We all stopped laughing at the commotion coming from the commons area outside of the cafeteria.
“What’s going on out there?” I said, peering at the crowd of people gathered outside.
“I don’t know,” Sheridan and Kennedi said at the same time.
We made our way through the crowd, and I almost fell over when I saw my Rumor Central producer, Dexter, standing off to the side, with a clipboard in hand like he was working. I frowned as I watched him lean over to some guy in a backward baseball cap and whisper something. The guy then began shouting orders to a cameraman. I directed my attention to where the camera lens was aimed and my mouth dropped open at the sight of Nelly Fulton, laughing and talking to Karrington.
“What in the world is going on?” I mumbled, as the camera moved in toward them.
“I have no idea,” Sheridan replied.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Kennedi asked some girl standing next to her.
The girl smiled proudly. “Oh, they’re filming a special on Nelly Fulton.”
“For what?” Sheridan asked.
“And who is they?” I added.
The girl shrugged like she didn’t know any more than what she’d told us. I knew where I could find out what was going on. I stomped right over to Dexter.
“Excuse me,” I said, tapping Dexter on the shoulder.
He spun around and didn’t look at all surprised to see me. In fact, he looked irritated.
“What’s up, Maya?”
I raised an eyebrow. “You tell me.”
“Oh, we’re just shooting this special, and these idiot kids keep jumping in the shot.” He growled in the direction of my classmate Jock and his band of silly friends.
“I see you’re shooting something, but what is it?” I asked.
He sighed. “Look, Maya. I don’t have time to do this with you. I’m way over time, which means I’m over budget, which means I’m gonna get my butt chewed out. So you need to call Tamara and have your little temper tantrum with her.”
I was speechless. And mad, especially since several of my classmates had witnessed the whole exchange.
“Oh, you’d better believe I’m calling Tamara, and you will be dealt with as well,” I snapped.
He gave me the hand. “Girl, bye.”
“Ugh,” I huffed off. I barely could get my phone out of my purse as I scrambled to call Tamara.
“Good afternoon, this is Tamar—”
I cut Kelley off before she could finish her sentence. “Is Tamara in?”
“May I tell her who’s calling?”
“Kelley, you know this is Maya Morgan. I need to speak with Tamara.”
I could hear her draw in a breath. “Please hold.”
I tapped my feet as I impatiently waited. It felt like an extra long time. I knew Tamara was doing that to irritate me.
“Yes, Maya?”
“Hello, Tamara,” I said, deciding to take a sweet approach. “How are you today?”
“Busy. What can I help you with?”
“Hey, umm, just wondering what was going on since the Rumor Central crew was up here at my school. Did I miss a memo or something?”
“Actually, it’s not the Rumor Central crew. Dexter is producing a special on Nelly.”
“And why are you doing a special on Nelly?”
“Because X Factor is doing a special on her, so we’re doing a special on them doing the special.”
I rolled my eyes. “And nobody thought I should be involved in that?”
“And why would you be? It’s not a Rumor Central project.”
I was quiet for a moment, then said, “Tamara, I’m not feeling the love at all.”
“And, Maya, I’m not feeling your theatrics.”
“Excuse me.”
“You know, when you’re on top, you have a lot more room to make demands. But in case you haven’t noticed, Rumor Central ratings are down. Your popularity is sinking.”
I couldn’t believe this. It’s like nothing could please these people.
“I’m with J. Love now. What else do you want?”
“You chose love over fame. And it hurt you. Bottom line.”
“I’m with him now!”
Tamara sighed, then said, “Let me read you what landed on my desk this morning. The latest issue of US Weekly. ‘If there’s an It Girl in Miami, that title belongs to Nelly Fulton. She’s definitely a rising star. With eye candy on her arm, millions of fans, and an unmatchable personality, she is poised to be the next teen queen.’ ”
“What?”
“No, let me finish,” Tamara continued reading. “ ‘As for Maya Morgan, the beauty formerly known as Diva, she needs to graduate high school, maybe get married and go live in suburbia with her white picket fence.’ White picket fence, Maya? Who do you think envies white picket fences? Do you think that’s the image we’re trying to go for?”
So Bali and those guys were right! Nelly did feed them a story bashing me? I really couldn’t believe this.
“So all of this behind who I date. Really?”
“Maya, I’m not going to debate this with you. You know I’m a numbers girl and the numbers right now aren’t in your favor.”
“This was a setup, Tamara. Nelly was behind this article.”
“I don’t care who was behind it. It’s in print. People are reading it. You’re lucky to even still have a job.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I balked.
“It means what it means. Now, I have a ton of work to do. The station manager is in town and I have to explain to him why we’re still struggling in the ratings. So, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”
I stood with the phone still to my ear. I knew things were bad. I had no idea they were this bad. I finally hung the phone up and I glanced back over my shoulder. My mouth dropped open as I saw Nelly prance over to Kennedi and Sheridan. She gave them what looked like a fake laugh, hugged them, then walked off with the camera following.
“Seriously?” I said, approaching them.
“Look, she came over to us,” Kennedi said.
