𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎; 𝚓𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚛

𝐱𝐥. 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞

Narrator

"I don't want to do it!"

"sorry bud, but you have to," Jaden's manager says gently. "We tried so hard to fight them, but Cora's management team is on a whole different level than ours."

"no, no I won't do it. I can't do it," Jaden cowers against the wall, oblivious to the pained looks his management team were sending each other. Every single one of them loved the hell out of the kid, and they've only known him for one week now.

"We'll be with you the whole way, alright? Besides Cora will keep it strictly professional. That's how she works in the studio, so there shouldn't be any problems"

his statement only manages to send Jaden into another wave of sobs. slowly, one by one, the management team began to leave reluctantly for their next meetings, casting a look over their shoulders at the broken boy.

twenty minutes later, Jaden feels arms wrap around him, pulling him up. "hey man, it's okay." Jaden looks up to see Machine Gun Kelly, one of his mentors, hugging him.

"it's not okay Colson. how do they expect me to..."

"trust me buddy, Cora isn't exactly high on my favorite artist list. Remember when her and Eminem wrote that diss track on me?"

"you wrote a diss track on them first," Jaden hiccups, a hint of a smile on his face.

"see, even now you're still defending her!" Colson watches in exasperation as the boy in front of him hiccups again before collapsing into his arms. "she put you through all of this and you still love her? you two must've been something special JJ."

"she didn't put me through anything. I did this to myself," and with one last hiccup, Jaden steels himself and stands up, shoulders now carrying a purpose. "are you sure we can't do anything about this?" his voice wavers, but it's an improvement from the past month.

"I've tried everything I can think of. Sway and I tried to get you back under their management, but you're in too deep already. Any wrong moves and your entire career is down the drain. Even Kio was begging them to get you back, but we can't do anything. I'm sorry kid"

"yeah, me too"

somehow, MGK got the feeling Jaden wasn't thinking about the forced collab when he said that.

•~•~•~•~•

Cora

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST," I scream, kicking my beanbag for what seems like the 100th time. "why the hell is this happening, and why now? what kind of publicity do they even think I'll get from working with my ex? Even a child can tell it's just a stunt for the views," I rant to my reflection in the mirror, realizing for the first time how much of a mess I've become.

My once carefully arranged hair is now hanging in loose threads around my face, a single hair tie the only thing keeping it from being a complete disaster. Not to mention my face itself. My dark circles have now turned the color of Thanos' soul. A deep, monstrous shade of black. Bits of makeup still remain on my face, but not enough to cover up the chaos underneath.

"I hate it here," I kick the beanbag one last time for good measure, ignoring how my foot aches.

"what the hell did that poor beanbag do to you?" a recognizable British accent rings through my fury, causing me to spin around to find the owner.