ALEXANDRA ALEXANDRA_SINGING ARLENE BOTH BRUCE CARLOTTA COTTON DANIELLE DEREK HARRIS HARRIS_SINGING HUNTER JAHIL JUANITA LEECAN MAGGIE MAN NARRATOR PAPARAZZI PARAMEDIC_1 PARAMEDIC_2 ROLAND ROSE SIMONE SIMONE_SINGING SINGER SONG STAR STAR_SINGING WAITER WOMAN WOMAN_1 WOMAN_2 MAN Okay, so this is what happened before on Star. SIMONE You killed him! ALEXANDRA I met this girl on Instagram. JAHIL They need a manager like me. CARLOTTA Unless you get her hooked on drugs like you did Mary. COTTON Mama, we was just at the club. CARLOTTA Stop lying, boy. COTTON Girl, Mama. JAHIL There's a big music festival coming here to Atlanta. You gotta submit a demo and the deadline is in two days. ALEXANDRA If you want to manage us, show me the money. JAHIL I need a job, I need something. MAGGIE You get half tonight, along with instructions. MISS BRUCE I do know you gotta tell them girls the truth about you and Mary. SIMONE I want Mama. STAR Mama's dead. MAN Simone, when you gonna sing for us? SIMONE SINGING The joy I found. CARLOTTA Do something. Not again, God. Not again, God. Not again. CARLOTTA Lord, she's too young to go. She's just a baby. MEDIC I have a 16-year-old female upon arrival was unresponsive to painful stimuli. Hypoxic, hypertensive. We just lost the pulse. One, two, three. ATTENDING PHYSICIAN Start CPR. Pupils are reactive. Normal saline, wide open. Draw a rainbow. Let's prepare to incubate, people. MARY SINGING There's a light ATTENDING PHYSICIAN Do we have a pulse? Defib, continue CPR. Shock at 200, please. SIMONE Mama? MARY SINGING Inside of dark See the days are long and cold broken and filled with scars And I know it ain't easy to keep movin' on So you can come on home to me ATTENDING PHYSICIAN Clear! STAR SINGING Stay with me baby, I'm here for you Through the rain and the battles whatever I'll be there too 'Cuz it ain't time to go, yeah this I know We got much more to do So come on, come on back to me ATTENDING PHYSICIAN Clear. SIMONE SINGING I've been through it all, battered and bruised This life, it ain't no way for no one to live My broken spirit's had enough I can't stay The system has failed, I'm goin' through hell And I just want my mother's love again Wanna run into her arms STAR SINGING Don't go, don't go Come on back Come on home, baby, back to me Don't leave 'cause I need you back Come and lay your head down next to me MARY SINGING I know it ain't easy to keep movin' on So you can come on home to me You don't have to stay, come take my hand You've had enough I'll wipe your tears away with all of my love My love STAR SINGING So come on back MARY SINGING Come on home STAR SINGING Don't you leave, don't you go MARY SINGING Come on, baby STAR SINGING I need you here, don't leave me on my own MARY SINGING Come to my arms, let me hold you Just one time I want you home I need you close Right here in my arms So come on home to me STAR SINGING So come on back to me. SIMONE SINGER And I love myself The world is a ghetto, big guns and picket signs I love myself But it can do what it want whenever it want, I don't mind I love myself He said I gotta get up, life is more than suicide I love myself One day at a time the sun gon' shine Everybody lookin' at you crazy, crazy What you gon' do, what you gon' do Lift up your head and keep movin', keep movin' ALEXANDRA Come on. SINGER Or let the paranoia haunt you, haunt you Peace to fashion police, I wear my heart on my sleeve, let the runway start ALEXANDRA My publicist called from New York. Alexandra Crane plus one. BOUNCER You're Roland Crane's kid? All right, you're good. Have a good night. STAR Have a good night. BOUNCER Yes. You have a good night, mama, yes, you do. Yes, you do! SINGER I love myself The world is a ghetto, big guns and picket signs I love myself But it can do what it want whenever it want, I don't mind. ALEXANDRA Big! What's up! BIG BOI Hey, Ali! ALEXANDRA What's up? BIG BOI What's up? What's up, girl? Your dad know you were here? ALEXANDRA Yeah, I'm doing my own music now. He's excited. BIG BOI Excited? STAR I'm Star. We sing together. We're in a group. There's three of us. My sister's in it, too, but she's not here right now. She's at church, praying for our Grammy . ALEXANDRA She can sing her ass off, trust me. Her sister can, too. We're about to do our first demo. I want you to produce it. BIG BOI I