White Cloud

5- It's Been A Rough Day

The modeling audition goes just as terribly as I'd expected it to go. My mom went with me to help me get signed in and to make sure that I get to where I'm supposed to go but she's not allowed in the actual audition room, which is good because it's already miserable enough without my mother bearing witness to it.

I'm wearing a bikini, just like all of the other girls in the room, and I just stand there and wait for my turn to "audition". The audition consists of three team members from the ad company standing around me with a flexible plastic tape measure. One lady starts taking my measurements even though they should be printed on my portfolio. The only man on the team has a clipboard and as the lady measures, she yells out the numbers and the man writes them down.

Once the measurements are taken, all three members stand back and ask me to pose, which I do, and then they start conversing with themselves like I'm not even there.

"Her clavicle is a little bony," One of the ladies points out.

"I don't think that the dimples work," The man says.

I keep my pose the entire time and pretend like I'm not bothered by them nit picking at every single little flaw that I have. Most auditions aren't this brutal because they'll just use the measurements that are in my portfolio and then they'll take pictures so that they can nitpick my flaws without me having to stand right there to hear it. I wonder if they're trying to weed out the weak or something but if that's so then I guess I'm one of the weak ones because I absolutely hate the whole thing.

The second lady takes a few pictures with a nice camera in her manicured hands and then they thank me for coming out before telling me that I can leave now and they'll contact me within a few days to let me know if I got the job or not. I did try my best and I was on my best behavior but I seriously hope that I don't get this job.

I hurry as quickly as possible to put my clothes back on and then go back into the lobby where my mom is waiting for me with a few other parents and friends of the other girls.

"How'd it go?" She asks me with an excited grin, standing up from her chair to walk with me out the front door.

"It was okay," I lie. "There were a lot of talented people in there though so I don't know."

I don't know if that was true or not because I didn't pay attention to any of the other girls in there. If they were getting as criticized as I was, I'm sure that they didn't want anybody hearing the verbal assault so I just zoned it all out.

"I think you'll get it," She assures me with a confident smile. "Anyway, on our way back, we have to stop by McDonald's for your brother."

"Okay," I get into the passenger seat of the car and sit back.

"Speaking of Dylan, do you think that you can talk to him for me? He looks up to you and he doesn't seem to be taking this move very well. You're enjoying the hotel, right?"

"Yeah," I respond honestly. "It's really great down here."

"I can tell that he isn't adjusting very well," She explains with a worried frown.

"He's really upset about missing the science fair," I remind her. My mom has never really been close to my brother and I think it's kind of because she's always so preoccupied with being my modeling agent. Dylan kind of resents me for that and I feel really bad because my mom is right, he does kind of look up to me. Mostly, though, he looks up to my dad so he's fine. "You should find some kind of science or economy club for him to join."

"I just don't have the time though," She sighs.

"Yes you do," I argue. "You don't have a job, you're just looking for jobs for me. I insist that you take some of that time that you spend being my agent to just help him find some sort of nerd group."