The Kappa Alpha Tau sorority sat around a couple of tables that they’d pushed together. Lunch hour was over and the usual hustle and bustle in the cafeteria had mostly calmed down, and it gave the ladies (of all sizes and ages!) a perfect opportunity to discuss something that urgently needed to be talked about.

The sorority’s founder and president, Angelica Vaughn, sat at the head of the table, listening to suggestions that were being flung at her as if shot out of a gatling gun.

“Pumpkin pie contest!”

“Ouija Board game!”

“Spookiest dance moves!”

“Best skeleton impersonations!”

“Ghost pepper eating challenge!”

“Live spiders!”

“BEER!”

“Walking over grates in high heels!”

“Trick or treating!”

Angelica rested her elbows on the table and supported her head with her fingers, closing her eyes and massaging her temples as she did so. Halloween was not exactly her favorite season. She simply didn’t understand what people found so fascinating about it. It was SCARY! Witches, and zombies, and… vampires! She’d had more than her dose of vampirism when she faced Vita Valenteen a while back, that was for sure.

No, Angelica was very much looking forward to Christmas already. With Jingle Bells, a ton of Mariah Carey and The Pogues, punch, presents, Christmas trees and decorations, decking the halls, carol singers, Christmas movies, Nativity plays, and so much more. Ironically, she fully realized that not liking Halloween made HER the villain! Whenever she mentioned to people that she wasn’t a huge fan because she didn’t  like spooky stuff, they looked at her as if she’d just smeared a liquid fart across the star-spangled banner itself.

She stopped massaging her temples and raised her voice in the kindest way possible.

”Girls girls, girls! We need some order and structure! We’re getting nowhere like this. Planning a Halloween party doesn’t happen by just shouting suggestions for activities. We need to start with the basics, ‘kay?”

Angelica would rather not have a Halloween party at all, but even if she wasn’t a fan, that would be shirking away  from her responsibilities as the President of the College’s only true sorority.

As Angela, Pamela, Sandra, Rita, Monica and the rest of the sisters calmed down and turned their attention towards the leggy blonde of legend, Angelica cleared her throat. It still hurt. She flexed her neck and felt a slight pop. The Celt’s boot-on-throat submission maneuver, which he called ‘The Triumph’, had done some damage all right. It had caused her to miss an episode of Savage AND the Relentless Pay Per View, even if she’d come out of their bout both #Vaughnemous and victorious. She was ready and anxious to get back in the ring however, and she’d much rather be training for her upcoming bout with Isaiah King, but she had taken on the responsibilities of sorority President, and she took them as seriously as she could.

”Catering won’t be a prob, I can talk to my Kitty Café suppliers, and we’ll have all the alcohol and food we need. I’ll have them throw in some pumpkin spice stuff like IPA’s, cocktails and whatnot. As for decorative pumpkins, you guys will be glad to know that I’ve grown a ton on my ranch with the help of some locals, so we’ll have dozens of pumpkins to decorate! We will, however, be needing spooky decorations. Who can provide some?”

Rita’s hand shot up. She was one of the older members and of Mexican descent. She went to Community College to get a degree because she was tired of her day job. It wasn’t always easy for her, combining family, a job and school, but she had one heck of a work ethic.

“Ooh, Angelica! Mi hermano has a crazy collection of stuff he usually uses for Día de los Muertos decorations. He owes me several favors, so he can’t refuse.”

”That’s great!”

Angelica didn’t want to get into the cultural debate of whether it was a completely different holiday or not. In the end, it would be spooky and that was good enough.

”Now, costumes. I’m assuming everybody will want one, right? Are we going to go with one costume that will be worn by everybody, or are we going to have a unique costume for everyone? And please keep it classy, yeah? ‘Sexy nurse’ is not a Halloween costume!”

“Why not??” Pamela chimed in.

”Because nurses aren’t scary!”

“Unless they’re killer nurses! With big needles and stuff!”

”Pamela, I’m not going to argue about this.”

“Actually, Angelica,” Tina butted in, “a few of us already had an idea for a costume… If you’d… turn around?”

”?”

Tina and a few of the others pointed behind Angelica, who turned around and stared right in the face of a gruesome monster. Its eyes were bloodshot and bulbous, its open mouth was festering with open sores, rotten crooked teeth standing in grey gums like gravestones. Barbed wire was wrapped around the dome, piercing flesh like a gruesome crown of metal thorns. Its ears were torn, with cartilage sticking out and pus seeped from the rusty piercings that were meant to adorn them.

Angelica’s heart skipped a few beats when confronted with this gruesome monstrosity, and her fight or flight instinct kicked in. And a true Vaughn never turns heel…

”EEK!”

Without even thinking about it, Angelica lashed out, hitting the monster right on the nose. And to her surprise, it let out a high, girly squeal that did not match its nightmare inducing exterior whatsoever.

“EEEE! OW OW OW!!”

