Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy chapter 7 of Life has Choices!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hamtaro
Sandy took her azaleas and set them on the kitchen table. Sandy sat down and stared at the white plants. As she looked at them, Sandy blushed lightly and her eyes were dreamy.
"Maxwell…" An image of Maxwell came to mind. "You're so kind. I can't believe I met someone like you…" Sandy looked at her clock and it was 8 in the morning. She got up and started to change. Sandy wore a knee-length white skirt with a pink sleeveless blouse. "I can't think about Maxwell now. I have an important job to think about."
Sandy arrived at Crystal Palace where all the staff members were running around with busy errands.
"Ah, Ms. Torahamu. Ms. Ribon is waiting for you in the dressing room." A young male said
"Thank you." Sandy said as she smiled. The young man nodded in gratitude and then ran back to his work. Sandy slowly walked to the dressing room and went in.
"Sandy! You're late!" Bijou yelled angrily.
"I-I'm sorry. I was…" Sandy said worriedly.
Bijou suddenly smiled. "I'm just joking. You're pretty early. Pashmina isn't here yet. We still have an hour until we meet with the Pure Swans at their company."
"O-Okay…" Sandy was relieved that she wasn't late. "Bijou, I have to tell you something."
"Not right now. I want to do something with your hair. It looks like it was brushed." Bijou said as she touched a strand of Sandy's hair. "I have the perfect idea!"
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"I'm done!" Bijou said with satisfaction. "I think it looks great."
"It's cute Sandy!" Pashmina squealed. (A/N: By that time, Pashmina already arrived) "Look." Pashmina handed Sandy a mirror. Sandy's hair was curled and she had bright barrettes in her hair.
"It's pretty. How'd you do this in 20 minutes? You're amazing Bijou." Sandy said as she looked at the mirror.
"Bijou, Pashmina, Sandy; Jon is waiting in front of the building to take you all to Pure Swan's." A female staff told the girls. "It's a little early, but it's better to get their early, don't you agree?" The female staff asked.
Bijou nodded slightly and all three of them started to walk to the limo.
"I've never been in a limo before!" Sandy said with excitement.
"I've only been on it twice. We usually don't ride in a limo. Jon takes us in his car." Pashmina said.
"I guess today's a special occasion." Bijou assumed. "What was it that you wanted to tell me Sandy?"
"Okay, I learned the guy's name from the bookstore."
"That guy you liked? What's his name?" Bijou asked curiously.
"His name is Maxwell. Doesn't that just suit him? And also he came over for dinner once, and he even bought me azaleas this morning!" Sandy said excited.
"I guess someone's falling for Maxwell." Pashmina said slyly. "You two will probably make a good couple."
"Stop, you're embarrassing me Pashmina." Sandy said as she blushed.
"Girls, we're here." The driver said. The girls got off the limo and stared at Pure Swan's building.
"Wow, it's huge." Sandy said surprised.
"The inside is bigger. C'mon, Jon's probably waiting inside the company." Bijou said as she dragged Pashmina's and Sandy's hands. They went inside and Jon was waiting.
"Good Morning. Hope you're all feeling good today."
"I'm feeling great!" Sandy said excited.
"Good, come here, I want all of you to meet our rivals for today." Jon led the girls to a room with three other girls. "All six of your can talk for 30 minutes, then we will start the actual meeting." Jon left the room and Sandy stared at the Pure Swans. But she saw someone familiar.
"Twinkle? You're a model too?" Sandy said surprised.
"Hey Sandy." Twinkle said happily. "It's great seeing you again."
"You never told me that you were model." Sandy said still in shock.
"I know. I need to talk to you. Sandy, come here." Twinkle said as she led Sandy to a room. "So, we finally go back in competition again." Twinkle said with a frown.
"What are you talking about, Twinkle? Competition?" Sandy said confused.
"You're right! Competition! And I'm going to win this time for sure!" Twinkle said angrily.
"Win? The company advertisement thing? I don't understand."
"Ever since we were little, you and I were rivals for the gold medal of gymnastics! Don't you remember? I had the best trainers and you had none! I wanted to win so badly, but you'd always bring home the gold and I'd bring home the silver! I don't know why you took all the pride that I deserved!" Twinkle was yelling and screaming at Sandy. "All these years, I hated you from the beginning! I hate you Sandy!" Twinkle said with tears in her eyes. Sandy was silent as she looked at Twinkle. Then she quietly spoke.
