by Trey Parker
Latoya started meeting a lot of new people when traveling to and from Atlanta. She loved it. She would meet these ballers that would offer to take care of her all the time. Pro athletes, business owners, doctors, you name it. She told Tina that she wanted to finish school then move to Atlanta. It got to a point where she would go to Atlanta just to see some of her male sugar daddies without even letting Tina know she was in town.
One day, while in her dorm in Tallahassee, Latoya got a call from Grandma Betsy. She had a crack in her voice.
“Latoya, where are you right now?”
“I’m in my dorm.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“Brace yourself. I have some bad news. Your mother was intoxicated while driving, and she got into an accident while Leah was in the car.”
“What?! Are they ok?”
“No. Your mother survived. Leah passed away.”
Latoya couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She immediately started tearing up her room. She threw sheets in the air, she threw school books, and she dropped to the floor on her knees. She yelled and cried in sorrow for hours until she cried herself to sleep.
Latoya woke up still in disbelief and continued crying. With so much grief in her heart, she didn’t care if she lived or died at this point. So, she looked on her bed and grabbed her roommate’s medication and put five pills in her mouth. She drank water, closed her eyes and laid on her bed and prepared to die.
She woke up in the hospital. Her suicide attempt had failed. Her roommate found her and called 911. Latoya remembers waking up and having the worst headache. The nurse mentioned to Latoya, “An angel must’ve been with you because you’re supposed to be dead. You must be here for a reason.”
Latoya stayed at the hospital for a week until she was cleared to go home. Her body was so weak that she left the hospital in a wheelchair. She could barely walk.
Latoya’s mother ended up going to prison for involuntary manslaughter of her own daughter. She was sentenced to seven years in prison. Latoya flew up to Pittsburgh for the funeral. Seeing her little sister in a casket made her hate her mother more than she ever did before. Latoya was now heartless.
Grandma Betsy approached her after the funeral. “You holding up ok?” she asked.
“As best I can, Grandma.”
“Well. Just know that Leah was just an angel. God blessed us with her presence before he called her back home.”
“Yea. I know. I still can’t make sense of any of it, Grandma. She should’ve just came to live with you, like I did.”
“Hindsight is always 20/20. Everything happens for a reason. Now she’s just looking down on us all. We have to make her proud. Speaking of making someone proud, when are you supposed to be graduating from school?”
“Probably next spring.”
“Ok. Well, let me know so I can come down there. I’m counting on you to make me proud. To make your whole family proud.”
“Ok Grandma. I will let you know.”
Latoya was a aware of the complete lie she had just told. She had no idea when or if she could even graduate. She flew back to Tallahassee feeling like she had let Grandma Betsy down. She hadn’t been to class consistently since her freshman year and she had been in college for five years now. All the people that she had come to school with had already graduated. She had no more financial aid. She was living off of student loans, which she had maxed out every single year for a total of $100K. With all this being the case, she told herself that she needed to go see if she could re-enroll in school and to see if graduation was still a possibility. She had to do it for Leah and her grandma.
She sat in the hallway in line waiting for the dean to call her name. She wanted to make her grandma proud. But she figured she would have to face reality. She hadn't been to her guidance counselor in over a year and a half. But it was worth a try to see what she actually needed to do to get this diploma to keep her grandma off her back.
"Latoya Robertson!" said the counselor as she waved her into her office. She got up and proceeded. "Ok. Sooo Latoya, what questions do you have for me?" she said sitting down and looking at her computer.
"Well, I wanted to know how many classes I need to take to graduate. Like how far am I? And all that good stuff."
"Ok. Well, let me look you up really quick, what's the last four of your social?" she said as she got to typing.
"6754."
"Ok. Ummm. Ms. Robertson it looks like you are no longer a student here."
"Really?! How is that?!"
The counselor looked her in the eye. "Come on. Let's not act lost here. You’ve dropped every class that you had registered for. Except for one, in which you got in F in."
"So, I can't re-enroll? There has to be a way."
"Latoya you have a 0.8 GPA at this point. Your scholarship and grant money is depleted. You have been on academic probation for awhile now. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like you've dug yourself in a hole that is pretty impossible to get out of. I'm sorry. There's not much that I can do."
She looked at her. "Welp. That's all I needed to know. Thank you."
She wasn't surprised. She knew what the counselor was going to tell her. Who was she fooling? She had mentally checked out of college a long time ago. Latoya knew she wasn’t a dummy. But she just can’t get into studying and learning shit that doesn’t interest her. Her freshman year’s major was Biology because she said she wanted to be a doctor. That lasted for two weeks until she found out that her and science go together like peanut butter and spaghetti. Then she switched her major to accounting, which was the biggest mistake of her life because accountants actually need to be pretty good at math. Then she figured, maybe she should study English, which wasn’t that bad at first but eventually her procrastination would leave her missing due dates for all of her literary assignments. So, that department kicked her out. She really tried to study and keep up, for all of two weeks at a time. But then eventually she’d just get bored and stop. Latoya spent most of her time partying, and smoking weed.
