Chapter 287: Danger Zone.

Chapter 287: Chapter 287: Danger Zone.

[Edward POV]

The SATs ended at 12:15 in the afternoon. After submitting the last paper, we were finally released from the classroom. Some had frowns on their faces, while others were happy.

Me? You might think that I would be smiling, but as soon as I heard the cacophony of shouts from the paparazzi and the fans, the good feeling I had from nailing the exam was crushed by a giant wave of anxiousness in my heart.

"EDWARDDDD~~~~~!!!!!!!!!"

"Mr. Newgate! A question, please!"

"EDWARD!! DID YOU BREAK UP WITH TAYLOR!"

To give them some credit, they were silent during the SAT process. I didn't even notice the large crowd of people until after it ended.

Mrs. Henderson walked past me with the exam papers in her hand. I looked toward her and said, "Do you need any help?"

"A student should never get their hands on these, so no," Mrs. Henderson replied while carrying a heavy box. I shrugged and said, "What if he's not a student?"

"Then I guess he can," Mrs. Henderson said, stopping her walk. "Randall," I called into the empty space in front of me, and my manager appeared from out of the bushes. "Help her," I ordered him.

Randall hesitated and said, "Edward, this time you might not come out unscathed. I should be with you to minimize the risk—"

I waved him off dismissively and replied, "Mickey is enough for that. Also, don't forget where I am right now. I have a lot of backups here."

Turning to Mrs. Henderson again, I asked, "You're going to give me a present for Christmas, right?"

Taken aback, Mrs. Henderson replied in confusion, "Why should I?"

"Being the woman who has known me my entire life, it's kind of your obligation. I'll wait for the present," I said cheekily. She gave a helpless smile, and I snapped my fingers at Randall. He begrudgingly picked up the box from Mrs. Henderson and took a deep breath to say something.

But before Randall could say anything else, my backups arrived. "ATTENTION! READY! SET! HUTTT!!!!"

The entire football team, clad in their game uniforms and armor, marched two by two to where I was standing. The uncanny sight was captured by the paparazzi, with flashes of light falling on them.

They created a circular perimeter around me. Jacob and Kyle pushed up the guards of their helmets, and Kyle said, "The cavalry's here!"

Jacob added, "We thought you might need us to escort you out of school."

"My initial plan was to hire an actual tank, but I guess I can make do with you guys," I chuckled teasingly. The team snickered at my comment.

As Randall escorted Mrs. Henderson back to the faculty room, he asked her in a friendly manner, "You're the woman who has known Edward the longest?"

"I was his homeroom teacher throughout middle school, so I guess I am compared to the other women—except for his family," Mrs. Henderson replied with a poker face.

Randall exclaimed in realization, "Ah, that makes sense."

The cheerleaders snapped some pictures of the team circle, and basically the entirety of the student body, even the faculty members, stopped what they were doing and became spectators.

"Ah, also, if we're breaking out of here, there's something I've always wanted to do," I said to the team. They looked confused. "What do you want to do?" Jacob asked.

I smirked and explained the situation to them. Ten minutes later, Mickey drove my Ford Dodge convertible, but I was sitting on the car hood with a microphone in my hand. The car bonnet was open, revealing large speakers inside.

Mickey sweat heavily from the anxiety. For the first time since he was promoted to be my head of security, he felt a sense of regret for jumping on the opportunity. He pressed the gas pedal without entering the gear, making the car engine roar.

"My soldiers! We're breaking through the front gate!" I shouted to the football team, who were protecting the car and boosting its morale. The entire school cheered for the 'Dolphins,' and the guards opened the metal gate that was blocking the crowd from entering the school.

"Everyone! Hi! Thank you for showing me your support while I was facing the exam! I think I did pretty well," I waved to them while speaking into the microphone. The sound reached the entire crowd, and everyone could hear my words.

The speaker drowned out the paparazzi's questions, and the football players formed a protective barrier around me, making it impossible for anyone to get close. They could only shout their questions from afar. Some even tried to insult me to gain my attention, but I ignored them all.

My fans were elated to see me; the tween girls squealed and let out hysterical screams when they laid their eyes on me. Suddenly, as the car—moving very slowly—began to penetrate the crowd, music started playing.

"Everyone! Sing it with me!" I said casually as I sat cross-legged on the car hood. It felt like I was at a concert, and some people recognized the song.

"I can't see." Mickey was sweating heavily as he drove through the crowd. "You're doing well, Mickey, just an inch at a time," I whispered to encourage him.

[A Thousand Miles – Vanessa Carlton]

A meter into the human barricade, I started singing, "?? Makin' my way downtown, Walkin' fast, faces pass, And I'm homebound ??"

