Two of a Kind - Royal Flush Wrestling (C-Verse)

[Scapino1974]

Wednesday of Week 3, February 2020

I had no idea that half of Grace’s extended relatives didn’t speak English. That little fact had never come up in conversation before.

It made singing happy birthday really awkward.

Actually, it wasn’t just that. Grace’s dad is a Methodist minister and he can be…a little intense. He kind of looms over everything that happens in his family. I knew that would be the case when Grace’s mom invited me to celebrate her 19th birthday. I knew it wouldn’t exactly be a bacchanalia. No way Reverend Kil (and yes, he insisted I call him that) would let that happen. Half of the guests were Grace’s relatives. The other half were kids from her youth group. And while they seemed nice enough, they all seemed rather…tame. Especially compared to Grace.

But that’s the crazy thing: Grace was different as well. When her folks were around, Grace kind of hid inside of herself. She was demure, quiet, polite. Definitely not my brash friend who once dared me to try to set my farts on fire. Yeah, it was cliche, but we were still pretty young.

As the singing wrapped up and Mrs. Kil brought the cake out, Grace smiled and nodded to the guests. She glanced at me and winked, then leaned over to blow out the candles. The guests applauded politely and then Mrs. Kil started dishing up the cake.

Grace got the first two pieces and brought one over to me. “Thanks for coming.”

“And miss all this?” I waved my fork at the party. “I’m worried the cops are going to be called to shut all of this down.”

Grace giggled. “Gotta go make the rounds. Sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

She slipped away and went over to her uncle and struck up a conversation in Korean. I wound up chatting up one of her youth group friends, a nice enough girl named Melody. She went to the private Catholic high school in town. Even though she was two years younger than me, she had already applied to a Lutheran college in the Twin Cities so she could become a teacher. Good for her.

The front door to the Kil house banged open. “Hey, Diamond! Where are you?”

I laughed out loud as Jack Pryde and Billy “Wild Red Stallion” Chase strolled into the kitchen. I started to walk over to them but then Grace snared my arm.

“What are they doing here?” she whispered frantically.

I looked at her, ready to tease her about party crashers, but her horrified expression stopped me short.

“I…uh, I may have told them about the party,” I said. “What’s the big—”

She made a beeline for Jack and Billy, dragging me along behind. We intercepted them just as Grace’s parents walked up to them.

“Grace?” Reverend Kil said, staring at Jack and Billy over the top of his glasses. “Who are these…boys?”

Jack started to say something, but Grace piped up. “Friends from school, Papa. This is Jack Pryde and Billy Chase.”

Reverend Kil frowned. “I don’t believe you’ve ever spoken of them before.”

“That’s because they don’t actually go to our school. We met them at a wrestling tournament this year. Right, John?” She elbowed me.

"Right! Tournament. That’s how we met.”

Billy and Jack exchanged confused looks. But thankfully, Jack went along with it.

“Absolutely. You guys…really showed our team a thing or too. Go Wildcats!”

“Can I speak with the three of you really quick?” Grace said. “Please?”

Billy nodded, but before we walked away, he shook hands with Grace’s parents. Jack smiled, but he shot an uncertain look at me.

Grace led us out the front door. She turned to us, and she still looked terrified.

“Grace, what’s going on?” I asked.

She winced. “My parents…they don’t know about Royal Flush Wrestling.”

“They what?” I asked.

“How is that possible?” Billy added.

“John and I handle most of the business at school or over the phone. And the shows are only one night out of the month,” she said.

“Where do they think you are during All In?” I asked.

“At a friend’s house. You know Melody? She covers for me. I tell Mom and Dad that we’re having a sleepover at her place.”

“And they buy that? On a school night?” I asked.

She shrugged. “So far. I’m lining up some other alibis.” She hugged herself.

“That’s messed up, Grace. You should just tell them,” Jack said.

“It’s not that simple,” Grace said.

“Family never is,” Billy said.

“Look, I’m glad you two came to the party. I am. You guys are awesome. Just…don’t say anything about RFW. Okay? For me?”

“You got it. For the rest of this afternoon, I’m just a humble Wildcat. Go Cats!” Jack shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Billy and Jack headed into the party with Jack doing his best high school jock impersonation. Grace pulled on my arm.

“I am so sorry,” I said. “If I had known—”

“You would have known if I told you,” she said. “I’m sorry for putting you in that position.”

We stood in an awkward silence. It was the first time in as long as I could remember that I felt uncomfortable around Grace. This weird secret felt…well, like a chasm between us. No, that’s too big. What’s smaller than a chasm? A gorge? A valley? A ditch? No…bigger than that…

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

Her quiet question snapped me back to reality. This was my friend and she always would be. And she hadn’t lied to me…well, not exactly. But there was something that wasn’t adding up to me.

“Your dad came to all of our wrestling matches. Why would this be any different?”

Grace laughed mirthlessly. “Oh please. You know the difference.”

I shook my head. “Okay, so the endings are predetermined, but what we do at RFW is just as athletic as what we did for Coach Oliver.”

“It’s not just that. Think about how most promotions treat women. Think about how the SWF used to be, with all the innuendo and skimpy outfits for the women. You think the right Reverend Kil would want his precious Diamond to do that?”

“Like I would ever do that to you!”

She smiled. “I know, but Dad won’t care. And besides, he was never all that excited about me wrestling boys to begin with. Think back to all of my matches. Did you ever see him smile?”

Sure I did. But the more I thought about it, those smiles always came after the matches were over. While Grace was actually wrestling, Reverend Kil usually sat with his arms crossed and scowling. I always chalked that up to him being nervous about how she’d do.

“But don’t you think you should tell them?” I asked.

Grace blew out a long breath and nodded. “The way I figure it, if I can make it a few more months, I’ll be off to college and then, I’ll have a little more freedom, right?”

“Sure.” The lie came easily enough.

She smiled and gave me a quick hug. “Thanks, Ace. You’re the best.”

“Remember that next time you start arguing with me about a booking decision,” I said. “I’m still booking the Championship match my way.”

She socked me in the arm and we went back into the party.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Needless to say, trying to keep things a secret made life a whole lot more awkward.

Out of solidarity with Grace, I decided to not say much about RFW to my parents either. I hadn’t been quite as tight-lipped as Grace, but I’m not entirely sure they understood what Grace and I were talking about. The way my dad talked about it, he thought Grace and I were involved in some sort of fantasy football thing but with wrestling. I didn’t correct that mistaken impression. Pretty soon, Dad didn’t talk about it anymore and Mom left it alone too.

That didn’t mean we were out of the woods yet, though. We had a few more months before we made it to a safe place where we wouldn’t have to hide it anymore. I had no idea what I was going to tell my parents the next time we had All In. I doubted I could use the same excuse as Grace. Mom would freak out if she thought I was at a boy/girl sleepover.

But I still had some time to figure things out. At the end of February, I pulled together our financials again. I was a little nervous, especially given how rough this month’s All In had been. But when I checked the bottom line, I was pleasantly surprised. More than that. Can a person be pleasantly shocked?

“We’re up to $6,287,” I told Grace over lunch. “We made almost $2,300.”

“That’s amazing!” she said, giving me a quick high five.

“No, you’re amazing.”

She smiled and turned her attention to her lunch.

She was, too. Although I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like what was making us the money was the sponsorship deals Grace kept finding. Some of the local businesses in Rochester were more than happy to toss a few bucks our way for their advertisements to be set up in the Civic Center at All In.

“So we’re not losing money.” Grace almost phrased it as a question, but I knew it wasn’t. The real question was using that statement as cover.

“For now we’re not,” I said.

“Couldn’t we afford some more wrestlers? I mean, the guys we have are good, but the only one who’s even a little over right now is Quentin,” Grace said. “We could probably use some folks with a little more name recognition.”

She had a point. So far, we had been lucky. The crowds seemed fine with the matches we were putting on. But if we wanted to grow more popular, we’d need some people the audience would identify as actual stars.

“Any ideas?” I asked.

“A couple. There’s this one lady, Talia Quinzel? She’s supposed to be amazing.”

“Grace! No women!”

“C’mon! You get to wrestle. I want to too!”

I gritted my teeth. I hated to do this…

“And when your dad finds out what you’re up to?”

Her head snapped back as if I had slapped her.

“Low blow, Ace,” she muttered.

It was. I knew it was. I held up my hands in surrender. “Look, I get it. I do. But I still don’t think we’re there yet. Give it some more time.”

She glared at me. “Fine. For now.”

I sighed. “For now.”

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Blake Trask]

That is low. Damn, dude.

[Scapino1974]

Monday of Week 2, March 2020

As Mrs. Orleans went over the answers to the quiz, I surreptitiously hid my phone behind my textbook and logged onto TEW.com. I had noticed a lively debate starting in the forums before school about RFW’s latest show. Some of them were excited about the direction of the company while others were predicting a spectacular crash and burn in our future. I frowned. Hopefully I’d be able to come up with some good feuds, especially in the main event scene. We’d have to finish the tournament first, but—

The bell rang, snapping me out of my reverie. I quickly gathered up my things, slipping my phone into my pocket. I hurried into the hall, keeping an eye out for Grace. She was the one who pointed out the debate on the forum. I could already imagine what she was going to say…about…

I slowed to a halt as I noticed small knots of students clustered around some of the lockers. They were all laughing and giggling and… Why did one of them say Grace’s name?

I pushed my way past the crowd to the locker and froze. Someone had taped a picture of Grace to the locker, only someone had Photoshopped her head onto someone else’s body. Based on the costume and the audience outside the ring, that “someone else” was obviously from Babes of Sin City. It wasn’t particularly well done, but it didn’t need to be. Whoever made the picture had included the caption “Daddy’s Little Diamond.”

Ice sluiced through my veins. “Grace’s” costume left little to the imagination, the fabric barely covering anything. And Grace’s facial expression was just close enough to a “come hither” look that it kind of worked.

I quickly ripped the picture off the locker, crumpling it up and slipping it into my pocket. My classmates complained about how I was no fun, but I didn’t care. Hopefully Grace hadn’t seen that and…

As I turned around, I realized that she probably had. The poster I took down wasn’t the only one. Dozens dotted the lockers and each one had an audience. I stumbled down the hall, jostled by students who hurried to class. Rather than move on to English, I moved through the halls. Maybe whoever did this had limited themselves to one hall.

They hadn’t. There had to be hundreds of them. Every hall had them. Even as the bell rang for the next period, I kept exploring. Every hall. Hundreds of posters. I didn’t even bother to pull them down. I was tempted to at first, but then I realized the damage had been done. Everyone had seen it by this point.

Including Grace.

I found her in the science hallway, holding one of the posters in her hands. Her face was ashen and her hands trembled. When she saw me, she held up the picture.

“What is this?” she whispered.

I mouthed several answers, but I couldn’t say any of them. Did she think I had done this? No, she had to know better. I was just as horrified as she was.

“Kil! Hart! My office. Now!”

I winced. Unfortunately, I knew that voice all too well. We had been summoned by Principal Rutledge.

Rutledge led us to her office. She was a stout woman, thickly built. She radiated menace. For a moment, I idly wondered how over she could get with the right gimmick and opponents. No, focus! Those kind of thoughts were not helpful, not right now.

We entered her office, a stark room with a large metal desk and little by way of warmth or personality. It matched the occupant. She jabbed a finger at two chairs facing the desk and then settled in behind it. She eyed both of us and then slid a copy of the poster across the desk.

“Care to explain this?” she asked.

Grace and I exchanged a look. Tears glistened in her eyes, so I cleared my throat.

“Ms. Rutledge, I have no idea what—”

“Can it, Hart,” she growled. “Look, I’ve heard the rumors. You two started up some sort of wrestling company and are having shows down at the Civic Center. Technically that’s none of my business. So long as you two keep up on your grades and don’t kill yourselves doing it, I can’t say anything about it. But I can’t allow you to advertise your shows here, especially with imagery like this. I don’t know who else you had working on this stunt, but I’m going to have to call your parents to—”

“What?” I said.

“No!” Grace shouted over me, her voice desperate.

“You think we did this?” I continued.

Rutledge’s frown deepened. “Didn’t you?”

“No!” I said. “We don’t have any idea where these came from.”

“Please don’t call my parents,” Grace whispered.

Rutledge looked between the two of us. She leaned back in her chair. “You really didn’t do this?”

“No, ma’am.”

“This isn’t an advertisement for your…shows?”

