A Miraculous Tale: Peacock

Ch. 5

November 24, 1996

Emilie sat down at the lunch table. Jane joined her a second later. Natalie was already there, and Emile smiled as Gabriel took a seat across from her. Emilie was happy he had warmed up to them. He had looked so lonely that day in the hallway, but since he'd been hanging out with them he had grown more confident and a lot nicer.

"I'm going to do it guys. Today is the day." He said with excitement in his eyes. Emilie leaned across the table.

"Today? You're finally going to do it?"

He nodded. "Thanks to you I'm not as chicken as I once was. The end of the semester is almost here, so today will probably be the best."

Emilie did a happy dance in her seat. "Ooh! This is so exciting! You're going to be the best fashion designer ever!"

Gabriel blushed. "You really think so?"

"If anyone knows, Emilie would." Jane chimed in. "She's studying to be a model after all."

"And an actress." Natalie put in.

"That's a lot. Studying just one thing hurts my head." Gabriel said.

"That's 'cause you pretended you wanted to be a lawyer." Emilie said.

"With good reason!" He remarked. "But I am happy to be over with it. If everything goes well, that is."

"Of course it will." Emilie said. "You'll see."

Gabriel sighed. "Enough about me. How are the rest of you doing with your classes?"

Natalie shrugged. "Being a secretary is both equally hard and easy. I'm excited for next semester though. We get to start shadowing real secretaries so we can get a few tips from them."

"That's cool." Emilie said. "How are your classes going, Jane?"

"Great! Though I am nervous about the midterm. We have to draw a diagram of the anatomy of a dolphin."

"You're the one who insisted on being a marine biologist." Gabriel pointed out.

"And I do love it! But that doesn't mean it's easy."

Gabriel shrugged, and the bell rang.

"See you all tomorrow; wish me luck!" He waved as he left.

Emilie crossed her fingers. "Luck wished!" She called after him with a smile.

**********************

Emilie sat in her modeling class. She sighed. When are we going to start? She thought.

"Now, are their any questions?" The teacher asked. He had been showing them different model walks and poses for the last thirty minutes. The students shook their heads.

"Good. Now I want you to get into pairs. I want you to take turns posing and walking, and your partner will give you feedback. Understood?"

The class nodded before getting up to choose a partner.

"You wanna pair up?" A voice behind Emilie asked. She spun around.

"Sure!" She told Alexa. The brunette smiled.

"You wanna go first?" Alexa asked. Emilie shrugged.

"Why not? You ready?" Emilie took a breath and began to walk. She stopped here and there for a pose, wearing a dazzling smile the entire time. She flipped her hair a couple times, and every so often she'd cock her hip. Once she finished she sat down, and Alexa clapped.

"You're a natural! Okay, my turn." She got up and did her own model walk. She had impressive poses and confidence. Emilie clapped once she sat down.

"How'd I do?" She asked.

"Great. Just try to smile or convey some sort of emotion on your face. Right now it's blank with concentration. Other than that you were fantastic!"

The teacher clapped to get their attention. "That's enough for today, class. Tomorrow we will try it with actual cameras to make sure you don't get distracted. You are dismissed." Emilie waved by to Alexa and got her stuff. She exited the classroom and almost fell over as someone ran into her.

"Emilie! I'm so glad I found you! They let me in. I got into fashion design!" Gabriel was practically jumping for joy.

"Good job! I'm so proud of you!" Emilie hugged him.

"Thanks for the encouragement. I couldn't have done it without you." He pulled away.

She shook her head. "It was all you, Gabriel. You just needed help finding your inner strength."

He smiled. "Do you, uh, wanna go get coffee some time? I've heard there is a really great cafe just a few minutes away."

"Sure! That'd be great. I'll ask Jane and Natalie if they want to come to. Let's go after school today. We can get a celebration coffee!"

"Wait, actually... nevermind. That sounds good."

"Text me the address and I'll meet you there."

"Three o'clock?"

"Sounds good." Emilie waved bye as she walked to her next class.