Better Than Revenge [Chapters 1-15 Rewritten]

Chapter 11: Rotten Chemistry

A/N: Yes, I'm alive (but just barely.) After what has easily been the most stressful semester of my life, I've finally somewhat recuperated and am back to writing, so keep an eye out for more updates on this and Better Than Me in the next few weeks!

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Chapter 11: Rotten Chemistry

Once we were outside, Nora stood in between us as Christian and I looked at each other with what I could only describe as disdain. As far as he knew, we barely knew each other, yet the negativity was palpable to anyone unlucky enough to be stuck in the middle of this feud – in this case, Nora.

Most of what came out of our mouths next was immature and senseless, so I wasn't that surprised at Nora's lack of a response.

"One at a time, guys," she finally said.

I was just about to speak when Christian – shocker – interrupted me. He wasn't used to people speaking over him and still thought if someone else had the opportunity to speak their mind, it was because he allowed them to. And still, he wondered how we ended up out here in what was essentially a Nora-mediated time-out.

"Why should you speak first?" he asked.

"Haven't you heard of 'ladies first'?"

He snorted unattractively. "I would hardly call you a lady."

"Last I heard, you're not a lady at all."

Nora didn't seem to be in any hurry, despite the words that came out of her mouth next. "Are you two done now? Have you gotten it all out of your systems?"

"No" was clearly the wrong answer, so we went with "yes."

"Good. Now, we have work to do, and we need to get started," Nora said. "You two need to learn to control yourselves. If you want to fight, do it on your own time. Better yet, do it on screen. Use your anger for your scenes together. Okay?"

We muttered an unenthusiastic reply of acceptance and followed her back inside. By ignoring each other, Christian and I caused no more problems, and we were able to finish our introductions and begin the read-through, which was literally just reading through the script together for the first time.

My character had the first line, so I started us off. "No, no, no! I said gardenias. Gardenias! Is that so impossible to comprehend?"

"We have some very nice tulips and lilies available –"

"Did I ask for tulips or lilies? No, I didn't. I said gardenias. We want gardenias."

My character came across as a bitch initially, but it was kind of understandable, considering the way she'd been raised – literally fed with a silver spoon her entire life. Plus, it was better than playing a two-dimensional cardboard box of a character like Natalie, or a heroine with no backbone.

"Miss, you must understand –"

"There is nothing to understand," I said. "We want gardenias. Not tulips. Not lilies. Gardenias!"

"Sophia sounds a little stiff to me," Christian interrupted. "Give us some emotion, sweetheart."

I bit back the wave of expletives he deserved to have hurled at him and settled on, "Call me that again, and I'll show you emotion."

"Well, if you're so worried, Christian, how about we do some exercises to loosen up?" Nora suggested. I could actually see the evil twinkle in her eye. It was kind of admirable.

I'd never seen someone backtrack on their word faster than Christian did the second she said that. "Did I say stiff? I meant great. She sounded great to me."