Undercover: Book 1 — Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Katy!” I said with wide eyes.

"Yeah, bitch, it’s me." she smirked, walking forward.

"You are replacing me with my best friend? This is a joke," I said, letting my hurt show on my face.

"Tsk tsk, Clover, we were never friends. You should know the saying, ‘keep your friends close but your enemies closer,’" Katy smirked. “The best part? You never expected this. You didn’t even bother telling me your secret.”

"It was you! It was you all along! How could I have been so stupid?" I said angrily, clenching my fists. “How could you do this to me all this time? You knew my secret and you blackmailed me. And you!” I looked at Mary. “You let her release things, hell, you gave her videos and pictures to help her, yet you pretended to help me cover half of it up all this time.”

Katy simply shrugged. “You have to understand how this all goes, Clover. You seriously think you have no competition in the modeling world?”

“This goes past competition. This goes to the level of petty and it’s disgusting that Mary would go this far to help you,” I said, shaking my head with disappointment.

“Clover, there’s no point in standing here and pretending it’s all going to get better. Your career with Victoria's Secret is done. Maybe you’ll get a gig with some other local company, but you know they don’t really accept fires, so maybe leave that part out,” Katy said, rolling her eyes as she leaned against the table, twirling her hair.

“You act like you’ve taken something from me,” I started, but she stood up straight and put her hands out, her laughter filling the room.

“I have taken everything from you, Clover Thompson. You’re not ‘Lucky’ anymore. You think you have something still. Well, I guess you do, you have your best friend, Tori’s career. You can watch it grow now that you’re not around.”

I shook my head. “Tori will continue to grow no matter where I am in the business because she’s a talented model, and she’s earned and worked toward where she is now. That fact alone proves you never even supported her.” I took a step closer. I knew Tori always considered herself closer to Katy than I ever was to her, which was why it made this whole situation even more disgusting.

Katy shook her head. “That girl can stop being the caterpillar and can turn into the butterfly. Take this opportunity and go have a normal life that you’ve been trying so hard to have with a simple disguise.”

“Clover, Long Beach doesn’t want you anymore and neither does Victoria’s Secret,” Mary said and I laughed. I probably looked crazy, laughing to the point that my knees were bent and my eyes were watering. My stomach even started hurting from laughing so hard.

"Oh my gosh!" I laughed, now crying.

"What? Why are you laughing?" Katy asked, annoyed.

I only shook my head, holding up a finger, signaling for her to wait a minute.

"Katy, Mary, there is one problem to your plan," I smirked.

"Oh, really? And what is that?" Katy asked with a scowl.

"Katy… Katy… Katy..." I trailed off, shaking my head. "Hon, my career isn't over. I have had people lining up to take my place ever since I did my first fashion show when I was fifteen. You think because Mary fired me, I'm over? I can get a new and better manager in seconds because all she’s doing is quitting. She can’t fire me." My smirk got even bigger. “I have a contract with Victoria’s Secret and multiple other companies. Managers are easily replaceable and if she wants out of the contract with the company for being my manager, she has to pay off her contract and do all that fun stuff. She knows this, I know this. And no matter what, I still have a career, I’m still at the top of the modeling business.”

Mary nodded her head at the information, “Katy and I already talked about that part. I easily will pay my contract off and then I’ll get Katy started with her own career. She will go big and you’ll see her on more billboards than what you’ve ever made it to.” Mary defended while Katy shook her haid.

“No one is going to want to take you on after everything that you have going on. You have more bad publicity than Marilyn Monroe ever had.”  Katy said crossing her arms over her chest.

She wasn’t wrong, but it’s her fault that my image has even been tainted. "Really, you want to test that theory?” I asked as I pulled out my phone. I texted multiple people before I finally got a few names for managers. I immediately noticed one name in particular, Sarah.

I dialed Sarah’s number and waited patiently for her to answer. Sarah was one of the younger agents these days, being only twenty-three, but rumor has it that she’s one of the best you could get.

"Huh? Did I read it right? Clover Thompson is calling me? The Lucky? It's so nice for you to call," Sarah said as I put the phone on speaker for everyone to hear.

"Yeah, I actually have a question for you, Sarah," I said, smirking at Mary's face, which looked bored to anyone who didn’t know her. Her face secretly screamed jealously.

"Continue," Sarah said suspiciously.

"Well, I'm actually looking for a new manager as of today, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about you. Which is why I was wondering if you’d be interest in the job?” I asked.

"Being the manager for Lucky? That’s not even a question. I’d love to. And now that your secret is out, we can change this negativity and these dark questions into making you something even greater. And uh, before you disagree, there is always something greater that you can do and I’m going to be here to help you,” Sarah said and I felt my heart jump in my chest at her confidence.

I smiled widely. "Thanks, Sarah. We’ll get dinner soon. I can’t wait to see what you will do for me as my manager." We said our goodbyes and I hung up.

"Now, you were saying, Katy? Mary?" I raised an eyebrow, sending them a challenging look. "I would say I had a wonderful time while you were being my manager but that would be a lie. Oh, and, Katy, about the whole going to jail thing? I'll make sure Sarah takes care of it." I smirked as I headed toward the door, Tori by my side.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. I felt like it was something you needed to handle yourself,” Tori said honestly.

“I understand completely, and I appreciate it,” I said, stopping in front of the car. “And, Tori? If you ever feel like I am stepping on your toes or I am getting in the way of your fame, just tell me. We can talk it out, and I will take a step out and skip fashion shows if I have to. I want to see you do nothing but succeed. I want to be here for you like you are always there for me, Tori.”

She wrapped her arms around me. “I don’t need you to put your fame aside for me. You’re my best friend and we’ll get through this together. We’re models, dammit. We’ve got this business locked up.”

“You’re seriously the best friend I can ask for,” I said, stepping away.

“Really? Because I’m pretty sure my name should be lucky because I’ve got the greatest friend that people could wish for,” she said, and we looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

“That was so lame,” I said, shaking my head.

“Yeah, but I meant it,” she said, walking to the opposite side of the car.

I looked up at the house that we’d just stood in moments before. Katy and Mary had betrayed me; they’d turned against me, yet here I sat, in my car, staring up at the house that held the closest thing to a parent I’ve ever had. I wasn’t sad, though. I was confident, I felt happy, I wasn’t just Lucky anymore; I felt like Clover Thompson.

"Tori?" I mumbled after starting the car.

"Yeah, Clo?" she asked, buckling her seatbelt.

"I think we just won that battle," I said, feeling my heart skip a beat.

Tori smiled. "I think we did, too."