Chapter Two: Telling The Parents

Emily tells her mother about the scouting, and later also her father.

This time it was my turn to widen my eyes. ‘’What… me… a model?’’ I sputtered. He smiled. ‘’I understand it must be a quite large shock to you. But I want you to consider it. It is a chance in a lifetime, and I can assure you, we would be very disappointed not to have you.’’

 

I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. I felt like a blundering idiot, standing there with my mouth wide open. Again, he smiled easily, not seeming fazed by the situation.

 

‘’Well, Emily. I’ll leave you to think about it. Here is my business card, you can phone if you have made a decision. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!’’

 

He handed me a card, which I took, and before I could thank him or anything, he had left the shop, leaving me and Dakota and Savannah standing there, staring at each other.

 

‘’Did. That. Just. Happen?’’ Dakota breathed, still wide- eyed.

 

‘’I think it did,’’ Savannah almost whispered, awe- struck. I snapped my fingers in front of their faces.

 

‘’Okay, you guys. Can you please tell me what just happened?’’

 

‘’You, Emily Grace Ricketts, just got scouted by a scout from one of the largest and most famous model company’s in entire America. Can you believe it?’’

 

‘’No,’’ I stated, still shocked and bewildered.

 

‘’Well, I can,’’ Savannah smiled. ‘’See, I told you, you have a great body and a beautiful face to go with it.’’

 

‘’Savannah, that sounded weird,’’ Dakota reproached her sister.

 

‘’Only if you make it sound weird. I mean it, I always thought she’d turn up in front of the camera’s,’’ Savannah said earnestly, hugging me. I smiled. Savannah always was like the elder sister I never had.

 

‘’Thanks Vannie,’’ I smiled, using the nickname Dakota and I had given her when we were very small.

 

‘’No problem. Now, let’s find you and Dakota an outfit and then we’ll go find your mother. You have to tell them, alright?’’ she smiled. I nodded.

 

‘’Of course. Aunt Jane will freak out, I know,’’ I laughed.

 

We finally found an outfit and then we went to find my mother. We found her and aunt Jane in some posh old-lady store. It actually had really nice clothes for older women. My mother got a lot of her outfits there.

 

‘’Mrs. Ricketts!’’ Dakota shouted to get my mother’s attention, before I could shush her.

 

‘’Dakota!’’ I hissed. ‘’You could be a little more quiet.’’

 

I heard Savannah chuckle next to me. My mother had heard Dakota and turned around. She smiled.

 

‘’Hello, girls! Did you find anything?’’

 

‘’Yes, we did actually. And Em here got ‘found’ herself,’’ Dakota grinned, with a sly wink my way. I laughed and turned to mom.

 

‘’Okay, mom? Don’t freak out, okay? At least, not here. But… I just got scouted.’’

 

I took a deep breath, waiting for the explosion.

 

‘’Scouted?’’ my mother asked, bewildered.

 

‘’Scouted as in a guy from Ford Models came up to her and asked her to model in their new collection International.’’ Savannah explained. My mother’s look changed from bewildered, to shocked, to proud. All in a few seconds. Wow.

 

‘’Oh, my baby girl!’’ she gushed, gathering me in for a big hug. I hugged her back awkwardly, embarrassed in front of all those people in the shop.

 

‘’Mother,’’ I squirmed uncomfortably. ‘’Could you… um… not do this in here?’’

 

‘’Alright, my dear daughter. You’re ashamed of your old ugly mother now you’re becoming a model, is that it?’’ she asked teasingly, although I saw a flash of hurt in her eyes.

 

‘’No!’’ I exclaimed. ‘’It’s just… no teenage girl would like to be seen hugging with her mother in a posh shop!’’

 

‘’Okay, okay,’’ she smiled. ‘’Oh, I have to tell Jane this. She’ll be… overjoyed!’’

 

My mother rushed off and Dakota sent me a wry glance. ‘’Well, good luck!’’ she smirked.

 

I shook my head. ‘’I’ll be needing it. I’m looking forward to telling dad,’’ I made a face as I said that. Dad was veryoverprotective of me. To say the least.

 

‘’Ooh, yes. Good luck with that too!’’ Dakota grinned. ‘’We’ve got to go now, much as we want to stay. Mom will have a heart attack if we’re not home by five!’’

 

I laughed and we all hugged. ‘’Thanks, you guys!’’

 

‘’No problem!’’ they chorused, before leaving me to break the news to all my family members.

 

On the way home aunt Jane could hardly stop talking about the fact that I, her niece, was going to model for one of the largest model companies. That was a fact that was thrown to my head every few seconds. The conversation would go like this.

 

‘’ I can’t believe MY NIECE is going to model! I’m so proud of you, Emily,’’ my aunt would say.

 

‘’Yes, it’s a HUGE honour, darling. Remember, Ford Models is one of the biggest modelling companies out there,’’ my mother would remind me. Again.

 

‘’I know, mom,’’ I’d say.

 

‘’It is so incredibly… exciting!’’ my aunt would exclaim.

 

‘’Isn’t it?’’ my mom would reply.

