I feel the eyes of students bore into me as I stroll through the hallways. I can’t pretend that I have no idea why, it was the two days after Levi’s incident occurred and due to Florina’s recording the whole school was on fire about it. Levi decided not to come today which I can understand why. Everyone in school would have pounced on him like wild hyenas at their prey. The presence of my headphones help me avoid awkward conversations as I enter my first period class.

I see Kian wave at me as I take my seat in the desk next to him. I look at the clock, it seems like I have five minutes left before class starts.

“So are you ready,” Kian says.

“I don’t know bro, I didn’t have time for Levi or Dante to listen to the lyrics I made.”

“Stop stressing bro, you got this.”

His usually encouraging words goes into one ear and out the other. I knew he was right, but something about this whole thing has me nervous, especially since Levi or Dante hasn’t approved yet. Each song I’ve put out has always gone through them first and even though they don’t have a clue about music, it’s always just been reassuring. The bell rings and signals the start of the school day which indicates for me to turn up my music and drown this boring institution out.

The class drags on as it always does, math just has a way of making even the most simplest things as boring as watching paint dry. Scratch that, even more boring. The teacher keeps talking and talking and without thinking I turn up the volume of the song playing in my ears. I close my eyes and when I reopen them I’m on a stage. I look around and about a thousand people surround me each one of them chanting my name. I jump and crowd follows. I start screaming the lyrics of the new song I wrote and dance around the stage as the crowd roars at me.

“Mr.Milda...Genesis...GENESIS,” a scream rips me from my dream.

“YES,” I yell back while sitting up straight in my chair. I hear laughs surround me and my eyes can’t help but roll.

“Maybe try to stay awake for class,” the teacher named Mrs.Jules scoffs. Hatred builds inside me, but I just answer back with a nod so she can just continues lecturing about numbers like we actually care. Mrs.Jules and I don’t really have a good relationship, but that’s just because she can’t stop feeling so entitled for one second. Thinking just because she has a degree she’s so much smarter than us. I turn towards Kian and I hear him stifle a laugh. I playfully punch him in his shoulder.

“In her defense, you were sleeping in class and you do have a habit of doing that. I’d get annoyed too,” Kian says.

I repeated what I did earlier and let his words bounce off me. I look at the clock and was surprised that the period was almost over, how long was I asleep? The bell rings moments after my encounter with Mrs.Jules. Kian and I get up and walk out the door.

“I’ll pick you up afterschool in my normal parking spot,” he says while we do our handshake, which was much too fancy then it needed to be. As I walk down towards the opposite end of the hallway I hear the multiple “Kians” as more of his friends practically surround him. Kian was one of the popular kids in our school and he always gets shit for hanging out with an underclassmen, but that never stopped him from spending time with me which I’m grateful for. I reach into my pocket and turn my music volume up once again as I take on the rest of the school day.

*

Kians old car sputters into the driveway of the address sent by Helios. To my surprise, it looked like a normal suburban household, it had a wood makeup and was painted a pretty sky blue. Kian faces me and gives me a reassuring smile.

“This is it bro, you ready,” he says, his hand up awaiting a fist bump. I nod and fist bump him back. I gained a little confidence looking over my lyrics in the car, but was still nervous. What if he hates the song? What if he wants me to freestyle? I’m a good freestyler, but I do admit my written stuff is abundantly better.

As more questions flow into my head, Kian opens his car door and jogs towards mine to do the same. I slide out the car and trail behind Kian until we’re in front of the door. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up a little. Kian makes a stupid face towards me and I break out in a smile, I hate him so much. He takes this chance and gives the door three sturdy knocks.

Time passes, but the door is eventually opened by an old yet attractive woman. Her hazelnut eyes gives us each warm look.

“Oh come in come in, you must be who Helios was talking about,” the woman says as she gestures us inside. I look around and instead of the wild look I was expecting, the house seems as normal inside as it is outside. The living room has a table, two couches and a flatscreen TV. Pictures are sprawled out everywhere, all of them showing just a mother and daughter.

“Oh before you do your little music thing, do you guys want anything to drink,” the woman asked.

“Yeah I could go for a sprite,” Kian says. Kian never turns down a free drink or meal. He turns at me raising an eyebrow.

“I’ll have the same,” I say, my voice cracking. The woman laughs and roams into the kitchen. I try to stare at her one last time before she leaves and I can’t really put an age to her face. She has one of those faces that could be twenty-five or forty.

“She’s hot,” Kian says right when she disappears into the kitchen.

“Do you ever look at something besides looks,” I reply.

“When it’s just shoved in my face, I would be sinning if I didn’t comment on it,” he says while plopping on the couch. Kian and nerves have never met each other, honestly I get can’t help being a little envious of that. As I continue to look around I start to wonder where Helios is, throughout this whole experience he hasn’t shown up.

To calm my nerves I start pacing around the room and notice that I wasn’t going crazy earlier, there is no man in any of the pictures they have out. It’s all the woman and a daughter that looks very much like her. Maybe Helios uses another person’s house for his studio?

The woman re-enters the living room, holding two sprites in her hand. She walks up to Kian and hands him on, then she walks towards me. I nervously retrieve the sprite from her grasp. I peek at Kian and he’s already glugging down the drink, seemingly unaware of the whole reason that we’re at this place. I realize that I have to make the first move.

“So where's Helios,” I ask. The woman experience a brief look of confusion and than points in front of her, my eyes follow her finger to a garage door. I signal Kian to follow me as I saunter towards the door. Kian jumps up and accompanies me. I stretch my hand out towards the door and pause. After I work up the courage, I thrust the door open.

