PHEME: The Ultimate Celebrity System

Chapter 8

Asher's POV 

“We need to start making moves Theo. Our dreams are closer than we think…” I took a moment to glance at Theo as I had been on the wheels for quite some time. “Are you okay?”

He was silent, as he was probably yet to understand what the heck was going on. Just a moment ago we had been struggling with a busted car. And now we were in a brand new Porsche. 

“What's going on, Asher?” He finally broke the silence. “One minute you are looking like the most helpless person on the planet, the next moment you are driving me crazy in this Porsche.”

I felt my heart skip a beat as I was thinking of what I would tell him without having to expose the entire secret. So many suggestions came and left my head, but none of them seemed to be able to suffice.

At the same time I had to finish the next mission in time as I didn't want to get in trouble with Pheme on the same day I began. 

“Just calm down. This is nothing for you to overreact about.” I had to fill the silence up with something at least. 

“Overreacting?You are acting strange…” 

“I know you have a lot of questions. But the thing is…” I thought of the best line to follow that up with. “Ever since I got knocked down by Neil's men, it felt like something was awakened in me…”

“Something was awakened?” 

“Yeah…my dreams were awakened. I realized that Neil wouldn't have done all of that to me if I was some reputable star.” I didn't know where those words were coming from, and Pheme was my prime suspect.

“Huh…?” Theo was still lost, showing that it was going to take way more than that to be able to get me to believe him. 

“I'm saying that everything that happened pushed me to take my dreams even more seriously. And I saw the whole video thing as my opportunity which I took pretty well…” 

“And the car? How did you get a Porsche right away?”

“Well…it was a gift from… a fan…” I felt like I was doing an open mic freestyle making up all of that on the spot. “As good as Neil is, he's got so many people who think he's a jerk. So this guy was so impressed that he gave us this car…”

No more questions, please… I pleaded in my mind as Theo stared at me for the next couple of seconds. I wasn't sure I had anything left for all the unanswered questions.

“Are you sure you'd be able to handle the pressure?” He asked, turning away from me. 

“Of course.” I reassured, feeling quite relieved that he wasn't asking any more interrogative questions. “We handled all the pressure back there pretty well. I'm sure we'll be able to do just fine out there.” 

“Fine…” he sighed like he wasn't in complete agreement yet. “So I do know some people who'll be part of your crew?”

“No… not my crew. It's our crew now.” I said. “Help me get them at once.” 

“Alright. You'll drop me off at the studio.” Theo said. “I have some friends over there and I'm sure they'll be obliged to join us after your brief success online.”

“Not a bad idea…” I steered the car through the familiar paths that led to the studio where we had been kicked out of severally. They would surely be surprised by the flip of the script. “I'm sure they will be thrown off.”

I brought the car to a stop and stepped out at the same time with Theo. It felt really good to have a bit of control over my life which had seemed like a natural disaster ever since I was born. 

“You might need some back up in there. I also feel like I need to say hi to some people there.” I suggested to Theo who seemed like he wasn't fully in support of that idea. 

“So who exactly do we need in our crew?” Theo asked as we walked to the front door. 

We had barely walked in when Neil’s car pulled over in front of the shop.

“That bastard…has he been following us all this time?” I thought out loud. That had to be the most probable explanation of all that was going on. 

“Now what…?” Theo asked as he seemed to be under pressure. 

That made me feel some sort of guilt for having to put him through all of that. But then, I just couldn't picture doing any of that without him. 

“Let's go anyway. I just need a good producer and anyone that can make music…” I said as I was soon looking to get out of there as soon as I could. 

“There he is…!” Someone yelled ecstatically. “That's the guy that's been trending online… Asher Coleman…!”

Soon I turned to see some guy pointing in our direction with his eyes lit up. 

I was soon shy from all the eyes glaring at me. As I was struggling to stay calm in the midst of the chaos, Pheme’s voice came through, almost startling me by its suddenness. 

“The way you handle the attention can either reduce or increase your points…” she warned before fading out again. 

“Huh…?” I was expecting to be at least told what the way to handle it was. But I had gotten nothing besides that vague warning.

The more the people chattered, the more nervous I became. 

“I'll go get the guys. You can handle your fans…” Theo said, tapping me on the shoulder before disappearing to the stairs. 

I felt trapped, as I was beginning to get why famous people had bodyguards. That moment left me wondering why I hadn't decided to drop Theo off like he had suggested, now I was in danger of losing my hard earned points. 

“Hello everyone…” I said, waving at them shyly. It was going to take a while to get used to all of that. 

“This fraud is here!” Neil's voice made my heart stop as he came in the most unexpected manner. That just made everything even worse. 

“I'll prove to them how fake you are…”Neil said angrily as he was soon standing in my face. “You just wait…!”