It's time for Nudge! Hopefully this will explain why she left and how she's changed within the last five years. Personally I think she's my favorite character because she's just like my best friend.
Nudge POV
"Did you borrow my purple jacket again?" I asked my roommate accusingly (what? She has a reputation for borrowing without asking).
"Yeah sorry," Janelle said from behind me.
A purple blob landed on the top of my head, my jacket. "I don't even know why we have separate closets," I teased her.
But it was true. Janelle and I had the same taste. Not to mention we were the same size and the same height (give a half an inch on my part), same size feet. Usually when we bought our clothes we made sure the other liked it, which of course we did. Then again, we made most of our own clothes anyways like most everyone in the Fashion Design program at the Art Institute in NYC.
"Because you don't know what a hanger is," she reminded me.
The one big difference we had was our organizational skills. Seeing as I hadn't had a room to myself before I went to boarding school and I was constantly moving around, I was terrible when it came to having a closet. Then Janelle had a neat freak as a child and a lot of that carried over to her. I grumbled about her borrowing stuff without asking while she whined about how unorganized I was. Otherwise we were perfect roommates.
"Do you need to check to make sure all your hangers are exactly one centimeter apart?" I joked.
"Shut up," she said, rolling her eyes.
I pulled my jacket on over my plain boatneck dress that went down to my knees. It was supposed to rain today so I needed something with a hood on it. My hair took an hour to straighten so there was no way in hell I was going to let some H2O ruin that for me.
I tried going down the road at MIT last year, but those people were so socially...different that I was. Even though I was great with computers, I craved the social contact that I got here. When I accidentally ran into one of the teachers here and dropped my notebook, she immediately recommended that I go to their college. Before MIT I had went to high school in a nice boarding school in the Appalachian Mountains. Think Zoey 101; Mountain style. The problem was that I tested out of every class after three years, so they shoved into graduation quickly. I still kept in touch with Max via email a couple times a month, but I avoided it because it reminded me that I would never be completely 'human.' The original idea was to slowly convince everyone else in the flock to join me, but unfortunately that never happened. Instead, everyone went their own way. I would never forget my past, but how could I go back to a family that had turned into strangers?
"Monique!" I heard a screech down the hall.
Yes, I had changed my name from Monique to Nudge, but not to get away from the wings. In fact, the wings were my main selling point. Everyone knew about the wings. Sure it freaked everyone out as soon as they found out that one of the infamous bird kids was me, but the wings were just one of the many crazy things in this school. I've seen body piercings on every part of the body (and I really do mean every part of the body). You'd have girls that wore plaid shirts with Cheetah print leggings. No one cared that I had feathers, they just thought it might be useful on a fashion show one day. No, I changed my name because Monique (kinda) rhymed with unique.
"Yes?" I screamed back, even though I didn't have to because the walls were barely thicker than a piece of cardboard.
It was our signature gay guy in the dorm hall, Julio. You could tell his voice from a mile away. He had one of those high pitched screams that only dogs and dolphins could decipher.
"Get your ass down to the lobby," Julio told me, peeking his head into the room.
"Why, what's wrong?" I asked.
I was always nervous because a) I was the youngest person here and b) I was here on scholarship. One wrong move and I was gone, but then again this was a super liberal school so you'd really have to screw up to piss the school off. They honestly didn't give a shit, but I still couldn't help but worry once and a while.
"Raina Vaughn is on the conference screen," he told me.
"Whose that?" I asked, feeling stupid as soon as I asked the question. Even after five years of staying up-to-date with the real world, I was still in the dark about a few things. Powerpuff girls? No clue. Full house? Nothing. And yet everyone else that actually had a childhood knew those things automatically.
"A rich girl," he answered. "Think Paris Hilton fortune with Jennifer Lawrence likability and sort of looks like Nina Dobrev."
Huh, that didn't help jog my memory at all, but I already liked the sound of her already.
"What the hell does she want with me?" I asked.
Julio shrugged. "I have no idea, but I would get my ass in there as soon as possible."
I did exactly just that, getting my ass in a seat in the conference room. The conference room was basically a soundproof study room, but 'conference room' sounded so much more professional and mature.
The girl was pretty and...young. Well, older than me by two or three years, but still.
"Nudge?"
A pang of nostalgia tugged at my heartstrings at the sound of my old name, but the smile on my face remained unphased. "Yes, I go by Monique though," I told her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I was just going by the name that was on the recommendation," she told me. "You're probably wondering why I'm calling."
"Yes, I'm very curious," I agreed.
"Well we're doing a fashion show fundraiser," she explained. "I wanted someone from all of the major fashion cities of the world to design something."
"And you want me to design something for you?" I questioned her, slightly wondering if she was insane. "I haven't even graduated from school yet."
I internally cursed myself for playing myself down to her. She wanted me for reasons unknown and yet here I was questioning her judgement out loud right in front of her.
She smiled as if she knew my exact thoughts. "I know its crazy, but this is like a newbie thing. All models are going to be new as well. I want everyone to be under twenty."
It sounded like one of those things too good to be true. Yet, here it was right in front of me screaming my name. I didn't want to be like that guy that had sold his Apple share back in the seventies for a couple thousand of dollars for what was now worth nearly a billion dollars. If I passed this up and my professor heard about it I had no doubt that she would be pissed. Everyone in the dorm would be shocked...and a little bit pissed too. We relied on each other. If one of us made it big, there was a silent agreement that we would help the others climb up with us.
"What about school though?" I blurted, clasping my mouth with my own hand. I'd had to learn how to control my mouth a little better when Iggy wasn't there to cover my mouth.
"I already talked to your school and they agreed that this can count as an entire semester's credit," she assured. "Monique, this is going to be the time of your life, but we're going to be crazy busy."
"How big of a project is this?" I asked.
"We're talking millions of dollars," she said.
I scratched my ear to make sure that it was working properly. Even my supersonic hearing can go awry sometimes, especially if you've been pulling all nighters helping your friends finish their projects. "How much?"
"Millions," she repeated. "I mean I'm not putting millions into it alone, of course, but I'm the primary organizer. There's just one catch, though."
This is where I got skeptical. There had been so many catches in my life. Anne wanted to adopt us, but the catch was that she was psycho. Jeb helped us, but the catch was that he wanted to use us. At least she had the balls to come out and say it herself.
"What's the catch?" I asked nervously.
"I need you to temporarily move to L.A for six months for this," she told me. "I'm going to pay for everything, including a salary for you."
I felt my smile decrease a little and she must have noticed because she tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong?"
"It's just that I can't leave my best friend for that long," I admitted.
She smiled. "Then bring her!"
I narrowed my eyebrows. "Really?" I asked, taken aback. "I can't ask that much."
"Well I can't just ask you to up and leave your life that you've established in one of the best cities in the world so bringing one person isn't that much to ask on your part," she pointed out.
As bad as I felt asking that much, I definitely wasn't going to argue with her about this. "Thank you so much!"
I didn't really pay attention to the rest of the conversation, I was too elated. My heart was beating much too fast for me to pay close attention to any detail. But no matter because she told me she would email me all of the details. After a half hour of talking she said she had to go, but she would see me within a couple of days.
"Janelle!" I screamed down the halls.
"What?" She yelled back. "What the hell does Raina Vaughn want with you?"
"She wants hire you and I to design dresses," I told her.
"You and me ?" She asked, confused.
I nodded. "We leave in two days."
I know this probably sounds like it was written by Barbie, but...this was just how I pictured Nudge. Don't worry, I'll make her a little more grounded once she reunites with the flock.
