12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Sage

" W ould you guys like to say hi to my vlog?"

All of the girls look up at me with a smile as I turn the camera.

"Hey, vlog!" They sing in sync as a few of them wave.

"Is that a new camera?" Stel voices as she sits up like she's going to run over.

"It is!" I tell her, and the vlog, what camera it is and mention that the link will be in the description.

"You lucky bitch," Stel voices playfully as she sinks into her seat. "Did they send it to you? Because I've secretly been dying for a partnership with them."

I tell her it was a gift and smile at the camera before reminding myself to thank Liam again.

I tell the camera I'll see them in a bit, and I turn it off before turning to the group. "Anyways," I flop onto the couch beside them. It became routine for us to hang out in Quinn's room between shoots. I'm not sure why we collectively chose her room, but she says she loves having us in here, so it's become our spot, and we even prefer it over the lounge.

"How's everyone's day going?"

We chat for a bit about our various days and what we did at work before Nin invites me to lunch with them at her family's restaurant. I almost decline since I don't have the appetite to eat. I'm not sure what it is, but my appetite has been shot recently, which I guess isn't the worst thing. I haven't eaten in two days, and the pumpkin spice latte I had is starting to feel like it's not enough. I end up agreeing to go to eat with them since I miss hanging out with them outside of work.

After a beat, the room falls quiet. I look between the girls, but they just stare at me.

"What?"

"What do you mean what ?" Coral repeats my question as if it were absurd to ask. "How did the Moore event go? It's been days, and my nosy ass is tired of being polite. Who was there?"

I burst into a laugh when she leans forward like she might pounce at me. I tell her how the night went, and everyone else in the room has their eyes on me as I explain. They ask for pictures, and I let them scroll through my camera roll.

I look up at the sound of the door opening, and a smile touches my lips when I notice Royal. I feel my brows crease at the annoyed look on her face, but she rants before I can question it.

"Your friend is right behind me, and she has an attitude." She rolls her eyes before flopping next to Quinn. I'm sure she's talking about Lena, and I bite back a laugh at how she always calls her my friend when she does something to annoy her.

"What happened?"

"Shit," Quinn starts before looking around the room. "I forgot to fill you in, she—"

Helena walks in, and Quinn falls quiet.

"Hello, pretty babe." I smile over at her.

She barely glances up from her phone as she mumbles a hello in return. I look back over at the girls, but when I notice them watching us, I feel my brows scrunch. "What?" I whisper, but it's clear they aren't going to say it in front of Lena.

Coral looks over at Quinn, but when neither of them says anything, I look down the couch at the rest of the girls, but no one speaks up.

"Are we still getting lunch after these pictures?"

I look back over at Helena, and she's looking at Nin now.

"Yeah, that's the plan…" Nin looks over at Stel and they both share a weird look before they glance over at Macey and Royal, and I have no idea what I missed.

"We're going after our group pictures, right? Not your solo ones." I turn to Nin, and she nods quietly.

Today's probably my favorite day to vlog since we're doing billboard pictures. Group photos are always fun.

"What time is the photographer getting here?" We look over at Helena and she's fixing her gloss in Quinn's mirror.

"He should be here soon." I smile at her usual impatience. When I notice the glitter in her lipgloss I let out a soft gasp. "Omg, can I see your gloss?" I'm already making my way to her, but just as I reach her, she puts it back in her bag.

"We can't have the same gloss in these pictures, Sage."

"What—"

"We're going to be late." She rises from her seat and walks off without another word, and I look over at the girls.

"Okay, what is going on?"

Royal speaks up. "She's upset about the Moore event. She wanted to go." She rolls her eyes, and instead of responding, I follow after Helena.

"Hey."

She doesn't stop, but I keep up with her fast pace.

"Lena, what's wrong?"

She still has her back to me as she shakes her head. "You're seriously asking me that?" Her tone alone tells me she's more upset than I thought, but I'm so confused.

"Did I do something?"

She turns on her heels so fast I almost bump into her.

"Why did you invite Mel to go with you to the Moore event?"

I open my mouth, but she doesn't let me get a word in.

