A New Convert? And A Calamity!

The sisters waited in anticipation as to what Uliana thought about the modelling, they could see she was taking her time to consider her answer.

"I want to thank you for sharing your secret with me, I think it must be very special, doing something so different, and I can see some people would make a big fuss about it, so that's why you have to keep it secret. It's not hurting anybody, and it sounds like you have a lot of fun, anyway it's no one else's business. You didn't say, but I suppose all the other girls do this too, so that must mean Eve, and Gina, and we're like the same age, this has been really, .. well, I don't know what word I'm looking for."

"Marta, in the library you came up with three options, letting it go and leaving you all alone; telling me, and swearing to keep it secret, or lastly sort of joining you all. It seems so weird even to think about, but I'm not special, I mean look at Gina, she's all plump and curvy, and Eve is just so pretty, and you too Anna, I can't see there would be a place for me."

"Well that proves what I said about self confidence, but think about the studio girls that are in 'the group' as you thought of them, seen lined up together you would see quiet a range of body shapes, and different stages of development. That is the entire point of what the web site is about, showing the beauty of how girls change, do you remember the start of Anna's story, the poster, girls from eight to fourteen, that's the usual age range to take on new models, but at our studio they can go on till about sixteen."

"There are other studios as part of the same group, and there are quite a few different web sites, some have younger or older girls, and they each have their own style, it may seem strange but some have girls that just pose in nice clothes and they don't get naked at all."

"This is so much to take in, I didn't know girls our age did modelling like this, I mean you see fashion models and stuff, but they always seem slim and elegant like they have all been cast in a mold, but this is like just any girl can suddenly become special."

The girls ended up talking right through the afternoon, and to satisfy her innate curiosity Anna showed her several of her own solo picture sets, and her cup cake video, which was accompanied in turn by gasps and laughter as being a star pupil her understanding of English was sufficient to grasp the full extent of the dialogue. Uliana was fascinated by every aspect of what she had seen, wanting to go over each set again and again, to view details of the costumes and sets, and to ask endless questions.

It was almost six o'clock when she realised what the time was, panicked about getting home on the Metro at that time of day, and worried she hadn't started their evening meal, and concerned that would cause her mum extra work when she got home. Marta took charge telling Uliana not to worry, Ella had been on a baking spree to stock up the freezer, and provided a meat and vegetable pie that had not yet cooled enough to be put away. Soon it was put in a Tupperware container for the journey, and Uliana was told how long it would take to heat to be ready for the table.

Anna had called a cab, and both sisters rode with her to the block where she lived, which was a large building of subsidised housing for railway employees. Uliana had never been in a taxi before, but the sisters hadn't thought twice about this mode of transport, they even knew the name of the driver, and he spoke to them as if they were old friends.

Waving to the sisters Uliana quickly went inside out of the cold, her mind in a whirl, dinner this evening with her mum was going to be interesting to say the least, this was likely to be the most personal talk since the one they had on growing up to be a woman. She was framing in her mind how she would approach the subject, and if her mum would agree to meet the boss at the studio and allow her to become a model. Both girls were convinced that she would be accepted, Marta telling her of how their reputation at the studio had lead to their nickname, and how the offer would be a done deal if that was what she wanted.

She in fact told her mum about going round to visit some girls who went to her school, and how they had provided the pie as time had got away from them, then at the end of a very nice meal she said she wanted to tell her mum a story, and could she save any comments till the end of the tale. Uliana then went on to repeat the story that she had heard from Anna that afternoon, going on to describe the amazing house where the family now lived.

Valechka found it hard to believe, but her daughter was a smart girl, and not easily fooled, and she began to fill in more details to answer her mother's questions. One small titbit of information fell into place with a loud thud, from the windows of the office where she worked, she could see down over the concourse and ticket hall through where all the passengers passed. She had often noted how the number of young girls travelling with their mother's rose on a Friday afternoon, at times thinking how nice it would be to take her own daughter away for a weekend outing. Could some of these girls be the weekend influx of models coming into Kiev?

