by Aubrey Dark
“Oh, shit,” I said, dabbing on the last bits of makeup. “I actually have to walk down a runway in this thing.”
“Have you never—oh, jeez.” Amanda clapped both hands to her head. “Alright, crash course in walking.”
“I mean, I know how to walk,” I said. “I’ve been doing it since I was two years old.”
“Not this kind of walking. Stand up.”
I stood up. The countdown was on the last minute, and the camera crew was going around to get the final shots of everyone.
“Head up. Chin up. We’ll do hand on hip, that’s the easiest pose. No, not like that.”
Amanda reached down and turned my arm so that my elbow jutted forward at a sharp angle.
“That feels wrong,” I said.
“Feels wrong, looks right,” she said. “That’s the model code.”
“What else?” I eyed the clock.
“One foot in front of the other, like you’re taking a sobriety test.”
“Good thing I didn’t have anything to drink yet tonight,” I mumbled.
“Don’t swing your hips, they’ll swing naturally. When you get to the end of the catwalk, you’re going to pose once with your hand on your hip. Leg out, then shift weight, then you turn. Watch.”
I watched.
“Okay, now you try.”
“Time’s up!” Piers shouted.
“You’ll do great,” Amanda said, but I noticed a bit of concern in her eyes. “You look great, anyway. How do you feel?”
“Evil,” I said. “Evil and classy.”
“Oh, and don’t smile!” she hissed, grabbing my arm.
“Don’t—”
“Don’t smile! You’re never supposed to smile. Just a sexy pout, okay?”
I nodded, trying to feel confident without smiling. All of Amanda’s bulletpoints for walking and posing whirled in my brain. I’d had no idea that something that looked so easy could be so hard. Like finding love—everybody made it look easier than it was.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I watched in awe as the other girls walked down the runway. They made it look like a piece of pie. Of course, half of them had modeled before, so it wasn’t a surprise. I studied closely as Mia walked for her turn. I realized as I watched her flow down the runway that there was walking, and then there was walking. She knew how to walk.
At the end of the catwalk sat Piers, Dylan, and Tina Toronto. They all had clipboards, but only Tina was furiously taking notes.
Kate stepped up onto the catwalk, and I gasped.
Her dress was pure sex. It looked like an evening gown, only the designer had made it out of supple black leather that gleamed in the light. The embroidery across the front was done in black, so you couldn’t see the design until she posed. Then the bat symbol gleamed in shiny black thread over her chest, dipping down to show off her cleavage. A thin black cape fluttered behind her, the shawl only covering her collarbone.
I could see Dylan mouth the word Wow, and I couldn’t blame him. Hers was definitely the coolest outfit.
Then it was my turn. I walked down the catwalk as enthusiastically as I could while still giving a pout. Then when I got to the end of the catwalk, I saw Dylan’s eyebrows raise up. He let out a wolf whistle. Behind him was a huge mirror, and I saw my whole outfit for the first time.
It looked incredible. The fabric Amanda had picked out was an iridescent satin that looked green from one way, purple from the other. A darker purple cape winged out from my shoulders, emphasizing my hourglass figure even more. The front of the dress dipped low, showing off my ample cleavage that she’d plumped up even more with the biggest pushup inserts I’d ever seen. And to top it off, my hair was slicked back straight, with green extensions threading through my dark locks over my shoulders.
I’d never been in a dress that had been tailor made for my body before. I’d never had professional makeup and hair before. It was incredible the difference a proper fit made; the difference it all made. I looked like…
I looked like a model.
I couldn’t help myself. My face lit up in a huge grin before I remembered I wasn’t supposed to be smiling. I clamped my lips together and turned back, forcing myself to pay attention to my walk. Then Julie was up in her neon green Poison Ivy costume, and I exhaled, stepping down off the catwalk.
The runway show was over in only minutes. I was shocked. We’d spent the whole day making these outfits, and they would be on display for only a few seconds? It didn’t seem right. We all lined up on the catwalk, standing behind our partners. Amanda gave me a nervous smile and I smiled back.
