Boy Trouble (4 page)

M
y cousin was the ultimate playa. He was standing next to his car (a shiny red Camaro that my dad had bought him when he moved here). He looked like he should've been shooting a rap video or something, he was in such serious mack mode.

These girls were acting like Travis was still brand new to our school. Travis was from Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, we used to be really tight. We were close in age—he was only a few months older than me, and was the brother I never had. He'd come to live with us three months ago after some drama at home, but he was still pulling in girls like he was fresh meat. The jacked-up part was most of them knew that he had cheated on Sheridan with Angel, dumped Angel for Tonya, and kicked Tonya to the curb for Vanessa. But these girls were thirsty and didn't care. Probably because Travis was easily one of the hottest guys at Miami High. He was Trey Songz fine, with smooth chocolate skin and a body that looked like he worked out religiously, although he didn't. Add to that the fact that he had a little bad-boy swag and a slamming personality, and I'd known these chicks were going to be all over him the moment he stepped on campus. And they had been.

“Travis, can you pull yourself away from your groupie for a minute?” I said, approaching him.

Vanessa rolled her eyes at me. The bootleg girls my cousin messed with weren't even in the same zip code as me, so I never gave them the time of day, even though they tried to befriend me just to get close to him. And Vanessa had to be bottom of the barrel. She always dressed like she needed to be doing one of those dollar-a-minute webcam videos. Like now, she had on some see-through leggings and a too-little sequined top. She looked like she was going to the club, not to school.

“What's up, Cuz?” Travis pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and held it up. “I got an A-plus on my history paper.”

Ugh, Travis made me so sick. He'd started on that paper at eight o'clock, the night before it was due. By ten, he was done. And he'd gotten an A-plus. I'd worked on mine off and on for three weeks and I'd still gotten a C. Life could be so unfair.

I pushed his paper away. “Whatever. Have you seen Sheridan?”

That made Vanessa's eyebrows rise and she shot me a funky look.

“Why would I have seen Sheridan?” he asked.

“Yeah, why would he have seen Sheridan?” Vanessa echoed.

“Why is nobody talking to you?” I told her. She'd been with Travis for all of two days. She needed to disappear from my presence. Like yesterday.

I turned back to Travis. “I was supposed to meet Sheridan after school and I can't find her and she's not answering her phone.”

“Well, I haven't seen her.” Travis shrugged as he rolled his essay up and put it in his back pocket.

“Dang.” I looked around. “She has my chemistry worksheet and she was supposed to be meeting me after school to give it to me. She can't be gone since her car is still here.” I pointed to her silver Benz that sat across the parking lot.

“Well, she ain't here,” Vanessa said. She had this irritated look on her face like I was really messing with her groove.

“Well, where is she then?”

Vanessa shrugged nonchalantly. “Javier dragged her off, grabbed her by her hair and threw her in some raggedy car his homeboy was driving.”

Travis's eyes bugged in shock. “He did what?”

Vanessa immediately got an attitude, wiggling her neck as she said, “And why do you care?”

“Because I don't believe in a dude putting his hands on a girl.” Travis frowned, like what Vanessa had just said was registering in his brain. I hadn't told him about Javier being disrespectful, so as far as he knew, Sheridan and Javier were cool.

Before Travis and Sheridan decided to mess up things by being boyfriend-girlfriend, they'd been just good friends. When we were little and Travis would spend summers with my family, the three of us had been inseparable. So, I knew that he wouldn't be happy to hear the news about Javier manhandling her. “You gotta be pretty lame to be laying hands on a girl,” he growled.

That made Vanessa smile. “Aww, you so sweet.”

I rolled my eyes. “Where were they going?” I asked her.

She shook her head, not bothering to hide her irritation. “I don't know. They were arguing. He didn't hit her or nothing. He just pushed her and was talking to her all crazy.”

“Ugh,” I grumbled as I pulled out my phone and punched in Sheridan's number again. It still went straight to voice mail.

I was about to say something when I saw Travis looking at his own phone funny. The expression on his face concerned me.

“Travis? What is it?”

“I just got a text. From Willie.”

“Willie? Who is Willie?” I asked.

“My mom's boyfriend.” He frowned as he swiped the screen on his phone. “Why is he texting me?” Then his eyes grew big.

“What? What does the text say?” I asked, peering at his screen.

Travis read from his phone.“ ‘Trying to get in touch with you. You need to come home. Your mom is dying.' ”

“What?” I said, snatching his phone. “Who sends something like that in a text?”

Travis snatched the phone back. “Man, this dude here.” His fingers quickly punched the screen, and then he put the phone to his ear.