“No, ma’am. If it was, it’s not a good one. We don’t have our logo on it or any information about where or when the shows are. There’s not even a website.” I leaned forward and tapped the picture. “And Grace doesn’t wrestle in our shows. Not only that, but this isn’t even a picture of her. Look.”

I spent a few moments pointing out the obvious flaws in the Photoshop. As I did, Rutledge’s frown deepened even more, but she didn’t say anything.

Once I was done, I summed it up: “Someone’s trying to hurt Grace.”

Grace sniffled, and Rutledge turned her gaze to her. She stared at Grace for a very tense thirty seconds, and then her expression softened ever so slightly. She pulled out a kleenex box and passed it to Grace. She took several of them and dabbed at her eyes.

“So if it wasn’t you, do you have any idea who is responsible?” she asked.

Once again, Grace and I exchanged uncertain looks. I couldn’t think of anyone. From her expression, Grace couldn’t either. I finally shrugged.

Rutledge blew out a long breath. “Very well. I will have Mr. Monat review the surveillance tapes and see who did this. Once we’ve determined the culprit, we’ll call in your parents to—”

“No! Please. I’m serious. Don’t call my parents.” Grace looked down at the poster in her hand. As she did, her expression changed. Her gaze flicked back and forth and she frowned. Then she looked up at Ms. Rutledge and, when she spoke, her voice was calm. Even. Determined. “They don’t need to know about this.”

“Ms. Kil, this is a serious situation,” Rutledge says. “We have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to bullying and sexual harassment.”

“I understand, but…what if John and I take down all of the posters? We’ll throw them all out and that’ll be it.”

“What if this happens again?” Rutledge asked.

“It won’t.” Grace’s voice was steady, very sure of herself. “And if it does, you can call my parents then. Just please, don’t call them now.”

Rutledge studied her face, but then she nodded slowly. “All right. But I don’t want to hear about any incidents arising out of this, understood? No fighting, no bullying, nothing like that.”

“You won’t, ma’am.”

Rutledge nodded then pointed toward the door. “You two had better get to work then.”

Grace left the office faster than I could. I thanked Ms. Rutledge and followed my friend out into the hall. She was already at work, tearing down the posters closest to the office. Her expression was unreadable, but I could still see the fire in her eyes.

“Grace, talk to me. What’s going on?” I asked.

She glared at me, and then pointed to the picture. “Look at my head. What do you see?”

I looked, trying very hard to ignore her fake body. I frowned. It was obviously Grace, with her hair tucked up in a ponytail with some loose to frame her face. What was she hoping I’d see?

“That picture was taken last month at All In,” she said. “Probably from when I was in the ring, welcoming people to the show.”

“How can you be sure?”

She gave me a condescending look. “I spent an hour agonizing how to do my hair. And look down by my neck. They didn’t completely cut out my shirt. That’s from All In. And it’s not from a photo we have on the website.”

I pulled up my phone and jumped to RFW’s website. It was a clunky mess, which made sense since I put it together. But I flipped through the photos we had and, sure enough, none of them matched what was on the posters.

“That means that someone was at All In and took that picture. And they might be back next time,” Grace said.

Her logic had a few flaws in it. For one thing, whoever made the posters might have found a picture of Grace somewhere else, like Instragram. And even if that wasn’t true, there was no guarantee that whoever took the picture would be back. But I recognized the look Grace wore.

“So what do you want to do?” I asked.

“For starters, we take down these.” She ripped another down and crumpled it up. “And then…we get ready to ask someone some very pointed questions.”

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Pteroid]

There’s only one person so depraved to do such a thing…GARRY’S DOLL OUT FOR REVENGE!

[Scapino1974]

RFW All In
Sunday of Week 2, March 2020
The Rochester Civic Center in Rochester, MN
67 in attendance

Grace Kil and Curt Meritt welcomed the audience to the show.

1. Texas Hangman started out the show in the ring. He said that he was happy to be in Minnesota once again, but he complained that two months ago, his partner, Wild Red Stallion, got injured. He said that’s what ultimately led to them losing the championship last month. While he was upset that it happened, he said that this sort of thing happened. While Wild Red Stallion was still out injured and couldn’t compete, Hangman put the Scofield Index on notice. The Silver Bullet was coming for them and—

But then Masked Mauler VII came out to the ring entrance. He said that Hangman had nothing to complain about. At least he and his partner were actually included in the tournament. He and Dreadnought had to cool their heels while Hangman and clowns like Garry the Entertainer and Zippy Deverell got to wrestle. 

Hangman cut him off and said that, based on what he had seen lately, Masked Mauler had nobody to blame but himself. If he and Dreadnought felt slighted, they should prove it in the ring. How about tonight?

RATING: 26

2. JOHN “ACE” HART vs. JAY SILVER (A semi-final match for the RFW Championship)

This was an okay match, all things considered. Jay and I shook hands before the bell and then we put on a decent clinic on how to run a match. In the end, I picked up the pin and the win.

WINNER: John “Ace” Hart in 16:02
RATING: 31

3. In a video shot in the backstage area, Dreadmask found Garry the Entertainer and Zippy Deverell and beat the ever-loving tar out of them. While Grace and Curt tried to play up the carnage, the audience simply did not care. Not even a little. Like, at all. I think they all went to the bathroom. Even the lady who clapped once last time sat on her hands. Wow. 

RATING: 0

4. CHIP MARTIN vs. PRIME TIME JACK PRYDE

This was a chance for Chip to show off a little, but the match dragged in the middle. Worse, at one point, Jack was “making eyes” at Grace (I think it was supposed to be a work, but who knows with Jack) and, as a result, he botched a simple move. Chip managed to roll through, but you could see the anger simmering in Chip’s eyes, especially as Jack picked up the pin and the win.

WINNER: Prime Time Jack Pryde in 12:25
RATING: 12

5. TEXAS HANGMAN vs. MASKED MAULER VII

Mauler was bound and determined to make an example of the Hangman. Hangman tried to rally a few times, but Mauler wasn’t going to let him. Curt confidently predicted that Mauler was going to pick up the win.

But then Zippy Deverell rushed to ringside. While referee Quincy Jargon checked on a battered Hangman, Zippy called Mauler over to ropes and then squirted him in the face with a flower. Mauler swiped at his face and stumbled around the ring until he walked right into a chokeslam. 

WINNER: Texas Hangman in 11:43
RATING: 27

6. Grace got into the ring with the Scofield Index. Jerry and Pepper bragged on how they had risen to the top of the RFW. They boldly predicted that no one would take their titles away any time soon.

But then some hip hop music started playing. Two new workers came out to the ring. They introduced themselves to Jerry and Pepper (and the crowd) as Fro Sure and Papa Swoll, the Kings, and that they had come to check out the competition.

Pepper boldly laid down a challenge that Papa Swoll accepted. Jerry and Fro Sure seemed a little lost without a script, but they nodded at the right times.

I watched Grace from the ring entrance. While she didn’t let on that she wasn’t listening to what the wrestlers were saying, I could tell that she was paying more attention to the crowd. At one point, she seemed to lock on to someone in the crowd and a predatory smile tugged at her lips.

RATING: 27

7. THE KINGS vs. THE SCOFIELD INDEX

Maybe Papa Swoll did most of the driving but he was off his game tonight. In spite of that, the Kings put on some great offense, enough that you could tell that the champs were nervous about this new competition, especially when Fro Sure was in the ring. He was on fire! In the end, Jerry Pepper blatantly low-blowed Papa Swoll, disqualifying himself.

WINNERS: The Kings by DQ in 11:51
RATING: 33

8. FLYING PATRIOT vs. QUENTIN QUEEN (A semi-final match for the RFW Championship)

The crowd cooled just a little for this match, but Patriot and Quentin did their best to get them stoked up again. Patriot took to the skies and Quentin tried to keep him grounded. Eventually, Quentin caught Patriot out of the air and put him down for good with a Q-Ball.

WINNER: Quentin Queen in 19:31
RATING: 32

I gathered the wrestlers together and thanked them for their hard work. I praised Fro Sure for his incredible work in the ring. I also tried to soothe Chip Martin for the way he handled the match. And I tried to warn Jack about losing focus in the ring. He seemed to listen, but time would tell.

Before the wrestlers could leave, Grace snagged my arm, as well as that of Hangman and Papa Swoll. “I need your guys’ help.”

FINAL RATING: 30

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Grace led us out of the Civic Center toward the parking lot. There weren’t that many cars out there. Most of the fans had apparently already left. But Grace didn’t seem to care. She led us on a beeline straight toward one of the cars, a beat up Prius off to one side.

“What’s going on, boss?” Hangman whispered.

While I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what was going to happen, I kept quiet. Hopefully this wasn’t what I thought it was.

My heart sank when I spotted Glenn Riley in the parking lot. Glenn was a junior from our school. I didn’t know him that well; we definitely did not travel in the same circles. But he had a large camera hanging around his neck as he spoke in his phone.

“—think I got some good shots this time,” he was saying as we approached. “No, nothing like that. I told you, she doesn’t wear that sort of…”

His voice trailed off as he turned and spotted us. He quickly hung up and started to fight with his car door, trying to get it open.

Hangman, to his credit, seemed to know what needed to happen before Grace said anything. The big man darted forward and quickly blocked Glenn’s door. Papa Swoll was a step behind him, stepping up behind Glenn and sandwiching him between the two big men. Grace stalked up to him.

“H-hey there, Grace. John.” Glenn looked between Swoll and Hangman before turning to Grace. “Wh-what’s going on?”

“You tell me, Glenn.” Grace injected some serious venom into his name. “Enjoy the show?”

“Uh…yeah, I did.”

“Better than last month’s? I thought tonight wasn’t quite as good. How about you?”

“Last month’s was…okay, I guess.”

“So what were you taking pictures of?” Grace asked.

Glenn shied away from her, but Hangman put a big hand on his shoulder, holding him still. He winced. “Just some of the…well, the action. You know.”

“Any pictures of me on there?” Grace’s voice was a bare whisper.

Glenn glanced between Hangman and Swoll and flinched. “N-no.”

“Son, you sure you’re tellin’ this lady the truth?” Hangman growled.

“Be seriously uncool if I checked your camera and found out you were lying,” Swoll added.

“Why are you taking pictures of me, Glenn?” Grace asked.

He whimpered. “F-for the Horizon.”

I frowned. The Horizon was the school newspaper. “Why?”

“People have heard rumors about what you guys are up to. Chet thought it sounded pretty cool and we thought we’d do an article on it.”

Grace smiled, a predatory flash of teeth. “The Horizon, huh? That’s funny, because no one from the Horizon contacted us about doing a story and you’d think they’d want someone to do that so they get their facts straight. Not only that, I know you’re not on staff anymore.”

Glenn paled. “Wh-what?”

She nodded. “Tammy told me all about it. Something about how you were using the school computers after hours. So I’m going to ask you again, Glenn: why are you taking pictures of me?”

Hangman must have tightened his grip, because Glenn started to squirm. I ground my teeth. I’m pretty sure we had crossed Rutledge’s line a while ago. Granted, I didn’t think Glenn would say anything, given how scared he looked, but this wasn’t right. I had to put a stop to it. Now.

I stepped forward. “Guys, can you give me a minute.”

“Sure thing, boss man,” Swoll said, then thumped Glenn in the chest. “Good to meet you, Glenn.”

Hangman let him go and he stumbled. Grace and the others took a few steps away.

“Glenn, I’m sorry about this. But those posters at school made Grace really upset. We just want to know who made them. That’s all. You tell me that and delete whatever pictures you took, and this is all over, okay?” I said.

Glenn rubbed his shoulder and looked over at Grace. He nodded. “It was Mark Latrell. He wanted the pictures. And I think he made the posters. I mean, I would have done a better job Photoshopping it if—”

“You might want to keep that opinion to yourself, Glenn,” I said. 

He nodded. “But I didn’t know he was going to do that with the pictures.”

“Speaking of which.” I nodded toward his camera.

“Oh, right.” He turned it on and scrolled through the pictures he had taken, deleting each one as he went. Sure enough, each one of them was of Grace. As much as I hated to admit it, Glenn had some nice shots. He had captured Grace’s vibrant personality as she chatted with Curt at the announce table and interviewed the Scofield Index in the ring.

“Tell you what, Glenn,” I said. “What if I buy the shots from you instead? Say…two hundred bucks for all of them?”

I pulled the amount out of the air, but apparently that was more than enough. Glenn’s eyes widened. “R-really?”

