A/N: And I start another chapter story which I will finish... Hopefully, haha. I just really wanted to write something with Clare becoming a model. I thought that it would be interesting to tackle this type of plot so here it goes~
I hope you guys enjoy and please REVIEW and tell me what you thought! It would mean a lot, lot to me :)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Degrassi.
There's a stairway leading to the basement to a fantastic world. The place is filled with the smell of sweet short cakes baking… and beyond that tasteless, pink door; I could hear the sound of hysteric singing. They called this almost hideout their "atelier".
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I hate this town. It's not something I just put my finger upon. It's something I've known for a while. I hate its people; its streets, how loud it is. Most of all, I hate the woman that lives with me.
The streets in this town are always crowded, making it hard to walk. Everyone huddles up like penguins and it infuriates me. You know what else maddens me? Idiots calling out for me.
"Hey, you! The one with the school uniform and short hair! Wait up!" His voice grew louder and I felt his presence near me. I turned around to see his hand grabbing my shoulder as he yelled, "Let me see your face!"
"Cut it out!" I yelled at him. "I don't have time for you," I spat out, furrowing my short brows.
"Bingo!" I heard him say, his hand leaving my shoulder. "You're super hot," he remarked, making me flush.
I caught a view of his face and saw he wore one piercing on his left ear and I bit my lip and stepped back. His hand came up to cup his chin and he pursed his lips in deep thought.
"How tall are you? You must be pretty tall. A hundred and seventy centimeters, maybe? We could use that," He muttered, my face scrunching up in pure disgust.
"I- I'm in a hurry so…" I then caught a look at his clothes and they seemed old – with holes adorning the garments everywhere. "Good – bye!" I shouted at him as I sprinted away.
"Hey! Hey hold up! Mrs. Bingo! Hold up!" I heard him yell.
He must be following me. What a creep, I thought, as I kept running faster and faster. Hitting something hard in front of me, I stumbled back and fell on the ground. "I'm sorry."
Looking up I saw a young man probably my age smiling down at me. He wore clean clothes, not unlike the other man, but his smile was unsettling. "Don't be in such a hurry…" He muttered.
I was correct. He is a creepy man.
"…young lady," he finished, giving me a smile and a tilt of the head.
"Right," I said back at him.
"Hey, Adam! Don't let that girl go! Hold up!"
Him again? Seriously?
"…Catch. An Angel of Death?" I whispered, looking into the eyes of the young man in front of me. My knees gave in below me and my body fell limp into the man's arms.
Dear God, I've lived virtuously for the past eighteen years. Why would you do this to me?
If I had known this was going to happen, I would have done a lot of the other things I wanted to do and not just study.
But what do I want to do? I haven't even thought about that. My life is so monotonous.
This smells like incense…
Angels have brown hair? I didn't know that.
"Oh, she's awake," The girl in front of me suddenly said, blinking down at me.
"Where am I?" My eyes caught a hold of the two men from earlier and I removed the wet rag they put on top of my forehead. I sat up on the couch they had laid me on and looked at the people in front of me.
"You're up?" One of the men asked, laughing right after.
I blinked slowly, my thoughts rushing back into me. Becoming pale, I stood up quickly and pointed at him, "It's you!" And with that I tried to run out of the small room I was in, but to no avail, the pretty girl got a hold of my arm and stopped me.
"Hold up! Don't go!" She persisted, holding me back.
"I'm definitely in hell!"
"A model for a fashion show? Me?" I repeated.
We were all sitting in the small place provided in what seemed like a bar. There was a cup of tea for each one of us on a small circular, wooden table. The men where sitting opposite from the pretty girl and me.
"Do you know Lakehurst Art School?" The girl asked with a smile.
I nodded in confirmation.
"Ah!" She suddenly blurted out, her arms flailing everywhere. "You know it! That's awesome!"
"Sheesh," The guy with the ripped clothes scolded. "Of course she does. It's a pretty well – known school."
"We're fashion design third years," The girl told me, ignoring the other guy.
"Every November we hold a school festival… and we're looking for a model for that," The guy in the ripped clothes told me with a creepy grin.
