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That nothing particularly noteworthy happened with Tulip gave them all some confidence when it was Shirley's turn the next day, except perhaps Shirley herself. The teen was happy to go along with whatever the men wanted although her high school was less willing to allow strangers to film on school grounds, so most of the footage they got of her with friends was before school. Still, the administration wasn't entirely unsympathetic to her big shot of stardom that everybody was already talking about... having a star come from their school would give them some national attention, and so, since nothing important was happening in the afternoon, she got an excused absence. Mr. Skinner and his crew used that time to drive her to a nearby park, asking questions along the way. This was what she expected, and yet somehow, she was having trouble answering in more than one or two words. Not a promising sign, she knew that, but when all the focus was on her and it was supposed to be her time to shine, she couldn't seem to manage much more than direct, simple answers to questions.
Shirley's shyness had always been her big problem, worse since her teen years, and it was rearing up again now making her slow to open up to the interviews, even in private, but there came a moment that changed everything for her, when Skinner leveled with her and treated her honestly and like an adult... or at least that was how she saw it. If he was truly honest he probably would have also told her he and his team planned to get all the women in the family pregnant by the end of summer.
The partial honesty came after some time at the park where the questions began to turn even more personal, as Mr Skinner seemed to be trying and failing to get juicy details of her life, asking about whether she'd ever gotten drunk, used drugs, partied, and the like. The answer was always no. Shirley admitted to thinking she might be bisexual, which got a spark of interest, but it faded when she revealed that she hadn't actually ever dated a girl and so had no juicy stories of experimentation. Similarly, she had none about her boyfriend Paul, whose family went to the same church but were one of those families that were super ostentatious about their belief, Paul telling everyone he was saving himself for marriage. So, she and Paul had never done anything other than kissing, and, although she hadn't told Skinner this, she largely chose to date him because of that and the lack of pressure he represented rather than any specific interest in him personally.
Her dating decisions had worked out fine for her so far, but she could see the interest dying in the men's eyes, especially Mr. Skinner. "You're giving me a real problem here, Shirley," he said finally, confirming her worst fears. "Right now I'm getting the sense that you don't really want to do this, you don't really want to stand out."
"But I do! I really really want to do this!" she insisted.
"Do you? Because you seem very much the take-no-risks good girl type. And that's fine, good for you, you'll probably make a very good accountant some day, but it's not really what we want from you, and it's not what we need for our show, you know? We need people who are willing to be a little daring."
"I can be daring!" Knowing how close she was to blowing this, not just for herself but for the people she loved, that got her almost in tears. "I know I'm a little shy but once I get warmed up... please, Mr. Skinner, my family really really needs to do this show, we're almost out on the street. Just tell me what you need and I'll do my best, I swear."
This admission, and the conversation that followed, was left out of her report to her mom and dad, in large part because she didn't want them to know that she knew how close they were to losing everything. Tulip might have thought that times were just a little tough but Shirley was a little more aware. Then again, it was hard to miss Mom trying to casually probe whether her boyfriend's family--since they were Christians and all--might be willing to take her in 'if things got really bad.' Shirley didn't know, but cheekily told her mother, "They might, but aren't you afraid I'll wind up pregnant?" She left out that it wasn't her boyfriend she was worried about... she trusted Paul, but his father gave her the distinct impression that she shouldn't be alone with him if she wanted to remain a virgin, which lately she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to be... but it was still probably a bad idea to let him be the one to change that.
Her mother had said that that might be preferable to moving in with her own family, then laughed like it was all a silly joke, nothing to worry about, but Shirley knew then, if Mom was considering going back to live in the Stroker house, that things were really bad and that she had to do everything she could to make this reality thing work.
Shirley even considered that she might have to do something immoral and illegal to win these producers over. Friends of hers at school at joked about the rules of the 'casting couch' and how she should be careful because they probably applied even to reality television, and she was likely to get Hashtag-Me-Too'd. Publicly, she disagreed with that take... publicly, privately she considered it plausible, got a little turned on as she rolled the idea around in her private headspace, or her head private space. Especially lately when the scenarios involved Jackson who she kind of had been lightly crushing on ever since he introduced himself, and wouldn't mind at all if he made her hashtag-worthy.