“Yeah, I think we can use these for some promo materials. Tell you what. Why don’t you come back next month too and keep taking pictures. But obviously not just of Grace next time, okay?”

Glenn nodded vigorously and shook my hand. “You got it. B-but…what will Grace say? And what will I tell Mark?”

I glanced over at Grace, who glowered at Glenn. “Don’t worry about her. I’ll handle it. As for Mark… Tell him you got a better offer. And leave him to me as well.”

That seemed to do it. I gave Glenn my email address and he beat a hasty retreat.

When I walked over to the others, Hangman crossed his arms over his chest. “You guys wanna tell me what that was about?”

I told the story in broad strokes. By the time I was done, Swoll shook his head. “I am so glad I’m not in high school anymore.”

“You and me both. We done here?” Hangman asked.

I dismissed them and they headed back to the locker room.

Once I knew they were out of earshot, I turned to Grace. “What were you thinking?”

She giggled. “I seriously thought he was going to pee himself.”

“He probably would have. And then we would have been in serious trouble. What were you thinking?”

“What were you thinking? Why didn’t you jump in sooner?” she asked.

I stared at her blankly. She nodded.

“You were the good cop to my bad cop. If you would have waited much longer—”

“You never told me that’s what we were doing!” I snapped.

“Oh.” She blinked, and then smiled. “Well, what did you find out?”

I considered stringing her along. She deserved as much. But I sighed. “It was Mark Latrell.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“He didn’t exactly say,” I said.

“Oh.” 

We stood in silence for a few moments while Grace chewed on this information.

“So what do you want to do?”

Grace finally shook her head. “Nothing.”

“What?”

“Let’s see what happens when Mark doesn’t get any new photos. We don’t want to do anything that will get Rutledge on us, right?” Grace asked.

And having two of our workers threaten a 17 year old didn’t count?

“Well, let’s get back in there and finish cleaning up.” She slapped my arm. “Good show tonight, huh?”

With that, she headed back to the locker room, leaving me in the dark parking lot and wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

The other shoe never really dropped.

In the weeks that followed All In, I kept my ear to the ground at school. As near as I could tell, Rutledge never figured out who was responsible for the posters. At least, I didn’t hear anything about Mark or his friends getting in trouble. And no one seemed to be hassling Glenn for backing out. So either Glenn had been lying to me about who was responsible (possible but unlikely) or Mark decided not to push his luck. I was kind of okay with that, even if it left me feeling like I had something heavy dangling over my head.

In spite of that, though, the month ended on two positive notes. First of all, we ended the month with $9,018, meaning we made $2,191. And I got a text earlier in the week telling me that Wild Red Stallion was on the mend and ready to wrestle again.

All told, not a bad way to end a month. But I still couldn’t figure why Mark put up those posters or what he hoped to gain by doing so. As long as Grace was good, though, I figured it was best to leave well enough alone.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

I would never admit this to my mom, but I was really excited about my party.

I know, I know. A 19 year old, giddy about a birthday? But I was. It’s not that my mom threw elaborate parties. Anything but. Usually it was a couple of cheap decorations from Party City relating to whatever my latest obsession was. Or renting a movie on Amazon Prime. You know, something really simple that ended with cake.

Maybe it was because I knew this was my last birthday before I went off to…whatever I was going to do. I still had no idea. College of some kind? Technical school? About the only thing I knew for sure was that RFW would be involved. But whatever my next step was going to be, it would be one away from home, away from my parents, into the vast unknown. So hopefully I can be forgiven for wanting one last party.

I had no idea what she had up her sleeve. She had asked who I wanted there. That list was pretty short, truth be told. A couple of friends from school. Grace for sure. And if more of them were local, I might have invited over some of the guys. That might have been weird, I guess. Some of them were almost ten years older than me. I’m sure they would have had a blast hanging out with us.

When the day finally came, Mom had me “run some errands” for a few hours. She made a big deal about how she “needed my help,” but it was a transparent excuse. I wound up at the Apache Mall and wandered through the Barnes and Noble for a while. When the time was up, I went home and discovered what she had been up to: she had somehow gotten her hands on about eight TVs and Stallings Rigs and set them up throughout our house. There was a huge tournament bracket hung on the wall of our kitchen.

“What is this?” I asked.

Mom smiled. “Well, I figured that you and your friends could figure out who’s the best SWF Supreme Challenge player.”

I looked at her in surprise. “What?”

She nodded. “It took me a while to find enough copies of the games. And I had to consult your cousin, Ricky, to figure out how all of this is going to work. He’s coming to the party, by the way, as a thank you for helping.”

I waved away that little detail. Ricky was cool for a twelve year old.

“Do you like it?” she asked.

I gave her a big hug. “It’s perfect, Mom. This is going to be so much fun!”

She positively beamed. “Well, the guests should start showing up in about a half hour. You can change if you want. Otherwise, just relax.”

I laughed and did another walk through the house. Not only had Mom gotten the Rigs, but she had also put out action figures and printed out pictures of different wrestlers. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that most of them worked for USPW.

I pulled out my phone and texted Grace: “Wait until you see what Mom put together for my party.”

It took her a long time to reply: “Call me.”

Uh oh. That couldn’t be good. I hit the right button.

“Hey. What’s going on?” I asked.

I could hear her on the other end, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, I could hear people talking and laughing in the background.

“John, I…I’m not going to be there tonight.”

My head snapped back as if I had been hit. “What? Why?”

“It’s my dad,” she said. “He decided that today would be a good day for a college visit. We’re at St. Olaf right now.”

Okay, so that wasn’t that far away. Maybe an hour or so of driving and she could be here. “Well, get here when you can and—”

“No, you don’t get it. He’s scheduled dinner with some of the kids from church who go here, just to ‘check in on them’ and see how they’re doing. We won’t be back until late.”

This made absolutely no sense. The minute Mom figured out the date for the party, she had called Mrs. Kil immediately to get it on their calendar. This would be the first time since the third grade that Grace wasn’t at my birthday party, and that was only because Grace got the flu that year. Reverend Kil knew how important it was to me for her to be here. So why would he schedule this for today.

Unless— “Does he know?”

Grace paused, long enough that my stomach started churning.

“I don’t think so,” she whispered. “At least, he hasn’t let on like he has. You know how he gets really quiet when he’s mad about something?”

Oh, yeah. I was familiar with that.

“Well, he was extremely chatty and happy all the way up here. No hint of any disapproval or anger or anything like that.”

“So why did he pick today? Why like this?”

Another long pause. “I think…I think he’s trying to find a college for me closer to home.”

I frowned. Grace was going to go to the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities come fall, and that wasn’t that much farther away than St. Olaf. And St. Olaf was one of the most expensive private colleges in Minnesota. Why would he consider that a good option.

“Grace…what’s really going on?”

She sighed, and the background noise faded. “You remember how I was thinking about applying to UCLA?”

I frowned. Last fall, Grace had joked about sending in her application to UCLA so she could sneak over to Hollywood and “get discovered.”

“Well, I really did send in my application. And I got accepted.”

The twisting in my stomach tore open into a gaping pit. “What are you saying? Are you going?”

“I-I don’t know.” She paused. “Maybe. It’s a good opportunity.”

Well, sure. But what about RFW? What about… what about…

“Look, I need to get back. We’ll talk more when I get back, okay?”

“Okay,” I mumbled.

“And John?”

“Yeah?”

“Happy birthday.”

She hung up and I limply tucked my phone away and stared at a picture of Tana the Mighty. I don’t know how long I stood there, but the next thing I knew, my party guests started to arrive. Most of them were from the wrestling team. A couple were people Mom insisted I invite. And of course, my cousin Ricky.

“Hey, Ace! What’s going on in that brain of yours?” Cassidy Blaine, the wrestling team captain, clapped me on the back.

I forced myself to smile. “Nothing worth talking about.”

“Then let’s do this! I am going to destroy you tonight, Ace. You ready for that?”

I think he was trying to imitate Dominic DeSousa, but I couldn’t be sure. Cassidy was great on the mat, but he’d absolutely stink on the stick. Good thing high school wrestling didn’t include cutting promos.

It sounded like most of the guys had headed for the kitchen. Figured. Thinking with their stomachs now that the season was over and we didn’t have to watch our weight anymore. Sure enough, about a dozen guys had crowded around the central island, digging through the snacks. Mom watched them all, her face glowing with happiness.

I turned to Cassidy to make a crack about him joining the feeding frenzy. But the words died in my throat as I caught a glimpse of…of…

“Who is that?” I whispered.

Whoever she was, she was gorgeous. Almost as tall as me, with long blond hair and crystalline blue eyes, she wore tight jeans and a t-shirt with Belle Bryden…no, the shirt said Wanda Fish! A vintage AAA t-shirt?

“Oh, sorry about that, brah,” Cassidy said. “My cousin’s visiting from Albert Lea and Ma insisted that I bring her along. Do you mind?”

I didn’t answer. It felt like I drifted across the kitchen, drawn toward her. She looked in my direction and a smile tugged at her lips.

“You must be the birthday boy,” she said, and her voice caused a wave of needles to sweep over my skin.

“John Hart.” I stuck out my hand.

She shook it, firm and tight. “Abigail Thompson. Sorry to crash.”

“No worries at all,” I said. “You meet the guys yet?”

“Most of them.” Abigail’s smile brightened. “Although I was there at your last meet.”

“You were?” I asked.

She nodded. “It was a shame you lost that last match. I thought for sure you had him. But that Grace Kil? She’s something else, isn’t she?”

“Uh…yeah. She is.”

Abigail looked around the kitchen. “I was actually hoping to meet her. She’s not here?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Oh.” If she was disappointed, her face didn’t betray it. “Then I guess I have you all to myself then.”

Suddenly the evening wasn’t looking all that bad anymore.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[jtnlange]

This is great Scap. I like the story you weave, cant wait to see RFW hit it big time.

 

Keep it up :-)

 

Also welcome back, You have been missed

 

Trevor L.

[Scapino1974]

This is great Scap. I like the story you weave, cant wait to see RFW hit it big time.

 

Keep it up :-)

 

Also welcome back, You have been missed

 

Trevor L.

 

Thanks for that. I know there haven't been that many shows yet, but that's the problem with starting with nothing and going toward the top. You can only do so much, and there are so many blanks to fill in.

[Scapino1974]

RFW All In

Sunday of Week 2, April 2020

Held at the Rochester Civic Center in Rochester, MN

67 in attendance

 

“Happy birthday, Ace!”

I blinked as Fro Sure ushered me into the locker room. I looked around, my mouth swinging open. This looked more like a party than backstage at a wrestling show. Half the guys were clustered around a table and the other half…was Curt singing in a karaoke machine?

“What is going on?” I asked.

Fro Sure clapped me on the back. “Grace clued us in that it was birthday last week. So Chip over there—” He pointed to Chip Martin. “—he’s got a poker tournament going. Twenty-five to buy in, ante of ten, minimum raise of five.”

“Hundred?” I asked, aghast.

Fro laughed. “Cents, dude. You don’t pay us that good. And Curt found that karaoke machine in a closet and got it working. Sorry we started without you.”

I smiled. “No problem.”

The impromptu party didn’t last long. I tried my hand at Texas Hold ’Em but it turned out I couldn’t bluff worth anything. And there was no way I was going to sing. But I have to say, this lifted my spirits considerably. And it seemed to do the trick for a lot of the other guys too.

But I didn’t see Grace anywhere at the party.

***

Grace and Curt were at the announce table, and they welcomed the audience to the show.

1. I made my entrance and slid into the ring. I got on the mic and basically talked about how great RFW was shaping up to be. I said that I knew that the fans were behind us and, with their support, we were going to make Rochester a place that everyone associated with the best wrestling ever.

Quentin Queen came out to a rousing rendition of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” He cut off the music and told me to get out of the ring. He pointed out that I lost to him for the RFW Championship, and that if anyone deserved to be in the ring, it was him.

The two of us jawed back and forth at each other and I think we had the crowd pretty worked up by the end, if I do say so myself. But then, I wasn’t totally paying attention. I kept looking at Grace at the announce table, but she wouldn’t meet my gaze.

I finally called Quentin to the ring and demanded that we settle it right now. We started fighting, but Quincy Jargon ran out and separated us, shouting that we’d have a match later.

