“All right, Mom.”
“I love you, sweet pea.”
“Love you, too,” I replied with a pouty smile as she left my room. I couldn’t help but laugh. I was such a great actress. Trust, it was just a matter of time before everybody knew my name!
Chapter 6
It wasn’t easy being hated, but somebody had to be the object of jealousy. That was why I eased my sunglasses on my face, and strutted down the hall like I was Tyra Banks at a runway show. Someone had actually put a rat in my locker. A stinking, dirty, filthy rat! It was the most disgusting thing I’d ever seen. Luckily, I didn’t scream because I didn’t touch it. I opened my locker and the thing was just hanging there. The custodian said I was being dramatic because it was really just a small lab rat from one of the biology classes, but a rodent is a rodent. I made them fumigate my locker. Of course, nobody saw anything when I asked, but I knew who was behind it.
I was just ready to get out of there because in addition to that rat foolishness, I was tired of dealing with the hate and nasty looks and I definitely wasn’t trying to get into it with Shay again.
I walked over to my car and stopped in my tracks at the sight of my prized silver BMW 750 sitting on four flat tires.
“Oh my God! What happened to my car?” I screamed.
A group of people were standing nearby, including Evian, Bali, Shay, and Sheridan. I spun toward them. “What happened to my car?” No one answered. “I know you did this,” I said, pointing at my former friends.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Evian said, trying to look innocent.
Bali just smirked, and Sheridan and Shay just stood there grinning and looking stupid.
“One of you did this to my car,” I said, jabbing my finger in the direction of the tires. “My tires are jacked up!”
Bali’s hand went to his chest. “Oh my goodness. I hadn’t even noticed.” He then turned to Evian. “Did you see who did this?”
Evian shook her head as she shrugged innocently. “I sure didn’t.” She turned to Shay. “Did you?”
“Nope,” Shay replied, then blew a gigantic bubble with her gum.
Cow.
They all looked at Sheridan, like they were really waiting for an answer.
“I didn’t see anything either,” Sheridan said with a tight smile. “But that’s so messed up that someone would do that.”
“Because you of all people don’t deserve anything like that,” Evian added.
“It sure is messed up,” Bali said, like he was really concerned. “And didn’t you just get a whole new set of tires?”
I ignored him and turned to another one of my classmates, who was standing around gawking. “What about you? Did you see who did this?”
He, too, just stared at me like he was stuck on stupid, while everyone around him started giggling.
They made me so sick. “Did you see who did this?” I asked, turning to another one of my classmates who was standing nearby. He gave me a look like even if he had, he wasn’t saying a word.
“Whatever,” I finally said when it was obvious they weren’t going to tell me anything. “Do you think this is gonna stop me?” I shouted to no one in particular. “All of you are just mad. Don’t think I’m not gonna find out who did this!”
“Good luck with that,” Shay said, laughing.
“I have a major meeting in,” I glanced at my watch, “an hour and your stupid, childish behavior is gonna make me late!”
Shay shrugged. “Guess your little show is just gonna have to wait.”
It was moments like this that I wished I had some male thug cousins or something because I would get one of them to straight jack Shay up.
“Whatever. Screw all of you,” I said, pulling my phone out of my purse. I stopped ranting and faced my former crew. “Hate isn’t a good look,” I said, finally calming down. I was just about to punch in Bryce’s number when he walked up.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” he asked when he saw the disgusted expression on my face.
“Someone put my tires on flat. All four of them,” I said, trying not to get worked up. I needed to let these busters know they couldn’t faze me.
“What?” he said, eyeing my car. “Who did it?”
I pointed at Shay and her stupid flunkies. “One of my deranged stalkers did it, I’m sure,” I said.
“Honey boo-boo, you’d be the last person I’d ever stalk,” Bali said.
“I can’t tell.” I didn’t give them a chance to respond as I turned back to Bryce. “Look, can you take me home? I was just about to go call you.”
