𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡-𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗘𝗡 of 𝗥&𝗕 |𝗕𝗢𝗕𝗕𝗬 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗡 ˡᵒᵛᵉ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ|

𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗚/𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

-Short Chapter-

Orchard Park Rec Center-1978

I walked into the rec center to see how the guys' rehearsal was going. It was a very hot day so I treated myself with a popsicle.

'Holdin' On' by LTD was playing on the boombox, the boys were running laps. "Hey, boys," I say as I lick my popsicle.

"You didn't bring us any?" Ralph whined as they leaned against the stage out of breath.

"I asked her not to," Brooke says as the boys give me glares of exhaustion. I shrugged innocently as I took a bite.

They went back to practicing some dance moves and doing some push-ups, I took a seat by the window and watched them exercise in the heat. 

"I told you it was gonna be hard," Brooke comments, Bobby looks up at him with exhaustion.

"If you can't perform when it's hot," Brooke says with his hands behind his back. "Then you can't perform." He pulls the plug on the fan. They groaned as they collapsed on the floor.

Half an hour later the boys were on stage leaning against the wall in a sitting position with books in both their hands. I was by Mike and Ralph reading a book as Brooke sat by the edge of the stage smoking a cigarette.

Brooke takes a look at his watch and nods to me. I nod back, "Y'all can rest." I told them. They fell to the floor in relief.

"Shake it off, y'all fine." I waved them off, they kissed their teeth.

They were in line, breathing heavily and sweating. I walked by the ice cream man who was outside and bought more popsicles. I walked back in and tossed him one each, they almost scarfed them down.

"I came up with a name for you guys," Brooke says, I passed him a popsicle too, and he raised it up and said thanks. I gave him a salute and went back to my book. "You see, your name ain't just who you are, it's what you're all about.

"When you hear names like The Temptations, or The Stylistics, or my favorite, Blue Magic. It's lettin' you know where they came from, you dig?" Brooke explains, and the boys nod in understanding.

"So, what's our name?" Bobby asked as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Shut up," Ricky says as his voice is hoarse. Mike pushed Bobby a bit, and Bobby pushed him back.

"That's a good question, Bobby." Brooke takes a record and writes their new name. "I'll write it down for ya, 'cause if I tell it to ya, it's different when you see something rather than hearing it."

Brooke motioned me to come here and I looked at their name. I smiled, liking their new mane as I knew they'd like it too. He passed me the record and I turned it so they could see the new name.

"New Edition?" Ricky questions as he scrunched up his face in confusion. "Exactly." Brooke gets up and grabs the record and shows them each. "See, this lets everybody know what the next big thing comin' outta Boston is, right?" The boys nod their heads in agreeance.

"They know about The Jackson 5, they know about The Untouchables. They're about to know about the New Edition."

"Say it," Brooke tells them as he holds the record.

"New Edition." The boys say it in sync dryly.

Brooke rolls his eyes. "Can we say that the right way, please? Again." He holds up the record.

"New Edition." They say it a bit louder.

"One more time," He tells them.

"New Edition!" They say it more loudly.

"Alright, good," Brooke tells them as he sets the record down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~