Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer Page A

her.”
    â€œForget it, Summer. Dimitri told me I’m not right for high fashion anyway. I’m in the commercial division and besides, it’s not going to make any difference on my chart if I go to another casting today or not.”
    â€œWith that attitude it won’t. You gotta stay positive. You’ll get there. Just ’cause there’s a goalie don’t mean you can’t score.” Summer liked to go all motivational speaker-ish on me. Some people were born sunny-side up, like flight attendants. “Let’s go home and nap before the casting. Claudette should be back from that Jose Cuervo job today. She might even be at our place by now.”
    So I’d finally get to meet Claudette. I was curious about her, but I wanted to finish this chapter of Wuthering Heights . Cathy’s ghost was driving Heathcliff mental, and I loved this part. “I’ll meet you there in a little while.”
    â€œCool,” she said, vacant-eyed. “I’ll see ya back home. Love ya.” And she was off, rolling across the street.
    Bzzt, bzzt . My BlackBerry was vibrating.
    From: Dimitri@FinesseMiami
    To: Alleecat1
    Subject: Dietra mag/editorial go-see
    Editorial casting at the Raleigh hotel, 5:00 TODAY. 150/day, 2-day booking. Six-page spread. Photographer is Uta Scholes. Wants young, innocent, fun look, playful. Commercial types who can cross over and be edgy too. Bathing suit under casual clothes. Natural hair and makeup, go soft-looking.
    From: Alleecat1
    To: Dimitri@FinesseMiami
    Subject: Dietra casting
    Any chance I can skip this one? I’ve been on a lot of castings today and I’m really tired.
    From: Dimitri@FinesseMiami
    To: Alleecat1
    Subject: SKIP THIS ONE???
    ARE YOU CRAZY? This is a major editorial casting, every model in town wants to be seen by Uta Scholes, and you think you can just “skip it” BECAUSE YOU’RE TIRED??!! YOU DON’T KNOW THE MEANING OF TIRED! You want to model, you better learn to function at 100% with no sleep. Go have an espresso and don’t let me EVER hear you complain about being tired again. Be there at five SHARP, look beautiful, and charm Uta. You can do it. You’re fabulous. Kisses, Dimitri
    Â 
    Uta Scholes was nothing like the Elmo-hair/Pirate Man duo. Khaki shorts, loose T-shirt, Birkenstocks, she was more like a minivan mom than a fashion client. We were in the Raleigh hotel’s conference room at a shiny table scattered with clipboards, an agenda book, a laptop, and a pile of model comps. Mine was on top.
    â€œRelax, you’re adorable.” Her German accent was so strong it took me a second to figure out what she was saying. And it wasn’t easy to relax, since I’d just had a four-dollar coffee. She speed-dialed through my book, flipped it shut, and slid it back to me. I knew this casting was a lost cause. While she was looking, I had a sudden, horrible thought.
    What if my model-for-tuition plan was a lost cause? What if I wasted months here and ended up right back where I started, back home at Wal-Mart with no funds for Yale, with everybody in Comet knowing I failed?
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” she asked me.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou look upset.”
    â€œOh, no, I’m fine.” Come on, Allee. Activate fake grin. “Just thinking about something, that’s all.”
    â€œGive me scared,” she said.
    â€œGive you what?”
    â€œScared. You just did upset, now pretend you’re scared.”
    Oh, I got it. She wanted expressions. No problem. I bugged out my eyes in terror, like Godzilla was coming right at me.
    â€œNo, no, no, not like a cartoon. Think about something that really, truly scares you.” Okay, well, there was death. And roller-coasters. Thrill rides didn’t thrill me. But there was only one thing that really, truly scared me, more than big, crunchy insects, more than that horrible toenail fungus commercial where they showed the