You Don't Know Me Like That

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  “Ummm, you’ve done more than enough research on your own situation. Why not do the paper on cyber crimes? Half your work is already done.”

  He was right about that. Alvin had come through again.

  “That’s a great idea.” I heard the garage door open. “Hey, Alvin, thanks for calling me. My parents are coming in, so I’m going to need to go.”

  “Have you told them what’s going on?” he asked.

  “I hadn’t, but maybe it’s time.”

  “Okay, good luck. Talk to you soon.”

  I hung up just as my parents walked in the door with huge grins. They both were in business attire, which was unusual for my mom.

  “Hey, sweet pea,” my mom sang as they walked in.

  “What are you in such a good mood for?” I asked.

  She went to the cabinet and got out two wine glasses.

  “Your dad and I are about to celebrate. Grab a Coke. You can join in.”

  “Celebrate what?” I asked.

  My dad loosened his tie. “Try as they might, no one can bring down a Morgan,” my dad said.

  My mom walked over and poured both herself and my dad some wine that she’d just gotten out of the refrigerator.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Your father has officially been cleared.”

  “What?”

  “I told you, Maya, sweetie, there was nothing to worry about,” my dad said. “My CFO admitted what he did in exchange for a lighter sentence. He told them I wasn’t involved, so they finally dropped the charges.”

  “So all is well in the Morgan household,” my mom said.

  I watched them toast, clinking their glasses. If only they knew, all was far from well. At least for me. But I’d have to wait another day before telling them my drama. I couldn’t burst their bubble right now. Somebody in the Morgan family needed to experience a little happiness.

  Chapter 37

  I slowly chewed the last of my Belgian waffle. Usually, I didn’t eat such a heavy breakfast, but our housekeeper, Sui, made the best homemade waffles, and I just wanted to indulge. I’d double up on the Pilates later.

  “Miss Maya, there’s someone at the gate for you,” Sui said, appearing in the kitchen.

  “Who?” I asked, looking up from my plate.

  “I think your friend, from your show?”

  I had no idea who she was talking about. She knew Sheridan by name, so she would’ve just said her name. I got up and made my way over to the security monitor. I pressed the button and was shocked to see Shay at the gate. She was alone in her white Range Rover.

  “Hey, Shay,” I said hesitantly.

  She leaned out the window and talked to the camera. “What’s up, Maya? I need to talk to you.”

  “Shay, I’m not in the mood for any drama.”

  “Girl, ain’t nobody trying to get caught up in any drama. I thought about what you said, and I believe you, that Jayla is behind it all.”

  “What? What changed your mind?”

  She let out a long sigh. “I overheard her bragging to that geek she hangs with at school about making life miserable for you. Told the girl that she filed a restraining order because you were stalking her. I knew she was lying then. Just let me in.”

  Nothing anyone could tell me about Jayla surprised me anymore. I pressed the button to buzz Shay in and was waiting with the front door open by the time she made her way up my walkway.

  “Girl, I don’t know how you manage to keep hooking up with these psychopaths,” she said, walking in. She tossed her oversized Chanel bag on my sofa and plopped down. “Something is wrong with that girl.”

  “Yeah, she definitely is crazy. At first, I thought she was just a superfan, but it’s like her beef with me is personal. She’s setting out to destroy my life.”

  “Well, in the process of trying to destroy your life, she’s messing with mine, and I don’t play that.”

  I smiled. “So are you going to help me?”

  She rolled her eyes, but said, “What do I need to do?”

  A wave of relief passed through me. I didn’t know if this would work, but at this point, it was my only shot.

  “We need someone who can get close to Jayla. She thinks you don’t like me.”

  Shay laughed. “I don’t.”

  I smiled at her and wanted to tell her that the feeling was mutual, but I kept my mouth closed. “Well, that makes you perfect to get next to her.”

  “And what am I supposed to do once I get close to her?”

  “Play up how you don’t like me and see if she’ll admit anything to you.”

