They cracked up laughing again. I couldn’t help but laugh, too. “You guys are so stupid.”
We laughed for a minute as we made our way down the hall to our classes. Ava and Chastity went on their way. Sheridan stopped me just as I was about to go into my class.
“Seriously, Maya. I’m not feeling Jayla. You don’t think it’s weird that she just so happened to be transferring to your school?”
“She’s harmless.” As soon as I said it, I realized I had said that exact same thing about Valerie, and look at how that ended, with her trying to kill me at my father’s cabin. “Nah,” I said, “Jayla is harmless. A little freaky, but harmless, nonetheless.”
Chapter 13
I made my way into my office and had just taken the top off my Fiji water when I looked up to see Ariel standing in my doorway. She didn’t have her usual smile on and was instead staring at me like she wanted to wring my neck or something.
“May I help you?” I asked.
She still didn’t say anything and just kept glaring.
“What in the world is your problem?” I said.
She walked into my office like she’d received a personal Evite. “People like you,” she snarled.
My mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
“You know, it’s so unfair how people like you come up. Everything is just laid out for you on a silver platter, so you don’t know what it’s like to work hard.”
This trick had lost her mind. As hard as I worked trying to balance school and stay on top of my job here at Rumor Central, she had me messed up.
She continued. “You were lucky enough to be born into money, so you think you’re better than everyone else.”
“Ariel, what in the world are you talking about? Have you completely lost your mind? Did you forget who you work for?”
She folded her arms defiantly. I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d think she had a split personality and this was the crazy one. I’d never seen her act like this. “Oh, trust. I didn’t forget who I work for. You won’t let me forget that I work for you.”
“It is what it is. That’s the whole reason you’re here—to be my assistant. If you have a problem with that, there’s the door.” I pointed to the door she’d just walked through.
She just glared at me. “You know, if you didn’t want to help me, all you had to do was say you didn’t.”
“You know what, get out of my office,” I said, turning around in my seat and dismissing her. “I’m tired. I don’t have time for your drama.”
She walked over and had the nerve to slam her demo tape down on my desk. “Juan from maintenance gave me my tape. He found it in the trash.”
Oops. I almost said, “And?” But I just shrugged and said, “I was looking for it. I didn’t know what had happened to it. It must’ve fallen off my desk and into the trash can.”
“You are such a liar.”
“And you are so out of line,” I said slowly. “I know you’re older than me, but remember who’s still the boss.”
“All I wanted was your help.”
“Why don’t you do the job that we pay you to do,” I said. “Then we can worry about all that other stuff later. Besides, you really should be somewhere at least a month before you start trying to take someone else’s job.”
“So, is that what you’re worried about, my taking your job?”
I had to laugh at that. “Honey Boo Boo, please. In your wildest fantasy, you couldn’t take anything from me. In fact the only thing you need to be taking is notes.”
“I’m majoring in radio, TV, film,” she said, like that was supposed to mean something.
“And while they’re teaching you in the classroom, I’m working it in the studio as one of the hottest hosts in the country. So if you had any common sense, you’d be trying to soak up all the knowledge you could from me.”
She just kept glaring, looking like she’d give anything to punch me in my throat. I didn’t know what in the world was her problem, but she was definitely pushing me.
“Now, I’m going to understand that you’re emotional and give you a pass on this little outburst,” I continued, pointing my finger at her. “But don’t ever come at me like that again.”
“So, I guess this means you won’t help me get on air?”
“You guessed right.”
She nodded as she bit her bottom lip, like she was trying to calm herself down. “As long as I know where I stand.”
“Yeah, so now you know. Now, beat it.” Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have been as mad, but she had lost her dang mind coming in my office calling me a liar. This was exactly what I was talking about. Hate was coming at me from every direction.
My sour mood was immediately erased when my phone rang and I looked at the caller ID. Seeing J. Love’s number immediately put a smile back on my face and wiped away any anger.
“Hello,” I sang.
“Hey, beautiful, whatcha doing?”
“Just wrapped up on set. You?”
“Same thing. Just finished sound check and now chillin’ before the show. You having a good day?”
“Yeah, just had a little tiff with my assistant. You know I’m always catching it because of my age. Folks think they can step to me any kind of way.”
“Hope you handled her.”
“You know I did.”
We held the phone for a minute, then he said, “You miss me?”
“I sure do. When will you be back?”
“In three days, just in time for my party. Sorry I haven’t been calling like I wanted. It’s just been really grueling out here. Doing a different city every night, then promotions all day long.”
“Nah, it’s cool. You know I know how it goes.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about. And you don’t trip about my schedule.”
“A confident girl never trips over something like that.”
“You know what, Maya Morgan? I don’t know about your kinda sorta man, but I’m not gonna rest until I make you my girl.”
“We’ll see, J. Love. We will see.” I had to play that role, but J. Love just didn’t know that was music to my ears.
Chapter 14
School should really be optional. That’s all I could think as I glanced out the window, wishing I could be anywhere but in this boring English class. Mrs. Williams, my English teacher, was talking some “Where forth art thou” mess. Again, useless information.
