Re:life with Karmic Gacha (Modern Family)

Chapter 110: Chapter 110: Trending.?

"Tell me please! Did Ed really make that song for Taylor? Or was it all just part of a grand marketing scheme for Twilight?!"

Selena replied, "Well that\'s what people on Twitter think. But I will tell you something. Until yesterday night, there wasn\'t a "GRANDDD" marketing scheme at ALL!" She shook her hands together at the \'grand\' part with a silly smile on her face.

"Really? SO It\'s confirmed then-"

"But," Selena stopped her friend with another \'but\', and an index finger at her face. She paused for dramatic effect before saying, "But. Ed took the opportunity from Taylor\'s SLIP of the tongue, and concocted the whole thing...in just... under an hour! That man is a wizard!"

Jennifer rolled her eyes and scoffed, "So you aren\'t planning to tell me anything? I thought we were best friends?!"

"We still are!" Selena replied with a smile. "I really did tell you the things I know."

"Yeah, but not EVERYTHING you know!" Jennifer pouted and pinched Selena\'s waist, causing her body to jerk.

Compared to Taylor, Selena was closer to Jennifer more, and like she claimed, they really were best friends. Selena desperately wanted to tell her everything, but she wouldn\'t do that, not while they were inside the filming set at least.

Selena scrolled her Twitter page and sighed, "Seriously. People still keep talking about it!"

The #TenerifeSea was trending all over the place, and Edward\'s fans were split into two and debated whether Edward had just created the song to cover up the whole incident, or had already planned to sing the song for Taylor and finally got the opportunity to do it.

Even a few celebrities were engaging in the topic, making Edward\'s follower count rise to 4.3 million in just over one night of being a trending topic.

@LilyFanClubPresident: My nose bleeds again. Last night was too much for me. #TAYDWARDFOREVER #TENERIFESEA #STARLIGHT

@Gaga_Official: Last night, I squealed like I was a teenage girl all over again. I really love the whole #Teydward Drama.

@Spain-Government: Unexpectedly, a lot of tourists arrived at our Canary Island today for a tour of the Tenerife Sea after the song was released last night. @EdwardNewgate, Thank You!

Even the real Slim Shady was tweeting about Edward last night as he wouldn\'t want to miss out on the opportunity. He posted a picture of him and Edward in the recording studio, making his page bombarded with questions about what was happening.

Slim being Slim, he ignored all of the questions, making the curious fans frustrated and wanting to know more about the whole situation.

While most people in the world were enjoying the whole drama, there were some that were against the whole thing. And one particular girl was in a bad mood all morning because Edward hadn\'t replied to her text messages for the entire night, and was only replying to them in the morning.

Haley read the Twitter post from a fan mockingly, "Oh, I wish they will be an official couple already. Bla bla bla! Why can\'t all these animals stay out of other people\'s business?!" She stampeded off from her house\'s kitchen to the living room, leaving behind Alex and her mother there.

Alex was busily studying even on a Saturday. Her hair was messy, and she had a deep eye bag beneath her reddish eyes. Claire was watching Haley storm off before turning to Alex and asked whisperingly after she saw Haley had gone out of earshot, "Alex, where is your decathlon medal? Why is it not in the glass display I put it in yesterday?"

Alex scoffed and said, "Why do you even care? It\'s not like it\'s an OUTSTANDING achievement that deserved its own glory right?" She grabbed her book and stormed off, leaving behind a taken aback Claire.

"Ale-" Claire tried to reach out her hand and called out to her daughter, but she stopped midway.

[Phil and Claire\'s commentary]

"I screwed up! Big time!" Claire said in a defeated tone and with teary eyes.

Phil hugged her sideways and comforted her, "Shh Shh Shh, it\'s not your fault. You just don\'t want anyone to feel bad. Sure, you completely ignored Alex\'s feelings, but at least your intention was good...right?"

Claire groaned and shook Phil\'s hand off her body and said, "I should\'ve made a bigger fuss for her championship...thing... I don\'t know that she\'s taking this very seriously? It\'s not like Alex is trying hard to get all of these medals. She\'s picking them up like flowers on the side of the street."

Phil realized something and turned to Claire before asking accusatorily, "Were you the one who\'s always stealing flowers from our neighborhood!?"

