Gifted | Sleepy Bois Inc

Chapter Five

"You're spending the night here," Phil announced, standing up. "It would be dangerous to move you while you still have poison in your system."

That reminded me. "How did you get the poison out?"

"Your bounty gave us the antidote. Said he thought that the world needed more people like you. Sound familiar?"

Bandanna Guy giving me the antidote was surprising but somehow not as much as it could've been. I had no idea how I had expected it. There had been no conscious thought, but at the back of my mind, I had known. How? No clue. But I wasn't all that astonished.

"No school for you tomorrow, either," Phil continued.

"Awesome."

"You're going to spend the day with Wilbur."

"Not awesome," I scowled. "Why?"

"I don't want you sitting around doing nothing all day," Phil said with a shrug. "You tend to get bored and destroy things."

"I will definitely destroy things if you make me spend the entire day with Wilbur in his studio with the press and snooty people."

Phil was already out the door. "No choice. Have fun."

I leaned back against the headboard of the bed and sighed. I was not going to have fun.

***

I adjusted the black mask over my face and pulled the hood of my sweater lower over my hair. Pink hair was pretty flashy, and as much as I loved it, I also hated it.

Masks were very uncomfortable. But Wilbur had assured me that all idols wore them when they were out doing stuff, just to make sure that they didn't catch a cold or something while they were travelling from place to place. It also made it easier to not get recognized and mobbed by fans.

"Stop fidgeting so much," Wilbur sighed, grabbing my arm and pulling it down.

"Why couldn't I have just worn my pig mask?" I complained.

"Aren't you trying to not attract attention?"

I glared at him. He tousled my hair and smirked like the annoying brother he was, before pulling my hood back up onto my head. "Don't worry, you'll always get attention when you're with me. The price of fame."

"Why do I pay the price if you're the guy with fame?"

Wilbur shrugged. "The price of being my brother?"

"I'd like to call it the price of having Philza as a father."

He laughed. I gazed around me at the studio as we entered, taking in the wide windows and brightly lit rooms. The architecture was impressive, even if I didn't understand all that much about building stuff. It was so different from the Tryxel office building that I couldn't help but stare.

"Impressive, hm?" Wilbur said, glancing over at me. "The company I work for has amazing connections. We've also got a lot of awesome stars. Like Niki! You'll meet her soon."

"'Niki?'" I asked.

"She's the most overwhelmingly wholesome person you'll ever meet," Wilbur said with a wide smile.

"'Overwhelmingly?'"

"Mhm. You wanna go see her?"

"Not if she's overwhelmingly wholesome."

"You'll love her," Wilbur promised, completely ignoring me.

He led me to the elevator, stepping in. I trailed after him, watching as he pressed the button for level three. "There are a lot of people the company is trying to prod into popularity," Wilbur explained as the elevator rose. "Niki and I have already been prodded enough that we're the most popular stars. But the more popularity we have, the better for the company."