Better Than Revenge 

Chapter Eight

When my phone rang as I was doing the dishes, I nearly had a spaz attack, for the billionth time. 

This had been going for the past two days. 

I was awaiting Nora Harding’s decision. The casting director told me she would call me within two to three days to tell me whether I was cast or not. I knew it was silly, but every single time my phone rang, I would freak out, immediately assuming it was the casting director.

Of course, it was never her, with my luck. It was stupid to hope for that the first day since she said ‘two to three days’ but now, near the end of the second day, I thought I was within my right to have a spaz attack whenever my phone rang. 

I shook my hands off quickly, ridding them of soap and water. I turned clumsily, looking for a towel or something to wipe my hands on. 

“Screw that,” I muttered to myself, wiping my hands on my new green blouse. I didn’t want to ruin it so soon, but I was too focused on answering my phone to care about that at the moment. 

After I did a semi-decent job of wiping my hands off, I took a step towards the kitchen counter, grabbing my phone off of it. 

I guess while I was standing around, looking for a towel, some of the water on my hands dripped onto the floor because I found myself lying flat on the floor a second later. “Ow,” I muttered, rubbing a spot on my leg that was sure to become a nasty bruise later. 

I ignored the bothersome spot and finally answered my phone. I was surprised the person hadn’t hung up already. “Hello?” 

“Hey!” Tori’s voice chirped over the speaker. “Have they called you yet?” 

I sighed in disappointment. I loved Tori to death and loved talking to her, but at that moment, the fact that it was her calling me and not the casting director was very disappointing. “No, they haven’t.” 

“Oh,” she said dejectedly. “Well, don’t worry! I’m sure they’ll call soon!” 

“I hope so,” I said, trying to sit up. 

“Don’t they have to call you anyway, even if it’s just to tell you that you didn’t get cast?” she asked after a moment. 

“Yeah,” I confirmed slowly, not wanting to consider that possibility. I wished she hadn’t brought it up. I didn’t want to think about the possibility of that long awaited phone call being anything but amazing. 

“I’m sure when they call, it’ll be good news, though!” she exclaimed quickly, most likely having caught the tone of my voice. 

“I don’t know,” I breathed out, shaking my head to myself. “I was… well… that audition was pretty out there.” 

“You never did tell me what happened,” she said indicatively. 

I sighed loudly. “I know. I didn’t really want to talk about it, though. I was too busy freaking out.” 

“You want to tell me now?” she prodded innocently. 

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see me. “Oh, alright.” 

“Yay!” she cheered happily. “I’ve been dying to know! I didn’t want to, like, pressure you or anything, but when I saw Ryder running after you when you left the building, and you two started screaming at each other again, I was like, ‘Ohmygosh, what’s happening?! I have to know!’ But then you didn’t want to talk about it so I just dropped it…” 

“Tori, you’re rambling.” 

“Sorry,” she apologized with a giggle. “I just really want to know! Tell me!” 

I laughed, shaking my head. “Alright, alright, just calm down!” 

“I’m completely calm,” she said, immediately forgetting her previous excitement. “Now… tell the story!” 

“There’s not that much to tell,” I began, thinking back to that disastrous day. “I ran into Christian Ryder as I was walking into the audition room. He spilled his coffee all over my legs but he had the nerve to get mad at me for it.” 

“He got mad at you because he spilled his coffee?” Tori repeated disbelievingly. “Nuh-uh. He wouldn’t be that stuck up!” 

“I wouldn’t lie about it, Tori,” I said in exasperation. “I’m not lying. We ran into each other and he got mad at me for his spilled coffee. Then we had this really long argument about whose fault it was that we collided. We finally agreed that it was both of our faults in the end.”

“And then what happened?” 

“Well, then, he asked me what I was doing there, and I kind of turned that into an argument, too,” I admitted, knowing fully well that that wasn’t my finest moment but not really caring.

Tori giggled loudly. “Of course you turned it into an argument. Oh, Soph… what happened after that?”

“We kept fighting and then the director herself, Nora freaking Harding, walked over to us and was like, ‘Is there a problem here’? And of course, I said ‘No’ because I didn’t want to bring attention to myself in that way, you know? But then Christian decided to be an asshole and say ‘Yes’, which made us keep arguing. If he had just said ‘No’, I would’ve definitely dropped it and walked away, but no, of course he had to be a jerk and say ‘Yes’.” 

