A Third-Rate Star Cut My Line, So I Made Him a Superstar

Today at the mall I finally reached the front of the line to buy an iced coffee.

A man slid in smoothly, right past me on my side.

One jasmine iced tea.

He had on a black cap and a face mask.

I told him to go to the back of the line, and he just ignored me.

So I stepped in front of him. Give me a jasmine green tea latte.

The man turned and stared at me hard.

"My time is valuable. Can't you just let me go first?"

"Nobody else has a problem with it. Why do you have to make such a fuss?"

I looked back at the people behind me. "He cut the line. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

Nobody made a sound.

It actually made me laugh.

Still, I took half a step back and gave up the spot. "Fine. Go ahead."

The man cut in front, satisfied, and rolled his eyes at me. "Total waste of my time."

Then he turned back to the server. "Hurry it up..."

That was when I slipped forward and cut in front of him.

"One jasmine green tea latte!"

The man was furious and flustered. "What do you think you're doing?"

I gave him a scornful look.

"Cutting the line. My time's even more valuable. That a problem?"

He was shaking with rage.

Then he suddenly yanked off his mask.

"I'm Jeffrey Dickerson, an A-list superstar with Skyworks Media!"

"You know Skyworks Media, right? The top media company in the business!"

"Here's the deal. Buy me an iced coffee to apologize, and I'll forgive you."

I was a little taken aback.

Skyworks Media, wasn't that the company my mom owned?

But I'd never heard of any A-list star named Jeffrey Dickerson.

From the way he was dressed, I figured he was just some new signing.

So I shook my head.

"Never heard of you."

"You..." Jeffrey was trembling with anger.

"You just wait. This isn't over."

With that, he pulled out his phone, snapped a few shots of me, then turned and walked off.

Please.

He wasn't even a real star yet and already putting on this much of an act.

I needed to tell my mom. This one wasn't worth keeping.

After I got my iced coffee, I browsed a while longer, then got ready to leave.

I'd barely stepped out of the mall when Jeffrey popped up out of nowhere and blocked my way.

He looked me over with a smug little smile.

"You're not bad-looking. I'll give you a good option."

"Be my mistress, and I'll get you into Skyworks Media as a star."

"Get lost!" The anger surged up all at once, and I glared at him.

Having someone like this on the roster was an insult to Skyworks Media.

Jeffrey's face went cold, and he stared at me.

"Don't be stupid about this. You already crossed me earlier, and I never let a grudge go!"

"Being my mistress is the right choice. Otherwise..."

He reached out to grab me.

"I said get lost!" I said it hard, with more weight behind it.

Jeffrey snatched his hand back like he'd been shocked, and nodded.

"Fine. You wait. There'll come a day when you're crying and begging me!"

Then he slunk off, sulking.

The moment I got home, I called my mom.

She didn't pick up.

She was abroad on business, probably busy.

By evening, though, I got a message from a friend.

"Angela, you're famous now!"

There was a link attached.

I opened it. It was a post Jeffrey had put up on a platform.

He'd attached two photos of me.

Underneath he'd written: Waited forever in line for an iced coffee this afternoon, and then this woman forced her way in front of me, absolutely vicious attitude, so upset...

The post already had thousands of likes and shares, plus countless comments.

"So awful, cutting in front of our Jeff!"

"How dare she bully our Jeff. Dox her and end her socially!"

I was still reading when a fresh comment popped up, and my stomach tightened.

"I found her. Her name is Angela Salazar, she's a fashion designer..."

That comment had actually posted the exact address of my studio and my cell number.

Then my phone rang.

An unknown number.

The second I picked up, the caller started screaming.

"You're Angela Salazar, right? How dare you cut in front of my Jeff! Who do you think you are..."

A girl, and she didn't sound very old.

I hung up on the spot.

The phone rang again.

Another unknown number.

"Angela Salazar, you disgusting woman, you dare bully my Jeff? I hope you rot..."

After that my phone wouldn't stop.

One unknown number after another, coming in nonstop.

I stopped answering, but it was still a nuisance.

That went on for half an hour or so, and then the phone suddenly went quiet.

Instead, a text came in.

"This is Jeffrey Dickerson. Want to talk?"

So it seemed Jeffrey was running this whole harassment campaign himself.

