Spin it Like That

by Chandra Sparks Taylor

  “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I’ll just save my half of the money and treat myself to the coat when we land our deal.”

  “You really think we’re going to win All-City?”

  I took my eyes off the road for a second to look at him. “I know we are,” I said. “I mean, some of those acts were good, but they weren’t as good as us. We’ll just practice every chance we get between now and August. Don’t forget they still don’t know I can rap.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. We turned onto our block and saw that the living room light was on, as it usually was when we went out. Derrick glanced at me.

  “They’re probably asleep,” I said. I tried to sound convincing, but I didn’t think I pulled it off, since he looked at me real skeptical.

  We walked in the door, and Mama looked like she had been in the same spot since we’d left earlier that evening.

  “Do you know what time it is?” she asked, getting up to meet us at the front door. We didn’t get a chance to answer. “I’ve called you half a dozen times.”

  “But Mama—” I said.

  “Do I look like I need you to say anything right now? Do you know how worried I’ve been?” She looked from Derrick to me, and I didn’t know whether we should answer. “Do you hear me talking to you?” she asked through clenched teeth.

  “But Mama, we won,” I said, grabbing the trophy from Derrick and holding it up for her to see. “We get to compete in All-City, and when we win, we’ll get a record deal. We’re gonna be famous.”

  Mama ignored me and turned to Derrick. “I know Jasmine put you up to this. You know better than to be out this late without calling me. What has gotten into you?”

  Derrick looked at the floor in silence, and I immediately jumped to his defense. “Mama, it was my fault. I wanted to go out to celebrate. My cell phone battery was dead, and I had Derrick’s phone in my purse, which is why we didn’t get your messages.”

  She looked at me like she didn’t believe a word I was saying.

  “For real, Mama. Look, I promise it won’t happen again—”

  “I know it won’t,” Mama said. “The two of you are grounded for the rest of the summer.”

  “What?” I screamed. I couldn’t believe she was being so unfair. It wasn’t like we missed curfew that often. “But Mama, didn’t you hear me? We’re going to All-City. We have to practice, and we have all those parties lined up. Please, we’ll do anything you ask, but you can’t put us on punishment now.”

  Mama walked toward the back of the house, indicating that we weren’t going to talk about it anymore. I glanced at Derrick, and he just stood there. I ran to catch up with her. “Mama, you can’t do this!” I yelled, trying to keep from crying.

  All our screaming woke Daddy, who stood in the door of their bedroom, rubbing his eyes. “What’s going on?” he asked sleepily.

  “You need to talk to your daughter,” Mama said, turning to look at me.

  Whenever I did anything wrong, she didn’t claim me.

  I ran over to him. “Daddy, we won,” I said, showing him the trophy.

  His eyes lit up. “Congratulations, baby,” he said. He picked me up and spun me around, placing a kiss on my cheek. Mama frowned. “Oh, come on, baby,” he said, looking at her. “That’s great news.”

  “Daddy, I didn’t tell you the best part of all: we get to go to All-City, and when we win there, we get a record deal!” I screamed. I jumped around as the reality of my words set in.

  Mama and Daddy never attended any of our performances. I think they reminded Daddy too much of his past and all he had given up. He had just been about to sign a record deal when Mama told him she was pregnant with Derrick. They’d both had to drop out of school and get jobs to take care of Derrick and then me when I came along two years later. Although they never said they regretted not finishing college, I always wondered if they did. They were constantly riding Derrick and me about the importance of getting our education, making sure to mention that my cousins were doing well in college, and all the talk was starting to get on my nerves.

  Derrick and I had gotten to the point where we stopped talking to them about our performances, because my parents—especially my mother—always managed to work education into the conversation.

  I had totally tuned Daddy out, and when I refocused on the conversation, Derrick had come into the hall and Mama was once again going on about the importance of education.

  “You’re starting college in a couple of months, and since you’ll be on punishment for the rest of the summer, you can just tell whoever that you won’t be performing in that competition, so there won’t be a record deal.”

