Note: I am so sorry for how long it took me to get another chapter out! It's finally summer for me, and while I'll be traveling for the next two weeks I will be writing my little heart out to update frequently for you.
On another note, I'VE DONE SOME COOL THINGS WITH WARNER BROTHERS AND THEIR NEW FILM EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING!!!!!! They have a really cool contest about what makes you unique, and you can check the entry on my profile to see an example of what they're looking for. The contest details are on the teenfiction page!
Also, are you on Tap? I've got two stories on there! One is a message conversation between Olly and Maddy from Everything, Everything, and the other is a fun conversation I wrote for Coachella. Please check them out and comment here your Tap name so I can follow you/friend you/whatever one does on Tap. My username is my one on here: famouxx.
Also, the beautiful edit for today was done by the lovely swaggymeags. She made a bunch of beautiful ones that I can't wait to show you!!!
Okay, enough talk. Let's get to the update.
PREVIOUSLY ON THE CLASSIX: We again heard from DEFED. Something tells me we might not be hearing directly from them for a while, but that's subject to change. Either way, you should remember how Carstan is here and is the new Famoux member, and everything is UNSTABLE.
I added two new characters here after looking at their entries on my "SO YOU WANT TO BE A CHARACTER" update. Welcome to the Classix, christinolan and sonia741!!!
EMERAY
I don't know what he knows, and that's source and summit of the panic bubbling beneath my skin. For the entire car ride back to the Metropolix, my thoughts are a war zone, split between two ideas: Maybe Carstan has only been told about the Fissarex's existence and nothing else, like how I was when I joined. Or maybe he's been told exactly who we are and who we used to be, and there's no more secret to Emeray Essence.
He might know. He might not.
Either way, the panic won't subside.
Luckily for me, everyone is taken back in individual black cars, so for the drive back it's just Gerald and I. He asks me no questions about today's meeting, although I know inside he must be dying to find out what happened. As the new sentry provisions he mentioned decree, that kind of celebrity-to-guard sharing isn't allowed anymore, and the penalties for breaking the rules are strict. Even when I try to tell him about it, just to have someone to talk to, he shakes his head and stops me before I can get two words out.
"You know you can't tell me," he warns.
I frown. "Maybe not right in front of Norax. But nowââ"
"ââis not the best time either."
"But how?"
"Let's just enjoy the music. I'm sure I'll come to know most all of the details soon enough." To my disappointed face, he offers a small, knowing smile. As he glances around the car's ceiling, his voice drops swiftly to a murmur. If I wasn't paying attention, I might not have even heard it over the radio. "It shames me to say this, but these cars aren't the best places for sharing anymore."
My blood, cold as it is, goes even colder. "You don't mean . . ."
He nods, confirming it.
Turning back to my window, my erratic thoughts return in waves.
Carstan's return.
Dalton's steady disappearance.
The Fissarex being put to use in a matter of days.
And nowâânow I know that I am always being watched, even in this car, for whatever purpose that's supposed to serve Norax.
In a few left and right turns, the empty outskirts of the Ashes become Colburn all over againââlively as ever. I've never been so relieved and glad to see it: the people pushing past one another in clusters, the promise of things starting and stopping with the traffic lights. Our car slows with the flow of the other vehicles, coming to a stop next to two kids on the adjacent sidewalk. My eyes hone in on them immediately.
They have to be around twelve or thirteen, maybe younger. They've gathered together in a small dual huddle, turned toward one other with bright eyes and toothy grins. From my view I glimpse a great big, encircled Xââour insigniaââprinted one girl's t-shirt, and another embroidered on her friend's backpack.
The irony of the sight makes me smile. There they areââfans of the Famoux, unaware that I'm in the car beside them. Feeling my spirits lighten just at the thought of it, I ask Gerald if I can roll down the window and say hello.
"Oh," he starts, "you know, it's pretty crowdedââ"
But as he speaks, I'm already pressing the button to do so. When I glance back at him, he offers a shrug and a laugh, permitting me to carry on. After all, there's no rule against me taking time out of my day to meet fans. If anything, it's highly encouraged.
For a moment the two are so wrapped up in their conversation that they don't notice me. I lean my head out the window and listen, catching a fragment about none other than Chapter and I being on a movie set.
I can't contain my grin. Of course, they're talking about the Famoux.
". . . but those pictures showed them in really elegant clothes," the one with the Famoux backpack comments. "I think it's going to be a dramatic movie."
"But there are only three pictures," the other rebuttals. "Who's to say what the other costumes are going to be like?"
"Well, who's to say there's going to be more than one costume?"
"It's a feature film, Sonia. You really think they're only going to be wearing one costume the whole time?"
"I mean, maybeââ"
"You know, I can confirm that for you," I cut in.
When they look in my direction, their eyes change in an instantââat first confused, a little on the defense, and then, at once, surprise. The girl in the Famoux shirtââSoniaâânearly falls to her knees on the sidewalk.
