1 Chapter 1: Overnight

"Get your head out of the clouds, Odetta and do it right,"

Odetta held the broom with her head held low sweeping the floors of her aunt's workshop.

Her mind always wandered, to her Aunt Dinah Lawrence. It was becoming a big problem.

Odetta reckoned it was all a matter of time before she left for college but time said differently. She sighed brushing the dirt into the dustpan and tilted it into the trash bin.

Odetta was strong, slender, she had wispy honey brown hair and outstanding blue eyes, her nose was okay and she possessed cheekbones that were well proportioned. Her lips had a slight pout.

Her eyes drooped tiredly from the day's work at her aunt's shop.

She was a tailor and with how things were going, Odetta may as well call herself a tailor too.

She set her broom aside by the door "I'm done," She announced while taking her ribbon off to let down her hair. It was dirty and she marched to her room and made for the showers.

Clumps of her hair fell from her fingers ad she scrubbed to her content.

The shower panes fogged when she stopped the shower and dressed up, getting to her main bedroom.

It was small and made mostly of wood which she polished.

Light bloomed through a single window at the centre.

At the end was a tailor's dummy, clothed with her latest design and wrapped in poly. It stood there for six years.

She planned to showcase her work to the world but aunt Dinah would never agree. So she was stuck with another alternative.

The Internet. Her eyes scrolled through the lines on her mobile phone and she huffed at the empty comment section on Mode. There were zero likes.

She rubbed her leg gazing at her dress. "Guess you get to live another day collecting dust," She said and smiled.

She bit her finger and gazed at her beige dress again.

How it fluttered with the pleats on the bodice arranged gracefully to the waistline. The rest of the skirt had a flowery illusion, which was just a fold-up of pleats repeated over and over.

She carried the poly off and set the dress to her view. Making corrections.

There were a few missteps in the arrangement of the skirt and she didn't like the way her transparent linen stood out. It was stiff.

She planned to make a collar that was both flattering and chic but all she saw was excess fabric sticking out on the neck.

Her eyes watered behind her glasses and she held a pin in between her lips and put her work together.

She smiled at her transparent puffed sleeves and the collar stood up just fine.

She just needed someone to wear it.

She puffed setting it back in its place and she clicked a few snapshots on her phone camera and then beamed at the screenshots and typed a caption.

*I've managed to ruin the details lol.

Post*

In her bean bag, she crouched with her sketchbook on her lap and erased her last sketch. Then added the latest improvements with more details.

Her eyes were starry, she gazed at the ceiling with promise then gave out a long-drawn sigh and rolled over to fall asleep.

Her phone was long forgotten on her stool and the notifications were piling up.

***

Odetta nodded against the rim. It had been a long night and she sat up from her bean bag, she slept on it all night, now her back was paying dearly for it, she searched clumsily for her phone.

Her vision blurred at the light from the screen, it cleared when she put on her glasses and she blurted at her post online, the messages she got and several friend requests.

Okay, this is just another breakout. She thought. Her profile on Mode was open and her username was Stareyes.

She gurgled at her post and had up to a million likes.

At first, she scrolled up to her profile and stalked herself to make certain.

The next was Mode's official page featuring her design online.

Not only does the lighting bring out its silhouette with its more-than-perfect handiwork and it maintains a perceptive outlook that captures the quiet feminine innocence. A pure talent indeed.

CEO, Edward Cummings,

Lux Textiles.

Odetta was hyperventilating. She spun on her stool reading the reviews again and she hardly noticed Dinah walking through the front doors.

She picked up her blue apron first thing and snorted. "You kids and your cellphone hoo-ha. Did you grease the joints as I told you to?"

She braced her hands on her hips.

"Uh...no, good morning, aunt Dinah," Odetta set up another stool clumsily attracting a dry look from her.

She looked stiff and reclined on the seat she offered.

Odetta crouched and focused on working on the manual sewing machines she set up, her hands shook, she had barely been absorbed into the new world she was drawn into.

She growled.

Dinah's Tack Shop was great in terms of sewing, she was great at being a tailor but now and then, she was failing to meet deadlines. The machines were faulty.

She could feel her aunt's eyes on her back and if she slipped up, she may as well receive a kick to the head.

She rubbed a conscious hand to her head and stood up stepping around Dinah who tested the pedal.

"That's fair, get the lines ready,"

Odetta nodded propping the linen rolls against the wall.

The sewing room had brown wallpapers and was full of magazine cuts with several sewing patterns for the customer's preference.

Odetta hoped to get her design on paper that everyone could see and prefer.

She came from a small home in Durham with her dad and aunt taking care to make sure she was schooled.

On most holidays, she would go to her aunt's house in the city to stay and keep watch over her shop.

Soon she picked up an interest in sewing and learned to use a sewing machine and from there, Dinah engaged her. At first, the errands were unbelievable but she came to understand, that she hated to leave her position.

On the usual days when there were no customers, Odetta would stitch a few pieces by herself and then save her month's allowance to purchase materials and sew actual clothes.

She tested hot pink linen for elasticity and spread it over the floor with the lining then cut the measurements Dinah instructed.

"Ugh," She lurched at the papers Dinah tossed.

Dinah knew that Odetta was excited about getting back on her phone. The more she concentrated on her work, the better because her missteps were getting too much. "Don't let the excess get away and make sure those bra cups are a match, understand?"

"Yeah, can I get a chalk?"

She flipped the pieces and found one drawing the lines on it.

Her mind wandered to today's breakthrough and she could barely contain her excitement. She considered sharing the news with aunt Dinah.

She watched her