A young woman with sandy blonde hair came running up to us. "Hello, are you the Littrells'?" she asked in a slight French accent.
"Yes," my father answered. "And you are..."
"Julia Moncrieffe, I work with Elite. I'll be in charge of Cara for the year." Julia extended her arm to me. "I'm assuming that you are Cara?"
I shook her hand and smiled shyly. "Yes, I am. It's nice to meet you Julia."
"Likewise. Well, we'd better get going Cara, Mr. Deville is expecting us."
I gave both of my parents a hug. "Bye, I'll miss you."
"Just call us whenever you want someone to talk to," my mother said, tears coming to her eyes.
"We'll come to see you all the time," my father added. "So long, kiddo."
I waved good-bye as my parents went through the gate that would led them to the plane back to New Jersey. I sniffled. Everyone really close to me was 3000 miles away.
"We'll get your baggage and then head over to the office, that sound okay with you?" Julia asked.
I nodded and obediently followed Julia through the airport. "Sure. Where am I going to live?"
"We'll be in a hotel for the first couple of weeks until Elite can find us a small home." Julia handed me a sheet of paper. "Here. This list is of all of your assignments for the first month."
I glanced down at the paper. There was a lot of runway stuff, but something at the bottom caught my attention. "I'm going to be in a Cover Girl commercial?" I asked excitedly.
Julia nodded. "Yes, you are the new Cover Girl."
"Are you serious? That's so cool, Charisma will be so jealous!" My face clouded when I thought of Charisma, 3000 miles away.
"Who's Charisma?"
"My best friend," I answered sadly. "I miss her so much already."
"I know how you feel. My boyfriend lives in America. I hardly ever see him, only when I'm there on business."
"So I guess we have a lot in common," I said as we reached the baggage claim and I grabbed my luggage.
Julia smiled. "I guess so."
*A Little While Later*
Julia and I shuffled into my hotel room and collapsed on the bed tiredly.
"You didn't tell me that I had a shoot after the meeting with Mr. Deville," I said to Julia, too tired from jet-lag and exhaustion to get back up again.
"I didn't know. Sorry Cara."
"It's okay. I had fun."
Julia slowly sat up. "Well, I'm going to get some sleep. I'll be in the next room if you need me."
I nodded. "Okay." After Julia had left, I got ready to go to sleep. As I climbed in the bed and closed my eyes, my cell phone started ringing. "This had better be important," I groaned as I pulled the phone of the dresser. "Hello?"
"Cara? It's me, AJ."
"Hi!" I said happily, suddenly not feeling tired anymore.
"Question: where are you?" AJ demanded.
"What are you talking about?"
"Where are you? Brian was so worried he was ready to a hop the next flight to Jersey!"
"Well, he kinda wouldn't find me there," I said sheepishly, remembering that in all the excitement I had completely forgotten to tell AJ and Brian about Paris.
"Cara, what's that supposed to mean? Where are you?"
"In Paris."
"YOU'RE IN PARIS?!" AJ screamed. "What the hell are you doing in Paris?"
"Paris?!" I could hear Brian scream in the background. "Let me talk to her." Brian pulled the phone away from AJ. "Cara, what the hell are you doing in Paris?!"
"I work for the Elite modeling agency now. I'm living in Paris for a year to be closer to their main office."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Brian asked, hurt. "I'm your brother for God's sakes, and I was so worried that something had happened. Where are mom and dad?"
"Somewhere over the ocean, I'm assuming."
"So you mean to tell me that you, a 15 year-old girl who speaks no French whatsoever, is alone in Paris?!"
I sighed. "Calm down, I'm not alone. Julia is living with me for the year, she works with Elite. And I'm almost 16 Brian, my birthday is in a week don't forget."
"Now how are me and the guys gonna come and see you?" Brian asked. "There's no way we can get to France, we have a concert in New York on your birthday."
"How were you gonna come see me in New Jersey?"
"We were gonna stop at the house before going to New York. I'm sorry Cara, but we won't be able to make it."
"Oh...it's okay. I understand," I lied. I really was upset. Brian had promised me right before they took off in Europe that even if he was on the road, he'd always come see me on my birthday. This would be the first year that he wasn't.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, it's okay."
"Alright. Well, I have to go, but AJ wants to talk to you again. Bye Shorty, I'll call you tomorrow."
"Bye Brian."
"Cara? I'm really sorry that I can't see you on your birthday."
"It's okay AJ, you guys have a concert to give. I'm used to stuff like this happening."
"Okay, well I gotta go. But as soon as I get the chance, I'm coming there to see you."
"Alright. Bye AJ."
"Bye Car."
I slammed the phone back down on the dresser. "Stupid bastards," I mumbled before I drifted off to sleep.
