Disappointment

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Disappointment

Scene 1

Off Camera

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SCW is still in the New England area after Breakdown and specifically they are in the DCU Center in Worchester, Massachusetts for a house show.  You might expect that this would be a dream for Angelica Jones.  Where else would she want to compete?  Where else would she want to be right now than in her hometown, making an appearance before her people?  To the world, as a loyal Silas World member, she is jeered.  But here in Boston she is a conquering hero. Here in Boston she is the hometown girl who made it big.  You might expect her to be happy about SCW stopping by in Massachusetts, her home state, to visit her friends.

You would be wrong.

Angelica was warmly welcomed in Worchester.  That wasn’t the problem.  Angelica wants to be here in Massachusetts, she just wishes she could’ve been here without so much tension and problems weighing heavily on her mind.

The problem comes from within Silas World itself.  It seems to be imploding as Kelcey Wallace, the former star of Silas World, has gone rogue.  She has decided to rebel against Silas Mason and the rest of the group.  Angelica is expected to be a loyal soldier fighting on behalf of Silas Mason.  Any friendships she may have with anyone can and should be thrown out the window.

What makes things even more awkward is that Kelcey Wallace was supposed to be in the tournament to crown a new number one contender to the world title.  Thanks to Silas Mason she has been taken out and Angelica Jones is taking her place in the tournament.

Angelica knows what it means to be world champion and she knows Kelcey wants it badly.  Angelica is currently a world champion herself, representing the Global Frontier Crown as champion.  She would love to win this tournament and become SCW World Champion as well.  Winning her thirteenth world title would be very satisfying.  Getting a chance to face Jake Starr in the quarter fi nals and avenge her loss to him will also be very satisfying.

But is it worth it, especially considering she is getting this opportunity at the expense of Kelcey?

Angelica Jones is heading down the hall towards her dressing room.   The beautiful red-head passes by several of her co-workers, several of her peers, and a few other staffers, many of whom give her looks but none of whom say anything to her.  The Dragon doesn’t particularly want to speak to them anyway.  She just wants to get back home, she just wants to get back to her wife Lindsey.  Too much has gone on and she doesn’t need any further grief.

Jones smiles with her dressing room in sight as she pushes the door open and steps inside.  Unfortunately as soon as she crosses that threshold she immediately is faced with the realization that her grief is about to continue…

…in a big way.

Standing there in the center of the room is none other than her daughter, her middle child, Jessica Corey Lasiewicz.  Angelica doesn’t even have to ask her daughter to find out if she is angry with her.  Jones can tell by the eyes, those angry red eyes.  The devil’s eyes.  She inherited those eyes from her father, Andreas Lasiewicz.  Angelica remembers all too well seeing that look in her ex-husband’s eyes.  Seeing it here and now in the eyes of their daughter is enough to tell the story.

“Congratulations, mom.” Jessica applauds in a sarcastic manner.

The red head sighs. “You’re angry…”

“Oh I’m not angry.” Jessica’s voice is dripping with sarcasm much as her clapping also illustrates. “Why should I be angry?”

Young Lasiewicz shrugs her shoulders. “I mean, my mother is in a tournament to crown a number one contender.  I should be proud, right?”

The Golden Goddess tilts her head to one side and frowns. “You are like your father in so many ways, but at least he wouldn’t beat around the bush.  He always told me straight up wh”en I pissed him off.”

“You want straightforward?” Jessica asks, glaring angrily at her mother. “You got it…”

After the initial exchange, the mother finally, and cautiously, approaches the daughter and attempts to embrace her with a hug. “Just listen, Jess…”

Lasiewicz pushes her away. “No, you’re going to listen to me!”

She points to a nearby bench against the wall. “Sit down, mother.”

Angelica rolls her eyes. “You’re being overdramatic…you get that from both me and your father…”

Most mothers wouldn’t ordinarily let themselves get pushed around by their own daughters like this and to see someone like Angelica Jones allowing herself to get pushed around is surprising in and of itself.  But the difference is an unknown factor that few know about.

The Boston native has three children; Marie Annabelle Jones is the oldest, Jessica here is the middle child, and the youngest is Kelly McBride.  Angelica Jones knows about how her own actions once upon a time damn near destroyed her relationship with her daughters.  Her children did forgive her and were willing to reconcile with her.  But she knows she didn’t deserve the forgiveness.

So the reason why she isn’t as strict a disciplinarian?  Why doesn’t she talk back?   She’s apprehensive.  She doesn’t want to risk pushing her daughters away again.