The monster bent over and pulled off what appeared to be a latex mask, revealing her sorority sister Jessica. Blood was running down her nose, which she held with both hands. She tried to stop the flow, but her hands ran crimson as it seeped through her fingers and dripped down to the floor.

Panicked, Angelica shot up out of her chair as the rest of the Kappa Alpha Tau let out a collective shriek.

”Oh noes! Jessica! I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorryyyyyy!”

She helped Jessica on to a chair, and gently instructed her to hold her head back.

”Gently now… I told you guys a thousand times to never scare me, I have trained fighting instincts!”

“That IS true, you did say that,” Angela answered, and the rest of the girls kind of started to look at the floor as they realized they probably shouldn’t have tried pulling a prank on their easily startled President.

Meanwhile, Jessica tried to say something, but her speech was slurred as the blood from her nose had run down and gargled in her throat.

“Angie bi bink dou broke by bose.”

”Thaaaat’s not good. No worries, Jess, I’ve seen backstage medics do this a ton of times at wrestling shows!”

Angelica bit on her lower lip, and grabbed Jessica’s nose between her fingers. With a swift snap, she cracked the nose back into place, drawing another pained shriek from her sorority sister.

“AAARGH! That hurt!”

”I know, and I’m so sorry! But otherwise you might have a crooked nose! And nobody wants that!”

Angelica grabbed a box of napkins that was resting on one of the cafeteria tables and she tore some pieces off so Jessica could stuff them down her nose to stop the bleeding. After a while, the situation seemed to improve, even if Tina had fainted at the sight of so much blood.

“I’m feeling a bit light-headed,” Jessica said, with her nose stuffed full of paper towel.

”Yeah, that’s not unusual. I should probs take you to the ER. Girls, we’ll finish our Halloween Party planning some other time, I’ll take Jess to the doctor’s!”

“But I don’t have insurance! I can’t afford a hospital, why do you think I’m in Community College?”

”I’ll pay for it, silly! Least I can do, honestly! Let’s go.”

Angelica took Jessica by the arm and started to guide her towards the parking lot. As they wandered through the halls of the school, they attracted a fair few looks from confused students.

”Nothing to see here, folks! By the dubs, Jess… That mask was really truly terrifying, where did you get that from?”

“I made it myself!”

”Really? Wow, you’re so talented!”

“Thanks! I’m actually graduating in costume design this year. I learned how to make it here.”

”Well, I’m sure the dean will be very pleased to hear that! You should totes go pro!”

“That’s the plan. There’s a theater company in Dallas I’d really love to join.”

”They’d be foolish not to hire you! And so would we! All of Kappa Alpha Tau will gladly use your costumes for our Halloween Party, I’m sure! I’ve got, like, loads of followers on social media, I’ll make sure it gets out there. Do my influencer social media star stuff, you know? Put that wrestler fame to good use.”

“I’d really appreciate that.”

As they finally arrived at Angelica’s rather oversized truck and they departed for the nearest hospital, a rather awkward silence fell between the two. As she drove, Angelica couldn’t help but notice that Jessica was throwing her some glances, and eventually she could no longer ignore them.

”Something up, Jess?”

“Not really, it’s just that… you punch really hard. And I hope you don’t mind me saying this because I don’t want to insult you or anything, but you’re a lot stronger than you look. It’s almost as if you wrestling folk are a breed apart. If I were to punch you, you probably would barely feel it.”

”Oh, I can feel pain. More than I care to admit, axly. But we train to ignore most of it, or otherwise we’d be losing a lot of matches really quickly. Like, in my last match I was up against this Scottish fellow. Six foot six, super strong, you know… the works! Guy puts his boot on my throat, nearly crushed my heckin’ larynx!”

“Isn’t that a big cat?”

”Hmm? Oh! No no, it’s like your voice box thingy, right next to your windpipe. N-E-Ways, I escape by the skin of my teeth because my feet managed to find the ropes! Lucky me, having these long legs, right? I could barely speak for days, and had trouble breathing for a good while. Kept me out of action for a bit. It’s risky, doing what we do. If I hadn’t had a spot of luck, I would have had to tap out, and even then the damage might’ve been a lot more severe.”

“So then why do you do it?”

”It’s… hard to explain. It’s like a calling, you know? Like, why do you want to make costumes? Can you give a clear explanation as to why you’re drawn to it? For me, wrestling’s in my blood,  and I can’t escape its call even if I wanted to. My father was a wrestler all his life, and my sister has been for the longest time… she’ll probably be back at it again some day when she gets bored. It’s like an alcoholic being drawn to the bottle, or a gambling addict to a slot machine. It gives me fulfillment unlike anything else. It’s like how a baby flamingo knows it’s gotta try and stand on one leg, or how a bird of paradise knows how to build intricate nests and perform complex dances. It’s a combination of it being hard-coded into your system, and also  watching others do it and copying it because you feel an internal desire to do so that is nearly impossible to overcome.

