Amanda Carlson met Duff McKagan when she was 17. She fell in love with the tall blonde bassist from Guns N Roses at a concert GNR performed at the Troubadour. She felt that she found true love in Duff. He was not like any guy she had ever dated befo...
Amanda was definitely sure that she would have a career in fashion. This summer she managed to obtain a work permit from her high school so she could work in a clothing store in the mall which she frequently goes to with Hannah and Tracy. Amanda read that in order to find a job after you graduate from fashion school, you need to have at least 2.5 years of retail experience. Plus, an added bonus was that she would get an employee discount of 40% on anything that she purchases for herself from the Merry Go Round. This was her favorite clothing store in the entire mall.
Her mom was definitely surprised when she learned that Amanda wanted to work. She had one more year left of school. One afternoon, Sandra tried to convince her that she didn't have to work, but Amanda insisted that she wanted to.
"Amanda, our family is fine financially. Why do you want to work?" Sandra wondered regarding Amanda's choice to work.
"Mom, you know that fashion is what I am passionate about. I want to get the necessary experience so that I would be able to find a job in the fashion field." Amanda explained.
"We should discuss this with your dad too." Sandra tried to stall the inevitable defeat that would surely occur. Steven would most likely side with Amanda. Sandra knows that Amanda is definitely her father's daughter. She believes that the two of them are on some wavelength in which only they understand each other.
"All right." Amanda gave in to her mom's request.
Steven just entered through the front door. He was working at the accounting office today. Ever since he and Sandra started working together, he decided that they should alternate on which days who should work or when the two of them should work together.
"Steven, you won't believe what happened today." Sandra announced.
"What is it Sandra? Is it something bad?" Steven was concerned.
"Our daughter has decided to join the working world." Sandra said. She still couldn't get over the fact. "Apparently she obtained a work permit this summer from her school and she already applied to work in the mall."
"That's great, Amanda." Steven said. He was proud of her. She talked to him about how she was interested in fashion and she saw it as a possible career. He was very open-minded. He always liked to hear people's plans for the future.
"Wait a minute. Steve, you approve of this? She's barely 17." Sandra was shocked. Was she the only one in the family who thought this was a crazy idea?
"Yes, I do. Amanda talked to me about this idea many times. Honey, you should be proud of her. She has a goal and she wants to achieve it. I feel so proud." Steven calmly explained this to Sandra.
"But Steve, she has one more year left of high school. What if she falls behind with her classes?" Sandra was starting to assume a worst case scenario.
"Don't worry. She told me that she will be working part time and the work shift won't conflict with her school hours. She'll work Friday to Sunday. I wouldn't have approved of this either, but I did go with her to the store. Everything is legitimate. The manager is very understanding." Steven tried to comfort Sandra about the situation.
"Oh, all right. I don't know how you two always seem to get your way." Sandra said while she smiled at Steve. He embraced her and he chuckled about how she gave in about Amanda working.
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It has been two months since Amanda started working at the Merry Go Round. She felt that she was definitely in her element. She is around clothes and she gets to expand her fashion ideas when she is at home. She gets to observe what types of clothes are trending. The store has so much variety when it comes to clothes: acid wash jeans, denim jackets, leather jackets, etc. Overall, any style you might be thinking of it is usually found at the Merry Go Round.
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Around this time, Amanda made a new friend. Her new friend frequently came to the store, almost every Friday. Her name was Stephanie Seymour. She's from San Diego and she moved to Los Angeles because she wanted to be a model. They eventually started to get to know each other and once they started to talk about fashion they knew that they would become friends. Stephanie is a very confident girl. She was very driven when it came to her goal. Her parents didn't really understand why she would want to be a model. They said that it is the worst career you could have. They told her after you turn 30 no one would want to hire you as a model. Stephanie's parents are very close-minded. She admitted to Amanda that was one of the reasons why she left her home. She wanted to try to find her career in a town where no one knew or judged her. Los Angeles was the place for that opportunity.
Amanda would sometimes bring her sketchbook to work and when she had her break she would show Stephanie her latest designs. Stephanie was amazed by Amanda's talent.
"Wow Amanda, you have great ideas." Stephanie exclaimed while she was looking through all of the sketches. The modeling business doesn't know what they are missing out on. Your designs are so unique. It's like they are old fashioned, but at the same time they are not. I've never seen anything like this before."
"Thank you. I do try to make them unique." Amanda felt so proud of her work.
"You sure do." Stephanie said. "Well, I have to get going. My roommate is out of town and the apartment is all mine tonight. My boyfriend will be coming over in less than an hour. It was great to talk to you again." Stephanie said while she got up from the bench that they were sitting on across from the store.
"Same here, Stephanie." Amanda replied. She got up and was about to walk into the store when Stephanie turned around and ran to Amanda. "I just remembered something. How would you like to go with me to the Troubadour next Friday? There will be a performance by a rock band that just got popular. Their album was released about 2 weeks ago. Everyone has been saying that they will be the biggest rock n roll band of the 1980s."
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Amanda thought about this. It would be fun to discover new music again. Thanks to her dad, she pretty much grew up with rock music. "Definitely. Wait, we don't know each other's addresses. We have to exchange them." Amanda said.
"Okay. Here's my address." Stephanie said while she got out a piece of paper from her purse and wrote her address and handed it to Amanda. Amanda ripped the other half of the paper and wrote her address down. She handed her half to Stephanie.
"Where are we going to meet?" Amanda asked.
"I'll come to your place and pick you up." Stephanie replied. "We are going to have the best girls night ever."
"Looking forward to it." Amanda smiled. Now she just had to convince her boss that she needed to get next Friday off.
