#3 Turn Up for Real (5 page)

Taylor hugged me. Dayna and Caylen gave each other high fives. Then the four of us let out a loud scream.

CHAPTER THREE

SWAGGER

“You want to go where, Slade?” my mom asked a couple days after our blowup.

“I've been invited to a slumber party.”

“You're sixteen, honey. You know I don't allow you girls to stay at other people's houses,” she said, not moved by my disappointed face. “Besides, the answer is also no because I don't even know who you're even talking about.”

“It's a girl named Taylor who is in my class. Her mom is an elementary school teacher. She wants you to call her so you feel comfortable about the situation. I said we'd call back. Please, Mom, please!”

“No, Slade, you know it's a rule that I have. I can control what goes on here, and you can invite your new friends here, but I'm not allowing you to go to somebody else's house. You're just not going.”

I wasn't trying to get all big and bad with my mom, but she was wrong. I was sixteen, and since I was almost seventeen, it was about time I stood up for what I believed in. She was an attorney. I had to speak her language and make a case for why she needed to chill.

“What are you afraid of, Mom? You raised me right. I'm not going to be influenced by anybody else. Plus, her mom is a teacher at an elementary school. She teaches music, for goodness sake. It's a two-parent family.”

“That doesn't matter to me.”

“I'm just giving you all the facts. It's a good home. She doesn't have an older brother. No one is going to be walking around naked.”

“Watch your mouth, girl.”

Irritated, I said, “I'm just sayin'. You have nothing to fear. I gotta grow up sometime, Mom, and make my own friends. The Sharp sisters are tight. With Dad running for mayor and all, the whole city knows that, but you know I'm the outsider. That's why I hang with you more than anybody else. Shelby and Ansli pair up, Sloan and Yuri pair up, and then it's just me. I finally found some girls my age that want to hang with me, some other juniors that want me to be in a singing group with them.”

“You want to be in a group now? Slade, really?”

“Mom, come on. Let me try my passion. I'm just asking for one night. Progress reports came out. I've got all As and one B. My room is spotless. I never give you any trouble. Give me a little leeway. Haven't I earned that?”

“Alright, alright, I'll see, but I can't believe you have me dealing with this now. You girls know I'm stressed dealing with this election. Get her mom on the phone.”

Thankfully, the two career women talked like they'd known each other for a long time. They were definitely cut from the same cloth, and my mom felt comfortable that I could go, even though she did insist on dropping me off and meeting the rest of the girls.

The girls' reactions upon seeing me varied. Taylor was all excited to see me, and she reached out and gave me a hug. I guess I just assumed that the other two girls were on board with it; after all we had to practice, we had to bond, we had to really be a group. But I sensed—since their noses were all up in the air and their eyes were staring me down like I was the enemy or something—that Dayna and Caylen weren't too happy to have me there.

When Taylor told me to follow her to her room to put down my bag, I just shot a straight look at her and got right to the point. “Do Dayna and Caylen not want me here or something?”

Almost laughing, like what I said was crazy, Taylor uttered, “No, that's just how they are. The three of us have been tight for so long. Forgive them.”

“No, and I'm uncomfortable. I'm not trying to push myself on nobody,” I told her as I rolled my eyes.

Trying to calm me by nudging me a bit, Taylor said, “You heard Mr. Mundy. He's only looking for an even-numbered female group. They need you.”

Standing boldly to not budge in my thinking, I responded, “Oh, so I'm supposed to be okay with however they treat me?”

“You want to sing, and without you the three of us are good. With you … we can be great. So much is on the line. We just need to put aside all the drama. Let's get to know each other … it'll be fun!” Taylor put her arm underneath mine and escorted me into the basement.

“So does this mean we can do what we've always done?” Dayna said to Taylor.

“Of course we can. If Slade is going to be one of us she's got to go through with the ritual,” Taylor replied.

“Then what are you waiting for? Why didn't you put the video in?” Caylen asked.

“What video?” I yelled from across the room. I didn't know if they were trying to keep it a secret or what, but I heard them, so I asked.

Caylen asked, “Where is it, Taylor? Let me just pop it in. You think she can fit in with us?”

In a rude voice, Dayna said, “We'll see.”

Taylor went behind the couch and pulled out a folder. She handed Dayna a DVD, and the three of them got all cozy in front of the TV. When the screen came on, there was a girl undressing in front of another girl who was already nude with a guy lying there looking. The two girls started making out, and the three of them were laughing. They didn't seem to be aroused. They were, for sure, amused, but I was completely uncomfortable and didn't understand what all this was about.

“Look over at Miss Prissy turning red,” Dayna teased.

“Are you a virgin, Slade?” Caylen asked me in a real seductive and weird kind of way. I just frowned at her like it was none of their business.

