“‘My chick do stuff that your chick wish she could . . . ’ ”
he continued.
I blew a frustrated breath, folded my arms across my chest and leaned back in the seat. I hated the way Rico acted when he got mad. He was like a big spoiled brat. Whatever, I told myself. I wasn’t about to beg him to talk to me, so I just stared out the window as we made our way down the highway.
When we arrived at the church, Rico sped off almost before I could even get out of the car. I had to let it go. Right now I was on a mission.
I headed toward the cafeteria, where they were doing the service project. I wondered if Alexis had brought her laptop. She needed to see what was up right away.
All eyes spun on me as I bolted through the door.
“Angel?” Miss Rachel said, looking up from the young girl she was going over a speech with. The girls were getting ready for a district competiiton. “I thought you weren’t coming today.”
Everyone expected me to answer, but I hadn’t thought about what I would say to Miss Rachel. It was one thing to have my girls lie for me, but I couldn’t lie to her face.
“Um-m, there was a change of plans,” I stammered. Seeing the middle school girls, several of whom were in corners practicing their speeches, I suddenly felt bad that I had stuck them out.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jasmine asked.
“Yeah, your face is all red,” Alexis added. Looking at her, I couldn’t help but wonder if she knew about the YouTube video. She couldn’t. I know Alexis, and if she knew that video was out there, she would straight have a heart attack.
“Ummm, I just, uh, ran back here.” I really wanted to tell Alexis right then and there, but I couldn’t do it with the middle school girls here.
“Well, the girls are putting the finishing touches on their speeches,” Miss Rachel said. “LaToya needs someone to work with her.” She motioned toward a pretty, shy girl with two long braids down her back.
I forced a smile as I eased over to LaToya. I would have to help with the service project and talk to my girls after it was over.
“Okay, on the real, what’s wrong with you?” I hadn’t seen Camille creep up behind me. “I can tell when you’re up to something. Your eyes get all shifty. So what gives?”
I looked around, and when I noticed Miss Rachel deep in discussion with one of the girls, I whispered, “I need to talk to you guys.”
“Talk,” she said.
“Not now,” I said, eyeing Miss Rachel. “Do you know if Alexis has her laptop?”
“Yeah, Jasmine was working on it before the service project started. She had some drama at her house, so she didn’t even have a compu—”
I cut Camille off. “What about her wireless card?”
“You know Alexis doesn’t go anywhere without that.”
“Okay, as soon as we walk the girls out, tell her to grab it, and I’ll fill you in.”
“What is going on?” Camille asked again.
“We can’t talk about it here.” I nodded toward Miss Rachel.
“But we tell Miss Rachel everything. Or almost everything, anyway,” Camille replied.
One thing I knew: we weren’t telling her about this. “Look, just gimme a minute. Doesn’t this service project end at five?”
“Yeah.”
I glanced at my watch. “Well, it’s five minutes to five.”
Camille huffed, offended I wouldn’t tell her. “Fine.” She stomped back over to the girl she was working with. Both Tyeesha and Jasmine were watching us, trying to figure out what was going on. Alexis was caught up with her girl and wasn’t paying us any attention.
Camille whispered something to the two of them, and they shot me concerned looks. I shot them a “just wait” look.
We couldn’t get the girls out of there fast enough. Luckily, Miss Rachel walked them out to their rides. As soon as they were out the door, everyone spun on me.
“Do you want to tell us what’s going on?” Camille demanded.
“Alexis, we need your laptop,” I said.
“For what?” she asked. “What’s up?”
“Come on,” I said quietly, “we need to do this before Miss Rachel gets back.”
“Do what?” Jasmine asked as Alexis pulled her Mac out of its case.
There was no sense beating around the bush. We didn’t have time to waste. “I need you to log on to YouTube,” I said.
“You’re acting all funny over some YouTube video?” Camille asked.
“Wait a minute, please,” I asked.
Luckily, Alexis had one of those super-high-speed computers and wireless cards, so it only took a moment for her computer to boot up and her to log on to the internet. I eased down in the seat in front of the laptop and typed in the address for YouTube, then punched in “freaks come out.” “Alexis, do you know anything about some YouTube videos of you?” I asked as I waited for her video to come up.
“Me? What are you talking about?” she asked.
“This,” I said, clicking on the second link. The video popped up on the screen. I pressed Play.
“Oh. My. God,” Camille said, her hand going to her mouth.
“Dang!” Jasmine said.
“Wow,” Tyeesha added.
“Wh-what is that?” Alexis said.
“It looks like you,” Jasmine said, leaning in closer to peer at the screen, “getting freaky for the camera.”
Alexis literally started shaking. “Wh-where . . . who put that on there?”
We all turned to her like we were waiting on her to give us that answer.
“I don’t know how it got there,” I finally said. “Rico and some of his friends were watching the video.”
“What?” Alexis exclaimed.
“You mean, a bunch of boys were sitting around ogling her dang-near naked body?” Camille gasped.
“And does that say, ‘The freaks come out at night’?” Tyeesha said, squinting at the screen.
“Yeah, that’s what it says,” Jasmine replied.
