#hod7

Throwing my feet over the empty seat in front of me, I leaned back on my own as the stinging feeling seep through my legs and and feet. The formal lessons we were told of which we all thought would only last a day, turned out to take the whole week.

When someone commented about that, Mariella looked at us funny and said the words between chuckles, "Do you think a single day could turn you to a supermodel? There's more to it than just walking down a piece of narrow stage."

Clearly, Mariella knew what she was talking about or she wouldn't be here. Because the next days of our lessons, we were taught how to project in front of the camera, how to pose and how not to look stiff and staged. Though everything about this was 'staged', she said we had to make it look real. I had no clue as to how to do that and that was mainly the reason why I was ordered to take my seat and to watch how the other girls did it.

Reaching over my feet, I unstrapped my heels and dropped them on the vacant seat beside me. Another minute on it would make me limp. The whole week had been a torture. We were asked to wear heels everyday and practice how to walk on them. I knew I had gotten better on it but my feet still got 'em bad. I had to put band aids on to prevent blisters from forming. Heels and me just wouldn't mix.

"Did you watch closely, Cera?" a soft but sharp voice had said, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Uh.. Yeah. I did," I responded, still a little dazed. I didn't even see a single thing they did.

"Now get your butt in here and do it," Mariella growled. The girls giggled silently obviously making fun of me.

I scowled and took my heels beside me, putting them back on. What could I do? I never thought we'd have to do this. I was never pleasing in front of the camera. I could even count the pictures I had after I turned seven and refused to take part in pictures. There were a few stolen ones of me goofing around with my brothers and some family pictures but that was about it.

My heels clicked on the wooden floor as I sauntered towards the stage and focused my eyes on the red velvety curtains draped at the side. I didn't really bother checking out how the function hall looked, though I had been here one too many times.

It was a room with chairs, stage, control room, back stage and red curtains. It looked more of an auditorium to me but it was a function hall. That was all I needed to know. I wasn't into art appreciation and describe even the tiniest blot on the wall as 'placed just right'.

"Now start," Mariella commanded when I got up the stage.

Shaking my head, I took a couple of steps back and let out a sigh.

Trying to remember how the models on the magazines looked like, I squeezed my eyes shut and dug deep in my memory for even the slightest recollection. Impatient taps on the floor brought me out of my trance.

I opened my eyes and looked up and saw Mariella's face all scrunched up.

I gave her a smile and started to bend my body sideways, letting my shoulder drop and my neck extend . I remembered Tyra saying once before not to be a neck monster and that was what I intended to do. I pulled one hand to my mouth in a sophisticated manner and looked away from Mariella.

After a couple of seconds, I straightened up my stance when no one laughed at me nor said a word. I glanced at Mariella, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly parted.

"Uhm..." I pursed my lips at her, trying my best not to laugh at her reaction.

"Where's Cera?" She joked, a grin spread across her face.

The girls still didn't say anything except Holly who squealed in excitement and jumped right on me. "That's so awesome! Why didn't you do that earlier?" She said, smacking my shoulder.

"I don't know. It just happened." I rubbed the part where her hand connected.

Mariella cleared her throat making both Holly and I snap our heads to her. Her mouth was on a thin line and her arms were crossed over her chest. I swallowed hard. Did she not like what I did? I was pretty sure I did better than earlier.

"You didn't watch them, did you?" She accused. "No one made that pose."

"I-"

"I told you to watch, Cera," she cut me off.

"I-I'm sorry," I muttered, lowering my head.

"But I'm glad you didn't." She was grinning from ear to ear when I lifted my head. "It was perfect!" She loosened up and bridged the distance between us, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"B-but,"

"You should have seen yourself! It's such a waste. I was so stunned I didn't get to capture it. If you did that earlier, it would have saved us time and you won't be sent off the stage." She shook her, chuckling.

I, too, was stunned. I did it. I had no idea how, but I did it. Maybe I should just scan through magazines and practice how they do it. It was the best shot I could have to nail this.

Mariella's phone rang, blasting to the sound of Safe and Sound by Capital Cities. A half-smile escaped my lips.

"Yes. I know. Yeah. So? I don't get you!" She said, exasperated. "Can't you call later? What? I'm in the middle of my lessons! You're unbelievable. Whatever. Do what you want." Then she hung up.

She found sixty pairs of eyes staring at her when she turned around. She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that. He's always like that." She looked exhausted from just talking to that someone on the phone.

I wonder who that was.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Someone asked.

She scoffed. "I won't settle for a little brat like him. And besides, I'm married ladies," she raised her hand to show us her ring. "My husband is way more mature than a certain brat let's hide in the name of Dylan Ford," she finished with an eye roll.

Girls erupted in giggles including my best friend. I didn't know if I lacked in sense of humor or these girls had a giggling disorder. Every time Dylan's name was mentioned, no matter how senseless or stupid it was, they would giggle and it was annoying. What were they? Fourteen year olds?

After a while, the girls settled back on the seats. Mariella had some things to say regarding the photo shoot to be held the day after tomorrow. We didn't know where we'll be going or what we'll be doing since she insisted she couldn't tell us anything or else, there'll be no surprise. But she did tell us one thing, there will be water. She dismissed us after that.

  "What do you think that photo shoot's gonna be? I'm betting beach!"

"I doubt it," I replied as I shut my locker door. "Do you want to freeze? It's almost winter."

"Almost. Technically, it's still not winter so it's possible. If it isn't the beach, then what do you think it is?"

"Sprinklers?"

  After our talk about the sprinklers, we head out and went to the parking lot.

"Sprinklers still aren't going to happen. I'd bet Chester, it won't."