RATING: 42

 

2. TEXAS HANGMAN vs. COCKROACH CARTER

Cockroach does a pretty decent job of playing a big dumb goober. The crowd hissed at him, but unfortunately, when the match actually started, Cockroach proved to be a bit of a let down. The match dragged on until Hangman put Cockroach down with a chokeslam.

WINNER: Texas Hangman in 11:51

RATING: 16

 

3. WILD RED STALLION vs. DUSTIN DEUCE

Hangman’s partner came out and tried to work up the crowd with his return. He made a big show of warming up his shoulder and then locked up with Dustin Deuce, one of RFW’s new hires. Unfortunately, the crowd just wasn’t into it and they didn’t really care when Stallion put down Deuce.

WINNER: Wild Red Stallion in 8:02

RATING: 20

 

4. JOKERS WILD vs. THE HOT TAGGS

The Jokers hammed it up as they went down to the ring, performing up close magic for the crowd and laughing at their reactions. The Tagg brothers were more focused and came out to the ring with grim expressions.

The wrestling was pretty decent, with the Jokers frustrating the Taggs with lots of silly antics which only led to near falls. In the end, Garry took down Wolfie and pinned him.

WINNERS: Jokers Wild in 9:56

RATING: 27

 

5. The Jokers celebrated in the ring, only to have Dreadmask rush the ring and beat them down. The crowd cared, but only a little.

RATING: 8

 

6. FRO SURE vs. PETER CROCKETT

Fro Sure headed to the ring with a good deal of swagger. Waiting for him in the ring was Peter Crockett, our last new hire. They put on a really great match, all things considered. While Crockett tried to rally and get the upper hand, Fro Sure quickly put him down with a Sure Thing.

WINNER: Fro Sure in 6:10

RATING: 39

 

7. JOHN “ACE” HART vs. QUENTIN QUEEN for the RFW Championship

The crowd was actually kind of worked up for this, which surprised me. Quentin and I glared daggers at each other across the ring as Curt introduced us. And we did okay in the ring, all things considered. Quentin started off cocky but then got more and more worried as the match progressed. He just couldn’t drop me.

He finally managed to hit the Q-Ball on me, but my shoulder popped off the mat at two. This led to a great deal of frustration on his part as he worked me over, trying to get me to stay down. He couldn’t get much past two, though.

In the end, I managed to rally long enough to try to hit him with the Ace of Harts. But just as I was about to hit it, Quentin blocked me and hit me with another Q-Ball, this time putting me down for good.

WINNER: Quentin Queen in 31:25

RATING: 36

 

8. Quentin celebrated his win. The crowd sort of reacted to him, but it was clear that most of them were just ready to head home.

RATING: 8

***

The guys in the back got the party started again, but I waved them down and motioned for them to huddle up.

“We had a really good show tonight, probably our best yet. And that’s thanks to the hard work you all put into this. Fro Sure, you were amazing out there. I’d say you’re a lock for our next champ, but Quentin, you did such a great job, I’m not sure who I’d root for in that. And Wolfie, I know you’ve been taking a lot of pins lately, but I appreciate how selfless you are in doing so.

“Keep up the great work and…well, try not to break anything.”

They laughed and went back to the party. I turned and saw Grace standing by the locker room door. She motioned for me to follow her. I grit my teeth and did. We had to talk.

FINAL RATING: 34

 

Quick Results:

Quote

From RFW.com...

 

Here are the results from tonight's All In!

 

Texas Hangman defeated Cockroach Carter

Wild Red Stallion defeated Dustin Deuce

Jokers Wild defeated the Hot Taggs

Fro Sure defeated Peter Crockett

Quentin Queen defeated John "Ace" Hart to retain the RFW Championship

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

I found Grace sitting on the trunk of her car in the parking lot. It was a bit chilly—it’s April in Minnesota, after all—but she didn’t seem to care. I sat down next to her and waited. She hadn’t really spoken to me all week, avoiding me at school. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she was angry with me. But I had known Grace long enough to read her. She wasn’t angry. She was embarrassed.

She finally sighed. “I suppose you’ve got some questions.”

That was an understatement. But I wasn’t going to make her feel bad about this. “So California, huh?”

She shrugged.

“How did this happen?” I asked.

She stared at the pavement. “You remember that musical we did at church last year?”

I chuckled. Her church had put on a “musical extravaganza” based on the life of Paul the Apostle. As much as I teased Grace about it, it hadn’t been that bad. They had splurged on the sets and costumes and the music was pretty decent. Grace had played the narrator and also Paul’s conscience. I think. The plot was a little weird. But she had a couple of solos. I had busted her chops about all of it, but she had done a really great job in my not so humble opinion.

“Yeah, well, Mrs. Thompson, the lady who directed it? She apparently studied theater in college and one of her profs is at UCLA now. She apparently sent him some footage of me to see what he thought and, well, he reached out to me earlier this year. He talked up their theater program. I thought it might be kind of fun, you know, studying acting and maybe doing some auditions out there. So I applied and…well…” She shrugged.

“And your parents are okay with this?” I asked.

Grace laughed. “Why do you think we had an emergency tour at St. Olaf? Dad figures I don’t want to go to the U after all, so he’s desperate to find alternatives. I think he’s got three more tours scheduled for the next couple of weeks.”

“So what are you going to do?”

She laughed again, but it quickly turned into a sob. “I have no idea.”

I scooted close to her and put an arm around her shoulders. She burrowed into me and sighed.

“I had a lot of fun doing that musical, John. I really did. And I think studying theater at UCLA could be a blast. And since I’m out on the coast, I could maybe do some work at CZCW or maybe backstage at GSW. Fro and Swoll said they’d put in a good word for me. And that would be really cool.”

I grimaced. That would be cool. I knew how much she wanted to actually be in the ring, and this could be her big chance. Plus I could totally see her landing a role on a TV show or even in a movie. This could be a big break for her.

“But then I think about leaving Minnesota and my family and…well, you. And I just can’t imagine doing that. I think I’d do fine at the U and there’s always RFW.”

I winced a little. I don’t think she intended it, but she made it sound like we were her third choice out of three.

“You’d always be welcome here,” I said. “I bet we could get Fro or Swoll to drive you out here for events.”

She laughed mirthlessly. “They better or I’ll fire them.”

We chuckled together but then fell silent. A dozen thoughts ricocheted through my head, but every time I tried to wrangle one of them into coherent words, they slipped away only to collide with other worries. But underlying all of it was the same basic thought: stay. Stay.

Stay.

“Thank you,” Grace whispered.

That jolted me out of my frantic thoughts. “For what?”

“Not telling me what to do,” she said. “Ever since Mom and Dad found out about UCLA, they’ve been double-teaming me almost every day. Sometimes twice a day. They’ve even got Nana Kil in on it. I’ve been tempted to tell them about RFW just to catch a break.”

Oh, that would not end well.

She must have sensed my worry. “I’m not going to, moron. But I really do appreciate that you haven’t tried to pressure me one way or the other. That means a lot.”

I looked away, my guilt overwhelming. I wanted to tell her what to do, but now I couldn’t. I had to keep my opinion to myself. She needed that space and I was apparently the one who would give it.

I don’t know how long we sat like that. I know that my exposed skin went numb for a while before Grace finally pulled free. She scooted off the car and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back and she kissed me on the cheek.

“I gotta go. School night, y’know?” She smiled shyly. “Meet you for lunch?”

“I’ll save you a seat.”

I got out of the way as she drove out of the parking lot. I went back into the party but this time, I wasn’t able to salvage the mood.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Thursday of Week 4, April 2020

I did my best to keep my questions to myself.

Whenever I saw Grace, I had to swallow a lump in my throat and stuff the dozens of questions that haunted me into the shadows. I stuck to conversation topics that I hoped would be neutral and not lead to anything: homework, school lunch, rumors that China somehow dodged a bullet with some weird bat sickness. You know. Light topics.

By the end of the month, we had fallen into a mostly easy rhythm. Sure, there was some tension between us, but we apparently had come to a silent agreement to not talk about it.

“So how are the finances doing?” Grace asked over lunch.

I pulled out my phone and pulled up the latest balance sheet. I flipped it around to her. She laughed.

I could understand why. We were up to $11,824, with a little jump in the sponsorship money we pulled in. It had been enough that I decided we should upgrade our merchandise a little. After all, we had nothing. Not even a coozie. I figured it was time to change that.

“So what’s next?” Grace asked.

I tucked my phone away. “Well, I don’t think we should risk longer shows. And as much as I’d like to do more than one show a month, I’m pretty sure that’d drain our coffers really fast. Maybe once we have better merch, larger crowds, and more money coming in…”

Grace sighed. Thankfully, she didn’t bring up the idea of getting into the ring again.

“But I am trying to find maybe one more worker to come in on a more permanent basis. I realized with Fro Sure’s match that we need someone who’s more over in the Mid West to pump up the crowds.”

“Got any leads?”

“One for sure. I think he might be able to come next month.”

“Good. Then there’s only one more thing to talk about.”

“Oh?”

“You. Me. Prom.”

My head snapped up and I stared at her. She smiled deviously.

“You got a better offer?” she asked.

“Uh…no.”

“Good. Neither do I.” She leaned over the table.

For a split second, I thought she was going to kiss me. But instead, she paused with her face mere inches from mine.

"Besides, I’ll need backup for what I’ve got planned.”

 “P-planned?”

She nodded. “Because it’s time for Mark Latrell to see that this diamond doesn’t break.”

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Saturday of Week 1, May 2020

Mom and Dad made a big deal out of me going to the prom. I tried to tell them it was no big deal. I was just taking Grace, after all, my best friend. It’s not like we were going to hook up or anything. I mean, we had kissed once in middle school. She had seen some movie about best friends who became more than that. She quoted it, saying, “How can we ever know if we could be more if we don’t try.” And then she kissed me. And…nothing. No sparks. No beautiful music playing. Just an awkward moment where we looked at each other afterwards and that was it. We never brought it up again, and I certainly wasn’t going to repeat that at the prom.

But I had to humor them. I dressed up in my rented tux and they took a bunch of pictures by the fireplace. Then we all went over to the Kils’ house and repeated the process. Pictures of Grace and me, giving each other corsages and flowers. Standing side-by-side or with my arm around her waist. Mrs. Kil was almost in tears as she posed us and made sure that everything about Grace was just so. She didn’t have to worry much. Grace looked phenomenal in a sleek green dress that flowed almost to the floor. She had her hair in an elaborate braid that crowned her head. If this was a romantic date, I would have been a lucky man.

Good thing it wasn’t, though. The whole time we took pictures, Reverend Kil watched from a distance, his arms crossed and a scowl permanently etched onto his face. I suspect if this was a romantic date, he would have been a very stern third wheel the whole evening.

Once the pictures were done, I led her out to the car and we drove off for dinner. Nothing too fancy. We had agreed to keep things simple. Then it was off to the Kahler Grand Hotel for the actual dance.

Whoever planned prom had chosen “Rochester Royalty” as the theme. When I first heard it, I worried that it would turn out to be some cheesy fantasy rip off, something more suited to a RenFest than a school dance. But they actually did a great job. There was a red carpet leading into the hotel, complete with a swarm of paparazzi (in reality, kids from the school newspaper) who took everyone’s pictures. Some of the couples really got into it, strutting and posing for multiple shots. I spotted Mark Latrell and his date mugging for the camera.

I tried to sneak down the carpet, but Grace snared my hand and dragged me in front of the cameras. “Smile pretty, Ace,” she whispered.

I humored her, smiling for a few shots and then tried to escape again. No good. She snared my arm and wouldn’t let go. So we kept posing and yeah, eventually, I kind of got into it. We posed back to back, smiling or scowling or pointing at the camera. By the time we were done, Grace suggested we get the pictures and put them on RFW’s website. I laughed that idea off. No way I wanted to built heat with these.

The ballroom itself was decked out like a glamorous Hollywood party. Someone had pulled in some large video screens. Pictures from the red carpet appeared, rotating every few minutes. Some of the pictures were just as ridiculous as the ones we had taken. Others were genuinely sweet. But the first time Grace and my picture popped up, I groaned. We looked ridiculous. Based on the way people laughed, that was the general consensus.

Before I could slink away, Grace snared my hand and pulled me to the dance floor. “You’re not getting out of this that easily, Hart. Let’s go!”

And it wasn’t all that bad, I guess. We stuck to the floor during the fast songs and, when the slow songs started rotating in, Grace allowed us to retreat from the floor so the real couples could take over. I spent those breaks checking the big screens. More photos appeared, a lot of them candid shots from the dance itself. I let out a low whistle. Whoever set this up had to have put in some serious effort.

