Rumor Central

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  “You want something to drink?” I asked when we made it into our theater room.

  “If you don’t mind,” Valerie replied.

  I yelled for Sui, our maid, who came running into the room. “Yes, Miss Morgan?” she said.

  “Hey, Sui, can you make me and my friend some lemonade and bring it to the theater room?”

  Sui nodded and disappeared back in the kitchen. I turned to see Valerie with a stupid grin on her face.

  “What’s your problem?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” she said, still smiling, “friend.”

  Oh, good grief, she was really cheesing over me calling her a friend. Truthfully, it had just slipped out, but I shrugged it off. Between that and me inviting her to hang out a minute—don’t ask me why I’d done that—Valerie was probably ready to get matching BFF necklaces made.

  “So, do you mind if I ask why you don’t hang with your old friends from the show anymore?” Valerie asked once we were settled in the den and I’d turned on the TV.

  I knew Valerie had been dying to ask me that since I’d let her into my world. At first, I thought about telling her some elaborate lie, but I was about to blow up and I didn’t really care if she knew. Besides, it was all over school that we were no longer friends, and most people knew it was because of my show. I just hadn’t told anyone the details.

  “Their true colors showed after I got my own show. I couldn’t take the hate,” I said.

  She shook her head. “That’s so lame. These privileged kids don’t know how good they have it. It’s not even necessary to hate on other people.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” I said, telling myself that she obviously couldn’t be talking about me. Sui brought our lemonade and Valerie and I sat and talked about one of the rap videos on TV, as well as a bunch of other stuff. I was trippin’ over how mad cool Valerie had turned out to be when she was talking about something other than school.

  “Well, it’s getting late,” Valerie said after about an hour. “I’d better get going.”

  We stood and I walked her to the back, where I’d had her park. My mom would’ve had a stroke if she had come home and seen Valerie’s raggedy Toyota Prius parked in front of our house.

  “Dang, where are my keys?” Valerie said, patting her pockets.

  I looked around and spotted them on a table by the door. “Is this them?” I asked, picking up the set of keys.

  “Yep,” she said, holding her hands out.

  A picture dangling on the end caught my eye. It was a photo of a gray-haired couple in the wackest clothes I’d ever seen. They wore matching flowered shirts with gigantic collars. “Who is this?” I asked. “Are these your grandparents?” Talk about lame. I loved my grandparents, but I wouldn’t be caught dead carrying a picture of them around on my key-chain.

  She quickly snatched the keys. “No, those are my parents,” she said defensively.

  “Dang, they’re old,” I frowned. “What, did they have you when they were like in their fifties or something?”

  “No.” She looked down at the picture, then back up at me. Her eyes looked all sad as she added, “My parents are good people. They’re just old, but they mean the world to me.”

  Dang, I thought. Talk about bringing somebody down. I started to say something else, but then decided I didn’t really want to know. I needed to go get my beauty rest for tomorrow, plus I had to do research for tomorrow’s show, so Valerie’s sob story about her parents would have to wait for another day.

  Chapter 13

  Tamara was blowing up my phone. I knew it was because it had been three days and she was expecting some juicy dirt from me, but so far, I hadn’t come up with anything major and I was supposed to report to work tomorrow. I had one big story and a few other things I was working on, but I didn’t know if it was going to be juicy enough for them. Word was that our vice-principal used to be a man, but I quickly put that into the “who really cares” file. Besides, Tamara had said she wanted more celebrity dirt.

  “Hey, Maya, what’s up?” my friend Angie said, approaching me. She was with some of her fellow cheerleaders and they all just looked at me without speaking. I didn’t sweat it though because I knew they were just some jealous trolls. But I was hot over the fact that Chenoa, who I thought was cool with me, turned her nose up and walked off. Trick. With the things I knew about her, she might want to check that stank attitude.

  I inhaled, deciding not to let her get to me. “Hey, Angie,” I said, not bothering to speak to the others.

  “Did you get Ms. Watson’s paper done?” she asked as we made our way inside the building.

