UPDATE: There is an updated version of this story now from 2017. In my humble author opinion it sucks a lot less than this. If you're a new reader (or even a rereader) please check that one out instead and erase this one from your memories hahaha. You can find it on my profile!

This story is also available in the male protagonist Christian's point of view. It's called Better Than Me and is completed!

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Please note that the Wattpad version of this is a rough draft written when I was 14. There are a few discrepencies and errors that have been addressed in the improved version that I'm obsessively working on. If you find anything weird, feel free to point it out just in case I missed something, but just keep this in mind as you're reading! Thanks! =D

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Made a new trailer for this story that I like waaaay more than the other one I made. I found some clips of Adam Gregory this time and oh, God did I have a good time making this one.... *cough*

Check it out! The video is on the side under multimedia.

I mean, not to pressure you into it or anything, but did I mention there are several shirtless parts? (Very, very nice shirtless parts, mind you.) No? Okay. If that's not enough to get you to click, nothing will ever be.

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One last (more recent) announcement: I'm currently working on Christian's point of view of this story for anyone who wants to get inside his twisted little head! It's called Better Than Me and can be found on my profile.

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Better Than Revenge

Chapter One

Most people tended to be scared of things like heights, spiders, clowns, or maybe failure. Normal things, you know?

Not me.

I was scared of asking my best friend Tori if she wanted to go see a movie.

Why, you ask, did I have such a ridiculous fear? The answer could be summed up into two words.

Christian. Ryder.

Who is Christian Ryder? If you had to ask, then you probably lived under a rock, or you must genuinely not have cared about looks, fame or money.

If you had to ask, for whatever reason, then you were officially my new best friend.

Christian Ryder was the guy all of the girls wanted. He was the guy all of the guys wanted to be. He was the guy you would love to show off to your friends. He was the guy you would love to bring home to your parents.

Christian Ryder was the person I hated most in this world. So I tended to try to avoid him at all costs.

This wasn't exactly easy to do though, unfortunately for me, because nearly every time Tori and I decided to go see a movie, I had to put up with seeing his stupid face.

He's just one guy. It can't be that hard to avoid him, can it?

Wrong!

See, my problem was a little bit bigger than you would expect. I couldn't avoid seeing him at the movies by just going to a different movie theater. No, I wasn't that lucky. The only way to avoid seeing him at the movies would be to go to a different country. No, a different continent!

The reason for this? Christian Ryder was Hollywood's latest heartthrob, the hottest actor of the moment.

There's an easy way to fix this, you know. Just don't watch his movies. Simple as that.

Hah! I wish it were that easy.

First off, you couldn't avoid seeing Christian Ryder by just not watching his movies. You would have to live on the planet Mars to completely avoid seeing him. He was everywhere. Magazines, television, stores, everywhere you could possibly imagine!

And secondly, I was bound by an agreement, an agreement that made me suffer at least once a month.

See, Tori and I made an agreement two years ago when we became friends at the beginning of our junior year of high school. We decided we would take turns picking the movie we were going to watch, when we went out to the movies, since we were always fighting over who got to pick. It seemed like a fair and sensible decision at the time.

That was because Christian Ryder was just beginning his acting career at the time by guest starring in various TV shows, so I hadn't considered the possibility of having to sit through a Christian Ryder movie without getting sick.

And unfortunately for me, Tori turned out to be a total Ry-Hard. Yes. Christian Ryder had so many fans and was so popular amongst the ladies—ladies of all ages, mind you, even old grandmas—that there was now a name for all of his crazy, brain-damaged fans.

So if you were wondering, no, I was not a Ry-Hard.

"There you are, Soph," Tori cried, sighing loudly as she walked into my older sister's abandoned room. "I was looking all over for you! You just walked away when I was about to ask what you were up to today. I couldn't find you, for some reason."

The reason for that was because I was hiding from her. I knew what was coming when she started talking and I wanted to avoid it. Hiding was an immature choice, yes, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. I avoided her for fifteen minutes, which was a new record. She usually found me in ten minutes or less.

I glanced around the room absentmindedly. My sister, Lucy, who was currently away at college, was the biggest girly girl I had ever met. Her walls were a light shade of pink. The carpet was an immaculate white since my parents and I rarely stepped foot in this room. Her bed had frilly, pink sheets and blankets and she had her old stuffed animals placed on top of the bed and in various other randomly chosen locations in her room.

It was, basically, like stepping into a six year old ballerina's room.

I debated with myself internally as I made a face at the room; lying to Tori about having plans was very tempting. I was just about to give into the temptation and lie to her when she spoke again.

"Oh, wait, you don't have anything going on, do you?" she asked, although she clearly already knew the answer. "You were supposed to meet Jack's parents tonight but you broke up with him yesterday. Right?"