Chester was her golden retriever. She had him since she was fifteen and treated him like her own son. Not that the dog knew that, but Chester was one of Holly's most precious possessions. To bet him on a stupid bet like this meant she was dead serious and confident that my sprinkler idea would not be done.

"Silly."

I rummaged through my bag for my phone as Holly pulled out of the parking lot. I kept on digging in it but with no luck.

Where the hell will that go?

"Stop!" I shouted as the thought of my phone's whereabout suddenly clicked on my head.

Holly stepped on the breaks a little too hard it would have thrown us straight on the dashboard if not for the seat belts.

"What the hell?" She growled.

I smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. You can go ahead. I think I stuffed my phone on my locker. I'll just go take the bus."

I didn't wait for Holly's answer and got out of her car, eager to get hold of my phone.

  "There you go. I knew I put you on this pouch," I said proudly to myself.

I stuffed it on my jeans pocket and went down the hall towards the exit. The hall was deserted since it was past six already and all the girls had gone home after the lessons. We were the last persons here and it was somewhat scary to be left alone. The white walls seemed too long as I kept on walking down and I still hadn't reached the exit. I stopped on my track when I heard murmurs coming from one of the rooms. There shouldn't be anyone here by now. Even I shouldn't be here.

Being my nosy self, I tracked down where I heard the voices. It was the third room from the corner, the one where our language class was held.

"We got leads now. Can't we just get this over and done with?" one of them said.

Leads? What is he talking about?

I moved closer and sneaked on the door window to see who they were. My eyes widened when I saw Myra, Keian, Rita, Mariella and Dylan, huddled in one place. They were seated in a circle and Myra was seated at the center of it.

"You know we have to look into this carefully. We can't go there unarmed. We have been dealing with Onyx's case for months now and we can't afford to let him slip." Myra said to Dylan. It turned out Dylan was the one who spoke earlier with the lead thing.

I couldn't understand what they were talking about. It was like they have this mission or something. I only hear those terms on movies. Like on detective types or those with the car chase action things. Were they up to something other than the model hunt?

Lowering my head so that they wouldn't see me, I pressed my ear on the door to eavesdrop more. I needed to know what they were up to. The admin should know that Bents had another agenda into coming here other than to search for models.

"What do we do? He's already laid in front of us. If we don't do anything, aren't we letting him go? I say we do something about this," Dylan was so serious it would have made me laugh in other circumstances. He wasn't the usual guy we were used to seeing on billboards. The guy inside was another person, another identity, another personality that no one knew of but the five of them.

"With the search going on, we can't do anything compulsively. We have to take into account the girls' safety. We have thirty girls to look after and there are only ten of us. Do you think we can corner Onyx with such little preparation? We have to let him think he escaped us this time and the next time, he will not know what's to fall onto him."

All of them agreed to what Myra had said but Dylan. He was opposed to Myra's proposition but he couldn't do anything about it. It looked like Myra was the head of everything like she was the head of Bents. Wait.

Does this mean Bents is a sort of special agent thing? Like James Bond thing?

i shivered at the thought. If what I thought was true, then we were in serious trouble. They said they would take care of us, to make us safe. But what if all else failed, what would happen to us? If they couldn't take down this Onyx they were talking about in a short time preparation, it means he was a big fish. He wasn't easy to deal with and he was not some low class lawbreaker to begin with.

I should probably leave now.

But luck wasn't with me. My bag slipped from my shoulder, scattering my things on the floor. I heard squeaking sounds coming from chairs. They heard me!

As quickly as I could, I gathered my things and threw them inside my bag. But I wasn't fast enough, the door creaked open and right at the door frame, Dylan stood tall. I looked up at him and he had this mixed expression of shock and confusion. Who wouldn't be? I would bet the other four persons in the room had the same reaction as him. I wasn't supposed to be here, I wasn't supposed to hear whatever they were talking about. And here I was, clumsily picking up my things with shaking fingers and racing heartbeats.

I stood slowly trying to calm my nerves but to no avail. It wouldn't just calm down when I say so. "H-hi." I stuttered.

Dylan only stared at me like I was some sort of a freak from outer space.

"Who's there, Dylan?"

He looked over his shoulder and said, "It's Cera. Don't worry, I got it." before he turned back to me. "What are you doing here?" His voice was hard. There was no playfulness on it like all the times I talked to him. No cocky Dylan, no annoying Dylan, no immature Dylan. Standing in front of me was someone foreign to me. I knew I had only talked to him a couple of times, but he never showed this side of him--the stiff, controlled and mature side of him. If I could call this mature. It was more of scary to me.

"I-I left my phone in my locker."

"You know what I mean, Cera. What are you doing here?"

I looked down on my feet and fiddled my fingers, "I, uh. I heard voices. So I checked who owns them then I saw you. I was about to leave when I dropped my things."

"Did you hear anything?"

My head snapped up to him. "N-not really. They're a little muffled," I lied.

"You're lying. I can tell when people lie, Cera. Do you know what you've gotten yourself into?"

"I-I'm not. I don't--"

He raised his finger to silence me and I did. In fact, I didn't want to talk. I didn't want to lie to anyone. Hell, I didn't want to lie to Dylan though he was such a jerk.

"Don't tell anyone about what you've heard. It's confidential, Cera. No one has to know. You should not have known. But you're here. You heard it. And I couldn't do anything about it. You need to come with us."

I fell back a step when I heard his last words.

I need to come with them?

"Wait. What? W-Why? What do you mean? I don't know anything! I won't tell anyone. I promise." My palms were sweating and my heart beat was racing madly inside my chest. It could possibly break out from its cage any minute if this kept up.

He shook his head and gave me a forced smile, "You'll be one of us. I'm sorry but you can't turn back, Cera.."