Grace checked her phone and laughed. Then she grabbed my hand again. “C’mon. Let’s dance.”

What? Why? I looked over at the dance floor. Nothing but real couples, swaying to romantic music. She wanted me to be out there now? With them? Was this going to be middle school all over again? My palms were suddenly drenched with cold sweat.

“Let’s go. Trust me.”

I didn’t have much choice, given how hard she tugged on my arm. Next thing I knew, we were in the middle of the swaying couples, my arms around her neck, her hands on my waist. My mind locked and simply couldn’t process what was happening. She looked up into my eyes with an impish smile.

“Just focus on me, Ace,” she whispered. “Just on me.”

When had it gotten so hot on the dance floor? I tried to focus on my movements, but I found I couldn’t do much more than rock back and forth on my feet slowly. Grace didn’t seem to mind. She kept staring at me with those dark, deep eyes and…

Someone laughed. My head snapped around to see who did it, but then Grace turned my face back to hers with a gentle hand on my cheek. “Just on me,” she repeated.

As the song wrapped up, I tried to escape but Grace wouldn’t let me. The next song started and it was another slow song, perfect for a couple but not for us! More people laughed around me. I started to wonder if this was some sort of elaborate prank. But Grace kept staring into my eyes, her smile growing.

“Trust me.”

I did. I mean, this was Grace. She had never done anything to hurt me. I didn’t know why she was doing this, but she had to have a reason…

More laughter, longer and louder this time. Grace chuckled as well.

“What is going on?” I whispered.

Her smile grew larger for a split second. “Did you know that the prom committee asked the paper to let them use their cloud to store the pictures for the big screens? Did you also know that the paper hasn’t changed the password to their cloud for the last two years?”

I frowned. “What?”

Grace nodded over my shoulder. Could I finally look to see what was so funny? I twisted around, but Grace wouldn’t let go.

People had gathered around the big screens, watching as the candid and paparazzi photos flashed by. Why was that so—

And then I understood why. Instead of a picture of a happy couple, a picture of Mark Latrell appeared on the big screen. Only it wasn’t really of Mark. Instead, it was Mark’s head Photoshopped onto Shrek’s body. It was only up there for a few seconds, but then it was gone, replaced by a candid photo from the dance. For a second, I thought I had imagined it, but after a few more pictures of the prom, Mark’s picture popped up again, this time Photoshopped onto a sumo wrestler’s body.

As I stood there, staring at the screen, more and more pictures of Mark started rotate in. None of them were nearly as risque as the picture of Grace on the posters. And whoever did the Photoshopping had done a much better job. I mean, clearly Mark Latrell was not some weird mutant version of Mike Wazowski in real life, but the photo editor had put in the effort to really make me believe it.

I turned back to Grace, who flashed me a vicious smile. “Who?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s not me. You know I don’t know my way around photo editing software. And if they check the log to see who dumped those photos into the queue, I believe they’ll find that the log in originated in Pakistan or Nigeria or somewhere like that. But then, I don’t know anything about using a VPN to mask your location either.”

I started to laugh, but caught myself as I saw Mark Latrell storming across the dance floor, his face a rictus of anger.

“Kil!” he shouted.

He reached out like he was going to grab her shoulder, so I quickly turned us around and stepped between them. That brought Mark up short. I mean, Mark’s a big guy. He was a defensive end on the football team. In a fight, he might have been able to take me. But I don’t think he expected me to step in that quickly.

“There a problem here, Mark?” I asked.

He glared at me and jabbed a finger at the screens. “Your girl’s looking for trouble.”

Before I could respond, Grace laughed. “First of all, I’m not anyone’s ‘girl.’ Second, why would you assume I did this?”

Mark quaked with fury. “Because you’re trying to get revenge for—”

“Revenge. For what. Mark?” Grace spat each word like they were venom.

To his credit, Mark saw the trap before he stepped into it. He started to say something, but then his mouth clicked shut. He fumed for a moment before saying, “You obviously think I’m responsible for those posters of you. But I’m not.”

“Well, I didn’t do this either,” Grace said. “Do you really think I took the time to Photoshop your face onto so many different bodies and then somehow slip those pictures into the slideshow for tonight? John, did I do anything like that since we got here?”

“Uh…no.” I struggled to keep my face passive.

“So do you have some actual proof? Or are you just going to spin wild theories about me trying to get revenge on you for something you totally didn’t do?” Grace’s tone had gone completely icy, enough so that I took a step back away from her.

Mark and Grace glared at each other. Apparently their showdown had attracted some attention. Other students had drifted over, and a lot of them lined up behind Grace, making it clear from their body language that they were on their side. A lot of them were our wrestling teammates, but I was surprised at how diverse Grace’s supporters were. I think a few of them were even Mark’s exes, but I suppose that shouldn’t be surprising.

Finally, Mark backed down. He snarled at Grace and stormed away, shoving his way through the crowd.

Grace didn’t relax, even as her impromptu supporters patted her on the shoulder and drifted away. Once the crowd had dispersed, Grace walked off the dance floor. She sat down and then blew out a shaky breath. She offered me a weak smile.

“That went better than I thought it would,” she said. “I thought he was going to take a swing at me.”

So did I, but then, I also knew how stupid punching her would have been. She would have laid him out. “So you got Glenn to do it, right?”

She laughed. “No, Glenn’s clean. Well, not exactly. He did give me the password.”

I frowned. “Then who?”

Her smile grew bolder. "Jay.”

I frowned. Jay? Wait. “You mean Jay Silver?”

She nodded. “Sweet guy. He and I have been texting. Turns out, he’s got some Photoshop skills and wanted to put Mark in his place.”

Huh. I would have never guessed. “So…that’s why you wanted me to come to prom? To give you an alibi?”

“Well, that and I didn’t get any better offers.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

“Look, I gotta swing by the ladies room. I’ll be back, okay?” She didn’t wait for my answer. Instead, she slipped away.

I blew out a shaky breath. I wish she would have warned me what she was up to. Not that I would have talked her out of it. For one thing, Mark deserved that and far worse. For another, I’d learned long ago that I couldn’t talk her out of anything. But at least I would have been ready!

Someone clapped me on the shoulder. “You doing okay, brah?”

I turned and smiled at Cassidy. He looked kind of ridiculous, wearing a brilliant blue tux with a tie-dyed cummerbund.

"Yeah, I’m good.”

 “Diamond? How’s she doing?”

 “Okay, I think.”

 “Good.” Cassidy shook his head. “You know, one of these days, Mark is gonna crash and burn and I just hope I’m around to see it happen.”

I nodded. “Same.”

“Have you heard him flap his gums about his ten year plan? Dude really thinks he’s gonna play for the U and then get snapped up by the NFL immediately afterwards.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Mark was pretty good on the field, but NFL good? Doubtful.

“So how’s your night?” I asked.

“Eh, it’s all good,” Cassidy said. “Those big screens were cool even before Grace hijacked them—and no, I don’t wanna know. And it’s cool to see everyone here. I just wish I didn’t have a date.”

“I thought you were coming here solo,” I said.

“That was my plan, but…” He nodded toward a cluster of students.

I looked where he indicated and my mind locked up again. It was Abigail! She was talking to some of our classmates, laughing at whatever it was they said. She wore a purple sequined dress with a short skirt, with her right arm and shoulder bare and the left covered down to her wrist. Her hair cascaded down her back.

“What is she doing here?” I asked, my mouth suddenly dry.

“Oh, her mom bugged my mom into me inviting her. She said Abby really wanted to attend our prom. So I finally agreed just to get them off my back.”

She wanted to come? Did she want to come here because of me? My mind raced back to my birthday party. Abigail and I had chatted a little during the party. Nothing substantial. I had tried to get her to participate in the tournament but she had insisted on spectating. No, we hadn’t spent that much time together. She couldn’t possibly be here to see me.

Could she?

She turned and our gazes met. And she smiled, a brilliant flash of teeth that sent warmth cascading through me. Abigail separated herself from the group she was talking to and walked over to me.

“Hey, there you are,” she said.

“Here I am.” I winced inwardly. Stupid!

Cassidy looked between us and chuckled. “I’ll leave you two to this scintillating conversation. Let me know when you want to leave, Abby.”

He sauntered away, but not until he winked at me.

“So…” I swallowed hard. “Cassidy tells me that you wanted to come to our prom?”

She laughed, sheer music to me. “Yeah, I did.”

“Your school didn’t have a prom?”

“Oh, they did, but there wasn’t anyone I wanted to go with.”

“And there is here?”

Her smile broadened. “Maybe.”

“Interesting.” I waved toward a nearby chair. “Have a seat.”

She settled on the chair. “Don’t mind if I do.”

I sat next to her. We chatted for a while, talking about classes and friends and, eventually, wrestling. It turned out that Abigail was a huge mark, especially for Wanda Fish. Apparently she had a bunch of old DVDs she had scrounged up. She did know about RFW, but she steered the conversation away from that, promising that she wouldn’t talk to me about that until she had come to one of our shows. I liked the sound of that.

Grace eventually came back and spotted the two of us talking. She smiled and flashed me a thumb’s up before heading out again.

And that’s how I spent the majority of my senior prom: talking to Abigail about not much in particular. As the dance wrapped up, she did coax me onto the dance floor for one slow song. This time, I didn’t mind the awkward swaying as much and, as the song wound down, she kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for a great evening.

I found Grace waiting by the exit. She eyed me with a sly smile.

“Good night?” she asked.

“Not too shabby. How about you?”

“Exactly what I hoped for.”

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

RFW All In

Sunday of Week 2, May 2020

Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN

70 in attendance

 

Once again, court was in session! At least Freddie had waited a few months to reconvene court. This time, though, he had James Diaz standing before him.

“James Diaz, we all know your lineage. We know who your pop is. And we know that the folks out east are already starting to sniff around and you could get called up to PGHW at any moment. And yet, here we are.” Freddie shook his head in exaggerated disgust. “Who brings the charges against him?”

Papa Swoll raised his hand. “I do, your honor, sir. This here James Diaz is so full of himself, he nearly delayed the last show because he happened to wander by a mirror and got stuck staring at himself. You’d think he had hair to curl or somethin’ given how long it takes him to get ready for a match.”

James blushed furiously, but I think I saw the hint of a smile on his lips.

“James, how do you plead?”

James stroked his chin dramatically, then bowed. “I’ll admit. When you look this good, you can’t help but enjoy the view.”

The rest of the locker room booed and hissed. Grace seemed to be leading the makeshift jury in their reactions. I even caught myself chuckling from the doorway.

“So I guess I’m guilty,” James continued. “I throw myself on the mercy of the court.”

"So be it!” Freddie thundered. “James Diaz, you are hereby sentenced to buying the entire locker room a round of drinks after the show!”

Once again, the jury hooted and hollered. Grace and I exchanged a worried look, one mirrored by James. He was our age, 19. Unless someone had a secret stash of fake IDs, we weren’t getting in anywhere.

“Oh, relax, you guys,” Freddie said. “I know. We’ll settle for…milkshakes or something.”

That soured the celebration a little, but James definitely relaxed.

***

Grace and Curt welcomed the audience to the show.

1. Quentin Queen came out to the ring and started bragging on himself. He pointed out that he was undefeated in the RFW. And the RFW Championship was proof that he was the best of the best. “Royal Flush Wrestling may be small potatoes right now, but we’re on the rise. And I’m the rocket the rest of the guys in the back are going to hitch their wagons to!”

Native American music started playing, leading Curt to wonder why Wild Red Stallion was coming out to the ring. But instead, it was a different worker, one who introduced himself as Roger Monteiro. Some of the fans in the crowd popped for him.

“Quentin, I have to say, you are very fortunate indeed. You have that title. You are undefeated. But that’s only because I wasn’t here during the tournament.” Roger smiled, a predatory gleam. “But I am now. Tonight, I’m going to end your streak. I’m going to take your title.”

RATING: 37

 

2. TEXAS HANGMAN vs. JAMES DIAZ

I think Hangman might have been upset about the milkshakes or something. He seemed a little unsure of himself as James Diaz stormed around the ring, trying to play himself off as the “Son of the Monster.”

James tried to overwhelm the Hangman with a flurry of offense, one that seemed to rock the big man back. Grace wondered aloud if maybe James could take the Hangman out, but then Hangman suddenly snared James and put him down with a Choke Slam.

