[Edward POV]
"I still feel kinda bad though." I muttered as Haley and I sat together on the long couch in my living room.Her body nestled against mine. She rested her head on my chest, my right hand gently rested on her back, which she put there by herself.
Enid suddenly shouted, pulling our attention to her. "Jeremy's so hot!!" She was watching the Wizards of Waverly Place recorded episode with a lot of the girls there, creating a viewing party within a party, just a few meters away from the couch.
I had to set up a projector and speaker myself for it because a lot of people were requesting it. Jenna, Jacob and Elsa joined Enid in watching, while the others had another thing planned.
Alex, Finneas and Billie were setting up their performance near the gym, where Cam had created a makeshift stage for them to perform. It was something requested by Finneas so I included it into the party planning.
Haley said dismissively, "It'll be fine. If you feel bad about throwing him into the pool, you can just make it up to him later."
I paused briefly and confessed, "Honestly, it wasn't my idea to throw him into the pool."
Haley was surprised, "Really?"
I shrugged and pointed at the dancers, "I just told them to point their finger at Cam, to make him uncomfortable. They did send me a video about a choreography they wanted to do with me, but I didn't know how it would end."
I called an Oompa Loompa dancer nearby, and he excitedly walked over. His skin was painted orange, and his hair was dyed green. Flashing his near perfect white teeth, he greeted. "Hi Edward. I'm a big fan."
After talking for a while, Haley couldn't help but ask, "Why did you throw Cam into the water?"
The dancer was flabbergasted, "Wait. Did I do something wrong? We all listened to Casey's suggestion though."
"Casey?" I asked while looking at the crowd, "Which one is he?"
The dancer looked around, but couldn't find the named dancer. He said defensively, "You know what he did to us? He made us all come at 8…"
"That's not so bad–" Haley interjected, but the dancer continued, which made her speechless, "In the morning."
"Seriously?" I asked with some shock.
The dancer nodded, "He made us practice our choreography with him all day long. He changed the song and dance multiple times. He yelled at us, called us names– We were really frustrated about it. And the reason he kept all the kids outside? It's because he wanted to awe you, so he just ignored all of our suggestions to let them in, and left them behind in the cold." He said, referring to me.
"Uncle Cam!" Haley mumbled reprehensibly.
"We were really tired, and irritated. I'm sorry that we threw him into the pool. But we don't regret it." The dancer apologised.
I shook my hand and said, "It's fine, you really saved the party. I just want to know why."
"Wait. Uncle Mitchell is texting me." Haley suddenly said.
"Is he angry at us?" I asked.
"...Yeah, let me tell him the truth first." Haley said before she replied to Mitchell.
"Hey, someone recorded the performance and posted it on Instagram." I muttered with excitement.
Haley rolled her eyes and said, "Duhhh. Of course I'm going to post it. You looked so cool before."
I smiled before I thought briefly and mumbled, "We can use this."
…
[General POV]
Mitchell asked with bewilderment and worry for Cam, "They threw you in the pool?"
"All the dancers. They even took my phone out of my pants, so I know they planned this for a while." Cam expressed begrudgingly, trying to gather more sympathy for what he went through.
Mitchell was horrified, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He went to Cam and asked slowly, "What did you do?"
"Nothing! I did nothing!" Cam replied whiningly. Mitchell was angry and he took out his phone, "I'll talk to Edward and Haley about this. This is unacceptable!" He stood up and walked back and forth in the living room.
Cam rubbed his forehead and replied, "It's fine. They HAD to do it to save the party."
"No-No, Cam. This is really unacceptable. After everything you did for them, they just threw you aside– I can't believe Edward could behave like this. Maybe he changed now after being so popular?" Mitchell said irritably as he texted Haley.
Cam shook his head, and still pretended to be a victim while sitting at the sofa with Lily. Mitchell texted Haley, and his angry brows slowly turned into a horrified one. He suddenly looked at Cam and admonished him, "They should've thrown you off the cliff."
"What?" Cam was flabbergasted by Mitchell's change of attitude. Mitchell continued, "You let them out to freeze? And you tortured the dancers?!"