  “Mama!” Derrick and I both shouted. I knew he probably was more upset for me than for himself. Although Derrick liked music, it was really my dream to pursue it professionally, not his.

  I turned to Daddy. “Daddy, please don’t let her do this,” I whined.

  Mama ignored me. “As long as you’re living in my house, you’re going to abide by my rules,” she said.

  “Daddy,” I wailed again.

  “Don’t bring your father into this,” Mama said, giving Daddy that look that parents exchange. “I’ve made my decision, and that’s final.” She turned to go into her room, which meant the conversation was over.

  I looked at Daddy, silently pleading with him to talk to her. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said. He had learned from experience not to get into our arguments.

  “This isn’t fair,” I whined.

  Mama spun around. “I’ve had just about enough of you, young lady.” She looked like she had a lot more to say, but I didn’t want to hear it.

  “No, I’m the one who’s had enough,” I yelled.

  My outburst shocked everyone into silence. I couldn’t believe I had actually let the words out. I mean, I had thought them plenty of times, but I liked my life too much to say them out loud.

  “You’re always trying to run my life. I’m sick of it. You’re not going to ruin this chance for us. I’ll move out if I have to,” I said, and flew to the safety of my room.

  I was relieved when I woke up around nine the next morning to find that Mama and Daddy had already left for work. My daddy, Thomas Richardson, drove the Q4 bus route in Cambria Heights, and my mama, Patricia, worked at the post office in Laurelton. They both seemed to like their jobs just fine—until my uncle Henry came around. Uncle Henry is a year younger than Daddy, and he owned some big-time law firm in Manhattan. He and Daddy didn’t talk much, because Daddy said Uncle Henry only knew two things to talk about—the past and his kids.

  Daddy said he and Uncle Henry were supposed to be as big as some of the old-school rappers—Uncle Henry was going to be the rapper, Daddy was the DJ and some guy named Chubby was going to be the producer. They used to hang out with a lot of famous people before those people were stars and everything, since they all grew up in the same neighborhood. We lived in the house Daddy and Uncle Henry had grown up in, another thing Uncle Henry never let Daddy forget.

  Apparently, Uncle Henry was still mad that Daddy messed up their future. I always wondered why Uncle Henry just didn’t go through with his plans on his own. Once I had asked Daddy, but he’d told me to stay out of grown folks’ business, so I never brought it up again, but I wondered just the same. Derrick said he thought Uncle Henry dropped it because he wasn’t as passionate as Daddy, sort of like me and Derrick. Music was okay for Derrick, but for me it was like breathing.

  I headed to the kitchen, grabbed a bowl of cereal and flopped down in a chair. I thought about turning on the TV, but I wasn’t in the mood, so I flipped through the copy of the Daily News that Daddy had left on the table. Our picture had made it into the paper. I knew Loretta was gonna be mad, because she and Kyle had been cut out. If I looked real close, I could see her shoulder.

  I shook my head as Derrick walked in.

  “Hey,” he said. “What are you looking at?”

  I showed him the picture, and he started laughing. “Dang, t
hat girl just can’t get a break,” he said.

  Loretta was always trying to get her big break as a model, but nothing ever seemed to work out for her. I thought it had something to do with her body. Although she was only sixteen, she had the full butt and hips of a grown woman. She was almost too shapely for modeling. And she had gotten scammed out of so much money it was crazy, but that didn’t stop her from pursuing her dream, which I could understand.

  Derrick grabbed a bowl and poured some cereal. “Do you think Mama’s going to keep us on lockdown for the rest of the summer?”

  I shrugged, and we ate in silence for a while until I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned on the television, and we watched a few videos. When one of DC Records’ artists came on, I remembered the card I had gotten from Dexter Chamberlain the night before, and tried to remember where I had put it.

  “It’s in your car,” Derrick said without looking at me.

  “How do you know what I’m thinking?” I asked.

  He didn’t bother to respond to my question. “Am I wrong?”

