*A quick note from the author*
It's been a long time (much too long!) since we last heard from Maddie. But she's back and so am I! Thank you to all of my amazing readers who have been so supportive. Without further ado, here is the start of Maddie's next adventure!
Chapter One
With a frustrated groan, Maddie grabbed a black skirt off the gigantic pile of clothing on her bed, folded it haphazardly, and threw it into the suitcase lying open on the floor.
Wow, I never realized how much I hated packing! Maddie thought to herself in annoyance as she surveyed the absolute disaster zone her bedroom had turned into over the past few hours. The time was well past 3am and her body longed to go to sleep, but she’d put off packing for her trip until the very last day, and now she only had one more night left to fit her entire life into a suitcase.
She held up a tiny red shirt she’d dug out of the back of her closet that she hadn’t worn since she was ten. She held it up against her body and peered in the mirror. Hmmm, maybe I could wear it as a crop top? she mused. Those are supposed to be ‘in’ right now, aren’t they? She tossed the “crop top” into her suitcase. I can’t just bring any old clothes, she thought with a frown. I’m going to PARIS!
Paris. The city of lights, Maddie’s gaze flickered to the poster of the Eiffel Tower that was tacked up on her bedroom wall.
She smiled as she reflected on the last couple of weeks. Her modeling career had gone from strength to strength ever since she’d spoken to the media in her now-legendary press conference. Maddie had gotten herself signed to a proper modeling agency and was starting to book professional jobs in addition to her work with Victoria’s Secret. She had been so busy with photoshoots, casting calls, and auditions that she could barely keep up with her schoolwork. She had been getting so much interest from European fashion designers eager to work with the young starlet that her agency had decided to send her to the fashion capital of the world- Paris, France! And not just for Fashion Week either; she was going for the entire summer! Of course, her mother would never in a million years allow Maddie to go alone, so her mom and Cassidy were coming along with her.
Maddie had never been out of the country before, much less to anyplace as exotic and special as Paris. She could feel butterflies in her stomach in anticipation of the big trip ahead. Traveling was so exciting! It always seemed like something only glamorous people did- people who led sophisticated, extraordinary lives. Now that’s going to be me! she thought happily.
Maddie lifted up an old stained grey t-shirt and sniffed it gingerly. She threw it in the corner of the room, toward her dirty laundry hamper. Yup, that won’t cut it in Paris, she thought, wrinkling her nose. Maddie ran her fingertips over the silver duct tape holding together the sides of her weathered black suitcase. Well, actually it was her dad’s suitcase, and he’d had it for the last twenty years. When Maddie found out she was going to Paris, she had used a small amount of her modeling earnings (more like a small fortune!) and bought herself an elegant traveling bag from none other than Louis Vuitton-- exactly like the one she’d seen Victoria Beckham carrying in UsWeekly.
Naturally, Maddie’s mom had immediately freaked out and insisted she return it. None of Maddie’s pleas had worked, not even the old “but I need it and it’s good quality and I’ll use it forever and ever, so pleeeease!”
Her mother had flat out refused with her standard, “It’s way too expensive and it’ll get stolen in a heartbeat and we already have a perfectly good one you can use, so end of story!”