“Yeah. . . . Ummm, I’m sorry . . . but . . .”
“But what?” You could’ve knocked me over with a feather when Bryce hesitated, looked at me, then at Sheridan, then back at me.
“But”—he took a deep breath and lowered his voice—“but, I need to talk to you.” He took my arm and tried to lead me away. I jerked my arm from his grasp.
“Talk to me about what?” I snapped.
He looked down, then over at Sheridan again.
“Boy, if you don’t say what you need to say . . .” I began.
He let out a deep sigh, then softly said, “I think we kinda need to chill a while.”
Are you freakin’ for real? I wanted to scream. Just yesterday he was talking about how much he loved me. Now he was seriously about to flake out on me?
Bryce cleared his throat and looked uneasily at Sheridan, who was glaring at him. I looked back and forth between the two of them. I was about to ask Bryce what in the heck was going on when his teammate Wade walked up.
Without even looking at me, Wade said, “Dude, you’re seriously still talking to her after what you found out?”
My hands went to my hips and my eyebrows rose. “What is he talking about, Bryce?”
Bryce shot Wade some kind of look that I couldn’t make out, then said, “Would you let me handle this?”
Wade shook his head, then gave me a disgusted look as he walked off.
Since I couldn’t care less about that nobody Wade, I didn’t pay him any attention. But I did care about Bryce and if someone had told him something, I wanted to know what it was.
“Bryce, what is he talking about?”
Bryce looked at Sheridan again and I swear she was glaring at him. He took my arm and pulled me to the side, away from everyone.
“Look, Maya,” he said. “I’ve just been thinking about this and I think you’re cool and all, but I think we need to chill.”
“Excuse me?” I said, stunned. No, this fool wasn’t breaking up with me. Nobody broke up with Maya Morgan! Maya Morgan was the one who did the breaking up.
“It’s just that . . .” Bryce paused, looked nervously around, then continued. “It’s just that, I heard some things and . . .”
Now, normally, I would’ve just told Bryce where he could go, but the look on his face had me curious. “What is it you heard, Bryce?”
He hesitated again, then rushed his words out. “I heard you got with Kenny—and his boy, Dave, at the same time.”
“What?” I exclaimed. I was shocked—for two reasons. One, because I did get with Kenny last year. Kenny was Bryce’s former teammate and Miami High’s resident bad boy, who’d been kicked out of school last year because he was always getting into trouble. We’d hooked up—in one serious lapse of judgment moment. And number two, because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why Bryce would think me of all people would kick it with two guys at the same time.
“Are you freakin’ kidding me?” I said. “You’re seriously going to come at me with this mess?”
Bryce gritted his teeth. “I talked to Kenny’s brother. He said it’s true. And then I heard from a reliable source that Dave was with him.”
I looked around like I was waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out the bushes and tell me I was being punk’d or something.
“I never got with his friend. I don’t even know anyone named Dave!”
&
nbsp; He stopped and stared at me. “So you did get with Kenny then?” he asked, disgusted.
I couldn’t believe I’d set myself up like that. But I understood his disgust. Not only was Kenny Bryce’s former best friend, even though it was back when they were in middle school, but Kenny had a major reputation for talking to any girl that gave him the time of day—short, tall, fat, skinny, ugly, pretty, Kenny didn’t care and it had earned him a horrible reputation. So any girl worth anything wouldn’t be caught dead with him. So why had I given him the time of day? Let’s just say that was the first and last time I’d ever had something to drink at a party. But that was long before Bryce, so what difference did it make?
“Who told you I got with Kenny?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he replied.
“Where did you get that from, Bryce?” I repeated.
He didn’t have to answer. I knew who had told him. The only other person who knew about me and Kenny, my former BFF—or should I say my enemy because Sheridan telling my business like that meant it was about to be on!
“Look, who told me doesn’t matter. Just the fact that I know you’ve been with Kenny makes me sick to my stomach. Nobody wants one of Kenny’s exes as their girl. I can’t even . . .” He shook his head like he couldn’t even finish his sentence.
