Once upon a time in New York there was a beautiful girl named Cindy. Cindy had the most elegant, luscious golden locks that any girl would die to have. She was not only beautiful on the outside with her piercing blue eyes, porcelain skin, and rosy cheeks, but that beauty also travelled inward until it touched her very soul.

As all good tales begin, there was more than meets the eye to this young woman. You see, on the surface Cindy was a very cheerful, bubbly girl. However, on the inside Cindy was a very broken soul that was looking for a ray of hope. After the tragic death of her mother, she was sent to live with her stepmother who happened to be one of the most powerful women in all of the United States. Ilene Riverford was the owner of Rivco, one of the most powerful magazine companies in the entire country. With an unlimited amount of money and resources, Ilene's power branched into all aspects of American culture. Fashion trends, pop culture, and politics, the list went on and on and pushed its way into every nook and cranny of the American dream. However, underneath all of the beauty, riches, and fame, Ilene Riverford was nothing more than a rotten soul looking to make others miserable. That was the single objective that our evil queen seemed to be the best at.

"Good morning mother," Cindy replied, approaching Ilene with her daily morning coffee. As its heat seeped through the paper cup, Cindy's hand was burning from its excruciating warmth.

"Please tell me you got the lowfat latte," Ilene replied, sassily waving her hand through her curled, brunette locks.

"Of course I did. I always do," Cindy replied, doing her best to plaster a smile on her face. She was not most enthused with how her step-mother had a tendency to think of her as an incompetent fool.

    As Cindy prepared to put the burning hot cup of coffee down on her desk, Ilene's phone rang which made Cindy scowl as she continued to hold it. Putting out a finger to tell Cindy to stay put, Ilene answered the phone call.

    "They what? Who dare bring a pet into my office?"

    Squabbles from the other end of the call could be heard and the more they spoke, the more Ilene's perfectly arched eyebrows would squeeze together. Taking this as a sign of stress, Cindy didn't dare go near her stepmother's desk to place the coffee down. Flashing back to the last time she put the burning hot coffee cup on her desk, she reminisced of how Ilene had scolded and hollered at her for being disrespectful and invasive of her personal space. So here Cindy was holding the steaming cup of hot coffee and hoping that Ilene would please hurry up and hang up the phone.

    "Oh, don't worry! It will get cleaned up! But you better kick them out! There's clearly a sign in the front that says 'No pets allowed'. No wonder why people don't get far nowadays. They can't even read a sign that was clearly in their sight range!"

    Furiously slamming the phone down, flames danced in Ilene's eyes. Cindy did her best to not provoke anger from her stepmother, so she made sure she spoke in the sweetest voice possible.

    "Mother, may I have permission to approach your desk?"

    "Yes, and please give me that coffee. I need a pick me up already, this early in the morning. Oh and speaking of pick me ups, it looks like a cute little puppy left a mess downstairs. Go clean it up," said Ilene as she shooed Cindy away.

    Nodding, Cindy replied, "Yes, mother." As composed as she was on the outside, Cindy was boiling with anger on the inside. Her stepmother had always thought of her as some sort of assistant that wasn't worth more than a paycheck of a few hundred dollars every two weeks. She had been working at Riverco for about two years and had never even gotten the chance to write an article in the magazine! Her stepmother had known that she had a deep passion for writing, so why would she act like Cindy was invisible? Feeling discouraged, Cindy tried to push back her feelings for the well-being of the company, but sometimes she just couldn't help but wish that she got a little more acknowledgment for all that she did.

The most amount of credit that the poor girl ever received was a pat on the back for making the snack area look spotless or for taking out the trash before it overflowed. Wasn't she worthy of something much more than that? She had been so loyal to her stepmother and this is what she got in return. Her paycheck, she felt, wasn't even worth everything she had to put up with.

    Turning to exit Ilene's office, Cindy turned on her heel only to be greeted by two giggling young women. The beautiful girls were none other than Ilene's twin daughters known as the dynamic duo, Ali and Kay. Allison and Katherine Riverford were today's exact definition of beautiful. They had plump lips and tiny frames which were paired up with makeup covered faces. It was no surprise that they had been featured in  multiple Rivco magazine issues. They were the definition of perfection and there was no doubt about it.

Ali batted her false eyelashes at her mother and did her best to put on a plump model pout. "Mom, how are those photos coming along?"

"Yeah, have they been edited yet? I told them to take in my waist and push up my cheekbones," added in Kay. Flipping her jet black hair, she looked over at her redheaded twin.

"Girls, girls. I'm sure they're working on it. They know how I like getting my pictures in early for each issue."

