Chapter 81: Interview

[Edward POV-Flashback]

While I was still at the Dunphy's house, Jay pulled me to the side for a private talk.

"Can you do something for me? I'm in trouble with Gloria." Jay said with a calm voice despite his sullen expression.

"What did you do?" I asked him teasingly while holding my sparkling water in a glass wine Claire gave to me. I tried to stealthily exchange it with normal wine, but her keen eye kept botching my plans. She didn't get mad though, and only shook her index finger at me while admonishing me lightly.

"Hmmm…Can we do this, without you knowing about that?" Jay grumbled.

I nodded and asked, "What do you want me for?"

"I want to…"

We had a short conversation before I decided to help Jay, but what he requested would be done another day as I needed to go home and change before going to the interview. What we talked about would be our little secret before the time came to unveil it.

…

-Present-

It was almost 6 pm when I left the party. I waved goodbyes to the family and was driven by my aunt to the desert. Abby and Haley seemed as if they wanted to talk to me about something, but I was too busy to notice.

"You must let me drive this car one of these days." I muttered to my aunt as she skillfully maneuvered through the traffic before we got to the empty road to the desert.

She snorted and said playfully, "In your dreams!"

"Hmmm…I thought you're a good aunt. Turns out I was wrong."

She chuckled and said menacingly, "Wanna walk?"

"Nevermind. You're a good aunt. I don't know who said that before." I said as I turned left and right to look for the culprit.

We both laughed before she promised to allow me to drive the car after I was a bit older. She was only dropping me off as she has to go back to Cuba tonight.

Although I was a bit sad to see her leave, I knew that she would be back. The job would take a month to be finished, and she promised to return to the US again as soon as she finished her work.

"Maybe that time, you can cook proper food." I teased, earning a punch on the shoulder as retaliation.

"I'll make sure to include the primo pepper in the food."

I gulped my saliva and didn't tease her anymore lest she felt the need to spoon fed me the torture food.

As we arrived and I got out of the car, Aunt Camila said, "Good Luck on your interview Ed. I wish I could be here to see it, but I'm already late getting to the airport."

"Seriously, they needed a better system than to be there 4 hours before." I grumbled to myself. Despite her lateness, she exited the car and gave me a hug before driving away.

I entered the studio after taking a deep breath to prepare myself for the interview. My playfulness was gone as I walked through the door. I saw Pepper and I asked him without even greeting him, "Can Taylor make it?"

Pepper shook his head and said, "Although she's on her way back to California from her tour, she's still going to take a few hours to get back here. It wouldn't be possible for her to join the interview– plus, you're thinking of doing a live web broadcast for the interview right? I trust you to get things under control for a live session, but I…don't think Taylor can handle it yet."

Pepper said that not to undermine Taylor, but he was afraid of the scandals and image damaging answers she could give since she hadn't prepared anything for the interview. I nodded and didn't ask anymore questions. The live broadcast was my idea, and I had asked Pepper and Harvey to help me negotiate with the interviewer.

As it was still my first day after the singles release, the company still couldn't finalize the negotiation with the giant media company. Not to mention, they only wanted me there to perform in their talk shows for free, therefore Harvey tore them a new one when they brazenly demanded my participation in the negotiations before.

'Although the songs are good, the company's influence isn't enough for it to demand respect from the corrupted entertainment sector in this country.' I thought secretly.

In moments like this, I sincerely appreciated my meeting with Pepper and the way he took care of me. Otherwise, I would just be another exploited artist in Hollywood.

Pepper leads me to the meeting room where a young blonde woman was waiting for us. She would be the interviewer for today, Miss Rebecca Brayton– or otherwise known as the female voice in WatchMojo videos.

"Nice to meet you Edward. I loved your songs. Especially Grenade. Also, nice outfits."

She bombarded me with compliments that made a good impression on her. She was friendly and insightful, which was unexpected as today was going to be the first day in her career for a face-to-face interview. Not to mention she needed to do it live.

"Thanks. I also love your narrated videos." I complimented back. She widened her eyes as she didn't expect me to know who she was as even Pepper didn't know.

"How?"

I shrugged and said, "I'm familiar with your voice. I'm a singer. Voices are my thing."

"Is that so?" She giggled as blood rushed to her cheeks. She shook off her feelings and went back to professional mode. "I'll brief you before the interview starts. That way, we won't mess it up during the broadcast."

"Sure." I said in agreement before we spent the next 20 minutes discussing what to do. She didn't ask for my answers to her questions beforehand, but only briefed me about the questions category, and we discussed what can, and cannot be asked in the broadcast after this.

