[General POV]
"Huh." Haley noticed something weird as she rewatched the exclusive video of Edward singing Tenerife Sea for the third time.
"What?" Alex asked curiously.
"You know that I haven't seen him since Wednesday?" Haley muttered.
"So?"
Haley paused the video and pointed her finger at Edward's knuckle. "He didn't always have a bruise there, did he?"
"Wait? You can see that?" Alex asked in a horrified tone as she squinted her eyes and tried to see the bruise, but it was barely perceptible for her. The only reason she knew it was there was because she saw it when they celebrated the championship at the family restaurant before.
"So You know something. What's going on?" Haley asked in a stern tone while crossing her arms together. Alex realized that her sister was sharper than she thought and said, "You know, I can't tell you that. Not without his consent anyway-"
"So did he get in a fight?" Haley guessed before Alex could finish her sentence.
Alex was taken aback, and before she could react, Haley sighed and muttered to herself, "That…is…so hot."
Alex scrunched her face in disgust, not knowing what to respond to her sister's preference towards bad boys, which was something she inherited from her mother.
"You know what, you should totally throw a party for your championship!" Haley turned to her sister with a face full of ulterior motive.
"Huh? Well… That's not a bad idea, but who would come if I was the one who's throwing the party?" Alex said self-deprecatingly.
Haley sneered and said, "I thought you were smart. Don't you get it? You only need to invite ONE PERSON! Then, the entire school will want to come on their own to YOUR party!"
Alex was still confused, making Haley roll her eyes and say in frustration, "Edward! Just invite Edward!"
"AHHH!" Alex exclaimed in realization. "But he's so busy." She muttered.
"Maybe throw the party on Sunday after he gets back from the studio." Haley planned.
"Are you sure? Where are we even going to throw it? Here? Will mom let us?" Alex asked rapidly.
"Just let me handle mom. You just focus on getting Edward here!" Haley said with a cocky grin. But as she turned her face away from Alex, her expression shook.
"Now. How can I trick mom to go away?" She muttered to herself.
…
[Edward POV]
Inside the studio's bathroom, I washed my mouth and was cleaning away the traces of vomit at the sink after I concluded the Twitter drama today.
"Edward? Are you okay boy?" Pepper asked in concern from in front of the locked bathroom door.
"I'm fine. Must be bad seafood for lunch or something." I replied hastily, not wanting for him to pry into my matters. As I looked up to the mirror in front of me, I saw a cold-looking Edward Newgate in a classical suit scoffing at me.
"Pathetic." He mocked.
"Fuck off." I said before getting out of my imagination and wiped my hand with a paper towel. I slapped my cheeks a few times and put on my fake smile again. I got out of the bathroom, my chest tightening uncomfortably as I passed by Pepper and walked to the recording room again.
As I picked up my guitar, all of the other noises inside my mind and the uncomfortability disappeared.
"Should I really open up to Linda?....Nah." I muttered to myself as I played a simple melody to rest for a while.
"Edward. For the 'Natural' song…you're releasing this first, and then you're making the music video right? Do you already have an idea on what to make for the music video, or should I give that job to a creative director?" Pepper asked after he finished his call with the Twilight movie studio executives.
The studio was delighted with the music video release timing and response. They also had been hinting about casting me into the movie for a while, but I kept avoiding the topic with them.
"Yeah. I do."
"Good." Pepper nodded, not bothering to ask about the budget for the music video now that we were flooded with the profits from the earlier song release and the streaming service. A lot of it was reinvested into other projects, and share acquisition from various companies, but the company's account still stood strong.
"By the way, how many views have I gotten on Grenade mv and all the songs download counts now?" I asked in a casual manner.
"Views on Youtube, 50 million. It's still rising. And the download counts had surpassed 20 million." Pepper replied in a calm manner. "You also have a few endorsement offers, but we will talk about that tomorrow. Are you going to rest now?' He asked.
"I'm finishing 'Whatever it Takes' and 'Natural' editing tonight before I'm tucking in. What about the rapper? Did you find someone?"
"Harvey did. And she's currently negotiating with the guy because…you know."
I nodded at his remarks, and didn't continue to ask further questions. The situation with the rapper was a bit complicated because the person I hired needed to spit out the bars I had written.
It could be a bruise to their egos if they thought I was just using them for their image, and not their capabilities. It was a tough negotiation for Harvey that night, especially since she didn't have a lot of time to do it.
"Worst comes to worst, I'll just do it myself." I muttered.
Pepper nodded in understanding before saying, "We'll cross the bridge when we get there."
…
Friday night, one day before the song's release. Still, there were no signs of the rapper.
I let out a heavy sigh and said, "You really can't depend on an artist to be at an appointment on time huh."