And a part of her wonders if her daughter isn’t wrong here…

Jones sits down on the bench.  Jessica joins her, sitting down to her mother’s right.  Jessica looks deep into her eyes and Angelica can tell that the anger in her face is changing into a look of disappointment.

“How could you?”

“What do you mean?” Angelica asks, feigning innocence.

“You know damn well what I mean.” Jessica snaps back. “That tournament spot belongs to Kelcey Wallace.  You know it as well as I do.”

“It did belong to Kelcey Wallace.” Angelica remarks. “Now it doesn’t.”

“Only because Silas Mason pulled her out!”

“Precisely!” Angelica exclaims loudly and waving her left hand. “Silas World is a team and Kelcey didn’t play as a part of this team and so now she’s on the bench.”

“The bench?” Jessica snickers. “Are you honestly comparing a former world champion to…”

Angelica nods her head. “…a benchwarmer, yes.  She used to be the star of Silas World.  Me, Britt, all of us, we busted our asses to make sure she won Taking Hold of the Flame so that she could get her world title match.”

The young Lasiewicz drops her jaw in shock, not quite ready to believe the words that just came out of her mother’s mouth.  Jessica shakes her head.

“I can’t believe this…so you’re taking credit for her victory at Taking Hold of the Flame?”

“It’s a team effort, Jess.  I played my role that night and WE were successful in getting Kelcey her title shot.  She decided to buck the system?  She decided not to play on Team Silas?  Well that’s fine, but what she doesn’t realize is that Silas still calls the shots and he just benched her…”

Angelica uses the thumb of her left hand to point to herself. “…and now I have a chance to become the star of Silas World!”

“Mother listen to yourself!”

Angelica stares at her daughter with an intensity rarely seen between mother and daughter.  Jessica doesn’t back off or back down.  Instead she keeps up the pressure.

“You sound like a megalomaniac!”

The two women lock eyes.  After a brief but tense moment finally Angelica cracks a smile. “…yeah, I do don’t I?”

“And that’s not all.” Jessica remarks slowly, taking her mother’s hands into her own. “I don’t know how close you and Kelcey are, but what about you and Taylor?”

“Taylor?” Angelica blinks curiously.

“Yeah, as in Taylor Chase-Cruze.  I thought she was your friend?”

“She is.”

“She’s sided with Kelcey.” Jessica points out. “How loyal are you to Silas?  Are you going to destroy your friend Taylor if he tells you to?”

For once the beautiful Boston native has no words, she has no reply, she has no answer to her daughter’s question.  When she first joined Silas World Angelica met Taylor and saw within her a lot of herself when she was younger.  What started at first as Angelica wanting to mentor Taylor grew into more of a friendship.   Angelica was willing to listen to her whenever she had problems.  Angelica was there to lend an ear if she needed to talk or needed advice.

Unfortunately, Jessica raises a good point.  Taylor has sided with Kelcey in what amounts to a split within Silas World.  If Taylor continues to rebel as much as Kelcey has, that could cause Silas to send Angelica after Taylor, much in the same way he has sent Angelica after so many other enemies of Silas World.  Will she be ready, willing, and able to assault Taylor and take her apart if she has to or will she, too, abandon Silas in favor of her friendship with Taylor?

“I…don’t know.”

“That’s too bad.” Jessica stands up. “I have a feeling you’ll be asked to pick sides real soon.  Taylor doesn’t strike me as the type to turn on her friends.  She’ll stick with Kelcey.  Who are you going to stick with?”

Angelica sighs.  She then bangs her fists on either side of the bench out of frustration. “I don’t know!”

“Mom?” Jessica takes a few steps back, watching cautiously as her mother stands up, getting off of the bench.

“Taylor is my friend but I owe Silas!”

“You owe him what?”

“Chandler Scott beat me in Frontier.  It was by count-out because he ran away from me, but a win is a win and he won.  The Global Frontier Crown had no reason to grant me a second title shot with a no count-outs stipulation no less, but Silas Mason helped make that happen.  His influence directly led to me becoming GFC World Champion.  And now…”

“Now you have a chance to wrestle for the SCW World Title.”

Angelica nods her head. “That’s right, all I have to do is win this tournament, a tournament Silas put me in.  I owe him something.”

“But do you owe him Kelcey and Taylor’s destruction?”

“If it comes to that?”

“If it comes to that, yes.”

Angelica sighs. “I don’t know.”

