Caught Up in the Drama Read online

  “Okay, just call us later,” Angel said. Jasmine had already turned and started heading toward the car.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumbled again before taking off inside.

  10

  Alexis

  “Hey, baby mama.”

  I busted out laughing at the sight of Miss Rachel’s twelve-year-old wannabe pimp daddy son, Jordan. He was standing outside the Good Girlz meeting room. He was tall for his age, but he still had a baby face, with deep dimples. He wore his school uniform top with some khaki pants.

  “Hey, baby mama,” he repeated when Jasmine didn’t respond. Jordan’s little behind was always flirting with Jasmine. He was adorable, but he was twelve. So the sight of him trying to play a mack daddy was hilarious.

  “When are you going to stop playing hard to get and give me a shot?” he slyly said.

  I laughed even harder when I saw Miss Rachel come up behind him. I knew what was coming next.

  “Owwww!” he yelled when she popped him upside the back of his head.

  “Boy, what are you talking about, ‘baby mama’? I don’t know why y’all think there’s something cute about that term. Ain’t nothing cute about being a baby mama.”

  “You got that right,” Angel muttered.

  Miss Rachel should know about the struggles of a young mother. She’d had her first child at fifteen and her second two years later. She had shared with us how she’d been through a lot before she’d grown up, at least mentally. So she was adamant about us learning from her mistakes.

  “Mama, you trippin’,” Jordan said, rubbing the back of his head.

  “I’ve also told you about talking to me like I’m one of your little friends,” she responded sternly.

  “Dang, Mama. Chill. Can you please not embarrass me in front of my future wife?” He grinned widely and winked at Jasmine.

  We all busted out laughing again as Miss Rachel swatted him once more.

  “Boy, get your little mannish behind in the church with your father. And where’s your sister?”

  “She’s in the office with Daddy Lester.”

  “Well, go in there with them and I will see you all at home. And make sure you do your homework.”

  “Why can’t I be in the Good Girlz?” he asked, heading to the door. “I could be your first male member, or an honorary member.”

  “Jordan Kobe Clark, if you don’t get your tail in there with your father . . .”

  “A’ight, a’ight,” he said. “Bye, baby,” he said to Jasmine.

  “Oh, Jasmine is the only one you see?” I joked.

  “Awww, Alexis, you know I got love for you, but it ain’t even like that. You’re too light-skinned for me.”

  I gasped. Not like I would ever want him, but still . . .

  “Now, Angel, yo quiero Taco Bell,” he sang, scurrying out of the door before his mother swatted him again.

  “Did he just ask me if I wanted some Taco Bell?” Angel asked, confused.

  “It’s the only Spanish he knows,” Miss Rachel said. “I’ve told you all, don’t pay that little boy any attention.”

  “Well, you’ve got your hands full, Miss Rachel,” I said, “because if he’s like this at twelve, I can only imagine what he’ll be like at fifteen and sixteen.”

  “Don’t remind me,” Miss Rachel groaned as she set her Bible on the front table.

  We walked into the room and got settled.

  “Where is Camille?” she asked, noticing just the three of us.

  “Where is she always?” Jasmine snidely remarked. “Off playing superstar.”

  I know Jasmine was still mad about them not letting us on the set yesterday, but Camille hadn’t bothered to call us afterward. Then today at lunch she blew us off when Sisco called.

  “I think they had to reshoot the video today,” I said.

  “I hope she doesn’t just throw us to the side,” Rachel said. “I’m very proud of the progress you girls have made, and I would hate for Camille to forget all of that.”

  “Tell me about it.” Jasmine was about to say something else when a girl standing in the doorway caught our eye.

  Rachel smiled, then motioned for the girl to come in the room.

  She wore a cute Baby Phat T-shirt and some skinny jeans. She had braces with pink rubber bands around them. Other than the cheesy rubber bands, she actually was very cute.

  “Ladies,” Rachel began, “this is Tyeesha McCray.”

  We all stared, too surprised to speak.

  “What’s your name again?” Jasmine finally said.

