The sun shone in my face, forcing me awake as I heard a loud rapping noise at the door.

Knockknockknockknockknock

"Mmmmm..." Despite my soft moaning, the rapping noise only got harder, if anything.

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK

"Alright, alright, I'm up!' I half-shouted, throwing the warm and ever-inviting covers off of my body. My feet slipped into my bunny slippers as they shuffled across the carpet floor as I was almost in a zombie-like trance, a usual symptom of me first waking up in the morning. Turning to door knob to open it, I found my dad greeting me.

"Claire!" he chuckled, clapping my shoulder hard. I tried not wincing, not like he really would have noticed either way as he continued talking. "I can't believe it! You got booked for your first match in the XWF! Oh, I'm so proud of you, sweetheart. I knew this day would come!"

I forced a smile, though admittedly it wasn't hard. Even if my dad could be a bit... extra at times, his enthusiasm could be downright infectious. It's part of the reason why he's one of my best friends, always has been and likely always will be. "Yeah, I'm excited for my first match. It's going to be exciting. I kind of can't wait, even if who I'm facing seems like a jerk."

"Haw haw!" my father clapped me hard on the shoulder again. "Can't say you'll be facing much. Scully's tough, but you should be able to get past him. And Kim, well... she kind of sucks."

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "Who's Kim Anderson? Who's Scully? I thought I had agreed to face off against Isabella Ortega?" I had thought I had made that specifically clear to management, but it seemed like that little note had gone unnoticed.

My father looked at me almost as if I had two heads. "Haven't you seen Savage, Claire?"

"Ehehe..." I lightly chuckled as I played with my hair. "About that, I... I was too busy trying to train for my first run in a major company like this."

"Oh, brother..." my father said, sighing loudly. "Claire, it makes me proud to see you're taking this shot seriously. Lord knows I would have killed for it back in the day while I was still active, cutting my teeth on the indies. And Lord knows your brothers would kill for it too."

"That's true..." my finger was just moving in circles now, my hair twirling as I continued speaking. "I don't think I've seen anyone work as hard as David or Eddy."

"Exactly what I mean, Princess," my father continued, his voice growing out of the joking zone and becoming more and more stern. "I love that you're training and willing to do what you have to to make it here in the XWF, but you also need to take a bit. Scope out the competition. After Turning Point, there was a lot of names signing up for the XWF, including some Bombshells."

I nodded as my father continued. "But perhaps even more than that, one of the most important pieces of advice I can give you is to just... relax sometimes. It's good to work hard nine times out of ten, but you'll eventually owe it to yourself to slow down and relax. If you burn yourself out, you're hurting no one but yourself."

"You're right," I said, nodding again. "I'll have to try putting that into practice sometime."

"Great!" my father exclaimed, showing a toothy grin. "But, that doesn't mean you should relax now. It's time you get started, yeah? Your brothers are going to be visiting in a couple days to celebrate you making it into the XWF, and management reached out to us and got yourself an interview scheduled with Steve Sayors later this week."

The last bit came as a surprise to me as I blinked. "R-really?" I said.

"Yeah, apparently I heard it's the norm for a lot of new wrestlers or whatever, I wasn't exactly kept privy to the specifics. But, get past Kim and Scully - which should be a good deal for you - and you'll probably be moved up in the card. Maybe even face the likes of Jenny Myst or the new Bombshell Champion, Mandii Rider. I'm not sure at this rate."

"Right, I'll get on top of things. Thanks, Dad." I beamed a smile at him, as a stepped back into my room, getting changed into my workout gear.

"No problem, Princess!" I could hear Dad's voice come through the door. I smiled to myself; he was a dork. A lovable dork, albeit, but a dork nonetheless.