Part 2 of chapter two, enjoy! And please review:)
LA, Here We Come!
Part 2 – The Decision
It had taken the two girls almost an eternity, but in the end they had managed to arrive at the casting studio – accompanied by Summer's curses and murder threats to the other drivers – but they were there now.
As the girls entered the fancy studio, Summer's mood changed from angry to desperate as she saw how far the competition had already been running. Some of the girls were already presenting their evening attires to the jury, and some of them already seemed to have finished the competition. They were sitting at some huge glass tables right next to the entrance, having cake that was offered on the big buffet right next to them.
Summer's heart sank as she realized that she was too late, and she couldn't prevent her eyes from watering. It felt like her dream was slipping through her fingers, and, worst of all, in front of her eyes.
Marissa stood next to her friend, helplessly, and looked around. It seemed like the competition was almost over, there were only a few girls who stood in a row at the other end of the room right next to the jury's podium. As Marissa saw how Summer fought tears, she laid a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
Summer sniffed and was just about to turn around and leave again – given the fact that she had no chance at all among those beautiful and styled girls in here – when she saw Fran approaching her from the corner of her eye.
"Darlin', where've you been? You missed the whole first part of the show!" Fran said reproachfully.
Summer swallowed and rolled her eyes, a little of the anger from before coming up again regarding the stupidity of this question. "I'm sorry, it was rush hour traffic and-"
"No time for that now. You are the next to present your dress. I hope you have it with you?" Fran interrupted her.
Summer hesitated and gave Marissa a helpless look. "Where's the dress?"
Marissa's eyes widened. "It's still in the car. Just a sec, I'll go and get it." She yelled, already on her way down to the parking lot to get Summer's dress out of the car.
"But Fran, I haven't done my make up, my hair is a mess…"
Fran just shrugged her shoulders and raised her eyebrows. "Either you go out there now, and by now I mean right in this second, or that was it for you." She replied.
Summer bit one of her nails and looked to the door, begging Marissa to come back with the dress. But of course her best friend wasn't in sight. Summer shook her head and was just about to tell Fran she could count her out when she heard two of the girls who were sitting at the table right next to her talking and giggling.
"Look at that chick. She can't be serious." One of the girls said and hid her mouth behind her hand.
The other one giggled. "I wouldn't even go to the beach in THAT outfit." She said and grinned broadly at Summer.
Summer's jaw dropped as she heard how the two girls were talking about her and her appearance, and that was the moment she made her decision.
This couldn't be it for her. She had been looking forward to this job so much, she couldn't imagine doing herself anything else in the future. And she hadn't travelled all the way from Newport to LA for nothing.
She threw a victorious look at Fran and the two girls, put one hand on her hip, and walked over to the empty space in front of the jury, to present her non-existent dress. All she had to show them was the red top of her bikini, a pair of jeans hot pants and some flip flops with cherry patterns on them.
From the terrible things that had just happened, Summer found it hard not to cry. But she was too proud to cry right now. The other girls, and especially not the jury or Fran should see that she felt terrible on how much she had messed up the whole show.
With her head in her hands, Summer sat on a brown leather couch, Marissa right next to her, one of her hands resting comfortingly on Summer's back.
Summer was still in the beach look she had been wearing while facing the jury, but she didn't bother to change. It was useless either way now.
"I messed up Coop." She lamented into her hands. "I messed my whole future. In a bikini."
Marissa smiled comfortingly. "No you didn't. Everybody knows that we were stuck in rush hour traffic, so maybe they'll have some mercy on you."
Summer laughed sadly. "Of course. They'll all gonna go like 'oh she was the poor girl who fell asleep on the beach and got stuck in rush hour traffic afterwards, and when she should have been presenting us the dress she showed up in her California beach look'. Like they would care."
Marissa sighed and looked away. She knew that her best friend had a point there. Looking at all the other girls in their beautiful dresses, their hair and make up done thoroughly, and comparing Summer to them, Marissa was afraid that the jury might not even care if Summer was present or not.
"I wanna go home, Coop." Summer's faint voice said, and she swallowed back some tears. "It's useless if we stay here."
"No, let's just wait and see. Maybe you'll get a second chance."
Summer let herself fall back into the pillows of the leather couch and closed her eyes. "I ruined my dream. And I totally blamed myself in front of EVERYone. This is just so typical. My bad luck."
Marissa bit her lip. She didn't really know how to comfort her friend, given the fact that she was right with what she said.
"Just imagine how it could have been…" Summer started again. "I would have gone to the agency in the mornings, get my hair done, my make up done, they'd have given me the cutest dresses to wear… I would have met all the important celebrities, would have gone to their parties… but now…" Summer trailed off, imagining how wonderful her life could have been if she hadn't fallen asleep on that stupid beach.
Summer went on in her round of self-pity. "Now I have to go to college, like every normal person… and I have to study again… I hate studying! Before graduation I've studied enough for the rest of my life! But no…" she paused and sighed, rubbing a hand on her forehead to calm the headache that was coming up.
"And I won't be able to memorize everything I learn in college, and I'm gonna fail all my exams cuz they're gonna be just too difficult for me and then Seth's gonna realize what stupid girl he's with and he's gonna abandon me and I'll be all alone in the end, living together with a dozen cats who I'll name after American Presidents."
