Dear Michael: Bad

Chapter 5

As soon as we got home from the studio, the phone was blaring. Michael was able to rework lyrics to "I'm Bad" and recorded a little. But not enough since he was still kind of bummed about Prince declining the offer to sing with him. I picked up the phone, "hello?"

"Hey, Shayla," Carol answered.

"Carol! I'm so glad to hear from you. I feel like we haven't talked in forever!"

"You're telling me! Are things getting better with Frank?"

I rolled my eyes, "far from it. It's gotten so bad Michael had to suspend him."

"No way! What happened?"

"I know you've seen that picture of Michael in a hyperbaric chamber all over the place."

"Yeah..."

"Well, Michael told Frank to take those photos and leak them to the press to promote Captain EO. Frank took it upon himself to not publish the photos with the Captain EO headline, but instead to say that Michael uses it to try to live until he's one hundred fifty years old."

"Are you serious?! I'm not going to lie Shayla, since we all know Michael likes to leak certain stories to the media now, Marlon and I thought he leaked this story too..."

"Girl, no. Frank made that mess up. I've been telling Michael to ease up on leaking stories about himself because it can come to backfire against him one of these days. Come to find out, his own manager is in charge of the backfire. Isn't that something?"

"My gosh... I know Michael lit into him, didn't he?"

"Sure did. I'm glad! With all the disrespect towards me, our marriage and Michael, Michael has finally had enough."

"I hope Frank understands where he went wrong."

I sighed, "me too."

Carol sighed, "I still feel so bad about what happened with Enid and Jackie."

"Right?"

"Like this is not only a blur for her, but everyone else too! With the affair Jackie had with Paula Abdul to Enid breaking his leg to find out he was beating her? It's all too much."

"You're telling me. I never even thought that Enid was capable of that, let alone Jackie."

"You and me both, girl," she sighed. "I feel bad for the kids! I know they're hurting."

"Especially knowing that their parents have been violent towards one another."

"Ugh! And don't forget about the restraining order!"

"I just hope they sort it all out for the kids. I would hate to see my parents like this."

"They both deserve so much better. I mean, I thought they were a good couple from the get-go, but after witnessing everything they've been through, my only hope is that they sort it out for the kids and get on with their lives peacefully."

"Peacefully! You said that right, girl!"

Carol sighed, "I'm going to call her and talk to her about it. I know she needs someone to talk to."

"Maybe I should call her up too. I'll definitely have Michael talk to Jackie. It sucks that they're going through this," I looked at Michael, taking his hand in mine.

"I'll definitely be praying for them. Well, I've gotta go, Shayla. Marlon Jr. is whining about his homework again," she laughed.

"Talk to you later!" I hung up the phone.