Chapter 8:
Poetry Slam
The next next the Bratz went to Megan's house for her pool party. Sure the Bratz threw the best parties, but their friends threw some pretty cool parties as well. And whenever someone at Styles High threw a party, they always made sure the Bratz were present. How could their party be cool enough if they weren't there?
The a Bratz drove up to the party at Megans big house. There were cars parked out front and the music blasted from the back.
Megan let them in. "Hey girls!" She said. "I'm so glad you're here. People have been asking about you."
"There's no way we wouldn't be here girl," Jade said. They had decided to be fashionably late for the party and the strategy worked, people were talking about them and asking for them.
They went out to the backyard where people were dancing, talking, swimming, and drinking.
Fianna, Roxxi, and Phoebe came over to them. "Omg it's the dance contest winners!" Fianna said.
"You're practically celebrities now, can I have your autograph?" Roxxi said jokingly.
"Of course, we love all our fans," Cloe played along.
"What was it like meeting Beyoncé?" Phoebe asked.
A few people who had overheard became interested and started asking about Beyoncé. The Bratz started telling them about how they talked to Beyoncé for a long time and how glamorous she was with her blonde hair and cute outfit. Maybe they exaggerated a little about how Beyonce told them they were better dancers than her and how they went out for drinks with her yesterday. But hey, no one else knew and these were the kinds of things that kept the Bratz at the top of the popularity hierarchy.
The rest of the party was spent getting a little tipsy, and swimming and dancing and flirting around a bit.
Yasmin was dance with her friends and twerking to the music. A bunch of guys were watching and were screaming and calling them sexy. Cade went over and smacked her butt.
After that song went off some of the girls ran over to the pool throwing off their bikini tops and bottoms to go skinny dipping. Yasmin went over to one of the beach chairs and pulled out her phone and saw that she had a new text message from Troy.
Hola preciosa.
She froze wondering how to respond. Troy and her were supposed to just be friends and he was calling her lovely.
Hola Troy.
What are you doing?
I'm at a party.
Jade came over to her with her bikini back in tact. "Aw man that was fun!" She said laughing. She looked over Yasmin's shoulder. "Who are you texting?"
Yasmin quickly hid her phone. "No one."
"Is it that guy from the smoothie shop?" Jade asked.
"No...!"
"Oh my god he's so sexy! The things I would do to him! Are you going to fuck him?"
"No!" Yasmin said shocked.
"I would, I like damn." She glanced behind them. "Ooh the guys are playing beer pong! Come on!"
Yasmin went off with her to go play.
Afterwards she was sitting on Cade's lap cuddling with him and kissing him while everyone else was still splashing around in the pool and making out.
Cade ran his hand up her leg and grabbed her butt. "Did I tell you how sexy this bikini is?"
Yasmin giggled. "Did I tell you how sexy you are?"
"You can tell me again," he said with a smirk. Then he pulled her to him and kissed her.
All of a sudden they heard a buzz and it was Yasmin's phone. She looked at it and it was Troy again.
Can't wait to see you at the poetry slam.
"What poetry slam?" Cade asked.
Yasmin blushed not realizing that he had seen it. "Troy invited me to a poetry slam tomorrow night."
"On a date?"
"No! It's not a date baby, just as friends..."
"When were you going to tell me about it?!"
"Cade, I just forgot about it until now. I would have told you."
"Good," he said holding her hand. Then he realized something. "Why are you texting him?!"
"He asked me for my number..."
"And you gave it to him?!"
"We're just friends Cade!"
Cade looked at her for a moment. Sure he trusted Yasmin. Yasmin was the most loyal girl at Styles High. It was Troy he didn't trust. "I'm going to the poetry slam with you."
She could tell what he was thinking. "Cade, I swear it's not a date. I told him I was interested in poetry and he told me I should go."
He forced his angry look to soften a bit but he still didn't believe it. "I'm still going."
*WW*
The next evening Yasmin went to the poetry slam accompanied by her friends and Cade. The place was a cafe she'd never been to before. Inside were tables set up, a bar, and an empty stage with a microphone on it.
"This is cool," Jade said as they went in.
"Yasmin, I'm so glad you could come," Troy said as he came towards them.
"Thank you for inviting me," Yasmin said.
"Come sit," he said leading them over to a table. A waiter came over to them and took their orders and they all ordered lattes.
"So Troy, how lot have you been into poetry?" Cade asked suspiciously as he sipped his coffee.
"A few years," Troy said. "I took a poetry class freshman year and found out I had a knack for it. It just kind of stuck since then." He turned to Yasmin. "How about you Yasmin?"
"I've been writing since I was very little," she replied.
"She's an amazing poet," Cade said emphasizing by out this his arm around her shoulders. "She's written plenty of poems for me," he said throwing Troy a look.
Troy narrowed his eyes at him for a moment. "I'm sure." He turned to Yasmin again. "Have you brought anything to read today? I'd love to hear some of your work."
Yasmin shook her head although she knew she had several poems tucked in her purse. "I'm just here to listen today."
"What a shame," Troy said. "I know your stuff is great," he said flashing her a smile.
"It is," Cade said firmly before Yasmin could say anything. He made sure Troy was still looking as he lifted Yasmin's chin and placed a very passionate kiss on her lips looking out the corners of his eyes to make sure Troy was looking.
Troy rolled his eyes at him. "I'm sure."
