You Don't Know Me Like That

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  “Dang, you’ve got your hands full. But look here; I was also calling because I’m having a birthday party there on Saturday. The label is sponsoring it.”

  Kelis was with Bad Boy Records, and I’d been to a couple of their parties over the years. Talk about going all-out.

  “Anyway, I know you got a lot going on, but that may be all the more reason why you need to come out. Have a good time, try to put your troubles behind you—at least for the night.”

  I thought about what she was saying. That sounded like a good idea. “You know what, I probably could use a good party right now. Can I bring Kennedi?” I asked.

  “Yeah, the more the merrier. I haven’t seen Kennedi in years, so it’ll be good to catch up. I’m going to leave your VIP tickets at the front.”

  I hesitated. “Ummm, can I pick those tickets up ahead of time?”

  Kelis chuckled and said, “Yeah, I heard about that J. Love drama, but I don’t think they’ll be ready for pickup before the party starts. But I’ll have my assistant call and give you the number so you can verify that your name is on the list before you roll out to the party. How’s that?”

  “That works.” I finally laughed. “Thanks, Kelis. It’s just, after the last few weeks I have had, I’d rather play it safe, because if one more thing happens to me, it might just send me over the edge.” We were laughing, but I really and truly meant that.

  Chapter 32

  “I told you, I told you, I told you!” Kennedi’s high-pitched voice belted over the phone. She’d finally called me back on ooVoo after I got off the phone with Kelis. I filled her in on the party, which she was all too excited about, then, I replayed as much of Alvin’s conversation as I could recall. She hadn’t even addressed the whole hacking thing. She just kept going on and on about how she had tried to tell me Jayla was foul.

  “I knew that chick was no good,” Kennedi continued.

  “Well, you should’ve told me that she was a psycho stalker, and I might have listened,” I said as I lay back on my bed.

  “No, you wouldn’t have,” Kennedi replied. “And I did tell you. From the stuff you told me, the girl just seemed creepy. Come to think of it, you have a knack for attracting those types.” She laughed.

  “This isn’t funny, Kennedi.” I was still trying to process everything Alvin had told me, especially the fact that unless she had stolen some of my money, there was probably nothing the cops would do.

  “Okay, you’re right. It isn’t funny. It’s sad. And actually pretty scary that someone can get in your stuff just like that.”

  I let out a long sigh. I should’ve known this was too good to be true. And to think, I’d thought Jayla was the best thing ever. “I don’t know why this girl is trying to take over my life.”

  “I guess she wants your life or something, or maybe she has some kind of personal beef. The good thing is you’re onto her. How are you gonna bust her?”

  “I have no idea. It’s not like I can get close to her. She doesn’t trust me or anyone I know.” I paused, thinking. “Except for Shay,” I said, recalling how they were laughing it up the other day.

  “Oh, and Shay probably hates you just as much as she does,” Kennedi said.

  “You’re right about that.” I began pacing back and forth across my bedroom. I had to figure this out. “I just hate that Alvin said unless she’s trying to get money or do stuff in my name, there’s no crime,” I said.

  “Alvin is a computer nerd, not a cop. What does he know? And, I’m sorry, impersonating someone is a crime. And didn’t you prove all the stuff was coming from her IP address?”

  “We think it’s her, but like Alvin said, you can’t prove that it was actually her who was sending all that stuff from my accounts. She can say anyone used her computer, and she could just keep harassing me.”

  “Well, can’t you confirm what her ESP address is?”

  “IP address,” I corrected.

  “So now you’re Bill Gates?”

  I finally laughed as I plopped back down on my bed. “Nah, just frustrated. But no, there’s no way I can confirm her IP address, not without access to her computer.”

  “That’s jacked up. So what are you going to do?”

  “Jayla may think she has one-upped me, but she doesn’t know me at all.” I’d been thinking about how I could bust her, and I didn’t know, but I was definitely going to figure out something.

  “You need to let someone else handle this. Remember, you tried to set up Valerie, and you almost ended up dead.” Kennedi let out a long sigh. “Okay, I have an idea, but you might not like it.”

