Showtime

“Ladies and gentlemen! We have an exciting surprise event for you all!” The voice spoke over the loudspeaker as the crowd turned their attention to follow the large spotlight. “We’ve got ourselves a good ol’ fashioned model off!” The crowd erupted in a cheering frenzy. “Now now, save your cheers until it’s time to vote!”

“Wow, these people really take this seriously,” I said as I looked around at the sea of people beginning to crowd towards the stage. “I didn’t think it would be so exciting.”

“It’s a fashion show. The biggest excitement is if there’s a wardrobe malfunction,” Anne said, standing next to me in the crowd.

“The crowd is just itching for some excitement, even if they don’t say it,” Leon said as he stood on the other side of Anne.

“So, for those of you unfamiliar, here’s how it works,” the announcer began as the crowd hushed their murmurs. “We’ve got two lovely ladies ready to show off who has the better modeling talent! First up, they’ll be judged on their initial presentation of the outfits. Second, they’ll be judged on their walking talent! Finally, they’ll be judged on how well they can keep up their posing.”

“There are established rules to these things?” I asked, looking around the crowd that viewed this as a completely normal thing. “There is so much about the fashion world that I will never understand.”

“Yeah, it’s a weird, but also a fierce world,” Leon said, taking a sip of a drink.

“Of course, there is no doubt that our Vanessa will win this competition,” Summer said as she gently put an arm around Danna. Danna had a gentle smile on her face, then turned to me and nodded as if to affirm Summer’s statement.

“Yeah,” I said as I looked down at the ring. It would be so easy to make Vanessa win and make Sherri lose. But, as I was thinking that, Danna reached her hand over and held mine. She looked at me in the eyes and gently shook her head. “You’re right. Vanessa has got this.”

“And now, taking the stage first, famous model and star of the Vivisallitti line for three years, Miss Sherri Wolf!”

Sherri tossed aside the curtains and began to strut out onto the catwalk. She was wearing a long flowing cloak that covered up her entire body. The clapping was scattered as she made her way to the front of the catwalk.

“Now,” she said as she grabbed the cloak, “Let’s hear your Wolf Whistles!” She threw the cloak up into the air, revealing her outfit.

Her hair was draped down, curled and flowing along her back. She wore a black chain link collar and a matching black dress with the shoulders revealed, pushing out her cleavage. The dress had a cut in it that snaked from her right side down across her stomach to her left thigh and opened up to show off her ornate leggings with a swirling floral pattern. Underneath the dress was a layer of fabric that was a gradient from orange near the shoulders to red at her hands and feet. Her stilettos clicked on stage as she flicked her shoulders back, revealing two long strands of fabric with large beads on the bottom, barely stopping before they hit the ground.

The crowd cheered incredibly loud as Sherri soaked in the praises, her smile never wavering as she looked at the crowd. Many people wolf-whistled at her as they flail their arms, trying to get photos. Then, she spun around on her heels and walked back towards the curtain.

“Amazing! With our Cheer Score Rating Machine, Sherri has scored a whopping 93 out of 100!” The announcer brought up the score on a screen behind him.

“What!? That’s incredible.” I shouted and briefly considered using the Ring again to help out Vanessa, but my confidence in Vanessa held me back.

“For Sherri, that’s damn good,” Anne said. “She’s really trying to take down Vanessa.”

I held my hands close to my chest. “Come on, Vanessa. You got this.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Leon said as he handed Anne his drink and readied his camera.

“And now, model of the 2018 Fall line and 2016 Winter line, as well as repeat winner of the Young Model Competition, Miss Vanessa Dellis!”

Now it was Vanessa’s turn to come out. Much like Sherri, she was also wearing a large white cloak, but it only covered up everything below her neck.

“Copycat,” Sherri said as she watched Vanessa walk.

Vanessa’s hair was wavy, neatly brushed and styled down with a blue butterfly on her left side. The wings were made of very fine fabric with a crystal as the body. She didn’t pay Sherri any attention as she made her way to the center of the catwalk. She stopped and looked out at the crowd. I gave her a thumbs-up and she smiled at me before turning back to the crowd. She stuck her arms outward and forward as if she was speaking like a prophet.

“We are here to settle a modeling competition, and as many of you know, I am one for a fair and just competition.” The crowd murmured a little. “My challenger is the one who incited this, so, I say to you then, Sherri.” She spun around and pointed at Sherri. “I will fight with the ferocity of the flames of Hades!”

With that, in one quick motion, she reached up and pulled a small match out of the crystal butterfly in her hair, striking it and then dropping it. Instantly, her cloak was engulfed in a brilliant flame, burning away the fabric in the blink of an eye.

Underneath, Vanessa had an elaborate black and blue outfit. Fabric wrapped around her neck like a choker, extending down to cover her breasts and leaving a large chest window that stretched all the way down to below her navel. Over her breasts was fabric that took the shape of blue flames. The outfit wrapped around the top of her thighs, then transitioned into an X pattern of fabric before becoming long leggings. The leggings were tucked into long stiletto boots with a resin heel that curled back into the shape of flames. On her arms were detached sleeves of a brilliant blue to white that went from just below her shoulders down to her wrists, once again keeping the fire motif. The two sleeves weren’t connected to the main fabric, but connected at the back by two long and flowing strands of blue ribbon.

The crowd went absolutely nuts. Anne, Leon, Summer, and I cheered for Vanessa as loud as we possibly could, with Danna whistling alongside us. People were utterly frantic to get pictures of Vanessa as she confidently stared down Sherri.

“A stunning 98 out of 100!” The announcer shouted and the crowd went even more wild!