BRANDY WAS AN hour late to the meeting he kept on reminding her about to come early to. On any other occasion, she'd be pissed beyond any extent, but she was different-she had to be different now.

She had to change her wrong ways and faults and turn them into something eloped she could like about her, or at least that's what Brandy kept on telling her.

It was like once she signed on, he didn't care. It was like a price he's been wanting for so long that once he's gotten it there's no enjoyment of having it.

He didn't try to impress or win her over, and perhaps that was why she wanted to be a part of his team so badly. All the other managers that came to her wanted one thing and one thing only-money and more prominent status. But with Brandy he seemed like he wanted something entirely different, she didn't know what, but she would soon.

A loud clap knocked her out of her daydream state as she turned her chair to an excited Brandy and an emotionless Maeve walking toward her.

"Let's get down to business!"

Amina smiled excitedly, adjusting herself in the chair as she moved her backpack to beside her.

She's been dying for this meeting all week. They were finally going to talk about the release of her music, and then hopefully begin to start recording in the upcoming days.

He took a seat on the couch across from her as Mavis stood behind Amina quietly.

Brandy peered down at his phone as he pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. "You're set to have an interview with Beverly Seth before your EP re-"

"The Beverly Seth?" Amina cut in perplexed.

Beverly Seth was a well known transgender host that everyone around the world respected. Just hearing her first name, people automatically knew you were talking about her. She was iconic and one of Hollywood's top tiers that shaped it into what it was today.

"Yes." He continued with a soft smile, "you'll want to talk about your music and excite fans."

"Which is?"

He turned to Mavis with furrowed eyebrows. "You haven't discussed anything with her, have you?"

"That's your job, Brand."

Amina cringed at her nickname for him. She kept on forgetting how close his four artists must be with him, considering he knew all of them as teenagers and shaped them into the stars they were today.

She found it peculiar how it was always Mavis with Brandy. It was never his son, or Bella, or Luca. It still was Mavis. Amina sighed, didn't this woman have anything better to do than listen to Brandy's plans for his homecoming artists? Surely she had more friends than a forty-year-old man. No, no maybe she wanted to become a manager like him and was learning from the best. She can't automatically think of all the wrong things.

He put his phone down on the cushion beside him as he leaned closer to Amina. "We've run across some of your songs?"

Amina nodded her head quickly as she pulled her notebook out from her book bag beside her. "Yeah, I think six of them you approved of so far."

"And the rest?"

"Either in-completed or you haven't heard yet."

Brandy nodded his head slowly. Getting up from the club, be behind to pace back and forth with his thumb and pointer finger holding his thumb.

"I want to go for a more pop and upbeat genre."

Her eyebrows furrowed as she shared a look with a confused Mavis. He wasn't serious, was he? All his artists were pop, sometimes Amina could barely tell apart Mavis's music from Bella's music. Why would he add Amina into that mix when she was more indie and acoustic? Her songs were more soulful and slow, while her voice was loud and could carry any note that she played on her piano.

"Upbeat and pop?"

Brandy nodded his head excitedly. "People would love that."

"My songs are more indie and acoustic, though."

Brandy shook his head as he snapped his fingers. "Not anymore."

"Pop isn't my thing, though." She cringed imagining herself, trying to dance or sing along to such loud beats. "Everyone does pop so that wouldn't set me apart from anyone."

Brandy shook his head. "Your looks themselves already set you apart."

Her looks were a code word for her skin color. There weren't many women of color in Hollywood, and at that woman of color that Brandy Manning managed. She was promised to be the biggest star those generations ever seen, and her appearance was a jump start to it.

She was set a stool higher from the usual woman in Hollywood, Brandy told her. Not only did her race make her Hollywood's new obsession, but so did her 'tragic backstory'. Although she never viewed her past as something normal, considering she's been to more funerals than birthdays parties, Brandy seemed to think otherwise.

He lifted his hand from his shoulder as he walked to the couch to retrieve his phone. "I suggest we try to release the song that you wrote for your mom, but instead of it being piano with make is with a guitar and some beats that Pablo was thinking of."

"It's an acoustic song though?"

Brandy shrugged his shoulders. "We can switch it up."

"I have a better suggestion."

"What?"

Amina closed her notebook as she straightened her back. "People aren't going to like the song that got me famous if it's changed."

She wasn't wrong, and they both knew that. She was known for playing the piano; everyone associated her as a pianist. The song she wrote for her mother was on piano, and that wasn't going to change. Her listeners loved the song because of that reason and changing the reason they loved it wasn't going to be a good outcome.

Brandy nodded his head slowly. "What do you suggest then?"

Mavis's eyebrows raise in disbelief. "Brandy are you-"

"Let her talk." He ordered, raising his hand as Mavis flinched and nodded her head quickly.

Amina's eyebrows furrowed at her reaction to Brandy but didn't say anything about it when Mavis sent a smile her way.

"I want 'Changes' to remain the same," She looked intensely at Brandy as she continued, "then we can release 'Major League' in a Pop way."

"Hasn't everyone heard these before though?" Mavis cut in before Brandy could. "You uploaded all of your songs on your YouTube channel. It won't be something new to them."

