"Carlotta," Alex yelled.
" Yeah?"
"Where you at?" Artemis asked.
"I'm here." She called from her wig room.
"We never get to come in here," Alex said as they walked in.
"It's cool." Artemis and Simone said at the same time.
"It's like Lord of the Wigs in here," Alex said making Artemis laugh.
"Shut up. See, that's why this room is off-limits." She told her making Alex laugh.
"Miss C, what is you and Miss Bruce's obsession with wigs all about?" Simone asked her.
"It's not a wig obsession. It's an attitude. A lifestyle." She told them.
"Okay."
She picked up a short pink wig. "See, this girl right here, she's telling you, "I'm mellow. I'm-I'm just relaxed. Everything is all good." She told them before picking up another.
"But this one right here..." a short blue curly wig making them laugh.
"Mm."
"She's like, "I'm feeling myself."
"Uh-huh."
"I'm ready to hit the club, get my groove on. See what's going on out there." She said making them laugh.
"Looks like you haven't worn that one in a while," Simone told her.
"Yeah, you right. Give it to Miss Bruce for a makeover." She said handing Simone the wig.
"And, uh, what about this one?" Artemis asked as she held up a short curly wig with green in the front and black in the back.
"Scare the hell out of a bitch." She told her
"I can tell." She said handing it to her.
"Come on, who coming for you wearing this?"
" Not I." Alex said as Star kept laughing.
"Not one person," Artemis told her laughing.
"Little bouncy," Simone said as she put the blue wig on, and Artemis put on the pink wig.
"Y'all, know we got to be on point for this meeting, right?" Miss Carlotta told them getting serious.
"Yeah, we know," Star told her.
"Do you? I mean, when is the last time you had to impress a label head?" Miss Carlotta asked them.
"This is an out-of-date conversation because labels are old-school. That's not what people care about anymore; it's about views and uploads and likes on the Internet. The music game is changing." Star told her.
"It ain't changing that quick. You still got to play the game. Ayanna Floyd ain't no joke, so just follow my lead in there."
"Yes, ma'am," Star said.
"Carlotta, how's it feel being on the other side of things now?" Alex asked her as Miss Carlotta put her wig on.
"Feels good." She told them as she looked in the mirror making the girls smile.
......
^ Artemis's outfit.
"So, what do you think?" Miss Carlotta asked as they finished watching their performance from Atlanta NextFest.
"You won a talent show. And although your sound is decent, it's not distinct." Ayanna told them.
"Excuse me?" Artemis and Alex said at the same time.
"Cranes, your father came out of the gate swinging. I can name every song on his debut album. You two don't have that, sweethearts." She told Alex and Artemis making them look at each other in disbelief.
"That's because he whored himself out and licensed every cut," Artemis told her.
"No, it's because his album was curated on the pureness of his sound." She told her making Artemis look her up and down.
"Well, have you listened to all the music?" Miss Carlotta stepped in.
"I've heard all of their music. Their lyrics are uninspired. I'm not saying that every track has to be Winehouse, Joplin, or Mary J, but until the lyrical pool they're swimming in is deeper, that's my thought." Ayanna told them more so directing it towards Alex and Artemis.
"I know you just got here, but we been here for five months and we have nothing to show for it. That's my thoughts. We have an expiration date I know that. If we don't get our studio time in, we're done. We're not just gonna let you do that." Star told her.
"You're very low on my list of priorities."
"So we may or may not be here?" Simone asked her.
"They need an image rebranding, and that Rachel Dolezal look's got to go." She said pointing at Star Artemis wanted to laugh at that joke but it wasn't the time.
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. Simone, your unique shape needs to be handled more delicately." She said to Simone.
"Carlotta?"
"I'm speaking. We need to make sure that you're not accentuating what you don't have. Alex, Artemis you're both a bit of an ice queen. Image is everything, especially when I can go out on YouTube and get the next Ed Sheeran, so warm it up. Artemis you're a pushover when it comes to your parts you let the others push your voice back when you could easily push forward." Ayanna told them.
"Look, you and I can discuss the image later. Where does that leave us for now?" Miss Carlotta asked her.
"On my label. And the last I checked, being on any label as a talent show winner is a good look. So, it's not nothing. For now. Thanks for coming in." She said dismissing them.
......
"Quit slamming doors in here." Miss Bruce yelled as Star, Artemis, and Alex angrily walked into the salon.
"This is a business. Put them dirty towels in this trash bag." Miss Bruce said to Star as she kicked off her shoes.
