“Wow.” I wanted to tell her she might want to make sure her brown roots weren’t showing before she went lying to people about her hair color. “Well, it’s very pretty.”
“Thank you.” She took a bite of her chicken sandwich. “So, how do you know Evian again?” she asked after she’d swallowed her food.
“I’m really good friends with her,” I replied. “The whole family, in fact. She is always raving about you, talking about what a great assistant you are.”
“Really?” She looked at me in shock.
“Yep. In fact, her whole family is always talking about you and how they’d be lost without you.” I knew I was laying it on thick, but I needed to put her at ease so she’d become the chatterbox that I knew she was.
“Well, that’s nice to know,” she said.
I took a bite of my salad, then made more small talk. Finally, as I was nearing my ten-minute mark, I said, “Isn’t it great that Evian is getting her own show? I told her this morning how proud of her I was.”
Delana smiled. “We all are proud of her.”
I shook my head in fake admiration. “I’m telling you, when that girl sets her mind to do something, she gets it done.”
“Who are you telling,” Delana said, slurping up her lemonade. “That whole family is like that.”
“I know.” I leaned in and lowered my voice. “I mean, when Evian told me that she’d go to any lengths to get her chance at fame, I thought she was kidding.”
Delana lost her smile. “So you know what she did?” she asked.
I looked around like I was trying to make sure no one was listening. “Shhh. Only a few of us know.” Delana seemed shocked as I continued. “I’m sure Clinton was not pleased about it. Evian told me that he was pretty mad about everything.”
Delana looked around as well. “You know he wasn’t. He couldn’t believe she would have everyone scared like that. But Evian has always been a little hothead.” She laughed. “Boy, if he had gone searching for her in Cancun, it would not have been pretty.”
“How did he find out that she had faked the kidnapping? Did Evian come clean?”
Delana suddenly stopped, looked at me, and frowned. “Wait a minute, don’t I know you? Were you on Miami Divas with Evian?”
Dang, I had been hoping to make it through this whole conversation without being recognized.
“Yes.” I nodded, but only because I knew there was no way around it.
“Maya Morgan, right?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She completely lost her smile. In fact, fear spread all across her face. “Yeah, um, I gotta go.” She stood and started gathering up her stuff.
“Wait, what did I do?” I said.
“Oh my God. Oh my God,” she kept muttering. “I can’t believe this.”
“What’s going on?” I tried to stop her as she moved away from the table.
“Look, I don’t need any drama,” she said. “Evian can’t stand you. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but please don’t let anyone know that you talked to me. Mr. Javid doesn’t play that. He’s very protective of his little sister.”
“Of course, I won’t tell anyone anything. But please, just tell me, did Evian make up her story about being kidnapped?”
“You have got to be kidding if you think I’m about to say a word to you.” She snatched her arm away. “Good-bye.”
She stomped out of the restaurant, and I felt like I was back at the beginning of plan A.
Chapter 24
The sight on my TV made me sick to my stomach. How in the world had Evian gone from being a nobody to having her own show, complete with all the bells and the whistles?
All American Princess flashed across the screen.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled. Not only had they rushed production, but now, it was on the air right after my show. I’d taped my show yesterday and at no time had anyone told me Evian’s show had been taped too and would air after mine.
I wanted to throw a brick right at my fifty-two-inch TV.
“What’s up, everybody? It’s your girl Evian, and I’m back on the block and ready to rock.” She danced across the screen, looking like a bootleg Real Housewives of Atlanta introduction.
I rolled my eyes. She couldn’t come up with a better corny saying than that? I did feel some kind of way about the jazzy music and sweet graphics she had. I couldn’t believe they were going to make her show look better than mine.
“Thanks for peeping into my life,” she said into the camera. If this is supposed to be a reality show following her life, why was she talking to the camera like she was hosting something? Oh yeah, probably because she was bitin’ off me.
