Chapter 172: A breather.

[Edward POV]

"Ahhh…I'm finally home!" I muttered with exhaustion as I sat on the couch in the living room.

"It's not dusty at all." Abraham said while wiping the wooden cabinet near the TV. Enid and Haley sat at my left and right side respectively, while the others were lounging around the house.

"Hmm…That's true." I muttered in confusion. "I'm sure that my dad won't care about tidiness, so I wonder if he had hired a housekeeper."

"Don't you have an aunt?" Enid asked.

"That's sexist. And also, same situation as my dad. Both are messy people." I replied jokingly.

Alex looked at Haley while holding back her laugh. Haley whispered to her angrily, "One word, and you're dead."

Of course, their interaction didn't escape my eyes. "What's going on?" I turned to my right and looked at Haley straight in the eyes. She was startled at first and was trying to dodge the question, "Ed, are you hungry–"

"A little bit. But I want to know what's going on firs– Wait, were you…the one taking care of my house?" I asked with a hint of awe. I shocked myself when I came to the conclusion, but when I saw her expression, it added even more evidence to my assumption.

Alex laughed and sneered, "Don't think that she's been taking care of this place every day. She only came here last weekend, and forced Luke and me to help. My mom supervised the entire thing…" She then trailed off, causing me to be suspicious.

"And your dad?" I asked.

"Who said anything about my dad?" Alex replied dodgingly.

I narrowed my eyes at her and asked, "What did your dad do while you guys were cleaning the house?"

"Well…It's not what he did during, per se, but it was after we all finished." Haley replied with a trace of disgust and unwillingness to elaborate.

I chuckled when I saw their weird reaction, "What? Did your mom and dad use my hot tub or something?"

"EWW! EWW EWW EWW EWW EWWW!" Alex groaned in disgust as she recalled the memory.

I was shocked, "What happened here? You better spit it out or I will check the CCTV–"

"NOOOO!!!" Alex and Haley shouted to stop me at the same time. "Let me delete it for you! Or else you'll have nightmares like us!" Alex shouted urgently.

I looked at Alex's face, then I turned and studied Haley's face next. Their unwillingness for the matter to be exposed and the disgust on their faces let me learn one thing. Whatever happened here, was sexual in nature.

More accurately, it was sexual between their parents. I definitely wouldn't want Alex to delete those, but as both of them were almost crying, I had to relent and let them handle it. It needs to be mentioned that they only deleted the data superficially, but out of respect for them, I didn't restore the data….in front of them.

"Jenna, how's your church camp?" I asked. Jenna smiled brightly and said, "It was great. I am going to be baptized next week."

"Oh, they're going to dunk you in the water right? Good for you." I teased. Jenna didn't get embarrassed and said, "You're welcome to join?"

"Yeah….no…." I replied.

"Why not?"

"I'm going to catch on fire when I enter the church, so I'd rather not." I replied jokingly and changed the subject quickly, "How many priests did your mom make them renown their vows during camp?"

Jenna smiled and said, "None!"

"And the truth?" I jeered at her. She smiled wryly and said in a sad tone, "4…"

I laughed out loud before Jenna threw a pillow at my face.

"Ed, you haven't gone to the beach yet, right?" Haley asked.

I removed the pillow from my face and replied, "Not yet. But I didn't plan on it."

"Why?"

"I'm too busy. I have this night free…and tomorrow I need to start shooting again."

"Music videos?" Enid asked. "With Taylor?"

Haley pouted and crossed her arms while I turned to Enid and replied, "Yeah."

"Wait. I thought you guys had broken up?" Elsa asked.

Jacob nodded and said, "Yeah, you said to–"

"Bup bup bup bup– That's supposed to be a secret between us. Remember?" I hinted at Jacob with vicious eyes. He gulped his saliva and said, "Sorry."

"So…You told Elsa…and I can assume that Jenna, you know about it too?" I asked Jenna who was startled when I mentioned her name.