  “Tyeesha,” the girl repeated, like she was used to being asked that question.

  We all looked at each other and tried our best not to break out laughing.

  “You got a problem?” Tyeesha said, her hands planted firmly on her hips.

  “No problem at all,” I said, trying to keep a straight face.

  “Girls, that is very rude,” Rachel said. “Come on in, Tyeesha, and have a seat.”

  “I thought you said this group was all about being open and honest. So I wanna know what they found so funny.”

  “They don’t find anything funny. Do you, girls?” Rachel asked.

  “Actually,” Jasmine giggled, “we’re just trippin’ off your name.”

  “Jasmine,” Rachel immediately chastised.

  “What, you’ve never seen a white girl named Tyeesha?” the girl said.

  “Nope,” all three of us said at the same time.

  “Well, we do not discriminate based on color, religion, or name, Jasminium Nichelle Solé Jones,” Rachel said. That wiped the smile off Jasmine’s face. She hated her full name with a passion.

  “Now, that’s funny,” Tyeesha said. She flashed a wide grin, displaying her pink braces again. “So I’m here, Miss Rachel. You claim this group is what I need. So let’s see.” She strolled into the room and took a seat next to Angel.

  Normally, her brazenness would’ve been a turnoff, but there was something about this girl that I liked. She had a lot of spunk, and that told me she was going to be a lot of fun.

  “Okay, girls, because we have a new member to the Good Girlz Club, we’ll start by having her introduce herself. Then each of you will do the same and tell her what you’ve gotten out of the Good Girlz.” She gave a warm smile. “Tyeesha?”

  Tyeesha cleared her throat as she stood up. “Well, you know my name,” she said, flashing her big grin again. “And let the record reflect, I’m proud of my name and my race.”

  “Hey, I ain’t mad at you,” I told her.

  “Yeah, we don’t have a problem with your race,” Angel said dismissively. “Alexis is half white.”

  “My mother is biracial,” I corrected. “I’m multiracial.”

  “Okay, Tiger Woods,” Jasmine laughed.

  “Anyway,” Tyeesha continued, “I was forced to come to the Good Girlz”—she eyed Rachel—“after getting in a little vandalizing trouble with this group of kids I was hanging out with.”

  “Vandalizing?” I asked. “What did you vandalize?”

  She looked uneasily to Miss Rachel.

  “Go ahead,” Rachel said encouragingly.

  Tyeesha paused, then said, “Okay, I vandalized a church.”

  “A church?” we all exclaimed.

  She sighed. “This church.”

  “What? You’re the one who wrote all over the side of Zion Hill?” I asked. A few months ago, we’d arrived at our Good Girlz meeting to find that someone had covered the back of the church in graffiti. They hadn’t sprayed anything derogatory, just some fancy names, but it still was messed up. Plus, they’d thrown rocks through two back windows.

  We all had done our share of things we weren’t too proud of, but to vandalize a church?

  “Yeah, I know, it was a stupid thing to do. But I took a dare from the people I was hanging out with.” Tyeesha looked genuinely remorseful.

  “Wow,” I said.

  “Tyeesha and her friends didn’t know about our video cameras, s
o it wasn’t too hard to catch them,” Rachel put in.

  “Yeah,” Tyeesha continued. “My friends got in major trouble, but since it was my first offense, Miss Rachel asked the people here to agree not to press charges if I came to the Good Girlz, so here I am.”

  “So where do you go to school?”

  “Nimitz, but I’ll be starting at Madison next week.”

  “You’re going to our school?” Angel asked.

  “Yep, starting Monday. My parents are getting a divorce, so me and my mom had to move in with my grandmother.”

  That caused my ears to perk up. “Divorce? Dang, sorry to hear that.”

  She tossed her hand in the air. “Whatever. I’m glad they finally got a divorce, because them living together and all their fighting was about to drive me crazy.”

  I knew there was a reason I liked this girl. I could definitely relate to everything she was saying. I had a feeling that Tyeesha and I would find out we had a whole lot in common.

