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Scene 1
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“Look, pay very close attention to me,”
That is the
worried and very nervous voice of one Mason Van Stanton speaking slowly,
clearly, but with a definite tone of nervousness and fear in his voice as he
paces the floor of his office in Raleigh, North Carolina. Sitting down on the sofa is none other than
his one, and only, client, Julia Alexis Noel, the “daughter” of Aphrodite Noel
and current number one contender to the IWC Queen of the Ring Championship.
Mason Van
Stanton just sees dollar signs, and the potential of dollar signs going down
the drain, if his client cannot perform up to par at Invictus. Not only does she stand to potentially lose
any future shot at the Queen of the Ring Title, or any title for that matter,
if she cannot dethrone Marina Valdivia, she also stands to lose her standing
with her “mother” Aphrodite Noel and Aphrodite has been a major source of
funding for Mason Van Stanton these past few months. Losing her support would be a major blow to
the egomaniacal manager.
Things are a
lot more personal for Julia. She allowed
herself to be transformed from Julia Braddock into Julia Noel only because she wanted
the same kind of attention and spotlight that her more famous cousin Glory
Braddock had been getting. Jealousy can
cause people to do a lot of strange things and for Julia it caused her to stab
her cousin in the back.
It all
worked out great at first. Glory was
forced to work for Aphrodite and meanwhile all the praise and glory, no pun
intended, was showered upon Julia. It
was everything she had wanted and then some.
But then Glory did something Julia did not expect.
She gave up.
Glory had
been fighting Aphrodite for so long but then she just gave up and accepted her
new lot in life as Aphrodite’s daughter. When that happened Aphrodite seemingly
did a complete one-eighty and began showering Glory with the praise and love
and began to ignore Julia.
Sure, she
had Mason Van Stanton and she had Aphrodite’s legion of servants, but without
Aphrodite herself and the backing of the entire Noel Family, Julia was
lost. That’s what she really wanted was
the backing of an entire family. She
felt Glory had always gotten that from the Braddock family and now here she was
getting the backing of the Noel Family as well when Julia had tried oh so hard
to keep that away from her.
This
personal crisis has affected Julia mentally and emotionally and caused her to
compete at less than peak condition. As
a result, poor Julia has not been as successful as her “mother” or her “sister”
feel she ought to have been. She is
lucky, she feels, t o even have a Queen of the Ring Title Match at Invictus and
she knows that she cannot squander this opportunity.
Julia knows
that if she loses to Marina Valdivia at Invictus, if she fails to capture the
Queen of the Ring Championship, then she very well could also lose her status
in the Noel Family. And then where would
she go?
She could go
crawling back to Glenn Braddock and, to be honest, she has seriously thought
about it. She has already crawled back
to him in the sense that she has asked him to train her again, back the way he
used to train her before she turned her back on the Braddock Family. He has agreed but would she really be
prepared to humbly ask to be a Braddock again if Aphrodite were to abandon her?
A part of
her says yes.
“I have a great deal riding on the outcome
of this Queen of the Ring Championship Match at Invictus,” Mason says as he
continues with his rant “and to be
perfectly frank, you are damn lucky to even have the title match in the first
place!”
“Don’t you think I know that?!” Julia
exclaims as she fights back tears. “I don’t
need reminding.”
The
beautiful blonde shakes her head. “God
knows I get reminded by my mother and sister every day.”
“Ah yes, your mommy and sissy,” Mason
says with a snarky grin “they remind me
of something too. You know what they
remind me?”
“No but I fear you’re about to tell me.”
“They remind me about how my success is
attached to YOUR success!” Mason pokes a finger into Julia’s chest. “You and I are attached at the hip, babe, so
I’m gonna stay on your hot ass until I’m certain that you will be ready for
Marina Valdivia at Invictus.”
“I’ll do my job, Mason.” Julia responds,
still fighting back the tears. “You do
not have to worry about me.”
“I do have to worry about you because if you
don’t win then I don’t get paid. It’s
that simple, toots. I kinda like your
mother’s money.”
