Vol. 09

Chapter 33

Selina Chase-Moon

Birth: June 30th

Age: 18

Colour(s): White

Metal: Silver

God/dess: Diana

Hermione Driscoll-Mercury

Birth: September 10th

Age: 18

Colour(s): Royal Blue/Yellow

Metal: Quicksilver

God/dess: Mercury

Marcella Guerra-Mars

Birth: April 17th

Age: 18

Colour(s): Red

Metal: Iron

God/dess: Mars

During lunch break in the college, Selina brought her lunch from home and set it up nicely on her table. "Lunchtime! It looks so good! Let's eat!" She told herself in joy.

"Wow, they're so pretty! These are wonderful photographs! Wow, this is amazing! These pictures were taken by a college student. I can't believe it, he's not even a professional and yet he received the highest honor in New York Pictures." Ellie was going on and on over a magazine.

"He must be a genius!" Said Selina sarcastically with her mouth full.

"The young and talented photographer, Akshan Misra..." Before Ellie could finish the article, Selina read something over Ellie's shoulder and took the magazine.

"What?! No way! He goes to St. Mark's! One of the bests of post-secondary in the city!" Selina read out loud with food still in her mouth.

"I need to fix that contract..." Hermione was writing out her agenda, organizing her work.

"Hermione! Big news! Look, this guy! He's a student at Marcy's school, the St. Mark's College." Selina shouted the news.

"I know that." Hermione continue with her planning.

"This is no time to be acting so calm! We have someone actually doing something with his life in our age! Come on, let's go! Let's go together meet and greet the guy!"

"I have a meeting to go after classes." Hermione replied while doing whatever she's doing.

"Sheesh, Hermione! All you do is work! You're wasting your precious youth."

"Working hard. That's what my precious youth is about." Hermione waved a wad of cash in front of Selina's face making her point.

"That 's dirty, and you know it." Selina said back. After classes, outside of St. Mark College, the press were interviewing the new trend.

"Excuse me, please let me take your picture." "Congratulations! Please." "Mr. Misra, can you tell me how you feel about receiving the highest honor in New York Pictures?"

"I feel great." He answered.

"So, will you keep taking more scenic pictures?"

"Yes, sort of..." He didn't look to satisfy. In the corner of the block, Selina and Ellie arrived and got a view of the photographer.

"There he is! It's Akshan Misra! Akshan!" Shouted Selina. Her and Ellie ran to him but were stopped by Marcella who also just came out of class.

"Stop it!" She said.

"Marcy..." Selina wonder what's her deal.

"Don't act like a groupie!"Marcella advice them.

"What?! What's wrong with having a chat with a photographer?"

"So, you can appreciate his art?" Marcella asked. Selina started to think. "I'm just saying, if you're not interested in photography, don't make such a fuss just because a famous photographer is in the area!"

"It's none of your business who I ask or what we talk about!" Selina reasoned but their battle was cut short.

"Excuse me, please stop." Akshan made peace for both sides. The two look at him in awe.

Later on in the day, Akshan was sitting by the rocks of the shoreline to get a beautiful shot of the sunset. "The evening light changes quickly. Now's my chance!" He lift up his heavy camera and took a few shots of the scenery, but he lost his grip and slid down the rocks heading to the water. He was caught from his arm by a strong man. Akshan looked up to see who saved him, was no other than Troy Parisi.

"Be careful." He said to the young lad.

"Um, thank you!" Akshan climbed up back to the pavement as Troy took his camera giving him the opportunity to posses it. He then hand over the camera back to Akshan.

"I'm a huge fan of yours. I hope you keep up the good work!" Troy walked on to his hot ride. Akshan stood their and watched him go.

"Okay." He said to himself finding the situation odd. Before any of that happen, in the countryside of New York, Troy or Paris in his hideout of a mansion had the New York Pictures magazine spread out on the floor. He looked up to the no roofing room and watch the night sky.