“Today we’ve got an exclusive. We’re getting up close and personal with Tyrese. Yes, that’s right. As you know, this All American Princess is well-connected and Tyrese is taking us to his crib.”
What?! I wanted to scream. I’d been trying to get an interview with Tyrese for months!
“But first it’s that time for Talking It Up With Evian and I am pleased to introduce my panel who will be joining me each week as we discuss some of Miami’s hottest topics. They’re known as the ‘It Clique’ around town, but I just call them my girls.”
The camera shifted to a long table and I almost passed out when I saw Sheridan sitting at the end.
“First up, you know her as the daughter of the phenomenal Glenda Matthews, but Sheridan Matthews is a diva in her own right. A former star of the Miami Divas along with yours truly, she’s Miami’s resident good girl, with a hint of bad.”
Evian winked her eye at the camera, and Sheridan giggled, looking like a stupid second-grader.
“Next to her is my BFF, my ride or die, my road dog Shay Turner, daughter of Jalen Turner. You know him as the NBA three-time-world-championship center of the Miami Heat.”
Shay raised her hand in the air. “Woo, woo!”
How incredibly ghetto, I thought.
“And back from a hiatus is none other than the flamboyant, the always-rocking-it Mr. Bali Fernandez.”
I almost didn’t recognize Bali because his brown hair was now deep blond and swooped down in his face with an asymmetrical cut. When had he gotten back? Why had nobody said anything to me? Those were all my former Miami Divas costars.
And so now they were going to try to be my competition? This was all about revenge, pure and simple. They were trying to pay me back because I had gotten a show and they hadn’t. I looked up to see Travis standing over me. I turned around and cut my eyes at him. He was actually trying not to giggle.
“Is their show any good?” he asked, trying to stifle his laughter.
“Of course it isn’t.”
He glanced over at the clock. “And you can determine that in the first five minutes?”
“I can determine that,” I snapped, “because of the busters they have on it. I don’t even know what they were talking about—some celebrity gossip. They’re just bitin’ off me. They couldn’t even be original.” I slammed the TV off. I was not only aggravated by the show and Sheridan, but Delana’s words had been bugging me all night. She’d been about to let something slip. Something major. And although she hadn’t, it had just made me even surer that this whole thing was fishy.
“So, you didn’t know Sheridan was gonna be on the show?” Travis asked.
I shook my head. “No wonder Sheridan was avoiding me when I called her earlier. She knew she was a traitor.” I grabbed my purse. “Unh-unh. I’m about to tell her about herself.”
“Where are you going?” Travis asked, following me out of the family room.
I marched through the kitchen toward the garage. “I’m about to go over to your girl’s house.”
“Oh, I’m not about to miss this,” Travis said, grabbing his baseball cap off the counter and following me out.
Fifteen minutes later, we were pulling up into Sheridan’s circular driveway. Since I knew the code, I punched it in and made my way on inside. I banged on the
door.
Sheridan came and opened it, looking all innocent. “Hey, girl, what’s going on?”
“You tell me,” I said, stomping past her.
“What’s up, Travis?” she spoke. The two of them had dated a few months ago, despite the fact that I’d warned them against it. And since Travis was a pretty boy and fresh meat at our school, all the girls wanted him. It didn’t take him long to cheat on Sheridan, and that had caused major drama. But I wasn’t here for that.
“How are you?” Travis asked her as he followed me in.
“I’m cool. What’s up with y’all?”
So, she really was going to continue and try to play me left?
“Nothing. I’m just along for the show,” he said.
“What show?” Sheridan asked, closing her front door. Sheridan lived in this gigantic house all by herself. Well, her two aunts were supposed to be here with her, but they were always traveling, living off Sheridan’s mother’s money. Ms. Matthews, a Grammy-winning singer and actress, had wanted to keep Sheridan away from Hollywood, so she’d hired relatives to keep an eye on Sheridan. But she must not have known her relatives well because they took her money and let Sheridan do whatever she wanted, which was just fine with Sheridan.
