[General P.O.V.]
Almost everyone inside the party had tasted the enchanted chocolate. Mayhem was brewing inside the party where people blurted out their true feelings almost unfiltered, breaking some relationships, and even starting some of them.
"I don't even like you. But I want a girlfriend, and you're the only girl willing to do that." A douche highschooler confessed to his girlfriend of 2 years. She gasped shockingly and slapped him hard, making him stumble a few steps, and the crowd laughed at him.
"Fine! I only dated you because I like your dad anyway. Now that you're no longer my boyfriend, I'm going to fuck him." She declared before walking away.
A few meters away from them, a high school nerd with some freckles on his face walked towards one of the most popular girls in school, and kissed him.
"I love you Amanda. Can we go out?" He confessed. The blonde Amanda was confused and she took a closer look at him before saying, "Okay. I can make you my boyfriend for a while."
The effect of the chocolate made the girls stop playing relationship games, which was a miraculous chance for the boys to hear exactly what they were thinking, however, no one actually managed to take advantage of the effect.
Chuck, who was finally done with his haircut, checked out his reflection in the mirror and praised Melody, "You actually make it better."
"Anything else other than your style before is better." Melody retorted. "Now you finally look date-able."
"Thanks. But I already have a girlfriend." Chuck replied with a chuckle. "I just need to figure out how to save her next."
Near the pool, Corbin was talking to Vanessa.
"I know it's been a while, but I have to know the answer. Why don't you want to date me?" He asked with desperation in his voice.
Vanessa paused briefly, licked the chocolate on her finger, and said,"Because you're black–" She choked on a biscuit and had to stop talking. Maggie and the other celebrities were wide-eyed as they heard her sentence.
"--Ing out (Blacking out) every time you go to a party. You just drink too much." Vanessa continued after her throat cleared up. The others around her breathed in relief, and Corbin finally got the answer he wanted to know about for years.
Maggie turned away and was going to meet her friends, but Vanessa ran after her. "Hey, stop leaving me alone!" She complained to Maggie.
Confused, Maggie said, "I'm not leaving you alone. Your friends are here. Talk to them–"
Vanessa suddenly grabbed Maggie's arm and stuck close to her, "No. They aren't my friends. They are just my acquaintances. So don't leave me around. My only friend is you."
Ashley Tisdale appeared from behind the duo and muttered, "Well. That's disappointing to hear."
Vanessa rolled her eyes and said, "Can you blame me?"
Ashley Tisdale, despite looking apologetic, didn't argue and just rushed towards Vanessa to give her a hug.
…
Near the couch, Enid was gorging herself with the chocolates. Alex and Finneas were feeding each other, and Jenna scowled in disgust everytime they did that. To make matters worse, Elsa and Jacob were also doing the same thing.
"UGH." Jenna grunted. Despite everyone's praises of the chocolate, she didn't try any of it because she felt weirded out by their behavior afterward.
"You ain't no nun woman." Elsa retorted to Jenna.
With her back against his friend, Enid suddenly stood up and said, "Hey. I don't like it."
"What?" Alex turned to her, making her miss Finneas' mouth, and accidentally smudged the chocolate on his face.
"Him." Enid replied.
"Him who?" Alex asked again in confusion.
"Him HIM!" Enid shouted.
…
Inside the bedroom, Edward and Haley were sitting on the bed, locking their lips together. Haley caressed her hand around Edward's chest and said, "I'm glad you got my message."
"Me too." Edward replied. They didn't even stop kissing to speak. And slowly, the atmosphere becomes more heated. Haley ran her hand around Edward's hair, and he moved slowly to her neck.
Suddenly, she said, "It's great this is happening today. This party is the perfect setting for it."
Edward was confused and he pulled back, "Setting?"
"Yeah." Haley approached Edward and kissed his lips while saying, "I mean, I had a plan of doing it with my boyfriend… maybe on a special day, on our anniversary, my birthday, or his… or maybe when I was ready, but I think that if I don't do this with you today, then, you won't look at me ever again."
They spoke with a rapid-fire, unfiltered cadence, blurting out everything they were thinking without any inhibition or restraint.
