#3 Turn Up for Real

Text copyright © 2014 by Stephanie Perry Moore

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Moore, Stephanie Perry.

Turn up for real / by Stephanie Perry Moore.
      pages cm — (The Sharp sisters)

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Slade dreams of being a singing sensation but as the middle daughter of a mayoral candidate and a habitual loner she faces many challenges as she learns just how difficult surviving as an artist can be.

ISBN 978–1–4677–3726–5 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978–1–4677–4659–5 (eBook)

[1. Singing—Fiction.  2. Conduct of life—Fiction.  3. Sisters—Fiction.  4. Family life—Fiction.  5. African Americans—Fiction.  6. Christian life—Fiction.]  I. Title.
PZ7.M788125Tur 2014
[Fic]—dc23

2013044040

Manufactured in the United States of America
1 – SB – 7/15/14
eISBN: 978-1-46774-659-5 (pdf)
eISBN: 978-1-46777-440-6 (ePub)
eISBN: 978-1-46777-441-3 (mobi)

CHAPTER ONE

SECLUDED

My hips were swaying from the left to the right, poppin' to the beat. My breasts perked up as the spotlight shined down on me. I started making love to the audience as I sang my first few notes. The crowd went wild. I was on stage. I was in my element. My dance moves were on point, and my melody was stellar.

“Slade! Slade! Slade! Slade! Slade!” I was hype until my eldest sister, Shelby, punched me, waking me from my dream.

“Slade, what's wrong with you? We're about to sing happy birthday to Ansli, and you're in your room dreaming again? Come on, girl! It's not always just about you,” Shelby shouted.

It was never about me in the Sharp household. Yes, I had my own room and my own space, but I had to share a bathroom with my two sisters who were a grade younger than me. I was salty because my two sisters who were only a grade older than me shared a bathroom between their rooms, and it was much larger than the one the other three of us had to share.

“You didn't have to punch me,” I said to her.

Giving me a huff, she said, “Well, we've been calling you forever.”

“Forever? Really, Shelby?” I said, frustrated with my big sis.

Shelby loved to exaggerate. Don't get me wrong, I was happy that my family was finally gelling again. Over the last month, our world was turned upside down when Ansli found out that her father shot her mother and then took his own life. She originally thought her biological parents were killed in a car crash. There are five sisters. Three of us were biologically connected—me; Shelby, my older sister; and Sloan, my younger sister. Ansli, who was the same age as Shelby, and Yuri, who was the same age as Sloan, were biological sisters that my parents adopted.

For years our parents didn't tell Ansli and Yuri that crucial fact. When Ansli found out, she was livid. I think she now understood that Mom and Dad were doing the best they could. They were already young parents with three children, and then they had five. Ansli thought she wanted to live with her maternal grandparents who lived England, which is a place she'd never been to. But once they finally came to visit—and who knows how much those tickets cost—she now knew this was home. I could have told her that. I could have saved them all that money, and they could've helped me cut a demo for my record, so excuse me if I wasn't all excited with the family bonding.

“There you are,” my mom said as soon as I came into the family room.

It wasn't like I was missed. Everybody in the house was paired up with someone. Shelby and Ansli were best friends. Sloan and Yuri were too, and then that left me. My mom and dad had each other, and Ansli and Yuri's grand–parents had each other. My older sisters' boyfriends were at the house earlier, but they were both gone now.

I didn't understand why they always wanted me to be a part of the family. I always felt left out. Nobody could get that. However, when it was time for entertainment, they called on good ole' Slade.

“Lead us off in happy birthday!” Sloan demanded, bossing me around like she was older than me. But because I loved to sing anywhere, any place, any time, I began, and everyone joined in.

“You sing so beautifully,” Ansli and Yuri's grandmother came up to me and said after we finished.

“Thank you. It's the only thing in this world that I want to do.”

“But she needs to get a real dream,” my mom piped in.

“Well, I sang in the opera,” their grandmother, Mrs. Sanford, stated proudly.

I guess that shocked my mom. She stopped ragging on me then. Ansli's grandmother basically was saying, “Go for yours, young lady,” and that's exactly what I intended to do.

My parents were attorneys—smart people with a very lucrative bodily injury practice. “If you get in an accident, insurance companies want to cut your money? Call on Sharp and Sharp, and make sure you're not cut out of a thing” was their commercial. I could hear it playing over and over again in my mind. I so wanted to sing a jingle for them, but they weren't hearing it. I knew I would have to create something, play it for them, and then they
might
let me perform it. However, I didn't have the personal funds to do that. Every dime I got came from my parents.

We lived in a gorgeous, three-story, brick house. With seven thousand square feet we had plenty of space. The five bedrooms that we girls slept in were upstairs. My parents had their master bedroom on the main floor with a guest bedroom across the hall and off the kitchen. The guest bedroom was where Ansli and Yuri's grandparents were staying. Knowing that all the activity was upstairs, I went down to the basement.

I couldn't hang out with my sisters. Shelby and Ansli were all excited to talk about their boyfriends. Who knew what Sloan and Yuri were talking about, and I didn't really care. I just needed to chill. When I went downstairs to turn on BET, MTV, or VH1, I wanted to be inspired. The TV was on a premium movie channel, and my eyes locked in on a naked guy and girl doing some things that I had never seen before in a bed. I couldn't seem to change the channel. I was appalled, but intrigued. Something inside of me that had never been stirred before got all wet and gooey. The lady was on top, then on the bottom. What was going on with me? I'd never been interested in this kind of stuff before, but I was frozen in front of the TV.

“Oh my gosh! Slade, what are you watching?” Yuri yelled out.

I turned, and my eyes widened at the sight of my two younger siblings. I felt dirty.

“You're a nasty heifer,” my sister Sloan called out.

“It was on here. It's not like I turned it to this,” I tried explaining.

“But it's not like you turned it off either,” Sloan quickly challenged. “You need to get somewhere and pray.”

Quickly, I got up and turned off the TV. I tried to go upstairs, but Sloan blocked my view. Yuri touched my shoulder. They were ticking me off.

Yuri said, “Are you going through some sort of crisis? Ansli just went through one. Maybe you need to talk to Mom.”

Huffing, I grunted, “I don't need to talk to anybody, and you don't need to say anything either, okay? Is life ending? Am I going to hell?”

“Maybe!” Sloan yelled out.

“Ughh! You first, chick,” I retorted.

I was so frustrated at them, at myself, and, if I was being honest, at the fact that I didn't get to see the end. What was going on with Slade Sharp? Usually I could tell anyone anything about me, but at that moment, I was far from having it all together. My world was not crystal clear. I wanted to be a singer, but it didn't seem like that would ever happen. Also, I wanted to feel good, and I had no idea where that came from. So many crazy emotions. I just ran all the way upstairs to the bathroom and took a hot shower. It probably needed to be cold, but whatever.

“So you guys going to my pageant or what?” I said the next morning to all of my sisters, who were sprawled out in the basement living area like they had a party and didn't invite me.