(Sorry for the late chap. Dealing with some personal problem yesterday.)
[Edward POV]
*Snap* *Snap *Snap* *Snap*
"Mr Newgate, how did you get injured?!"
"Will you cancel the charity concert!?"
"What will happen to all the donations?!!"
"Does Taylor know you're injured!?"
Flashes of camera light basked my body non-stop as I walked out of the hospital towards my company car under the escort of a few burly bodyguards to keep me safe.
The paparazzi kept shouting their questions and even tried to break through the bodyguard's protection, some of them almost succeeded and I was pushed a few times even with my injuries.
"Animals ALL OF YOU! ANIMALS!!" Pepper shouted with gritted teeth as he tried to chase the paparazzi away.
"Alright everyone! Stop!" I said while clapping my hand loudly. My voice carried a trace of anger, and the rambunctious group of the paparazzi was actually stunned and then calmed down a bit by it.
'Hmm? Did I awaken Conqueror Haki?' I thought in confusion as I saw a now calm group of people.
"Which one of you is from an official news company?" I asked. Only 3 of them raised their hands in an obedient manner, which saddened me a little.
Most of the 'reporters' here were part of the hyena faction– which stalked celebrities in order to make fast money from either blackmailing or selling private information and pictures to media channels, and some just enjoyed the feeling of destroying someone's image and reputation.
"I will answer just one question from each of you, only the official media though." I muttered.
"That's discrimination!" One greasy looking hyena said as he grabbed his camera and started snapping pictures again.
"It is." I replied honestly, which excited the crowd as they felt that they had won something great today.
"You, the blonde who looks like Lois Lane." I said as I pointed at the woman right in front of me.
A little flattered, the woman smiled for a second before she held a recorder at me and asked, "How did you get injured? And will it affect the upcoming charity event?"
"Oh, I just tripped on an uneven sidewalk. It will not bother me to sing on stage, so no. It won't affect the concert." I replied casually as I pointed at my bandaged ankle and feet. I had to wear a slipper that my dad bought from the gift shop, so everyone could see it. "As you can see. I can still walk by myself."
Although it was painful for me to do so. I was just faking it in order to avoid worrying my fans about the possibility of the concert being canceled after my injury.
"Next, the reporter from Orange County."
The tall man nodded with a serious expression before asking, "Why does the charity event target only the homelessness in this state? What about other places in the country?"
"I think that question should be asked to the politicians rather than a teenage boy? Don't you?" I replied with a laugh, causing the reporters to chuckle too.
Then, I paused for a while before replying, "When I was 9 years old, I used to ride my bike everyday to a convenience store in the city, one day I decided to look around and I saw a homeless guy camping in an alley nearby, so from that day on everytime I walked out of the store, I would give him a dollar."
The crowd was attracted by my story and the camera flashes stopped.
"One day, after a hard day at school, I wanted to get a special type of candy… As you might already imagine, I came across some trouble with some bad people that were still lingering there. They were dealing illegal substances, something that could put them in jail for life, and I was unlucky enough to witness it. " I said with a nostalgic expression on my face.
The reporters all held their breath as they listened, and so did my dad– who was part of the bodyguard squad, and Pepper as they never had never heard this story before.
"One of them saw me and pulled a knife on me. I was terrified but right before he could lunge at me, the same homeless guy I kept giving my change to, suddenly tackled the thugs and proceeded to drive them all away. One person heroically faced off against 3 guys just to save a little kid he didn't actually know… Nice story right?"
"Well the homeless guy got stabbed." I said, causing the crowd to let out a gasp. "Luckily for me though, at the last second, the thug finally decided to run away. To this day I don't know what it was that made him run. Did he suddenly grow a sense of morality or maybe just got spooked after seeing the blood in his hands? Whatever the case he simply ran away instead of coming after me next."
"So I was saved, and I never saw the homeless guy again. I asked around after that, his name was Will… I think . A good- No, a great man, a guy who had made some bad financial decisions and had to sleep on the streets. I asked the clerk about him. And he told me that every time I gave Will a dollar, he would go into the store, buy one of those 99 cent hotdogs, and that would be his meal for the day."
I looked into the crowd and saw their faces change drastically as they heard the story. "So If you're asking me why I'm holding a charity event to feed the homeless, you only need to know about Will."
The crowd was silent for a while, with some furiously jotting everything I said down on their notes.
"Okay! Last question. Jaime over there from the Hollywood Times." I said with a smile as I turned to the familiar looking woman in front of me. She looked similar to a K-pop idol that I have seen in my previous life, but I had never learned her name before.