While I was still thinking it over, Jeffrey called.

I pulled out a voice recorder, switched on the record function, then picked up.

"Angela Salazar, how's that? Enjoying the calls?"

His voice was full of himself.

"In the last hour I've had dozens of harassing calls," I said.

"People cursing me, people threatening me. You organized all of this, didn't you?"

I spoke each word clearly, just to get it down as evidence.

"That's right, but that's only the appetizer."

"So? You'd better be a good girl and give in to me, or you'll only bring more trouble on yourself."

I answered evenly. "Jeffrey, I'm advising you to stop now, before it's too late to regret it."

"Hmph, still talking tough. Then you go ahead and wait for the regret!"

"Though I do like your stubbornness. That way, when you kneel to me later, it'll be even more of a thrill to play with you!"

Jeffrey let out a few cackling laughs, then hung up.

Before long the unknown calls started up again, one after another.

At the same time all kinds of abusive texts came flooding in.

Every filthy, vile word, insult and threat piled on.

Lucky for them I don't crack under pressure. I just switched off my phone and went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up.

First I called my mother.

Her phone was off.

It left me somewhere between laughing and crying.

So I had a quick breakfast and headed out.

First I went back to the mall from the day before.

Found that iced coffee shop.

Got a copy of yesterday afternoon's footage.

Then I went straight to my mother's company.

She should be back from overseas by today.

Though I didn't know if she'd made it to the office yet.

I went straight up to the front desk.

"Hi, I'm here to see Georgina Pruitt."

The receptionist looked at me, puzzled.

"Do you have an appointment?"

I blinked. "No."

She put on a touch of regret.

"I'm sorry, you need an appointment to see Ms. Pruitt."

That was inconvenient.

"Then is Ms. Pruitt in the office?"

She shook her head. "I'm not able to say."

Well. They ran a tight ship here.

This was going to be tricky.

I'd never had anything to do with my mother's company before.

Apart from her, I didn't know who to ask.

I thought about it and decided to leave for now.

But just as I reached the main doors, a hand shot out and blocked me.

It was Jeffrey.

"Oh? You tracked me all the way here?"

"What, are you finally ready to cave to me?"

He wore a look of pure smugness.

"But giving up this fast is honestly a letdown."

"Where's the fun in that? No challenge at all."

"Or you could hold out a little longer. I've still got plenty of tricks I haven't used."

Jeffrey said it without a trace of shame.

"Jeff, that's the Angela Salazar you were talking about?"

"Doesn't look like she's got as much backbone as you said."

The young woman trailing behind him spoke up.

The look she gave me carried contempt, and a thread of jealousy underneath it.

"She's prettier than you, at least!"

"Better presence, too. She could hold her own against any of our A-listers."

Jeffrey laughed, pleased with himself.

The woman gave a cold snort and rolled her eyes.

"Then why don't you make her your manager?"

Jeffrey just pinched her cheek.

"Ha, Tessa Perry, are you jealous?"

"Once she's mine, I'm getting her signed to the company as talent."

"You'll manage both of us. Straight promotion for you."

The woman's eyes lit up at once.

She turned to me, all mockery.

"Angela Salazar, it's your good fortune that Jeff even looks at you."

"Congratulations. You'll be moving up in the world before long."

My face went cold.

A manager helping a monster do its dirty work. So little professional integrity.

How had Skyworks Media ever let someone like her in?

"Move. Stop blocking my way."

I couldn't be bothered to argue with them.

Jeffrey's smile dropped instantly, and his face went startled.

"What, changed your mind?"

"Are you mad about what I said just now?"

"All right, don't sulk. I was only teasing you."

"Just be good and give in to me, and everything's easy!"

There was almost a pleading note in his voice.

I laughed out of sheer disbelief.

"Don't flatter yourself. I'm here to see my mother."

Jeffrey looked startled again.

"Your mother works here too? What does she do?"

Tessa gave a scornful little laugh.

"She's not on the cleaning crew, is she?"

"What, you want your mom to put in a good word for you?"

Jeffrey's face turned cold as well.

"Nobody's word will help. I'm not letting you off!"

"If you dare defy me, I'll have the company fire your mother!"

The full domineering-CEO act, overbearing and grand.

I couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Fine, let me tell you. My mother's name is Georgina Pruitt."