Tears were building in Alexis’s eyes as she stared at the screen. “Oh, my God. I so don’t believe this is happening.”
“Alexis, why would you do this?” Camille said, genuinely concerned.
“I . . . me and Mari and Marlee . . . we were just goofing around at her place one night.”
“Dancing in your underwear?” Jasmine turned up her nose in disgust.
Alexis buried her head in her hands. “It was Marlee’s idea. She said we should play like we were this sexy girls group.”
“In your drawers?” Jasmine repeated. “And are those Hello Kitty panties?” She leaned in closer. “They are. Oh, Lord, not only are you all out in cyberspace in your drawers but they’re too-small Hello Kitty drawers at that.” She shook her head in pity at the pink cat on the back of Alexis’s underwear, which we clearly saw when she turned around and shook her half-naked butt at the camera. “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Jasmine said.
I know Jasmine was just being Jasmine, but she definitely wasn’t making things any better.
Alexis’s eyes were brimming over with tears. “We were just goofing around.”
“Why in the world would you videotape it?” Tyeesha asked.
“I don’t know,” Alexis cried. She looked anguished, like she never in a million years could’ve imagined this. “I mean, we never thought it would end up on YouTube.”
Jasmine peered closer at the screen again. “Is she licking the microphone?” She pointed to Marlee, who had now taken center stage and was licking the microphone as Alexis and Mari sang in the background. “She is. Ewww. Just nasty.”
“I cannot believe this,” Alexis repeated. “Why would they put this on YouTube?”
“Obviously they thought it was cute.” Camille tsked.
“I wonder how many other people have seen it,” Alexis said. Her voice was cracking, and I thought she would lose it any minute.
“Ummm, two hundred and thirty-one thousand people have see
n it,” Camille said, pointing to the page views number.
Alexis fell back against the wall. “My life is so over.”
“What in the world has you girls in such a tizzy?”
We all jumped at the sound of Miss Rachel’s voice, and I slammed the laptop closed.
She looked back and forth between each of us. “I hope you know that guilt is written over all of your faces.” She folded her arms across her chest. “So does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”
Nobody said a word. I guess since Alexis was the one with tears streaming down her cheeks, Miss Rachel focused her attention on Alexis. “What. Is. Going. On?” she asked again.
At last Alexis let out a loud sob and dang near collapsed into Miss Rachel’s arms.
It took a good fifteen minutes for us all to explain to Miss Rachel what was going on and show her the YouTube video. She was as shocked as we were.
“So, do you have any idea how it got there?” she asked after the video had come to an end.
“None,” Alexis sniffed. “It had to be Mari or Marlee, because they’re the ones who had the video. But I can’t understand why they would do that.”
“Well, I suggest you call them and find out,” Miss Rachel said.
“I haven’t talked to them in several months,” Alexis said.
“Well, I think it’s time you get to talking,” I threw in.
Miss Rachel stood. “I agree with Angel. You need to get to the bottom of how it got there for your own peace of mind. That way you can at least get an idea of where else it is. Meanwhile, I’ll get right on figuring out how to make YouTube take this video down.”
“My parents!” Alexis exclaimed, her eyes growing wide. She must have just thought about them.
“Girl, you’d better see if you can get that video down before your parents see it,” Camille said. “They will totally flip out.”
“Now, I’m not condoning hiding anything from your parents, but right now our focus is on getting to the bottom of what happened and then getting the video removed,” Miss Rachel said.
I was so happy that she was trying to help, because Alexis looked completely terrified. Hopefully, they’d get the video down soon, and it would be as if nothing had ever happened. But somehow I had the feeling that today was only the beginning of a long nightmare.
17
Jasmine
Hey, Jas, what’s up with Alexis?” Tyeesha asked, bouncing toward me with her lunch tray. She motioned toward Alexis, who was on her cell phone, pacing outside in the courtyard.
“She’s trying to track down Mari or Marlee. She’s called them like a hundred times already, but they’re not answering,” I replied.
She noticed my sour look, and concern blanketed her face. “What’s up with you?”
I shrugged. “We had drama at my house,” I told her. I think drama was an understatement with all that I was dealing with over the weekend. When we’d left the service project, I’d gone home to find my mom and grandmother freaking out because Jaheim had been missing. He’d gotten two Fs so he’d run away from home. He hadn’t turned up until Sunday evening, when my mom had found out he’d been staying at one of his friends’ apartment in the next complex. After my mom had cussed his friend’s mom out for not calling her, she’d dragged him home. No sooner had she finished lighting into him than she and Nikki had started going at it again. My life was nothing but drama.
“Jaheim ran away, Nikki and my mom were fighting all night,” I told Tyeesha, not bothering to go into details. “It was a nightmare at my house, and that’s not mentioning that our computer is broken. There’s no way I’m going to get this paper finished!”
“Well, do you need us to help you?” Tyeesha asked.
I blew out a long breath, controlling myself. “Nah, I appreciate you guys pulling this research,” I said, patting the stack of papers they’d given me this morning. “This should help. But I just don’t see how I’m gonna get this done.” I sighed heavily. “Maybe I wasn’t meant to go to college.”
