#3 Turn Up for Real (9 page)

October was flying by. I had been so busy with my family doing so many appearances and getting ready for the upcoming election. I'd been trying to help my father win so much that I hadn't seen Taylor and her girls. That was just fine with me 'cause when I looked up, they were staring at me, and they saw me looking at them. All three sets of eyes stared really hard.

“Whatever,” I said to myself now that I knew I was truly attracted to Avery, even though I hadn't talked to him in a week.

He and I had a connection that I wasn't willing to give up for her. So it was just best she stayed with her little group and I stayed on my own. No need to beg her for a friendship.

Later that day, it was lunch time. I was walking to get my food, and I got a text from Charlotte, who was in the pageant.

It read, “Hey, I see you. Wanna have lunch?”

“Sure,” I texted back. “But I don't see you.”

“Just sit there at that table. I'm getting my food now,” Charlotte texted.

“K,” I texted back.

The bubbly blonde came and sat right beside me. “How have you been? I've been looking for you. I know we go to the same school, but I was sick with bronchitis, so I stayed away for a couple weeks.”

“I'm not trying to get sick,” I said, moving away a bit.

She laughed. “I'm fully better now, or I wouldn't be here. I'm glad I saw you today. We've got to hang out.”

“How's it been being Miss Teen Charlotte, Charlotte?” I asked, really wanting to know.

“Fun. It's still not what I really want to do. Going around meeting people, taking pictures, shaking hands …”

Cutting her off, I asked, “Well, what do you want to do?”

Then she started humming, and I remembered her voice was angelic. I immediately thought hers coupled with mine would make a dynamic group. Ebony and Ivory. Not that that's what we would call ourselves, but we'd definitely stand out. People would underestimate us until they heard our sound.

“Let me ask you this question. Would you have time to sing with me? And not just for fun, like seriously. Maybe seeing if we got some kind of vibe to form a group or something?”

“Oh my gosh! I would love that,” she said, getting all excited.

She reached over and hugged me.

“Are you serious? You'd be okay with that?” I questioned as her enthusiasm seemed too good to be true.

“Yes, Slade, I'd love to. Being Miss Teen Charlotte is a means to an end. I want to sing. Sometimes people just see a white girl, but I got some soul in me. If I partnered with you, the sky would be the limit.”

Smiling and happy, I said, “When are we going to practice?”

“I could come over later today.”

“I don't know about today. I always have to check with my parents to see what they have for me.”

“Alright, let me know,” Charlotte said.

“Will do.” I was tickled pink, realizing I had just formed a group.

We finished our food. As I was about to head to class, I got another text. When I looked down, I knew it was from Taylor.

“If you don't mind, could you meet me in the bathroom? I really need to talk to you.”

“No,” I quickly texted back. “I'm not meeting you in anybody's bathroom.”

The only thing I could think about is that she wanted to have her girls beat me up, corner me or something. I wasn't falling for that. Absolutely not.

Taylor texted, “Okay, okay, can you just stay right there? I really do need to talk to you.”

“About what?” I texted back.

“It's important.”

So I waited. Pretty much everybody was leaving lunch. I sat still, waiting on Taylor's tail.

When I was about to forget her and get going, Dr. Garner came over and said, “Ms. Sharp, aren't you supposed to be heading back to class?”

“I'm walking right now, sir. I was waiting on Taylor Dale. There she is,” I explained as Taylor walked up. “She had to put away her tray.”

“Oh, alright. You girls get on to class,” Dr. Garner told us.

“Thanks for waiting,” Taylor said, trying to ease the irritation on my brow.

“You're about to get me in trouble. What's this about? Or is that the intention?” I said, truly not trusting her.

“No, no … first of all, I owe you an apology.”

“Oh, you're going to apologize to me?” I said sarcastically. “You kick me out of your group after assuming I knew Avery was your man.”

I really didn't want to go down that road with her because, now, I
did
know that was her ex, and I wanted him for myself. I mean I wanted her man before, but I just didn't know it was her man. Yeah, that's a place I didn't want to go.

“Forget that. You were right. He wasn't into me. I needed to let him go,” Taylor admitted, surprising me with her response.

“I'm not coming back to the group. I'm doing my own thing,” I said to her, not sure what she was up to, but sure I needed to set her straight right away.

I didn't even have my group with Charlotte solidified, but I wasn't trying to be back with those tricks anymore. They weren't going to sit me in the fool's chair and have me recline. Besides, I wasn't gonna let them get my hopes up just to dash them away.

“No, this isn't about the group,” Taylor uttered loud and clear. “My mom, she's got this thing after school for kids who are in a low socioeconomic group, and I need to bring somebody to help me mentor them. She told me a long time ago. I mentioned it to Dayna and Caylen, but…”

“But your friends don't want to give back to the community. I'm not surprised.”

Not wanting to admit her friends were trifling, she explained, “They've got something else to do.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“So, I just wonder …”

“What? You want to use me?”

“You seemed really into the class when we were there last time. My mom doesn't know we fell out, and she actually requested you. If you say no, I understand,” she said as she started walking away. “I'll figure something out.”

“Wait, wait, it's just an hour after school?”

“Yeah.”

“For your mom and the kids, I'll do it,” I told her, even though she had hurt me bad.

