Meet Amelia

Amelia is Cate's best friend - and will make her debut when Cate in Flux is released in JUST 21 DAYS!!! Here's another excerpt to rev up your excitement...

Amelia
 
For the first time in almost twenty years, I’m staying out of Cate’s business.  She’s on a downward spiral, and there she must go because I have to get ready for the American Model tryouts.

I’ve been modeling since I was fourteen years old, and peaked at nineteen when I was on the cover of Seventeen magazine twice in one year.  Since then I’ve done make-up ads, catalogue, runway work and a few editorial spreads for various magazines.  I make six figures a year, though not many people outside the business know me.  At twenty-seven, I’m old.  Winning American Model would be awesome.  Then I could afford more trips to Sedona to really study yoga.  There are Fuhn centers in Andover and Arlington, but Sedona is where the real spirituality is.  I feel so connected there, but they keep wanting money that I don’t have.
For the next month, I need to work on toning up and getting rid of the five pounds I’ve gained this past year.  Hair, clothes, passport… There’s so much to do. 

Back at my apartment, I read every word of the fine print of the application for the show and start getting together a portfolio.  Thank goodness I had new pictures done in September.
I took out my tablet and started a list – I’ll do just about anything if it’s on a list. Pilates, four days per week. Hot yoga, twice. Spinning, thrice. Get a FitBit. Sleep by ten. Nine hundred non-carb calories daily. Being beautiful is exhausting.

My phone chirped out Cate’s ringtone and I ignored it as I embroiled myself in an elaborate fantasy about what I’ll do when I’m the reigning America’s Top Model, gracing magazine covers and red carpets everywhere, reaching the upper echelons of the Fuhn center instead of practicing among the unwashed masses.

Cate called again. “LEAVE ME ALONE!” I screamed. I swear that girl is going to be the death of me. Breathe, count to ten, suck in and exhale. Feeling guilty, I picked up the phone and saw she’d called about twelve times. Geesh. She must be unglued.I decided to take a break from thinking about my famous future and sauntered into the kitchen for a snack. I counted out eight almonds, six raspberries, six blueberries, and mixed them with a cup of raw kale in a small, cut crystal bowl that belonged to my Nana. She would be so proud of me. As I chewed my food, I thought about the bowl and how I always loved it as a little girl. Nana served me sorbet and other delights in that bowl, which caught the light and glinted rainbows everywhere, and she called me a princess. A tear slid down my face as I thought of her. I missed her house that always smelled like Oreos and Downy fabric softener. How she always had time for me and listened to me. Her encouragement. Her sweet, soft face.
My phone startled me out of my Nana reverie.

“What?” I demanded into the thing.

“Help,” Cate whispered. “He has me locked in his car and we’re going to fly somewhere. I’m scared.”

 “Who has you? What are you talking about?”

“Simon. Hurry.” There was a scuffle then I heard her phone clatter to what sounded like concrete.