Cam was flabbergasted, "I didn't torture anyone!"
Mitchell suddenly received another text from Haley. "Okay, what now? Did you waterboard someone?" Mitchell opened the text helplessly. Cam was offended, "You know what, I already had a difficult time at the party, I don't need one at home too."
"Oh no, Cam. Haley sent me a video. It's about you." Mitchell muttered with some horror. Cam's pale turned ashen and he said, "They are going to continue humiliating me online too!?"
However, their faces brightened up as they read the comments on the video.
{Jenna: He pretended the whole thing was going to suck, and subvert our expectations by pulling an Edward. I heard everything was planned by him!}
{Kyle: That's what he did? Man, I was really tricked by him. That old man was awesome.}
{Jacob: He's on par with a thespian. The dedication he has to his art. Cam! You're awesome!}
With Edward's friends leading the public opinion, people were commenting only positive things about Cam.
He suddenly looked smug and turned to Mitchell, "My art… is finally understood by the world."
"Weren't you sad he threw you in the pool before?" Mitchell asked with confusion and disbelief.
Cam dismissed him with a gesture to his face, snapping his finger and acting like everything before was just his performance, "And scene. That was method acting, Mitchell. I was wondering what you're going to do too, and you didn't disappoint me….Well you did a little at the end."
…
[Edward POV]
Haley suddenly asked, "Is there something wrong?"
I was confused and I asked, "What?"
"You know, you're making that face when there's something wrong, but you don't tell it to anyone and just keep it to yourself, again." She continued.
I paused briefly before I said, "It's too weird to explain the thing, but a warm hug is greatly appreciated though."
She smiled and said, "Sure," before reaching out her arms and hugged me. Enid came by at the moment with a plateful of fruits and a bowl of melted chocolate in her hand, "Oh are we hugging?"
"Yes." I replied mischievously. Haley was taken aback, "Wait–" But Enid already jumped in on the hug. Tara, who was wearing a Batgirl outfit, walked past and scoffed, "Get a room. Wait-- Enid, go away!" Tara sat at the couch, joining us for a while as she fixed her makeup.
Ignoring her sister, Enid released me and said, "Here, eat some. You'll feel better." She dipped the strawberries into melted chocolate and held them up to my lips. Haley, albeit jealous, watched intently.
However, I suddenly scowled and said in disbelief, "Why is the chocolate so weird?" My face contorted with confusion.
"Huh?" Haley was puzzled and she dipped her finger into Enid's bowl. "HEY!" Enid exclaimed angrily, her eyes narrowing.
Haley licked her finger and said, "Uh, did the chocolate go bad?" She wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Enid finally tasted the chocolate and exclaimed, "Ugh, I tasted this before."
I looked at her and asked, "When?"
She turned to Tara and said, "Remember that time we added Toblerones, Cadbury, and a lot of other chocolates into one pot?"
Tara nodded, "Yeah. That thing is weird."
"Did Cam mix up all the chocolates?" I asked Haley.
"I think he did. You did ask to use the chocolates you had." Haley replied.
I saw a lot of reactions from the people tasting the chocolate, and they were deterred by it. Some were repulsed even. When I saw the chocolate river Cam made, it was enough to fill in 3 bathtubs full of chocolate. It made me worry,"Damn it. It'll all go to waste."
Tara replied mischievously, "Maybe not. I remember putting tequila in the mix before, and it turned out great. But since the guards at the front door snatched all of the alcohol the kids brought, there's none for us to spike the chocolate with."
Enid said, "She lied, we didn't do that. We threw out the chocolate."
"No, it's only because you're younger than me, so I didn't let you taste it. I didn't throw it away," Tara tried to convince Enid. However, I could tell that she was lying.
Although, she did give me an idea though. I could add some things inside the chocolate to make it more edible, or better yet, delectable. "I wonder what would work?" I muttered to myself.
Suddenly, Elsa dragged Jacob to our spot angrily, which confused me. "What's wrong?" I asked. Elsa replied, "Do you have any costumes here that might fit Jacob?" I turned to Jacob, and saw that he was confused too. He was wearing a burglar outfit, and the shirt was too small for him.
