by Nikki Carter
One of the officers picks up Truth’s bag and shows it to the one who was on the bus. He nods his head a few times and says something to Truth. Truth doesn’t seem to respond, and the next thing we know the police officer is pushing him into a squad car.
Big D is yelling something at the arresting officer, and one of the others touches him on the arm. He snatches his arm away and trudges back to the bus as the car drives off. The remaining police officers pile into their cars and drive off too, leaving all of our luggage scattered on the side of the road.
Everyone is silent when Big D gets back on the bus. He says, “They’ve arrested Truth for possession of marijuana with the intent to sell. They claim they found a lot of it in his bag.”
Dreya bursts into tears. “We can’t leave him here! What if something happens to him while they have him locked up?”
“No, we can’t leave him here,” Big D says as he paces up and down the aisle. “Sam, Dilly, can y’all go help the stage crew put the stuff back on the bus?”
Sam pats Big D on the back as he gets off the bus. Dilly shakes his head sadly. Everyone is feeling the brunt of this arrest.
“We can’t leave him, but we can’t let Epsilon Records down on this tour,” Big D says. “We’ve got to show up at the next show in Charlotte.”
“It’s the weekend, baby,” Shelly says. “You ain’t gonna be able to get him out of lockup for a few days at least. Monday at the earliest.”
“So we should just go to Charlotte then,” Big D says.
Dreya replies, “If you leave my man here, I’m not performing anyway. So you gonna be down the two stars of your show. Good luck, Sunday. You’re gonna have to perform for two hours.”
“Maybe we should call Mystique,” I suggest. “She’ll know what to do.”
Big D says, “No. Let me think. I can’t let Mystique know I messed this up. This is my come up on the line too, Drama. So stop just thinking about you and Truth.”
“What if Dilly performs?” Regina asks. “The crowd loved him in Jacksonville.”
“That might work if we had music for him,” Big D says.
“Sam can whip him up some tracks or something,” Bethany adds. “He’s good at that on the fly.”
Why are they standing here floundering when all we have to do is call Mystique? She can get her hands on music for Dilly. He’s got an entire album completed. I know this is Big D’s chance to show he’s got what it takes, but bottom line, he didn’t keep his artists in check.
“If you do stay here,” I ask, “how are you gonna get around? Don’t you need to think about renting a car or something? And a hotel for you and Dreya?”
“Drama’s going to Charlotte with y’all. She’s gonna perform,” Big D says.
“I’m not going anywhere without my man. I’m ride or die for Truth. What I look like not holdin’ it down for my man!”
“I know that’s right, girl,” Bethany says. “That’s your boo.”
Shelly adds, “I wouldn’t leave you, Big D.”
OMG. Why is Shelly chiming in on this foolishness? It’s not like Truth is in jail in a third world country or even in the backwoods! He’s in Columbia, South Carolina. I saw a welcome to Columbia sign right before we got pulled over.
Big D looks completely worn out as he runs a hand over his head. “All right then, stay. Sunday, get Mystique on the phone. There’s no other way.”
I press in her number. It’s late so I don’t expect her to answer right away. Finally, after five rings she answers.
“Sunday, what’s wrong?”
“Hey, Mystique. How do you know something is wrong?”
“Because it’s two in the morning and you’re calling my cell. What’s up?”
I spill the entire story, with everyone’s eyes on me. Big D looks especially nervous about what Mystique might say or do.
“Tell Big D to see about him,” Mystique says. “I’ll meet y’all in Charlotte. Shelly can make sure y’all get there okay, right?”
“I think so.”
“And Sunday,” Mystique says, “tell Big D not to worry about this. There’s nothing he could’ve done to prevent it. We’ll handle it.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to bed now. I’m gonna have to catch the first flight out of here. Get some rest.”
I get off the phone and tell everyone what Mystique said. Big D looks relieved, but Dreya looks heated. In fact, she looks like she’s about to get to blowing up in here at any second.
“It’s just Queen Mystique to the rescue, huh?” Dreya says.
