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I smile. “Sure.” I can’t think of a reason to refuse and to be honest, she’s being so nice it makes me feel like a bit of a dick for all the times I lay here in the dark hating her.
We end up going down to the cheap-ass hostel cafe for a big plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. I drink more coffee than I should and listen to Rachel tell me all about her family. She has five sisters and brothers, the result of a blended family. Sounds like they all get on, too, which I can’t even imagine. Back home it’s just me and my parents and even before I left, we hardly spoke.
Rachel flips her wavy brown hair back from her face and gives me a smile that wrinkles her freckled nose. “What about you? Why’d you come to Heartstone?”
I sigh. “I just wanted to get away, I suppose. I always dreamed of acting.” I hold up my hands. “And I know, it’s probably just wishful thinking. That’s what my parents always said. They wanted me to go to uni or get an apprenticeship. I went to NIDA instead. That’s an acting school in Sydney. That was the beginning of the end.”
“And you don’t talk to them anymore?”
I shake my head. “Not anymore. Not since I left. We never really saw eye to eye.”
“No? They didn’t want you acting?”
My lips twist into a wry expression. “They had more of a problem with my other work.”
Rachel frowns. “Why? What do you do?”
I don’t say anything for a long moment, weighing up whether to say. Some people don’t react well. Then again, I might never see her again and she seems like the open-minded sort. “I’m a dancer.”
Her eyes widen a fraction. “A danc—oh! A dancer. I take it they’re not OK with that.”
I shake my head. “When I was still at home, they organized this big intervention at their church. Invited me in so all the elders could tell me how I needed to rejoin the congregation and stop embarrassing my parents. I haven’t been since I was twelve! And I’m going to go back to stop my parents from losing face?” I snort. “Not likely. I didn’t even stay long enough for them to tell me I was going to hell for showing strange men my tits.”
Rachel snorts. “They can keep their judgment to themselves.”
“It’s not like I want to do it forever. It just pays the bills better than anything else, you know?”
She nods.
“So here I am, hoping to make it for real on the stage.”
“I hope you make it, then. Have you got anything lined up?”
“No.” I look down at the dregs of my coffee in my cup. “I haven’t had a call back from any of the auditions I’ve attended.”
Unexpectedly, Rachel reaches across the table to squeeze my hand. “Hey. Don’t give up, OK? You’ll find something. You just gotta believe in yourself.”
I nod, not trusting myself to talk around the lump in my throat. I should never have assumed she was a horrible person just because she’s annoying to live with. Of all people, I should know better than to judge a book by its cover.
“Good on you for leaving behind the negative influences in your life and taking a chance,” Rachel says. “I’m sure if you just stay positive, you’ll figure something out. Anything is better than being in a situation that’s making you unhappy, right?”
“Yeah.” She’s right. I’m still better off here. It’s a good reminder.
Rachel leaves to do some sightseeing, but I sit in the cafe, nurse my cold coffee, and think. I need to make this work. I’m not going to let my crazy imagination stop me from making the most of the opportunity I’ve been given for work.
In fact, I wonder if there’s anything else I can make out of this. This Sethos guy has to be pretty rich to be booking workers for a ‘friend’ through Monstrous Deals. As far as I know their prices are way higher than normal escort services.
When I google him, I can’t believe my eyes. Turns out he owns the Grand Theater, the sports stadium, and two huge shopping malls. That’s only in Heartstone. Wikipedia reveals he owns entertainment and retail venues all over the country. I mean he’s got his own wiki page for Christ’s sake! OK, I am absolutely going to leverage this to get me somewhere. I just have to figure out how. But it starts with not disappointing him.
I spend the rest of the day psyching myself into performing, telling myself I’m not scared. Not at all.
I do add the Monstrous Deals emergency number to my contacts list and put some pepper spray in my pocket, but that’s just taking precautions, right? Doesn’t mean I’m scared.
I also make a new playlist and consider buying a new pair of gorgeous pink heels. Then I tell myself to save that cash until I’ve made my big break. I just need to be super sexy, figure out where Sethos hides himself to watch me, and work out exactly what it is he’s looking for.
***
I’m so totally notscared that the minute I’m up the stairs and into the tower, I walk right up to that gargoyle and pat him on the shoulder. “Bet you thought you’d scared me off, huh?”