  11

  Camille

  I was in my dressing room, waiting for the video shoot to start, when I thought of Xavier. I dialed star 67 to block my number, then punched in his cell phone number.

  He answered on the second ring. “Hello.”

  I hesitated, then said, “Hey, Xavier.”

  He was silent for a moment before his voice took on a firm tone. “What do you want?”

  “I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing.”

  “For what?” From the sound of his voice I could tell that he was trying to act like he wasn’t fazed about anything, but I knew better.

  I sighed. “Xavier, how long are you going to stay mad at me?”

  “I’m not mad at you,” he said. “You do you. It’s all good.”

  “Xavier, you are trippin’,” I snapped.

  He blew a deep breath before saying, “Camille, I’m not even about to go there with you.”

  I decided to try a different approach. “I just don’t want us to be done,” I said softly. “I mean, can we at least talk about this?” When I’d dialed, I hadn’t planned on begging him. On the real, I don’t beg for any boy to be with me, but something about hearing his voice got me all emotional. Besides, I knew he was upset. Xavier really liked me. We started going together after he was assigned as my science lab partner. Out of all the boyfriends I’d ever had, he definitely was the best. Even though he was a jock, he was smart, cute and respectful.

  Silence briefly filled the phone. “Are you still doing the video?” he finally asked.

  I took a deep breath. “Yes, but—”

  “Then it’s nothing else for us to talk about,” he said, cutting me off.

  “Let me ask you a question,” I said, preparing the speech I had practiced last night. “Do you think Jay-Z has a problem with Beyoncé dancing all provocatively and kissing dudes in her video? No, he doesn’t. He understands that it’s acting. That’s what we do.”

  He busted out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked.

  “First of all,” he said, trying to hold back his laughter, “you ain’t and you never will be a Beyoncé. So I don’t know what all this ‘we’ stuff is.”

  I sat up straight in my chair, trying to make sure I’d heard him correctly. “What do you mean? You don’t think I’m talented?”

  “I mean, yeah, you can dance, and even blow, but Beyoncé? Get real.” He laughed again. “You couldn’t even be a backup for Beyoncé.”

  Now he was really making me mad. “Well, Sisco seems to think I’m talented enough,” I said. I hadn’t planned on going there, but if he wanted to trip with me, I could trip right back.

  He suddenly stopped laughing and didn’t say anything. I smiled, knowing I’d made him mad.

  “What, you ain’t got nothing to say now?” I decided to keep laying it on. I’d sucked up my pride and called him, and he wanted to throw salt in my game? I don’t think so. “In fact, truth be told, Sisco says I’m cuter, finer, and I even sound better than Beyoncé.”

  I waited for his comeback, but instead all I heard was the sound of a phone slamming down in my face.

  “Ugggh!” I screamed, tossing my cell onto the makeup table. “He makes me sick!” I screamed.

  “Girl, who makes you sick?” asked this long-legged girl in Daisy Duke shorts, a cropped tank top and a long, curly weave cascading down her back. She was standing in the doorway of the dressing room.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, standing up. “I didn’t mean to be so loud.”

  The girl walked into the room. She looked like she was in her early twenties. When she came closer, I recognized her as one of the dancers from the video.

  “Girl, please,” she said, leaning over and checking her lipstick in the mirror. “Sounds to me like you got man drama.” Satisfied with her lipstick, she turned to me. “I’m Maya.”

  “You’re one of the dancers, right? Sorry I didn’t realize it right away.”

  She shrugged. “That’s all right. I’m in the background, so everybody don’t recognize me.” She fluffed her hair. “But that’s ’bout to change. I’m about to make a name for myself in the video game.” She looked me up and down. “I heard you out there. You got skills.”

  I sighed heavily. “Not to let my boyfriend tell it.”

  “That buster that jumped on Sisco?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  She waved her hand. “Girl, please. You don’t need to be fooling with him anyway. You’re major now. And see, regular dudes, they can’t handle when their girl becomes a star. And you are definitely on your way to being a star. Along with me,” she added.

