Star Power by Kelli London

him.
    â€œOh, it looks like you’re going somewhere,” Mya said. A smile was pasted on her face while she nodded toward Nia and the keys she had in hand. “I wanna roll.”
    Charly ping-ponged her eyes between the sisters, and she could tell from Nia’s expression that Mya tagging along wouldn’t be good for her plan. She didn’t know what the tension was between the sisters, but she could feel it, just as she knew she’d get to the bottom of it. “Maybe next time? The cameramen will have to ride, so there won’t be any room because of their equipment,” she kind of lied. Yes, they’d be following, that she was sure of, but they’d be in a separate car.

5
    C harly ran into the pharmacy, headed straight to the candy aisle, selected a pack of gum, then made her way to where the stationery was located. She needed to buy time and, also, a notebook. She’d taken up the habit of taking pictures of all the shots she wanted to remember, but she couldn’t bring herself to use the Notes app in her phone to recall words. Putting pen to paper just felt better to her. Ever since the last English class she’d taken, she couldn’t help it. There she’d learned more than words and proper verses improper use, and how much of an educated crab her teacher had been. She’d been taught the art of note taking and how writing things down helped her to remember. This time, she needed to keep track of her to-do and must-do lists, and conceive of a way to accomplish getting everything done for Nia. That would require sketching a hierarchy. She had to start with imagining the finished product, and then work backward from there to accomplish it, she decided, not letting herself be wooed by the dozens of notebooks in front of her, tempting her with color or design. She shrugged and picked out one small enough that she could carry in her bag, and headed to the checkout. She whipped out her phone while she was standing in line and scrolled through her contacts.
    â€œRory? This is Charly,” she said, after dialing. “I need you. Where are you?” She moved up as the line shortened to just one person in front of her.
    â€œSista. Sista. Sista. A sista’s in East Jesus, right now,” Rory said, with noise clanking in the background.
    Charly reared back her head in wonder and walked in front of the cashier. She put her items on the counter, then covered the phone. “Excuse me, miss?” she asked the older woman, who looked to be in her sixties. “Can you please tell me how to get to East Jesus? How far is it from here?”
    The cashier, who’d already begun to ring up Charly’s gum and notebook, looked at her like she was Satan himself. “East Jesus?” She fingered a cross on her neck. “You tryna be funny, child?”
    Charly shook her head, then looked at her watch. She’d been in the pharmacy at least five minutes, which was enough time for her plan, she thought. “No, ma’am, one second.” She turned her attention back to her phone. “Rory, you did say you were in East Jesus, right? Where’s that?”
    Rory started laughing. “Girl, East Jesus ain’t a real place. It means I’m out in the middle of nowhere. Unless you gonna come scoop me, I won’t be back until tomorrow, I guess.”
    Charly apologized to the cashier, told Rory to text her the address, and disconnected the call. She paid for her stuff, took her bag, then sped out of the automatic door. Rory wasn’t any help, she realized, when she’d jogged to the car and hopped in. “Sorry, it’s not ready yet,” she lied to Nia. “Seems there must’ve been other prescriptions called or brought in or something. They said it could be at least an hour.” She reached into the bag and pulled out the gum. “Have some?”
    Nia shook her head. “An hour? I don’t know, Charly. I have so much