would, but I gotta go out of town tomorrow. I'm going on tour. STAR Oh, that's perfect, tomorrow works for us. We got a deadline anyway. BIG BOI Deadline? ALEXANDRA We're entering the Atlanta NextFest. We only have two more days. BIG BOI Oh, so you just so happened to bump into me at the club tonight. Maybe we can work something. STAR All right, I think that's a yes. Can I get a selfie? BIG BOI No, no, in a minute. That was my personal space. ALEXANDRA I'm sorry. I'm sorry. CARLOTTA Why ain't she calling me back? COTTON She thinks you're mad at her. CARLOTTA Well, now I am. MISS BRUCE I'll call the bitch. She ain't gonna bounce a call on me. ATTENDING PHYSICIAN Are you the mother? CARLOTTA Yes, I am. ATTENDING PHYSICIAN She was in cardiac arrest, but we successfully resuscitated her. CARLOTTA Thank you, Jesus. ATTENDING PHYSICIAN Any idea of where she got a hold of those drugs? CARLOTTA No, I have no idea but I'll find out. When can I see her? ATTENDING PHYSICIAN The next 24 hours will be critical. So we're admitting her in the hospital for further observation. The nurse will let you know when you can see her. CARLOTTA You ever bring that garbage in my house again, we are done. CONNY Jahil. Man. I figured you was dead or in prison. JAHIL Not yet. And congratulations, man. It looks like business is booming. CONNY Hell, well, I can't complain. I like the color green. JAHIL Who don't? CONNY Don't come in here asking me for any money, Jahil. JAHIL Hey, man, it's nothing like that. Check it out. I got a new act. A girl group. CONNY A girl? Is this is 1985? JAHIL Connie, I'm telling you right now, man, they're gonna be huge. For real. I mean, wow. CONNY Look, if it ain't happened for you yet, man, I, it ain't gonna happen, baby. JAHIL Hey, Conny, check this out. Who took care of you when you were a PA, huh? So don't act like I never did you a solid before. We're on a deadline and they need a demo. CONNY And you want what? Free studio time? Come on, Jahill. JAHIL I ain't looking for a handout. I'm asking for your help. CONNY Well, you don't know how, man. All right. I got a client that only works in the day time. Your girls can take the night shift tomorrow night. JAHIL I'll take it. I like the red. ADMINISTRATOR Your daughter's full legal name? CARLOTTA Simone Brown. ADMINISTRATOR Age 16. Frequent drug use. Any history of psychiatric problems? CARLOTTA I don't think so, no. ADMINISTRATOR You don't think so. CARLOTTA She's a teenager. They, they all crazy. ADMINISTRATOR Well, we're trying to determine if this was an overdose or a suicide attempt. COTTON She has been waking up having nightmares. Waking up screaming and stuff. ADMINISTRATOR I'll need to make a copy of your insurance card. CARLOTTA I don't have insurance right now. ADMINISTRATOR The emergency room alone is going to cost over $5,000. Obamacare has some very affordable options for low-income families. CARLOTTA Who said we were low-income? STAR Yo, Simone, we just got Big Boi to produce our demo. How crazy is that? COTTON Where you at? My mama been calling you all night. STAR Huh? Why do you have my sister's phone? Where's Simone? STAR Hello? Please, where's my sister? RECEPTIONIST 1 Ma'am, you're gonna have to calm down. STAR I need to know where… Is she back there? RECEPTIONIST 1 Calm down and lower your voice. STAR Excuse me, where's my sister? Her name is Simone, she's 16, she swallowed a bunch of pills. NURSE Yes, she is stable now, we have her admitted to the hospital tonight. STAR Okay, she's back there? 'Cause I need to go see her right now. NURSE One person allowed back there, and her mother is there with her right now. STAR What do you mean her mother? We don't got a mother. STAR SINGING Stay with me, baby, I'm here for you Through the rain and the battles MARY SINGING Whatever I'll be there, too 'Cause it ain't time to go YOUNG STAR SINGING Yeah, this I know We got much more to do So come on STAR SINGING Come on back to me. SIMONE Star. Hi. STAR SIMONE I saw Mama. She was ready for me. I almost didn't even want to come back. STAR Then why did you? SIMONE For you. I came back for you. She told me I had to take care of you. STAR Our mother was a junkie. She was a junkie, Simone. And she died because of it and you will, too, if you keep doing this. You need to get it together. I can't lose you like I lost