After the briefing was over, we didn't wait any longer and started the live broadcast now.

[3rd Person POV]

Pepper was nervously clenching his fist as he saw the broadcast was online. The link to the web broadcast was shared to the fanclub, and fans from all over the world kept entering the broadcast.

Without waiting for long, the numbers had already reached 30,000 viewers. It was a higher count than a few medium sized broadcasting companies, and the numbers were increasing rapidly.

'Genius!' Pepper thought to himself as the entire broadcast was planned by Edward.

He had settled the video quality problems, the internet connection problems, added the live chat functions to the video, and even settled the hardware problem by modifying a few equipment. Rebecca would also release the interview at WatchMojo and ABC studio after the shoot, for the people who only watch TV.

'If the world was more adapted to the internet, I know for sure I could reach millions of views.' Ed thought to himself. Right now, Rebecca was sitting adjacent to him inside his music studio. Lyrics could be seen pasted on the walls, and some instruments were arranged neatly as a backdrop of his set.

Underneath Edward's cotton blend, a bit oversized, white shirt with black flower patterns, was a microphone belt and the mic was clipped to his shirt collar for better audio. His hair seemed unkempt but still stylish and his outfit for today instantly became the topic of discussions for those who watched the live broadcast of the interview.

"I'm proud to be the first to interview the Country's newest sensation, the music prodigal son who returned and spread his wings higher than ever, Mr Edward Newgate!" Rebecca introduced as the broadcast was ready.

The live chat exploded, and Ed smiled at the introduction. "Thanks Rebecca. It felt nice to 'spread my wings' after being caged for so long."

Rebecca chuckled and leaned forward before asking, "So. First day after your song release. How do you feel right now?"

"Well…I feel blessed." Ed answered with a toothy smile, making the live chat boomed once again as the fans thought he was being cute. "I didn't expect the songs to climb up so quickly."

"But you did expect them to monopolize the top ranks?" Rebecca asked playfully.

"Of course. I always think that if you don't believe in yourself then no one will. Although I kind of have to admit that taking that first step was not all 100% my idea, but still. Once I decided to go for it I always kept my mind focused and knew that Great things were coming." Ed replied casually but with a hint of condensation, making the audience laugh. They especially loved his confidence about his arts.

He added, "It also wouldn't have been possible without the support from my fans and family, so I'm really grateful for them, and wish to share the success with them. That's why I made this website to connect with all of my fans today.."

Rebecca nodded as she finally understood why Ed wanted to make a live broadcast instead of a normal interview today. She would be horrified if she knew he started making the website an hour ago. Ed had multiple codes in stock and could create a simple broadcast site like this in a matter of minutes. He just needed to design the website as the rest of the functions were already coded.

>Awww…he's so sweet

>We love you ED!

>Will you sing in this broadcast?

The staff member relayed the chat situation to Rebecca through her earpiece after he monitored the situation.

"Most of the people in the chat can't wait to hear what we're going to talk about today, but first, I want to ask, is there anything different happening to you when you go to school today? Given your successful debut and all?"

"I do get surrounded by the other kids asking for my autograph, and to take pictures but that's all normal." Ed said dismissively.

Rebecca laughed and asked playfully, "Does this happen daily?"

Ed nodded mischievously and said, "Well it's only been a day, but yeah sure I don't think it will change soon," before laughing.

The chat and even the staff inside the studio also laughed. The broadcast had started smoothly, and now there's 100,000 people currently watching the live broadcast.

-Dunphy's house-

"Claire. Come on! The interview is already starting!" Phil yelled.

"Coming~!" Claire ran with a popcorn bowl in her hand and sat down next to Phil on the sofa hurriedly. Jay grumbled that he was disturbed by Claire's motion, but he turned his focus on the broadcast instead.

"It's rare to see a broadcast like this." Gloria muttered.

Claire nodded and said, "Yeah. It's unique. All thanks to Ed who created the website and link for people to join the broadcast. I wonder if he's going to challenge himself and make his own broadcasting studio after this."

"MOM!" Haley, Alex, and Luke admonished Claire at the same time as her voice had disturbed the broadcast. Claire said sorry hurriedly before motioning to zip her mouth while the others stared contemptuously at her.

-Pier-

"My god. Is that really your son? How is he so different from you? Did you pick up the wrong baby at the hospital?" Dwayne joked as Ed's charisma kept increasing day by day. Ted laughed and said, " He truly is my son. Otherwise, he wouldn't be that handsome."