“Yeah, we told her we weren’t trying to be filmed, but she’d laughed it up for the camera anyway.”
I cut my eyes in Nelly’s direction. She’d done that to get under my skin. Maybe I had underestimated this girl. Nelly Fulton was definitely trying to play me and I was getting sick and tired of her. In fact, I was getting sick and tired of this whole Rumor Central life. It was time to put up or shut up.
Chapter 30
I hadn’t told a soul what I was about to do. Not even my BFFs. I didn’t need anyone trying to talk me out of it. But a long time ago, I saw an interview from one of my favorite actresses, who left a top-rated TV show. She said if she was going to go out, she was going to go out on top—on her terms. That’s exactly what I was about to do.
“Hey, Maya, we made a last-minute change to the script. Nelly’s going to read first, then you’ll pick up from there.” Dexter appeared in my doorway, looking like he was preparing himself for my wrath. The fact that he was here telling me about the script change and not one of his flunkies was proof he was anticipating me going off. But I simply nodded and said, “Okay, got it.”
“Okay?” he asked, a bewildered look across his face. “I hope you understand that we’re just trying to vary it up,” he added, like he felt the need to justify the change.
“I said okay,” I repeated.
“Okay,” he nervously repeated. “Well, they need you on set.”
“I’m heading out,” I told him with a smile. As soon as he left, I took a look at my reflection and assured myself that I was doing the right thing.
I made my way onto the set, where hair and makeup immediately went to work, putting touchups on me.
“Hi, Maya,” Nelly said.
“Hey,” I coldly replied. There wasn’t that much faking in the world.
“I hope we’re cool with what happened at the party. I was just flirting and playing around.”
“Yeah, flirting and playing around with my guy.”
“You know I’m with Ross,” she felt the need to remind me. “It’s not even like that.”
“Whatever, Nelly. I can’t tell you’re with anyone, the way you were grinding over my guy,” I said, flipping through and reading over my scripts.
“You can tell you’re an only child. You don’t like to share anything,” she joked.
I rolled my eyes at her just as the director gave me the cue. “All right, ladies, stand by and three, two . . .” He pointed for us to go and Nelly started talking.
“What’s up, everybody? It’s your girl Nelly Fulton and I’m here with my cohost,” she said, making sure to put emphasis on the word. I know she was trying to get some type of reaction from me, but I wasn’t about to give it to her.
We made it through the show, me using the style and pizzazz I always do. I didn’t let all the shade she was throwing knock me off my game. I knew that both Dexter and Tamara were shocked by my reaction because I saw them in the control room looking confused.
“Well, that’s it for this edition of Rumor Central,” Nelly said, wrapping the show up, and turning for me to deliver my closing line.
“We’re so glad you tuned in,” I continued. “Especially because this will be my last show.” I heard the whole room gasp. “That’s right. Your girl is out.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tamara and Dexter going ballistic. I knew I needed to talk fast before they pulled the plug on the camera and sent everything to black.
“The way they do people here at Rumor Central is wrong on so many levels. They’ve encouraged me to stab my friends in the back, dig up dirt on loved ones, and just become an all-around dirty person in the name of ratings. I gave my time and effort to this place and it’s never good enough. So, peace and love to you. Your girl Maya Morgan is out. I’ll see you when I see you.”
I removed my microphone and walked off the set, ignoring the stunned looks on Nelly and the crew’s faces. I didn’t even know if all of that would make it on air or if they had gone to black in the middle of my good-bye. I didn’t care. I was through and I was walking away proudly.
“Have you lost your mind?” Tamara screamed, meeting me in the hallway.
“Nope. In fact, I found it.” I didn’t back down.
“Maya, what was that?” Dexter said, appearing on the side of her.
“That was me, showing you that I’m done. You guys want to be lowdown with me? Two can play that game. You want Nelly? She’s all yours. All by herself.”
“I hope you know what you’ve done,” Tamara said. If she was a cartoon, smoke would be coming from her ears.
“Oh, I know all too well,” I replied. “So, sue me.”
“Trust me, we will,” Tamara hissed.
I brushed past them and went into my office. My stuff was already packed and I would send someone to get it. I grabbed my purse and couldn’t wait to get out of there. Especially because I didn’t want security coming to try and throw me out. I’m not going to lie though, a part of me wished that they would meet me at the door, beg me to stay. But I knew Tamara was furious. It would be a couple of days before she came around. And if she didn’t, oh well. I would just have to take my time—and talents—somewhere else.
Chapter 31
“You did what?”
The look on J. Love’s face proved exactly why I hadn’t told anyone my decision prior to doing it.
We were sitting in the living room of his Miami Beach condo. I’d wanted to tell him what happened once I got here because I wanted to do it in person. I figured he would be shocked. I didn’t expect him to be angry.
“I quit. I told you I’m done. If they wanted Nelly to be my cohost then Nelly can host the whole dang thing by herself.”
“Really, Maya? You can’t share the limelight?” he snapped.
“Oh, okay, so why don’t you do your next tour with Chris Brown?” I said, knowing that would shut him up. “Exactly,” I continued when he didn’t say anything. “You’re the star—you don’t need to be on stage with another star.”
