76 Chapter 76: A bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?

(I'm back!! Also, I'm mentally exhausted from the auntie's and uncle's point blank questions such as, "When are you getting married?" "All your friends have a child already?" "When are you buying a house?" "When are you going to lose weight?"

My introvert personality can't handle the yearly torture anymore lol. )

[Phil's commentary]

"Although the song was great, I'm worried for Ed. He went through so much before he even reached puberty, and I'm afraid it will influence his personality greatly. Most people wouldn't even notice it, but I'm not most people."

Phil said in a concerned voice, but with a hint of bragging at the last sentence. His face turned sour and he said, "He's not walking, he's not enjoying life, but…he's sprinting madly ahead, as if he is being chased by something."

Phil had no idea what he thought was extremely close to the truth.

"After talking to his aunt, I know for sure he's pushing himself…pushing himself madly…it's not normal. It's not even normal for a kid to be as mature as him."

"If he keeps walking this path– He'll eventually burn himself out for sure. It's like my roommate Ling when he thought he could build a (voice break) Helicopter."

[3rd Person POV]

While the premier at Jay's house was ongoing, 2 young women were watching Ed's music video from a laptop. A blonde, and a latina brunette. The blonde was sitting on a chair while the brunette was standing behind her–watching the music video over her shoulder.

"He's so dreamy. He's only 14? Are you sure?"Selena said using a professional tone as she tried to hide her fluttering heart while watching the music video

"I'm sure. And…I'm sure he's still currently growing." Taylor said while licking her lips seductively. Selena rolled her eyes at her currently-going-to-be-her-bestie, and slammed the laptop shut, startling Taylor.

With narrowed eyes, Selena said, "Don't even dare to think about it. You'll go to jail."

Taylor shrugged as the thing on the boat was only her and Ed's secret, so no one else knew about it.

"Disney is also interested in him right?" Taylor said to Selena with a sly smirk. She had been talking Edward up with a few producers and important people in Hollywood without him even asking her to do so.

"Yeah. They ARE considering casting him in some shows, but…he's not made for Disney image." Selena said with a wry smile. (A/N: That means, keeping things light for the general audience. Whatever degeneracy they did behind the camera screen didn't count)

"That's good. I also don't think Disney is his style." Taylor said while leaning back on the chair.

Selena rolled her eyes again and said carefully, "So. Juliet. You're going to meet him for recording this Friday right? Can I come with you?"

Taylor turned and looked at Selena in disbelief, "N-No. Why would you want to come?"

She had planned to have some 'alone time' with Ed, therefore she didn't want to take a chance in bringing someone else.

Selena gazed at Taylor suspiciously and said, "Now…I know for sure I need to come."

…

[Edward POV- After the premier]

"ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!" Cam started a chant, but only Gloria and Phil followed along to his words.

Nevertheless, everyone agreed to repeat watching the video. My face was blushing as their support was tugging at my heartstrings. The younger generations caught my expression and they were sniggering by themselves before I finally stood up to try and move away from there. I have avoidance issues, I know.

Pepper gave me a hug as he saw me standing up.

"Why are you so flustered? Did you get worried that people wouldn't like it? You're a natural kid. You can sleep on a piano, and wake up to a hit song."

He released me, but his hands were still holding my shoulders. He looked me straight in the eyes before saying, "I'm really proud of you."

"*Ehem* That's my line." My real dad swooped in and grabbed me from Pepper and mimicked Pepper's action before this. He said, "I'm proud of you Ed."

"Yeah. I know." I said with my face still red from the embarrassment. Haley giggled mischievously and said, "He's blushing~"

The group let out "Awww" and teased me a bit before the video reaction died down.

[Mitch and Cam's commentary]

"I didn't expect Ed's story telling to be so impactful." Mitchell said with eyes full of awe. Cam made a side eye at him and said, "Maybe because it resonated with you deeply? For me, I had never been cheated on, so…"

Mitchell rolled his eyes before saying angrily, "How are we talking about me? We're talking about Ed."

