Smile for the camera. Relax. Give off the clear, gentle aura of a midsummer night’s dream.
When the photographer and Skylar later went over the pictures they’d taken, they quickly discovered that she looked like she was forcing a smile in nearly every one of them.
It was as if someone had been holding a gun to her head and made her do this photoshoot.
“I’ll take a moment to organize my feelings, and we can do a retake soon after,” Skylar offered apologetically.
Noticing the necklace around Skylar’s neck, the photographer shook his head. “I think you should take that off and ask one of the stylists to give you a new one.”
She reached out a hand to gingerly touch the black swan pendant. Though she had grown attached to her birthday present, she eventually relented and switched it out.
It was late afternoon when the photoshoot finally wrapped up. Skylar approached Molly right before she left, saying, “See you soon. Let’s go out for a meal together next time.”
“When? I don’t want this to be an empty promise.”
She hadn’t expected Molly to be so blunt. Of course, her invitation had indeed been nothing more than an empty promise, but she couldn’t go back on her word now. “Tomorrow night. I’ll text you the rest of the details.”
This dinner meet-up would be a good excuse for her to invite Penelope out. They hadn’t seen each other since Penelope gave birth, and it couldn’t be good for her mental health to stay indoors for so long.
Perhaps it might ease the woman’s grudge against her if she came out for a breath of fresh air.
Skylar was still truly at a loss as to what she had done wrong for Penelope to get pissed at the mere sight of her.
Meanwhile, Molly was glowing with pride after getting asked out to dinner by Skylar in front of so many people.
In her opinion, Skylar had been smart to choose her, out of everyone, to be besties with.
Molly was already prepared to take a picture with Skylar after they had dinner. She could post it on Instagram and gain more followers.
Her fellow trainee, Lisa, enviously mumbled, “Skylar’s literally untouchable within our company. I just don’t know where she got such good connections and resources.”
Molly sighed. Rumors were going around the company about Skylar’s close relationship with the CEO of Ford Group and the head of Royal Entertainment, Tobias Ford.
She had spotted Skylar walking together with a man the other day, and had also bumped into him herself. Could that have been Tobias Ford?
She didn’t know what he looked like; after all, she’d never had the right to personally meet the CEO.
Quickly regaining her composure, Molly replied, “Who cares? As long as you work hard, your efforts will be repaid.”
That’s an immature ideal, lamented Lisa. It was true that hard work was part of success, but you couldn’t succeed in the entertainment industry purely through hard work and without any connections.
People with and without connections started the race on a completely different starting line. Skylar had only enjoyed the best opportunities ever since her debut; a far cry from the trainees who practiced from day to night daily for a single chance at possibly debuting.
Skylar started going through her bag as soon as she got in the car, flipping out every pocket and double-checking everything before smacking her own forehead.
“What’s wrong?” asked Hannah. “Did you forget something at the studio?”
“My necklace…” Skylar reached up to touch her bare neck. “I forgot where I left it. We have to go back to find it.”
Hannah gave her a confused look. If she remembered correctly, Skylar’s necklace had been a basic, cheap Swarovski design.
Skylar rarely wears jewelry. What’s so special about this particular piece?
“Was it a gift from your first boyfriend or something?”
Skylar furrowed her eyebrows. There was no way Jeremy would be so generous as to gift her a necklace.
“No, it was a birthday present from Tobias.”