My eyes narrowed at him, my lips pursing. "…School festival?"
"You have pretty nice style," he admitted, resting his hands behind him. "You also fit perfectly for the image we had in mind for our dress."
I bowed my head. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"
"So are you going to do it?" He shouted excitedly.
"Are you kidding me?" I shouted back, standing up, the plastic chair I was sitting on falling on the floor. "I'm getting ready for college entrance exams. I don't have time for this. If you don't mind, I need to go. I'm going to be late for cram school," I told them, grabbing my bag from the floor and slouching it over my shoulder.
"Cram school?" The girl asked, standing up as well. "So you're a senior just like us?"
I ignored her completely as I fixed my bag.
"Isn't that the uniform they use at Degrassi?" Asked the man with the ripped clothing. "You must be smart," He acknowledged and I only squinted at him. I just me him and he already bugged me. "Which college are you planning on applying for?"
"Who cares?" I threw back. "It's none of your business." The guy stood up suddenly with an annoyed face. "I have a lot going on. I don't have time to fool around with you!" I shouted, looking at all of them.
Biting my lip, I began to walk away towards the door when the girl yelled out to me to stop.
"Hold up!" Yelled the guy with the old clothes. "I don't care who you are or what you do. But we're not sewing stuff just for fun!" He told me harshly, stepping closer to me. "Is a college entrance exam all that great?"
Is he serious?
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean it like that." Closing my eyes, I chewed on my lower lip.
"You don't even know your self! It's easy to mock us, isn't it?" He kept accusing me like if he knew everything.
The worst part? He was right.
"Stop it Jake!" The girl yelled at him, and he turned on his heel and walked away. "I'm sorry to take up your time when you are so busy."
I heard the guy named Jake saying that I sucked and the girl in front of me turned her face to give him a look of disappointment and I bowed my head at the scene.
"What the hell?" I asked myself as the girl turned to look at me once more.
"Um," began the girl, and I lifted my head up to stare at her. "I haven't heard your name yet."
Without a second thought, I turned on my heel and ran outside the small bar, the girl calling out for me. I began to walk up the stairs outside – which led to the small bar – to the street.
"Hey!" I heard the girl yell, and I stopped in my tracks. "I'm sorry, Caroline!"
"Caroline?" I asked myself incredulously, turning to face her.
"My name is Imogen," she told me, her hands gripping the hem of her skirt. "I'm usually here making clothes after school. If you change your mind…" She trailed off, looking down at her feet and back to me, "you can come by any time," she finished, giving me a smile.
I gave her one last smile and ran off.
"I like her," I started, looking at her student ID. She had short, curly hair, blue eyes and a face that told you to get out of her way.
She seems bold, I thought, looking closely at her name. But her name doesn't suit her appearance at all.
"Eli, you're back!" Imogen exclaimed, smiling at me.
Adam turned on his stool and gave me a familiar grin, "Welcome back."
I tilted my head towards him and Jake chirped up at the moment, "How did it go? Did you find it?"
"No. Not at all," I said with a sigh, playing with the student ID in my hand.
"Oh, really?" He said disappointed, going back to his sewing.
"We'll go back to Dot this Saturday," I told the group, mostly Jake. "This Clare girl," I began, taking a good look at the crystalline eyes of the girl in the student ID. "I like her cocky eyes."
"So her name is Clare," Imogen wondered out loud and I gave her a chuckle, making her flush in embarrassment.
"Who is she, anyway? Do you guys think she would model for us?"
"Forget about it," Jake said, Imogen glowering at him with pursed lips.
I was playing pool at our atelier as Jake finished talking about the events that occurred earlier today with that Clare girl. The cue ball left the center of the large pool table and hit the six, and the colorful ball fell into the basket.
"I see," I began. "So Jake yelled at her and chased her off, huh?" I hit the cue ball once more, making the hard balls scatter over the green table.
"Well, Eli…" Stuttered out Jake like an idiot. "I should probably head out to band practice."
My eyebrow twitched, my pulse pumping behind it and I walked behind Jake. I moved my pool stick and poked him.
