The Apprentice (Girlxgirl)

Chapter Forty Two

I decided not to tell Ellie about the letter or photo, she didn't need to worry too. When I went up to bed that night, Alex was reading the letter again, and I just hoped that she would forget about it soon. We fell asleep really early, slightly jet lagged.

When I woke up the next morning, Alex wasn't there, but she left a note on her pillow.

Gone to meet Rico for breakfast. See you at work beautiful.

I smiled at the note, and went to take a shower. After getting dressed for work, I went downstairs and found Rach, Ellie and Mark in the kitchen.

"Jay, Mark made us breakfast," Ellie said proudly. He had made pancakes, which I guessed would be a lot nicer than the ones I made.

"Looks delicious, thank you Mark. It's good to see you by the way," I smiled.

"You too Jamie. How was your holiday?"

"It was perfect," I beamed.

We all sat and ate our pancakes, then Mark left. He would be working away for a few days so Ellie displayed way too much affection on his departure.

"Jay, Miranda is coming to the studio at eleven to discuss everything," Ellie said, reminding me that I wanted to meet with her.

"Ellie, I told you it doesn't matter, I don't want you to make a big deal out of this," Rachel insisted.

"Rach, I'm not having anybody saying anything bad about you," I said, "and it's not just about that anyway."

Rachel didn't argue with me anymore, she saw that I was annoyed by the situation. We ended the conversation there and headed out to work.

We were at the studio quite early, so I looked through the work Ellie and Rachel had done while I was away.

My phone buzzed as I was looking through photos on Ellie's computer. Seeing the message made me angry and upset at the same time. It was a photo message, from the same person trying to get between me and Alex.

The message read 'Maybe you're not the only one keeping secrets', and there was a photo of Alex sitting on a sofa with Mona in a café not far from the studio. Mona had her hand on Alex's leg, and they were laughing about something. I felt my face heat up, and my heart was beating fast.

I wasn't sure whether I was more angry with Mona, or whoever sent the message. I knew that it couldn't have been Mona who sent the message, so I was annoyed that I had no idea who was doing this to me.

After I got over the anger brewing inside of me, tears started to roll down my cheeks. Alex had lied to me.

I tried to stop myself from crying, but I couldn't understand why she would lie. I've been honest with her about everything, and I thought she had with me up to now. Maybe she was still into Mona, and wanted to get back together with her.

"What's wrong, Jay?" Ellie's voice startled me, and I tried to hide the fact that I was crying. I quickly wiped my eyes and turned back to the computer screen.

"Nothing," I mumbled. I didn't fool Ellie, she kneeled in front of me and pulled me into a hug.

"Come on, honey, tell me what's up," she insisted. I didn't want her to know why I was upset, so I wiped my eyes and tried to pull myself together.

"I don't want to talk about it now, Ellie."

"Okay. Well, the models are here, so do you want to come meet them? Or shall I get started while you calm yourself down?"

"No, I'm coming now," I said, standing up, "Ellie, please don't tell Alex I've been crying."

"Did you two argue or something?" She asked.

"No, I just don't want her to press me about this. I'll explain later, okay? Just please don't say anything."

Ellie put her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

"Okay," she whispered, "I just don't like seeing you upset."

I kissed Ellie on the cheek, then pulled away from her and walked into the studio to meet the models.

~~~~

Alex arrived later than I thought she would, and it made me nervous about her being with Mona. She kissed me gently on my cheek when she came in, then introduced herself to all the models.

Miranda appeared only a few minutes later, and chatted for a little bit with everyone, before we went into my office.

"Okay, how can I help, Jamie?" she asked, sitting across from me at my desk.

"Well, as you probably know, Alex and I have been away for a few days, so Ellie was in charge. I asked her sister to help us out while we were in Paris. Obviously, the girls have only been working with us for a couple of days, but we're having some issues with them," I started, and Miranda stared at me intently. "Basically, the models are acting rather spoiled."

Miranda smiled at my comment, and I wasn't sure how to proceed.

"Umm... I mean- I don't mean spoiled, I meant to say... Okay, yeah, I mean spoiled."

"They are models, Jamie. Of course they're spoiled. Now tell me how I can help," Miranda said, still smiling.

"Okay, well, I don't really know how it worked with their last photographers, but we cannot give them individual dressing rooms, nor do we have the time to intervene in all of their petty arguments. And I will not allow anybody to speak to Rachel, or anyone else who works with me, the way that Sophia did the other day."

Miranda's eyes locked with mine momentarily, and I thought that I might have annoyed her.

"Okay, here's what's gonna happen," she said, and I braced myself for what might come next. "I'm gonna let you girls recruit your own models. The girls in there need to learn some discipline, so if they want their jobs here, they need to apply, and prove to you that they are worthy."

"Miranda, I-"

"Jamie, I'm giving you an opportunity here to work with decent human beings, rather than the stuck up teenagers you have been left with. Take advantage of this, and do it how you like."

I thought about it for a minute and realised it was a good idea to choose the models ourselves. Miranda and I discussed it for a few minutes before we arranged our next meeting to discuss the recruiting process.

"Ladies, go home! All of you," Miranda shouted as she walked back into the studio. And everyone was whispering and looking confused. "Now. You'll all get a phonecall when we have something for you."

Alex, Rachel and Ellie all looked confused too. The models all grabbed their things and left, still whispering amongst themselves.

"See you girls on Friday," Miranda said to us as she followed the models out of the studio.

"What the fuck?" Ellie asked. I explained what Miranda and I had discussed, and they all seemed relieved. Rachel and Ellie went into the office to get their bags so we could go home, leaving me alone with Alex.

"So, how's Rico?" I asked.

"He's good, yeah, we didn't talk for too long but the club's doing well," she replied, avoiding eye contact. I decided that it wasn't the time or place to bring up the text message I had received.