Still skeptical, I followed her over to her mom's elementary music class. It was like I was in a whole different world. Those little kids were adorable. They didn't have the best clothes, and their hair was a little mangled. You could tell they didn't have much, but they had great spirits, and they were fired up to sing. As I was playing with them, they blossomed even more, appreciating the time. Then, at the end, Taylor's mom told them that the sessions were going to be ending soon. This was a paid after-school music program, and the funds were going to be cut.

The little kids squealed in a chorus, “No!”

My heart broke. When I saw Taylor crying, I knew she had a heart, too. I got it. Many of these kids didn't have any other place to go. This program provided so much. They got a snack in the afternoon. Without this program, a lot of them wouldn't be fed until they got back to school the next day. This program couldn't go away, but when I realized I had no way to help, I became depressed, and I started singing “My Favorite Things” from
The Sound of Music
. Doing so, at least I put a smile back on the kids' faces as well as on mine, even if it was only for the here and now.

“So you and the queen are going to be a group?” Shelby asked when Charlotte came over to our house to practice.

I hit my sister in the side. She was playing, but she was serious. Shelby had doubts about how Charlotte and I would sound.

“Just hold on,” I told my doubting sister.

When the two of us started singing, all four of my sisters' mouths hung open.

“Oh, you guys need to be doing this,” Sloan uttered as she clapped.

“Yeah, you two sound really good,” Yuri said.

“I'm ready to take some pictures,” Ansli commented.

“My bad,” Shelby looked at me and said. “I stand corrected. You all sound great. We've got to get you guys the entire package: a name, a look, and a demo.”

“I know a guy who can help us with that,” I said to Charlotte.

“You let me know. I'm ready. Send me over the track you were talking about, and I will practice it,” Charlotte said.

She was so easy to work with. She wasn't trying to out-sing me. She just wanted to be a part of it.

When my sisters left, Charlotte and I had to talk business. I asked, “How are we going to do this?”

“I just want to be an artist. I don't want to be a part of the business side.”

“Well, I'll ask my dad for some money to cut the record, but that'll mean I'll own more of it. Is that cool?” I questioned, knowing these tough negotiations needed to be addressed.

“Absolutely. You got all this help with all your sisters to do a record label.”

“Oh, you're taking it a little too far,” I told her, knowing I just wanted to cut a demo.

“No. If we're going to do this, we need to step it up, for real,” Charlotte encouraged. “Create a label.”

“Alright, well, I've got to talk to my dad, and I'll get back to you, but I like the direction we're going. We should come up with a name, though.”

“You'll come up with one,” she said.

“You're really letting me do all the creative work?”

“Yeah, and I'm a performer. I merely sing what I'm told and show up when I'm supposed to perform. You on the other hand are a double threat. You can sing, and you can be behind the scenes, so don't limit yourself. Plus, I have all this Miss Teen Charlotte stuff with me, and I'm not trying to rub it in or anything …”

“No, no, no, you're right. You do that, and I can come up with the business side of our group, and we can sing together. I love it!”

“Well, at least just promise me this … no matter what happens, we'll stay friends. I know we don't really, really know each other,” Charlotte said. “But you have to come hang out at my house too. My folks have to get to know you.”

We shook on it. Being with Charlotte was going to be worry free. I felt bad that I hated on her when she beat me out. Getting to know her, it was clear that she deserved it.

Two days passed, and I hadn't had the chance to talk to my dad about my dreams. Both of my older two sisters were already operating in their gifts. The fashion designer extraordinaire, Shelby Sharp, was trying to come up with the look for my group that I didn't even have a name for. Ansli couldn't wait to take photos of us for the CD that I didn't even have.

I needed to get on the ball. I needed to talk to my dad about a loan. Though I knew he was in the middle of trying to run a big race, he always said his daughters came first. Now it was time for him to be real about that and take time out for his daughter. I wasn't going to feel bad about that. I needed my father to believe in me and invest in the group, so I knocked on his office door.

He looked up and said, “Slade! Come in, babe.”

“I know you're busy.”

“Not too busy for you. What's up?”

“I love you, Daddy!” I said as I hugged his neck real tight.

“How much money do you want, and for what do you want it?”

“Dad…”

“Don't ‘Dad' me. I know you girls. Your mom has trained you well,” he teased.

I just laughed. I went from behind his desk to sit in front of him in the chair. He needed to view me professionally.

“Can we talk business?”

“My creative daughter wants to talk business? Okay. What's up? You have my full attention.”

“I think I want to start a record label. Well, I'm not sure if I want to start a record label, but I at least want to have some money to start producing my own record.”

“And what do you know about all of this? How much is it going to cost? How you are going to make money back?” my father drilled me.

He asked me those questions and many more. I kind of just looked at him like, ‘Why are you getting that deep? Just give me the money already.'

He said, “I'll tell you what. After school tomorrow, we're going to make a few stops. Once you talk to the people I want you to talk to, if you still want to do this, then we can push forward.”

“Alright,” I said a little frustrated and confused.

Before I left out of his office he got up and grabbed my hand, “Trust me. You want to be prepared. It's not just about having a passion. If you really want to pursue a dream, this isn't going to be painless.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.