Claire grimaced and replied in a high pitched voice, "What?- NO!"

[Commentary ends]

Luke was on the house phone and passed by Claire as he went to grab a banana.

"Listen Manny, if you don\'t finish those 200 sit ups, Edward is going to kill your mom." Luke said before pausing to hear what Manny said on the other side.

"Yeah, I know he didn\'t say that. The question is, will he really...not do it?" Luke said with a sly grin before going to torture Manny more as the latter was working out based on Edward\'s schedules.

At the same neighborhood but a few houses over, Jay was grimacing hard as he needed to argue with Cam over some matter in the Newgate\'s house construction today.

"Gosh Jay, Imagine, a water fountain arch, spanning from here, to the outdoor hot tub. THE. WOW. FACTOR!" Cam said excitedly as he stood in front of the backyard door. Edward was adding a patio on the backyard where he would relax and unwind after a busy day of work, and had given them the designs he wanted.

Jay grunted and said, "No. Just follow what he wants. Why the hell do you want to do MORE work? It\'s like this isn\'t tiring enough already."

Cam giggled and said knowingly, "I know that despite you pretending to be tired of this, you actually loveeee hammering and sawing stuff. I saw you smile a few times when you broke down his inner walls before."

Jay sighed and murmured to himself while glancing at Cam, "Well. That\'s not the thing I\'m tired of."

Unaware of what his partner\'s father thoughts about him, Cam said, "Should we changed the cedar wood into Italian marble-"

"That cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Also, Ed should\'ve just moved out of this dump into a better place now. He\'s got the money. Why the hell didn\'t he just do that?" Jay complained.

"Well. It may be the nostalgia-"

"He changed everything inside Cam. So, it\'s not that. And... moving houses will be cheaper than this." Jay grunted.

At the edge of the city.

"Ugh, what should we do? If these things go on, and Edward decides...to date someone else after this, It will be soooo difficult for him, you know?" Pepper said in concern while putting his head on the pantry desk inside the desert studio.

While eating ice cream with a spoon, Harvey nodded and said, "Yup."

"He is playing with fire!" Pepper complained again.

"Yup." Harvey replied non-committedly.

"I don\'t know what he\'s thinking, tying their two labels together. Sure, Taylor is a nice kid, but Edward is still way too young!"

"Yup."

"Do you even hear what I\'m saying!"

"Yup!"

Edward walked past Pepper and Harvey to grab some coffee from the coffee machine while holding his phone next to his ear. "Oka-Okay- Calm down. You\'re being CRAZY! I\'m not dating Taylor!... YES! Of course I\'ll tell you If I\'m dating Taylor! So Stop CRYING!"

Pepper asked after Edward finished talking, "Who is it?"

Edward shook his head in frustration and replied, "Jacob!" He calmed himself down before asking, "We got a few offers right?"

Harvey finally responded, "Yeah. Two magazine shoots, which can lead to a formal ambassador position... and a commercial for soup."

"For soup!?" Edward asked in disbelief.

Harvey grinned and said, "For soup."

Before Edward could react, his phone vibrated again. "Uhhh...I got to go..." He said urgently before running off to a place where he could be alone. He got a text message from Taylor, or more accurately, a 30 second "preview" video from Taylor, titled, "Reply to Tenerife Sea."

While the video could be used as a reference for a sexual education study to teach youngs girls ways to \'relieve\' themselves, Edward had to open up his laptop after that and tightened the security for Taylor and his\'s Icloud storage just incase in order to prevent any third party to ever get access to their own personal files.

"I don\'t want my name to ever pop out when the Great Fappening happens later on." Ed vowed to himself.

...

[Edward POV]

Inside a photography office set, I was leaning against the mahogany desk as I posed for the camera. My hair was slicked back and I was wearing a double breasted, maroon coloured suit with the addition of a shiny new Rolex watch in my right hand.

North, the eccentric photographer I was working with before, snapped a few pictures of me while lying down sideways on the floor.

"Nice Ed! Another pose! NICE! Don\'t stop changing! AH~ Be more ANNOYED! Yes! LIKE THAT! Look at me like I\'m TRASH-"

Pepper rolled his eyes at his friend and kicked her a little bit while warning her, "BEHAVE! Or I will hire another photographer!"

