Snapshot [2] ON HIATUS

Chapter 3

We all go through phases growing up where we aspire to grow up to be a different thing every day. A police officer, an astronaut, a fashion designer. I'd never really made up my mind and after my parents passed, I didn't really give it much thought and the whole topic lay untouched for six years.

Once I started living with Zoe and Alfie and began to live a somewhat normal life, I spent more time thinking about my future and what I might like to do. I knew that YouTube wasn't really a great option for me, for obvious reasons. Being in the eye of the public isn't where I thrive, so almost all jobs seemed impossible to me. At least, that's what I thought.

It all really began a few months after Christmas. It was an average Friday night, Zoe and I were sat on the sofa watching a film (the Parent Trap, if I remember rightly) and we were just chatting about random things. I asked Zoe, "Do you fancy going shopping in the lanes tomorrow?"

"Sorry but I'm at a photoshoot all day tomorrow." She said. "You could come with me?"

"Are you sure I wouldn't be in your way?" I asked. The last thing I wanted was to be an added burden whilst she was working.

"Of course not! I think you'd love watching the photographer at work. You know, it might inspire you."

"All right then, I'll come with you." I replied, smiling.

I went to bed that night feeling slightly apprehensive but also quite excited. I quite liked the idea of a career in photography, as it was something I was so passionate about. I'd always had an eye for taking photos but it all really began when I moved in with Zoe and Alfie. Alfie had given me one of his old cameras to play around with and I immediately became hooked. It sounds silly, but it was a way of expressing emotion and feelings that I would have never of been able to talk about. In a way, I believe it to be a big factor in the healing process.

I woke up early the next morning, considering we had to leave the house at 8am. I showered and got changed into some skinny jeans and a crop top. I blow dried my hair (I don't think Alfie thanked me for that at 7am) and left it down. When nothing was done to it, it reached way down my back and was rather wavy. My hair was something I'd always quite liked. Keeping makeup minimal, I just applied some concealer and mascara and then moisturised my lips with some lip balm. I shoved on my black high top converse and headed downstairs.

Zoe had made pancakes for breakfast, and with about 20 minutes to spare, we sat at the dining room table and ate in comfortable silence. Once we'd both finished, Zoe cleared away our plates and after brushing our teeth we were ready to head off.

As we got in the car, Zoe chuckled and said, "So, are you ready for a day in the life?".

"As ready as I'll ever be." I said, laughing. "So urm, where exactly are we going?"

"Oh, we're driving to the train station and then getting the train to London. We'll nip into Gleam and then go to the studio, if that's alright with you."

I nodded. "Yeah that's fine."

We drove to the train station with the radio blasting and the windows down. I don't know why, but I felt so happy in that moment. If one thing being in care had taught me, it's to appreciate the small things.

We got to the train station within 10 minutes and after parking the car in pay and display, we made our way inside. Zoe got the tickets on those complicated pay by card machines (good job though really, the other queue was huge) and then we literally had to run for the train as it was due to leave pretty much as soon as we got on it.

It was one of the few times I had been into London and I was really looking forward to it. I couldn't help feeling anxious though, after all, there's a lot more people in London than there is in Brighton. I wasn't exactly looking forward to the crowds to say the least.

The train pulled up in London after a shorter train journey than I had expected. We got off and Zoe gestured to an Uber parked outside of the station. We jumped in and she told the driver our destination. What was probably a ten minute drive from the station to the Gleam offices, ended up taking half an hour thanks to the London traffic.

We pulled up outside the building and Zoe paid the driver. After saying thank you, we got out and made our way to the office. When we arrived, I was surprised yet incredibly happy to see Louise sat at a table. She was opening some P.O Box stuff and her face lit up when she saw us come through the door. I hadn't seen her in far too long and it was so nice to bump into her. Zoe was ecstatic to see her chummy and they spent a good half an hour catching up. After having a hot chocolate and a chat to everybody (I let Zoe do most of the talking), we headed off to the studio in yet another Uber. It was a shorter drive this time round, as the traffic wasn't as bad.

We arrived at the studio slightly late and I asked if she was going to get in trouble. She smirked and said "As the Queen of Genovia said, the Queen is never late, everyone else is simply early." We both laughed and walked through the studio doors.

Zoe introduced me to the woman doing her makeup and the man doing her hair. They were both so lovely and even though they were strangers, they made me feel at ease as I entered the strange world of stardom for the day.

Within half an hour of arriving, I was sat in a room watching Zoe get her hair and makeup done for the first look of the day. It was all a bit of a whirlwind really. Curling tongues and makeup brushes were flung around and within an hour, Zoe was ready. She was wearing a gorgeous rose pink dress and as I watched her waltz around in front of the camera, I felt so proud of her.

It was around one in the afternoon and Zoe was onto her third or fourth look of the day. The shoot had paused for a minute whilst the Glam Squad (as Zoe called them) touched up her hair and makeup. I was sat in the corner reading a book when the photographer approached me. "Fancy a go in front of the camera?" he asked.

"Urmm...well...I, I haven't had my hair or makeup done or anything." I replied, not really knowing what to say.

"No need, I love this look. It's really cool and casual!" He said, gesturing to my outfit. "So...what do ya say huh?"

I thought about it for a moment and then took a deep breath. "Sure, why not."

Author's Note:
I'm only really writing this note to apologise. I've not really got an excuse for not updating in a ridiculous amount of time other than I got busy and forgot about it. That was until the other day, when I came on Wattpad and was greeted with literally thousands of notifications. A fair few of those notifications were comments and messages asking to update this book and I've spent the last two days trying to come up with some new content. It wasn't easy to think of where my story should lead, and granted it's not the best chapter, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless. Again, I'm sorry for keeping everyone waiting.

I also realised the other day that my first Adopted by Zalfie fanfic has reached 213K views. That's absolutely insane! I'd like to thank everybody who has read it and who has gone on to read this book (which I'm going to try my hardest to keep updated from now on), it means the world to me.

(P.S...forgive me if my knowledge about London or photoshoots isn't great, I don't have much experience with either topic so it is purely a guess haha!)