"W-What?" Sandy said surprised. "Twinkle…" Sandy started to walk closer to Twinkle.
"Don't come any closer! Have you in your life ever thought about anyone except you? Have you given up everything for one person! Try to realize! There are others that need things more than you." Twinkle said with tears strolling down her face. Sandy stopped in her tracks and just kept staring at Twinkle.
"Twinkle…I-I…"
"For the last couple of months, I spent time with you to learn more about you. I wanted to figure out why you're better than me with everything! I still don't get it, but I finally learn your weakness."
"Weakness?" Sandy asked quietly.
"Yeah." Twinkle said as she flipped her blonde hair. "I want to end this now; I'll make sure that Pure Swan's win this year. We're going to get the shampoo commercial contract. You're going down." Twinkle said as she pointed her thumb downward. Then Twinkle walked into the other room. Sandy was in real shock and stood there.
"Twinkle… hated me all this time? All this time, I thought she was an actual friend… I don't believe it. Twinkle's a …backstabber…No…it's not her fault. I guess she is right. There are others who deserve things more than I do… This has to be a dream…." Sandy held her head. But then she looked up at the ceiling. "No, this is reality. I made the wrong choice. I have to face the consequence. But now… I lost an important person to me. Someone that I thought I can lean against. Maxwell… you were wrong. I can't trust anyone. You were lying; you liar." Sandy said as tears rolled down her face. After couple of minutes, Sandy wiped her tears and walked into the other room. "Hey!" Sandy said as she put on her best smile.
"Sandy, you met all the Swans, right?" Bijou asked.
"Yeah, there's Sparkle, Jewel, and…Twinkle." Sandy said quietly. "Is it almost time for the actual meeting?" Sandy asked, trying to change the subject.
"Uh…I think there's 5 minutes." Jewel said quietly. "I'm sorry if that's wrong."
"I think's that's right. So, what do we do for 5 minutes?" Twinkle asked as she gave a cold look toward Sandy.
"Yawn Do you guys have any ideas?" Pashmina said as she leaned on her chair. "I'm so bored."
"Let's see who can sing the best!" Sparkle said as she stood up. "I'm sure to win!"
"Sure, I'm so bored, that I don't actually care." Bijou answered.
Sparkle took out a small microphone from inside of her purse and started to sing. Sparkle's voice echoed the in the room. Sandy just stared at Sparkle, admiring how great she sang. After Sparkle was done, everyone except Pashmina and Bijou clapped.
"You were great Sparkle! I never knew you such a great singer!" Sandy said amazed.
"I know, I was a singer before I modeled."
Before Sparkle could say anything more, a staff came into the room. "The officials are waiting for you. Please follow me." All the girls got up and followed the staff into a big room. "Bijou, Pashmina, and Sandy sit here." The staff said as he pointed at three seats. "And Sparkle, Jewel, and Twinkle will sit here." The staff said as he pointed at the other side of the table. The staff left the room as he closed the door.
"Girls, this is the President of the shampoo 'Oceania'. He will be telling you all the rules for this competition." Jon explained.
"Thank you. Now, first thing's first. You're shampoo fragrances; Crystal Palace will have the fragrance of sunflowers (A/N: to be honest, I don't know what sunflowers smell like, please bear with me), while the Pure Swans will have the fragrance of apple blossoms. Each modeling group will have a total of three photos. All three photos will be singles. These photos will be in newspapers, magazines, and a lot others." The official explained other things about the competition. (A/N: The other rules aren't important, so the things he said above are all the thing readers will need to know.)
Sandy was sitting there, looking at her fingers. "Twinkle hates me…" She thought. "We were never friends… I was wrong to spend time with her…"
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"So, the meeting wasn't that bad yesterday." Pashmina said as they were sitting at a table.
"Don't worry about the meeting but think about sunflowers. What's a good way to attract people to like our photo?" Bijou asked.
"Hey what about, we all dress in white and we could be a sunflower field. That can attract people." Pashmina suggested.
"Maybe… I can't think of a better idea. What about you Sandy?"
