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Bella
Tuesday morning, the telephone on my desk rang with a shrill ring. Thinking it must be one of the models chasing after David, I said in a bored voice "This is David Gordon's office."
"Bella Swan, get here to my office, right away," replied a cool voice from the other end of the phone.
A warm feeling trickled down my back as I wondered why on earth Melanie Gordon would want to see me. It was a cold day, but I was sweating profusely and I regretted wearing a jacket over my shirt.
I timidly knocked on the door and after hearing a soft "Come in," I entered the room.
I had never been inside Melanie Gordon's office room. The room had white walls covered with prints in black, a black rug on the white-tiled floors and a white straight-backed chair behind a matching white desk. On the corner there was a black leather sofa, much like the one in David's room. Overall, it was a complete vision of black and white only.
The woman herself was dressed in a beige-coloured suit and a matching skirt and she was sitting on the chair behind her desk. When I stood in front of the aforementioned desk, she removed her glasses and looked at me.
"David said you gave him some idea on choosing a cover girl for our next issue?" she asked, narrowing her pencil-thin eyebrows.
Crap! I knew it! I should have kept my mouth shut. Oh God, they were going to fire me now for suggesting something so ridiculous. What was I thinking, going off and giving ideas in spite of being just an assistant?
"Melanie, I didn't really mean to make any suggestion to David, I swear. I know it was very foolish of me, I-I," I started stammering.
"Relax. I called you in here to tell you that I personally liked that idea of yours. But I am afraid I can't say the same thing about my dear son. He seems to think we need to put Gisele Bundchen on cover, but I thought it would be refreshing to have a brand new face for our cover, someone who juggles work, family and personal life all at once."
I blinked a couple of times, wondering what I was hearing was true or not. Could it be possible that our Editor-in-Chief, scary Mrs. Gordon would approve of an idea that my tiny little brain popped out?
"But, like David said, we don't have anyone in mind who fits all that description perfectly," I blurted out, gaining a little more confidence and hoping that it was not some kind of a joke. I made a mental note to check if there were any TV cameras outside this office. If this was another episode of that stupid show "Punk'd" or if I saw the annoying face of Ashton Kutcher outside, then I am so suing that guy.
"As a matter of fact, I do have someone in mind. Tell me, what do you think about our accountant, what's her name, Alice Brandon?"
My eyes grew big and my jaw dropped, my mouth forming a big 'o'.
"Melanie, you can't be serious!" I said.
"Bella, in case you haven't noticed, I am not exactly the kind of person who would sit around and crack jokes with you," she said, annoyed.
"I apologize, that's not what I meant. What I am trying to say is that we'll never be able to convince Alice to do a photo shoot. Not to mention the fact that she absolutely hates wearing make-up, or dresses for that matter."
"If I am correct, then Alice is the one with short hair, and those awful bleached jeans and an ugly loose T-shirt that says 'Kaiser Chiefs', right?"
I hadn't seen Alice this morning so I wouldn't know what she was wearing, but from the descriptions, I gathered it had to be her.
"I think so, no one else here dresses up like that," I replied.
"Right, that's what I thought. She has a good figure, and may be with some hair extensions and some make-up, we could doll her up a bit. Besides I have seen her resume and it says that she takes care of her two younger brothers, finished grad school, and entered this magazine. So she fits the idea of our modern multitasking woman perfectly. It would be suitable for our Women's Day special issue next month. "
When she put it that way, I realised Alice would be suitable for this. But I wouldn't dare break this news to her.
"But Melanie, she will never agree to this…" I trailed off.
"Oh well. Then we will just have to make her agree," she replied, matter-of-factly.
"Am I hearing you right? You want me to pose for your magazine cover? Seriously, what kind of joke is this?" Alice asked, exasperated.
Alice and I were standing in Melanie's room and she had just broken down the big news.
"Calm down. No, we are absolutely serious about our work here. We think it would be a good idea to have you on cover," Melanie replied calmly.
"Why on earth would you think that?" Alice asked, still unable to believe her ears.
"Like I said, I think you would be suitable to represent a contemporary, independent single woman," Melanie said.
"But what if I don't want to do this cover shoot?" Alice asked, sceptically.
Melanie moved forward and rested her chin above her adjoined hands.
"We can't force you to do anything against your will, but I personally think you'd be appropriate for this and maybe you can discover a new side of your personality, a part you didn't know existed inside you." She said this last line while retrieving a file from a stack and without looking at Alice.
"You really have got the wrong person…" and with that, Alice walked backwards and exited the room.
"Now what do we do?" I asked
Melanie simply replied, "We wait."
I slowly walked over to my desk and sat down on the chair. A few minutes later, I saw David barge out from his office-room and walking towards my desk. I stood up on shaky legs. Boy, he looked scary.
"What the hell is going on here? My mother asked our accountant to be a cover girl?"
"David, she-" I began.
"No, Bella, you don't need to defend her. I know she is the Editor-in-Chief and she has all the right to make such decisions, but couldn't she have at least considered my opinion on how I felt about this? After all I also have some say in it," he said.
"No, David, it's not like that. She respects your views all the same. She hasn't even made it official yet. Besides you don't need to worry about this anymore. I don't think Alice would agree to this," I said hoping this would calm him down.
"Bella couldn't you have said something to my mother about this? I mean you have seen the kind of person Alice is. She is not meant to do photo sessions and pout or glare at the camera in the correct angle. It just doesn't fit her personality. She's not like those models…" he kept talking.
At that moment, the phone on my desk rang. Seeing that David wouldn't stop talking now, I decided to receive the phone call, thinking it might be from some important advertiser or publisher. But I couldn't hear anything from the other end because David was still blabbering on.
"…I mean, you can't imagine someone like Alice in those designer outfits and expect her to go all glamorous all of a sudden."
David paused when he saw the phone cradled between my ear and shoulder and I took this opportunity to finish the phone call.
"Hi, this is David Gordon's office. Who is this?" I asked.
But at that moment, the caller hung up and the tone resumed.
"Bella, what I am saying is that girls like Alice don't do magazine covers. They are way too innocent and just too good for this kind of stuff. I might be wrong, but she seemed like she belonged to a conservative family and they don't really approve of this kind of stuffs," he finished.
"David, that's very thoughtful of you. I'll see what I can do," I said, warily.
I was surprised to see David's reaction at this. I had thought that he was against this idea because he didn't see Alice as a pretty face. But I realised I was wrong. It seemed as if he was more worried about her virtue than he was bothered about the cover. This part of David's character was totally alien to me. He was not a bad person, but it's just that I had never seen him care about anyone else other than himself. This incident, however completely changed my viewpoint.
After I talked with David, I went to Melanie's room, terrified yet determined to make her see that all this 'Make Alice a super-model' was a terrible idea.
When I entered her room after knocking, I saw the last person I expected to see.
Alice was standing right in front of Melanie's desk, exactly like she had been a few hours ago.
"Alright then, Melanie. You win. I will do your magazine's cover-shoot."
A/N Please review. I wrote this chapter in one day in between studying for my A'Levels, so you can see how much you guys mean to me. Next chapter won't be up anytime soon, because I have my exams, so please accept my apology!