  “At this point, I will listen to anything.”

  “Okay, you said if you can confirm her address, you can pretty much prove the emails are coming from her. That means if you could just get access to her computer, then you would have the proof you need.”

  “Oh, is that all I need to do?” I said sarcastically. “Let me call Jayla right now and see if she’ll let me come over and use her laptop.”

  “Look, smart alec, I’m trying to help you out.”

  I rubbed my temple. “Sorry. This is all too much for my brain to process. I want to be worried about designer clothes and shoes and what my next big story will be, not all this nerd computer stuff.”

  “Well, I promise you that girl isn’t going to stop unless you stop her.” Kennedi hesitated. “And all you need is for Shay to help you,” she quickly added.

  “Oh, now I know you’re crazy for real.”

  “Seriously, you just have to make up with Shay and get her to help you since you said Jayla doesn’t trust any of you guys but Shay.”

  “Oh, like that’s gonna happen.”

  “Oh, you have to make it happen. Apologize—”

  I cut her off. “I’m not apologizing to her.”

  “Maya, you need to apologize. And you know that’s saying a lot coming from me, because I don’t like any of those chicks. But you know you were wrong for how all of that went down. I’m not mad at you for how everything went down. You were taking care of business. But it was still jacked up. So apologize.”

  “I apologized once.” I rolled my eyes. There had to be another way.

  “Well, apologize again. And tell her again how you didn’t post that mess about her dad. Then, ask for her help.”

  “That plan sounds whack.”

  “Well, I don’t know what else to tell you. That’s all I got. You do what you want to do.”

  What I wanted was for all of this to go away. But since that wasn’t happening, I also wanted to know why in the world Jayla Cooper had it out for me so bad.

  “Look, can we talk about more pleasant things? Like this party. What are you wearing?” I asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  I pulled myself up and made my way over to my large walk-in closet and glanced around. My eyes settled on a Versace party dress that I hadn’t worn, but had bought just for a big party like this. “Oh, remember that Versace dress I was telling you about?”

  “Yeah, the one you bought at that boutique downtown? Let me see it.”

  I held the dress up to my phone.

  “Ooooh, yeah, that’s the business.”

  “Cool, then, I’ll wear this.” I hung the dress back up.

  “Look, I know you got a lot going on, but deal with it, and this weekend, let it go, a’ight? We’re just gonna have a good time.”

  I nodded, said good-bye, and hung up. I heard what Kennedi was saying. She just didn’t understand that was a lot easier said than done.

  Chapter 33

  I was so ready to get my party on. I wanted to forget the stress that had become my life and just party—hard. Because I was in Miami’s “in” crowd, I was already invited to the top Miami parties, but since I’d become host of Rumor Central, I’d stepped up my party game. Even though, most of the time, I wasn’t even old enough to get into the club, I was the celebrity attraction. I loved it, but tonight I was just looking forward to hanging out with my
girls and enjoying myself.

  Tonight, Kennedi was rolling solo with me. Sheridan’s mom was in town, so they had to do the family thing. Needless to say, she was too through about having to miss the party, but I told her we’d take a lot of pictures. Kennedi and I both looked fab. She had on a fuchsia silk off-the-shoulder top and some sequined boy shorts. Of course, both of us were rocking Louboutins, which just set our outfits off.

  I’d arranged for a driver drop us off so that I didn’t have to fool with parking. I knew it was going to be bananas at the place where the party was being held. We rolled up to the event in style. The driver opened our door, and we stepped out looking like the divas that we were.

  “Are you sure we’re not going to have any problems?” Kennedi asked. “Because I can’t handle a scene like last time.”

  “Would you chill?” I snapped.“Kelis told me to call her if there were any problems.”

  “I thought you were going to get the passes ahead of time?”

  “I tried, but Kelis said I couldn’t. But don’t worry. I just talked to her before we left. She said everything’s good.”