"Yeah…sorry." Jenna confessed.

"And you hang out with Alex a lot, so Alex and Enid also know it too huh?"

"We do." Enid said in a low voice.

"And We're not sorry." Alex replied jokingly. "It's 4 against 1 mister!"

"Alex is dating Finneas, so Finneas knows about it too. So I guess Billie knows too." I continued.

"You already told me yourself." Haley chimed in with a proud look on her face.

I nodded and then turned to Abraham, "So I guess…You're the only one who doesn't know anything?"

Abraham smiled and said confidently, "Yeah, Jacob wanted to mention it to me, but I refused!" He lied. Jacob never wanted to tell him the secret.

I nodded in acknowledgement and said, "You're the only REAL friend here!"

"HEY!!!" Alex, Enid, Jenna, Finneas, Billie and Elsa exclaimed. Haley laughed while I continued, "From now on, you're my number 1 best friend!"

"NOOO!!!" Jacob shouted tearfully!

…

"Ed, what rank are you at right now?" Enid asked curiously as she checked her twitter feed. She was having a twitter feud with my hater, and needed some extra information.

"Rank in what?" I asked her back. I didn't care much about the haters. It's not like I haven't used the anonymity of the internet to talk shit about someone else.

"Album sold." Enid asked clearly.

"Hmm… Sales are slowing down at 51 millions in physical albums, but the digital one kept going strong at 24 millions. It hasn't slowed down yet. I'm at…no 9 at the most album sales rank, but I managed to be number 2 at the most albums sold in one week!"

"Ahh, you can't beat Michael Jackson huh?" Abraham asked teasingly while Enid typed her phone key begrudgingly. "Repeat that!" She shouted.

I ignored her and answered Abraham, aggrieved, "So close! The difference was only 14,000 units!"

Enid was baffled. Not only her, but Jenna, Alex and Finneas too had an expression of disbelief. Haley and Billie were looking at me with glittering eyes, and they didn't think much about what I was saying.

Alex realized it. In only a few months, my brand reputation had grown tremendously that I could no longer be called a new artist.

Through an extensive marketing scheme, I managed to almost catch up with the old industry legends in the world.

In the past few years, the music industry sales have been declining. It fell from a 14 billion dollars industry, to only a 6 millions dollars industry in just a decade. But, it didn't mean that music was dying.

It wasn't until 2010 that the music industry started to include the digital sales as an official record for album selling. Because of this, countless albums didn't get the recognition they deserved, and also was taken advantage of by countless internet surfing pirates in the Data Sea.

My album was the first album to be sold digitally through my website in the country. And because of the lack of laws in the Data Sea, the taxation from the sales was barely negligible.

And in the tough to sail industry, I managed to revive people's passion for music and my name had spread out to almost the entire corner of the world – thanks to the internet.

My most proud achievement however, was that I also became a meme. A screenshot of me playing the flute while walking and the ducks following me from behind in a straight line had gone viral on a few meme pages. I even became a meme template for 'the blind leading the blind'.

I was called the Pied Piper, the next Steve Irwin, and many more when my blog video about my time in Wisconsin came out.

"To be fair, I really didn't think that you'll be back." Finneas said. "HEY!" The girls scolded him.

"You shut up!" Alex warned her boyfriend.

"Yeah, what if he realized it and then left?" Abraham said jokingly, backing up Finneas a little.

I laughed a bit at the interaction. "Why would I leave you guys behind? Just to be clear, I'm going to be extra clingy with you guys next!"

The group laughed. Haley grinned and asked, "Why is that?"

"Well…It's hard for a popular guy to meet someone that didn't have an ulterior motive. Most of the girls I met wanted to date me to become popular, and the guys that invited me to clubs and to hangouts wanted me to degenerate like them too. So, I could only trust you guys who knew me before I became popular."

