Shop in the Name of Love by Deborah Gregory Read Free Book Online Page B

can tell he thinks he’s kinda
chulo
, kind of cute, too.
    “Now, I got a song you are gonna love. I’ve picked out some material for you—the type of songs that will get you a record deal, so just trust me on this,” he says, talking with his five-carat hands the whole time. “Okay, let’s do this.”
    Pooch tells Kew what tracks to put on, then takes us to the recording booth. The five of us stand in front of the microphones and put headphones on our heads. “We’re gonna practice it a bit, then take it from the top when we’re ready,” Pooch says.
    “Where are the musicians?” Angie asks, like she’s been in a recording studio before.
    “We’re just gonna lay down some lead vocals over the tracks first so you can get the hang of the song, ya dig?” Pumpmaster says, looking at Bubbles mostly, and the twins. The twins have been singing in church choirs since they’re nine, so they always seem like they know what they’re doing. “Then we lay down the background vocals and arrangements later. That’s my job. We ready, Cheetah Girls?” Pumpmaster Pooch says, flashing a grin.
    “We’re ready!” we say together. I am so excited—I cannot believe that we, the Cheetah Girls, are already in the studio, recording. Okay, it’s just a song for a demo, but you know what I mean, jelly bean.
    “‘I Got a Thing for Thugs’?” Bubbles says, scrunching up her nose as we read the lyrics off the sheet music that Pooch has handed out to us. “That sounds radickio!”
    “Bubbles, let’s just listen to them, okay?” I say, trying to calm her down because I know we are lucky to be here in the studio and not paying for it.
    But after we finish rehearsing the same song fifty thousand times, we are so tired I never want to hear that song again. Bubbles is right. The song is
la wacka
! Bubbles looks like she is about to explode. I guess she thought we would be doing one of
her
songs.
    Mr. Johnson, who has returned, comes in and congratulates us. “Ladies, you did a wonderful job. Now the car service is gonna come and take all of you right to your door.”
    “That song was wack-a-doodle,” Bubbles says, pouting, when we are finally in the car with Dorothea. “It just wasn’t
us
.”
    “Maybe once we do some of their songs, they’ll let us record some of yours,” I explain to Bubbles. She is
caliente
mad.
    “What did you think, Mom?” Bubbles says, putting her head on Dorothea’s shoulder.
    “There is something about that Mr. Johnson that I don’t like,” Dorothea says, then leans back into the car seat. “I told him that I have to have the agreement looked over by a lawyer first, and that made him kind of nervous. If anything isn’t right with that agreement, I’m gonna be so shady to Mr. Jackal Johnson the sun is gonna go down on him!”
    Yawning, I put my head on Dorothea’s other shoulder, and sigh. “Bubbles, you’re right— that song
was
wack-a-doodle!” We giggle, then get real quiet for the rest of the way home.
    I can’t wait to get home and call 900-KRUSHER. I’m gonna call a hundred times if I have to, because I’m going win that date with Krusher and make my dreams come true.
    That’s what me and Bubbles always said when we were little. We would follow the yellow brick road no matter where it led us. Well, Miami, here I come!

Chapter
6
    It’s time for me to head uptown to Drinka Champagne’s Conservatory. All five of us are now taking vocal lessons and dance classes there. Aqua and Angie don’t need it, because they go to Laguardia Performing Arts High School and they get
la dopa
training all week, but it helps us to sing better together as a group. We also practice songs that Bubbles wrote—“Wanna-be Stars in the Jiggy Jungle” and “Welcome to the Glitterdome”—just in case Mr. Johnson and Pumpmaster Pooch decide to let us record them for our demo. Hey, you never know!
    If I don’t leave now, I’m gonna be late. Class starts at eleven o’clock, and Drinka does not