𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋 ¥ 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐀

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧?"

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗/ 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄
𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐎𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐏𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐇 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐀, even rarer still for her to be seen without her manager/father, but sometimes that's how it was.

Opal sat across from a familiar face, arms crossed silently in front of her. She tapped her finger against her elbow as her Lawyer shifted in her seat. Her manager, Victor was down with the flu so it was just them. The person across from her shifted in their chair uncomfortably as their music executive leaned forward to speak.

Opal beat him to it, "No."

The room grew tense, "No?" The music exec—Opal never cared to learn her name—blinked as if shocked. They've done this three times before.

Opal looked at her sister's rival, she never really cared for their rivalry. Business was business she wrote songs for Hannah Montana and sometimes for other artists which sometimes included Mickayla.

Opal was a growing name in the writer's space not only for her talent but her lack of leniency. She didn't believe in selling her property just because her face wasn't on it. She didn't share credit, if you didn't help write it why would your name be on it? She liked receiving royalty checks in the mail, and she owned the copyright to every song she's ever written, the studios only owned the masters or the recordings that their artists did. If Opal wanted to give the song to another artist she could, but she doesn't.

"Miss Opal, I don't think you heard me, allow me to reiterate—."

"I heard what you said, and I have given you my answer, I don't understand what is so hard for you to understand."

"Mikayla's career is—."

"Mikayla's career is not of importance to me, do you want to record my song or not?" Opal said dryly, adjusting the red retro glasses perched on her nose, red afro bouncing as she cocked her head to the side.

"We do but—."

"My terms are not changing, you want the song, I will be the only one credited as a writer."

Mikayla sat forward, looking at her imploringly, "Listen, audiences like it more when their favourite artists are also songwriters."

"Then write your own music," Opal retorted looking down at her watch. She had to be at her sister's clothing line drop at the mall.

"Just this one time—."

"Give a finger, lose a hand," Opal said lightly, "I do this for you, it sets a bad precedent, I don't just have these terms to be mean, I'm protecting myself as an artist in my own right, how would you feel if someone found a recording of you singing, lip-synced to it and pretended to be the one singing?" Opal cocks an invisible brow. "Now imagine how I would feel if you're credited for something I did. It doesn't seem fair does it?"