Tina Toronto tore apart the outfits she hadn’t liked. To my surprise, Julie’s outfit was deemed “too boring” and “uninspired.” Heidi’s Wonder Woman outfit was “ill-fitting, with cheap looking fabric and visible seams.” When she got to me, I was so nervous I could barely breathe.
“Now this outfit,” she said. “When we talk about inspiration, this is what I mean. The shoulder pads hearken back three decades, and all of the lines scream classic eighties chic. It suits the character perfectly.”
“I agree,” Piers said. “A great outfit.”
I didn’t bother looking at him.
“However,” Tina continued, “the model was lacking. You’ve never walked a runway before, have you?”
I swallowed hard. Dammit, I had screwed up. In front of me, Amanda put her head in her hands.
“No,” I admitted.
“It’s very obvious,” Tina said, looking up critically from her clipboard. “You have a shaky gait, and that pose at the end of the catwalk was execrable. Do you know what that means?”
“It means I’m a crappy model,” I said. A few titters went up from the contestants.
“So tell me why your team shouldn’t lose this contest,” Tina said, twisting her glasses between her fingers.
“I—it was all my fault,” I said. “I know I’m not runway material. But Amanda shouldn’t suffer for it. If you kick me off, you shouldn’t kick her off. It’s not fair.”
“This contest was about teamwork—”
“And we worked great as a team!” I interrupted. “It’s not her fault I can’t walk to save my life!”
“What about your pose?” Tina asked.
“What about it?”
“That huge smile at the end there,” Tina said. “It looked like you did it on purpose—”
“Of course she did it on purpose!” Dylan piped up. He hadn’t said anything before then. “She’s had to smile!”
“I—I had to smile?” I stared at him, agog.
“Of course you did! You’re the Joker! That was my favorite part!”
“Oh. Right. Exactly!” I said. Thank God for Dylan! “I was trying to stay—uh, in character.”
Tina sighed, putting her clipboard down on her knee.
“Well,” she said. “The dress itself is exquisitely made. So I suppose this one is a wash.”
My knees shook as they moved onto the next contestant. Amanda turned around. I expected her to glare at me with hatred, but instead she reached out and squeezed my hand.
“It’s alright,” she whispered. “She’s mean to everyone.”
“I’m sorry about messing up the walk,” I said, tears stinging my eyes. If she had gotten another partner, she might have gotten first place.
“It’s alright,” Amanda said. “I don’t think we would have won anyway. Check out those two.”
Tina Toronto was deliberating between Kate and Mia for the top prize.
Mia’s dress was black, too—she had picked Storm for her comic book character, and streaks of white lined the edges of her dress. While Kate’s Batman dress was sleek and supple, Mia’s radiated outward in spikes of crisp fabric. They were both gorgeous, and I could see why she was having trouble deciding. Still, I crossed my fingers for Kate.
Dylan shifted in his seat as Tina gushed over Mia’s outfit. When she finally stopped talking, he opened his mouth.
“But she
can’t win!” he cried.
Mia’s mouth dropped open in shock.
“Why not?” Tina Toronto asked.
“Look at her outfit. She picked Storm!”
“So?” Mia put her hands on her hips.
“So? So Storm isn’t even a DC Comics character! That’s a Marvel character!”
Every head turned to Dylan. It seemed like nobody knew what the heck he was talking about. I certainly didn’t. Dylan blew out a breath of exasperation.
“She’s X-Men. Duh! X-Men is Marvel. Not DC. That totally doesn’t even follow the rules.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as Mia turned aghast.
“But—but—”
“Sorry,” Dylan said. “Those were the rules.”
“Mia, you do have immunity,” Piers pointed out. “So even by breaking the rules, you can’t lose this contest.”
“I didn’t—I only—”
“So congratulations, Kate! It looks like you’re the winner!”
