⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ | any publicity is | ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
good publicity
real life | los angeles
westwood academy
- october 21st, 2044
"ACCORDING TO sources, Celeste is much more shy than all her other older sisters," Hayes Steinfeld-Lee read the article off his phone as he leaned against the lockers next to Celeste Garfield. Celeste took a deep breath, trying not to get frustrated as she shoved a book in her locker. "She apparently does very well academically in school—"
Slamming her locker door closed, Celeste glared at her best friend, "Shut up, Hayes."
"Oh come on, Sky," Hayes pushed himself off the lockers, looking at the blonde. The tall boy took two strides to catch up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Don't let this shit bother you. You know better than that."
"I never get published in anything. They always focus on Luna or Sol," Celeste mumbled as she felt anxiety grow in her chest. "So, when there's a piece on me and Estella—"
"It blows up." Hayes finished her sentence and Celeste reluctantly nodded. "It'll be okay, Sky. Nothing's gonna change just because you got an article. Your parents will make sure of it. I'll make sure of it."
"How many people have read it?" Celeste asked as she looked up at the tall boy. Meeting her green eyes, Hayes' face softened as his heart clenched.
"You know I love you too much to tell you." He replied back and both of them froze, looking at each other— Waiting for the other to make a move.
"Celeste!" Stoermer Holland shouted in the hallways as she ran towards her two best friends. Her dark curly hair bounced as she moved and grabbed Celeste's shoulders. "I just read the article."
"So did the rest of the school." Nikita Holland added as she and Estella Garfield walked up to the trio.
"Niki." Estella scolded her best friend, sending her a glare. "It's not that bad, Cel."
"It's good press for you," Celeste smirked softly at her twin sister. Estella was a natural at the spotlight. She was a star. The star. "The album announcement will sure make headlines now."
"If only Mami and Dad actually let me release it." Estella replied as she linked arm with Celeste. "Come on, Grant and Ro are waiting for us all."
Holding in a breath, Celeste followed her sister and her friends into the grand cafeteria of Westwood Academy. They passed the usual groups: the sons and daughters of sports players, the next generation of rappers, the Kardashian off-spring (Gen 3 or 4) by now) before finally settling to their usual table. Grant Swift-Kelce and Rowan Ackerley were already sitting down.
As always, Grant's eyes followed Estella's every move, and as usual, the blonde just smirked back and pretended not to notice. Rowan grinned, leaning towards Celeste with his phone is his hand, "They chose a decent photo at least, Cee."
"How about no more talking about the article?" Hayes proposed before pushing Celeste's water bottle in her direction so she's turn away from Rowan's gaze. Celeste blinked, nodding her head before resting her head on Stoermer's shoulder.
Growing up the way she did, Celeste could feel eyes on her in her sleep. She knew everyone in the cafeteria had eyes on her and Estella right now, and she hated it.
She felt pressure lift off her shoulders just as her friends' heads turned towards the doors of the cafeteria. And of course, that meant eyes were no longer on her, but on Sol Garfield— She did always have a tendency to always have eyes on her. Who could blame her? Solana was stunning.
So, the student body of Westwood watch Sol hand-in-hand with Dominic Holland Jr. Next to them, Scarlett Styles and her messy bleached hair strutted confidently while Conrad Styles followed behind— Doing his best not to draw attention to himself, which always failed, of course. He was a Styles. He was also Conrad, and gorgeous as hell.
Meanwhile, Gemma Swift-Kelce captured everyone's eyes with her curly brown hair, her mother's eyes, and 5'10 height. Smiling with Gemma with the stunning Hope Steinfeld-Lee, who simply attended school when there wasn't a camera in front of her to take her picture. She was like Sol in that regard. Mason Teller and Iris Horan and their perfect smiles joined the group before they all settled on their table.
At her own table, most of Celeste's friends rolled their eyes at the sight of their older siblings. Practically everyone at the table were second-born children, set up to play catch-up with their legendary siblings (& parents.)
While all her friends turned away and returned to their own conversations, Celeste continued to watch her older sister. She was beautiful. Bright. Eyes followed her everywhere she went. The sun.
