The Third Week

"Have you seen The Godfather?" Old Joe suddenly asked.

The big shot took a leisurely puff of his cigar. "Who hasn't?"

"I haven't. My family was poor." Song Ya had only just remembered that since transmigrating, he hadn't watched a single movie. He couldn't remember the ones he'd seen in his previous life, either, but of course he didn't say that out loud.

Old Joe said slowly, "Whoever proposes making peace is the traitor..."

"You suspect me? Ha!" Pablo laughed. "It's true that a big company contacted me privately, but what does that prove? This is business, not a matter of life and death. Besides, the Italians' way of doing things is long out of date."

"Pablo, you say I'm naive, but I'd say you haven't caught on yet." Old Joe stared at him. "The company that contacted you to ask about working together and the big company you say gave us that welcome gift are definitely one and the same! Just like Barzini arranging Sonny's assassination in The Godfather!"

"FXXX!"

Pablo swore loudly. "Why are you so hung up on those old ideas!? I can guess what they're up to, but I don't care! Doesn't the fact that they're willing to go to all that trouble prove they think highly of Little Lowry and this album? What other rapper could make them put in this much effort? Business is business. This is clearly a win-win, so I don't understand what you're hesitating over! Thirty percent is the going rate in the industry. Maybe without giving them thirty percent, we can sell a hundred thousand copies. Give it to them, and we could sell hundreds of thousands, even a million. Which choice makes more money? Can't you do the math?"

"Um..." The big shot raised a hand. "Let me ask something. Which company are we talking about?"

"Warner." Pablo looked at the big shot in surprise. "You're not thinking of getting revenge, are you? I'd advise you not to..."

"The Warner who make movies—the Warner Bros.?" the big shot asked again.

"Right. They're part of the same company."

"Then forget it... I can't take them on. Drug dealers can't beat big capitalists." The big shot lowered his hand and turned to Song Ya. "Hey, you're APLUS, right? What do you think about this? Give us your opinion."

"What opinion could I have?" Song Ya was stunned. "I'm a high school student!"

"So what if you're in high school? When I was in high school, I used to kill... Never mind, forget I said that. Didn't you get a perfect score in math? Your brains must work better than ours. Just say whatever you think. I've got your back."

"Uh..."

Song Ya looked from Old Joe to Pablo. Both of them were staring intently at him. Emotionally, he sided with Old Joe, but he also felt that Pablo's approach would benefit him more. Besides, big brother Tony was still "working" alongside Little Lowry...

As Song Ya saw it, Pablo and Old Joe had a major disagreement. After hitting a wall in the New York area the previous week, Pablo had changed his mind and started trying to bring in a major record company to help release the album. A big company's promotional reach and ability to package an artist were beyond anything Joe Music could match. The album would sell more copies, and sell them faster, while Little Lowry's future prospects would grow much brighter.

Old Joe, on the other hand, was far more conservative. He still wanted to promote the album through a nationwide tour and radio airplay, then make money from each copy sold. Bringing in a big company would not only mean giving up thirty percent of the profits, it would also cost him control over everything. What's more, he deeply resented the big companies' practice of sabotaging people behind the scenes, then pretending to be a friend when they came in to grab a share.

"I don't have an opinion..." Song Ya decided it was better not to get involved.

"I'm here. You don't need to hold back. Say whatever you want." The big shot encouraged him.

Song Ya thought it over. "I think they both make a lot of sense."

"Bang!" The big shot suddenly slammed his hand down on the table, startling Song Ya.

Fortunately, he wasn't angry at Song Ya. The big shot closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

Everyone waited quietly for his decision.

"Forget it!"

Three minutes later, the big shot opened his eyes, stood up, put on his hat, and headed out. "FXXX! Do whatever you want. I'm out. I can't understand a damn thing you're talking about! Go ahead, knock yourselves out. I'm done!"

"Hey! You've got money in this!" Pablo shouted after him.

"I never fucking planned to make money selling records!" The big shot didn't even look back.

Like a gust of wind, everyone outside followed him out, leaving in a flash.

"So..."

Old Joe was pleased. He sat back down behind his desk. "Everything stays the same?" He looked at Pablo triumphantly. With the big shot out of it, he was still the one calling the shots at the company.

