Note: I'm here! I'm here! It's Friday! SUCCESS!!!
The edit of Chapter attached is the most fantastic Chapter dream cast of all time. TEN OUT OF TEN. (Come to think of it, Lin Manuel Miranda truly does resemble Chapter in the fact that they are both fathers and Chapter was supposed to have a similar hair and complexion preFissarex.)
EXPECT A SUPER [PROBABLY NOT] SPOOKY HALLOWEEN POST THIS MONDAY. So in addition to this chapter today, you'll be getting something extra at the start of next week! YESSSSS.
PREVIOUSLY ON THE CLASSIX: We switched it up and heard a little from Chapter. It was exactly the breath of fresh air we needed. Man, all those foggy Emeray thoughts were getting to be too much, am I right? I was getting so bored while writing it that I realized how bored you probably were while reading it.
So let's begin.
chapter
She ambles into the foyer, ever escorted by her guard Angad. I watch as she glances over her shoulder, up the stairs, down to the floor, unable to settle on one thing at a time. Given the expression on her face as she does this, she looks unnecessarily uneasy for a girl who's just made it back to a place that's supposed to be home. It's as if she hopes nobody's noticed her enter. Instinctively, I lean back into my chair, bringing the book close to my face like it does any job in hiding me.
Looking at her now, I remember a night months and months ago at Ace. She'd been looking around the room, taking it all in, being present and existent after a lifetime of hiding away. Back then, she'd unavoidable simply in the way she moved. I had wondered that night if she was looking for something in specific, but it turned out she was simply looking for everything.
She used to walk curiously, but purposefullyââthe destination always a mystery to be solved. Here and now, she carries herself gingerly, tiptoeing about like one might take offense at any given step she takes.
That's the main issue: She cares so deeply, so suffocatingly, about what other people think of her now. Not one month ago she'd been bent on making she and Cartney the most hated couple in Delicatum, on being as annoying and over the top as possible, and now she's flipped a switch. The magazines are showing pictures of her outside Wes Tegg's everyday like she's just joined the Famoux againââshaking hands with fans and taking pictures as Cartney waits inside angrily. Sometimes she goes out to meet fans completely by herself, no boyfriend in sight.
A few days ago, Cartney and I met up at the label's office to talk about it. We've actually been having meetings every so often for a couple months now. Random and inexplicable as it seems, it's been beneficial for the both of us.
The meetings started around the time when Cartney bought his new black clothes to wear around with Emeray. He'd approached me one random day back in the Metropolix, and while Cartney Kirk's presence in the apartment he never visits should've been surprising enough, it was the leather jacket that really threw me off.
"What's with theââ"
"You are the withstanding most popular celebrity in the world," he interrupted. "You're still aware of that, right?"
I blinked. This, coming from Cartney Kirk?
"What are you getting at?" I asked.
He put a hand on his chest. "This might come as a surprise to you, but I'm on my way to becoming the most hated celebrity in the world."
"Wait, what?"
"Can I talk to you?"
Cartney has been keeping secrets for a long, long time now. In our first little conference that afternoon, he revealed to me everything. What DEFED told him, what he did about it, what knows he has to do now.
In the months preceding, Cartney would tell Emeray right before the Fanatix's Ansel on Eighteen episode that DEFED had just sent him a threat.
In actuality, this threat came into existence barely a day after Foster was shot down in the Darkening.
"I couldn't say anything then," he told me at that first meeting. "I couldn't just turn and make it all about Cartney Kirk when everyone's mourning Foster Farrand, you know? I mean, when DEFED reached out to me, I hid away from the Famoux for an entire week to cope. Nobody even noticed. It wasn't the time or place."
I closed my eyes for a second, willing myself to breathe calmly. He was telling me in this moment that, after the radio silence I'd been granted for a few weeks after the Fishbowl, DEFED was not gone.
And despite everything we thought they'd been capable of, they were capable of so much more.
"Are you going to tell her?" I asked.
"Gradually. She needs to like me first. I mean, if she still hates me as much as she does now, she's not going to care enough to help me stay alive." He tugged at the collar of his leather jacket. "Do you think this is a good first step?"
I considered it, putting a hand on my chin. "It's a really thoughtful gesture. But don't make her like you too much, all right?"
He grinned wide. "Do I intimidate you, Chaps?"
As the months progressed, Cartney too made progressions with Emeray. They went on their daily walks. They developed a system. They became friends. And all the while, Cartney checked in with me regularly, and for a long time our meetings entailed little to no urgency at all.
But it was at this most recent one when he came in looking worried, strung out. He brought it up at once, that something is definitely going on with her, and for the first time I finally realized how much Emeray had changed.
"I just don't get it," Cartney said. "I try to stop her all the time, but somehow she finds a way to get outside anyway. It's like she doesn't even remember how her only dependable friend's life is on the line."
"Did you try reminding her?" I asked.
"I remind her every day. She won't listen."