  “No,” I said with an attitude. He drove me crazy when he knew what I was thinking, sometimes before I even knew. I headed out to my car and searched until I spotted the business card on the floor of the passenger seat. I had given it to Derrick the night before because I was known to lose stuff.

  “Should I call him?” I asked nervously when I returned to the kitchen. Derrick exhaled in disgust. “I guess that was a stupid question,” I said, picking up the cordless phone.

  I chewed on a nail as I waited for someone to pick up on the other end. I was just about to hang up when I heard a bored-sounding voice say, “Thank you for calling DC Records. How may I help you?”

  I took a deep breath. I had never called a record company before, so I didn’t know what to expect. “Hi, my name is Jasmine Richardson. Mr. Chamberlain asked me to call him today.”

  The woman on the other end brightened. “Oh, hi. I’m Jessica, DC’s assistant. I’ve been expecting your call.”

  “You have?” I asked nervously.

  “Yes. Are you familiar with Teen Scene?”

  “No. What’s that?” I asked. Derrick looked at me, silently asking me what she had said, but I held up a finger to let him know I’d tell him in a minute.

  “It’s something DC decided to start a few months ago. He wants to turn a local club into a hangout for teens where they can dance and have fun in a drug-and alcohol-free environment. We’re going to do a test run in Queens before we expand. The parties are going to be held every week starting in two weeks until the end of the summer.”

  “Oh, that’s pretty cool,” I said, wondering what this had to do with me. I looked at Derrick and shrugged before waving my hand to try and make Jessica to get to the point.

  “Our DJ canceled on us last week…” At that, I sat up straight.

  “Really?” I said.

  “DC wants to hire you to play the parties.”

  “Okay,” I quickly said.

  Jessica laughed. “You don’t know any of the details yet.”

  “Oh.” I tried to calm down when I realized just how immature and unprofessional I sounded. I didn’t want to talk myself out of a job.

  “I have a contract I use,” I said, hoping this made me sound more businesslike.

  “That’s fine,” Jessica said. “I’ll send you a copy of our contract, and you can send yours back with it. The parties will last from eight until midnight, and they’ll be held at Twilight on Linden Boulevard in St. Albans.”

  “That’s not too far from me,” I said, recalling the club. It had been around a long time, but lately it seemed that there was always something going on there. I had heard advertisements for karaoke and comedy nights. Whenever Derrick and I drove past on weekends, there was always a huge crowd waiting to get in.

  Derrick was staring at me again, and I smiled at him.

  “You’ll be performing Thursday and Friday nights. You’ll need to be there no later than seven each evening, and you’ll be paid a thousand dollars a week.”

  “A thousand dollars a week?” I said slowly, and Derrick raised an eyebrow.

  “Is that okay?” Jessica asked.

  I sighed, pretending I had to think it over. “I guess so,” I said. I tried not to let my excitement show in my voice, although I was tapping Derrick on the arm. I had never made that much for working an event, and I couldn’t believe I’d be making it every week. It looked like I wouldn’t have to wait until I landed my record deal to get my leather coat. “Are we supposed to split that?” I asked in my most professional voice.

  “We?” Jessica asked, sounding confused.

  “Yeah, me and my brother, Derrick. We’re a team,” I said.

  Jessica hesitated. “DC didn’t mention anything about your brother. I’ll have to call him.”

  I looked at Derrick, who was shaking his head. “Could you hold on for a minute?” I asked. I covered the phone with my hand, hoping Jessica wouldn’t hear me. “What?”

  “Take the job,” he said.

  “But I can’t do it without you,” I whispered.

  “Jasmine, this is your dream, not mine,” he said. “Take the job.”

  I didn’t know what to do. I was used to Derrick being by my side when I performed. “Will you come with me?” I asked in a small voice, suddenly scared of the thought of being without him.

  He nodded, and I felt a relief I couldn’t describe. “Thank you,” I said. I removed my hand from the receiver. “Jessica, don’t worry about calling DC. I’ll do the club by myself.”

