"Wow, Maeve, you really know what you want! Now let me ask, is there anyone here today that you're especially excited about meeting?"

Katani shifted awkwardly, unsure of where she should be looking. Karen didn't seem to care one bit about talking to her. Katani felt frozen, trying to think of some way to enter the conversation. This was her pa.s.sion, after all. Karen was completely ignoring the person who came here because of her love of fashion as she chatted away with Maeve...as though they were lifelong friends!

Katani decided to impress Karen by telling her the offbeat designers that she was excited about, but before she could get a word in edgewise, Maeve was at it again. "Hmm, who am I excited about? Well, of course, Simon Blackstone is here, star of The Swashbuckler! I've been a fan for a while of course, but today I got to spend some time with him one-on-one and he is really an awesome guy. Very down-to-earth."

"Wow, one-on-one with Simon Blackstone. That is exciting," Karen said as though she really meant it. "He's one of my favorites, too. I guess this means it'll be just as much fun watching the audience as it will be watching the runway!"

"Totally!" Maeve agreed. "I know I'll be keeping my eyes peeled in both directions!" She and Karen laughed.

Katani couldn't believe how comfortable Maeve was in front of the camera. She sounded as though she was having a regular conversation with the BSG back home, instead of talking to a real reporter. That's her star quality, Katani thought. I feel so out of place just standing here...

When Karen asked Maeve what she was doing to prepare for a stage career, Maeve explained how her father ran the Movie House and how she got to watch movies there all the time. "You can learn so much from the really great, cla.s.sic actors and actresses. I feel like just sitting with my popcorn in the theater is like getting an education in film!"

"Wow, that's a great way to look at it!" Karen complimented her. "You sound pretty serious about making a big splash someday. Perhaps here in the Big Apple?"

"Well, Karen, maybe you and I will be talking again in a few years," Maeve said with a wink and a warm smile. Katani was astounded and coughed out of shock. How was her friend such a natural?

Karen seemed to remember suddenly that she had another person on camera. She turned to Katani. "Well, Katani, what about you? Do you see floor lights and stage curtains in your future?"

Katani felt her stomach flop as she opened her mouth to speak. "No, no," Katani said, laughing nervously. "I am very interested in fashion. Actually, I want to start my own fashion business someday."

Karen nodded. "Oh?"

Feeling a little looser, Katani continued, "Yes. I'm really excited to be helping backstage at the show this weekend. I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot here about how the fashion world really works-"

"That's great. Well, it looks like you girls are right where you need to be!" Karen interrupted.

"Oh yeah!" Maeve gushed.

"Actually I-" Katani was about to explain that she wanted to see the thought processes behind making the clothes, but Karen immediately jumped in.

"Well, that's all the time we have!" she chirped. "We have been hanging out with Maeve Kaplan-Taylor, a girl I'm sure we'll be seeing more of, and Katani Summerville, from Boston. Thank you, girls, and have a great time at the show."

Karen waited a few seconds as the girls held their smiles for the camera, then announced, "And-cut! Thanks a million, girls. That's going to be great." In a minute, she had taken the camcorder apart, stored the tripod in its case, and cleaned up the rest of the equipment. She gave the girls a friendly wave as she bustled down the hallway.

Maeve beamed at Katani. "That went well, don't you think?" she asked.

Katani shrugged and looked dazed. "Didn't you hear what happened? She got my name wrong."

"Oh I missed that..."

"And she barely even talked to me. The whole interview was about you becoming an actress," Katani choked. She didn't mean to let it all slip out like that. She knew she sounded envious but she couldn't help herself. It was her big break and she blew it. No one would ever want to hire her when she grew up if she couldn't even utter a coherent sentence on camera. This was all so upsetting. Katani stifled her tears.

Maeve's smile faded. "I'm sorry, Katani. I...I don't know what happened. She just started asking me questions...and I knew the answers. It was so different from school..."

"I know," Katani admitted, exhaling a deep breath. "It's not you, Maeve. You were awesome. You know just how to talk in front of a camera. I guess that's why you want to be an actress. It's just that since we're at a fashion show, I thought I'd get more of a chance to talk about what was going on here."

"Maybe we can get her to shoot another take?" Maeve suggested optimistically.

"Nah, I guess the thing about news is...they just cover whatever is the most interesting. Besides, that Karen woman is long gone by now."

As Maeve turned to see if there was any trace of the chatty reporter, Mich.e.l.le suddenly sprinted around the corner. She rushed up to the girls and grabbed Katani's arm. "Thank goodness I found you. We have an emergency!" she said quickly.

