“Marshall, come on, it’s time to wake up, Marshall, come on boy, time to go to school,” the voice sounded far away but eventually he floated towards the surface of consciousness and heard Regina’s soft voice. Her hand was stroking his hair gently, softly as she spoke.

“Come on buddy, time to wake up,” she said again, still stroking his hair. Slowly his eyes fluttered open and he saw Regina smiling at him.

“There we are. Good morning,” she said once his eyes were open. He picked himself up slowly until he was sitting, her hand still stroking his hair as he woke up.

“Hey, good morning,” he said looking over at her and smiling. She was sitting on the bed and was already fully dressed.

“That was a nice way to wake up,” he said in his early morning voice, still a little rough because he wasn’t fully awake yet.

“Good, I’m glad. And I heard you weren’t a morning person either,” she said.

“No, I’m not, but that, was really nice.” He replied before leaning forward and placing a kiss on her lips. She kept running her hand along the base of his neck and over his skull. He loved that, it gave him chills up and down his spine.

“Come on, we have enough time for you to get some breakfast and walk me to class,” she said breaking the kiss and patting his knee with her other hand.

“Walk you to class?” he asked.

“Yeah, I told you, you’re gonna come sit in class with me today,” she replied taking her hands off of him and crawling off the bed.

“Going to class with you? When did you tell me this?” he asked, following her off the bed and out of the bedroom.

“Just now,” she replied going to the kitchen and filling a cup of coffee. She held it out to him and he took it.

“Uh thanks, but why am I supposed to go?” he asked again.

“For something different, that’s all. Come on, there’s some eggs and toast on the counter. I’m gonna get some more of my brother’s clothes out for you,” Regina called walking out of the kitchen. He thought he must have been hit in the head or something but did as he was told and grabbed the food off the counter and went back to her bedroom.

“I’ve got a pair of sunglasses and a hat too. Or if you want, a hoodie,” She asked turning to look at him.

“Uh, sure, sounds good I guess. Where is it we’re going again?” he asked setting down the coffee and taking a bite out of the toast.

“Lester County Community College. It’s a twenty-minute walk from here. But we have to go to the West Lecture Center, so it’s gonna take about another ten minutes than usual.” Regina replied sitting down at her computer desk and turning it on.

“Why are we walking? I can drive,” he said gulping down some coffee.

“Because, I want you to walk with me, okay, so hurry up, I don’t want to be late.”

“What class is this anyway?” he asked sitting down on the bed with his food.

“You’ll find out when we get there,” she replied signing onto the Internet.

“You’re not selling me out or something?” he asked.

“No, I’m not. Why would I be offering you a hat and sunglasses then?” she asked. “Stranger things have happened.”

“Yeah, like sleeping with a woman, and actually getting some sleep?”

“Yeah, that too.”

Twenty minutes later they were out the door walking to campus with Ernelle. She and Regina had the same class.

“So what we bringing him for? A visual aid?” Ernelle cracked.

“Now would you shut up? I didn’t tell him what class this was or what we were doing this morning so keep it quiet until we get there!” Regina laughed.

“All right, that’s it, I want to know what’s going on,” he asked.

“Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to do anything but sit in a chair and keep your mouth shut.” Regina replied laughing. He still wasn’t satisfied.

When they finally got to campus and then the lecture center Regina took him by the hand and led him into the first auditorium.

“What the hell is this?” he asked nervously as he was led down a crowded aisle to the front of the auditorium.

“It’s a public speaking class. The professor invites the other classes to listen. I’m guessing everyone showed up today because of what’s on the discussion board for today, it’s a very hot topic. Here, just sit down, and calm down, you’re making me nervous.” Regina said sitting down in a seat in the front row. Em sat beside her and Ernelle sat on the other side of Regina.

“You ready Reg?” Ernelle asked.

“You bet I am, how ‘bout you?” Regina asked.

“We’re gonna kill ‘em,” Ernelle grinned.

“Who are you going to kill?” Em asked. “Never mind,” Regina replied shushing him. A woman, presumably the professor went out onto the stage and tapped the microphone on one of the podiums a couple times until the room quieted.

“All right, it looks like everyone is hear. If everyone has found their seat, I’d like to ask our debaters to come up and set up all their notes and clips and whatever else you need. If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask.

“All right, that’s us, we’ll see you, from up there, okay?” Regina asked him as she stood up.

“You mean you’re going to debate against Ernelle?” he asked standing as well.

“No, we’re partners. That’s who we’ll be arguing with, over there,” Regina said motioning to another man and woman climbing the stairs to the stage. He nodded in understanding.

“So, wish me luck!” she smiled. He nodded again. “Yeah, break a couple legs,” he said and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks!” with that she and Ernelle climbed the stairs and went to their own side of the stage. About ten minutes later they were all set up and the professor returned.

“Welcome students and guests. Today, four of my students are going for their final grades, but only one group can walk away with an “A”, and you make that choice. But that choice must be based on their performance, on how well they argue, and how well their point comes across. All right, now today’s topic is, violence, sex and drugs in music, specifically rap music. On the opposing side is Miss Anna Namichael and Mr. Evan Shuster.” A polite applause was had for the opposing side.

“And on the allied side, Miss Ernelle Watkins and Lester County Community College’s own, Miss. Regina Contini, President and founder of California’s first ever recognized Hip-Hop and Rap Association.” There was a great roar of applause after Regina’s name was mentioned and she gave a nod of appreciation. Marshall gave a great applause for her and wondered why she hadn’t told him about it.

“According to the coin toss that we had backstage, Miss Watkins and Miss Contini won and decided to allow Mr. Shuster and Miss Namichael to take the floor first. Ladies and gentleman, good luck, and lets have a nice clean debate.” The woman left the stage and Anna stepped up to her microphone, clutching a stack of index cards.

“Good morning everyone, Today’s youth is bombarded with images and messages of violence, sex and drugs. These themes are most prevalent in the sub culture, more namely that of hip-hop or rap. Rap music has become increasingly explicit in their descriptions of violence, sex, and drug use encouraging and leading children to act out these actions and have led to serious rises in teen pregnancies and violence among today’s youth.” Anna stood back and allowed Evan to do his spiel and Marshall was about ready to fall asleep by the time he finished speaking.

“All right Regina, see what you can do with that one,” Evan said with a grin, as he stepped away from the podium.

“I will, but I think I’m gonna step away from the podium and just make a few comments on you’re speech,” Regina said walking away from the podium, and towards the middle of the stage to speak with her audience.

“You called hip-hop and rap a subculture, I’m not exactly sure I understand that term. Culture, yes, rap is definitely a culture, and I’m guessing sub would imply it’s underground. But with such a rise in teen pregnancies and teen violence that’s it’s causing I find it awfully hard to believe that it’s an underground culture.” Even Marshall laughed at that. Regina went on dishing out numbers counting the number of rappers in the music industry and the number of markets selling hip-hop culture and merchandise.

“Hardly can hip-hop be called a sub culture, just because the majority of it’s constituents and founders are considered a minority, a term in my opinion needs to be stricken from any mention of people of any race. I send it back to you Anna and Evan, see what you can give us,” Regina said turning to her opponents. The crowd was clapping and cheering loudly for Regina while her opponents looked sick.