"Um, you know me?" She asked with an impressed smile.
"Yeah. I remember all the pretty ones." I replied. She blushed a bit which made the camera flashes swarm appear once more. I was helpless and said, "How many thousands of photos do you guys need? You will only use one or two in the articles."
Some reporters were embarrassed, but some didn't bother to stop. Jaime came back to her senses and asked, "That…made my next question rather awkward. Will Taylor S. come to the concert today? My sources tells me that she was back at her parents house till yesterday-"
As expected of the writer in the gossip panels in the Hollywood Times magazines. Well, almost the entire magazine was filled with gossip, so it was more of a tabloid magazine rather than a normal one.
"Oh I certainly hope she will." I interjected quickly as I was already fed-up with the light flashes. "I have already given her the VVIP tickets. Not only her, but her dad too."
"Her dad? Why?" Jaime's eyes lit up as she caught on, but I just showed a toothy grin and said, "No more comments~, I should probably go and get some rest like my doctor told me too. Goodbye."
"Wait!!!!" She shouted, but I had already gotten in the black, 7 seater SUV car with Pepper and my dad. The flashes of lights become tremendous as I leave, and I know for sure that the gossip media will have a field day with my answers.
"Ed, I'm sorry that you had to go through that." My dad said, in which I thought he was referring to the paparazzis plague, but I was wrong, " I won't scold you for going out on your own-"
"Oh, right. That was all made up." I said suddenly, which caused Pepper and my dad to widen their eyes in shock. Even the driver was shocked and he accidentally swayed the car, causing our ride to get blared by people's horn.
"AN ACT!?" Pepper gasped in disbelief after calming down. "I thought you really had gone through it- The story…felt real!"
"Yeah I know. I'm an amazing actor." I replied haughtily with a smirk.
Truth be told, the story was from my past experience, that needed a slight alteration in order for me to tell that story.
When I was almost stabbed before, I had no parents, and I didn't go there to buy some candy, but it happened after I had run away from the orphanage in order to search for my 'true parents'. How naive I was at that time.
My dad was still suspicious about my disclaimer, "Ed, if you fear that I would be angry-"
"Dad. Mom didn't even let me eat candy or ride a bike. Don't you remember you were the one who bought me my first bike after she left?" I said in a casual manner to remind him.
"Ahh..That's true." He finally relented and believed that I had lied before. "Won't you get in trouble if someone decided to confirm whether it was a true story or not? If there was a stabbing, there should be a record of it." He added.
"Well, to be honest it will be difficult for them to confirm anything. There are a lot of crimes in the city, and stabbings, although rare, have reached more than 100 cases per year." It would increase exponentially in the future, making a stabbing case look normal then.
"And I didn't even specifically say that the homeless guy was dead. If they actually want to ask me about it, I can play the traumatized card, and those who dare to keep asking will be hunted down by every single one of my crazy fans. "
"Ahhh…" Pepper exclaimed in realization. He gave me a faux-contemptuous side eye as he muttered, "You scary little man."
"Hey I'm already taller than you. Anyway Peps, let's go to the festival now! I wanna shoot some ducks."
My dad and Pepper looked at each other as they heard it. "You know you can't join the festival crowd right?" My dad said with some hesitation.
"Huh? Why not!?"
Pepper answered, "Most of the ones who came are your, and I'm quoting you now, 'crazy fans'…"
I was stunned for a while, "... Shit."
"Language!" x2.
I crossed my arms as I pouted at my seat before I said, "I want to try everything there."
"I will ask someone to buy it for you- Wait, did you just say 'everything'?" Pepper asked in disbelief. I nodded with a grin and said, "Yeah, everything!!!!" I laughed insidiously, which made Pepper feel a headache coming in.
…
"Tsk." I clicked my tongue as I watched the bustling field from inside the music classroom. "I wanna play too!" I said whiningly before I turned towards Mrs Henderson and Pepper who were discussing today's affairs.
"The concert will start in 3 more hours. When I'm done with the final safety check on the newly constructed stage, I will come and get you so that you can get ready backstage." Mrs Henderson looked at her tablet while saying that.
Pepper nodded in understanding, "Alright. We can do that. About the dancers-"
"There's dancers?" I muttered in confusion, but Pepper ignored me.
"The stage can support up to 30 people dancing vigorously on top of it." Mrs Henderson replied.
"Thank you." Pepper smiled.
"Heeemmm… There's dancers?" I muttered again.
"What about the fireworks? Have they been set up?" Pepper asked again.
