Part-Time || H.S

00

November 13th
2013

"Almost showtime ladies!" The stage manager yelled as he nervously walked around commanding people. I looked around me to see everyone looking all flawless in their wings and lingerie, chatting away to each other as we are all waiting for the show to start.

I cracked my knuckles for what felt like the 80th time and waved them a bit so the sweat wouldn't be visible. Technically it couldn't be visible but it felt like it could be. All eyes were going to be on me soon and I didn't want to risk it.

I looked at the big screens that were hanging in every corner and on every wall backstage. All the screens were as big as flatscreen tv's so you could see every detail from every camera angle. Showing every part of the stage that we will walk on every minute now.

I close my eyes and slowly breathe in and then out while I am still waving my hands, trying to crack my knuckles once again. As my knuckles don't crack, I lean my head to my right shoulder so that my neck cracks. As I feel the relieving crack, I do the same thing on the left side.

It's a habit to crack every joint in my knuckles and neck when I'm nervous or anxious. People always get the chills from it but it's a relieving factor for me.

I quickly pray in my head even though I'm not even religious but at this point, I will try every little thing to try and suit my nerves.

"I remember my first time. Couldn't even breath properly and almost passed out." I suddenly hear a voice chuckle beside me. I open my eyes and look to my left side where I see a girl with strawberry blond hair standing beside me. She looks at the big screen in front of us where you could see the whole catwalk.

"I'm close to passing out right now. It would be nice if you'd catch me." I joked, kind of, as I laughed at her comment and turned towards her. "I'm Liv Beaufort." I extend my hand after I wiped it to my leg, not trying to ruin the lingerie I'm wearing. They would kill me here. Literally.

"Arizona Wilson. But everyone calls me Ari." She shakes my hand while introducing herself, not caring If I had sweaty hands or not.

"How many times did you walk the show?" I asked her now breathing normally again.

She looked over at me again. "Just once. Last year. Exactly this arena." She smiled at me. "I saw you being all nervous and you reminded me of myself." I saw her eyes sparkle when she talked about last year. She seemed so relaxed right now that I just wanted 1% of her peacefulness so that I could stop worrying about every little thing that could possibly go wrong.

I wasn't surprised she was chosen to walk the show again. She had beautiful strawberry blond hair with powerful icy blue eyes. She had freckles on her face which you could still see through the thick layers of make up we were wearing.

"It's that obvious huh?" I asked her while I felt the embarrassment come up, my face getting all hot which meant that I became red. "I could hear you crack everything from over there." She pointed to the other side of the backstage era where the make up stands were set up.

"Oh god. It is that obvious." I facepalmed myself internally while sighing. "Don't worry about it too much. It's going to be the time of your life!" She reassured me with a big smile. I was actually quite calmed down until the stage manager decided to talk.

"Everyone, let's gather one more time!" I heard the stage manager say. I immediately felt like I was going to throw up again.

I cracked my knuckles while Arizona and I walked towards the circle that was created by all the models that were going to walk the show and some other people from the staff that were listening too. Arizona shook her head at me while looking down at my hands.