Lanewgirl.24.04.30.renee.rose.modeling.audition...

Renee had prepared for this. She’d watched YouTube videos. Suck in your stomach. Relax your jaw. Neck long, like a string is pulling you up from the crown of your head.

But as she stepped onto the tape-marked X, she forgot all of it. LANewGirl.24.04.30.Renee.Rose.Modeling.Audition...

The studio was a white void. Seamless paper curved up the wall and across the floor. Three people sat behind a metal table: a man in a black turtleneck who was probably the photographer, a woman with glasses who didn’t smile, and a younger guy typing on a laptop. Renee had prepared for this

She checked her phone. 2:47 PM. The audition was at 3:00. Relax your jaw

She sat on the curb, letting the exhaust and the jasmine and the possibility wash over her. She was LANewGirl.24.04.30. But for the first time, she felt less like a username and more like a beginning.

Renee stood. Her heart was a trapped bird. “That’s me.”