“What hospital are you taking her to?” I ask.
“Atlanta General,” the paramedic says. “If you know her family, can you have them meet us at the hospital?”
I nod, and start scrolling my phone for Bethany's mother's phone number. Mystique walks up next to me and says, “So I guess we can scrap our spa day, huh?”
How could she be thinking about going to the day spa when my friend is on her way to the hospital after taking some crazy drug?
“Yeah, you can pretty much scrap it,” I say. “Looks like Bethany is going to be at the hospital for a few hours and I don't want her to be there by herself. Her mother's not answering her phone. I'm going to stay with her. Do you want to go with me?”
“Absolutely not! And you don't need to go either. The press is going to be all over this, Sunday, especially when they find that Molly in her system.”
“I don't care about the press or the bloggers or whoever. Right now, I care about my friend, and I'm going to be with her at the hospital. Come on, Kevin, let's go.”
Jacinto says, “My photos are not finished.”
“This is an emergency,” I say. “We'll finish in a few days.”
“You can finish, but don't bring your drug-addict friend back here. I don't want her at my studio.”
“She's not a drug addict,” I say.
Mystique shakes her head. “You're in as much denial as she is. Somebody needs to get both of y'all some help. But she needs to go to rehab. She's been getting drugs from Zac's friends all over Atlanta.”
I stare at Mystique in disbelief. “You knew she was on drugs and you didn't say anything?”
“I'm not the boss of her, and I'm not a snitch. Evan knows about it, and she's his artist. If anyone should've done anything, it should've been Evan. He's the one planning to make money off of her. I have nothing to do with Bethany's issues.”
“Well, I do. I'm going to the hospital. Come on, Kevin, let's go.”
“Don't be mad at me, Sunday!” Mystique says. “I knew she'd get some help eventually.”
“I'm not mad at you, but I don't care how you feel right now. I've got to go and be with my friend.”
“You can't always be the rescuer, Sunday,” Mystique says.
Maybe not always, but definitely today.
15
Bethany's in Rehab!
Pop star Bethany Solaris, aka Bethany of the Reign Records crew, has entered a top-secret spa facility in Powder Springs, GA. Now we all know that it's code for rehab. Especially since one of our snitches told us that Bethany nearly overdosed at a photo shoot. It seems Reign Records is bleeding artists. First they dropped Dilly, then Big D says good-bye, and then Mystique gave Evan her walking papers. The only ones left are Bethany and the Tolliver cousins. If Evan doesn't do something soon, he'll be left with only his marginally talented wife.
I am furious when I read this blurb on BlackCelebrity Gossip.com. There was no one at that studio except me, Kevin, Jacinto, Mystique, and Bethany. And there's only one person who would've fed that story to the bloggers.
I dial Mystique on my phone. “Are you crazy?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know! That blog post you leaked to Black CelebrityGossip.com.”
Mystique bursts into laughter. “I know you don't think I'm leaking stuff to bloggers now. That's more Evan's speed. And I really don't appreciate you accusing me. I can't believe you'd think so poorly of me.”
I have just about had it with Mystique's fakeness! “Mystique, you don't like Dreya, Bethany, or Evan, so you are exactly the person I'd expect to leak this to the blogs. You keep acting like you're above the drama, but you aren't.”
“I-I'm sorry you think that, Sunday. I really am. Let's talk later, okay, when you're not feeling so emotional.”
Mystique disconnects the call, and my first instinct is to call back, but I don't. I don't want to hear her voice again. Plus, my doorbell is ringing, although I'm not expecting company.
I answer the door, and there is a cute petite girl on the other side, wearing glasses that take up half of her face. A smile explodes onto her face when she sees me.
“Oh my God. You're Sunday Tolliver. I never expected you to actually answer the door. You don't have a butler or something? Like isn't there some dude named Geoffrey that gets the door?”
I cock my head to one side. “I'm sorry, have we met?”
