“Thanks,” I said. I knew I would be on Maisie’s good side for a little while, since I’d let her come to the shoot. At least I had that going for me.

So we waited for the photographer. And we waited . . . and waited some more.

“I am sooooo bored,” Maisie moaned.

“Me too,” I agreed.

“Can’t we just leave?” Maisie asked.

“I don’t think that would be professional,” I replied.

Mom frowned. “I don’t think this photographer is being very professional,” she said.

The photographer, a blond guy wearing sunglasses, finally showed up around ten o’clock.

Delia stormed up to him. “Marcus, seriously?”

He shrugged. “Traffic, Delia,” he said with a yawn. “Not my fault.”

Delia rolled her eyes. “The models are ready for you.”

Marcus started ordering around some people whom I guessed were assistants, and they set up two cameras in front of this big weeping willow tree. Then Delia snapped at us to all stand by the tree.

Marcus didn’t even ask us our names.

“Girl in blue! Lean against the tree! Girl in pink, stand next to her!”

I obeyed and stood next to Aubrey.

“Other side!” Marcus barked, and I quickly moved to what I thought was the right position. Then he got the other models to pose too.

But then he kept making us move around. “Pink, switch with green! No, no, no. Move closer. Not that close.”

This must have gone on for half an hour, at least, before he started taking any photos.

“Smile!” he yelled.

We all smiled. But I sure didn’t feel like it. I don’t think any of the other girls did either. Marcus couldn’t even bother to learn our names. I felt like a prop, not a person. It made me think about how the photographer was like a coach. They could get the best out of you by being nice, like Coach Flores. They could even be super strict, like Coach Darby, and you could still learn a lot. But even though Coach Darby was tough, she called us all by name. At least when you joined a team, you got to know your coach, and they got to know you. But so far with modeling, I’ve worked with a new photographer every time, and clearly they were all very different.

Finally, after it seemed like we’d posed in every way possible, I thought we were finally done. I was eager to get changed and get to my game before I let my entire team down.

“Can we get changed yet?” Julianna asked.

“Not yet,” Delia said. “Marcus might need more shots.”

And of course, Marcus did want more shots. He wanted the tan girl who didn’t tell me her name to put her hair in a ponytail. He wanted Aubrey and Julianna to switch hoodies. Then we took some more photos.

“Pink, show some teeth when you smile!” he told me.