ALEXANDRA ALL BAILIFF CARLOTTA CONNY CORONER COTTON CROWD DEREK DETECTIVE_BELKIN ELLIOT EVA FORENSICS_TECHNICIAN GRANDMA_RUBY GUARD HUNTER JAHIL JUDGE_DIAZ MAN MISS_BRUCE MISS_CARLOTTA MOSES OFFICER_LASSITER OFFICER_SWILEY PASTOR_HARRIS PUMPKIN ROSE RUTH_ANNE SIMONE STAR TATTED_INMATE MAN Okay, so this is what happened before on Star. RUTH ANNE Simone, have you seen your father? PASTOR HARRIS I didn't know you had such a lovely daughter, Carlotta. COTTON You wouldn't think she had a daughter at all. CARLOTTA Cotton is a man. He's my baby boy. HUNTER I asked if I could trust you. STAR And I asked if you were sure you wanted to give me your credit card. JAHIL You a hustler. EVA Just like you. ALEXANDRA We have a back up. Turns out she has mad pipes. DEREK This is not what we are about. You've got the wrong guy. OFFICER LASSITER Step out of the vehicle. ALEXANDRA You can't profile me, I know my rights. CARLOTTA Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. OFFICER SWILEY Alexandra Crane, you're being released. How are you doing? ALEXANDRA How do you think I'm doing? OFFICER SWILEY My partner was out of line last night. We're not all like that. I'm sorry. ALEXANDRA Mom? ROSE Look at your face? Who did this to you? Who did this to her? ALEXANDRA What are you doing here? ROSE I posted bail. Moses called me. You could have called me first. MOSES Sorry, Alex. ALEXANDRA So much for attorney-client privilege. ROSE Not when I'm footing the bill. MOSES I'm gonna take care of your release papers. ROSE Tell me what happened. Alexandra, I want to know everything. ALEXANDRA I'm fine, Mom. All I'm worried about right now is Derek. ROSE I knew that boy was behind this. We're going home now. CARLOTTA Alex! ROSE I trusted you, Carol! CARLOTTA My name is Carlotta. I told you this would happen. ROSE Get off her! You've done enough damage. OFFICER SWILEY Hey, ladies, you do realize you're in a police station. ROSE And what? You gonna beat me, too? CARLOTTA I was just leaving. Derek's getting arraigned. I'll be at the courthouse. ALEXANDRA I'm going with you. ROSE Alexandra, look at your face. You're all banged up. ALEXANDRA I'll talk to you later. ROSE Alexandra! Alexandra! STAR Where y'all going so early? Did you hear something about Derek and Alex? COTTON Alexandra just got out, and we're about to meet her at Derek's arraignment. STAR Let me get changed and go with you. Why didn't you tell me? COTTON Girl, why would she want to see you, Star? STAR I don't know. 'Cause we sleep in the same damn bed? Why wouldn't she? SIMONE Because you didn't show up for the rally, Star. And it's starting to get really boring. STAR Simone, that wasn't my fault. Whatever. You and Alex are sisters, right? With Eva? SIMONE Okay, we didn't have any choice but to use Eva! And I don't understand why you're so threatened by her, anyway. STAR Threatened? You should know better than that, Simone. She has nothing on me. Simone, are you being serious right now? SIMONE Alex! What the. ALEXANDRA It's fine. COTTON Girl, you in jail? I ain't even been there yet. CARLOTTA Shut up, Cotton. BAILIFF All rise. The honorable Judge Diaz presiding. Now hearing Derek Jones vs. The State of Georgia. JUDGE DIAZ Please be seated. Mr. Jones, you're being charged with one count of inciting a riot, one count of resisting arrest, and one count of aggravated assault involving a police officer. How do you want to plead? DEREK Not guilty. JUDGE DIAZ Given you have no priors, I'm setting the bail at $250,000. Your legal counsel will go over bail bond procedures if you choose to exercise that option. Trial date to be set at the next hearing. ALEXANDRA No, no. He didn't do it! CROWD JUDGE DIAZ Order! Order! Order! Order! BAILIFF Sit down! MISS CARLOTTA Take it easy. ALEXANDRA No. This isn’t fair. JAHIL Hello? CONNY Hey, what up, baby, it's Conny. JAHIL Hey, brother. What's going on? CONNY I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who says that your girls are in this Atlanta Nextfest competition that he's judging. JAHIL Yeah, yeah, that's right. CONNY I just checked out