“Oh, I'm so stupid. I'm Lisa, and I'm here to study with DeShawn. That's okay, right? I mean, I know he was your date on the red carpet and all, and I know y'all have this Team DeShawn and Team Sam thing happening, but DeShawn said that was all for publicity. Plus, we've got a final, so, you know.”
Does this girl breathe? I'm convinced that she did not take one breath during that monologue. And what does DeShawn mean, our triangle is for publicity? Was it for publicity when he was in the kitchen on the verge of tears begging me to kick Sam to the curb and choose him?
“Nice to meet you, Lisa. Come in. I'll let DeShawn know you're here.”
Lisa steps inside and I show her to the kitchen table. Then, I go and knock on DeShawn's bedroom door.
“Come in!” he calls from behind the door.
I step inside and DeShawn is wearing a snug-fitting T-shirt and sweatpants. He's got his rhinestone earring in and has on just the right amount of cologne.
“Your study date is here,” I say.
“Who Lisa? She's not a study date. She's got great notes and we need to study for a final.”
“Oh, okay. Well she's here.”
“Send her upstairs,” DeShawn says.
I take a long pause. He wants me to send petite and perky in the tiny shorts up to his very private bedroom where he smells great and looks fine. I am feeling some kind of way about this.
“Sunday?” DeShawn asks. “Did you hear what I said? Do you mind sending her up?”
I clear my throat. “Sure. As long as you remember Kevin's house rules.”
DeShawn laughs. “The house rules? Are you jealous, Sunday? She's just my friend.”
“I'm not jealous. I'm just saying.”
“You want your cake and you want to eat it too. You can't be drooling all over the
producer
and then be trying to hate on me and my needs.”
“Your needs?”
DeShawn strokes his chin. “Yes, my need to be adored by a beautiful girl. You don't adore me, and have no plans on it. So send my fan up here so we can study.”
“Your fan? Ew! Is that how you treat your chicks?”
“I treat them just fine. Don't worry, though, Sunday. We will follow the house rules. I can accomplish quite a bit fully clothed.”
“You don't sound like you're trying to be chosen anymore.”
He laughs again. “Please. You've already made your choice. I'm just trying to roll with it.”
I leave DeShawn's bedroom and lean over the staircase. “Lisa! DeShawn wants to see you in his bedroom.”
Lisa walks up to the base of the stairs. “His bedroom? I don't think I feel comfortable with that. Can you tell him I'd rather study downstairs?”
An evil giggle rises in the pit of my stomach. I poke my head back in DeShawn's room. He's now stretched across the bed with his hands behind his head and his muscles bulging all over the place.
“Where's Lisa?” DeShawn asks in an irritated tone.
“She doesn't want to come upstairs. She said she's here to study, not be the middle-of-the-week freak.”
DeShawn grimaces and hops up from the bed. He pushes past me and jogs downstairs.
Is it unfair of me to be secretly happy that Lisa refused to go upstairs to DeShawn's room? Well, then call me a hater and catch me laughing my evil laugh. He's gonna have to move up out of here if he wants to avoid the hateration.
I mean, I
am
a girl. Even if I don't necessarily want him, that doesn't mean I want to give him over to petite and perky. Petite and perky can pull him on her campus.
And that's all I have to say about that.
I leave DeShawn and his
friend
in the house along with the rest of the roommates, because I have to visit Bethany at the rehab hospital. I promised her that I would visit while she was there, and I want to keep my promise.
When I get to the spa facility, I park far away from the rehabilitation section. I'm incognito with a baseball cap pulled all the way down on my face and big sunglasses. Although, thanks to Mystique, everyone already knows that Bethany is in here, I don't need any extra photo opportunities to go along with it.
On the rehab floor, they make all of the patients stay out in the open in the common rooms. I guess because when they're in their rooms they could get kind of depressed and want to turn back to the drugs.
Bethany looks nothing like her pop star self. She's sitting on a long green couch wearing pink sweats and tennis shoes. She's not wearing a stitch of makeup and her long brown hair is pushed behind her ears and hanging straight. Her face lights up when she sees me.
I hug her tightly and plop down next to her on the couch. “How is it going today?” I ask.
