"What?" De asked
"I'm gone do what now?!" I asked shockingly at the same time.
He looked down at me and gave me a smile," Sing lead."
I shook my head at him. "Uh, no I'm not."
He sighed and leaned on the piano." I know this is something new, but its all in a matter of business."
"Business? I never fully agreed to do this."
"I know but you will just have to trust me on this, Aj."
"Trust isn't exactly a thing on my agenda." I mumbled as I shifted myself on the piano bench.
He shook his head and glanced up at the rest of the girls. " I know how the music industry works okay, and I know what they want."
"Is there something wrong with my voice?" De asked. I couldn't bring myself to look at her. I couldn't even imagine how she felt at that moment. I felt as if she was going to hate me for the rest of life for this.
"No, no." He sighed as he searched for the right thing to say. " You have a wonderful voice, believe me, but if you want to get this deal and you want to keep it, you will need something new, something.....different."
" What does that have to with me singing lead?" I asked.
"De, your voice is too.....eh.....average, it sounds like other stars in the past and you won't get anywhere with it. Now I have huge plans for you girls but I have to make sure that you guys come out with a boom on your debut album. Aj is going to get us there."
" What?"My words came out in a harsh whisper as I shook my head in disbelief. I looked him as if he was crazy. How could I possibly get them to them to where they need to go? There was nothing special about my voice. De was the one who sung her heart out and made people fall out their chairs.
"I know it's not what you're used to but, it's the only way."
I heard Leena's bitter laugh from behind me. "Wait, wait, wait. What you're telling us is that De's voice us too ordinary and that you need a new sound to get us where we need to be with our careers, and that the only way to do that is if you make Depression Gretchen over here be lead singer? " Leena snorted. " Yeah, we'll see how that goes."
I wanted to punch the weave strait out of her head. I turned in the piano bench to face her. " Shut up, Lee." I said through my teeth.
She rolled her eyes and walked across the room and stood next to Michael, crossing her across her chest as she began mouthing words to herself.
"Aj?" De whispered softly in my ear." Can I talk to you for a minute?"
I let out a long sigh and stood up from the piano. I gave Quincy a cold hard stare; telling him that I hated him for the decision he was making.
As I followed her out the door I fixed my mouth up to say what I was thinking at the moment. I couldn't have her think I was unintentionally stealing her dream from her. That was the last thing I wanted to do. I still wasn't exactly sure if I wanted to do this. Quincy just didn't realize what he was asking me. He wanted me to come out of my comfort zone and sing? He wanted me to be the star, like Michael was when he was with his brothers. I could not handle that kind of pressure.
She waited until she was as far away from the recording room as possible before turning to me.
"De, I-"
She held her hand up, stopping me from saying anything more." I already know what you're going to say, and I'm not mad at you."
I felt my eyebrows knit together with confusion." You're not?"
She shook her head and sighed." Look Aj, I'll admit I am disappointed about...not being the lead singer and all, but..." She let her sentence trial as she glanced out the window, she stayed that way for about a half a second before turning back to me."...this maybe our only chance to get away from here. I swear, I can not stand to live in Harlem for another second. If I do, I will either turn into the streets like DJ has or those streets will eat me up. There is nothing left for me here, and if we don't do this I would either have to move back to Louisiana or stay here." She shook her head." I don't want either one.
" I know how you are, Aj. and I know you don't like doing things that you are not comfortable with, but girl- your voice is the shit, and I hate that you don't give yourself any credit for it. I believe that they know what they are doing by making you sing lead. So I'm asking you to please, please, please..." She laced her hands up and held it by her chin while she weighed herself up and down on her knees. Stretching her third please into one long syllable. " Do this, I'm begging you. If I stay here any longer I might just die."
I shook my head." De...I don't- I don't know...I mean, what if we go there and they're not interested, then what do we do?"
"We keep trying, " She placed her hands on my shoulders. Looking me dead in my eyes." Girl, what are you afraid of?"
I shrugged one of my shoulders
" I can tell you what you're afraid of, Aj. You're afraid of your own talent. Which I think is sad because you are the most talented one of us all. I mean yeah Leena can dance. Jojo has the ability to write a kick ass song. Nikki can be sexy even when she's trying not to, and I can sing. But you are like all of us wrapped up in one."
I didn't like the way she was putting me out there to be. As if was perfect. I was far from perfect. More like perfectly flawed.
"C'mon sistah, we've been dreaming about this for years."
I tilted my head to the side." That's just the thing, De. This has been your dream, Jojo's, Nikki's, and Leena's dream. I don't know what I want."
" That's the thing." She said softly. " Moving to California just might help you find out what you really want with your life; what you really need." She smiled at me as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Who knows, what you need might just be right there in front of you and you don't even realize it yet."
I raised my eyebrow at her." What do you mean?" she had never said anything to me like that before.
"Never mind what I mean." She said quickly as she leaned against the wall."What I'm saying is, you are a pretty girl and you don't even have to do much to yourself because it become natural to you - I mean, you don't even smile. I've never seen you smile. Ever. You just have something about you that makes people want to be around you. You may just be our good luck charm to getting that deal. Please Aj, I just need to get away from here."