They talked long into the evening, past Uliana's normal bedtime, having a narrow bed and a couch they each had their own place to sleep, but Valechka had a restless night, as her little girl had seemed so keen to join in with this studio that made images for the internet.

The next day Uliana went to school carrying a note which she gave to Marta, fortunately seeing her in passing in the corridor on the way to her first lesson. Marta anxious to know the contents read it before the lesson began.

Dear Marta,

Thank you for the very tasty pie, it was so big and with just the two of us it will also make a nice meal for a second evening. Rest assured your family story Uliana told me, will be kept in confidence, but I would be keen to speak with your mother to settle some issues in my own mind. As we have no telephone at home, could you please ask your mother to phone me on the number below, and ask for the extension number which will reach my desk.

Yours faithfully ....

They had both spoken to their mum after the boys had gone up, and told her about the young girl's inquiring mind, that had lead to her visit that day. She had agreed that it must be hard at that age to deal with all the others in her classes who were a year or more older than she was, and a boost in confidence would do her good.

Between classes that morning Marta phoned home to relay the the message from Uliana's mum, about how she wanted to have a chat. Ella made the call which surprised Valechka who had not expected to hear from the mother of the two girls until the following day.

Valechka was hesitant on how to approach the subject, apart from which there were others in the office who could possibly overhear anything she said on the phone, luckily her nearest co-worker left the room so they arranged to meet that afternoon at Ella's house as neither thought they could speak openly at any public meeting place. Valechka now had to square this with her boss, knowing that by volunteering to take on an unpopular shift the next few Sundays, she could hopefully get the time off she needed at short notice.

Ella left a message on Marta's phone that a meeting had been arranged, then she called Olga asking if she or Gramps would like to pick the boys up and have them stay for supper that evening. Olga was very happy to have the opportunity to spoil the boys, even saying they could stay overnight as they kept a change of clothes at the cottage, and she could take them in to school in the morning. That solution killed two birds with one stone, no little ears about to overhear adult conversations, and a happy old couple who could play at being grandparents for a while.

Valechka had taken down Ella's number in case there had been a problem, but her boss had been relieved to have a solution to the sudden weekend rota issue, to cover for the person off sick in hospital, he had said she could take an early lunch, and he would see her in the morning to talk of the tasks on Sunday. Calling back, Ella said to come straight round when she finished work, and she would make her lunch, so Valechka found herself walking from the station wondering if she had made a mistake in taking down the details, though her daughter had spoken of a large park, and if the house number was correct it was just a little further down this avenue.

Stopping she looked up at the house, she could see lawns and flower beds peaking out from under the retreating layer of snow, and tire tracks leading to the built in garage, she was unsure what to do, this would be awkward if she had the wrong house, for that matter it wouldn't be much different if it was the right one.

The front door opened and a friendly woman asked if she was Valechka, for Ella had been keeping an eye open for anyone on the street, and being a no through road they didn't get that many people coming past. Ella took her coat and asked if she wanted some slippers to wear, as it was a common courtesy to offer them to visitors to your home.

Valechka couldn't help look all round, it was much as her daughter had described, she had not been exaggerating how nice the house was, and she had received a friendly welcome from Ella, who lead her through to the kitchen where she could smell soup simmering on the hob, mingled with smell of something baking in the oven. Ella did not strike her as a woman who was rich, she seemed so normal, going out of her way to put her at ease.

The kitchen had many signs of the four kids who lived there, magnets holding drawings to the fridge door, with books and magazines stacked at one end of a worktop, and a large calender marked with school or family reminders, it was for want of a better word homely.

Ella was soon serving up soup with warm crusty bread as they spoke of their respective children, but was careful to avoid any mention of the missing father that Marta had told her of beforehand, for it would be impolite to raise the issue if Valechka didn't speak of it first. She could hear the pride in the woman's voice with regard to her daughter's advancement in school, and the hope she would do better in life than being a railway clerk.