"What? What's wrong?" Katani asked, hardly able to stay on her feet as Mich.e.l.le pulled her through the crowd. Maeve hurried after them. She wasn't about to lose her friends a second time that day.

"Shh-just follow me and act like you know what you're doing." Finally Mich.e.l.le stopped in front of a short, muscular man with a slick silver ponytail. "Blaze, this is Katani Summers-the girl I was telling you about."

Blaze, with his ponytail gleaming in the makeup mirror and the deliberate wrinkles in his silk shirt, looked every bit the designer. He spun around to inspect Katani. "Stand up straight," he commanded.

Katani stood tall, her expression serious. Blaze lifted his arms and, framing her face with his hands, suspiciously studied Katani. Then he gave a quick, deciding clap and declared, "Yes! You were right, Mich.e.l.le. She's perfect."

"Perfect for what?" Katani asked hesitantly.

"Blaze needs you to model," Blaze began, starting to a.s.semble skirts and pants suits in a circle at Katani's feet. "One of my models just got sick-perfect timing, right? I need her on the runway and she's in the bathroom moaning, 'Food poisoning! Food poisoning!' Blaze tells these girls a billion times, no seafood on runway days. Then I see this girl eating shrimp c.o.c.ktail and an hour later, Blaze is calling 911, ambulance, and she has the food poisoning. Well the show must go on, and Blaze needs a replacement."

"But I'm not a model!" Katani gasped.

Blaze continued to pull together clothes and accessories, unaffected by Katani's hesitation. "You are now, kiddo. We've got to hustle. People want to see Blaze's designs. We need a model, and you are it!"

"You should do it, K," Mich.e.l.le whispered. "It'll be a great experience. Think how much you'll learn about fashion from actually being in the show."

"I'm really not sure," Katani started to say.

Maeve popped up behind her. "If you don't want to do it, I wouldn't mind. I'm really comfortable on stage," she said with a wide smile.

Blaze gave her one glance and rolled his eyes. "Blaze does not have time for this...this...ridiculousness. Please, people, I need models here! Is that too much to ask?" Blaze started hyperventilating and fanning himself with his rumpled shirt.

Maeve seemed to shrink as she looked away. Two patches of red appeared on her cheeks, as though someone had slapped her.

"Hey!" Katani said. "She's my friend!"

Mich.e.l.le's mouth hung open as she tried to find the right words. Maeve breathed deeply as she pushed back the hurt. "It's okay, Katani. You should be the one to do this. You are perfect, so...I'm just going to get out of the way."

"But-," Katani began.

"Shhh!!" Maeve made a brushing motion as if to say forget about it, as she walked away to seek cover from the hurricane of commotion surrounding Katani.

As she spun around to leave, Blaze caught a glimpse of her fiery red locks. "See now this is what Blaze is talking about! The hair, it is gorgeous. You should do shampoo commercials, yes?"

"Are you talking to me?" Maeve asked, running a finger through her hair.

"Yes, you. Too short for the runway, but just right for the shampoo commercials, I think. Very pretty face." Then-just like that-Blaze forgot about Maeve and turned his attention back to Katani.

Bye, Maeve mouthed as she tiptoed away.

Katani wished she didn't feel so alone and overwhelmed as the crowd of strangers swooped in around her.

"Shoe size?"

"Huh?" Katani looked down to see a tiny, elfin-like woman crawling around her feet.

"Hmm-eight or nine?" asked the woman.

"Eight and a half," Katani answered. They pulled her over to a vacant corner to show her the outfits she would be wearing.

"The gold sweater and skirt first. Get her ready and get her out there!" Blaze started clapping as he shouted, "Move it, move it, move it!"

Maeve found an empty chair in a corner by an unlit mirror. She tried to offer supportive smiles to her friend, but inside she was aching. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so embarra.s.sed. Even Blaze's compliment about her beautiful red hair didn't take away the sting that they didn't want her to model.

She could feel tears rising in her eyes, but she blinked them away. It was silly to be upset about this. Designers had their needs, she supposed. But it did feel terrible that he had rejected her on the spot. Maeve, chill out, she told herself. It's no big deal. She looked at her own reflection in the dim mirror. How could she have so quickly forgotten Andre's lovely makeup job? Maeve sniffled away her sadness and gave her best television-worthy smile, remembering how well the interview had gone that morning. Her ego was almost fully recovered when two models approached and sat down on the other side of the mirror. They must have thought they were alone in the dark corner and began to freely gossip as they strapped on high sandals and primped. "Oh my gosh, here's a good one! Did you hear about that little girl who asked to model for Blaze?" one voice t.i.ttered.