“What’s wrong with that?” I ask, feeling extra protective of Mystique right now since she’s the one bailing us out with Epsilon Records.
“I think she’s the one who set my man up. That’s what’s wrong with it.”
Big D shakes his head angrily and says, “Are you out of your mind? Why would Mystique do that?”
“All I know is the police get an anonymous tip, and next thing you know, Mystique is the clean-up crew. She thinks somebody is stupid. For real.”
Somebody is stupid. And everybody on this bus is looking at her with blank stares. Even the one who I suspect really set Truth up. I just need a little bit more proof before I’m sure, but I think our snitch is Bethany.
24
We get to Charlotte late, of course, because we were delayed on the road. But we get in town around noon and are able to check into the hotel. Because we were so late, we ended up getting to the hotel at the same time as Mystique. She’s not staying here, though. She only stays at five-star hotels, and we’re in a Courtyard Marriott. Nice enough, but not top of the line.
Benji and Mystique are waiting for us in the lobby as we bring in all of our bags. When she sees me, she runs up to give me a hug.
“You okay?” Mystique asks. “You sounded really stressed on the phone last night.”
“I was really stressed. Everybody was, especially Dreya.”
I think about Dreya’s accusation of Mystique again. There’s no way in the world Mystique would put any of us through this. She doesn’t even roll like that. Maybe it was the stress that made Dreya think that, because it doesn’t even make sense.
Mystique waves Shelly over after she gets everyone’s hotel room keys. She says, “Shelly, I just got off the phone with the concert promoter. He’s pissed that neither Truth nor Drama are gonna be here. I offered to perform in their place.”
“You did? That’s a come up for him.”
“Yeah, but he still tried to act like he wanted to sue Epsilon Records. Even though he wouldn’t have much of a case against Truth, he might be able to come after Drama, since she chose to be detained in another city.”
I shake my head. “That’s dirty! He’s getting you in place of Drama? He’s guaranteed to sell more tickets if he hasn’t already sold out.”
“He hasn’t sold out. But I told him that I’d sweeten up the pot, and Zac would come too.”
Dilly overhears and leans in to kiss Mystique’s cheek. “A Zillionaire concert. Wow, that’s rare.”
“Yeah, just pray he does it. He might be mad at me for offering it, but he’ll understand once I tell him everything that happened.”
Mystique pulls Shelly by the arm. “Hey, y’all, I need to speak with Shelly in private for a minute. Sunday, get settled in your room, and I’ll come see about you in a few. What room are you in?”
I look down at my keycard. “Five twenty seven.”
“Okay. See you in a few.”
I watch Mystique and Shelly walk off arm and arm, and wonder what they could possibly have to talk about that everyone else can’t hear.
“Five twenty seven, huh,” Sam says as he grabs one of my bags. “I’m in five twenty nine. Wonder if we have adjoining rooms.”
“If we do, my side of it is staying locked!” I reply.
Sam laughs. “You’re so cold to a brotha. I’m just tryin’ to get in where I fit in.”
“Sunday,” Bethany says, “do you want
some company tonight?”
Bethany hates that she has to stay in a hotel room with two dancers and Regina. They sleep two to a queen bed. The dancers are cousins, which leaves Bethany bunking with Regina. When Dreya is here, she always lets Bethany use her room, because it’s either a suite or she’s off in Truth’s room anyway for the night.
“Yes, please take her in your room,” Regina says. “She kicks like the devil. Last time I shared a bed with her my ribs were bruised in the morning.”
I cover my mouth with my hand to hold in my giggle. “You’re lying, Regina.”
“I swear on everything, I’m not. It’s like she thinks she and that supersonic donk she’s carrying around is entitled to extra space.”
“Let’s go upstairs,” Sam says. “I’m gonna order some pizza for lunch, and we can just chill for a minute, since y’all don’t perform tonight.”
“We’ve got interviews in the morning, though,” I remind him.
“But at least you don’t have to go on stage until tomorrow night.”
“True that. Come on, Bethany. You can stay with me. Maybe we’ll get a chance to talk about your music.”
