Chapter 10

       I was getting real sick and tired of having to be in this stupid publicity stunt. Agatha was always wanting me to spend time with Chelsea in the public eye, and me doing so only made me miss a lot of important thing with the band. 

       We weren't just a band; we were a family, and the more I missed out on all the important things, the more they started getting mad at me.

       I couldn't handle it.

       It was like Agatha was doing it on purpose and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. 

       And when I threatened to tell everyone that me dating Chelsea was just a publicity stunt, she threatened to withhold all money I make. Normally, I wouldn't care since I got into music for the love of it, not for the money, but I didn't want to give Agatha the opportunity to have even more power over me.

       Though it already felt like she was controlling my life.

       It was times like these I wish I hadn't left the UK to move to Canada.

       Then again, I wouldn't have met Aviva.

       Who was also mad at me for constantly missing a lot of important things. And after we both decided we should find something on Agatha to blackmail her.

       Aviva knew it wasn't my fault and that Agatha was causing me to be so busy.

       When I got home, I was going to do a lot of binge eating to make me feel better.

       On the bright side, Chelsea still wasn't too keen on this arrangement, especially because she, like me, was starting to miss a lot of important things. At least her manager wasn't as horrible as Agatha.

       While I was heading up the apartment building to our penthouse, I ran into Agatha and I almost threw up.

       "Perfect timing," Agatha said. "I need to talk to you."

       "Let me guess, you want to make me do something else with Chelsea and avoid my band even more," I said.

       "Well, I wasn't going to use those exact words, but yes," Agatha said. "Chelsea's manager and I got you and Chelsea an interview on the talk show EN next Friday."

       "Next Friday?" I asked. "Are you serious? First off, EN's studio is filmed in LA. That's a three hour flight and since it's filmed in the evening, I most likely have to stay there overnight."

       "So?" Agatha asked.

       "So Major Vocal is scheduled to not only meet with our record label about some songs we've written, we're also recording the one song we have written Saturday morning," I said. "If I can't catch a flight in time, I'm going to miss it and we're going to have to reschedule."

       "Then I'll talk to the record label and reschedule," Agatha said. 

       "No way," I said. "It's been scheduled since we started working on the second album, and that was even before we broke up. It can take a lot of time to be scheduled back into the studio, and we need to get the song done."

       "Malachi, I'm your manager," Agatha said. "I can't change things with EN, especially since the host is depending on seeing you and Chelsea together."

       "Why?" I asked. "I'm not really dating her and I have no feelings for her. I only like her as a friend. The more time we spend together, especially on a talk show, the more likely people are going to think it's a publicity stunt. I don't want to go on the talk show."

       "I don't care," Agatha said. "We need to start getting Major Vocal's name back in the headlines."

       "And what a perfect way to do that by sending only one member on a talk show," I said sarcastically. "If you want to get Major Vocal's names back in the headlines, you're going to have to do things for the band together, not just me."

       "And I'm working on that," Agatha said. "In the meantime, you're going to that talk show, and I've already brought your plane ticket."

       I scoffed and walked away from her to head to the penthouse. I didn't get why she was making me the sole focus of Major Vocal. We were a band, and she was too concerned on putting me and Chelsea in all the headlines.

       When I got to the penthouse, I immediately knew everyone was still mad at me. Otis, Junior, and Ricky were all in the living room, and none of them glanced my way or even responded when I said, "Hey."

       I sighed and headed to the kitchen to start binge eating. If they weren't going to talk to me, I would just drown my sorrows in all the delicious food.

       While I was eating some chips, Junior got up from the couch he was one and walked over to me. "You do know you missed a pretty important meeting, right?" he asked.

       "I'm aware," I said. "I just don't get why everyone's mad at me because of it."

       "Didn't you hear me?" Junior asked. "You missed an important meeting."

       "Yes, because of Agatha," I said. "She's making me do all these crazy things with Chelsea just to get our pictures taken from the paparazzi. I keep telling her to stop making me do them when I have plans with Major Vocal. Oh, and speaking of, she's making me go to LA next Friday to be on the talk show EN with Chelsea."

       "Are you serious?" Junior asked. "Doesn't she know we have a meeting with the record label, and we're recording a song on Saturday? And we can't change it?"

       "She does, and she doesn't care," I said. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she's purposefully trying to separate me and the rest of the band."

       "What are you going to do about it?" Junior asked.

       "There's nothing I can do," I said. "If I break the publicity stunt, she said she'll withhold the money I make. And if I let that happen, then that will make her think she can control me completely." I sighed. "I just wished there was something I can do."

       "There is," Junior said. "I mean, I don't know what it is yet, but there's always a way."

       "So... Are you still mad at me?" I asked.

       Junior was hesitant before saying, "Not really, no. It is Agatha causing you to be distant. Look, if you ever need any help, or if she's being too suffering, just talk to me."

       "Thanks, I will," I said. "Right now, all I need is someway to get out of this stupid deal."

       Aviva walked out of her bedroom and headed towards the front door to put her shoes and jacket on. 

       "Hey, where are you going?" I asked, but she completely ignored me as she walked out of the penthouse and slammed the door shut behind her, which caused me to sigh. "I'm guessing she's the one who's mostly mad at me."

       "I would say so, yeah," Junior said. "You have to do something to make it up to her."

       "I know," I said. "But my hands are completely tied. I don't know what to do."

_________________

Lol so I was watching Luke and Calum moments on YouTube (don't judge me they give me canter feels), and it made me think of Canter and I miss Canter and they'll show up in this book eventually so I had to update SO THANK LUKE AND CALUM FOR MAKING ME UPDATE.

lol

I will update again tomorrow so don't worry.