In the one day I stayed inside the desert studio, I managed to launch my Undercover casual game– which I created just for fun, not for profit, did some photoshoot, discuss a few company endorsement offers – just going in and out of meetings, agreeing to come to Alex's party on Sunday, did some taxes, expose a pedofile ring connected to the sleazy producer – making it impossible for him to get out of the crime, and many more. (E/N: that last bit would get him "Clintoned" lol)
"Well… at the very least, we found someone." Pepper said as we waited for the rapper by standing in front of the studio building together.
I scoffed and said, "Nah. Don't try to downplay this. I asked you for a rapper…" As I said that, a black SUV pulled up in front of both of us, its headlight illuminated our bodies, "...You gave me a rap god."
Eminem jumped out of the SUV with a cold expression plastered on his face. He swaggered towards us with his black hoodie and black cap, stretching his hands out to shake mine the second he got close to us.
"Marshall."
"Edward." I replied, shaking his hands.
"I understand you don't have much time?" He asked while shaking hands with Pepper.
"Around 20 hours before the release." Pepper replied a bit fearfully. I gave a side eye to Pepper before leading Marshall inside the studio.
"Harvey told you what I want?" Marshall asked as we walked side by side. Pepper was distancing himself away from us because of his instinctual fear of the pseudo-gangster– or what other prejudice he has on the rapping artist.
I nodded and replied, "A collaboration sounds nice. But I have to warn you, I'm not good at rapping."
Marshall scoffed and said, "I read your lyrics. You got bars. Of course, not as good as mine, but they are at least acceptable."
He continued, "What I want is not your writing skill anyway."
"I know. You want the beat right? I can do that." I said, not knowing that my impromptu performance in the interview before when I sang 'Shivers', had caused the rap god to gain a great impression on me.
In the negotiation of his features in the song, he actually talked to his agency to negotiate with Entertain at an equal level, causing even the Dr to be confused.
"We will discuss my song later. I assume we can finish this in an hour?" Marshall said as we reached the recording room.
"Well. Maybe less than 20 minutes if I get what I want. As you well know I've already got some of my own stuff put together but I can show you the whole thing after we are done." I replied cheekily, making Marshall grin for the first time.
I was wondering why he agreed to help me with this as he entered the recording room. I had already given him a demo of the song before, so he already knew what to do.
And as I predicted, we managed to conclude the recording for the rap part of the song in under 20 minutes.
"Well. That's pretty fast." Marshall muttered with a mixture of disbelief and awe. " I don't know whether you're so decisive, or you're just too lazy to recheck the sound bites." He added.
Pepper chimed in before I could answer, "The first one."
I shrugged and said, "I know what I want, so I won't waste my time trying something different, at least for now."
We sat down inside the meeting room and talked about a few things after I finished with the full editing of the songs.
"Now, I'm ready for the song's release, and with 19 hours to spare." I said braggingly.
…
[General POV]
In Cuba, the FBI agent under the pseudonym Wayne Bruce sat on an outdoor table of a desert style cafe near the corner of the street.
"You can see me right nerd?" He whispered to his earpiece while unbuttoning a few top buttons of his shirt, revealing his muscular chest.
"Stop calling me 'nerd'. My name is Isaac."
"Okay nerd. Should I button it up, or leave it?" He asked.
"Leave it I think." Isaac replied from inside a stakeout van located a street over.
Before Wayne could say something sarcastic about the logistic agent's sexual orientation, Camila – or otherwise known as Edward's aunt walked to him.
"I'm sorry I'm late." She said as she sat down in front of her.
"Yet, I don't see even a tinge of remorse in your face." Wayne said flirtingly as he leaned forward,
"Ugh, I applied for a job with the FBI to help the country, now why the hell should I monitor your date?" Isaac complained.
Wayne ignored him and asked, "What's wrong? You're rarely late."
Camila lowered her gaze and said helplessly, "No. It's my sister. She was trashed, so I had to bring her home."
"At 10 am in the morning?" Wayne said in disbelief.
"She's going through some stuff." Camila said, defending her sister. After the couple ordered a few deserts and was genuinely enjoying their date, Isaac chimed in, "Wayne. I got some big news. Last night, the Perez family was attacked, and now they lost all of their influence in the city."
"I'll go to powder my nose for a while," Camila said before she walked to the bathroom, leaving behind a smiling Wayne. As she was out of his sight, his face changed into a solemn one and he whispered back to the earpiece, "How the hell- Weren't they the ones under the CIA's protection??"
"Yes. And clearly the other powers in the city don't want them to do that. We need to get out of the country, now."
"Wait- Why?"
"Director's orders. The family has kept a namelist of the currently active US agents in this country, so he's not taking any chances."
"Ah fucking HELL!" Wayne screamed in frustration. "We still don't know who did it?"