"When did Sol and Hope get back?" Rowan asked, glancing towards the Garfield twins and Hayes.
"Two nights ago. New York Fashion Week ended a few weeks ago and then they were shooting holiday shit, but our parents are saying they have to log in a few hours at school before jet-setting again." Hayes explained before taking a sip of his drink.
"Not like the school cares," Estella scoffed, rolling her eyes. "As long as Sol graduates with Westwood next to her name, they don't care what she does. They're passing her either way. They did the same thing with Luna."
"Este, you know Sol actually does the work. Luna too," Celeste gave her twin a look, guilt growing in her chest as Estella talked even slightly negative about their sisters. "If any of them had anything below a C+, our parents wouldn't hesitate to pull them out of their industries."
"Whatever. Twinkle, you going to dinner with my mom tonight?" Grant called for the blonde and Estella rolled her eyes at the nickname she had heard from Grant's lips a 1000 times already before nodding. "Make sure you send me a picture of the menu so you can bring me back something."
"Do I look like your mother?" Estella replied sarcastically.
"Oedipus complex." Celeste mumbled her breath with a smirk.
"Electra complex." Hayes grinned back to the girl and the two met eyes.
"Nerds." Niki scoffed, shaking her head before the group erupted in laughter.
•••
real life | los angeles
the garfield house
- october 21st, 2044
"MAMI, I'M going to the studio!" Celeste shouted as she ran down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Sounds good, mi vida," Sophia Luna Garfield nodded at her youngest daughter with a smile. She kissed the top of her head, smirking, "Angel, your Dad and I shouldn't expect anything less than excellence when we go to conferences at the school tonight, right?"
"Duh."
"That's my girl." Sophia grinned as the front door to the house opened. "And Estella?"
"She's a different story, we can't all have my brain," Celeste shrugged and Sophia laughed. "No, she's fine. She's been working really hard. Her grades are better than ever."
"Well, we know she's just doing that so that we'll loosen up about the music thing," Andrew Garfield said as he entered the kitchen, kissing both his wife and daughter on the cheek. "Where are the sun and the star?"
"Star is with Taylor, and Sun is at the Holland house," Sophia replied before her husband sent her a look. "Z and Tom are there right now."
"And when they leave to go to conferences tonight, my love?" Andrew asked, titling his head.
"I'm choosing not to think about it." Sophia sighed and Celeste scrunched up her nose in disgust.
"What are you still doing here, love?" Andrew turned to his youngest daughter. "Are you going out with Stoermer or Hayes?"
"No, I'm going to the studio to practice for a little before doing homework." Celeste explained as Andrew placed a large Chipotle bag on the counter. He handed a closed bowl to Celeste before putting the rest in the fridge, "Thanks Dad."
"Cel, why don't you go to a friend's house after you get done at dance?" Sophia suggested before glancing at her husband. "We don't want you to be alone here while we're at conferences."
"Okay, love you." Celeste replied as she kissed both her parents on the cheek and walked out of the house.
"Stop worrying about her," Andrew said to his wife softly as he wrapped his arms around her from behind her. Sophia leaned into him, sighing, "She's fine."
"Damn it, I didn't even talk to her about the article," Sophia mumbled, biting her lip. "She's so different than all of them, and I love her for it, so much, but I'm worried. Luna and Sol grew up wanting a camera in their face and we were able to hold Estella back a little till now so Celeste wouldn't get dragged into it. But it's getting harder now and Estella is restless—"
"We will figure it out, darling," Andrew cut her off, cupping her face with a small smile. "Right now, she's fine. We'll go to conferences tonight to make sure of that and then Taylor will report back to us tonight about Este. Before we make any decisions about Estella, we will talk to Celeste to make sure she knows what this all means. We got it, baby."
Holding in a sigh, Sophia nodded, leaning into her husband's embrace. Andrew spoke again, grinning, "In the meantime, let's get excited. The Moon comes home tomorrow."
