Chapter 58 The Sting of Defeat
It was the final day of the competition. All the clothes would be judged, and only one person would emerge a winner.
Emily arrived very early. Byron lent her his car, while Katie came along to help with the clothes. They unloaded everything swiftly and efficiently, hanging the clothes on a wheeled rack provided for the contestants. They took the elevator up, and then rolled the clothes into the big room where the models awaited.
Inside, it was pure chaos. Everyone else seemed to have gotten there even earlier, and designers were running around making adjustments while the models were being fussed over by hair stylists.
Emily saw there was a section assigned to her with mirrors and makeup tables. The models who gathered there seemed underwhelmed by the selection of clothes she brought.
“Hi ladies,” Emily said, “Please continued with your hair and makeup. There’s no rush.”
“This is going to make me look like Raggedy Ann,” one of them muttered under her breath.
It was true that the clothes were fairly simple. Western style dresses, jeans, and flannel shirts hung from the rack, providing a stark contrast to some of the other designers’ fanciful creations.
Ruby seemed set to take the prize. Her fabrics were all gauzy and light, like something a princess might wear to a fairy tale ball. And she had done some amazing things with them. One of the models tried on a creation of Ruby’s and looked radiant in the peach-colored flowing dress.
When Ruby excused herself from the for a moment, Emily winked at Katie. “Here it comes,” she whispered. “She’s going to be up to something.”
A couple of minutes later, the fire alarm went off. Deafened by the blaring bell, everyone made their way out of the room and were directed to the staircases out of the building. It was a long journey down. Still longer was the wait outside.
“I have an idea of who pulled that fire alarm,” Emily said.
“I don’t see her,” Katie replied, looking around at the huge crowd of people huddling in the cold.
Emily couldn’t spot her rival either. “I’ll bet you she’s still in the building.”
Finally it was announced that the building was safe, and everyone rushed back inside.
Everyone else got back to their models, but Emily returned to find that every single one of her clothes had been splashed with red paint. Some had tiny sprinkles, others were covered in big splotches, but it would be impossible to clean in such a short time.
“Oh my God, they’re ruined,” a blond model said, “Now what are we going to wear?”
“That’s terrible!” another designer exclaimed.
Some people expressed their disdain for whoever ruined the clothes, while others rushed over to their own hangers to make sure nothing had been touched.
“Oh, that’s unfortunate,” Ruby remarked, taking a moment away from her own beautiful collection.
“Yes, it is,” Emily said, “Now I can’t return these clothes to Thrifty Mart... which is where I got them.”
“Why would you do that?” Ruby scoffed.
“To set a trap,” Emily kindly explained.
Emily had planned the sting operation, knowing that Ruby would not be able to resist sabotaging her clothes.
“The saddest part is you had a chance at winning,” Katie said, “Your outfits look so nice.”
Everyone fell silent as Letitia Derouche herself entered the room.
“What on earth is going on here?” she asked. “This was supposed to be a civilized event.”
“Unfortunately, Ruby makes thing uncivilized,” Emily said, “As you can see, she splashed paint all over my designs.”
“I didn’t do it,” Ruby declared, “You have no proof that it was me. Anyone could have done this.”
“Actually, I have it all on camera,” Emily said calmly.
Sticking out of the pocket of one of the shirts was a spy pen with a tiny camera on its cap. Emily took out a small memory drive from the pen and handed it to the magazine editor.
“If you care to see this, I think it speaks for itself.”
Letitia took the memory drive and walked out of the room. A couple of minutes later, she returned, her eyes wide with fury, and her wavy hair almost standing on end.
“Out!” she said, looking at Ruby. “And never show your face here again. This is supposed to be a fair competition, not some kind of dirty reality show.”
Ruby gathered up her stuff hurriedly. Tears flowed from her big blue eyes as she left the room in a shamefaced retreat.
“I know how much it sucks to feel the sting of defeat,” Emily said to her as she walked past, “especially when it’s an actual sting.”
“Well Miss Danzi,” Letitia said, “I’m only sorry that your clothes are ruined and you can’t proceed with the competition.”
“I have backup clothes,” Emily said. “They’re waiting in the car.”
She had known all along that Ruby would try to cheat. The real clothes she had worked hard on all week were safely stored away in garment bags, and Emily had waited for the very last minute to bring them out.
Together with Katie she rushed to the car to get them.