the video y'all got on the website. You didn't tell me you got rid of that blonde and put this Latina hottie in, though. JAHIL No, no. I didn't. Wait, you said a video on the Atlanta Nextfest website? CONNY Yeah. JAHIL Hold on. Let me check it out. Hold on. Damn. It's a hit. CONNY I tell you what, man. That new girl is fire. Put that little mami in, then we have business. I want in on this, Jahil. JAHIL Listen, I like where you're going with this, man. Thanks for looking out. I appreciate it, brother. Why don't we try to set a meeting. We can discuss it. CONNY As long as you get me what I want. JAHIL Same old Conny. I'll get back to you, brother. Buddy of mine. He's in tight with one of the judges from the Atlanta NextFest. He said somebody uploaded a video of you singing with the girls at the rally. Told me that if I needed an edge, maybe that you might be the ticket. You know, the whole Latin angle thing. EVA Who would have ever thought of it? JAHIL You know what, he might be right. We could tap into a whole new demographic. That Latin market is huge. And adding a fourth voice to the group could be just the thing we need. I'm-a add you to the group. EVA Star's not going to like that. JAHIL She better suck it up. MISS BRUCE I heard about Derek. ALEXANDRA I still can't believe it. $250K, and he's innocent. MISS BRUCE That sound about right. You know, to be so educated, you sure is stupid. Ten percent, dumbass. Ten percent goes to the bail bond man. STAR Alex! ALEXANDRA I'm okay. STAR Where's Derek? Yo, we got to get him out of there. This is crazy. CARLOTTA That's gonna be hard. Ain't nobody got $25,000 layin' around. STAR Yo, I got it. We could do a block party fundraiser! We can perform. SIMONE You know what, you're right, Star. We can raise this bail bond money by charging some sort of entry fee or something. MISS BRUCE I'll fry some chicken. I might be able to get them old, nosy neighbors of yours to get off their sorry asses and do something. ALEXANDRA Okay. So, what song are we thinking of doing? STAR I really wanted to be there last night at the rally. I really did. I was going through something. SIMONE What were you going through? ROSE Alexandra, I'd like to speak to you in private. MISS BRUCE Oh, my God, she's back. ALEXANDRA He's in there right now, and I don't know what to do. ROSE I'm telling you right now, forget about that boy. I know all about loving a messed up man, like your father. ALEXANDRA Derek is nothing like Dad! ROSE Yes, he is, darling. He wants the spotlight, too. He just wants it in a different way. ALEXANDRA You don't even know him to say that. ROSE I'll pay this boy's bail if you leave this zoo. ALEXANDRA I'm not just going to abandon him. Right now, I feel like I'm doing something that's important and real to me. And besides, I don't need your money. Miss Carlotta and the girls are throwing me a block party fundraiser. ROSE Do you really believe these people are going to pay for him to get out? I mean, for God's sake, Alexandra, they can't even afford to pay attention! Let Moses help. He's been our family lawyer for ages. ALEXANDRA Okay. CORONER African American male, 6'3", weighing approximately 210. Single bullet wound to the chest. And by the recent stab wounds on his back, I'd say this was personal. DETECTIVE BELKIN I'll run his DNA through the system. It shouldn't be too long before we get an ID on this guy. TATTED INMATE Got some new fish up in here! I see you boy! GUARD Come on, pretty boy. ALEXANDRA Derek. GUARD Uh-uh! No contact. MOSES I just got the report about the officer. This isn't good. If you're lucky, they'll offer you a plea deal with a minimum of five years. ALEXANDRA But he's innocent, Moses. BLM would never do anything like this. Are they even trying to find the goons that crashed the rally? MOSES Look, unless somebody comes forward with new evidence, you're their number one suspect. DEREK Can you give us a moment, sir? MOSES Sure. GUARD No contact. DEREK That plea deal? I might consider that. ALEXANDRA Are you insane? That's like admitting you're guilty. I mean, they