A loud, vicious beeping sound woke her with a start. "Audrey, darling, this is your wakeup call. We must be at Vivienne's by 6:30. You've got that shoot for your new-look portfolio and then you've go to get your stuff together for the 9:30pm to Milan fromJ.F.K?) O.K? See you sweetie!"

Audrey Prescott shuddered, partly from her Saturday morning hangover and partly from hearing Susan's nails-on-chalkboard voice at 5:30 in the morning. She rolled over to the other side of the bed... empty, again. Jeff must left almost as soon as she'd fallen asleep. A frown crossed her delicate face; Why didn't they ever stay the night?.

She swung her slender frame slowly out of bed and slunk across the bedroom of her tiny Park Ave apartment and into the ensuite. Resting her elbows on the edge of the basin, she stared into the fantail-shaped mirror at herself.

Her long blonde hair fell in shining sheets, past her shoulders and out of sight. Her face was delicately shaped with a rosebud mouth, slight nose, high cheekbones, and large brown eyes. No, brown wasn't quite the word- they were sparkling and bright, golden like the eyes of a majestic eagle. And her pale, arched eyebrows framed them so perfectly. Audrey sighed, and smiled slowly to herself. Yep, she was still a babe at 29, Her body didn't let her down either.

After a quick shower and skin prep, she dressed in her favourite Gucci jeans, Jimmy Choo boots and Marcs sweater. She swept her waist-length hair into a ponytail, picked up her bowling bag and headed downstairs to meet her minder.

Susan was standing chatting with a porter in the lobby by the time Audrey got there. She turned around smartly, however, and greeted Audrey with the customary acid-fake smile she reserved for Vivienne's Management's top supermodels. "Ready to go then?". Audrey smiled back, a saccharine-sweet grin. "Always".

Truth be told, she was never ready to go. Much as she loved the parties, the free designer gear and the open male adoration, she loathed the jet-setting lifestyle. As she hopped into her waiting car, she thought with regret how much she'd miss her only true friends; Nadine and Portia. They had been with her forever and stuck by her through media slander, boy trouble... any hard times, come to think of it. When the sleek black Lotus Elise pulled up on the corner of forty-third and ninth, in front of Vivienne's Model Management, she thought bitterly of the lack of integrity to be found in any of her other 'friends' in the fashion world.

Fernando was a perfect example of this, shrieking like a teenage girl at the sight of Audrey walking in to Vivienne's. "Oh, my precious, it has been so long!," he squealed in his heavy French accent. Actually, it hadn't been; he'd seen her last Wednesday at the Fashion Industry Awards, but that didn't stop him swooping down on her and air-kissing her on both cheeks.

Now, in this society, most gays were a girl's best friend. Fernando was toxic, and his nasty side showed through as he walked her down the corridor to the in-house studio while Susan checked her in at reception. "O.K. Now never mind about this, it's a minor detail, and I will still be styling you darling, but there is a new boy on the block. Some silly twit, straight out of photography school, has the job working with you today. No pedigree whatsoever. He is a common Irish, he cannot have the skill, I don't know how he can be hired. Tsk, tsk, tsk..." and he muttered to himself all the way along the corridor, an ugly snide look on his face, but Audrey had tuned out long ago.

Susan caught up just as they reached the tall white double doors of the studio. She caught her breath, nodded at Fernando and Audrey, and pushed the doors open. It was all action from there.