  “Girl, please,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Don’t even get me started. I am so far behind.”

  “I heard you got that nerd, Valerie, to help you. Is she tutoring you?” Angie asked.

  I couldn’t tell if she was being nosey or what, but she had her nose turned up like she was disgusted.

  “She isn’t tutoring me. Just with my schedule, I needed an assistant,” I replied. I didn’t need anyone knowing that I was failing my classes.

  “Oh, I’m not trippin’,” she added. “Shoot, I had to get her buster friend, Jennifer, to tutor me.” Angie turned to one of the other cheerleaders who had hung back waiting on her. “At least these ratchet scholarship students are good for something,” she laughed as they high-fived each other.

  I laughed with her. The scholarship kids at our school got a serious bad rap. Most of them came from underprivileged families and families that couldn’t afford the school. Personally, I felt like if you couldn’t afford Miami High, you needed to take your butt to the disgusting public school down the street.

  Chenoa was the only one not laughing. She looked back at Angie and said, “Come on, Angie. We need to get to the gym or Mrs. Burkett is gonna have a stroke.”

  “Bye, girl,” Angie said, darting off down the hall.

  I waved bye and had just made it to my locker, when I spotted Bryce standing over Sheridan. It looked like they were arguing, but as soon as she spotted me, she threw her arms around his neck and started kissing him to the point that someone yelled for them to “get a room.”

  It felt like someone had punched me in my stomach and if half the hallway hadn’t been staring at me, I would’ve turned around and gone the other way. But since they were, I kept strutting like I wasn’t fazed.

  “Excuse me,” I said, pointing to my locker, which they were leaned up against. I knew I should’ve moved my locker away from Sheridan when we first fell out. “Can I get in my locker, please?”

  Bryce saw me and looked super embarrassed, but Sheridan just smirked. “My bad, got a little caught up.” She giggled and I wanted to punch her in her teeth.

  Bryce looked apologetic, but remained quiet. I so couldn’t stand either of them. She was a backstabbing troll and he was so dumb he couldn’t see she was playing him just to get back at me.

  I ignored her as I unlocked my locker and tossed one book in, then pulled another one out.

  “So, Maya, did you get a date to the homecoming dance?” she asked, wrapping her arm around Bryce’s waist.

  “Bi—” I caught myself before I went off. I was not about to let her take me there. I took a deep breath, then smiled as I closed my locker. I ran my eyes up and down her body, didn’t say a word, then laughed as I walked off. I could feel her eyes piercing my back.

  “That is so tight how you played her,” Valerie said, catching up with me as I rounded the corner. “Everybody saw it. I hate how Sheridan acts so high and mighty.” Valerie leaned in. “If she knew the truth, she might think twice about treating people like crap.”

  That made me stop in my tracks. “What truth?” I asked. Sheridan and I had been super tight, so I couldn’t imagine there was something about her that I didn’t know.

  Valerie leaned back and smiled. “I know something about Miss Sheridan’s superstar mother, the fabulous Glenda Matthews.”

  “What?” I asked, eager to hear any dir
t about Sheridan’s mom. Glenda Matthews was one of the hottest stars in Hollywood. She had like a million Grammys, had had several big-time movie roles, and was always traveling overseas or staying at their Los Angeles home, which is why Sheridan ran out of control. They were from Miami and the plan had been that her family was supposed to be watching her, but they took Ms. Matthews’s money and left Sheridan to fend for herself. And since Sheridan liked her freedom, her mom didn’t even know.

  “Well,” Valerie began, “I heard it through the grapevine that Glenda Matthews had a kid and gave her up for adoption for a movie role because she didn’t want to tarnish her image.” Valerie stood back, I guess to take in my shock. And I was definitely shocked.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yep,” Valerie said confidently.

  “How do you know that? I’ve been friends with Sheridan for years and I’ve never heard that.” That had to be some kind of mistake. I couldn’t stand her now, but Sheridan and I used to share everything and I can’t believe she would know something like that and not tell me.

