"Are you sure you don"t want me to come with you?"I laughed as I opened the door and stepped out of the car. "I"ll call you at lunchtime."
"If she"s too hard on you, let me know." Julian smiled.
I shut the door before that man could say anything else ridiculous. Hard on me? She was only meeting with me because of Julian and Charles to begin with! Could she really afford the option of being hard on me?
...Well, at least I was trying to convince myself she couldn"t afford that option.
I looked up at the large building in front of me. The gla.s.s and metal skysc.r.a.per held the offices of Teen Rouge. I walked as confidently as I could into the lobby and up to the reception desk.
"How can I help you?" The girl behind the desk gave me a blinding smile.
"I have a meeting with Miss Abbott?" I tried to conceal my internal wince at the question at the end. So much for confidence.
"Ah, let me just check her schedule." The receptionist turned to her computer, clicking away at her keys. I knew my appointment would be there, but I still couldn"t help the dryness that crept into my mouth.
"What was your name?"
"Alice Ha– Leonhart." I had started to say my unmarried name before I caught myself.
"You"re right on time." The receptionist turned to another side of her computer and grabbed a guest security pa.s.s. "Clip that onto your shirt. You"ll just go through those terminals over there and then up to the fortieth floor. Let the receptionist there know you"re here for your appointment," she said as she handed me the pa.s.s.
I nodded and thanked her. Clipping the badge to my shirt, I took a slow breath. I really didn"t have anything to be nervous about. Other than the fact that in all my lives, I had never attempted anything like modeling.
Nothing to worry about at all.
I did as the receptionist instructed and arrived in a stylish office on the fortieth floor. I was asked to wait on a plush couch for Charles" sister to come to greet me.
While I was waiting, I did my best to keep from fidgeting. I had been dressed by Illeana, nearly to perfection. My hair was styled, my makeup was simply done, and my clothes were the latest fashion. Internally, there might be nothing about me that said model as far as I knew, but externally I knew I at least didn"t look too out of place.
"Alice?"
I looked up at the sound of a friendly woman"s voice. There stood a gorgeous woman not much older than I was– she was probably in her mid- or late-twenties. I could see she had the same eye color as her brother. She stood at least half a head taller than me, even with both the heels we were wearing.
"It"s very nice to meet you, Miss Abbott." I stood up and shook the hand she had offered to me.
"Call me Lynn, please. It"s lovely to meet you as well. Shall we?" She gave me a blinding smile and lead me back towards her private office.
She indicated some plush seats in front of her desk and we both sat down. A part of me was slightly relieved she hadn"t sat down in the seat behind her desk.
"So, I"m told you"d like to get into modeling."
Lynn certainly didn"t want to waste any time getting straight to the point. I nodded. "Uhm, yes. What exactly did Charles tell you?"
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"Julian spoke to me, actually. I was ready to make Charles beg me for a favor, but it turned out to be from his friend." The smile never left her face as she spoke. I swallowed. "You desperately need to enter the public"s eyes and fast."
"That"s the short of it, yes."
"Well, I won"t ask for the details. Modeling will certainly get you there. Do you have any experience?"
I wracked my brain for anything that might count. "No, not unless you count social media."
Lynn laughed. "That certainly doesn"t hurt. Usually, anyway. How many followers do you have?"
"A little more than seven thousand."
"How often do you post?"
"I used to post maybe every week? I don"t use them anymore." I felt as though I was being interrogated. Lynn didn"t show any signs of stopping her questioning.
"That"s not a bad amount for not trying. Show me your posts."
I held out my phone to her and she swiped through my accounts. There wasn"t much to scroll through, but she paused on each picture, occasionally zooming in to get a closer look. I hadn"t posted since I had been revived. To be honest, I hadn"t even looked at my accounts since then. In my past lives, I had used my feeds for travel photos sometimes, but before I had been caught in my death loop, I used to post mostly only solo shots my mother had insisted on taking of me.
"I would say you have potential." Lynn handed my phone back to me and looked me up and down. "Would you say you"re professional? Able to follow instructions well?"
As a previously spoilt, sheltered girl, in a past life I would not have been able to say yes without lying. But now I was able to nod with determination. "I am."
Lynn stared at me, her eyes never moving from my own. Finally, she stood up and headed to behind her desk.
"These are three modeling agencies that are currently recruiting. I"ll write you recommendation letters to each of them. All you have to do is submit a portfolio online. Most of what you have on your social media should work, but get someone to take a few more to add diversity. Have Julian give them a call if you aren"t confident about getting through to the interviews." Lynn handed me a folder. "Once you"re hired at an agency, I"ll get you a shoot with Teen Rouge."
Opening the folder, I could see the business cards of each agency, a list explaining what each had to offer, which agencies worked with which brands… I hadn"t expected Lynn to tell me everything to do so simply and plainly. She must have prepared all of this right after speaking with Julian.
I jumped up and wrapped my arms around her. "Thank you, Lynn!"
I felt her stiffen in my arms before she laughed and returned the hug. "You don"t have to be so grateful. I could have forced one of our partner agencies to take you on, but then you wouldn"t have the same respect from earning your spot."
"No, this is perfect. I won"t let you down."
I practically skipped out of Lynn"s office. The nervousness I had felt at using connections to force my way into a position of public notice was fading. Though I was still using connections, at least I would go through traditional channels. If Julian"s mother looked into anything, she would only see me pursuing a legitimate career without too much of Julian"s interference.
I had to do my best not to let Julian"s family catch onto what I was doing. If I suddenly appeared overnight in the spotlight, they would immediately be suspicious that something was going on, even if they didn"t know what. But if I was hired at an agency and slowly began appearing more and more, there wasn"t much they could do about it. By the time they would notice I was in the public eye, it would already be too late.