"To be clear, I have an ulterior motive in becoming your friend." Abraham said, causing the group to be shocked. He said begrudgingly, "You teach JACOB!!! The potato kid!!! To get a girlfriend!! When are you going to teach me!!!" He punched the ground as he faked crying.

I laughed out loud, "Do you have someone you like?"

"Well, she's a senior–"

"You have no chance with a face like that!" Finneas teased while holding Alex's hand for maximum damage.

Then, the Chinese food guy finally arrived and rang the doorbell. I ordered food instead of cooking as I was feeling a bit fatigued.

"Let me go! Or else I'm going to beat Finneas up!" Abraham said and stood up quickly while the others laughed at him. As he opened up the door, there was a commotion coming from outside of the house.

"HEY! Where's Edward!?" A group of fans that had been camping in front of my house asked Abraham in an angry manner. Abraham sneered and replied, "Why THE HELL did you guys think he's still living here? He had already moved away to a richer neighborhood. He told me his house is close to RDJ's house."

"WHAT? REALLY!??" One of the girls there shouted.

"OF COURSE! And you guys better spread the words to the rest of your groups too. Or, you are welcome to join me in the hot tub if you want?"

"PISS OFF NERD!" The fans shouted at Abraham before they dispersed away. As Abraham walked back, I said, "Thanks."

"No problem. Although, watching you ninja roll into the house is pretty funny. I'd like to see that again."

"Piss off." I laughed as I cursed at him.

The moment my tour was over, the obsessed fans were already camping in front of my house. My aunt and my dad didn't even return to the house last night to avoid getting hassled by them. Thankfully, to Abraham's quick wit, the fans had all left the neighborhood. I didn't ask him to do that, but he got my back.

"I'll teach you how to get girls later." I told him.

"Said the one who's single himself. I don't trust you!" Abraham changed his words immediately while laughing.

He was actually covering up his embarrassment from doing a good thing. Just like him, I didn't know how to just accept people's help, and wanted to do something to repay them.

"Which movie should we watch?" Billie asked. "Oh, there's The Proposal."

"Nah! No Sandra Bullock. I'm already sick of her. My mom watched her movies endlessly." Elsa said with an annoyed face.

"I want to watch it babe!" Jacob said with a sad face.

"Put on ZOMBIELAND!" Abraham said while he ate his kung pao chicken.

"NO!! SANDRA BULLOCK!" Jenna joined Jacob's side.

Alex and Haley joined Jenna, and scolded Abraham and Elsa.

"Ed, what about you?" Jenna asked with a flushed face.

"I want to watch Cloudy With A Chance of Meatball." I replied casually. Jenna rolled her eyes and ignored me. After the girls…and Jacob banded together, we had to watch The Proposal movie tonight.

After eating, the parents came to pick up their children one by one. Jacob's parents arrived first. As Jacob was finally selected to the football team, his mother brought a chocolate cake with strawberry frosting to celebrate.

They all ate one slice of the cake, and left the rest of it at my house. Mrs Green also packed up 3 chicken legs, 2 chicken sandwiches, 2 pounds of potato salad, and some vegetables for me as she knew I had just returned home from working so hard.

Finneas and Billie left after Jacob left, and then Abraham was next. Jenna hitched a ride with Elsa, and before she left, she looked at me with a hesitant expression, "Ed. Um…"

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Well…Are you really making a movie studio?" She finally braved herself and asked.

"Huh? Oh right. The rumors. Yeah, but it's not going to be now. Maybe after the company is ready for another expansion. I planned to do it next year."

"Oh." Jenna widened her eyes before she fell into contemplation. "Is this about your mom?" I asked her.

"What? NO!" She replied with a weird high pitched voice.

"So it's your mom. She's not getting any roles huh? Wait…" I thought about it for a while, "You know, she's really suitable to play Emma Frost in the X-Men series. I heard they are rebooting it."