her. It took me too long to find you. SIMONE We can be like those real-life stories, you know? The ones that inspire people. We're gonna be on Good Morning, America when we're famous. STAR SIMONE Tell me about the contest. STAR Forget about the contest, Simone. It's over. SIMONE Why? Because of me? STAR Stop it, Simone. SIMONE No, I'm not gonna stop it. That song's really dope. STAR You just OD'd, bitch. SIMONE I hate hospitals. STAR Put it back in. You need to stop it. You can't leave. Simone, stop. SIMONE What if they figure out who I am? What if they figure out what we did? You really don't think nobody's gonna come up in here looking for us? PASTOR BOBBY How long you been sitting here? CARLOTTA A little while. PASTOR BOBBY How's Simone? CARLOTTA Simone is good. PASTOR BOBBY So why do you look so sad, baby? CARLOTTA I've been thinking about Matthew 13. These girls, Bobby, these girls ain't go no roots. They ain't got no religion. I can't go back and undo all that. PASTOR BOBBY Now look at us. We didn't have no roots, either. Somehow we found our way. CARLOTTA Simone is one thing. But Star, I don't know. PASTOR BOBBY Yeah, but they just got here. Go easy, give 'em a minute. CARLOTTA Yeah. Well, I should get back to the hospital. MISS BRUCE Damn, I hope she forgive me. DANIELLE Carlotta? Y'all are ride or die. MISS BRUCE You don't know that crazy girl stole all my candy. HUNTER Hello? DANIELLE She gonna be all right. HUNTER I'm looking for Star. MISS BRUCE Oh, my God, bitch, there go Hunter Morgan. Come here. If y'all don't get into it. 35 touchdowns, 68 percent completion rate. It's over for you. You turning it. DANIELLE And since when you started watching football? MISS BRUCE Since his fine ass became quarterback. HUNTER MISS BRUCE Please don't tell me you're messing with Star. HUNTER Not yet. Girl won't return my phone calls. MISS BRUCE Let me tell you something. Star way too complicated for a man like you. I see you with a more agreeable Asian type girl. DANIELLE Star ain't here. They at the hospital with their sister. HUNTER Which hospital? DANIELLE Midtown General. HUNTER Okay, thank you. STAR Simone's ready to go. Who are you? DR. KLEIN I'm Dr. Klein the on-call psychiatrist. STAR You're a shrink? She doesn't need a shrink. She's a pothead, end of story. DR. KLEIN It's, uh, it's more than pot. We think this may have been a suicide attempt. STAR But it wasn't. She feels great. She hates it here and she'd like to leave, cool? DR. KLEIN Just to be on the safe side, I'm ordering a 72-hour psych hold. STAR A psych hold? Could you give us a moment, please? Thank you. What did you tell them? Because let me remind you, you are not our mother. You barely know us. CARLOTTA Well, I'm the closest thing she has to a mother right now. I'm trying to do the best for her. STAR Since when? You gave us up. They used us for free government checks, free babysitting, free sex. CARLOTTA The man is a doctor. Do you know what's going to happen if he finds out she's a minor and I'm not her legal guardian? STAR I'm tired of your speeches. You were our mother's best friend. You should have been there for us then. JAHIL Star. Good news. We got you some studio time tonight at my friend Conny's. STAR Tonight? Uh, could we do it tomorrow maybe? JAHIL Demo's due tomorrow. Wait, this don't even sound like you. STAR No, no, it's all good. I just sound better during the day. JAHIL You're kidding me, right? Look, Hurt Park Studios at 800. I'll text you the address. An engineer will meet you. STAR Where are you gonna be? JAHIL I got some errands to run, then I'm gonna meet you there. And look, Star, this guy's a buddy of mine, all right? So no shenanigans. STAR I'm fresh out of shenanigans. JAHIL Good, cause every minute in that studio's costing me plenty. I gotta go. STAR What are you doing here? HUNTER I heard your sister wasn't feeling well. These are for her. STAR And how'd you find me? HUNTER I went by the salon and looked for you. Most girls come when I call. STAR Well, A, I've been busy, clearly. B, I'm not most girls. And C, you're gonna have to do a lot more than call to make me come. HUNTER Why are you making this so difficult? STAR Cause I'm not trying to be some whack? HUNTER Well, maybe that's what I like about you. STAR So it's not my ass? HUNTER Let me take you out. STAR