I was laying in my bed, face up to the ceiling as Kelly sat on the carpet next to me, doing some kind of arts and craft for her sorority meeting later.

"You're awfully quiet this afternoon." She said.

"Yeah. Just trying not to stress my voice. I have to be at the studio early tomorrow." I responded.

She continued gluing white letters onto a long piece of wood, cut into a triangle, then mid-way she just dropped everything she was working on, making a loud thump on the floor. I stared at her like she had lost her damn mind.

She looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

"That means you're not going out tonight?" She asked in a voice that made it seem like she was about to cry.

"I don't think I am. But I kinda don't want to honestly. I have to prepare for tomorrow and drinking was just going to amplify some of the stuff on my mind. We don't need that." I got out of bed and went to sit by her, my legs folded exposing white Harvington cursive printed on my sweats.

She sighed. "Fineeeee."

I smiled and stuck my tongue at her.

"You're really cute, you know? Those sorority girls want to swipe you up." Kelly laughed before continuing.

"Not to mention the Alphas. I heard they've been talking about you a lot. Probably cause there aren't that many African American girls in this school that they don't know."

"You can say Black, Kelly." I laughed lightly.

"I use the terms interchangeably." Kelly threw a cotton ball at me.

"Come out with meeee." She pleaded.

"Nope." I respond casually. She pouts and sighs.

"Are you the one singing all day tomorrow?" I say sounding like Trisha with the attitude.

As soon as Trisha runs through my mind, my phone begins to vibrate, her name present on my screen. I answer on the second ring. Excitement coursing through me already.

"Hey boo."I sing.

"Yo Chanel!" She sounds serious. The smile on my face disappears.

"What?" I ask worried.

"Ma nigga- you're famous!" She screamed.

"What in heaven's name are you talkin bout?" I chuckle nervously at her excitement.

"You don't know? How do you not know you're famous? You didn't see the video?" She screams.

"What video? Trish, can you just explain what's going on. You're giving me anxiety." I complain.

"Go on YouTube right now!"

I pop my laptop open and do as told.

"I'm on youtube. What now?" I asked lazily. "This better be good."

"Type in: Chanel Freestyle."

My heart rate immediately sped up.

The first video result was me in the studio with my messy bun and my plaid shirt on. The account labeled MacWayne Studios. The title of the video is Chanel's Freestyle.

"Oh my God." I mumble to myself before clicking on the video.

"What?" Kelly turns around but I pay her no mind.

"Nahh son... no way." Excitement grows in me.

My heart fell to the floor when I looked at the number of views on the video after just a few days of posting; 502, 347 views, and counting.

"Trish... what is going on? Trisha what is going on right now? What is this?" I said into the phone.

Trisha screams.

"Bitch, I told you! You're famous!! Shaderoom just posted it this morning! I only know because the streets been hitting me up nonstop! Phone been buzzing."

I feel my eyes well up with tears and hold them back so I can read the video description. It reads Meet Chanel, the newly signed artist of MacWayne Records. Kelly stands by my side, her eyes wide. She looks from myself to the video, back to myself.

I pressed play on the video, and there I was having fun with MacWayne, spitting bars and laughing. It was purely me, it was real and it had 502,347 views. I didn't notice my hand was over my mouth. I scrolled down through the comments, my watery vision glancing over the words:

"Woo that girl spittin fire"

"if this is her freestlye, I can't wait to hear her written bars."

"BROOKLYNNNN WHAT YOU EXPECT?"

"she baaaad bruh"

"Finally! Dark skinned beauty hittin the rap game. Okay MacWayne."

"It's the beauty for me."

"Damn, MacWayne gon tap that."

"She iight."

"Damn shorty could actually spit"

"Oooo who dis? She fine."

"MacWayne always knew how to pick em."

"Oh my God, Trish. This is crazy." I cried into the phone, I could feel my heart beating into my throat. I've never felt happiness this overwhelming. I wipe my eyes laughing.

"Trish this is CRAZY!" I laugh now.

" Nigga, I KNOW! THE WHOLE HOOD KNOWS!" I could tell Trisha was jumping up and down.

