CHAPTER 7: MODELING DEBUT

The next Wednesday, Mailys finally met with her teacher's friend. She met him on a big studio in Paris suburbs. She was really impressed as this was the first time, she entered such beautiful place. She instantly saw the professionalism of the people who were there. As soon as she introduced herself someone brought her to see Faris. He was the photographer and also her teacher friend. He introduced himself and asked a few questions to her: how old was she, why did she want it to be a model, and if she really was ready to step in that world? Mailys had passed the previous week training for that interview. She wasn't that stressed as she knew it was just a formality.

She came dressed in a brown pencil skirt and a light-yellow top. The outfits were cute but nothing too gorgeous, as she knew, she would be dressed up for the photo shoots. After the interview was done, she headed to the changing room and wore the first outfit.

After five hours of changing clothes, redo the makeup, changing location in the studio, and shooting 50 photography, they were finally done. Mailys was exhausted. She knew it was going to be hard on her, but she appreciated the time she spent here. It really was a long time since she last acted, and only now did she realize it was missing her. With every change of clothes and location she had to play a different role. By the end of the photo shooting, she was really exhausted but she was really excited too. Her mother who never left her side was worried half of the time but when she saw her daughter's smile and bright eyes, she felt like it was the right decision.

The photographer was also excited. He first thought that it was just a favor he will do for his friend and that's the model wouldn't be that big of a deal. But from the start he saw that Mailys was dedicated, and she was listening very carefully every word he would say. Plus, she really was good at bringing up to life his concepts for the photography. She was so expressive and could convey easily what he was thinking of. The photo book will for sure be a great one.

- "Mailys, and Mailys mother, can I talk to you for a second," he continued as both came near him, "I have a job who will start the next month for a magazine, and we are still searching for some teenagers to take part of it. I think Mailys should apply. I'm the main photographer, and by the end of the month her book will be finalized. If I talk to the head of the magazine, she should be able to join without auditioning."

- "That is great, I'm up for it!" Mailys shouted excited.

- "Easy Mai! you have to talk about it with your father before." Mailys's mother calmed her down "

- "It's OK he already agreed to let me go this far, he definitely won't stop me now", she responded.

- "But as she still is a minor, I must tell you that the work will last a month at least. And we will travel all around the country." Faris said.

- "Whatever it's here, near home or all-around France, I'm not leaving Mailys's side, so it shouldn't be a problem." Her mother concluded

During the following month, she prepared herself mentally and physically. As she planned before, she woke up early every morning to do her different routines. So far, she had stuck with it, and she was proud of herself. It wasn't something common for her to praise her own effort and to note the positive changes in herself.

At school, she was always avoiding people, especially Lily and Nate. Despite her avoiding them, she often bumped into them. It was OK when she will meet with lily by accident. They will talk without the weird silence bothering them. In fact, Lily would do all the talk. She was suspecting something, but she didn't know what was going on. All she knew was she was being avoided. It was easy for her to notice as they didn't go to school together for the whole month. Mailys didn't bother to give her real answers as she didn't care to make her angry. Most of all, she didn't want to risk reveling something, especially to her.

The real problem was Nate, she didn't know how comes his attitude was so hard to follow. It was like he was at every corner of the school. He would always call out to her as "the Infirmary girl" and talk with her about whatever was in his mind. It wasn't anything big and she managed to keep her cool, but she didn't like the change between her past and her current life. They shouldn't be friends now, and she wished they could go their separate ways sooner than later. Hence, she prayed to be accepted as a model for the magazine she heard about. She wouldn't be going to school for at least one month, it was like killing two birds with one stone.

As the photographer had said before, he finished editing the book a month later and talked to the head of the magazine. The book was really impressive, so he decided to take Mailys in without much deliberation. She was thrilled, happy and finished her preparation to go to this work. She had the go from her father, and her mother went to school to explain the situation she would be in, from now on. She explained about the modeling plan, and because her daughter insisted, she asked the school to be low-key with it and to say that she was sick if anyone asked. She told them that Mailys will often be absent, but as a requirement to let her do what she wants her father found her a tutor, so she won't fall behind in her studies. Little did he know, she didn't need a tutor to be the top student.

Few days later, Mailys and her mother boarded in a train to the south of France. They would start off at Nice and go up along the coast to Côte d'Armor before going back to Paris. They'll stop for the shootings at more than twenty locations.

The magazine they were shooting for was aiming for the rich housewives from 40 to 50 years old who wants to follow the trends. The theme was about mothers and daughters enjoying the same things. They would have to show the previous and the new generation wearing the same clothes and doing the same activities. It was perfect for Mailys, as she knew, no one in her school would read this kind of magazine. The truth is, even if someone came across the magazine, no one would be able to recognize her.

Mailys was performing well at her job. Faris knew she was good and had potential, but he couldn't imagine it was at that extent. He was sure to introduce her to his coworkers in case they were searching for girls her age.

The photo shootings were going smoothly until half of their trip. They were in Britain, and as the weather wasn't that good, they couldn't shoot for the whole week. In the end, they even took twice the time than they should have taken. Mailys wasn't dissatisfied with it as the more time they will take here the longer she would take to come back school.

Two months later, they came back in Paris, and finished the shootings near the Eiffel Tower. "What a waste of Paris view!" she remembered the sentence and bitterly smiled. She already was changing and was satisfied with what she was becoming. She cheered herself up, and took her bags ready to go home.

She went to school the following days, and nothing had changed. She was still ignoring her classmates, Nate was still as weird as he was before, and Lily was still suspecting her.

Once Mailys came to school late in the afternoon and was caught by Lily who interrogated her.

- "It's been three months since you started to act weird, you are missing school, when you're here we never go together, nor do we go home together…"

- "I already told you I have appointments at a hospital."

- "About that, I went to your house the other day, while your mother and you weren't there, your siblings and father were. And they were acting perfectly fine. Isn't that weird?"

- "Not at all, it's not like I'm having deathly sickness. I'm fine most of the time but as the hospital is near my aunt's house I'm staying there. Nothing more."

- "Anyway, I'm your best friend so you'd better tell me if something is up!"

Mailys felt like she dodged a bullet. When she comes home, she would have to talk to her family about that.

The only thing that had changed wasn't at school. It was her schedule. As Faris had told her, he introduced her for a few more jobs. She knew she was very lucky to have met with her teacher, the day she transmigrated. The jobs were all outstanding as it always was modeling for luxury products. Her resume was getting longer as the days passed. She was popular with professionals. As she was professional herself, she never complained about being tired, or not being able to do this or that. She was also good at expressing herself through the photography and as she was young and beautiful, she was very rare. She was mature and listened to what she was told to do. Despite her qualities, she was humble and never was arrogant to her coworkers or other employees.

One job appealed to another. She was so busy, she had a hard time balancing her two lives without being found out, especially by Lily.

Without her noticing, it already was time for her to enter 7th grade. She would, soon, officially meets with the real friends she was able to make when she was young and her future husband.