor her !" I looked at him in shocked. He was really doing his best to give me a shot at ROH.