I wasn’t the only one who was ready for this class to end, because when the bell rang, everybody jumped up so fast you would’ve thought the place was on fire.
“Don’t forget to start on those research papers,” Mrs. Williams called out as we raced toward the door. “You will have to orally present them in front of all the classes. Those are thirty percent of your grades, and I don’t want to hear any excuses.”
I didn’t want to hear anything about a research paper. I hadn’t thought twice about that thing, even though I knew I needed to get started. It was supposed to be an informative paper, from which our classmates could learn some valuable information. We were making our presentations in a few weeks, and I still had no idea what I was doing.
I saw Jayla heading into the class, which she had after me. I was just going to see if she could find me a topic to write about, then I’d make Ariel do all the research. Ariel might be mad now, but if she valued her job, she’d quickly get over it.
“Jayla,” I called out. She actually kept walking.
What the . . . ? I spun around and went in the classroom after her. “Jayla, did you hear me call you?” I asked as she took a seat in the back of the room.
She looked up from her seat, and I couldn’t make out the look in her eyes, but it was almost like she had an attitude with me.
“Did you hear me?” I said.
She paused, then said, “Sorry, my mind was somewhere else.”
The whole way she said it was cold. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked.
She just glared at me before s
aying, “Nothing.”
“Obviously something is, since you’re acting like I peed in your punch or something.”
She shrugged. “Nah, I’m good.”
I looked over my shoulder to make sure Mrs. Williams wasn’t listening. “Have you come up with the topic for your research paper yet?”
“No. Why?”
“Because when you do, I was hoping you could find me a topic too.”
Again, she didn’t say anything, just sat there staring at me.
“Is that going to be a problem?” I asked.
She shrugged again. “Nah, it’s cool. Anything for the great Maya Morgan.”
My hands went to my hips. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Before she could answer Bryce walked in, laughing, his arm around this girl named Callie. As soon as he saw me, he lost his smile. So did Callie. She quickly pulled away from him.
“M-Maya, I’m sorry, I . . .”
Bryce cut her off. “Nothing to be sorry about. Maya and I aren’t together anymore.”
I couldn’t help but let out a little snortle. Glad to know it was official now.
“Yeah, I’ve moved on,” I said.
“Oh, yeah,” some Valley Girl sitting in the row next to Jayla said. “You’re dating the singer, J. Love, right?”
I grinned. “Yeah, we’re together now.” Okay, I was exaggerating, but the way Bryce was gritting his teeth, the lie was well worth it.
“Oh, my, God. He is sooo fine,” the girl said.
“And isn’t he like stupid rich?” the girl sitting next to her asked.
“That he is.” I looked at Callie. “So, don’t let me stop you.” I looked Bryce up and down. “I’ve moved on to bigger, better, finer, and richer things.”
With that, I spun and walked out of the room.
Chapter 15
Tonight was the night. J. Love’s party. He’d been out of town all week, but he was supposed to get back this afternoon. I was a little shocked that I hadn’t heard from him today. But I did know that he had back-to-back tours, so I gave him a pass.
“Girl, I cannot wait.” Kennedi interrupted my thoughts as she swirled around in her dress. We’d spent all evening in the mall, trying to get ready for the party tonight.
“I can’t believe we are actually going to party with J. Love,” Kennedi said.
“Shhhh,” I said. “Keep your voice down. I don’t want my mom trippin’ about us going to an industry party.”
Kennedi stopped and modeled in front of my full-length mirror.
“Doesn’t she know that you’re a celebrity?”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” I pushed my diamond hoop earrings through my ears. “But she’s still on that ‘you’re still underage, and as long as you’re under my roof, you’ll do as I say’ routine.”
“Man, that sucks,” Kennedi said.
I handed her backpack to her. “So take that dress off and just put your stuff in here. We’re going to get dressed at Sheridan’s house.”
She took the backpack and began stuffing her six-inch heels and makeup bag into it.
She slipped her dress off and put it in the bag, too. “I still don’t understand why Sheridan has to go,” she said, slipping on some jeans and a T-shirt.
I took a deep breath. “We have been through this a thousand times. You two are just going to have to learn to get along, because neither one of you is going anywhere.”
“Yeah, but she stabbed you in your back by trying to get with Bryce. You act like you’ve forgotten that, but I haven’t.”
“And? You stole Kevin’s iPod and blamed it on me.”
“That was in the sixth grade!” Kennedi protested.
“Whatever, the point is, I forgave you. So chill with all the negativity.” I went back to packing, taking care as I folded my coral sequined minidress and placed it in my bag. I had to make sure I was on point tonight. I had asked J. Love how many of his women would be there tonight, and he had assured me that I would be the only one who mattered.
“Fine, fine,” Kennedi said. “I’m going to have a good time regardless. It’s about to be on and poppin’,” she said, doing a little dance.
I sent my mom a text to let her know that we were leaving, then we quietly made our way out the back door. Twenty minutes later, we were pulling up to Sheridan’s massive seven-bedroom house.
“Hey, Kennedi,” Sheridan said dryly when she answered the door.
Kennedi just raised an eyebrow, but didn’t speak.
