You wake up to a harsh banging on your door, followed by a muffled groan from Poppy in the bed next to you.
"Oh my god, what time is it?!" you hear Summer sigh, and you glance at the clock on the wall - it's eight o'clock, which isn't that early, but after getting up at half four the morning before, it's safe to say you could use another hour in bed.
"Guys, there's breakfast downstairs!" you hear Bodhi yell from the other side of the door, and then her footsteps down the stairs. Poppy groans again, burying her face in the pillow.
"C'mon guys," Summer sits up, and you push yourself up to a sitting position, rubbing your eyes. "Day one, let's go." she says as she makes her way to the bathroom.
After you've gotten dressed and washed your face, you and the others head downstairs to where Bodhi and Wren are sitting around the huge garden table by the pool.
The breeze is warm as you step onto the patio, and see that Bodhi and Wren have already dug into the food arranged on the table - it's piled high with cereal, pastries, toast, muffins, and about twenty different types of fruit. Your stomach growls as you take in the spread - Subtropix have spared no expense in making your trip memorable; you don't think you've ever seen this much food for free in your life.
"Morning guys!" Wren says, uncharacteristically cheerful, she motions to the table. "Sit down, get some breakfast - Molly's going to be here soon to brief us."
"Sleep well?" Bodhi asks to no one in particular, and Poppy nods, taking a croissant from a cake stand.
"Yeah, it was alright." she replies.
"Sorry about the early start," Wren says. "But we've only got like, half an hour before we'll have to go to get our hair and makeup done."
You take a pain au chocolat from the cake stand and nibble the edge nervously - you've been enjoying all the perks of Subtropix sponsoring this whole thing, but now that you're getting closer to the actual modelling part of the trip, nerves are starting to creep up on you. You've never done anything like this before.
"Morning girls," Molly's high heels tap on the paved ground as she approaches, wearing a green summer dress with a phone in one hand. "Now, the schedule for today is going to be pretty tight, so I need you all to be focused, okay?"
You nod along with the other girls.
"Okay, so, at 9 I need you to head over to hair and makeup, and then pick out an outfit from the ones we'll provide - Dice is going to meet us on the beach at 12, and we need to be there on time, okay? There's a schedule, and we need to stick to it." She gives us a stern thumbs up and then is preoccupied as she discusses something with another Subropix worker.
"Y'know the concept for the campaign today is 'Boho Paradiso'," Wren says, leaning in. "It's going to look so great when we're on the cover."
"Yeah, and I've collected some editorial looks to go with the mood boards I sent Molly, so I'm hoping she's going to use them when we're shooting the surf shots." Bodhi says hopefully.
"Oh my god, that's the only part of this whole thing I feel like I'm going to be able to do," Poppy groans. "I don't know how to model."
"It's not that hard when you get into it," Wren shrugs. "I'll show you what to do when we have the outfits on."
After breakfast, the group heads to where Subtropix have set up a station for hair and makeup - there are five chairs positioned in front of those fancy makeup mirrors with light bulbs around them, and three technicians rummaging through makeup bags and sorting clothes.
"Okay girls, take a seat and I'll be back in a minute after I update HQ." Molly smiles, and you hear her heels clicking off into the distance as she begins talking on her phone.
You sink into the third closest seat next to Summer and look at yourself in the mirror: you barely had time to brush your hair this morning, and it looks tired and frizzy as it hangs down your shoulders.
The hairstylist is working away at something which involves spraying a whole bottle of water in your hair, when your phone starts buzzing on the countertop. You turn it over to see it's Marlon phoning you, which is slightly odd, so you pick it up straight away, holding it to your ear the best you can in a way that doesn't annoy the stylist.
"Hello?" You answer, and Marlon replies almost instantly.
"Hey, where are you at the moment?" he asks, and your answer sounds almost trivial with his serious tone.
"Getting my hair done."
"How's the shoot?" He sounds hurried, as if being polite is just a formality he needs to get out of the way.
"It's great," you reply cautiously. "Although we haven't gotten to the actual photo shoot part yet, so I don't know how long that will last."
"You'll be fine," he says, quickly again, and then his voice goes lower. "Are you with anyone right now?"
"Uh, yeah the girls are here." You spare a sideways glance at the other four, who you realise have gone pretty quiet since you picked up the phone.
"Speak in Portuguese." He says, in Portuguese, and you oblige, wondering what Marlon must have to tell you that's so secretive he can't let anyone hear.
"Okay," you reply in the other language, and hear a muffled 'ugh' from Summer, as if she was waiting to hear what Marlon had to say. "What do you want to tell me?"
"There's definitely something weird going on at home." he says quietly, although you doubt anyone can understand him on the other end of the line.
"What do you mean?" you reply, hearing your voice wavering slightly involuntarily.
"Me and Ari went out for a surf, and then I had to go back and get a different board because the conditions were terrible, and I wanted the longboard," he rambles. "And when I got back mum was inside with a man."
"This is what I was talking about!" you exclaim. "Did you recognize him?"
"A little, I guess. I mean, he just looked familiar, but I can't place him. But he must be from Brazil, though, right? They were speaking the language."
"I guess so. But who the hell is he?" you reply, still feeling the other girls' eyes on you.
"I have no idea. I'm going to try and find out though."
"Okay, well, text me if you work anything out," the hairbrush that the hairstylist is using taps the edge of your phone as she brushes, and you take that as your cue to put the phone down. "Listen, Mars I've got to go, but I'll speak to you when I get back, yeah?"
"Yeah, okay. Good luck with your shoot." his voice sounds shaky as he hangs up, and you hope he's not too hung up on this situation - he's got enough to deal with, with all the State Team stuff, and whatever the hell is going on with him and Poppy.
"Thanks." you put the phone back on the glass countertop, and the other four girls give you expectant looks.
"What was that about?" Summer asks, a smile lifting one side of her mouth.
"Nothing, just Marlon." you reply.
"Has something happened?" Poppy asks, and you try not to look too deeply into the way her brow furrows with worry. "You sounded pretty serious."
"Nah, just that random guy at my house again-" you're about to continue when Molly comes strutting back into the room.
"Okay, we're running a little ahead of schedule down at the beach, so we need to hustle and we can get down there as soon as possible. When you're done with hair and makeup, pick anything you like from that rack over there." She points absently to a rack of clothes in the corner of the room, then smiles and is dragged off again by another Subtropix colleague.
The stylist goes back to doing your hair as someone comes over with a makeup palette and starts applying foundation to your skin.
It takes about an hour before you properly take a look at yourself in the mirror: your hair is unrecognisable to what it normally is like: you're in the sea so often you never really have time to do anything nice with your hair. But now, the stylist has brought out your natural brown curls, similar to your brother's. Not to mention they've done your makeup properly - you've never had it done professionally before, and it makes you look...different. Older.
"C'mon, let's go choose something to wear." Summer grabs your hand and pulls you to your feet, bringing you over to the clothes rack which is full of mostly orange and white clothes. She runs an absent hand over the fabric, then leans into your ear.
"Watch this," she whispers with a smile. Summer removes a skirt from its hanger and holds it up to Wren. "Hey - this would look really good on you."
"Oh, thanks," Wren responds. "Yeah, actually this is really cute." she says with what seems like a genuine smile as she heads to the changing room.
"Told you I can play nice." Summer says to Poppy as she passes by, and Poppy rolls her eyes.