In the Crowd (Tye)

Chapter 18

After slowly trying on an outfit I walked out like I always did, and Kayla and Richard squealed like they always did.

“Oh my god! It totally suits you better than I thought!” Kayla gushed. She glanced at Richard and he nodded. “We don’t need adjustments for this one,” she decided.

“Gee thanks… Kathy,” I said.

“Kayla,” she corrected me, still beaming.

“Kathy… Kayla… same thing,” I muttered. She swatted my arm cheerfully. I stepped away from her. Kayla didn’t seem to notice and simply picked out another outfit for me to try on. She held up a shirt against my chest. It was a dark navy color with silver studs on it.

I didn’t really like the people who worked at AT, there were always so fussy about making the best stars, but Kayla and Richard were okay. Obviously because they designed and made my clothes, they listened to what I said and were mindful not to make anything I hated. But because I’m so stubborn, I never act like I’m actually happy or cool with trying on all this… stuff.

“Yes, go try that one,” Richard nodded his approval to the shirt Kayla held up. They then turned their attention to Ace who was easily slipping through the clothes, getting the designer’s approvals, and then changing again.

Richard tapped his chin thoughtfully. “It looks fine, Ace,” he said.

“Okey doke, which one now?” Ace replied.

“Hold on, hold on!” Kayla cut in. Richard sent her a glance, as though just through  looks, he was sending her a message of some sort. Man, some people are weird. Or would you call that psychic?

Ace gave her a confused look. “What?” he asked. Kayla walked over, examining Ace strangely.

“I’m rethinking whether you should get plastic surgery or not,” she explained. “I mean at first you seemed alright, perfect enough. But now you… it just doesn’t seem right.” She finished. Richard came over and began looking Ace over as well. My friend fidgeted nervously. Ken, Griffin and I exchanged looks.

None of us had needed plastic surgery or any major fix-up. Actually Nico did, but no one gave me details about that. Out of the five of us, Ace wasn’t the first person you’d say was in need of surgery.

“You’ll definitely need a plastic surgery,” Richard said bluntly. Ace’s eyes bulged- horrified.

“Plastic surgery?!” I exclaimed, no longer keeping silent. My shocked outburst seemed to set the others off too.

“Don’t I get any say in this?” Ace asked, his voice not necessarily calm.

“Deciding whether any of us need surgery is not part of your job,” Ken stated. “Not like he needs it.”

Alongside that, there was Griffin’s blubbering about how our designers must have gone crazy and it better not be for Hourglass’ photoshoot.

Kayla rolled her eyes and Richard sighed, placing his hand against his forehead. They were both shaking their heads, disappointed in us. They were probably thinking something like: “These nubes. This stupid rookie group is trying to prove us wrong. Do they not want to improve? Idiot, idiot, idiot…”

Well, not exactly that, but along those lines.

The door to the room where Arina was interviewing Nico opened. Arina poked her head out. “Excuse me? I’m done,” she said, a trace of nervousness in her voice. Nico slipped out behind her.

“Oh, hey Arina!” Ace bounded over toward where Arina stood. “Do you think I need plastic surgery?” he pointed at his own face.

“Ah- Ace, you shouldn’t ask her…” Kayla stuttered. Ace turned around and shot the designer a glare.