“I’m not Kenny’s ex!” I said firmly. Then I caught myself. I was so not about to stand out here and plead with a guy to be with me. Maya Morgan didn’t roll like that.
I stood straight and let my attitude show all over my face. “You believe what you want to believe,” I said. “But a word of advice. I wouldn’t be listening to jealous has-beens who wish they could be me.”
“I mean, if it’s not true, maybe . . .”
I gave him the hand to stop talking to me. Forget Bryce. Not only had he been ready to assume the worst, but he was going to break up with me over it? Oh, I don’t think so.
“Bryce, go crawl back under your rock,” I said. “I am so done talking to you. Forever.”
Sheridan just didn’t know—this little move marked the beginning of an all-out war!
Chapter 7
I breathed a sigh of relief as the black Porsche pulled up to the curb. I had called Tamara to tell her I’d be late for the meeting we had this afternoon and thankfully, she was out running an errand and agreed to just swing by and get me on her way to the station. I didn’t even feel like dealing with my car with all those idiots standing around gawking. My dad would just have to send someone for it later. Right now, I just wanted to get away from this stupid school before I hurt somebody.
“So, you had a bad day, huh?” Tamara asked after I had climbed into her front seat. I really liked our relationship. Even though she was technically my boss, she acted more like my big sister. She told me it was because she felt a connection to me, probably because I reminded her of herself at seventeen. I didn’t know about all that, but Tamara was definitely cool people. I mean, how many other bigwigs would drop everything and come when I called. Not to mention, she was the baddest dresser (outside of me) that I knew.
I leaned back in the soft seat. “That’s the understatement of the year.”
“I hate to hear what happened,” she said as she navigated her luxury vehicle onto the freeway. “What are you going to do about your car?”
I’d told her that I thought one of my Miami Divas co-stars had something to do with putting my tires on flat, but I couldn’t prove it.
“My dad will take care of it,” I replied. I just wanted to get away. If we didn’t have this meeting at the station, I would’ve had Tamara take me straight home. I’d never admit it out loud, but I was actually pretty sad about Bryce.
“Look, I know you’re bummed—”
“I’m not bummed,” I said, cutting her off, it’s just a stupid car. I didn’t want Tamara thinking I was giving my ex-friends the satisfaction of upsetting me.
“Well, I’m just telling you to keep your eye on the big picture,” she said with a huge smile.
“And what would that be?” I said. I turned and stared out of the window. I didn’t know what I was feeling more—mad at my former crew, or hurt over Bryce. Either way, none of them would ever know. I was planning on keeping it diva style. I’d never be reduced to fighting again. That reminded me, I hadn’t told Tamara about the fight. But the way she was rambling, I just decided not to say anything, period. It was over and done with anyway.
“I mean, just imagine the looks on all of their faces when they see your new show. Everyone is going to be sick to see how much you’ve blown up.”
Tamara knew just what to say to me. I was feeling better already. I finally smiled and she patted my hand.
“Maya, you were meant for this,” Tamara continued. “Don’t let any of this petty high school drama get you down. You’re about to be on a whole other level.” She paused as she pulled into the parking lot at the television station, swiped her key card, and went through the gate. “We are about to make this show one of the hottest, freshest young shows that America has ever seen. And when you blow up as the host, all your so-called friends will be green with envy.”
“The source of their envy is plain to see, they’ll be hating because they can’t be me,” I softly mumbled.
“What?” Tamara looked at me strangely.
I shook my head. “Oh, nothing. That’s just something me and Sheridan used to say.”
Tamara parked in her reserved spot, then turned off the car. “Well, you won’t just be saying it. You’re now about to be living it.”
I liked the way she talked.
“So, you got some show ideas?” she asked as we made our way into the building.
“I do,” I replied. “I didn’t get as much research done as I wanted because I have this stupid calculus class that is kicking my butt, and I missed a test that I know my teacher is going to be trippin’ about.” I sighed heavily. I couldn’t wait for graduation.