Maybe. Maybe. Thanks for the flowers. HUNTER Yeah, you're welcome. PASTOR BOBBY Simone. How you doing? Is it true you tried to kill yourself? SIMONE No. They're wrong about me. I didn't try to kill myself. PASTOR BOBBY I believe you. SIMONE You know that white light thing? I think I believe it 'cause, 'cause when I, I went to the other side, I think I saw my mom. I, I believe in angels, but I don't know if I believe in God. PASTOR BOBBY God saved my life. Just the way he saved yours. When you hit rock bottom, that's when God shows up the most. He showed up for you and kept you alive. I just want you to talk to somebody. Doesn't have to be me. Talk to Carlotta. Just talk to somebody. ALEXANDRA I've been through this with my mom. The whole co-dependent mess. No one can make somebody get sober. They have to want it. And even if they do, sometimes it just doesn't work. DEREK Maybe you should move back to New York. Finish Juilliard. Go on a big world tour, meet all these new people. ALEXANDRA I thought you wanted me to stay. And it's Juilliard. DEREK No, I do. But them girls. They gonna mess you up and turn you out. ALEXANDRA Turn me out? You don't think I can handle myself. DEREK Listen, I think you're beautiful. I think you're brilliant. I think you're talented, sexy. I could go on if you want me to. ALEXANDRA How do you know? You haven't even heard me sing. DEREK Every time I ask you, you turn me down. What was I saying? ALEXANDRA That I'm sheltered. DEREK There's nothing wrong with that. I'm gonna make sure my kids are sheltered away from all this mess. ALEXANDRA What mess? DEREK I'm a black man in America. I gotta keep my head down, my mouth shut, my hands in pockets just so I can make it home alive. STAR Hey, Mahogany, get your ass out here, 9-1-1. STAR Yeah, you gotta see this place. It's too much for Simone, man, she's climbing the walls. We gotta get her out. ALEXANDRA I disagree. STAR You disagree? ALEXANDRA Your sister needs help. Professional help. My mother has been in rehab a dozen times. STAR Right. And clearly that didn't work. All Simone needs is me. She's had a hard life already. Her being in that place isn't gonna make it better, it's gonna make it worse. I'm busting her out. ALEXANDRA All right, hold on. There's guards, orderlies and how are you gonna get her past Carlotta? ALEXANDRA What are you about to do? Hello? STAR I'll show you. ALEXANDRA Whoa, whoa, yo, what are you doing? Are you crazy? STAR Come on! COTTON Why did you say that you were her mother? CARLOTTA She in the system. If they find out I'm not her mother, they gonna call social services. COTTON Well, maybe you wish Simone was your real daughter. CARLOTTA Well, maybe I do. Maybe I could give her a normal life. COTTON I'm your daughter. CARLOTTA I named you Arnold after my father. COTTON Mama, Arnold is dead. And I'm not talking about Granddaddy. I'm talking about this Arnold. This Arnold is dead. Gone. I'm getting bottom surgery. CARLOTTA It ain't enough with the boobs and the hair and the make-up? COTTON No, Mama, I need my outsides to match my insides. CARLOTTA Why would you pay somebody to mutilate what God gave you? COTTON God gave me, me. Mama. And it's not mutilation. I know a really good doctor. He's expensive. It costs $20,000 and I've saved up half already. CARLOTTA Ten grand? I know you ain't make that money answering my phones. COTTON We all do what we gotta do, Mama. CARLOTTA Yeah? CARLOTTA I'm the home owner. UNI COP 1 This way now. We didn't find any signs of a break-in. CARLOTTA Well, why would somebody just bust my windows and not take anything? UNI COP 1 Not sure. Could be just vandalism. CARLOTTA Vandalism? UNI COP 1 Yeah. Window right there. CARLOTTA Oh, Derek. DEREK Yes, Ma'am. CARLOTTA What's going on? DEREK Oh, I don't know. I heard an alarm, came outside. That's it. CARLOTTA Did you see them girls? DEREK What girls? CARLOTTA Star and Alexandra. Did you see them tonight? DEREK No, Ma'am. I just told the officers that. I didn't see nobody. STAR There you are, I've been looking for you everywhere. NURSE Uh, you have? STAR Mm-hmm. My supervisor wants me to assist in your procedure. DOCTOR Excuse me, nurse, where are you taking her? STAR Get out, get out, get out, get out. Go. Let's go, let's go, let's go! JAHIL I just got a call from Conny Reed. Why are you more than an hour