Trina got out of the shower, got dressed and walked downstairs, to see Tori standing at the bottom of the staircase.
"Good morning, Trina!" Tori said, with a huge smile.
"What's with the 'I need something from you' smile?"
"I need a ride."
Trina sighed.
"Let me get my keys." Trina said, rolling her eyes and going back upstairs.
Trina and Tori were riding in Trina's car. It was a pink 911 Porsche with big gold colored, diamond encrusted rims. "No Games" by Rick Ross and Future was blasting through the car speakers until Tori turned it off.
"What, Tori?" Trina asked, annoyed.
"I didn't appreciate how you put my life in danger last night." Tori said.
"What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about, smoking then driving me home."
"Would you stop freaking out over nothing, Tori? You know I would never endanger your life. I've driven after smoking a bunch of times."
"That doesn't make it okay."
"If you have a problem with it, stop fucking asking me for rides every 5 minutes." Trina said, raising her voice.
It was silent in the car for a bit.
"I just care about you being safe, Trina." Tori said, quietly.
"I realize that, Tori. And I'm sorry for snapping, but, just trust me on this one, I know what I'm doing, I'm not stupid. I'm not going to get hurt and I'm not going to get caught."
Tori sighed.
"Okay."
"I always forget, is it this left turn?"
"Uh...no, make the next left."
Trina made a left and drove straight until they were at the huge golden gates that read "JH".
The guards recognized Trina's bright, obnoxious car and let her in. She drove to the front of the house where Andre's mother was gardening.
"Thanks Trina." Tori said, hugging her and leaving the car. Trina drove off as Tori walked towards the front door.
"Hey Mrs. Harris!" Tori said, greeting her.
She stood up and hugged Tori.
"Tori! You have no idea how glad I am to see you here."
Tori smiled. Mrs. Harris didn't like Jade that much, and was a good friend of Tori's.
Tori walked in to see the living room empty. She went upstairs and walked through the hallway, until she was at Andre's bedroom.
She opened Andre's bedroom door to see his bed covers shifting and hear Jade moaning.
She immediately slammed the door and took a huge step back.
"GUYS I'M SO SORRY, I'LL JUST WAIT DOWNSTAIRS!" Tori yelled, embarrassed.
She ran back downstairs and sat on the couch at the table.
About 10 minutes later, Jade came down stairs in basketball shorts and a tank top with her hair tied up, she went to the kitchen.
"Jade, I'm so sorry."
"Shut up, it's fine, just forget it happened."
A few minutes later, Andre came downstairs.
"Hey, Tori." He said, awkwardly.
"Sorry." She responded.
"No, I'm sorry."
"It's your bedroom, I should've knocked, or called before I came or something."
"I should've locked the door." Andre shrugged.
"No really, it's my fault, I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, Tori."
"It really is. I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing Tori, it's my fault."
"So did you just come over to watch us have sex or is there another reason?" Jade asked, ending the never ending cycle of apologies.
"Jade." Andre said warningly.
Jade rolled her eyes.
"I uh...actually I...wow, I wasn't expecting you to say that." Tori said, flustered and embarrassed.
Andre chuckled a bit.
"So I'll take that as a yes?" Jade asked.
"NO! Not at all! I actually came over because I wanted to talk to Andre. About the album." Tori said, making sure to add the last part.
"Okay, go ahead." Andre said.
"I really want to make the album mostly songs we wrote in high school. Make It Shine, You're The Reason, Tell Me That You Love Me, all that."
"That's cool, but we haven't exactly made that many radio hit type songs, if your album is gonna be successful, you gotta...you know..."
"What?"
"Sell out." Jade said.
"Sell out?" Tori asked.
"Sell out, hard. Make a few dumb catchy songs, with lyrics that are simple and easy to remember." Jade explained, nonchalantly shrugging.
Tori raised her eyebrows and looked at Jade, then back at Andre.
"Not exactly sell out, just, make a few singles." Andre explained.
"Singles?"
"Like...uh...name a rapper you like."
"Childish Gambino."
"Okay. So you know his song 3005, right?"
"Yeah."
"It was the catchiest song on his album, so he released it first, made a music video, now the song is blowing up, it's everywhere, even though it doesn't exactly match the rest of his album."