“Why don’t you get a tutor? The station will pay for it.” Tamara’s eyes lit up like an idea had just come to her. “It would be great if you could get someone from your school to tutor you and assist you when necessary. You don’t have any geeks at your school looking for a part-time job?”
Part-time? I needed help full-time if they wanted me to maintain my fabulosity, but I didn’t push it—yet.
“I did have this girl from my school help me get ready for this test.”
Of course, Valerie had quickly responded to my Twitter message. She’d come by the next day and done a crash course on the calculus test, which she’d already taken. It was grueling, but I took the makeup exam this morning and I felt like I’d done all right.
“Well, that’s good,” Tamara said. “Hire her to help you with all your schoolwork, then when she’s not helping you with schoolwork, she can do little things you need done around the station.”
I shook off that thought. Did I really want to hang around a scrub like Valerie, even if she was working for me? I know some people hung around busters to make themselves look better. But I didn’t need any help improving on the perfection that was Maya Morgan. Besides, I was the top of the food chain. I didn’t need any scrubs bringing down my stock.
“I’ll figure something out,” I said.
Tamara shrugged as she pushed open the door to the building. “Well, let me know if you change your mind.” She smiled as she held the door open for me. “As for now, let’s go make history!”
Chapter 8
I had to pinch myself because I still couldn’t believe that I was really sitting at the head—okay, maybe it was at the foot, but it felt like the head—of a huge conference-room table like I was the Queen of England. Tamara wasn’t playing.
This was our third meeting in as many days. The first one—when Tamara had picked me up from school—had been to meet “my team,” as they called it, and talk about the direction of the show. The second had been to shoot a bunch of promos and other stuff. All the stuff they were doing now made
me realize how second-rate everything we’d done on Miami Divas had been. But I wasn’t going to trip on the past—not when I had a future so bright it was sure to blind me!
My team was ready to move fast and had wasted no time going all out. They’d just finished filling me in on the plans for a total makeover. I didn’t think it was possible to improve on perfection, but I was willing to see what they had, especially since they were talking about bringing in a new stylist and even a voice and elocution coach. I actually was shocked at how much they were putting into it. I was even more shocked by the numbers on my contract. I was getting paid three times what I’d been paid for Miami Divas and all those perks we’d demanded? I had those and then some. My dad’s attorney had looked over everything and after going back and forth on a few things, he’d been overjoyed at the final contract. Me, I let him work out all that legal stuff. I just liked the part about me being a superstar!
I wish I could drop out of school and just do this full time, but since I’m too cute to be dumb, that wasn’t an option. So, I went to school, did what I was supposed to, and got up out of there. Tamara had the voice coach meet me during my lunch so I didn’t have to worry about seeing Sheridan and everyone else. All of them—Sheridan, Shay, and Bali—tried to create drama in the hallways and the one class we had together. Even Chenoa had stopped speaking to me and she wasn’t even a Diva! But she was good friends with Evian (that’s a long story), so she went whichever way Evian was going. Evian was the only one who didn’t act fazed about everything, but I didn’t trust her either. She was one of those sneaky chicks who would smile to your face while stabbing you in your back with a butcher knife.
I was a little ticked at Sheridan, though. She was supposed to be my girl, but now she was parading around, telling everyone that she and Bryce were an item, which was jacked up because we had a boy code that made talking to each other’s boyfriends or crushes a serious violation. I couldn’t believe that she’d gone there. But Kennedi had called Sheridan to tell her off about how she was acting toward me and Sheridan had admitted that she was the one who told about Kenny and she wasn’t even apologetic about it (or about throwing in the lie about Dave). So, not only had she lied on me, but she moved in on my man without a second thought. And Bryce’s dumb behind had played right into her trap. I suddenly found myself wondering if they’d been messing around all along. But then I brushed the thought away. The two of them could have each other. I had bigger fish to fry now.
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