"Put your hands up," Elsa said to Jacob. As Jacob did that, his entire shirt was pulled upward, revealing his entire stomach to the room. "EWW!" Enid exclaimed.
"Eww– Hey, I am not disgusting!" Jacob retorted back. I laughed and said, "I do have a Jason costume– Friday the 13th, that murderer with the hockey mask guy." I had to explain as none of them remembered the guy. "It's in my bedroom among my other costumes," I replied.
Haley interjected, "Hey, you should go with him too. Didn't you say that you want to be Batman? Or are you going to continue wearing my uncle's costume?"
I finally realized it and stood up, "Jacob, follow me." As we were going to change, the girls mischievously followed along to bother us. Finally, I changed into my Batman outfit, without the helmet and cape, and rejoined the party. The crowd cheered as they saw me, and I waved at them. I finally managed to scan the crowd there as I was descending the stairs, and saw a lot of interesting things.
There were a lot of girls who wore a Batman themed outfit today. There were 2 Harley Quinn's – the jester outfit, not the Suicide squad outfit, Batgirl, Batwoman, Poison Ivy, Slutty Batgirl, Slutty Wonderwoman, just sluts in general, Robin– Oh, Abraham wearing a KickPuncher outfit.
Amanda Cho, the student council president, was actually wearing a sexy bunny outfit. And I finally saw Maggie, Vanessa Hudgens, and the college girls as they were just coming into the party now. I squinted my eyes at Maggie's costume, and muttered, "She's wearing my spiderman costume?"
"Edward, we're ready," Finneas called out to me after finishing his preparation. Alex looked disgruntled, and when I went to the band, Billie explained, "She's like that because Finneas thought Albert Einstein was Marie Curie's husband."
"It's an honest mistake," Finneas said. He was wearing a fake mustache and middle bald cap with white hair on the sides of the head.
Alex complained, "It's not! It's a dumb one!"
"Well, at least he tried to keep the same theme as you." I tried to cover for Finneas. Alex begrudgingly said, "Fine!" and let the matter go.
While I was at the stage, Tara continued trying to convince Haley and she slowly started to believe that adding alcohol in the chocolate would be a great choice.
"Hmm. I don't think he has any here." Haley mumbled to herself.
Tara said, "I'll help you search for it."
"Hello Everyone." Finneas grabbed the microphone and greeted the crowd, which were met with tremendous cheer. A lot of people knew his name despite him being in middle school thanks to the Fort Wars comedic documentary I released before. Not only him, but Alex, Abraham, and Billie , Barnes, Mrs Henderson, Mrs Johnson, and the dog too had their own reputation after the documentary was released.
Finneas glanced at me, and I nodded slightly at him. At first, he wanted me to make the introduction for him, but I had talked him into doing it by himself as it would bring him more confidence.
I remembered when he first came to me with the song. After the show was uploaded, he received tremendous support for his music. However, his parents showed apprehension in him quitting his former classical music path.
He started fighting with his dad, even Billie was involved in the argument. Then, his parents gave him an ultimatum. He either listens to them and continues his classical musician path, or they would pull both him and his sister out of their current school – Franklin Middle School, and have them be homeschooled.
Well, the problem stopped after I gave his parents a check for the documentary, and they greatly supported his endeavour after that, but Finneas had already written half of the song at the time, so… we finished it together.
"My name's Finneas. Ed and I, we wrote a song together–"
I interjected, "Mostly him by the way. I did just the finishing touches."
"Go Finneas!" Enid clapped her hand prematurely and cheered before anything happened. All of us on the stage burst into laughter, and Finneas continued, "Well, I don't want to take too much of your time. So enjoy the song. This one is titled, 'Welcome to my life'. Edward said, you guys would especially love it."
Well my words was, teenagers would love it.
I nodded at Billie, who hit her drumsticks together as she counted, "1..2..3..4!"
[Welcome to My Life- Simple Plan]
I strummed the guitar as Alex played the bass using her cello. Finneas was holding his electric guitar as he sang.
