Being Myself

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Off Camera

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They say that pride cometh before a fall.  According to the Bible, the sin of pride was the sin that got Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden.  The truth is that pride can be a truly devastating thing.  Pride can be a poison that eats away at you until there is nothing left.  A little pride can be ok, if not outright healthy, but too much pride can destroy anyone.

Corey Jones has reason to be proud, being the daughter of Angelica Jones and Andreas Lasiewicz.  The  Jones and Lasiewicz families are both widely known, respected, and recognized for their hard work for the wrestling industry and for what they have accomplished during the course of their careers.  Young Corey Jones can hold her head up high with pride as she tells the world who her parents are…

…but can she really?  Angelica Jones and Andreas Lasiewicz have over twenty world championships between the two of them, not to mention the hall of fame honors, but together they have done horrible, terrible things to individuals.  Together they have left a trail of broken bodies and blood in their wake.  Together they have ended the careers of great wrestlers.  Is that really something to be proud of?  Is that something she wants her family to be known for?

Any child finds it difficult enough to live up to the greatness of very accomplished parents.  But for Corey, who has two extremely accomplished and famous parents, it is damn near impossible to match it.  Living up to the Lasiewicz name and Jones name is enough pressure to make someone snap.  But Corey has an added twist.  Not only does she feel she needs to live up to their accomplishments and achievements, their greatness, but she also feels a desire to redeem her families’ names.  She set a goal for herself that, through her and her alone, the world would know the Jones and Lasiewicz families not for the violence but for the greatness they exude.

There is such a thing as putting too much pressure upon yourself and maybe Corey put too much pressure upon herself by deciding she would not only live up to the greatness of her parents but also surpass it in a way by redeeming their entire family name in general.  She had hoped a strong showing in the Shot of Adrenaline Tournament would be just the thing and yet, despite all of her efforts, she has come up with lackluster results, including disappointing losses to Christy Matthews and Rachel Foxx.  She did manage to defeat Amy Chastaine and Nicole Kinnick but she still has Selena Frost and Dylan Howell coming up and she’s sitting at six points.  These final two matches could prove to be make or break when it comes to whether she advances to the next stage.

Selena Frost is a very accomplished former two time Adrenaline champion and tag champion in SCW and is the woman who, last year, forced Corey’s mother to tap out.  Then there’s a very angry, very determined Dylan Howell.  Both of these individuals will be tough to get through and even if she manages to beat them both, Corey may still need help in order to advance.

Corey had a great opportunity gifted to her in being allowed to compete in Shot of Adrenaline and yet mediocre performances in her tournament matches led to this situation where she may not make it through, even if she does beat Dylan Howell on this next Breakdown and then Selena Frost on the following one.

“Ready girls?!”

A woman in black tights and a gray tanktop stands in a gym in  front of a line of young women, all college age, all wearing royal blue A-line cheerleading skirts with matching royal blue and white cheerleading shell tops to complete the uniform.  The word “Duke” is written across the chest of the shell top in black lettering.  These are the Duke University cheerleaders and among them is none other than part-timer Corey Jones.  The same sickeningly sweet fake grin is plastered across her face, just like the other girls, but deep down inside she wishes she could curl up and die.  But she cannot curl up and die, not until her and her fellow cheerleaders finish practice…

“Annnnd go!”

“FIGHT , FIGHT, BLUE DEVILS!  FIGHT FOR THE BLUE AND WHITE!”

Corey and the others step forward and then they step back…

“FIGHT! FIGHT! WE’LL FIGHT!  WITH ALL OUR STRENGTH AND MIGHT!”

They spin around three hundred sixty degrees and take a step forward again, pumping the air with their fists…

“WIN WE CAN, SO HERE WE GIVE A HAND! HEY! RAH! RAH! RAH! RAH!”

A few of the girls, including Corey, perform a few kicks and splits.

“D-U-K-E! RAH!”

Yes, Corey Jones still moonlights as a Duke cheerleader.  Perhaps this is why she is having so much difficulty succeeding at her goals?  If you have just too many goals it can become hard to achieve any of them, because your focus is too divided.  Corey’s focus is not only on Supreme Championship Wrestling but she also competes for Global Championship Wrestling and she takes online classes at Duke University for a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and she participates in the school’s cheerleading program.