“Yo, Willie, what's up? . . . Look, man, I didn't call you for all that. What's wrong with my mama? . . . Man, you'd better tell me what's going on with my mama!”

I snatched the phone because Travis was actually shaking. “Hello,” I said.

“Who dis?” the voice replied.

“This is Maya, Travis's cousin.”

I heard him grunt, then say, “Oh, the rich girl?”

“Yeah, whatever,” I snapped. “What's going on with Aunt Bev?” I didn't know much about Willie. I'd just heard Travis mention him a couple of times only to say he couln't stand him.

“You need to get Daddy Warbucks to send us some money,” Willie said matter-of-factly. “Bev ain't doing too good and she needs to be in a better hospital than this public dump. Then, all this medication dey got her on costin' a grip. Don't make no sense that we struggling and got bills out the ying-yang because she can't work. Your pops needs to wire us some money today because it done got get real real up here.”

“What does that mean?” I said. “Speak English!”

“Look,” Willie huffed, “like I said, Bev ain't doing too good. She getting sicker and they don't know if she gon' make it. I just thought Travis should know.”

“Through texts, though? Really?” I said.

“Whatever. I didn't have to get in touch with him at all. I coulda just let his ol' lady croak and not even tell him. I was doing him a favor. I didn't feel like talking to that little punk anyway. I'm just trying to let him know about his mama. Do what you want with the info. But I need you to tell yo' daddy to get us some cheddar ASAP.”

I sighed heavily. I knew it would be useless to argue with this man. “I'll ask my dad to call,” I replied, then glanced at Travis's caller ID. “Is this your number?”

“Yeah. But don't call,” Willie said. “Just send money. And tell Travis he need to get home before his mama dies.” He slammed the phone down before I could say anything else. I stood there, dumbfounded. No wonder Travis couldn't stand this guy.

“What is he talking about?” Travis asked.

I didn't want to relay all of what Willie had said until my dad had a chance to confirm things. “I don't know. Let me call Dad.”

Vanessa stood there while I dialed my dad's number. Finally, I said, “Can you excuse us? We have a family emergency here?”

Vanessa huffed and looked to Travis like she wanted him to tell her something different. But he just said, “Yo, I'll catch up with you later.” The look on his face must've told her that it wasn't even open for discussion because she just said, “Okay, babe. Call me and let me know what's going on.”

Travis didn't even acknowledge her as she walked away. He just kept staring at me. My dad's cell went to his voice mail so I called his office.

“Morgan Enterprises, this is Lorna,” my dad's longtime secretary said.

“Hi, Lorna. This is Maya. Is my dad around?”

“Hi, Maya,” she cheerfully replied. “I'm sorry, your dad is in a meeting.”

“This is pretty important. Is there any way you can get him?”

“Ooh, the meeting he's in is with some stockholders. He specifically asked not to be disturbed,” Lorna said with a worried tone. My dad ran a tight ship and I knew most of his employees were afraid of him.

“It's a family emergency, Lorna,” I firmly said. “Really important.”

She hesitated, then said, “Okay, okay, I'll let him know.” She had me on hold a few minutes and Travis looked like he was about to bust a nerve.

“Chill,” I mouthed to him. “It's probably Willie just trying to get some money. I'm sure Aunt Bev is fine.” I knew my words were useless in comforting him because my own stomach was turning flips and it wasn't even my mother.

“Where is Uncle Myles?” Travis asked after a few more minutes.

“Just hold on,” I said.

Finally, my dad picked up the phone. “Maya,” he said. I could hear the panic in his voice.

“Yeah, Daddy.”

“What's wrong, honey? Are you okay?”

“Yes, we're about to leave school and Travis just got a call from somebody named Willie, Aunt Bev's boyfriend. He told Travis Aunt Bev is dying and he needs to get home ASAP.”

“What?” my dad yelled, his voice full of shock.

“Yes, and he texted that mess first. Travis is about to go crazy,” I said.

“This guy here,” my dad mumbled.

“Daddy, what's going on?” I asked.

He blew a frustrated breath. “I don't know, sweet pea. Let me find out. You and Travis just go on to the house. I'll meet you guys there. Tell Travis everything is going to be fine. He knows Willie is over the top.”

Travis snatched the phone away from me and put it to his ear. “Unc, is my mom okay?”

I don't know what my dad was saying to him, but it obviously was enough to calm him down because his shoulders seemed to relax a little, then he said, “All right. We'll see you in a little bit.” He hung up the phone and handed it back to me. “He said for us to get to the house.”

My cousin didn't even wait for me as he climbed in his car and headed home.

