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

~ FOUR ~

"Bye, Mama, bye, Grandma!" I said rushing towards the front door since I was running late.

"Now hold on, where you going?" Janelle, my mother spoke. "To the Rec Center, I'm meeting up with my friends there."

"You mean those nappy-headed little boys?" My mother questioned.

"Mama-" I said. "Don't "Mama" me." She interrupted. "You better make sure you back before these streetlights come on or else you ain't hanging out with nobody else for the rest of the week."

"Okay." I responded. "All right, I love you, baby." Mama said kissing me on the forehead. "Love you too, Mama." I said before she headed out the door.

ORCHARD PARK REC CENTER, BOSTON, MA

The boys are lined up in front of Brooke waiting for his instructions. "Now, I don't know what y'all heard about me, but I'm not gon' make y'all into no stars, that's ain't what I do." Brooke says.

"But if you put in the hard work though, and listen to what I tell you, I can make you a professional. Let me be clear, y'all are a group, y'all do everything as one. Everybody is equal whether it's The Untouchables or The Transitions. Now all my groups work the same way. So if you thinking about getting your little ass up on stage and trying to outshine everybody. Brooke stops glancing at Bobby. "You can forget about it or you can go home right now, 'cause I don't play that."

"Y'all about to work hard. It's about to be real hard work. Harder than y'all have ever worked before." Suddenly, the doors opens and I walk through.

"You're late." Brooke says turning towards me. "I know, I'm sorry. I got caught up." I said out of breath since I ran over.

Brooke sighs. "C'mon." He motioned me towards the line. I ran up next to Bobby as Brooke went over to the radio playing. "Holding on (When Love Is Gone) by LTD."

After a long session of dancing, wall squats, and push ups without any fan, we finally came to stop. We all stood, slouching, drinking cups of water while waiting for what Brooke had to say. "I came up with a name for you guys. See, your name ain't just who you are, It's what you're all about."

"When you hear names like The Temptations, The Stylistics, or my favorite, Blue Magic. It's lettin' you know where it come from, you dig?" They nod their heads in understanding. "So what's our name?" Bobby asked.

"Shut up." Ricky said. Mike pushed Bobby back a little bit and Bobby pushed him back. "No, no, that's a good question, that's a good question, Bobby." Brooke said.

Brooke grabbed a record and wrote down our new name. "I'll write it down for ya, 'cause if I tell it to you, it's different when you see something rather than hearing." He explained as he turned the record around, revealing our new name.

"New Edition?" Ricky questioned. "Exactly." Brooke says getting up from his chair, grabbing the record and showing each of them down the line. "See, this let everybody know what the next big thing comin' outta Boston is, right?" We nodded our heads once more.

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

"New Edition." We all said in unison.

Brooke looked at them disappointed. "Can we say that again, please?"