Chapter 1

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Do you just ever think about one of your dream jobs and suddenly feel motivated to actually get into that career industry? Well, that's what happened to me. For the past few weeks now, I've been balancing schoolwork with research about acting and how to get into acting. For me, it'd be so hard to due to my parents' beliefs. This is what happens everytime I ask them if I can become an actor...

"Mom, Dad?" I asked, peering into the kitchen. "Can I pretty pleeeaaaaasseeeeeeee become an actress? Pleeasaaseeeeeeeee, I'm begging you!"

"No!" My parents said together. Then my mom just said,"Listen, Ailea, the only good actors are those like Emma Watson or Jonny Depp! You won't even be getting a role on a good show or movie! It's going to distract you from school!"

     I sighed and said,"Moooooom, I know our family is in financial problems right now but this will help us! Just for commercials you can earn $700-$1000 something! It would really help, Mom."

     "Honey, when you grow up you're going to work in the hospital, not have some reality TV show like Kim Kardashian!" Dad exclaimed to me.

     "What?" I said. "Who said I wanted to have a reality TV show? You're just making up excuses now! I will pay you all my money, my $200 if you let me do acting!"

     "That's a waste of money then." Mom said, chuckling devilishly as she spread dough on the counter.

     "Ugh, you never let me have a good childhood and let me have fun and do what I want!" I groaned, then ran back up to my room angrily.

     I told you. That's what goes on when I ask my parents about acting. It's just so not fair. I could be like Selena Gomez, and act on Disney when she was younger. This gave her a head start to her career and that's where she got famous from there. And she...she could be me! When I'm twenty years old, I could be as big as her! But, all because of my parents, I'll never be even acting at least...

The next morning... Monday

"Get up, time for school!" My mom yelled and suddenly I heard a loud banging sound—she clasped two drums together.

"Moooommmmm!!!" I screamed and jumped out of bed. "Stop being so annoying now!"

"Breakfast is downstairs, Ailea!" she reminded me and finally left my room.

I rolled my eyes and then skipped downstairs into the kitchen. I ate my Frosted Flakes quickly so that it wouldn't become soggy. When I finished, I ran upstairs and brushed my teeth, then headed straight into my room to change into my clothes. Today was hot and it'd be in 70°. I picked out a floral yellow dress with a denim jacket and styled my hair into a braided ponytail. To match, I slipped on some cute yellow flats with flowers on top. Finally, I was all ready for school so I headed outside to wait for the bus. My mom already greeted me bye and my dad has been at work.

"Hey gooorlllll!" Selina exclaimed to me excitingly. She was my best friend and always pronounced girl like that. We both are obsessed with the Netflix Original "On my Block" so I call her Monse, since Monse is the mix of the names Monty and Selina. She likes it, anyways.

"Hey Moooonseeeee!" I exclaimed back to her and hugged her.

     "So did they let you act?" she asked me, still keeping an eye on the road to see the bus.

     "Monse, you know they didn't, they never let me!" I replied, rolling my eyes and then crossing my arms.

     "It's okaaaayyyy, girl, we got this!" she assured me, rubbing my shoulders. "I'll help you make a plan—we'll make a good plan together. And you know, usually when your friend asks, they let you, just because they don't want to seem rude."

     "Yeah, I know that's how it is for most parents and all, but trust me, it doesn't relate to mine..." I said, sighing.

     Finally, the bus zoomed by and stopped so we two could get in. We sat at our usual seat towards the back.

     "Ayo, you got yo actin job?" Lamar said, and him and his friends laughed.

      Lamar and his friends Junior, Dejour, and Martil, always make fun of me for my passion for acting. And I'm not scared of them or anything, they just annoy the heck out of me.

     "Shut up before I come beat you up!" I said, rolling my eyes and showing them my fists.

     "Like you can fight?" Dejour said, laughing.

      All they do is laugh. They can't anything serious and it's so aggravating.

     "You wanna see her?" Monse said, and threw me off the seat. "You show them, gooorllll!"

     I tried going back to my seat with Monse, but she didn't let me. So I just did it... I threw my hands at Lamar first, then his other friends and they were kicking me and pulling my hair.

     Junior fell out of his seat and tried pulling me down too, but I stepped on him. Monse joined in and punched the others while I was dealing with Junior.

      "Hey, hey!" The driver, Mrs. Ling shouted to us and stopped driving. "Stop that commotion over there! This is absolutely unacceptable!"

     Mrs. Ling stood Junior up and put everyone back in there seats. "Do you guys want an office referral, or what?"

     "No." I replied with no emotion.

     Mrs. Ling smirked and pulled out an office referral with Lamar, Junior, Dejour, and Martil's names on it and handed it to them. Monse and I exchanged excited glances to each other, knowing we didn't get an office referral!

     "Yo, Ailea and Selina started it!" Martil exclaimed, groaning to her.

     "Well, y'all didn't answer me when I asked if you wanted an office referral..." Mrs. Ling said and walked confidently up back to the driver seat.

     "Ha, y'all are losers!" said Monse to them and we both laughed.

     The whole bus ride back was quiet. It was rare. All the other kids were probably just weirded out and horrified by the fight that just happened that they were too scared to talk, and our enemies were just sitting turned to the wall so they couldn't see us. Monse and I were rewatching On My Block of course. We already have finished it as soon as it came out—March 29, 2019, but we dreaded having to wait another year for the next season, so we just rewatched season one and season two.

     Finally, we arrived at the school and the whole school day seemed to pass by in a minute, thankfully.

     When Monse and I were walking home, we heard a sound. And when I say sound, that means we heard a gunshot.

     "Uh, I think our life has turned into real life on my block and Latrell is coming for us..." I said to Monse and we both freaked out, running to the nearest hiding place we could find.

     And that hiding place was... the dumpster. Honestly, right now I really felt like I was on set for on my block, for that scene when Monse and Cesar helped Jamal find his gym bag for the money. Except... both of us had to go in the dumpster this time.

     "Wait, this plan doesn't work, Monse..." I whispered, so that nobody could hear us and kill us. "One of us needs to be outside so they can open the dumpster for when we leave!"

     "Oh my god, I seriously think we need to rethink this plan, it's horrible!" Monse exclaimed.

      "It is now that I think about it, but keep your voice down unless you want to get killed!" I exclaimed in a quiet voice.

      BOOM! Another gunshot sound.

      She sighed and said,"You know what, we're both going in the dumpster, we don't have time to think for another plan, let's go!"

     I opened the dumpster and she climbed into it first. Now I was regretting this choice. As soon as the dumpster opened, I could already smell the trash and I wanted to barf. But I couldn't just leave my friend out there... Well, if she's a magician like Jamal, she'll be able to get out easily!

     "Aaaahhhh!" I screamed. Somebody freaking captured me in a black bag. Oh my god. Oh my god. This... This is on my block!

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