There was a short pause in conversation, as this was a natural opening to move on to the subject that they had so far avoided. Ella made the first move, stating how sceptical they had been the day Anna had come home holding the small poster she had peeled from a shop window. From then on Ella related how the people they met from the studio had been so kind and helpful, with the decision to move coming just at the time Igor was about to be made redundant. It had been funny in a way that his old boss thought that Igor was choked up about being let-go, when he had actually gone in that day to resign, and was choking back a laugh at the strange twist of fate.

Valechka said that, although they had never had the time or money to go away on holiday, she could see the attraction of nudist beaches or resorts, for what was the point of having special clothes to swim in, or just to sit in the sun, when it was obvious it could be better enjoyed without that encumbrance. Although she had no issues on that score, she knew that it was a fairly common hangup with some people, especially with foreigners who equated any skin with sex and sinfulness. They joked about all the silly misconceptions that existed in those types of blinkered societies.

Then at last the subject came round to how the girls were portrayed in the type of photos that went on the studio web sites, and Ella was able to relate what she had seen first hand when she had accompanied Anna, and about the sets she had been shown on the laptop they used for studio work. She hadn't really been interested in all the modern computer stuff that her girls and her husband used every day, though Marta did print out grocery lists so that she only had to fill in the numbers, and that was handy.

Ella went on to say it was just young girls showing off, as girls always would, a way in which to try out their womanly wiles harmlessly, and tease their audience. It was a world away from the sort of lurid and sleazy pornography that some men liked, what it did have was an innocent kind of naughtiness of girls playing dress-up, to take on a role. Then she went on to recount how her older daughter had become involved, and was now working on writing the little plays the girls performed, and coming up with new ideas for the studio.

Valechka was soon looking through the foreign magazines that the girls used as learning aids, and as an inspiration for how the site members would view teenage girls in their own cultures. Apart from Ukrainian and Russian, Valechka could get by with a smattering of common phrases in languages from the various surrounding countries, though she had never considered the need to learn English. Ella told her she and Igor were very slowly picking it up from their kids, as the girls were quite fluent, and the boys were eager to catch up, as to them it was just a game.

Marta had earlier decided to skip chess club, and she had spoken to Anna, who had in turn passed it on to Uliana, that her mum had gone round to see their mum that afternoon to have a chat. The sisters had also spoken to Eve on the way to the station that morning about a possible new recruit, so when all four met after last bell they hung about for the place to clear, then Marta phoned home. As Valechka was still there they all set off to join in the meeting, and Eve called home to say she would be at her friends house.

It had been fascinating to learn about the studio, and the massive impact it had made in the lives of this family, so much so that Valechka had lost sight of the time. After a call from Ella's oldest daughter it seemed she would meet both girls, another girl who also modelled for the web site, and her own daughter would be travelling back with them. During her talk with Ella she had come to realise that this business operated on a massive scale, at first she had thought maybe a few dozen, then sixty or seventy, now it seemed it was more than a thousand girls spread right across the country.

A topic raised at the recent network Directors meeting, was a new change in recruitment strategy, whereby they were in talks with a major modelling company involved advertising, promotional work, and catalogue models. By having joint campaigns, they could use TV and radio to find new models, and hold auditions together. The fact some of the men held Directorships in both camps brought this about with few questions being asked, but it would allow them to reach a wider number of potential fledgling models.

Back in Ella's kitchen it was getting noisy with four girls all talking at once, but with the introductions Valechka sorted out who was who, and learned that the other visitor was a model from the same school that lived just around the corner. The volume reduced when Ella laid out some after school snacks and drinks, the girls having fun competing to see who could get the best 'moustache' from their hot chocolate drinks. If her daughter hadn't told her that all of the models had academic scores that were among the highest in the school, she may have been worried this was a bunch of air heads, but Ella had said it was more a case of work hard, play hard.