1
NAKED HUSTLE
9. Georgia Peach
Atlanta, Georgia
There was no reason for her to stay in Tallahassee anymore. She had overstayed her welcome. She was ready to get out ASAP. Plus, she was dead broke. She needed some money. With $150 to her name she caught the Greyhound bus to Atlanta.
Now she was very familiar with Atlanta at this point. Actually, she was way too familiar. While she was in school, Atlanta was her second home. She knew she had a couple of sugar daddies that would look after her. One was a basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks. His name was Dexter Sabir. He would do whatever she told him to do. He was fresh from Africa and he barely spoke English. She met him one time at the club in Atlanta. Since then he had been begging her to come back to Atlanta. He even sent her $500 once, just to go shopping.
She told him that she was coming to Atlanta and that she needed a place to stay. He told her that she could stay at his place in midtown Atlanta. Free of rent. That’s exactly what Latoya needed.
When she got to his house, she was surprised. The condo was super nice. He didn’t even try to have sex with her. She basically had her own spot. Free of rent. He was barely there. He would come and stay the night, probably twice a week. He would bring over some of his NBA friends. He would introduce her as his girlfriend. She didn’t care because she was living rent free. She started going out to the clubs a lot with him. Going out with Dexter everywhere. She didn’t have a job. Dexter would just send her money every week or so to go shopping; $1000 here, $2000 there. She would just wake up, work-out, go shopping, then eventually go to the club that night. She never paid for anything. She believed that she had made it. Even when she went out with Dexter, all these guys would be spitting game and trying to get her number. She was the shit. Since Dexter wasn’t around much, sometimes she would go out with guys and have them pay for everything. She would have them buy her clothe
s. When Dexter had not sent any money in awhile, she would finesse her way into other guys’ pockets. That means occasionally she would have them pay her to have sex. Typically, it was the older married guys that knew they didn’t have a chance with her any other way. She didn’t care how they looked. As long as they would pay. At one point, a guy named Mr. Freddy would pay her $8K a month just to hang out with him and to have sex with him every once in a while. All of her sugar daddies had money.
In Latoya’s point of view, she was no different from the average girl. Girls do that shit all the time. They let guys take them out and spend all of this money on them, and they eventually have sex with the guy. Most of the time, the guy never really had any intentions to marry the girl or take her seriously. All they really wanted was the sex. All she was doing was speeding up that process. She didn’t have a job and she didn’t need one.
Latoya had been in Atlanta for months before she reached out to Tina and told her that she had moved there. She wanted to make sure that she was pretty secure in her situation because she knew Tina would be in mentor mode trying to make sure that she was handling business. She had a fly crib. The nicest clothes. She had money in the bank. She was living it up.
She told Tina to meet her at her condo in midtown. She wanted Tina to see how she was living. She wanted her to see that she had made it. She knew she would be proud. Especially once Tina found out that she was dating someone from the Hawks. She wanted Tina to realize that she wasn’t a failure after all.
Latoya opened the door for Tina to come into the condo.
“Toy! What are you doing here?! You didn’t even tell me you were coming in town.”
“I wanted to surprise you,” said Latoya.
“Girl, I guess. Whose place are you staying at. This is nice,” Tina said looking around.
“I live here. This is my place.”
“Since when?”
“I’ve been here for three months now.”
“And you didn’t tell me. Since when have you not told your mentor about big moves like this? I thought you loved me.”
“I do love you. That’s why I’m telling you now.”
“Wait a minute. I didn’t get an invitation to your graduation, when did you graduate from FAMU.”
“Oh. Umm. I didn’t graduate yet.”
“You didn’t graduate?!”
“Yes, because I transferred to Clark University.”
“Ohh ok. I see. So, you’re still in school. I was about to say. When are you graduating?”
“Next semester in the spring.”
“Ok. Well, let me know so I can be there,” Tina was looking around. “But seriously, who do you share this with?”
“I didn’t tell you that my boyfriend is Dexter Sabir.”
“Dexter Sabir?! The basketball player for the Hawks?! Damn, girl you are winning!”
“Not like you! You’re the one that is still winning. Got the corporate job at PWC, making good money. You still inspire me.”
“Girl, you’ll get here, just knock that degree out so that you can get into the real world so you can get this corporate money.”
“Hey. What are you doing tonight? Dexter and some of his NBA friends are supposed to be going out tonight. I want to introduce you to them.”
“Now that you said that, I won’t be doing shit tonight. I’m coming with you!”
That night. Latoya and Tina went out and met with some of Dexter’s friends. They were in the VIP room popping lots of bottles with them. Tina was having a ball. Bending over shaking her ass, everywhere. She didn’t have a care in the world. Tina even hooked up with one of Dexter Sabir’s friends for a one-night stand. Tina wasn’t used to this life, she wasn’t built for it. She was googly eyed for the players. The player that she hooked up with was Tory Bishop, another big star on the team, but Latoya would never have imagined Tina doing something like that. Although Tory was a fine man. Tall, light skinned, nice teeth with tattoos, any girl would fall for him. But she didn’t think that Tina was just any girl, until that night. It showed her that even Tina was vulnerable with the right circumstances. Latoya looked at Tina in a different light. But she still respected her.