Marissa frowned at this very specific description of Summer's life and couldn't help but smile. Her friend was clearly overreacting now.
Summer's eyes shot open as she heard one of the other girls talking to her. "That was a really amusing performance you gave us there." The girl said and stuck out her tongue towards Summer. "I'm impressed by your dress… is this the way you go to a ball in idiot-town?"
Marissa's jaw fell at the mean girl's comment and she was just about to defend her best friend when Summer jumped up and brought her cute face in front of the other girl's eyes.
"Well skank, if I were you I wouldn't have dared to show up here at all." She pointed out towards the girl's hips. "Because having stretch marks without having been pregnant are so not stylish. Oh, and you should definitely work on this ugly cellulites you have there." She gave the girl a clap on her butt and sat down again, crossing her arms in front of her.
Marissa suppressed a smile at this fantastic defence speech of her best friend. Summer's rage black outs sometimes helped a lot to reduce aggression.
Summer watched the girl's lips tremble and saw how the others all stared at her, some shaking their heads, some in pure shock. She rolled her eyes and grabbed Marissa's hand, ready to leave this circus once and for all.
Just as the girls were about to walk towards the door, Fran clapped her hands and asked everyone for their attention.
"Okay girls," she began and went over to the jury to face the crowd of young, small women standing in front of her. "Would please all have your seats?"
Summer felt Marissa's hand clutching hers tighter and she turned around to face Fran. Tapping with her foot on the ground nervously, she felt herself being pushed into a chair by Marissa. With crossed arms, she heard what Fran told them.
"The member of the jury have made their decision. Now what was important here was glamour, esprit, charm, a slim body, and an elegant way of moving."
Summer shook her head and rubbed her forehead. Yeah, presenting herself in front of a model jury in a bikini and hot pants had indeed been extremely glamorous.
Fran continued. "So… on our way through Southern California we found many many girls who would be qualified for the job, but unfortunately, we can offer only one of you to come to our agency in New York. And that would be…" Fran opened an envelope one of the women from the jury had handed her.
Summer looked around to figure out who of the girls would be given the chance of her life in the next few minutes. Maybe the girl with the long black hair over there? Or the tiny African-American girl at the other end of the hall?
"… Summer Roberts from Newport Beach."
At first, Summer didn't realize the words that had been said. Only when she felt Marissa's arms hugging her tightly the news came sinking into her brain. If this was a dream, Summer definitely didn't want anybody to wake her up. But when some of the other girls came over to her to congratulate, and when she saw that some other girls just passed her with an arrogant stare on their faces, including the girl who she had just fought with, Summer knew that she wasn't dreaming. In fact, her dream had come true.
Seconds after Fran's announcement, Summer had still some trouble to believe what she had just heard. She didn't understand how in all world the jury would pick her above everyone else around here.
Fran smiled at her and motioned to join her. "Come on darlin', let's make it official." She said and smiled.
At that words, Summer put on a victorious grin and walked over to Fran with exaggerated swinging hips, shooting all the girls that had been slandering about her only minutes before a spiteful look.
Marissa waited in front of Fran's office for Summer to come out again, watching the other girls pack up their stuff and dreams and leaving the room.
It felt like an eternity until Summer finally came out of the office, a more than happy grin on her face, stretching out her arms towards Marissa to hug her.
Marissa jumped into Summer's arms and the girls started to squeak. "This is so unbelievable, Sum! I'm so happy for you!" Marissa cried and started to jump up and down.
Summer laughed happily and joined her friend in the jumping process, not able to get the grin off her face. Seth would be so proud of her. She couldn't wait and tell him the big news.
Carefully, Summer broke free from Marissa's embrace and fumbled for her cell phone in her purse. "Coop, I need to call Cohen, tell him that his girlfriend is a supermodel now." She said and winked.
Marissa nodded and smiled. "And I'm gonna call Ryan. Just… that I don't need to stand here alone." She said and pulled out her cell phone as well.
Once she was outside, Summer had already dialled Seth's number, tapping nervously with her foot on the ground, waiting for her boyfriend to answer.
"Hello?" Seth's voice appeared on the other side of the line, and Summer couldn't hold all the information in any longer.
"Cohen, you won't believe it!" she squeaked and bit her nail again. "They took me!"
"Summer, that's awesome! I'm so proud of you!" Seth said, the happiness and pride in his voice clearly hearable.
"Thank you!" Summer replied. "And you know what, at first I didn't think I'd stand a chance against all the others, given the fact that I just had a bikini available… and you know, they told me they picked me nevertheless because of my natural looks, my beauty and my courage to face the jury in my all California beach look. You know, I didn't even have a dress, and all the others did, and it was just my personality and courage that totally convinced them!"
Seth laughed. "Cool. Unless I didn't understand a word."
Summer grinned. "I'll explain later. Right now, all you have to do is to be happy for me." She replied and leant back onto the wall of the building.
"That's easy." Seth replied.. "I am happy for you."
And right at those words, all that Summer felt was pure happiness as well.
Next chapter: An End Is Always A Beginning