Seeing the way these girls were including her daughter in the various topics that came up round the table was heart warming, for she knew how much Uliana had been struggling at school with the feeling of isolation from her older classmates. Even if nothing else came of this, if she gained a few friends, it would help her cope better with the problems she faced in class. On the other hand if she was accepted as a model, it could have many benefits maybe increasing her social circle even more, and it would be nice to take her daughter shopping for new clothes, if she could earn a few extra hryvnias.

Marta and Anna cleared the table then went upstairs to get changed taking the other two with them, which lead to a discussion about the children each having their own rooms, and how the studio had moved heaven and earth on decorating and refurbishing the house so they could quickly move in. Valechka was given a tour while they waited for the girls return, and was stunned when she saw the murals in the boys bedrooms, as if the rest of the house wasn't amazing enough in itself. Knocking on Marta's door they were invited in, and shown round, then passing through the shared bathroom, through to the Anna's room, where the three youngest were gathered around the desk.

There was a definite horsey theme from the pictures on the wall, and the largest stuffed bear she had ever seen was propped up on the bed. Valechka was offered a seat to view what the girls had been showing her daughter, they were looking at a laptop computer, one of two that sat on the desk. She had seen them on the television, and when passing some high end stores, so she knew they were phenomenally expensive, even at work only a few people used computers, and they were big old desktop types with small screens.

Anna used to be a bit bashful about showing people her own modelling work, but now she quite enjoyed watching their reaction to seeing her do her thing in front of the camera, proud of her professional achievements. She ran through her sets using the slide show facility, but changed to manual when Uliana wanted to flip back to ask questions about about some of the images she hadn't seen the day before. From then on she stepped through sets, giving some more background information from the viewpoint of a model.

Eve said they should view some of her work as well, and as that wasn't on the hard drive Anna logged on to the internal company server by use of her passwords, giving them a brief tour, where Uliana saw some familiar faces from school in the line up. Paging through they got to Kasia, Eve's professional working name, and viewed some of her image sets, as they had admin level access to view any of the material available. She had not yet done a video in English but that was something Anna had been helping her with, so they logged off so Anna could show them her video's that were in a folder on her machine.

Though Valechka couldn't follow the dialogue she watched as the girl who was standing beside them, on screen went about a kitchen as she prepared to do some cooking. From the way the girls were laughing, it seemed what she was saying had to be funny, and as the movie progressed she could see though the accidents were staged, it must have taken a lot of care and practice to produce such a professional looking video. As Ella had said, it was just adolescent girls finding an outlet for showing off, and in both the photo sets, and now this video that was exactly what she could see.

Uliana had even more questions and wanted to view more of the material, but her mum said she had seen enough for today, saying she would go back down to see Ella who had returned to her kitchen. All those faces, hundreds of girls, happy, wearing bright costumes, beautifully made, and fairytale backgrounds, this was what these girls did, and Valechka could see that they enjoyed their time in front of the camera. Who could even guess that such things existed, all the pictures suggested it was something the girls relished doing, and she could see the appeal, in this realm these girls were superstars in their own right.

It often seemed their lives were lived in shades of grey, and she shuddered to think how those worse off than her faired at this time of the year with snow and cold a constant factor for much of the winter. Seeing her, Ella asked if she and Uliana liked fish, as they might as well stay to supper, that would be three meals care of Ella this week, as they still had half a pie at home in their little fridge. She was fond of the dish Ella was about to prepare, but like the cost of so many things, it was now a luxury she couldn't afford, one had to watch every last kopeck.

It had been a revelation talking to Ella all afternoon, and now having seen for herself the pictures of models from the the studio, she had no qualms if this was what Uliana wanted to do. This just left one delicate subject, that normally it would be rude to discuss, she had no idea what sort of money her daughter could earn by joining the studio, and from what she had seen so far it looked to be considerable, unless Ella's husband was a business tycoon of some sort.