"♫♪Do you ever feel like breakin' down? Do you ever feel out of place? Like somehow you just don't belong, And no one understands you♫♪" He sang with a pained voice, which caught the attention of the girls in the party.
"♫♪Do you ever wanna run away? Do you lock yourself in your room♫♪"
"♫♪With the radio on turned up so loud That no one hears you screaming?♫♪"
"♫♪No, you don't know what it's like When nothin' feels alright♫♪"
"♫♪You don't know what it's like to be like me♫♪"
I sang together with him during the chorus. The crowd were fixated on the performance and some people felt it was the chance for them to do something in the background.
"♫♪To be hurt, to feel lost
To be left out in the dark♫♪
♫♪To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around♫♪
♫♪To be on the edge of breakin' down
And no one's there to save you♫♪
♫♪No, you don't know what it's like♫♪
Finneas continued alone, "♪Welcome to my life♫♪"
The crowd cheered, and people started dancing while listening to the song. Abraham, the typical teenage boy, was absorbed by the lyrics of the song. "God, it's like..it's speaking to me…" he mumbled.
Finneas walked to the front of the stage, "♫♪Do you wanna be somebody else? Are you sick of feelin' so left out! Are you desperate to find something more, Before your life is over! ♫♪"
It was a bit comical with him acting cool with the bald cap on, but the crowd's reaction was tremendous.
"♫♪Are you stuck inside a world you hate? Are you sick of everyone around?♫♪"
"♫♪With the big fake smiles and stupid lies, While deep inside you're bleedin'♫♪"
Together, we sang, "♫♪No, you don't know what it's like. When nothin' feels alright. You don't know what it's like to be like meeee~♫♪"
The crowd cheered thunderously, and sang along with the song. I jumped as I was playing the guitar, so did Finneas.
"♫♪To be hurt, to feel lost!
To be left out in the dark!
To be kicked when you're down!
To feel like you've been pushed around!
To be on the edge of breakin' down!
And no one's there to save you!♫♪"
"♫♪No, you don't know what it's like~~~!! Welcome to my life! ♫♪"
The crowd cheered. Finneas grabbed the microphone with both hands while I covered his part with my guitar.
"♫♪No one ever lied straight to your face! And no one ever stabbed you in the back! You might think I'm happy ! But I'm not gonna be okay~~♫♪"
'Damn, the song hits close to home.' I thought secretly.
"♫♪Everybody always gave you what you wanted
You never had to work, it was always there
You don't know what it's like, what it's like♫♪"
"♫♪To be hurt, to feel lost!
To be left out in the dark!
To be kicked when you're down!
To feel like you've been pushed around!
To be on the edge of breakin' down!
And no one's there to save you!♫♪"
"♫♪No, you don't know what it's like (what it's like)♫♪"
Everyone in the band sang the background vocals together. The rhythm slowed down, and the crowd held their breath.
"♫♪To be hurt, to feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breakin' down
And no one's there to save you
No, you don't know what it's like♫♪
♫♪Welcome to my life♫♪
♫♪Welcome to my life♫♪
♫♪Welcome to my life!"
The crowd cheered as the song ended. Finneas said, "Thank you everyone!" Like I expected, the teenagers here loved the song as it resonated with them deeply. I said to Finneas, "You were worried for nothing."
Billie teased him, "Thank god that went well. Now he'll finally shut up at home."
"Wooo! Finneas! What's the band's name!?" Maggie shouted.
Finneas and I were taken aback, and so did the girls. We all exchanged looks before Finneas went rogue, "We are, the Melancholic Echoes."
"What the–" Billie exclaimed. Alex retorted, "We didn't agree to that." I just laughed out loud. The crowd cheered, cementing the band name for our little group.
I spoke to the crowd, "If anyone wants to use the stage, whether it's to sing your song, or sing a cover song, just talk to Finneas and he'll arrange it for you."
"Thank you Batman!" Abraham shouted at me. "Thank you too Random Citizen." I replied while saluting him, which earned me some laughter.
