The Search for Cinderella

Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19 (FINISHED EDITING)

Rose, Taliah and I skipped out on breakfast, which was only porridge, and went down into town to find the nearest IHOP. Ordering pancakes, we slipped into a booth by a window where a beach lay across the street. We were joking around, glad to get out and about. Once our pancakes came, we greedily ate them, starving from the long-ish walk from the mansion.

Taliah and Rose were actually going insane, whether it be from the sugar in the syrup or not, they were mental.

We took a walk down the beach, our feet in the sand. The sun was refreshing and my mood brightened by a whole lot. I was in a daisy sun dress, barefoot holding my sandals and felt a whole lot more carefree than I have been in the past few days. We were running through the waves, splashing each other while laughing. We ended up drenched.

Taliah took a photo of all of us, our hair string with salt water in it, half damp clothes, and sandy skin. She posted it on Instagram, tagging us with the caption #letsgotothebeachbeachletsgetaway.

As we head back to the mansion, some fans of the show stopped us on the way to take photos with us all, and for autographs.

One girl was even crying, I couldn't believe the surreality of all it. Once we started to leave again, a fan, who looked to be about eighteen, said to all of us, "I love Xavier and we don't even know each other personally, but someone on that show does and is making him change for the better. He's not as sad as he was any more." Rose looked at me and gave me a smirk before thanking the girl.

The moment we stepped through the double doors our stylist's grabbed us, "Annie, you're late," Jo said. Apologising, I sat down as I remembered that they were going to be announcing what the next challenge was going to be today. I was put into a simple black dress, with a straight figure, a high straight neckline and sleeves which came off the shoulder. It fell above my knees and hugged my curves a bit, but in a way which didn't make it seem 'slutty'. I wore black velvet pumps with ankle straps and my hair once again was straightened and parted in the middle, make-up was simple and natural, although it didn't feel that way, except for the dark lipstick which stained my lips.

Once we finished we left to go to the lounge room where the announcements were made. I plopped down onto a couch while the crew was setting up the lights and cameras. Xavier came out a bit early and was talking to Jono before one of his managers pulled him to the side, making sure that he didn't talk to anyone.

I heard a dog's bark and looked up to see Jono giving me a warning look. Soon a small Labrador was running over towards me and ignoring Jono, I knelt down to the ground hugging him.

"Hey Coco," I cooed, quite embarrassingly but he just sniffed my neck, and I was grateful he didn't lick me otherwise Jo would have had a meltdown about my make-up.

Before anything could happen though a big deep voice boomed, "WHAT IS THAT DOG DOING ON THE SET?!"

I looked up to see a pair of angry eyes which belonged to the one and only Elliot. I had almost forgotten about him and his crazy temper and man period.

Sighing I stood up and held onto Coco by the collar bringing him behind the set to give to Jono. I could feel Elliot's glare burning into my back and Lindsay's smirk as I handed my puppy over.

Jono got a junior assistant to take the dog outside as I walked back to where I was sitting with my head held high. Stupid, angry, man.

The lights dim and the happy face of Elliot appeared as he came on screen with Xavier next to him. The spotlight was on him as well as all of us girls as we casually lounged. We ran through footage from the past few weeks before an ad break and afterwards he was announcing the next challenge.