Ella had expected the question at some point, surprised it had taken this long, Valechka had been hesitant in her approach to the subject, no doubt embarrassed about such a delicate topic. Ella explained how things worked, and how the models, and all the other staff earned percentages based on the sales of each set, and on the set fees for each session in the studio.

Valechka could see the fairness to this approach, and Ella told her of other backstreet operators in the same field who gave the girls one payment, and that was all they got, regardless of how much revenue their pictures made for those that ran these other disreputable web sites. After talking about the structure of how the girls were paid, and how it got better as they became more popular, Ella added some numbers to the equation which left Valechka's head spinning.

It amused Ella, she had been ready in case the woman fainted, but all that was needed to help her over the shock and revive her was a cup of strong coffee. Valechka needed both hands to steady the cup, she had been prepared to let Uliana take part for the reasons she had already reviewed in her own mind, because she could see how this had fired her daughter's imagination, but now it would be disappointing if Uliana had a change of heart.

She asked Ella if she thought Uliana might get past the auditions, as she had spent much of the previous evening talking about the studio and the possibility of becoming a model. As both her daughter's had shown a positive reaction to the girl, Ella grinned expressing her opinion that it was almost a done deal, as Marta could wrap Ivan around her little finger. This lead on to talking about the staff, and how everyone from the boss downwards was on a first name basis. Soon Ella spoke about the salon, and how she went at least once a fortnight, though she had felt a little cheeky at first, but many of the local mums made use of this perk, and it allowed them to meet face to face now and then.

The girls came back down to the kitchen as Eve popped in to say goodbye, as she had been called home for supper, the remaining three set the table ready for their own meal. Ella had explained her sons were out on a sleepover without going into any more details, then Uliana asked how her mum had managed to get the afternoon off work, at first she was pleased that she had been able to meet with Ella, but less happy her mum would have to work for three hours each Sunday for the next few weekends.

After a hesitant start, Valechka agreed that if Uliana was still set on trying for an audition to become a model, then she had no objections, she ran up to hug her mum then her two new school friends, as she saw whole new avenues opening in her future. Marta rang the studio, only to find Ivan had left early that day, she tried another number, and the others listened as she made plans, Uliana nodding at implied questions, only hearing Marta's side of the conversation. When the call ended they all looked to her for answers.

"I caught Ivan on his mobile, now visits from the out of town girls have slacked off Uliana can go in first thing Saturday, and with any luck you can both get your hair and nails done, he said he will set things up with Carina to do make up, and Sandra to be on camera."

"You'll like Sandra, she did my audition photo shoot, and Gina usually has Carina do her make up, so you two will have something in common now."

Anna went on to relate a story of another model they had watched during a combined photo and video shoot, when Sandra was on camera with Vladimir doing video, and the model had a last minute costume change because of some problem. Because the trousers were too tight Carina had crawled on set to pull them off while the cameras focused on the model's top half, it had been funny but being professionals they held back the laughter.

When Igor got home he was introduced to the girls school friend, and her mum before he had chance to pop up to get washed and changed, as soon as he excused himself, he began to wonder at the sudden appearance of this new girl, speculating if she was some new recruit for the studio. He wouldn't put it past his daughters to introduce another girl into the fold, though he couldn't imagine this had been via the same circumstances as they had found Irisha. That girl had changed, really blossomed, regained her self respect, and if he wasn't mistaken, was sweet on Taras. He didn't want to interfere with that one, maybe he could ask Melenki to speak with the lad, make sure he treated her right.

Over the meal between pleasantries with their guests, the family did their normal thing of sharing the day's news, and planning ahead to avoid any clash in their respective diaries. Marta and Anna had bumped their visit to the stables, now going on Sunday instead, as they wanted to spend the day at the studio on Saturday, with Marta working on some Valentines day themes for a few girls, and Anna wanted to help Eve choose a costume for her first English video that they had been working on for weeks.

