Say Goodbye to Rockbottom (an Eminem Fanfiction)

2) Showtime

Once I finally got to my hotel room, I was blown away. To an average person the room might've been like any other they've seen..but to me, from what I'm use to, it was like a fucking bridal suite. And Wendy paid for it all.

I threw my book bag on top of the bed. I noticed the phone that was placed next to it on the night stand, reminding me of how I had yet to call Tori. I took a deep breath and dialed Proof's home number.

"Hello?" A female's voice answered. I didn't sound like Tori.

"Sharonda?"

"Yep, it's me." She answered dryly.

"Oh, hey. It's Marshall."

"Toriiiii, your man's on the phone for you!" I laughed at how she knew what I wanted without even saying anything.

"Thanks."

"No problem Marshall," the next thing I know I hear Tori grab the phone.

"Hello? Marshall??" She seemed antsy and restless for my response.

"Hey baby girl." I smiled through the phone. "How are you? I miss you."

"I'm good, I miss you too." She quickly retorted. "You know, you never said goodbye to me this morning." Her voice grew cold.

"Babe, I know. It's jus', you looked so peaceful sleepin' and...I'm sorry, I jus' couldn't wake you up." I only heard her breath through the other line. "I placed that blanket over you though. Did you notice?" I tried adding that last part to sound cute in hopes of her forgiving me.

"I did notice, thanks." She said a little dry but I heard a breath of laughter as if she was fighting to stay mad.

"Tori, you know I did it for you. You couldn't sleep last night."

"I know but I would've rather said bye." She sounded disappointed. "But enough of that, how's LA? They treating you well?"

"Weather's nice." I replied simply. "And I got a nice hotel room. Might steal some shit." I joked, partially.

"That's great, well minus the stealing part." She replied gently. "What are the girls like?"

"What girls?" I answered on cue. I knew she was testing me.

"Good answer." I could tell she was smiling by the way she replied. "Well I hope you feel confident in what you're about to do. We're all rooting for you Marshall. And I can't wait till you come back home. Whether you win or not."

"Thanks baby." I said softly. "I appreciate that."

*****

This day was probably the most anxiety filled one I've ever had in my life. My heart was ready to explode out of my chest because it was beating so fast. Man, I was so nervous I couldn't even eat a thing. I forced some dinner down but I felt as if it could shoot back up any minute.

I was back stage at the Proud Bird nightclub, with Wendy and the rest of her team that she invited to compete. We all formed into a circle as she spoke some words of advice.

"Take a deep breath everyone. This is an experience of a lifetime, and you don't wanna miss it by hyperventilating and blacking out." We all laughed at her joke. "But seriously, I invited you all here to compete in the 1997 Rap Olympics because I know you got the talent. Every single one of you standing here has some sort of star quality to them. This is all about letting that out and showing your rap skills. That being said, I wish you all good luck!" We all broke apart while exchanging fist pumps and wishing one another good luck.
*****

As the competition went on I had to think back about how far I've gotten. It was crazy. I survived the first two rounds and progressed to the quarter finals. I mean the moment I hit that stage, it was like an adrenalin rush took over me. I started taking down the competition one by one. I was on fire. My strategy was to just be a complete ass on stage and have great punch lines. I mean my thing is this, when you're just freestyling, you can say anything you want. But when you're battling, you have to have the personality of a fucking smartass, you just have to. So that's what I was doing. I was dissing my opponents like hell but also did the same to myself. That way, if someone tried to come at me for being white, they couldn't, because I already did. I was the dude that ran the show tonight. I was in charge. Success seemed within my grasp.