“I’m sure you’re exaggerating, at least a little,” she said all of a sudden. “You make him sound so terrible…” 

I let out an exasperated breath, blowing up. “That’s because he is terrible! That’s what I’ve been trying to make you see! You and every other girl on this planet have him on this mile-high pedestal that’s so freaking high you can’t see anything except what he shows you! You’re oblivious to what he’s really like. You don’t see his true colors!” 

“Maybe you just bring out the bad side in him,” Tori suggested quietly. “He’s not like this to any other person.” 

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. “Really. You’re blaming me for his behavior? It’s my fault he acts like an asshole?” 

“Well, no, not exactly!” she began quickly, correcting herself. “I just mean that since you don’t like him, he doesn’t feel the need to act like he likes you…” 

I rolled my eyes. “Or maybe he’s just a total asshole and I’m the only one who sees it.” 

“He seems so nice, though…” She trailed off, creating an awkward silence. 

“You said it yourself,” I pointed out finally, making a circle on the floor with my finger. “He seems nice. That doesn’t mean he is nice.” 

“You know, I’m sure if I talked to him, he’d be nice to me!” 

“Because you’re one of his crazy Ry-Hard’s,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “He has to be nice to you. Do you know how bad it’d look if he was a jerk to one of his loving fans?”

“He’s mean to you, though,” she quipped. 

“Exactly my point,” I replied slowly. “I’m not a fan, so he doesn’t feel the need to be overly nice to me, I guess.” 

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I don’t think he’s like that." 

I already knew it was hopeless to try to show Tori the truth behind the gorgeous face (and fine, body) of Christian Ryder. She just didn’t want to accept the fact that her dream guy was actually a total asshole. 

If only she knew, I thought for a moment. I quickly shook the thought away. I didn’t even want to remember it myself, much less recount the tale. 

“Yeah, well, I do,” I replied shortly. “But anyways. I have a lot of things to do today so I’ll talk to you later, alright? I’ll call you when I get the call from the casting director.”

“You better!” she exclaimed. “Bye!’ 

“Bye,” I said, hanging up. 

I laid my head back and sighed, closing my eyes. I had to end that conversation before it ended in a fight between the two of us. A fight between my best friend and me, caused by Christian Ryder? 

No. Not happening. 

After lying there for way too long, I scrambled up to my feet and exited the kitchen, heading towards my room. I checked my email, watched a few music videos and played a few stupid games on the internet. 

Still nothing from the casting director. 

I decided to Google the movie I was auditioning for to kill the time after sitting on my bed for five minutes doing absolutely nothing. 

It didn’t take me long to realize that Tori wasn’t the only one who was crazy about the book. There were tons of fan-sites for ‘Kidnap My Heart’ and a ton of fan-made trailers for the movie. I could tell this movie was going to be big. Teens, especially, loved it. There also happened to be several hot-shot actresses who were up for the role. 

Great, I thought bitterly. Now I have no chance. What are the chances of her picking some newbie who picks fights with famous actors? 

I sighed; I was feeling very depressed all of a sudden. I wanted this role so bad, though. I didn’t want to consider the possibility of not getting the role. 

Emma van der Bilt was an amazing character and when I read her lines at the audition, it just felt right. I was really comfortable with that character and I had fun with it. Plus, the plot was pretty good and looked like it would be really fun. 

Reading the summary online made me want to read the actual book. I was probably one of the few young girls out there who hadn’t read it yet. Tori had even bought it for me to try to persuade me to read it, but I had yet to touch it. 

I figured now was as good a time as any to try it, so I searched for it in the mess of books I had in my room. After a few minutes of searching, I finally found it. I sat in my room and read non-stop for about three hours. I had always been a fast reader, but I was pretty sure it was mostly the book that made me want to sit there like a loser and read it in one sitting. 

Now, I had to admit, the book wasn’t exactly J.K. Rowling material. The author was an eighteen year old girl, I believed. She obviously didn’t measure up to J.K. Rowling, but nevertheless, I loved the book. It was adorable, witty and it kept me hooked the entire time. I absolutely adored Emma van der Bilt. She was, as I had said earlier, saucy. I didn’t particularly like William, seeing as he still annoyed me as much as he had before I read the book, but I didn’t dislike him enough to make me want to slam my head on a wall. 

The book was about Emma van der Bilt, the teenaged daughter of billionaire Alexander van der Bilt. Being the daughter of a billionaire, she found herself in sticky situations quite often. She had just been kidnapped for the sixth time and boy was she not happy. She normally wouldn’t mind being kidnapped all that much since she was so used to it and knew she wouldn’t stay there too long. Either the kidnappers would send a ransom note immediately or she would figure out a way to escape. But this time, they also took Taylor Williamson, her best friend who had never been in this situation before. 