"Alexandra, clean the sinks out. Artemis you have a client coming in. Where's Carlotta?" Miss Bruce asked.
"At the label, trying to make the new president like us," Star told her.
"Or not hate every song Alex and I ever wrote," Artemis said as she started setting up her station.
"What you buying now?" Star asked as she looked at Alex's phone.
"None of your business."
"That's not gonna make you feel better about us," Star told her.
"It might."
"Bruce, she really tore us apart. She said I looked like Rachel Dolezal." Star said making Artemis bust out laughing as she sat down beside Alex.
"Who is that?"
"Ima show you later Miss Bruce." Artemis said.
"The point is, Bruce, this lady is vicious, and she don't like us. And she can end us any time she wants." Star said.
"Carlotta your manager, right? Let her manage. That's your problem... you want to control every damn thing." Miss Bruce told her.
"It don't matter who's managing me, Bruce. I'm not gonna stop looking out for myself." Star said standing up.
"Ayanna said she can find new artists online," Artemis told them.
"There are bomb-ass singers popping up everywhere, every day," Alex said finishing Artemis's sentence.
"So what if she finds us?" Star asked them.
"What do you mean, find us?" Artemis asked her.
"We been at that label, what, five months? They're not gonna get us with any producers. They're not gonna shoot a video for us. We got our own songs. Why don't we shoot our own?" Star told them.
"We don't have money. for a music video." Alex told her.
"We know a couple dudes in Atlanta we can finesse to bring out their cameras and shoot something," Star told them.
"Did you not hear her say she didn't like our music?" Alex asked her as she walked over to her.
"I'm telling you, if we take that song and we shoot a little 2000s cheap video, people will watch it," Star told her.
"It's not just one thing this lady doesn't like about us. She has a whole list." Artemis said standing up.
"What else she say?" Miss Bruce asked.
"She said that I'm cold."
"You is."
"And that we need a new look," Star said.
"You do."
"She said not only am I cold but a pushover."
"You is," Miss Bruce said making Artemis look at her in shock.
"Look, if y'all trying to get this lady attention, you need to switch it up." Miss Bruce told them.
"Nah. I'm good." Star said sitting back down.
"Ornery ass. Sit down." Miss Bruce said standing up.
"What?"
"I'm about to teach you how to slay this bitch." Miss Bruce told Alex making Star and Artemis giggle.
"Oh, God." She said as she sat down.
"Ain't nothing wrong with wigs and weaves." Miss Bruce told her.
"Girl, I got to see this." Cotton said getting up and sitting next to Artemis.
"We got scissors," Star said.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" Alex said moving away.
"Girl, turn around. Ain't nobody finna cut your hair." Miss Bruce told her.
"Cut it! Make it look like yours." Star egged on.
"You better shut up." Miss Bruce said making Artemis laugh.
"Artemis you next I got a colored wig that will fit you.." Miss Bruce said making her smile.
^ Artemis's new hair.
"You nervous? You look nervous." Star said as she looked at Alex.
"Yes, I would like to see," Alex said anxiously.
"It's cute," Artemis told her as she handed Miss Bruce the mirror to give to Alex.
"Oh, my God. I mean, how many more of these can you make?" Alex asked as she looked at herself in the mirror.
"Mm-hmm. Told ya. Now you're about to drag that record lady to the floor with this one. What about you Artemis?"
"Miss Bruce oh my God I love it I need like six more of these thank you," Artemis said as she fluffed her hair in the mirror.
"And what you got to say?" Miss Bruce said asked Star.
"I look different. But I ain't no different. Carlotta might know labels, but I know how to get attention. That's what we're about to do with these." Star said.
"Well, I'm about to go show Derek. Thanks, Miss Bruce." Alex said as she handed back the mirror and got up.
"Mm-hmm."
"The hell you do with this?" Star said as she looked at her hair.
"Girl, wrap it, honey." Miss Bruce told her.
"It's so flat."
"Wrap it that way, fool."
"I'll show her how to do it, Miss Bruce. Now my man is here." Artemis said just as he walked into the salon making Miss Bruce and Star look at Skyh as he came in.
"Damn," Skyh said biting his lip as he walked over to her.
"You like it?" Artemis asked while she posed.
"I love it." He said as he watched her with a smile.
"Now look at this fine man right here Mr. Skyh Brooks the prince of baby making music." Miss Bruce said walking over to them.