A guy in baggy clothes, a nirvana t-shirt, and a big curly Afro with a hair pick sticking out of it came up onto the stage and went up to the mic. "Hey everyone, thanks for coming," he said. Everyone in the room got quiet to listen. "I'm Kosi. Thanks for coming to our Poetry Slam night. For those of you who don't know, we are The Poetic Justice. We hold a big poetry slam night like this every other week. Everyone coming up tonight will be presenting their own original poetry. We've got a few presenters lined up tonight and afterwards we'll have some time open for any volunteers who want to come up and present. So without further ado, we'll have our first poet onstage, Alice."
The cafe erupted into not applause but snaps which was customary at a poetry slam.
"On a scale of 1 to 10 how hot is he?" Jade said about Kosi.
Her, Dana, Sasha, and Cloe looked at him with smoldering eyes.
"Definitely a 10," Dana replied.
"Totally," Sasha said in agreement. "Should I go for it?"
"Do you think you have a chance with him?" Cloe asked.
"If you don't go for it I will," Jade said.
Sasha pulled a compact mirror and her tube of her red Anastasia Beverly Hills lip gloss out of her purse. Afterwards she turned to her friends. "How do I look?"
"Hot," Cloe said impressed.
Sasha stood up. "I'm going in." They watched as she went over and sat at one of the front tables where Kosi was sitting. They immediately struck up a conversation and from what they could see it was going well.
Alice finished presenting and a few others went up. Then Kosi went up onstage to announce the next person. "Up next we have a long time member of The Poetic Justice, Troy."
"Good luck," Yasmin said as Troy stood up.
"Thanks," he said flashing her another smile. He went onstage and everyone stopped snapping to give him their attention. "Hello everyone, thank you all for coming out tonight. I'm going to be performing a poem I wrote yesterday called 'Mi Corazon'.
I've longed for someone to capture my soul
Relationship after relationship
Heartache after heartache
I've ached for someone to share this passion
Someone to have mi corazon
I found the girl I wanted to share my life
Beautiful, real, loving
Perfect in every way
I long for her to know
She has mi corazon
Yet somehow I must let her know
She way she makes my body ache
And how I long every day
For her love
Her beauty
Her loving soul
She knows nothing of my love
I know nothing of our future
All I know is
Ella tendra mi corazon."
Snaps rang out through the crowd again.
Yasmin was in shock. Her heart beat fast. But she tried to force herself to calm down. There was no way the poem was about her, Troy knew very well she was with Cade and said he wouldn't come between them. It had to be about someone else...right?
Next to her Cade was seething. He knew the poem was about Yasmin, what other explanation was there?! How dare this guy! He was so angry he squeezed his coffee cup too hard and broke it splattering coffee all over the table.
"Ah! Damn it Cade!" Cloe exclaimed as the now lukewarm coffee leaked onto her jeans.
Dana and Jade grabbed some napkins and started to clean it up.
Yasmin looked at Cade. "Are you okay?"
Cade grabbed some napkins from the center of the table and started vigorously drying his hands. "Just perfect," he said sarcastically. How could Yasmin not see what was wrong here?
She put her arm around his shoulders to comfort him and then Troy came back to the table. "What did you think?" He asked.
"It was beautiful," Yasmin said. She figured that could be a safe answer.
"Yeah, you're really good," Dana said.
"Who was it about?" Jade said giving Yasmin a side eye.
"Someone I used to know," Troy said nonchalantly.
The poetry slam soon ended and they were standing by the cafe entrance about to part ways.
Sasha was standing inside the door with Kosi.
"Wanna stick around?" Kosi asked her. "I'll buy you a drink."
"Sure, I'll let my friends know." She went outside towards her friends. Cloe's pants were covered in coffee and Cade and Troy were staring each other down. "What happened here?" She asked Jade and Cloe wondering how she could have missed so much.
"You missed a lot," Cloe said still pissed at Cade for spilling coffee on her pants.
"I'm scheduling a major gossip session tomorrow morning," Jade said.
"I'm gonna hang around with Kosi for a while," Sasha said.
"Oh really?" Cloe said giving her a sly look.
Sasha elbowed her. "Stop, he's just buying me a drink." She went back inside.
"Thank you all for coming tonight," Troy said. "I hope to see you here again."
"Thanks for inviting us," Cloe said. "You were great."
They parted and Cade and Yasmin were about to head to his car. "Go wait for me in the car," Cade said handing her the keys.
She knew this wasn't going to go well. "Cade, don't..."
He put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm not going to do anything wrong, I promise. I'm just gonna...thank Troy again for inviting us."
She didn't believe him. "Why do I feel like you're lying?"
He gave her a kiss. "Just trust me baby."
She sighed. "Okay." She headed over to the car and looked back to see him walking over to Troy.
"Yes?" Troy said crossing his arms smugly.
"You think you're funny don't you?" Cade said angrily.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You wrote that about her."
"You can't prove that."
"Everyone knows it! At the end you said 'she will have my heart.' No she fucking won't!"
"Ever stop to think that she might want someone who shares the same interests as her, understands her...doesn't pick fights with someone he hardly knows over ridiculous accusations?"
"You could never understand her the way I do. Just stay away from her." Cade started to walk away.
"Ella tendra mi corazon," Troy said again just as smug as before. "You don't know what you have."
"You will never have her!" Cade exclaimed. Then he went to his car.