know other people aren't involved. Something will come up a video or something. DEREK Alex, stop it. It's me up against a bunch of pissed off cops. I won't have a fair trial. They've been after me for months. ALEXANDRA Derek, look at all you've fought for. You'd give that up now? DEREK It's already been decided, baby girl. That's how the system works. ALEXANDRA When I met you, you said that you were gonna save the world. But you can't even save yourself. Maybe you're not who I thought you were. DEREK Maybe I'm not. STAR Cross up down. Cross up down. Why do you miss it every time? I don't know. Open hand, open hand, open hand, open hand. S'all good. SIMONE Star, you ever been locked up? STAR Yeah, couple times. Petty stuff, assault. Why are you asking me? You a some-timey bitch. SIMONE And you got a big-ass head. STAR What's up? How's Derek? ALEXANDRA His head's getting twisted talking about taking a plea deal. STAR That's what they do to you, man. They're trying to get in his head. ALEXANDRA We can't raise $25K at a block party. STAR We got to try. SIMONE Her mom Tell her STAR What about your mom? Why don't you ask her for some help? ALEXANDRA Never. SIMONE Well, I wonder who else has got money? STAR Who? No. No. I can't. His mom is still mad about that shopping spree. ALEXANDRA You know, the last thing I ever want to do is beg you, but I'm desperate here. I mean, you can at least ask, right? STAR I cannot believe I'm about to help your super rich ass. ALEXANDRA Bring it in. STAR What is this? SIMONE It's called kindness. STAR I hate it. Get off of me. JAHIL Good afternoon ladies. Alex, you doing all right? ALEXANDRA Good. JAHIL Anyway, listen, somebody actually posted a video of your performance on the Atlanta NextFest website. And I'm telling you right now, the reaction to it, the response has been off the charts. I've never seen anything like it. STAR Oh, my God, there are 30,000 views on this. I'm not even in this! That's not okay. ALEXANDRA 30,000 overnight? SIMONE Oh, my gosh, that's so dope. ALEXANDRA Yeah, it is dope. STAR Can we have a word? Get on the phone and tell them to take that video down right now. If you want to continue being our manager, you would have already done it by now. JAHIL Look, Star, 30,000 likes is no joke. Okay, that video is on fire. Besides, the judges have already seen it. And you know what, I've got a plan. STAR If your plan doesn't involve getting that video pulled, I'm not interested in hearing it. JAHIL Star. Star! COTTON I had a really good time tonight, Elliot. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. Wait, wait. Babe, I got to tell you something. I wasn't born a woman. ELLIOT Wow. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Where you going? Where you going? Get back in the car, close the door. You are the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen. COTTON But there's more, babe. I I still have a penis. ELLIOT Wow. Who named you Cotton? COTTON This pimp I used to work for. ELLIOT I know you said you weren't into Asian dudes. I hope I don't let you down. CARLOTTA Well, thank you for coming by. PASTOR HARRIS Always. I was thinking. CARLOTTA No. No, negro. No thinking from you, you know them girls is upstairs. COTTON Hey, Pastor. Mama, you up late. PASTOR HARRIS I'm Bobby. Who are you? ELLIOT Elliot Wu. I'm a friend of Cotton's. I was just walking her inside, making sure she got home safe. COTTON This is my mom, Carlotta. ELLIOT Ma'am. CARLOTTA Hello. ELLIOT Well, I better get home. Thank you for a wonderful evening, Cotton. COTTON Bye, baby. Thank you. ELLIOT It was a pleasure to meet you, Pastor. PASTOR HARRIS Likewise. ELLIOT Ms. Brown. PASTOR HARRIS I'm-a go ahead and cut out. It was good seeing you, babe, okay? CARLOTTA Okay. Who the hell do you think you are, parading a John up in my house? With my pastor here, no less. COTTON Who you think you are, sleeping with your pastor? That was a real date, Mama. He actually likes me. CARLOTTA Yeah? All of you? He know what you got between your legs? COTTON He does know! And he likes all of it. CARLOTTA Cotton, wait. