You’d think I’d get sent to the Principal’s office after that. But oh no. The first person who wanted to see me was the rodent man. He pulled me into his office, but I was still hot. My adrenaline was roaring and he was the last person I wanted to see or else I’d box him down. I couldn’t sit, I could only pace.

“Please, Miss Grimes, take a seat already.”

“Absolutely not. I wanna get back out there and destroy.”

“You don’t sound like yourself at all. Where does this come from all of a sudden?”

I get all in his face. “This is who I’ve been for nearly seventeen years, but wasn’t allowed to show it, Mr. Watts! This doesn’t come from nowhere!”

He just sits back, probably scrunching up his tail that’s hidden back there somewhere.

“Sounds like you’re ready for a heel turn.”

“What?”

“You’ve got a chip on your shoulder now. You’ve been a face for, what, two almost three years? No, it’s time for a change. You want people to care? Maybe they start if the gold bearer becomes a complete witch with a ‘b.’”

I think my adrenaline is cooling. “But I’ve never so much as broken a rule. The chair thing was just…I was feeling it.”

Watts sits back up, smiling, which makes me believe that somewhere in the world, some poor sap’s milk just curdled.

“It takes conviction and confidence to become a snake. All the greats have done it! Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, The Rock, Edge, CM Punk, Trish Stratus, and of course your man Shawn Michaels. Heck, when Hulk Hogan did it, it shook the industry to its core!”

“But that’s…I’m…”

He grins even wider. “Are you telling me you don’t consider yourself great. That’s not what I heard. That’s not what I saw.”

I take it in. I can’t believe I’m actually listening to this bastard.

“Wait, why am I even listening to you?”

“No one said you had to, little girl, but you would be unwise to unheed me. But you’re right. I don’t have anything to offer you. This is just formality. The President wanted to speak to you about your next title defense anyway.”

“Bye.”

Getting the hell out the siren’s den before I give any more serious thought to what pot roast over there is saying.

But I still do. I mull over everything he said. A heel technician would work. It’s worked countless times in the past. A ‘better than you’ attitude because of my prowess. It would have to mean getting better on the mic. But I’m pretty decent there, I think. Just hate having to do it. Like my mom. She hates being a saleswoman, but she’s damn good at it. Gotta be like Mom, I guess. Never thought I’d say that.

Councilor Watts is one of the biggest pieces of scum on the face of this or any Earth. But he hadn’t been wrong. He still wasn’t.