The two girls were taken by Charles Knight, a greedy, calloused man. He didn’t want to deal with two teenaged girls, though, so he left them in the charge of his sons, William and Eric. The two guys decided to split the girls up so they each took one of the girls under their care. Eric decided to take Taylor and William was left with Emma. 

It didn’t take him long to realize why Eric picked Taylor immediately. William couldn’t get Emma to cooperate with him no matter what and she formed a new scheme to try to run away with Taylor every other day. She was his worst nightmare, basically. Taylor was much calmer compared to Emma but she still went along with Emma’s schemes. 

This all changed when Eric saved Taylor’s life and she began to develop feelings for him. Suddenly, Taylor wasn’t so fond of Emma’s constant battle to escape. 

But the big question, the question that made you keep reading, was this: would Emma follow in her best friend’s footsteps and begin to develop feelings for her obnoxious kidnapper, or would she abandon her best friend when she finally got a real chance to escape? 

If I were Emma, I would escape. If my best friend felt she would be happy staying, then she could stay. I wouldn’t jeopardize my happiness and my life by staying when I could escape. Besides, as I said before, William annoyed me. He reminded me too much of Christian. They were both obnoxious, cocky assholes. 

Besides the fact that the leading man irked me, this movie was perfect for me. This was the chance I had been waiting for. I couldn’t believe I had screwed it up. 

I seriously felt like crying at that moment. I was such a retard. Why couldn’t I have controlled myself? I could have been the bigger person! I could have walked away… but no, instead, I snapped at him… as usual. 

I was startled out of my angry thoughts by the sound of my phone ringing. My eyes widened and I fished it out of my pocket swiftly, answering on the third ring. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi, is this Sophia Hastings?” a voice said over the phone. 

“Yes, it is,” I said, my foot tapping wildly against my bed frame. 

“This is Suzy Collins, the casting director for ‘Kidnap My Heart’.” 

“Oh, hi, Mrs. Collins,” I greeted, hiding the nervousness I felt easily. “Do you have good news or bad news for me? If it’s bad, just do it quickly. The band-aid effect, you know?”

She laughed, saying, “Oh, I can definitely see what Nora was talking about.” 

I was confused by this comment. What had Nora said? Was this a good thing or a bad thing?

“Um… very confused person over here,” I said slowly. 

She laughed again, this time apologizing. “Oh, I’m sorry, dear. You have no idea what I’m going on about, do you? Well, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m speaking to the next big thing. Hopefully you’ll remember us small people when you’re as famous as your leading man.” 

“Wait. What?” 

Had I heard right? Or was I hallucinating? 

“Congratulations honey,” she sang. “You got the part of Emma van der Bilt!” 

My mouth fell open and I let out a loud squeal. Now, normally, I would never subject to this kind of clichéd, annoying girl behavior, but this was different. I had just been given the best news I had ever heard in my life. Standards be damned; my dreams were coming true! 

“Ohmygod,” I exclaimed, barely containing my excitement. “Oh, gosh, thank you so, so, so, much! Thank you for giving me a shot! I promise I won’t let you down! Eep!” 

Oh, dear God, please tell me I hadn’t just gone ‘Eep’. What was wrong with me? 

“No need to thank me, dear. You were very clearly the perfect Emma van der Bilt and Christian was clearly the perfect William Knight. I believe Nora is calling him at this moment. I wonder how he’s taking it. I can’t see her from here, but—” 

“Wait, wait, wait,” I interrupted, my hand twitching slightly. “What?” 

She paused momentarily. “Oh, dear. Nora warned me to break it to you gently…” 

“Did you just—” I broke off, taking a deep breath. “Did you just say Christian got the part of William Knight?” 

“Erm… yes…” 

My eye twitched involuntarily. “Christian Ryder. Christian Ryder is my leading man?” 

“Well… yes.” 

This was a horrible, cruel twist of fate. Just horrible. Just terrible. Just… God-awful! 

And to make things even worse, my eye would not stop twitching.

***

So sadly, this was mostly a filler. These things are necessary, though. You can't make something big happen in every chapter, leaving out explanations and details. 

But anyways.

The end is pretty awesome, I think. :D I loved writing it. I think it was the eye twitch that did me in. xD

Next chapter should be fun. Sophia and Christian get to go in for the read-through! Always a fun time when those two are in the same room, so I'm looking forward to that. :D

Anyways, I hope you guys liked it! Comments are appreciated!