A Princess in Paris

Chapter Seven

Claude's POV

I woke up at eight thirty the next day. Pierre wasn’t up, yet, so I decided not to make any noise. I just sat there in bed thinking about things that happened lately. I remembered how Maria fell into the pool yesterday and nearly died because nobody was paying attention. I also remembered how much I shouted at Daniella and how much she cried. I figured that she thought that Maria could swim and that her ugly prank wouldn’t really hurt Maria. And then I recalled how I gave Maria mouth-to-mouth and how startled she was when she finally regained consciousness. I closed my eyes in attempt to comprehend it all. Why was I so worried and anxious when Maria was lying on the ground? And why was I so mad at the lifeguard when he wanted to give Maria CPR? Usually, I was the smart guy that could figure things out very easily, but all the things that were related to Maria in any way just make me very confused. So, I decided to not think about it for a little bit. It was the day before the last on this class outing and I wanted to make the best out of it.

            After we finished eating dinner, we took the bus to the mall where we were going to watch the fashion show. I really would rather do something else in the time, but Maria and Christine really wanted to watch it, so Pierre and I couldn’t say no. They promised that if we watched the fashion show, we could do anything Pierre and me wanted in the two hours of free time.

The bus stopped in front of the gigantic mall. I looked around. Maria and Christine jumped out of the bus. They had been bouncing constantly ever since we left the motel.

“What’s the theme of this year’s fashion show?” I asked as we walked to the rows of chairs in front of the catwalk.

“Happily ever after. It’s for senior proms and parties,” Maria answered.

“Interesting,” I commented. Maria nodded.

As soon as we sat down, a man came running towards us. He looked hilarious, but I decided that it would be much politer to not laugh. He came to Maria and held her hand. Maria looked at him with confusion and made him let go of her hand. The man apologized and started to walk back, but then he smacked his forehead as he said that he forgot to do what he came here for.

“You four! I need you right now! Come with me!” He instructed.

“Yes, follow Monsieur Ricardo,” Madame Boyard said as she suddenly appeared from behind him.

“Where are we going?” Maria asked.

“What are you going to do with us?” Christine inquired, too.

“You’re not going to test any new drink on us, are you?” Pierre asked.

“All your questions will be answered inside,” Monsieur Ricardo replied. It wasn’t much of an answer, but I decided to wait to find out.

“Inside” was a rather large room behind the set-up of the catwalk. There were eight other people sitting down. Two of them were girls getting their hair done. The other two were still working on their makeup. They looked at me in a really weird way and started giggling. I wondered if there was something on my face. There were also four guys sitting on some chairs. I gathered that Monsieur Ricardo wanted us to be the extra models he was mumbling about earlier.

“What are we doing here?” Maria whispered to me.

“I think he wants us to be replacement models,” I whispered back.

“…And so, I want you four to be the replacement models,” Monsieur Ricardo explained the whole story. By then, we were all sitting down because it took way longer than any of us had expected. He left the room to give us some time to think.