Hey. Darren Troloski here. I would like to be a rapper and make music. My stage name would be... Young Spice. Email me back when you get the chance. I'd like to audition to be in the upcoming show Teen Artists. Have a great day/night.

After typing all of that, I clicked send. 11:59 at night. If I sent this a minute late, there would be no way I'd get the chance to audition in Teen Artists. I sent it before the next day, so I might get a chance. I hope the producers send an email back that says I can go to LA and audition. But I have an obstacle in my way. I just forgot what it was.

"Darren! It's time to go to bed!" my mom yelled.

And that's my obstacle. My mom. Geez, parents these days. Uh oh! I just realized something. There's no way in the world mom and Jeffrey would let me go from Miami to LA. My brother Deandre on the other hand would be happy to drive me from Miami to Mars... and leave me there. He hates me. Jeffrey might let me, but my mom would kill me for wanting to go. What's gonna happen if I do get a chance to audition? Oh yeah. I know what's gonna happen. My mom's gonna KILL ME!!!

"Darren Tyrone Trolosky! Turn off the lights and go to sleep!" she yelled. Yup. That's my mom for you.

The next morning, I woke up, got some left over chicken from the fridge, and worked on a rap song. My mom came into my room with envelopes. She was furious. Either those are about the auditions for Teen Artists or those are my grades. Math: F. Science: F. English: F. History: F. Everything else: Fs. Even gym. How does someone fail gym? Umm, by not showing up. Or... by not changing in the gym room because no one bothered to build bathroom stalls, so you had to change in front of guys who were probably gay. Or... my favorite... making a note saying "my son hurt his leg, he can't play" and faking my mom's signature then sitting out and playing on my phone. My mom was mad at me for the note thing and the skipping class thing. Like gym is even important. But anyways... yeah. I'm in so much trouble with my mom.

"Darren Tyrone! Summer school? Summer school?!"

"Summer school?" I was confused. She showed me an envelope that said Darren Troloski must go to summer school. I slapped my forehead. What about my audition?! How can I be in Teen Artists if I have to go to summer school? And why do I have to go to summer school? I get it. I failed every class. But summer means a break from prison AKA school. No one should go to summer school. Unless they're nerds who love school with a burning passion.

 I'm screwed if I got in. How am I gonna do summer school and Teen Artists at the same time? My mom left my room, angry as always. I went on the computer to see if I've received an email back. And I have.

Dear Darren Troloski. Congratulations. You made it. Auditions are tomorrow. The show will start at 1:00 pm on the 5th of July. Have a great day/night, young man.

And... I'm screwed.

My best friend Jake Renedold came over. He insisted on playing video games. News to him, I don't care for that. I care about my rap songs. He decided to look at my lyrics and add a few. He wrote down:

Yo yo yo, Darren's lame. He ain't got time for video games. Darren needs a life. Or he'll end up without a wife.

"Jake, that was rude."

"Sorry."

He erased the lyrics he wrote. He then drew a smiley face on the top of my paper. I smiled. Just then, Jake decided to play some music.

"Let's listen to LeLe," he said. LeLe was another teenager who was into music. She has sang a lot of pop songs and posted it. Of course she was going to be on the show and in auditions. She sang really good. I heard she likes writing songs too.

"Hello!" Jake said to me, knowing that I was out of focus.

"What?" I groaned.

"What's your favorite song from her?"

"From who?"

"Ariana Grande! Who do you think I'm talking about?"

"Uhh..."

"LeLe."

"Oh. Maybe her cover of Strangers."

"The one by that Halsey and that Fifth Harmony chick?"

"Yeah. It's just... good, ya know? LeLe switched all of the she's into he's."

After listening to it and admiring her voice, I clicked like.

"Dude," Jake said. "That's my YouTube account."

"Sorry. But if something's good, of course I'm gonna hit like."

Just then, he got a text message.

"Oh, it's my mom. She says to come home because we're going out for lunch."

He waved me off and left. My mom and Jeffrey came downstairs from their room.

"Darren," Jeffrey started off. "Tomorrow, we have to go to your summer school for an open house conference."

"What? Tomorrow is my audition!"

"Audition?"

"He's talking about that Artistic Teen thing," my mom said.

"It's called Teen Artists," I said under my breath.

"I'm sorry, sport. But your education comes first."

"Oh yeah? What happened to the follow your dreams stuff? I'm trying to follow my dreams of becoming a rapper."

