Please excuse ANY grammatical errors.

March 7, 1992

~DeVanté's P.O.V~

"De, you really pissin' me off with this." Dalvin exasperated.

"Oh, that's nice to know. We on in a couple of hours. Now, from the top!" I yelled at them.

"This nigga..." JoJo mumbled under his breath, shaking his head at me.

          I don't give a fuck. I'm Joe Jackson and part of the group today. These niggas ain't getting it. They ass having a hard time because of all the fun they had last night. I mean, I got a little fucked up too, but I know my limits. They better get un-fucked-up. These niggas wanted to get sloppy and did to impress these nasty ass, pass-around, bad L.A bitches. That's the reason they decided on wearing shades, trying to be like me. Dalvin and I began to play our instruments. Jojo started to sing.

I held up my hand, "Pause!" I said loud enough for them to hear. "JoJo, sing that shit like you mean it. Put a little more baritone on 'feeling.' Drop your octave some. From the top." I dropped my hand. He nodded, and we started up again.

          We practiced for about two hours more before we had to perform on Martin's show. It went a little something like this...

"Now give it up for JoDeCi." Tommy Davidson announced to the audience. Dalvin started the drums while I started the piano.

🎶Lately I've had the strangest feeling

With no vivid reason here to find
But yet the thought of losing you been hanging
Around my mind, K-CI eeee sing it🎶 Jojo sang.

🎶Far more frequently your wearing perfume
With you say the special place to go
But when I ask will you be coming back soon
You don't know never know🎶

🎵Said you never never know.🎵 Someone else sang along, I don't know what's going on.

"Oooh, yeah-yeah-yeah!" Martin came out with his pants unbuckled. K-Ci look like he was about to pimp slapped this nigga. K-Ci was still a little wasted, so there was no telling what was about to happen.

"Oh, I'm a man of many wishes." Martin continued singing, putting his arms around JoJo and K-Ci. What the fuck is goin on with this nigga!? JoJo attempted to push Martin away from them.

"I'm chillin' on Varnell Hill!" Martin shouted out.

Martin moved closer to me screaming. "K-Ci! Jojo! DeVanté!" He said about to touch me, I quickly dodged his attempt by moving my upper body away from him. I managed to do so while still playing the piano. Ion like that touching shit, this nigga breath was smelling like K-Ci's!

"Dalvin!" He said going behind me so I don't know what he did to Dalvin. He said some more incoherent words.

Martin came back and stood next to me. "It could be! It could be!" He said moving like a crackhead, then went back to standing next to K-Ci.

"Yes, he will!" K-Ci sang.

"Yes, he will!" Martin said afterwards jumping in K-Ci face.

"Yes, he will!" K-Ci sang pushing Martin hard.

"Yes, he will!" They said going back and forth. K-Ci stood up pushing Martin again, but he didn't budge this time.

"Ooooh yeah. Ooooh yeah!" Martin sang looking like a dog in heat. K-Ci stood up challenging him to fight, but they kept singing back and forth. K-Ci finally sat down, while Martin carried on with the nonsense.

Martin started to grunt, moving down on the floor. Yo, this nigga wildin'! He stood back up lost when we started back playing.

🎶Lately, I had the strangest feeling.🎶 K-Ci and JoJo sang.

"Awww yeah. Y'all thought it was over didn't you?" He laughed out, speaking to the crowd, standing back up.

"Lately I had the strangest feeling." Martin started to dance like K-Ci.

"You know girl, I think you're cheatin' on me. Me and Jodeci think you're cheatin' on me. Tellin' me you going out for a big gulp at 7-Eleven and you never come back with one?" Martin said dancing.

🎶Lately, I had the strangest feeling.🎶 K-Ci and JoJo harmonized.

"You ain't gotta lie to me, baby." Martin said still dancing.

K-Ci and JoJo finished singing, and me and me and Dalvin stopped playing.

"Ooohh yeahhh. Oooohh yeah." Martin kept repeating shaking his head sounding like a horse.

"A knick-knack Patty wack- knick-knack Patty wack, give a dog a bone. Give a dog a- give a dog a bone- give a dog a BOOONNNEEE..." He trailed off shaking his head back and forth.

         As the performance finished, we all just looked at him like he was crazy. This nigga just ruined our WHOLE performance that WE practiced so much for. Martin smiled nervously at us, getting up from the floor.