late? Call me. NARRATIVE TITLE How'd it go? NARRATIVE TITLE Easy. No one asked any questions. RODRIGO JAHIL NARRATIVE TITLE Oh, no no no no. NARRATIVE TITLE Everything okay, Boss? RODRIGO JAHIL NARRATIVE TITLE No, man. NARRATIVE TITLE It's not okay. RODRIGO NARRATIVE TITLE What's wrong? JAHIL NARRATIVE TITLE I agreed to a smuggling job, NARRATIVE TITLE not a trafficking job. RODRIGO NARRATIVE TITLE Boss, I only drove the truck. NARRATIVE TITLE What do you want me to do? ALEXANDRA So, the song's called "Man." I was thinking heavy drums and maybe some reverb on the bass line, you know? BIG BOI Look at you, talking like a big shot. That Juilliard must have paid off. ALEXANDRA I never needed Juilliard. I am good, though. BIG BOI Better be. And not just using your daddy's name, either. ENGINEER Sing something in the mic. SIMONE SINGING Impossible, for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage. BIG BOI Why she sound like the high school musical? We gonna see. JAHIL Yeah? CARLOTTA Where's those girls? JAHIL Wait, what? CARLOTTA Don't mess with me, Jahil. I'm standing here with the police. JAHIL The police! What for? CARLOTTA Well, one of your songbirds OD'd tonight. Then her crazy-ass sister threw a brick through my damn window and busted her out of the hospital. I told you, you couldn't handle them. I warned you. JAHIL All right, look, just give me the information and I'll be there. CARLOTTA No, no, you give me the information. Now, they said something about a studio. Which one is it? JAHIL NARRATIVE TITLE C'mon get out. NARRATIVE TITLE Quickly. NARRATIVE TITLE Let's go! EVA NARRATIVE TITLE Please, don't do this. NARRATIVE TITLE Some of these girls aren't even 18 yet-- JAHIL NARRATIVE TITLE Relax! NARRATIVE TITLE I'm not going to do anything to you. NARRATIVE TITLE Listen to me carefully. NARRATIVE TITLE In ten minutes, the police will show up-- NARRATIVE TITLE Tell them you were brought here NARRATIVE TITLE against your will, NARRATIVE TITLE that your passports were stolen. NARRATIVE TITLE I'm leaving, but you stay here. NARRATIVE TITLE They're going to help you get back home. NARRATIVE TITLE You stay here! EVA NARRATIVE TITLE It's okay. He's a good guy. SIMONE SINGING My friends say that I'm crazy STAR SINGING You crazy, girl ALEXANDRA SINGING You crazy, girl SIMONE SINGING 'Cause I give you my love But you my little sexy baby You do it to me good STAR SINGING I like to have you all around both day and night I love the way you take me out to wine and dine ALEXANDRA SINGING They say I need to slow it down, but I don't mind 'Cause they don't understand That I don't need no man No, I don't need no man. SONG To make me feel good, let that be understood Do me like you know you should No, I don't, I don't need no man I got a real job, I got my own car And I'll protect my heart No, I don’t, I don’t need no man And you'll know I'll send you running toward the door Go, go, go They just don't understand that I don't need no man But you know that I ain't playin' 'Cause I don't need no man No, I don't need no man I don't need no man, man, man. CARLOTTA Turn off the machine. BIG BOI Is there a problem? CARLOTTA Turn it off. BIG BOI Didn't you used to sing with Mix Harmony? CARLOTTA That's none of your business. You see that girl right there? She's underage. She OD'd on drugs last night. She should be a psych ward. STAR What are you doing here? Why do you gotta ruin every single thing I try to do? CARLOTTA Your sister almost died last night and you're worried about your career? STAR My sister is fine. Simone, come in here. She's fine. She wants to be here and she wants to sing. You can go. CARLOTTA No, she doesn't. She wants to make you happy. STAR This has nothing to do with Simone. This has to do with you and me. I look like my mother, I sound like my mother and it kills you because just like my mother, I'm young and I'm sexy and I have more talent than you ever did. CARLOTTA Bitch, you ain't your mother. I watched your mother die. And I'm not about to watch it again. Simone needs help. STAR I know what she needs. SIMONE Stop. Okay, I said stop. Stop talking about me like I ain't even here. If I want to smoke weed, I'll smoke weed. And if I want to sing a damn song, I'll sing a damn song. And if I want to kill myself, I will. BIG BOI Oh, you know what? Too much drama. I'm