2008 - Manhattan, New York

Nia sighs as her alarm goes off. She had already been awake for a while but hadn't wanted to get out from under her warm covers. She groans as she sits and shuts off the alarm. She gets up and leans against her dresser, gazing into the mirror. She hums a tune as she pats down the frizzy hair escaping from her braids and dresses. She packs her backpack with her school books and supplies, as well as her drumsticks, iPod, and headphones.

"Nia!" Her mother calls from the kitchen. "Breakfast!" Surer enough, the smell of eggs, toast, and coffee is starting to fill the house. Nia double checks her bag then heads out.

"Mornin' Umama (mother)," Nia says, kissing her mother on the cheek before setting her bag by the door and sitting at the table.

Karyn smiles. "You seem happy this morning."

"Yup, I'm going to try and apply for band today," Nia says as she starts to eat.

"You're actually going to do it?" Karyn says, smiling as she sits.

"Yeah... I am. I'm still nervous but..."

Karyn cuts her off. "You will be great my love. Just play as you do for me, and everything will go well."

Nia smiles and finishes her breakfast. "Thanks, Umama."

Karyn smiles. "Bast will bless you today."

Nia frowns. "Umama, you know I don't believe in Bast and all of them."

Karyn sighs. "I'm sorry."

Nia shakes her head a bit. "It's fine. I'll see you after school."

Karyn smiles a bit and nods. "Have a good day."

Nia blows her a kiss then grabs her bag and skateboard before heading out. She and her mother lived in a poor part of town, far from the school she went to. Her mother worked hard to provide for her daughter, and Nia appreciated it very much. Although old and leaky, her mother worked to keep their little house warm and clean, and to keep food on the table. They had little, but it was enough. Most of the money they had, went to her schooling. You see, Nia was smart, very smart. At 15, she was already a senior in high school. She could have been even further if it wasn't for a few other factors. Being a black teenage girl with ADHD and Tourette Syndrome didn't exactly make life easy for Nia. But she pushed through. She skateboarded ten minutes to the bus stop every morning. From there she took the school bus to Brooklyn Visions Academy. She had gotten in through a lottery. She thought herself fairly lucky, but since her mom didn't have the money for the room and board, she had to commute forty minutes to and from school each day. The bus was the worst part of the school day. Thirty minutes of pure torture. Just seeing it pull up made her tics worsen. Her wrist flicked and she started to make a "hm" noise over and over in the back of her throat. She made her way to the back of the bus to an empty row and pulled her iPod and headphones out of her bag, turning up the music and pretending to drum to the beat, eventually able to ignore the spit wads and taunts thrown her way. Arriving at school, she heads to her locker, sighing as she sees the word "spaz" scrawled across her locker door. She tries to wipe it off but whoever did it had used a permanent marker. Thanks to her wrist tics, getting the locker open was always hard. She usually got it within a few seconds... after the bell rang. Today though, she slid into her seat just as it rang.

Her teacher raises his eyebrow. "Leanne, please put away the headphones, and spit out your gum." Nia sighs and does so. Seeing a warm-up on the board, Nia pulls out her notebook and gets to work. Her seatmate on the other hand has his nose buried in his phone.

"Alright students, please get started on the warm-up if you haven't already," the teacher says, looking pointedly at Nia's seatmate, who scrambles to put his phone away and do so. Nia chuckles and shakes her head. She finishes shortly and notices her seatmate trying to copy her answers. She shuts her notebook and sets her pen on top, before picking it up again and starting to tap the beat to one of her favorite songs. After a glare from her teacher, she sets the pen down and sits on her hands, but her foot starts tapping instead.

After school, Nia made her way to the band room. Signing up for band meant that she would have to skateboard the whole way home, as she would miss the bus, but Nia didn't mind. It would probably be faster than the bus anyway since the bus was always stop-and-go. The problem was, the band was what all the cool kids did. Nia knew that she did not fall into that category, in fact, it's those same kids that often tormented her. But she had to try. Her instrument of choice was the drums, but unfortunately, drum sets were expensive. She practiced at music stores and whenever the school drumset was free at lunchtime. If she joined the band, she would be able to play more often. Thus, it was worth chancing rejection. She hesitates, then opens the door. The other teens in the room fall quiet as she enters.

"Uh... hey guys," she says, smiling a bit.

"What do you want, twitch?" a boy taunts.

"Well... I was wondering if I could try out for drummer," she says softly.

The others start to laugh but are shut down by a glare from the band leader, a senior girl in Nia's class, who is the proper age for a senior, about 17 or 18. "Let her at least show us what she can do, then we can vote," the leader says. The others look at each other but nod.