"Brothas, uhh- brothas-" Martin then stood in a bodybuilding position at us. He walked off in the opposite direction he was facing, near Tommy Davidson, making the fake Madonna move from the couch so he could sit there.

          The stage went dark on our side of the stage. We all got up PISSED walking to the back. K-Ci snatched his mic off.

"They said we was performing, not taking part of no goddamned skit! Dalvin this yo fault. You got us on this show. What if this shit mess up our song?" K-Ci said ready to fight.

"My fault? Nigga, I ain't know about this shit! I thought we was gon' really perform!" Dalvin pointed to himself, frowning.

"Y'all, chill!" JoJo yelled.

"Nigga don't tell me what to do!" K-Ci yelled at his brother.

"Look nigga-" JoJo started but I cut them off.

I shook my head, "Nigga, shut the fuck up. Boff-a- y'all! They probably hear us out there." I said frowning pointed to the stage.

"We got fans out there." Dalvin butted in.

"Right!" JoJo said to him. The stage people came over to collect our mics.

"This shit is foul. How they gon' ask us to perform on here and pull some shit like this? A fuckinh disaster." I said mostly to myself.

"Nigga it was a joke." Dalvin laughed. "Y'all niggas need to tighten up." He slapped my chest. I pushed his hand away

"Nigga, think about this. We traveled all this way to take part in some bullshit." K-Ci said shaking his head.

          Me and JoJo walked off to the dressing room, while K-Ci and Dalvin went back and forth. That's exactly how it was in the beginning, me and JoJo walking off to record, while they argued over a girl. After a while, K-Ci and Dalvin walked in with Martin behind them.

"My bad y'all. I know I messed up y'all performance, and that's my bad. I had to do something to get the crowd going." Martin chuckled at us.

"Yo, you good bruhhh." JoJo said dapping him up.

Martin turned to me, holding out his hand. "We good, bruhh?"

I shook my head, taking my shades off. Amused at it all, but not really. "We still getting paid the same?" I asked turning around.

Martin nodded at me. "Yeah, imma try to get them to up it, since everything was unexpected."

I looked at his hand then turned back around. "A'ight, cool."

"You said this air tomo, right?" Dalvin asked Martin.

"Yeah, the eighth."

"Some of the cast members going out tomo, y'all wanna come?" Martin asked us.

"Where at?" K-Ci asked interested.

"Hollywood Club Crawl. Yo ass looked like you was about to square up on my ass!" Martin laughed at K-Ci.

K-Ci laughed. "Shit, I was 'bout ready to! I heard that's one of the hottest clubs around."

"I'm in! I ready for some real fun." Dalvin yelled out rubbing his hands together.

Ion know if I wanna go, ion really go out, I do house parties though. "Ion know, but you good though." I said finally dapping Martin up.

"A'ight cool." Martin nodded. Someone came where we were telling him he needed to get back on stage to continue filming.

"Imma see y'all up later." Martin said leaving.

"A'ight." Dalvin, JoJo, and K-Ci waved at him.

"Y'all ready to go?" I asked them.

"Nigga, why you so uptight? Damn!" Dalvin asked me.

"Uptight? Nigga, I'm chilling." I shrugged.

"I'm saying! This nigga act like he wearing a g-string. Get it the fuck out yo ass!" K-Ci said laughing.

I grabbed my stuff and walked out. My bodyguard; John who goes by Apollo, followed me out to the truck.

"Yo, that shit was funny as fuck!" Apollo said laughing loudly.

"Not at the moment, but now that I think about it, it is." I chuckled.

"I ain't gon' een front with you, yo brother is right. Yo ass is a bit uptight." He cracked.

I shrugged, "Everybody keep saying that. I'm good." I laughed. "I'm just ready to be back home, I got shit to do. Besides, I'm tired right now. It's getting late."

"Shit to do, huh? Yeah, a'ight..." Apollo laughed not believing me. Dalvin and JoJo finally made it to the truck.

"About time y'all niggas came. I know K-Ci in there runnin' his chops." I laughed.

"Hell yeah. Nigga need to come the fuck on." Dalvin said irritated.

JoJo shook his head, "I'm tired from last night, and you working us hard like Joe Jackson did his kids. Plus, I'm hungry as hell. I ain't eat since breakfast. Thanks to Dalvin ass."

