We got into an elevator, and for some vague reason I smiled.
This was my romantic moment, and a stupid part of me wished the elevator would break down and trap us in.
Then I'd cry, and he'd hold me in his arms, aaaaaaah!
"Who're you thinking about? He asked me, and I stared at him for a while before understanding his question.
" Oh, no, nothing."
"You had this nasty smile on your face."
"No I wasn't." I said smiling.
" You're…"
" Don't tell me I'm cute." I said because I was so sure he was going to say that.
" I wasn't going to say that…"
" Oh." I said, feeling hot, and embarrassed.
" I was going to say you're beautiful."
"Ahh! Don't say stuff like that!" I said, covering my ears, while trying to stop myself from smiling more.
"Your lips are going to expand if you don't stop smiling, you look like a crocodile." he teased.
"What? Leave me be!" I said, still smiling.
"Stop smiling, or I'd make you, by doing something crazy." he said, but at that moment, the elevator opened, saving me the difficulty of replying.
I walked out quickly as I couldn't bring myself to stop smiling.
"Hey come back!" He said.
He was romantic!
<<<
I looked around the giant office, with its white chairs, and dark tiled floor.
It had a glass table with pink flowers on top and all around, on the walls, were pictures of models.
I could hear voices from a door which was open.
" Yeah, it's two novels, and I've got Peter to model one for me, but I don't think he's going to model the second one…" the voice was saying and Peter said in a low voice.
"She knows me too well."
"I don't know if this would make do… but how about this picture?" A younger voice said.
"Hmm with some editing, it's going to be really nice. We have *Her Black Beauty* and *First Love* right?
"I think this would do for first love, and we'll use Peter and the girl he brings for her black beauty.
"I just hope she's pretty." The older voice said, and the door opened. They walked in, and saw us.
"Oh she is pretty… wait, have we met…?" the younger lady said, then rushed back in.
" Bring that edited picture!" She shouted as she went.
"Good evening, Mrs. Mendel." Peter greeted.
"A lovely evening to you. Is this the girl?" Mrs. Mendel asked.
"Yes she is… Is she okay?" Peter asked casually.
"Oh, yes, yes she is." Mrs. Mendel said, and the younger lady came in holding a laptop in her arms, and she showed us the image of I and Mike on it.
It was the one we took the previous day, but the ice cream had been taken off our faces.
"Oh it's you. You look a bit different, maybe because of your dressing or because you're with a different guy." The lady said.
"Seems like you're popular after all." Peter said, and I looked at him, but his eyes we're glued to the picture, which looked like I was in love with mike.
He said I was PO-PU-LAR.
Aaaah!
" Okay, so we're going to use this picture, for a new E-book that seems to be making a lot of sales. And it needs a book cover.
" Its name happens to be first love, and you unknowingly have demonstrated exactly what we've been looking for.
"So we'll use this picture, of course, with your permission, I'm glad you're here, and I assure you, you'll be paid handsomely." Mrs. Mendel said, gently, with a smile.
" Pay me? For this picture?"
"Yes and for this one-off you'll be paid $300, and the same goes to the other person who took the photo with you."
My pupils dilated.
" That is a total of $600 for the two pictures you'll be surrendering to us today. Don't worry about the other guy in the photo, Peter knows him, we'll get across to him." she added.
" That's a lot of money, but it's okay… I'm doing this as a favor to him."
" I heard you guys were supposed to be on a date, but because of my emergency, it had to be cancelled."
" Date? Its not." I said, and Mrs. Mendel raised a brow at peter.
"Well it would have been, if not for you." Peter said
" Anyway... let's get moving… Please drop your details, the money will be sent to you." Mrs. Mendel said and walked out.
"Uh thanks?" I said unsure of what to say, but I knew one thing.
I was going SHOPPING!
I followed them out to a room filled with people roaming up and down, doing different things, with different orders flying through the air.
" Gregory, take that picture from Alicia, and do some serious editing on it. Change the background to a school background, make the snow, and put some touches on it." Mrs. Mendel said to a handsome man with a lovely brown beard and pretty green eyes.
"So you crush on men too?" Peter asked me.
" No!" I exclaimed in shock.
" Marta, take this young lady and dress her up, Julie do some touches on her face, and get her ready for the shoot." Mrs. Mendel ordered two pretty ladies.
A blonde and a redhead.
As they led me away, I heard Mrs. Mendel ordering for peter to be taken away for some touches and dressing.
I followed them into a large room where obviously models were being beautified.
Each chair was in front of a large mirror and as I sat in it, it sank comfortably.
It was soft.
I looked into the mirror, waited for them. When they came to me, they had a long white dress that looked like a wedding gown.
It was armless, and had silver stones on it…
I went into the dressing room, and changed quickly into it…
Oh, it was beautiful, and the best thing was that, it swept the floor.
I looked at myself in the dressing mirror for a while.
Yeah, I was thirteen, short, immature, and cute, but I was getting along with guys and I could see my love story fast approaching.
Even though I couldn't remember Green-eyed boy's face, and name, I had Chris, Mike, maybe Sam and Peter, and they loved being around me.
I went out the door and sat.
" Awww thiz drezz fitz you." The lady called Marta said, in a heavy Spanish accent.
