Model Behavior

Chapter 3
Stage One

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Chapter Description: A kids clothing company has a new Juniors model, and Jennifer's friend has a brand new little sister.

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Jennifer’s social life had been off-track for so long that she was giddily anticipating the date far more than she was looking forward to restarting her modeling career.

The whole idea of modeling clothes designed for teenagers put her off a bit, really. The idea had her wrinkling her nose at the sheer immaturity of it. But she figured she’d at least talk about it with Ken. Ken called her up to set up a meeting between her and the company representative, a woman named Jaqueline.

"Babe, I know you’re worried about doing the shoot," Ken said, prophetically, to start off the conversation.

Jennifer was taken aback for a moment, but she responded, "How do you know that?"

"It’s in your voice, honey, you’re all shaky. Plus, it’s been awhile since you did this before, isn’t it?" Ken asked, gently.

Jennifer was still suspicious for a moment, but she put it out of her mind. Of course that’s how he figured it out. "It’s been a long, long time," Jennifer agreed, then hesitated.

"What is it?" Ken implored her on.

"It’s just...well. It sounds stupid, though," Jennifer started off, then steeled her nerve, "It’s just it seems a little bit immature for me to be posing as a high school junior. Do they know I’m twenty-two?" she asked.

"Of course they do, babe. It might sound stupid, but it’s business you know," Ken explained, "These kids want to see an older person wearing clothes. Don’t know why, but it’s sheer marketing, you know? We’re good at that sort of thing in this business," he reminded her.

That actually made more sense to Jennifer than it would have seemed likely to. With a little more gentle prodding, Ken convinced her that this was a great idea. The meeting was setup for Monday morning...when she got off the phone her mind was ablaze with the idea of a comeback for her lost career.

That made her even more giddy than she had been about her upcoming date. Ken was a brilliant, handsome guy -- and he wanted to be in a relationship with her. She couldn’t ask for much more in life.

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"Jennifer, I presume?" Jaqueline Martins, director of modeling for Kinder Kids Clothing’s formal division, extended her hand as Jennifer arrived.

"Yeah, that’s me!" Jennifer almost squeaked, while shaking Jaqueline’s hand. What a way to start out. She figured that came across as too enthusiastic, but Jaqueline just smiled politely at her. The two took their seat and ordered coffee.

"Good to meet you, Jennifer," Jaqueline started, then paused. She asked, "Do you have any questions for me?"

Jennifer couldn’t think of any, particularly, and she shook her head, sipping her coffee, "Not really, nope. It’s a dress modeling, pretty standard, huh?"

Jaqueline almost grinned, then nodded, "Yeah, nothing too wild, really. I figure I should tell you a bit about our company, though. Usually people are pretty surprised when they hear who I work for -- and who makes these prom dresses. Certainly not something we advertise too much."

Jennifer was a bit confused, and she asked, puzzled, "Well, who’s the company?"

Jaqueline leaned forward and queried Jennifer, "Have you ever heard of the Kinder Kids Clothing company?"

Of course Jennifer had heard of them. The company was one of the most famous kids clothes manufacturers in the world, and it had been for a very long time. In fact, Jennifer had been clad in many of their clothes as a child herself. "Well, sure," Jennifer answered, "But I thought this was a shoot for prom dresses, not pre-school jumpers."

Jaqueline laughed, a calculated move to set Jennifer at ease, "You’re absolutely right. Our formal line has made prom dresses from the very beginning...of course we don’t put the Kinder Kids label in them, our formal line is actually its own separate company so that we don’t scare the "big girls" off." Jennifer giggled a little at that. If only these kids knew the truth, they probably wouldn’t want to spend their prom in these dresses.

Jennifer said, after another sip of coffee, "Well, I’m definitely up for some new business, if you want to use me for the shoot, that is."