It takes barely a minute before we're once more moving down the street toward the Metropolix, but that brief time between then and now is a blur of squealing, crying, picture-taking, and plenty hugs when I quickly hop out of the car. I learn their names (Christin and Sonia), their ages (both fourteen), and how much I've apparently impacted their lives, just in existing and choosing to do so in the public eye.
"I read your X everyday," says Sonia. "The letters the other members wrote for you . . . they just bring me to tears! You're truly a wonderful person."
"You've helped us with so much," Christin adds on. When I glance to her, she's wiping away a tear. "I know you probably get that all the time, but you really, really have."
At this point, forty seconds have gone by. A small crowd is already forming around the three of us, their devices poised in the air like unofficial paparazzi. It's right here and now that it occurs to me how usual this has all gotten. When smiling and posing for a picture becomes a daily part of the job, it's easy to start taking it for granted, and the truth is, I got used to it like one gets used to going to a class or driving a new vehicle.
But somehow, within those forty seconds out of the car, my chest fills with an indescribable feelingââone I haven't felt in months. For the time that I'm with this crowd, none of the bad things about today exist anymore. No Carstan, no threats, no nothing. It's just me, this group, and the innocence and delight surrounding this moment right here.
"Emeray, I hate to break this up, but the light is green."
I turn to Gerald, my happier mood faltering. "One moment."
"Be quick. The people will wait for a Famoux member, but not for long."
I say my goodbyes and retreat to the car, climbing back into my seat. Just be we move through the intersection, someone calls out from the crowd.
"You have no idea how much you mean to us!"
I can't find the voice's source, so I smile at the whole group. "And you, really, truly have no idea how much you mean to me."
The high from this entire interaction is short-lived; pulling into the Metropolix, I'm suddenly reminded of everything I'm about to face when I walk in, and it doesn't take long for the light feeling in my heart to sink all over again. Gerald escorts me to the mudroom, and after checking upon my request, lets me know that the kitchen and hallway are both empty. I scurry up to my room as quick as I can go.
Even in the privacy of my room, I still can't breathe easy. After months of being comforted by the fact that while I was here in Betnedoor, he was all the way in Eldae, Carstan is in my proximity at any given moment. Even worse, he's showing no signs of leaving my proximity any time soon.
At this point, I would give anything to be back on that street again with Sonia and Christinââto make our meeting a great and grand parade that could go on and keep me away from the Metropolix for weeks on end. But it's over, and I am steps away from Carstan van Horne, and there's nothing I can do to change that.
I rake a hand through my hair, moving to the bathroom. Norax mentioned a dinner in an hour or so, but the mere thought of her son sitting in Foster's place makes my stomach turn. Turning the faucet, I decide to call it a night and start washing my face.
In the following hour, three different Metropolix employees stop by my door to ask me if I'll be attending dinner. The first two are maids who, as I expected sheepishly retreat at my first refusal. That's why it doesn't surprise me when I find the final visitor dressed in the same slacks and collared shirt from Gerald's usual attire. A guard.
I grin. Norax has actually reverted to using force to get me downstairs.
Despite this, I give each of them the same performance: a weak expression accompanied by, "I'm afraid I'm not feeling well."
The guard, of course, takes my excuse with a grain of salt. "I'm sure everyone is very overwhelmed by the happenings of today, Miss Essence."
"If they want to take the night off as well, I wouldn't blame them."
"I'm afraid you're not grasping the gravity of this dinner. There are going to be numerous announcements of the entire Famoux's upcoming course of action. Norax expressed how special this event is, and thus everyone should be present forââ"
"And if it's that special, I don't want to feel ill the entire time," I say.
He narrows his eyes. "Miss Essence, I'm well aware of how Famoux members, on a whole, don't get sick. Unless you're feeling immense, inside-erupting extremes here, I doubt you're actually as ill as you claim."
"What if I actually am feeling immense, inside-erupting extremes?"
"Then you'd be dead already." The guard adjusts his posture, growing taller and more authoritative. "Norax needs you downstairs, so you need to go downstairs."
I take a moment to absorb his words. Norax needs you downstairs, so you need to go downstairs. It's a lot like how Norax needed me to be Emeray Essence, so I walked right into the Fissarexââor how Norax needed me to date Cartney, so I signed the contract.
I could do what I always do and obey. That keeps me in her good graces. That keeps me out of trouble. That is the easiest, best thing I could do.
"Please let Norax know that I need to take the night to rest," I say cooly. "I'm sure I'll be in better spirits in the morning."
My door is shut before he can say another word.
xxx
More to come soon. In the meantime, tell me your thoughts.
It was really awesome adding Christin and Sonia to this! I needed two fourteen year olds, so I checked the comments of my Character Update and decided they were a perfect fit. That being said, if you haven't added your information on that page, please do! I want to make you a character!!!!
Have a wonderfully Famoux Friday, friends. Listen to that new Harry Styles album and (if you're anything like me) imagine it to be Cartney singing about Kaytee half the time. Or Marlon. Or an alternate universe in which Chapter is a singer. THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE ENDLESS.
Sticks and Stones may break your bones, but haters make you famoux. Stay classy, stay classix.