Julia wipes
her eyes. “And that’s all you care about,
isn’t it?”
“Is there anything else to care about?”
He sits down
on the sofa next to her. Mason stares
deep into her eyes and notices the tears.
A sly grin forms across his face and a low snicker escapes his lips.
“You’re…crying…?”
“Yeah, so…?”
Mason slaps
his knee and lets out a loud heaping laughter. “I can’t believe it! You’re
actually crying about this!”
He looks
over at her nastily. “Tell me, do you
actually care about the crazy old bat?”
Julia slowly
nods her head as she wipes tears from her eyes. “She’s my mother…I love her…”
Mason
snickers nastily. “You don’t believe that
soppy crap and neither do I. She may be
crazy enough to think you really are her daughter but let’s face facts, you are
Julia Braddock and you used her insanity to try and get revenge against your
cousin Glory. How did that work out for
you, by the way?”
“Glory is my…”
“She is your superior in the Noel Family.”
Mason Van Stanton states clearly and harshly. “Just like the way things were back when you were both cousins in the Braddock
Family. In other words, you fell flat on
your pretty little ass, sweetheart.”
Mason hops
up off of the sofa. “Now you’re not
totally stuck. You could leave. But do you really want to leave? Where else could you go? Back to the Braddock Family? I know he’s training you, but would Glenn
really accept you?
“I…” she sighs and shakes her head “…I dunno…”
“Face facts, you are a Noel, now and
forever, and you will just have to live with that.” Mason leans over to
speak directly into her face. “And you
will also have to live with the consequences that come if you disappoint the
Noel Family, if you turn out to be a failure at Invictus. Do we understand one another?”
Julia nods
her head. “Yes, Mason.”
“Excellent,” he points towards the door
of his office “now get out of my office.”
Julia gets
up off of the sofa and walks towards the door.
She pulls it open, steps outside into the hall, and pulls the door shut
behind her. What Julia doesn’t expect to
see as she steps outside is a hand greeting her, a hand expecting a handshake.
“Greetings!” The voice and hand belongs
to none other than Mason’s brother. “I am
Doctor, Dr. Henry Van Stanton!”
Julia
studies the man closely before reluctantly accepting the handshake. “Hi…”
“As much as I would love to have this conversation
here,” Henry wraps an arm around her shoulder and guides her further down
the hall “I’d rather the prying ears of
my bumbling brother not hear any of this.”
The two
continue to walk down the hall. Julia
just looks up at the man with a befuddled look on her face. She was not expecting to see Henry, not now
and not ever.
“What is this about, Henry?”
“Ah, questions!” Henry exclaims. “I love questions! Questions come from people who like to learn!”
They push
their way out through the lobby where they find two seats near the front door.
“You know what I do? I pass through, I help out, and I learn. And I don’t need an army and I don’t need
money, unlike my brother. All I need,
all I ever needed, is the hope and faith of people like you.”
Julia sighs
deeply and regretfully. “I fear I have
none of that, Henry.”
“Oh how wrong you are!” Henry exclaims. “In my years of travel, in my years of
experience, I have found that there is always, you know, hope.”
“Where is my hope?” Julia asks. “It seems as if I am destined to lose to
Marina Valdivia at Invictus. And then my
situation with mother will only get worse.”
“And that is where your first problem lies.”
“Huh?”
“Aphrodite Noel is NOT your mother. You need to remember who you really are.”
“I am…” Julia’s voice trails off
momentarily “…I am…”
“Who are you, my dear?” Henry demands. “Tell me.”
“I am…Julia Braddock.”
“That’s it!” He snaps his fingers. “That’s w hat I needed to hear and that’s
what you need to remember as you head into Invictus. Julia Noel cannot defeat Marina Valdivia,
even with a great man like Glenn Braddock in her corner, but Julia Braddock can
do anything if she puts her mind to it, and with Glenn Braddock in her corner
she will be the next Queen of the Ring Champion.”
He pats her on
the shoulder. “Remember that, Ms.
Braddock…remember that…”
