I cross my ankle over my knee and remind my leg not to bounce with excess energy. I'm in a folding chair just offstage waiting for my cue.

I've got the afternoon off to film an interview with Entertainment Weekly. They negotiated with the studio for this particular exclusive of the making of Fifty Shades of Grey. It's like no one ever told the public that making one movie is pretty much the fucking same as making another movie, unless you have a lot of special effects. In our case, there will probably be something in the DVD extras about what we did with the bondage equipment. Not too much magic there.

Interviews always get me wound up, because if you aren't on your toes, you can never think of the right answer before they are moving on to the next question. Unfortunately, they also make me fidgety, which plays poorly on camera. My publicist has spent a lot of time lecturing me on this point.

I need to invent an interview persona and just play the part when I go, but interviews are supposed to be about being real, letting your fans see a glimpse of the person behind all the scripts. So they are stuck with over-caffeinated, fidgety me.

I catch my cue and stride onto stage, smiling my leading-man smile. The interviewer is young and blonde. I catch a glimpse of her shoes. They are the cruelly pointy, really damn expensive kind. Shit.

She lobs me a couple easy ones, and I give the speech about how Christian Grey's character has been abused but that doesn't mean that BDSM is always for people with issues.

"At its core, BDSM is about control, and about both partners learning to be their best selves for each other," I tell the blonde shark.

"That's a very interesting answer. Did you have a personal interest in BDSM that led you to accept this role?"

Wow, it didn't take her long to cut to the chase. Can she really ask me that?

Years of choosing my facial expressions keeps me looking politely interested instead of murderous, but I can't think of a thing to say to her that doesn't include the words 'fuck' and 'you.' So I call up Alex Harper's character and let him save my sorry ass.

Alex armors my face with a knowing smirk. "Do you have a personal interest in my preferences?"

She pretends to be embarrassed and laughs, but she's just hamming it.

"No, I think people get caught up in the novelty," I backtrack for the serious answer, reminding myself that I'm talking to the fans, not this interviewer. "But I think it is important that people see through that to realize what the BDSM in this story can tell you about the characters."

"Tell me more about that. Are we talking trial through fire, here?"

"In a sense. You have this man who can't really express himself except through this really controlled form of violence, and a woman that desperately loves him enough to go along with these things she would normally never do. And I think people like the book because that love really does transform him, and takes him to places that he's not comfortable with."

"So just like any relationship, it's all about trust," she says, and I nod, surprised to find we agree.

"Speaking of that, I know a lot of people wanted to see Sophie Rybak cast as Anastasia Steele. How has it been for you two since Julia Grant was given the role instead?"

"Actually, Sophie got the casting call for Anastasia, but turned it down," I correct.

That's right, bitch. My girl can pick and choose her roles. "We both felt that it wouldn't be fair to have the same pairing we have on Queen of Hearts, that it would cause people to miss subtleties in these new, unique characters in Fifty Shades."

"So how did you two decide which of you would go after Fifty Shades?" The reporter asks, and I bite back a sigh because I knew these questions were coming, but they are so tedious.

"We read the books, and I was immediately intrigued by the part of Christian Grey. Sophie was very supportive of that, and to be honest, she wasn't that interested in playing Ana. In fact, she's doing another movie right now, a comedy that I think is going to come out great."

I talk about Sophie's new movie, burning interview time remorselessly until the interviewer cuts me off. If she wants to blather on about my personal life, then I can damn well waste her precious exclusive plugging Sophie's movie as well as my own.

"So is it hard on Sophie, knowing that you're doing all these sexy, sexy scenes with the lovely Julia?" The reporter asks with a salicious smile that just looks bloodthirsty on her over-powdered face.

"No comment," I say tightly.

I'm furious that this bitch just went there, even though everybody and their dog told me that it would be a common question. I just hate that because I work in movies, everybody thinks my business is their business.

Now, I grit my teeth because that 'no comment' is going to have Sophie and I broken up on every tabloid cover and fan site within two days.