Tina then started bringing Latoya around her other friends: Lisa and Wanda. Latoya respected them as well. They all had their shit together. They all had great careers and were very smart and ambitious. They all were FAMU alums. They were all under the impression that Latoya had transferred to Clark University. Latoya didn’t know Lisa and Wanda while they were at FAMU although they mutually knew Tina. Now this was new to Latoya. She never really hung out with a group of girls. She realized how different she was from the other girls. Very different. Different upbringings. Tina, Lisa, and Wanda, all graduated from college. Latoya was a dropout. Tina, Lisa, and Wanda had full time jobs, Latoya was unemployed. To a certain extent, Latoya was ok with it because she was inspired by them. Latoya played her part in the group though. Latoya was known as the friend that had all the connections with the ball players, the celebrities, and the clubs while allegedly still being enrolled in college.
Lisa was the most uppity chick out of the bunch. She was the politically correct friend that acted as if she could do no wrong. When Latoya first met her, she knew that their personalities didn’t quite mesh and they would eventually bump heads. She was right.
The first mistake that Latoya made to hurt her relationship with Lisa was actually an attempt to help Lisa. At the time, Lisa was mad at her boyfriend because she had found out that he had cheated on her back in college with numerous women. Lisa was heartbroken, shocked, and disappointed to the extent that she decided that she wanted to test the dating waters again, in Atlanta. So, Latoya, with all of her connections, thought it was a great idea to introduce her to Tory Bishop, the same guy that Tina, had freaked on the first night. Big mistake. The second misunderstanding started when Lisa eventually found out that Latoya was one of the chicks that her boyfriend cheated with. Terrance, was an Alpha that Latoya occasionally freaked while back in college. Latoya knew he had a girlfriend at the time but she didn’t know his girlfriend was Lisa, nor did she know that she would eventually end up being friends with her. So, one day, Lisa put two and two together and tried to fight Latoya while they were all at this restaurant. Lisa was going through a lot of shit at the time with Terrance and with the basketball player, Tory Bishop. Not long after Lisa and Latoya’s spat at the restaurant, Lisa then found out that Tina was freaking Tory Bishop all along and was actually pregnant from him as well. Everyone knew except for Lisa. Tina eventually had a miscarriage but that didn’t stop Lisa from leaving the group. So, Lisa eventually stopped hanging out with Latoya, Wanda, and Tina. Latoya really didn’t care because she didn’t like her much to begin with.
1
NAKED HUSTLE
1
NAKED HUSTLE
10. Fake It Until You Make It
At first Latoya didn’t think much of Dexter. She was just using him for a place to stay. A nice place to stay at that. But eventually she started to fall for him. It was serious. Serious enough for her to cut off all of her sugar daddies, including Mr. Freddy, her main sugar daddy. Mr. Freddy was upset but she didn’t want anything to interfere with her and Dexter. The fact that Dexter was so selfless. He was not arrogant even though he had every right to be. He was easy going and didn’t just use her for sex. It was deeper than that. And he was the most consistent thing in her life at the time. She knew that she could count on Dexter in the time of need. He bought her a car. They started falling for each other more and more as the months went by. He even told her that he was planning on kicking his fiancée out of the main house and moving Latoya in. Then he would propose, eventually. Dexter told Latoya that he was prolonging his wedding with his fiancée because he knew that Latoya was really the one that he wanted to marry. She just had to be patient. She believed their bond was impeccable.
Latoya called Terry. He was a club promoter.
“Hey you got any VIP sect
ions still available for tonight at Club Destiny?”
“Yea. I have one. How many people?”
“Just me and my two home girls.”
“Alright. Well, I got you. Hit me up when you get here.”
“Ok. I’m on the way.”
She called Tina. Latoya had been home all day thumbing through Instagram and Facebook and watching Netflix. She needed to get out the house. She called Tina, she figured that if she could get Tina on board with coming out Wanda would follow suit.
“Hey girl. Get dressed. We bout to go out.”
“Go out where?”
“To Club Destiny.”
“Toya. Not tonight. I had a long day at work. I need rest.”
“Come ooonnn. Come out with me. I got a section reserved. We’re going to pop bottles tonight like some boss bitches!”
“YOU have a section reserved? I don’t believe you. And that doesn’t change me from being tired.”
“It’s a celebration. I’m graduating tomorrow. Are you not going to celebrate with me?”
“Holy shit?! Are you serious?”
“Yea. You coming out with me tonight or what?”
“Well, since you’re finally graduating... I’ll come turn up with you.”
“Good. Call Wanda and let her know,” Latoya said.
“Clark graduation is at 9:00 a.m. Are you going to wake up?”
“Yep. I’ll be fine.”
All of the men around them were drooling. They were drooling at Tina and Latoya. Not so much Wanda. Their VIP section was right on the floor. Right in front of everyone, just like Latoya liked it. There was a two bottle minimum so they got two bottles of Patron. Guys were still trying to lean over the section and buy the girls drinks. Latoya let the guys buy extra drinks and she would just give them to Wanda. Wanda could drink the most out of all of them.