9 Chapter 9: Nuh-Uh. 

(A/N: I'm not sure if the chapter is edited as I can't reach my editor lol. One more chapter tonight, so gimme powerstones and recommend the story to a friend!)

A silver Mercedes convertible cruising down the road with 3 people inside it. Pepper as the driver, Cam who sat next to the driver, and Edward who sat alone at the backseat. Mitchell was following Pepper's car from behind in his Prius.

He needed to follow because the fabrics and outfits that Pepper bought for the kid was too much to be delivered in a single car. Pepper was too touched by the performance and he splurged on me even though I'd denied it repeatedly.

"Send me the notes and the lyrics. I will handle the copyright for you." Pepper offered casually.

"Peps. Seriously. This is too much. I couldn't let you do that." I widened my eyes, leaned forward to the driver's seat, and denied his good will again.

Cameron added, "Ed. You need to let him do that. Many people have videoed your song at the cafe before. If it falls into some washed up artist with bad intentions, they will steal your song. That's how good it is. So let Pepper do it. The sooner the better."

The reason Cameron didn't ride with Mitchell was just for this.

Pepper said while looking at the back mirror, "Don't worry kid. I won't charge you a thing. Just consider it my investments. Once you've risen higher than Britney, you can show that low-class skank what class really is."

I nodded unconsciously. Then, I got curious. "What's your problem with her anyway?"

"I did a party for her once. That booze-drenched dared to look down on me…"

While Pepper was storytelling, Mitchell in the other car was on a call with Haley.

"Uncle Mitchell, why did he have to come to MY house!" Haley yelled from the other line.

"Your dad is the one who invited him." Mitchell clarified. "Besides, it's only for one dinner. And Haley, he is a good boy. You need to treat him better. He reminds me of a young me and Uncle Cameron who…"

Unbeknownst to me, a deep misunderstanding would occur when I go to Dunphy's house tomorrow night.

"Edward, do you have any other song's you're working on?" Cameron asked inquisitively.

"I actually do. But it's not yet complete." I replied.

"Shame. If you did, I can send it to get your copyright together with the other songs." Pepper added.

I thought for a while before I replied, "I can finish it tonight. Why don't I give you my lyrics tomorrow after school?"

"Sure. I will send my lawyers to go pick it up." Pepper said. His lawyers were from a top law firm in Los Angeles, thanks to his rich family background. The lawyer team had been idle for a while, but still costing him money, which is why Pepper wanted them to settle the copyright for Edward's song.

"I will repay your generosity Pepper." I said.

"Don't bother kids. I want to bask in the feeling of becoming a hero to the young generation. That's enough repayment." Pepper said playfully while giggling with Cam.

Cam suddenly brought up a sore topic. "Who will you go to the dinner with?"

I frowned and replied curtly, "By myself I guess."

Seeing Edward staring at the road with a dissatisfied look on his face as they drove him home, Pepper and Cam smiled mischievously.

"Boy, you really hate getting forced to do things huh." Pepper teased.

"You know what, it's just one dinner. You and Haley need to mend the friendship between you two. It will be hard, but it is necessary." Cam added.

"...Why? It's not like I'm friend with her before, nor did I want to become friends with her afterwards." I replied.

Cam opened his mouth a few times, but the words didn't come out. Pepper nodded at the kid's statement and said, "That is true. There is absolutely no gain for you to go there, right?"

"...I feel like you're building up to something, so I'm going to wait until you finish all of your sentences first."

"Have you thought about how you're going to go to the cafe on Thursday night? I'm busy, Mitchell and Cameron will be in Vietnam, and your dad is working till late on Thursday night. Sooo?" Pepper smiled and asked although he already knew the answer.

After I checked the amount of money I received from today's impromptu concert, I'd accepted the cafe owner's invitation despite Pepper's protest to play at the stage. I received 150 dollars for just two songs, and they promised me an one hour slot to play on the stage, and also 500 dollars as payment.

'I will use the money to buy a laptop. Only then would I rest easy.'

As I was adamant about it, Pepper sighed and negotiated my time slot at 9 pm sharp. I also had to promise him to go back home directly after the concert and he even got the cafe owner involved in the deal so I couldn't dawdle and stay till late at the cafe.

'I don't think that Pepper would act this way. I guess his experience in being a dad before resurfaced today.'

For those who had just known Pepper, it would be impossible for them to know that he has had a family before this. His son is now a Navy SEAL, and a bit estranged with his dad.

"Maybe…if you kiss Dunphy's ass a little, he will drive you to the cafe instead of you taking the bus with your instrument." Cam guessed.

