Better Than Revenge 

Chapter 20

I didn’t bother staying up to wait for the consequences of my actions to arise. I knew that I would discover them in the morning and it gave me something to look forward to, after all.

I was awoken around three in the morning by the sound of my phone ringing, though. The sound of it ringing a total of fifty seven times was music to my ears, as was the furious knocking on my door fifteen or so minutes later. 

The voicemails Christian left me were very entertaining, as well. He used a few words to describe me that I had never even heard of before. That was quite the accomplishment, especially for someone as mentally deprived as Christian. 

I had to say, though, this was turning out to be even better than I had expected. And the real fun hadn’t even started yet. The best was yet to come. I hadn’t talked to Christian yet. I had yet to see his reaction. And the picture hadn’t spread far enough.... yet. 

It didn’t take very long for my actions to cause trouble, actually. My anonymous submittal leaked everywhere within hours of having been sent. I saw that the most recent post about it was two and a half hours after it was sent. The press didn’t waste any time circulating the photo and spreading suspicions. It was the scandal of the month; that was for sure. 

“Sophia Hastings,” Christian screamed through the door to my apartment. “Open the door!”

“You’re going to cause a scene,” I said as I walked past the door. 

“Do you think I care?” he demanded angrily. 

“I don’t know,” I replied, shrugging even though he couldn’t see me. “I don’t care, either. I was only saying that for the sake of my poor neighbors. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going back to sleep.” 

“Damn it, Soph—” he cut himself off with a frustrated groan.

“Have a nice night!” I called out cheerily. “Don’t forget to catch the news! I think it might interest you.”

“You little—” 

I didn’t hear what he said because I walked away. I went into my room and shut the door so I couldn’t hear him anymore. I could faintly hear the sound of his voice, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

I slept like a baby the rest of the night. 

Sadly, I had to wake up fairly early the next morning to film KMH. Tori wasn’t around to yell at me for what I did, although I knew she would the second she saw me. She was visiting her parents back home for the weekend. 

I ignored every call I received from Christian from the moment I woke up to the moment I stepped foot on set. 

He was waiting for me this time. Avoiding him wasn’t possible. He was standing by my trailer with a scowl on his face. 

“Just the person I was waiting for,” he growled as I walked past him to get into my trailer.

“How sweet,” I said sarcastically. “You were waiting for me!” 

He put a hand on my arm to stop me from unlocking the door to my trailer and going inside. “No, we’re having this talk now.” 

“What talk?” I asked innocently. 

He narrowed his eyes at me and screamed, “You know very well what talk! Thanks to you, I’ve had dozens of disgusting gay guys throwing themselves at me! I’m not lying when I say dozens, either, Sophia. There are so many of them. It’s just disgusting. They’ve been sending me inappropriate pictures to my phone, to my email, to wherever they can manage! Do you know how wrong that is? I’m Christian Ryder. I don’t deal with gay guys sending me dirty pictures; I have gorgeous girls sending me dirty pictures! This is just wrong. And it’s your entire fault!” 

I just stood there, stifling my laughter as he exploded at me. It was hard to control myself, but I somehow managed to do it. 

“My manhood has been questioned, Sophia. Girls that were interested in me before are now wondering if I’m as much of a man as they thought I was before!” he continued furiously.

“Girls were still interested in you, even after the drama all of your little girlfriends caused?” I asked with a smirk. 

He fumed at me, taking deep breaths to control him. 

I loved pushing his buttons. He deserved all of this and more. 

“Not only has my manhood been questioned, but my reputation is soiled!” He just would not stop. He had a lot to say, it seemed. “I thought the girlfriend scandal had ruined it, but that was nothing compared to now! Do you have any idea what the press is saying? Some are saying I’m just straight out gay, some are saying I’m bisexual, some are saying I’m a transgender; actually, some are even saying I’m a hermaphrodite. Everything wrong that you could ever imagine related to this, and they’re saying it. All thanks to you.” 

“I told you that you were going to regret it,” I said simply. 

“That’s all you have to say to this?” he asked incredulously. 

I just shrugged. “What do you expect me to say? My statement pretty much sums it up. I told you that you would regret messing with me. And now, I’m sure you do.” 

“You went too far.” 

I laughed incredulously. “I went too far? You went too far with the herpes thing!” 

“This is ten times worse,” he said between his teeth. 

“Of course it is,” I snapped, rolling my eyes. “That’s what happens when you mess with me. You get what you dealt out and more.” 

He sighed in frustration. “Damn it. How did you even manage to get a picture like that?” 

“Magic.” 

He rolled his eyes. “No, seriously. I’ve never been with a guy and I’ve never even seen the guy in that picture.” 

I shrugged nonchalantly. “Me neither.” 

“You’ve never been with a guy?” Christian repeated with a snort. “Shocker.” 

I balled my hands up into fists at the memories that brought back. I had to bite back the anger and stifle the stupid tears that threatened to spill. “No, Christian. That’s not it. I meant I’ve never seen the guy either.” 

“But... how?” 

I managed to calm down enough to act like he wasn't bothering me and reply to his question. “I found a picture of a random guy and messed with it until you couldn’t recognize him anymore, thus creating an entirely new guy. I would never incriminate a poor, innocent guy in any of my schemes. I always try to find a way to harm only the one I wanted to harm.” 

“Which was, in this case, me,” Christian remarked bitterly. 

“Exactly,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Besides, the guy could sue me for using his picture if he recognized it, and I obviously didn’t want that to happen. So it was just better this way, overall.” 