WINNER: Texas Hangman in 11:41

RATING: 22

 

3. CHIP MARTIN vs. ORIGINAL SINNER

As it turns out, Original Sinner and Chip Martin mesh pretty well in the ring together. I’m not quite sure how to describe it. Based on what I saw, they were reading each other’s offense and defense and adjusting themselves accordingly. Sinner played the part of the monster who was frustrated when he couldn’t quite catch the smaller competitor. He did manage to get a few near falls, but then, Chip nearly took his head off with a Super Kick out of nowhere.

WINNER: Chip Martin in 10:52

RATING: 15

 

4. I came out to the ring with my impromptu tag partner, Jay Silver. We got on the mics and talked up how we were going to face the Scofield Index for the tag titles.

“I’ll admit, Jerry, Pepper, you guys are spicy,” I said. “You’ve heated up the tag division here at Royal Flush Wrestling. But I’ll tell you this: we don’t fear the Reaper. Tonight, we take your gold and we end your reign.”

RATING: 18

 

5. THE KINGS vs. DREADMASK

Fro Sure and Papa Swoll sauntered out to the ring, high fiving and fist bumping the audience members. Fro Sure hopped up on the ring apron and called for his music to start playing. I don’t know who the artist was, but soon, a hip hop beat filled the Civic Center while Fro and Swoll led the audience in some simple dance moves.

Dreadmask came out and glared at their opponents. Fro encouraged them to join in, but Dreadmask clearly wasn’t interested.

Once the match started, Fro Sure took control. He seemed to be two steps ahead of Dreadmask the entire time, diving in and out of the ring with Papa Swoll and keeping Dreadnought and Masked Mauler off-balance. On a blind tag, Papa Swoll came out of the corner and caught Dreadnought with the Pounce and pinned him in the middle of the ring.

WINNERS: The Kings in 14:45

RATING: 33

 

6. JOHN “ACE” HART & JAY SILVER vs. THE SCOFIELD INDEX © for the RFW Tag Team Championship

Jay and I raced to the ring and then waited for the champs to make their entrance. Jerry and Pepper made their entrance and scoffed at us.

I wound up doing a lot of the work for the team throughout the match. For a while there, Jerry and Pepper worked to isolate me from Jay, who struggled to reach in and tag me out. I sold the offense as best as I could. Jay eventually made it in and tried to clean house, but the champs blunted his offense. I wound up back in as the legal man just long enough for the champs to hit me with the Carolina Reaper so that Pepper could pin me.

WINNERS: The Scofield Index in 12:10

RATING: 33

 

7. ROGER MONTEIRO vs. QUENTIN QUEEN © for the RFW Championship

Thankfully, Roger Monteiro has made a name for himself in the Mid West region on the indie circuit, so the crowd was buzzing as he made his way to the ring. I think the people who didn’t know him got filled in by the people who did know him. The crowd was solidly on his side as the match got under way.

That support seemed to throw Quentin off for the match. He slipped out of the ring several times to halt Roger’s momentum, stalking around and yelling at referee Quincy Jargon about how Roger wasn’t playing fair. Roger scored a few near falls, but somehow, Quentin either managed to scoot to the ropes or break the pin.

In the end, as Roger tried to set up what Curt identified as the “Eagle Chop,” Quentin ducked the finisher and hit Roger with the Q-Ball.

WINNER: Quentin Queen in 22:01

RATING: 25

***

As the audience left, I gathered the locker room together. I made sure to praise Fro Sure and both participants in the main event for doing such a great job. For some reason, Fro seemed really happy with the praise.

But for some reason, Chip Martin seemed really put out, in spite of his win. Freddie suggested I might want to keep an eye on him, maybe throw him a bone at some point to cheer him up.

FINAL RATING: 27

 

Quick Results:

Quote

From RFW.com...

 

If you weren't at the Civic Center, you missed an explosive debut!

 

Texas Hangman defeated James Diaz

Chip Martin defeated Original Sinner

The Kings defeated Dreadmask

The Scofield Index defeated John "Ace" Hart & Jay Silver to retain the RFW Tag Team Championship

Quentin Queen defeated Roger Montiero to retain the RFW Championship

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Thursday of Week 4, May 2020

End of the month just had to fall during finals.

The whole school was extremely tense. Even the seniors were on edge, even though most of us knew where we were going. The fact that I still hadn’t quite figured that out yet. Mom was really pushing hard for me to enroll at the U and try to walk on to the wrestling team. For some reason, though, I didn’t like that idea. Truth be told, I had kind of resigned myself to enrolling at a local community college just to knock out my pre-reqs and hopefully give myself some time to figure the rest of it out.

But all of that was secondary as I crammed for my math final. I didn’t know how I’d ever use trigonometry in the real world, but the school seemed determined that I had to master at least some of these concepts or else.

“Hey.” Grace slid into a chair across from me. She shot a furtive look around the library. “What’s the word on the money?”

I sighed and pulled out my phone. I unlocked it and slid it across the table to her. The bookkeeping program I used synced with my phone; she’d be able to see for herself.

Grace glanced at it and smiled. “We made another three grand last month?”

“More like $2,800 and some change.” I didn’t look up from my book.

“So we’re almost to $15,000 now?” She chuckled. “You know, we could just close the company and split the money. Call it the Royal Flush Scholarship.”

I looked up at her. She tried to maintain a serious expression, but I could see the twinkle in her eye.

“You really want to do that?” I asked.

“Nah, not unless—” She frowned as the phone buzzed in her hand. “Whoa. Looks like you’ve got a lot of unread messages from…Abigail Thompson?”

Heat flashed through my cheeks and I lunged for my phone. Grace was quicker, dodging my hands and scrolling quickly. Her eyes darted back and forth and she laughed again, earning us a disapproving shush from the librarian.

“Sorry, Mr. Hogan,” Grace said, then turned to me. “You’ve been chatting with her a lot.”

I tried to play it cool, shrugging one shoulder. “She’s a…really neat person.”

Grace chuckled. “You don’t text me this much. Are you saying I’m not ‘really neat?’”

“I see you every day. She lives in Albert Lea.”

“Oh. Is that what you’re telling yourself?”

“It’s truth.”

She fell silent. I glanced up, worried that she was reading all of the messages. Not that there was anything embarrassing in there. Just a few exchanged selfies and random thoughts the two of us shared with each other. But Grace had set the phone down and was studying me so carefully I got uncomfortable.

“You ask her out yet?”

I snorted. “Albert Lea, remember?”

“You going to?” she insisted.

I leaned back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling, as if I was going to find answers there. Did I want to ask Abigail out? Um, yeah. I did. She was smart and funny and didn’t seem at all put out by the fact that I was running a wrestling promotion at 19. And while I thought she was interested, I wasn’t entirely sure. Yeah, we had danced at prom and sure, she had kissed my cheek. But did that mean, “I’m waiting by the phone” or “You’re such a sweetheart, welcome to the friend zone?”

“We’ll see,” I answered.

Grace groaned and tossed my phone back to me. It bounced off my chest and into my lap. “You’re an idiot. You need to make a decision sooner or later.”

“So do you,” I said, and I immediately regretted my words.

Grace froze, her gaze darting away from me. Time was running out on her decision too. UCLA or the U of M? I tried not to press, but if she went out west, we’d have to figure out what would happen with her role at RFW.

“I’ll see you later, Ace,” she said, and slipped away from the table.

I sighed and thumped my head on the trig book. Way to go, Ace. Really great move.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Historian]

As a big supporter of narrative-focused diaries, I really like what you're doing here.

[Scapino1974]

Thank you so much! I'm having a lot of fun writing it.

[Scapino1974]

Saturday of Week 1, June 2020

“… John Hart.”

As the superintendent called my name, I walked across the stage. Following the directions I had been given, I focused on Dr. Larson, shook hands with him. Accepted the diploma holder from Ms. Rutledge. Turn and smile at the audience (but without doing anything over the top!) and then head back to your seat. Easy enough, and thankfully, I didn’t trip on the edge of my robe as I descended the stairs. Although if I had, maybe I could have turned it into a sick bump.

I chuckled as I settled in my seat and watched as the rest of my classmates crossed the stage and transitioned from student to graduate. Most of them followed the rules, although some of them offered small waves to family or friends as they crossed. Carson Kerr gave “devil horns” and stuck out his tongue like he was at a headbanger concert. But I saw the same thing on all of their faces: we did it, we’re done, on to bigger and better things.

A weight settled in my stomach. I wish I could have felt the same way.

“Grace Kil.”

I sat up a little straighter as Grace made her way across the stage. I had a bet with Cassidy about what she would do. He was convinced that she was going to do something over the top. His theory was that she had organized the theater kids to do a flash mob dance. In other circumstances, I might have agreed with him, but I knew it would never happen. After all, Reverend and Mrs. Kil were in the audience. If Grace even stuck a toe out of line, her dad would probably storm the stage and hustle her off to the Methodist equivalent of a convent. So I had taken the bet.

And I won it, too. Grace smiled demurely as she shook hands with Dr. Larson and Ms. Rutledge. She moved her tassel to the other side of her cap and paused on stage, holding the diploma holder like it was the most precious thing in the world. Then she descended the steps on the other side, waving to someone in the audience. Then our eyes met. Her smile turned brittle and she looked away.

The weight in my stomach grew heavier. She still hadn’t made her decision about college. At least, if she had, she hadn’t shared it with me. And given the way she had been avoiding me for the past couple of days, that probably meant she was leaning toward California.

“Mark Latrell.”

Mark strutted across the stage, acting like he had just won the Superbowl or something. He waved at his friends, who cheered and shouted for him. Instead of shaking hands, he gave Dr. Larson a high five and actually hugged Ms. Rutledge. Then he did finger guns at the photographer and kept going to his seat. I rolled my eyes. Figured.

But then our gaze met. Mark’s smirk disappeared. At first, I thought he was going to glare at me. Instead, he nodded. Once, curtly. It almost looked like a sign of respect. Huh. I wouldn’t have expected that.

The rest of the ceremony wound down quickly. As it wrapped up, the graduates cheered and threw their hats in the air. And then it was off to find family and friends for pictures and congratulations and whatever the future held for us. And for most of my classmates, that was definitely something to celebrate.

But for me, I felt like I had let my parents, my friends, and myself down. I had to make a choice and so I did. I was going to Rochester Community and Technical College. Don’t get me wrong: RCTC was a great school and I had no doubt this was the best decision for me. But with everyone else heading off on grand adventures that would lead to bigger and better things, it felt like I was standing still.

***

Saturday of Week 2, June 2020

At least I still got a party out of it.

Oh, Mom and Dad pretended like they weren’t disappointed in me. And I suppose they probably weren’t. Dad had never gone to college so he didn’t see it as that big of a deal. Mom had gone to college, but she always tried to see the bright side. And so even though I felt like my future had stalled out in some ways, they were bound and determined to celebrate.

So my family streamed into Rochester: uncles, aunts, my grandparents, about a dozen cousins. Most of them chipped in to help Mom put on a great party with barbecue weenies and scalloped potatoes, coolers filled with pop, and embarrassing photo displays of John Hart, the early years.

When the open house started, there was a constant flow of guests. Friends from school came and went, as did the teachers. Some of my friends stuck around longer.

But the biggest surprise came when the front door opened and a very familiar voice boomed, “Hart! Where are you?”

I turned around and my jaw dropped open. Fro Sure and Papa Swoll strolled in. They weren’t wearing their ring attire, thankfully, but they still stood out from the rest of my guests. But while my mind tried to process them being there, a parade followed them into the house. Hangman and Quentin, Garry and Zippy, even Cockroach Carter. It looked like the entire roster had decided to raid my party, with Freddie Datsun bringing up the rear. This strange addition to my party caused a few funny looks from my relatives. If the wrestlers noticed, they didn’t seem to care.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked.

Fro rolled his eyes. “This is a big deal, man. You made it! You think we’d miss out on congratulating you?”

“Johnny?” My grandma scooted over to us, pushing her walker along the way. “Who are these young men? Friends from school?”

Fro and Swoll exchanged uncertain looks, but before I could answer, Swoll leaned in. “We’re just good friends of Johnny. Do you need some help, ma’am?”

“That would be so nice! I was hoping Johnny could get me some food.”

“Well, let’s go take care of that,” Swoll said, then winked at me as he crept after Grandma.

