Chapter 30

"I want to move," Shayla told me as she went upstairs.

I followed her, "move where?"

"Anywhere. I just don't want to stay here. I don't want to stay cooped up in this house knowing that the paparazzi are at our gates waiting on our next move."

"I'll start looking, babe," I assured her. I grabbed the phone and made a call to Bill to have him fire the security at my mother's house and replace them. Since Shayla's talking about moving, I'll wait a little while to fire Darnell and John. This really blows because I really liked those guys. I never had any trouble out of them and they kept us safe... Now, I don't know who to trust. Shayla started throwing clothes into a suitcase. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere, but here, Michael. I'm packing all of my clothes. I don't want to come back here."

"Babe, I understand you're upset, but you know it takes a while to secure a house."

"Can you get us a hotel or something?"

I thought about Hayvenhurst but quickly remembered I'm beefing with my family at the moment. I don't need that negative energy right now, so I guess we will have to get a hotel until I can secure a new home for us. "Yeah, babe. I'll call up Driver to have him book a room at Hotel Bel-Air."

"That sounds fancy." Shayla smiled.

"It is. Celebrities stay there often and it's away from all the mayhem."

"Well then, that's perfect!"

"You definitely don't want to come back here?"

"I'm positive. I'm about to pack as many clothes as I can, and we can go to the hotel. I don't ever want to come back here. Can we have someone pack all of our belongings and put it in storage?"

"Of course," She was serious, and I didn't blame her. After everything with the paparazzi and Byron, I agree with wanting to leave. Our home has turned into some kind of zoo with paparazzi watching us from the gates as if we were animals. I called Driver to have him meet us in an hour and began packing some of my belongings too. It's sad what has become, but I warned Shayla about all of this. We're a hot commodity now. Now we have to uproot from our first house together. It's bittersweet, but I'll do whatever it takes to keep Shayla safe.

VII

Shayla was in awe when Driver pulled up to the hotel. I reserved a room for at least two weeks until we get everything situated, then we can move on with our new public life. Once he checked us in, he drove us to our Stone Canyon suite and helped us with our luggage.

"Is there anything else I can help you all with?" He asked.

"We'll be okay. Thank you so much!" I told him as I slipped him a tip.

"You're more than welcome. You all have a great stay and let me know if you need anything."

"For sure," I said as I shut the door behind him. Shayla was in and out of everything as she roamed around the suite. "Are you liking the finer things in life?" I teased.

"Michael, look at this fireplace!" She gasped. I made my way to her and hugged her from behind.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I asked as I kissed her neck.

"And look at that pool!" She grabbed my hand and led me over to it.

"Have you seen the jacuzzi?" I pointed to it.

"Do you want to get in?" She asked me excitedly. It made me happy to see her so excited and happy since she's been upset the past couple of days.

"Let's get in, baby." I smiled. She hurried over, took off her clothes and got in only wearing her panties and bra. I took off my clothes as well and got in with her.

"I can get used to this." She smiled at me as she relaxed in the water.

"Good, because this is what you will be getting for the rest of your life." I moved closer to her and kissed her neck.

"Michael... What are you doing?" She smiled.

"Nothing..." I smiled as I continued to kiss her neck and earlobes.

"It looks and feels like a lot of something..." She said as I made my way in front of her and pressed myself against her panties. She gasped...

VII

(Shayla)

I woke up to find a feather on my eyelash and Michael's arm across my waist. I removed the feather from my eyelash and looked at the clock to see that it was six thirty in the morning. I wish I could have slept in longer, but I guess my body is used to getting up super early. I've got to go apply for a position at one of these schools. I cannot sit around here idle. I have to work. I slowly moved Michael's arm and got up from the bed to make my way to the bathroom. I hope this hotel provides phonebooks. That'll definitely be handy so that I can find these private schools Michael keeps talking about.

After I got ready, I called room service to have them deliver breakfast and several phone books. Thank God for phone books. They provide all the information you need for the city. Beverly Hills wouldn't be a bad area to work in. Or even Calabasas. I have to find out.

Once everything was delivered, I made myself a plate and got to searching for schools. I actually wouldn't mind a public school, but I'm sure they don't have the security that a private school has. I underlined several schools in the Beverly Hills, Calabasas, and Encino areas. Interestingly enough, they were all either Jewish or Catholic schools. Altogether, I found ten and called them all to see if they were hiring. Just my luck, two of them were looking for a yearlong substitute and the others wanted permanent teachers. I called one of the drivers to have him take me to all of the schools. It's going to be a long day.

(Michael)

I woke up feeling around for Shayla only to find she wasn't there. I looked at the clock: 10:43. Where could she possibly be at this time of day? I got out of bed only to find hella feathers on the floor and the bed. Man, that was one crazy night... We deserved it though. I ran my fingers through my hair to make sure I didn't have any feathers there. Quite a night, I tell ya... I made my way to the kitchen to find a food cart, but no food, just a note from Shayla saying she put the leftovers in the stove to keep warm and fruit in the fridge. I love that woman. I grabbed everything and made my way to the living room and turned on the television. Much to my dismay, a close-up video was playing of me, Shayla, Byron and the police on the porch.

