The Hidden World of Norminah

Chapter 11: Who Said I Was an Angel?

Author's note: There was some confusion and technical difficulties with the full update on the previous chapter. So, before you continue on, just make sure where you last left off was Dinah on a rooftop. Enjoy.

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Normani, Lauren, Ally, and Dinah have rehearsals to get ready for their PSA Tour in Latin America and their VMA performance in a few weeks. It is July 31st, and Normani is rocking her Phenomenal Woman shirt to stand in solidarity with Black Women's Equal Pay Day. On the way inside the rehearsal studio, Normani swings open the door a little too hard, not realizing Lauren is behind it.

"Heyy!" Lauren groans.

"Oh, shit. My bad, girl. I didn't see you," Normani says.

"Don't worry about it," Lauren rubs her back.

"You okay?"

"I'm good. Nice shirt."

"Thanks."

"Phenomenal woman."

"It's Black Women's Equal Pay Day."

"Nice!"

"Who's that?" Normani's eyes drift to a man sitting in the corner of the room, looking through his phone.

"That's the LA Times dude," Lauren answers.

"That's today?"

"Yup."

"Dang, how much shit we doing today? Aren't we signing albums, too?"

"Yeah, girl. You know we do a million things at once."

Normani takes a deep breath. "Here we go."

"Here we go."

They make their way over to Dinah and Ally who have already started signing some of the album booklets.

"Yall better catch up," Ally says. "We signed all those already, so yall could start on that pile."

"And why are you late, missy?" Dinah asks Normani.

"Peep the shirt," Normani replies. "It's Black Women's Equal Pay Day. I could do whatever I want."

"Well, shit. Excuse me."

The girls laugh, and just then, the LA Times reporter makes his way over to them.

"Hello," he starts. "My name is Gerrick Kennedy. I'm from LA Times."

"Hi!" the girls respond in unison.

"You girls have a busy day, huh?" Gerrick notes the album booklets.

"There isn't a single day that isn't a busy one," Lauren chuckles.

"I'm sure. I don't mind if you continue to sign those as we do our interview. Or you can pause if you'd like. Whatever works."

Just then, Tara cuts in. "I'm sorry, Gerrick, but we really need to finish this video of the tracklist reveal. Can you wait about 10 more minutes before you start your interview? It should be really quick."

"No problem. I'm happy to observe in the meantime," Gerrick responds.

"Thank you so much for being patient."

"Umm, what video?" Lauren asks.

"Remember the meeting we had about how we would reveal the tracklist with a group chat and emojis as clues?"

"Ohhh, we're doing that today, too?"

"Well, we don't have much time and it has to be done right away."