Once Cerin had finished her analysis she walked up to them at a brisk pace, not wanting to lose anymore time and situated herself at the front of the crowd, leaving Tryfon at the back, unnoticed by most of the others.
The crowd of eight looked at the young girl who stood in front of them with such an imposing manner and wondered who she was. Thankfully, before any of them could ask Cerin began to speak.
" Hello, some of you may have guessed already but I am Cerin, Your designer."
The group collectively looked the young woman up and down and contrasted her current healthy and confident appearance to the sickly creature they had been presented with in the picture.
Cerin put up as pleasant of an expression as she could, letting a hint of warmth encroach into her usually frigid eyes and began her speech in a cheerful and confident tone.
" We'll be stuck with each other for the next three weeks or so, and i'm actually planning on taking this pretty seriously, so if there are any of you that want to leave, now's the time. This competition….is really, really important to me and I do plan on working you guys quite hard, but I can promise this. If you guys can help me out by doing your best, I promise that I'll carry all of us to victory."
She ended with a cute smile that diffused the tension of the domineering words she had slipped in at the end and elicited a natural smile from the members of the group, save for Tryfon who was shocked at the once again completely different side of her that he was seeing.
Cerin carefully observed their expressions and noted that while they were all surprised and a it overwhelmed none of them were entirely against it. She finally dropped her serious expression and let her cold features blossom out into a lovely smile.
" Do you guys have anything planned for today? I wanna get started today and wanna show you guys where we'll be meeting up."
Technically the contest was supposed to provide them with space to practice but after a single glance of the storage shed they called a practise room, Cerins earlier decision to practice at the gym was reinforced.
One by one they all shook their heads in response but before Cerin could go forwards and give them the address to the gym, where she planned to hold their meetings from then on Rin stepped forwards and gestured to himself as well as Frona, Gordon and Akemi.
"Before we get started you should know that we are not models in anyways, infact-"
He scratched the back of his head relatively sheepishly and looked around the room as he continued, avoiding Cerin's earnest gaze.
" We all work for the company that sponsors the program and are only here as staff representative. So you'll have to understand that if we appear less enthusiastic than the others its because we all already have jobs and plan to let the modeling end after this."
He finally looked back at the young girl and felt his heart stop for a few beats upon registering the sudden dead look in her eyes and the others felt a similar chill. She stayed silent for a bit then slowly began to speak.
" so..Is this..you declare your intention to not take this seriously? Like a cop out?"
She turned this question to the other adults as well.
Gordon quickly shook his head and began to clarify Rin's sentence.
"O course we'll do our best! Btu we do still have jobs and mouths to feed.We're just saying that you shouldn't expect us to put a hundred percent of our life and energy into this"
Akemi nodded in agreement and Frona sent the young girl a somewhat apologetic smile that strongly reminded Cerin of Serana when she had first moved in with her.
Cerin slowly shook her head and in a strong tone said each word she had to say one by one.
"That. Is. Ridiculous. As a designer i was assigned 8 models not, four models and four participants. As long as you guys are here, and registered under my name, i will hold all of you to the exact same standard. I don't expect you guys to be supermodel level, but i do expect you to try your best….would that be asking too much?"
Despite her strong words, Cerins voice stayed in the same exact tone she had started with and made them all the more vaguely threatening. At her final question they all shook their heads and promised to try their bests, but Cerin could now see a hesitation in their actions that hadn't been there originally.
Reading the room, Mia suddenly woke up and asked Cerin in a much more respectful tone than one should have for a girl only a year older than her.
" Is the place you wanted to show us close by? Time is running out and i have to be home by 9 at the latest."
It was already 3 pm and Cerin had a lot she wanted to get done today. Cerin quickly restored her original cheery smile.
" Do any of you have a car? It's not too far away but it'll be an easier drive."
Gordon and Frona raised their hands and Rin explained that his car was in the shop, while Akemi sheepishly explained that she usually just took the subway. Unexpectedly Tryfon raised his hands as well.
"okay..And did you guys bring what i asked you to?"
Prior to meeting up, She had gotten their numbers from the staff and had asked them to bring light weight gym clothes.
Arrow, Mia and Siena all raised duffel bags in response and the others had kept them in their vehicles. Very quickly Cerin texted all of them the address of the gym and made plans to meet them all there in about an hour.
Serana was now in her second week of her 8th month and was due in about a week or two, Cerin was trying to get her to rest as much as possible save for a few maternity yoga classes she took. But because of that Cerin had taken the responsibility to picking up and dropping off Ryella from school.
Because it was a private school for the upper middle class they did not have a school bus or even a carpooling system.