"Won't listen?"
"She bargains with me instead. Apparently if I just wait inside the coffee shop, I'm out of harm's way enough."
My stomach turned. "That doesn't sound like Emeray."
"No. It doesn't." Cartney picked at his hands nervously. "I don't know what's going on, man. She said something about seeing Foster too, you know."
"Huh?"
"Apparently he gave her the ring."
I looked at him squarely. "That isn't possible."
He nodded. "It's not, I know. And the bouncer who apparently saw him too didn't even exist. But she still got the ring at the party. It showed up."
"That doesn't make sense."
"None of it does. After that night, everything started changing, too. She suddenly cares so much more about her image that she's starting to care less about people she loves. I mean, when's the last time you even talked to her?"
I wanted to find an answer immediately, but I was stumped.
I have no idea when the last time we talked was.
My hesitation made him nod. "Exactly my point."
The worst part of all this, to me, is that I didn't even notice half of this going on. I didn't notice her changes. I didn't notice how much time had passed. Somehow the Fanatix and my own work actually distracted me enough to not pay attention to her. And I can claim all I want that I just don't see her enough, and that the contracts and the new house make it too difficult, but it's a cop out.
I don't have to succumb to a contract that was uncalled for in the first place if I don't want to.
I don't have to care what the Fanatix say if they see us.
But from the moment she signed her name on that paper, she always cared. And because I cared about her, I tried my best to make her comfortable.
And now it's like we're not even together.
And I let that happen.
Once more, I took the cop out. "Well, it's hard for any of the Famoux members to reach her when she's out of the Hideaway all the time," I told him, feeling sick. "She'sââshe's always somewhere with you."
"And when she's with me, she's trying to get away from me. You know, she ducks away whenever I try to kiss her now? People are starting to notice."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and they're happy about it, too. They dislike me so much after the album flop that they're excited to see Emeray acting this way around me."
I ran a hand through my hair, picturing what the Volx would look like if one still existed. She'd be on her way up. Based on what Cartney has told me about DEFED and the threats, the last thing Emeray should be doing is ascending.
"I'm sure the movie coming up with Race is helping too, since they're starting the promo together," I said.
"Oh, for sure it's helping. It's a thrill for fans to see Emeray losing interest in me while connecting with the guy who single-handedly stole my last girlfriend away." He paused, his neck straining. "She is taking every chance she can to become a fan favorite again. Why the hell did she change her mind like this?"
"Like you said, I haven't been able to talk to her in a whileââ"
"Well, get talking now," he ordered. "You're her actual, real-life boyfriend, Chapter. Do something about it."
And that's why I'm at this sitting room. Not to readââto do something.
"Any more plans for this evening, Miss Essence?" Angad asks her. He takes her checkered red coat when she offers it to him, folding it over his arm. Though Cartney's leather jacket hasn't gone anywhere yet, Emeray's started wearing colors again.
"Just going up to my room," she replies.
I exhale with relief. She's not leaving the Hideaway again. For once she's not busy with a million little things.
"Norax told me to make sure you visit her office sometime tonight. I believe she wants to discuss a couple collaborative opportunities she's made for you and your Fanatix members."
"Okay. When is that?"
"Whenever you'd like, doesn't have to be now."
"Okay," she says again, clapping her hands together softly. I get a feeling of dread almost immediately. The only other person I've ever seen use that gesture is Norax. "I'll go right now, thenââ"
"Wait, wait."
I slap the book down on the table beside me, jumping out of my seat. Emeray freezes, her eyes wide when they meet mine.
"Sticks," I say, softer.
She hesitates for a second. Her voice comes out as a whisper.
"Stones."
Taking a deep breath, I step toward the foyer. It's like we're just meeting again, in some way, even though I know her. But the closer I get, the more I feel like I don't. Her eyes are the same, but they show me something different. Her hair is the same, but it's longer and curlier. Changes I wouldn't notice, I didn't notice, until now.
"Could we talk?" I ask.
She glances over at Angad, who looks at me with question. I sigh, thinking up the first lie that comes to mind.
"Um, something about Onward Train," I say. "Some possible retakes or something. I have the director's note."
I sound completely implausible. Angad nods anyway.
"Fine with me."
I always knew I liked him.
xxx
Things are certainly getting stranger. So Cartney told Chapter about the DEFED threat MONTHS before we even knew it was a thing? They've been meeting up like regular bros? What's up???
Tell me your thoughts.
I can't wait until you know everything. Honestly. AHHHH!
I hope you're having a lovely Friday, Wattpad. What are you being for Halloween? Any cool plans? I'm probably going to be at a cafe for the entire evening writing an entry for the TNT Horror Contest. This is not an adââI legitimately want to pitch a horror story, because the contest sounds, as the kids say, LIT. Wish me luck on writing horror.
Remember:
Sticks and Stones may break your bones, but haters make you famoux. Stay classy, stay classix.