"We're all wondering who this girl is with Michael Jackson and why he allowed this upset fan into his house. The video ends with the fan being walked off the premises and we see nothing else. What do you think of that, Diane?" The news anchor asked his co-host.

"I don't know, Bradley. Looks like a lot of trouble, but the question everyone wants to be answered is who the girl is with Michael Jackson! We've seen her in cars with him, we've seen her leaving his family's house, we've seen her leaving schools. Who is this girl?! That's what we should call this segment, 'who is this girl?' because that's all we want to know. We don't care about any other celebrity right now. We want to know if this is Michael Jackson's girlfriend or not." She laughed.

"I mean it goes without saying, we all thought Michael Jackson wasn't interested in relationships with other people, now all of a sudden we see this girl on his arm twenty-four seven? Anyway, this is Bradley Cheque and Diane Sutton reporting for your daily celebrity news block on Channel 7 news. Have a great rest of your day!" I'm glad Shayla didn't have to see that otherwise, she would have had a fit. I've got to get us squared away in a new house away from all this mayhem. I can't wait until I'm finally able to find a location to build Never Never Land. That will be the day...

VII

"How many bedrooms are you looking for, Mr. Jackson?" My real estate agent, Aaron asked me.

"Three. I like to have guestrooms just in case." I shrugged as he wrote down everything I wanted on his notepad. I'm tired of riding around, wasting gas. Why can't he just show me all of his properties and let me choose?

"How many bathrooms?"

I rolled my eyes, "ten." I was really irritated at this point.

"Ten?" He laughed.

"Sorry, I meant four. Look, Aaron, will you actually be able to show me any properties today or no? I've had to uproot myself abruptly from the house I was staying in before, I'm staying in a hotel for a good two weeks. Do you have anything I could possibly move into within the next two weeks or no?"

"Hmm..." He looked over his notes and his list of properties. I feel like we've been riding around Los Angeles and its vicinity all day. I looked at my watch: 3:30. I wonder if Shayla made it back to the hotel yet. "I found one! It's in the Calabasas area. Four bedrooms. Five bathrooms. Seven car garage and there is a long driveway after you get through the gates."

It wasn't exactly what I wanted, "are we able to see it today?"

"Of course!" He said as he told Driver the address. Four bedrooms are a lot. It's just me and Shayla. But if it'll get us out of a hotel as quick as possible, I'll take it, because these two weeks are expensive.

"Tell me the amenities, Aaron." This dude loves houses, may as well let him talk my ear off about this one...

VII

After viewing the house, I was impressed. I took photos throughout the showing to show Shayla later. I think she'll like it. Especially the tennis court and the pool and jacuzzi combo. She'll love it! Driver dropped me off at the suite and I let myself in. Shayla was sitting on the couch watching television.

"Hey, babe!" I hurried beside her and kissed her cheek only to notice she had been crying. "What's going on? Are you okay?" I knelt before her.

"Look..." She pointed at the TV.

"She's probably just a groupie. Michael and his brothers just finished their tour, because Michael said so, by the way," the audience laughed at the night time tv host. "We've seen the tabloids. The Jackson's are well known around the world, if you know what I mean," the audiences can laughter erupted again. "I highly doubt she's anything serious. Let's play that tape again."

They played a clip of Shayla in the car surrounded by paparazzi, "move!" She mouthed. "Move!" This time you could hear her. "Move!" She finally screamed. They had edited her to look like a roaring lion.

"Do we really think a sensitive little mouse like Michael Jackson is going to be with that beast? I don't think so!" The audience erupted again with laughter. I took the remote from Shayla and turned the television off.

"Babe, we can't watch stuff like that." I sighed.

"Why would they say that about me? I was just trying to go home. I had just been fired because of them. I just wanted to go home, and they wouldn't move."

"I know..."

"Now they have me all over television looking like a monster. They called me a 'beast,' Michael. A 'beast!' They couldn't even take into the account that I was scared. Just that I was angry." She cried. "I can't do this. I can't." She shook her head. "This is too much for one person to handle."

"How do you think I feel?" I sat beside her on the couch.

"You're used to it. This is all new to me."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that it still bothers me. Remember what I told you before all of this happened? You were out there living your perfectly normal life and I wanted you to keep it that way. I didn't want you to have to deal with this. The stalking, the cameras, the questions, the name calling... I didn't want you to have to deal with any of that. All of this comes with the territory. You have people who love you and you have people who hate you. But you can't feed into it. I won't allow you to feed into it. From now on, we're not watching television, because that only makes it worse. Trust me, I know!I've been there. I've done that. Did you have anyone follow you today?" She shook her head no. "Okay," I tucked her hair behind her ear. "we're going to try to keep it that way." I kissed her forehead. "How was your day?"

"It was okay. I, um, I went to ten different schools to try to get hired, but upon seeing my face and connecting me with the news, they just rejected me. None of them gave me a chance even with my exceptional resume. I don't know what to do..." Her voice cracked.

"We'll figure something out, okay? I know this was your dream and I only want you to reach all your goals and live out your dream. But right now, I guess we just have to relax, gather our thoughts and figure out what we're going to do. We'll figure out something. I promise."