"Alright," one of the other teens says.

Nia takes a deep breath and sits at the drumset. She pulls her drumsticks from her bag. She does a roll across the drums then looks up. "What song do you want me to play?"

"What's your favorite?" the band leader asks kindly.

"Believer by Imagine Dragons," Nia replies.

"Ooh, that's a good one," the older girl replies. "Do you want us to play with you?"

Nia shrugs. "Sure. I've never played with others before."

The others raise their eyebrows but then get ready to play.

Nia counts out the beats. "5, 6, 7, 8," she says then they begin. At first, it's quite hard to keep beat with the others playing, but then she closes her eyes and just listens to the music as if it is on her iPod. By the end, she's grinning.

The band leader smiles softly. "You're talented. Come back tomorrow and we'll tell you if you made it."

Nia smiles. "Thank you." She leaves with her spirits soaring, her skateboard feeling like it had wings.

On the way home, she passed the corner her mom always told her to stay away from, but she felt like she could never seem to. These kids, to her, were the cool kids. They called themselves the Wolves. They may look like cute puppies, but they were truly scary. Nia waved as she passed, and they waved back. If it wasn't for school, she would have joined them, which was one of her mother's biggest fears. And being innocent and naive, she didn't quite understand why.

"How did it go?" Karyn asks her daughter that evening at dinner.

Nia grins. "It was awesome, the bandleader said I was 'very talented' and to come back tomorrow to see who they chose."

Karyn smiles. "I'll see if I can make something nice tomorrow night, then, we can celebrate if you get it or have a pity party if you don't," she teases.

Nia giggles and Karyn laughs, which turns into a cough. Nia frowns. "Are you alright Umama?"

"Oh, yeah, just a little cold. My boss's kids had one the other day when he brought them in, I'm sure I'm fine."

Nia frowns but nods. "Alright. Maybe you should stay home tomorrow?"

"You know I can't afford that umntwana (baby)," Karyn says quietly, setting their dinner of canned chicken soup down in front of them.

Nia smiles a bit. "Thanks, Umama," she says softly. She feels bad for her mother, but doesn't exactly know how to help her. She takes on odd jobs in the summer to make a bit of extra money, but it was hard to do so in the school year. "Maybe I shouldn't do band... I can take up an odd job after school instead." Nia says, watching her mom's reaction.

"Oh umntwana, I can't ask you to do that... you deserve to have at least some fun in your life..." the tired single mother says. "I wish I could have given you a better life."

"You mean... Wakanda?" Nia asks softly.

"Yes... but Wakanda doesn't want us." Karyn says bitterly, then sighs. "But remember what I told you, if you ever, ever need help, you must use your key and take your place in Wakanda. But until then, you must stay away." Karyn says earnestly.

Nia touches her lower lip and nods. "I know Umama."

"I love you, my daughter."

"I love you too Umama."

The next day at school, Nia's head was filled with stories her uncle used to tell her of Wakanda, and nervousness for the news from band. After her classes, she hurries to the band room. A tall, good-looking, white guy was sitting at the drums. Nia pauses in the doorway.

"What are you doing here, twitch?" he sneers. The band leader looks over, seeming embarrassed. "Oh, hey, sorry Leanne, but... we found someone we liked better."

Nia stands there a moment, then nods, turning to go and hopefully catch the bus. Once on the bus, she finds her seat in the back corner and cries. She knew it was too good to be true. Even if the band leader liked her, no one else did, and the leader couldn't push it, lest she lose her place in the school hierarchy. But even though she understood, it still hurt. When she got home, her mom wasn't home yet, per usual. Nia sat at the table and did her homework, still crying whenever she thought of it. Karyn came home about an hour later.

"Nia?" she comes over and seeing Nia's eyes red from crying, sighs. "A pity party it is," she says with a tight smile, trying to make Nia feel better.

Nia forces a small smile. "Thanks, Umama."

That night, they had chicken and broccoli bake, one of Nia's favorite meals. Frozen chicken and broccoli were mixed with cheese, sour cream, and cream of mushroom soup to make an amazing creamy casserole. It wasn't very expensive to make but it still pushed the budget. Because of this, it was only ever made for special occasions and the leftovers were savored. After dinner, it is very obvious that Karyn isn't feeling well, so Nia sends her to bed and cleans up the kitchen for her. As she does the dishes, she realizes that maybe band isn't the best thing for her. Maybe working is better. Her mom obviously needs the help, so she makes up her mind that she would start looking for somewhere to work the next day.