Two-Faced by Mandasue Heller Page A

sighed when she didn’t do so after a few moments. He gave Kim a defeated shrug. ‘Oh, well, I think we have our answer.’
    Furious, Kim glared at Mia.
    ‘ What? ’ Mia said sullenly.
    ‘You know bloody well what. He’s offering us a chance here, you silly little cow. And if you blow it, that’s it – you can forget about being famous.’
    Shrugging as if she didn’t give a toss, Mia scowled when Kim gave her a sharp prod in the arm.
    ‘This isn’t a game, lady, so sort yourself out, because this is important.’
    ‘I don’t see why,’ Mia argued. ‘He’s hardly Mr Super-Cool, is he?’
    ‘Let me guess,’ Sammy interjected perceptively. ‘You don’t know why your mum’s dragged you here, because you’re obviously too good for me, and I obviously don’t know anything about anything.’ Taking the twitch of her eyebrows as affirmation that he’d hit the nail on the head, he smiled slowly. ‘Did you see the silver car across the road when you got here?’
    Wrinkling her nose, Mia said, ‘Yeah – so ?’
    ‘It’s a Bentley,’ Sammy told her, not sounding in the least boastful. ‘Now, I don’t know if you’ve any idea how much they cost but they’re not cheap. So, ask yourself this, if you ’re so good, and I ’m so bad, how come I’ve got one and you haven’t?’
    ‘Er, ’cos I’m only fifteen,’ Mia reminded him sarcastically.
    ‘And do you think you’ll be any better off by the time you’re my age?’ Sammy persisted smoothly. ‘Because I guarantee that you won’t be if you carry on like this.’
    ‘Says you.’
    ‘Well, I won’t knock your self-belief, my love, but I doubt you’d be here if Nemesis or Boss or any of the other agencies you’ve already seen had said any different.’
    Licking her lips, sensing that Mia was on the verge of blowing their chances, Kim said, ‘Look, Mr Martin, I admit we haven’t had much success so far, but I still think she’s got something special and we’ll do whatever it takes to get her there. You said you thought we could work something out, so just tell us what we need to do and we’ll do it – I promise.’
    Sammy believed that she meant it and he nodded thoughtfully. Under normal circumstances, he’d have shown them the door by now, because, as he’d already said, there was no point trying to force someone to do something they blatantly didn’t want to. But Mia must have wanted it to start with or she wouldn’t have bothered posing for the photos, and he could only assume that her present truculence was due to the rejections she’d received so far. She was only young, after all, and rejection wasn’t easy to swallow at any age.
    Looking at Mia now, he said, ‘All right, let’s cut to the chase, young lady. We know how important this is for your mum, but I need to know if you want it as well – or are we just wasting our time? And before you answer,’ he added quickly, ‘let me just tell you about some of the models I represent. I take it you watch TV?’
    ‘Oh, she does,’ Kim blurted out. ‘All the time.’
    ‘So you’ll have seen all the adverts for Slimma-Soup, with the young girl floating down the high street in a bubble? Well, she’s one of mine. And the one about razor blades, with the young lad having his first shave before going on a date?’
    Despite her determination to retain her scowl, a hint of interest flickered in Mia’s eyes. She’d seen both those ads, but whereas she’d paid no heed to the Slimma-Soup one because she had no need of it, she’d definitely noticed the lad on the other ad.
    Catching the shift in her demeanour, Sammy smiled. ‘His name’s Jonathon, he’s just turned sixteen, and he’s been with me for ten years. Although I doubt he’ll be with me for too much longer, because this is his breakthrough job, and I imagine he’ll be whipped out of my hands by one of the big boys any day now. But, hey ho.’ He sighed resignedly and flapped his hands. ‘Anyway, I can tell you’ve