“How could you do that?” I said, facing her. “You’re such a traitor.”
Sheridan rolled her eyes. “How am I a traitor?”
“You’re really on Evian’s show?”
She paused, shifting like she would really rather not have this conversation.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded when she still didn’t answer.
“Because I knew you would react just like this.”
“How are you going to go on her show?”
Sheridan crossed her arms and raised an arched eyebrow. “When’s the last time you invited me on yours?”
“So that’s what this is about? My BFF goes on the competition’s show as payback?”
“How ’bout this ain’t got nothing to do with you?” Sheridan said. “Remember I was on TV, too. We all were, so it’s something we all enjoy doing. Now you had an opportunity that you took, basically just throwing us to the wind.”
“Wow,” I said, taking a step back. I knew they were mad about me getting my own show, but I really thought Sheridan had gotten over it. “So, you’re still holding a grudge?”
Sheridan let out a long sigh. “I have gotten over it. I don’t have any beef with you about the way you did us behind Miami Divas. I get it. Yeah, I was salty for a minute, but at the end of the day, I get it. I understand, just like I feel like you should. This was an opportunity for me to get back on TV so I took it.”
“And you didn’t care who it hurt.”
Travis was looking back and forth between us like he was in a Ping-Pong match.
“Do you hear yourself?” Sheridan asked. “What did you tell me when you started Rumor Central? It’s not personal; it’s business.”
“How long have you been knowing you were going to be on her show?” I asked.
She looked away like she really didn’t want to answer. “About two weeks.”
“Wow,” I said. “And at no time, did you feel like you needed to say, ‘Hey, by the way, I’m starring on Evian’s show now.’ ”
“No, because I didn’t want to hear your mouth because I knew all Maya Morgan would care about is Maya Morgan.” She glared at me defiantly.
“Just wow,” I said. “Glad to know where we really stand.” I couldn’t even stand to be in the same room with her. “Come on, Travis,” I said, stomping back toward the front door.
“I can’t believe you’re being so foul about this!” Sheridan called out after me.
I wasn’t even trying to hear her as I swung the door open and speed-walked to my car. Travis caught up with me just as I started up the car.
“You know you wrong,” he said.
“Shut up, Travis.”
He shrugged. “You are because Sheridan didn’t do anything different to you than you did to her.” He slid his shades on. “The difference is Maya Morgan can dish it, but she can’t seem to take it.”
Chapter 25
I was going to have a good night. That’s what I told myself as I took a final survey of myself in my full-length mirror. I was looking tight (as usual) in my long burnt-orange Vera Wang gown. I was determined to exhale and let all my stress go. I’d been worked up behind Evian for the past few weeks, and it was time I just let that go and get back to doing me.
I was a presenter at the Hype magazine Teen Choice Awards tonight, and I was looking forward to putting aside any thought of Evian and her stupid show, Sheridan back-stabbing me, and the fact that it hadn’t been until three days ago that I’d realized I didn’t even have a date for tonight. I’d been so consumed with the show that I had let this slip up on me.
I ended up doing what I normally do when I find myself in a bind. I called Alvin. And I almost fell over when he told me he didn’t know if he could go because he and Marisol had a date. But he wanted me to believe that she wasn’t his girl. If she wasn’t, then why did she take priority over me?
Lucky for Alvin, he called me back before I could get in touch with another guy and told me that he was able to rearrange his schedule and go. I almost told him don’t worry about it, but I knew that I would have fun with Alvin, he wouldn’t be sweating me all night long, and if I saw a cutie that I really wanted to pick up, Alvin wouldn’t give me a hard time.
“Come on, honey,” my mom said, appearing in my doorway. “Your boyfriend is downstairs waiting. You’ve had that poor boy down there for twenty minutes already. And Travis is grilling him like crazy.”
“Mom, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that Alvin is not my boyfriend,” I said, grabbing my Brahmin clutch and heading down the stairs.
