Caught Up in the Drama (6 page)

“I'm not throwing myself at him,” I snapped. “I'm not dumping Xavier for Sisco. He quit me, remember?”

“It's not your fault that Sisco kissed you,” Angel said helpfully.

“I know,” I replied, getting frustrated all over again.

“But it is her fault that she had her tongue down his throat as much as he was slobbing all over her,” Jasmine said.

“Shut up, Jasmine. I did not have my tongue down his throat. It was just a regular old kiss.”

“Umph, I ain't never had a regular old kiss like that,” Jasmine giggled.

Alexis broke in. “Okay, Jaz, don't make it any worse. You know Camille feels bad as it is.”

“All right, all right. I'm sorry. I was just messing with you.” Jasmine threw up her hands apologetically. “But seriously, don't sweat it. Yeah, Xavier is mad, but he'll get over it. Right now you're about to blow up, and you can't let some jealous boyfriend ruin that for you.”

I sighed and leaned back. Jasmine was right. My mind drifted back to the chemistry that Sisco and I had in the video shoot. I couldn't deny it, we looked good together. And although the kiss had caught me off guard, it had been nice.

I finally got a hold of my thoughts. This was all an act. It's not like me and Sisco ever stood a chance of being together in real life.

“We're here,” Alexis said, pulling into a parking spot.

We were giggling and laughing as we approached the security guard.

“Hi, I'm Camille Harris,” I said.

“Hey,” the tall, muscular guy said as he stepped back to let me pass. “You don't have to introduce yourself to me, baby girl. I saw you yesterday. You're the next big star.”

I smiled as I led the way in. But as soon as I turned to walk off, I heard Jasmine say, “Excuse me?”

I looked back to see that the guard had stepped in front of Jasmine, Angel and Alexis, blocking their path.

“Oh, they're with me,” I said.

“Okay,” he said, without moving.

“Okay, then move,” Jasmine snapped.

“I'm not goin' to be able to do that, little lady.” He crossed his stocky arms across his chest.

“What? We were here yesterday,” Alexis said.

“And I hope you enjoyed it,” he replied.

“There must be some kind of mistake,” I said, walking
back up to the security guard. “These are my friends, and they're here with me.”

“They're not getting in,” he said with finality. Before I could say anything, I saw Taraji strutting toward us.

“Taraji, I'm so glad you're here,” I said. “He won't let my friends in.”

“I know,” she responded sharply. “Come on, you need to go get dressed. Thanks to your boyfriend's attack yesterday, Sisco isn't in the mood to shoot, so we're just going to shoot some promotional stuff. Let's go.” She kept walking.

“Taraji!” I called after her. “What's going on? Why can't my friends come in?”

She spun around like she was irritated that she even had to explain anything to me. “Look here, girl, you're lucky that we're even letting you come back after that disaster with your boyfriend. I can't tell you the last time I saw Sisco that mad. So, sorry, but there's no room for your friends. The set is closed.”

My mouth dropped open. “You mean they can't come in?”

“What part of no don't you get, the
n
or the
o
?”

“But—”

“But you're late. And you're hanging on by a thread yourself. If I were you, I'd tell your little friends good-bye and get to the dressing room.”

“Camille, go on,” Alexis said. “We'll be fine.”

“No, we won't,” Jasmine snapped. “We didn't do anything.”

I felt so bad as I pleadingly looked at Taraji.

“I do not have time to stand out here and debate with some ghetto high school girls.”

“Ghetto? You want me to show you what we do in the ghetto?” Jasmine asked, taking a step forward.

Thank God Alexis stepped up and stopped her. “For real, Camille, you go on. We'll catch up with you later.”

“Listen to your friends,” Taraji told me nonchalantly. “Or better yet, why don't you just go with them?” She spun off and walked away before I could respond.

“Are you guys sure about me going on?” I asked.

“We're fine,” Angel said. “And it's not like you have a lot of choices.”

“Jasmine?”

“I'm all right,” she said, waving me off. The attitude was still evident all over her face, but I knew she wasn't mad at me. Jasmine worked real hard to keep her temper at bay, so she probably was upset that she'd let Taraji get to her.

