Truth or Spy (REWRITE)

Six

“I hate you,” Kendra mumbled to herself as she stood in front of a giant mirror.  She could hear Jodi’s chuckle through the tiny earpiece attached to the back of her new diamond earrings.  After two hours of a learning and perfecting a dance routine with the other models, Kendra was being poked and prodded by stylists.

It wasn’t that she minded wearing expensive gowns and having her makeup and hair done by professionals, it was the fact that she was just apart of the distraction while Jodi was out there blending into the crowd and doing all of the real work.

“Faith come darling,” a short man with too much gel in his hair motioned for Kendra, or Faith for the day, to follow him to the changing areas.  She took one last look at her new look, dark smudged makeup that made her green eyes stick out from her now perfect skin.  She could feel the foundation, powder, concealer and other products she didn’t know the use of, caked onto her face.  She knew she was going to have to scrub at her face for hours if she had any chance of not breaking out from the shock to her pores.

She followed the man into the dressing rooms and he began talking quickly with an extremely tall and extremely skinny man wearing a scarf about what would work best with her body shape.

“I don’t know if those pants will fit over her hips,” the designer said, shaking his finger in the shorter mans face.  Kendra tried to appear clueless, she wasn’t supposed to be fluent in English, but it was hard as these men praised and criticized her figure.

“You said she’s only seventeen?” the designer gave Kendra another once over, smiled and then gave the shorter man wide unbelieving eyes.  “She has the body of a woman.  My brother would drool over her.”

He snapped his fingers and whispered something to a woman wearing a headset and carrying a clipboard.  The girl scurried away and the designer turned to Kendra with a wide smile.

“My love,” he said.  “You are going to make me huge.”

*******

Jodi sat quietly, watching the guests all take their seats.  She was seated next to Beyoncé and she resisted the urge to sneak in a selfies with the queen.  Kendra had forced her into wearing heels, again, and some designer outfit so that she would fit in with the rest of the guests. 

Now, sitting amongst them, Jodi had to admit that Kendra did well on the outfit.  No one would guess Jodi was just a high school student, or a spy.  But Kendra would never hear her admit it.

She looked down at her phone again and pulled up the app she had created so that she could keep an eye on all of the cameras they had set up. 

A yawn escaped her lips as she watched nothing exciting, they had barely gotten any sleep the night before.  At least two burly security guards were stationed at every entrance and exit, Jodi wondered how anyone would get anywhere close enough to the model.

“Jodi! Cora just got here!” Jodi winced as Kendra’s voice came hissing over the piece on her headband.  “Jodi she’s right there!”  Jodi imagined Kendra jumping up and down in some ridiculous designer outfit, being yelled at to stand still as she silently screamed about being in the vicinity of her favorite model.

“Relax,” Jodi laughed in a hushed tone.  Just then, the lights went out and suddenly Jodi was standing in the heels she wished she wasn’t forced into and listening for any sign of trouble.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the show set to inspire,” an single spotlight shone on the very end of the catwalk as an announcer came out of the floor.  Jodi sat back down slowly, as small fountains on the edges of the stage appeared out of nowhere, light up with different colored lights.  Jodi wondered how the girls had missed that.

“The plans for this show are three years in the making,” the announcer continued.  “And has attracted the biggest models in the world to this show, dying to have the chance to flaunt Lenore Time’s first line.  Welcome to a night of fashion, drinking, gambling, and amazing entertainment.”

The announcer began to disappear into the floor again, quicker than when he emerged and the entire room was on the edge of their seats as music started and lights began flying around the room.

“I hate you,” Kendra whined into the earpiece again but Jodi has no smart response as the show started.

Tall, ridiculously beautiful girls began strutting onto the stage in two lines.  The clothes they were in were colorful than anything Jodi had ever seen and yet it all worked.  Flowy shirts, tight pants, tight shirts, loose pants, jewelry that had to cost a fortune, and higher heels than she thought Kendra would approve of made their way onto stage.  Jodi searched each face for Kendra as each model took their spot, but could not find her.

Then, Kendra came strutting out, walking up the middle of the catwalk through the two lines of professional models.  She was wearing a black leotard and strappy black stilettoes, making her legs look longer than Jodi thought possible.  Kendra was not that tall; there was no way.  Connected to the leotard’s hem around Kendra’s legs was a long train of thin fabric that had some kind of picture on it.  Jodi couldn’t make out the picture as Kendra made her way to the front of the catwalk with a look that could bring the most seasoned womanizer to his knees.

When Kendra reached the front of the catwalk the girls all erupted into a sudden and perfect dance routine.  The audience all stood to their feet and started screaming for the dancing models.  Jodi knew she had made the right decision sending Kendra back there, there was no way she could have worn the outfits let alone dance like that in heels.

For the end of the dance, the models all made there way back off the stage, their thin hips swinging as they strutted back.  Jodi couldn’t help laughing at all of the times Kendra told her all she had to do was pretend she was model walking and she would be able to walk in heels. 

The models all left until Kendra was the only one on the stage.  She winked at the edge of the stage, one hand on her hip, before turning back to strut back.  In the middle of the stage she paused a few moments to give the audience a glimpse at the train of her outfit.  Jodi could only exclaim the picture as paradise.  The train was a picture of green hills, lustrous forests, and flowing waterfalls.  The fountains on the side of the stage all went higher, nearly hitting the high ceilings of the room while Kendra began to finish her strut off the stage.  The audience erupted into loud applause for the opening as the fountains died down.

“You might have a modeling career if this whole undercover thing doesn’t work out for you,” Jodi said under her breath, knowing that Kendra could hear her.  Silence was heard from the other line, which Jodi thought was strange but figured Kendra was too busy outfit changing to deal with her best friends annoying comments.

Jodi didn’t know what pulled her to look at the audience on the other side of the catwalk, but she did.  Just across from her she could see her mother crossing her legs as she took a seat; and next to her Kendra’s mother sat fanning her face with a fan.

“Kendra, we have a problem.”