Kate squealed and hugged her partner. Mia stood scowling as they jumped up and down in celebration.
Amanda turned to me and gave me a hug.
“This was the most fun I’ve had in any of these contests,” she said.
“I hope you beat Kathleen!” I whispered.
“Me too!”
I turned back to see Dylan coming forward to give Kate a hug. Piers stood behind them, but his eyes were focused over them, onto me. A strange feeling twisted up in my chest. I tamped it down.
And I was truly happy to see Kate finally winning a contest. Even though she was my closest competition, I didn’t want her to leave. As long as I didn’t get booted from the competition, we could end up in the top two spots together. An evil grin spread across my face.
After all, if the fashion contest hadn’t gotten me kicked out, I don’t know what would.
The next day was a down day—a real down day, not like the fake down days that had ended in fighter jets and egg tossing contests. We were let loose, with strict instructions not to talk about anything that had happened on the show so far. If any word got out about who had won or lost already, Piers warned us, we would be eliminated from the competition. Only a few of the episodes had been aired so far.
I tugged on my old jeans, grabbed a slice of pizza for breakfast as I headed back home, and felt like myself again. I was looking forward to checking out the aired episodes and seeing what kind of edits the producers had decided to do to me.
But when I arrived back at the apartment, Emma was heading out. Her skin was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes.
“Arlen has another fever,” she said. In her arms, Arlen was wailing. “This time it’s even worse. I’m scared, Lisa.”
“She’ll be fine,” I said. Arlen didn’t look fine. She was red as a radish, and screaming at the top of her lungs. “Here, let me get the bag. We’ll go to urgent care. It’ll be okay.”
The door next to ours opened, and I spun around to see our neighbor standing in the doorway.
“Don’t say a word,” I hissed at him. He frowned and shut the door angrily.
“Shhh, Arlen,” Emma murmured, swaying with the baby in her arms. I put my arm around her and guided her down the hallway. I hated to see my baby sister looking like this. It wasn’t like her to be so worried, so nervous. I hoped she was worrying about nothing.
“Come on, Em.”
At urgent care, there were a dozen other families sitting in the waiting room. None of them looked happy to see a screaming baby walk in. I left Emma sitting in the waiting room while I signed in at the front desk.
“Please get us in as fast as you can,” I pleaded to the nurse behind the desk. “Arlen has a really high fever. It’s urgent.”
“Everyone’s here for something urgent,” the nurse said blankly. “That’s why it’s called urgent care.”
I sighed and gave up for now. I didn’t want to make things worse by insisting we get special treatment. I only hoped we wouldn’t have to go to the emergency room. We’d gone once before, and it had cost a fortune.
As I started to walk back to the waiting room, I saw someone I didn’t expect to see coming out of the doctor’s offices.
“Kate!” I said, startled.
Kate turned around, her long blonde ponytail flying over her shoulder. She was wearing loose sweatpants and had no makeup on. I barely recognized her—she looked so different.
“Lisa?” Her eyes went wide. “What are you doing here?”
“My niece has a fever,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
Just then, I saw a face peeking out from behind Kate. A little boy, maybe four or five, was holding tightly onto Kate’s hand.
“Oh, is this—”
“My little brother!” Kate blurted out. “He was—uh—he had an ear infection and we had to get antibiotics.”
“He’s so cute!” I bent down. “Hi! I’m Lisa! What’s your name?”
The little boy turned away shyly and buried his face into Kate’s pants.
“His name’s Jacob,” Kate said. She looked nervous. “Sorry, we have to go. I—”
“Mama!”
Kate bent down and picked up the little boy.
“I know, I know, you want your mama,” she said, avoiding my eyes.
I frowned, my journalist’s suspicion making all of my instincts ring out in alarm. Was this what I thought it was?
“I’ll see you back at the penthouse,” Kate said.
“Mama, I want my juice!” Jacob cried, shaking his head against Kate’s shoulder.
