Forever Never

Chapter Nine | Conglomerate

Leroy

I always took my comic books with me wherever I went. These made me and got me through a lot growing up. Before I'd seen one of these I hated reading. Whenever I had to read in class I would always embarrass myself to the point where people thought I was illiterate. The words would jumble together and it was like they developed a mind and legs of their own. I thought I was going crazy.

But then I picked up the first volume of Gemini when I saw it just there on the shelf in the thrift store my mama went to once a week and she bought it for me that day and I brought it home.

A story about a crime fighting duo where the most interesting thing about it wasn't even the action, but their friendship. Those two defined ride or die for me growing up.

Collecting them wasn't easy but through the years I managed to collect the rest of the volumes eventually and nowadays I liked to reread them just for fun. At this point I could recite them word for word. One word stood out more than the rest though: conglomerate. It may not seem like such a particularly hard or noteworthy word. But to me spelling that one right was everything. The reason I won second place in the spelling bee I entered. I couldn't win first place though because of those three words I'd misspelled.

I was ecstatic when I came home and showed the trophy to my dad who, if I was being honest was the catalysing reason I entered the spelling bee in the first place. Having heard of the countless trophies he'd won in math and science over the years during his school days I wanted to follow in his footsteps, show him I was a winner too. He had no choice but to acknowledge me then, to be proud of me. How wrong I was.

All he did was ask me why I was celebrating second place. To him that was just being the first one to lose. As much as I wanted to hate him for it, he was right. Real winners didn't content themselves with just being a runners up. Their hunger would drive them to take home the ultimate price next time around. And that's what I did. I continued my goal at academic excellence to the point where, when I eventually got close to college and had a decorated application, neither he or the schools of my choice could deny my greatness.

While he did acknowledge that, his apathy stung. It was as if me getting into an Ivy league wasn't even that big of a deal. It didn't matter to him how much I worked my ass off to get there, how that completely changed everything I believed about myself because of my dyslexia. Mom made up for his lack of enthusiasm though. One lesson he taught me that I would never forget though was that winners don't celebrate second place.

Which was why I would stop at nothing to get my damn store. That was all I wanted in life and I would get it. And this time for the right reasons, for myself. If I ended up with a massively successful business that would just be the cherry on the cake to rub it in his face, and he'd live to regret that.

I closed the third volume of Gemini and the memories and thoughts stopped playing in my head like a damn movie, looking around in the room as I was back to reality.

I put the comic aside and picked up my phone beside me on the pillow. I've been waiting for a call from Mr. Dean who could always get me into a few events for me to work my magic in getting investors. I walked out of my room and into the kitchen for a snack when I finally received a text from him.

Sorry son but I can't really do anything for you right now. You're gonna have to wait for your moment

Alr

I sighed opening a Mars bar I planned to console myself with. More waiting. Perfect. At least this gave me more time to bite away at my debt before I pitched anything.

"What's with the sad puppy act?" I heard Axe wondering and I just now noticed that she was in here as well. She sat at the counter with her laptop open in front of her.

I walked over and sat opposite her, telling her about what Dean just texted me. "I also cut ties with the other guys I worked with."

"What why??" she asked and furrowed her medium thick brown eyebrows.

"They are better off without me on their next venture, and so am I. They agree on what they wanna do next, I didn't. My Professor always said to work with people who share your vision," I told her and she went back to typing away on that computer.

"Yeah but what pays the bills is what pays the bills." she said. It seemed that phrase was the compass she lived by and honestly I couldn't knock it considering where I was compared to her.

"I guess but when it all falls apart like this people who all move in one direction is crucial to getting through any setback." I said.

"You do you but if you want an opportunity to network you can come with me to this event next week I'm going to for work with my manager. There's always plenty of rich folks just waiting to throw away their money at these things. One of them could be what you need," she offered without looking up from working away on that keyboard, whatever she was doing.

"Wait so I can just tag along?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Yeah. I'm allowed to invite plus ones. Ty is coming too but mostly for moral support cuz I need all of it if I'm gonna nail in getting what I want on this contract for this business partner I've been talking to. I will not be finessed," she said, breaking the last sentence in brief pauses.

Axe had talked before about how corporations who wanted to work with creators and influencers paid non-white ones way less. People who'd been in the game longer than Axe and bigger than her have opened up about their experiences too.

"If this goes well though I could legit have my own talk show with creative control and have the power to hire staff myself. Yknow how massive that is?"

"Talk show?" I asked and she nodded. "What's it called?"

"For now it's The Late Show with Axelle but I'm not married to it yet so," she said.

"Just don't pull a Lily Singh," I told her, mostly joking.

She shook her head. "Whether you like her or not people like Lily pave the way for future generations which is crucial. I mean I don't agree with some of the stuff she says but as a society we heavily punish female mediocrity and tolerate or even applaud male mediocrity."

I could only imagine what it did for brown kids all over the world, especially brown girls, to see someone like them achieve something like that, knowing that was a possible career path for them.