A
fter the stress of last night, I should've stayed at home with Travis today. I never did catch up with Sheridan to get my chemistry paper so I was completely unprepared for my test today.

My dad hadn't been able to get in touch with Willie all evening. Finally, after my dad left a message, asking where he should send the money, Willie called back. Turned out, Aunt Bev was in pretty bad shape, but she wasn't dying like Willie made it seem. Still, Travis had been so upset all evening. And today, he said he wasn't even in the mood to come to school.

As soon as I rounded the corner after my third-period class, I knew I should've stayed at home with my cousin. I wanted to turn and go the other way. Bali, Evian, and Shay, were standing there, huddled in a circle. And from the way they were side-eyeing me, they were no doubt talking about me. It's like having my name in their mouth gave them life. The sad part was we all used to be cool, but that was back before all the drama. Back before
Rumor Central.
Evian needed to be thanking me, though, because after that fiasco a few weeks ago where she faked her own kidnapping trying to get some notoriety I could've seriously ruined her. We were all set to put her on blast on
Rumor Central
and I nixed it. I felt sorry for her, so I took up for her on the air, explaining why she'd done it, how desperation sometimes drove people too far. I made her sympathetic. Because I played it low, the story died down and the spotlight didn't stay on her long.

So, Evian needed to be kissing my pinky toe, not talking about me. I guess she knew it because as I approached them, she kind of slithered to the back like she wanted no part of what they were about to do.

“Excuse me,” I said, trying to step around Bali, who had moved his flamin' behind right in front of me to block my path. He swung his blond swoop (don't even ask) to get it out of his face. His skinny jeans looked like they were cutting off his circulation and that top looked like it had come straight off the designer's rack. Bali always did do it up big. His father was a Cuban bigwig so they had more than enough money to keep him looking fab. But, Bali had a temper that kept him in trouble.

“Hey, Diva,” Bali said with a snide grin.

“What's up, Bali?” I casually replied, trying not to act irritated. The bad part is Bali and I used to be the tightest of us all (next to me and Sheridan). Like the others, he had been upset when they'd fired the
Miami Divas
. Then, he'd gotten really mad because I'd done the story on the “Bling Ring” on my show. Bali had been among several people taking part in the Bling Ring, where some of his friends broke into celebrities' homes and stole stuff. Bali didn't steal anything, but he's gone along for the thrill and so he could film it all. He'd given me one of the videos a long time ago, and well, my producers had been sweating me for some juicy gossip and it didn't get any juicier than that video. After my story, Bali's dad had been so mad that he'd sent Bali back to Cuba to live with relatives. But that hadn't lasted long and Bali was back now, so why was he hating on me?

“So, I hear you and your girls like to let boys beat up on you,” Bali said. “Do you need my help?” He batted his mink eyelashes and tried to act like he was truly concerned.

I rolled my eyes. If I ever did get into a fight, Bali would've been the one I'd have wanted on my side. A couple of the jocks had made the mistake of trying to punk him sophomore year because he was so flamboyant. Even though he barely weighed a hundred and fifteen pounds, he'd beat them down so bad, it had generated more than two million views on YouTube.

Granted, Shay and I had a fight right after I got my own show, I wasn't a fighter. I was a suer. I would sue anybody who touched me. Don't get me wrong, I
could
fight. I just didn't because I was way too classy for that. Even still, I told Bali, “Sweetie, you don't ever have to worry your pretty little swoop about anybody ever putting their hands on me,” I said.

“Yeah, especially Bryce,” Shay said, motioning down the hall at my ex-boyfriend, Bryce Logan, who was hugged up with his girlfriend, Callie. “Looks like his hands are wrapped all around Callie these days.”

Shay was hoping to get a rise out of me talking about the girl Bryce had started dating after me. Shay knew how much in love Bryce and I used to be so I guess she thought I was going to get mad. I admit (well, I wouldn't admit it out loud) I was a little shocked that Bryce and Callie were still together. It had been almost six months now. But Bryce was the past. As if that nobody or his girlfriend were even on my radar now.

“You know, I just asked because I saw Sheridan and Javier going at it earlier and I swear he was about to slap the mess out of her,” Bali continued. I think they were all a little mad at Sheridan because she hadn't stayed mad at me over the
Miami Divas
thing. “Then,” Bali continued, “I heard about what went down at the party with Kennedi and her boo.”

“So, you know, birds of a feather,” Shay added, laughing.

“So that means you're a thieving wannabe girl, too,” I said bluntly.

Both her and Bali glared at me. “At least I'm not a gossiping, backstabbing tramp,” she shot back.

