Lara unlocked the front door of the shop, then made herself a coffee before laying the newspaper out on the counter. She turned with great expectation to the fashion pages and her stomach sank when she saw – Quant. This season’s staple pieces. Again. Resigned, she turned to the society page. Sure enough, there was a large shot of Penelope posing next to an awkward looking Coleman. The caption read ‘Chevron’s nightclub manager, the dashing Coleman, at the opening of his new business venture – a boutique on the Kings Road.’ No mention of Lara or That Girl. After all that fuss, Penelope had obviously decided that Lara wasn’t the next big thing after all. She just fancied Coleman. Although, Lara mused, he wouldn’t be happy seeing his face in the paper like that. Coleman liked things to be kept low key. She wasn’t even supposed to tell people that he was involved in the business at all. Only for Penelope being so damn nosy, she wouldn’t have.
Lara downed her coffee and decided to shrug it off. She had no choice. There was a business to run and she wasn’t about to let one disappointment upend her dream. Lara had a busy morning in the shop, setting everything straight after the party and taking in new stock.
At lunchtime, her thoughts turned to Noreen as Lara wondered how she was coping with the stripper shift. She smiled to herself, knowing her old friend would be well able for it. A little part of her wondered if Noreen’s abrupt and inelegant entrance had foiled her chances of getting onto the fashion pages, but then she pushed the thought aside telling herself it didn’t matter. Lara had known, last night, that Coleman had not wanted to take Noreen on, but Lara knew he would love her once he saw her in action. Coleman didn’t bother nearly as much with glamour as he let on. He inhabited a world where men were men and women were pretty, but it wasn’t who he was. If it was, Lara could never be his friend. And they were friends. She liked and respected Coleman, and believed the feeling was mutual. That was why she agreed to letting him put up the money for her business. Had she flirted him into taking on Noreen? She had been quite drunk at the end of the night. A picture of leaning her face into his shoulder as he helped her out the door flashed into her mind, quickly set aside by a customer coming up to the till with the last of the pink baby-doll dresses.
Despite the lack of publicity, the shop continued to tick over, with customers wandering in and out all day and a healthy take on the till. Then, late afternoon, a familiar face walked in and marched straight up to the cash register.
‘Ah,’ Lara knew him straight away. ‘The great photographer. I can’t remember your name but gee thanks for the great spread in today’s paper.’
‘Alex. And you’ll thank me when you see what I’ve got here.’
He reached into his satchel, pulled out a black and white print and laid it down on the counter.
‘Voilà.’
It was a picture of Annie in a suit. From the party last night.
‘Well thank you, Alex, for this very lovely print, but frankly I would prefer if it was printed in the actual newspaper. Where people could see it.’
‘When you look at this picture, what do you see?’
Lara gave him a bored look that said, ‘Are you still here?’
‘Please. Just look.’
She picked up the print. ‘I see a picture of my flatmate posing in a suit, which, despite my best efforts, was not in the paper today.’
‘No,’ Alex said. ‘This is a picture of That Girl. The coolest chick in London. Internationally famous superstar model Annie…’
Lara picked up the picture, eyed him sceptically, then looked at it again.
‘Austen,’ she said. ‘Annie Austen.’
‘Exactly. Annie Austen. That Girl.’
This time she looked properly – and she saw it.
Annie in reality was beautiful, but she was no It girl. In this picture, however, she was. They said the camera never lies but in this case it most certainly did.
‘She’s got it,’ Alex said. ‘Now you’ve got to persuade her to give it to us.’
Lara looked past him so he added, ‘If I take the pictures…’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I get that. She’s coming in the door now.’
Annie spotted Alex and the picture straightaway. She marched up to them both. She was angry and afraid. Annie was so secretive that she could not bear other people keeping secrets from her. She had to know what was going on around her at all times. Her life depended on it.
‘It’s not what you think,’ Alex said. Then turned to Lara and explained, ‘Annie has already said she won’t be photographed.’
‘Well then,’ Lara said to Annie, ‘it’s exactly what you think. You said no to him and now, this sneaky worm has come to try and persuade me to persuade you to model for the shop.’
Annie breathed a sigh of relief. Her friend was not betraying her.
‘Do you want me to?’
‘Well,’ Lara said, ‘Alex said he has already asked you and you said no.’
‘I know,’ she said. ‘But I would do it for you.’
Her voice was almost pleading. What she meant was, ‘I would do anything for you, Lara. You rescued me. You are my best friend in the world.’ Lara heard that and flinched. Annie’s neediness could be grating at times.
‘Look. Annie. This picture is amazing.’ Lara handed her the picture. ‘You are, and you know this because I’ve said it to you before, extraordinarily beautiful but – if you don’t feel comfortable…’
Annie held the glossy print in her hand and looked down at it again. Lara’s words faded into the background. Was that her? Could that be her? Not Hanna. No, someone else. It was the girl she wanted to be. The girl she was trying to be. Perhaps it was possible to change, after all.
‘I’ll do it,’ she said. Alex raised his eyebrows in surprise. ‘I want to do this. I’m going to do this. Not for you Lara – or you,’ she said, looking vaguely at Alex, ‘but for me.’
Inside her head she said, Annie Austen. It’s time to bring you to life.