Cam giggled and closed his mouth before Mitchell turned back to the camera.

"How he played with the ups and downs of life. That's beautiful." Mitchell said, but Cam's stifled giggling made him unable continue his words.

[Claire's commentary]

"To be honest I was too drunk to remember how I reacted." Claire said before the camera cuts to the scene of her drinking her 7th glass of wine during the screening.

"But I'm sure it went great." Claire said with a smile on her face, but her eyes were shaky as she was internally disappointed in herself.

"Also, I remember groping someone's…I don't know." She said while trying hard to remember the affairs of the premier.

[Commentary ends]

Jay was enjoying the song 7 years that I had made into a lyric video while sipping a glass of scotch in his single seat sofa, with my dad, Pepper and Phil. He had poured them all a glass of his finest scotch as his mood was lifted through the song- although Phil was just an extra in there. (E/N: Also Phil adds "sprite" to 20+ year old scotch sooo that makes Jay mad, rightly so of course lol)

I was hanging out with Jenna, Haley, Abby and Alex near the pool while sipping orange juices. Luke and Manny were playing together, while Jacob and Elsa had disappeared somewhere.

'My aunt was suspicious of them though, so I hope that they can make out without getting caught.'

I sincerely hoped that Jacob could get his time alone with Elsa, but I was also annoyed that they were too clingy with each other. They were slowly merging into one individual, which makes me shudder everytime I think about it.

As Jenna was left behind by her best friend, Alex stuck by her side lest she felt uncomfortable with the group there. She also secretly told me that Jenna didn't want to come at the beginning, which made me think back about my interaction with her to find out why she was so mad at me.

'I really didn't do anything wrong though?' I thought as I talked with Haley and Abby.

"Hey- Stop daydreaming." Abby said in annoyance as she saw my mind was elsewhere while I was talking to them.

"I'm not daydreaming though. Like I said, I didn't base the song on anyone."

In fact, it was my own 'original' in the world– or rather, the me without my past life memories. It was the first song "he" created while he was 12, one month after his mom left his family.

Abby was not convinced by my words as she still thought I wasn't hearing her properly. I didn't know that this was the side effect of the parallel thinking I was currently using. I used one part of the mind to control my ears and mouth, but another part to control my eyes. Therefore, she kept getting the feeling that I wasn't totally there while talking to her, even while I was looking at her. Woman's instinct was scary.

Haley laughed at Abby's misery before saying, "Enid and Tara are late. They said they were coming by an hour ago."

"Are you sure you gave them the right address?" I asked in concern.

"I'm…sure?" Haley said but ended her sentence like a question. "Hold on, I'll check."

Abby peeked at Haley's phone before she facepalmed and said, "That's on the other side of the town- HALEY! How could you!"

"I didn't do this on purpose!!" Haley shouted before calling the sisters hurriedly.

"Ed. ED. Why don't you tell us how you came up with the scenes?" Mitchell said in excitement while dragging Cam with him. He wanted to use me to settle one of their usual arguments, and had been watching our conversation from afar before deciding to interrupt as Haley and Abby moved away.

Desiree was talking with Gloria about back pain before the duo was attracted to Mitchell's question. The tipsy Claire was nearby so she joined in the conversation too. She said before I could answer, "I don't think he thought much about it. It seems fairly simple."

Alex rolled her eyes while appearing out of knowhere with Jenna and said, "Mom. Do you really think he'd do things carelessly? I can promise you he thought about the matter deeply."

I retorted, "When you put it like that, it puts a fair bit of pressure on me, doesn't it?"

"Sorry." Alex replied unapologetically and had a slight smirk on her lips before it faded away. I patted her head which made her beam up, while simultaneously getting glared at by Haley and Abby from afar.

"What do you think about it Mitchell?" I asked, not noticing the sparks coming out of the girls eyes while they were eyeing each other. Jenna and Alex on one team, Haley and Abby on the other.