Yesterday wasn't good. They're doing a rapid detox on her body to totally flush the drugs out, and last night wasn't good. She even had two seizures and had to be sedated. But she does look better today.
“I'm okay today. I've been reading, and listening to music all day.”
“Is there anything you need?” I ask.
She lifts an eyebrow like she wants to say something mischievous, but then she says, “I could use a computer and an Internet connection.”
“Ooh, no. You don't need the Internet right now.”
“That bad, huh?”
I shrug. “It's not super bad. Most of the bloggers are wishing you the best of luck with getting it together.”
“Evan said it was Mystique's assistant who called Tina at Black Celebrity Gossip. I don't know if it was at Mystique's request or if she just overheard Mystique gossiping about me. Either way, it's her fault.”
“Yeah, I figured she had something to do with it. Jacinto is real discreet, and you know neither me nor Kevin said anything. I already confronted her about it actually.”
Bethany's eyes widen. “You did? You didn't have to do that. I don't want you to ruin your relationship with Mystique over me.”
“Come on! She's not really helping my career all that much. I think she's gonna try to deep-six me at some point just like she did Dreya. It's just a matter of time.”
“Tell me some gossip that I don't know. I need some gossip about someone besides me.”
“Well, when I left my house DeShawn had a girl over.”
Her jaw drops. “Are you kidding me? Even he isn't on Team DeShawn.”
“I don't know what he's doing. He's convinced that Sam has already won my heart, so I feel like he's giving up.”
“Has Sam won you over?”
I shake my head. “He put this video up on YouTube, and well . . . he's got me pretty sprung right now. He's moving back to Atlanta. Picked out a condo and everything. He says he wants to be near me.”
“You guys are meant to be, Sunday. That's your boo for life.”
“Everybody keeps saying that. Maybe if we say it enough, it'll be true,” I say.
“You don't believe it?” Bethany asks. “If DeShawn gives up, doesn't Sam automatically win?”
“Um, no! Sam was never really competing with DeShawn! This is about what he's going to do, and how he makes me feel. If I choose him, it won't be because DeShawn backed down. It'll be because he swept me off my feet.”
“Well, I wish you had reality show cameras following you around, because I want to be a fly on the wall for when Sam finally makes his move. I have a feeling it's going to be a good one.”
“He's gonna be at Big D's party tonight.”
“Yeah, I hate that I'm gonna miss that, but there are gonna be some people there that I don't really need to see. Like Truth.”
I scrunch my nose into a grimace. “I'm not really trying to see him either, but I've got to support Big D, and Dilly.”
She laughs. “I'm not trying to see him either.”
“Oh, yeah. Bethany, we've got to get you a good boyfriend. Maybe we could put up a profile on DateAPop Star.com.”
“Is that really a thing?” she asks.
I kick my feet into the air and laugh. “No, you nut! That is not a thing!”
“I was about to say, if that was a thing, you need to hook your girl up! I want a regular dude. Like one of those college dudes or something. What about that preacher boy in your house, Kevin? Didn't you say he likes white girls?”
Now I'm laughing even harder. “No, I said he likes a white girl, not all of y'all!”
“Oh, I misunderstood! Well, find me a boyfriend!”
Hanging out with Bethany like this, even in this setting, reminds me of how we were before we ever got a record deal. When we hung out in my living room singing harmonies and dreamed of making it big. Sometimes I wish we could go back in time and live in those moments once more.
“Thank you for coming here, Sunday,” Bethany says with tears in her eyes. “I want to get better. I do. I'm gonna stay right here until I do.”
“Whatever you need, Whooty girl, I got your back. I love you.”
Bethany throws her arms around my neck and bursts into tears. I hug her back, and just hold her, rocking back and forth, like my mom would do if I was feeling broken. This is what my mother does whenever me, Dreya, or my little cousin Manny need a little tender loving care. I guess I have the touch too, because Bethany's sobs slowly stop and her breathing calms. Next thing I know she's snoring peacefully in my arms.
I say a prayer that she can hold on to this peace until she's back together again.