Photographs in the Park (Laurmani)

Chapter 3

Lauren sat in her car with her sister beside her in the passenger seat. Camila tapped her fingers on her lap anxiously as her older sister attempted to get her car to start for the seventh time. Growing frustration could be seen on Lauren's face as she repeatedly turned the key in the ignition.

"It's okay. I'll call Stacy. I'm sure she'll give me a ride," said Camila.

Camila stepped out of the car and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket to call her friend. Lauren said a quick prayer and tried one more time to start her car, but it didn't. She didn't know how she was going to afford the repairs.

Being reassured by her younger sister that she had a ride to school, Lauren decided to hop on a bus and travel to her modeling agency. She was fed up with how her career was being managed and wanted to give her agent a piece of her mind. She stomped to the receptionist's desk and demanded to speak to her agent, Isaac. The receptionist dialed the agent's line informing him that Lauren was waiting in the lobby.

"Hey! I wasn't expecting you. How's it going?" greeted Isaac cheerfully as he stepped into the lobby.

"Let's talk in your office," said Lauren.

The two of them went up the elevator to the fourth floor. Lauren didn't say a word to her agent the whole ride. Isaac could tell that Lauren was upset about something, so he refrained from speaking. Once seated in his office, Lauren verbalized her reason for the visit.

"I'm not renewing my contract. It's up in a couple of months, and another agency has already expressed interest in signing me," Lauren explained.

Isaac was taken by surprise. "What's with the sudden desire to leave?"

"I'm broke," Lauren exclaimed. "Every month, I worry about how I'm going to pay my bills. And, do you know how I got here? The bus. My car wouldn't start, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to afford to fix it."

"Tell that sister of yours to get a job," Isaac suggested.

"She works on the weekends for minimum wage, and that's all I'm going to allow her to work," Lauren responded. "School comes first."

"Look, Lauren. I don't know what you think you can get out of another agency. Commercial modeling is not a very lucrative career no matter where you go," said Isaac.

"That's not what you had me believe when I was making the decision to move here from Florida," replied Lauren.

Isaac responded, "I'm sorry that you got the wrong impression..."

Lauren interrupted him, "You gave me the wrong impression. You told me that modeling would be better than waiting tables."

"Is it not?" asked Isaac.

Lauren answered, "I was actually making more as a waitress. I'm tired of my biggest gig being the Sears Catalog. I believe another agency could potentially do more for me."

"Hey. Many people would kill to do the Sears Catalog," Isaac argued. "Lauren, I can't keep you from leaving to another agency, but I'm afraid that you're going to find your fate to be the same no matter where you go. Most commercial models don't do this full-time."