Jack Pryde looked around the room and chuckled. “From the way the normies are looking at us, I take it RFW is still something of a secret around here?”

I grimaced. “Kinda, yeah.”

Jack laughed it off, but Freddie looked upset. “That’s not a wise idea, kid. These kind of secrets have a way of getting out at the worst possible times.”

Mom and Dad came out of the kitchen, probably wondering what the commotion was about. They froze and stared at the workers.

“John?” Dad asked. “What’s going on here?”

Silence fell on the room, finally punctuated by Garry offering, “Singing telegram?” He started a soft shoe dance until Zippy elbowed him.

“These are…well, these are…” My mind raced. What possible explanation could I give for the large group that had just shown up at my graduation open house.

Freddie turned to Mom and Dad and smiled. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Hart. My name is—”

That’s when Uncle Russell walked into the room and froze. “Freddie Datsun?”

Oh no. I should have remembered. Russell, my mom’s brother, was a huge old school wrestling fan. Whenever we went to visit him, he always had some show or other playing in the background. He used to regale the cousins and me with stories of old feuds and matches.

Uncle Russell darted forward and started pumping Freddie’s hand, babbling about what a great worker he was and he had seen him at this show or that show and what was he doing here of all places? Freddie shot me a significant look.

“John?” Dad’s tone was firmer now. “Something you want to tell us?”

“Hey, is that Grace and her folks?” Hangman asked.

My stomach dropped into my shoes. “You guys need to hide. Now!”

Thankfully, Billy Russel and Jack Pryde understood immediately. They hopped forward and hurried everyone through the house and toward the backyard, whispering an explanation to everyone as they went. I turned to my parents, who had fixed me with disapproving looks. But then the Kils came through the front door.

Mrs. Kil hurried to Mom and hugged her tightly. Reverend Kil shook hands with Dad. Grace started toward me but froze when she looked at my face. I jerked a thumb toward a window that looked out over the backyard. She inched her way over so she could look out the window and her eyes widened. Her gaze jumped back to me and I shrugged.

“John? How are you?” Reverend Kil held out his hand. “Congratulations on your accomplishment.”

I quickly wiped my hands on my jeans and shook his hand. Mrs. Kil came over and hugged me, pressing a card into my hands.

“Thanks.”

“Grace tells me you’re going to RCTC.” Reverend Kil’s voice didn’t betray whether he approved or disapproved.

“Yes, sir,” I said, glancing toward the patio door. Hopefully Jack and Billy were keeping everyone else at bay.

“Well, God’s blessings to you.” Reverend Kil turned back to my parents.

I walked over to Grace and grabbed her arm, steering her toward the backyard.

The guys had spread out a little, having helped themselves to drinks and some food. No sign of Swoll; he had probably been recruited to help Grandma some more. Uncle Russell had followed Freddie outside as well and the two were having a lively conversation. Jack and Billy came over to us.

“Everything cool?” Jack asked.

I shook my head. Definitely not. So long as Grace’s parents were here, everything could unravel quickly.

“You want us to get out of here?” Billy asked. “I mean, we can always go hang out at the hotel.”

“No, don’t do that,” Grace said. “It’s great that you came here for John. Just…give me a sec.”

She dragged me back into the house. As soon as she was through the doors, she pulled out her phone and hurried to her mom.

“Mom, I hate to cut this short, but we need to get going if we still want to go to Chris’s party,” she said.

Mrs. Kil frowned. “But his party doesn’t end until four.”

“That’s not what I heard.” Grace held up her phone. “It’s going to end at two.”

Mrs. Kil’s eyes widened and she turned to Reverend Kil. She said something to him in rapid-fire Korean. Reverend Kil frowned, but Grace nodded to him. He stepped over to me and shook my hand again. His gaze flickered toward the backyard, but then he turned and led his wife and daughter through the front door.

“Son, I think we need to have a talk,” Dad said.

My shoulders slumped. “Yeah, Dad, I suppose we do. But can I make one request?”

He studied my face and nodded.

I took a deep breath. “Why don’t you and Mom come over to the Civic Center tomorrow night at seven? And then you’ll see what’s going on. Everything will make sense after that.”

Dad considered it, then nodded. “Okay, John. We’ll see.” He pointed at me. “Now you better go keep things calm with your guests, got it?”

Sure. I let out a shaky breath as Dad walked away.

But then the party picked up as Abigail walked through the door. Cassidy had warned me that she might show up. Her smile froze and she took a step forward.

“What did I miss?” she asked.

I chuckled. “Plenty. But it’s good to see you.”

Her smile broadened and suddenly, all of the chaos and the impending hard talk with my folks didn’t seem nearly so bad.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

RFW All In

Sunday of Week 2, June 2020

Held at the Civic Center in Rochester, MN (Mid West Region)

72 in attendance

 

Grace and Curt welcomed the audience to the show.

 

1. The champ, Quentin Queen, made a grand entrance to the ring. Quentin strutted around the ring, holding the championship belt over his head and talking up how great and awesome he is. “Last month, Roger Monteiro came to town, thinking that he was going to be able to take my title away from me. And look at what happened to him. I put him down with the Q-Ball. It doesn’t matter who comes here. It doesn’t matter if they’re already here. I will drop any and all of them in one…two…”

Texas Hangman interrupted Quentin. “Now hang on there, champ. And yes, I’m calling you that because you won the title fair and square. And you’re still holding it. But that can change pretty easily. So what do you say. You willing to stick your neck in the noose?”

Quentin seemed really hesitant about that, especially since some of the audience members shouted that he was going down. Finally, though, he said, “You’re on, Tex. Let’s do this!”

RATING: 36

 

2. JOHN “ACE” HART vs. ORIGINAL SINNER

I couldn’t help but glance to the seats in the front row we had reserved for my parents. Granted, with only a couple dozen people in the audience, all the seats were pretty much front row. But Mom and Dad looked pretty grim as I made my entrance.

But I had to focus my attention on Original Sinner as he came out to the ring. He cracked his neck and flexed in front of me. He’s definitely a lot more muscular than I am. Grace and Curt really played up the fact that is was going to be a hard fight.

And we did our best to make it look that way. Sinner tossed me around the ring and tried to overwhelm me with powerful offense. But I managed to slip out of the pinning predicaments before I hit him with the Ace of Harts.

WINNER: John “Ace” Hart in 14:09

RATING: 38

 

3. Grace left the announce table and slid under the ropes to join me.

“Ace, that was an excellent match just now.”

“Well, thank you, Grace. That means a lot coming from you.”

“Get a room!” Someone shouted from the back of the audience.

The audience laughed, meaning that they missed seeing Jack Pryde slipping back to the locker room.

“Okay, so maybe this isn’t what you guys came here to see,” I said. “But here’s the thing you may or may not know: Grace and I started this promotion six months ago. We saw a hole in Rochester that needed to be filled.

“But more than that, we saw a hole in our own lives too. We knew we could build something amazing here.”

“Because here’s the thing,” Grace added. “We’re young. We’ve got so much ahead of us. And you know what? The RFW does too. When you guys came here, you probably thought that you were going to see some glorified backyard federation, with a bunch of idiots getting themselves hurt. But is that what you’ve seen here?”

The audience cheered.

“Of course not! Think about this match you just saw. That was Original Sinner, the son of Primal Rage and we had him right here in the ring. We have the son of the legendary Johnny Martin here. We have the son of Raymond Diaz here.” I pointed at the ring. “This is no backyard fed! This is Royal Flush Wrestling, and this is where legends are going to be born!”

We waited for the crowd to die down.

“But we couldn’t do this without your support,” Grace said. “That’s why we need you to keep talking us up. Keep bringing your friends. We want this to be the best place to be in Rochester on a Sunday night.”

“Because let’s face it: there’s not much else to do in Rochester on a Sunday night,” I added.

Thankfully, the crowd took the good-natured joke for what it was.

“Thanks for coming out everyone, and enjoy the rest of the evening!” Grace said.

RATING: 47

 

4. ZIPPY DEVERELL vs. MASKED MAURADER VII

Well, this kind of thudded. While Zippy is supposed to be one half of a comedy duo, he just can’t bring the fun the way that Garry can. Masked Marauder, though, he’s got some serious skills and managed to make up for some of Zippy’s shortcomings. In the end, though, Zippy took Marauder down with a spinning bulldog.

WINNER: Zippy Deverell in 11:29

RATING: 15

 

5. CHARLIE CORNER & JAY SILVER vs. THE SCOFIELD INDEX © for the RFW Tag Team Championship

Hopefully people won’t realize that my tag partner from last month is going for the titles without me. He and Pepper seemed very determined in this match. Jerry and Charlie, though seemed a bit out of it as they went through the motions.

In the end, Jerry managed to put Jay down with an inverted DDT.

WINNERS: The Scofield Index in 10:12

RATING: 21

 

6. Much to everyone’s surprise, Wild Red Stallion came out to the ring and called out his partner. Texas Hangman came out with a confused look on his face.

“What’s the deal, Hangman?” Stallion asked. “When you and I came into RFW, you promised me we were going to be an unstoppable duo. That’s why we called ourselves the Silver Bullet. We’re the weapon that can put anyone down! And what happened tonight? You challenged Quentin Queen for the championship? I’m not even wrestling tonight, and we had to watch some random team fight the Scofield Index for the tag belts? What’s the deal?”

Hangman clapped a hand on Stallion’s shoulders. “Hey, friend, don’t look at it like that. We are a team. And I am glad you’re in my corner. But this is something I need to do. If you were to challenge Quentin for the strap, I’d be there for you. Can you just support me in this?”

Stallion seemed to hesitate, but then he nodded.

RATING: 23

 

7. ROGER MONTEIRO vs. PRIME TIME JACK PRYDE

We brought in Roger to keep generating heat for RFW, and we’re going to use him. This was, admittedly, a throw-away match. But Roger and Jack did a great job putting on a back-and-forth battle that ended when Roger hit Jack with the Eagle Chop and then pinned him.

WINNER: Roger Monteiro on 13:33

RATING: 29

 

8. TEXAS HANGMAN vs. QUENTIN QUEEN © for the RFW Championship

Best match of the night, but just barely (mine was almost as good, if I do say so myself). Quentin went in, looking a bit cocky and a bit too sure of himself. Hangman, though, came out with an intense expression. Wild Red Stallion tried to join him at ringside, but when Quentin saw him, he made a big stink to referee Quincy Jargon. Jargon ordered Stallion away from ringside. Stallion looked ready to object, but Hangman agreed with Jargon.

The two locked up in the middle of the ring and it was pretty clear right away that Quentin was in over his head (quite literally). Quentin actually rolled out of the ring and took a walk to try to blunt Hangman’s early momentum.

Once he was back in the ring, though, he and Hangman traded some pretty heavy blows. It was pretty clear that Hangman was slowly gaining ground and wearing down the champ. But just as Hangman had Quentin set up for a choke slam, Quentin managed to slip free and hit the big man with a Q-Ball for the pin and the win.

WINNER: Quentin Queen in 16:58

RATING: 37

***

The guys gathered in the locker room after the show was over. When I didn’t go in right away, Freddie came and found me. “They’re waiting for your final pep talk, kid. You coming?”

I exchanged a look with Grace, then shook my head. “Can you do it tonight, Freddie? Grace and I … well, we have to talk to my folks.”

Freddie nodded sagely. “All right. Good luck.”

I had a feeling we would need it.

FINAL RATING: 37

 

Quick Results:

Quote

From RFW.com...

 

John "Ace" Hart defeated Original Sinner

Zippy Deverell defeated Masked Mauler VII

The Scofield Index © defeated Jay Silver & Charlie Corner to retain the RFW Tag Team Championship

Roger Montiero defeated Prime Time Jack Pryde

Quentin Queen © defeated Texas Hangman to retain the RFW Championship

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Herrbear]

Can't wait for more. Good job.

[Scapino1974]

Mom and Dad were waiting for us in the building lobby. It looked like Zeke, the night watchman, was trying to get them to leave, but when Zeke saw Grace and me coming, he backed off. I ushered my parents to a quieter corner of the lobby. They didn’t say anything. Mom busied herself by digging in her purse and Dad tapped a fist against his thigh. I had seen that before. It usually meant I was going to get a lecture after I did something stupid.

I took a deep breath and hoped that I would say something intelligent. But before I could speak, Grace stepped in front of me.

“Mr. and Mrs. Hart, this is all my fault. It was my idea. I talked John into doing this,” she said.