"The stars know everything. O Sirius, the star of evil shining in the dark sky..." A beam of light fall to the magazine making it look like a laser pointing to it. "Akshan Misra, whom the stars points to, is about to attain his highest energy level. By photographing numerous young women, his energy level will increase. Later that evening, Akshan was at home in his room working on his camera parts, he took a few practice shots.

"I can feel my imagination getting really fired up! Art is explosive! I don't care who they are. I just want to take explosive pictures of girls!" He went mental.

The next evening, Selina was at home reading a sports magazine in the living room while Luna was making dinner for the two. "The next model could be you! You could be the next model to be photographed by the talented photographer, Akshan Misra! Oh, I'd love to show off my athletic body!"

"Hey, Selina, I got the three of you a new laptop!" Luna announced.

"I have one already!"

"That one is crap, this is better. It is made from the Gods of Olympus! I already gave the other two theirs. They were pretty excited about. You can communicate and research about the enemies that we face all the time."

"Then I'll test it by contacting Hermione to see if it's too my liking!"

"Go ahead, but only use it for important business." Selina went to the desk and saw a white slim laptop with a silver Moon symbol embedded into it. When she opened it and turned it on, she saw the Mercury symbol on the screen and clicked on it. Hermione's face popped up on the screen. Hermione turned to face her laptop and saw who it was.

"What is it, Selina?"

"I'm just testing this new gadget that we got. By the way I'm thinking about going to a sporting photo shoot."

"Selina, you shouldn't use the device like this! Anyway, I'm in the middle of a planning my next business meeting right now. Sorry." Hermione closed her laptop.

"Oh, she hung up. Fine, then, I'll talk to Marcy!" Before Selina click on to anything she thought back to what Marcella said to her earlier.

"I'm just saying, if you're not interested in photography, don't make such a fuss just because a famous photographer is in the area!"

"She's going to give it to me if I call her. I just know it. Forget it." Selina closed her laptop and went back to the living room. She than heard laughing in the kitchen and wondered why. "What's with the laughter?" Luna was crying while cooking over the stove.

"Oh, I'm just thinking of you being a model. With that face?!"

"Excuse me?!"

"There is no way! Besides, you need more than good looks and a good figure to be a model. You have to be bright, too!"

"I'll study hard from now on!"

"Don't bother! You hate studying and you barely hit 70% in all your tests, Selina! He'll just say, 'Sorry, you're not good enough!' Anyway, you'll just get disqualified during the first selection stage where you submit your photo."

"Luna, you're being a bully!"

"Oh, but I think I'm actually pretty right."

"Talk about cruelty. You are merciless!" Selina opened the front door, Luna popped out of the kitchen.

"And where are you going?"

"Out, I need a second opinion." Selina went out and locked the door. She walked to the Arcade Cafe and bought a latte to keep herself in a comfortable mood.

"Cheer up, Selina! Like someone use to tell me 'You should never give up before you start!' The most important thing is to be yourself!" Wilbur was giving her advice to get her to the happy side of life.

"Like that totally worked for you, Wilbur." Selina pulled out the sarcasm card.

"Wilbur is right. Well, you'll probably fail anyway,but no matter the outcome, the important thing is to participate." Eddie was at the other other end of the bar from Selina, drinking his coffee.

"I didn't ask for your opinion!" Selina didn't even looked at him. Eddie got up from his seat and sat right beside her.

"Both men and women have got the wrong idea, lately. They assume they've become beautiful, if they pretty themselves up. A girl's beauty isn't limited to her looks."

"Then what else counts?" Selina asked now looking at him .

"Is what's inside! A kind heart and the guts to carry out what she thinks is right!"

"Guts?"

"That's right! Well, you don't have either, though."

"Why, of course, according to your perspective."

"Besides, this guy just wants to photograph young ladies, no matter who they are! If that's his approach to photography, this Akshan Misra must be a second...no, he must be a third-rate photographer."

"That's enough! I don't even want to see your face anymore!" Selina got up from her seat and stormed out of the cafe.