“Look, you two,” I said, “I’m gonna leave both of your stank behinds here and go to the party by myself if you can’t learn to get along.”
“Okay, fine,” Sheridan said, then she did a big, fake, cheesy grin. “Helll-llloo, Kennedi. It’s such a pleasure to see you!” she said in a fake excited voice.
“And you, too, dah-ling,” Kennedi replied as they air-kissed.
“Okay, now you guys are going overboard.” I brushed both of them aside as I walked inside Sheridan’s house. “Let’s go get dressed. I want to be fashionably late, but not too late.”
We went into Sheridan’s room and got dressed. We listened to music as we laughed, joked, and teased each other. It felt really good to have my two best friends getting along for a change. I guess the party had us all psyched, so no one was interested in causing any drama tonight.
We took Sheridan’s Benz and, an hour later, were sitting in front of the club where J. Love was holding his party.
“Wow, look at that line,” Kennedi said as we pulled up to the valet.
“Ugh, I hope we’re not waiting in that, because Sheridan Matthews does not do lines.” Sheridan shook her head like she’d rather turn around and go home before standing in line.
“Girl, please,” I replied. “You know I’m not waiting in nobody’s line.” I sashayed to the front of the line.
“Where they think they’re going?” some girl yelled.
“Get to the back of the line,” someone else shouted.
It was Kennedi who turned around and said to the second girl in her Chris Brown voice, “Why you hatin’ from outside the club? You can’t even get in.”
We all busted out laughing.
“We were here first. We’ve been waiting forever,” the girl next to her shouted. She had on a super-short miniskirt and a tank top. Both her friend and her had on cheap patent leather heels, so I know their feet had to be killing them.
“And you’re still going to be waiting,” Sheridan told her.
“Yep, wait out here with the other riffraff.” Kennedi laughed.
“I got your riffraff,” the girl in the miniskirt said.
“You just tagging along anyway,” her friend chimed in.
“Whatever, loser,” Kennedi said. “Gimme your number. I’ll text you and tell you how the party is inside.”
Sheridan and she high-fived each other. I shook my head and turned my attention to the bouncer.
“Hi, I’m Maya Morgan. I should be on the VIP list,” I said, pointing to his clipboard.
He scanned the list. “Umm, I don’t see your name.”
“Well, then you need to look again. I’m sure it’s there,” I said confidently.
He glanced down, then back up. “I’m sure it’s not.”
“I was personally invited by J. Love.”
He narrowed his eyes at me and looked at me like I was lying. “Your name isn’t on the list. Get to the back of the line.”
Oh, he was trippin’ for real. Sheridan and Kennedi were no longer laughing and had moved in closer to me to see what was going on.
“Umm, I’m sorry, do you know who I am?” I said.
“Umm, I’m sorry, do you know I don’t care who you are? You’re not on the list, so get to the back of the line.”
The girls who Kennedi and Sheridan had gotten into it with were eating this up. One of them had actually pulled out her phone and started recording us.
Kennedi leaned over to me. “What’s going on, Maya?” she
whispered.
“Just chill,” I said. “I’m sorry.” I flashed a smile at the bouncer. He was about seven-feet tall, so my getting an attitude would get us nowhere. I needed to pull out the charm. “I’m Maya Morgan, the host of Rumor Central.”
“Well, I’m Tank, the bouncer, and your name still isn’t on the list,” he said in a gruff voice.
“You don’t understand,” I said, slowly losing confidence, “J. Love and I are . . . special friends.”
“Oh, I understand. You’re just like every other chicken head out here claiming to know J. Love so you can skip to the front of the line.”
Did this fool just call me a chicken head??? Oh, I was so going to have his job.
“This is ridiculous,” I said, pulling out my phone. I called J. Love, and it went straight to his voice mail. I hung up and scrolled through until I found his assistant’s number.
“Hey, Kimmie, this is Maya Morgan,” I said when she answered. I could hear lots of noise and music, which meant she was inside the club. “I’m at the front door. Can you come tell them to let me in? The bouncer is saying my name isn’t on the VIP list, and I can’t get in.”
Kimmie was quiet for a minute. “Hello, Kimmie?”
“Yeah, Maya,” she finally said. “Ummm, your name isn’t on the list.”
“Excuse me?”
She paused, then continued. “It’s not on the list. I’m sorry.”
“Kimmie, what in the world is going on?”
Just then, the crowd screamed as J. Love rolled up in his limo.
“Un-unh, J. Love is here. I’m going to talk to him and find out what is going on.” I hung up before she could say anything else.
Kennedi and Sheridan followed me over to the limo.
I could tell Kennedi and Sheridan were embarrassed. Shoot, so was I. I’d never been more embarrassed in my life.
I pushed my way to the front. Darrell, J. Love’s bodyguard, immediately stepped in front of me to stop me.
“Wha . . . ?” I asked, stunned as I flinched at his hand blocking me.
He didn’t say anything as he stood staring at me.
“Seriously, Darrell?”
Darrell looked back at J. Love, who nodded, so the burly bodyguard stepped aside and let me pass.
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