Better Than Revenge 

Chapter 16

“Now, I know this is last minute, but The John Stavros Show called and they want you on the show on Friday,” Lily told me as I had my hair and makeup done before shooting for Kidnap My Heart was to commence. It was a few days after my confrontation with Frank and I was still as angry about it as ever. 

I didn’t mention any of what had happened with Christian and Frank to anyone and I basically acted as if it had never happened. I made the decision to do that as soon as I left Christian’s house. I hadn’t known what my revenge would be, exactly, but I had known that for it for it to work, I would have to make them forget all about the confrontation. 

Their reactions were quite funny, actually. For the next two days after the confrontation, they both eyed me warily, as if I was a ticking time bomb that was ready to explode. They underestimated me, clearly. They thought I was like every other girl they had ever encountered. Most girls either pouted or exploded within the first few days. Not me. I found it was better to wait until the time was right and then strike. 

They were also sickeningly nice to me. It made me want to barf. 

For example, when I blurted out that I wanted a bottle of water two days ago during filming, Frank jumped up and said, “Let me get that for you, Sophia!” 

I gave him a weird look and said I could get it myself but he insisted. 

That was when I knew something was weird. It didn’t take me very long at all to realize that Frank was trying to recompense for what did. He wanted to keep me content; he was scared of what I might do. 

This made me very, very happy, as you could probably guess. He wasn’t so high and mighty after all. 

So I just kept pretending nothing was wrong. 

“I don’t have to go on with Christian this time, do I?” I asked, cursing when the makeup lady nearly poked my eye out. 

Lily shook her head immediately. “Oh, no. That is not happening again any time soon. That was a disaster.” 

I grinned at the memory. At the moment, I thought it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me, but now, I thought it was hilarious. “We told you it wouldn’t end well.” 

“Which is why it’s not happening again,” she said, shaking her head again. “What do you say? Are you up for it?”

I shrugged, making the girl who was doing my hair glare at me. “Yeah, sure.”

Lily smiled. “Good, because I already said yes.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for discussing it with me.” 

“I assumed you would say yes when I told you Christian isn’t involved,” she said with a shrug.

Oh, but if she thought Christian wouldn’t be involved in some way, she was crazy. I knew John Stavros was bound to ask a question about Christian. I would just have to find a way to deal with it. 

“All done,” the makeup artist said with a beam. 

I glanced in the mirror and nodded my appreciation. “Thanks, Cel. Awesome job, as always.”

She smiled happily at me. “Thanks, Soph!” 

I sat in the chair for another five minutes while the girl who was doing my hair finished. “Voila! I’m finished.” 

She might have gotten on my nerves occasionally, but she was great at her job. “Thanks, Cat, it looks great!” 

She couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you.” 

I smiled back at her and hopped out of my chair. 

“Now, Soph, you have to promise me something,” Lily said as she followed me out of my trailer.

“What?” I asked warily.

“You have to really try to avoid bashing Christian this time,” she pleaded. 

“I don’t purposely do it, Lily!” I pointed out. “It just slips out!” 

“Just… please try to control yourself.” 

I shrugged nonchalantly. “Alright, I’ll try.” 

She shot me a look. 

“I will!” I insisted, raising my hands up. 

When we got there, Jake and Christian were doing a scene in William Knight’s bedroom. It was a scene that only featured the Knight brothers. 

Christian as William asked in a shocked voice, “You installed cameras in their apartment?”

Jake as Eric simply replied, “Yes.” 

“Dear God,” William said. “I am officially a creeper. No, we are officially creepers.” 

“I’ll close my eyes when they start to undress, okay?” 

“Cut!” Nora screamed. She directed Jake for a moment before calling action once again. 

“This is so wrong,” William continued. “I’m Liam Knight. I don’t need girls to stalk girls—” 

Christian made a sound and shook his head. “Sorry.” 

They had to do another take of that line. “This is so wrong. I’m Liam Knight. I don’t need to stalk girls. They stalk me.” 

Eric rolled his eyes and asked, “Does it even matter?  You’re not getting with these girls, anyway.” 

“Why not?” 

“Cut!” Nora screamed. “Christian, look more offended, okay? You don’t see why Eric is saying you can’t get with these girls. You’re a narcissist. You think you can get with any girl.” 

“And this is exactly why he’s perfect for this role,” I said to Lily, not-so discreetly. It was quiet in the room at the time so everyone heard me. 

Christian glared at me. “And that is why you were perfect for the role of Emma.” 

“Because I’m sassy and witty?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I agree.” 

“No, because you’re a rude, loudmouthed bit—” 

“Christian! Sophia!” Nora screamed in annoyance. “Must we go through this every single day?”

“If he would quit being a jackass, maybe we wouldn’t.” 

“If she would quit being a total bitch, maybe we wouldn’t,” Christian shot back. 

“Look who’s talking!” I snapped. 

“You’re just a—” 

“That is quite enough!” Nora interrupted. “Now, let’s just continue…” She muttered some things under her breath. 

Hey, in our defense, she knew what she had coming when she hired the both of us. She knew that we fought like cats and dogs. She knew it wouldn’t be easy. She knew she would get a daily headache because of us. 

We finally quit fighting, however, resolving on making faces at each other instead. 

“Quit behaving like children,” Nora scolded. “Now, let’s get back to work.” 

Christian got back into Character and Nora called action.

“Why not?” William asked, sounding very offended. 

“That’s not what we were told to do!” Eric cried. 

William rolled his eyes. “Of course, Eric. So obedient, as always.”

Eric glared at his brother. “Shut it.” 

“I’m sure Charles won’t mind if we have some fun with this,” William replied. “There’s nothing wrong with fooling around a bit.” 

“And what makes you think they’re going to want to fool around? After tonight, you’ll have to chase— bleh.” 