"Hey, E-Eli! Don't poke my ass."
"What should I do about Caroline's ID?" I asked Jake outside our atelier.
It must be annoying for him to hear me complain all the time and for him to hear me say things over and over. Yet again, we've been dating for a while, so he should be used to it?
"I don't know, Imo," He told me, walking off. "If she wants it she'll come get it," He murmured, waving at me as he turned the corner at the top of the staircase.
I bit my lip and sighed, looking down at her student ID and her agenda. Maybe she has contact info in here?
I began to flip the pages and most of them were empty. At the end of the small agenda was her name and contact and on the next page was a picture of a boy who seemed way too familiar for me. My mouth fell open in realization and I squinted at the picture.
What did I do with my student ID?
I closed my eyes in my seat at school and a shiver ran down my spine. What happened yesterday flashed in my train of thoughts and a light bulb flicked off in my head.
Oh right. I dropped it back then.
"That photo," I sighed out, opening my eyes. I glared down at my hands and blushed.
That picture I took under life and death circumstances during the school trip… It was the second most important thing to me after my life.
I can't keep living!
"Hey, Clare?" A man asked me, and I turned my gaze up to see brown eyes looking at me. "Is something wrong?"
"S-Sav!" I chuckled nervously at him and he cocked his head to the side. I pushed my seat backwards and stood up. "I'm totally fine!" I said with way too much excitement. "Super fine!"
He smiled at me weirdly and put his hand out. "The teacher was looking for you."
"Thanks, I'll go right now," I smiled at him and walked out of the classroom.
"She seems weird," Sav whispered at himself inside the classroom. "She's pretty, but still."
"You want to got to a good school, don't you?" My teacher asked me.
He was sitting on a wheeled chair in front of me, his eyes fixated on my face, making me nervous.
"Realistically speaking, it's not looking good with your current grades," he told me, as I nodded almost automatically.
I wasn't really paying attention to the fat man sitting in front of me. I don't really care if I get rejected from my top choice for school. I don't really care as long as it's a college. But at the same time…
"Right, I understand," I whispered, bowing my head.
At the same time I don't want to be made fun of for not getting into a good university.
"Ms. Edwards, your mother is concerned about this," he told me, making me shut my eyes closed.
I thought about that Jake guy for a moment and a small smile spread across my face.
There are some people that have a completely different out look on life.
"Clare Edwards, right?" A handsome man around my age asked as I walked out of school at the end of the day.
He was wearing a suit and a hat that seemed to belong to a sixties movie. I stared at him and he winked at me, making me squint.
"What do you want?"
He took off his hat and turned to face me completely. "I'm sorry my friends bothered you yesterday."
He took out a rose from his pocket as he made his way to stand next to me. I gave him a smile and he gave me another wink. Was he flirting?
"You're forgiven," I told him, walking off. "Good-bye."
"Didn't you lose your student ID?" He asked suddenly, making me stop in my tracks. "You dropped it at the atelier yesterday," he said cockily.
I was standing next to him in an instant, a large smile spreading across my face. "You came to give it back to me? Thank you so much!" I said, my eyes closed, a large smile showing off my teeth at him plastered on my face.
I put my hand out for him to give it to me and the only thing that he put on my palm was the rose he had taken out of his pocket moments earlier. What is this supposed to mean? Where's my ID?
"Do you want it?" He asked like a spoiled brat.
I bawled my fist and crumpled up the flower, throwing it to the ground. "Of course I do!" I yelled at him furiously as he put his hat back on his head. "It's my ID!"
"If you want it, come and get it," he told me with a smirk and walked away.
"H-Hey!" I called out to him as he made his way to this old hearse parked outside of the school. "Wait up!"
The hearse smelled horrible in the inside and the guy was driving too fast for my own good. He seemed excited driving the old contraption but I didn't want to sound like bitch and tell him he was going too fast.
As if he were reading my mind, he chirped out, "I got my license three days ago."
I gasped when we went over a hole on the rode and my head hit the roof of the car. I rubbed my head and looked out the window momentarily. "Are we heading to that basement?"