"You almost got it, Cam." Pepper said. " You're wrong in one part. If he didn't have a transport to go there, and a guardian that would monitor him, Steven and Stephan agreed with me to remove his time slot for the stage."

"Ugh." I groaned and rolled my eyes before turning to the road again. It was almost near my house, so I asked them to stop me a block away.

"This is it for me." I said as I gestured for them to stop the car.

"Hmm?" Cameron looked around to see they were near Dunphy's house. "You didn't live here. What's going on?"

Pepper was stunned as it was the place where he picked me up after this. Mitchell stopped his car behind Pepper's car and asked, "Are we here?"

"My house is further down. But…it's kinda in an embarrassing state. So I don't want to bring you guys there. You can come in 2 weeks when I finish the restoration." I said as I picked up my shopping bags from the cars.

"Are you sure?" Cam asked, his face turned a bit sullen. I knew he felt that I was on guard against them, and that's why I didn't let them see my house, but honestly, I wouldn't mind bringing them in if the house had returned to the way it used to be.

"I'm sure." I said as I swayed from the weight of the bags. After saying goodbye, I walked home while the gays were waving at me.

After I arrived home, I neatly arranged the fabrics that I bought by the material type and colours.

"I think there is a sewing machine in the garage. I will take a look at it tomorrow."

I threw the dinner matter at the back of my mind as my dad returned home. I gave him back the credit card after he took off his uniform and came down to have dinner. Today I made a simple lasagna. I just bought a ready-made one in the grocery store instead of cooking it from scratch.

While eating at the dinner, Ted's face looked worried and hesitant, so I asked, "What's wrong dad?"

"It's…nothing. Ed, what do you think about us…moving to Wisconsin and staying with grandma and grandpa?"

Ted had been thinking about the matter for a while. With the cruise ship business gradually declining, his financial strain for maintaining the business made him think about quitting his dream job. I usually went there for the summer, and my grandparents took care of me very well.

"Why so suddenly? Did something happen at work?" I asked calmly as I took the time to think about it. "I don't mind it though. But don't you need to be at the sea to do your job?"

I honestly didn't care where I ended up. Transmigrating to the world where my favourite show came to life was great, but it's not like I wanted to be with the family all the time. If fate allows it, maybe we'll meet again in the future.

"I am thinking about selling the ship." Ted confessed after feeling relieved that his son didn't have much of a reaction about the prospect of moving.

"Hmm…" I rubbed my chin together as I thought about the ships business my dad is currently running. My current body is 14 years old now, but I was a senior programmer before and had worked with a lot of companies whether it's advertising based or gaming based.

Ted told me about how the recession had caused his business to be near halt, and his customers had been steadily declining. He might have explained it to me because of the guilt gnawing at his heart, but it helped me to understand more about the business's situation.

He used to have another Captain working with him, but the guy had betrayed him and accepted a job into another cruise line. He had to cover all of the trips because of that guy as no other Captain in the marina wanted to join in a sinking ship…metaphorically.

"We won't move right now…Maybe after you finish middle school." Ted said, ending his story. "If you're okay with this, I will make the plans."

"I am okay with it. By the way, I have a gig this Thursday that I need your permission to go to." I said.

"Gig? What gig?" Ted asked curiously.

"I will be playing my songs at a cafe. I played there this afternoon, and the owner liked me so much that he gave me the most coveted time slot for the show on Thursday night." I replied casually.

After talking with my dad for a while, I entered my room and flipped the textbook I brought from my locker in school. As I have history and language classes tomorrow, I need to prepare myself for the assignments.

"Thank god for the additional IQ. Wait, should I say thank Afterlife Corp? Hmm… Doesn't matter. Thanks whoever it is." I murmured as I flipped through the history textbook and wrote a 500 word report on a topic.

It took me only an hour to finish studying the materials I needed for tomorrow's class. I turned to the instruments near my bed, picked up something wedged inside my guitar case and finally sat on the edge of the bed while holding a stack of paper.

"7 years, Amnesia, Toxic, Grenade, Monster, It Will Rain…Damn Ed, if I didn't come here, you will be the most famous kid, beating out Bieber by a margin." I muttered. Most of the songs weren't complete yet, but it was easy for me to finish them as I had heard all of these songs in my previous life.

By the time I finished, it was already midnight. I went to sleep for the day and desperately wished that something would come out tomorrow so that I could avoid the dinner scene.