out. Good luck, we out of here. Hey, man, tell your daddy I said hey. STAR You happy? CARLOTTA Come on, I'm driving you back to the hospital. SIMONE No, no, stop, no, I don't want to go. I want to go home. CARLOTTA You can't. The hospital called looking for you. If you not back there in a half an hour, they calling the cops. Once they do that I can't do anything to protect you. You going back into the system. HUNTER What's the emergency? JAHIL I need you to do me a favor. HUNTER All right. JAHIL It's gonna sound kind of strange, but I need you to hit me in the face. You know, bruise me up a little bit. HUNTER What, are you crazy? JAHIL Look, I'm, I'm in a jam, Hunter. Okay? So just please hit me. Come on. HUNTER No. JAHIL I need you to do this, all right? HUNTER You know how much these hands are worth? I got my team relying on me. No, ask somebody else. JAHIL Hey, I got no one else to ask, all right? I got no one else. You worried about your hands? What? This? Use this. HUNTER You're out of your mind. JAHIL Use it, use it, come on! Hunter, I'm in trouble! All right. I'm in big trouble this time, all right? So please, please hit me. Come on! Hit me! Do it! Hit me! Do it, man, do it! LEONARD What the hell happened? JAHIL You guys set me up is what happened. You told me this was a legit businessman. LEONARD He is. Brian King, he owns half the real estate in Atlanta. JAHIL Wait, what do you mean? I thought this was a local pimp. LEONARD No, this is his side business. JAHIL That don't make no sense. That dude is rich. Why would he mess with trafficking? LEONARD $500 a day per girl. That's what? 200K a year? And that shipment that you lost, that's worth $2 million a year to him. JAHIL Look, man, all I know is I did exactly what you told me to do. All right, I picked up those girls in that van and I'm headed to the drop. Next thing I know, some dude with a gun, he pulls up next to me, forces me over, kicks my ass and then he steals the van. LEONARD Where's the money, Jahil? JAHIL There ain't no money, man. I never made it to the drop. That's what I'm trying to tell you. This dude, he had some mask on so I don't know who he was. I have no idea where he took those girls. LEONARD Yeah, well, Maggie's gonna be furious. JAHIL Yeah, unless she set me up. Try to get those girls for free. SIMONE Damn, I'm so bored, man. I want to get out of here. CARLOTTA Yeah, remember that the next time you want to take a fistful of pills. SIMONE Didn't do it on purpose. CARLOTTA That's what your mother would have said if she would have lived. You know, your mother used to read to you when you were in her belly. SIMONE What would she read? CARLOTTA Poetry. You used to help her write music. SIMONE Do you have any of that stuff still? Her poetry? CARLOTTA No, I lost it. Look, I don't want you going down the way your mother did. If that's where you're going, you need to get up out of my house and do it somewhere else. SIMONE It's not the path I'm going on. It was a one-time thing, I swear. CARLOTTA Okay. So, you ready to talk now? I know you're a runaway. And I know you got somebody in your head stirring up the nightmares. So what was they doing in your last home? Was it your foster mother? SIMONE No. She just let him do whatever he wanted. CARLOTTA He beat her. SIMONE Sometimes. CARLOTTA He hit you? SIMONE No. He was real nice to me. He used to give me pot when she wasn't around. And he would keep me from school to have sex with me. CARLOTTA You ain't tell your foster mother? SIMONE No, she knew. And she liked it. She liked it. 'Cause the more he messed with me, the less he messed with her. So you want to know why I get high? That's why. Because I can. CARLOTTA Simone. It's okay, it's okay, baby. Let me tell you something. That man, he never gonna hurt you again. Swear to God. JAHIL How's your sister? STAR What happened to your face? JAHIL I got carjacked. STAR Stop it. You're a bad liar. Which is disturbing, 'cause you're our manager. Part of being a good manager is being a good liar. But you know what? You got a bigger problem. I don't think you play to win, Jahil. JAHIL Win? How am I supposed to win? I can't even get to the starting line. Look, let me ask you something, Star, why do you want me to manage you? STAR Because you'd knock over your mother to get to the top. And some people might think