Shay and I definitely had the most volatile of the relationships. Maybe it was because she was ghetto-rich and I didn't do ghetto. Even when we tried to move forward and at least be frenemies, we always ended up fighting again.

“Shouldn't you be somewhere raising bail money?” I asked her. “I heard your daddy got arrested last night at the strip club.”

I knew it was low to talk about her dad, Jalen Turner, one of the biggest basketball players in the country and a center for the Miami Heat. Yes, he was rich, but money couldn't buy class and Mr. Turner proved that with his numerous arrests for fighting, drinking, and other stuff.

“Girl, I will knock the mess outta you,” Shay said, stepping toward me.

Bali stepped in my face, blocking her. Good thing, because I was about to take some of her daddy's millions.

“Look here,” Bali said, wagging a finger in my direction.

“No, you look,” I said, not backing down. “I don't have a beef with you, Bali. In fact, we used to be really cool.”

“
Used
to be,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“All I'm saying is, I don't want the drama,” I continued.

“We know where we stand with each other, and I'm cool with that. I'm trying to go to class, so excuse me.” I tried to step around him again, but he jumped in front of me again.

“Naw, see, you really think you're the queen bee now, but you're not.”

I sighed heavily. Why they'd picked today of all days to mess with me, I didn't know. But I was tired of being nice. “Look, Bali. It's no need to hate me. Your show didn't work, but I'm sure if you guys get together”—I motioned to all of them, including Evian, who still hadn't said a word—“and get with some of the kids from the broadcasting class, I'm sure you all can film some stuff to be on YouTube.”

“Is she throwing shade?” Bali asked, looking at Shay.

“It's all she knows how to do,” Shay said, turning her lips out.

Thankfully, our principal, Mr. Carvin, stepped out in the hall and started yelling for us to get to class. He stopped right in front of me.

“Miss Morgan, are you causing problems again?” Mr. Carvin didn't particularly care for me because he said the stories I did “made our school look bad.” But since my shine kept Miami High in the limelight, there wasn't a lot he could do about it.

“Just trying to mind my own business, Mr. Carvin,” I said. Shay and Bali coughed loudly. I ignored them and took Mr. Carvin's interruption as my cue to leave. I was done arguing with that group of losers anyway. I stepped around them and made my way down the hall.

But I couldn't help but think about what they'd said. Now, my girls' reputations were reflecting on me. I didn't let guys mistreat me, period. I dang sure wasn't about to let someone lay his hands on me. And I hated being lumped in the same category as anyone who did.

I had just made it to my seventh-period class when I saw Javier and Sheridan. And no, he wasn't mistreating her this time, but he dang sure was disrespecting her. Once again, he had his tongue down her throat. Slobbing her down, in the middle of the hallway.

“Really?” I said, approaching them.

Javier licked his lips as they looked at me while backing up from one another.

“Aww, here she come with this again,” Javier said.

“Disgusting,” I said, turning to Sheridan. “Don't you have more self-respect? You're really gonna let him do this in public?”

“It's called PDA. I know you don't know anything about it,” Javier said. He put his arm around her. I don't know why that made me feel like he was trying to stake his claim or something. I just couldn't believe Sheridan couldn't see through this mess.

It's like Sheridan had suddenly gotten laryngitis or something around this dude. She never got a word in because he was always talking for her.

“Maya,” Sheridan began. “It's not even like—”

“Nah, she ain't your mama,” Javier interrupted. “You don't owe her an explanation.”

“Ugh. Whatever,” I said. “Sheridan, what's up? You were supposed to meet with that chemistry worksheet. I've been calling and calling.”

She smiled. “Oh, girl, I am so sorry. I forgot I was supposed to be meeting you.”

I could only stare at her. I was waiting for her to bust out laughing or something, because this had to be a joke.

“Seriously?”

She just stood there looking all innocent until I finally said, “So, why didn't you answer your phone all evening?”

“Oh, I had to let Javier borrow my phone yesterday,” she said, like that mess was normal.

“Borrow your phone?” I yelled. “Who does that?”

“People in love,” Javier answered, “something you'd know nothing about. I was in a bind and my girl helped me out by letting me use her phone.”

I gave him the hand and stared at Sheridan. “He's slipping you drugs, right? I mean, that's the only explanation for how you're acting.”

“Chill out, Maya. Dang,” she huffed. “I don't have anything to hide. He can use my phone.”

I took a deep breath. “So, I guess you didn't see the many times I called her.”

Javier grinned, all stupid-looking as he hunched his shoulders. “Sorry. I didn't.”

“Whatever,” I said, pushing past him and into my classroom. I seriously was about to be done with Sheridan. If she was cool with that jerk, I didn't even know if I wanted her as my friend anymore!