-Dunphy's House-

"Really? I thought he didn't want us to come because he's embarrassed to be seen with us." Cam exclaimed after hearing the full story from Claire in the kitchen.

Cam and Mitch decided to greet the family as they were literally in front of their house. Pepper had gone home as he needed to call his lawyers and arrange a few things for Edward.

"Yeah. I caught him bleeding as he tried hard to clean up his house. It looked okay now, all thanks to him. But it wasn't fully restored yet." Claire explained while holding a wine glass in her hand. She sipped the wine and held up a finger to Cam to tell him she wasn't done yet.

"Phil is now constantly talking about the kid, making me feel as if Phil had found a new Kenneth."

"The creepy kid who always stares at you as he follows Phil around?" Mitchell interjected. "Edward isn't creepy. He is far…far better than Kenneth."

Claire nodded in agreement, "That's true."

"Who is Kenneth?" Cam asked, demanding the full story. "Also, what happened to his mother? How could she abandon him like that?"

While the 'ladies' were gossipping, Phil was trying hard to convince Haley about the dinner with Edward tomorrow.

"Just come down, say you're sorry, and tell him you've forgiven him. I won't force you to talk to him if you don't want to. Which is a waste because he's a really great guy, don't you think?"

Haley rolled her eyes as Phil kept talking. Even the phone couldn't distract her from Phil's consistent yammering.

"FINE!" Haley said in defeat.

"If you're done, can you leave? Some of us want to study." Alex chimed in from her desk. She was studying before Phil walked in and had to stop as Phil's rapid fire words distracted her.

"Ahh..I'm going." Phil said and stood up from Haley's bedside. "Alex, you're going to like that guy. He's also smart. Maybe you guys can be friends after this." Phil added.

"Please. None of Haley's friends will be a 'smart' one." Alex said sarcastically.

Haley opened her mouth to tell her about Edward, but then she smiled mischievously and decided to watch how the whole thing would play out.

'I wonder how she will feel when the boy who confessed to her comes to dinner tomorrow.' Haley thought.

…

Edward POV

The day started as usual. I made some sandwiches for today's lunch after breakfast. The lawyers came to the school and picked up the songs from me. After confirming with Pepper, I signed a few documents and allowed Pepper to handle the copyright for the music.

This was, of course, after the lawyers received my father's signature.

As Cam expected, many videos about me singing had popped up on Youtube, and I basically became famous in school overnight. I am however, still a loner as I exude some aura that made other children feel uncomfortable with…I guess.

Jason, the chubby potato kid was the only one who spoke to me, and shockingly, he knew how to play the drums. I invited him to my home for a jamming session after school. He will text me after he receives permission from his parents if he could come.

Mrs. Henderson called me into her classroom before the day ended.

"Mr. Newgate. You're here." Mrs. Henderson said. She wore a yellow blouse and a black long skirt today, looking as pretty as ever.

"Hello Mrs. Henderson. If you want my signature, I haven't created one for my fans yet." I joked.

".... That's nice. However, I call you here to talk about something else. Your dad called this morning to discuss the matter of you transferring to Wisconsin."

"Ah, that. What about it?" I asked curiously.

"So, you already know about it… There is, however, unfortunate news for you. Without passing all of your exams, you won't be able to graduate middle school this year."

"I see. But I can graduate if I pass all right?"

Mrs. Henderson looked at me in contemplation.

"Yes. Despite your previous performance, you can graduate if you receive at least a C on every subject other than history. For history, you need to get at least a B. I advised you to get a tutor to help you with it as soon as possible. I could help arrange one for you if you want. "

I thought for a while, and decided to reject the offer. "It's okay Mrs Henderson. I can get A's in all subjects by myself."

The teacher shook her head in pity. The door opened for the second time, and a glasses -wearing 7th grader walked in.

"Alex. You're here." Mrs Henderson greeted her with a smile, unlike the way she greeted me - cold and emotionless.

"Hi Alex." I waved my hand at her. She scoffed and placed a thick stack of paper neatly on Mrs. Henderson's table.

"I'm sorry Alex, the extra-credit for tutoring had to be rearranged." Mrs. Henderson said.

"Hmm?" Alex turned to me and then the teacher. She breathes in relief inwardly, as she didn't think that Mrs. Henderson would pair her with me.

"Ohh." I exclaimed in understanding. However, I didn't regret my decision.

"Okay then, see you tonight Alex." I said before I walked out of the classroom.

"Tonight?" Both teacher and student there tilted their heads in confusion after hearing my words. I smirked as I walked away. After a jamming session and outfit creation, finally it's time for dinner.