that's gross, but I like it. It's okay. JAHIL Then why don't you trust me? STAR I do. As much as I trust anybody. JAHIL And why didn't you come to me about Simone? Did it ever cross your mind that as your manager and hers that I might be able to help? STAR No, not really, unless you have some sort of medical degree that I'm not aware of. And besides that, I know exactly how you feel about her. JAHIL Look, Star, she's a mess. Anyone can see that. But she needs help. Real help that you can't give her. That's my personal opinion. But as your manager, she's an anchor around our neck. She's weighing us down. I got big dreams for you, Star. Not those other girls, for you. Did it ever cross your mind that maybe this isn't a life that your sister wants and this is her way out? Cut her loose. You'll both be happier. STAR No, no. I'm gonna keep telling you, no. I'm not gonna drop my sister. Wherever I go, she's gonna go. Whatever I do, she's gonna do. And whatever plans you have, they better include her. And Alexandra. And if you don't get that, then you don't get me. JAHIL All right, well, we missed the deadline for the festival. Better figure out what comes next. STAR There you go again, Jahil, with that not playing to win. We didn't miss the deadline. We've got two hours. JAHIL You should be in the loony bin. STAR That's a good idea. JAHIL It is? STAR Yeah. Let's bring the mountain to Mohammed. PASTOR BOBBY There. Let's go take a walk. I'm coming right back. ALEXANDRA We are so about to get in trouble. SIMONE SINGING My friends say that I'm crazy 'Cause I give you my love But you my little sexy baby You do it to me good STAR SINGING I like to have you all around both day and night I love the way you take me out to wine and dine ALEXANDRA SINGING They say I need to slow it down, but I don't mind 'Cause they don't understand That I don't need no man No, I don't need no man SONG To make me feel good Let that be understood Do me like you know you should No, I don't, I don't need no man I got a real job, I got my own car And I'll protect my heart No, I don't, I don't need no man And you'll know ALEXANDRA SINGING I'll send you running toward the door SONG Go, go, go STAR SINGING They just don't understand that I don't need no man But you know that I ain't playin' 'Cause I don't need no man No, I don't need no man SIMONE SINGING I don't need no man, man, man Love the way you like to hold my hand, hand, hand You’re always such a gentleman you give me what I want And if I had the choice I'd never leave this man alone STAR SINGING I like to have you all around both day and night I love the way you take me out to wine and dine ALEXANDRA SINGING They say I need to slow it down, but I don't mind 'Cause they don't understand That I don't need no man No, I don't need no man SONG To make me feel good, let that be understood Do me like you know you should No, I don't, I don't need no man I got a real job, I got my own car And I’ll protect my heart No, I don’t, I don’t need no man And you'll know ALEXANDRA SINGING I'll send you running toward the door SONG Go, go, go They just don't understand that I don't need no man STAR SINGING But you know that I ain't playin', 'cause I don't need no man No, I don't need no man SIMONE SINGING I don’t need no man, but I know you know That boy, you are the only one I wanna be lovin’ on ALEXANDRA SINGING But just don’t get too comfortable right now while I’m feeling you I’ll let it all burn, if you show me you want me to STAR SINGING I don’t need no drama in my life won’t deal with it I ain’t ‘bout to worry all night, you know this Love come wrapped up tight with a ribbon on it ALEXANDRA SINGING And I don’t need no man to make me happy, I really want you But I don’t need no man SONG To make me feel good, let that be understood Do me like you know you should No, I don’t, I don’t need no man I got a real job, I got my own car And I’ll protect my heart To make me feel good, let that be understood Do me like you know you should No, I don’t, I don’t need no man I got a real job, I got my own car And I’ll protect my heart No, I don’t, I don’t need no man And you'll know I'll send you running toward the door Go, go, go They just don't understand that I don't need no man But you know that I ain't playin', 'cause I don't need no man No, I don't need no man. JAHIL Yes.