“I’m just saying,” he said, pacing back across the room. “That’s your claim to fame.”
“Fine, I’ll find a new claim,” I said.
He kept shaking his head like he couldn’t believe it. “I just don’t think that’s the smartest thing you’ve ever done.”
“Well, I’m glad you don’t get paid to think for me.”
“Whatever.”
I couldn’t believe the way he was acting. You would’ve thought he was my manager or something.
“Yeah, whatever, J. Love, just leave it alone.” My stomach growled, reminding me that when I’d first arrived thirty minutes ago, he said we would go get something to eat. “Are we going to get something to eat?”
“Naw, I’m not hungry.”
“Okay, what’s really going on?” I said. “That’s the whole reason I came over here.” Well, that and to explain the whole quitting on air.
“Nothing is going on.” He plopped down on his oversized chair. “I mean it’s your life. If you want to throw it away, that’s on you.”
“I’m not throwing my life away,” I said.
He ignored me as he grabbed the remote and flipped the TV on.
I moved and stood in front of the TV, blocking his view. “So were you only with me because I was hosting Rumor Central?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said.
“Well, I can’t tell.”
“Look, I need to review this video.”
That made me smile. “I’m looking forward to the video coming out,” I said, hoping if we changed the subject, we could stop fighting.
“Yeah, although we have to revamp some things for that because all the press material says you’re the host of Rumor Central,” he said with a scowl.
That definitely made me side-eye him. He was seriously tripping. I know he liked the whole star couple thing, but he was acting like that’s all he liked about me.
He stood, grabbed his cell, and said, “I need to make some calls.”
I decided to just let him cool off so for the next hour, I hung out in J.’s game room while he spent the majority of the time on the phone. He had nothing in his refrigerator so I still hadn’t eaten. To say I was livid was an understatement. Finally, I’d had enough.
I made my way downstairs and back to his bedroom to tell him I was leaving. I was just about to call out his name when something stopped me. I eased down the hall because I could hear him on the phone and he sounded upset.
“So, man, I don’t know what I’m going to do. She just messed everything up. I know, I know. How she just gonna quit that show like that?”
That made my eyebrows rise.
“I can’t replace her. The video is done. But Hype may be able to find someone else for the movie.”
Replace me? I thought. Oh, he had lost his mind. I pushed the door open so he could see me. He turned at the sound of the door creaking and his eyes grew wide.
“Say, man, let me call you back.” He hung up the phone and immediately started stammering. “M-Maya. Hey, I don’t know what you heard.”
“Oh, I heard enough,” I said. “So now I need to be replaced because I quit my job?”
“Girl, stop trippin’,” he said.
“I’m not understanding what’s the big deal. Why are you so concerned about my job?”
He stepped a little closer to me and tried to wrap his arms around my waist. I pushed him away and stepped back.
“I’m concerned about you,” he said. “I know how much you love that job and how much it means to you, and I don’t think quitting was the right choice. You know, in this business, it’s all about our star power.”
“Well, it’s done now,” I said, tired of arguing. “And I’m sorry if you have a problem with it, but this is my life.”
He shrugged. “Okay. Whatever.”
More and more lately, I found myself thinking of
Alvin. My mind kept drifting back to him. This conversation would’ve gone so differently if it had been with him. He would’ve supported my decision, even probably made me feel better about it. I shook that thought away. I couldn’t run to Alvin anymore. I’d let him go. Now if only I could let him go from my heart.
Chapter 32
I don’t think I’d ever been so excited to see someone in my life. But watching Alvin standing at my door made me want to just throw my arms around his neck.
“Hey, you!” I said with a smile. When I’d seen Alvin at my gate, I had been thrilled and quickly buzzed him in. He’d finally come to his senses and I hoped that we could somehow fix the friction between us. Because this whole thing with J. Love wasn’t cutting it. I’d finally left his place last night after he kept acting funky with me.
“Hi, Maya,” Alvin said. “Mind if I come in?”
“Of course.” I stepped aside to let him in. “You want anything?” I asked, closing the door. “Sui just cleaned up, but she made a fabulous cheesecake that you just have to taste.”
Alvin turned around to face me and the look on his face told me he hadn’t come here to chitchat.
“No, thank you, Maya. Oh, I’m sorry to hear about you leaving Rumor Central. I know how much that show meant to you.”
Just the fact that he was sympathetic about that and J. wasn’t made me want to cry.
“Thank you. I’ll be okay.”
“Well, I didn’t want to take up too much of your time. I just wanted to talk to you real quick,” he continued.
“Cool,” I replied. “I want to talk to you, too. I have so much I want to say to you. I just wanted to say, I know things were kinda messed up between us and I know we ended on a bad note, but I really miss you, I mean, I miss your friendship. I miss the way you make me laugh, and I just wish—”
“I’m leaving, Maya,” he said, cutting me off.
His words almost knocked me off my feet. “What?”
He took a deep breath. “I’m leaving.”
I cocked my head. “Well, when are you coming back?”
“I’m not.”
It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer and slammed it into my stomach. “Wh-what do you mean? You’re moving?”
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