Cookie shot her an icy stare, but said nothing. She realized she was outnumbered right now. All her home girls were in the club working. Now was not the time to be brave.

It was no secret that Kat hated Cookie with a passion. They had had numerous run-ins with each other over the years, over everything from stolen items to mutual customers and matching outfits. What Kat really couldn’t stand about her was the fact that people kept telling her how much they looked alike. She thought they only said this because they both were light-skinned with light eyes. To her, that’s where the similarities began and ended. Kat thought she looked better than her, straight up and down.

Somehow they always seemed to bump heads. Kat felt like she was trying to steal her style. She was stepping on her toes purposely. Imitation may have been the sincerest form of flattery but not in Kat’s book. Several times she stepped to Cookie about it. They ended up damn near fighting—but nothing changed. If anything, the situation escalated. Kat was a hothead. It didn’t take much to light her fuse. Cookie wasn’t really a threat to her. Kat knew she could mop the floor with her. The biggest threat to Kat would come from within her own clique.

Yet another reason why Kat disliked Cookie was because she was a prostitute. When she first got into the game of stripping, it was Cookie who tried to pull her into her pimp’s stable. Kat saw through their shenanigans. She didn’t need nobody to pimp her because she wanted all the profits for herself. Why work like a dog all year round in all kinds of weather, only to hand over your hard-earned money to somebody who didn’t help her make it. To her, all the pimps and streetwalkers who had infiltrated the club scene were messing up the game—her hustle. As a result of her rejecting their offer, Kat and any other girl who didn’t fall under a pimp’s umbrella were labeled renegades. A title she wore proudly. Tender was puzzled by the whole situation. She didn’t know the details of Kat and Cookie’s history, so she just stayed quiet, playing it by ear.

“Let da track hos stay on da track. And da clubs hos stay in da club! You bitches iz in da way,” Kat barked, directing that insult at Cookie. “You can hate me now but I won’t stop now …” She chanted the hit record by rapper Nas as she sashayed out of the locker room.