Star – Boy Trouble

By: Gladys Luna

“God, I think we weathered this mess, but I can´t shake the feeling we´re one mistake away from everything tumbling over our heads.” – Carlotta

The girls are rehearsing a sexy choreography for Jahil (Benjamin Bratt). When they are done, he compliments both Alexandra (Ryan Destiny) and Simone (Brittany O’Grady) on their achievements but says nothing about Star´s (Jude Demorest) performance. He gives them a break and asks them to come back in order to do the whole choreography again. When Simone and Alex leave, Star confronts him on why he didn’t say anything about her. He assures her she doesn’t need his feedback since she knows she is good, but she believes his behavior towards her is just because she is with Hunter (Chad James Buchanan) and he doesn’t approve it, stating that he is clearly obsessed with her. Jahil lets her know the only person he was obsessed with was Mary (Caroline Vreeland), Star´s mother, and proves to her that he is no longer interested in her much to Star´s discontent.

Carlotta (Queen Latifah) and Miss Bruce (Miss Lawrence) are at the salon discussing Cotton (Amiyah Scott) and how missed she is at the place. Although Carlotta seems sad at the current situation between her and her daughter, she says she did everything she could as a mother. They are interrupted by Eva (Sharlene Taulé) who enters the room asking for the tasks she will be doing. Carlotta informs her about it and Miss Bruce notices a bruise on the girl´s cheek and asks about it. She tells them Star was the cause of it, telling them how the blonde also asked Jahil to choose between her and Eva – ending with the man choosing Star over her.

Back at rehearsal, Alex receives a message from Derek (Quincy Brown) that seems to unsettle her. Suddenly, a man that claims to be part of the Atlanta´s Next Fest contest comes in and introduces himself as Van Evans (Josh Ventura).

At the same time, Cotton shows up in a hurry and tries to apologize for being late on the wardrobe she was making for the girls. When they ask her how she feels she tells them she is alright, trying clearly to avoid the subject but sadness is evident in her eyes.

Jahil comes back in the room and asks Van to explain the girls what he just told him and he announces that last minute changes can´t be added to the contest which means that when Jahil decided to add Eva to the group he also signed her up to the contest. So, now they have to ask her to come back since apparently now they must be a foursome instead of a trio. Van leaves, but he makes it clear that they have until the next day to decide whether they want to accept their new reality or resign. Jahil is left with the three angry girls that lashes out on him. Alex threatens him on telling her father so he could avenge her and bury his career forever. Star punches him and all of a sudden is all about yelling and throws insults everywhere in the room. They are abruptly interrupted by Cotton telling them she is high and she wants to be taken home. Jahil leads her outside and offers to help her. Star confirms to Alex and Simone that Eva is not Jahil´s niece and they are also sleeping together. Regardless, Star´s against asking Eva to join the group again, but she is finally convinced into accepting it when Simone and Alex expose the reason to do it.

Jahil and the trio arrive at Carlotta´s house looking for Eva, but they find she has already left. Carlotta asks them about the rehearsal, but they refuse to get into further detail on what is currently happening. She asks Simone to go have dinner and then she´ll take her to her recovery meeting. Alex tells them she´s going to see Derek and his grandmother Ruby since apparently the woman has decided for Derek to use a public defender instead of Alex´s lawyer.

As Eva is no longer there, Star decides to go out with Hunter and tells them she´ll meet them the next day. Jahil asks Carlotta to give him a few minutes to talk about Cotton where he expresses his concern towards Carlotta’s daughter but Carlotta asks him no to mess with her business referring to her daughter.  Alex meets Derek and his grandmother and the woman tells them if someone is going to defend her grandson that is a black attorney. Alex disagrees with the decision, but Derek seems to agree with his grandmother´s decision. The lawyer tells him that maybe if there were cameras around the area they´ll realize he wasn’t responsible and then he´ll be free of charges. It´s a long shot but he is willing to take it.

Star and Hunter are attempting to have sex in his truck that is now parked at an isolated place. Star gets a little uncomfortable and when she asks him why he took her there he says he wants it to make it little different. Star complains and then he suggests to go to a hotel, but the blonde gets slightly offended by the proposition. She figures out all of this is because of Hunter’s mother and after a little arguing over the subject Star decides to stay on her side of the line and not meddle between him and Arlene (Nealla Gordon) as along as his mother do the same.

The next morning, the girls are faced with Eva and Jahil; they explain her the reason she is asked to be back. As expected, there´s a little confrontation between Star and Eva but after a while all is set and Simone just asks them to start rehearsing. Jahil visits Pumpkin (Missy Elliott) and asks for her help to produce a song for the girls. Pumpkin reminds him of the history they have when he was Mary´s and Carlotta’s manager and he explains to her he is just trying to redeem himself by helping Mary´s kids. He only wants a second chance. Pumpkin agrees to help him for Mary and Carlotta. And he is tremendously grateful at her.

Alex and Derek are walking hand by hand enjoying their time together when Yvonne Turner, a reporter, approaches to them and questions him about the rally. Derek gets mad at the harsh questions she is throwing at him and replies in not such a pleasant way. When the reporter sees she is going nowhere with her questions, she brings Alex´s arrest to the surface and asks her about the situation. This is something Derek knows nothing about making him even more upset so he leads Alex into his house and demands for an explanation from her. She begs him to let it just go, but he says he can´t promise anything.

