REMUS BENNET
The ten million number was massive.
Even though the streams were distributed among the three songs, this was still a massive number.
The greatest takeaway, though, was how the number was continuously rising.
Just in the last twelve hours or so, the number had crossed twelve million while his followers on all of his social media profiles were growing at a massive pace.
He already had around eight hundred thousand followers on YouTube alone, while the count was nearly double that for his Instagram and Twitter.
His inbox across all his socials was filled with texts and appreciation posts.
While it had been his hope that he would have such a breakout, he did not know how to react to all of this.
Even at school, the way people looked at him had changed in a single night.
He had gone from being their talented classmate to a proverbial rising star, and nearly half a dozen girls had already slid him their numbers.
So, he slid to the bathroom not long after the first bell had rung, where his best friend was already waiting for him.
Ethan had a massive smile on his face, and just as he walked into the stall, the boy jumped at him.
“Yo! Brooo!”and Ethan jumped up and down in excitement in the bathroom.
“Dude, we freakin’ did it!” and in one way, he was right.
The way the songs were going, it would not be long until they made the Billboard top 100 list, and once they were there, he would be a legit musician.
Currently, both ‘Before you go’ and ‘Another Love’ held about five million views each while ‘Bruises’ was at two and a half million, but the hype was not dying down.
“We did it! We did it!” and finally he settled down and wrapped his arms around him.
“Man, you’re a legit star now,” and that he was.
“Bro, my socials are going nuts,” he told Elliot as he showed him his phone.
“Most of them are congratulations, but you need to see this,” and he showed him two of the most significant messages that he had received in the night.
Elliot’s eyes widened as he read those messages.
“Record labels!” and he had received messages from at least two major record labels.
“Atlantic. Sony. No joke,” Remus answered with a smirk.
“They want to meet,” and Elliot’s eyes widened in surprise, for they both knew what such a thing meant.
Right now, the rise of his songs was fuelled purely by word of mouth and social media, and that was well and good, but only a fool would underestimate the power of a record label in the industry.
The fact that two of them were interested in him told him enough about his music.
A deal meant a large sum of up-front money, along with quite a few other incentives.
It meant shifting of one’s fate in the blink of an eye.
“Have you said yes?” Elliot asked, and he shook his head.
“Not yet,” and despite his excitement, he did not wish to bind himself to terms and consequences he barely understood.
The feud between Taylor Swift and her own record label had been in the news for some time now, and so he was a bit cautious about signing such a deal.
“Why not?” Elliot asked, and his shoulders sagged.
“I am at school,” Remus said, and he raised his voice.
“Fuck school!” Elliot retorted easily.
“You’re a freakin’ star now.,” Elliot added, and that he was, and he felt a bit giddy thinking about that.
“I just want to be cautious, after reading about the whole Taylor Swift thing,” and Elliot’s lips turned oval as he bobbed his head.
“Okay, that’s smart,” he added as the door behind them opened and a freshman walked into the bathroom.
“Yo, get outta here!” Elliot shouted, and the young kid’s eyes widened as he literally ran away.
The two of them looked at each other before breaking out into laughter.
“Have you told your family yet?” Elliot asked, and he shook his head.
The offers from the labels were a big thing and would definitely change the life of his entire family.
Moreover, he was still a minor, and so he would need his mother to sign any deal for him until he was of age.
“Gia and Rue already know, though I haven’t told anyone about the offers from the labels yet,” and it had been Gia who had pointed him towards the source of all this hype, and it was a small thirty-second clip from Instagram, of a young female singer covering his song ‘Another Love.’
It was part of her routine called ‘a song a day’, where she would post a clip of her singing a song on Instagram.
She was not famous yet, but one day she would be.
He was certain of that.
She was none other than a young Olivia Rodrigo.
She had yet to become the behemoth she was destined to be and was still more famous for her roles in a few Disney shows.
Still, she was just starting to focus more on her music career and was supposedly working on a single of her own.
She had somehow found his song through social media and had sung a part of another love song on her Instagram, fuelling the hype machine.
“I looked for you last night,” Elliot suddenly added, and his mood soured at once.
“Why did you leave so early?” he asked, and so he told him about what had happened between him and Lexie, and Elliot made a face at the end.
“Yeah, that was rough. You mssed up,” and the more Remus thought about it, the more he realized that he bore most of the fault for the entire debacle from last night.
Lexie’s reaction may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but he could make sense of it.
She had spent her entire life being compared to Cassie, and there was a complicated history between him and Cassie as well.
In that context, Remus calling her plain and boring would have been a great blow to her confidence.
He knew that he would have to talk to her and rethink this new dynamic of theirs.
Honestly, he and Lexie were old friends.
They had been together since childhood, and he did not wish to see their relationship ruined over some teenage infatuation.
“I know,” he answered Elliot as he rubbed his face, and his friend did not say anything more.
Both of them knew that detention awaited them the second they were back in class, so they just stood there in the stall for half an hour until their names were called out on the microphone and they were asked to report to the Principal’s office.
“Speaking of that, I have written up a few more songs,” and Elliot’s face shifted as soon as he heard those words.
“Wait, what?!” Remus nodded, and he was able to pen down lyrics for a few more songs.
“Yeah, so how about we have a jam session tonight?” he offered, and Elliot nodded.
“Hell yeah,” and they both stood outside the Principals office, and in five minutes they were walking out of that office with nothing but a sharp warning, which was a much lighter punishment than they had anticipated.
“Perks of being a star,” Elliot teased him, and he really doubted that.
“Shut up, idiot,” Remus punched the bastard in the arm.
“Seven works?” he added, as the two parted ways to head back to their respective classes.
