Upside Down

Chapter 2

October 17th, 1985

"Mariah! You better be up for school!"

Mariah groaned as she rolled over in her bed. She ran her hands over her face and felt the grooves from the spiral in her notebook faintly imprinted on her cheek. She forced herself to sit up and caught a glance of herself in the mirror. Her curls were a wild mess on top of her head, and she'd rather just lay back down than try to get them into any type of order.

"Mariah!"

"I'm up, ma!" She shouted back.

She lingered on the bed for a moment longer before forcing herself into the bathroom. She noticed faint pen marks on her cheek in the mirror. She ignored them and started the shower. 

She lathered her body, absently humming a melody to herself to a song that didn't even exist yet. She would always lose herself in the music of her mind.

Knock! Knock!

"Mariah, you're going to be late!"

I don't want to go to school today. 

She rolled her eyes as she shut the water off and wrapped her body in a towel. She would drop out entirely if it weren't for her mother. 

Mariah walked back to her bedroom and opened her closet to muse over outfit options. She finally settled on a tank top, jeans, and a letterman jacket. 

Mariah resumed humming the melody to the song she'd been working on the night before. At the same time, she carefully applied her makeup to her face. After the disaster of dying her hair orange a few years prior, she tried to make sure her appearance was always perfect. 

Finally, she grabbed her walkman, a Whitney Houston CD, and shoved them into her book bag next to her cigarettes. As she walked out of the door, she noticed her mother sleeping on the couch after a long night of performing. 

Maybe I'll just go to first period and then--

"Hey, Mariah! You're going the wrong way!"

Mariah smirked as she turned around and saw her friends, Jennifer and Patsy, running down the street to catch up to her. 

"I know you're not going to school," Jennifer puffed once they reached her.

Mariah folded her arms. "You two got some better plans or what?"

"Well..." Patsy started. "I got some pot at home, and my ma leaves for work soon,"

Mariah grinned at the proposition. "Okay, sounds cool."

"Do you think Allison will get us some booze?" Jennifer asked.

Mariah rolled her eyes at the thought of her drugged up older sister. "Hell yeah, you got five bucks?"

"Sweet!" Patsy shrieked. "Alright, so let's go find Allison, and by the time we get the booze my ma'll be gone, and we can smoke in the garage,"

Mariah clapped her hands. 

"Let's do it,"

October 19th, 1985

Do you know where your children are?
Because it's now 12 o'clock
If they're somewhere out on the street
Just imagine how scared they are
Do you know where your children are?
Because it's now 12 o'clock
If they're somewhere out on the street
Just imagine how scared they are--

Michael paused in his recording as he watched Diana slink into the studio. 

"Uh, Ken?" Michael turned to his sound engineer.

Ken nodded knowingly. "Sure, Mike. Let's take fifteen,"

Michael set down his headset and took a deep breath. Diana never interrupted his recording without reason. 

He walked out of the booth and meekly approached her, hoping that he hadn't angered her. He figured he had, but he couldn't think of any reason why. 

She gripped his face roughly. "Whitney Houston? Really?"

"Huh?"

Slap!

He winced as she glared down at him. 

"How dare you?"

"What did I do?" Michael whimpered.

"You offered me a song that you already offered to Whitney Houston?"

Michael rubbed his sore cheek as he stared at Diana in confusion. For a woman so adamant about keeping their relationship a secret, he couldn't imagine why she'd be so upset about being the second choice on a love ballad duet. 

He grimaced. "I didn't think it'd matter that much to you, Diane. You're always goin' on about keeping everything as quiet as possible. Besides, I just wrote you a song--"

"A song that did nothing on the charts!" Diana reminded him. 

Michael took a second to take in Diana's irritated expression. He was starting to wonder if the slight had more to do with Diana's dwindling success stateside than it did with her being offered the song as a second choice.

"It did fine in Europe," Michael responded evenly. 

She scowled at him. "Don't you start with me, Mr. Jackson,"

He winced at the foreignness of his last name on her lips. He hated it when she called him "Mr. Jackson" because he knew there would be no good following the statement.

"I'm sorry Mistress," He replied, rubbing his arm nervously.

Diana frowned and stormed away from him. He knew not to follow her unless he wanted to face more of her wrath. 

She paused at the door. "You'll be sorry alright."

October 22nd, 1985

Ring! Ring!

"Diane, who is that calling you?"

Diana glanced across the table at her older sister Barbara. 

She stirred her tea before giving a half-hearted shrug. "Take a wild guess,"

Ring! Ring!

She hadn't spoken to Michael since she confronted him at the studio a few days ago. She wanted to make him sweat. He had to understand that she was the prize he was trying to possess, not the other way around. Men had a tendency to get comfortable when they had a woman too long. 

Barbara shook her head. "Diane, now I done told you to leave that young boy alone,"

"I'm just having fun with him," Diana reasoned. "He knows it's nothing serious,"

Ring! Ring!

"Okay, Diane."

"What?" Diana threw her hands up in exasperation. "I'm being honest about it,"

Ring! Ring!

"You know that boy is in love with you," Barbara pointed out. "I'm sure he's thinking he can change your mind and that one day you'll marry him,"

Diana scoffed as she stared into her mug. "He's too young,"

"He wasn't too young when you--"

Diana sent her sister a glare. "Don't. You. Dare,"

Ring! Ring!

Barbara chuckled. "Girl, you don't scare me. You might scare him, but you don't scare me. You know what you did was wrong. You gave him hope,"

"I gave him a lot of things," Diana replied. "I still don't need to marry him,"

"Then let him go," Barbara advised. "Don't hurt him any more than necessary,"

Ring! Ring!

Diana smirked. 

"I'll let him go. When I'm done having my fun,"

Ring! Ring!