  “She’s not going to tell me anything,” Shay said doubtfully.

  “You said yourself, Jayla has some kind of vendetta against me. If you can play up, I think she’ll admit it.”

  “Un-unh,” Shay said, shaking her head. “What’s Plan B?”

  I didn’t need her negativity, but if she wasn’t feeling the plan, I needed to move on to the next plan.

  I sighed. “Well, another option is to get her to let you use her laptop.”

  “Use it for what?”

  “If you can just get on it, I can give you a website to go to, to verify the IP address of that computer. Take a screen shot, and bam! I have my proof.”

  Shay must’ve been leaning toward that idea, because she slowly nodded.“Okay, that I may be able to do.” She looked at me and added, “I’m helping you, but I still can’t appreciate what you did.”

  “I know. Thank you, and I’m really sorry, again.”

  She finally gave me a genuine smile. “I could get used to this.”

  “Used to what?” I said.

  “Maya Morgan apologizing to me.”

  “Oh, no, don’t get carried away. It won’t happen again.”

  We laughed, and we continued plotting to bring Jayla down.

  Chapter 38

  Operation Bust Jayla Cooper was in full effect.

  That’s why I was readying myself for the showdown with Shay. We’d decided that another public fight was exactly what we needed to get Jayla on Shay’s side.

  I don’t know how Shay had gotten Jayla to sit with her at lunch, but there the two of them were. And right on cue, Shay shot me an evil look as I passed by. Jayla glared at me as well.

  “Take a picture; it lasts longer,” I said, stopping and striking a pose.

  Shay stood up. “You got one more time to say something to me.”

  I took a step toward her table. “Or what? You gonna get this freak to hack into my email account?” I said, pointing to Jayla.

  “Maya, that song is so played. And if I were you, I would watch what I say too, because I’d hate to have you arrested for harassing me.” Jayla smirked, and it took everything in my power not to smack her upside her head.

  “You don’t get to talk to me at all,” I said, holding my hand up. “And you,” I said, turning back to Shay, “need to head on back to the hood.”

  “Didn’t you get the memo? I bought the hood.”

  “I’m so sick and tired of you.” I took another step toward her. I hoped that we didn’t have to get physical. The plan was for Evian to step in and stop us, but she was nowhere to be found.

  Luckily, the vice principal, Mrs. Young, passed our table. “I know you two are not about to go at it again.” She pointed at me. “Miss Morgan, keep it moving.”

  I rolled my eyes at Jayla and Shay. “You both are losers. Birds of a feather,” I said, walking off.

  I took a seat at a table a few rows over. I don’t know what Shay was saying, but she and Jayla were deep in conversation. The plan had been for Shay to convince Jayla to let her use her laptop, saying hers was dead and she needed to finish her homework and email it. Shay was going to say that she wanted to do it right there in the cafeteria so Jayla wouldn’t suggest that she go to the computer lab. I hoped the plan worked, because Plan C was just to beat Jayla to a pulp and get her to leave me alone that way.

  Chapter 39


  Done! Sent screenshot to your new email address.

  I was so happy to see that text from Shay. She hadn’t been able to get on the laptop at lunch, because Jayla didn’t have it with her. So, she’d invited Jayla over this evening and then pretended something was wrong with her laptop. I hadn’t known if that was going to work, but from this text message, it had!

  I was going to take this information to the cops, and, hopefully, this nightmare would soon be over.

  I grabbed some fruit, sat down at the bar in the kitchen, and flipped on the television. As usual, it was on my station, but I wasn’t ready for what I saw.

  “What’s up, everyone, and welcome to Rumor Central. There’s a new diva dishing the dirt.”

  I couldn’t tear my eyes away from my television.

  “I’m Ariel Edwards, and I’ll be filling in while my girl, Maya Morgan, deals with some personal drama. But don’t worry, I got the scoop.”

  I wanted to scream as I watched Ariel. I couldn’t believe they were even giving her the time of day. She had nothing on me, except a couple of years.