“Bet,” and with that, the school day went on until it was finally time for him to head home.
As he reached back home, he saw Gia rush towards him from her room.
“You’re back!” she rushed down the stairs and jumped up at him.
“Yeah, I’m back.,” he answered excitedly as he spun her around.
“Olivia Rodrigo sang your song! Olivia freakin’ Rodrigo!” and he had learned yesterday that his sister was quite a huge fan of Olivia Rodrigo and she was not yet the star she would be, but she had a rather loyal and enthusiastic fan base in the younger generation because of her career at Disney.
“Do you even get how huge that is?” and he nodded, while Rue finally walked in through the door.
She gave them one glance before she headed up the room.
“I’m gonna crash,” and unlike Gia, who was a whirlwind of energy, Rue was not so impressed by his accomplishments.
Gia had him sit down, as she scoured through his phone.
Olivia was now following him on Instagram.
“Text her, dude.” she added.
“Nah!” he answered, and yes, she had sung a song of his, but he did not wish to make it awkward.
“Why not!” Gia groaned.
“I’m not sliding into her DMs, Gia.” he rejected the idea.
“I am not asking you to do that,” Gia’s shoulders slumped as she added.
“At least thank her for hyping your song,” Gia countered, and he saw her hidden intention.
“C’mon, let me flex to my friends,” and he grabbed his phone from her hands.
“Nope,” and by then it was time for Leslie to come back as well.
Their mother walked through the door, just as their argument was beginning to heat up.
“What’s going on in here?” Leslie’s voice cut through the lounge as he tried his best to keep his phone out of her hands.
“Brother is famous now, and he won’t let me text his friend,” Gia mouthed to their mother in a single breath.
“She’s not my friend,” he defended himself.
“She follows you on Insta. She even liked your lame posts,” and he will admit that he was not the most savvy at handling his socials.
He had cleaned them all up when he had gotten serious about his music career and would often put up some camera stills.
“That does not make her my friend…” Remus countered.
“…and my posts aren’t lame,” but Gia rolled her eyes.
“Yes, they are,” and Leslie chuckled at their antics.
“Gia, leave your brother alone,” their mother came to his defence, and she turned to look at him and shrugged.
“Your loss,” and with that, she ran upstairs, leaving him alone in the lounge.
“Is Rue back?” and he nodded.
“She is upstairs,” he told her as she put down her bag and sat down on the sofa, and he settled down, as he decided that it was time to tell her.
“Mom, I gotta tell you something,” and Leslie gave him a rather strange smile.
“I already know,” she answered, and he frowned.
“Alice showed me your songs, and how they have blown up,” and that made it all easier. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“Well, it isn’t that they have blown up,” he corrected her as he stood up and plopped down beside her.
He opened his phone and showed her the two messages he had received.
Leslie Bennet may not know the ins and outs of the music industry, but even she knew what the offers meant.
She took a minute to read them again before she finally looked into his eyes.
“I know that you are not the kind of person to rush into things, so I will ask you this just once,” and now she held her hands as she asked him in a very serious tone.
“Do you really wanna go through with this??” and he nodded.
“Yes,” he answered instantly, and he wet his lips as he continued.
“I have talent, and I know that this is not the path you might have imagined for me, but I am good, and I am willing to get even better,” he promised her.
“I won’t let you down,” he added, and she smiled.
“You never have,” she said, and kissed his forehead.
“I do not know much about this world you are about to venture into, but I am willing to learn,” she added seriously.
“So, about these record labels?” she questioned.
“I will need a lawyer,” he knew that much, or more specifically, an agent who could stop these companies from ripping him off.
“An agent of sorts,” and thankfully, he had a very good one in his mind already.
“But you don’t need to worry about this. I will take care of it on my own,” and she raised a brow.
“You sure about this?” she asked, and he nodded.
“Yes,” and she shrugged.
“Alright, but just know you can always count on me,” she offered.
“I know that,” and with that she stood up.
“So, what do you wanna eat?” she asked, and he glanced at the clock; it was already five o’clock.
“I’m good,” he answered as he stood up himself.
“I’m heading to Elliot’s,” he added.
“When will you be back?” and he shook his head.
“”No clue.
Got a few ideas I wanna mess with so it will probably take a bit of time,” and she smiled at his enthusiasm.
“Go on then,” she offered.
“But text me if you’re staying over,” and he was already at the door.
“Sure. Bye, Mom,”and he was already out the door by then.
Yet as he was paddling to his friend’s house, something monumental was happening in the musical world as his songs were entering the Billboard top 100 list.
So, when he walked into Elliot’s room, his friend had his eyes rooted to his monitor’s screen.
“Yo! What’s up?” he questioned, yet he was not met with any enthusiasm, as Elliot simply pointed towards the screen, making him look at it.
“It’s done,” his friend added, and Remus’s eyes widened as he saw the name on the list.
No.
81.
Another Love by Remus Bennet.
No.
97.
Before You Go by Remus Bennet.
He had just cracked the top 100.
.
.
.
.
Outside the little suburb of New Highland, the industry refused to sleep as well as phones rang with texts, emails, and calls all night long as each major label set their eyes on the rising star of the musical world.
Where before Remus Bennet had just been a prospect, his rise into the Hot 100 made him a priority.
In a Highriser, David Benioff and Jeff Lavin listened to the two songs on repeat as they called each other.
“His voice — raw but controlled,” and the other one nodded.
“Yeah, crazy control. And those lyrics…” and they both shook their heads at that.
“So, we’re green‑lighting this?” and the answer was a resounding yes.
“Hell yes!”
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Have a fantastic day!