Mitchell huffed loudly and prepared himself before saying, "Like I said to Cam, the whole video is about revenge. You- No, I mean, the character… was cheated on, so he made a revenge song to show everyone who the man- I mean girl, truly was."

"Projecting much Mitchell?" Cam said snidely with a whisper, but everyone could hear it.

"Cam, what do you think?" I asked.

"For me, the piano is his effort in making things work. He tried hard, but the relationship just couldn't be saved. So he moved on by getting on that train." Cam said.

"It's close." I said, acknowledging Cam's inner theater director skills. He grinned at Mitchell, making his partner roll his eyes again.

"But not accurate." I added, making the group even more interested. However, I sipped my orange juice and refused to continue elaborating. The group waited for a while, and was confused by my lack of further explanation.

"So…what is it?" Haley asked with glittering eyes. "And are you going to get tattoos next?" She asked, biting her lower lip as she couldn't get the bad boy character out of her mind.

"Haley." Claire called her out to admonish her despite being drunk right now.

"Ay, Ed. Don't make us wait. Tell us." Gloria said anxiously.

I smirked and said, "So you guys want the director commentary?"

""" YES!""" They replied all at once with a frustrated expression.

I chuckled a bit and stole a glance at Abby and Desiree before turning to Mitch and Cam. Abby noticed it, and her chest felt tight as she remembered the music video. To be honest she didn't like the video clip so much– rather, she couldn't enjoy it. It brought back unpleasant memories when she heard it.

"In the first part, like Cam said, the piano is his effort. But not only that, it represents his feelings. He worked so hard to get to her, only to find that she was with someone else. But then, why didn't he leave the piano there?"

The group went silent for a while before Jenna replied, "Because…he still had feelings for her?"

"Yes." I said while turning my head to Jenna. I continued, "After his relationship was over, the feelings turned into baggage instead. He tried to move on, but the baggage would still follow him. Until, he reached the train, and finally started to play with the piano."

"There, he finally confronted his emotions, processed them, accepted everything. He can finally leave it all behind and move on as a better person."

"That's why the last verse of the song was just saying he realized she wouldn't love him the same way that he loved her. It repeated until the end, when he finally boarded the train."

My explanation caused the group to be silent. Abby scrunched her eyebrows together and said venomously, "Why should He accept it? Why should he be the one who suffers?"

I realized Abby was affected by my words, and turned towards her. "True. it's unfair to be the person who didn't make any mistake, and the one who suffered at the same time."

"Umm..we're going to go." Mitchell said before pulling Cam away. "But-But-But-" Cam stuttered as he was unwilling to miss the drama, but Mitchell was adamant to leave us alone. He even brought the other girls away with them, leaving only Desiree, Gloria and Claire there. Although Mitchell hinted at them to walk away, they didn't realize it and stuck nearby to hear what we were saying.

I patted Abby's head and said, "The anger, the feeling of betrayal, it will haunt us. But, it doesn't mean that all the other people we met afterward will be the same. To carry the baggage with you means you will close off your heart to anything that might hurt you later in the future. You won't be able to be at ease when you're with a new person, and even if they didn't do anything, you couldn't help but compare them to the previous one."

"Then, you'll hurt yourself, and the new person, making the circle of anger and betrayal continue."

It wasn't my intention to have this talk with Abby, but I wouldn't want to miss the chance to let her realize this. The more she denied that she was hurt, the more she would hurt others, and also herself.

Mitchell and Cam opened their mouths slightly as they could still hear my words from afar, but they were so impressed by the way I handled things that there wasn't really anything they could say to add to it. Desiree smiled and hugged Abby from behind. Abby was startled, but Desiree said, "He's right you know."

"But mom." Abby said with teary eyes.

"Uhh..What is happening?" Gloria asked in confusion. Claire whispered to her, "Her dad cheated on her mom."

"What?! Cheated on her? Is he crazy?" Gloria retorted as she was so shocked that someone would cheat on such a sexy woman.