"We don't. The only clue we have is the one who did this, was a woman in a floral dress. Based on my data, she appeared 2 years ago, and had been hunting down our agents ever since. I'm assuming she got a connection with the Castros, she has been hunting down his opponents, and the 'potential threats to the country' You know how these Commies are."
"Shit!" Wayne cursed, not wanting to accept the reality of what was happening.
"So, even though it'll hurt, you need to end it with Camila, today." Isaac said decisively. "And I mean, END IT."
Wayne couldn't reply as Camila was already back from the toilet. "What's wrong?" She asked as she noticed his expression was of a man spooked by something.
"No-No. I… I just received a t-text from my boss." Wayne said.
"And?"
"He took back my vacation time, so I need to return to the States." Wayne said hesitatingly while grabbing Camila's hands. "So, I can't see you anymore."
"Ah." Camila exclaimed suddenly before pulling her hands away.
"Camilla." Wayne called out in a depressed voice.
"What? You're going to go back right? Then, go back. We're not a couple, so you don't need to try to explain it to me."
"Camila- I-"
Before Wayne could say anything, Camila grabbed her purse and walked away from the table. She didn't even look back once as she walked away. Wayne rubbed his head in frustration and said, "Let's go back. The investigation of the Pritchetts is going nowhere. Maybe the team pursuing the Colombian lead will fare better."
Isaac kept his mouth shut, not wanting to add more bad news to Wayne, especially since they couldn't find any leads at all from their investigation on Pritchett's closet.
The Director was shutting down their entire operation, and the only reason Wayne could stay undercover in Cuba for so long was because Isaac had been helping him make excuses to the director.
"Um, but before we go, the director asked us to go check out the street racing game tonight, and see if we can find a man named 'Doretto'." Isaac added. (E/N: What about 'Dorrito' instead 🤣)
Not knowing that he would actually meet Camila again tonight and get slapped in front of a crowd of 100 people as he lied to her about going back, Wayne sighed and said, "Okay. But, we first need a car. A damn good one."
…
[Edward POV]
As I hung out with one of my childhood idols, I finally understood why he accepted the feature offer to rap in my song. After his last album 'Re-Lapse' came out, the response was quite mediocre for him, therefore he vowed to give all of his best effort in the next song albums.
And no, he wasn't meeting with me today to ask me for any help in making his own songs. His intention was to observe my passion, and to get inspired. So he purposely shared the lyrics for his new, still in the making, rap song titled, 'Not Afraid.'
"Sing it." Marshall said suddenly as I read his lyrics.
"What?" I looked at him in confusion.
"I heard you rap in the demo. So do it. I wanna see how you're going to spin this one."
"Ummm…"
"Well I did spit out your bars before-"
"Alright I'll do it." I said before suddenly standing up.
"Where you going?" He asked in a teasing manner. I smirked and said, "Well I need a beat, so I'm going to take my synthesiser."
Marshall's face froze before he muttered to himself, "Right. I forgot he's a little monster. Wait for me!" He quickly stood up and followed me from behind as I walked to the EDM synthesisers that Pepper had just bought for me.
"You know, this lyric helps me a lot." I said suddenly, causing Marshall to scrunch his face. "Why?" He asked.
"I can relate to it." I replied as my hand tapped a few buttons on the machine, creating the initial composition for the song.
"I feel that there's a lot more in the beginning before we get to this part in the lyrics, but Imma still do it."
"Dre is still fiddling with the hook. When I get that, I can finish the entire song." Marshall said in a confident tone.
"Really? But, it's easy to see though." I unconsciously blurted out.
Marshall raised one of his eyebrows before he let out a light chuckle and said, "If you think it's so easy, why don't you do it?"
" A collab then? Or are you paying me a salary?" I replied cockily.
"If it's great, I don't mind the collab." Marshall said suddenly, causing me to be taken aback.
"Na-Nah man, it's your song."
"Shut up and sing." He said.
"Wait. why don't, you just join wherever you want? See if it fits." I said.
"Huh? I don't want to sing a few times kid-"
"Don't worry. Trust me." I said before grabbing my electric guitar.
Marshall sighed and said, "Okay. Let's play."
I recorded the chorus echo, making Marshall widen his eyes. He grabbed a microphone quickly and we both swayed to the beat as we got into our performing character.
Harvey, who just arrived and was watching on the other side of the room, chuckled and said, "So, when two crazy monsters meet, I wonder what's going to happen."
"♫♪I'm not afraid (I'm not afraid)♫♪" I grabbed the microphone and sang.
"Yeah," Marshall said without singing.