Her eyes widen and light up. “Okay, cool.”
Sam looks at me with questions in his eyes. I give him a dismissive head shake. I’ll explain it later. I wish I didn’t have to explain it at all.
Once we get in my room, Sam makes me sit down, and he unpacks some of my stuff. I stop him when he holds up a pair of my panties. My underwear is classified, top secret information. Definitely a no-boys zone.
Sam flips through the informational book that’s in most hotel rooms until he finds the number to a pizzeria. He pulls out his cell phone and dials the number.
“What do you want on your pizza?” he asks. “You too, Bethany?”
“I like pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, and onions,” I say.
“Dang, all of that?” Sam asks with a laugh. “What about you, Bethany?”
“Ham, sausage, pineapple,” she replies as she sits down on the edge of her bed.
“What y’all think Dilly wants?”
“Plain pepperoni is always safe,” Bethany says.
Sam orders the pizza, and Bethany looks at me like she wants to say something. She even opens up her mouth, but then she closes it again.
“What’s up?” I ask, knowing her too well to let this go.
“Nothing,” she says. “I was just gonna say, I’m happy we’re sharing a room. Maybe we can play Scrabble or something.”
“I don’t have any board games!” I said. “Do you?”
She nods. “I’ve got Scrabble and Monopoly. Maybe Monopoly would be good. Everybody knows how to play already.”
“Yeah, I guess that will be cool.”
Sam says, “I’m going down to the lobby to wait for the pizza. I’ll be back upstairs with Dilly when it gets here. They said thirty to forty-five minutes.”
“Why does pizza always take so long?” I ask. “My stomach is about to eat my ribs.”
Bethany laughs out loud. “I’ve got a bag of chips in my bag. You want it?”
I don’t know how I feel about Bethany’s being nice. Part of me wants to think maybe we can be cool again, but the other part of me feels like this is a survival technique. Dreya’s not here to have her back so she’s got to be friendly to us. If Dreya was here, they’d probably be posted up somewhere ordering expensive sushi, thinking they were too good for a little greasy pizza.
“I wonder if Dreya is okay,” Bethany says.
I reply, “She’ll be all right. Big D is with her.”
I know she’s gonna be mad when I ask her this, but I’m asking anyway, because I’ve got to know.
“Bethany, are you the snitch? Are you the one who called the police on Truth?”
She looks completely shocked like I came out of left field with the question. But I don’t know if she’s surprised I would accuse her or surprised she got caught.
“No! Why would I do that to Truth?”
“I don’t know, but first the fact that Dreya flunked got leaked to the Internet blogs.”
Bethany drops her head. “That was me. But I didn’t do this thing with Truth.”
“Are you serious? You’re the one who told the bloggers about that? But why?”
Bethany holds her head up with her nose aloofly pointed to the sky. “Dreya threw a shoe at me, and that day I just snapped. She’s very abusive, and some days I just don’t feel like taking it.”
“What about the cheat sheet thing? Did you play Dreya with that, too?”
Bethany shakes her head. “Naw. I really did study for my final, because the girl I got the cheat sheet from wasn’t reliable. She’s given me bum sheets before. Dreya knew she was risking it. That’s her bad.”
Wow! Who knew that Bethany had some vengeance tucked away in her little fearful heart? She sure got her back good. Nobody would argue with that.
“But you didn’t snitch on Truth.”
“Nah, I’d never want him arrested. Contrary to what you think, he’s actually a really nice guy. He always treated me well when we were alone.”
“Did you think you were like his side piece or something?” I ask incredulously. I’ma need her to find some self-esteem.
“Some of it was because he said he’d hook me up with a deal, but part of it was because I really like Truth. He’s funny and smart, and …”
“Ew! Ew! Ew! Enough! It’s bad enough I had to see you kissing him, I don’t need to hear you drooling over him too. That’s too much.”
“Sorry.”
There’s a knock on my hotel room door, and it’s Sam and Dilly with the food. Thank God. If I stayed here any longer with just her I probably would’ve choked her out with all that crazy talk.