With the girls talking so openly about studio business, it confirmed his earlier thoughts, and he said how this evening he felt totally outnumbered with the boys away, so he couldn't discus football, beer and fishing. Anna tackled him saying he didn't talk about that stuff anyway as he didn't watch football, drank very little beer, and hadn't been fishing for years. This resulted in banter between the two, Igor insisting there must be a law somewhere that said men had to discus those subjects.

Uliana hadn't known what to expect when she had been introduced to this large man, but he seemed nice, like Ann's Mr Bear, big and soft, she hadn't known her own dad, it wasn't a subject her mum liked to talk about, as he had walked out when she was very young. Sometimes she wished her mum would find a nice man, and they would marry, then she would have a dad like other girls, but her mum often worked long hours, it wasn't overtime, it was just they expected everyone at the office to do so much.

She knew her mum didn't really like the job, and it was odd to think of it as a good job, but many others would be willing to fill her place if she lost it, so everyone put in the time to get their work finished. In a way her mum was stuck, as they would also be homeless if she were ever to loose her job, hopefully if she got to be a model any money she made would help her mum, and she would have less worries.

Uliana loved the food, she hadn't had fish like that before, and they had a dessert too, fruit pie with real thick cream, if she ate like that every day she would get fat, and they still had half a pie at home for tomorrow's supper. Her mum would have saved a bit this week on her grocery bill which was always a hard thing to do in the winter, but foremost in her mind was the audition on Saturday, she didn't know how she would get through school the next day with the butterflies in her tummy.

Though both Valechka and her daughter had travel passes one of the few perks of her job, Ella said they shouldn't be travelling by Metro at this time of the evening, and Igor would give them a lift home, Marta and Anna said they would go along as well for the ride.

Valechka felt like a free-loader, at first it was only meant to be a meeting, but with Ella making lunch then having them both for supper, she had just been swept up by the turn of events. She hoped they didn't think badly of her, for it was good manners to bring at least a small gift when invited round to someone's home for a meal. If the modelling came to anything hopefully she would be in a better position to show her appreciation, and make amends for her shortcomings.

On the ride back Anna told their dad a little about Uliana and how they had come to meet which raised a chuckle from the man. Anna wanted to know why he found it funny, and he told her he was thinking about what it said in her made-up biography, of how she wanted to be a vet when she grew up, so was she now practising by taking in hurt or wounded girls. Anna normally the joker, took it in good part, and there seemed to be a kernel of truth in there, but she insisted it was more Marta's sympathetic nature than her own that had lead to helping others.

Friday was a day of contrasts, if you like mixed fortunes, as Uliana went round with a fixed smile humming to herself, looking forwards to her audition the next day, buoyed up with confidence from her talk with Anna. The same could not be said for Sofia a fourteen year old, her day was a disaster, on her way in to school she slipped on a patch of ice and falling badly broke her arm.

Sofia was one of the studio girls, she had been going through a rapid growth spurt, and had yet to gain her coordination as sometimes happened in these cases, so she had been feeling clumsy of late. It was fortunate she was walking to school with a fellow model who had the sense to phone the studio for advice, rather than rely on the state health service. A private ambulance was quickly on the scene, blaring it's way through the morning traffic, and Sofia was soon receiving the best medical attention.

As the day progressed news of Sofia's accident spread through the studio girls, who were all concerned to find out how she was, and the extent of her injuries. Marta showed just as much anxiety as the others, for she had been planning a Valentines day video sketch with the girl, and now from the update she had from the studio Sofia's left arm was in plaster.

Marta knew the planned dates for Valentines themed releases was in the next two to three weeks, so the sketch they had worked on would be wasted unless another girl could take it on. In a flash of inspiration she knew just what to do about Sofia, this would tick a few boxes as her sister was keen to say, and she knew just what to do with the spare sketch.

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To be continued in Chapter 50.

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