"Who said we were going to the atelier?" He said back, smiling like a fool. "I'm taking you to paradise."
What?
Just like his driving, his parking was not smooth at all. Everyone stepped aside quickly before the got hit by the car and I looked through the front mirror to see the building in front of me.
"Lakehurst?" I asked myself in awe, getting out of the old vehicle along with the man that drove me.
Some people walked up to the man and said how jealous they were of him and if I'm not mistaken, the man said he was Bi. I groaned and scratched my neck when a girl jumped at me and hugged me tightly.
"Caroline!" She yelled.
I know her.
"Hey Imo," The man started, standing on the other side of the car. "Is Perino still around?"
The girl let go of me and looked behind me at the man. "Mr. Perino is eating lunch with Ms. Oh," she smiled, and continued to hug me.
"Perino!" I yelled out as we made our way to Perino and Oh eating in a table.
Ms. Oh looked up and smiled at us three walking towards them. "Mr. Goldsworthy!" She said, and turned her attention to Perino, who was sitting in front of her. "Speak of the Devil!"
"What were you talking about?" I started. "How cool I am?" I joked, and they chuckled at me.
"Kinda," Perino joked.
"Ah, she's so pretty!" Ms. Oh exclaimed after catching a glimpse of Clare behind me. "Is she your girlfriend, Goldsowrthy?"
I could feel Clare shift behind me in embarrassment and I put my hat down to cover my blushing face. "We've been dating for a quite a while, actually."
"Liar!" Clare shouted behind me, hitting my back.
"Perino," I said, ignoring the blushing girl behind me. "I have a favor to ask you."
"No! Absolutely not!" I yelled out, sitting on one salon chair.
"Why not, Caroline?" Imogen, I believe her name is, asked behind me. "Mr. Perino is a really cool hair dresser; even over seas," she said matter-of-factly.
"But still!" I screeched, turning to face her. "Why do you have to cut my hair? It's already short enough."
"I know," Mr. Perino began, grabbing my head and turning it so I could face the mirror in front of me. "It's a shame to cut it. Short, wavy hair is already stylish," He acknowledged.
"But it's still not right," The man whose name is Eli said behind me. "Is it the bangs?"
"Then let's trim it a bit," Said Mr. Perino, making me flush nervously. "It's okay. I'll be gentle."
I didn't ever want to return to that basement. So what am I doing? Why am I back?
"Oh, Caroline!" Said the handsome man by the bar table.
"Isn't she pretty?" Chirped Imogen besides me. "Perino trimmed her hair."
It feels weird to have my bangs above my eyebrows, though, I thought gloomily, closing my eyes.
Eli moved to whisper in my ear, "It would look better if you weren't in your school uniform."
"It's gorgeous, Carrie!" Said the man by the bar table.
My name is Clare.
"What's the big deal?" Asked that Jake dude, stopping his sewing machine. "Are you going to model after blowing us off?"
"Who said I was going to model?" I retorted, making Imogen gasp besides me.
"Then why are you here? We're busy!" Jake snapped back, continuing his sewing.
"I came here for my student ID," I explained.
"Ah!" Imogen gasped once more and I turned to stare at her. "Eli has it!"
I gasped at this and looked at Eli, who completely ignored me. What a jerk!
"Put this on Clare," demanded Eli, giving Imogen a long, courteous looking dress.
"Hey!" I yelled at Eli, making him close his eyes in ignorance. "If you have my ID give it to me!"
"Don't rush things," he sighed, poking my nose. "Let's take some time to talk."
Imogen grabbed my wrist and began to pull me away from Eli. "Come on Caroline –"
It's Clare!
"- The bathroom is this way!"
"Bathroom?" I asked curiously. "But I don't need one," I said, being dragged off to the back of the small basement.
"It's our fitting room!" Imogen told me, as we left behind the three people in the main room. "You can't change here in front of the two and a half men, now can you?" Imogen winked at me, and I turned my face to look at the handsome man by the bar.
He can't be, can he?
"This place is old," I muttered, looking around the large bathroom.
"Yup," Imogen agreed, taking out the beautiful dress from the plastic covering. "Eli's uncle used to own a bar here."