[Abby POV]

Why was he saying things like that? Why did he care so much about this topic? Couldn't he just pick another song to use? Why must he bring up my pain to the surface?

(Sounds selfish, but most of the characters in the series are self absorbed. I just followed along. And, I'll remind you again, she's a teenager.)

Without me realizing it, tears pooled in my eyes as he patted my head. Luckily mom pulled me to her embrace, so I didn't start crying in front of him.

My mom brought me away from there, and sat me down. We finally have a talk about my dad's behavior after we avoided the topic for too long.

We ran. After the incident happened, we both ran away. We ran from New York all the way to California. We left everything behind as we were afraid to face the truth.

Yeah, it sucked having dad cheat on mom. But if he didn't do it, maybe I wouldn't have been able to meet Edward at all.

'I wanted to move on, but I kept getting drawn back to him. Why must he be like this? Why can't he just let me peacefully move on?' I thought before realizing how hypocritical I was being.

'I was the one who stuck around, even after I had hurt him. I was the one who wanted to be friends, even after I ended things…'

I turned to look at him who had a concerned look on his face as he watched me from afar. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle even though I was still sad as I saw his stupid face.

"Bastard…" I murmured to myself. "Now, I'm addicted to you." I said with a determined look on my face.

"So…I will stop running."

"And Maybe…"

…

[Haley POV]

My eyes shook as I watched Edward pat Abby's head. I listened to what he said to her, and I realized something. He had never pushed her out of his mind, and kept thinking of ways to help her.

"...So, maybe the reason he rejected me, wasn't because of my family at all." I said in self depreciation while looking at him.

*Splurt*

I suddenly heard someone spew their drink from behind me, and turned hurriedly to find Mitchell looking at me with a spooked face.

"You confessed?!" He shouted in my face to my horror, as I quickly cupped his mouth shut with my palm hurriedly.

"Un-Uncle Mitch. This is not the place to talk about it." I said as I saw my mom looking at me and my uncle. He nodded to show he understands my words as he calmed himself down before dragging me away to 'interrogate' me.

Not that he needed to use strong techniques, I practically told him everything since I was 4. Uncle Cam also tagged along as he understood everything when he heard Uncle Mitchell scream, and we moved our conversation to the kitchen where no one was around.

"Umm…Basically, yeah." I confessed to both of them. Uncle Mitchell was still in disbelief while Cam instantly said, "What about Taylor?"

"HE'S NOT DATING TAYLO- Uncle Cam! FOCUS!" I said to him sternly.

"No…I mean…It's good that he isn't dating her…now…but, he really rejected you? And you still hang around him?" Uncle Cam said.( E/N: Well "technically" he didn't "reject" her per say, they both talked and kind of both decided to air on the side of caution I mean Haley knows that if she just pushed a little more she would totally get him lol)

"That's…brave." Uncle Mitchell added.

I rolled my eyes at the two big queens before saying, "He had his reasons. Also, he told me he likes me too."

"I see. So he wanted to avoid a scandal." Uncle Cam came to his own conclusion. I was confused as I really thought that was true, but Uncle Mitch rolled his eyes at his partner and said, "He's not. But Haley, I don't think that's all there is right? Is there something else you're keeping away from me?"

"Umm…" I hesitated to tell them, before I finally just let it go. "I slept with him."

"SLEPT WITH H-" Uncle Mitchell looked around hurriedly as he stopped shouting to make sure no one else heard it. With a spooked eyes, he asked, "You guys used protection right?"

"N- No. It's not li-"

"NO?!" Uncle Mitchell exclaimed in horror while Uncle Cam shook his head in disappointment.

"No- It's not like that. We didn't do anything. We just…slept." I said, hiding the fact that we actually had done something before. I like Uncle Cam, but I wouldn't talk to him about this. I will share it with Uncle Mitchell when we are alone later on.

[Edward POV]

"I need to go." Jenna said since her driver had already parked in front of the house to pick her up. She hugged me and said, "Congratulations on your debut. I will pray for you."