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Disappointment

Scene 2

Off Camera

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Angelica did not return to her home after the house show.  The encounter with Jessica forced her to do some introspection.  She realized she needed to see someone, someone with experience in this field.  So instead of going back to her wife at her home she has stopped by her father’s home in Boston.  That is what brings Angelica to the kitchen table today, her head propped up with her hands which are resting on their elbows.  Her father, the grizzled Bart Jones, comes walking into the room with two cups of hot chocolate.  He places one in front of his daughter.

“Thanks, daddy.”

“No problem, Angel.”

Bart sits down at the same table in the chair across from Angelica.  He takes a sip from his hot chocolate.

“So, what’s wrong?”

“She’s disappointed in me, dad.”

He smirks. “Which one?”

“Huh?”

“Which one is disappointed in you…Marie, Jessica, or Kelly?  Or is it your sister Kayla this time?  Or maybe your wife?”

Angelica sighs with frustration. “This isn’t the time for jokes, dad.”

“I’m sorry, but can you blame me for wanting to cheer up my daughter?”

“No, but…” she shakes her head “...to be honest, your joke isn’t far off its mark.”

“Oh?”

Angelica nods her head, taking another sip of her hot chocolate in the process. “It was Jessica.  I spoke to her tonight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the women in my life aren’t disappointed in me right now.”

“I see, well I apologize for making light of your situation.”

“It’s ok dad.” She forces a smile onto her face. “I could use a laugh right now anyway.”

Bart Jones is the father of Angelica and Kayla Jones.  He disappointed his daughters in a big way when he abandoned them to their own devices, which led to their teenage years being pure and unadulterated hell on earth.  It took a long time before Angelica would even speak to him again let alone forgive him and actually be willing to have a relationship with him.  Her sister, Kayla, still hasn’t forgiven Bart for his past, even though he is genuinely and sincerely apologetic and wants to make up for it.  If anyone knows about dealing with upset to pissed off children, it would be Bart Jones.

To be honest, Angelica is thankful that she once again has her father to talk to.  He has so much wisdom he can share, so much knowledge, and real world experience that can help her out in dealing with any and all situations.  Besides that, there is still so much they missed by being apart from one another.  Angelica knows that her sister Kayla is missing a lot by refusing to forgive their father, but that is a decision she must make herself.

“First of all, what did you do?”

Angelica narrows her eyes in a glare at Bart. “Why are you just assuming I did something wrong?”

“You have that look on your face, a look of guilt.  Every parent knows that look.”

“Oh…”

“Besides,” he grins knowingly “between you and your sister, you usually were guilty more often than her.”

Angelica rolls her eyes. “Gee, thanks dad.”

“Glad I could be of service.  But all kidding aside, am I right?”

She nods her head. “Yes, you’re right.  It was my fault.”

“What’d you do?”

“Well it’s kind of complicated.” She takes a sip of her hot chocolate. “There’s this tournament to crown a number one contender for the world title coming up on the next edition of Breakdown.”

“Ok, and you’re in it?”

“I am…at the expense of Kelcey Wallace.”

Bart frowns curiously. “I don’t follow.”

“Kelcey Wallace is part of Silas Mason’s Silas World.  But lately she’s been going rogue.  Lately she’s been challenging his authority.”

“Sounds like my kinda woman.”

“Dad!”

“Sorry!” He shrugs his shoulders. “But anyone willing to stand up to that snake in the grass is a good woman.”

“That snake in the grass happens to be my agent.”

He sighs. “Don’t remind me.”

“Anyway…yeah, well, Kelcey was scheduled to be in that tournament, but Silas punished her for her rebellion by pulling her out of the tournament and putting me in her place.”

“Ok, I get it now,” he chuckles “Jessie is disappointed that you took that spot in the tournament.”

“Right and I’m sure she wants me to bow out because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Is it the right thing to do?”

Angelica nods her head slowly. “Probably, yes.”

“Well you can’t bow out.”

Angelica is surprised.  Bart Jones has become quite the boy scout since his return from his work for the federal government.  She didn’t expect him to tell her to stay in the tournament.  She expected him to tell her to bow out, to step aside.

“Huh?”

“You can’t exit the tournament.  It wouldn’t help you or Kelcey one bit.  But you can play this to your advantage.”

Angelica stares at him skeptically. “And how would you know?”

“I used to work for the FBI, the federal government.  Those people are ten times worse than Silas Mason.” He snickers. “I know how to deal with his type.”

Angelica smiles. “Ok then, smart guy, what’s your suggestion?”

“Simple.  Win the tournament.  Go on to win the world title.  Then defend it against Kelcey.”