And in the end, I owe everything to wrestling. My ranch, my Kitty Cafés, all of the charity work I’ve been able to do. My entire legacy is built on what I have achieved, am achieving, and will continue to achieve within those ropes. So yeah, even though I almost got very seriously injured against The Celt, I’m going to be risking it all again against Isaiah King on Saturday.”

“I think I understand. Although it’s not something most people are able to do. I can imagine it’s a dream many people have.”

”Oh, most def. It has its perks, you know… You make a lot of money, you get famous, you get to travel and see the world, you meet a lot of interesting people… although you also run into your fair number of psychos, obvs. I’d say that’s the biggest downside. But you can’t let the nasties ruin the experience.

Not sure which category this Isaiah King will belong in. He takes his last name rather seriously, apps. I’m assuming it IS his last name, not just a stage name. Now, he knocked off Finn Kuhn in his debut match, which is pretty impressive. But listening to the guy talk, it’s all Kingdom this, Kingdom that, ‘rule of thus’, ‘coronations so-and-so’. Sounds like delusions of grandeur to me, but I’ve seen those before. I just hope the guy doesn’t think I’ll let him crown himself at my expense, or he’s got another thing coming.”

Angelica and Jessica approached the hospital, and the wrestling star looked over at her Kappa Alpha Tau sister with a genuine look of care and worry.

”But listen to me ramble about my own self, and my problems. You doing okay there? Again, I’m sooooo sorry!”

“It’s fine, it was a silly prank we shouldn’t have tried to pull. It doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

”I’ll be totes honest, Jess, I’m not the biggest Halloween fan to begin with. I prefer red-nosed reindeers and Santa sleighs over evil witches and bubbling cauldrons, you know? Figgy pudding over wrapped candy. Presents and trees over tricks and treats. But I get that it means a lot to you guys, so we’re going to turn this into one heck of a Halloween party and I’m going to put my best foot forward to buy in from now on!”

she pulled up next to the ER and helped Jessica exit the vehicle. Angelica hoped this was the last time they had an incident like this. Jessica was right, sometimes Angie didn’t realize her own strength, and it could lead to dangerous situations. She never truly wanted to hurt people, not even IN the ring, although she realized all too well that she had no choice but to, if she wanted to be competitive. But it was easy to forget that a lot of wrestlers seemed to operate on a different plane of toughness and endurance, after years of hard work and training. Whether she liked the rather unkind comparison or not, Angelica had behaved like a bull in a chinashop and someone had gotten hurt because of it. It gnawed at her conscience, but that was the life she’d chosen.She was going to have to be more careful. Collateral damage was unacceptable. Only her opponents should ever have to feel the full strength of her offensive arsenal.

Isaiah King would make a fine target.”

---

”HI-de-how, my dearest Vaughnstars, and welcome to #CoolTube! ‘Tis the season to be spoopy, as they say, and I can’t wait to go back into the ring! After missing a Savage AND Relentless, I feel like I’ve missed out on some great opportunities to show the XWF what I can do. Howevs! The mister GM of Savage has been so kind to place quite a bit of faith in both mister King and myself by declaring or upcoming bout a number one contender’s match! Hip hip hurray! I can’t begin to tell you how totes excite I am for this one, because it’ll give me a chance to go nab my first title in the XWF! And when I say ‘nab’, I mean fight tooth and nail for, obvs. There are no gimmies in this game, except when you’re facing, like,… No wait, I was going to say ‘a caveman’, but he just won the Anarchy title if I’m not mistaken.

N-E-Ways, winning the TV title would totes be coolio-as-flame. RIP Coolio, by the dubs. How sad was that, am I right? We’ve already had so many painful losses in 2022. Coolio. The Queen. And Robbie Coltrane now, too! He’ll always be our Hagrid… But I guess I’m just saying that I don’t intend to have another painful loss on Saturday Night. Because Isaiah King has another thing coming if he thinks I’ll let me be his stepping stone!

Mister King, sir, I’m not going to call you ‘Your Highness’ or ‘Your Grace’ just yet! Beating Finn Kuhn was totes impressive, enn gee ell. But you’re gonna go one on one with the #Vaughnemous One! And I really need this title opportunity. Now, you won’t hear me say that I haven’t been given a fair shake here in XWF. All things considered, I can’t complain. But I feel like it’s time I take a step up and grab some gold. And to do that, I’m gonna have to go through you to go get it. Because of my family, people will always expect a lot from me, either for good or bad. I’ve given up on trying to change their minds with words, and instead just prove myself through my actions, and to never stop being me! So I’m going to kick and pummel you until you can no longer stand up straight, and send your ego flying into next week when I punt kick you in the head! It’s going to be, literally, #Vaughnemous! So see you out there, King. You’ll feel the full might of Angelica Vaughn, the First of her name.”

-fin-