“Corey?”

“Huh?”

The redhead is startled by the sound of the coach, the blonde woman wearing the black tights and gray tank top, who just called her out.  She has a look of concern on her face as she studies Corey closely and carefully.

“Are you ok?”

“Uh-huh,” Corey nods her head with a forced smile “why do you ask?”

“You just look a little tired.”

Corey laughs in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“Looks can be deceiving, coach.  I’m fine.”

“This won’t affect your performance, will it?” The coach asks. “Duke plays Florida State in Basketball this Thursday.”

“Yeah, so?”

“You have to wrestle Thursten Howell on that god-awful wrestling show the day before, correct?”

Corey tilts her head to one side and frowns.

“Dylan.  His name is Dylan.”

“Whatever.  The day before you will be in New Mexico wrestling.  Will you be able to make it back to Durham, North Carolina?”

Corey doesn’t appreciate having her commitment questioned.  She may be spread a little thin here but by God when she makes a commitment she will do everything within her power to keep the commitment.  Her blood is boiling over with rage and is about to give this woman a piece of her mind when…

“Oh don’t worry, coach!”

Candra Stevens, the cheerleading captain and Corey’s best friend, steps forward in her defense.

“I can guarantee she’ll make it!”

The coach, while still clearly skeptical of her cheer captain’s enthusiasm and of Corey’s commitment, nevertheless nods her head in agreement.

“You remember that I was not in favor of this arrangement between us and Corey, correct?”

Candra nods her head.

“Yeah, I know.”

“I questioned from the start how someone like her with all of her other commitments could possibly keep up the pace she does without something suffering or taking a backseat.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Corey steps forward, shaking her head.

“Look, no disrespect coach, but I have busted my ass to try and keep up all of my commitments and I don’t like having my commitment to this or to anything questioned.  I’m trying hard, just as hard as any of the other girls here.”

The coach nods her head and, for the first time, her facial features fin ally softens.

“I don’t mean to sound like I’m questioning you or your commitments.  I know you are trying very hard, Corey.  But the fact is that you DO have a lot of commitments.  You are a student, you are a cheerleader, and you are a professional wrestler.   Tell me, what year are you in your education?”

Corey thinks about it for awhile and sighs.

“Not sure, to be honest.  Technically I am in my senior year, based only on how many credit hours I have left.”

“And you have been a senior for how long now?”

Corey is completely silent.  The coach places a hand upon her shoulder.

“Do you see my point?  You are having to take basically one or two classes at a time due to time constraints.  You could have had your education completed by now.  How long will it be until one of your other commitments takes a hit?”

Corey looks up at the coach with a look of determination in her eyes.

“I can do this, coach.  I know I can.”

“I don’t doubt that you think you can.  All I am trying to say is that it might do you good if you made a choice.  A choice as to whether you want to be a wrestler or a cheerleader.”

The coach turns and walks away.  The other girls have already departed.  Corey just turns to face Candra and she just about breaks down into tears.  Candra embraces her in a tight, comforting hug.

“It’s ok, sweetie.  I’m here.”

“I can do this, though.  I know I can.”

They break the embrace and Candra looks at Corey skeptically.

“Coach was right though, you did look rather exhausted.”

“Maybe I was tired?  But so what?  I have a match against Dylan Howell on the next Breakdown and I’ll be damned if I’m going to lose.  I need that win if I have a prayer of staying in Shot of Adrenaline.”

“So…wrestling is your priority then?”

Corey frowns.

“Are you suggesting that I should quit cheerleading?”

Candra shakes her head vehemently.

“Of course not.  I don’t think coach is suggesting that, either.  I think she wants you to just consider getting your priorities straight.  I mean, you do have so many commitments that all of us girls are wondering how you manage to do it all.”

Corey sighs and shakes her head.

“You know…I wonder the same thing myself.”

