Bother Me

Chapter 7: Models of Money

Bailey was texting some friends about a local modelling competition before bed. She was looking through some of the entries and noticed a lot of faults in their outfits and makeup. She laughed and continued to scroll as Natalie walked in the room to grab her sketchbook.

"Oh, hey Bailey, what are you up to?" she asked.

"Why do you care?" Bailey responded. "It's just the modelling contest.

Natalie titled her head. "Ah," she started, "are you going to sign up for it?"

Bailey scoffed. "No, this was last year's. These people don't even know how to do proper makeup."

"Well, maybe you should sign up for something like that," Natalie suggested.

"Like I'll get in.

"I mean, you never know. You call yourself beautiful literally all. The. Time."

"Yeah, so?" Bailey asked, still typing away clicking her nails on her phone.

Natalie pulled a printed sheet of paper out of her pocket and said, "Well, I was doing a little research, and I thought you might like this." She handed the paper to Bailey.

Bailey snatched it from her hands and cleared her throat. "'Model Makeover,'" she read, "'The contest of pure perfection.' Really?"

"Just keep reading."

Bailey sighed and continued, "'One grand prize winner will be rewarded with $25 grand.' Wow, that's a lot of money for being beautiful. I'd win that in two seconds. 'Three runners up can receive up to $10k. Deadline: June 27th.'" Bailey set down the paper. "So, what?" she asked.

"What do you mean 'what'?" Natalie questioned.

"I mean 'what.' What else do you want from me?"

Natalie pulled out her phone and swiped a pattern in to unlock it. "Don't you want to win up to $25k?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure, that'd be great," Bailey said, "but honestly, how to we sign up?"

"Online. Like everything else in this world now, basically."

"Well the, what are you waiting for? Sign me up!"

Natalie got off the bed and took the sheet of paper off as well. "I think I'm gonna sign up, too," she said, tweaking her glasses.

Bailey grabbed her phone and said, "Why? How could you possibly win?"

Natalie glared at her. "I mean, against me," Bailey said.

"Well, if you win, then-"

"You mean when I win."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Okay, 'when you win,' if you get the $25,000, and if I'm a runner up, I'll have $10k, and together we could have $35,000. Or if we're both runner ups, we could split $20k. There's a good chance."

"Yeah, but.." Bailey protested.

"Besides, it's not like they're going to announce the losers on TV or anything," Natalie pointed out.

"True," Bailey nodded. "You honestly have a good point. For once." Natalie crossed her hips.

"Okay, well I'm gonna go out right now and get me some makeup and a new dress," Bailey decided, as she got up. But as she got up, she realized that it was almost 11 PM, and remembered that she was in her pajama's. "Okay, tomorrow," she said.

Natalie smiled and said, "And I'll join you." She left the room and Bailey jumped back onto her bed.

The next morning, Natalie and Bailey went shopping. Bailey got a long black dress with gold and pink roses on it, as well as a slit down her right leg. She got some silver sandal heals, earrings, and a new set of eyeshadows and lipsticks. Natalie got a long blue dress, some cheap sparkly earrings, and silver heels as well, no where near the height of Bailey's. The girls started getting ready as soon as they made it back home.