North pursed her lips while rubbing her afro styled blue hair and said in excitement, "A ROLEX AD! Do you know how rare it is for the company to endorse a newbie artist? And such a young one at that too!"

"They even let me keep the watch." I added with a grin while fixing my tie, flashing the merchandise. The representative from the company was having lunch with Harvey, and didn\'t interfere much with the photoshoot... because for some reason I didn\'t understand... North was actually a giant name in the commercial industry.

North didn\'t miss and snapped the picture of my smug look, which turned out to be so charismatic that the company actually picked the impromptu shot to be included in their magazines and their promotional banner later on.

"Urgh! I could keep snapping pictures of him all day! Why!? WHY PEPPER!? Why the hell did you just give me an hour!" North grabbed Pepper by the collar before shaking him back and forth in frustration. "NOW CHANGE TO ANOTHER OUTFIT!"

Pepper held North\'s tiny hand and said, "Now now. Harvey is still negotiating with Adidas and Nike, so when we pick the winner between them, I will call you again."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

I interjected at this moment before taking off my clothes, "Pepper, can we do a few shots for my website?"

Pepper and North turned to me, with the photographer having a deranged look and Pepper having a concerned one.

"Really? Must you do that now?" Pepper asked defeatedly as North had already celebrated her additional time to snap some photos today.

"Yeah. Social media presence is important." I replied casually as I took out a giant pink feathery cape and put it over my shoulder.

"Huh? This looks...menacing, and so charismatic at the same time. Did you design this Ed?" North asked.

"No. Oda did." I replied, not explaining the fact that when I saw the outfit they wanted me to wear today, my mind automatically went to the mafioso Donflamingo from one piece. I grabbed the carved mahogany chair to the front and placed it next to the fake window before sitting lazily on it and posing like the disgraced celestial dragon.

North got goosebumps from my royalty look and her hands shivered. "N-No. It-Its incomplete." She said with a shivering voice.

"Good catch North." I said while nodding before Renaldo ran in with my custom made glasses.

"OH MY GOD!" North exclaimed before running around all over the place to snap my pictures. Pepper shook his head at my shenanigans, his face full of tiredness from trying to keep his sanity intact today.

Next, I changed into a blue and red blazer with golden embroidery lining in a half square line from under my shoulder blades to my sides, a black undershirt underneath, a quick temporary dye on my hair to make me blonde and styled neatly, and a beige khaki pants with my right knee exposed from the on purpose rip.

"Huh Edward? Why are you dressing up like a teenage girl\'s doodle?" Pepper asked.

I turned to him while the stylist was fixing my hair and replied, "Because it makes us the big bucks."

It was the design Haley made for me for my birthday present before. It took a while for Longinus– Pepper\'s friend who ran a boutique to make it because of the insane specifications I requested of him.

Pepper looked at me up and down with astonishment before saying, "I want to say \'You look ridiculous in this. What are you? A clown?\'...But, this actually looks great on you."

"I guess clothes DO make the man." Harvey added.

"Wait. She actually gave it to you? I thought she was saying she needs to redraw it again...and again...and again..." Pepper asked in confusion.

"She\'s just feeling she\'s not good enough." I replied.

Pepper narrowed his eyes and asked, "So...How did you get it?"

"Well...it doesn\'t matter." I tried to dismiss the topic.

"Edddd." Pepper called out sternly. I sighed and said, "I...might\'ve asked Alex...to send me the designs...secretly..."

Pepper let out a deep sigh and didn\'t say anything else as I needed to work now. Next endorsement was from a chain brand, which fitted the outfit perfectly. The company saw my necklace last night and automatically made me the model for their newest design today.

It was a silver chain with a lock design, and another golden chain with a cross. I posed a few times, mimicked the temperament of the korean idol artist, GDragon, and completely made North fall for my charms.

When the photoshoot was over, Pepper had to throw a bucket of cold iced water to North\'s head, just to bring her back to reality. Regardless, it was a very successful photo session today.

...

I emailed a few pictures to my friends before getting a phone call from Jay.

"Sup Jay?"

"Ed. Your bedroom\'s done. You can come back to sleep in your house starting tonight."

"OH. That\'s great news Jay. Thank you so much." I replied.

...

[Alex POV]

It was almost dinner time when I got out of my room and walked downstairs with my hands still holding the Science book I was reading.

