This is a shift day. There are two updates today.

"Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams"

13. Posers

Puck and Rachel, in the guise of the girl's uncle and sister respectively, sat with young Stephanie Tanner and listened to the cause of her problem, in this case a friend, two friends actually.

She'd had a crush on a boy from school, and her best friend had found out about it. It was meant to be a secret, but her friend had told someone in passing, and someone else had overheard, and before they knew it the boy had found out, and he had let Stephanie know he wasn't interested. Puck could see a look flash on Rachel's face which read as something like 'it never changes, does it?'

"I don't want to be mad at her, because it wasn't completely her fault. She didn't tell him, but she did tell someone. Can I just be angry at her about that?"

"You have every right to," Puck told her.

"I really did like him though," she turned this sadness toward her sister, and Rachel was more than willing to move forward and wrap her arms around her.

Eventually they'd convinced the girl to come back downstairs with them. Michelle and the twins were still in the backyard, and so they joined them. The twins were happy to see her, and they nearly bowled her over, holding on to her legs. Stephanie smiled and laughed and she went along with the game. Rachel stayed back with Puck by her side, and she couldn't help but reminisce.

"When I was little and I'd watch it, all I ever wanted was to have sisters, so I could be like them," she admitted, which gave him a smirk. "Also I guess I was confused at first, having my dads and all; I used to think Danny and Jesse were a couple," she kept her voice down, knowing with all these little ears around, the wrong words might ground them to the world, unable to move on and move on home.

"Yeah, I can see why you would," Puck nodded and she chuckled.

"It got cleared up eventually," she promised.

When they'd seen how the boys had moved on to pile driving Michelle, leaving Stephanie sat on the ground and watching them, Puck moved toward her, crouching down by her side.

"Anything we can do to help make you feel better?" he asked, and the blonde girl smiled.

"You're doing it," she nodded.

And she must have been right, because a moment later they were being transported.

X

She was beginning to develop a definite headache, after so many jumps already, and she wondered how many more she could endure. Maybe they could take things slow on this next one, then maybe she'd have time to recover before they went through the process all over again.

But then as her senses came back to her, she started to feel like there was something… missing. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt a chill, maybe telling her they had been transported into something terrifying.

"Please don't be the Walking Dead, please don't be the Walking Dead…" she whispered to herself.

But when she opened her eyes, she screeched. It was worse. She was in a bikini.

"What…" she looked around, trying to understand. But then she could see them. Other girls, several of them, all wearing different bikinis, like her. They were all so lean and tall, she felt like she was in the wrong place, absolutely in the wrong place, and could she please run and hide?

"Okay, you're next," a woman with a headset had come to her.

"Next?" her voice trembled.

"Yes, don't keep the others waiting, come on," she all but pulled her to her feet and nudged her along.

"Hold on, I don't understand what I…" She caught a glimpse of some of the equipment, and then she saw the logo, and she blanched.

America's Next Top Model. This couldn't be happening. Puck would love this one; she wanted to hide in a hole and never come out. She had a brief concern that he might show up in a bikini as well, but she wasn't seeing him so, with any luck, he would end up being the photographer, something like that.

He wasn't there. She wasn't seeing him at all, and there was a terrifying thought there that they might have been split up somehow.

She still had to get on with the photo shoot though, and if she'd learned anything about the jumps they had done so far, it was that success was vital. She had to somehow access her inner model and put her to work, no matter how awkward she felt. She had done enough preparation for the odd publicity shoot, maybe an eventual magazine spread, when she'd hit the big time, but this was fashion, completely different. So instead she had to stop and close her eyes and access whatever memories she had from watching previous seasons of the show.

Once she'd gotten past the initial fear of it, the shoot had not been so bad. She didn't know that she'd win for the week, but as long as she'd done well enough not to be eliminated then she was fine, right? Besides, two of the girls had done badly, much worse than her, so if she got eliminated ahead of them, she would cry injustice.

Finally she had been able to put on regular clothes again, and the girls packed up to drive back to the house, she imagined. Only they didn't. They made a stop.

They got out when they were told to, and it was a good thing she wasn't the only one showing confusion as to what was happening. This went away and, in her case, was replaced by momentary blinding terror as a door pulled open to reveal… a runway. The other girls began to cheer, a few of them chanting and beckoning for "Miss J! Miss J!"

And there was Puck.

TO BE CONTINUED (TUESDAY)