"Nobody did. Did y'all smell Martin's breath, though?" I said laughing.

"Now, you KNOW I did. It smelled like he ate a whole thing of garlic and onion. Thanks to Dalvin? How is it my fault that you ain't eat nothing else." Dalvin laughed.

"I saw yo face when he came near. So it wasn't just the fact that he messed up the song, it was his breath too?" JoJo laughed. "I smelled it too though. It was your fault that we came early but too late for the whore durrs. There wasn't nothing left on the table when we got there, but some damn peppermints."

"Dumb ass nigga, it's hors d'oeuvre!" I said slapping the back of JoJo's head.

JoJo rubbed his head, mean muggin me. "Ouch! Stupid nigga. At least it didn't smell as bad as K-Ci breath."

"They both got a lot in common already. Martin is a loud dude and so is K-Ci. They breath is just a bonus." Dalvin laughed. Everybody else in the car started laughing.

"That shit was funny as fuck but you ain't have to do my brother like that." JoJo said still laughing.

"But you still laughing?" I asked between laughter.

"Because I heard no lies." JoJo shrugged.

"Y'all remember ol' girl callin' him dragon breath on House Party? Maybe that wasn't staged either." Dalvin suggested.

"Shiiitttt, probably not." I chuckled.

"Back on Dalvin. If yo ass wasn't focused on trying to be pretty, we would have been able to get something from the table besides some damn peppermints." JoJo squinted at Dalvin.

"Didn't you eat after breakfast? I could have sworn you made dude stop at the nearest Mickey D's." I asked.

JoJo's whole body paused. "Aww, yeah... I forgot about that. Aye, y'all stop bringin' up old shit."

"Right, fat ass nigga. I ain't got to look like no damn pretty boy. Shiiittt, my ass already one. You see all the biddies that be lining up, just for me." Dalvin popped bis collar.

"This nigga..." I shook my head at my brother.

Dalvin turned to face me. "Yeah, finish the sentence. This nigga, what? The flyest one of the bunch. Say that shit loud."

"The flyest one? Shiiiieeetttt! The fly of the group is what you is." I pointed.

"Jealous ass nigga. That's why you ain't want me in the group." Dalvin chuckled. "I get the most girls."

"Man, whatever." I threw my hand out. "This nigga K-Ci better hurry his ass up 'fore he have to take a cab. These L.A streets be busy." I sat back in the seat.

"Pus' ass." JoJo coughed out.

I gave him the side eye, "Man, what?"

"What you mean? I ain't said na' thin..." JoJo laughed.

K-Ci finally came out and got into the truck. "What's up y'all?"

JoJo began to cough dramatically. "Damn nigga!" JoJo yelled.

"What?" K-Ci said confused.

"Gahhh DAMN nigga! Yo breath on nineteen TIMES ten!" Dalvin said scrunching up his face.

"Yo breath was smelling like peppermints 'fore we left." JoJo said still frowning.

"Usually people say close yo mouth before a fly go in. In yo case it smells like a few done been in there already. Smell like some flies, maggots, lions, tigers, and bears done beem in that mouth of yours." I cracked at him, waving my hand in front of my face. I smelled it from the front seat. The driver pulled off.

"Man, what'd you do? Eat some ass before you left?" JoJo asked K-Ci.

"You was in there for a pretty long time AFTER we left." Dalvin reasoned.

          We stopped for some food on the way back. JoJo wasn't the only one hungry, but he was the hungriest. I'm ready to crash, we got some more shows to do. One in L.A, one in Pasadena, and another in Long Beach, then it's back home. It'll only be home sweet home for a second though, because we go back on tour in the middle of April.

~Tia's P.O.V~

"Girl, I needs to leave from here. This nigga trippin'. He can't even except me for who I am. Like I need to really leave from this place. I cannot be here no more. He's tearing me down. I'm tired of it all." My best friend cried to me over the phone. "I really can't..." He trailed off.

           My best friend is homosexual, and like many people who are in the black community, his father doesn't except him. He's the ONLY child of his mother and father. His father isn't excepting of his son's sexuality. His mother passed away when he was eight years of age, and his father hasn't been right ever since. He mentally and physically abused his son.

          Elijah is my best friend, and the one I confide in. We confided in each other because we felt like we were the only ones we could be open with. Elijah (Eej) doesn't have any other close family in Gary, it's just him and his father. Eej works a nine to five

"Where are you trying to go?" I asked him.

