Chapter fifteen.

Elena's POV.

Day Four.

The second meeting went as smoothly as the first,the modifications Katie had made were quite standard and suited the purpose of the ad that we were shooting.

Mingling with the crowd  was not quite as arduous as it had been the day before, with the help of Jace, we were all cracking jokes and laughing to our hearts content before the  meeting even came to an end, I got to know a good number of the crew members,  and by the end of the meeting, we had already exchanged phone numbers and were smiling and kissing each other goodbye.

"Elena, your mind is far away,are you even listening to me." Katie whined. We were in a really nice restaurant having brunch (I was so relieved at having escaped from the confinement of the house), I was eating a cheese burger and she was having a grilled cheese sandwich.

"Oh no, I was totally listening to what you were saying, you were ranting and raving about the new movie that you went to watch with your boyfriend,but it turned out to be a total waste of time, right." I said, unsure.

"Yes, I was so disappointed, it spoilt my whole mood" she continued, satisfied that I was listening.

My mind drifted off and I remembered yesterday.

"Hey Katie, do you know Valerie is?" I asked out of the blue.

"So I.... Why do you want to know about Ms Valerie" she asked.

"So you know her, tell me, who is she?" I was becoming uneasy.

"Well in case you were wondering, Ms Valerie is the step sibling of the boss, why do you ask" she looked at me quizzically.

"Well, I was just curious, he mentioned her yesterday and I thought I should get a little background information on her, how is she, is she nice?,does he dote on her?,tell me". I asked.

"Well she is up high on her pedestal of power, she likes ordering others around, she likes hanging around the boss in public so that she can be noticed, I don't personally hold her dear, and I don't think he really does so either from the way he tries to evade her, so I don't think he does on her so much". She answered.

"Oh, she does not have a really nice character then, what does she do for a living." I asked, still wanting to dig deeper.

" she's a model, talented and beautiful too, but nothing really out of the ordinary when you think about it" she replied.

"Well I guess she is one of those people that I have to evade and stay out of their way so that they will stay out of mine" I concluded.

"It is not as simple as that, you will soon find out the goings  on of the entertainment industry and the people who run it, so just be prepared to be shocked." She stated.

"Well, although I have had this conversation a million times over, I still don't want to jump head first into the unknown,I need to be sure if what I am getting my self into so I can know if I will be able to do it to the end." I breathed.

"If that is what you think, then you need to know that you are getting yourself into some really serious business and you cannot pull yourself out, so start strategizing and think about how you will be able to survive in this very wild place, it is a jungle and only the strongest can survive, so brace be yourself  because you are coming in for a rollercoaster ride." She explained for the upteenth time.

"Now that is straight up discouraging" I remarked.

"Well it is the truth you wanted to hear, so there ,but there is no need for you to worry excessively as you tend to do, just calm down and let everything happen at tbe right time because you can't do anything to change it, I am surprised that you don't know Ms Valerie though, almost everybody in the country knows her".

"Well, thank goodness I don't know her, imagine if I knew or LIKED her, I would have been so disappointed to be a fan of someone who lives only for fame." I gestured, biting onto my cheese burger and closing my eyes to savour the flavor, I did appreciate good food after all.

"Well,some celebrities are not what they appear to be, it is human nature to lie, as such, some celebrities live fake lives, so they can continue to grow their fan base and be loved by the people, they have the mentality that if they do what the public says they should do, that they will be loved and accepted all the more, this holds true for some parts, but they don't realize that they are giving the control of their lives to tbe public and the public opinion might not always be right." She continued all the while sipping her cocktail.

"I would not want to do thelat to myself, I mean I am allowed to live my life and make my own decisions and not care about what any other person has to say, people will still like the real me,right?"

"Exactly, when celebrities behave real and avoid living double lives, it makes it easier for people to like them because they don't put too much effort on pleasuring others, they cherish and love themselves, making people to love them too because of their charisma,but a lot of people don't get the memo" she sighed.

"Well why are you telling me all this" I asked.

"I am saying these things because you need to know them, as a new signee, there is going to be a lot of pressure on you, I will do my fair share of work but the spotlight will be on you, you may be compelled or even tempted to do things that will clear up your path to success, but now I am telling you, do not let yourself be misled or pressurized. It will surely be rocky at first, but you need to keep pushing because I don't think the CEO will personally step up to help you in dire times." She whispered the last part as if it was a top secret information that should not be heard by a third party( even though it WAS a top secret information that must not be heard by any other person).

"So, answer me this, does our beloved Ms Valerie live a double life or she is just naturally sweet" I said sarcastically.

"Oh she is the complete opposite of sweet, in real life I mean, on camera, she is the very epitome of sweet and gentle" She said with a glint in her eye.

"Then I promise to always stay true to myself"I pledged.

"Now that's the spirit!" She exclaimed, a little too loudly, a few heads turned to us and I pulled my hat down a little more to cover my face.

"Hush, you are attracting the attention of the people, keep your voice down" I whispered.

"Ok sorry." She whispered back and started giggling.

"Why are you suddenly so excited." I was befuddled at her behavior.

"You still haven't told me about what happened yesterday, why did he summon you and how did you come to know about Ms Valerie."

"It's confidential information, I cannot divulge" I said, the very memory was making me smile.

"Please... just tell me already, I am dieing to know" she made cute puppy eyes at me and I sneered at her then stuck out my tongue.

"Sooo, we had a date yesterday, it was our first date, we got to know each other, without me fainting this time" I answered, smiling sheepishly.

"Awnnn, that's so nice, you have to tell me the details, in full" she commanded.

"When we get home" I assured.

"I can't wait" And she began to gobble down what was left on her plate.

That marked the end of our discussion, we continued eating with renewed vigor, but I was not able to forget Valerie, the very mention of her name left a bad taste in my mouth, twisted my intestines and tied it into knots, it was odd to have such a bad feeling about someone I had never even met, I pushed the feeling to the back of my mind and faced my food which still needed my attention.

Author's Note:

Hi peeps♥️ your daily update is here, shout out to everyone reading this book, I am grateful to you guys🥺, so I was planning on writing another book, I have two ideas in mind, a teenage high school drama or one shorts( short stories with mature content) I received a suggestion from a reader(which I really appreciate 🥰) that I  should go ahead with the teenage highschool drama. Please contact me on Twitter @cancerzodiac9 and tell me what you think. Xoxo ♥️♥️.