"Huh? Yeah… that's a good idea. Let's do it." Sandy said quietly, still upset about what happened yesterday. "Have you in your life ever thought about anyone except you? Have you given up everything for one person!"
"Sandy, is something the matter? You don't look to good." Pashmina asked.
"I'm fine." Sandy sat up straight. "Let's start brainstorming our ideas!" Sandy said confidently.
"That's the Sandy I know!" Bijou said. "Okay… I was thinking something like…."
"I can't let Bijou and Pashmina know what I feel like right now. They already helped me with so much…" Sandy thought in her head.
Pashmina, Sandy, and Bijou decided to go with Pashmina's first idea. Her idea was to dress in white and stand in a sunflower field. This idea was the most simplest and had a pretty image.
"Jon! We have an idea. We decided to dress in white and stand in a sunflower field. We'll think about our poses when we're at the field. Do you think we can do that today?" Sandy asked.
"Sure, it's sunny out and I'm sure the staff can find a field full of beautiful sunflowers. If we don't, we can always ask the farmers." Jon replied. "Hurry up and dress so we don't waste any of our time."
"Okay. We'll be right back." Sandy and the others quickly ran to the dressing room and were picking out white dresses. "This looks really cute. I think I'm going to wear this one." Sandy picked at a dress that was knee-length and with slightly puffy sleeves. Overall, it was simple and clean. Pashmina picked out a white dress that was knee-length and was long-sleeved. Bijou picked out a white dress that was past her knees and was strapless.
"Since we're all dressed, we should go do our hair." Bijou said excited. It took them a while to get their hair perfect but it was worth it. Sandy's hair was put up in a ponytail with a white ribbon. Pashmina's hair was curled into loose lock and two white ribbons on each side of her hair. Bijou's hair was straighten out, but was decorated with beautiful gold clips.
"Let's hurry up and go to Jon." Pashmina said as she walked out of the room. Sandy and Bijou followed. They rode in Jon's car and arrived at a sunflower field. The sunflowers were all in bloom and yellow petals were flying, the scenery was perfect.
"It's beautiful." Sandy said breathless. "I want to take the first shot!" Sandy said excited.
"Go ahead." Jon directed Sandy, Pashmina, and Bijou. The shooting was down and the girls were riding back to the company.
"I hope pictures will look pretty. I can't wait to see them." Pashmina squealed. "Jon said he'll get them developed right away."
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"The pictures did turn out nicely." Jon complimented all the girls.
In Sandy's picture, she was holding a sunflower in the field while the wind was blowing her red hair. In Pashmina's picture, Pashmina was sitting on top of a fence while sunflower petals flew at her face. In Bijou's picture, Bijou smelled the flowers as she smiled. The pictures turned out really well and everyone was satisfied.
Sandy was walking down the road to her house. She was about to open the door until Twinkle's words haunted Sandy again. "I didn't do anything wrong! It's not my fault… is it?" Sandy said as she looked up at the sky. "I don't know what to do…" Sandy walked into her home and went to her room. She jumped into her bed while she was holding a pillow. After what it seems like hours, Sandy fell asleep.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Sandy quickly pressed her alarm clock and woke up. She stretched a little and then quickly got ready to go to work.
"Are we publishing the ads today?" Sandy asked as she walked into the meeting room.
"Jon already did. The official voting also started." Pashmina answered. "I can't wait! I heard 'Oceania' has wonderful products."
"Yeah, do you think our photos were good enough? What if Pure Swan's are better?" Sandy asked worriedly. "I need to win this competition between Twinkle and me. I have to act like nothing happened." Sandy thought.
"We did fine. Don't worry about it to much." Bijou said as she leaned back on her chair. "Usually the votes are close but then one of the companies suddenly wins. Usually it's us."
"This is the first time I'm doing something like this! I'm really worried." Sandy complained.
"It's okay Sandy." Pashmina said quietly. "When I first did something like this, Crystal Palace lost. I cried for days but then I realized there's always next year. So it's okay if we lose."
"I know." Sandy said as she smiled. "But this is different… I can't tell Bijou or Pashmina…" Sandy thought. "Do you guys know the numbers yet?"
