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Chapter Five

I've never been afraid
fresh and I'm gettin' paid...
-- Common featuring Pharrell, "Universal Mind Control"

Homecoming night had arrived and the jam-packed SSH gymnasium was proof that the name Blue Reynolds was as reliable as the postal service -- I had delivered. Collin and I were chillin' onstage, sitting on top of one of the deejay's giantzspeakers while Whiteboy leaned against it. We were all bobbing our heads to the music, taking in the room's energy. A fl urry of waves, thumbs-ups, and peace signs from the crowd were being thrown in my direction. Posters with my face covered the gym walls. I felt like royalty.

"Yo, check out that girl in the front row," I said, pointing to a honey-skinned beauty who was barely dancing. "She's amazing. Who is she?" Out of all the girls here, she stood out for some reason. I zeroed in on her, and everything else in the room stopped.

"Look at her smile, and, damn, she's got a body like Rihanna's!"

"She's probably stuck up. C'mon, playboy, this song is bangin' and she's doin' that wack two-step. Yo, you stick with the snobby one. I'm gonna go scoop me a hot one!" Whiteboy said, dashing off to the dance floor.

"I don't know her. I've never seen her at SSH before," Collin said, taking note.

"Well, we should know her and every other bad babe up in here. The honeys came out of the woodwork for this joint. I swear, if this is what fame brings, I want in. I'm diggin' this movement. I've definitely caught the entertainment business bug," I proclaimed.

"You're joking, right?" Collin chuckled.

"Am I laughing? Yo, I've decided I want in. I could start promoting my own parties, but on some new level, shiznit!" Collin gave me a crazy look.

"Dude, please don't tell me this is going to your head. It's just a party. Keep it in perspective," Collin said with skepticism.

"Think I'm playin'? We could be stackin' dollars." I winked.

"We! Where did the plurals come from? Dude, I got college, law school, a career to think about!" Collin said, shaking his head furiously.

"Collin, we got plenty of time to think about college. You could be my partner in this. You know how to put ideas in motion, man. Plus, we're younger and hotter than anybody out here doin' parties in Silver Spring for sure. Hell, DC for that matter. This is just a starting place. Just like cats like Russell Simmons passed the baton to guys like Diddy. Diddy became a household name. Diddy unlocked the door, and I'm gonna kick it in! It's time for somebody else to reign," I said, transfixed by the flashing lights in the room. "I've got it! What do you think about the name Blue Up Productions?" I announced as if I was actually seeing it in big lights. "I'm tryin' to make moves with the likes of people like that guy Rico Tate. We could be throwing parties at his clubs!"

"Slow down, Blue," Collin said, raising his hands in a halt gesture. "These things have to be thought out."

"What's there to think out?" I asked.

"Okay, for one, you can't expect somebody like Rico Tate to just hand over one of his venues. We don't have a track record!"

"Okay, so forget Rico. I'll go to someone else. My point is that you take this," I said referring to the action in the room. "And you flip it into having a record company or something," I said enthusiastically.

"Maybe, but that's passé. What you want is distribution and muscle on the Internet. We've got to own what we do," Collin added.

"Exactly! We could go global. Hold up, you said 'we.' So does that mean you're in?" I eyed him hard. He knew I meant business, and there was no turning back. There was a long silent pause. "Collin, it's all about us making our own way. I don't want to live my life for my father. Maybe I'll be a lawyer. Then again, maybe I won't. What about you?"

"I do want to be a lawyer, but I agree with you. I definitely want to make my own way. I want it on my own terms." Collin stood up and started pacing back and forth. "I could grab hold of my future and not have to have it handed to me on some golden platter for my dad to hang it over my head for the rest of my life!"

"We could make so much money you'd have enough to pay your own way through law school!" I said, giving him a pound. Suddenly we heard a building chant from the crowd. "Blue! Blue! Blue! Blue!"

"Dude, they're calling for you out there," he said as we both looked over the crowd.

"This is serious power. Seriously, I need to get at that guy Rico Tate immediately!" I said, jumping off the speaker. "It's time to kick this party into overdrive!"

I dashed toward center stage and started waving my hands in the air back and forth, and the crowd followed my direction. "Ho, hay, ho, hay!" I chanted, starting a call-and-response. "When I say 'Get it,' you say 'Money!' Get it!"

"Money!" the crowd shouted back.

I repeated it a few more times before signaling to the deejay. "DJ Nice, drop that Lil Wayne nice and low! First off, respect and love to all! And before I go any further I wanna give a special shout-out to the honey right here in the front row! What's up, mami? You are gorgeous!" I pointed and waved to the mystery girl I had my eye on earlier and winked. All the girls started screaming.

Unfortunately, I guess she didn't find my shout-out very amusing. She curled up her lips, shook her head, gave me the hand, and pushed her way to the back of the crowd. Damn! Where did she go? I scanned the room to no avail. "Okay, okay, back to the business at hand. Let's bring out our newly crowned king and queen!" As the king and queen and their court gathered on the stage, my eyes kept searching for my mystery girl. No luck.

I rejoined Collin, who was now standing with Whiteboy.

"So, C says you're gonna be a businessman!" Whiteboy teased. "Oh, snap. You're really tryin' to make moves like ya boy Rico Tate.

"That's what I'm talkin' about. By the way, how about a shot to be Blue Up's creative go-to guy? You can be in charge of creating our logo, and all the flyers and club promotional materials," I said, extending my hand.

"Word up! Let's get it poppin'!" Whiteboy said.

"I want you to do some of those Coming Soon posters and flyers. We gotta blow up Blue Up Productions! I think this is our time, for real!"

"First thing I gotta do is find us the right venue. Not too big, but definitely where we could get a good starting crowd." Now the wheels were churning in Collin's brain too.

"I wanna do a monthly joint, then maybe when things start building up, move to bimonthly," I said.

"Unfortunately, we're going to need some start-up cash flow," Collin reminded.

"Yo, y'all are my boys and I ain't got much after getting my new ride, but I got five hundred if you need it," Whiteboy said.

"Thanks, man. Everything will help. You know I'll get it back to you as soon as I can," I said, putting my fist out. "We could use it to get the promotional hype going. I want to put up those posters and flyers around school, especially as kids enter the Cyber Café."

"Blue, my only fear is that we got nothing right now. Why not wait until we book a venue?" Collin asked skeptically.

"Look, the entertainment game is ninety percent smoke and mirrors. It's okay that we don't even have our first party yet. It's about generating the energy, setting the tone for what's coming. I'm talking an all-out assault on Facebook and every social networking site we can think of. I want us passing out business cards to everyone we meet. Money attracts money. Hype attracts hype. We make our plans while we put our plan in action. We've gotta blow up Blue Up Productions! And we need a logo ASAP too! We want Blue Up to be the first name in teen entertainment."

"Yo, that's whassup! You got it, baby! The logo will take time. I want it to be right, but I can definitely get some cool graphics going for the Net and all the other stuff you need for print." Whiteboy stuck his fist out, next to mine. "The world is yours, baby!" he proclaimed.

"I'm down even though I think this is, with all due respect, ass backward, but to hell with it. Let's make it happen!" Collin added his fist to the circle and we sealed our fate.

I guess sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind and go for what you know in your heart. I know there are going to be haters trying to bring us down, but you have to put the blinders on and just come hard. When it's your shot, you gotta take it!