he had picked up on something that I had not. I looked at Kerynne, and she looked furious, which made me wonder even more if there was truly substance to Cai’s claim.
“You’re just mad because she wouldn’t sleep with you,” Kerynne hissed back. “Which is a true insult to be turned down by something like that. I guess all of your prowess and beautiful physique weren’t quite what you thought they were”
Cai sucked his cheeks in which made him look emaciated. “She would have slept with me the other night if Arlo hadn’t come and pulled her out of the club. You, on the other hand, got straight-up refused. That little fainting stunt you pulled was a complete waste of your energy and Arlo’s time. He wouldn’t sleep with you, even if he weren’t fawning all over his designer.”
What?
“Uh, guys, I’m right here,” I said, feeling uncomfortable with them talking about me right in front of my face.
“Yes,” Kerynne said with her nose in the air. “Unfortunately, you are.”
Well, if I hadn’t been nervous and worried before, I was now. What if Kerynne were right? What if my being part of the show and playing at being a runway model for a minute ended up ruining everything? It was too late for me to back out of it, even if I had wanted to. So the only thing I could do was try to ignore the vile hatred that Kerynne was spewing and try to do my best. When I looked up, I saw Arlo walking backstage to talk with us.
“Hey,” he said as he walked over to me first. “What’s wrong?”
I guess I must have looked more anxious than I thought. It was hard to hide the stress of so many things battering me at once—the worries over how my designs would be received, of how to walk down the runway without making a fool of myself like Kerynne suggested that I would, and about whether or not the choice to include me in the show would be one that Arlo would regret.
“Nothing,” I said with a forced smile. “Everything is fine.”
“You sure?” he asked again.
I wish he would just stop asking. “Yeah,” I said as I nodded my head.
Arlo gave me a look, which made me think he didn’t believe me, but since there wasn’t anything that he could do to press a different answer out of me, he moved on to talk to the rest of them. He gave them each a pep talk and checked each of them over.
“All right,” he said with an excited grin. “Let’s start the show.”
Arlo walked out onto the runway, using the entrance from the backstage. I heard him speak to the audience about the concept and inspiration for the show. Kerynne and Cai got ready in their positions to be the first two models to walk out. I double-checked their clothing, and once I saw that everything looked perfect on them, I took my own place in the line of models as I listened to Arlo’s voice. When he started talking about the designer who had created the line, I honed-in on every word. He was really talking me up, and if the important people in the audience loved my designs when they saw them, then between that and Arlo’s raving recommendation, I would be one of the most spoken about new designers of the year. What I wasn’t expecting was for him to call me up onto the stage with him right now. I had seen designers get called to the stage plenty of times, but it was usually at the end of the show. This was a bit out of the norm.
“Well, go up there,” Cai said as he gave me a gentle shove on my back. “What are you waiting for? He called you.”
I slowly moved toward the runway entrance as if I were moving in slow motion while all the models stared at me. Kerynne, of course, just glared at me. It was a surreal experience to walk out into the blinding light. At least it made it more difficult to see all the faces staring back at me. I walked up to stand next to Arlo as he reached his outstretched hand toward mine and then clasped his fingers around my palm.
“This,” he said, “is the most extraordinary Hensley Ward, the designer of each and every stunning creation you will see tonight. She is also the lead designer in charge of my new retail line,