Long Island's Rising Popstar

Chapter 1: Speedway

"Guys... this is the return of Fresh."

The Fresh King of New York clapped his hands, finally finished with the remix of Ryno's song, Speedway.

Ryan had created the song, but he already knew the vibes. Fresh King had to flex on the haters, then he was out, bro. RIP his freakin' grandma, and that's an outro.

Aside from his musical creations, Jaelen had 7903, his gang that very conveniently was named by his house number. So any enemies that wanted to tear him apart could find him and get jumped by the gang before they even had the chance to reach him.

But that was a story for another time. Jay had also just got off the phone with his girl Niayrah, who also loved to sing but was tone deaf, even though she didn't realize it. So although it was hard for Jay to get her on songs, he loved her still.

Fresh King proceeded to immediately email the Speedway remix to B. Wells so he could upload it onto his profile. And now he was finally ready for his day.

He threw on his Stop & Shop shirt and headed out the door. Jay worked at the supermarket with his friend Matthew Vigliotti, also known as MVIGS19 on streaming services and social media.

It was kind of a dull job, but it made him money, and that was good enough for him until he got to the Grammys. It wasn't even that hard, it was just not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

But it was close to home, and it was a good temporary job. So he left his house, confident that this would be a good day.

It was a short walk to the store, and this day was sunny and blue skies, just as the future B. Wells and DJ Doggy song would say. And with the weather looking good and a song just finished, Fresh King was feeling confident.

He strolled down the street, speaker in his pocket and ready to go.

As one of the cashiers and day-to-day aisle cleaners, he had his struggles. But Matt, who he had known since high school helped him have fun with it. He walked into the building, seeing his coworkers and grinning happily. Even if it was mundane, this man was an optimist today.

"Ayy, Jay! What's going on, bro?" Matt greeted.

"Not much, Matt. I just finished a new remix of Speedway. You know, Ryno's track."

"Ohhh, yeah, that's right! I'll listen to it later. We gotta get to work!"

"Yeah, you know it, bro! Let's see if anybody recognizes me today."

And so the two separated to do their jobs. They knew that if they didn't, their boss, Mr. Schlock would be on their ices. (And that meant bad news!)

The Fresh King of New York wasn't exactly a king yet, but he had to start somewhere, as all kings began as workers. Although he had the name, he had to earn the title.

He started his day stocking some shelves, but it wasn't before long that a higher up directed him over to the counter. See, this place didn't have self-checkouts yet like all those other fancy places where B. Wells and DaVan lived. This was the city. And that might sound demeaning, but Fresh knew better than anyone that New York City was crazy, hence that freak-out at the restaurant the other day.

It had only been a couple days since he, DBro and Young Ferb had been saved by Luke Cage, and to be honest, Jaelen was still kind of in shock. But as Darien had said, it wasn't out of the norm. He just hadn't been that close to a local superhero yet. Maybe it was something he could get used to.

He continued with his day, though, talking to customers, scanning their items, and casually promoting his music to anyone who was into that kind of stuff, which not surprisingly, was a lot of people. That was the advantage to living in Hempstead instead of Rochester, because this wasn't a suburban city with an evil chorus teacher trying to take over the world. This, even if it was in Long Island, had just a bit more peace, and time for music.