Jenna was hesitant to correct my misunderstanding and then played along to hide her embarrassment,  "What's the connection between that movie and my mother?"

"I mean, your mom should try auditioning for the role. I'll make sure that Pepper keeps an eye on the production so that she won't miss her chance."

"Ed…it's not that simple to become an actress." Jenna smiled wryly. Not that she didn't believe in me, but from her experience watching her mother try and fail days after days, she didn't believe in my words much.

"I know it's a longshot. But, I really think she can do it." I replied. The movie that came to mind was actually because I had met with Matthew Vaugh and Bryan Singer – the director and producers of the X-Men First Class movie.

They wanted me to try out for the movie, and also gave me their contact information. The movie would start its production early next year, and would be released in 2011, so I have a lot of time to think about it.

'But unless I can be 'QuickSilver', I don't want to take part in that movie.'

And because my acting skill has become renowned because of my documentary and short videos, many directors and movie producers have been reaching out to the  agency. They also sent their scripts despite the fact that I had no mention of entering the films industry.

"Just tell your mom about it. Let her be familiar with the source material." I told Jenna.

She scoffed and then burst into laughter, "You mean, making my mom read comic books? Yeah, now I know it's a joke."

I didn't correct her and just told her to tell her mother that. If she was really desperate, then she would reach out to me to grab her last lifeline. Or else, she would just fade out from the film industry not that she promised Jenna not to do dirty deals anymore.

'Anyway, it's not like she didn't have any roles in the past few months, so I didn't know why she was asking.'

Alex and Haley were the only one left after everyone had gone away. Haley widened her eyes at Alex and gestured for her to leave, but Alex was having fun teasing her sister and she pretended not to see that.

"Edward, last I came, your lab is locked, so I couldn't see it. Can I check it out now?"

"Umm…Let's do it tomorrow. I just want to lie down and rest up now." I replied to Alex. She got the hint and said, "Okay. Haley! Let's go!"

"You can go home first." Haley said. Alex was in disbelief, but Haley chased her away quickly. She locked the door and then looked at me with glittering eyes.

"What? Why are you staring at me like a predator?" I joked while shielding my chest with my arms. She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm not going to eat you!"

"Alright. I'm going to take a shower–"

"Wait!" Haley grabbed my shirt before I could leave, causing me to be strangled by my own shirt.

"What the-"

"Let's go out!" She invited me.

"Huh? It's already late–"

She sneered and said, "It's 8 o'clock. Unless you're an old man wanting to sleep, you should have a lot more energy than this. Also, trust me. I'm only doing this for your benefit."

I looked into her eyes, and then saw her resoluteness.

"Alright. How are we going out? Have you gotten your license yet? Cause I know you failed your first test."

"WHO TOLD YOU THAT?! DID MY MOM TOLD YOU THAT?!" Haley shouted in anger. I laughed and patted her head to calm her down. She pouted and said, "Well, I can call Tara–"

"Nah, I can drive."

"You didn't have a license. And you can't even take the test yet." She said begrudgingly.

Then, I reached into my pocket and took out my driver's license. "I already got it tho?"

She widened her eyes, "HOW!? You need to be 16 to take the test! It's fake right?"

"Nah. It's a real license." I gave her a plastic card for her to take a look at. She was in disbelief after she saw my real name and id there, so she looked at me in puzzlement.

I cashed in my favor with the FBI long ago when they requested permission to monitor my whatsapp chat apps.

They helped me bypass the age requirement for taking the drivers test, and now, I can legally drive around without needing to falsify my credentials anymore. Of course, I still had to take the DMV test, and I passed with flying colors.

"Great! Let's go!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me outside of the house. We took the Ford – the convertible that Abby gave me for my birthday present.

"So, where are we going?" I asked her.

"Well, you'll know when we get there!" She said in excitement. I then turned to her and stared into her face. She was confused, "What?"

"I need to know before I can drive us there."

"Ah right!"