“Listen, Tender,” Kat said, “If you don’t get the fuck out there on dat stage, I don’t know where your ass iz gonna stay tonight. But it won’t be my house. Now you can either get up on dat stage or pack ya shit.”

Goldie gave Kat a look that said, maybe she was going a bit too far. Goldie didn’t like what she was saying, but she wouldn’t challenge it.

Tender’s heart sank. Wasn’t Kat supposed to be cool peoples? Wasn’t she suppose to be her homey? Then how could she issue an ultimatum like that?

“Aiight, I’ll go.”

Tender made her way to the stage. Just in time for the club’s M.C. to announce her arrival.

“We got Tender comin’ to da stage, to do her thing, wit her fine sexy self. Fellas, show some love. Come up off them dollars,” he urged.

The DJ then put on one of the hottest songs out. It was one of those rump-shaker anthems. “Turn it around let me see something …” Mr. Cheeks rapped.

Tender smiled, but inside she felt thrown to the wolves without a weapon. She tried to keep her focus on the music and just dance. She looked randomly in the eyes of this, that and the other man standing in front of her. She was glad the DJ played a song she liked. She dipped and turned. She wound her hips. She panned the crowd with a pointed finger opening her arms like she was ready. By the lustful looks and the hooting and hollering, she must have been putting on a good show. She didn’t give a fuck about these guys, they didn’t know her struggle. They didn’t count. She thought, I’m in this for the money. She imagined that she was alone in her room, dancing to the radio. The sex-starved crowd showered her with dollars and even bigger bills here and there. Goldie had to come on stage and help her gather up her loot.

Kat wore the smile of victory across her face, as she watched from the wings. She knew that Tender had it in her. All she had to do was push the right buttons. Desperation breeds a lot of things in the streets. When a person is fueled by it, there are no limits to how far one will go or what they will do.

After their set was over, Tender and Goldie gathered up all the scattered dollar bills that lay on the stage. They rushed back to the dressing room to refresh and regroup.

“Tender,” Kat said as she entered the door beaming, “you wuz da bomb. Them niggas went crazy. They wuz sweatin’ you hard as shit! …”

Tender smiled at her. But it was a front. She was not feeling Kat at all. Not after she flipped on her earlier. Kat was wrong.