"Oh, come on, Marta, let's get to work before A. M comes to check on us."
As they dabbed at my face to remove any possible sweat, I asked:
" Who's A. M?"
"Oh" The lady called Julie with the red hair said, and they both laughed.
" A. M iz ze abbreviation for Agrezzive Mendel." Marta said, and they laughed.
"She gets aggressive when work isn't done." Julie explained, and I watched as she applied foundation to my face.
They drew eyebrows on my already perfect ones and put some blush, and I watched as my face gradually changed into a more matured and beautiful face.
But they weren't done.
They put on mascara, eye shadow, eyeliner and a red lipstick which was really bold and beautiful and finally, it was finished.
"Oh! Señorita, you look Bonita! This is Hermosa!" Marta squealed, when they saw the miracle they had performed on my face.
"She means you look pretty."
" I zaid you, young lady, look pretty… that thiz iz zimply beautiful."
"Oh thank you." I said, blushing.
I was given white heels to wear, and when I went out, I was taken to an artificial garden with green grass. Then I saw peter.
He was seating cross-legged on a bench in a lovely white suit, and a white shirt, which was buttoned halfway, and huge, white chunky sneakers.
The white contrasted with the brown of his skin, and when his brown eyes came to rest on me, I saw surprise in them, but it was quickly covered up.
I couldn't hide the fact that I thought he was too handsome, too handsome for my liking, and my heart started to race as they ushered me to him.
<<<
I heard nothing but the low droning voices of Marta and Julie, telling me to lie on the bench with my head on his lap, while looking up at him, lovingly.
All I saw was the way he looked at me, which made me think for a moment, that I was in love with him.
" This is perfect for *Her black beauty* " Julie said.
" Perfecto." Marta exclaimed.
And they clicked.
"We got it."
" It's the best picture for…"
" Nope, I don't want this." Mrs. Mendel said all of a sudden.
I thought she went crazy, this was the perfect picture.
After trying a series of really intimate poses, in which I was falling for Peter, and the way he stared back at me with love shining in his eyes, by the second…
We finally settled with a picture in which we were lying on the grass, our bodies facing opposite directions, heads together, eyes locked on each other, mine filled with love and his filled with care as we were instructed.
We were given refreshments, to compliment us for a job well done.
I had ordered an extra large-sized hamburger with a chilled milkshake, and I chewed and drank without looking at anyone, I was tired.
"Didn't know you knew how to take pictures." Peter said
I swallowed the hamburger in my mouth, quickly.
"Uh… I wasn't the one taking the pictures."
"But, you got the poses right. The last girl I came with had to be positioned with the help of others."
"Wow… that's awesome"
" Awesome?"
" It's awesome that a person can be as dumb as that, and not at all photogenic." I said, and he laughed.
<<<
I had fun with Peter, but the day had to end.
By the time, he dropped me off, my Halloween package had arrived and $600 was already waiting for me in cash, since Peter told them, I didn't have a bank account.
"What about Mike?" I asked, since Mike had taken the first photo with me.
"I have it with me. " He said, and I waved him goodbye.
With joy, I waited for the next day.
<<<
We could not wait for the evening to come. All around, kids in weird costumes jumped, and played around, and we could not wait to get to school.
Finally, at Half past six, we all went to get our costumes ready.
I wore my Mina costume, which was rose-red, let my hair down, and put on red lipstick.
"Where are those red shoes, red shoes…" I sang as I took out my stunning red heels.
I put them on and went down the stairs.
Chris was already waiting.
He was dressed in a school uniform, black robes, and he had worn round, black glasses.
"Who is he?" I asked myself, but quickly noticed the lightning shaped scar, he had put on his forehead.
He saw me and waved a thin wooden stick he had in his hand.
"You look like a nerd." I said blushing.
"What can I do? It's Harry Potter, all the girls love him." He said and looked past me. "Woah!" He exclaimed.
I turned round and saw Mera coming down the stairs. When she got down, she did a backflip.
She had worn an all black costume with cat ears on her head.
" I decided to be cat girl." She said dramatically.
"That's nice." Chris said, but immediately burst into laughter, and I and Mera turned around…
There was Val on the stairs dressed as a triangular pizza!
She wore pizza colored stockings, gloves, her bare skin couldn't be seen and she walked awkwardly.
As she got down the stairs, Chris went to her, purposefully hit her, and she fell to the ground, struggling to get up, making us laugh hysterically.
"Oh, Pris your laughter makes me laugh more." Mera said, as I helped Val up.
"What happened to your Nun outfit?" I asked.
" I'm so sure I put it in my wardrobe, but when I woke up later at night, it was on the bed with me. It was so scary and creepy. I think that's a bad omen, so I threw it out." She said, and Chris started to laugh.
"Oh Val, you mean a completely normal costume turned you into a large oversized slice of pizza?" He said, and we all started to laugh, then Val said:
" Wow! Your outfit is wonderful Pris."
"Uh thanks."
" I know it, I just know it, you're bound to get the award because nobody can think of dressing as Elisabeta." Mera said
"It's Mina." Val corrected.
"Whatever, she's the same person." Mera said, and I wouldn't know why but, all the way to school, I could see Chris glancing sideways at me.
Did Mera and Val lie to me?
Maybe I look ugly? He keeps on staring!