Jeffrey frowned.

"Who's Georgina Pruitt? Never even heard of her"

But Tessa suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Ms. Pruitt! Our company's owner!"

Jeffrey jolted from head to toe and stared at me, panic all over his face.

"Your momyour mom is the owner of our company?"

I nodded.

"That's right. Georgina Pruitt is my mother."

Jeffrey and Tessa looked at each other.

Both of them at a loss for what to do.

But then Tessa's brow suddenly furrowed.

"No, that's not right. I heard the owner only has a son."

"He's studying abroad right now!"

Jeffrey's eyes lit up at once.

"You're sure?"

Tessa nodded hard.

"Sure. I never heard anything about the owner having a daughter."

Jeffrey narrowed his eyes at me.

"Not bad. You'd actually dare pose as our owner's daughter to scare me?"

"Too bad this little trick won't fool me!"

"You'd better wise up and quit the pointless struggling!"

For a moment I had nothing to say.

Because I was a girl, and had no interest in the entertainment world.

To protect me, my mother.

Had never once made my identity public.

So outsiders only knew my mother had a son.

"If you don't believe me, fine."

I walked straight past them.

"Fine, fine, fine, Angela Salazar. We'll see about that."

"Since you still don't know what's good for you, this is the perfect chance to show you my other methods!"

Jeffrey shouted after me, seething.

After that I went to my own studio and got to work.

Only, after a while, the mood in the office started turning strange.

The employees kept glancing over at me.

Every one of those looks odd, edged with doubt.

My assistant, Samantha Finch, came rushing over.

She shoved her phone at me.

"Angela, look at this!"

It was a video.

Someone had reposted the photos Jeffrey had put up earlier.

They'd added all my personal info too.

"There are a ton of videos like this online right now."

"And people at the office are whispering about you."

I scrolled through it and realized the thing had spread far.

Everyone was sharing it.

The comments were a mob piling on me.

"Ha, this stupid woman thought she could do whatever she wanted, and she cut in line ahead of a celebrity."

"Then the celebrity exposed her. She's finished now, right? Publicly humiliated!"

"Boycott her company! Make them fire her!"

"Trash like her deserves to be dragged like this, so she never forgets the lesson!"

"She's done. This woman's whole life is over! Screenshot this so it's on the record!"

Instead of panic, I felt a flicker of excitement.

Jeffrey, since you're so determined to bury yourself, don't blame me for what comes next.

First I dropped the footage I'd copied into the company group chat.

The heavy, suffocating mood in the office lifted at once.

"Angela, let's post it online too!"

Samantha suggested in the group.

The others jumped in, one after another, all of them fired up.

But right then, the front-desk receptionist came running in, panicked.

"Angela, this is bad. There's a huge crowd outside trying to force their way in."

I took a few people and went straight out front.

A hundred-plus people had gathered, chanting slogans in perfect unison.

"Angela Salazar! Line-cutting, no shame, no class!"

They even had a banner stretched out.

It read exactly what they were shouting.

A few of them kept trying to charge forward.

The security guards barely held them back.

I was just wondering whether to call the police when my phone rang.

It was my mother.

"Angela, you're at your company, right?"

"I brought you a little something back from overseas. I'll be passing by in about a minute, so I'll drop it off."

I'd barely hung up when I saw Jeffrey strolling toward me, hands clasped behind his back.

"Angela Salazar, how's it feel now? This move of mine is more than enough to break you, isn't it?"

"If you don't want your name and reputation destroyed, you'll be a good girl and agree to what I asked!"

Tessa, trailing behind him, looked just as thrilled.

"Angela Salazar, I'm warning you, Jeff's fan club has thousands of people."

"If you still won't agree to Jeff, even more of them will show up!"

"And then we can't promise what might happen."

Jeffrey let out a few smug laughs.

"Agree to me, and I'll tell them to scatter right now."

"Otherwise"

Just then a car sped up.

It stopped right beside me.

Then my mother stepped out.

Jeffrey froze for a second, then broke into delighted surprise.

"Ms. Pruitt, you, you're on my side too?"

Tessa jumped up and down with joy.

"Jeff, even the boss came out to support you. You really are a big deal!"

But my mother frowned and looked at me.

"What's going on, Angela?"

"Who's been bullying you?"