•••
real life | los angeles
the styles house
- october 21st, 2044
SCARLETT STYLES leaned against the doorway of her older brother's room, watching him. Theodor Styles laid on his bed with his guitar in his arms, strumming a random tune while his eyes stayed glued to a picture of him and Lunalyn. Scarlett smirked, "Now, this is getting sad, Theo."
"Holy shit! Fuck, Scar, you scared me." Theo sighed, leaning his head back into his pillow. "What's up? What do you need?"
"Why would you assume I need something?" Scarlett flopped next to her brother on the bed, her pretty grin on her lips, "No, yeah, I need something and you need something to do rather than stare at a photo of Luna until she gets home."
"Which is tomorrow, thank fuck," Theo sighed in relief as a small smile rose to his face. "I literally went to visit her on set a month ago, but this month has been torture."
"Gross. Anyways, get up!" Scarlett jumped up, dragging her older brother out of bed. Theo groaned reluctantly following his sister out of his room and down the stairs.
As they entered their father's recording studio, Theo sighed, "Another song, Scar? Why? It's not like they'll let you release any of it."
"They're going to have to soon," Scarlett replied as she entered the booth and slipped on headphones. "Estella is close to winning her parents over, I know it, and once Aunt Sophia and Uncle Andrew let Stella— Mom and Dad have to let me."
"What are you guys doing?" Conrad Styles entered the room and sat down next to his brother.
"Song!" Scarlett giggled excitedly as Theo got the soundboard set up. "So I was thinking brothers, as soon as Mom and Dad let me release music and Estella and I take over the music industry—"
"Oh God." Theo and Conrad groaned in unison.
"I want you guys there with me," Scarlett smiled at her brothers. "You guys help Dad with his music all the time. Con, you're writing for every other artist in the industry— Write for me."
"Please, like anyone else is going to play guitar for you in tour." Theo reluctantly smirked and Scarlett smiled back gratefully. Leaning back into his chair, Conrad smirked, nodding at his sister.
•••
real life | los angeles
fancy restaurant
- october 21st, 2044
"YOU WERE SIXTEEN! I am sixteen! I'm ready, I just know it! I mean at school, I've been busting my ass— butt, sorry," Estella apologized to her godmother, who smirked at her across their small table. Taylor shook her head, taking a sip of her wine before continuing to stare at her god-daughter. Leaning forward, Estella pouted at her, "Aunt Taylor, please talk to my parents. Tell you think I'm ready, I am!"
"Este, it's different for you and for Scarlett and you have to know that. You think Harry and Minnie haven't reached out to me about this already?" Taylor told her softly, holding her hand for a moment. "I started at sixteen years old, but I was an unknown from Pennsylvania. You are the daughter of Sophia Luna and Andrew Garfield. You are the daughter of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. I mean, that soundtrack went down as one of the greatest in history, Stell!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know how amazing and stupidly talented my parents are. So?" Estella waved it off with a shrug.
"Honey, the stakes are different for you. They're higher. With high expectations come harder and brutal critics. You start this, everything you do will be under a microscope for who knows how long? But especially your music, Stella. You have a gift, I know that, of course I know that!" Taylor reassured her god-daughter with a small smile. "You're more talented than anyone I know at your age."
"Even you?" Estella whispered softly.
"Even me," Taylor nodded and her heart tightened when Estella grinned softly. "But you know this industry, you grew up in it. You know how they love to discredit anyone. You wrote those few songs and they're so, so good and emotional and real. They're yours, but your Uncle Jack, your Aunt Lola, and I did help. We did it happily, and we'll do it again, but that adds something else. I don't want them to discredit you when you're this musical genius at sixteen years old."
"I know. I know it's not going to be easy, but I'm not scared. I'm not scared and I'm not quiet either, I won't be. I'm ready to fight for myself and my name and my place in this industry," Estella promised, nodding her head. "You're right, I have advantages and I'm ahead because of what I was born into. I didn't choose to be a nepo baby, alright? I may be my parents' daughter and your god-daughter, but I'm also Estella Luna. I have a gift and I know it. I'm ready for this, Aunt Taylor."
"Plus, Grant does it, so how hard can it be?"