Edward stopped, straightened his back and looked her in the eye, "Why do you think that?" He asked bewilderedly. Haley adjusted her sitting posture to her knees in order to continue kissing him, "We can talk, but don't stop."
"Oh. Alright." Edward nodded casually. While they were tonguing, Haley answered, "Because. It's been forever, and you don't want to ask me out. And you also stopped flirting with me recently. I thought you didn't want me anymore."
"So you resorted to dressing up like this and planned on giving me your virginity today?" Edward asked with a slight joking tone.
To his surprise, Haley replied, "Yes. I hate it. I hate that I have to wear this to catch your eyes."
"If you don't realize it, the majority of the people in the party are women. I'm afraid that you will hook up with them. So I need to get you first."
Edward was taken aback, and he tried to say something.
She suddenly stopped kissing him and looked at him intensely, "Why aren't you asking me out?"
Edward paused briefly, and Haley suddenly resumed the kissing out of nowhere. "No. Don't answer."
"But I want to answer." Edward tried to stop her, but she continued her kissing attack intensely.
"I don't want to hear it." She said, closing her eyes as she hung onto Edward's lip.
Edward removed her carefully and said, "I do want to ask you out."
Haley was stunned. "Really?" She grabbed Edward's head and kissed him all over his face.
"Yeah. Before I found out that I was cursed." Edward confessed as he kissed her back.
Haley furrowed her eyebrow and asked with confusion, "You're the one who has the 3 month curse?!"
"Yeah." Edward replied casually. "I thought about it a lot, but I don't want to hurt you, and I also don't want to be the guy in season 1."
"Who's the guy in Season 1?" Haley asked. The chocolate didn't have any effect of accepting everything that was said to the eater. However, Haley had always believed that Edward was a genius, and knew what he was talking about.
"You know…" Edward hesitated a bit, sanity seemed to be returning to his mind. But it wasn't returning fast enough. "I don't want to be your first boyfriend, that has to break up with you later in the future for you…to discover yourself, and also for your character development and all."
"Hmm? Why do you think that would happen to me?" Haley asked again. For her, it was an analogy rather than something Edward knew would happen. However, it didn't diminish the effect it had on her, thinking that what Edward said made sense.
"It's your setting in the story." Edward replied. "And I don't want to be the one pining over you all over the seasons, only for you to be with someone else."
She stopped kissing him and flopped down on the bed. She looked at Edward with some tears in her eyes, "Wait. If that's my setting, and you're the guy who can't date for 3 months…Doesn't that mean... We're going to lose each other no matter what… if we start dating?"
Suddenly, the passionate atmosphere in the room disappeared. Only silence remained.
"I think so. That's why I don't want to ask you out. I don't want that to happen." Edward replied while holding her hand, trying to comfort her after a while.
*BLAM*
The door to the room was kicked open, startling both of them.
…
[Edward POV]
'Wait a minute. What the FUCK did I just say to her?' The thought raced through my mind, horrifying me. My eyes darted between Haley and the group of people who had just walked into the room - Jenna, Jacob, Alex, Finneas, Billie, Elsa, and Tara had come to find the both of us.
Enid darted to the bed and gave me a forceful hug, her body shaking with sobs. "I don't like it. If you go to college, then you'll meet new friends, and you will forget me," she cried.
"What? When did I want to go to college?" I asked with some surprise. Haley tried to move away, but I quickly grabbed her hand. Startled, she looked at me with disbelief. I gave her a meaningful look and said, "Please wait. I still need to talk to you."
My mind was still reeling, trying to process the conversation that had just unfolded. What could have possibly caused me to act that way? Revealing Chuck's identity, knocking out Sarah and Casey, throwing the agents away from my house.
As I thought back hard, I recalled that everything seemed to start when I had eaten that melted chocolate mixed with Euphoria and other compounds. It seemed my enhanced digestive system made the effect weakened, but I still need to get a sample of the chocolate to see what it was made off exactly.
Enid's plaintive cry pulled me out of my deep thoughts. "I heard it from Jenna's mom. They are offering you a full scholarship for you to go to Caltech," she said.