Dad chuckled ruefully. “This isn’t the same as taking my riding mower for a joyride when you were kids, Gracie. That’s an impulsive, split second sort of thing. You’ve both been doing this for six months now, right?”

Grace’s cheeks blazed and she nodded. “Yeah, I know. But it’s the truth! I’m the one who convinced him that we should try it. And it’s working! John is amazing at what he does. You saw it, right? The guys in the back, they totally respect him! I meant what he said in the ring tonight. We’re in this together all the way. And Freddie? He’s making sure we do this right.”

Dad held up his hands. “Slow it down there, Gracie. Just calm down.”

“How much money have you spent on this?” Mom asked quietly.

I gritted my teeth. I knew this would be a sticking point with her. “Grace and I put together an initial seed money of $2,500.”

Dad’s head snapped back. “Where did you get that money?”

Here I went, into the abyss. “From my savings. Hers too.”

Mom gasped. “John! That was supposed to be for college!”

“Is that why you decided to go to RCTC?” Dad added.

“No! My decision about where to go to college has nothing to do with RFW or the other way around,” I said. “And I’ll get a job this summer and put the money back. Grace’s too, if I have to.”

“You’re going to lose all of it.” Mom mumbled.

“Actually…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “As of right now, we’ve grown that initial investment to about $15,000. Probably a little more after tonight.”

Mom and Dad gaped at me.

“You made how much?” Mom asked.

“That is amazing!” Dad said. “Have you been paying yourself?”

“No,” Grace said. “Every penny’s gone back into the company and—”

But when she looked at me for confirmation, she must have read my expression.

“Actually…” I said. “I haven’t been getting paid. I’ve been setting aside money for Grace every month.”

“You what?” Grace said.

“It was Freddie’s idea. He insisted. He said that since you’re announcing, that means you’re working for the whole show.”

She stared at me. “How much?”

I winced. “Eight hundred a show.”

She stumbled and gaped at me. This was not how I wanted the conversation to go. Now I was in trouble with all three of them.

“But you’re not paying yourself?” Dad asked.

I shook my head. “No. It didn’t seem right.”

“But it seemed right to secretly pay me eight hundred a show?” Grace shot at me.

I hung my head. I knew she wasn’t going to be happy about this.

Dad cocked his head to one side and considered me. I recognized that look as well. Could it be…?

“Well, let’s not be too hasty about any of this,” he finally said. “Gracie has a point. John was really good in the ring tonight. All of his wrestlers showed up for his party. And your brother talked my ear off about this Datsun guy. I think…I think there’s a chance this could all work out.”

I sucked in a deep breath and held it.

He leveled a finger at me. “But there are going to be some ground rules here, got it? I mean, you’re still planning on living with us while you go to RCTC, right?”

I nodded. That had been the plan.

“Fair enough. So far as I’m concerned, you can keep doing this. Grow the business as best you can. But you’re still going to college. And if this interferes with that, this is what goes, got it?”

“Yes, sir.” I wasn’t as sure on that point, but that was an argument for the future.

Mom started to object and Dad put a hand on her shoulder. “Sweetie, we’ve talked about this. I know how worried you were that he didn’t have a direction. This might just be that direction.”

Wait, she what? I looked between them and started to object. But Grace kicked me in the shin.

“I’m not entirely happy about the way this started, but if they were able to take $2,500 and turn it into $15,000 in just six months, this could be something and you know what? I think they need to see this through.” He turned his attention to Grace. “I’m assuming you’ve cleared this with your folks too, right?”

“Totally,” Grace said.

My head snapped around and Grace kicked me in the shins again just as quickly.

Dad turned back to Mom. “You know that these two are unstoppable when they put their minds to something. So long as they’re together, they’re going to make this work.”

Any sense of victory I might have felt evaporated in that moment. Were we going to be together anymore? Grace still hadn’t told me what she decided when it came to college. If she did go to UCLA, would she be able to be here every month? I had no idea. And I didn’t know if she did either.

“Now, is there some sort of post-show ritual you guys have?” Dad asked.

“Uh…not really. We have to make sure the locker room is cleaned up but that’s about it,” Grace said.

“Well, tell you what.” Dad pulled out his wallet and handed me a few twenties. “Go out and get some dessert or something. On me. You guys deserve to celebrate a little.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I pocketed the money. “That sounds great. Right, Grace?”

“Yeah. Right.” By her tone, though, I knew it was anything but.

Mom didn’t look so sure, but Dad took her by the hand and gently led her out of the Civic Center. I turned to say something to Grace, but she had slipped away. Great.

One hard conversation done. But a bigger one to come.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Scapino1974]

Saturday of Week 3, June 2020

Grace had her graduation open house at her dad’s church. That wasn’t much of a surprise. Most of her family’s big events happened there. It made sense: the church’s dining room was good sized, the kitchen was top notch, and most of the time, Reverend Kil’s parishioners would volunteer to help. What’s not to love?

Small problem: while there wasn’t an official dress code, there was an unofficial expectation that guests would dress up at least a little. I tugged at my collar. A shirt and tie on a Saturday? Geez.

I shouldn’t complain. Reverend Kil’s parishioners always put together a good meal. Lots of good food and they were nice enough. Mom and Dad came with me and there were plenty of our classmates and teachers who came and went throughout the afternoon. I spent a lot of time looking over Grace’s momentoes. Lots of pictures with kids I didn’t recognize—probably kids from church—but a lot of me as well. Birthday parties, both hers and mine. That trip to the Science Museum of Minnesota where we wound up getting lost for an hour. The one year we convinced my parents to let me go with Grace’s family for Christmas vacation. We had gone through so much together…

But that was going to change no matter what, wasn’t it? I mean, in some ways, it didn’t matter what Grace had decided about the U of M or UCLA. She was going to leave Rochester either way. And whether she would be at the other end of an hour and a half drive or a multi-hour flight, things were going to change. They had to. In just a few short months, everything was going to change.

Even still, I hoped that she was at least going to stay in Minnesota. If she didn’t…well, I didn’t know what we’d do for RFW. Oh, sure, we could find a new announcer. And maybe she’d be able to catch a ride with someone to the shows. But could I really expect her to drop everything and ride out to Minnesota once a month like that? What if RFW grew and we could do more shows? What if…what if…what if…

I turned from the display and looked over the room. So where was she? I hadn’t spotted her since I came in. She was probably swamped with relatives and other guests. And I hadn’t seen her parents either. That was strange.

But then I spotted her walk in wearing…was that a sweatshirt? My jaw popped open. I expected her to be in a dress or something, but instead, she wore a red sweatshirt and…

No, not red. Maroon. Maroon with gold lettering.

University of Minnesota colors.

She spotted me across the room and smiled. We headed for each other and met in the center of the room.

She held out her arms. Sure enough, that was a U of M sweatshirt, with Goldie the Gopher’s face smiling at me. “Well?”

“Looks good on you,” I said. “When did you decide this?”

She looked down and scuffed at the floor with her foot. “After we had that talk with your folks. After I found out what Freddie was having you do for me. Ace…John…that wasn’t necessary.”

“No, it was. You’re doing great work and you deserve every—”

She held up a hand. “Hang on. I’m not done yet. When I realized what you were willing to do for me and I thought about how far away I would be and how difficult it would be for me to keep working with you…I mean, we started RFW together. I can’t let you run it into the ground on your own.”

Really? She was going to throw shade at me like that when…no, she was smiling.

“I wouldn’t want anyone in the co-pilot’s seat but you,” I said.

She snorted. “Co-pilot. Better scoot over, kid, because you never know when I might take over.”

I laughed, but then someone cleared his throat behind me. I turned and found myself face to face with Reverend Kil.

I froze. How much of what we said had he heard? I doubted that she had told him about RFW yet and here we had been talking so openly about it.

“John.” He nodded briefly. “Good to see you here.”

“Thanks for inviting me. I was just—”

“Could I please speak to you for a moment?” He phrased it like a question, but I knew it wasn’t a request.

I exchanged an uncertain look with Grace. She shrugged at me, wide eyed.

Reverend Kil led me out of the fellowship hall into a side hallway. A row of pictures hung on one wall, each one of a dour looking man. I realized that they were all the pastors who had served at this church. Reverend Kil’s was the last in the line, one of him as a much younger man, although he wore the familiar stern expression I knew so well.

Once we had walked halfway down the line, Reverend Kil turned to me. “I know that you and Grace have been very close. Almost inseparable. And I am…thankful for your friendship with my daughter.”

I didn’t say anything even though he paused. That seemed like the safest option.

“But you have both graduated now and, as such, circumstances must change. You must have realized by now that she will be leaving for the Cities in the fall, yes?”

I nodded.

“And I understand that you are staying in Rochester, correct?”

Again, I nodded. Where was he going with this?

“In many ways, this reminds me of what happened to Paul and Barnabas. Do you know that story?”

My mouth popped open, but I clicked it shut. I shrugged.

He sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose. “I weep for your generation’s illiteracy. Paul and Barnabas were partners and close friends during Paul’s first missionary journey. But then, circumstances changed. They had a falling out. Paul left Barnabas behind on his second missionary journey and went on to accomplish amazing things.”

“Sir, Grace and I haven’t had a falling out—”

He waved away my words. “I’m not saying that you have or that you will. But it seems as though your time together is coming to a natural end. She will go to the U to pursue her dreams. You will stay here to…pursue yours.”

I flinched at the backhanded insult.

“While I’m glad that my daughter is not moving halfway across the country, in some ways, it may have been better. A fresh start. A new perspective. Not being…held back anymore.”

At that, I bristled. “Sir, with all due respect, I have never done anything to hold her back.”

“Oh no?” He fixed me with a steely gaze. “Using her cousin’s credit card to order tickets to a professional wrestling show and then driving halfway across the country? That is ‘not doing anything?’ Do I need to run through the whole list?

“Now I realize that what you have done up to this point has been childish antics…for the most part. But, as the Good Book says, ‘When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.’ I want my daughter to grow and mature into the amazing young woman I know she can be. And I do not want you to hinder her from that.”

I stared at him. For a brief moment, I thought that maybe he was teasing me. Reverend Kil wasn’t a bad guy. He just took things so seriously. He did try to come out of his shell every now and then, usually in a way that didn’t make sense to Grace or me. So maybe this was a weird prank? But no, he looked completely serious. Not even a hint of a smile or levity. And if this was a prank, wouldn’t he have pulled it in front of Grace as well?

“Are you forbidding me from seeing your daughter?” I asked, fighting to keep my tone even.

He blew a long breath out of his nose. “I really cannot do that, can I? She is leaving home soon. And I cannot control who she contacts by text or phone. What I am saying, though, is that I want you to exercise…wisdom in how you interact. Be the friend who slowly fades away as she moves on to new opportunities. Don’t be the anchor that drags her down. If you choose the latter, well, I would be extremely…disappointed.”

It wasn’t a threat, not really. But as he said it, I had the distinct impression that he had already picked a place to hide my body if I “disappointed” him.

“Thank you for hearing me out.” And with that, Reverend Kil returned to his daughter’s party.

I stood in that hallway, staring at the row of pictures, reviewing everything he just said. He had been so calm, so forthright. So persuasive. I mean, I didn’t want to cut ties with Grace. I would never do that! But I could understand why her dad would be worried about her. Grace often leaped first and thought never, and I was usually the one holding her hand while she did it. He probably worried that, if we kept hanging out, I would…I don’t know, convince her to throw everything away. I would never do that. Not intentionally.

But had I already done that? Was that what RFW would turn into? An anchor? A ball and chain on her ankle? The thing that would make her fail and fall?

I shook my head, trying to dislodge the thoughts. He was being ridiculous. Over-protective. Exactly what a father should be, if I was honest. But as much as I tried to shove his paranoia out of my mind, his words kept coming back, a persistent echo that chased me back into the party.

Mom, Dad, and I stayed at the party for another two hours. It only felt right; we had been friends with Grace for years. But I never got a chance to speak to her. She was too busy with her other guests and it seemed like every time she caught a break, her dad was staring at me, as if daring me to defy him in his own church.

Maybe it was the cowardly thing to do, but I stayed away. No need to poke the bear. But I had a feeling, once Grace found out, he was going to find out that he wasn’t the bear. She was.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Scapino1974

[Blake Trask]

wow, no sooner one fraught situation navigated than another one springs to life.

 

'Be the friend who slowly fades away' ? ugh. that makes my skin crawl.