#3 Turn Up for Real

by Stephanie Perry Moore

  “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?”

  “Yes, you’re going to be okay. With or without him, Taylor is going to be okay,” I encouraged as she hugged me.

  “What y’all talkin’ about all loud, waking people up and stuff?” grumpy Dayna asked.

  It’s like the girl always had an attitude. Pulling away from the hug, Taylor rolled her eyes hard my way. I hated that she was so tense.

  “Dayna, give me my caterpillar!” Caylen screamed out.

  “Girl, wake up. You’re talking in your sleep,” Dayna said as she took a pillow and bopped Caylen on top of the head.

  “Let’s have some munchies. Girl time!” Taylor said. Then she peered my way. “I’m feeling better thanks to somebody. Oh, I’m so glad you’re in this group!”

  Taylor gave me a thumbs-up before she went out to get snacks. Dayna was still staring at me, and it was not in a cool, fun, receptive way. Her eyes seemed full of hate.

  Tired of the tension, I approached Dayna and said, “What’s up? Why do you still have a beef with me? I thought we squashed all of that. We just sung our hearts out. We’re trying to be a group here, and I sense that whatever I do you don’t want that.”

  “I don’t need you trying to be the hero with Taylor.”

  “Did you hear the whole conversation? You want me to let her stay down, and stay upset, and stay a basket case?”

  “Just forget it.”

  “No, no. Say what you have to say to me.”

  “You don’t even know much about a boyfriend. You ain’t even had one. You cringed at the sight of someone having sex.”

  “I don’t want to watch it. I want to do it.”

  “So then you haven’t ever done it.”

  “Oh, forget it.”

  Dayna wouldn’t let me walk away. “You were talking about a guy. You want to get close. You want to be cool. You want this group thing to work … then don’t be such a closed onion. Peel back some layers.”

  “Oh, look at you trying to be all literary,” Caylen teased.

  Dayna winked at her and said, “Just trying to use some analogies so I can get some good marks on my SATs.”

  “What do you want to know?” I asked her.

  “The guy you were talking about. Is he your boyfriend? You said you were in a contest? What kind of contest? Who’s the mystery guy?” Dayna asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. I’ll probably never see him again.”

  “Yeah, I got that part, but who is he?”

  “I mean, I don’t even know his name. I was running for Miss Teen Charlotte at this theater. I lost, and I was all upset. Backstage he just came up to me, and he was everything.”

  “You met him where? Backstage at the Ren …” Caylen started saying, but Dayna covered her mouth.

  “I think you might see him again. You believe in destiny, don’t you?” Dayna cryptically told me.

  Dayna lifted her hand in the air and wanted me to give her a high-five. All of a sudden, she went from cold to warm with me. I so wanted to believe what Dayna was saying about my mystery man. Though I believed for myself what I told Taylor about not needing a guy, if I were able to see the one that turned my frown into a smile again, it’d be on.

  “So you really want to be in a singing group?” my sister Sloan asked me the morning of our big audition, giving me no privacy in the bathroom to get ready.

  “Y’all have been in here forever,” Yuri said, joining us. “I’ve got to get ready for school too.”

  “We’re having a deep conversation in here, Yuri,” Sloan told her as she washed her face.

  “What about the whole singing thing? We’ve seen those girls at school. They just don’t look like your kind of people,” Yuri said. “Plus, Slade, we don’t have you around as much.”

  “Yuri, what’s my kind of people?” I asked, cracking up at them having a hard time saying what their body language was displaying.

  They would never admit it, but they missed me. Though they were like two pieces of bread stuck together, I was the flavor, the medium. I was the peanut butter and jelly. Dagonit, the bologna and mayonnaise. I made their world fun. Though I felt they didn’t need me, it was pretty nice to know they wanted me around.

  Seeing they weren’t into talking about people, I said, “To answer your question, yes, I want to be in a singing group, but I don’t know how it’s going to work with these girls. I’ve got my doubts, too, but if you could just hear us.”

  “Well, you’ve been practicing with them for the last week nonstop.”

  “We’ve been talking about coming to your audition today, Shelby and Ansli too.”

  “Really?” I said, truly shocked.

  I’d love their support, but I didn’t dare ask for it. They were all so busy—particularly my two older sisters—to even think about taking time to support me. It had been like pulling teeth to get them to come to the pageant.

  “I don’t know where this place is. The record owner had to change the place a couple times, but when I get all the information, I’ll text it to you guys. I’m glad you’re coming!” I said as I hugged the two of them.