"Hey, are you okay?" Tara asked Haley whisperingly.
"Why did you guys enter the room?" Haley asked her with a slight confusion, and also a bit of relief.
Tara said, "My mom is coming to pick Enid and me up."
Alex added, "Mom is also coming to pick us up. So I wanted to give you a heads up."
Finneas said, "Our parents too, so we were coming here to say goodbye."
Jenna said, "Well, my mom doesn't care if I want to stay longer cause she trusts Ed, but Elsa's mom has been calling her for a while. So I have to go send her back. We're leaving too."
"You all are leaving?" I asked with some surprise, mixed with some helplessness.
"Not me. I'm telling my mom I need to stay." Jacob said. "She'll understand that I'm looking out for my bro." He added.
Well, his intentions were great, but when his mother came to pick him up, she dragged him back while pulling his ear, so he didn't have any choice in the matter.
I turned to Enid who was still sobbing, "Alright. Stop crying. I'm not going to college."
Were they crazy into thinking I would actually go to Caltech right now? If there was anything I had figured out from my experiences today, it was that I would rather be living my teenage years like a normal boy with them instead of becoming a token boy in prestigious colleges.
'After all, I was already a teenager with a billion dollar company, a record label, an AI, a few research grants from the government and big companies, and maybe even a studio. But despite all that, I was still, at heart, just a normal teenager– Wow, even I couldn't believe what I was thinking.'
"You're not?" Alex asked with disbelief. "Why? You don't have anything else you need to learn in school. You're just wasting time at this point. You need to go to college to fulfill your true potential–"
"Stop nagging Alex." Finneas said complainingly. "Sometimes you can go on and on and on." He added with a mocking tone.
Alex raised her eyebrow and looked at Finneas, "Oh, so you hate that about me?"
Finneas paused briefly and replied, "I kinda like it. But I want you to only nag me. Am I weird like this?"
"Aww." Tara and Enid exclaimed sweetly. I looked at Enid who changed her mood quickly with a look of suspicion. She suddenly turned to me and said, "So, you're not going?"
I sighed and said, "I'm not. Especially not now. I don't want them to have any claims to my inventions. Do you know that if you're a student or faculty member of a college, they can claim a certain percentage of your invention?"
"Also, I'm very busy with my work right now. I may wait 2 or 3 more years before I go to college. In the meantime, I will just study by myself." I explained.
"Really?" Jenna's eyes lit up. "So you're not leaving?"
"You guys know that Caltech is like 20 minutes from here, right?" I asked jokingly, but was surprised by their reaction. They really didn't know about it.
"I thought it was in another state." Finneas commented.
"I thought you had to catch a flight." Billie added.
Enid complained, "I know it's here, but I also know girls at college are so slutty. Like the ones inside the party right now. They just walk around bikinis. I'm sure they'll try to sleep with you everyday!"
Haley's eyes shook a bit, and I caught that. I turned to my group of friends and asked them, "By the way,....get lost."
"???" The group was confused, and I added, "I'm here alone with a girl. Don't you guys get it yet?"
"It's Haley." Jacob muttered. "You guys are our friends too."
"Not at the moment, so can you wait outside till we're finished?" I said to them with some disbelief in my tone.
They were confused, but Jenna understood it. She blushed and grabbed Enid's hand before dragging her off me, "We're leaving."
"Why?" Enid asked whiningly.
Jenna hesitated and whispered to Enid. She widened her eyes and exclaimed loudly, "You guys are hooking up?!"
"Well not anymore." I muttered with exasperation.
"Maybe not ever." Haley added, shocking everyone in the room.
After throwing out everyone else from the room, Haley and I had a small talk before we got out together. Her mother was already in front of the house, so I was going to walk with her.
At the main party in the living room, the crowd suddenly cheered, which made Haley and I curious. Suddenly, we widened our eyes as we saw Selena and Taylor entering the party. Selena was wearing a Lara Croft costume, while Taylor was wearing a cheerleader costume, with pom poms in her hands.