  “Sheridan didn’t tell because Sheridan doesn’t know herself.”

  I was definitely all ears now. “Get out of here. How do you know this?”

  Valerie smiled mischievously. “You know you guys aren’t the only ones that hear gossip.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She pulled me to the side and lowered her voice. “Well, I’ve got a little gossip of my own.” She looked around to make sure no one was listening. “My friend Jennifer’s mother works at an adoption agency,” Valerie whispered. “She swore me to secrecy because her mother could lose her job, but apparently, Miss Glenda Matthews got knocked up right before her role in that Cleopatra movie, you know the one that put her on the map?”

  Of course I knew about that one. Everyone did. I also knew that role had launched Ms. Matthews’s career and was the one that had put Sheridan’s mom on the map. She had been an unknown singer before that and it had ended up earning her an Academy Award and a Grammy.

  “Well,” Valerie continued, “Ms. Glenda Matthews wasn’t about to let anything stand in the way of that role, including the fact that she was seven months pregnant.”

  “How the heck did she hide that?”

  Valerie shrugged. “I have no idea. But she did. Didn’t tell a soul, then ditched her kid and kept it moving.”

  I leaned back against the wall, dumbfounded. “Wow. Just wow.” I took in her words. “But, wait a minute. If she didn’t tell anyone, how do people know?”

  “Well, she put the kid up for adoption and that’s how Jennifer’s mom found out. She was so disgusted when she saw Glenda win an Academy Award a few years ago, she broke down and told her husband and Jenn overheard her.”

  “I just can’t believe it. This is crazy.”

  “Tell me about it. So, like I said, she’s trying to act like she’s all that. If only she knew.” Valerie laughed, then looked at her watch. “Let me get to class. I’ll see you at the studio.”

  I waved good-bye and stood processing everything.

  We’d been pretty crappy to Valerie and her friends over the years. Even when I worked with Valerie on the school newspaper, I didn’t talk to her unless I had to. So, I was shocked that Valerie hadn’t already let that secret loose. But I did know one thing, Sheridan might not have known about her illegitimate brother or sister, but if I had anything to do with it, it was just a matter of time before she did know and that would be the ultimate payback.

  Chapter 14

  I was decked out in my fly Burberry silk wrap dress and four-inch Manolos. My hair was hooked up and my makeup was tight. The producers of Rumor Central wanted scandal and I was definitely about to give it to them. All thanks to a little secret I knew about Miss Evian Javid. I used her phone one day and saw a text message from one of her “girls.” Not girls the way Kennedi and Lauren were my girls, but like “they-work-for-me” girls.

  I had been fascinated when Evian finally confessed to her little side hustle, because everyone thought she was so prim and proper, but Evian was a straight businesswoman. She was actually the one who ran the escort service. She’d gotten Chenoa on board, and she had been surprised at how much money she’d earned and how fast. Chenoa had quickly recruited some more girls. I’d been stunned at how they’d been able to keep it under wraps. It wasn’t until Chenoa acted so stank in the hallway the other day, that it even dawned on me that this was exactly the type of story Tamara and Dexter wanted.I probably should’ve been nervous because I knew today’s show was about to take my beef with the former Miami Divas to a whole other level. But Maya Morgan was destined for stardom and if this was how I had to get it, then so be it.

  The makeup artist patted some of the shine off my nose, then gave me a reassuring look as if to say, You got this.

  I smiled. I knew I did, but I felt more nervous today than I had on the first show. Maybe because I knew that I was about to reach the point of no return. Naturally, the producers had been thrilled about the cheerleader story. The research team had dived in and in less than twenty-four hours had confirmed enough for us to run with. We weren’t like the real shows that had to confirm and validate everything. We just needed enough to keep us from getting sued. They were having a harder time confirming details about Ms. Matthews (yes, I had run straight to the producers and shared that story. And?) so that story had to wait. Still, I had no doubt that they’d get enough. But for now, it was all about the cheerleaders.