Dwayne grumbled and a sneaky teenager peeked at the laptop to see the broadcast from behind him.

"Goodluck Ed." Dylan muttered before sending a prayer to his friend.

-Back to the interview-

"I'm sure a lot of people are waiting for your Album release since your singles have shaken the country. Do you have a title for the Album yet?"

"Yes. The Album will be titled, 'Breaking'. As if, I'm going to break free of all expectations of me, and be my one true self." Ed answered. Rebecca and the audience were impressed, and they made a mental note to always remember the upcoming album name f0r them to buy during the launch.

Rebecca asked, "Were you the one who wrote the songs for your upcoming album?"

"Yes. I wrote all the lyrics and made the melody by myself."

"That's impressive. But, not surprising considering that you're nominated as a global musical prodigy at age of 7. Which made me wonder. Why the change of heart? What made you move on from classical music, to more of a mainstream style?"

The chat was stunned by the exposure as most of the viewers didn't know about Ed's background. However, die-hard fans such as Lily were concerned for Ed as she didn't want him to remember his previous hard life– which she imagined based on the songs he sang.

Edward took a deep breath, and although he tried to keep his smile, the viewers could see pain emanating from his eyes.

-Cuba-

A Latina woman wearing a floral dress was watching the interview through her laptop. She flinched at the question, and was waiting patiently for Edward to answer.

-Interview-

"At first, I started this as a means of escapism, you know, as a way to get out all the stuff I held inside me, all the pain and troubles I felt and I guess that classical music didn't give me that "release" you know? I just needed to get the words out, to let my inner "voice" be heard, not just what could be expressed with notes on a parchment. But now, I find myself truly in love with making this kind of music. Even then, as I said before. I didn't actually plan to become an artist. It was all thanks to Mr Pepper Saltzman, my company's CEO, who you can see standing behind the camera there…"

The camera cut to show Pepper on the screen. He only waved lightly at the camera before it cut to Ed again.

"..He was the one who pushed me to try new things and supported me from day one. He made me who I am today. Without him, I would be aimless."

Rebecca nodded in understanding and the live chats kept complimenting Pepper about his decision to pull Ed into the industry.

The interview continued, and Rebecca asked about his music video.

"Based on my sources, you not only came up with the story,but also directed, and even edited the whole music video alone with no help at all in any of that stuff. And as a result Many have complimented your creativity and acting skill, so I was wondering, if you would ever consider acting as a career?"

"Really? You think my acting was good?" Ed asked with a grin, which made the audience laugh again as he was behaving like a child starved for compliments.

Rebecca lowered her eyes as her cheeks blushed a little before saying, "Well…You do have the actor's charisma while you're on the screen."

-Apartment 4A 2231 Los Robles-

" I wonder if he'll mention me." Penny muttered as she watched the show with the boys.

"I'm sure he will. You're kinda unforgettable." Howard said cheesily which made Penny disgusted.

Sheldon watched the screen without interest while Leonard was supporting Edward intently as he had replied to his text message before."

The interviewer asked, "What about the female lead? I heard you casted her on your own. Who is she?"

"She's a friend of mine, her name is Penny and she is an aspiring artist.I saw her passion for acting and decided to give her a chance to try her luck so I hired her." Ed replied. Penny squealed, and jumped around in a circle from her excitement.

"My name is known to 1 Million people!" Penny exclaimed.

"1.239 Million people." Sheldon corrected, making Penny lose her enthusiasm. "Learn to count women." Sheldon added, which made Penny roll her eyes at him.

"I rounded off!" She exclaimed.

"H0w is he doing this? I can't look at his system?!" Howard said as he tapped on the keyboard, trying to find out how the website could support this much traffic.

"Howard. Cut it out." Leonard said with a bit of fear as he didn't want anything to happen to the broadcast.

"Aren't you the least bit curious?" Howard said. "He could've spent millions on setting up the website. All I want…is to peek at it a little bit."

Penny glared dagger at Howard and said, "If you don't cut it out. I'm telling your mother."

"Telling my mother? What am I? 9-"

As Howard saw Penny's solemn face, he knew she wasn't kidding so he stopped trying immediately.

-Malibu mansion-

"You're dabbling in various genres, you got soft rock, pop music, ukulele style, so will you keep challenging yourself in other genres next? Will we hear heavy metal or rap music?" Rebecca asked. While she was waiting, she got the chance to listen to a few songs from the albums, therefore she was giving a bit of a spoiler to the fans.