  I don’t even know what story she was doing, because I was in my car, heading to the station, before the first commercial break. The show had been taped earlier in the day (I could tell it was taped because they had to use a ‘pre-taped’ disclaimer in the opening credits). I guess they didn’t trust Ariel to go live, so I wasn’t sure if she would even still be there. And I knew that I didn’t want any problems, so I was going to wait for her outside. But I needed to make it very clear that she would not be taking my job.

  I parked across the street from the station and waited. I didn’t see her car, so I called the front desk and asked to speak to her. When the receptionist transferred me and I heard Ariel say hello, I hung up. So she was still there.

  I continued waiting and, about thirty minutes later, saw Ariel come out. I expected her to go to the side parking lot, where the employees parked, but she walked straight down the front walkway and stopped as a car pulled up to the curb.

  “Wait, is that . . .” I leaned in so I could get a closer look. “That’s Jayla!”

  Ariel got in the car, and they took off. I followed, while dialing Tamara’s cell phone number at the same time.

  “Hello, Tamara,” I said after she picked up.

  “Hey, Maya, still no news, but I’m working on it,” she said.

  “No, that’s not why I’m calling,” I said. “I thought Jayla was fired.”

  “She is. It hurt my heart to let her go, but with all this drama going on with her, I agreed; we couldn’t keep her around.”

  “So, she’s not working for Ariel?”

  “Working for Ariel doing what?”

  “I don’t know. I just saw the two of them leave the station.”

  “Maya, what are you doing at the station?”

  “I didn’t come into the station. I was just passing by, and I saw the two of them together,” I lied.

  “I have no idea why the two of them are together. Jayla is no longer affiliated with WSVV,” Tamara replied.

  “Okay, thanks,” I said, hanging up the phone before she could ask me any more questions.

  I followed Jayla and Ariel for about ten more minutes, then watched as they pulled onto the campus of the University of Miami. That was Ariel’s school, so Jayla must’ve been dropping her off. But I couldn’t understand what they were doing together. In Jayla’s entire time at the station, she had never let on that she even knew Ariel.

  I watched as they parked, then went inside one of the dorms. I whipped into a handicapped space, jumped out, and discreetly followed them inside. Ariel had probably hired the girl to get some publicity on social media.

  I felt like a spy as I blended in with the group of sorority girls walking into the building. I was close enough to see Ariel and Jayla, but far enough away, and mixed up with all the other girls, that they were unlikely to see me.

  “I just saw you on TV,” some girl said to Ariel.

  “You said you were going to make it happen. Go, diva!” another one said.

  “And I always do what I say,” Ariel replied.

  “Hey, Jayla,” the girls said to her, which meant they must know her, too.

  Now, my curiosity was definitely piqued.

  “I’m going to run in my room and change and we can go,” I heard Ariel tell Jayla.

  “Yeah. Since I can’t stand your roommate, I’ll wait out here,” Jayla said. She said something else I couldn’t make out, before walking over to a sofa by the mailboxes. I watched Ariel go into the first door in the long hallway off the common area.

  I ducked into the bathroom so I wouldn’t be spotted. Some girl stared at me, so I pulled out my phone and acted like I was in an intense argument.

  She stopped being nosey and stepped in the stall to use the restroom. I couldn’t go out yet, so I pretended I was continuing the conversation.

  “I just can’t believe you would do this me,” I fake cried.

  She walked back out and, again, looked my way as she washed her hands. I prayed she didn’t recognize me, but since my hair was pulled back in a ponytail and I was looking less fabulous than I’d looked in a long time, maybe she wouldn’t.

  “Girl, dry your tears. No guy is worth it.” She wiped her hands, then walked out of the restroom.

  After she left, I poked my head back out. I saw a seat on the other side of the large common room and quickly darted over there. Thankfully, this place was so cluttered and people were everywhere. I wanted to be out of view, but still able to see when Ariel came out, which she did about ten minutes later. She and Jayla exited out the front double doors.