It was. Kate didn’t have a little brother. She’d lied to us. She’d lied to everyone.
Kate… had a kid.
“Here you go,” Kate mumbled, pulling a juice bottle from the bag draped over her shoulder. Jacob took it, contented.
“Kate?”
Kate looked up at me. Her cheeks were bright pink, and her long blonde eyelashes fluttered.
“Please don’t tell,” she whispered.
My heart sank. I couldn’t believe that she had kept such a big secret from me. She had a kid!
“Does Piers know?” I asked. “Does Dylan know?”
She shook her head tightly.
“I lied to get on the show.”
“But—but—they do background checks, don’t they? How did they not find out?” A thousand questions whirled in my mind.
Kate hugged Jacob tightly to her side and kissed him on top of his head.
“I was still a teenager when I had him,” she said. She pressed her lips together, and at that moment she looked ten years older than she had when I first met her. “My parents didn’t want anyone to know, so they adopted him before we moved to New York and pretended that he was my brother until I grew up and got enough money to move out.”
“Wow. Why?” was all I could say.
“They didn’t want anyone knowing that they raised a teenage mom,” Kate said, her voice turning bitter. “They didn’t want to help me at all after I disappointed them like that.”
“Is the dad—I mean, he’s not in the picture anymore, right?”
“No! Of course not!” Kate’s eyes flashed with a deep hurt. “He’s…he’s long gone. He was gone before Jacob was born.”
“That’s why your parents wanted to hide it.” I thought back to the picnic, when Kate had mentioned her little brother. It made so much more sense now. I wondered how I hadn’t seen it all along.
“I don’t know what my parents did to keep the records sealed, but I guess it worked,” Kate was saying. “They let me on the show, anyway.”
“But—I mean—what are you planning to do if you win?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, I didn’t expect to get this far. I just wanted to get on the show and hopefully make some contacts with the TV network. You know, for my cooking show.”
“Kate, you are a hustler!” I was astonished. For such a young woman, she had everything figured out. “So you didn’t actually want to win?”
&n
bsp; “I mean, I didn’t at first. I just wanted to get some television experience.”
“But now?”
Kate blushed.
“I didn’t expect to fall for Dylan.”
“And you didn’t expect him to fall for you, either.”
Her face flushed even harder at that.
“Lisa, please promise me you won’t tell. I’ll do anything—if you want, I’ll make sure I lose the final contest if it comes to that.”
“No—no, it’s okay. I won’t tell. I promise.” My mind was whirling.
“I… well, I don’t want to go crawling back to my parents for help, and I’ve been working at this shitty restaurant forever, going to open auditions and hoping for a break into television. I know it’s wrong to lie. And it’s such a big lie. I didn’t know it would get this far, and now I feel like such a bad person.”
Kate looked miserable. I put a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s alright,” I said. “This contest has been turning me into a bad person, too.” I thought of Piers, and Dylan, and how I didn’t even know the real reason I was still in the competition. Looking at her twisting in guilt made me want to confess my own sins.
But I wasn’t as good of a person as she was.
Chapter Twenty-Four
We spent half the day at the urgent care. The doctor wanted to give Arlen some more intense antibiotics to fight off whatever infection she had. Emma looked worried about dosing her baby with so much medicine.
“And how much will it cost?” she asked. “Are we going to be able to pay for all this?”
“I’ll figure something out,” I said. “Don’t worry.”
Inside, of course, I was worrying like crazy. I hoped that the article I was writing about The Billionaire Dating Game would impress Clarence so much he would give me a raise, but I wasn’t counting on it. I had my eyes on the second prize—if I could just make it to the final round of the competition and get Dylan to pick me, I’d be walking away with a hundred grand. Heck, even if I could win another one of the contests, there might be some money in it.
I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for dresses. At night, I made dinner for everyone and collapsed into the couch, typing furiously. I wanted to add Kate’s story about her secret son to the article, but I obviously wasn’t going to be able to send that part in until after the competition was over.