"How you doing gorgeous?" Skyh asked Miss Bruce making Artemis smile.
"I would be better if you were my man." Miss Bruce said flirting back making Skyh laugh.
"You better go on now Miss Bruce that's my man," Artemis said gripping his beard and kissing him as Skyh wrapped his arms around her.
"Mhmm nasty ass." Miss Bruce said walking away making Artemis pull away and laugh.
"I'll see y'all later," Artemis said as she and Skyh left out the salon he opened the door for her and closed it after making sure she was in safely before hurrying over to the driver's side.
"So, what's wrong with you?" Skyh asked her as they walked into his condo Artemis went straight to the kitchen.
"Nothing," Artemis said as she pulled out the knife and cutting board before she could open the fridge Skyh stepped in front of it making her roll her eyes and move to the cabinet to get a pot.
"Artemis I know when something is wrong with you." He said pulling her away from the kitchen and going into the living room.
"So what's wrong?" He asked her again making her sit on his lap.
"The new head at the label went in on my music. She said it was ordinary. She just sounded just like my dad and saying that his album was curated on the pureness of his sound and that we don't have it." Artemis told him as he wiped her tears.
"Come here. One thing you're not is ordinary you've worked hard on your music trust me I've listened to it." He said wrapping his arms around her as she cuddled into him.
........
"All right, we got to move, like, now. What's the hold up?" The director asked as Star, Artemis, and Alex were taking pictures.
"I'm sorry. Uh, Simone. Hurry up." Star told her.
"Simone."
"You look cute," Star told Simone as she walked over.
"You four upfront. Dancers in the back. I'll be moving this camera. You look right at me." He told them.
"Okay, are you gonna be able to get it all shot and edited today? That's all we care about." Star asked him.
"In enough time for me to take your fine ass out tonight."
"Yeah. We'll talk about it if you get it done."
"For real? All right, people, we're burning daylight. Let's go!"
"Gross, bitch."
"Ew Star," Artemis said laughing as she took her place.
"She actually is rich."
"Okay, so... "
"Well, what you think? So you gonna post it on your website or not?" Star asked Rachel.
"Can't you post it yourself?" She asked them like it was common sense.
"Why do you think we brought you here? What, we have to kiss her ass, too?" Star asked her smartly.
"Look, Rachel." Artemis started.
"This is so stupid," Star said rolling her eyes.
"You know nothing in Atlanta gets buzz without its biggest social media queen, which is you," Artemis told her with a smile.
" I try."
"So you gonna post it on your site?" Simone asked her as she walked over Rachel looked Simone up and down checking her out.
♪ ♪
"Tell you what. Kiss from little mama and you got yourself a deal." She told them.
"I'm sorry. A kiss?"
"Who...?" Artemis and Alex said as they crossed their arms.
"I didn't stutter."
"That's all you want? You just want a kiss and you'll post the video? Okay. Come here." Star said as she started to walk to her.
"Not you. Her." Rachel said looking at Simone making their eyes go wide.
"Me?" Simone said pointing to herself before taking a step closer to Rachel.
"Simone," Star said in disbelief.
Artemis smirked as Simone pulled Rachel into a kiss.
"That was hot," Artemis said fanning herself while Star and Alex was in shock.
Simone pulled away from the kiss and stepped back with a smirk making Rachel cleared her throat.
"Congratulations, ladies. Y'all are about to break the Internet." She told them
"Oh!"
Everyone clapped while Star looked over to Simone who just smirked.
.....
"Where y'all been?" Miss Carlotta asked them as they walked into the salon.
"We shot a music video and had Rachel Wells upload it," Star told her.
"Why would you pull a stunt like that? You know Ayanna already don't like y'all. I just dodged one lawsuit, they walk me right into another one. You know she'll sue us for everything we got, right?" Miss Carlotta told them.
"Ain't much." Miss Bruce said.
"Okay. Yeah, we need to hear her out. You make a point." Alex said to them.
"Yo, let her come for us. Who cares? At least she's paying attention to us." Star said.
"What's wrong with you, Star? Why wouldn't you run this past me first? Take the video down." Miss Carlotta told them as Alex watched away.
"No. We're not taking the video down till we know she's seen it."
"No, that's what you don't want, is for her to see the video. Take it down." Miss Carlotta told her.
"We fought our way into that label, so we're gonna have to keep fighting. If Jahil was here right now, he'd be in Ayanna's face, not mine." Star said making Artemis shake her head, she was the first one who wanted him fired.