Corey looks up and notices a familiar figure near the gym entrance.  It’s her sister, Marie Annabelle Jones.  The fellow Jones woman is wearing denim jeans, black boots, and a red silk blouse.  Her long red hair hangs unrestrained to where they are below her shoulders.  Corey smiles knowingly before looking back at her friend Candra.

“Uh, Candra, why don’t you go on?”

“Will you be ok?”

Corey nods her head towards Marie.

“Yeah, I think I’ll be fine.”

Candra turns and notices Marie there at the entrance to the gym.  She smiles as she looks back at Corey.

“Ok, sweetie.  I’ll see you later.”

Candra gets up and walks away.  Marie waits until Candra is completely gone before she makes her way over.  She pulls up a seat next to her sister Corey.

“How much of that did you see?”

Corey asks out of curiosity.  Marie smirks knowingly.

“D-U-K-E! RAH! RAH! RAH!”

Corey blushes furiously.

“So you saw the whole fucking practice?!”

“Just that last routine, sis.  And quit your damn, blushing.  You were great!  You’re a hell of a dancer and despite what that bitchy coach said, you were the best one out there.”

Corey smiles warmly before embracing Marie with a hug.

“Thanks, sis.  But…”

They break the embrace and Corey frowns.

“…be honest with me, do you think I can keep this up?”

“Honestly?”

Corey nods her head.

“Yes, honestly.  Be straight up and brutally honest.  And you’re my sister so I will know if you’re lying.”

Marie stares into Corey’s eyes.  The two are several years different in terms of ages and they do have two distinctly different personalities but they still know each other so well.  Marie knows that Corey wants the truth but she isn’t sure she wants to tell her the truth.

“Honestly, that’s kind of why I came here to see you.”

Corey chuckles.

“That’s interesting.  I was wondering why you would come down here to North Carolina to see me anyway.”

“Listen to me, Corey…”

She places both hands upon her sister’s shoulders.

“…we are all worried about you.”

Corey arches a brow.

“We?”

“Me…mom…Aunt Kayla…we are all worried about you.”

“Why did you have to come?” Corey says sounding rather indignant. “Why couldn’t mom and Aunt Kayla come and see me themselves?  We both wrestle at SCW shows.”

“They’re respecting your wishes to be left alone.”

Corey smirks.

“That’s nice of them.  Why are you ignoring my wishes to be left alone?”

“Because I care too much about you to just sit back and wait until you kill yourself.”

“Until I kill myself?”  Corey shakes her head. “You’re exaggerating.”

“You wrestle for Global Championship Wrestling!  You wrestle for Supreme Championship Wrestling!  You are a student here at Duke and you are a cheerleader for Duke!  Don’t you see how you are spread way too thin?”

Corey pauses for a moment before shaking her head.

“No…”

“You want to bet on that?”

Corey sneers.

“I’m NOT spread too thin!”

“Fine…”

Marie holds up one finger.

“…this Wednesday you have SCW Breakdown where you face Dylan Howell in the Shot of Adrenaline Tournament, and that’s in New Mexico…”

“Right…”

Marie holds up a second finger.

“…the next day in North Carolina you have to be at a Duke basketball game as part of the cheerleading squad…”

“…uh huh…”

Marie holds up a third finger.

“…and finally, that Sunday, less than a week later, you have to be in Chicago, Illinois for GCW’s Civil War pay per view!”

“Stop it!”

Corey stands up and turns her back to Marie.

“Just stop it!”

Marie stands up as well and gently places a hand on her shoulder.

“You wanted me to be brutally honest with you?  Now you be brutally honest with me.  How will you do all of that?  How will you manage all three appearances in one week without breaking down due to sheer exhaustion?”

Corey turns around to face her sister.  Tears are forming in her eyes.

“I just...I don’t know what to do!”

“I know one thing you can do that you haven’t done from the moment of your damn birth.”

Marie smirks and extends a hand.

“Accept that you cannot always do everything on your own.  Accept someone’s help.”

Corey looks down at the hand being offered to her and then back up at Marie.  Corey smiles and then accepts the handshake.

“Thanks, sis…”

“Don’t thank me.  I’m doing this because I’m your sister and I care about you.  Besides, you helped me time and time again when I did not deserve it.  It’s time I repaid some of that goodwill.”