The first thing I noticed was the massive size of the garage from the inside compared to outside. Soundproof fluff covered all the walls of the huge space, there was a large booth with matching fluff encompassing it. Speakers and instruments were scattered around the room, all seeming to be connected to computers by the multiple cords slithering around the floor. Now this is what I was waiting for.

I stand there, glorifying all the equipment until I hear the swivel of a chair wheel. My eyes check where the sound comes from and I can’t believe what I see. The same girl in the pictures upstairs is seated in the center of all this beauty. She has matching traits with her mom, including her dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes.

“Yo, do you know where Helios is,” Kian says breaking the weird atmosphere the room was starting to form.

“Your looking at her,” the girl, apparently named Helios, smiles. Honestly the first thought that crosses my mind is that she’s joking, but looking at how comfortable she’s sitting in the chair and the swagger she emits, I know I’m wrong. She’s wearing a bright yellow and black jacket opened up to display a simple white T-shirt. She’s rocking matching yellow and black shoes with simple jeans. A small nose ring give off the same shine as her stud earrings.

She pushes her arms against the sit and vaults off the chair. Wearing the same smile she takes a few steps towards me until she’s only about a half a foot away from me. She extends her hand, I extend mine to match her and give her a firm handshake.

“My real name isn’t Helios. It’s Elise. My last name is Helios,” she says with a wild grin.

“My name is Genesis,” I say after we untangle our hands from each other. I point to Kian who has the same lost expression that I had a few seconds ago. “This is Kian.”

“Hello Kian, your the one who reached out to me, right?”

“Yeah, you could say I’m the manager,” Kian replies trying to find a cool, relaxed posture. I let out a sigh and step deeper into the studio. It had everything a home studio would need and then some. I make my way into the booth, walking as though I was in a trance.

“You don’t waste time,” Elise says as she returns to her chair and rolls towards her computer setup. “I’ve been making a beat that matches what you usually rap to. Come out here and hear it first before barging into the booth.”

I apologize and go to face the screens with her. Kian makes his way towards me as we both hover over her. She types and clicks multiple things at an insane speed, showing her experience with operating this technology. After a few seconds of her doing that, the room comes to life and a soothing beat enters my ears. I listen to it and was astonished on how it matched my usual style, but had unique differences that made the beat sound much more lively. I caught her eyes looking at me, hungering for approval.

“This is amazing, the rumors about you are true, you are the best,” I say.

“Well some of them anyway,” she looks solemn as she says it. She quickly recovers though as if I was just imagining it. “Your rap style is so cool and doesn’t appear that often, the beat isn’t as abrupt as most are and your mix of singing makes it sound like a poem, which is refreshing in the current rap scene.”

I mull over her words for a second. That is exactly how I would describe my style. She might of looked the same age as Kian, but I feel like I can’t even compare to her. Under the childish face and hairstyle was a girl with far more wisdom than me. Even though she seems to be in an unattainable realm, I knew I could learn from her and become better. That’s why I’m here.

“This is magnificent, I think my client really appreciates it,” Kian says, still trying to act like he’s the manager of a famous musician instead of a sophmore in highschool. Though Elise and I can clearly see through the act, we can’t help but laugh in response.

“So are we making a whole song, or do you have a song already in…,” Elise starts to say, but before she finishes I already reach into my pocket and eagerly push the scraps of paper that the song was scribbled on in her direction. She seizes the paper and her expression turns into that of someone in deep thought. She scans through the lyrics and goes through a whole range of emotions, but settles with a knowing look.

“If I’m amazing, your amazing. What is your inspiration,” Elise says. I’m at a loss of words, my life was not that hard compared to most music artists, but I think that’s why my music is so fresh.

“Honestly, I think my middle-ground upbringing is the cause. I wasn’t born with too much, but I had enough from my parents and family to take me through a lot of experiences and with their support I became able to express them through rap,” I say, noticing that I kind of rambled on. Elise stares deeply at me.

“I can see by your eyes your stubborn, but I can also tell you have what it takes to become great. I didn’t make a mistake giving you this offer.” Elise hands the paper back to me and waves me towards the booth. I slowly walk into it and take my spot behind the microphone. I close my eyes and breath as I patiently wait for the signal to start. I gaze behind Elise and see Kian give me a thumbs up, trying to keep me calm.

“Are you ready,” Elise asks. I nod my head.

I start rapping my song, focusing and spitting out raps in my own style. Perspiration slides down my forehead as I keep going. The studio I’m in turns not to the normal stage that usually occupies my mind, but to the experiences my family and I have been through. Each word I emphasize, each space between words I perfectly time. I can feel the smile spread across my face. Elise stops me and reviews the track and I’m back in the booth again. This goes on for a while, until it’s finally time for us to leave.

“I hope I get to see you guys soon,” Elise says as she hugs me. I take out my phone and get her number.

“Don’t tell anyone who I am and where I am, I built myself with this mysterious vibe for a reason, it helps me,” Elise says.

“We promise not to tell anyone, thank you for seeing my clientele,” Kian says as he clasped his hand onto my shoulder. I glance at Elise and match her eye roll. Kian and I make our way towards his car.

“Do you think the song was good,” I say getting in the car.

“We’ll see what the people think tomorrow at school,” Kian says. I sit there in silence as we drive off into the road.

“Thanks for being here Kian."

“You know I got your back. Always.”