"But he didn't sell out, the lyrics are smart and meaningful, it's just catchy. So all I have to do is make a few catchy songs?"
"Depends on what you want your image to be." Andre said.
"Image?"
Jade sighed.
"This is gonna take a while." She said.
"I just want to make an album with about 10 to 15 songs that are catchy and reflect me as a person, can't we just do that?" Tori asked.
"If it was that easy, we'd all be famous."
"But, but I can sing, and you can write songs and make beats, and..."
"It's more than just that."
"Beck can add effects and your dad's record label..."
"It's more than just that."
"What would compel me to just randomly buy your album?" Jade asked.
Tori looked confused.
"Because you know I can sing, and you're kinda my friend?" Tori responded, cautiously.
"I don't know you, I'm just a random person, just looking through iTunes for new music, and I just see the name "Tori Vega" as a new artist that's released an album. I've never heard of her before, what would make me listen to her?"
Tori shrugged.
"I'll get together with Dad's marketing team, we'll pitch some ideas around, for now, just relax. We can start working on a tracklist."
"Like, the order of the songs?" Tori asked.
"Yeah, what do you want the theme of the album to be?"
"...I have no idea."
Jade sighed.
"I guess this IS gonna take a while." Andre said.
Beck and Robbie sat in Robbie's Grandmother's Living Room
"I really really love your style Robbie, it's like, clever lyrical wit, mixed with musicality and comedy. But I feel like you're less of a studio artist. I think your style lends itself to more as a musical stand-up comedian than a music artist." Beck said.
"Stand-Up? Like, live? In front of people?" Robbie asked.
"You can still record stuff in studio, I just think you'd make it big in stand-up comedy. What's you stage name/character's name again?"
"Bo Burnham."
"Bo Burnham, that catchy. I like that."
They heard a knock at the door.
Robbie opened it to see Cat.
"Hey, Cat! Come in!" Robbie said.
"I just left the gym. I played a couple games with Trina and Dana. They're really serious about the WNBA, Trina was thinking about leaving college for this draft but her parents talked her out of it." Cat said, sitting down. She usually immediately started a conversation when she entered a room.
"I wish I was as good as them." Cat added.
"You are." Beck reassured her.
"I'm not, don't gas me up and make me feel better than I actually am."
"Caterina Valentine, you are..."
"Robbie, don't 'Caterina Valentine' me. I'm serious right now, I'm not that good. I'm just really fast."
Robbie just sighed.
"I don't know what I'm going to do." Cat said.
"You have to believe in yourself. If you don't believe it in here..." Robbie said, pointing to Cat's heart.
"Then it'll never happen. You're a great player, you just gotta realize that."
Cat smiled a bit.
"Thanks, Robbie."
"Anytime, Cat."
Tori and Andre (with strict supervision from Jade) had been making this tracklist for hours.
"Okay, so, I've decided that 'Make It Shine' will be your promotional single." Andre said.
"Promotional single?"
"For the last 5 hours, anytime you've made a statement about this album, Tori has just repeated the last thing you said, so you might as well start explaining stuff as you say it." Jade said.
Tori nodded.
Andre sighed.
"A promotional single is a song that's released before the album to promote the album, but it's not on the album. It's just used to get people familiar with your name and voice."
"Oh."
Tori heard a car horn beep loudly and vaguely heard "Bible On The Dash" by Gunplay playing from a car.
"Okay, we'll finalize the tracklist tomorrow." Andre said.
"Okay. Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!" Tori grabbed her things and left when Trina honked the horn again.
It was just Andre and Jade/
"Jade."
"What?"
"Thanks for treating Tori half-decent today."
Jade rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"I'm serious, you weren't horribly mean to her like you normally are, I honestly appreciate that."
"Well, you're welcome I guess." Jade said shrugging.
Tori & Trina were in the car riding home.
"Why did you pick me up so early?" Tori asked.
"I'm going to a party soon, I figured I'd pick you up now so I don't 'endanger your life'." Trina said, sarcastically.
Tori chuckled.
"Thanks, I guess?"
"You're welcome."
They rode in silence.
"Why haven't you gotten your car stolen yet?" Tori asked.
Trina burst into laughter.
"Don't jinx me, Tori."
"You have gold, diamond encrusted rims, that's like spray painting 'carjack me' on the hood."
Trina just rolled her eyes and kept driving.