His Muse

Chapter 3- The Pageant

-The dress worn by Haven is in the picture.-

I got a call from Lindsay, Ron's assistant, late one day. She wanted to schedule a date for my first photoshoot with him. I was so excited to find out that he was serious about everything he said. The sad thing was that it was in a couple weeks, and it felt impossible to last that long. But I had the Miss. City of Shack Pageant coming up, and that's what I needed to focus on for now. I had the perfect Sherri Hill dress, the perfect interview outfit, and a makeup artist to make sure I looked my best. 

Later, I went into the interview and answered every question with 100% confidence. I felt like everything was falling into place, and I might even have a chance at winning. Winning the pageant would make me feel like I really was beautiful and people were noticing me.

 I got to the building where the pageant was taking place, and surprisingly, only 20 girls were competing. That gave me even more confidence. 

Before we lined up to walk on stage, we each had to get our individual pictures taken. I walked in the booth, and Ron was behind the camera. I was already so nervous, and now I had to talk to the most attractive man I'd ever seen. He walked around to me to fix my dress and my hair. He put his hand on my face and looked over into my eyes, "just when I thought you couldn't be anymore stunning," he said. I laughed and told him not to make me any more nervous. We made small talk then I got in the line to walk out on stage in front of the judges and audience. 

A couple minutes passed, and then, finally, it was time. I put on my fake smile and walked out. It felt like hours standing on that stage. As I looked into the audience I saw all the girls from school beaming eyes, and realized if I didn't place in the pageant, it my be the end of my social life at school. Time passed and my short time in the spotlight was over. I waited on the other girls to finish so the top ten list of girls list would come and I would know if I would place or not. Then it came, and surely enough, I didn't make it. Worse than that, everyone knew I didn't make it. Everyone who was anyone was in the audience. 

As the top ten placing girls lined up, I started tearing up and packed my stuff up to leave. As I walked out of the door, I literally bumped into Ron. He asked if I was okay, then he saw my face and knew what had happened. He grabbed me and pulled me in for a hug, which I was hoping he would so badly, he then told me this to comfort me "I said it once and I'll say it again. You are stunning. I photographed every girl in this pageant and not a single one of them caught my eye, until I saw you. Then it was difficult to keep myself from staring. You should've won, and I have no idea what's wrong with the judges, they must be blind."