"Rap?" Eminem leaned forward to watch the broadcast as the topic intrigued him. He had taken interest in the new artist because of his intoxicating beats and synthesizing skills. If he hadn't found out Ed had created the songs all on his own, he might have tried to poach the person who created all of the songs.

Edward chuckled and said ambiguously, "Well…I won't cross them off my list just yet."

Eminem smirked and said, "Then, I'll be waiting for you kid."

The future rap god even left an anonymous comment to support the new artist as he felt his kind of music was refreshing.

-Cuba-

"You're half-Cuban right? So can you speak Spanish?"

"I'm fluent in it."

"How many languages can you speak?"

"Right now, I can speak Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese fluently."

At first, the floral dress lady was saddened when she heard Ed had learned Spanish. She thought he did that just to spite her. But when she knew about his true intellect, she felt ashamed as a mother because she never knew how much potential her son had. Without her knowing about it, tears pooled in her eyes. She couldn't watch the interview any longer and closed her laptop before she broke down crying.

-Dunphy's house-

"Oh heavens. So you can speak 5 languages. You're a polyglot. But it might not seem so shocking if people know you have a high IQ level. A genius with a 167 IQ, and now I'm wondering if your intelligence would be put to a better use if you entered the sciences instead." Rebecca said.

She joked, not knowing that she was currently being cursed by the fans in the live broadcast live chat for her statement.

> Is she crazy? She dared to try and influence Ed away from Us?

> Can anyone find me that bitch's?? address? I want to pay her a visit. Don't worry, it'll be a 'peaceful' visit.

>(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Alex grumbled as she read the chat, "These people. What's wrong with the sciences? We can change the world over here."

Haley retorted, "Ed's music is already changing the world. He doesn't need to be a geek too."

Ed replied while the siblings were bickering, "Well I'm still in school. So who knows what the future holds. Even now, I'm dabbling in making a few inventions."

"See?" Alex said to rub it in Haley's face.

"Oh, seriously?" Rebecca asked, fully surprised by the fact.

"Yup. So far, I have enhanced a few mechanisms for the closet industry, and sold the patents to Pritchet's closet. And I'm currently working on a new technology right now that would change the way people fry their food, making it healthier."

The fans and even Pepper were shocked by Ed's proclamations, while Jay smiled widely as he heard his company name was mentioned in the broadcast.

"That kid had done me a solid." Jay muttered. "The phone is going to blow up now!"

He didn't realize that the company's websites were already flooded by the fans as they wanted to see Ed's inventions. Pritchett's closet would receive their highest sales ever this following quarter, all thanks to Ed's subtle marketing.

"You know, with your intellect, you can just skip grades and graduate early. That way, you can go on tours. What do you think about that?" Rebecca suggested.

Haley, Alex, Luke and Manny all answered at the same time, "NOO!"

"I did think about it, but right now, I still want to enjoy my school life. I haven't gotten enough of it yet." Ed replied.

Rebecca smiled and asked, " I see. Staying in school is great too. You won't be lonely. So are you like in any club, such as the chess club or theater club?"

Ed chuckled and said, "No. I'm not joining any clubs, but I'm in the school's decathlon team though."

The fans were actively searching for Ed's school's decathlon team, only to find out that they couldn't google anything for it online. They didn't even know which school he attended yet.

"What inspires you the most when you're writing the songs? You wrote a lot of songs about heartbreak. Have you ever dated anyone before?"

"Yeah. I have." Ed replied curtly and with a sad smile. The chat was going crazy by his expression and they kept bombaring the comment to find out who was the one crazy bitch that dared to break his heart.

Abby read the comments with a dry mouth, and she couldn't help but fear for her safety if people did find out about her. 'I was his only girlfriend, right?' She thought in confusion.

"Oh…Don't know why, but that answer made me feel sad. So what happened?" Rebecca tried to pry.

"I'm not answering that." Ed said with a teasing smile. The interviewer snapped her fingers playfully and said, "So close."

Ed shook his head and said, "Nah. it was not close at all."

-Outside the studio-

A helicopter tried to land on an empty space near the studio building. As the studio was in the desert, there was a lot of empty space for the helicopter to land. However, it was illegal for it to do so without proper permit.

"Are you crazy? Don't jump out yet! We haven't fully stopped!" Selena grabbed Taylor's arm to sit her down before she made a fatal mistake.

"We're already late! Come on Pilot! I'm missing all of his interviews!" Taylor urged the pilot to set the helicopter down faster.