Taylor widened her eyes as she saw me and Haley, but she didn't approach us and pretended to talk with the others in the party.
"Oh, it seems that your night won't be a total waste after all." Haley muttered with some slight self-deprecating tone.
"Eh, I didn't even know that she'd be here." I told her before grabbing Haley's hand in front of everyone. Selena turned agape, and Taylor's face froze. I walked with Haley to the car while everyone was staring at us, and said goodbye to her and Alex.
Claire asked as she peeked her face outside of the window, "What's wrong with you guys? Why are your faces so aghast?"
"Nothing. We just had a soul searching conversation, so we're mentally exhausted right now." I replied to her before I turned to Haley.
"Mom, can you give us a moment?" Haley suddenly said to Claire.
"Wha–"
"It's important." Haley looked at Claire seriously. Claire was taken aback and sighed while rolling her windows up. "Don't be long."
Haley looked me in the eye as she contemplated for a while. A sense of guilt was pricking her heart for what she was about to do.
"Edward–" She called out my name, but I interrupted her, "You don't want me to come around you, or your family, right?"
Her eyes shook and she lowered her gaze. I grabbed her shoulders and said, "Don't worry about it. I understand."
"That's weird. Don't be so understanding. You're a weird dude." She complained at me before she gave me a hug. She sniffled as she said, "I just need some time to process all of this."
"That's why I said I understand." I replied as I returned the hug to her. Then, she left the party with Alex. All of my friends returned home one by one, leaving me alone with strangers– and my cousin. Almost everyone from my high school had gone home– not willingly, but was called back by their parents as it was almost midnight.
After they were gone, you'd expect the party to die down, and everyone went home, right? However, the number of people who were at the party stayed the same.
"Edward." Astrid, the model I met before in the fashion show, came with her friends. They gave me a hug and asked, "There's no booze in the party?"
"Now that the kids are gone, I think I can get some." I replied to them, prompting them to cheer. "But you're going to need to show your id to the bartender." I added, causing the not-legal-yet-to-drink party goers to exclaim in disappointment.
"In fact, let me get you your bartender now." I said before I pointed at Chuck who was waiting patiently at the yogurt machine– taking over his girlfriend's job as he waited.
He brightened up and quickly followed me along to my bedroom, leaving some distance between him and me as he did. It made me realize that he had some experience in spy works, which made sense considering that it had been 2 years since he was forced into this life.
As we got into my room, I turned to look at Casey and Sarah who were being tied up on a chair with steel chains, and my face suddenly turned villainous.
"Are you guys going to keep pretending to be unconscious?" I asked them before throwing some pencils I had nearby to their heads. Chuck was startled, but then he saw Casey and Sarah expertly dodging the attack by moving their head slightly, making the pencils lose their momentum and hit the floor.
"Good. We can finally talk about your sins now." I said menacingly. "And considering that I am in a pretty bad mood, you can expect no mercy from me at the moment."
…
[General POV]
A few minutes after Sarah regained her consciousness, she realized that she was chained to the chair.
"Finally." Casey muttered with gritted teeth as he tried to move himself from the chair.
"Can you pick the locks?" He asked.
"No. it's too far away from my hand." Sarah tried to get to the keyhole of the lock, but to no avail.
"So, the mission failed." Casey muttered.
"Apparently so." Sarah replied.
"What's our strategy?" He asked.
"Denial." Sarah replied.
They waited patiently without talking much until Edward came to the room. Edward sat down by the edge of the bed, and asked Chuck to stand nearby the agents.
"Hi. We have a big problem." Chuck whispered to them. Casey looked at him with disbelief and said, "You think?"
"No. I meant. Bigger." Chuck said.
"Bigger than this?" Sarah showed her chains.
"He told everyone here I was a spy. Imagine what he'll do to you guys." Chuck said, scaring the both of them.
"Wait. Did you get a haircut?" Sarah asked with some surprise. Chuck brightened up and touched his head, "Thank you for noticing–"
"Keep the lovey dovey conversation after we get out of this, can you?" Casey muttered with disbelief.
"So. Are you guys done catching up?" Edward interrupted them.