New Recruits

Chapter 30

"How are you feeling now?" Mandy asked Sonya. They were at the hospital, Sonya having been sent there by WWE's doctor not long after getting backstage following the rumble match. They were both grateful of the fact that Mandy had been allowed to leave the show early to go with her.

"Considering I have my first ever concussion, not too bad," Sonya replied. She was sitting up in her bed, in the private room she had been given. Over the course of the couple of hours they had been at the hospital, Sonya had developed a serious headache, and had started to feel nauseous. Both of those things were concussion symptoms, she knew.

"I'm pissed at Charlotte," Mandy said from her chair by the side of the bed.

"Don't be, I'm not," Sonya said. "The mistake was mine as much as hers. Our timing was off. It's not like she meant to kick me in the head."

"She should have been more careful," Mandy insisted. "I'm surprised she was in the match. She's hardly even been on NXT TV yet."

"Come on, Mand, give her a break," Sonya said. "These things happen, and she felt bad about it. You know she came to see me and apologise as soon as I got to the back. Besides, in a weird way, being all messed up like that might have made my performance look more impressive. I'm sure no one expected me to make the final two."

"You were amazing," Mandy gushed, taking her hand and holding it affectionately. "I don't know how you kept going, but impressive is definitely the word. You got a standing ovation, girl."

"I'm looking forward to watching it back," Sonya said, closing her eyes against the latest wave of pain in her head. She knew she would get the time, too. A concussion would likely put her on the shelf for a while, hopefully not too long.

"You okay?" Mandy asked with concern as she saw the reaction to the pain.

"I will be," Sonya assured her.

"I guess Thorne got what she wanted," Mandy said.

Sonya shook her head slowly, thinking back over the mind-blowing night. The absolute last thing she had expected was for Lucy Thorne to come and see her in person to explain the plan for the match. The boss had wanted to tease the most unlikely win in Royal Rumble history, with a relative newcomer to NXT going all the way from entrant number three to finish runner up.

Sonya had barely been able to believe what she was being told, but of course she'd had no intention of arguing against taking such a massive opportunity. A performance like that would be monumental for her character, and for her career.

"I just hope she saw what she wanted to see from me," Sonya said.

"There's no doubt she did. You gave literally everything you had out there tonight, to the point where you couldn't walk out by yourself. What more could anyone ask?"

Sonya managed a smile. "But I did walk out."

Mandy chuckled. "Yeah, you did." She got up off her chair. "I'm to go see if I can buy myself a decaf coffee somewhere. I'd ask if I could get you something, but you should stay on the water."

Cringing at the thought of drinking coffee, Sonya nodded. "Yeah, I still feel like I could spew. No coffee for me."

"Okay, I'll be back." Mandy leaned over and gave Sonya a delicate kiss on the forehead.

"I won't be going anywhere," Sonya said with another smile. It was the best attempt she could make at humour.

Mandy left the room, her heels clacking on the tiled floor as she walked.

Much as she appreciated Mandy's company, love and support, Sonya closed her eyes and sighed, relaxing in the silence. Having nothing for her brain to focus on was helping the headache to subside a little, or at least it felt like it was.