"You're really trying me right now."
"I'm not. No, I'm not trying you, Carlotta. I'm doing what I got to do, like always."
Artemis just shook her head as she watched them go back and forth before her phone rang she saw it was Skyh Face Timing her so she took the call outside and sat down.
"Wassup baby," Artemis said as his face popped up.
"Guess who wants to sign me and Noah,"
"Empire? You said that was your top pick."
"Nah baby Midtown."
"Aw, shit for real are you taking the deal?" She asked getting excited for him.
"Yeah, I'm taking it, it's what's best since a bunch of labels don't want to take Noah which means they don't want me either, I would rather be at a label that wants me." He told her making her nod her head in understanding.
"I'm happy for you label mate." She said making him roll his eyes.
Just as he was about to say something Noah called him.
"Alright, I gotta go sign my contract I'm picking you up tonight." He said before hanging up.
.......
"So we're stalled until our contract expires?" Simone asked.
"I thought Atlanta NextFest would have us leap-frog all this crap," Artemis said as she and Alex lay on the bed.
"I think the video might have backfired," Star told them making Artemis sit up and look at her with the "really" face it was her idea for the video.
"Backfired? We got bitch-slapped to square one." Simone told her.
"I wouldn't disagree with that, but if you were there, you would've seen it. There's something in her eyes that said she really loves us." Star told them making Artemis roll her eyes.
"Yeah, and so did the other 10,000 people that viewed that video before she took it down. That doesn't mean we have an album release date." Artemis told her.
"But it does."
"Star, make sense," Simone said to her clearly over this.
"We got under her skin. That's all that matters. She can deny anything she wants, but she cannot deny talent and we have it, she knows it, and she can't control it. That freaks her out. She's gonna put all of the money from the label behind one album, and it's going to be ours." Star told them.
"Look, if she doesn't drop us, she's gonna ride out the terms," Alex told them.
"And then do what?"
"Whatever the hell she wants. Like, she can have us doing scratch tracks, backup. Do you want to do backup?" Alex said.
"So we keep grinding. That's what we do."
"We've been on the grind, and where has that gotten us? Cause we still don't have a drop date. Every time we take one step forward, we take 30 steps back." Artemis told her as she crossed her arms.
"Yeah, and we keep trying to prove ourselves over and over and over again, Star!" Simone yelled.
"This is the hustle that we chose! We could be doing a lot worse. Yo, we are in this. I'm not about to tap out."
"Fine, okay. Then we need to talk to Miss Carlotta and come up with some sort of game plan to fix all this mess." Simone said as Star sat down beside Artemis on the bed.
"I'ma just say it. Maybe Carlotta's part of it." Star said making them look at her.
"A part of what?" Alex asked her confused.
"Maybe she's not the one to get us all the way there. I love Miss Carlotta. We all do. She's family. But for this group, for what we want and what we need right now, maybe we got to have somebody with the same hustle we got, who thinks outside the box. She might be too old school." Star said making them look at her in disbelief they couldn't believe Star was saying that.
"We're not firing Miss Carlotta. Period." Artemis told her as she got up from the bed.
"Miss Carlotta's family."
"We got to do whatever it takes, right?" Star asked them.
"You're ruthless," Simone told her before going into the bathroom and slamming the door.
Alex and Artemis couldn't believe that Star would want to fire Miss Carlotta someone who opened her home and looked out for them, they looked at her before both of them walked out the room.
.......
"Can you believe that Star wants to fire Miss Carlotta?" Artemis said pacing back and forth as Skyh was getting ready to go into the booth to record.
"What?" Skyh turned to look at her when she said that.
"Yes, she wants to fire because she feels as though Miss Carlotta can't get us ahead when in all actuality it's Star because she wants to rush everything." Artemis vented as she kept pacing.
"Baby, baby stand still for a second," Skyh said as he held her shoulders.
"I need you to breathe and calm down I understand that it's a lot with the label and but you need to relax." He told her as she took a breath before going to her bag and lighting up her blunt.
"This is what I need," Artemis told him blowing out the smoke making him laugh before taking the blunt. and the lighter from her and heading to the booth.
"Start the music for me I want to finish this cover." He said as he sat down on the stool he had in there.
"No, he didn't he could have at least left the lighter." She said as she pulled another blunt out of her bag before starting the music.
A/N: I love Eric Bellinger's voice 😭😍
"He must want me to fuck him singing like that," Artemis said fanning herself as he finished.