  “We want you to be happy,” Yuri said.

  I uttered, “I’m going to get on stage
today and give it my all.”

  “You could be a day away from getting a record deal,” Sloan said.

  “If you get one, does that mean you’ll move out?” Yuri asked.

  “I don’t know. If we blow up, maybe.”

  After school and before the tryout, we went to Taylor’s mom’s school to get ready. Just as we were approaching, we heard yelling coming from her mom’s music classroom.

  “But you can’t get rid of the arts program! If you do that, what are these kids going to have? Some of them, that’s all they’re good at. It helps them do better in other subjects. Who do I need to talk to about this? The decision can’t be final,” Taylor’s mom argued.

  “Mrs. Dale, you need to calm down. It’s not a done deal yet, but it looks like that’s the way it’s leaning. I just didn’t want you to be caught off guard. I thought you deserved to know. You’ve been the backbone of this school for years now. You and I both know the kids who go here are economically challenged, and I agree with you that the arts lift their spirits, but if the board cuts the funding, it’s out of my control. I’m going to have to let you go,” the principal told her.

  “When is the vote?” her mom said.

  “In a couple of weeks.”

  “Are you kidding me? So in the middle of the school year, they’re just going to drop music?”

  Taylor rushed into the classroom. The three of us followed. She hugged her mom, and the two of them began to cry. I probably couldn’t understand everything that this class meant to them, but I could tell the school was old, and I could remember that she told me her mom had been here since the beginning. I detested that some people felt that the arts were expendable. If it helps to free a person’s mind and gets a child to extend his or her creativity and positivity in life, why in the world would a school district cut it? Shouldn’t they look at cutting people’s salaries instead of a program that touches lives?

  The principal left, saying, “I’m sorry. I need to get to a meeting.”

  My heart broke as I watched Taylor console her mom. I so wanted to help. I smiled, seeing their connection was strong.

  “Listen,” her mom finally said as they pulled apart. “You girls have to go get to that audition.”

  “But, Mom,” Taylor said in a caring tone, “What are you going to do if they cut the program?”

  Mrs. Dale explained, “I’m not going to focus on that right now, and I don’t want you to focus on it either. I hate that you overheard it, but you’ve got to forget about it. Get it out of your mind.”

  Her mom walked over to the piano and started striking chords. On her snap count, the four of us started warming up. We had a dope sound. Her mom certainly needed to be a music teacher. She was on it.

  Mrs. Dale stopped playing and said, “You’re ready. Go get them. I’m going to finish up here, and then I’m going to make some calls. I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it, but I know you’ll give me great news.”

  Taylor didn’t want to leave her mom, but Dayna and Caylen pulled her away. I knew it wasn’t just about the money, though being without a job these days certainly wasn’t a good thing. It was about the passion her mom had for what she did. Shame on the school board for wanting to take that away.

  I’d been asking Dayna for days for the address to where we were going to the audition because I wanted to tell my sisters. When we pulled up to the same theater I was at for the pageant, I was surprised. Immediately, I texted it to my sisters, hoping they would have enough time to be here.

  When we stepped inside, the guy I thought I would never see again was standing on the stage, working a crowd with his hips to his lips. I remembered him serenading me, but I never even imagined that we had the same dream. I didn’t even realize I was smiling all over, but how could I help it? His voice melted my heart, and his sound made me dance. He had amazing swagger.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  SNAKE

  “Slade, Taylor … snap out of it. We’ve got to get backstage,” Dayna said to the two of us.

  It was so hard for me to take my eyes off of that superb performance. We had a good show prepared, but how in the world were we going to top that? Honestly, I wouldn’t be upset if the hottie won the contest over us. That’s just how strong of a connection I felt to the guy.

  As we were walking down the back corridor, Dayna turned around and said, “You know you’ve got to be initiated into the group.”

  “I thought that’s what watching all of those crazy DVDs was about. I’m fully in,” I said as I cocked my head and looked at her like she was tripping.

  “Nope,” Dayna said as she puffed up her lips. “Now you got to put some of those skills to work.”

  “We’re about to go on stage. Shouldn’t we be concentrating on that?” Taylor said.

  “Exactly,” I replied, happy somebody had some sense.

  Dayna gave Caylen a real cold stare, which made Caylen speak up. “Yeah, um, ya know, Dayna’s right. It’s only fair. Right before a performance is when you’ve got to really show us you want to be a part of the group; so either you’re in or you’re out.”

