Page 18 of The Prodigy 2: Rise of a Queen

DJ Polo cut the music on the last line and let the crowd scream it out. It was electric.

I started dancing again. Terio’s flow was crazy, and the beats made it easy to vibe to and, well, get drunk to. I drank through two more songs until I was stumbling off the bathroom to relieve my bulging bladder.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror as I washed my hands. I looked different. Better, for sure, but also…I don’t know…more confident. It could have been the alcohol, but I really wanted to believe what my drunk eyes were telling me. I looked good. And I looked like IknewI looked good.

Just as I was walking out, some girls were walking in. One of them ran right into me.

“Sorry!” I said, even though it wasn’t my fault.

“Oh, my bad. Wait…”

I looked up and into the face of that bitch who threw a drink at me. Her hair was pink tonight, and her dress was white, but it was her.

“Aye y’all, this the bitch Kari wifed. The one I was telling you about.”

My eyes focused long enough to see that she was with two other girls. They didn’t look mean, but when it’s three on one, temperament don’t matter. And I’d never been in a fight before.

But I really wanted to clock this bitch.

I weighed the pros and cons and realized it probably wasn’t worth it. So I eased past them and took a few steps, and that’s when shit went left.

“I just talked to yo nigga last night, bitch!”

I whirled around, almost falling in the process.

She looked proud as hell talking about my husband. “Yeah, hoe. You told him to block me, but he was all up in my ear last night tellin’ me I was on his mind.”

I saw red. I’d always heard of that happening to people, but I’d never experienced it. Until today.

Her eyes followed me as I stalked back toward her. She was squaring up when her gaze shifted to the left, and then she froze.

“We got a problem, ladies?”

I turned in the direction of the voice. It was Jaz.

The pink bitch took a step back and shook her head. “Nah. We good. Just a little disagreement. It’s all good.”

“Cool. Tell your mama 'nem I said hey.”

Without another word, pink bitch and her friends walked in the other direction. I was almost disappointed. I really wanted to hit her.

“Damn, Jaz.”

She shrugged. “They know who I am, and they know I keep it on me. They ain’t want no smoke.”

“Well, thank you sis. Out here havin’ my back and shit. Look at us.”

She laughed. “That’s what family does. Now, bring your drunk ass on. We finna turn all the way up!”

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