Maeve heard a second voice burst into laughter. "Did I hear about it? Kaloren, I was there! It was hilarious! Blaze got so upset...he's so dramatic. I love it," she snorted.

"These kids...," the other girl, apparently Kaloren, huffed. "I mean, they think that you can just walk off the street and magically become a model."

"Well," the second model said knowingly, "we did."

They giggled.

"Whatever. Modeling is one of those things. You've either got it, or you don't and that's just the way it is."

"Totally," the other model said. "How do I look?"

"Hot," answered Kaloren. "Let's go."

Both girls laughed once more, tugged at the straps of their sandals, and trotted off toward the show.

Maeve drew back behind the mirror. Now she was the one who felt sick. They were making fun of her because Blaze hadn't chosen her to model?

"Do I really look all that different from them?" Maeve asked herself as she looked into the three-sided mirror. Back at school, she was a glamour girl. And of course her hair was exceptional! After all, it was her signature trademark. But Maeve wanted to be able to do whatever she set her mind to. She didn't want to be a shampoo girl, and she certainly didn't want to be mocked by a couple of mean girls-even if they were world-cla.s.s models.

"There you are. I thought you might have overheard our little friends," said a voice. It was coming from behind another mirror. A woman poked her head out from the side. She was wearing tight leather pants with a matching halter-top. Her blonde hair, which she was in the middle of fixing, was full of little sparkles. She took one look at Maeve's unhappy face. "Ah, you did."

Maeve swallowed. "I just don't have the model look, I guess. Those girls were right...you either have it or you don't."

"Model look, yes. Model height...no, but darling, take a look at them! Most girls in this world will never be so tall. And that's okay. Listen-what's your name?" the model asked.

"Maeve," she whispered.

"Nice to meet you, Maeve. I'm Mimi. Let me tell you the trick about modeling. It is less about the model and more about the clothes. It doesn't matter so much if these girls are anything special, as long as they have the right bodies to wear the clothes. But you know something? You have gorgeous red hair and lovely eyes, and you are going to be a knockout." She saw the doubt on Maeve's face. "Trust me. You really are."

"They made fun of me," Maeve said, hardly able to get the words out. "They thought it was...stupid that I thought I could model."

"Maeve, who cares! From what I hear, you're going to be a famous actress someday."

Maeve looked up, surprised.

"I saw the interview," Mimi explained with a knowing smile. "You have more to offer...that's obvious."

Maeve tried to look grateful. "Thanks," she mumbled. "Really...I'm fine." But saying that only made her feel worse. As far as acting was concerned, her performance of "fine" was not very convincing.

"I have an idea," Mimi said. She sat on the floor with her legs crossed and patted the ground next to her for Maeve to do the same. Mimi looked like a statue of a Greek G.o.ddess, completely still amongst the mayhem.

"Come on, Maeve," Mimi urged. "I only have a few minutes before I'm on stage."

Maeve hesitantly obeyed. She would have felt silly sitting there alone, but if she was with a supermodel it couldn't be that bad.

Mimi closed her eyes and placed her hands on her knees with her palms facing upward. "All right, Maeve, take a deep breath through your nose and feel your tummy expand, and hold it in for about five seconds," she instructed. "Ignore everything going on around you."

Maeve inhaled. It only took a moment for her to forget that she was in the middle of a very busy fashion show.

"Now breathe out through your nose and release all hurtful comments and negative thoughts."

Maeve nodded and grinned. In her imagination, Kaloren and Jamie and all their hurtful comments came out too in the form of toxic green smog.

"Now do it one more time," said Mimi. "Breathe in good energy and breathe out the bad."

Maeve repeated the exercise, smiling to herself.

"There." Mimi opened her eyes. "Feel better?"

"Yeah! I really do," Maeve gushed. "What was that?"

Mimi brushed herself and readjusted her outfit. "Just a little cleansing yoga breathing. It helps me every time I get stressed out. Remember, the trick is not to worry about what other people think about you." Mimi threw back her shoulders and shook out her hair, showering Maeve with glitter. "We're special people, Maeve. And pettiness is not worth our time."

"Mimi, out front, now!" called a woman at the edge of the room by the curtains.

"Oops! Gotta go," Mimi said. She gave Maeve a wink and click-clacked toward the exit.

Maeve threw back her shoulders like Mimi and stood as tall as she could. She took one more cleansing yoga breath and indeed felt very refreshed. I must remember to invite Mimi to "An Evening with Maeve," she thought. Kaloren and Jamie, on the other hand, were definitely NOT on the list.

CHAPTER.

16.

The Runway, the Pin, and the Wardrobe