Chapter 188: Too Bad, Too Bad About It

“Okay, Jade. You are on in about an hour!” The stage manager informed her. Jaden nervously sipped her hot Green Tea. She was a guest on the Ellen Degeneres show and she felt her pile of nerves twist into big knots. It had been three weeks since she had seen Michael, which she hated. But besides that, her album Daydreaming Jade topped the charts at number one and she had become an overnight sensation. Jade Ross was becoming one of the hottest things in show business. Everyone’s interest in her pecked even more as Devin was able to even more interviews, photo shoots and spots on popular talk shows such as Ellen. He even got her on tour with Alicia Keys as her opening act. Jaden had to admit that Devin was one hell of a manager. He had done more for her than probably anyone else would have done. He too was also reaching his dream as he began to get offers to take on managing more artists. He seriously considered thinking about doing it.

“La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la..” Jaden warmed up her vocal cords. She was performing on national television and she knew she had to be in tip-top shape to compete. Cassie came over with her check board, making sure that everything was beyond satisfactory standards for her. “Okay girl. Your outfits on the door, shoes to the left. Hair and makeup team are on their way to hook you up. More tea is coming…. Is there anything else I can do?” she gave her a reassuring smile. Jaden shook her head. “No girl. Everything sounds good. Thanks so much for taking care of me!” “That’s my job!” Cassie told her. “Relax, you’re gonna be amazing, I know it.” “Thanks Cassie.” Jaden told her. “I can’t help it though…I’m so nervous.” She lowered her voice. “I wish Michael was here with me.” Cassie knew that she was dating Michael but Jaden knew her assistant and close friend could be trusted. She was happy for her which Jaden was grateful for. “I know you need him here girl, but some things you gotta do on your own. You’ll be fine.” Jaden begrudgingly agreed. “You’re right I suppose.” Cassie gave her a well- needed hug as Devin barged in.

“Hey sweetheart, you ready to roll?” Jaden nodded. “I think so.” Devin’s emerald green eyes gave her a questioning look. “What do you mean, I think so? You have to be ready to go out there sing your ass off!” Jaden rolled her eyes. “Of course I’m going to sing my ass off Devin! But it still doesn’t mask the fact that I’m really nervous.” Devin brought down his intensity; as much as he wanted to yell, he had to make sure that his breadwinner was happy. She still was the ticket to his budding fame also. “I’m sorry honey.” He told her. “But you can do it, just imagine that you were in another place…someone you love is only watching you while you are on that stage.” Jaden nodded “I can do that.” She told him. “I know you can. You’re gonna blow them away J!” He brushed her cheek with his hand and walked off, informing her to let him know if she needed anything.

Jaden took advantage of the few minutes of silence to meditate and pray. Her thoughts were interrupted when the cell phone rang. “Maybe it’s Michael,” she thought as she picked up without looking at the number. “Hey!” she answered. “Um…Jaden??? Hi” said a weird but familiar female voice. “Who is this?” Jaden asked. “Hi…this is Jamie. Did I catch you at a bad time?” Oh. My. God. Jaden thought to herself. Out of all times in her life her mother wanted to call, it had to be that day. She was the last person she wanted to talk to. “Yes. Yes you did,” she coldly told her. “Listen…I’ll make this short and fast- “Jamie began. “- How did you get my number?!” Jaden interrupted her. “Your brother…Justin. He gave it to me.” “I’ll kill him,” Jaden thought. “He forgave me, you know, for my wrongdoing or whatever. I wanted to talk to you so maybe we can patch up things and become a family again. You know?” Jaden rubbed her temples together. She didn’t understand why all of a sudden her mother wanted to talk to her after all of these years. “So what are you trying to say?” Jaden curtly asked her.

“I’ve seen you… in magazines and on them MTV channels and stuff…you’ve become quite a star. I was so wrong about you. I was wrong about a lot of things. I just think that we should put the past behind us and look into the future as family.” Jaden slowly began to feel angry inside. “Oh I get it. This ***** is calling me now because I now have money in my pocket and fame!” She took a deep breath and swallowed. “You know what Jaime?” she vented. “I’m gonna take the high road and politely tell you to never call my phone again. I know what you are up to and I see that you haven’t changed since I left and as far as I’m concerned, the only family that I have in my life are Justin and Joshua. I moved on a long time ago and I’m doing very well. So please take a hint from that no good father of mine and pretend that I don’t exist in your life!” With that, she hung up the phone. Jaden closed her eyes long enough to let the anger, shock, and sadness sink in and temporary evaporate. She didn't need to think about it before such an important performance. At least that was one thing that good for nothing woman taught her; to mask all feelings aside when it came to life.

Pretty soon her glam squad came in to make her look like a million bucks. Her stylist, Tony accentuated her curly golden brown hair into beautiful cascading waves with a curling iron; her makeup artist April played up her naturally gorgeous face with subtle makeup and her stylist Sasha transformed her into a beautiful orange halter dress trimmed in gold, with gold Jimmy Choo shoes and orange and gold Swarovski earrings. She looked like a superstar with confidence.

“Five minutes!” the stage manager informed her. As Jaden stood by the stage to prepare to go out, she felt a rush of energy and excitement mix in with her nervousness. This is what she had been waiting for. This was her life. “You look amazing doll,” Devin told her from behind the stage. She turned around and smiled as Cassie raised her eyebrows and gave two thumbs up. She smiled, turned back around, and focused the audience as them just being Michael watching her and no one else; that helped her out a lot.

She heard Ellen introduce her to the audience and to the world. “Everyone please welcome the beautiful, the talented Jaaaaadddddeeeeee………”