 

‘’And that you get to model! For the biggest modelling companies out there! It’s one of the biggest, Emily, one of the biggest!’’ my aunt would say.

 

And so on… ugh. Mom parked the car and we got out. I went to my room as soon as possible. I had begged mother to tell dad, but she had said it was my news to tell. She said he loved me and would do anything for me, he wouldn’t react too dreadfully. My mother? I didn’t even need to ask her. She’s always wanted to be a model and she actually could have been one when she was younger, as she was very pretty. But her parents wouldn’t let her and she was too scared, anyway, to go and try out for modelling.

 

I heard the front door slam shut downstairs, signalling that my father was home. I took a deep breath, checked myself in the mirror and ran downstairs.

 

‘’Daddy,’’ I smiled. What can I say, I’m a real daddy’s girl. He hugged me and kissed my forehead. ‘’Hello, dear. Had a nice day?’’

 

He motioned with his head to the kitchen where mom and aunt Jane where chatting away. ‘’You know, with… them?’’

 

‘’I had a good day, dad,’’ I giggled. ‘’Well, I didn’t go with them all the time, you know?’’

 

‘’Huh?’’

 

‘’Dakota and Savannah were there, I suddenly saw them and I went with them,’’ I explained.

 

My father nodded. ‘’That’s nice.’’

 

‘’Oh, and daddy?’’ I asked, wringing my hands nervously. He looked up and scanned my face. ‘’Uh-oh. You want something,’’ he grinned. ‘’What is it?’’

 

‘’I… um… when I was out with Dakota, we went to this shop and I saw this really nice dress…’’

 

‘’And it was too expensive and you want me to buy it for you?’’ dad teased. I rolled my eyes, but his comment made me even more nervous.

 

‘’No… dad, it’s not that. I… was walking around, showing off in front of Dakota and Savannah, we were just acting silly…’’

 

‘’Emily, if this is about a boy, you know how…’’

 

‘’Dad! It’s not about a boy! Please, just let me speak!’’ I yelled, frustrated and getting more nervous every second.

 

‘’Okay, okay,’’ my dad held up his hands defensively. I couldn’t help but smile.

 

‘’WellandtherewasthismanwhotoldmeIwasprettyandthatIshouldcomeandworkforhimheisascoutforFordModels,’’ I rushed out, glancing at me father’s expression anxiously. He stared at me, bewildered.

 

‘’What?’’

 

‘’I got scouted today,’’ I said.

 

Unlike mother, he knew straightaway what I was talking about and his eyebrows furrowed, forming a frown.

 

Uh-oh.

Author's Note

Second chapter up! Hope you like it- please leave your opinion below :D

Reviews

[Mister T.]

Another great job on writing this chapter.
As I said before, the flow, the characters and the conversations are great. I've got nothing left to say about those, actually, as I've already explained why I thought they are great.

That huge word-sentence required me to concentrate a bit more xD
And oh boy, the cliffhanger is real..

While reading I once again noticed some minor errors, which I'll sum up for ya:
- 'It is a chance in a lifetime': this feels a bit off to me. I don't really know by what to replace it actually, maybe you could write 'It is your chance of a lifetime' or 'It is the chance of a lifetime'.
- 'me and Dakota and Savannah': maybe use a comma here?
- 'one of the largest model companies': one the largets model companies in what? In space, in Africa?
- 'He handed me a card, which I took, and before I could thank him or anything, he had left the shop': this part feels a bit off to me. Maybe 'I took the card which he handed me, ...' would be better.
- 'veryoverprotective': missed a space over there
- 'where mom and aunt Jane where chatting away': I think you meant 'were'.

Still, I feel like you're having trouble using commas and dividing different sections of a sentence. Unnecessary commas cause pauses in your head, which can be annoying sometimes. Try reading it to yourself and find out where the unnecessary pauses occur.

Again, it might just be me, I'm 'pietje precies' xD

[Lavorther]

I like how real the characters feel. It's almost as if I'm part of the conversations.

The story is progressing nicely, and the chapters have a nice length. Long enough to tell a good amount of story, but not so long that you run the risk of boring your reader (not that that often happens to me, but there are more impatient readers out there).

Btw, that one-sentence confession to her father was really funny. I also like the cliffhanger at the end, which was basically what I was thinking when I finished the chapter XD

Some suggestions:

"You, Emily Grace Ricketts, just got scouted by a scout from one of the largest and most famous model company’s in entire America"
"company's" should be one word, like this: "companies".
Also, the last does sound a bit weird to me: "... and most famous model companies in entire America".

"Now, let’s find you and Dakota an outfit and then we’ll go find your mother."
Didn't Emily pick the white dress with the pink heels in the last chapter? If so, then only Dakota (and possibly Savannah) need an outfit.

"Dad was veryoverprotective of me."
You missed a space here, between "very" and "overprotective".

[Cass Morgan]

Thank you again- so much. This is really good advice here, stuff I hadn't even noticed myself. Emily did pick a white dress and heels in the other, but I didn't mean for that to be the school outfit. However, I do agree it is a little vague and I should probably add some indication that Emily still has to find an outfit for school. The chapters are around 1500 words long, I think. Glad you think it's long enough :)