The redhead shakes her head. “Silas wouldn’t go for it.”

“Sure he will,” Bart winks “if you market it correctly.”

“Huh?”

“Think about it, an all Silas World championship match?”

Angelica pauses momentarily. “Yeah, I think he would like that actually…come to think of it.”

“These megalomaniac types love to have their ego fed and this would do just that, Angel.”

“Dad…”

“Sorry,” Bart shrugs “I just can’t stand your agent.”

“So if I win this tournament and become world champion, I can give Kelcey what she deserves while at the same time giving Silas what he wants?” She grins knowingly. “Dad, I like how you think.”

“What can I say?  I worked for the FBI.  I’m used to dealing with scum.”

“I just don’t know if Jessie will see it your way or not.”

“Do you want me to talk to her?”

Angelica shakes her head. “No, I will.  It needs to come from me.  Besides, I think there are other issues we need to sort out as well.”

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On Camera

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The sun is just about to set in Nashville, Tennessee and that creates a beautiful scene as we see trees on either side of the enormous and famous Grand Ole Opry House.  Just this view alone is enough to inspire awe and create goosebumps on anyone who lays their eyes upon this building, a building where country music royalty time and again has gathered to show forth their talent.

Speaking of royalty, it is at this time that Angelica Jones enters the scene from stage left.  The beautiful red-haired Silas World member is wearing a tight black dress that hugs her every curve and stops to just above her knee, open toed high heel shoes, and her signature black leather jacket.  Her long red hair hangs unrestrained to shoulder length.

“Behind me is the Grand Ole Opry House, it is a place where country music legends ranging from Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, and one of my personal favorites, Martina McBride.  Last Breakdown came from my hometown of Boston, Massachusetts but this time we will be here in my home away from home, Nashville.  This place is my second home because it is here, in this great city, where I along with oh so many others before me, got my start as a country music recording artist.”

Jones grins. “Didn’t know that about me, did you?  I truly am a renaissance woman who can do anything.  Not only am I a professional wrestling hall of fame caliber world champion but I also have a successful singing career which no doubt will lead to legendary status soon enough.”

“When I’m not wrestling, when I’m busted skulls in, I’m here in Nashville, cutting songs for my records.    That’s what makes this place my second home and that means I have a hometown advantage heading into this tournament.”

Angelica motions to the Opry building again. “To get inducted into the Grand Ole Opry you have to prove yourself to be one of the true all time greats in country music.  They won’t just let anyone in.  The same holds true in my primary career, my career as a professional athlete.  World Championships aren’t just handed out on a silver platter.  They are earned through hard work and dedication.  World Championships are earned through the blood, sweat, and tears of the athlete.”

“I could stand here and proclaim to the world that I have already proven myself time and time again.  I could do that.” She shakes her head. “But I’m not.”

“Do I deserve to be in this tournament?” Angelica nods her head. “You damn right I do.  I deserve to be here and when I defeat two athletes in the same night here in Nashville, when I move onto Apocalypse and then cap it off with a tournament victory, I will then be the undisputed number one contender.  I will deserve an  opportunity to claim my thirteenth world heavyweight championship.”

Jones points into the camera. “And it all begins with you, Jake Starr.”

“We’re no strangers to one another.  I recall not so fondly of how you beat me the last time we were in the same ring together.” The Dragon claps her hands, applauding somewhat sarcastically for Jake. “Congratulations.”

“I can admit my flaws and admit that I do have an ego, so understand that it does pain me to admit that you bested me on that night.  Also understand that I loathe losing when I do lose I want to do one of two things, either get a rematch and avenge that loss with a victory…”

She smirks nastily. “…or just simply make them suffer by beating the holy hell out of them.”

“Right now I am focused on one thing and that is to win this tournament and become number one contender.  And when I am as deadly focused as I am right now, I am damn near unstoppable.  That’s where you’re lucky.”

“Why would I call that luck?” She shrugs. “Makes no sense, does it?  Think of it this way, Jake, as long as I am focused on becoming number one contender, I am NOT focused on crippling you; because when I get into that mode, when I get into that mindset, I become a literal force of nature.  A fucking hurricane that will tear apart everything in my path of rage.”

“Right now my path to the world championship leads through you, Jake Starr, and it comes through Nashville, Tennessee, where I made myself a singing success, and I will make myself a success yet again here in this town by mowing you over on Breakdown, just as I will mow over anyone and everyone who gets in my way, who dares to try and stop me in this tournament.  Because I am Angelica Jones, I am The Dragon, and I will not be stopped.”