I sighed. I cannot believe I'm doing this. I couldn't believe I was letting her convincing her to me. I was beginning to soften up here. I shook my head at myself ad the words came out of mouth. " Okay, fine. I'll do it." I mumbled.
"Oh my God!!!" she squealed. She pulled me into her arms as she began jumping up down."Thank you!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't push it." I pushed her off of me." But I'm only going this because I love you, you're my big sister."
She laughed." I thought that was Leena."
" Yeah, well you've been more of a big sister than her conceited ass has been."
She out her arm around me as we began walking back to the room." That's true."
"But I won't be going anywhere," I said as we continued to go on to the room. " If someone doesn't tell Sasha about this."
She sucked her teeth." Right..."
When we made it back in the studio Quincy met us at the door. He looked at me and said, " Please tell me you're doing this."
I looked up at De who had a smirk on her face. " I told her I would do it."
A smile stretched across his face." You hear that Michael?" he said as he turned to him. " She said she's going to do it!"
His big brown eyes lightened up as he walked over to us. " Really?" he smiled down at me.
"Yes, the only problem is that we still need to let their aunt know about this. She's the guardian." De said.
I nudged her in the rib cage." He doesn't need to know all that!" I hissed.
"We can meet her this Sunday if you want."
"Sunday night! We're having a Sunday dinner." Leena said.
"This coming one?"Quincy asked as he pulled a notebook from his bag.
"Yes,"
Michael turned back to us. "I hope she let's you guys do it. You're entirely too talented."
"Thanks," De said as he patted him on the shoulder.
I walked back to the piano and stood next to Jojo.
Michael's POV
I told Quincy when he came up with the idea of making Aj the lead singer of the group that she wouldn't like the idea. I told him that she would probably be the hardest one to work with out of all five of them. He said that she had the most unique voice of them all and he knew that they would be huge if she sung lead. I had only known her for a week and I knew that she wouldn't go with it. I was actually ready to tell him that I told him so. So, I was shocked when she said that she would do it. De must have done an amazing job of convincing her.
I was more surprised at how professional she was being the studio. The girls finished the demo with no problems at all. Aj ,surprisingly was the one who got the beats together, and the hook of the song. It was almost as if she was natural. Jojo later told me that she did that with every song that they wrote. She was the ear for the music. I realized that they all had their own parts in the group:
Nikki and Leena sung the back up vocals with the basic Oh's and Ah's and also the chorus part of the songs. That's what they were most comfortable with.
Jojo and Aj would sing the main chorus part of the song. Now it would be De and Jojo.
Leena worked with the dances. De worked with how the song was sung. Jojo's job was to simply get gigs and shows, Nikki worked on their out fits and make up. Aj was the musical one.
Jojo had said that they had functioned that way for years so it would be hard for them to get used to the changes that was being made. She also had said that Aj didn't like being put out to be the best because she didn't believe that she was as talented as people made her out to be. I didn't understand why. How could anyone not know that they were that talented? She said that she didn't know, it was hard to tell with Aj.
They finished the demo before darkness had fell and Quincy and I walked to them to their cars. "Uh- Aj can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked.
She turned to me." It depends on what you're wanting to talk to me about."
Jojo shot a look at her." Go see what he wants." she whispered then walked to her car.
"I'm waiting..."
"Oh I was just wondering if you feel comfortable with this."
She shrugged her shoulders." It's whatever, I guess."
"Jojo told me that you really don't take music seriously."
She raised her eyebrow and pulled off her glasses." Oh, did she?"
"Yes, " I wanted to punch myself for talking too much.
" Well I'm not really singer of the group. Its De, then its JoJo, then Nikki, then Leena, then me. I only sing because they needed an extra girl and I don't like being alone in that club."
A scoffed unconsciously arose from my chest. "I'm just hearing a bunch of excuses."
She raised her eyebrow." Excuse me?"
I held my hands up." I'm sorry, but I'm just so passionate about what I do and when I hear a voice like yours it just send chills down my spine. I've heard many voices before in life but none of them can touches yours. It's beautiful. You have a true talent."
She rolled my eyes." Are you finished?"
" Yes," I nodded.
"Good, because I have to go." She turned to walk away but I stopped her."What are you doing?"
"Um, the last time I saw you I swear your eyes were green. Now they're brown. Do you have contacts or somethin'?"
She pursed her full heart shaped lips. I felt my hormones erupt in side of me." No," she said. " It's Tuesday."
She then walked to De's car and climbed into the back seat. I watched as she pulled her sunglasses on and sink into the chair.
What does it being Tuesday have to do with anything? Is what I wanted to ask her. I watched as they drove away in to the busy streets heading back to Harlem. I had planned to visit my aunt again but it wouldn't be until Friday at the most. I had important business things to do. Like worrying about my first solo album. I had song that I need to record. Contracts I needed to sign. I had came here to get away from the clouded suffocated world I was living in.
"Mike," Quincy said. Pulling me out of my thoughts
I looked at him,"Yeah?"
" Tatum is on the phone."
I sighed." Tell her I will call her back." My ex was the last person I wanted to talk to.
"She's going to keep calling."
I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh." Okay..." I said then walked back inside the studio.