  “Okay, it better be, or else you’re gonna be rolling to parties by yourself from now on,” Kennedi playfully threatened.

  We strutted up the sidewalk to the bouncer. Once again, there was a long line of folks. This time, we were smart enough to ignore those people who were grumbling and not get into it with anyone.

  “Hi, I’m Maya Morgan,” I told the bouncer. “I’m on the VIP list.”

  He scanned his clipboard, then frowned. “You’ve already checked in.”

  I could immediately feel Kennedi’s whole body tense up.

  “No, obviously, I haven’t checked in since I’m standing right here,” I replied with a strained smile. Kennedi was glancing around nervously to see if anyone was watching us. The whole line of people had their eyes glued on us.

  The bouncer looked at his list again, shook his head, then said, “You got some ID on you?”

  I inhaled, trying not to freak out, reached in my clutch, then pulled out my license and handed it to him.

  He studied it, then looked back at his list.“Sorry, my bad,” he said, handing the license back to me. “I must’ve crossed off the wrong name.” He removed the rope and stepped to the side to let us pass. “Have a good time.”

  “Thank you,” I said. Kennedi breathed a huge sigh of relief. Quiet as it’s kept, so did I.

  “My pleasure, beautiful ladies,” the bouncer said as we passed him.

  “Girrrrl, I thought we were about to have a repeat,” Kennedi said.

  “I told you it wasn’t going down like that.”

  Inside the dark club, the music was thumping. The walls vibrated from the sounds of the bass. The dance floor was packed, and people were lined up wall-to-wall. A Bad Boy banner hung across the stage, and a giant poster of Kelis sat on the edge of the stage.

  I felt my phone vibrate and looked down to see a text message from Kelis.

  Look up! VIP is up here

  I glanced up and saw Kelis waving. We pushed through all the people and finally made our way upstairs to the roped-off private area.

  “Hey, Kelis,” I said, hugging her. “You’re looking tight as always.”

  She did a little twirl; I don’t even see how it was possible in that skin-tight catsuit. Only Kelis could make a catsuit look fly. “You know how I do it.”

  “Hey, girl. Happy birthday,” Kennedi said, reaching out to hug her.

  “K-K, waaaazzzz up!” They hugged, and Kelis pulled back. “Girl, I haven’t seen you in forever. You were still rocking those colored braces last time I saw you.”

  Kennedi flashed her perfect smile. “And they all paid off, baby!”

  Kelis turned back to me. “Maya, girl, you look hot! But ummm, wow . . .” She stopped and fought back a giggle.

  What was that about? “Why you say it like that?” I asked.

  “I’m just wondering, I mean, I can’t believe the fashion diva is shopping off-the-rack now?”

  “Kelis, what in the world are you talking about?”

  “Off-the-rack.” She pointed to my dress. “I just assumed that’s where your dress came from.”

  “Are you crazy? Why would you assume that?” I exclaimed. Like most of my stuff, this Versace was an original. I bought off-the-rack every now and then, but I definitely wouldn’t be caught dead at a party wearing something I’d bought in some department store. “This is an original Versace.”

  Kelis sipped her drink and looked at me slyly. “Oh, okay. I just thought maybe there was a sale at Macy’s or something on the dress.”

  “Okay, you’re not making sense.” I asked.

  She pulled me by my arm toward the end of the balcony, then scanned the crowd below. Finally, she said, “There,” pointing to some chick posted up against the wall. “Your original dress.”

  I saw the girl she was talking about, and I wanted to die. This was exactly why I ordered originals of everything from this exclusive boutique that my mom got most of her stuff from. Oh, the owner was definitely going to hear from me!

  “You have got to be freakin’ kidding me,” I mumbled.

  Kennedi, who had come up next to me and was looking over the balcony as well, was equally horrified.

  “The only reason I noticed it was because she tried to get up here, and I remembered saying her dress was cute.”

  “Oh my God, Maya,” Kennedi said. “What are you gonna do?” The girl’s back was to us, but there was no mistaking it; that was my dress.