They hug once more.

“Jones sisters united?”

Corey asks.  Marie nods.

“Jones sisters united.  Redemption.”

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On Camera

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It’s dark , damn near pitch black, with the exception of a single spotlight shining down in the center of the stage.  Footsteps are heard but due to the darkness we cannot see anything except a black mass makings it way towards the center.  Finally we see what appears to be a female dressed in a black hooded trenchcoat, the hood covering her head so that we cannot make out who this is, but the voice immediately gives away her identity…

“I have gone by many names in my life.”

It’s Corey Jones.

“I was born Jessica Corey Jones-Lasiewicz.  I went by the name Jessica Jones for many long ass years before that netflix show, before all these Jessica Jones fans suddenly and coincidentally sprung up from out of nowhere.  In a vain attempt to honor my father I dropped the Jones from my name and began going by the name Jessica Lasiewicz.  My father pissed me off and that combined with the fact that I felt I was letting my mother’s family down made me go back to the Jones identity, although this time I used my middle name Corey.  Corey Jones is who I wanted to be.  Funny thing is, it was the first time I really WANTED something for myself in a long ass time.  I had to be someone else for each situation.  As a student in college I was one type of person, for GCW I was another type of person, for SCW I was someone else.  But I’m finished with all of that.  I am finished trying to change my identity to adapt to what other people want me to be.”

Suddenly she sheds the trench coat and tosses it away.  The lights come on and we see she is wearing a royal blue and white cheerleading uniform.  A wide grin is on the redhead’s face.

“I am going to be myself!  No more acts, no more trying to be the perfect Jones or the perfect Lasiewicz, no more trying to be this or trying to be that, just me being the one person I haven’t tried to be in a long time…myself, Corey Jones.  And if you don’t like that?”

She shrugs her shoulders.

“Oh well!  I think we’ll grow to appreciate each other and if not, I’ll kick you in the teeth, so it’s all good!  Now where was I?”

Corey scratches her chin and scrunches up her face into a look of confusion as if she is really thinking this over seriously.  Finally she snaps her fingers.

“Oh yeah!  I remember now!”

She waves happily and playfully at the camera.

“Hiya, everyone!  Corey here and I am psyched and ready for Breakdown from New Mexico!”

She nods her head knowingly.

“I know, I get it, this is Shot of Adrenaline and I know the situation I’m in.  I got six points with two matches left, one against a very accomplished and determined Selena Frost and another against one very pissed off and equally determined Dylan Howell.  I get Howell’s angry ass in the ring this coming Breakdown one on one and if my math is right, I need to win both if I want to maintain any hope of winning the whole thing…”

She points a finger at the camera.

“…Selena, we’ll talk when the time comes, girl.  For now, my focus is on YOU, Dylan Howell.  You’re in an even worse situation than I am.  You’re already out of it.  You’re eliminated.  You’re just finishing the tournament for the sake of finishing the damn tournament.  There is no mathematical way you can advance at this point.  It’s all over for you, buddy!  And that’s what makes you the most dangerous person left in block one.”

Corey nods her head.

“That’s right, you’re the most dangerous.  You’re facing me on Breakdown and I am on the brink of disaster.  One more loss and I could end up like you.  But you have nothing to lose as you are already eliminated but you could get some satisfaction by making sure I don’t make it any farther.  You could get some satisfaction by being the one who mathematically eliminates me.”

Corey snickers nastily.

“Not happening!”

She waves towards herself with her hands.

“Come on and hit me!  HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT!  WHY DON’T YOU HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT?!  HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT, DYLAN!  FIRE AWAY, ASSHAT!”

She winks at the camera.

“Copyright to Pat Benatar.  Point is, Dylan, that I’m not going down without a fight!  You can be pissed off and angry at the world for all I care.  But while you wallow in self pity all the while taking your anger issues out on other people, I’m going to be doing every damn thing I can to make the comeback of the century and win Shot of Adrenaline because for me, from here on out, it’s win or go home and I’m not ready to go home yet!”

The camera fades to black.