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"It shows" Maxwell tells me bluntly "Your sketches areskills, and I dread to think what you’d do if we let you near the real fabric"

I feel a rush of sha raphs Now, Maxwell’s words are like daggers, cutting throughat all

A sob rises in the back of my throat, but I force myself to s it back I can’t let hiive him the satisfaction, but I just want this to be over, forapart all n sensibility," Alicia tries to speak up She’s leafing through eous Just our kind of thing Look, Max--"

He gets up "We’re looking for so Alicia an irritated look "If you wantelse to do with your tiot it or you don’t You, my dear, do not"

Myto her "Next time, remember I’m on a schedule"

Maxwell strides out I stare after hi dizzy and faint, likeshattered in pieces on the floor

That wasn’t an interview, it was annihilation

"I’uilty "He’s not usually so blunt We’re under a lot of pressure right noith the deadline--"

"It’s fine" I e to findhands "He was just being honest"

Honest about the fact I’m a talentless hack, who never should have even stepped foot inside the building

"Have you finished that dress yet, the purple one?" Alicia asks, as I get to my feet "I’d love to see it when it’s done"

I shakeit nohen it’s clear it’s a waste ofall this way" Alicia hovers, aard in the doorway "And send my best to Hunter I saw his parents at lunch just the other week, such a wonderful faraboffice, full of people with actual skill and talent, living a dream that will never be mine

How could I have been so stupid?

I hit the elevator button angrily, already fighting back the deja vu of every time I was rejected and left on the sidelines, every time someone sneered and whispered dirty na

What made ood enough

You’ll never be good enough for them

The elevator arrives, and I step inside How could Hunter do this to me? If he’d only warnedcute and stylish, rehearsed htless idiot I could have bracedslammed out of nowhere Maybe it wouldn’t have h me, written me off as the foolish kid I really am But at least I could have been ready for it Maybe I would have stood a chance…

Hunter had no right to do this I grab a hold ofto block out the wave ofthat I’h Rejection and disappointer is my friend

By the time the elevator arrives back down in the lobby, I’ve pulledmy jaw to hold in the tears My phone buzzes with a text

I know you’re kicking butt! Callcold He doesn’t even realize how co comes so easily to him, he’s never knohat it’s like to fail, to be turned away, over and over again He has no idea This isin and fix everything

I hit ‘delete’ and head outside Hunter’s truck is still parked out front, but I keep walking, on and on down the city streets, waiting for the desperate ache in , I just know I have to keep ht the treacherous whispers of self-doubt lurking in the back of h

You’ll never be good enough for him

I take the bus back to Beachwood Bay, rejection still thick in my veins With every mile that rolls by, it hardens into resent in my skull

"You either have it or you don’t And you,the world outside blur into ribbons of green and brown speeding past He’s just some pretentious asshole, I tell myself His opinion doesn’t ive me a shot: he h that door, all the a

And whose fault is that?

I look up and realize we’re driving through the outskirts of to I rub my eyes and focus as I see a familiar turn-off The road up to Hunter’s ranch

"Stop the bus!" I yell, before I have a chance to think about it "This is ht here!"