"Of all people, you take the girl you just met to one of the biggest opportunities of our lives?"

"Helena, I would have invited you, but you had a photo shoot? You said–"

"I would've canceled for Vincent Moore, Sage."

"You said you didn't want to cancel?!" I am beyond lost right now. "And I called you that day to invite you as my plus one, but you declined my call and said you were busy?"

"And you invite Mel ?"

"You said it yourself, that event was a huge opportunity, and if I could let all of the girls tag along, I would've, but the rest of The Eight were busy with the Angels and Elaine's photo shoot. It was great for Mel, so what's wrong?"

Helena shakes her head as if I'm the crazy one who's not understanding, but I genuinely don't see the problem and none of the other girls seemed upset, if anything, they were the opposite. They were only being weird once she entered.

"We started this together, Sage."

"I–"

"We've always talked about being Moore Girls, and now that you have Vincent's attention, it's like you completely tossed me aside." She sounds so… betrayed, and it hurts that she even thinks that.

"Helena, that's not what I'm doing. You know I want to see us both at the top, no matter who gets there first. I swear you were the first person I called when I saw I could bring a plus one."

She lets out a sigh, and I grab a hold of her hand. "You're my best friend, Lena. I wouldn't intentionally not invite you to anything, and for you to think that of me hurts."

She shakes her head and pulls her hand away. "I just need some space."

I keep my gaze on her as she walks off without another word. I decide to just leave her alone, and the rest of the girls descend from Quinn's room. I, of course, fill them in, but they only roll their eyes and tell me not to overthink it. I guess they're used to Helena's random attitude and fits.

"I can't believe she really thinks that low of me."

"Oh, girl, please. We all know you're an amazing friend," Royal starts, "I been told you I noticed sneaky hater vibes from her," she voices as she ties her braids in a high bun.

"Yeah…" Stel goes on. "I didn't want to say it since you two are besties and have been here longer than me, but she's also really mean to—well, every new girl. It's weird," Stel adds, and she's right, but I never sensed Helena being jealous of me.

Someone is sent over to get us and we get started with our group pictures. Royal unfortunately needs to sit out on these since she's on probation for missing the Moore runway show. Thankfully, she gets to stay and watch, vlogging for me off to the side, and it isn't too awkward as we take our group pictures with Helena.

Stel and Macey get closer as we pose and get touchy. Not inappropriately, and if you didn't know they had something going on, it'll look like they're just working, but I can feel all of the girls stealing glances at them.

When Royal moves to the side to get shots of the secret couple, I remind myself to cut whatever they don't want to be shown in my vlog. I'm not sure why they're hiding their relationship; it makes me doubt if they're actually together and their flirty comments to each other are jokes, but I sense it's more.

As planned, we end up having lunch at the Thai restaurant Nin's family owns, but Helena bails.

Nin's dad comes out to say hi to us before whispering something to Nin in Thai. She shakes her head at him softly before inviting us to come over to his house later today so he can cook for us.

We all thank him for the offer, and I'll be busy, but a few of the other girls say they'll be there. I glance at Helena's meal plan since I'm still following it and order something similar. I force myself to pick at some of it because I don't want to offend Nin, but it has nothing to do with her dad's food. The bit that I do try is amazing, but I just don't have an appetite.

After we ate, we did a bit of shopping because we were so close to Rodeo Drive and just couldn't resist.

Helena ends up texting me an apology and says how she's just stressed . When I show the girls, half of them say to respond while the other half tell me to ignore her. Considering she's still my friend and we have to work together, I just like the message and tell her to forget it.

After a while, we each go our separate ways, and I'm heading to my car when Moon texts me.

Moon Pie

Heyy! Liam just said he wanted to see you and when I asked if I could come, he said no :(

You're cool with me tagging along right?!

Before I can type out a response, Liam texts me.

Liam

Do not tell Moon he can come over.

I stifle a laugh as I like his message.

I'm being serious. Stop laughing, and please do not invite him over.

I break into a laugh as I go back to reply to Moon.

Of course you can come!! Meet me at my place, I'm on my way now!

I give him my address and slip into my car.