Brooklyn -- chapter one: blood aint always thicker.

Saturday nights were definitely the nights to look forward too in Brooklyn, New York. The streets stayed busy, full of people spending hours out on the town longer then they were suppose to and doing things they know they shouldn't. Selena James smiled as she thought about the things her and her girls would be doing tonight that they shouldn't be. The air from outside her bedroom window rushed in as she opened it and peered down from her seventh floor apartment building down on to Nostrand Avenue, the longest street in Brooklyn and the only one that traveled from Bushwick to Bedstuy, two of the most dangerous areas in New York - and Selena and her mother lived right in the middle of it. She inhaled, the block smelt just like hot dogs and weed, a smell that she was more than familiar with. She moved away from the window and towards her bed, plopping down face first. She reached down to the side of her bed where her stereo was and flicked the knob up, turning it on. "...clip to tec, respect, I demand it, slip and break the, 11th Commandment. Thou shalt not fuck with raw C-Poppa..." Throwback Saturdays were Selena's favorite. She closed her eyes as Biggie bumped and filled her room and the streets below. "SELENA!" She could hear her mother yell from downstairs. Selena rolled her eyes and turned the music up as loud as it could go, tuning her mother out, but the rapid thumps up the stairs just couldn't be ignored. Selena rushed up out of her bed to get to the door before her mother could but she was a few seconds too late. "SELENA ELANA GOMEZ JAMES, I KNOW you heard me calling you to turn that CRAP off.." Ms. Gomez fussed as she hurried to the stereo and yanked the knob down. Silence. Her mother closed her eyes and sighed, then turned to Selena. "Quién es ese hombre??" She asked, throwing her hands up. "Biggie." Selena answered. "Aiyee! Why do you insist on listening to this garbage Selena? And so looooudly?" She inquired, shaking her head and rubbing her temples. Selena crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "Porque... MA, yo tengo gusto de la música y tengo gusto de Biggie!" Selena yelled. "Oooh.." Ms. Gomez said with an exgerrated surprised expression. "...So you do know how to speak Spanish? Hmmm, could have fooled me Selena because for a second there I thought you had forgotten how." She spat. "UGH! Why do you always have to go here with me ma? I'm tired of it. If I don't want to speak Spanish, or listen to your salsa music, or chat with grandma all the time, it shouldn't be a big deal." Selena argued. "Maybe your right Selena but it is a big deal. I am not going to just sit back and watch my 17 year old daughter erase one side of her culture.." Ms. Gomez said. "Ma!" Selena interjected. "No! You are going to listen to me this time Selena! I sware to mi dios en cielo, I feel like your running away from yourself. Your Latino, why not be proud of that, huh? Your grandmother comes all the way down from Puerto Rico only once, every year just to see you! And you don't even have the respect or the decency to speak to her. You know she can't speak English so you act like you don't even know what she's saying. Selena, I know what your surrounded by in Brooklyn but just because you live it doesn't mean you have to become it." Ms. Gomez said. "Your wrong ma.. I can't become anything that I already am. You should just leave.. a hora." Selena mumbled, moving away from her mother and back to her bed. She kicked up the knob up with her foot and KRS-1 blasted threw the room. "Aiyee!" Ms. Gomez yelled, throwing her hands up in defeat and left, slamming the door closed behind her.