…
After the performance, Finneas joined me at the couch with Alex and Billie. Finneas suddenly said, "We have 5 more minutes before we should go back."
"It's 10 O'clock." I muttered with disbelief.
"Yeah. Billie's also 10–" Finneas was trying to tease, but Billie punched him in the arm, hard. As he whimpered in pain, Billie said, "Sorry Ed. We wished we could stay longer."
"Our parents will come pick us up." Finneas explained. Alex said, "I should join you guys– Wait, why is there a text from my dad telling me not to go home?"
"I guess that means a sleepover." I replied teasingly to Alex. I turned to Finneas and teased, "Are you sure you want to leave your girlfriend with me for the night?"
Finneas scowled and mumbled in dissatisfaction, "I know you're just joking, but that annoyed me greatly."
"Aww." Alex exclaimed affectionately. Both of them were being flirty, which made Billie scoot away from them.
I scoffed and said, "I made you get relationship points for nothing." I stood up from the couch, which made Billie ask, "Where are you going? Don't leave me here with these guys!"
"I'm going to go bother Maggie and mingle. Wanna come?" I told Billie.
"Your cousin Maggie? Okay sure." Billie replied before following me along.
The atmosphere was unnecessarily hostile when I met Maggie. Me as Batman, and her as SpiderWoman, standing facing each other, with our eyes locked together.
"Well well well~" Maggie exclaimed haughtily, "Isn't this broke Batman? You aren't a billionaire, right?" Like me, she also didn't put anything on her head, and let her long red hair flow down freely. The skin tight costume hugged her body, which made the teenage boys around couldn't pry their eyes away from her.
"Well not so broke that I had to steal a costume from another person." I shot back. "The audacity to try and insult me though. And you, Junkie Ring Girl." I pointed at Vanessa. "Why are you hiding your face behind your hair?"
Vanessa covered her face and said, "You didn't tell me the kids from Disney will be here!"
"They are here?" I asked in confusion. "Where?"
…
[General POV]
Tara and Haley had finished looking in the kitchen, and they failed to find some liquor for the chocolate. Tara, who started with the intention of teasing Edward and her best friend, became fully committed to the search because she tasted the chocolate herself.
"Edward really hates wasting food huh?" Tara muttered with disbelief.
"Yeah. I don't think he'll throw away the chocolate, so maybe he'll finish it himself?" Haley replied.
"Is there someone who would know where it might be hidden?" Tara asked as they were clueless on where to find the liquor now.
"I can ask Max, she lives here before." Haley said before she called the brunette. Max replied gleefully, seemingly intoxicated, "Hey Barbie."
Haley grinned and said, "Max. We have a problem."
"You know I've already got back to New York right?" Max asked.
Haley replied, "Not the kind where you'd need to be here. We're trying to find some liquor for Edward's chocolate."
"His chocolate? You kids are calling it that now?" Max hinted dirtily. Haley giggled and said, "Not what you're thinking."
Max thought for a while before she replied, "Hmm… I found him drinking some in his basement before. So maybe there… is?"
"Thanks Max!" Haley said excitedly. Max grinned and replied, "Hey if you find a bottle labelled Euphoria, can you ship it out to me–"
Haley cut the call, and Tara asked her excitedly, "So, is there any?"
"Max said to look into the basement for a bottle called Euphoria." Haley replied. They moved to the basement quickly, and as Haley held the door handle to the basement, she found that it was locked.
"Robin it's me." She whispered, and the door opened automatically.
Casey, the NSA agent infiltrating the party, was monitoring Haley as she was getting to the basement. He, who looked like Adam Baldwin, said to the intercom, "I found a way to get to the lab. But, we might have to use a kid, and I'm not liking this method at all. "
Sarah Walker, the blonde CIA agent who was managing the frozen yogurt stand near the pool, and also looked like Yvonne Strahovski, replied to him, "I'll be there."
Chuck, who was monitoring the entire thing inside the van parked nearby the house, interjected, "Why can you guys enjoy the party and I can't?"
"Cause we're spies Chuck, and you're just you." Casey replied curtly. All these while Robin was monitoring them closely through the cameras inside the house.