Better Than Revenge [Unedited - 2012 Version]

Chapter Five

Better Than Revenge 

Chapter Five

“We’re in our hotel room, stupid,” Tori told me, rolling her eyes. “You don’t have to hide your face here. No one can see you except for me.” 

I looked around suspiciously, prowling about like a ninja before succumbing. “Fine.” I took off the pair of dark sunglasses I wore, rubbing my eyes as they adjusted to the new lighting. I shrugged off the baggy hoodie, thankful to be free of it. Wearing a dark hoodie under the blazing California sun wasn’t my idea of fun. I took off the navy blue baseball cap I used to hide my hair and shook my hair out, now completely undisguised. 

“You can’t hide forever, you know,” she pointed out, grabbing her suitcase from the corner of the room. “It’s impossible. You’re gonna have to face this eventually.” 

“I know that,” I said in my defense. “I don’t plan on trying to hide forever.”

“Then what do you plan on doing?” She gave me a puzzled look, raising an eyebrow. 

“I plan on hiding for as long as I can,” I declared, nodding emphatically. 

It took a second for this to sink in and when it did, she wildly shook her head at me, exclaiming, “No, no. No, no, no, no, no! That is not how we’re going to spend our vacation!” 

Uh-oh. She had that look on her face, the look she only got when she was about to let me have it…

“Er, Tori,” I began, trying to stop her before it was too late. “I just meant—” 

“I picked Hollywood for you, Sophia. For you! I picked it so that you could get the chance to make your dreams to come true because you’re my best friend and I love you to death! And then you go and do this? You’re not going to launch your acting career by hiding for the rest of your life! So what if someone recognizes you? It’s bound to happen eventually! You can’t stop it! And we are not spending our summer vacation hiding! That would totally ruin it! You just have to let what’s going to happen, happen!” 

I opened my mouth to speak but she continued with her rant. 

“And come on; is this really the worst thing in the world? Yeah, I know you don’t want to be associated with Ryder, but it’s too late to worry about that! It already happened and no matter what, you’re gonna be associated with him! And I know you wanted to become and actress because of your accomplishments and all of that but I know that you would’ve done that anyway because you’re just that good! Why not just accept what you can’t change? And no, you can’t change this!” 

Somehow, her rant turned into a motivational speech. I didn’t know which one was worse. I thought I was done hearing these kinds of things when I finished high school. 

“Fine! Just quit talking!” I yelled, holding up a hand. “I’ll quit hiding! Happy?” 

She beamed at me, immediately forgetting she was angry just seconds before. “Very.” 

I rolled my eyes and muttered a few things under my breath. 

Tori raised her eyebrows and gave me a sour look. “I heard that.” 

“Good.” 

She rolled her eyes at me. “Jerk. Now come on. We’re going out!” 

“Out where, exactly?” I asked, hauling my suitcase up onto my bed. 

“To explore Hollywood,” she replied in a ‘duh’ tone. 

I was about to decline, but then I considered it further. Hollywood was big. The chances of running into Christian Ryder or someone from Hollywood Tonight were close to nothing. And I doubted anyone would pay much attention to me, anyway. There were tons of people walking on Hollywood’s streets all the time. As long as we blended in, I would be fine. All we had to do was blend in.