  “I cannot be up in this party with this girl wearing the same dress as me,” I said.

  “We can leave,” Kennedi said. I could tell that was the last thing she wanted to do, but that just showed she was truly my girl if she was willing to do that.

  “I’m not leaving,” I said. “This no-name chick can go. She’s a nobody.”

  “How do you know she’s a nobody?” Kennedi said.

  “If she were somebody, she’d be in the VIP section,” I replied. “I’m about to go offer her some money to go home.”

  Kelis shook her head. “I ain’t even mad at you, girl. Do you.” She noticed someone waving from the other side of the room and said, “I’ll be right back. There’s my sister.”

  I didn’t even pay Kelis any attention as she walked off. My eyes were focused squarely on the chick rocking my Versace original.

  “I’m going down there,” I said.

  Kennedi stopped me just as I was turning away.“Maya, it’s a bunch of people here. No one is going to see you.”

  “Yeah, it’s a bunch of press here, too. I’m not about to be in the ‘Who Wore It Better’ section of People Magazine.”

  Kennedi sighed. “You can’t go down there, because people will start snapping pictures.” She looked around like she was trying to figure out what to do. “I’m not your freakin’ assistant, but desperate times call for desperate measures, so I’ll go talk to her.”

  I watched as Kennedi went down and talked to the girl. I could only see the girl from the back, and I could barely make out Kennedi’s expression, but I could tell by the way she was bobbing and waving her arms that she wasn’t too happy.

  I knew I was right when she came stomping back up to the VIP area.

  “This chick is crazy!” she said. “First, she said she wasn’t going anywhere. Then she said if you wanted her to leave, you needed to come tell her yourself.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know.” Kennedi shook her head. “I don’t know if she wants to meet you or what?”

  “And you offered her some money?”

  Kennedi nodded. “Yep. But I’m here to have a good time. I’m not about to get into it with one of your deranged fans.”

  “Fine. Whatever.” I glanced down and saw the flash from some cameras snapping, meaning paparazzi was here in full effect. “Okay, can you do me this one last favor?”

  Kennedi rolled her eyes.

  “
Please? Just go tell her to come on up. I’ll sign an autograph or whatever she wants to get her out of here.”

  Kennedi didn’t move.

  “Please? This is the last thing I’ll ask.”

  “You’re lucky you’re my girl,” Kennedi said as she stomped back downstairs.

  No way would I be able to enjoy myself with this girl here in my dress. I felt a flutter of relief when Kennedi and the girl disappeared up the back entrance that would lead them upstairs.

  “You handle her from here,” Kennedi said as she passed me and headed to the bar.

  “Where is she?” I asked.

  Kennedi turned around. “She was right behind me.”

  And then, from the stairwell, she emerged. “You wanted to see me?”

  Oh. My. God. “Are you freakin’ kidding me?”

  My mind immediately went back to the bouncer’s saying I’d already checked in.

  “Are you impersonating me? How did you know what I was going to be wearing?” I asked in disbelief. I hadn’t known what I would be wearing until I showed Kennedi on ooVoo. But I had been on my phone. Could she have hacked that, too? Maybe she had a spy camera in my house. “What kind of freak are you?”

  Jayla just stood there, smirking, and I swear, if people hadn’t been standing around watching us, I would’ve hauled off and knocked the mess out of her.

  “Why are you dressed like me?” Still silence. “Answer me, you freak!” I yelled.

  “Don’t they say imitation is flattery or something like that?”

  Okay, forget who was watching. I was about to beat this trick down. “You b—”

  “Whoaaaa,” Kelis said, stepping in and pushing me back. “Maya, what are you doing?” she frantically said.

  “I’m about to beat this freak right here down for following me around, dressing like me. . . .” I shouted as I bucked toward Jayla.

  “Taking your man, did you forget that part?” Jayla laughed, and I snapped, lunging in her direction.

  By that point, security was over and stopped me before my fist connected with her eye.

  “What is your problem, you deranged lunatic?” I yelled as the security guard pulled me back.