Free It's Raining Benjamins by Deborah Gregory Page A

Bubbles! Luckily at that moment, Aqua runs back to the table, holding twenty dollars in her hand.
    Then she sees that Bubbles is frowning. “We
are
selling them for ten dollars each, right?” Aqua asks puzzled.
    â€œYeah,” Bubbles says absentmindedly. She is obviously thinking about something else entirely. “Oh, yeah … I’ll hang on to the money till we split it up.”
    That’s
it
! I’m so mad at her, I’m not even scared anymore to ask her about the song. “Bubbles, can I write ‘It’s Raining Benjamins’ with you?”
    â€œWhat?” Bubbles looks like she’s been hit by a truck.
    Dorinda looks at me, smiling nervously. She knows exactly what’s going to happen—Bubbles and I are about to have a big fight!
    Even Aqua stops babbling for a change.
    Poking her mouth out, Bubbles says in a really annoyed tone, “Chuchie, you couldn’t even figure out how to glue letters on the Cheetah Girl chokers. Now you’re gonna try to write songs, too?
Please
—don’t make me sneeze.”
    â€œHere’s a Kleenex,” I say nastily, whipping a package of tissues out of my backpack. “I’ll bet you I can write songs just as well as you can!”
    â€œYou two need to
stop
!” Dorinda says, jumping in before Bubbles and I start pulling each other’s hair out. She has seen us fight before, so she knows.
Ella sabe, está bien
?
    â€œChuchie, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to write the songs with me,” Bubbles says, like she is Judge Jonas on television and she’s got a gavel to pound.
    â€œThen I’m
leaving
!” I shout, wincing because leaving the Cheetah Girls is the last thing I want to do.
    â€œDon’t do that, Chanel!” Dorinda says, trying to reason with me.
    â€œNo, I’m sick of Bubbles trying to run everything!” I say. I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I’m not gonna let her see me cry. I turn to go.
    â€œCome on, y’all, let’s
all
go,” Aqua says, pushing her plate aside and getting to her feet.
    We all walk outside in silence, and head to the subway station. I’m the only one going downtown, so I take the train by myself.
    Dorinda runs after me on the platform and gives me a hug. “Don’t worry, Chanel. I’m gonna talk to Galleria. This isn’t right, that the two of you are always fighting.”
    â€œWhatever,” I say quietly, then hug Dorinda back. Bubbles doesn’t even say good-bye to me, and I act like I don’t care. If she wants to control everything so badly, then let her! She can run the whole jiggy jungle by herself, for all I care!

Chapter
8
    T he next morning before school, Bubbles calls me on my bedroom phone.
    â€œLook, Chuchie. If you want to
try
to write a song with me, then we can do it at your house before we have rehearsal later.”
    â€œOkay,” I say like I don’t care. “Whatever.” Maybe Bubbles is pulling one of her tricks.
    â€œChuchie, I
said
we’ll try to write a song together. What more do you want me to say?”
    â€œ
Nada. Pero
you could apologize for embarrassing me in front of
everybody.
” I realize I am screaming into the receiver; that I’m being “emotional”—just like Mom.
    â€œOkay, calm down,
Señorita
. I’m sorry, okay?” Bubbles huffs. “Take a chill pill,
pleez
.”
    Now I feel so embarrassed for acting cuckoo that I just say, “Okay, I’ll see you later.” I quickly hang up the receiver, then stick my tongue out at it. That’s what Bubbles does—cause trouble—just because she always wants everybody to do what
she
wants!
    We should be happy that Def Duck Records is letting us record some songs for a demo tape, but instead, all I feel is worried that Bubbles is going to try to boss us around!
    By the time I meet up with Dorinda and Bubbles at school,