Edward: "♫♪To take a stand (to take a stand)♫♪"
Marshall: It's been a ride
Edward: ♫♪Everybody (everybody)♫♪
Marshall: I guess I had to go to that place
Edward: ♫♪Come take my hand (come take my hand)♫♪
Marshall: To get to this one
Edward: ♫♪We'll walk this road together, through the storm♫♪
Marshall:Now some of you might still be in that place
Edward: ♫♪Whatever weather, cold or warm♫♪
Marshall muttered, "If you're tryna get out," while I sang, "♫♪just lettin' you know that you're not alone.♫♪"
Marshall: Just follow me
Edward: ♫♪holla if you feel like you've been down the same road♫♪
Marshall: I'll get you there
Marshall grabbed his microphone tight and rapped, "♫♪You can try and read my lyrics off of this paper before I lay 'em!♫♪"
I changed the beats quickly as I followed his lead in the melody.
♫♪But you won't take the sting out these words before I say 'em!
'Cause ain't no way I'ma let you stop me from causin' mayhem!♫♪
Marshall glanced at me with an excited expression. Right now, he's no longer Marshall. He's, the one and only, the person who's comeback was anticipated the most in this era, SLIM SHADY!
♫♪When I say I'm a do somethin', I do it!
I don't give a damn what you think!♫♪
♫♪I'm doin' this for me, so fuck the world, feed it beans!
It's gassed up, if it thinks it's stoppin' me!♫♪
♫♪I'ma be what I set out to be, without a doubt, undoubtedly!
And all those who look down on me, I'm tearin' down your balcony!♫♪
♫♪No if, ands or buts, don't try to ask him why or how can he!
From "Infinite" down to the last "Relapse" album he's still shittin'!
Whether he's on salary, paid hourly, until he bows out or he shits his bowels out of him!
Whichever comes first, ♫♪ for better or worse!♫♪
♫♪He's married to the game, like a fuck you for Christmas!♫♪
"♫♪His gift is a curse, forget the Earth, he's got the urge to pull his dick from the dirt!
And fuck the whole universe!♫♪"
"This is the part where Edward relates to him huh." Harvey muttered while Pepper solemnly fanned himself with the paper fan. "I don't like this. Not even a little bit." Pepper muttered.
I walked lazily towards him as I sang the chorus, "♫♪I'm not afraid (I'm not afraid)♫♪"
"♫♪To take a stand (to take a stand)♫♪"
"♫♪Everybody (everybody)♫♪"
"♫♪Come take my hand (come take my hand)♫♪"
"♫♪We'll walk this road together, through the storm♫♪"
"♫♪Whatever weather, cold or warm♫♪"
"♫♪Just lettin' you know that you're not alone♫♪"
"♫♪holla if you feel like you've been down the same road!♫♪"
"YOU DID IT!" Marshall screamed in excitement with both of his hands raised up as he felt that most of the song was already completed.
As Pepper thought back about the chorus I was singing, he nodded in appreciation and muttered, "Edward is Edward after all! He scared me there for nothing!"
While Pepper was deep in thought, Marshall suddenly said, "Do you want to meet Dre? And come to my agency?"
"EXXXCUSE ME!" Pepper gasped as he was offended by Marshall's brave offer.
…
[General POV]
In Ohio, Taylor's crew was loading all of her stuff into the road tour bus as they needed to get to the next concert venue.
"STOP! STOP! Whatever is it you're doing! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! PLEASE STOP!" Selena begged Taylor while on the phone with her, trying her absolute hardest to make her friend regain her sanity back.
"He got a realtor friend right? Phil something. Maybe he can find me a house next to Ed. I know if I offer to buy the property at 3 times the market price, his neighbour won't hesitate to vacate the house-"
"LISTEN TO ME YOU NUMBSKULL!" Selena shouted again. "Just take a deep breath, and calm down first. You still have a career, and not to mention the fact that it isn't legal yet for you guys to date, so just keep it in your pants for now!"
"But, he loves me, and I love him, so why the hell should we wait?!" Taylor argued.
"Look! Even I know he created the song as he did, leaving your name out and making excuses and keeping plausible deniability because of the very same reason you said his name in yours and played it off as a "gaffe" a mere slip of the tongue. He's protecting you, can't you see? So even if you don't want to listen to me, please…just don't throw away all of his efforts!"
Taylor finally calmed down a bit after getting coaxed by Selena. After talking for a while, she smiled again as she said, "I can't wait for our duet! I wanna be the first artist to officially sing together with him, and not do it because of a movie marketing ploy!"
While Taylor was planning that, Marshall also had something to say to Edward.
"Now that I had heard you rapping to that song, I can't imagine it having gone any other way. So, let's make this official, and sign a contract. You'll feature in this song, and I will also give you credit for your songwriting."
(A/N: Lack of reaction to the rap song cause there aren't a lot of people around there, and the rap is too fast for me to include the reaction in between without ruining the flow. If you guys have any suggestions on how to improve the writing on the rap part, lemme know.)