A blush came over Kay's face as she anxiously eyed her mother. Cindy looked at the twins and wondered what trick they had up their sleeve. Whenever those two came around, trouble was bound to follow.

"Hey mom," Kay started, toying with her charm bracelet that shimmered oh so brightly. "Well you know how Ali and I had that photoshoot tonight?"

"Yes," Ilene sternly replied, already eyeing her devious spawn.

"Well, I've been invited to participate in a catwalk. They want me to be one of their featuring models tonight," she said looking down and fiddling with her thumbs.

" A catwalk? And who in the world is hosting this so called 'fashion show' tonight?" Ilene demanded.

"Yeah, just who is hosting this party sis?" Asked Ali who was now green with envy as she sassily placed a hand on her hip. It was clear that she had no clue about Kay's invite either.

"My agent pulled some strings," Kay replied, nervously biting her lip.

" We have the same agent! How come she didn't pull strings for me?" Screamed Ali, who was now enraged that her twin had been invited and that she was not. If it weren't because they were in front of their mother, the two most likely would've been pulling each other's hair out.

"I originally asked for two, but they only sent back one invite and that's because I was being featured in the actual catwalk" replied Kay, trying to ease the tension.

Ilene was ready to throw a fit. Her head was practically fuming out steam. "How could you betray your sister like this? What am I supposed to tell the photographers? Only one part of the dynamic duo can come? Remember this Katherine Riverford, I made a name for you. I can just as easily destroy it."

"Mom, seriously?" She asked while popping the bubble in her gum.

The icy glare that Ilene sent her gave Kay her answer. Ali on the other hand looked like she was going to explode from anger. How dare her twin sister get invited to a party without her? How dare she even have the audacity to go without her?

Ilene dramatically threw her hands into the air. "Where am I going to find a replacement for you this fast? Those get shot tonight."

Taking this as an open window, Cindy slowly and hesitantly raised her hand in the air to which Ilene scowled at.

"What Cindy? Aren't you supposed to be downstairs cleaning or something?"

"Uh, yes," she timidly replied. "However, if you need a replacement, I could do it for you. I'm available tonight."

Ilene stared at her for a good minute before her obnoxious laughter echoed through the room. The twins gaped their mouths open and stared at Cindy in disbelief as they tried to hold back a laugh.

"Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? You have no modelling experience whatsoever and you probably couldn't even name one fashion trend of this era. Nice try darling, but you're not fit for this kind of business,"replied Ilene, pursing her lips.

"But-," Cindy insisted. As she took in what she just did, she regretted even bringing up the subject. Turning bright red in humiliation, she reminded herself to never volunteer to do a favor again.

Ilene scanned over Cindy's body. "Really, the only thing you have going for you is your height. Other than that, you're just basic and average."

Ilene's words felt like they had just torn off a layer of Cindy's confidence, exposing her vulnerability to the world. Hurt, her sapphire eyes welled with tears. This hadn't been the first time that she was told she wasn't good enough, and she soon realized that it wasn't the last time she'd hear it either.

"Do you even know how to apply makeup? Even the basics? You never seem to wear it and in order to be a model, it is a much needed tool to cover all of those flaws," she said, making a circle around Cindy's face.

"In the model world you need perfection. Love, you just don't seem to cut it. However, maybe you should take a lesson from these two," she said pointing a thumb at her daughters. "They could do your makeup and maybe we could begin with that."

The girls crossed their arms over their chests. "Mom, I'm not even sure makeup would help her. She's not ugly, but I just don't know if winged eyeliner would look good with her eye shape," replied Ali, flipping her red hair.

"Which is what I was saying darling," Ilene replied. Averting her attention back to Cindy, a devilish smirk danced on her face. "Get out of here before you embarrass yourself even more. Go and pick up that mess before people start complaining about the smell," demanded Ilene.

With her head held down, Cindy sulked downstairs. How could they just take parts of her and dissect them like that? Why was makeup so important anyway? Cindy had never bothered to apply it because she constantly works with people who cake it on just to feel happy about themselves. If painting your face and covering your flaws is what makes people happy, then what was truly the real definition of happiness?

After cleaning up the mess that the puppy had left, Cindy made her way out of Rivco and sat on a bench on the side of the building. Thinking over how cruel her supposed 'family' had been to her, a few tears streamed their way down her face. She had done nothing these whole two years but work for other people and now that she had her chance at getting some sort of recognition, she was rejected by her own family. She wasn't pretty enough and she didn't fit into the stereotypical model category where all they wore was makeup plastered on their faces. Why did she have to wear makeup to feel good about herself? Why couldn't she accept herself for who she was?

