Read Online HOT SET: Playing with Fidelity (A romantic suspense novel) by Kerry Northe - Free Book Online Page B

story of her life.
    “ Now, this one is the best. This gets right into the heart of Amelia.” He caught her eye. “I knew you were perfect,” he said, softly.
    Amelia left the studio, her head completely befuddled by what happened that day . She didn’t tell anyone about it, sent back the signed clause, and for the next three weeks, life went back to normal.
    One day, as Amelia walked to class, there was an undercurrent around her. It seemed like everyone was watching her, talking about her but the moment she’d look their way, they’d stop.
    “ Nice photo, dork,” Lisa sneered.
    “ Photo? What photo?”
    “ God, don’t play stupid. You’re such a stuck-up bitch.”
    “ What photo, Lisa, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Lisa walked over to a group of girls and snatched a magazine from the hands from one of them.
    “ Hey, give that back!”
    “ Piss off.”
    She held up the magazine in front of a very astonished Amelia.
    It was a photography magazine and on the front cover was Peter’s favourite photo of her. Amelia didn’t know what to say.
    “ Well, that is you, isn’t it?”
    “ Buttt, yes, but I didn’t know he was going to put it in a magazine!”
    “ Well… it’s a nice photo, Rhein.”
    Amelia’s jaw dropped in shock at the first compliment she’d ever received from her bully. Lisa stomped back to the owner of the magazine and threw it forcefully in her lap.
    “ Ouch!”
    “ Shut up, cretin.”
    From that day, school changed for Amelia. Whilst not exactly friended, the hostility was reduced. More girls talked to her, asked her what it was like to be a model. Finally, one of the girls in the popular group invited her to a movie and Amelia found herself accepted. It was amazing what popularity could do. She was still a recluse and never invited people around but she started taking care of herself, wearing better clothes and she stood straighter.
    With her new-found confidence, Amelia signed up to the school play and although she had a minor role, she found she loved living the life of make-believe character, even for just a short time. She continued with the drama club at her school and made a tentative truce with the other members, although she still wouldn’t consider a relationship, despite some interested flurries from the boys.
    At home, Karen had seen the Amelia’s magazine at a newsagency and had nearly fallen over. She berated Amelia for not telling her then shut up when Amelia received a cheque for $300 from Peter. They didn’t tell Sam about it and Karen and Amelia spent the afternoon putting half of it towards bills and the other half on a few new clothes for them both. Sam raged in fury when he found out about the money and smashed three glasses above their heads in retaliation, but they ignored him.
    A year passed and things slowly went back into routine. Amelia wasn’t called up by Peter again. The family were broke and whilst her school life had settled, her home life was terminal.
    Amelia still had her dream. She needed money; lots of it.
    She checked her arsenal. She could write, model and act. Writing she loved but she knew there was limited money in it. She’d enjoyed her drama classes at school and got high marks for it. She could continue to find modelling jobs but there was no reason why she couldn’t do both modelling and acting. She decided to give it a try.
    She was one-month short of 17 when she told her mother she was leaving. Karen was sad because Amelia was the only joy she had left and relieved because she would now be safe from Sam. A month later, a few days after Amelia’s birthday, Karen tucked more money than she could spare into Amelia’s cheap duffel bag and sobbed in despair when the bus left heading west.
    It was a determined Amelia that arrived two days later in the smoky, crowded streets of Los Angeles and she stood in a main street of down-town Hollywood and stared around her, wondering why people sought out this grubby