“Pizza, yo!” Sam says.
“Hey, Sunday, Bethany. I heard we were playing Monopoly.”
I nod. “Yeah, but let me get at that pizza first.”
We all stuff our faces with pizza. I can only eat three slices but try to eat more. Sam has five, and Dilly has dang near a whole pizza. Bethany only eats a couple slices.
“Y’all ready for Monopoly?” Bethany asks.
“Yeah, why not,” I say through a yawn. I’m actually too whipped to play Monopoly, but I’ll go along with it for the moment.
Before she even sets the board up on the bed, I’m dozing off.
“Sunday, girl, go to sleep,” Sam says. “You’ll be awake in the morning doing an interview, and we’ll be sleeping in.”
Bethany giggles, “Yeah, Sunday. You can go to sleep, and I’ll keep the boys company.”
This makes me sit straight up in the bed.
Bethany sucks her teeth. “Dang, Sunday, I’m just playing.”
I stretch and reach both my hands over my head. I loosen up my ponytail holder and let my thick hair fall over my shoulder. I really am sleepy, but I don’t think I can go to bed with a party going on next to me.
I think Sam senses this because he says, “Come on, Dilly, let’s take a rain check on the Monopoly game. I’ll have to beat you at it some other time, Bethany.”
“Okay,” she says. “We’ve got to make sure that the princess gets her beauty sleep.”
This is the Bethany that I’ve come to know over the last few months. This is hater Bethany who’s become closer to Dreya and farther away from me. I knew she’d show herself in a little bit. All we had to do was keep the conversation going, and she appeared.
“She is not a princess,” Sam says.
“I know, right?” Bethany responds. “I don’t think we should not have fun just because Sunday needs a nappy wappy.”
“She’s not a princess, she’s a queen. And she’s running this right now. See you in the morning, Your Highness,” Sam replies.
He walks over and kisses me on the forehead. Personally, I think this display was for Dilly’s sake so he can know what it is, but it’s still really nice. Every day I spend with Sam on this tour, he jus
t keeps racking up the cool points.
Maybe by the end of the tour he will have scored himself a girlfriend.
25
It’s been a couple of days since I talked to my mother on the phone. I didn’t know if I wanted to tell her about Truth getting arrested, and I still don’t know if I want to give her all of those details. But I do need to check in before she starts getting worried about me.
“Hey, Mommy,” I say as soon as she picks up the phone.
“Sunday. Long time no hear from. What city are you in now?”
I can immediately tell by the tone of my mother’s voice that something isn’t right at home. She usually tries to keep her worries to herself, but I know her better than anyone. I’d recognize that quiver in her voice anywhere.
“We’re in Charlotte. We’ve got a show tonight.”
“I’ve heard Charlotte is a nice city. I’d like to visit it sometime.”
“Mommy, it’s not far from Atlanta. We should take a road trip and go.”
“Maybe we will.”
I clear my throat, “Ma, how’s Aunt Charlie and Manny?”
“Manny’s bad as ever. I’m telling you I had to whip his little behind twice yesterday for sassing me. I don’t know where he gets it from. Neither you nor Dreya had that much mouth when y’all was his age.”
“He watches videos and The Real Housewives all day with Aunt Charlie. That’s where he got that smart mouth.”
My mother laughs. “True, true. He’s gonna be a nightmare for those teachers in kindgergarten.”
“I know! Somebody is gonna be calling Aunt Charlie on a daily basis.”
“Where’s Dreya? Let me speak to her.”
“Um … er … uh … she’s not here.”
My mother’s tone deepens. “She’s not there with you by the phone, or she’s not in Charlotte?”
“She’s not in Charlotte.”
“What!”
I explain to my mother about Truth getting arrested and how Dreya, Truth, and Big D were going to meet us at our next stop in Columbus, Ohio.
“If Big D’s in Columbia, then what adult supervision do y’all have?” my mother asks, sounding truly worried.
“Shelly’s with us, and Mystique flew in this morning with her bodyguard.”
