Breaking Free (Tom Holland) BOOK ONE [COMPLETED]

Breaking Free Chapter 1

"It's almost time for our photo shoot!" my twin sister Valerie screeched through my dressing room door. I jumped so high in my seat that the woman doing my makeup, Susan, made a large jagged mark across my cheek with liquid eyeliner.

"When is she ever going to stop doing that?" Susan asked after letting out a string of colorful curses.

"Never," I chuckled. I handed her a napkin to wipe my face. "Imagine that as your alarm clock every morning."

Susan paused cleaning my face and looked at me with pity in her eyes. She put her hand over her heart and called me a poor soul before we both burst into fits of laughter. Our giggles were only interrupted by the photographer sticking her head through the door and saying, "Hey less laughing more prepping. We shoot in 15."

"Blame my sister!" I responded.

Myrtle sighed and shook her head. "I am currently trying to catch her so consider it done," she said in a way that made me feel sorry for her. Susan and I yelled good luck to her as she took off down the hallway after my sister.

Fifteen minutes later I arrived on set and found my sister sitting next to Myrtle looking like a sad puppy dog. I tried my best to hide the smile that was fighting to spread across my face as I approached her. When she saw me Valerie jumped up and ran right to me.

"Vanessa where were you?" she whined as tears welled up on her eyes. "Myrtle was so mean to me!"

"And with good reason. Susan was about to come out and strangle you back there,"I responded with a laugh.

My sister and I had always been close. Since the day we were born our mother had always paraded us around together. Even when we followed in the footsteps of our older brother and were thrust into the limelight as infant clothing models we were a package deal. Between the two of us we had only done two jobs alone and that was only because the other was sick and had to cancel last minute. If you wanted Vanessa, you had to get Valerie as well and vice versa. Those were the rules.

Valerie had a more bubbly and outgoing personality than I did. It was her role to do most of the talking wherever we went. Honestly, even if I wanted to speak it was hard to get a word in edgewise with her talking a mile a minute. Still, that was something I loved about her. That and the fact that once she was in her element at work, she gave it her all.

"Alright, now that the Wonder Twins are here can we please get started?" Myrtle asked when she spotted me. Everyone shouted that they were ready to go. Valerie and I got into position and the shoot began. As we tried out different poses and watched the camera shutters flash brightly I felt my confidence skyrocket. It was the feeling I looked forward to most every week. It was the only time that I truly felt my true colors shown through.

There were a total of three wardrobe changes for this particular shoot. Every time we were given the go ahead to go change my sister would jump up and scream, "Catch me if you can!" before bolting out of the room. By the third change she was being led out of the room hand in hand with Myrtle. By the time we wrapped up Myrtle was pleading with me to do something about her. I could only smile and laugh.

After changing back into our regular clothes Valerie and I went to go find our uncle. He had dropped us off and he usually disappeared until we were done. He was still new to being our manager so we gave him a pass. The role had been thrust unto him very unexpectedly after all. He did what he could to help us continue our careers. Attending photo shoots was apparently where he drew the line.

"Uncle Travis!" Valerie yelled while banging on the window of the car. Sleeping Uncle Travis jumped so high he hit his head on the ceiling of his car. Rubbing his head angrily he unlocked the doors so we could get in.

"I'm telling you one of these days you're going to give me a heart attack." he grumbled.

"Our shoot went very well today," I commented while putting my seat belt on.

"I'm glad to hear it," Uncle Travis replied. He started up the car and we drove back to our normal lives.