Chapter Four - The Great Escape!

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Not an hour had passed by, since I had been forced into the limo with two makeup designers, (Candy and Kai), along with a model manager, (Mr. Ozawa).

I was sitting in the changing room of Chou, a famous Japanese fashionista.

"Keep your eyes closed!" Candi whisper-shouted. I sighed and wanted to cross my arms, feeling something wet and spongy rake itself across my pale cheeks. I gagged at the smell of makeup. My arms were taped down to the chair, one of the women standing behind me cheerily to make sure I didn't escape. It was Kai, the more optimistic of the two. Candi was the one completely okay with murder. She had threatened me with a knife beforehand, holding it too close to my throat.

This was surely the strangest thing that had ever happened to me. Pretending to be a female model just to help out some people who could lose their job...could I sink any lower? I, Connor Seville, was a dead man. Of course, Mr. Ozawa insisted on paying me for my little 'escapade'.

But that didn't change the fact that I was forced against my win here. They told me if I ran off they'd kill me.

Candi hadn't hesitated to show off a nice sharpened blade from underneath her sleeve.

"Okay, open your eyes, Con- I mean Chou." For the time being, I had to become Chou, the famous model from H-Magazine. So, to keep in character, Kai and Candi are playing along with the notion that I am Chou. How lovely.

I opened my eyes and blinked a couple times when Kai told me too.

Kai had curly pink hair, while her sister, Candi, had curly blue hair and both sported insane makeup. "Okay, now we have to apply the eyelashes. Don't blink." I kept my eyes open, and watched as hey put something on on my lower lid, then place the lash in the very same place. They did it on the other eye, and then I was told to close my eyes. I felt one of the girls play with my hair.

"Chou-san, you have very nice hair."

I felt the same girl clip a few things in and under my hair. My head felt heavy and when she told me to open my eyes, I was surprised to see the person the mirror.

"What the..." I trailed off in English. "I'm a girl!"

Kai smiled from behind me, poofing my hair. "Yes, yes, you are a girl. Now, time for your outfit."

I only had a few seconds to look at myself in the mirror. My hair was a light mousy brown, but for some reason, looked so good now. The extensions matched the exact shade of my hair and were crimped. My face was smooth, clear of acne, or any other blemishes. With my now pale and supple skin, my eyes popped out of my head. They were large; very large. The hazel color had transformed into an astonishing, smoldering forest green that brought out the best in my complexion. The craziest part was the fake lashes.

They were wide, super long, and insanely beautiful.

I looked only too well like a woman. In fact, it was scary.

"Come now, Chou-san! We must put you in your dress."

I was thrust into a changing room, a dress put into my hands. I quickly stripped out of my jeans and T-shirt, and looked the dress. How was I supposed to... I grimaced and put on the dress more or less right, having Candi held me fix it.

"Nice butt," she grinned cheekily, making my cheeks explode with heat.

Well then.

All too soon, I had to put in these silicon breasts, to appear more womanly. They felt so weird, and were squishy. "Wow, you look fabulous Chou-san!" When I looked into the full sized mirror, I winced.

I looked eerily like the photo of the woman Kai and Candi had shown me of Chou. I looked so girly, and it felt weird. "Well," Candi said, breaking me out of my trance, "we'll have to lend you a pair of our flats to go with the dress, because obviously heels aren't going to do it with you. You don't have enough calf muscles."

I gave the finger to Kai, who giggled in turn, watching Candi cover her knife in her fist.

I downed the flats I was given, (they were like flat shoes I've seen other girls wear before), and I rolled my feet uncomfortably. I ignored the icey cold blade against the back of my neck as much as possible. I held back tears and stood up tall to the twins.

"Yeah, your feet will kill after awhile, but other than that, you should be fine. When you talk to guests, kiss their cheeks, and be as peppy as possibly. Chou-san is always a good sport. Sadly, today she was at the end of her rope with another model and stormed out. So, be good! Have fun!" Kai blew me a kiss and skipped out the door.

Kai and Candi were gone. I sighed, glancing into the mirror. I was told to meet up with Mr. Ozawa after being beautified. "I lost my man-card," I murmured to myself. Quickly, I hopped out of the room and went down a few halls, hearing Japanese Pop Music from the speakers above. It was muffled, but I was sure they had it on. It sounded a bit like the songs I heard off of Kai's iPod.

Well, Chou, here I come.

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"Hello," I cheered to some woman I had jus met. She smiled and hugged me, kissing me on the cheek as I did the same to her. My lipstick didn't come off on her cheek, which I was grateful for.

"Chou, it really is nice to see you. How's your day been going?"