“I told you she wasn't our kind of girl,” Dayna said to Taylor.

With much attitude, I gasped, “Well I don't know what your kind of girl is, but if y'all trying to feel all up on me and do some freaky girly night out, I'm not in.”

Then Dayna got up in my face and said, “What? You calling us freaks?”

Stepping up even closer to her, I said, “If the shoe fits.”

She pushed me. I pushed her back. I didn't know who Dayna thought I was, but a punk wasn't it.

Taylor stood firm between us and said, “Okay, okay, stop you guys! Listen. Slade, we do this because we're trying to get great moves. Yes, we went to a producer's house one time, and he told us watching this kind of stuff relaxes us, makes our bodies all loose so we can be better artists. So, that's what we're doing. Nothing more, nothing less. No one is trying to touch you or have you touch them.”

“And you believe this guy?” I uttered, thinking that was ludicrous.

“Regardless, watching this is fun, and I don't got no problem saying I like it,” Dayna tried to get in my face and say.

“Well, if you got a good voice, who cares how you work it? Turn on a dang mic and let's practice. You want me out of this group? If we don't have any harmony, I'm out anyway. I don't have to just conform to y'all's ways. You got to conform to mine too. I've got talent. Y'all asked me to be in the group,” I said.

I went over to the TV, turned it off, turned the radio on, and started singing whatever was on. It was an old tune by Destiny's Child, “Survivor,” but when they got up and started singing with me, something clicked. I thought I wanted to walk out, but the sound the four of us made was a groove I couldn't get without them, and I didn't want to.

“You can't break up with me. I love you. I've given you money. I made you feel good. Now, you're just going to dump me? What's this about? Another girl or something? It's nobody that's going to treat you like I am,” I heard Taylor cry out.

She was so upset. She actually awoke me from my sleep. The four of us had conked out on her family room floor. I looked over and saw Dayna snoring and Caylen slobbering. I didn't want to get in Taylor's business, but she had it going on. The last thing she needed to be doing was getting all upset over some guy. So, I went up to her and motioned for her to hang up.

“Huh?” she said with her ear still to the receiver.

I held my fingers like a phone and placed my hand down like I was hanging up. I was real adamant. Later for that loser. His loss.

“Alright, fine. I've got to go,” she finally said, and as she hung up the phone, she fell right into my arms. “He just broke up with me like that. I don't understand.”

“I don't know much about your boyfriend—how long y'all been dating or anything like that—but you are too strong to be stressed over somebody who doesn't want to be with you. Forget him. We're trying to get a record deal anyway, right?” I tried to encourage her and say.

“Yeah,” she said as she leaned up.

I wiped her tears away and voiced, “How can we get a record deal if you are still focused on getting a man? If you could only have one or the other, which would it be?”

“I wanted both,” Taylor boldly stated.

“Well, you can't get it all in this life. My parents tell me that all the time.”

Pushing me off, she said, “Whatever, your dad's about to be the mayor.”

“Maybe, maybe not. But I know more than anything that I want to sing. I want to be an artist. I want to sell millions of albums. I want to make it big. I thought it was going to be as a solo artist, but now I'm open to this group, and I like the sound we're making as a unit. I don't want to be in a group with somebody who's focused on some guy who's weighing her down, and every five minutes something is going to have her stressed. Let him go, and and when you do, he'll come beggin'.”

“You think?” she said with hope.

“Wait, that's not why you do it, Taylor. You don't let him go so he'll want you. You let him go because he's not good for you.”

“I gave him so much, and I'm not going to be anything without him.”

“Oh, Taylor, really? Come on, girl.” I took her hand and dragged her over to the mirror. “Look at yourself. That's right … go on, look.”

“What am I looking at? I'm a basket case,” she said as she wiped tears.

“But you're still a beautiful basket case. You got to believe your worth. You've got to stay focused on your dream. You've got to get your attitude and your swagger back. A guy can break up with you, but he shouldn't be able to break you.”

“You think this is easy?” she asked as I stayed quiet. “What, you got a boyfriend?”

Cracking a smile, I uttered, “It's this guy I saw a few days back. I'll probably never see him again, but he got to me. I was in this contest, and I didn't win. That's why I can tell you, you don't get everything. I didn't know that right after I would meet the owner of a record label who would give me an opportunity to be in a group with you guys. I thought there was only one way I could accomplish my dream, but when that door closed, another one opened. If I had stayed down and not taken the help of a stranger to lift me up, then I wouldn't have been ready to jump into something new with you guys. And as crazy as your crew is, I like this. Well, some of it, anyway. All of that video, movie stuff … that ain't me.”

“Thank you,” Taylor said as she stroked my arm. “I'm going to be okay, huh?”