| 𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚: 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐑&𝐁 | (New Edition Story x OC)

~ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄: 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑 ~

...

HOME AGAIN TOUR ~ NEW MEXICO ~ 1997

"They giving me the signal to go but I ain't ready to go yet, so when I say "Bobby!" You say "Brown!" Bobby yelled, giving the audience instructions on what to say. Leading him to perform yet another one of his songs.

"BOBBY!"

"BROWN!"

"BOBBY!"

"BROWN!"

Before Bobby starts singing, he dances, signifying the beginning of his performance.

"No, no."

"Ooh ooh ooh."

"Oh!"

"They say I'm crazy, I really don't care."

"That's my prerogative."

"They say I'm nasty, but I don't give a damn."

As Bobby continued his performance, Mike Bivins and Ricky Bell, members of New Edition and their own group, BBD, waited backstage. And then there was me, who also happened to be in New Edition and the only female member. I was preparing backstage with my new girl group as well since everyone performing was either a solo artist or in a band.

Sure, people were definitely weirded out that a girl was in a group with a bunch of guys, but I didn't care. I've been here since the beginning, and nothing's ever gonna change that. "Yo, is RD here yet?" Ricky asked Mike, who was sitting on some equipment.

"Nah," Mike says.

"Hey, is Ron here?" I asked, walking up to the two.

"Nope," Ricky responded.

Back to Bobby, who was still singing, kneeling towards the crowd, which was mostly women.

"Some ask me questions, Why am I so real?"

"But they don't understand, I really don't know the deal."

Backstage, Ronnie DeVoe, a member of BBD and New Edition, had just arrived with two bodyguards behind him. "Man, how long has he been up there?" Ronnie asked the three of us. "Three hours," Mike said. Too long," Ricky said.

"So what, that leaves us time for like two songs, The girls, two, and Johnny maybe, one? I'm sick of this shit." Ronnie said, taking off his jacket and walking to grab a microphone.

"Ronnie, wait-" I spoke, trying to walk after him.

"Let him go, Lai," Mike said, grabbing my hand.

Ronnie made his way onto the stage. The microphone feedback picked up as he spoke. "Yo, yo, yo, this is BBD's Ronnie DeVoe. Yeah, yeah, y'all give it up for Mr. Bobby Brown. But New Mexico only wanna know one thing... y'all ready for some BBD?" Ronnie said, diverting the crowd's attention from Bobby to him. Moving closer to Ronnie, Bobby puts his arm around his shoulder. "What the hell is you doin'?"

"What it look like I'm doin'?" Ronnie replied. Bobby walked off the stage as Ronnie signaled the band to play, causing Mike, Ricky, and the backup dancers to come on stage.

"Girl, I must..."

"Warn you~"

"I sense something strange in my mind."

I bopped my head to the music when I noticed Bobby pissed off talking to his security. "This is crazy..." I mummer to myself. "Laila?" I turned around, looking at one of my group members, confused about what was happening. "Don't worry, it's just Bobby again."

Suddenly, Bobby came back, trying to use a fire hose to spray water on the boys to interrupt the performance. But it didn't work, so he threw it down.

"Can't get it out of my head, Miss her, kiss her, love her."

"Wrong move, you're dead."

"That girl is... Poison."

As Ricky finished his verse, I noticed Bobby walking on stage. He went straight over to Ronnie, and all of a sudden, the music stopped, and the pushing, shoving, arguing, and punching began. I ran on stage trying to break Ronnie and Bobby apart but got pushed backstage with the rest of the crowd.

Johnny and a few other girls were moved back by the crowd, and Brooke and Ralph looked confused as to what was going on.

The rush of the crowd was too strong. All I remember was seeing the chaos around me as I was pushed to the ground and eventually blacked out.

"I don't know how everything got so bad. The egos, the in-fighting, the jealousy. It wasn't always like this. When I met them, even at that young age... there was a brotherhood. Even though they weren't a group of all guys. In the beginning, it was pure.