The four girls are at Pumpkin’s studio recording the song the woman is helping them to produce. The lady seems very satisfied with the results, but just when they finish Eva goes straight to Pumpkin asking her to let her try on the bridge. Although the woman assures her that is Star´s part she tells them she can do it better than her so she decides to give her a shot. Pumpkin asks them to do it again except now Eva will take care of the bridge of the song. Star defends her position on the song, but Pumpkin tells her she wants to know how she does it. Eva sings Star´s part in English and Spanish making Pumpkin clap and cheer at her. Now she has Star’s part, something that makes the blonde to threaten her.

Cotton wakes up with a terrible hangover; she walks towards the kitchen where Chantal (D. Woods) is making some green smoothies which she shares with her. Carlotta arrives knocking at her door. Cotton begs Chantal to step up for her and tell her mother she is not there, but the other girl doesn’t want to be involved in any family drama so she demands Cotton to go and get rid of her. When the two women are face to face, Carlotta immediately realizes that her daughter has come back to using drugs. She tries to convince her to come back with her, but she refuses making her mother finally leave her alone.

Derek goes in search for Ms. Turner (the reporter) and tells her he has something that may change her career forever. He spills some details about the cop that stopped Alexandra and abused his power on her. The reporter seems to be interested on the story and tells him that if she uses the story it may come back on him to what he surely agrees.

The foursome of girls are rehearsing a new song, but the air is still filled with some tension that only grows when Star purposely bumps into Eva repeatedly until Jahil is forced to stop the music and scolds them. He asks them to take a break, but Star tells him this won’t work since Eva can’t dance.  Eva refuses to take a break and asks the manager to put the music back on. They begin to rehearse again, but the two girls keep bumping at each other until they put up a fight with each other making Alex and Simone to split them. Suddenly, Alex begin to laugh and tells them she has never been in a fight before making the other girls laugh as well. Jahil warns them about the short time they have until the semifinals that will take place on the next day. He tells them they won’t leave the room until they get it right, setting everyone in place and make them go back into rehearse.

Contest day has arrived and the girls are getting ready for the Atlanta´s Next Fest. All of a sudden Eva realizes her bra has come off and ask for Cotton that is nowhere to be seen. The girls try to fix it and they know they have just a short time before they have to go on stage. The first group is announced and just like that, the competition has begun. Star helps Eva to fix her costume and they get ready to go in.

When the first group presentation is over and they are heading down the stage, they try to put up a fight with Star by throwing a drink at her. Obviously, Star tries to fight back but is stopped by the other three girls. Before they go on stage, Simone suggests to say a prayer. The four of them hold their hands and Simone delivers the most beautiful and touching prayer. Finally, they hit the stage and throw and astounding performance, letting behind any disagreements.

For a moment, they are all together for one sole purpose. The moment of the truth has arrived. All the performers are on the stage wait for the verdict. Only five performers will be chosen to go to the next round of the contest. Four performers have been announced so far and the fear among the girls and Jahil keeps growing up until the contestant number five is announced: Big Trouble have made it to the finals! The girls jump out of excitement and congratulate each other. One more step closer to achieve one of their dreams.

Simone, Star and Alex are leaving the place when Hunter arrives and congratulates Star. Right afterwards, Derek shows up and does the same to Alex. Hunter asks Star to go with him as he has a surprise for her and before she leaves she makes sure Simone is ok with that. Simone agrees to leave with Jahil and Alex who is now nowhere to be seen. She goes looking for her, but is suddenly faced with the image of Jahil and Eva kissing. She listens when Eva tells Jahil that his idea of making them believe they have to be a foursome was brilliant. This leaves Simone in awe in front of such a revelation.

Hunter takes Star to a new place. He covers her eyes and then he shows her the space. Star loves it and asks him what the space is for and he confesses that he bought it for them. Star begins to cry earning a concerned look from the quarterback, but she tells him no one has ever done something like that for her before and the man says she deserves it.

Star comes back to Carlotta´s place. Simone confesses her the truth about Jahil and the lie he told them about the foursome. Simone is ready to face the man, but is stopped by Star who plans on get her revenge on Jahil and make him regret he played them.

Derek confesses to Alex that he went to talk to the reporter and told her about the cop that arrested her even though he is not sure that his story is true. As they are discussing the matter, a car crashes into them.

Jahil takes Cotton home and once again she has been taking drugs. Carlotta watches them from inside. Suddenly, Cotton tries to kiss Jahil but he stops her telling her he doesn’t feel about that way about her. She tries to kiss him again, but this time it is Carlotta who asks them to stop by confessing Jahil that Cotton is her son. Cotton leaves in angst while Jahil yells at Carlotta with tears in his eyes “What have you done?!” Carlotta replies to him with the same question. He leaves after Cotton. Carlotta goes back inside her house yelling “Jesus, what you want me to do now?” repeatedly.

And when some things seem to be finally taking its course, another big confession arrives shaking everything on its way. Dear readers, we are getting close to the big season finale.