Jaqueline smiled. For some reason it unsettled Jennifer for a moment. She felt like getting up and running away. But Jaqueline pulled a contract out of her purse and passed it across the table. "You know, the standard formalities. Contracts and lawyers, they make our work harder, huh?"

Jennifer snorted, "You said it," and applied her signature to the paper smoothly.

--

Tuesday morning, Jennifer woke up plenty early. She took a shower, sat down in her kitchen and enjoyed a good breakfast. Somehow, this was a much easier day to wake up for than any she had seen in a long time. She was in an absolutely radient mood as she got into her car and drove out to the address she’d been given by Jaqueline the day before.

It was a long drive, but the entire way she was singing along to music on the car stereo. The traffic was rush-hour into the city, but it didn’t bother Jennifer one bit. Not much could touch her today. That same giddiness that had taken over her week was beginning to reach its full peak as she drove.

It only got better when she finally arrived. The Kinder Kids studio was packed to the brim with top-shelf equipment in luxurious surroundings. Jennifer didn’t see many other people her own age, definitely not any models. There were a lot of kid models running around, and their families. Jennifer noticed that almost every child was under the age of five, and the majority of them were diaper-age. Of course, Jennifer figured, the older kids would be in school this time of day. She was standing in the entry atrium observing her surroundings when Jaqueline tapped her on the shoulder.

"Come right this way, Jennifer, we’re ready for you in room C," She said, with a friendly smile.

Jennifer followed her into the room, a photography studio set up to look like a fancy ballroom. There was a changing room attached at the side, and Jaqueline motioned to the door.

"The dress is right in there, plus they’ll be coming to do a little makeup and other stuff. You know, the usual. I’ll be back in about 45 minutes to see how everything’s going," Jaqueline said, explaining, "I’ve got a whole lot of toddler shots going on, so I’ve got to run around to take care of some business. okay?"

Jennifer nodded and went to get changed.

--

The changing room was unlike any Jennifer had ever dealt with. It was certainly the first in her career with a changing table in it. She dressed and the makeup woman came and left. Then, as she waited for Jaqueline to get back, a young man of nineteen or so came in.

"Hi there, Jennifer, I’m John...I’ll be shooting you today. You look great," the boy said, smiling widely at her.

"Nice to meet you, John," Jennifer said amicably, "Are we getting started, then?"

"In just a minute, there was one more thing we had to do before we could shoot you..." John said, continuing to smile at her.

"Oh? What’s that?" Jennifer asked, bemused by the kid’s attitude.

"We’re just setting it up. It’s a new flashbulb the company designed. Nothing special, but we always tell all the models now that you might feel a little dizzy, or woozy, when you’re getting the shots taken. Nothing too important, if you feel too dizzy to keep going we can sit you down for a little while. Okay?" John responded, smoothly.

"Oh. Sure, I guess." Jennifer answered, rather absently. That was a let-down...she’d been sure the boy was going to ask her for a date or something. Like she’d ever date a kid like him.

--

"Okay, Jennifer, you ready?" John asked from behind the camera’s lenscap.

Jennifer spun around once letting the dress flow around her. Everything seemed to be in place, so she nodded, "Okay, let’s do it."

"Okay, we’re gonna take a whole lot of shots...probably sixty or so." John explained, removing the lenscap.

"Well, let’s do it, then." Jennifer grinned at John, starting to enjoy the process again all the more.

The first twelve shots were excellent, and Jennifer didn’t feel dizzy or faint, or anything like that. She felt great, in fact, although her shoes seemed a bit loose. That’s the trouble with company wardrobes, Jennifer thought to herself, they never fit exactly right.

John continued to encourage her through the next twelve, and finally Jennifer felt a little woozy. It was a strange feeling, though, as if the effect was not from the light itself but something going on inside her own head. It wasn’t a bad wooziness, as those things go, rather her mind was left hazy and she felt more than a little bout of euphoria rushing through her head.

The next set of twelve shots reinforced that feeling in her head and the feeling became stronger and stronger by the second. John looked curiously at her for a moment, and said, "You feeling okay, Jennifer?"

