𝟬𝟮. ❛ I WANT YOU BACK ❜

𝓒LARA let out a sigh. She was tired of trying to teach the four boys a dance routine. To put it simply, after the boys sang to her, they continued to bother her daily until she asked them what they were up to.

Bobby invited her to join their new group. Clara didn't want to be backup so she told them she'd join if they let her choreograph all the moves, and pick what song they would sing at the next talent show.

The boys were desperate for her to join them so they went with it. Which led her to where she was, in the apartment of Ricky Bell, teaching them a routine she came up with the night before.

          ❛ I Want You Back ❜ by The Jackson 5 played on the cassette tapes. Clara nodded her head, singing as she stood in front of the four boys.

"Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night!" The girl sang, watching them do the moves she showed them almost perfectly, stumbling around every now and then.

"Let me show you, girl!" Ricky sang, winking at Clara as the words left his mouth.

"That I know wrong from right!" The rest of the boys sang in sync, bumping into each other.

"Come on, man!" Bobby glared at Ralph. "Why you always doing too much?" Ralph scoffed.

"Stop! Stop! Cause this ain't right! This is not right! Clara pick a different song. I'm not gone get up here and be looking stupid." Mike demanded.

"We don't look stupid!" Bobby assured him. Clara just rolled her eyes, not replying.

"Yeah, we do. People gone laugh at us." Ralph looked down, shaking his head.

"They ain't gone laugh at y'all." Bobby tried to give them reassurance, but he wasn't the best messenger to be giving out that kind of advice.

"They laughed at you the last time." Ricky spoke, earning him a shove from Bobby.

"They sure did. Sit your black ass back, talking bout nobody's gonna laugh at me!" Ralph emitted, his arms raised up in annoyance.

"All of you shut the hell up!" Clara raised her voice at them for the first time. They all listened to her, not wanting to anger the girl.

Before she could give them a speech about having confidence, someone else entered.

"What are y'all doing out here, man? I hear y'all switching all down the hall! Move back! What's going on in here?" Ricky's older brother shoved all the boys, not bothering to push Clara. He knew her older sisters and he did not want any problems with them.

"We practicing for the next talent show." Bobby sounded serious as he informed him.

"What y'all posed to be? The next Jackson 5 or some?" He pointed at the five kids, chuckling.

"Why won't you just leave us alone? Go in your room or something. No one asked you to come out here." Ricky told his brother while Clara nodded with a huff, noticeably annoyed at his mocking.

"Nobody asked me to come out here? This is our house. I ain't gotta go nowhere. Y'all lil kids wanna practice? Go head, practice!" He dared. Clara didn't like how he was downplaying their talent.

"Let me ask y'all something. Y'all serious about winning? Then what y'all need to do is get a manger. Y'all need to see about getting with Brooke Payne." Ricky's big sister advised, filing her nails as she sat on the couch. She had been sitting there the whole entire time just silently observing them.

"We ain't even that serious." Mike began, which earned a hit to the chest from Clara.

"Oh, yes, we are. Brooke has already agreed to be my manager. I'm sure he wouldn't mind four other kids, right? I know where he'll be tonight." Clara informed, earning shocked looks from everyone.

"So, he agreed to be your manager? That doesn't mean he'll agree to them! You and Peanut getting their hopes up! Are y'all serious?" He seethed.

"Don't listen to him. If this is what y'all wanna do, take it serious!" Peanut encouraged the five kids, they all shared looks before nodding at her words.

"Alright, I have a plan. But y'all gotta learn the dance by tonight, ight?" Clara raised her fist. The boys all gave her a fist bump, agreeing.

𝓐FTER hours of teaching the boys her routine, she felt that they were ready. She told the boys where Brooke would be that night and told them how to get his attention. The rest was up to them.

          "When Mr. Brooke come out, don't be scared." Bobby addressed the boys as all four of them stood outside the location Clara gave them.

           "Ain't nobody scared." Ricky assured him. That was enough for Bobby to calm down.

           "Listen, just let me do all the talking, ight?" Mike proposed to the others. They nodded.

            "There he go! Get down!" Bobby pointed out. The  four boys quickly ducked and hid.

            Brooke Payne was with a woman, sweet talking her and twirling her around his arm. The boys all stared at him, nervous yet excited to meet him.

           "Look how smooth he is. Go, Mike!" One of the boys pushed Mike forward, ducking.

           "Yo, you're Brooke Payne, right? You manage the Transitions and Untouchables." Mike cornered the man, stopping him from what he was doing.

           Clara informed them that the only way they could get Brooke to acknowledge them was to corner him and show him their talent. She was sure it would work like a charm since it worked out for her.

           "I might be. Why? Who's asking?" The man urged him to make it quick, ready to leave.

           That's when the other boys ran over. "Me and my friends. We want to start our own singing group and what we wanna know is, will you manage us?" Mike smiled at the man, forgetting Clara's speech and what she told him to say. He just free-styled.

             "I don't work with kids." Brooke shut them down, turning to get in his parked car.

             "Clara told us he'd say that." Ralph smacked his teeth, mumbling to the one next to him.

              "Hold up! We can be good though. We got potential." Mike pleaded. The other boys joined, almost begging the man to give them a chance.

             He helped the woman he was with get into the car. Brooke then turned to the boys, telling them to get off his car as he also got in, closing the door.

              They all ran in front of his car and got into their positions, starting to count down.

             "When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around. Those pretty faces always made you stand out in the crowd. . . !" The boys sang the song they'd been practicing and the moves Clara taught them. It was enough to make Brooke get back out of the car.

           "Alright, enough, enough. Let me guess, Clara Monet sent y'all, didn't she?" The man remembered the time she cornered him just like this.

           "Yeah, she's part of our group, too. She picked the song and made this dance for us. But she didn't come because she said you need to recognize our talent since she already got your attention." Ralph was the one to speak this time, almost too enthusiastic to talk about the girl he had the biggest crush on.

           "Nice. So I'm guessing y'all live in OP as well, right?" The man was interested now. The four boys nodded at his question and he sighed.

          "As y'all know, I start as her manager tomorrow. Why don't y'all join? Meet me at the rec center. Nine am, sharp. Don't be late." Brooke instructed.

           "Does that mean you're gonna be our manager?" Bobby interjected. The rest of them prayed.

            "No. That mean meet me over there, nine am sharp, and don't be late. That's what that mean. And listen, listen! Next time y'all stand y'all lil asses in front of my car, I'm gone run y'all asses over and ain't gone think twice about it." Brooke complained.

            That caused the boys to run away. But once they got away they all cheered in excitement.

"We really owe Clara one." Mike told them and it was true. That was the start of it all.

𝒐𝒐𝒐. AUTHORS NOTE * 𖤐 ༘ミ
i'm spitting these chapters out like wildfire. anyways i feel like y'all are not gonna expect who clara ends up with because she's a character that has chemistry with almost anyone and y'all will see what i mean later on. who do y'all ship her with so far though? also there wont be much romance in this act because the last thing she cares about is boys right now, my girl just tryna get rich and make it out the hood lmfaooo