Sous-Sus: Premier Jewels

Chapter One: The Competition Begins

ARIADNE

"Hey, Mom," I step into studio A with a small smile. "Gianna said you were asking for me. What's up?" my eyes land on the headshots laid out in front of her. "And why do you have the girls' headshots?"

Mom doesn't even look at me, her full attention on the photos in front of her. "Hi, Ariadne. How was lunch with your brother?"

I give a one-shoulder shrug before joining her in front of the blackboard. "It was good. You should join us next time. So what are you up to?"

She passes me the headshot. "With the new competition team, I wanted a way to rank the girls. It'll be based on their performance the previous week so they can see how I see them and how they compare to the other girls."

I tilt my head. It was an interesting idea and not uncommon; in East Asian schools, students' grades are displayed for all to see. "Okay. The headshots?"

"I'm going to create a pyramid, Three rows with the best performer that week at that point."

It was actually a good idea but there's one issue with it. "The Moms aren't gonna like this. Not that you care."

"It's my studio, and I do what I want to in my studio," his Mom's response, and I withhold an eye roll. "And that's why you're here. Their mom will put up less of a fuss if you're involved. For some reason, they like you."

I smirk at her. "I wonder why?"

She shrugs, giving me an innocent look. "I have no idea."

Chuckling a peer over the headshots, tapping my sunburst acrylics on one of the headshots. The girl has an oval head framed by chocolate brown hair, steel blue eyes, a narrow nose with a slight bump, and heavy lower lips. She has three beauty marks- above her right lip, on her neck, and her left cheek- that added to her beauty.

"Why do you have Ilse's photo? She said no. She said no multiple times."

Mom shrugs and places the photo to the side. "She'll be here. This is a documentary about my studio, and all my girls will be in it."

I roll my eyes. So stubborn, and Ilse is just as stubborn; this has been an ongoing battle since the documentary was confirmed. "I'm not arguing with you; she does that enough. Mackenzie should be last. She has the least amount of stage experience out of everybody else. It wouldn't be fair for her to be placed above everybody else."

"By that criteria, Paige and Nia should be next. They're four and three years older than Mackenize, respectively, but they're on the same level as her."

"Everybody learns at their own pace mom," Mom is impatient. She gives you something, and she expects you to get it. "So are we done with the last row?"

"We are," she places the three headshots on the bottom and holds up the other four. "I'm thinking Chloe and Brooke for second-row for sure, but then we have Maddie and Myla. Myla was amazing last season. We went to six competitions, and she beat Maddie four to two."

"Yeah, but Maddie beat her at Nationals," I point out. "And you always say your last performance is what counts. Nobody is going to remember the performance before that."

"Right," reluctantly Mom places Myla on the second row and Maddie on the top.

I scoff. "You are so easy on her. When I was her age, winning wasn't enough. I had to bury the competition."

"And because of that, you went to Point Park, and are one of the best students to come out of their program."

"You just proved my point, Mom. You need to be harder on your baby girl."