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked, really fed up, knowing that I just wouldn’t do any ol’ thing.

  “Yeah, I mean come on, Dayna. I’m ready to win this thing. And as you just saw, it’s not going to be easy,” Taylor said. “Besides, Sloan needs to really concentrate.”

  Dayna argued, “I’m just saying. It’s only fair, and she needs to flirt with the next guy who comes around here.”

  “No …” Taylor uttered. “We need to continue doing the steps because y’all changed some. The stage is larger than what we thought we were going to have, so …”

  “No, no, no, it’s fine,” I said, cutting her off as I completely changed my view of their hazing when I saw the stranger coming our way. “I have no problem complying. I’ll show you I want to be in the group.”

  “Yeah, show us,” Dayna said as her head was looking in the same direction as mine.

  I walked straight up to A.V., placed my hand on his chest, rubbed it, felt his abs, and said, “You are so sexy. You got up on that stage, and you made me lose my mind.”

  I leaned in and nibbled on his ear a little bit. I didn’t even know the guy, but I was all into the challenge. He was smiling.

  I continued flirting. “I think you are fine, and you sing darn good too.”

  All of a sudden, pandemonium broke out when Taylor rushed beside me and pushed my hand away. “What are you doing? Why are you touching him like that?”

  I said, “What do you mean? You know what I’m doing. I’m showing you I can rise to the occasion.”

  Taylor confused me when she looked at the stranger and yelled, “How could you stand there and let her do that? You see me here, but you’re smiling like you enjoy this.”

  He looked away. She dashed off. Then Dayna smiled my way.

  “I think the friendship you were building with my girl, trying to be closer to her than me, is over,” Dayna said nastily to my face before following Taylor.

  I wanted clarity. Caylen was the only one in the group still around. As I stepped toward her for answers, she dashed away too.

  Frustrated, I uttered, “What in the world is going on? They gave me a challenge. I know it seemed weird coming on to you like that, but that’s what they wanted me to do. What was I thinking?”

  “So you didn’t mean it?” he playfully asked.

  “I mean, how can I even like you when you told me to mind my own business? Besides, you didn’t even tell me your name. But I heard it in the argument, A.V.”

  “A.V.? My name is Avery. Avery Hardy.”

  Sitting down on the same stairs I was on just weeks earlier to make sense of everything, I said, “I guess I heard it wrong. Avery, what in the world was all that about?”

  “Um, I didn’t know you guys knew each other,” he said.

  “Yeah, I’m in a group with them.”

  “It was just the three of them in
a group. When did they add another member?”

  “So you know them?”

  “Taylor is my ex.”

  My mouth hung open. “Wait a minute. You’re the guy who just broke up with her a couple of days ago?”

  Understanding everything, I ran to find them. As soon as I did, Caylen had her arm around Taylor, consoling her. As if Dayna was waiting on me to arrive, she gave me a smirk. I went right up to Taylor.

  “I didn’t know he was your boyfriend.”

  “That’s the same guy I was telling you about.”

  “I, I, I had no clue he was yours. I mean …”

  Taylor lashed out. “What do you mean you had no clue? There were pictures of him all in my room.”

  “We weren’t in your room long! We spent the majority of the night downstairs! I had no idea what your boyfriend even looked like. Come on, think about this, if I knew he was your man, I wouldn’t try to get with him.”

  “Yes you would. That’s why you were telling me to forget him. I didn’t need him, so he’d be free for you to have.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Sounds like it to me,” Dayna said, wanting to make this a huge problem.

  “Who said I was asking you?” I yelled, understanding now that she set me up the whole time.

  Taylor looked my way. “Can we just talk about this later? We’re going to go on in a few minutes, and I don’t want this upsetting me. I saw the way you were looking at him when he was on stage, like you were drooling, wanted to lick him all over or something. It was just nasty. I didn’t understand it, but now I get it. You want my boo.”

  “Well you kept calling him my boo so I didn’t even know his name was Avery.”

  “Well, you’re calling him Avery now,” Dayna uttered, again adding two cents that no one asked her for.

  “Because he just told me his name. Shoot, I thought it was A.V.,” I yelled in the face of the girl whom I wanted to punch.

  Dayna said, “Ugh, real convenient. Everyone knows Avery Hardy. He’s all over YouTube.”

  “Come on, Taylor,” I said, truly not wanting to lose her friendship over this misunderstanding.