When Fayth reached the Academy, she hugged Vincent goodbye, then went in using the blind spot instead of the doors–to avoid being seen by anyone.
"Joshua?" Fayth said, walking up the stairs. Someone was walking in pajamas with a bottle of water in his hand. And he looked very familiar.
He looked up, and right away a smile spread across his face. "Rihanna, hi!" He skipped down the stairs until he was standing right in front of her. Right before going in for a hug, he clutched his stomach and his face twisted in pain.
"Are you okay?" She asked, taking ahold of his arm in case he tumbled down the stairs.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just left the infirmary. My stomach's been hurting me for the past week, and the nurse suspected an ulcer. I'll have to leave the Academy in a few days to check on it."
"Oh."
He smiled at her. "I heard it was you. You've been so out of it these days that I still didn't thank you."
They both sat on the steps. "I promised you payback, didn't I?"
"I also heard you gave something up for it, what was it?"
"Did Lexis tell you?"
He nodded. "His intentions were to make me not like the fact that I came back from someone else's suffering. And till now that's all I did. Feel bad."
"Don't worry about it. What I gave up is something I was going to give up on either way, sooner or later."
"You also had me enrolled into the Business class."
Fayth looked at him pointedly and smiled. "I did promise you a lot of things before you left."
He looked down at the bottle in his hands. "I don't know how to thank you. If you asked for my life, if you asked for everything I have, I'd give it to you. Just... at least know that."
"Do well in the business lectures. And don't ever thank anyone else in this Academy. No matter who it is. For me, that's what you can do."
He looked up at her, his eyes filled with wonder. "There's something that's bothering me. I think I misunderstood who you were before."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought you were poor, but it seems like you're everything but."
Fayth shrugged. "That may be the truth."
"Are you saying there is a chance it isn't?"
She kept quiet.
"And, well, today I was going through the brochure for the Winter Beauty Pageant so I can vote. Looking at your face now, I think my suspicions are confirmed..."
"What are you talking about?"
"The picture I saw on there...it really is you."
"What are you saying?" She stood up, her heart pounding faster. "What do you mean my picture was in the brochure?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean–"
"I need to find Jessie. Now." She turned to leave. "Sorry, Joshua, I have to go."
Fayth quickly ran to her dorm. Unfortunately, she couldn't find Jessie there. After calling his cell multiple times, he finally answered.
"Jessie, where are you?"
"I had to leave to meet with my dad. It's the weekend and he wanted to spend time together. Sorry that I won't be sleeping there toni–"
"Is it true?"
"What exactly?"
"My picture. Is it on the WBP brochure?"
"What?!" He seemed to think this was absurd. "Hold on a sec."
A few minutes later, a shocked Jessie said. "I'm so sorry." He staggered to find the right words to say, still shocked with disbelief. "There were some of your old photos on the laptop. I think I added one by mistake."
She covered her face with her hand, fear eating her insides. "This isn't good. This isn't good at all." It's all my fault. "You can fix this, right? All you have to do is take it out."
She suddenly remembered Vincent mentioning to her he had placed pictures of them together on the laptop in case she had missed him. She couldn't believe with that included, she had given the laptop to Jessie. Had she remembered before, she would have at least deleted them first. Now, she wasn't even sure how many of them he saw. Or what he thought of her when he did.
"I can't." Jessie said, wishing he could say something else. "I wish I could, but once the brochures are made, it's out of my hands to change anything from that point on."
Rihanna slid to the ground, her heart threatening to burst out of her chest. "What am I supposed to do?!" She demanded, losing all her composure.
Jessie searched in his head for something to say, for reassuring words he could use to take her out of the misery she was in. "It's a long process. It lasts for months. During the first phase of the competition, only numbers are written under the pictures for others to vote on, and it stays this way until the very last phase. Then they'll announce the names of the last three contestants. So for now at least, they don't know your name. Let's just hope you'll lose before that last phase comes."
This calmed her down a little tiny bit, but she was still worried about something.
"Who are the judges?"
"Fashion designers. The biggest names. The Winter Beauty Pageant is a dream come true for many girls in the Academy to make it as supermodels by night. Summer, for instance, was last year's winner."
"Will anyone else be there?"
"Yes. The entire school's staff, including the headmistress and John Ellis, Dawn Academy's owner."
Fayth clutched her fists as her heart gave a squeeze and goosebumps wrapped her skin from head to toe.
I absolutely can't make it to the last stage.
YOU ARE READING
F.A.I.T.H.
Romance"I was broken. Nothing, no one could fix me. Until you came into my life again. I wish I had gone with you that day instead of him. Because, now I can't imagine how I spent the previous years of my life without you by my side. You are my savior. You...
