Fifteen minutes later Regina was standing in the recording booth again, her body nearly vibrating with nervousness. How did she end up here again? She had no idea what she was going to do. She’d gotten lucky yesterday. Now? Words raced through her head as she tried to imagine how she would string something together.

Then the beat came on. She closed her eyes and just listened to the music, letting her body move as it wanted. Then it hit her. The words flew out of her mouth before she had any idea of what she was doing. The words were furious and fast, coming from a place that she’d never even felt before.

When she emerged from the booth and sat down to listen to it with the rest of the group assembled in the studio, she was surprised at what she heard. Though she had been nervous when she went in there, none of that fear was present in the words she’d rapped. They were intense, sharp and fierce.

“Damn girl!” Swifty remarked giving her a handshake. She felt her cheeks heat slightly.

“That is pretty damn remarkable, and you say you’ve never done anything like this before?” Dre asked.

“Not before yesterday,” she replied shaking her head.

“Can you free flow?” Dre asked.

“Free flow? You mean, just off the top of my head, no beat?” she asked.

“Yeah, come on Gina, I’m sure you’ve got something to say,” Proof said sitting up.

“Uh, sorry guys, I can’t really. That in there is one thing, but free flowing, I don’t think I can,” Regina stuttered.

“Come on, try it, if you do it, I’ll let you throw something at me,” Em said.

“What can I throw at you?” she asked turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow and smile.

“Anything you want, but you got to kill it first,” he said as the guys were hissing and making noise.

“All right, you got a deal, all right, lets see.” Regina said thinking for a moment.

“You think you got class, walking into diners and grabbing a waitress by the ass, what you think you gun’ get past, picking at women just for that gasp, the way you grasp, pack it up boy before I put your dick in a cast, what honey, you think its funny, you think I wont do it, fuck your prick up, so bad you go run home to mommy? What you think I’m lyin’, you think I’m trying to disown, myself my rep to respect myself, you ain’t a whole lotta help, so what you grinning at, back up fore I fuck your face up so bad it gone mess your name up.”

“Holy hell, damn, you’re good,” Dre remarked shaking his head and smiling.

“And you said you couldn’t do it?” Em said grinning.

“Hey, all I had to do was think about getting to throw something at you, that was enough motivation for me,” Regina replied smiling.

“I got to get something, you want a drink?” Dre asked her.

“Uh, sure, I guess so,” Regina replied as Dre stood up.

“Ace, throw one of those water bottles over here, you, don’t go anywhere,” Dre added before going out the door.

“Shit Gina, where the fuck you been hiding?” Kon asked.

“No where in particular,” she replied.

“Really, I thought you were going to have a heart attack when you saw him,” Em laughed.

“Yeah I almost did fucker!” Regina exclaimed smacking him on the arm.

“What, you didn’t tell her?” Bizarre asked.

“No, of course not! Fucking ass says, ‘Oh we got to go somewhere’ and we show up here. Just you wait, I will kick your sorry ass later!” Regina laughed pushing him again.

“You a fan of his?” Swifty asked.

“Who isn’t?” Regina replied.

“Damn strait,” Kuniva nodded.

“Highlight of my year, when Ernelle got me tickets go see him in concert,” Regina said thinking back to the moment when Ernelle had given her the tickets. Ernelle had worked extra shifts at the bar she tended for two months to buy the tickets. They’d had an amazing night, it was the best thing Ernelle had ever done for her. Of course that had been after she’d stolen her boyfriend, but that was another story.

“You ever see one of ours?” Em asked.

“Nah, could never afford it, ‘sides, you owe me a performance anyway. After all your shit I’ve put up with, I at least deserve that,” Regina replied taking a drink of water.

“I guess you do,” Em laughed.

“All right, I’m back and we gots to talk a little business,” Dre said as he came back in the room and took his seat.

“Business?” Regina asked confused.

“Yup. Right now Aftermath Records wants to offer you a deal,” Dre said putting a stack of papers down on the table in front Regina.

“A deal?” Regina asked her brow furrowing.

“Yeah, we want you on our label, we’re offering you a record contract,” at this Regina choked on the water she was trying to swallow as she did a spit take. She stood up, trying to cough and get control over herself.

“Whoa, I guess that came as a little bit of a surprise,” Dre said laughing.

“Uh, excuse me for just one moment,” Regina said going to the door.

“You, fucker, out here, now!” Regina coughed as she looked at Em. He jumped up and followed her out into the hall, closing the door behind him. She coughed a few more times and then cleared her throat.

“Now what’s the matter?” he asked.

“What do you think the matter is?” she asked wiping at her eyes.

“You’re telling me that you’d pass this up?” he asked.

“I don’t want to be a fucking rapper!” she shouted as much as her sore throat would allow her.

“Why? What the fuck is wrong with you? You know how many people would be dying for this? Dre just heard you this morning, he wants you Reg, you. You want to live in that shit hole the rest of your life?”

“I’m not gonna live there all my life. I’m going to school, all right,” Regina retorted angrily.

“Oh yeah, and how much longer do you have to pretend that you’re actually going to finish, trying to get a job to pay for that place, which isn’t worth half of what you’re paying for it.”

“I don’t expect you to understand why I do what I do.”

“No, I don’t understand! Why the hell you gonna turn down something like this when you could be taken care of for the rest of your life. You could buy that damn building, tear it down and build a fucking sky scraper!”

“I got lucky a couple of times, I don’t know if I could do this again,” Regina replied.

“That’s bull shit and you know it!” he shouted.

“You put all your energy into to having put up with assholes like that fucking boss of yours when instead you could be doing something your good at. You have something, and you know it, you’re just too fucking scared to do something about it.” Regina’s eyes widened as she starred at him.

“Fuck it,” Regina said looking at the floor and digging the heel of her boot into the carpet.

“Fine, whatever, do what the fuck you want.” Em said dropping his hands and stepping back into the studio and closing the door. She stepped back and leaned against the wall, letting her body slide down until she could rest her head on her knees.