A funny look filled Tyeesha’s face and I frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Well, I um, I think I may have the answer to your problems.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, I um . . .”
“Would you just spit it out already?”
“I know someone who might be able to help you out with your dilemma,” Tyeesha said all in a rush.
“You know someone? How? You just transferred here. How do you know someone I don’t?”
She smirked. “Ummm, remember, I was hanging with nothing but troublemakers.”
I raised an eyebrow. “So, this person who can help me is a troublemaker?” I didn’t like the sound of that. I had enough drama on my own.
“Just wait right here.” She jumped up and raced across the cafeteria. A few minutes later she returned with a brown-skinned girl who I knew from around school. But I’d never talked much with her because she was a loner. Not because no one liked her. She was just kinda weird, always dressing like a goth. Like now, she had on a black cross and skull
T-shirt, black jeans and black high-tops. Her hair was long, jet black and greasy looking. She was sucking on a blowpop like it was the last piece of candy on earth.
“Jasmine, you know Cassandra Hardy, huh?” Tyeesha said.
“What’s up, Cassandra?” I said.
She didn’t smile or say hello. She just said, “I hear you might have a little dilemma about your paper.”
I shot Tyeesha a crazy look. Why in the world did she have this girl all up in my business? Before I could say anything, Cassandra removed the sucker and said, “I think I can help.”
Since all I had been able to think about lately was losing this scholarship, her words got my attention.
“I’m feeling on you on that college thing.” She popped the blowpop in her mouth, sucked hard, then pulled it out and pointed it at me. “If you have a chance to go to school on someone else’s dime, then you need to do whatever it takes to make that happen.” She sounded like the used car salesman that sold my mama her beat-up Ford Taurus.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“That means you need to ace that paper,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, that’s easier said than done,” I replied, “especially since it’s due in a couple of days.”
“No, for real. I know how you can get a guaranteed A on that paper,” Cassandra said.
“How?” She definitely had my attention now.
Cassandra smirked. “Write an off-the-chain paper.”
I rolled my eyes. This was her grand plan? “Wow, why didn’t I think of that?”
She waved her blowpop at me. “Chill, I’m trying to help you out.”
I blew a frustrated breath. “Cassandra, that’s just it. I’ve been trying to write since last Friday, and I’ve had all kinds of stuff working against me.”
“All I’m saying is I got the hook-up.” Cassandra popped the sucker back into her mouth. “I can get the best paper at your fingertips. There’s this website that I get them from.” She smiled mischievously. “I’ve already hooked one person from your class up.”
“If you know about the website, how do we know Mrs. Stafford doesn’t know about it, too?” I asked.
“It’s password protected. I know the dude that set it up. You can buy a paper and it comes with a guarantee that no one else has used it.”
“Buy?” That put a different flavor in this conversation. “How much is this gonna cost me?” Considering I had about sixty cents in my pocket, buying anything wasn’t one of my options.
“How much is your college education worth?”
“I don’t have any money.” I sighed, frustrated that she was getting my hopes up for nothing.
“It’s only a hundred bucks. Get one of your girls to hook you up.” She eyed Alexis, who was walking back over to our table. “That’s pocket change to the rich new chick.”
“What
? Why are you guys staring at me?” Alexis asked as she sat down.
“Your girl here is in desperate need of a hundred bucks, and she was just looking for someone to help her out,” Cassandra said.
Alexis looked at me, confused. “You know I got you, but what do you need a hundred dollars for?”
Cassandra clapped her hands together. “Good. It’s all settled then.”
I thought about what she was saying. No more stress, a guaranteed A. It was really tempting.
Then all the lessons Miss Rachel had taught us came rushing back. We’d dealt with stealing, lying, backstabbing and secrets. I liked feeling like I’d learned from all of that.
“Naw, I can’t do it,” I said.
“Can’t do what?” Alexis asked.
“You sure?” Cassandra asked.
Tyeesha looked like she didn’t know what I should do either, but inside, I knew. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
Cassandra shrugged again. “Whateva. It’s your loss.”
As I watched her walk off, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had made the right decision.
“I don’t know how smart that was,” Tyeesha said, “but Miss Rachel would definitely be proud.”
Alexis pounded the table. “Would somebody tell me what’s going on?”
I ignored Alexis and smiled. Miss Rachel didn’t have to be proud. I was proud enough for us both.
I just hoped it wasn’t a decision I would regret.
18
Angel
I was closing my locker when Alexis came racing over toward me.
“Angel! Come on, I need you to go with me,” she exclaimed.
“Where’s the fire?” I said.
She grabbed me and pulled me with her. “I just talked to this girl that lives next door to the twins. She says they just got home.”
“So what are you gonna do?” I said, stumbling as I tried to keep up with her.
“I’m going over there!”
I found myself wishing that one of the other girls had been going with us but the way Alexis was racing to the car, I knew she wouldn’t give us time to go find them.
“So, seriously, what are you going to do once you get there?” I asked once we were in the car and pulling out of the school parking lot. I didn’t want to get into a fight with anyone, so I hoped she wasn’t planning on beating anyone down. Then I checked myself and shook that thought off. This was Alexis we were talking about, not Jasmine.
Drama Queens Page 8
