Forever

Chapter 30 _ Cordialmente Invitada

Juliana's first semester ended in a flash. Her second semester was off to a great start as well. She was two weeks into her classes when she received an invitation through the mail. It was an invitation to attend New York Fashion Week specifying that she was 1 of 25 candidates to go on this trip, all expenses paid.

The first person she told about the news was her father. He was one of her biggest cheerleaders and he knew going to New York was one of her childhood dreams. He told her to meet him and her mother for dinner to celebrate the opportunity she had earned.

Her second call was to Valentina. It was an exciting call for the both of them because Valentina had just received her own Fashion Week invitation. Renata and the institute had officially hired Valentina as their Fashion Photographer and her first assignment would be to accompany the group to New York and photograph the shows and the students in attendance.

That evening Juliana had a celebration dinner with her parents and toasted to her grandmother who instilled her love for fashion without knowing it. Lupe told Juliana how proud she was of her for not letting anyone, including her mother, get in the way of her dreams. Their night ended with a slice of banana bread and a cup of milk.

The following day the 25 students along with the 5 staff members met up during lunch to plan their sleeping arrangements and their assignments. Valentina was introduced as the new photographer. Juliana was put in a room with Valentina, Josie, Penelope, and Renata. The rest of the group was also split into teams of 5. They would be leaving that Thursdays and return the following Friday.

When Thursday rolled around they all met at the airport and were all seated near each other on the plane. The flight took five hours and throughout those five hours Valentina edited some images while Juliana leaned on Valentina's shoulder, watching her work and eventually falling asleep. They arrived in the city around 11am. They got a shuttle bus and were taken to their hotel.

They would get Thursday to explore a bit and settle in. Given Valentina's easy going nature she instantly made friends with some of Juliana's classmates. Once in their room, Renata told the girls to decide between the two beds and she'd sleep on the pullout couch. Josie and Penelope couldn't believe they were going to spend the entire week with the face of RIC. The Saltzman family was well acquainted with the Carvajal family but Josie had never actually gotten one on one time with Renata and she was a big fan of her work. Penelope on the other hand didn't know them much, aside from Valentina these past few months. She hid it well but she too was very excited to be around one of her favorite designers. When she found out that Renata was opening her own fashion school she knew that was her opportunity to learn from one of the best so applying was a no brainer to her.

Renata being the bright spirit she is insisted the girls called her by her first name, no Mrs. Carvajal just Renata. She even joked that that title belonged to Juliana which caused everyone to laugh and a huge blush to spread across Juliana's face. Renata and Juliana had become great friends and Valentina was very happy that they had the friendship they did. Renata was not only a mentor to Juliana she was almost like an older sister.

The girls were getting ready to head downstairs to meet up with the rest of the group while Renata explained the plan for the day. "We're going to lunch as a group but then you have 5 hours to do whatever you want. The rest of the professors and I will be doing our own thing as well. Just meet up back at the restaurant by 6pm so we can have dinner and then head to bed. We have an early morning tomorrow." Renata said as she wrapped her scarf around her neck.

"Do you want to come with us Natty? We're all sticking together anyway. We have our own itinerary for today. I'm sure Josie and Pen would love to spend some time with you." Valentina offered her sister in law.