Boss Lady (45 page)

I said, “Well, thank you. So I can count on your ticket at the box office when the movie comes out?” I joked to him. But I was serious.

He said, “Wait a minute, I'm supposed to be at the premiere, right. I'm an insider.”

I asked him, “So what does that mean, you get all freebies?”

He said, “Look, I'll pay for my whole family to see it when it comes out, I just want to be at the premiere.”

“Oh, so you think you're special or something?” I teased him again.

He said, “I better be. Or are you just using me for my moves?”

He had me laughing. I said, “We'll see how long you behave. We'll see.”

“Behave?”

He made it sound like a foreign word.

I said, “Yeah, treat me right. We'll see how long you last.”

He said, “You make it sound like you expect the worst.”

I didn't want to respond to that right away. I mean, honestly, I just did Anthony out of frustration. I didn't expect him to follow up with me like he was. Nevertheless, it wasn't a bad thing. It was just unexpected.

Finally, I said, “No comment. I don't have anything to judge, so I won't. Is that fair enough for you?” I asked him.

“Yeah, don't judge me until I give you something to judge,” he agreed.

“Okay, that's a deal then.”

When I hung up the phone with him, I smiled my behind off. He was surely sweating me hard to get on my good side. I wasn't used to that with guys. Or maybe I had chosen too many egomaniacs who thought too much about themselves to sweat a girl the right way.

My cousin Tracy walked into the room on me and caught me cheesing.

She said, “That didn't sound like a girlfriend call.” She looked into my face and added, “And it don't look like it, either.”

I tried to contain my smile and couldn't.

Tracy asked me, “So, who is he?”

It was the moment of truth between us. But why did I need to put my business on the table?

“I mean . . .”

How exactly could I tell my cousin to butt out of my private affairs?
Now that I had something going, I didn't feel so open about telling her any more.

She said, “You promised you would tell me,” right on cue.

I looked away and couldn't believe it. I had put my foot in my mouth, not knowing how hard it would be to spill the beans on my love life. It was like making love out in the hallway. But I was unable to realize that until I had done it.

Tracy shook her head and grinned at me. She said, “I knew you would regret your tough talk. Your silence only proves that you're ready now. So it's time for us to get together and work out our system to keep you safe and sound. I won't worry you about it tonight. We'll talk later in the week, after you've warmed up to the idea.”

I sighed and said, “Thank you.” I had other things on my mind to think about and to prepare for.

“So, what's this big meeting about at the office tomorrow?” my cousin asked me on point again.

I guess she had heard about it from Charmaine or one of my girls.

I answered, “Building the
Flyy Girl
franchise,” and that's all I had to say about it. Tracy knew what I planned to do. I was going to go for it all.

She nodded and smiled at me.

“Does anyone else know about Alexandria's pregnancy?”

I shook my head. “That's for her to reveal when she's ready to. But she's gonna have to eventually. So I'll just wait it out and respect her privacy.”

Tracy nodded and said, “Good idea.” Then she headed back out the door. “I'll talk to you tomorrow,” she told me.

I got right back to my brainstorming. I would have a power meeting at the Flyy Girl offices in Inglewood, where I planned to shock my girls into submission with candor, organization, and my solid plan of execution. And I couldn't wait.

I
showed up at the Flyy Girl Ltd. office for our meeting bright and early that Wednesday morning. I wore the rust-colored Flyy Girl tee with blue jeans and high heels, and I was ready to be all business. The meeting was set for ten o'clock sharp, before any of my girls had classes or work that day. But I was there before nine, and so was Charmaine.

As soon as Charmaine saw me walk into the office, she began to smile. She nodded her head and said, “I'm proud of you, Vanessa.”

I was confused by it. I hadn't even said anything yet.

“You're proud of me? I haven't even done anything,” I told her. She had me puzzled.

She said, “You're about to. I can already see it. This is your graduation party.”

She said, “You have so much maturity at your age. It's amazing.”

I smiled back at her. I said, “That's what you get when you have to run a household of two younger sisters with a mother who expects you to handle them like you're an adult. I've been in leadership training for years. So this is nothing but the next level for me. I'm already used to it.”

Charmaine nodded again and showed me the new designs that she had been working on. Instead of the Flyy Girl logo running along the ribs, she had it running across the shoulders and down the arms now. I had told Charmaine that we needed to continue making our brand name visible, and she had listened to me.

I smiled and said, “No one can miss that. And I like how you tapered the sides to make it fit tighter.”

She said, “I got that idea from Hooters. Tapering the sides makes the breasts stick out a little more.”

She also had samples of Flyy Girl Ltd. business cards. My girls
were all listed on the cards as sales agents. Tracy was the CEO, Charmaine was the president, and I was the vice president.

Imagine having a business card that listed you as the vice president of an explosive, up-and-coming company before turning twenty. And I had no doubts in my mind, we were definitely ready to explode. Tracy was allowing us to use the Flyy Girl name, and with Charmaine's talent, and my die-hard energy to make it all happen, we were sure to take the country by storm.

I looked at the card samples and pondered out loud. “I wonder how my girls will take this.”

Charmaine grimaced and said, “What, you being the vice president? Look here, today will also be your official leap into authority. Because if they're too close to you to follow orders, then we have plenty of other pretty girls in California who will. Hell, we could do our own Flyy Girl fashion shows.”

Charmaine had jumped on one of my many ideas before I had a chance to reveal them to my girls an hour later.

I said, “Oh, trust me. Now that Tracy is allowing me to run the show, there are going to be plenty of things that we're going to do to create attention for ourselves.”

Charmaine continued to smile at me. She said, “Well, let's go get 'em, girl,” and made me laugh.