Okay, I know I sound like a terrible person, but I'm really not! I just couldn't keep dating Jack. We didn't really have much in common in the first place, and he said he thought Broadway was stupid. Being an aspiring actress, that obviously offended me. Ever since then, things weren't the same. Also, we had just started dating a few weeks ago; I wasn't ready to meet the parents. Jack was moving far too fast for me, so I ended it before I ended up with a ton of regrets.

I know what you're thinking, but I swear I don't have commitment issues. I really don't. I just liked taking things slow and keeping my relationships light and fairly platonic. That was all.

"Yeah," I admitted reluctantly. I couldn't exactly lie about that. She would know I wasn't telling the truth.

Tori smiled happily at me. "So you're free today?"

I suppressed a sigh. I was going to regret telling her the truth. I just knew I was. "I suppose I am..."

"What do you want to do tonight?" She gave me an innocent look. "You, uh... you in the mood for a movie?"

I knew what she was really asking, so my answer came easily. "Hell no! You are not dragging me to some crappy Christian Ryder movie."

Tori' mouth dropped open slightly. "I never said I was! Besides, how do you know there's even a Ryder movie out right now?"

I rolled my eyes at her. Tori was my best friend and I loved her to death, but even I had to admit that she wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. "I don't live in a cave, Tori. I saw the trailer announcing his new movie on TV."

She gasped loudly, her eyes lighting up. "So you watched the whole preview? Doesn't Fighter look absolutely amazing?"

"No and no," I replied with a scoff. "I changed the channel as soon as I realized who was in the movie. And you know very well that I don't consider any of his movies 'amazing'."

Tori sighed, her face falling. "Well, trust me. The movie looks great!" She cheered herself up just by thinking of the movie.

She was so far gone.

"I doubt it."

"It does!" she insisted, nodding emphatically. "It's about a guy who hates his life as a rich kid, so he becomes a street fighter at night. He turns out to be super good at it and he quickly becomes the best in his turf and there are a lot of sexy shirtless scenes, and—"

I gagged, making a face. "No. Just...no. I'm not going to sit there for two hours watching you drool over him, makinggoogly eyes at the screen. And I'm not going to have you lean your elbow on top of me and scream in my ear, 'Ohmygosh, Soph, look! Look at that! Look! Ohmygosh, look! Eep!'"

"Please," Tori pleaded, widening her brown eyes. "I really want to see this movie!"

"Why don't you just ask Bailee to go?" I suggested, trying not to sound too hopeful. "She's a total Ry-Hard."

Bailee was a mutual friend of ours who also happened to love Christian Ryder. I usually disliked it when my friends loved him, but in this case, I was okay with it. Bailee was so obsessed with him that she became Tori's first choice in company when she wanted to see one of his movies, which meant I didn't have to see it. It was a win-win situation, really.

"Well, for starters, you're my best friend and I wanted to hang out with you today, and secondly, everyone else is busy!" she whined, crossing her arms over her chest. "Come on! The movie came out, like, a week ago, so if we go right now, we could have the whole theater to ourselves!"

"So?" I asked, still unimpressed.

"So you can sit there and scream at the screen without getting us kicked out of the movie theater this time!"

I have to admit, that did make the trip to the movies seem a little better, but not by much. No matter what, it was still going to be a terrible experience for me.

"Please?" She pouted, nearly jumping up and down. That was how badly she wanted me to say yes.

"There's got to be someone else you can ask..."

"There isn't!" she cried desperately. She brightened all of a sudden and muttered to herself, "Oh, I know..."

"What?" I looked at her suspiciously.

She smirked, her blood red lips tilting upwards slightly. "If you come with me to see the movie, I will give you the biggest surprise of your life."

"I hate surprises," I replied immediately, crossing my arms over my chest. "The last time someone gave me the 'biggest surprise of my life' a giant, creepy, pedophilic clown ended up pushing me into your pool and almost drowned me. I haven't gone near a pool since."

"Yeah... sorry about that... I swear I'll never let Mike be in charge of anything ever again, especially if it's related to you!"

Mike was Tori's older brother. At twenty-four years of age, he was quite the stud, I had to admit. If he wasn't six years older than me, I would have probably gone for him. His biggest flaw was the fact that he still acted more like a child than his ten year old brother did, hence the killer clown on my birthday. Mike lacked brains and common sense. I wasn't sure how he was going to survive in this world.

"But trust me," she continued, ignoring the wary look on my face. "You'll love this surprise!" She smiled giddily.

I just grunted in response. Somehow, I seriously doubted that.

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New story! I just randomly got this idea (I think from a dream) and figured I'd post it. :D Tell me what ya think!

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Also, please don't advertise on my story. It's rude, and I don't appreciate it. At all. There's a club for that, so please be respectful of other people's works. Thank you. :)