“Do you need me to come back and pick you up?” Alexis asked.

“Nah, I'll just call my mom,” I said, suddenly wishing I had the money to get my old car fixed. It hadn't worked in about a year. I was definitely going to see if my mom would let me buy a car with the money I made from the video shoot.

“Okay, just call us later,” Angel said. Jasmine had already turned and started heading toward the car.

“I'm sorry,” I mumbled again before taking off inside.

Alexis

“Hey, baby mama.”

I busted out laughing at the sight of Miss Rachel's twelve-year-old wannabe pimp daddy son, Jordan. He was standing outside the Good Girlz meeting room. He was tall for his age, but he still had a baby face, with deep dimples. He wore his school uniform top with some khaki pants.

“Hey, baby mama,” he repeated when Jasmine didn't respond. Jordan's little behind was always flirting with Jasmine. He was adorable, but he was
twelve.
So the sight of him trying to play a mack daddy was hilarious.

“When are you going to stop playing hard to get and give me a shot?” he slyly said.

I laughed even harder when I saw Miss Rachel come up behind him. I knew what was coming next.

“Owwww!” he yelled when she popped him upside the back of his head.

“Boy, what are you talking about, ‘baby mama'? I don't know why y'all think there's something cute about that term. Ain't nothing cute about being a baby mama.”

“You got that right,” Angel muttered.

Miss Rachel should know about the struggles of a young mother. She'd had her first child at fifteen and her second two years later. She had shared with us how she'd been through a lot before she'd grown up, at least mentally. So she was adamant about us learning from her mistakes.

“Mama, you trippin',” Jordan said, rubbing the back of his head.

“I've also told you about talking to me like I'm one of your little friends,” she responded sternly.

“Dang, Mama. Chill. Can you please not embarrass me in front of my future wife?” He grinned widely and winked at Jasmine.

We all busted out laughing again as Miss Rachel swatted him once more.

“Boy, get your little mannish behind in the church with your father. And where's your sister?”

“She's in the office with Daddy Lester.”

“Well, go in there with them and I will see you all at home. And make sure you do your homework.”

“Why can't I be in the Good Girlz?” he asked, heading to the door. “I could be your first male member, or an honorary member.”

“Jordan Kobe Clark, if you don't get your tail in there with your father . . .”

“A'ight, a'ight,” he said. “Bye, baby,” he said to Jasmine.

“Oh, Jasmine is the only one you see?” I joked.

“Awww, Alexis, you know I got love for you, but it ain't even like that. You're too light-skinned for me.”

I gasped. Not like I would ever want him, but still . . .

“Now, Angel, yo quiero Taco Bell,” he sang, scurrying out of the door before his mother swatted him again.

“Did he just ask me if I wanted some Taco Bell?” Angel asked, confused.

“It's the only Spanish he knows,” Miss Rachel said. “I've told you all, don't pay that little boy any attention.”

“Well, you've got your hands full, Miss Rachel,” I said, “because if he's like this at twelve, I can only imagine what he'll be like at fifteen and sixteen.”

“Don't remind me,” Miss Rachel groaned as she set her Bible on the front table.

We walked into the room and got settled.

“Where is Camille?” she asked, noticing just the three of us.

“Where is she always?” Jasmine snidely remarked. “Off playing superstar.”

I know Jasmine was still mad about them not letting us on the set yesterday, but Camille hadn't bothered to call us afterward. Then today at lunch she blew us off when Sisco called.

“I think they had to reshoot the video today,” I said.

“I hope she doesn't just throw us to the side,” Rachel said. “I'm very proud of the progress you girls have made, and I would hate for Camille to forget all of that.”

“Tell me about it.” Jasmine was about to say something else when a girl standing in the doorway caught our eye.

Rachel smiled, then motioned for the girl to come in the room.

She wore a cute Baby Phat T-shirt and some skinny jeans. She had braces with pink rubber bands around them. Other than the cheesy rubber bands, she actually was very cute.

“Ladies,” Rachel began, “this is Tyeesha McCray.”