He suddenly thought of something, and said, with a smirk, “Whoever created this picture for you could turn on you easily, especially if I find out who it was… I might just present them an offer they can’t deny.” 

I smiled smugly. “Good thing I didn’t hire anyone to make it for me.” 

He seemed shocked by this. “You made it yourself?” 

I simply replied, “I’m good with computers.” 

He muttered crossly under his breath. That had probably foiled his plans of revenge. “I’m going to get you back, in some other way,” he finally said. 

I decided to warn the guy again. He still had no idea what would happen if he kept going with this. He could only lose in the end. “I don’t think you’ve quite realized something yet.” 

“And what's that?” he asked in annoyance.   

“I don’t play to just get even. I play to win.” 

He shot me a dirty look. “We’ll see about that.” 

***

It took him an entire week, but Christian finally got back at me. The next week, a rumor that I had once starred in an amateur adult film popped up. Speculation about which film this was, exactly, was vague. There was no real proof, because even with all the money Christian had, he couldn’t produce a convincing video. 

Nora had a talk with Christian and me about the rumors that had been circulating lately after the adult film rumor popped up.

“Oh, yes,” I said slowly. “The rumors…”

“Whatever is going on here, you two need to stop it!” Nora snapped angrily. “Sure, the publicity is good for the movie, according to some, but I don’t need your reputations soiled like this!” 

Nora hadn’t even bothered to make this lecture private. She was too mad to consider privacy. I supposed I could understand her, but that still didn’t mean that I liked the fact that it was done in the middle of shooting. How pleasant. 

“Tell her to stop, then,” Christian said, pointing at me. He was so childish. “She was the one who began this, anyway.” 

“All I did was make one tiny indiscretion, and you turned it into World War Three!” I said accusingly. 

“No, you were the one who declared war!” 

“No, you made it a war when you accused me of having herpes!” I yelled heatedly. 

“You got me involved in a gay scandal!” he shot back. 

“You created a rumor that I was in an amateur adult film!” I screeched, pointing an accusing finger at him. “And don’t even deny that it wasn’t you!” 

“About that,” Christian commented smugly. “I didn’t know you were into that kind of stuff, Soph.” 

“I’m not,” I snapped. “But since you’ve basically admitted that it was you who circulated the accusation, I have a question.” 

He looked at me suspiciously. “What?” 

“How would you know if it’s true or not, anyway?” I asked curiously, raising an eyebrow. “Is that how you spend your breaks in your trailer?” 

Christian Ryder. Christian Ryder… turned beet red. “Of course not.” 

Since he never got embarrassed like this, I decided to dramatize it. I wasn’t quite sure why he was so embarrassed, though. I thought this was something guys were usually proud of, disgustingly enough. Although I had to admit, the fact that we had quite the crowd observing us might have had something to do with it... it was pretty awkward. 

“Sure,” I said sarcastically. 

“I’m telling the truth,” he snapped, his face still fairly red. 

“Uh huh,” I said, nodding slowly. I turned to Nora with a grossed-out look on my face. “Nora, I will no longer be used for any errands whatsoever involving fetching Christian during one of his breaks. I don’t want to be the one to interrupt him, after all.” 

This got a lot of laughter from most of the people on set and it made Christian angry and humiliated. It was a good moment. 

I decided to wait a bit before getting my revenge on Christian. Just to let the media settle down a little. I got him back about a week later. I managed to convince a girl I knew that loved the spotlight to make a pregnancy scandal.

Christian was now not only a dirty, lying player, but he was also a possibly gay baby daddy. 

Quite the catch, eh? 

I was sure his mother was so proud. 

Christian was furious at me for this, of course. He barged into my trailer and yelled at me for it. 

“You knew what you were getting into when you made this a war,” I reminded him smugly. 

“I didn’t expect you to do all of this,” he said in frustration. 

I shrugged. “Your fault for underestimating me. I’ve got plenty more tricks up my sleeve, Christian. This is nowhere near over.” 

“You do?” he asked, running a hand through his hair nervously. 

“Of course,” I replied smugly. I knew he was breaking. He was going to give up very, very soon. Today, perhaps. “I haven’t even gotten to the naughty photo scandal, the sex tape scandal, the drug scandal, the—” 

“Okay, I get it!” he snapped. “You have a lot more.” 

I smiled wickedly. “You know, all of those scandals could be simply forgotten if you surrender. I can even make the pregnancy scandal disappear. Of course, I’m not going to, but I could.”

“Why mention it, then?” he asked in annoyance.

“Just to show you that I’m capable of doing that and much more,” I replied with a smirk. “But if you surrender, I’ll let you off the hook. It’s in your best interest, Chrissy.” 

“Don’t call me that,” he snapped. 

I just raised an eyebrow at him. “Well? What’s it going to be?” 

After considering it for several moments, Christian sighed in defeat. “Fine. I surrender.” 

***

I think we all knew that he didn't stand a chance in the first place. Paired against Sophia? Not happening.

There's actually less than ten chapters left of this story... D: I just realized this today when I was looking over my outline of the story and its chapters.

But anyways.

I hope you guys liked this chapter!

And sorry there wasn't that much on the revenge and stuff, but I didn't want to drag it out with revenge after revenge after revenge. One, it would get old, and two, no celebrity out there could take that much scandal without having consequences.

But yeah.

VOTE.COMMENT.FAN.

Next update is full of dramaaaaaaaaaa. :D