"I don't know. Anywhere AWAY from him." He cried out. "Can I come see you for a bit while he cools off?"

"You wanna come here?" I raised my eyebrows as if he could see me.

"Yeah, sure I don't mind." I shrugged. "I know money's a little tight, so I got you, okay? I'll send a money order through Walmart."

"Alright, thanks girl." He chuckled through tears.

"You're welcome. I'll send some money for the flight, and some for whatever else. Just pack your bags and I'll call you when it goes through. Alright?" I asked.

"Okay. I love you girl." He mumbled.

"I love you more. Make sure you're near the phone. Now, get packed. See ya." I chuckled, hanging up.

          I went into the kitchen and turned off the oven. I put on my winter gear, grabbed my bag, and left out of my hotel room Before leaving, I made sure to lock the door behind me. I made my way to the elevator. The elevator was about to close, but a hand stopped it. It was that weird Puffy guy. I scooted over, AWAY from him. He really creeps me out.

"Ain't you that one girl from the studio? The one that be with Pac, but not really wit' 'im?" He asked me.

"That's me." I tightly smiled with closed lips.

"I knew that was you. How you doin'?" He asked inching closer as I was backing away.

"I'm-" I was cut off by the ding of the elevator.

          A couple walked in, the woman looked at me weirdly, but knowingly. I was going to answer his question with uncomfortable. She tapped the guy she was with shoulder telling him something in his ear and he nodded at her. The elevator got quiet. It stopped on the floor the couple pressed, but they didn't leave. I quickly took notice of it with a raised eyebrow. It finally stopped at the first floor, I walked out at a fast pace. The three of them were behind me. MISTAKE! Never walk ahead of someone you get bad vibes from. ALWAYS walk behind them, it's easier to run back to your previous place. I was about ready to pull my switch blade from my sleeve, when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but we couldn't help but notice you're uncomfortable body language. As a women, I know that stance, and it read uncomfortable. We just want to make sure that you get wherever it is you're going safe is all." The woman said to me.

"Thank you both very much." I nodded at them. "Have a nice day." I smiled then waved at the both of them.

"You're welcome." The guy nodded.

          I hailed a cab and got in. I didn't feel as if I was in danger, just uncomfortable. But, there's a thin line between uncomfortable and danger. I went to the closest Walmart, making sure to cover my face. I did the money order and left out. My cab driver was waiting on me like I had asked.

"You can just go back to the hotel I came from. Thank you." I nodded at him.

"Yes ma'am." He said driving off.

          When I made it back to the my hotel room, I called Elijah back to tell him the money order should have went through. It's so late, and I'm really tired. Like many other times I had to wake up early as heck to start filming and didn't get back until later. I turned back on the oven while I got into the shower. I got out and fixed myself a plate of baked chicken, Goya Sazoón rice, and string beans. My phone rang, and it was DeVanté.

"Chello, the Cassanova of the ghetto speaking." I said pretending to be JJ from Good Times.

DeVanté laughed at my foolishness. "Yo ass need to quit it. Anyways, what you doin'?" He asked.

"Din-din with the television."

"Fuck that mean?" He asked.

"Dinner." I said in an obvious tone. "I feel like we haven't spoke in a minute. What are you doing?" I asked.

"Why you gotta say it like that?" He asked.

"Like what?" I said looking around.

"Like it was obvious to me. I ain't ever heard nobody refer to dinner like that."

"But, I didn't..." I trailed off.

"A'ight, whatever. What you eating?"

I smiled and answered, "Food."

"Nah, I thought you was eating shit with yo smart ass. Now for real, what you eating?" He asked in a more demanding tone.

"Demanding, are we?" I said sarcastically.

"Nahhh. What you eating, and what is you watching?"

I laughed, "I'm eating some chicken, orange rice, and string beans. I'm watching Roseanne."

"That toddler ass meal!" He cracked at me, and I rolled my eyes. "Why you always rolling them eyes? Keep doin' that and imma give you something to roll yo eyes at." He chuckled.

"Huh? I'm confused." I chuckled awkwardly.

DeVanté chuckled deeply, "Sound innocent as hell. You 'a find out when you find out. You said you feel like we ain't talk in a while, we talked like three days ago. You missin' a nigga?"