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just been on edge since this whole riot thing and Danielle, and it's just. Look, I know you're saving up for this surgery and everything, but can't you just put it off? You know, Derek could really use that money. COTTON Derek? You gonna slap me in my face and turn around and ask me for my money for Derek? No. I already scheduled my sex change surgery for next week, so no. Praise the Lord. STAR You know, Derek's in jail. We're trying to raise the $25K for his bail bond by having this block party fundraiser. I figured since you're an NFL player, hometown pride or whatever, you might want to donate to a good cause. Five, ten K or something. Isn't that called, like, a tax write-off for people like you? HUNTER I guess you were just waiting until you got me into a vulnerable position to ask me for money, huh? STAR No, that's not what I'm saying. HUNTER I mean, you must just think I'm some dumb, rich jock you can easily play. STAR Hunter, you're trippin' right now. I just. HUNTER I mean, is that all I am to you? Huh? A side hustle? You know, you're just like all the other gold digging sluts I've ever had. You want some money? Huh? You want some money? Here. Take some money. Here, take it. Take some money. Take the money. Take it. Take some money. STAR You know what? Take this ten grand and buy your ugly-ass mom another tanning booth. You mama's bitch. HUNTER'S MOM What's going on in here? ALEXANDRA How'd it go with Hunter? STAR We'll find another way. We always do. SIMONE You okay, sexy? STAR No. SIMONE Tell me what's wrong. STAR It's all good. ALEXANDRA Weren't we just supposed to start a girl group? Now look at us. I just got arrested, Star's a friggin' WAG, and somebody killed Otis. SIMONE You forgot the whole loony bin part. Do you think Destiny's Child ever went through something like this? ALEXANDRA Nah. Now, TLC? They for sure did. STAR It's all good. We still got our eye on the prize. Let's go, we got so much do to for this block party. Let's rehearse. Ready? Let's see if I remember this. GRANDMA RUBY Is this thing on? I know most y'all think I'm just a drunk and I like to get high. But I want to thank you all. I got myself together to thank you all for raising money for my grandson, Derek. I want him out of there. He's all I got left, and you all know he's a good boy. Please, y'all. You got to help me. I can't do it by myself. MISS BRUCE You'll be all right, Miss Ruby. We gon' get him out, right? We gonna get him out. Hey, Miss Ruby. I got some Blue Dream back at the house when you get home. GRANDMA RUBY Hey, now! MISS BRUCE All right, y'all ready to turn up? Put your hands together for Star, Simone and Alex. COTTON I said y'all better work! MISS BRUCE All right, y'all, give it up one more time for Star, Simone and Alex and the Ponytail Sisters. All right, so, I got a special guest who wants to say a few words before y'all start shaking your asses. Y'all know him as the quarterback for our beloved Talons. He is the very legendary, very talented, incomparable Hunter Morgan! HUNTER Thanks, Bruce. Actually, I have a surprise of my own tonight for a very special lady. My guest is not only a living legend, but quite possibly the coolest person on this planet. Everybody, put your hands together for Pumpkin. SIMONE Oh, my God! This better not be happening. I must be hallucinating again. PUMPKIN What up. Yeah. Y'all looking real good. I see y'all. So, look. I came out here from Cali just to talk to y'all. Now, tonight is about raising money for a community hero, Derek Jones. Right? 