There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen
I had a marvelous time ruining everything
~ Taylor Swift, the last great american dynasty
AGE 20
"You don't want to do this, Bella," said the man in the suit across from me. His blonde hair was slicked back, a process that probably took him longer than I spent on my own hair this morning. He sat across from me in a three piece suit with a cocky smile, drowning in a cloud of cologne that made me want to gag.
"I'm not one to make false promises," I responded.
It went against every instinct I had, getting out of this contract. I had been conditioned to ask how high when men like him told me to jump, trained to smile and wave and ask no questions.
But even I had my limits. When promises were made, I expected them to be met.
People were going to assume I was jumping ship because the first Clash movie didn't meet expectations. They didn't realize that the first one did meet my expectations, because I knew the script was crap.
It had been a story I thought deserved telling, though. And after a dozen people had promised me that the budget for the second installment would lead to a better film, I signed on.
I didn't need a college degree to figure out what happened.
I was the youngest woman to win the Academy Award for Actress in a Leading Role. I carried an incredibly successful teen franchise on my back. I had a loyal fanbase that followed me from project to project.
I didn't need them. They needed me, and painted me pretty pictures of the future to get me to sign on the dotted line. Because these men lost little when they put out a shitty movie. Even awful movies made money, because we lived in a world where people would go see it just to talk shit about it.
The reviews didn't decimate them. They didn't sit in bed every night and read a hundred posts that picked them apart, piece by piece, until they couldn't even keep food down the next day. They sat in their pretty little offices and cashed the checks my name gave them.
Unfortunately for them, I could afford a good lawyer.
"You want to be known as the girl who backs out of a contract because she doesn't get her way? No one will want to work with you again."
I sighed, unfazed. I'd had a dozen different meetings with people who told me the risks. And they scared the shit out of me. But I had this feeling in my gut that if I gave them this inch, I would never get it back. And they would pull and pull until there was nothing left.
So I gave nothing away of how my stomach churned at not giving in and happily continuing on with a franchise that would put seven figures in my bank account and accepted the punishment of not being paid to act for a year until the series was finished. It could very well be the nail in the coffin of my career, but the cocky smile that started to spread across the man's face at my hesitation solidified my answer.
"No," I told him, taking the pen from my lawyer beside me and signing my name on the last paper in front of me. "I want to be known as the woman who knows her worth and doesn't let men like you pull one over on me."
A/N: Long time no see, eh? Sorry about the wait. After two and a half years of taking every precaution Covid finally got me and took me out for a solid two weeks. I'm finally feeling back to normal and excited to get back to it! We've got two flashbacks this week, so keep an eye out for another tomorrow afternoon before the chapter is updated on Friday!