The football team struggled to hold back their laughter while focusing on keeping the people from breaching their defenses. The police, present for some reason, also helped clear the way as we started breaking free. That's when I spotted a familiar face.

Detective Chloe Decker was there. From the looks of it, she was doing grunt work for the uniformed officers, likely punished by her captain for something again. Or maybe it was because I spoke up for her before, and he was being petty. Who knows?

We don't wear shoes inside the house, but we do wear indoor slippers.

"I know," I said, then asked, "Is there anything to eat?"

"Your grandmother has set aside some food for you in the fridge," Robin replied. "She's worried about you and wanted to know why she came out to California if you weren't going to spend time with her. "

"She's complaining, Robin. She doesn't really want to know about that. It's just Grandmother's guilt-tripping methods. Make a folder," I explained with an intrigued smile.

Robin's hologram blushed and said, "Got it, Sir. Your grandparents will be leaving tomorrow. Should I schedule some time for you to give them a proper send-off?"

I nodded. "Yeah, do that. Otherwise, I won't hear the end of it. Ah, Christmas. Did Grandma say anything about that?"

Robin replied, "She declined your invitation to come here because she wanted a white Christmas. There isn't any snow in California, so she asked you to come to Wisconsin."

"There's usually a snowstorm there around that time. Once, my dad, my birth giver, and I were stuck at the airport for 26 hours because of a snowstorm. We almost missed Christmas. Hmm, I have a lot to do. Maybe my dad and I will just celebrate here this year."

"Your grandmother will be angry," Robin replied with a fearful expression. She finally captured the emotion well, hugging her body and giving a slight shiver. After dismantling the robot I found underneath Greendale Community College, I upgraded Robin with an emotion sensor system created by Russell Borchert.

He used the device to play with his nipple and share the intoxicated feeling with his robot, Raquel, in an attempt that I could only hypothesize as making love with her– it. I saw the potential to upgrade Robin so she could recognize human emotions.

Robin used a scanner to analyze brain synapses to identify feelings. It made her even more human than Sheldon, however, there were a few disadvantages.

Once, when I was online trying to find something to 'release' my pent-up state, Robin realized that my brain synapses were going haywire and blocked all the related websites in the house. I couldn't even explain to her what I was doing because of the embarrassment, so she's still blocking them to this day.

As I was taking out some food from the fridge, Amy and Maggie walked groggily out of their room and approached me. Maggie yawned, her long red hair disheveled. She was wearing starry pajamas, while Amy wore moon-patterned pajamas.

"Why are you guys up?" I asked in confusion.

Amy replied in a hoarse voice, "To get some water."

Maggie added, "Amy stepped on my stomach, so I have to pee. Grandma made you some chicken."

"Go back to sleep," I told them. However, they sat down at the dining table, intending to keep me company while I ate. They asked me a few questions about the song and told me how crazy things were on the internet today.

The song's music video also had 60 million views in one day. Taylor's music video almost jumped up 30 million views today, making her views collection almost racing 200 million. The views were slowing down after the first day, but it's still rising faster than the other music video being released.

'I think BTS still holds the record in my previous life. 108 million views in one day.' I thought secretly as I was talking with Amy and Maggie.

Entertain has started video monetization so I have earned a lot of money today. Entertain videos were basically 2015 era Youtube, with numerous channels popping up daily. Youtube has fallen far behind in technology, video refresh rate, quality, and so on. Many people were migrating to Entertain websites.

On Youtube, my video views count was less than 10 million as most people opted to watch it on Entertain.

Around 3 am, when I was lying in bed, I suddenly got a text message from Taylor.

Taylor: Explain the song.

Me: I'm tired. Just got back home from filming.

Taylor: (picture.jpg)

She send me a selfie of her in front of the mirror, wearing a tank top and shorts, sitting cross legged while hiding her face behind the phone.

Taylor: Explain it or I'll send you another.

Me: (Sleep.emoji)

Taylor: (Picture.jpg)

She pulled her tank upward, revealing her stomach and slight underboobs in the picture. After a long pause, I sent her a reply text.

Me: This isn't a good idea.

Taylor: Why? You said in the song that you still want me!

It started an argument between us, and after some long heated discussions, I had to use my rest skill to get some much needed rest before I have to go work at 7 am tomorrow morning.

The exhaustion on my face didn't fully go away even if I had enough rest for the night. Around 10 a.m when I was preparing to go to the film site, Taylor stomped her way into my office with an angry expression.

"What exactly are you playing at? Are you only using my feelings to make your song trending!?" She accused me. "Is that all I ever was to you!"

With an annoyed expression, I replied in a cold tone, "Didn't you do the same thing...first?"

Taylor was taken aback, and then tears started pooling in her eyes. "You're an asshole!" She cursed before she stomped away. I sighed in exasperation and said, "I'm too tired for this."