Photoshoot for bikinis in the middle of winter in a snow covered backdrop was usually my worst dread. Today, however, I was glad because word reached us that our studio blew up after a group of teenage boys decided to experiment with chemicals using a translated foreign magazine. Disaster!

That night huddled in the nearby bar, drinking mulled cider we all said thankful prayers for our good fortune. Jessica, normally the drama queen, shivered and hugged Milly the girl she most hated in the world, or so she had always thought. Today we all grew up.

Starving to be slim enough for our agents, the right clothes and makeup, the highest earnings, all slipped out of our awareness, leaving a blank, stark reality.

It might have been freezing cold but we were all together.

Alive.
.