"Let's see…" Pashmina took out her lab top and typed in couple of things until she heard a ding. "Here it is. Pure Swans: 24 votes. Crystal Palace: 32 votes. So far we're winning, but the voting just started two hours ago. We'll never know the actual votes yet."
"Okay." Sandy said a little relieved. "At least we're ahead by a little bit."
"Sandy. It's really okay. Don't worry." Bijou said as she patted Sandy's back. "Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out. Do you fell better?"
"Yeah. I guess." Sandy said as she giggled a little.
The very next day:
Pure Swans: 267 votes
Crystal Palace: 243 votes
The day after:
Pure Swans: 1,865 votes
Crystal Palace: 2,012 votes
The day after that:
Pure Swans: 8,234 votes
Crystal Palace: 8,907 votes
"We're in the lead right now. I think we're going to win this year also." Pashmina said.
"Are we allowed to look at Pure Swan's ad photos? I just want to know how well they did." Sandy asked.
"Sure, it's on this site." Pashmina clicked a few times and three pictures were on the screen. "This is Sparkle's picture." Sparkle was leaning again the apple blossom tree while she looked up at the sky white the blossom petals flew in her hair.
"This is actually a good picture of Sparkle. It actually makes her look nice." Bijou said surprised.
"This is the new member, Twinkle's picture." Twinkle was on sitting and leaning against the apple blossom tree. She had a book in her hands and she was looking at the viewers.
"Twinkle's picture isn't so bad… she doesn't have any emotion. I guess it's because she's new in the modeling business." Bijou said. "What do you think Sandy?"
"I think she looks okay." Sandy was slightly relieved. Both Sparkle and Twinkle's picture weren't that good so far. "I wonder how Jewel did."
"This is Jewel's picture." Pashmina said.
Jewel was sitting on the apple blossom tree. Her jet-black hair was brightened by the pink blossoms on the tree. Also Jewel's pink eyes were matching the color of the pink petals. She was smiling sweetly as the wind blew her hair. Her green lacy dress made her look like a special flower in the tree. "She looks really… pretty." Pashmina said surprised.
"Jewel looks wonderful in this photo. I never thought she was a great model, but after looking at this picture… she seems like a pro." Bijou said as she looked at the picture, amused.
"I know. Jewel is beautiful. No wonder Pure Swan is getting a lot of votes." Sandy said a little upset. Bijou looked at Sandy and patted her on her shoulder.
"It's okay. Our pictures are good too. I know you want to win." Bijou said as she smiled.
"Thanks." Sandy smiled but looked at Jewel's photo again and frowned slightly.
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Josh was walking the street until he stopped. There was a purse on the ground, he picked it up and observed it.
"This looks like Bijou's purse. I should ask." Josh walked to Bijou's house and rang the doorbell.
Josh heard a muffled voice coming from Bijou's house of "Coming!"
"What am I doing at her house? I should've just asked Pashmina or Sandy…" Josh whispered.
Bijou quickly opened the door. "Josh! What are you doing here?" Bijou said as she stepped out of her house and closed the door.
"Oh it's just that, I was wondering if this purse is yours." Josh said as he handed Bijou the white purse.
"Thanks, I didn't notice that it was gone." Bijou said as she sat on the front porch bench. She looked through it was sighed.
"What's wrong?" Josh said as he sat next to Bijou.
"I'm missing one thing. It's Hamtaro's picture. I wonder why someone took it." Bijou said a little upset. "But it's okay because I'm his girlfriend. I don't have to worry about it."
Josh looked down at his feet. "Of course… I'll never have a chance with Bijou. Bijou likes Hamtaro and they go out..." Josh thought.
"Hamtaro's so sweet. I really truly love him." Bijou said as she looked at the sky. Those words pierced Josh's heart, but he tried to hide it. "I don't think there's anyone in this world that loves me more than Hamtaro." Bijou's hair was blown by the wind. Josh stared at Bijou, to him he thought that Bijou looked like a beautiful angel sent from heaven.
Josh looked into Bijou's eyes and then asked "What about me?" sternly.
"What?" Bijou said as she turned her head and looked at Josh.
"Will you give me a chance? Will you give me a chance to prove my love towards you?" Josh asked as he held Bijou's hand. He stared into Bijou's emerald eyes, waiting for an answer…