SHATTERED ILLUSION

Chapter five

With Rob's insistence, my ruined dress situation was reported to Mrs Catherine, and was currently under investigation.

Anyways, I wasn’t too worried about whoever it was, since I was one of the winners from the first test.

Me, Rob, Clarke and Amelia were in a group, and we were going to be working with famous designer Beatrice Black from Beautyspy for an upcoming fashion event.

Honestly, I couldn’t possibly describe how excited I am.

“Hello…..” Miss Beatrice greeted, walking into the office where we had been waiting for her.

“Hello,” We greeted back.

She stood in the middle of the large office, her blonde hair pulled back, she was putting on simple white satin trousers, with a purple satin top. Big gold earrings were dangling from her ears, her dark eyeshadow making her green eyes pop out more.

“Ok, we have one week to put together four designs that will convey the team for this week.”

“Beautiful chaos."

“Each of you were carefully selected because I liked your design at the first test. Together I hope we can create beautiful chaos together. First of is materials, and then the design we want to use.”

“For the first group, Amelia and Rob. You both are in charge of creating two different designs showing the team for this week.”

“And the second team is Susan and Clark. You both will also be doing the same.”

“I will be creating two designs with my stand by team, then will select one each from your group making it four.”

“Each of the group will be given a card with enough money for the materials and everything else needed to create the perfect design. Is that understood?”

“Excuse me,” Amelia cut in, raising her hands up.

Miss Beatrice nodded, giving her the go ahead to speak.

“About the card, what if the money isn’t enough for everything we need?”

“I advise you to use the money very well," Miss Beatrice told her, a small smile on her face.

“Does anyone have any more questions?”

With no response, Miss Beatrice moved on with her speech.

I stood up at the mention of my name, going towards Miss Beatrice to collect the gold card in her hand.

She told me the pin, smiling at me.

“I really liked your design earlier, I hope you do well this time around.” Beatrice told me.

“Thank you ma.” I say, smiling and blushing a bit at her praises.

“Oh no, everyone listen from here on out, please call me Beatrice.”

I smiled, going back to my seat just as she called Amelia who threw me a nasty glare as she walked past.

I scoffed. I wasn’t going to allow her to get into my head anymore.

I asked Mr Richard about it, and he had assured me he had no hand in my acceptance to this program.

He also gave me a little bit of advice and encouragement, one I intended to take seriously.

After discussing a bit, Miss Beatrice left.

I stood up, smiling at Rob, before moving towards where Clarke was seated, discussing quietly with Amelia.

“Hi Clarke, can i discuss the preparations with you?” I asked, ignoring the nasty look on Ameila’s face.

“Yea sure.” she says, standing up.

“So how do you want to do this? Do we work together on the two designs, or you want us to work on one each?” I asked, bringing out my drawing book.

“I think working together should be faster. At the end of the day Miss Beatrice needs just one design from our team, and I don’t want a situation where she chooses one, and the other person feels rejected. If we work on the design together, we both get the credit.”

I nodded my head, understanding where Clarke was speaking from.

“In that case, I am thinking we go with a wedding gown, and a colorful pants with jackets. How does that sound?”

“Hummm, I don’t know.” Clarke mutters. “I mean I get the concept, I am just trying to see if we could fit the team into the design. With the pant and jackets, it could work especially if the pant is divided into two colors, and for the jackets maybe something simple?”

“For the pant, I think we should make it a single color. Then the jacket should be the main star. We could add splashes of colors and flowers. And for the wedding gown, I think we should also follow the same pattern just maybe dye the white a dark faded brown, then use net embroidered with dyed leaves for the down part. Is that ok?” I asked, already sketching out the designs.

“Ok, let’s do it like this.” Clarke says, bringing out her own drawing book. “First of we should get the material we need, and then we work with the materials we have. For the concept of the wedding gown, the budget alone will take most of the money we have to work with. I mean that should be our priority, creating beautiful choas within our budget.”

“Yea, that’s right. I keep forgetting about the budget.” i mutter, chuckling a bit.

Clarke simply smiled.

After that, we got to work sketching out how designs.

When we were done, I passed the card to Clarke. According to our agreement, she would get the materials needed while I would meet up later with her so i could direct her to where I wanted to dye some of the materials.

After conclusion, we said our goodbyes.

The next day, I dressed up, going to the market where me and Clarke had agreed to meet up.

I waited for a while, checking my wrist watch for the third time.

Clarke was late.

I called her number, groaning in frustration at the dial tone redirecting me to voicemail.

Did something happen and she couldn’t meet up?

But we had spoken this morning, and Clarke had specifically directed me to wait at this particular location.

The ringing sound of my phone jolted me from my thinking.

“Hello…”

“He-llo…., Su-San, you have to come get me please.”

“Gia? What’s wrong, where are you?”

“At the police station.”

“Wha-tttt, why would you be at the police station?”

“Which police station are you?”

“I don’t know.” Gia cried out, her loud sobs echoing through the phone, before suddenly stopping.

“Gia, hello…, Gia.”

“Calm down, this is officer Advil. Yea, the station downtown.”

I said my thanks, hanging up the phone, quickly hailing a taxi.

When I finally got to the police station, my heart was in my throat, my stomach twisting with anxiety.

I asked the desk lady for directions, running quickly inside the precinct.

Gia was seated in front of an officer clearly frustrated if the big frown on his face was any indication.

Slowly I walked towards them, clutching the straps of my bag.

Immediately Gia saw me, she stood up, running into my hands.

“Are you Miss Susan Jackson?” The officer asked.

“Yes sir. May i know why my sister has been arrested.”

“A report was made by Miss Amelia Friday.”

“Amelia Friday?” I asked, stunned not even able to describe how i felt. “I am sorry, I think there must have been a mistake. On what grounds is miss Amelia making this report?”

“Well, Gia Jackson is being charged for theft and assault.” The officer told me, a grim look on his face as he typed on his system.

What the hell…….