  I immediately liked her. Even though she was dressed like a hoochie mama, she made me feel better with just those few remarks.

  “Anyway,” she said as she took my arm, “you need to start hanging with me and my girls. We’ll introduce you to the kind of guys you need to be dealing with.”

  “I’m not trying to find a guy,” I countered. I definitely didn’t want her to think I was all about hooking up with celebrities. “I’m just lovin’ being in this video with Sisco.”

  “Sweetheart, this is just the beginning. By the time this video hits the air, you won’t have to find a guy. They’ll find you,” she said, leading me out of the room.

  I made my way onto the set. Sisco was already there, going over some notes. “Hey, baby girl,” he said, looking up. I was grateful to see he didn’t look mad anymore.

  “Hey.”

  “You good?” He motioned toward my black catsuit.

  “I’m good,” I replied. The outfit was skintight, but it wasn’t revealing, so I really couldn’t complain.

  “You got your boy in check? Because I would sure hate to check him myself.” He was trying to look all tough, even though he’d shown nothing tough the other day when Xavier had bum-rushed him.

  “No, you don’t have to worry about him,” I said, suddenly feeling sad about our fight.

  Sisco pinched my chin, a sexy smile crossing his lips. “Truth be told, I ain’t even mad at him. If I had a chick as fine as you, I’d probably be protective, too.”

  That made me blush. “You tight, girl.” He looked me up and down, nodding his approval. “Real tight, with mad skills.”

  I kept blushing. This is what I was talking about. At least someone appreciated my talents.

  “All right. Places, everyone,” the director said.

  We started from the top, and I ignored all the eyes that were on me as the music thumped throughout the building. I imagined that I really was Sisco’s jilted girlfriend and that he was begging me for another chance.

  I sang my part about taking him back. I threw my arms around him, as the script called for. He had just finished singing, and he was coming in for the part where we were supposed to kiss. I tried to relax. Even though none of my friends were on the set, I knew everyone and their mama would see the video. But then I thought about Xavier tripping. So I pushed everything out of my m
ind and kissed Sisco back, long and hard as he pulled me closer. That part I could deal with, but then he lifted my leg, ran his hand up my thigh and squeezed my behind. I wanted to push him away, but I was too shocked, not to mention scared of causing any more drama.

  “And cut!” I heard Mark, the director, yell as the music faded. “Love it, love it, love it! Boy, I tell you the chemistry between you two is great.” He looked so thrilled.

  “Man, that is on fire,” someone standing next to him said.

  I faked a smile as several more people came over to congratulate us, but when I found myself alone with Sisco, I had to say something.

  “Hey, umm, what’s with you feeling all over me?” Don’t get me wrong, I’m no prude, but I couldn’t appreciate some dude feeling me up. Even if that dude was a superstar.

  Sisco flashed a lopsided smile. “That’s what they call ad-libbing, babe. Shoot, the way you was kissing me, you can’t tell me you didn’t like it.”

  “Actually, no. It was a bit much,” I said nervously.

  The smile left his face. “Oh, you worried about ol’ boy?”

  I nodded. I actually wasn’t thinking as much about Xavier as I was about my mom totally blowing a gasket. But I definitely didn’t want to tell him that.

  “Okay.” He sighed in defeat. “It’s no biggie. I’ll just tell Mark to have the editors take it out. They shoot a bunch of different shots, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Thank you so much, Sisco,” I said gratefully.

  “I told you it’s no problem, babe. Holla at you later.”

  I felt so relieved as I watched him walk away. He really was one of the good guys.

  12

  Camille

  I had just left the pizza line in the cafeteria when I heard someone say, “Hey, Camille, you wanna come sit with us?”

  I turned to see Dee. She was president of the Theta Ladies, a high school sorority that I had so wanted to join at one time. But that had turned into a nightmare because of Tori, the girl who’d been president at the time. She had tried to keep Angel out of the organization because of the color of her skin, and the situation had turned messy. She’d graduated last year, but the whole experience had left a sour taste in my mouth for the Thetas.