Sabine’s friendliness made me instantly more relaxed. I had remembered how mean Luna was toward Frida. I guess that, without even realizing it, I had expected Sabine to treat me the same way. What a relief that she was being nice!

I smiled back. “Okay.” I couldn’t imagine teaching Sabine anything about modeling, but soccer, I could do.

“Let’s get some solo shots first,” Zane said. “Sabine, I’ll start with you. Can you do some warm-up stretches, maybe?”

“How about a yoga stretch?” Sabine asked.

“Sounds good,” Zane replied.

Sabine got in front of the green screen and did some leg lunges with her arms straight up over her head. Zane put the camera on a tripod and began taking pictures. Then he started shouting out commands.

“Keep that neck straight!”

“Try it from the opposite side now.”

“Okay, now look at the camera while you’re doing it.”

He was very nice about it, but really fast. And Sabine responded immediately every time he asked her to do something, moving into perfect position.

“Great!” Zane said after what seemed like a hundred different poses. “All right, Devin, how about some soccer stretches?”

“Sure,” I replied, and I realized my palms were sweating again, but I didn’t want to wipe them on my fresh blue shorts. I quickly blew on them and then stepped in front of the green screen. What would Frida do? I asked myself. She’d get right into the role of a soccer player. I knew how to do that in my sleep! So I confidently got on the floor and stretched out my left leg, pulling up the toes of my left sneaker, like I would before any soccer practice.

Zane took the camera off the tripod and crouched down. “Okay, nice. Hold that,” he said. “Now try it with your right hand.”

I pulled my left leg in and started to extend my right leg.

Zane pulled the camera away from his face. “No, I mean, just use your right hand to pull back the foot on your left leg.”

“Oh!” I said. “I mean, that’s not how you do the stretch, actually,” I said, but then I stopped myself. I could feel my face getting red. This wasn’t about stretching. Was Zane going to be mad?

“Oh, sure, I get that, but let’s just see how it looks with your hand crossing your body,” Zane said.

I nodded and did the stretch the way he asked.

“Okay, now, eyes on your left foot,” he said. “And smile.”

I smiled, a full teeth-out grin.

“Try it with your mouth closed,” he said. I did, but it felt sort of weird. “Okay, good. Now, that’s more like a grimace. Just relax, Devin. Release your shoulders.”

Release my shoulders? I wasn’t sure what he meant, so I kind of just let them slump.

“Hmm,” Zane said. “Can you do a stretch standing up?”