I hummed as a response.
"But he closed it six months ago, so we remodeled this place as our atelier," Imogen explained, un-buttoning my shirt without my consent. "Cute bra," Imogen giggled, poking my breast.
I pushed her back and covered my chest. "I- I can change alone!"
After changing and putting my clothes on top of the only toilet, I looked at the dress intently and at Imogen, my gaze landing on the dress again.
"What's the matter?" She asked.
"There's no way a dress that pretty would ever suit me," I sighed out.
"I swear it will!" Imogen said, holding my hands in hers and smiling at me. "Caroline, you fit the image of ParaKiss perfectly!"
"ParaKiss?" I asked her.
She nodded at me. "Paradise Kiss. That's our brand name."
My eyes became wide is I got a hold of the dress. "So you guys made this dress?"
"Indeed we did, Clare," She smiled at me.
"That's amazing!" I exclaimed. "It looks like the ones at the store!"
"We learn how to make clothes every day. This is the most we can do," She told me, her voice changing tone.
"That's' amazing," I said honestly.
She kneeled in front of me and touched the dress with a small smile on her face. "At Lakehurst pretty much everyone makes their own clothes."
"Does that include the dress you're wearing?" I asked her, putting the dress aside to look at her.
"This is my older sister's dress," she explained, closing her eyes as if thinking what to say. "Her brand name is Happy Berry. Do you know it?"
I rested my chin on the palm of my hand and cocked my head to the side. "Not really."
She pouted and teared up, making me frown.
"I'm really ignorant with that kind of stuff!" I tired, making her wipe away a fake tear that rolled down her cheek.
"My sister is a designer for Happy Berry. Magazines like Sizzling Teen feature them a lot."
I stood up straight and began to put on the dress. "But, you know – I think it's cool that your sister is a professional designer."
Imogen nodded at this, and kept her eyes shut. "But I could never be like her."
"Why? This dress is really nice!"
Her eyes fluttered open and she stared down at her feet. "Eli design's all the dresses for ParaKiss. Adam is the one that makes the designs for the dresses. Jake and I only make their visions come true."
I nodded, understanding quite well what she was telling me.
"I love to make clothes," she blurted out, looking at me. "But I don't have originality," she sighed out, tugging at the hem of her dress. "No matter how hard I try, I end up copying my sister. At the festival in Lakehurst, a number of students support the others whose designs were picked for the fashion show held. Eli is an honor student so naturally he was chosen. We're supporting him."
So. I guess he's not so stupid as he looks.
"Eli's a good student, huh?" I muttered under my breath.
"But we thought it was boring to make only one dress for the show," Imogen continued, her mood lifting up. "So we decided to meet here and make clothes for ParaKiss. Once we have enough we'll go out and sell them. Our dresses are nice so I'm sure they'll sell well!"
She smiled and I gave her a smile of my own.
But we're not just sewing stuff for fun!
Jake's voice echoed in my head. I understand what he meant now. They do this because it's their passion, don't they?
"Here we are!" Began Imogen, making everyone look at me in the dress they made.
Eli's eyes softened after seeing me. Jake blushed, stopping the sewing machine to look at me. "Wow," breathed out Jake. "She's a perfect match."
"I'm sorry," I blurted out. "I didn't understand anything earlier. I said a lot of mean things yesterday. I'm truly sorry," I whispered, closing my eyes.
"Well, uh," began Jake, his hand resting on his knee. "I'm glad you understand now."
Imogen furrowed her brows as she stared at Jake and yelled at him, "You said mean things to her too, Jake! Apologize to Caroline!"
"I'm sorry," Jake said honestly.
"Good, now we're even," She winked at me and I giggled.
"You came here for your student ID, right?" Eli asked me, standing up and sauntering towards me. He reached into his pocket and took out my ID and handed it to me.
I thought I would feel good once I got my ID back. But I don't.
"I'll wait for your response," said Eli, and I looked at him with a gasp. "Clare Edwards, will you be our model for the show?"
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I was late for cram school that day. I thought I could make it on time if I ran. But I couldn't run well because my heart was pounding so much.