"Hold on." I said to Trish calmly. I put my cell phone down on my desk, briefly stood up and screamed at the top of my lungs. Kelly screamed with me. We jumped up and down screaming like idiots.

"Holy shit." She said, refreshing the page. "The numbers keep going up!"

I refreshed it for myself and almost fainted.

" The producer you've been working with is MacWayne?" Kelly shouted in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

She looked at me momentarily a large smile on her face. "When were you going to tell me?" She exclaimed.

"Oh my God! Chanel this is Big!" She yelled at me.

"I know!" I jump onto my bed, my head in the pillows. I hear the door open and Kelly's footsteps running down the hall.

"My roommate is gonna be famous!!!" I put the phone down and ran to go get her, pulling her ass back to the room.

"We not doin that." I said pointing a finger at her. Trisha cackles on the line.

She nodded, still giddy with excitement.

"We keep this between us, let them find out little by little. But we not runnin all over the campus."

I focused my attention back to Trisha.

"Yoo refresh the page!" Trisha was screaming through the phone.

I refreshed the page and read the views out loud. " 516,200." The numbers were going up fast.

"Trisha ima have a heart attack." I said sitting on my bed breathing in and out slowly.

"Ima need you not to do that and make this money real quick. " Trisha laughed.

She read me some of the comments.

"Listen to this, some girl said you look like a dark skinned Christina Millian."

I laughed. "That's crazy."

"Nah it's not. You do kinda look like her." I could hear Trisha clicking away as she scanned to find the good comments.

"There's some haters on here but that's expected. You already used to the hood hatin, this ain't nothing new." Trisha said.

I sighed happily. "I gotta call my mom, Trish. Imma call you back."

I called Mom and told her everything. She wasn't as excited as I was.

"Sweetie don't get your hopes up too fast. Now, I know you're gonna be big, but I need you to remember who you are and take things slow. Read everything before you sign it, call me if you not feelin sure about something, and be on guard. Okay? I'm proud of you."

I was glad I called mom, she was good at putting things into perspective, but I just wanted to be excited for a few more hours, maybe even days. I wanted to keep the joy of possibly getting somewhere with all this. Possibly being known for my music and poetry. Possibly making some kind of money to help out mom and get her out the hood. I needed to stay on this high for as long as I could.

Just by instinct, I wanted the next person I call to be Trev. I wanted to jump up and scream with him. I wonder if he knew yet. I know eventually he will find out, but will he be happy for me? I can't imagine so. These days, I just don't know anymore. I wanted to hear his voice, I want to laugh with him, I want to him to be proud of me. Without his validation it all feels empty.

I cursed my brain for going back to the thought of him in such happy moments of my life, but he was always the one I would want to share these moments with. I was fulfilling his plan without him. If I wasn't sure he hated me before, I knew he would probably hate me now.

I clicked refresh again.

517,000.

My heart races as I skim through the comments. I can't tell if I am excited, nervous or afraid anymore. Maybe all of the above.

People were going to know my name and fast.

Mom used to say "If your dreams don't scare you, they're too small."

I was definitely scared.

Scared to disappoint them and Mac and myself and Trev.

But scared enough to go hard, sing louder, write better, write more. I was inspired and more than anything I was driven to shut shit down.

I refreshed the page again.

520,239.

"Oh my God." I breathed, my mouth wide open again.

Without removing my eyes from the screen, my hands scan across my desk for my phone. I impatiently find Flex' name and hit 'call'.

He picked up on the first ring.

"Chanel!" His face flashed into my vision as soon as he spoke. He laughed and I laughed and half cried.

"Baby, I'm so proud of you. That freestyle was dope. Everyone loves you already and they barely even know you!"

"I know! It's insane, Flex. I wasn't expecting anything to take off this fast." I said getting up from the desk and sitting at my bed.

"Go with it! Ride the wave and enjoy it! Go do somethin with yourself or it will drive you crazy. Gotta go hangout with friends. I know you sittin there hittin that refresh button, I've been there many times." His voice was calm and collective, possibly because he could sense both my excitement and fear.

"Go with it." He said calmly again.