“Well, then I don’t see why you couldn’t let Travis escort you. You know he’s never been exposed to things like this.”
“Ewwww,” I said. “Have my cousin as my date? As if.”
My mom had lost her mind. I would not be on the red carpet with my cousin as my date. And what was her fascination with Travis lately anyway? He’d taught her how to Dougie now all of sudden, he was supernephew?
She must’ve known to drop that because just as we reached the bottom of the staircase, she said, “You look amazing. But you are Liza Morgan’s daughter so what else would one expect?”
“You do look gorgeous,” Alvin said, approaching me. “But I’d expect nothing less.”
“Dude, you are so corny.” Travis laughed.
“Take note, young buck, take note,” Alvin told him.
We laughed as we said our good-byes, then made our way out to Alvin’s car—a shiny red corvette. He may have been a nerd, but Alvin knew how to step up his game when necessary. Whenever he took me somewhere, this is what we rolled in, and he cleaned up very nice. Tonight, he was looking fab in a tuxedo jacket with a T-shirt. It was just enough class and just enough casual for him to look like he belonged on the arm of Maya Morgan.
It took us thirty minutes to get to the facility, but thankfully Alvin had me in a good mood, laughing and talking as I made my way to my reserved seating.
Before I could sit down, a young girl with a headset on her ears came over to me and said, “Miss Morgan, here’s your script for today.” She handed me a stack of index cards wrapped inside a piece of paper. “We’ll need you backstage ten minutes before your presentation. Someone will come get you when we’re ready,” she said.
“Who am I presenting with?” I asked, unwrapping the piece of paper she had just given to me. I hoped it was someone like Usher or Nick Cannon. I almost fell over in my stilettos when I saw the name on my paper.
“Evian Javid? Are you freaking serious?” I said, waving the paper at the girl. “I’m presenting with her?”
The poor girl looked horrified. “I-I’m sorry. I don’t have anything to do with that. They just told me to come bring it to you.”
; I turned to Alvin. “Can you believe this bull?”
Just then I heard, “So I would guess that means today is your lucky day.” Evian was grinning like she’d won the lotto as she came up on the side of me.
I ignored Evian and turned back to the girl. “Why am I presenting with her?”
The young girl shrugged. “I don’t know. I just pass out the scripts. Someone will be here to get you.” She scurried away before I could go off any more.
“So, we get to do our thing together,” Evian sang. “Isn’t that fab?”
I just looked at her, rolled my eyes, and went to my seat. She giggled at her date, who was none other than Hollywood heartthrob Lance Malone. Seeing that gave me pause, but I couldn’t let her know that I was fazed by it at all. Though I definitely couldn’t understand how she’d managed to snag a gem like Lance.
She draped her arm though Lance’s and headed down the aisle behind me. She stopped in front of my row. “Well, Maya. I’ll see you on stage. Lance got us some great seats right there,” she said, pointing three rows up.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” I mumbled as she walked off. “I’m going to find someone to move our seats.” I stood and was just about to step over Alvin and make my way out to the aisle.
Alvin put his hand on mine and settled me down. “Come on, Maya, chill out. People are already starting to look.” He motioned to his right as some woman was discreetly trying to hold up her iPhone. I’m sure she was hoping to capture a fight.
“You’re right,” I said. “Let me pull it together.” I sat back in my seat and waited for the show to start, but my mood had been soured—once again, thanks to Evian.
When the young girl came back and told me, “They’re ready for you,” I knew that I had to pull it together. This was televised so the last thing I needed to do was be on stage letting my emotions get the best of me.
I made my way backstage and both Evian and Lance were already back there, laughing and talking with some people.
The host, comedian and actor Kevin Hart, came over to me first. “Well, if it isn’t Maya Morgan,” he said, shaking my hand. “Let me make sure I don’t make you mad, because I know you’ll have it turn up on me,” he said with his little signature laugh.
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