"Maybe you should talk to them first," I countered.
"Guys like that," Ash agreed. "Confidence in a woman is pretty cool. I'm sure there's some guy at your school who gets picked on as much as you, too. Even if he is just a friend, right? I mean, Violet's my best friend."
"Think Dad would hate me being friends with a boy?" she asked.
"I think your dad is learning that things are different now than they were when he was in school," I told her.
But I didn't actually mean at school. Cliques would always exist, and to those at the bottom, they would always seem terrifying and intimidating. I knew, because I'd been there. When we made it to the top, we didn't notice as much because everyone wanted to be our friend, so we always felt welcome.
Faith, however, had been bullied just like me. I wished I had some amazing words of wisdom, but I'd never figured out what I should've done to make it stop. Standing up for myself hadn't worked. Shutting up hadn't helped at all. All the advice people gave me just seemed to make my bullies a little more amused and the rumors kept getting worse.
And I was terrified that this girl was going to have no way out. She'd already started cutting from the torment. All summer - even with what Brody had done to her - she'd resisted that urge, but what if it came back? What if it got worse? I knew that Cy could help, but my way out had been to leave the country and make my own name for myself.
There had to be some equivalent option in a small town. Faith wasn't going to leave on a modeling tour. Luke would lose his mind if she even asked about it. No, she needed a win, and something immediately sprang to my mind.
"Faith?" I asked. "I have a question, and I want you to feel free to answer honestly, ok?"
"Sure."
"How would you feel about having your picture taken?"
She turned around. "What do you mean?"
From across the room, Ash shot me a warning look, but I felt this was something she deserved to talk about. "After what Brody did to you, does the idea seem horrible? Because I'd love to do a photoshoot with you for the swimsuits, but I do not want you to feel like you have to, and if it makes you uncomfortable, that's completely understandable."
"And we'd have to talk to Luke too," Ash said quickly. "If you're not ok with it, then that's it. But if you are, we'd need him to be ok with it as well."
She sucked on her lower lip for a moment. "Who takes the pictures?"
"I do," Ash said. "I don't let anyone else shoot Violet but me, and we could get your dad in there as well. For a little more life in the picture."
"So, just us?" she asked.
"Well..." Ash stepped to the bed, laying down a shirt and pair of jeans, but his full attention was on Faith. "When the photos are done, I pick the ones that show off the clothes the best, and then do some editing. Things like a damp spot or a bruise on your leg are removed. Colors are adjusted a bit, and then we put them in the catalog for our products."
"Everyone in the world would be able to see it," I told her.
"What if I don't like the pictures?" she said.
"Then I wouldn't use them," Ash promised. "We can take all the pictures you want, and I can have you help me choose. We'll edit them together, and then you can make your decision when that's done. What do you think?"
"And I'd be a model like you?" Faith asked me.
I nodded. "A swimsuit model for Risqué lingerie. I think Ash even has to pay you for that."
"I do," Ash admitted. "I can give you a hundred dollars, and the rest will go in a college fund, how's that sound?"
"But only if they go in the catalog, huh?"
He canted his head. "I'll pay you the hundred dollars for posing. The college part is for how many we use in print. So, still something for just trying."
"Can you help me talk Dad into it?" she asked.
"Promise," Ash told her.
I was nodding. "I think I know just how to do it, too." Then I pointed at the clothes. "So this, Ash?"
He lifted up a shirt and turned it so she could see. "One waist-length box tee with an asymmetrical hem. Skinny jeans in indigo. Round toe ankle boots. Add in your lilac necklace, straight hair, and a light lip gloss. What do you think, Vi?"