Petula was the first to arrive at the office at half-past nine, followed by Jasmine and Sasha at quarter to ten. Alexandria walked in at five of ten, and Maddy hustled into the office at seven after ten. By then, we were all engaged in small talk about the new designs and our business cards. But as soon as Maddy took her seat, late, I went into my planned speech.

I stood in front of everyone in our meeting room while they were all seated and listening.

I said, “As we all know by now, our trip to Philadelphia was a mere taste of what could happen. We were able to see up close and personal just how popular the franchise of Flyy Girl is, and we were able to sell every piece of clothing we had. Now we have enough orders for our initial designs to pay for themselves. But that's not enough.”

I told them, “I learned in my first Hollywood meeting yesterday that sex gets you attention, and everything revolves around money.”

“Well, who didn't know that?” Maddy spoke up.

I ignored her and kept going.

I said, “So our goal is to be sexy and to make noise at every event in L.A. that means something in fashion, hip-hop, and film. At least one of us has to be there, and while we're there, we have to find out who are the power people and movers and shakers in the room, and we get their business cards, cell phone numbers, hobbies, pet peeves, you name it. Then we bring that information back here to the office to file in our Rolodex of contacts and add it to our email lists.”

I said, “Now while we're out there, we
always
have to be dressed in something from the Flyy Girl Ltd. line, and we make sure that we don't get personal with these people. So do plan to keep your panties on,” I told them.

They all began to laugh, but I was dead serious.

Maddy said, “That means you, Jasmine. If you even have any panties on.” She was all jokes and sarcasm even after walking in late to the meeting. But I didn't sweat her antics that morning, because I realized that whoever could not get the job done could be replaced.

Maddy would be her own bad medicine. I had no more time for games—with her or with anyone else. I was on a mission. Period!

“After a while, we want to begin hosting our own parties, fashion shows, sponsored events, et cetera, to continue pushing our brand name and products while gathering more contacts,” I told them.

“Our goal is to always be seen and heard, and when we're seen and heard, people will continue to talk about us and whatever we're pushing. And eventually, we want to be able to award Flyy Girl scholarships to colleges, have a Flyy Girl of the Year pageant. Everything.”

Maddy said, “It sounds like you're trying to sell us like Pepsi.”

They all laughed again, but I figured why not.

I said, “The original meaning of a flyy girl is someone who rises above the mundane, who is bold enough to stand out. And in a world where so many young urban girls are afraid to express themselves in positive ways, I figure that being flyy should be looked at as a good thing. And I want us to be able to stand up and express ourselves in every way that's good for us.”

Tonya raised her hand.

I nodded to her and gave her the okay to ask her question.

“I hate to bring this up while you're on a roll and everything, but will we be paid for all of this? Because I have bills and things to be paid.”

It was a legitimate question, and one that I was prepared for.

I told her, “Yes, you will be paid. And important names and phone numbers of new contacts are extra commission. But again, I don't want any of us sleeping around with people just to get those contacts. So keep your one man or whatever, and keep everything else business, because I don't want any of us getting the wrong reputation and poisoning the brand.”

Sasha nodded and said, “You're right about that. Otherwise, they'll start to call us the flyy hoes.”

“Speak for yourself,” Petula commented. “I know how to stay professional.”

“And you're saying that I don't?” Sasha argued with her.

“You made the comment. I'm just defending my honor.”

Charmaine looked at me and shook her head.

I told my girls, “We're all going to have to use our young ages to our advantage, and be mature about everything we do, while allowing people to know that we're young and doing it. I've noticed that powerful people like to use and identify with the youth, so we want to use that. However, we never want to
act
young, so keep the bickering to a minimum. We really don't have time for that.”

Charmaine nodded and smiled at me again. I was working it.

Alexandria was all ears and hadn't said a word. I didn't know how long she would be with us anyway. She was preoccupied with her life and her new pregnancy.

I said, “All of the details concerning our pay will be worked out as we continue to meet orders for Flyy Girl Ltd. But I want none of us to expect to get rich at this stage. We'll make enough for us to do what we need to do as college students, and by the time we're all finished with school or whatever, the company shall have grown into a real force for all of us, with the hope of our film hitting the silver screens. So if we all play our cards right, and meet the people we need to meet to make all of the right connections, we'll be on our way to getting the green light that we need to make our movie. And once our movie gets
made . . .” I paused for effect. “The sky is the limit,” I told them. “Everything we do turns to gold from then on.”

I said, “Now, I didn't want to hold us for too long, because I know we all have things to do. But we'll be starting with our program this weekend. Everyone will be contacted by cell phone and by email, and each event will be added to the schedule at the office. So if anyone is ever confused about what event you agreed to attend, all you have to do is stop by or call the office, and whoever is here can tell you what's on the schedule. We'll also place the schedule on our website, FlyyGirlLtd.com, which is still under construction.

“So are there any more questions at this point?” I asked them.

Jasmine said, “So this is really it then. We're about to become the coolest girls in L.A.”

I smiled at her and said, “The coolest girls in the country. Because remember, we're still starting a club membership on a national level. And once we have enough members in one city, we'll visit the city and throw a party. Philadelphia is ready for us now. But we just left there, so we'll wait for a while before we return.”

Maddy looked at Alexandria and said, “Oh, I know Alex can't wait for that to happen.”

“Shut up,” Alexandria told her. She said, “For all you know, I may be moving to Philadelphia soon.”

She dropped the bomb that fast on everyone.

Jasmine looked at her and said, “Are you serious? You and Jason have gotten like that?”

“Maybe we have,” she admitted.

There was a dead silence in the room for a minute, but I had to keep the focus on our task.

I said, “We all have to understand as well that although we may be the initial members of the Flyy Girl crew, some of us will move on to other things, and I expect that to happen, but we'll always be a part of the family no matter what.”