"Ugh, my stuck up lil boogie princess bout to kill the game. Go ahead. You are limitless and you got the right resources around you. Do yo thang."

"Thank you..." It was quiet momentarily.

"For everything." I finished.

"Look man, don't thank me yet. Thank me on stage when you win them Grammys. Thank me and give me all the trophies you get. " He laughed the loud and free laugh that I love.

"You got it. Forreall." I responded with all the love in the world.

I hung up the phone with one more person left to call. I had to hit up Devin.

I pressed his name ' Professor Devin' and eagerly waited a few seconds, he picked up, his deep voice already so intriguing.

"Should I get used to your name popping up on my phone? It took me a minute to settle down with all this overnight fame you've acquired."

Of course he knew. I laughed.

"Yoo, what is going on right now?" I asked him, putting my hand to my head and running my fingers through my hair. I couldn't stop smiling again.

He laughed. "I don't know, but I'm jealous."

"Good, you should be. I'm bout to blow up." I giggled back.

"We should celebrate before you start eating caviar from diamond encrusted plates. I don't got diamond encrusted plates money."

"Don't even get me hype." I replied. He did a hearty laugh again.

"So you want to celebrate or nah?" He got serious.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked blushing more than I should be.

"Let me take you to my favorite place to eat. It's a little fancy so let Kelly dress you cause I don't know what you be doin." He chuckled.

"See, it was sweet before you ruined it." I shook my head but still couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Now I didn't know if I was happy from the YouTube views that were climbing or from the man on the other side of the phone.

"Be ready at 8 tonight." He said.

I cleared my throat and put on my baby voice. "Okay."

I hung up and looked at Kelly who was giving me the eyes. I pressed my lips into a hard line.

"I need a dress."

"Eeeeep!" She squealed as she ran to her closet and grabbed a few, then ran to her dresser for her make up bag. She lived for these things, I could tell. I laughed and allowed her to do whatever she wanted.

****************************************

At 7:59 PM, Devin called to say he was downstairs.

How typical. He strives for perfection in all things. I was impressed yet again.

I walked downstairs in a fancy royal blue dress, Kelly let me borrow, my hair straightened, it flowed and tickled the middle of my back, black high heels. The dress outlined my body perfectly. I walked towards the black BMW, only because a beautiful creature with a perfect smile was standing next to it. He looks lean with a collared shirt, blazer and jeans. His muscles made the form of the clothes, and he wore them like they were made especially for him. He almost looked like a mannequin.

"Wow. You look amazing." He complimented as he opened my door. I got into the clean and expensive looking BMW that I was too drunk to appreciate a few nights ago.

"Thank you, so do you." I said shyly.

He closed my door and I watched him walk around the car smoothly to his drivers seat. I buckled my seat belt and sat upright with my hands crossed.

"You look uncomfortable." He said as he pulled off.

"I do?" I asked in surprise. "I'm not really used to this." I answered honestly.

"Used to what exactly?" He glanced over as we drove around campus to the north exit.

I made hand motions to my dress and the car and him.

He laughed and stuck his hand out to me. I put my hand in his and he caressed it then brought it to his lips to kiss it. I felt the kiss all over my body.

"Not used to that either, huh?"

I shook my head, unable to keep from blushing. I turned my head to the window. My hand still in his warm and smooth grip.

"Well get used to it. I can see you're going to be pretty big. I'm being realistic."

I turned my head back to look at him. He was looking from the road to me. "You have to act like you're used to all of it. So do that for me tonight. Just pretend. Pretend you already made it and you're at a fancy dinner with Beyonce or something."

I giggled. "Okay." I agreed.

Let's see if I could pull any of it off.

"Will you be pretending too?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I don't have to pretend, it's already who I am. How do you think I know MacWayne or even got that job? I've been to all these dinners, slowly working my way into their networks. I've been to their dinner parties, weddings, album releases."

"How did you make all those connections?" I was interested. The car sped up as soon as we hit the highway. It drove so smoothly, it smelled so good.