'Cause y'all see what's going on out here in these streets. Gunning people down like animals. And I think it's messed up that they trying to do him dirty like that. And personally, I'm sick and tired of seeing injustices play out the way they do with our young brothers. But see, Derek, he one of the lucky ones. He's still alive. And even though he's locked up right now, he has a chance. So I'm asking all of y'all, 'cause y'all looking real good, to dig deep into your pockets, your wallets, Gucci bags, whatever you got, to help his cause. I truly appreciate y'all. Thank you. Y'all ready to get this place cracking? No problem, baby, let's get it. STAR Hey, Pumpkin, I just wanted to say I would literally kill somebody to work with you one day. PUMPKIN Be careful what you wish for, girl. CARLOTTA Pumpkin. PUMPKIN Oh, snap! Carlotta Brown from Mixed Harmony? Dang, woman! How long has it been? CARLOTTA Too long. PUMPKIN You remember that night at Summerjam? CARLOTTA Girl. PUMPKIN We were so broke we had to share each other's shoes. And you remember when my heel come off? I'm dancing around like eh, eh. CARLOTTA Yeah, but you had everybody going eh. I said, "No way. They so stupid. They don't even know." PUMPKIN Girl, we crazy. CARLOTTA Oh, my goodness. PUMPKIN Well, what happened to that girl, Mary? CARLOTTA Oh, Mary. She passed away a few years back. But you're looking at her baby right here. PUMPKIN No way. Girl, you got a voice just like your mama. STAR Thank you. PUMPKIN And you got a good dude that would do all of this here. That's somebody you need to stick with. Hunter's a keeper. Well, Carlotta, it was good seeing you, girl. CARLOTTA Good to see you, too. Keep doing your thing now. 'Cause you made it. You made it. PUMPKIN Star, we'll talk later, girl. STAR Please. PUMPKIN I'll see y'all. CARLOTTA All right. STAR For sure. CARLOTTA I'm going to head over here and pack up the booth. ALEXANDRA Hey, beautiful people. Thank you so much for coming out for Derek. MISS BRUCE Come on, y'all. Free Derek. Free Derek. ALL Free Derek. Free Derek. Free Derek. Free Derek. MISS BRUCE Shh. Quiet down ALEXANDRA Tonight, we raised $14,942 for his bail bond. STAR All right, people, you don't got to go home, but you got to get the hell out of here. Thank you for coming. Have a good night! Thank you for giving. SIMONE We still need about $10K. STAR What are our options? It's not like we got time. CARLOTTA Hey. COTTON Hey. CARLOTTA I support what you're doing. I know you're doing what you got to do. COTTON Do you really mean that, Mama? CARLOTTA I do. I know over the years, I've given you a hard time, but I just want us to move forward. You're still my baby. COTTON I love you, Mom. CARLOTTA I love you, too. You know, I want us to get a blessing. I'm-a call Pastor Harris and see if he'll come over and just talk to us. I know you don't do church. But I know you know the Lord, Cotton. COTTON Okay, Mama. ROSE Alexandra? ALEXANDRA Mom, you were right. I want to come home. I'm not cut out for this life. ROSE What changed your mind? ALEXANDRA Derek's talking about taking a plea. It's stupid. Mom, I don't think I want that type of guy. But I do want to help him before I leave. His bail is short. You told me if I'd come home, you'd help him. Help him. I'm coming home. ROSE Okay. I'm proud of you. You came to your senses. We can be wheels up at 1000 a.m. sharp. ALEXANDRA I'll be ready. ROSE Wonderful! I'll set it up. ALEXANDRA Hey, Sprocket. ROSE I love you, my darling. ALEXANDRA Love you, too. STAR All right, Jahil. We'll see you in a minute. Jahil wants us to meet him at the studio in, like, an hour. All done. Where's Alex? SIMONE I don't know. She left early this morning, didn't say where she was going. Oh there's Prince Charming. I got to go shower and get ready. STAR All right. Find Alex and tell her to meet us later. SIMONE Okay. STAR What are you doing here? Please leave. HUNTER I haven't slept. I'm a wreck. And I really, really need to talk. STAR So talk. HUNTER I know there's no excuse for what I did. I don't know what happened. I just snapped. I've never done anything like that before. I guess I've been burned by so many crazy bitches that I just lost it. And I'm so sorry. STAR So you thought you could bring me Pumpkin and it would all be forgiven? Because no. HUNTER I know that that will never be enough of an apology. I don't expect for you to forgive me just like that. What I'm asking for is another chance. STAR I can't do that right now. HUNTER Where are you going? STAR For a walk. Alone. PASTOR HARRIS