ESTHER

Chapter three

My uncle drove me the next day, to a venue the out listed applicants were supposed to be for the next twelve days. When we finally arrived, he helped me remove my bags from his car, wished me good luck with a kiss on my head and drove off. I put my scarf on my head to hang around my neck as I adjusted my shades.

The building wasn't huge. It looked like a normal studio, with just the GOULDERS sign hanging on it. Any other form of the decor was absent and the colour of the building was grey.

As I made my way into the building, I remembered the advice my uncle gave me before coming here. He warned me not to tell anyone that I'm from the middle east, as people aren't accommodating towards them because of the Islamic terrorism that happened in the US popularly known as '9/11'. It hasn't been long since that had happened and so to avoid discrimination, I had to keep quiet about my race. I wasn't comfortable with it but I had no choice.

When I entered the building, the inner decor was just as bland as the outer one. I made my way to the receptionist as I removed my shade and scarf. When I told her my name, she went through a list she held and when she found my name, she ticked it. She called for someone to lead me to my room.

Not too long after, a dark-skinned woman helped to carry some of my bags as she led me to my room. She introduced herself as Sheena. She was pretty nice. When we finally arrived, she wished me good luck and made her way back to the reception.

When I entered my room, I immediately took notice of my surrounding. There where four beds fit for a person each, and two were already occupied by two girls. I made my way to the empty bed by the end of the room, next to the wall. I dropped my bags by the foot of the bed and finally laid down on it.

There were a joint bathroom and toilet attached to the room. I wondered how I was going to survive because I hated to share things like this. I didn't like using a public toilet.

I finally faced the two girls who already occupied the bed. One of them was fiddling with her phone and the other was blatantly staring at me. I'm not a social person naturally, but I went ahead to say hi to her.

"Hi, I'm Phoebe. Nice to meet you." She replied cheerily. I smiled at her.

"You too. I'm Esther." I involuntarily looked at the one still fiddling with her phone but removed my eyes quickly. She didn't seem like the friendly type. Phoebe must have noticed it because she quickly introduced us.

"Oh, this is Angie." She said, tapping her to get her attention. Angie finally looked up to face me. I gave her a small smile as I introduced myself. She nodded her head in reply, indifferently and continued what she was doing with her phone.

"She doesn't talk much," Phoebe said, trying to defend her. I gave her a small smile in return.

"So, " she continued. "Why do you want to work as Jack Rhodes PA? Because he is handsome?" She asked teasingly. I just laughed.

"He is handsome alright. But I doubt I'm his type. I'm just going for the money. I heard the PA earns a huge amount."

"Yeah, your right. But I gotta say, your bold." She said, suddenly giving me a studious look.

"Hmm?"

"Your so pretty, you have an hourglass shape but you're not too tall. Possibly 5'3 or 5'4 right?" She asked.

"5'4 actually. But what has that got to do with me being bold?" I asked her, already having a clue of where she is headed.

"Like don't get me wrong, your damn beautiful. But it's weird seeing someone of your shape, you know, modelling. "

"Well like they said, this isn't a normal interview," I told her with an amused smile. I didn't get offended though. She was right. When people say the word models, they suddenly think of lean, thin girls. I'm not thin. I'm not fat either. I'm what you will call petite per se. I have full bosoms and full hips, with a full behind. Everything about me seems well rounded and shaped. But I didn't care for that when coming here. All I came for was the interview.

The next day, after we were done with bathing and dressing up, we left our room and headed down the hallway towards the studio where the lessons will be conducted. The out listed are in badges and I'm in the third badge, along with my roommates and some others. Every six days, a new badge comes in and this will keep happening till the end of the month. Also every six days, people are eliminated. Whoever lasts through the twelve-day lessons, automatically qualified for the interview, which I heard will be done on a ramp walk.

We entered the studio and we all sat down on the seats that were already placed there. Two women came forward and introduced themselves as our tutors. They were to teach us on the first six days the importance of make-up, and the next six days the importance of fashion. Jack Rhodes, I heard, liked his assistant to be classy and beautiful, just like him. Although he wouldn't want all the attention to go to his PA.

To be honest, he really seemed like an egotistical rich dude. I found myself wondering more and more how I'll survive if I ever get the job.

You're doing it for the money. I reminded myself.