"Well, my Father used to manage artists before he passed, so a lot of them know me just because I'm his son, the rest I did myself. You have to know how to talk to people and make them feel comfortable around you, be charming." He flashed a winning smile and I rolled my eyes.

"You already know I got that down." He added.

"Barely." I said sharply to bring him back to earth but it looked like it only made him more confident because he chuckled and the smile stayed. Then it seems his mind wandered off. His smile fades and he looks visibly sad.

It was silent for a moment as his mind went to some distant place, far beyond the road. I knew that look anywhere. He missed him.

"I'm sorry." I said softly. "About your Dad."

He came back, life returning to his face.. He glanced at me before he shrugged.

"Nah. Good riddance." He shook his head.

Was this a topic we would have to revisit later-oh-so-perfect Devin? What was that relationship like? I want to ask him but it's too early in the friendship. I hang on to it. I make a mental note and put it in my pretend pocket.

Time passes and we talk about little nothings. He prefers asking about me than talking about himself, something I didn't realize I liked in a guy. Trevon does the same. The problem is, I don't usually have much to say about myself. I feel like everything is already laid out. I do poetry, I sing, I'm from Brownsville. Only child to a loving Mother. That's it. That's all.

He put the turn signal on and turned into the parking lot of a place called Bojur. I'm guessing it was some kind of french restaurant. He wouldn't allow me to get out of the car by myself. I waited for him to glide around to my side and open it for me. I watched him extend his hand out. I lightly placed my small hands in his; so warm and big.

As I got out of the car, I made sure to stand straight, head up with all the confidence of a star I always knew I was destined to be. I walked slowly with him to the door, my heels in rhythm with the world around me. A world that I was in complete control of, or so I was pretending.

He removed his arm from mine and opened the door for me.

The restaurant was dimly lit, candles on each of the tables. It was fancier than I thought, and I began to wish I wore a fancier dress, but I didn't have any. Devin spotted the momentary doubt and placed his hands on the small of my back. I felt tingles up my spine and hoped he didn't catch the small shiver.

"Reservation for Mr. King." He said to the host who was dressed in a black tux.

"Right this way." The host said.

Mr. King? I scoffed in my head and rolled my eyes. Of course his last name is King. Why wouldn't it be?

The food already smelled great as soon as we entered, I was wondering how Devin could even afford this place. I guess MacWayne was paying him more than I thought. I remember Devin is a senior as soon as he orders us a bottle of wine. They didn't check my ID, which was great because I am definitely underage. I've never tasted wine before.

I let the red liquid swish around in my mouth, taking in the flavor.

"Smooth. Isn't it?" He asked.

I shrugged unsure. I have nothing to compare it to.

He cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows, reminding me that we were pretending to be established and wealthy individuals..

"Very authentic." I correct myself. "You can almost taste the hands that squeezed the grapes."

Devin grinned, trying hard not to laugh.

"Not appetizing." He commented.

"I know! Rather disgusting." I shook my head dismayed and wiped my mouth dainty with a napkin. I raised my hand ready to have a word with the waiter.

"Waiter!" I began.

"Stop!" Devin whispered firmly, unable to keep the smile off his face.

I chuckled and looked at him with low eyes. "Are you embarrassed of me Mr. King?"

He shook his head continuously. "God, no. You are the most beautiful woman in this entire restaurant. This entire town even."

"Continue." I took a few more sips of wine. He looked deep into my eyes and continued.

"You have an amazing sense of humor, you are intelligent and clever, a bit stubborn but very kind hearted, I can see that you've been through a lot but you still carry a good head on your shoulders. You aren't bitter." He paused and I was momentarily frozen.

He went too deep. Did he know that he went too deep?

I swallow though there is no wine in my mouth.

"You are extremely talented but still so humble, I struggle with deciding if you know that you are amazing and don't showboat or if you don't know so you can't be conceited. You are strong but I also can't tell if you know your own strength. I can see the strength in your eyes, and not just when you roll them. You are sexy and seductive but not at all vulnerable and it makes me respect you more than any woman I have had the pleasure of meeting." His voice was low and I felt myself focusing on his lips as each word left it. My body felt warm and I made sure my hand was steady before bringing the wine glass back to my lips.