Those Who Stare Into the Sun

Chapter Seventeen: The campaign

Alexander McQueen called a week later and wanted to book another meeting as soon as possible. I had made plans with Archer for several times that week, but all of them in the evenings.

"I can meet you anytime during the day."

"Great. Could you come in tomorrow around lunchtime?"

"Sure - I'll be there at twelve."

I decided that I wanted to arrive more classy this time, so I wore black costume pants and a black tubetop with a belt around my waist. I painted my lips red and put my hair up half and half.

"Anya, you look gorgeous!" the tall woman - who's name I now remembered as Stella.

"Oh, you too" I told her sincerely. She wore a suit all in white. Very classy.

"Come - let's go join Thomas and Dina."

They were the man and woman that had been in the last meeting, too. We went into the same office as last time, and they served me a nerve calming cup of tea. Thomas and Dina greeted me and we all sat down.

"I called in Alexander, so he's on his way" Thomas suddenly said.

I sat up straigt. "Alexander?"

"Yes - we wanted him to meet you, so we can make a final decision."

I looked at them. "That's good news, right?"

They nodded. "Yes, but we need his approval, so."

"What if he doesn't like me?" I was quite blunt about it.

They chuckled. "He had of course seen pictures and all. But you know, just procedure. And if he doesn't like you - you'll know it in a minute!"

They said it as if it was a good thing. Like it was a kinda pull the patch-situation. I got really nervous.

"So - have you been to the audition yet?" Dina asked me, and all three of them looked at me intensively.

"Uhm, no - but I'll send in the audition tape soon. I'm getting a little help from an old colleague of mine to record it. And he's good, so I'll think it will be great!"

"Oh", they said sort of dissapointed.

I got all nervous about their reaction again, so I pulled the old Archer-card and hoped for the best.

"Yes - it's really nice of Archer to help. You know him - George Archer?"

Dina and Thomas shook their heads, but Stella suddenly leaned over the table and stared at me.

"Oh my God, you've worked with Archer?"

I nodded, really happy that I used my connections. "Yes, he's actually helpt me with loads of things. He's sort of my mentor."

Stella looked at Dina and Thomas. "He's a director of very good repute, you guys. Keeps a low profile, but is still very desireble to work with. He was huge once - worked on campaigns for Dior some years back."

"He did?" I asked. "I didn't even know that."

Stella chuckled. "He keps a low profile, so he probably doesn't speak that much about his past."

Damn, Stella seemed to know more about Archer than I did. It just got more surreal that this man had seen such potential in me. Maybe he was the main factor for my luck in this business. Donald had of course mentioned in my resumé that I had worked with Archer.

Soon enough, a man entered. I relaxed as I figured that he must be some kind of janitor, due to his clothes.

But when Thomas, Stella and Dina all stood up so fast that their chairs went out really hard, I reminded myself that one shouldn't judge the book by it's cover. So I did the same, and put on a stressful smile.