  I wasn’t completely stupid though. Evian’s family was ruthless so I wasn’t going to tie her to the ring, but I was going to expose it and if she started tripping with me, I would quickly remind her that if anything, she needed to be thanking me for keeping her name out of it. I had just planned to pretend the station was on to the story anyway.

  I waited for the director to give me my cue to go live. And within minutes, he was counting me down.

  “And five, four, three, two, one . . .” The director waved for me to start.

  And start I did.

  “Hey, hey, hey, what’s up? Welcome to Rumor Central, where we dish the dirt on the celebs you love,” I began. “You’ll want to make sure you don’t change that channel because have we got some dirt for you. It involves some Miami cheerleaders who are giving new meaning to the phrase ‘we’ve got spirit.’ They have spirit, yes they do. Just ask the clients of their private escort ring. That’s right, the ladies of one Miami cheerleading squad are known for their antics on the field, but it’s off the field that they are making their biggest moves.”

  I knew that it wouldn’t be difficult to figure out which school it was. We’d blurred the cheerleaders’ faces, but they still had on their maroon and white uniforms. I knew this story would make the school look bad, but Tamara wanted scandal and I had to deliver.

  “This award-winning cheer squad is great at getting the fans riled up, but they’re even better at reining the men in,” I continued. The video cut to another picture of three cheerleaders wearing sexy little outfits.

  “That’s right, rumor has it that these seventeen-year-olds are playing with the big girls.” I leaned in. “But we’re not ones to gossip, so you didn’t hear it from us. Stay with us. We’ll have all the scandalicious details after the break.”

  After the commercial, I continued spilling the dirt, tossed to another commercial break, then finished out the show.

  I’d barely taken my mic off when Dexter came racing on to the set. “That’s what I’m talking about! That’s what we need! Maya, that show was fiyah!”

  I laughed at his attempt at using slang.

  “Oh, I guarantee you that this story will be in all the papers tomorrow and that’s just what we want,” he continued, his excitement overtaking him. “We just want to be able to light a fire and it can take off from there.”

  He kissed me on the cheek and said, “You’re the best ever,” before darting off.

  “Wow,” Valerie said, easing up next to me. “I k
new you were planning to go hard, but I didn’t know you were going to like that.”

  Per Tamara’s request, I’d kept the major gossip stories we were working on under wraps. Tamara didn’t want me telling anyone because she didn’t want anything getting out ahead of time, so Valerie didn’t have a clue what stories I was working on.

  “Yeah, well, just doing my job,” I said casually.

  I looked down at my cell phone and the words in all caps filled the screen.

  YOU LOW-DOWN DIRTY SNAKE!!!

  It came from Evian’s phone.

  YOU ARE SO GOIN TO B SORRY!!

  Now this chick was threatening me? I angrily punched in a reply.

  B glad I didn’t tell who the queen of the ring is. B/c we both know I could have.

  U r so goin’ to regret this, she typed back.

  And if I do, u & ur little ring will regret it a whole lot more. No one knows ur name ... yet. F-w/me & they will.

  I tried to keep it classy, but I needed to let Evian know I would not be intimidated. Not now, not ever.

  Chapter 15

  I’d known that people weren’t going to be happy about my show, but I never expected this type of reception. As I made my way down the hallway, members of the drill team gave me the evil eye and I swear, if looks could kill . . .

  “Trifling witch,” someone said as I passed.

  I heard someone else mutter another derogatory word, but one of the things I had learned from my dad was to never let them see you sweat and I wasn’t about to give these busters the satisfaction.

  I heard someone yell, “There she is!”

  Within minutes, the head cheerleader, Chenoa, and other members of the cheerleading squad came stomping my way.

  “You are so f-ing foul,” Chenoa spat. She stepped in my face and I swear, it took everything in my power not to run because she looked like she was about to haul off and knock the mess out of me. I wasn’t a fighter, but I felt like I could hold my own if I had to. I just wasn’t trying to go there ever again.