Alex steps back in, and my anger gratefully relaxes into his arrogance. I stretch my legs out in front of me, crossing them at the ankles, my normal interview twitchiness gone as I lock my fingers behind my head and give the interviewer a crooked smile that makes her eyes drop to my lips for a bare second. Tut, tut, so unprofessional.

"You know I don't like to kiss and tell," I say coyly. "But no, it's a very intimate movie. I think that is what people are going to like about it. And Julia was well cast. She plays Ana brilliantly."

"What about Sophie?" the reporter says, still trying for the kill.

You're not fit to lick her shoes, you vicious bulldog bitch.

I laugh with just a hint of condescension. "On Queen of Hearts, she's been in love with my brother for three years, and I have a new girl in my bed every week. We're no stranger to sex scenes. They're essential to the work. It's not a concern for us." I keep it light, but no one will miss my implication that we can tell real from make-believe, even if she can't.

"So this is a pretty big step for your career, this wide-release film that may expand into a new franchise," she says sweetly.

I fight back a laugh. Point taken. Don't try to out-passive-aggressive a professional.

"Well, I have a pretty long resume but even so, this is definitely a new kind of role for me. Mostly I was just excited about the exposure because of what it could do for my charity work."

That's right. Remember my latest fundraising campaign, which this appearance agreement requires you to mention, even though you haven't yet? Point to me.

"Is the movie supporting your charity?" she asks, making it sound sleazy, and also as if I am off-topic to plug my charity work at all.

I have a stock answer, but the more earnest I am, the cattier she will look.

"I am incredibly lucky," I tell her. "I have a job I love, and a side effect of that is that it makes people very interested in what I have to say." I smile ruefully. "Probably undeservedly. So I figured that if people were going to listen, the least I could do was have something important to say."

"That's very admirable of you," she says, her voice a lot more convincing than her sharky eyes. "Isn't it kind of an odd combination, though? Using a movie that is about tying a girl up and beating her to raise money to fight sex trafficking in southeast Asia?"

I'm livid, but Alex has no problem with the question. "It seems pretty simple to me. All bondage should be consensual."

The reporter scrambles after that verbal slap, but the best she can do is, "Do you have any plans for a more direct tie-in?"

"You know, you'd be surprised. People don't need to be tricked into participating by using a popular movie to make it more attractive. They just need to know what is going on, and a vehicle that allows them to make a difference." I shrug. "I'm a glorified bell ringer. All I do is make it easy for busy people to contribute to the world the way they want to, without having to miss work or give up time with their kids to do it."

Alex Harper is shining in the role of David Tate, feeding my words to the reporter with a calculated insolence that makes me look like less of a do-gooder prat and implies that she thinks people have to be coerced to care about child prostitutes and sex slavery.

I smile sardonically. "Maybe I should put something together, though, just for fun. A Fifty Strokes campaign on Twitter where we make Julia the whipping boy for all of Asia. People can pledge a certain amount of money for abused kids every time I spank Julia during filming."

"A dollar a stroke or something?" she laughs.

It's a ridiculous idea, borderline inappropriate, but she has to play along, so I banter with her about the fundraising possibilities until our time is up. Josh was right. Promos for this one are going to be a bitch. The dead last thing I want to be doing is discussing my feelings about this movie.

This is exactly why I started fundraising, years ago. I prefer dental work over discussing my personal life with strangers, and if someone is going to benefit from my discomfort, I like to choose who it is going to be.

As I stand up and wave my goodbye to the studio filming audience, I feel naked. People think that celebrities are so rich and powerful, but sometimes it feels like the only power I have is to choose what role I am going to play next. Nobody cares who I choose to be, as long as it isn't myself.

Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter- I promise a quick update. We've got some intense stuff coming up! Thanks to everybody who has been reading and leaving reviews, I've really enjoyed hearing what you guys thought and where you thought the story should go. This is a very interesting, interactive kind of story, with so many layers of realities and audiences.