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Valentina was pushed through the crowd of weed smoking, alcohol sipping youngins. When she reached the stage, Joelle gestured at Grandmaster Flash. Flash nodded at her, understanding what she wanted to do. Joelle then waved over the MC, who quickly extended out his hand to Valentina. Joelle shoved a hesitant Val forward to grab his hand and hop on stage.
"You the newbie wanted to spit some rhymes?" The MC pursed his lips together into a semi-thin line.
Valentina gulped. She nodded slowly, although she didn't think she was ready to rhyme in front of a crowd. The only reason she was there was because Joelle thought Val was some kind of rapper for rap battling some guy in class.
The MC placed the microphone into her small hand, and Val raised it up to her lips. The music continued to play as Grandmaster Flash spun his records. The crowd continued to move to the beat but they seemed a bit bored as they forced their bodies to move. Thy were itching to get hyped again.
"It's ya girl Valentina, And I'm a straight winna, If you ever see her in the street, You might need to take a seat, Because there's a new MC, Bitch that's me, If you ever disrespect my name, I'll just do the same." Valentina struggled to piece together the complex puzzle that was rhyming. She felt like she dishonored wordsmiths around the world by spitting such a horrible verse, however, the crowd seemed to enjoy it. For they were cheering in return.
The original MC returned to the stage and pushed Valentina out the way, briefly complimenting her work. He began to rhyme once again. "Any man out there who think he can rhyme, step right up and get in line..." The MC continue to groove with the beat.
Valentina hopped off of the stage back onto the floor with a wide smile stretched across her face. Joelle quickly hugged her new friend and congratulated her. "You were amazing!" Joelle told Val.
Val's smile was turned sideways. "Really?" Val asked.
Another figure became present behind her, and Val held her breath. She slowly turned around and locked her eyes with Michael. His lips were twisted into an admiring smirk. "So you wanna be an MC, huh?" Michael questioned.
Val scratched her temple. "Well..." She trailed off.
Joelle jumped in front of her defensively. "You ain't getting her! She's my MC, go find you another one." Joelle hissed at her brother.
Growing up with Michael as her brother was tough. No one would ever speak to Joelle unless it was about her brother. Everyone found her odd for wanting to do things that boys did, but Joelle didn't seem to care. However, now that she managed to make a friend with a girl that wasn't obsessed with her brother, or so she thought, she wasn't going to allow her brother to cast her under his spell.
Before anyone else could speak, a familiar voice to Valentina began to rumble through the speakers. "Yes, yes, y'all. To the beat y'all..." Ezekiel Figuero attempted to rhyme.
Valentina cringed and the audience instantly booed at him. In milliseconds, the original MC hopped back on stage to save the flow generating through the pulsing crowd. "That's enough of aspiring MCs up here on this stage." The original MC chuckled.
"Run him out of here, before he ruin our party!" One of Flash's crew members shouted at Ezekiel. Valentina rushed over to Zeke to save him as she was shoved off stage and being dragged away.
Valentina forced people out of the way by pushing them. She reached Zeke and began to yell profanities at the civilians who were beginning to grab at him. "Y'all fucking trippin'!" Valentina yelled at another nameless face in the crowd.
"I ain't trippin', he trippin'!" The nameless face shouted in return.
Suddenly, a figure was flying in the air. From afar, Joelle could recognize the moving thing was Shaolin by the vivid red jacket he sported. He had flipped and landed on his two feet in the midst of the crowd. The crowd gave him some space, knowing that he was about to dance.
Following his exuberant entrance, Flash began to play an upbeat record. The entire crowd began to bop as they watched Shaolin dance extraneously. Valentina watched curiously from Zeke's side as Shao danced in a way she had never seen before.
Valentina loved to dance, it was her passion. She knew how to dance to almost everything, but had never seen anything like what Shao was doing. He threw himself on the floor and kicked out his feet in such a way that it matched the beats of the heavy music perfectly. Valentina studied his movements and took notes so that she could practice it later on.
Everyone began to show their true colors because soon after, Ezekiel ran up to the stage and snatched a microphone to begin rapping once again. This time, he did quite well.
Valentina began to dance and chant along with the crowd happily. Star and Simone even appeared out of no where, with excited smiled smeared on their faces. They were enjoying themselves too, and Simone, despite the quantity of weed in the room, seemed quite sober.
Joelle, during this time had been studying Flash's mastery of the get down. She watched as he marked the records and dig into them to create a whole new sound, never heard of before. Shaolin, whom had joined Zeke on stage, wandered over to Joelle and eyed her carefully.
"What do you want, Shao?" Jo rolled her eyes.
Shao chuckled and rubbed his thumb on his bottom lip. "You copying me now? Stealing my master?" Shao inquired.
Jo crossed her arms defiantly and shook her head. "I'm just trying to learn. I want to be a DJ just as much as you do. But I'm sure you thought you were the only one that could become a DJ, right?" Jo scoffed, going back to analyzing Flash's work.
"Wait, I was wrong. You copying your brother, who copies me." Shao smirked.
Joelle huffed. "Whatever."
"You must be real special if you the only girl in the Bronx wanting to be a DJ." Shao winked at Jo. Jo couldn't control the sudden butterflies swarming in her stomach. Ever since she met Shaolin, she had admired Shao and his ghostly myth.
He was multitalented, and known for those many talents. He was known for his graffiti work, stealthy drug distributing, interest in becoming a DJ and, now, his dancing. Joelle found that his demeanor of achieving any goal that he set his mind to inspirational, and a bit attractive.
Joelle wanted to be close to Shao, to understand and have him to analyze for her own. Just as Shao wanted with Joelle. Despite their desires, their similar stubbornness would never allow them to admit their wishes to be close with one another.
