Me Against Her (Cate Blanchett x OC)

Farewell

Robyn's farewell party fell on the opening night of our summer production, Spring Awakening. Knowing her temperament and the size of her ego very well, I combined the party with a cast party of the production, just in case she didn't show up. Newsflash: she didn't. 

But the production itself was a raging success, and I was having a great night getting drinks with the cast. Just as I was showering them with compliments on their performance backstage, a deep voice cut in like an unannounced intruder in our cocoon of camaraderie:

"Don't be fooled - she thinks all actors are dumb." 

All of us fell to a silence and looked in the direction of the voice. It was the tall blond that I was up against for my dream job. She was in an expensive-looking night gown, her hair perfectly coiffed in a midcentury style. 

Anger was approaching a boiling point within me, and before I had the chance to make a rebuttal and ask how she got an invitation, my voice was drowned by an ocean of the most primal screaming I'd ever heard from a group of actresses.

"It's Cate Blanchett!!" 

"Oh my god Cate, can you sign my butt?"

"Holy fuck, we have an Oscar winner with us tonight -" 

They all swarmed to her, leaving me behind by myself. The name rang a thousand bells in my mind, and I instantly hated myself for being one Wikipedia search away from sparing myself all of this embarrassment. The woman was an Australian national treasure, and I insulted her entire profession. Her scorching blue eyes found me from behind the wall of fangirls around her, and I instantly felt defeated - she was clearly the opposite of dumb, as behind those eyes shone the fiercest intelligence I'd ever have to reckon with. 

Still, none of this fanfare was proof that she was more equipped to run a theater company than I was. 

She approached me hours later after the crowds dispersed and as I was cleaning up the room. 

"I overheard your entire pitch to the board," she said nonchalantly, "to be frank, I was impressed. You have good taste, Edith." 

I suppressed the flames inside me that were threatening to heat my rage up to boiling point again. Did she just openly admit that she was eavesdropping on me? 

"Why wouldn't it be impressive? It's my theater after all. The room we're in didn't even exist when I started, I helped design it four years ago." I said coldly. 

"It's beautiful," she said, "too bad I couldn't even find it on a map when I drove here." 

"Well, if you learned how to use a smartphone, that wouldn't be an issue. I can teach you if you want." 

"That won't be necessary. My assistant takes care of all that for me." she kept watching me as I struggled to collect all the beer bottles in a trash bag without breaking them, "Doesn't seem like you could afford to hire one here, by the look of things." 

"Why are you even here tonight? Don't you have fancier Hollywood celebrity parties that are begging to have you?" I turned around and was face-to-face with her angular bone structure. 

"Don't you ever visit the office when you decide to take a new job?" she responded haughtily. 

"Can you show me the offer?" I raised an eyebrow. She was totally bluffing.

She threw her head back and laughed, her air of arrogance melting into pity. "I admire your confidence, smartass." Then she strutted towards the exit without another word. 

-----

"...and then she lorded her status and wealth over me, and made fun of how poor we were, and suggested that the board wouldn't even consider me for the job," I complained to my roommate Abby that night. 

"Hold up," everything I said went over her head, "you met Cate fucking Blanchett? The Cate -" 

"Would everyone please stop fawning over her and take my side for a hot sec?" I said exasperatedly. 

"You know I love you, Edie, but there's no way in hell you're getting this job."

"Well I say you're fucking jaded." 

"Look dude, it has nothing to do with you okay? We all know you're a super star at your job. Even Robyn the bitch thinks so." she went on, "But unless you've been hiding two Oscars and four Golden Globes in your closet this whole time, you're just not enough of a star, I'm sorry." 

"You're right."

"So when do you find out?"

"In two weeks."

"What are you gonna do after that?"

A chill down my spine. "I guess...she's gonna be my boss." I said resolutely, "And I will resign. I'm not going through the same shit with Robyn again." 

-----

I started taking on a lot of Robyn's responsibilities after her abrupt departure. Spring Awakening  continued its run, and I stretched myself very thin across marketing, sales, audience management, and also not dropping the ball on meetings with donors and writers who wanted to pitch for next season. 

I was in the middle of a very urgent prop shortage situation when I was called into a meeting by the board. They said they had come to a decision about the appointment of the theater's next Artistic Director. Only a week had passed since our interviews, so they clearly made up their minds really quickly. 

When I got to the office, I was a bit short of breath, having run straight from the props warehouse. It was clear that I had been doing a lot of heavy lifting back there, as dirt lines were showing on my T-shirt. I walked in on the Chair of the board sitting right across from Cate and her husband, Andrew. Strange that they were doing the announcement with all of us in the same room. 

"Edie, please take a seat." After everyone exchanged pleasantries, the Chair cut straight to the chase, "The reason we're gathering you here today is because the board have come to a joint decision about the leadership appointment for our theater. Edith, Andrew and Cate, you all made very compelling pitches for your vision of how to run the STC, and needless to say, this was an incredibly difficult decision." 

I looked away from him and at Cate and Andrew for a split second, and noticed that their hands were tightly clasped together, which I thought was a bit extra. 

"And we'd like to announce that Cate and Andrew will be the co-Artistic Directors of the Sydney Theatre Company, effective today. We're very much looking forward to the incredible industry experience and artistry that they'll bring to our company." 

Andrew looked extremely smug and clenched his free hand into a fist in a gesture of celebration. Everything Cate said came true, and she beat me. I expected her to gloat as well, but she didn't. Instead, she was completely expressionless and oblivious to Andrew. She looked over in my direction, as if she got over the competition when they said her name. 

"We wanted you here for the news too, Edith, because we truly value you as a team member, and that we're confident that you'll find other growth opportunities within the company under Cate and Andrew's tutelage. But first, we'd like you to be the point person in helping them onboard into their new jobs and find ways to collaborate together..." 

A feeling of deja vu overwhelmed me, and I recalled childhood memories of being passed over for opportunities because there was always a richer and more connected kid at school. The game was, and would always be rigged against me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Except to make their jobs more difficult.

"I'll gladly do it," I said blankly, "but after they're done onboarding, I'll be leaving the company."