"No, we couldn't get the permission from the city. It would be okay to use them somewhere else, but they couldn't let us do it in a school area." Mrs Henderson shook her head slightly in disappointment.
"There's dancers?"
"Shut up Ed." x2.
I scoffed after getting scolded and limped my way towards the door as I heard a knock. Just to be clear, I knew about all of that stuff. I was just trying to annoy them, an endeavor in which I succeeded.
"SURPRISE!!!" The cute Enid yelled out after I opened the door.
"Surprise? I asked you to come here." I said with a smile as I invited her in. "Where's the others?" I peeked at the corridor to search for my other food delivery man- I mean friends– good friends. The best of friends...
"They are still waiting in line. I'm bringing this first 'cause I don't want it to get cold." Enid said as she gave me a footlong, golden coloured corn dog and mustard packets as she didn't know if I wanted the condiment or not.
"NICEE!" I exclaimed in excitement as I reached out to grab it. But Enid pulled her hand away in a playful manner, "Give me my reward first?"
I sighed and asked, "What do you want?"
We didn't agree to a reward beforehand, and I paid for all the food before I sent them out to hunt. So I was a bit taken aback when Enid wanted something, but then I realized she was just playing around.
"Nothing much. I wanna be the first person ever to get your autographed album! THE FIRST!"
"Oh, that's easy. Alright, you got it. Now gimme my footlong meat. Ah Pepper, not the kind you always get."
Pepper snorted and said, "If I could ever get a footlong, would I still live a single life?"
"Stop focusing on Dwayne and start focusing on those around you. He's out there, you just can't see it." I said in a casual manner as I took a bite of the corn dog.
"Huh? What are you guys talking about? Footlong what?" Enid asked in a quizzical manner. Mrs Henderson interrupted quickly, "Enid, don't you have something else to tend too? If you can get more food, then you can demand even more rewards."
Enid's eyes lit up, "Really? I'm going now! WAIT FOR MEEE!" She dashed out of the room immediately before I could even say anything. "Hey! I didn't agree to that yet! Enid!"
She had already disappeared before I could finish my words. I bit the corn dog with a solemn face and muttered with my mouth full, "She won't spread the word right?"
"Why ask when you already know?" Mrs Henderson said with a smirk as she walked beside me. She had already finished the discussion and would be heading out now.
"Wanna try?" I offered my corndog to her, which to my surprise, she actually leaned forward, brushed her hair behind her ear, and bit on it seductively before returning to normal position.
"It's sweet." She said with a weird face.
"I know, it's disgusting." I said while taking another bite. "But I just can't seem to stop." I added. She raised her brows at me before walking away while muttering, "You're a weird little kid."
"Hey! I'm a MAN~ Not a kid!"
Pepper walked towards me after finishing a call. "Mitch and Cam are here."
"Oh, why are they here so early?" I asked in a casual manner as I finished my corndog and threw the wooden stick in the trash can. "I don't think it's for the food."
"How could you finish that? Anyway, Mitchell wants to meet us."
"Oh, tell him he can only come if he brings me some slushies. And some food"
…
[General POV]
"A slushie?" Mitchell was walking with Lily and a brunette 10 year old girl through the festival.
"Mitchell, there's a slushie stall right here. Does Ed want the Red, or the Blue one?" Cameron asked. "Amanda, do you want a slushie too?"
"I want to see Edward Newgate." Amanda demanded like an entitled brat as she stomped her feet.
"Cam, what is Red, and what is Blue?" Mitchell asked, ignoring the kid.
"I don't know, they wrote Red and Blue. I don't think there's any flavor, just color." Cam replied with an exhausted face.
A few stalls away, Haley and Abby were also walking around the festival street before they suddenly bumped into the hurrying Enid.
"Hey watch out!" Haley shouted but then realized who it was, and said, "Enid! Watch where you're going! You're going to get in trouble!"
Abby looked at her friend weirdly before turning to Enid and asked, "Why are you running?"
"Cause I want a reward!" Enid said before she ignored the duo and ran away. Abby then turned to Haley and spoke sarcastically, "And what's with the motherly scolding?"
"Huh? Did I succeed?" Haley asked in confusion.
"Succeed in what?" Abby was also confused.
At the activities section of the festival, Jacob was swinging down a hammer in a violent manner at the hammer arcade game. The score kept going upwards, and it stopped at 831 after the bell rang.
"Congrats! You broke the record!" The facilitator of the game gave him a fluffy pink unicorn as a prize. He grinned and gave the prize to Elsa who was already holding multiple stuffed animals and prizes.