"Pray? Aren't you.." I muttered as I knew for sure she was an agnostic. She blushed and said, "No- It's different. It's more like hope."

"Hmm…You hung out with Mrs Green too much." I teased her, which made her blush even more. Mrs Green even said that she wanted to adopt Jenna to be her daughter if she had the chance, as she loved the girl.

"Maybe." Jenna replied with a twinkle in her eyes as she remembered Mrs Green. Suddenly, the plot for Young Sheldon, where a slutty girl that George brought home was turned into a Catholic devotee by his mother came into my mind.

"Whatever, As long as you're happy. And also, how's your tutoring going?" I asked.

Her eyes shook and she glanced at Alex with betrayal. Alex shook her head at her, trying to tell her she didn't expose her secret when I smirked and said, "Ohh…So Alex is tutoring you. Good choice. She's the only one in the entire school that can reach my level, so you're good with this."

"She's trying hard, so you may not want to get cocky. I'll make sure that she can get number 2." Alex said with a puffed up confidence.

I laughed and said, "That reminds me. We need to change the term of the bet."

"Hey. Don't go back on your words now! Are you scared?!" Alex said instigatively. "Yeah. Are you scared-" Jenna followed along before she met my eyes and pulled her face away as blood rushed to her cheeks.

"I'm not doing anything like that. It's just there isn't a number system anymore. So, if you get A's for all the subjects in the final exam, then the bet is still valid."

"Ahh. I forgot about that." Alex said in understanding.

"So-So, you want to continue the bet?" Jenna said with a stutter.

"Why not?" I said with a smile.

"No-no reason. Okay. I'll try my best." Jenna said with a renewed spirit after being downcast for the entire day. I returned to the party and was hanging out by the pool before I saw a magnificent sight.

Claire was surrounded by Gloria and Desiree. They were having an intense discussion, and needed Claire to settle the argument for them.

"See, although mine are smaller, they are firmer." Gloria said as she grabbed Claire's right hand and made her grope her breast.

"Yeah. But mine is firm too, and it's not saggy." Desiree said before she grabbed Claire's left hand and made her touch her chest too.

"Life is good." I said as I watched them from afar. No one else noticed them beside me, and I thanked God for the first time in my life today as he gave me the opportunity to imprint the sight in my mind.

"What?" Alex said and before she could turn around, I grabbed her head and kept it still. "Nothing. Just focus on me."

She was confused, but she didn't say anything and continued bombarding me with her stories of her day at the mall with Jenna. She was so excited to finally have a 'good' outing with her friends she wanted to share even the tiniest detail in her stories.

"I wonder if Mrs Green gives out classes?" I muttered to myself in amusement. Gloria and Desiree left Claire alone after a while. Although I was keeping my eyes on the wives and ex-wife, I did listen to Alex's stories attentively and chiming in here and there.

"So. I was thinking. Maybe we can borrow your place to study?" Alex asked her true purpose. Jenna was too embarrassed to study at the library, and the Dunphy's house…well you know the rest.

"Okay. Sure." I agreed without thinking much.

[3rd Person POV]

Inside the house, Pepper was talking with Jay and the others before he received a call from the movie studio that wanted Ed's song for their OST. He moved a bit further from the rest and picked up the call. His excited expression turned solemn as the call continued.

"Hmm…It's very late notice." Pepper said in dissatisfaction. "Let me talk to Ed first and I'll get back to you. His debut is this Wednesday! How could you even ask him to postpone his song release? 'Two Is Better than One' is already locked as the single's release."

The person on the other line said with a shaky voice, "I didn't plan this. The CEO suddenly got inspiration, and made all of our lives miserable. Please Pepper, we're prepared to offer 1 million dollars as compensation."

"I don't care about the money. I will ask Ed first if it's even possible at all since it would destroy his theme if we pick a random song you know 1 million can't even begin to compare to his debut success." Pepper said with a stern face.