"Get over yourself!" I laughed out loud. I took a bite of my food and started choking.

DeVanté started cracking up LOUD. "That's what yo ass get!"

"Shu-shut the- the-" I said between a coughing fit, so I grabbed my ice water and drank some.

"Look at yo ass, can't even talk, and still tryna talk yo shit." He laughed even harder, if that was possible.

"Shush." I finally was able to let out a word without coughing.

"Nigga, why yo ass in here laughing so loud, when you was just complaining about not getting no sleep?" I heard JoJo say to DeVanté.

"Get the fuck out my shit, nigga." I heard DeVanté say to JoJo then shuffling at the end.

"Who dat?" JoJo asked.

"None of yo business, you big nigga. Fuck outta here." DeVanté told JoJo. There was more shuffling

"Who this?" JoJo said into the phone.

"Hi, JoJo." I replied.

"What's up? How you doin'?" JoJo asked.

"I'm fine. What about yourself?"

"I'm good, I'm jus-" JoJo was cut off by DeVanté.

"Fuck offa me nigga! I can't breathe!" I heard DeVanté yell, and JoJo laughing.

"A'ight, imma let you go. So you can talk to this boring ass, boney ass, bright eyed nigga." JoJo said, then I heard more shuffling.

"Damn, stupid ass. I'm back." DeVanté finally spoke into the phone out of breath.

"He had a whole conversation with me, while sitting on you?" I asked laughing.

"Hell yeah, this fat bitch sat on my fucking back. Almost all the oxygen left my body. Get out!" DeVanté said, then I heard a door slam. 

I shook my head laughing at them. "Y'all are something else. Childish behinds."

"Y'all? That's that nigga. Who the fuck sits on another nigga that's half they size? Shit crazy." He laughed.

"I mean, ehh..." I shrugged.

"You said you was watching Roseanne? You like that show? She fat as fuck and her voice annoying." DeVanté asked.

"Actually, I love it. Why are you SO mean?" I said then took a bite of my food.

"Mean? It's the truth. She is fat,  her voice is HELLA annoying, and don't get me starting on her laugh." He said nonchalantly.

"It's the truth but I'm pretty sure she knows all of those things, and have been told by others."

"I mean... Yeah, but-"

"Aht-aht. No buts, you're about to take away from the real conversation. She's fat, she knows it, and that's up to her to want to change it." I shrugged. "She want to be fat, let her. Some people actually want to be fat. You know, I used to be my dang self."

"You lying. You ain't been no fat." De laughed.

"But, I was. Lost it though."

DeVanté spoke. "People be having that 'I used to be fat look'. You don't have it."

I smacked my lips at him. "Man, what!?" I laughed. "Talking about some 'I used to be fat' look."

"You know what I mean though..." He trailed off.

"I don't!" I laughed. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't een know, I can't even explain it. I still don't believe you." He chuckled.

"I can show you better than I can tell you."

"In North Carolina, them fighting words, but to me those are words of a..."

"Words of a what?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Shit, you tell me." He told me, I could practically hear his smirk.

"Boy... Anyways, how have you been?" I asked.

"I'm chill. That nigga Martin pissed me off. We been practicing for this performance, as well as some other performances, and he fucked our shit up. He had us in a whole skit." DeVanté said with a completely different voice.

"Skit?"

"Hell yeah. We good now though, I guess. That shit messed up my whole day though. Nigga acted a complete fool."

"What all he do?" I asked.

"The real question is what all he ain't do." DeVanté solemnly said. "You just gon' have to see it to know."

"Why? I want to know now." I whined.

"It supposed to air tomo, maybe you 'a be able to see it." He chuckled. "How you doin' though?"

I smacked my lips at him. "I'm great, but I'll be better if you tell me..." I trailed off chipperly.

"Nope!" He said popping the p.

Author's Note: I been gone for a while, but you better believe that it wasn't going to be permanent. I'm sorry for the long wait. This chapter wasn't one of my best, but I had to give y'all something. It's... Decent, I guess.🤣🤣 I also know that this show was actually filmed in 1993. The reason for the Hollywood Swingin' title is because the episode they performed on was called that.

Word Count: 4,180

Please feel free to like and comment. Both things are what keeps me motivated to write. I will try to respond to your comments.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read another chapter of mines.😘❤😘❤😘❤