"Eddie, she's a lady. You shouldn't treat her like that." Wilbur mentioned.

"I know that, but we always end up fighting every time we talk. I guess we just don't get along."

The next day, Selina was standing outside the apartment building thinking in the sun. Luna was comeback from her walk and saw Selina. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Well..."

"Oh! I know. You're wondering if you got an acceptance notice from the first screening." Selina surprised. "You're so dense! I told you there's no way you'll get accepted! You got rejected during the photo selection stage for sure!"

"Can you please shut up and go!" Before Luna could do what Selina told her, a mail truck stopped in front of her.

"Selina, there's mail for you." The mailman gave her the envelope.

"It's finally here!" Selina smiled.

"It's probably just junk mail anyway." Luna started to walk away while Selina opened the lettered and read it quickly.

"I did it! I passed the first screening! Look! It says to come to the Intercontinental Hotel tomorrow because they're doing a photo shoot by the pool! How about that?!" Selina showed the letter to Luna who couldn't believe her eyes. Back inside the apartment, Selina was doing some aerobics as Luna watched her tired herself out.

"Selina, what are you doing?"

"Toning my body for the photo shoot! Please don't ask me questions! I need to get ready."

"This is embarrassing to watch." Luna said to herself as she left Selina's apartment.

"I need to think for the perfect swimwear for tomorrow. Oh, yeah! I'm pretty sure it's in this drawer." Selina went to her drawer and pulled out her white one piece swimsuit. When she saw what she was holding she died just a little. "Shit! Moths ate into it and it's full of holes!" At the hotel, the Akshan Misra Photo Session was in the main hall, Selina walked in with Luna by her side and saw dense crowd of girls being all excited. "So many people!"

"Art is explosive! Everyone, please go to your assigned rooms and wait there! I don't want to be disturbed while I'm taking pictures, so don't peep! Everyone come in at the appointed time, Got it?!" announced Akshan on the podium.

"YEAH!" The crowd went crazy. While Selina was looking for her room, Luna felt nervous.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"What do you mean?"

"Akshan Misra is acting completely different than before."

"All artists tend to be a bit weird."

"Besides, there's just something wrong about you getting accepted."

"Luna!" Selina snapped.

"Oh, Selina!" Facing her was Ellie and Mrs. Lenz.

"My, so you were accepted, too?" Said Mrs. Lenz

"I can't believe this. Both Ellie and Mrs, Lenz..." Selina was surprise to see the two in the same place. When Selina finally found her room, she was preparing herself by doing different facial expressions. "It's important for a model to always smile." She looked real dumb doing it. Ellie and Mrs. Lenz came out of the change room with their swimsuits on.

"Did I gain a little weight?" Mrs. Lenz was pinching herself trying to grab a flab of skin. Ellie felt quite uncomfortable being with her, she the saw Selina looking at herself in the mirror.

"Hey, Selina. You should also change into your swimsuit soon." Ellie walked up to her wearing a green and orange one piece suit.

"Oh yeah..." Selina got serious.

"Didn't you bring one?"

"I'm already in it." Selina blushed and started to twiddle her thumbs.

"Then, why don't you take your clothes off?" Ellie suggested.

"Alright..." Selina got up and took off her clothes in one sweep, and revealed the one piece white swimsuit but with no holes, instead, where ever was the holes it was covered with silver ribbon going across here and there making it look like stripes.

"Wow! That looks good!" Ellie commented.

I sewed in the ribbons in all the moth holes. Thought Selina. Luna went to where they were taking the pictures.

"I still think something is fishy." She stood by the pool and watched the session. Akshan aimed his camera at the group of posed girls.

"Art is explosive! If I feel something, I get closer and boom! Take the picture! I'm such a genius when it come to taking pictures!" He took the shot, a beam of whit light came out of the lens and hit the models, turning them into some energy and sucked into the camera. Luna was dumbstruck.

"Whoa! What's going on?! All the girls..."