N.E Heartbreak

Chapter 31

Chapter 31
Jacqueline

1998

Steph, Cassie, and are spending another afternoon listening to these girls fuss and fight about stupid stuff.

"You will never make it far in this industry if you can't even get along with your own group members." Steph interrupts their fighting.

"We are putting our money into you. And right now you're wasting our money. You have half an hour left in this session. If we can't get through two songs in that time, you're album will be pushed back...again. The U.S release date is 17 February 1998. Remember that?" I say and they all frown. "Exactly. Let's get to work."

They finally cooperate and finish the last two songs for the album. We were able to release a single back in November and it has everyone waiting for more. We won't ever deliver more if they don't get it together.

"Great. We'll see you next week to start promotion," Cassie waves them off and they leave the studio. "God."

"I know," Steph sighs. "We have two six year olds and a seven year old that are more professional than them."

It was actually Steph's idea to sign our girls to Biv 10 Records as artists and have them do covers of our songs. JKL will be premiering in 1999 with the New New Edition or BGT— the Bivins, Gills, Tresvants: our boys that are also signed to Biv 10. That one was Ronnie's idea. It's what the kids wanted so we had to do it for them. The guys have mostly been working with them.

Mike and I have called us all Alphabet Soup besides the East Coast Family. We have BBD, ABC, Boyz II Men, JKL, SJC, Destiny's Child, and BGT all on one label. It took some convincing to get ABC and Boyz II Men to sign from Motown to Biv 10 but they did it for me. I was and still am, a very important part of their careers and success.

"Let's get home please. I need to relax." Cassie stands up and stretches. We leave the studio and go to Steph's house where the guys were together with the kids.

After meeting at Cassie's house, the guys have been getting together more often and we love it.

"How was the session?" Mike asks me as we walk into the house.

I just roll my eyes. "They spent the whole time fighting...again. I've never met such unprofessional people. My children are more professional." I say.

"Thank you, Momma." Will says as he plays Jenga with Wally, RJ, and Kim.

"It's okay. Maybe God has this just for this album. After this, if it still doesn't work out, we can release them from the label and move on." Mike says.

"That's true. If they can't be professional and are wasting your time, then drop them," Ralph says. "It's what I would do."

"Facts, Rizz." Ronnie daps Ralph.

"What we got to eat?" Cassie asks as she walks to the kitchen.

"Mike and Johnny are cooking." Ricky answers.

"That's such a nice change." Jackson says with a book in her hand.

"Why are you putting in to grown folk talk?" Bobby snaps at her.

"Because you are talking around us about things we can talk about. It's not like we're talking about your or Uncle Ricky's drug abuse. Then we wouldn't speak up." Jackson says and everyone looks at her before looking at me and Mike.

"Jackson Hunter Bivins." I snap but don't know what to say.

"What, Momma? It's all over the news. TV, Internet, newspapers. And we aren't dumb. We can see things." Jackson shrugs. All of the kids look up from their various activities with sad looks.

"Our classmates make fun of us sometimes, too." Tre says truthfully. We enrolled them into a private school after New Year's because they wanted to be around other children their own age.

"About how our Uncle Bobby is a crack head and so is his wife Whitney. How our daddies are dried up has beens. And how our moms are..." RJ doesn't continue the thought.

"Are what, Rizz?" Ralph asks his son. RJ shakes his head.

"How our moms are whores that have slept with all of New Edition and other artists in the industry." Wally says with the hardest, angriest face I've ever seen on him. My usually-chill nephew is the angriest any of us have ever seen him.

We just look at each other before sighing sadly.

"Listen, when you're older we'll explain so much to you. There's so much you have to learn first." I say.

"But know this, we have been nothing but professional with everyone we've worked with besides me marrying Ralph, Steph marrying Johnny, and Jacque marrying Mike. You are our children. We wouldn't lie to you, you know that, right?" Cassie says as she looks at each of the children. They nod slowly.

"Those children are jealous of who are you and who you're related to. Everyone will have their opinions and rumors on you and your family. It's what happens when you live your life in the spotlight," Bobby says. "But you can't focus on what people say you are or what they say you do. It's about who you know you are and what you know you've done."

"Can we go back to being tutored?" Lucy asks.

"It was easier." Q nods.

"After this year. We've already paid the deposit." Johnny says and Steph gives him a hard look. He shrugs.

"If that's what you want, but I'm going to speak to the principal about this. This is bullying." Steph nods at the kids and goes to call the school that they attend.

They go back to playing and doing their various activities with a new lightness than before. They must have wanted to get that off their chests for a long time.

We leave them in the large sitting room to go into another, smaller room. "Our children have to deal with what we've done." Bobby says.

"They always do," Johnny leans against the wall. "We haven't even lived super public lives. Most of us have been really private about a lot of things."

"Which is hard with these three not even being from this generation." Ricky waves his hand at us.

"About that, I just want to say I'll be born this year. Or, at least Annie will be born this year." Steph smiles.

"That's weird." Mike shakes his head.

"We'll be born in 1999. That's just more than a year away," I shrug. "Eww. Our moms had sex and have us."

"That's what happens to have children. We do it all the time." Mike wraps his arms around me. I smirk at him before kissing him deeply.

"Please stop." Everyone else covers their eyes like children. We laugh as we pull apart.

"Can we go eat before I lose my appetite?" Ralph playfully leans on Cassie.

"It's almost done." Mike says as he and Johnny go into the kitchen.