Blythe's POV:

"Hey Sarah!" I exclaimed as I walked past the receptionist at Burberry. "Hey Blythe! Wait a second!" I turned around only to find her standing right in front of me. "Umm, what is it? Do you have a message for me or something?" I asked confused. - "Oh no. I just wanted to talk." – "You just wanted to talk? Can we do this some other time? I kind of have to get to a meeting, but I'm sure you know that." – "Yeah, but you have like ten minutes." – "So? I like to be early." – "Can we talk anyway? Please? I like you." She begged. – "You… you like me? Don't you know I'm gay?" – "Oh no, no! That's not what I meant. I guessed you were. I just meant, I like the way you are. You're not like the others, you know." – "Yeah, I'm not 105." We both laughed. – "True, but you know, hardly anyone else ever talks to me. They just ignore me. I'm only a receptionist after all." She sounded quite sad. – "Well, you're only here because you need to pay for college right?" – "See? You even know something about me." – "Okay, enough sucking up and making me feel bad for you. How about we go out later this week?" – "How about this evening? I'm free." – "Sure, why not? But I seriously have to go now, otherwise the meeting will start without me. See you."

I turned around and quickly made my way to the office area of the building. It seemed so huge inside. When I got to the conference room I already saw several employees sitting in black leather seats around the long square ebony table. There was a huge glass façade on one side of the room, the only thing visible from here were the tips of skyscrapers above the opposite building and the atrium.

I sat down beside Martha since she was the only one I really knew. She gave me a warm smile, which boosted my confidence slightly. Soon the room had filled up with other employees, from Human Relations to Accounting, everyone seemed to be here and everyone was extremely fashionable.

Mr Bailey then got up and talked about the coming months and what the company was trying to do. To be honest the business side of it all was very exhausting and terribly boring. The gist of it all was, they had gotten several new contracts with celebrities, because the company was gaining momentum after some very smart choices in their latest collection. It wasn't very fashion forward, but it was safe – and safe is what buyers want during a recession. The meeting ended after he had thanked everyone for their work and welcomed all the new employees, one of them, of course, was me.

I headed back down to the 'Styles & Photo'-Department or put quite simply, where I had spent the last couple of days working. The rest of the day went by pretty quickly – doesn't it always, when you're enjoying yourself? I had just finished off helping out with a video for their new marketing campaign, when Mr Bailey came to me.

"You're handling yourself very well, Blythe. I thought I'd be sending you back out the door after a week." – "Thank you, Sir." – "Oh please, call me Christopher, when we're down here or else I'll really start feeling like an old git." – "Of course, Sir… I mean Christopher." I corrected myself. "Anyway, we have a shoot with some really young celebrities coming up and I thought, because you're so young as well, you'd be perfect to help styling them?" – "You mean, I get to work with celebrities?" I grinned uncontrollably. – "Only if you're up to the task, of course." – "I am! I- Thank you so much! I promise you won't regret it." – "I sure hope so. Now go home, get some rest. All the shoots are done for today."

I took advice, well almost. I still had to go out with Sarah. She greeted me and we made our way outside. "So, Sarah, where do you want to go?" – "How about we head into the city? We could have coffee or something? There isn't anything around here I know." – "Sounds good. My cars in the back." – "You're car? I thought you came on the subway, like me." She asked astonished. – "No, it's quicker this way, too. If you want I'll drive you home, too?" – "You would do that? What a gentleman! Thank you so much. But I don't want to cause any inconvenience for you. We might live in completely opposite directions." – "I am staying at the Majestic. My best friend lives there." – "The Majestic? Is you're friend loaded with cash or what?" – "You might know her. Her name's Silver van den Bergh." – "Shut up! Seriously? She's you're best friend? She's like the shining star of the Upper-East Side!" – "Yup, that's her…" We arrived at my car and after unlocking it, we got in. "Wow, I didn't know you were an Upper-East Sider!" – "I'm not, well not really." – "You're 17 and you drive a BMW!" – "What? Silver kinda gifted it to me." – "I wish I had friends like that." – "Ok, it's not all that easy! You don't know me, so don't judge me." – "What's that supposed to mean?" – "My life hasn't been a piece of cake lately. I have had it rough." – "Do you want to tell me about it?"

And so I told her about what happened to me, how my mother kicked me out, how Silver took me in, how I got the job, but I didn't tell her about the boy, I still wasn't sure if she was that kind of a friend. After I told her about my life, we made our way to Starbucks and got some milkshakes. We spent the about an hour just sitting in there and having small-talk. I drove her to the college and we said our good-bye's. As I got back into my car I realized she hadn't really talked about herself, at all. I'd have to ask her about that next time.

I arrived at Silver's and went up to the apartment. The lounge room lights were on, even though it was way too early for my best friend to be home. There were black suitcases piled on top of each other on the carpet in the hall.

My phone rang, it was a number I'd never seen before. "Hello?" I asked. - "Hello there, Blythe." – "Oh my god, dad? – "I heard what happened and I'm on my way over to America, son."