It took her a good fifteen seconds to remember how to talk, and as she tried to speak originally all that came out was incoherent babble not unlike a toddler talking to herself. John helped her to a seat, and slowly she began to regain her mental faculties.

As she did, she noticed something strange. John, the goofy kid photographer, was downright hot. She could totally go for a guy like that. What was strange was that she could clearly remember meeting him originally a few minutes before, and she remembered not being overly impressed by the boy at the time.

And as she thought about that, something else struck her. Why was she thinking of John as a kid? He was at least nineteen, just like she was. That’s weird, Jennifer thought to herself, I must be losing it.

"Thanks for, like, helping me out John. I really appreciate it," Jennifer said, blinking her lashes at him.

John stifled a laugh, and said, "No problem, let’s get finished up though."

They worked through the last thirty-six pictures quickly. So quickly, in fact, that as they finished, Jennifer was so dizzy and woozy that she slumped down on the floor and curled up into a ball, where she lay giggling uncontrollably for five minutes.

By the time she came to, John was gone with the camera. Standing above her was Jaqueline, who was smiling down at her. She reached out a hand and began to talk to her.

"Those shots were -great-, Jennifer, I can’t thank you enough. You did awesome." Jaqueline gushed at her.

Jennifer was confused as to what she had been doing laying on the floor and giggling, and furthermore why Jaqueline wouldn’t be confused by her strange behavior, but her pride pushed that out of her head quickly.

"Well, um, like...thanks, Jaqueline. Like...was I really good at that?" Jennifer asked, unsure of herself. This had been her first modeling contract, and she wasn’t sure what was expected.

"Absolutely. You’re a cutie, Jennifer, and I think you’ll be a great addition to our permanent Juniors modeling team." Jaqueline said, shaking Jennifer’s hand.

Wow! She was going to get to be on the permanent Juniors model team? Jennifer couldn’t hold her excitement back, in fact, she squealed by way of response.

Jaqueline giggled at Jennifer and tousled her hair, "You did real good for seventeen, Jennifer, so we’ll see you next week right?"

"Next Tuesday at like the same time, right? I gotta ask sis if she’ll drive me but I’ll be here." Jennifer said by way of answer, then considered that bit, "Where’s sis, anyhow? I need a ride home?"

"Oh, she’s waiting for you outside. And yeah, same time and everything. Don’t worry, we’ll arrange for you to get here somehow." Jaqueline said, unable to hold back an ear-to-ear grin at the shrunken twenty-something’s sudden return to high school.

"Yeah, I just wish the ’rents would let me get my license, you know?" Jennifer ruminated aloud. Then, "But I should go so sis doesn’t have to wait anymore."

"Okay, Jennifer, we’ll see you next week. Oh, by the way, you can keep your clothes as part of your contract. That’ll look great when you get to your prom in a couple months." Jaqueline said, waving as she left the room.

Jennifer was ecstatic and she rushed out to find her sister, almost falling over more than once. Running in heels was a trick she had yet to master. She walked around a corner outside the door and there was Amy, pushing Philip in a stroller.

"Sis!" Jennifer squealed excitedly, "Like, thanks for picking me up."

"No problem, hon, after all, Mom and Dad are out of town so you’re staying with me, Joe and Phil for a few weeks, remember?" Amy said, her own ear-to-ear grin quite obvious.

Jennifer was too excited to notice, though, and she finally remembered. That’s right, Mom and Dad went to Europe. She loved spending time with her big sister and her family. She downright adored her and her husband, and kids in general.

"So, you’re going to tell me all about how it went on the ride home, right?" Amy asked, pushing the stroller towards the door while keeping a close eye on her "little sister".

"Oh, like, for sure! It was like, so cool!" Jennifer started to gush as the three all began to walk through the snot-nosed crowd and out into the early afternoon sun.

 

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