Cotton, 20 years ago, I broke off my relationship with God. I was in this exact place. The Church was no place for a sinner like me. I asked for God to put forgiveness in my heart. And only through prayer, I was led back to God. COTTON I'm doing this for my mother. PASTOR HARRIS And she appreciates you for it. I'm going to ask that you join my hand in prayer. CARLOTTA Let me get my bible. PASTOR HARRIS Hold my hand in prayer. Bow our heads as we pray. Dear Lord, forgive us for our failures. Guide this mother and child relationship the way it ought to be. CARLOTTA Yes. PASTOR HARRIS I call on you Lord as I pray. This young soul has been lost for so long. Please, God, bring Arnold back to his mother. Let Arnold renounce this gender confusion and purge him of sin! As Deuteronomy 225 says A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the lord your God detests anyone who does this. Please, Father God, refute the demons inside this child. Open your heart. Do you accept the lord Jesus Christ as your savior? COTTON I don't know. Yes, I want to. PASTOR HARRIS Do you accept the lord as your savior? Say it right now. Say it. COTTON Yes, yes, I accept God. PASTOR HARRIS Your name is Arnold. You were born a man. "I am a man." Say it. Say it. "I am a man. My name is Arnold." Say it with conviction, believe it from your heart. Say it. "I am a man." COTTON I'm not a. PASTOR HARRIS "I am a man." Say it. COTTON I'm a man, Mama. PASTOR HARRIS Thank you, father God. COTTON Don’t touch me. You set me up. PASTOR HARRIS I was just trying to help. CARLOTTA Get out. Get out. PASTOR HARRIS You asked for my help. You did. Both of y'all are confused. STAR Do it. Pull the trigger, you stupid bitch. What's wrong with you? Put that gun down. Put that gun down. Cotton. Do you know how nasty your room would have looked if you had pulled that stunt? Would've had to clean blood out of these glitter curtains. Are you laughing? What happened? COTTON I can't believe my mama would do that to me. STAR At least you got a mama, I guess, crazy. COTTON Is Simone rubbing off on me? STAR I think so. ROSE Where are you, dear? You should've been here an hour ago. ALEXANDRA I'm not coming. ROSE What do you mean you're not coming?! Moses posted bail for that boy. ALEXANDRA I realized something, Mom. I've never felt this way about anybody in my life. And I can't just leave. ROSE Alexandra, we had a deal! ALEXANDRA Yeah, just like all those times you made deals to take me to the Nutcracker if I poured you one last drink, but you were too drunk. I never saw it. Or how you and dad made a deal to launch my solo career, but Dad squashed it 'cause he didn't want me on his label. ROSE This is exactly what I was talking about, the influence of those street girls they have on you. ALEXANDRA Please, Mom. I learned these street smarts on my own. Besides, ten grand is like a Chanel bag for you. Don't worry, I'll pay you back. ROSE You really love that boy, Alexandra? ALEXANDRA Yeah. I really do. ROSE Mark my words, he'll break your heart. ALEXANDRA I'll call you back later. PASTOR HARRIS I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. Who am I to judge? FORENSICS TECHNICIAN We ran your John Doe's DNA and it came back a match to the one in a car. We ran the plates and it's a rental. Last rented to an Otis Leecan. DETECTIVE BELKIN Otis Leecan? I have an open case on him. Looks like we got our John Doe. ALEXANDRA Derek's still got to go to trial, but at least he's out. SIMONE I still can't believe you pulled that on your mom. I didn't think you had it in you. STAR I did. JAHIL I'm glad you guys are here. STAR What is she doing here? SIMONE Is this about Atlanta NextFest? STAR This better only be about handling what we discussed. JAHIL Look, I wanted to talk to you all earlier, but I didn't really get a chance. So, here's the deal. I have an inside sources at the Atlanta NextFest. The competition is a lot more fierce than I thought. And I'm not really feeling like I want to lose this thing. I'm expanding our audience. I'm adding Eva to the group. STAR Okay. I quit.