  “Great,” she said, sounding relieved. “This is a really great opportunity for you. A lot of rap’s pioneers got their starts at the club, and DC has asked a lot of celebrities to drop by, so you should get some really good exposure.”

  I smiled as I envisioned myself hanging out with some of the people I watched in videos.

  “Hello?” Jessica said.

  I shook myself and refocused on the conversation. “Yes, I’m here,” I said.

  “I’ll messenger our in-house contract to you today,” she said. “Sign it and get it back to us as soon as you can.”

  “Okay. Thank you,” I said, and hung up. I looked at Derrick, who was smiling.

  “Congratulations,” he said, giving me a hug.

  “Oh, man, wait until I tell Loretta and Kyle,” I said. “Daddy is gonna be excited, too.” I looked at Derrick, and his expression made me put down the phone. “What?” I asked.

  Before he could respond, the back door opened, and in walked Mama.

  chapter 3

  “Good morning,” Mama said, sounding tired. She didn’t bother to look at me as she placed a few bags of groceries on the table, and I knew she was still mad, so I jumped up to put them away. Derrick got up to help, but I waved him off.

  “Hey, Mama. What are you doing home?” I asked nervously as I remembered our argument from the night before.

  “I decided to take the rest of the day off. It was kind of slow at work today, so I came on home. I was feeling fine until I stopped at the grocery store. Now my head is killing me.” She rubbed her temples. “Our argument last night has my pressure up.”

  I continued to put away the groceries in silence. I was trying to think of a way to talk her into letting me perform at Twilight every week, since I was supposed to be on punishment for the rest of the summer.

  “Do you need me to do anything else, Mama?” I asked once I was done.

  “Could you get me a glass of water and some aspirin?” she said, settling into a seat at the kitchen table.

  “Okay,” I said, probably a bit too eagerly. I didn’t want to give her any more reason to be angry with me.

  She smiled her thanks when I came back with the aspirin. “What do you guys have planned for the day?” she asked.

  Derrick and I looked at each other. “We have graduation practice later, and I need to work on my speech, but other than that, nothing. We were just going to hang arou
nd the house, maybe clean up,” I threw in.

  Mama stopped massaging her temples and looked at me. “What are you up to?” she asked suspiciously.

  Derrick kicked me under the table, silently urging me to go ahead and tell Mama about the job offer. I chewed my lip, trying to decide if I should say something to her or wait for Daddy to come home, since I could talk him into just about anything.

  The decision was made for me when Mama suddenly grabbed her head.

  “Are you okay?” Derrick asked, going to check on her.

  She tried to shake her head and winced. Derrick grabbed her arm and led her to her bedroom, where we both tucked her in like she used to do us when we were little kids. After making sure the shades were drawn and that Mama was comfortable, we got ready to go to practice.

  “Why didn’t you tell her?” Derrick asked on the way to school.

  “You know she’s just gonna say no,” I said. “I’ll wait until Daddy comes home. I know I can get him to say yes.”

  Derrick nodded and turned on the hip-hop station. We were nodding to an old-school rap when the announcer broke in.

  “We interrupt this program for a late-breaking announcement. Dexter ‘DC’ Chamberlain was arrested outside his Manhattan office today in connection with the murder of West Coast gangsta rapper Malik, who was killed two years ago.”

  Derrick and I looked at each other. I turned up the radio just as we pulled into the school parking lot.

  “This is not the first time Chamberlain, who is the founder of DC Records, has had a brush with authorities. He has launched the careers of several well-known gangsta rappers. We will bring you more details as they become available.”

  “Man, that’s messed up,” Derrick said, shaking his head.

  “Yeah. Do you think they’re still going to go through with the parties?”

  “We’ll see,” Derrick said. He reached for the door handle and climbed out, but I didn’t move. “It’s going to be fine,” he said through the window. “Even if this doesn’t work out, it’s not your last chance. You can still win the record deal with Impact.”