"You can still do that," said my mom. "You just need to get good grades."

"Don't send me to summer school."

"We didn't decide for you to go. Your teachers did."

"Well, talk to my teachers."

"You're going to summer school. End of discussion!"

I stormed off to my room. Deandre's still in college. He's supposed to come home later on. Deandre and I are brothers, as I've mentioned. He's the smart one, of course. And I'm the... stupid one. I'm 14 and I'm probably gonna be in 8th grade forever. When he was 14, he was in the 10th grade. Needless to say, he's 17 going on 18. College and he's not even an adult. See, I can do math... when it doesn't require x and y. And angles. I grabbed my suitcase from my closet and started packing my clothes and my songs. I'm not going to the summer school meeting thing. I'm going to LA for auditions. And if I have to use my brother, so be it.

I finished packing, and mom called me downstairs. What does she want?

Deandre was at the door with his suitcase. I ran over to him.

"Hey, dude!" I said. "Allow me to help you with that while you come upstairs for a secret sibling meeting."

"Could I say hello to mom and Jeffrey first?"

"Right. Sorry. Let me just take this-! Holy cow, this thing's heavy!"

I took it upstairs to his old room which has clearly been turned into a yoga room. Mom! This lady. Deandre came upstairs.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I have to audition in LA tomorrow but I also have a stupid open house conference for summer school. I would like to go to LA tonight."

He slapped his forehead and groaned. "Dude. That's gonna take me two days of driving."

"That's why we get a plane. Hello. I thought you were the smart sibling here."

"Are mom and Jeffrey cool with this?"

"Of course they are." Of course they're not.

"So, you wouldn't mind if I asked them what time we should leave?"

"Fine. They're not cool with it."

"Well, lucky for you, you have a brother that doesn't want you around."

"Yeah. I appreciate that."

"Maybe I'll end up having to go to LA."

"Then take me with you."

"What's this about?"

I told him about the Teen Artists show. He knew that was not the only reason.

"Fine. Also, because I don't wanna go back to school."

He knew there was something else.

"Fine! There's this girl-"

"Uh oh! My little brother is growing up!"

"Deandre Travis."

"Sorry."

"So there's a girl on YouTube and I'm a fan of her. She's a good singer and she's my age. I think she would be on this show. I kind of wanna meet her."

He laughed at me.

"When it comes to boys, it's always about a girl eventually," he laughed.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"That's a good enough reason to take you to LA without mom and Jeffrey's knowledge."

"Really?"

"If I have to go to LA."

After dinner, Deandre got a phone call.

"Tomorrow morning at 7:00? But by the time I get there, I'll be sleeping for two hours, if I find a near hotel. Fine. 10:00 it is."

He hung up.

"Hey," I said. "What's that?"

"My professor says the honor roll students are going to have a meeting LA."

"That's terrific! That means I can go!"

"Hold up." I was worried. "Mom and Jeffrey need to go with us."

"That's a great idea. Only one small problem. THEY'RE NOT GONNA LET ME GO BECAUSE OF THE SUMMER SCHOOL MEETING!"

"I'll convince them. Don't worry."

He walked off to go find my parents. Yeah. That's what you said about the violent video game I wanted. Three years later, I still couldn't get it.

Later that night, mom said no. Wow. Who would've thought my mom, of all people, said no about something I wanted? But Jeffrey said yes. He decided to come.

"Jeffrey Dominic Reeves! If you go, we will break up!" she yelled.

"Come on," he said. "Rapping is clearly important to him."

"Well, his education is important to me."

"Wow. You are selfish. Let the kid follow his dreams."

"I never got to follow my dreams of being an engineer. Why should he follow his dreams of being rapper?"

"This is not about you! This is about your son! Now stop thinking about yourself and be supportive of the fact that he wants to get somewhere in life instead of being a bum! He grew up without a father for 13 years! I wanna be there for him! Most people who grew up without fathers turn to the streets! Is that what you want for your son? To turn to the streets? To ruin his life? He's got potential. Ain't no kid like him. Now I'm gonna ask you again. Are you coming with us to LA or do you want me to adopt him and move to LA with him?"

"I'll go with you guys. But the minute we come back, I'm breaking up with you."

Apparently, Deandre had four tickets to go to LA on the plane. So we went. It took us, like, four hours to get there. It felt like four years, if I'm being honest.