Jake shook his head at his flub. “Sorry!” 

They did another take and Jake fixed his error. “And what makes you think they’re going to want to fool around? After tonight, you’ll have no chance with either of them.”

“Man, look at me,” William said, gesturing towards himself. “Of course they’re going to want to fool around.” 

Eric rolled his eyes, muttering, “Doubt it.” 

I made a face and turned away. 

“Okay, let’s take a quick break, okay?” Nora called out, standing up and stretching. “Christian, walk the other way.” 

“I wasn’t even going to start anything with—” 

“Christian,” she said in a warning tone. 

“Fine,” he snapped. 

I gave him the finger when he turned to glare at me. 

***

I told Lily. I told her she should’ve canceled. But she didn’t listen! Of course, because she never listened! 

When Christian texted me on Thursday, the day the show was being filmed, and said, very rudely, that I better not say anything rude about him, I was mad. He normally wasn’t as rude as I was, but this time, he went overboard. I didn’t even want to think or talk about what he said, I was so mad. 

That was when I decided to hell with being nice. I didn’t care anymore. I would say what I thought. 

The show started off smoothly. John Stavros asked me safe questions about the movie and my life. 

But I knew perfectly well that he was just building up the suspense. He was waiting for the perfect time to hit me with the real question he wanted to ask, the one everyone wanted him to ask.

“So, Sophia,” John began. “Christian Ryder’s manager said something very interesting the other day.”

“Interesting isn’t quite the word for it,” I replied sweetly. 

He raised an eyebrow. “Then what is it?”

“Hmm,” I said, thinking about this for a moment. “Bogus, perhaps?”

“Bogus?” John repeated, clearly trying to decide whether he should be happy with my answer or not. 

“Yes. Bogus. And you wanna know why the word for it is bogus?” 

“Enlighten me,” John said, deciding he was happy with the answer I gave him. 

“The word for it is bogus because everything Frank Renaldo said is a total lie,” I said, getting straight to the point. “I am not involved with Christian.” 

“You’re not?” he asked in surprise. 

“No.” I shook my head. “Quite honestly, I would rather cut my foot off than even pretend to be involved with him.”

“You know, that brings me to another question,” John said slowly. I knew shit was going to get deep at this moment. He had this evil glint in his eye. “Is your rotten Chemistry with Christian Ryder staged? Many people are wondering this. Are you secretly just as in love with Christian Ryder as the rest of the female population is? Are you only pretending to hate him? Is your hatred for each other off-screen staged?” 

“I’m an actress, but not quite that good,” I replied. “Do you honestly think that if I didn’t really hate him, I would be able to act like I did twenty-four-seven?”

He didn’t answer. 

“No, I wouldn’t. I would slip up. And faking something like that is just silly. I wouldn’t act like I hated him if I didn’t actually hate him.” 

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” John challenged. 

“If I was secretly into Christian, would I tell the world, on national TV, that at night, he cuddles with a little blue baby blanket and sucks his thumb? The few nights he sleeps alone, that is.”

John chuckled and said, “Christian would not do that. Come on. You’re talking about Hollywood’s Heartthrob here.” 

“Wouldn’t he?” I asked, pulling my phone out of my pocket. “Tell me, what does this look like to you?” I showed him the picture. 

John laughed and had the picture blown up on a screen so everyone could see it. “Now, although that’s funny, it still doesn’t prove that you’re not involved with Christian as the rumors say.”

“Well, I’m obviously not involved with him, because Christian has a girlfriend,” I blurted out. I realized this was completely untactful of me but I didn’t really care. I didn’t want anyone to think I was involved with Christian and I also happened to be furious at him. It was a bad combination. Nothing was too scandalous, too wild for me to say or do now.

“Oh, really?” John asked, seeming very, very interested. 

His ratings were surely going to go way up after this. 

“Yes,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Unless he calls his mom ‘baby’ and says the things he’s going to do to her that night. Well, either that or she’s a hooker.” I smiled wickedly. 

After this, a commercial break was needed and someone else was being featured next. I was basically done. 

A day passed and nothing happened because no one but Lily knew what I had done and said. That night, however, my episode was shown on national TV. I stayed in that night to watch it with Tori. Tori wasn’t exactly happy with me but even she had to admit that what I did was pretty funny. 

I was enjoying myself until Christian called me, absolutely enraged. “Sophia Elizabeth Hastings,” he seethed through the phone. 

“Wow, that’s really creepy,” I said, shaking my head. “You know my full name? Creeper alert. Creeper alert.” 

“Shut up,” he snapped. “You know why I’m calling.” 

“I do?” I asked innocently. “Oh, do you want to borrow the Notebook from me, like Blake said you did?”

“I am not in the mood,” he growled. “Do you have any idea of what you’ve just done?”

“Whatever do you mean?” I was enjoying myself; that was for sure. 

“You know what I mean!” 

I rolled my eyes. “Of course I do. Now stop exaggerating. What I did wasn’t that bad.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he cried. “You—” 

“Christian, relax,” I snapped. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” 

At the moment, I honestly had no idea what my simple action was going to cause. 

***

SO I HAD THIS FINISHED YESTERDAY.

THANK GOD.

I'M SO FREAKING HYPER TODAY, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FINISH IT.

OR IT WOULD'VE BEEN IN ALL CAPS.

OR IT WOULD'VE BEEN EVEN CRAZIER THAN USUAL.

THE RESULT OF DRINKING FOUR CANS OF MONSTER.

BUUUT.

LUCKILY FOR YOU ALL I HAD TO DO WAS POST IT.

AND VOILA!

HERE IT IS!

ENJOY DUCKLINGS!

REMEMBER: SQUIRRELS ARE HUMANS TOO. 

VOTE.COMMENT.FAN.