Amina shook her head quickly as she turned to Mavis. "But those videos weren't good quality with actually high tech background music." She smiled brightly as she turned back to Brandy. "Besides who said we wouldn't give them anything new?"

Brandy smiled back at her just as bright. "I like it!" His eyes squinted at Amina slightly. "Although we need to give you lessons on how to get an L.A accent," he muttered, "and perhaps look into new clothes as well."

Amina's eyebrows quickly furrowed. " What's wrong with my-"

"Everyone changes, and it's fine. Change is good." Brandy said quickly, putting a hand on Amina's shoulder as he squeezed tightly.

"I'm not going to lose my queens' accent."

Queens is where she was made-queens was Amina. It hadn't been the best place to live, but if she hadn't lived there with her mom, she wouldn't be where she was now.

Brandy shared a look with Mavis, who quickly sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed.

"Amina, you have to understand that people don't necessarily associate good things with the way you talk."

He wasn't wrong in that part. When she had bought her apartment a few days ago, the saleswoman looked at her with disgust, as if the way she talked said everything about her. When people heard her talk, they thought of a woman who was either a druggie with no life or a druggie who fucked around with too many men to count. Not once did someone look at her with admiration or think of her as a college girl who was going somewhere in her life.

Mavis cleared her throat with a bored expression. "He's here."

Amina looked at Brandy perplexed as he got up and took his glasses off. That's it, a barely fifteen minutes meeting? A meeting that barely got anything resolved? Was he going to change everything about her slowly? Was she even going to remain Amina Ryan?

He and Mavis walked to the door, their backs to Amina.

"We'll finish the rest later."

Amina followed his movements while shaking her head. "No, we won't."

He froze, slowly turning to her. "What?"

"I'm not changing myself," Amina promised.

Mavis rolled her eyes. "We're not asking you to change yourself."

She scoffed. "You are though."

She should've read the contract, why didn't she fucking read her agreement. She knew she wasn't going to have a say in this, but she wasn't going to give in so easily. She was from Queens, a place where everyone was labelled ratchet and ghetto. She was born and raised in Queens and how she was conquering Hollywood. She did what most would think was impossible.

Her accent was a way of telling people they could do anything they set their minds too-no matter their living status. Her accent reminded her of home, of her mother, of where she came from.

"To get a high status, you have to make big changes." Brandy said back calmly, looking at Amina softly.

She shook her head with a bitter laugh. "Then I don't want a high status."

That seemed to tick something in Brandy because his soft gaze hardened quickly. "Amina understands this," he took a small step closer to her. "You're going to have to change to be happy here."

"But I won't be happy if you're going to change the things that make me, me."

"You signed up for this. No one forced you." He began to back away, slowly turning around to walk out the studio with Mavis beside him. "You need to understand that there are sacrifices to get where you want to be."

His words hung in the air as he walked out.

Where did she want to be? Did she even deserve to be where she was at now? Inevitably there were better women who had much better voices and personality than she did.

She walked to the doorway, her back to the lobby as she eyed the room one more time before she closed the door. She needed to sleep. If she slept, perhaps she wouldn't be so stubborn and could think straight about everything.

Amina turned around with a loud sigh, holding on to her backstrap tightly as she froze at an unfamiliar pair of eyes staring intensely at her. He stood twenty feet away from her, his large hand grasping the metal doorknob as his body was halfway through the doorway.

He looked like he was on the verge of death. His face was pale and dark bags laid underneath his eyes. Although he was freshly shaven and his hair was neatly done, his money features made him look depressed and sickly. He looked unhealthy. He didn't look like himself, and that saddened her deeply.

"Hi." She said unsurely, watching as his facial features don't change.

"Hi." He muttered back. "I'm Luca."

She bit down a smile. She knew who he was, who didn't?

Puking her backpack off her back, she unzips the first pocket as she grabbed two granola bars. "Well, Luca, you look like you could use something to eat."

He smiled at her outstretched hand. Letting go of the door as it closed softly behind him, Luca made his way timidly to her. Stopping six feet away from her, Luca stared at with wonder.

Amina rolled her eyes, stepping forward as she grabbed his hand and placed the bars in it. "Here."

Luca looks between his hand and her perplexed. His fingers close around them. His eyebrows raised slightly. "Most wouldn't be bold enough to give me something to eat just because I look sick."

Amina winced. "That was very ignorant of me, I'm sorry. I'm still trying to get decency into my system."

He opened his mouth to say something, but the door behind him swung open as an upset Brandy came into view. "Let's go, Luca, I don't have all fucking day."

Luca doesn't seem phased by Brandy's voice, and language like Amina was. Smiling, Luca lifted his hand in a mock salute.

"You, Amina, are going to change Hollywood."

She stared at him, taken back, watching as he walked into the studio across from her. Brandy smiled at Amina, nodding his head awoke as he closed the door behind him.

What the fuck just happened?

This week was absolute hell and I got a major test this upcoming Friday so I gotta study for that. Anyways, I'm working on two books atm and hope to get both of them done by august of 2021.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, their first encounter was something I thought was adorable, but y'all just wait for the club chapter🙈🙈.

NEXT ON HOLLYWOOD BLEEDS: Luca scoffed, shaking his head. "You're changing everything about her."