Footsteps could be heard crunching through the grass behind her and as she glanced behind her, she soon realized that a stranger was approaching the bench she was seated on. Swiftly wiping her tears away, the stranger took the seat beside her.

"Hey there." As the stranger noticed the puffiness of her eyes, his face contorted to an expression of confusion. Perhaps now was not the best time to be friendly with strangers. However, he couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards the girl.

"Hey, what's up? Are you crying?" He curiously asked.

"No!" She instantaneously replied, but he could see through her lie.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. It's just cold out here and it's bothering me," she said.

"It's sixty-eight degrees out here. You must be really cold blooded," he said, sending her a warm smile from beneath his hood.

"Tell me about it," she giggled while wiping the tears off of her face.

"Well nice to meet you. I'm Jaxon," he said, behind his dark sunglasses.

"Jaxon? As in Jaxon Charmaine?" She asked in surprise. Scanning his features, she did think that he looked awfully similar to the teenage heartthrob that was plastered in magazines all over the place. She couldn't believe her eyes!

"Shhh," he replied, putting a finger to his own lips. He nodded at her question, which caused her eyes to widen.

"The Jaxon Charmaine? Like Charming himself?"

"That's just a stage name they gave me. It's quite obnoxious if you ask me, but hey I can't take it back now," he replied, nonchalantly shrugging.

"So, are you incognito now?"

Flashing Cindy a blinding smile, he couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "Yeah, my agent had to speak to someone in here real quick and I have a photoshoot in like an hour. So I decided to tag along with her so we could make it in time."

"But you're in sweatpants and a hoodie," Cindy replied, eyeing his attire.

"I'm incognito, remember?"

"So you just change at the photoshoot?"

    Nodding, he folded his hands across his lap. " Yeah, they have outfits over there that they tailor for the photoshoots, so I have to bring nothing but my presence."

"Wow, that didn't sound conceited at all," Cindy said sarcastically, playfully rolling her eyes at him.

Interested in why this girl was here in the first place, he pressed her for more information. " So why are you out here in front of the famous Rivco building? I'm shocked security hasn't bugged you yet."

"Long story short, I'm Ilene's stepdaughter and she doesn't think I'm worthy enough of replacing Kay in a photoshoot session."

"What? Are you kidding?" He asked in surprise.

"No. I guess Kay has some sort of fashion show she has to attend tonight and they need a replacement for her asap. Ali is enraged about it."

"The fashion show huh?" He replied, a smirk dancing on his lips.

"Yeah, why?"

"My family is hosting it. She was actually invited by us. Small world, huh?"

Cindy felt like she had stuck her foot in her mouth. That's what she gets for talking to kind strangers.

"However, one of the lead models got food poisoning from some seafood she ate and can't make it. It's kind of funny because we're actually looking for a last minute replacement...."

Glaring at him, Cindy wondered if he was insinuating that she could have the spot. "And?" She pressed on.

"We really need a person to fill in, like now. Do you have any modeling experience whatsoever?"

"Wait, what?" Cindy couldn't believe he was actually asking her to replace a famous model. How was she to even answer this question?

"Do you have any-"

"No, I heard you. It's just...I have no experience. But I have seen a lot saying that I've worked here for two years," she said, motioning her head to the giant skyscraper of a building.

Smiling, Jaxon pulled out his phone, "I'll tell you what, I think you'll have a blast doing this. Here, put your contact information in my phone. I will send you the details via text."

"Wait, but-"

As soon as she saved her number in his phone, his phone vibrated. "Oh, that's my agent! Gotta jet! Nice meeting you uh...er-"

"Cindy."

"Cindy! Make sure you're catwalk ready!"

"But I've never even-"

Walking closer to her, he whispered to her, "You want to know a secret?"

"Uh, sure?"

"When I walked my first catwalk, I had no modeling experience. Nothing at all.  I just held my head high, stood confident, and walked. And guess what?"

"What?" She asked, feeling a little uncomfortable that his breath could be felt on her ear.

"I didn't think I did too good, but afterwards there was a big group of people waiting for me to book a photo op. And that was the beginning of my career. Never doubt yourself Cindy. Never," and as he turned on his feet to walk away, he turned back. "Oh, and one more piece of advice. Stand up for what you believe in. Never let people try to persuade you to do something you don't want to. Follow your heart."

With those few words, Jaxon 'Charming' Charmaine ventured off to meet his agent. As soon as the coast was clear, Cindy smiled brightly. He had just given her the spark of hope that she was looking for.

© Lightning_Stryker 2016