"Stop! I don't need anymore gifts!" She said exasperatingly, but her boyfriend ignored her plight and went to the next game instead.
Jenna was following the couple from behind before she ran into Enid. After hearing the explanations, her eyes lit up and she abandoned the stupid couple to go food hunting with Alex , Finneas , Billie, and Abraham.
Soon after, Abraham knocked on the music classroom door using their secret code with a small load of junk food.
"Tofu burger? Are you serious?" Edward looked at the impertinent kid. "Huh? You asked us to get the weirdest food in the festival right?" Abraham asked in confusion.
"I said I wanted to eat rare or weird food, but only good stuff. Tofu burgers aren't weird. It's just vegan." Edward said while taking a bite of the burger. "Urgh, disgusting."
"Then stop eating it!" Pepper yelled at him, but Edward kept munching every single thing his friends brought him, leaving no leftovers.
"Try this deep fried oreos." Finneas walked around with Billie and handed the food to Edward.
"Huh? Oreo? This is interesting." Edward's eyes glinted in excitement before he turned to Billie. The girl sighed and said, "Deep fried broccoli."
Edward was weirded out, but he kept smiling. He popped a single deep fried oreo into his mouth. "Oh, this is actually good."
"Good for diabetes. What's wrong with this festival? Why is everything deep fried?" Pepper complained. Edward ate the broccoli and said, "This is actually tasteless."
"Stop eating everything Ed! You'll get fat!" Pepper chastised him.
Alex walked together with her dad, Phil, who gave Ed a hug the moment he met him. "Heyyy! It's been a while since I saw you."
"Yeah, I missed you too Phil." Edward muttered as he wrapped his arm around Phil, but it was actually to take what Alex was holding. "Hmm? What's this? I mean, I know it's cotton candy. But what was it before?" Edward asked.
"It was supposed to be a puppy. But we took too long and it's already melted." Alex rubbed her head in annoyance as she gazed at her dad.
"Oh. Puppies are good too." Edward said as he bit off the already small cotton candy in one bite.
"As a design right Ed?" Alex asked with a smile, but Edward just smiled ambiguously at her.
"You're talking about the design right?" She asked again, fearfully this time.
"Maybe..." Edward answered with a mischievous smirk.
Alex was shocked, but Phil was just smiling by her side. "Edward, are you nervous about playing today?"
"You should ask your daughter that question. Her face is getting pale." Edward teased.
Jenna appeared after the family had left to go enjoy themselves in the ferris wheel. They will join Manny and Luke there, together with Gloria and Jay.
"Finally! A normal looking food!" Pepper said as he saw the chocolate covered banana in Jenna's hand. "Ok, time for the show is drawing near. I will go get the bodyguards. Edward, don't come out of the room."
"Okayy~" Edward was left alone with the girl. Jenna fidgeted before asking, "S-so, can we really ask for a reward?"
"Enid just can't shut her mouth huh?" Edward laughed a bit before saying, "Sure. I can give you a reward if you want."
"Really? Great! Then, I want you to feed me the banana!"
"I'm sorry, what?"
Jenna pointed at the container and showed that it had 2 chocolate covered bananas in it. "Oh, that banana." Edward muttered. "Sure. Say Ahhh~" He grabbed a stick of banana and pointed it to Jenna's mouth.
She blushed and bit her lower lip before looking at Edward with dreamy eyes. She slowly brushed her hair behind her ear as she leaned forward to lick the chocolate dripping from the banana, from the bottom to the top.
"Ahum~" She moans slightly as she puts the banana inside her mouth while maintaining eye contact with Edward who's contemplating life right now.
"Umm… So big~"
"Alright, stop it right there!" Edward said as he pulled his hand back. "My Edward Banana!" Jenna whined pitifully.
"Why the hell did you do that?" Edward asked in disbelief. "Well, I read my horoscope today, and it said that I should start my summer with an impact so you wouldn't forget me."
"'What was that?" Edward asked as Jenna's voice was too tiny for him to hear. "Nothing!" Jenna said as she stuck her chocolate covered tongue out.
"Well the horoscope thing got it right. I'm not ever going to forget what just happened." Edward muttered. Jenna blushed and ran away from the room. Just seconds after she left, Mitchell finally got to the class.
"Hey Ed! I bought some slushies and fairy bread." Mitchell said in excitement.
"Oh, did Cam bake them?" Edward asked as he grabbed the rainbow sprinkle covered bread.
Mitchell paused and then exclaimed in disbelief, "What?"