"OH GOD WHY!" Dad screamed like a girl as he forced himself to watch The Unborn horror movies again, and wanted to watch it till the end this time. He told us it was because he was a tough man, but mom exposed him and said he only wanted to look tough in front of Ed when he came by to resume watching the movie later.

I didn\'t think that Edward was still interested in finishing it, but I wouldn\'t dismiss my dad\'s effort to get through all of the jumpscares in the movie. He said before, he could handle horror movies...provided he knew when the horror factor came out in the scenes first.

"ALEX! I cooked your favorite dish! LASAGNA~!" Mom tried to make a fuss over my achievement that she overlooked, but I was giving her the cold shoulder and didn\'t respond to anything she said.

"Alex, why are you still reading?" Luke asked while playing with his food.

I rolled my eyes at him and said, "So that I won\'t become a burden! Like you!"

"HEY!" Luke gasped in offense. Then, he realized he didn\'t care about the topic and continued eating his dino bites cheerily.

Haley joined us at the dining table soon enough, dad being the last one to come over to the dinner table to eat. She whispered to me that over 50 people had agreed to come to the party– if and only if...Edward was there.

\'Huh. So, my name has no value at all. Good to know.\' I thought in a self-deprecating manner. But at least, all of my friends agreed to come to the party, so I got that going for me.

"Haley! Don\'t use your phone while you\'re eating!" Mom admonished Haley despite not being together with us for dinner the entire week as she was busy working at her new job. Gosh I hate her.

"No mom. Ed sent me an email?" Haley said in a puzzled tone. I was curious and asked her, "What did he say?"

"He sent me a photo- WAIT A MINUTE!" Haley stood up abruptly, a huge grin broke out on her face.

"What is it Haley? Tell us!" Dad asked excitedly, knowing that it was good news based on the reaction. However, my sister\'s face was blushing and she couldn\'t say anything as she was too embarrassed by it.

I checked my phone as I received a text too, and finally knew what was going on.

"OHH! Aren\'t those the clothes you designed? Ed is actually putting them in magazines-"

Haley cupped my mouth before I could finish my words, "Shut up Alex!"

"WHATTTTT!" Dad opened his mouth wide and took Haley\'s phone from her while she was distracted and gasped as he saw Edward\'s great photo. I knew that when Enid knew about this, she would go crazy and haul as many copies of the magazine she could get, which made me concerned about her money management skills.

Edward even included Haley\'s name as the designer of the outfit, making her eyes teary.

"We-We-We need to print this out, in a huugeee size, and give it to everyone we know! OW! HALEY! WE\'RE SO PROUD OF YOU!" Mom said before she gave Haley a hug and cried along with her. Now do you see why I hate her so much?

Anyway, I was still proud of my sister. I knew how much work she had put in on her designs, despite her efforts to try and hide it from anyone else. She would wake up at 3 or 4 am sometimes, and just doodle away.

\'I thought my sister was just a dummy before, but turns out, she was actually quite cool.\'

"Wait- How did he get this-...ALEX!" Haley finally dotted all of the clues together, but I had no remorse for my actions.

"Alex, why is he biting a medal in your photo?" Luke asked suddenly after he checked out both of the images Edward sent to each of us while the attention was focused on Haley.

"Huh? What-" I was confused and checked the images Edward sent me, one of which, like Luke said, was him wearing the decathlon medal on his neck and was biting the golden plated metal sexily.

I grinned from ear to ear as I saw it, but then I got depressed again when I remembered the matter of the decathlon. I turned off my phone and said, "I...I\'m going back to my room."

Dad was confused and asked in a calming tone, "Honey? What\'s wrong?"

"I...I just need to get back to studying-"

"But why? All of your exams are over! You\'re supposed to put your book down and start enjoying your end of the year now." Mom said.

I got irked and glared at her before stomping off to the stairs. But before I could get up, I heard dad whispered, "Why is she in such a bad mood- Wait...Is she...on her time of the month-"

"DAD! OH MY GOD!" Both Haley and I shouted at the same time before my sister ran to follow me to the bedroom. We have a lot to talk about tonight, and I especially wanted to know what her plan was to get our parents out of the house for us to have that party tomorrow.

"It can\'t be that...she has no actual plans...right?" I said with a light chuckle, not knowing how close my joke was to the actual truth.