Diva Princess (Laurmani / DC3)

Chapter 18

A/N: Check out my Camren video above. It's the best Camren video in existence. Also, be sure to watch my Camally video on my channel. It's the best Camally video in existence. 

It was show time. I admit that I was kind of half-assing it through our rehearsals. I was only doing this to appease Normani. But, when it finally came time for us to travel to L.A. for the audition, I got extremely nervous. Regardless of my lack of enthusiasm for being the next, hot urban group, I still wanted to make a good impression on TLC. It WAS TLC.

Normani designed and created our costumes herself. They were pretty revealing, but I have to give it to her. The girl does have a talent for fashion. And, the costumes were designed to allow a lot of movement for dancing. However, my costume felt a little too tight.

"Mani, come here!" I shouted from the bedroom.

A few seconds later she opened the door and peeked inside. "What's up?"

"The clothes is big on me," I said.

"What did you just say?" Normani questioned.

"The clothes is big on me," I repeated.

"Say that one more time," Normani requested.

I was getting annoyed. "My clothes is big on me!"

"Uh, Lauren. Didn't you say that you went to an expensive, private school and graduated with over a 5.0 GPA?" inquired Normani.

"Yes, but I don't see what this has to do with my outfit," I answered.

"Your parents need to look into the refund policy of that school," Normani said.

"I went on a scholarship," I added.

Normani sighed, "You would have been better off at a public school."

Whatever. I don't know what she was talking about. Being so hung up on my schooling, she walked away without addressing my costume issue. Knowing her, she probably ignored it on purpose.

We all got into Dinah's car to travel to L.A. It was going to be kind of a long ride, and my outfit really felt tight around my stomach. "Normani," I whined. "This costume is too tight around the waist area."

"Oh, I did that on purpose because I knew you weren't going to wear Spanx or a girdle. I told you that you needed to get rid of the pudge," she explained.

Dinah interjected, "Lauren, dump her."

"Hey!" Normani exclaimed. "You're supposed to be my best friend, especially now that Ally is no longer talking to me."

"I wonder why," Dinah muttered under her breath.

We managed to make it to L.A. without Normani and me getting into another domestic dispute. We all thought we had made it there extra early, but there was already a line of hundreds of acts when we got there. Waiting to register and audition was going to be a miserable experience.

Finally, we got past the registration table and was able to find seats inside the venue. Being able to watch the other acts was a bitter sweet experience. Some of them were enjoyable, but made me nervous about how we would compare. Some of the other acts were just downright terrible, but T-Boz's smartass remarks about them made up for the horrible sounds my ears were subjected to.

For the next act, the stage crew set out two chairs. This was a change from the other girl groups who all stood or danced and had 3+ members. I was horrified when I saw Ally and Camila come from backstage and take their seats for their audition.

"What the fuck is this?" Normani cried. "My ex-best friend is singing with my evil ex-girlfriend? The nerve!"

"This is so weird," I commented. "Camila is everywhere."

"I told you. That bitch is stalking us," said Normani.

"Guys, please don't make a scene," Dinah begged. "They have little chance of making it to the next round anyway. They don't seem like the type of act TLC is looking for."

We heeded Dinah's advice and stayed calm. Camila played guitar while Ally played keyboard. They both had solo parts, but Camila dominated the performance with her numerous runs. She was like Destiny's Child Beyonce on steroids. It was driving me crazy. Thankfully, the auditions had to be kept under two minutes and thirty seconds.

T-Boz was the first to speak. "What's your name...the one with the guitar?"

Camila answered her.

"Camila, you know what? You kind of remind me of me. You have a very unique voice. It's dope," T-Boz complimented.

"She needs to clean out her ears," Normani commented. "Her voice is unique, but it ain't dope. She sounds like a dying cat being drowned."

"I have to agree," I said. Chilli had finished giving her thoughts, and they passed them on to the next round. "They didn't say anything about Ally, though. I thought she did better."

"Everyone ignores Ally," Dinah mentioned. "It's just the way it is."

Several acts later, it was time for us to line up backstage. After several more acts had gone, we took the stage. My heart was pounding hard, but I let the adrenaline drive me. At the end of the performance, I had no idea how we did. I was just glad we got through it.

"You know what? I really like you ladies," Chilli complimented. "You can sing and dance, and you're ethnically diverse. It's refreshing."

"May I ask your ethnic backgrounds?" T-Boz inquired.

For what felt like an eternity, we all stood there in silence. We were too nervous to answer. Finally, I smacked Normani on the arm to get her to answer. She was the one who dragged us here.

"I'm African American," she answered.

"I'm Polynesian," Dinah added.

It was my turn. "I'm Afro-Latina."

"Whaaaaaat?" exclaimed T-Boz. I could see Normani from the corner of my eye shaking her head.

"Alright, alright, alright," I conceded. "I'm a mulatto Latina."

Chilli and T-Boz stared at me with their mouths agape.

Normani broke in, "Don't listen to her. She's a white Latina."

"Okay," T-Boz responded. "Girl, you're having an identity crisis," she told me.

"Anyway, we look forward to seeing you three in the next round!" Chilli congratulated.

I was happy that they liked us, but at the same time, I was dreading having to do more of this. What if we got really far? What if we got signed? What did I get myself into?

Beforehand, we had planned to go straight home after our audition and not stick around to watch the rest of the acts. Dinah was excited and I thought Normani would be too, but she looked angry. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her on the cheek.

"What's wrong, babe?" I asked.

"Lauren, what is wrong with you?" she scolded me. "You made us look crazy out there in front of TLC and all of our competition."

"I was just repping my heritage," I replied.

Normani grabbed my face and looked me in the eyes. "You are 99% Caucasian. It's okay. It's okay to be white. Just accept it."

"I'm not denying my African heritage," I argued.

Normani threw up her hands. "I give up."

What was her deal? I quickly put the ancestry argument in the back of my mind. I had other things to think about. We had to return to audition again for the following week. If we made it past that round, we would end up on a reality TV show. I had a doctoral program to finish. I wasn't sure I wanted to go through with this.