Chapter 28
Privacy
My hands are sweating as I rush into the bathroom, hoping to find a way to compose myself. I need a distraction, a way to slip out undetected.
Korey Fields. Here, at my school.
I rush straight for the largest stall, and Gab follows me in.
“OMG! What are you doing here?”
“Me?” she snaps. “I just got here. What the hell is HE doing here?”
Gab has on a plum dress and heels, her hair down, draping over her shoulders like a shawl.
“I . . . don’t know.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Chant! I get off work early and find you like this!”
I reel back. “Damn, Gab. What’s wrong with you?”
“You know damn well what’s wrong. You’ve been lying to me this whole time! Is that where you snuck off to the other day? Did you lie to me so you could sneak around with him?”
I bite my lip, feeling like a cornered animal.
Gab’s eyes widen. “Oh God, did you fuck him?”
“No!”
“Chant . . . this is so wrong. He’s a grown-ass man. He got no business popping up at a girl’s school like this.”
“Hey! I’m not a little kid. I’ll be eighteen in six months.”
“Yeah, but clearly he can’t seem to wait that long! Which is disgusting.”
“Back off, Gab. I know what I’m doing!”
She folds her arms. “Doesn’t look like it.”
“What? Are you jealous?”
“Of you and Korey? Girl, please. I got a man!”
“A broke college student. He’s older than you, too. Hypocrite!”
Gab blinks. “You know damn well that’s different.”
“Well, whatever. We’re not dating. He just . . . gets me. He thinks I’m talented. Unlike some people.”
“What? I’m always hyping you up. I’m the reason you even met that asshole since I was the one who pushed you to do that audition.”
“Well, he really believes I’ll make it. That I have range like Beyoncé.”
Gab scoffs. “Beyoncé? That woman is a damn unicorn! You can never be her!”
I pull the knife out of my back and take a deep breath. “Ouch, Gab.”
She winces. “I don’t mean it like that. It’s just . . . boys will say anything to get some ass.”
“He’s not a boy!”
“You right about that!”
We’ve never fought like this. The unbalanced anger makes me nauseous. My phone buzzes. A text from Korey.
Come outside.
“Tell him you’re not coming! I know that’s what he’s asking.”
I stare at her, then glance at the stall door.
“Bitch, if you walk out of here, I’m calling the police! Or worse, I’m calling your mother. Don’t make me tell her everything else I know.”
I swallow, texting him quick, shoving my phone back in my purse.
“There! Happy now?”
“Look, don’t use me for one of your lies again.”
“I won’t need to. Korey is taking me on tour with him!”
“What?”
“We’re gonna sing duets onstage! We’re gonna work on my album.”
Gab chuckles. “Girl, you really are crazy if you think your mom is ever gonna let that happen.”
Chapter 29
The Proposal
My mother’s body runs mid-July-hot all year long, despite her tongue being a cool breeze after a rainstorm.
But once you get her mad, there’s no telling what category hurricane will brew.
“How dare you plaster my daughter’s face all around the internet without consulting us first?”
“Mom!” I gasp.
“Then you pop up at her school, without our permission!”
“Mom! Please!”
“I am talking to Mr. Fields, young lady,” she seethes. “Not you!”
Korey smiles from the other end of our kitchen table, with Jessica sitting beside him. Sweat forms on the back of my knees. I’m embarrassed by the homely look of our . . . home. We’re broke compared to his lavish lifestyle. But Korey insisted on driving all the way here to make his proposal.
“You’re right, Mrs. Jones. My apologies. I never intended to be disrespectful.”
I glance at the living room. On the sofa, the Littles stare wide-eyed at the back of Korey’s head. Through the front window, his bodyguards lean against their black trucks.
“Enchanted asked me, on behalf of her school, if I would stop by,” he continues. “I thought it would be cool.”
Daddy taps his fingers on the table, side-eyeing me. I bite my lip. I never asked Korey to come to my school.
“I said it before,” Korey continues. “I think Enchanted has some amazing potential. I mean, no lie, my phone’s been blowing up with producers and record labels wanting to know who this mystery girl is. I think it’s time we take the show on the road.”
“What does that mean?” Daddy says.
“With your permission, I’d like Enchanted to be a special guest on my acoustic tour.”
Mom gapes at him. “Not a damn chance in hell.”
“Mom!”
“I know it sounds crazy, right? But—”
“BUT the answer is still no,” Daddy fumes, voice taking up every corner of the house.
Korey cocks his head to the side with an amused smirk.
“If I may, Mr. and Mrs. Jones,” Jessica jumps in. “I have been working with Korey for quite some time, and what we see in Enchanted, we’ve . . . never seen in any of his other protégés. The label is really invested in grooming her, and then we can work on setting her up with her own record deal.”
Mom’s eyes widen with a jerk.
“I’m happy to act as a legal guardian,” Jessica adds. “This has been done for dozens of underage stars in the past.”
“And I’m sure Enchanted could use the money,” Korey chuckles, glancing back at the Littles, sitting next to Daddy’s freshly printed protest posters. “With school . . . and all.”
Daddy swallows back some rage. “The answer is still no.”
Mom chews her bottom lip.
Daddy’s nos are firm, walls built of concrete.
But Mom’s nos are made of drywall. Can be penetrated with the right force and tools.
Chapter 30
A Mother’s Grip
“Never Knew Love Like This Before,” by Stephanie Mills. That’s the song he sent me.
Once again, I’m wondering what he means between the song lyrics. Is he saying he loves me?
Because I think . . . I mean, I know I love him.
Never knew love could feel like this. That spent-all-day-swimming-in-the-ocean breathless feeling. I can hear the sea in my ears. Taste the salt water in the back of my throat. Korey makes me feel like home. My real home. Only mermaids can swim in emotions this deep.
I’d do anything to feel this type of love forever.
I’m sixteen years old. I’m not a child!
That’s the line from The Little Mermaid that keeps popping into my head. The way Ariel snapped at her father, even when I was little, made my muscles clench. Couldn’t imagine talking to Mom or Daddy that way and living to tell about it.