We all stared, too surprised to speak.

“What's your name again?” Jasmine finally said.

“Tyeesha,” the girl repeated, like she was used to being asked that question.

We all looked at each other and tried our best not to break out laughing.

“You got a problem?” Tyeesha said, her hands planted firmly on her hips.

“No problem at all,” I said, trying to keep a straight face.

“Girls, that is very rude,” Rachel said. “Come on in, Tyeesha, and have a seat.”

“I thought you said this group was all about being open and honest. So I wanna know what they found so funny.”

“They don't find anything funny. Do you, girls?” Rachel asked.

“Actually,” Jasmine giggled, “we're just trippin' off your name.”

“Jasmine,” Rachel immediately chastised.

“What, you've never seen a white girl named Tyeesha?” the girl said.

“Nope,” all three of us said at the same time.

“Well, we do not discriminate based on color, religion, or name, Jasminium Nichelle Solé Jones,” Rachel said. That wiped the smile off Jasmine's face. She hated her full name with a passion.

“Now,
that's
funny,” Tyeesha said. She flashed a wide grin, displaying her pink braces again. “So I'm here, Miss Rachel. You claim this group is what I need. So let's see.” She strolled into the room and took a seat next to Angel.

Normally, her brazenness would've been a turnoff, but there was something about this girl that I liked. She had a lot of spunk, and that told me she was going to be a lot of fun.

“Okay, girls, because we have a new member to the Good Girlz Club, we'll start by having her introduce herself. Then each of you will do the same and tell her what you've gotten out of the Good Girlz.” She gave a warm smile. “Tyeesha?”

Tyeesha cleared her throat as she stood up. “Well, you know my name,” she said, flashing her big grin again. “And let the record reflect, I'm proud of my name and my race.”

“Hey, I ain't mad at you,” I told her.

“Yeah, we don't have a problem with your race,” Angel said dismissively. “Alexis is half white.”

“My mother is biracial,” I corrected. “I'm multiracial.”

“Okay, Tiger Woods,” Jasmine laughed.

“Anyway,” Tyeesha continued, “I was forced to come to the Good Girlz”—she eyed Rachel—“after getting in a little vandalizing trouble with this group of kids I was hanging out with.”

“Vandalizing?” I asked. “What did you vandalize?”

She looked uneasily to Miss Rachel.

“Go ahead,” Rachel said encouragingly.

Tyeesha paused, then said, “Okay, I vandalized a church.”

“A church?” we all exclaimed.

She sighed. “This church.”

“What? You're the one who wrote all over the side of Zion Hill?” I asked. A few months ago, we'd arrived at our Good
Girlz meeting to find that someone had covered the back of the church in graffiti. They hadn't sprayed anything derogatory, just some fancy names, but it still was messed up. Plus, they'd thrown rocks through two back windows.

We all had done our share of things we weren't too proud of, but to vandalize a church?

“Yeah, I know, it was a stupid thing to do. But I took a dare from the people I was hanging out with.” Tyeesha looked genuinely remorseful.

“Wow,” I said.

“Tyeesha and her friends didn't know about our video cameras, so it wasn't too hard to catch them,” Rachel put in.

“Yeah,” Tyeesha continued. “My friends got in major trouble, but since it was my first offense, Miss Rachel asked the people here to agree not to press charges if I came to the Good Girlz, so here I am.”

“So where do you go to school?”

“Nimitz, but I'll be starting at Madison next week.”

“You're going to our school?” Angel asked.

“Yep, starting Monday. My parents are getting a divorce, so me and my mom had to move in with my grandmother.”

That caused my ears to perk up. “Divorce? Dang, sorry to hear that.”

She tossed her hand in the air. “Whatever. I'm glad they finally got a divorce, because them living together and all their fighting was about to drive me crazy.”

I knew there was a reason I liked this girl. I could definitely relate to everything she was saying. I had a feeling that Tyeesha and I would find out we had a whole lot in common.

Camille

I was in my dressing room, waiting for the video shoot to start, when I thought of Xavier. I dialed star 67 to block my number, then punched in his cell phone number.