The Apprentice (Girlxgirl)

Chapter Eight

The next few days flew by. I had arranged with Adam to collect the rest of my belongings at the weekend, after the meeting with Damien Ryles. Ellie and I had spent our time focusing on the studio, and we were more than happy with the outcome.

We had the front of the building painted to make it look fresh, and it now held a large sign that reads 'EJ Photography'. Inside, we had our two desks in the office as I had imagined, along with filing cabinets, desktop computers, and lots of decorative ornaments. The studio now had a few shooting areas, one had several interchangeable backdrops. Another had a green screen, which I was overly excited about, as I could finally put my photoshop membership to good use, and I could be really creative about it. The rest of the shooting areas were kind of plain, but each had a different colour or theme.

We also perfected the dark room, and tested it out several times, wasting alot of resources in the meantime. And we had sectioned off some of the studio to make a reception, with a small seating area. That was purely to make us look more professional, we had no use for it whatsoever.

So when Friday came around, Ellie and I felt that we were ready for the meeting with Damien Ryles. We had originally arranged to meet Damien in his office, but I called him to suggest he join us in our new studio to show him how committed we were. He agreed to come at 09:30, which meant another early morning for us.

"How do I look?" Ellie asked as she joined me in the reception. She was wearing a tight grey pencil skirt that cut off just above the knee, and a loose blue button-up blouse. She had straightened her hair and tied it up into a neat bun. It was strange seeing her like that, as I'd never seen her with straight hair in all the years I had known her, but it suited her like everything else.

"Very professional," I responded with a wink, "Stop worrying, it's gonna go perfect."

"I know, I'm not worrying," she insisted, as she paced around a coffee table in the seating area. "You look good too, by the way."

I was wearing a navy blue pant suit, with a white shirt underneath. I had also tied my hair up, as it was too long and was beginning to get into my face too much.

"He's here," I muttered, as a Bentley pulled into the parking lot.

"Fuck!" Ellie began to walk faster around the coffee table.

"Ellie, stop it, he's gonna think you're on speed or something!" I laughed.

We watched as Mr Ryles got out of the back seat of the Bentley. He looked to be in his mid forties, his hair was a light brown, with a few grey streaks showing. He was tall and slim, but wore a black suit that seemed to be too big for him, as it was baggy on the arms and legs. He gave a kind smile when he saw us, and we went outside to greet him.

"Mr Ryles, it's good to meet you. I'm Jamie Collins, and this is my business partner Ellie Thompson." I introduced us, as I knew that Ellie was having a nervous breakdown internally.

"Please, call me Damien. And it's great to finally meet you lovely ladies." He replied politely. We led him to our office where we had moved the desks around so we could both sit together across from Damien.

"Okay, so I've brought the contracts with me, we'll look them over shortly and you can both sign whenever you're ready. But first I'd like to congratulate you both on the wonderful job you've done here." He looked impressed with the studio, and I felt a wave of relief come over me.

"I'm glad you like it, we thought it may be a struggle getting it ready for today, but we're quite pleased with the result." I said proudly.

"You should be, it's remarkable." He smiled, then opened his briefcase to get out the contracts. "Okay, so these contracts cover salary, holidays, bonuses, commissions, training, copyright, workplace regulations, and health and safety. But to be honest, a lot of that is for in my office, so you should have your own health and safety and regulations for here. My lawyer can help you with that once you're on my payroll."

"I'm sorry, Mr Ryles- I mean Damien," I stuttered, "but what does the training relate to? We already have our degrees, and we have more than enough ex-"

"Not training for you two," he explained. "I didn't want to discuss this over the phone with you, but there's something I needed your help with."

"What is it?" Ellie finally spoke, which Damien seemed surprised by.

"I would like you to take on an apprentice."

Ellie and I looked at eachother confused by his request.

"An apprentice?" We both asked simultaneously.

"Don't worry, she will be paid by me, she will be punctual and respectful. She will not get in your way, and if she does, she will be stripped of the privilege of working with you wonderful girls." He said, and I assumed this was more than a business request.

"A friend of yours?" I asked.

"My daughter actually," he corrected. "She's in all kinds of trouble at the moment, as she's been familiarising with the wrong crowds, and the only way for me to help her is to cut her off. So I told her that she needs to earn her own money, but I thought I would give her a helping hand."

"Oh, okay-" I started, but was interrupted by Ellie.

"What kind of trouble are we talking about?"

"It's nothing you should worry about, it's nothing that would affect your business, and I promise you there will be no police, or drugs, or anything that serious. We're just not seeing eye to eye at the moment, and I need one of you to take her under your wing and give her something to be excited about. What do you think?"

Ellie looked a little hesitant, but I knew that this would be a deal breaker for the contract, and we'd spent so much money preparing for this meeting that I refused to let a troubled teenager ruin it for me.

"I'll do it." I blurted out, and Damien gave me an appreciative smile.