  I considered following them, but I thought I’d have a better shot of getting answers from her roommate. So, I chilled for a little while longer, just to be safe. When I was sure they were gone, I went and knocked on the door to Ariel’s room.

  “What?” the girl said, opening the door. She looked like something out of a vampire movie. She had long, stringy black hair, black nails, and was dressed in all black.

  “Hey, I’m Ariel’s cousin, ummm . . . Vanilla.”

  “Vanilla?”

  I shrugged, kicking myself that that dumb name was the best I could come up with. “Yeah, I know. My mom was high on painkillers or something. Ariel sent me back to her room to get her jump drive.”

  “Fine,” the girl said, leaving the door open for me to come in.

  I walked into the room and shut the door. “How are you?” I asked her as she sat back down on her bed.

  She cut her eyes at me, put her earphones over her ears, and said, “I’m studying.”

  That let me know she didn’t feel like being bothered. That was fine by me.

  “She said she left it over by her desk,” I said out loud anyway. The girl kept ignoring me. I looked around Ariel’s desk. I didn’t know what I was looking for, other than answers. I saw stacks of demo tapes and her resume. I picked her resume up. This heffa had changed her job description already. Under Rumor Central, she had “host.”

  I looked some more, then stopped cold when I saw a picture of Jayla hanging on a corkboard over her desk. Why would Ariel have a picture of Jayla? I glanced back to see if the roommate was paying me any attention. She wasn’t, so I eased the photo off the corkboard and turned it around to see if anything was on the back.

  To the best sister in the whole wide world. Love you, Jayla.

  I had to catch my balance, I was so stunned. They were sisters! These heffas had played me, and I had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

  Chapter 40

  Things couldn’t have come together better if I’d written the script myself. I had been all prepared to give my “Please give me an extension” speech, when Alvin’s words popped into my head: All this research you’re doing, that’s your paper right there.

  He was right, and I’d started writing, and before I knew it, my ten-page paper was done. I’d learned so much over these last few weeks, and that ha
d made this one of the easiest projects I’d ever done. I’d knocked it out in less than two hours and had decided on the perfect payback plan while I was at it.

  My English teacher, Mrs. Williams, stood at the front of the crowded classroom. All three English classes had come together for the research paper presentations, so the classroom was packed. “So, who would like to go first?” she asked.

  I raised my hand. “I would.”

  Mrs. Williams wasn’t the only one surprised. Several of my classmates looked at me crazy as well.

  “Miss Morgan, so you’ve actually completed your assignment?” she asked.

  “I sure have,” I said with a grin. “It’s fab if I must say so myself.”

  “Well, I’m glad that you’re confident, and, may I say, this is a first, so I am more than honored to have you take the floor.”

  She pointed to the front of the room, then went and sat down off to the side to watch my presentation.

  The presentation equipment was all ready to go, so all I had to do was plug my laptop in. I turned my computer on and waited for my report to appear on the large screen Mrs. Williams had set up for us at the front of the room.

  The words Digital Bandits appeared across the screen.

  “My report today is on Digital Bandits.”

  The teacher stood up. “Okay, Miss Morgan, let me stop you. You do know your research paper is supposed to be on a topic that will inform and educate your classmates?”

  “Oh, trust me, Mrs. Williams. Everyone will be more than informed when I’m done.” I flashed my signature smile.

  I turned back to the class. “I know a lot of you communicate now via social media, all out in the open. But raise your hand if you still send emails, or private messages, or direct tweets that you wouldn’t exactly want others to see.”

  Most of the people in the class held up their hands.

  “The digital age is here to stay,” I continued. “That’s why you have to protect your privacy, or you could find yourself in a big cyber mess. Think you’re safe because you have virus protection or you don’t share your passwords?” I looked directly at Jayla, who was sitting in the row closest to the door. “And if you do share your passwords, you quickly change them when you realize some freak might have gotten ahold of them.”