"Wonderful," I said politely. "I feel ready to take down the world." The woman laughed, her short amount of orange hair never ruffling. I felt the edges of my smiles twitch, my eyes flickering backwards toward Candi who winked at me, her lips perked dangerously. She grinned at me, and I caught a glint of a razor blade underneath her tongue. I shivered and laughed nervously at the woman in front of me.

"You always were a humorous little thing."

I nodded at the woman, and glanced down at my glass. It was empty. "Please excuse me while I fetch a drink," I said to the woman, when she gasped.

"Oh no, please Chou, let one of my sons get it for you." I internally groaned. This was my one chance to slip away. My feet are hurting, my back killed me, and speaking Japanese for a long time hurt my throat.

"Oh, uh, sure," I said, disheartened. My hands shook.

"Kaoru, please, darling go fetch Ms. Chou a drink." Her hand rested on the arm of a young, teenage boy with orange hair that stuck out in the back. He had deep, amber eyes and a polite smile directed toward his mother and I. "Of course," he said, and courteously grabbed the glass from me to refill. If he noticed my slight trembling, he didn't mention anything.

"He's a doll," I said to the woman, whose name I remembered to be Yuzuha. Mr. Ozawa told me that Yuzuha-sama owned the company Chou worked at, and that they were very close friends.

Well then.

Just as Yuzuha was about to tell me something, I saw Kai waving me over frantically. I knew it had to be bad, so I smiled sadly at Mrs. Yuzuha. "I apologize but I must be going. I'll be back soon!" I abandonned the poor woman and raced over to Kai, who dragged me into an empty room, out of the large ballroom.

"What is it?" I asked her, agitated.

"The real Chou is here," she whispered urgently. "She came in a few minutes ago, and is now out in the party! We didn't know until she came over to speak with Ozawa-san. We need to sneak you out before someone notices there are two Chou's!" My head felt like it was spinning. How was I going to get out of here without being noticed by A) original Chou, or B) anyone else that sees both of us.

"Switch clothes with me!" I said to Kai. "I'm afraid the designs picked out for today can only be worn by the models, Connor," she said. I growled.

"Is there a spare pair of clothes in here I can borrow?"

"I doubt it."

I cursed. This was catastrophic. How in the hell could I get out of here without being noticed as the original Chou? I gasped. "Kai, I have an idea!" She listened to my plan and snapped.

"Good idea. Quickly, we grabbed a pair scissors she had, and snipped my 'hair' down to my shoulders. I took out my contacts, then grabbed the sleeves to my dress and ripped them off. Then, I pulled out the silicon breasts I had in, and voilà! Instant new person. Of course, I still resembled Chou a bit, but due to my short hair style and modified dress, I could quickly go by anyone of the people here without being mistaken as her unless they looked closely.

"You're genius, Connor."

"I know. Now, time to get out of here." Kai laughed and handed me a card.

"Here's Mr. Ozawa's number. Call us in a day or two, and we'll pay you, and let you know how everything turned out. Alright, now hurry! I promise I won't let Candi kill you."

I slipped out of the room and everyone was dancing or conversing good. I quickly ran across into the center of the crowd, pushing and shoving thrthroug the throng of people. Once I made it through, I sprinted when-

BAM!

I felt myself being knocked back into the floor. I gazed up quickly to see the boy with orange hair, (the son of Yuzuha), shocked. Crap! He probably recognizes me as Chou. I scrambled up and ran away, hearing him call after me.

"Wait!"

I pushed my legs to go faster and I made it to the front door. I pulled it open and jumped out. I bent over, trying to catch my breath when I heard the honk of a horn. It was Candi. "Hop in!"

As soon as I got in the car, I collapsed in a heaping mass. Candi smirked at me and lowered her unnecessary shades, her lips colored in black. She chuckled as she revved the engine, and then sped out of there, blasting some sort of metal music in my ear.

"That was too close," I gasped out.

Fuck yeah it was. Way too close. Candi parked the car in an abandoned parking lot, right near the dorm place I was staying at. She whipped out a sharp blade. I gulped as she let it slide over my throat, and then she held out her hand. I grabbed it shakily, and Candi faced forward, still grinning maliciously.

"Good work, kid. I might decide to keep you around."

I shook my head. "Please don't."

Candi barked out a laugh. "I like your spunk, kid. Don't mention this to the authorities, or I will kill you. Chou can't having her little break down go into the public eye."

She unlocked the car door, but handed me a card and sped off.

All that read was: CANDI AND KAI FOZEROINE for hire guards.

And then a number.

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Okay! What did you think?

- A_P

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