Pablo was silent for a while. "For now, everything stays the same. But I'm not giving up." He left those words behind and hurried away with Little Lowry.

In the third week, everything stayed the same. Their group headed to Miami and Atlanta, in the southeastern corner of the USA, to promote the album, while Song Ya continued on his path to becoming a top student.

But nothing ever stayed the same.

Compared with a month earlier, "Thrift Shop" had radically changed the relationships between everyone with a stake in it. Al was out, and Old Joe and Pablo were close to falling out. The old ties between Pablo and Al, Old Morgan, Little Lowry and Al, Old Morgan, and even Song Ya himself had all fallen apart. All that remained was business.

As the music video they'd filmed began airing on local Chicago TV stations and in some major record stores, trouble at school began too.

Connie became famous at school for her "seductive" dance moves in the video. Connie was Song Ya's sister, Song Ya went by the nickname APLUS, and the lyric sheet included with Little Lowry's album tape clearly listed "Thrift Shop" as written by Lowry II and APLUS, with music by APLUS.

There weren't many serious students at the school, but everyone was eager to gossip. They quickly pieced the clues together, and Song Ya had to say goodbye to his "nobody" status for good.

"Hey, APLUS..." Girls started greeting him and batting their eyelashes...

"Thump!"

Someone suddenly bumped into him from behind as he walked down the hall. He instinctively thought it was some guy who liked to bully people, but when he turned around, he found himself face-to-face with the football cheer squad's queen bee. Once she had his attention, she began to show off. "APLUS, right?" The queen bee bit her lip. "What do you think of my voice?"

"Uh... It's nice." Song Ya thought, You're putting on a voice. How am I supposed to know what your singing voice is like?

"Oh, hehehe..." The queen bee smiled smugly. "So when are you taking me to the record company to audition? I..."

"Audition? I can't do that. See you!" Song Ya couldn't take it anymore and fled.

"Thump!"

Someone bumped into him again. This time it was a guy, one of the football team's starting defensive linemen and almost certainly the strongest guy in the whole school. "Stop bothering my girl and stay away from her! You music-playing wimp!" He glared at Song Ya with huge eyes and threatened him viciously.

"She's the one bothering me, man..." Song Ya rubbed his aching shoulder, close to tears.

"You dare slander my girl!"

The guy flew into a rage and raised his fist, which was as big as a bowl. "Forget it, forget it. He's Tony's little brother." One of his teammates grabbed him and held him back.

"I'll let you off this time for Tony's sake. If I catch you going after my girl again, you'll regret it!"

Tony's old friendship spared Song Ya a beating, and he slipped into the classroom.

A group of girls in class giggled together.

"?"

When Song Ya returned to his seat, there was a cassette case on his desk. He opened it and found a note inside that read "I MISS YOU," signed by one of the ugly girls in class. Under the note... well, there was something hidden.

"Class!" The bell rang, and the teacher came in.

Song Ya hurriedly tucked it into a book.

"Yay!" With an excited cheer, the ugly girl climbed right onto her desk and started dancing. "He took it! He took it!"

"Come on, don't get the wrong idea, lady!" Song Ya was so startled that he immediately tossed the case back to her.

Clack... The case hit the girl, bounced onto the floor, and cracked open. The thing inside came rolling out...

"Turn to page forty. Today's lesson is very important. We'll be discussing the Civil War..." The teacher acted as if he hadn't seen a thing and began the lesson.

The ugly girl let out an earth-shattering, shrill cry. "Thud, thud, thud..." She dragged her tank-like body out of the classroom in tears.

The other girls burst into laughter, and the boys began banging on their desks and jeering.

"To discuss the Civil War, we have to talk about slavery..."

I can't stay at this school anymore! Song Ya lamented.

"Hey, Hayden!" As soon as class ended, he ran to a payphone. "What's my expected income? Okay... Do you know anything about transferring schools? I don't care if it's public or private... What? Fine, let's talk in person."

After school, he hurried to the entrance and climbed into Hayden's Dodge Dynasty.

"Hello, you're APLUS, right?" To his surprise, a white man was sitting in the back seat.

"Hello. You are..." Song Ya was a little surprised, but shook the man's hand.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Daniel Glass, vice president of SBK Records, under EMI."