Chapter One

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It has officially been one year since my life turned upside down. One year since my first movie role. One year into my new Hollywood career. One year of no longer being Nicole Urton, the Marine Corps veteran from small town Cleveland Texas, but Nicole Marie, the Golden Globe winning movie star. To think this all started because my friends had dared me to do The Real World. There were many times that I felt like the new kid on the block as well as times where I felt like I didn't belong. After all, I was just a former reality star. Nobody had taken me seriously until I filmed my first film. Now here I am one year later with two going on three films under my belt, A Golden Globe win, and more than ready to shut down every person who ever doubted me.

I still couldn't believe it's been a whole year. I wondered if celebrities celebrated things like that. Maybe they buy a cake or something like that. I thought to myself. I really shouldn't be thinking something like this. I need to focus on what's happening tonight.

I had just finished filming my new movie Sgt. Cooper and was in Los Angeles to show a sneak peek for the movie at the ESPY Awards. The premiere had been a week ago and I was looking forward to some much needed rest and relaxation. I was wanting to back out of the ESPY's, but Cara had planned this appearance months in advance. With my 'Getting Ready' playlist playing in the background, I sat in a chair while my hair stylist was trying to figure out what to do with my hair.

"Babydoll, you sure you don't want to wear your hair up? It's too hot to have it down." Gwen asked in her thick New Zealand accent.

"Eh."I say. "As long as it's not too heavy. How about you do a loose fishtailbraid to the side or something like that?"

"Or we can do some kind of Mohawk braid ponytail. What about that?" she suggests.

"That sounds awesome! Let's do that."

She motions for Kyla to get started on my hair while she pins her freshly dyed purple hair back and begins on my makeup. Gwen and Kyla were my hair and makeup team and had been with me since the beginning. They quickly became part of my extended family, even relocating to Houston to be closer to me. My team or as I called them 'The Cool Kids' consisted of Lexa (my stylist), Eddie Jackson (personal trainer and badass), Angelica and Crystal (my personal assistants and closest friends), Michelle (publicist), Cara (the best damn manager ever), Gwen and Kyla, and finally Cliff and Donny (my security team).

Gwen came to us from Auckland, New Zealand and was a complete stunner. Standing at five-foot-eleven, she was Native American, French, and Dutch, with gorgeous long purple hair, olive skin, and hazel eyes. She'd been doing hair and makeup for almost ten years before I hired her. Her assistant Kyla was your typical California girl with dirty blonde hair and sunkissed skin, and a total sweetheart. She's also a licensed dermatologist, so she helped clear my skin and in her words "enhance my natural beauty." Lexa hailed from Manhattan, which made her a perfect pick for a stylist. She kept up with the latest trends while keeping to my original style. An added bonus was that she was five-foot-two just like me, so she knew the struggle of finding designers to work with a short person.

Eddie was one of Houston's top personal trainers and jumped at the chance to work with a celebrity. He only worked with the best and if you didn't give him your all, you'd regret it. Angelica and Crystal are two of my closest friends and my personal assistants. Crystal and I met our first day of boot camp and six years later are still closer than ever. Me and Angie, however met in a very weird way. We shared a boyfriend a long time ago and instead of hating each other, became friends. Once I started becoming 'big', I moved them both down to Houston with me and the rest is history. Right now, Crys was on visiting her family, so tonight it would be just me and Angie.

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While Gwen was putting on my eyeliner, I hear Lexa come into the room and begin laying out my outfit and shoes. She had selected this sexy black long-sleeve Self-Portrait Hall lace-trimmed jumpsuit with a pair of black strappy Giuseppe Zanotti heels for tonight. I wanted to feel as comfortable as possible. The ESPY'S was the only award show where I didn't have wear a full fledge ball gown and have my hair wrapped so tight that it cut circulation off to my brain.

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