Justine and I sip our waters at the Club 32 with Jamie and Ginny. It had been one year since I had started to wear the cryx. We drink toast after toast as we recount our successes and failures this last year. "Here is to being perfect girls," I told Justine, remembering Alex and Jacob and their failures to make a cryx. "Here is to selling candy bars at gas stations in Illinois," I cheered. And Justine piped in, "And dresses in downtown Chicago." She smiles at me, and then reaches out her hand. "Let's have some fun," she says.

"Aww..." Suriya coos, playfully leaning her head onto my shoulder. "SO pretty..."

"So GORGEOUS, more like!" Harriet giggles as she adjusts her tight black leotard. "Not that I'm interested, of course- I was talking about the tutu, not Priya!"

Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Tammy has been unemployed for months and finally all the requests for interviews are come all at once. All on the same day as a matter of fact. Timmy, Tammy's gender bending brother and Helen, Tammy's roommate have started to hatch a plan for Tammy attend all three interviews.

It was 4:30am when we arrived back, and I went to the office. There was a memo on my desk. “New associates will be meeting at 6am, mandatory. Please meet in board room 2.1. I sat back, and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a couple of minutes. I logged onto my computer. I checked my client list. Then, I surfed through the pictures I had for the tablet in the cryx room. At 5:45am, I got up and walked to Meeting Room 2.1. We were all seated and early when Rhonda Matre, President of Associate Training walked in. I think we all did a double take. And we all took deep breaths.

This story was at the request of one of my blog readers who suggested the general plotline. It is NOT sweet, nor sentimental but at the same time is closer to reality.The person who requested it was pleased and that was the whole point of the exercise.

While Ryan’s fever breaks, his body still feels off. However, with the rent due and no payment from the television show yet, he is forced to drag himself into work. While he masks any concern over his health with his usual bravado, his illness impacts his ability to do his job. Ultimately, this bravado, along with an unwillingness to see a doctor initially, could be his downfall.

It would be a rare treat. We were escorted by two individuals from security up to the eleventh floor. There were two banquet halls on this floor. We were escorted to the banquet hall on the right. There was a welcoming committee to greet us at the door into the banquet. We received name tags with our female names on them. The tag also displayed our table number. Then, we walked into the banquet hall. It took me about fifteen minutes until I figured out where table # 7 was. As I approached two women stood up. The first to introduce herself was: Hannah Short.

Against the odds, Ryan manages to land the part, but should he heed the warnings about being typecast? Could he end up middle aged and still working in children’s programming? Also, after his run in with Ashley, he comes to the realization that she was at least partly right, but only partly. With this new awareness, he decides to pursue Jessica. However, even while attempting to change his life, old temptations still exist.

A wide, happy grin creeps across my lips as I dance for the cheering crowd. My face has been made-up with thick stage make-up, making me look a lot older than my thirteen and a half years. My shoulder-length blonde hair has been tied into a bun, and a white, feathered headdress has been pinned to my hair- but none of this compares to my costume.

“Is there any point in having a birthday party if the actual birthday girl herself isn’t going to be here?” Becca moans as she paces back and forth, nearly deafening everyone with the rustling of her petticoats underneath her knee-length pink dress.

“Oh, just give her time,” Adeola says. “She’ll get here eventually. It’s not her fault her family lives an hour and a half away and she’s their only child.”