Shirley had even surprised herself with her own boldness because she'd been flirting with him a little, especially early in their recording day as he did her makeup before school. At least she thought it was flirting, but they were smiling and friendly and she asked him his last name and was amused that it turned out to be Dong. That led to what she thought was a cute moment, her repeating his name in disbelief, and him correcting her even though what she said sounded exactly the same, and after what felt like a solid minute of this, he had to explain, "It's like Dawn, but with just the faintest squirt of the G, Dong," then he smiled, and said, "I know, the Dong is a lot to get your mouth around, but I'm sure in time, you'll get it." A bold part of her that was always smothered by the shy part thought about making a joke about getting her mouth around his dong, but she didn't have it in her and she was worried the whole exchange they'd already had might be not so much playful flirting as lightly racist. Innocently, if so, since how could it be the bad kind of racist if she was crushing on him? If she wasn't too young for him, she'd even be fantasizing herself as Mrs. Jackson Dong. She'd prefer Dong to being a Dowdy her whole life, so she definitely wasn't bad-racist. Although, even if that dirty joke, in her head, didn't push it over the line into racist, she couldn't say it... it might be bad taste, a joke he'd heard a million times, and, worst of all, she wasn't sure what she'd do if he actually took it seriously and wanted to let her try to get her mouth around his dong. The idea certainly excited her, made her have to hide the reddening in her face, but Shirley wasn't sure she actually had that in her.
If she didn't have that in her for a guy she liked, she knew she probably wouldn't be able to do anything sexual they might ask of her to guarantee their casting, if they indeed planned that. She could tell herself she would, consider even her cherry a small price to pay, but was afraid that when they finally asked (and especially if it wasn't Jackson who asked but Mr. Skinner who seemed to be far more likely, being the one in charge), she would panic and run and tell Mom and in doing so ruin their family's only chance at not having to live in some homeless shelter (or Grandpa's house, depending on which Mom thought was safer). That was the worst part of being so shy, that she didn't know what she was capable of in some situations. Until they asked--if they were going to--she wasn't sure what her body would compel her to do.
But they didn't ask. Instead, Skinner gave her a different form of honesty, one that made Shirley feel worldly about secretly expecting all along. He even had Randy stop filming to do it. "I want to help you, Shirley, for your family's sake, but I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not a charity. Entertainment is a business, and a business runs on sex appeal... that's where a lot of people's entertainment comes from, anyway. Your dad certainly isn't going to be providing that. Your mom has a share, don't get me wrong, but she and your sister, we expect to have to push them. In terms of providing what our audience really wants, you're going to have to take quite a load. Most of the time, I think, unless things really don't go as I expect. Your Mom, your sister, they'll have their fans, but we're really depending on most of the viewers wanting to tune in for you, the hot not-quite-legal teenager. Forbidden fruit, you know? And that means we have to be sure you're willing to play ball, you know?" Here her heart started thumping in excitement, expecting again the lewd demand her mother also seemed to think was a good possibility. "If we put you on the show, we need to know you can be the star we need you to be. Someone who's willing to walk around in a skimpy swimsuit." Shirley had a vision of a skimpy swimsuit there that was far more conservative than what she would later wind up wearing. "Play to the cameras, flirt a little, basically make love to the camera, or at least make love to yourself while on camera." He was talking so fast she assumed he had no idea what that sounded like, that he obviously just meant that she had to have self-confidence, to love herself that way.
"Right now, I'm not feeling like you can do that. Something's holding you back. So if you want me to help you, help your family, help me to help you. Tell me what's really bothering you. You'd be surprised how flexible we can be with our star. Ways your parents don't even have to know about, if that's the way you want it. We have a little confessional room in the house where people go for private filming sessions, and that can be used to get away with a lot. Do you rely on a little of the weed to calm your nerves, and are worried that stuck with your parents, you won't have that? No worries, we can blaze up during your time. Alcohol, same deal, within reason, we can give you just enough to be comfortable. Happens all the time in these reality shows, you just never see it on air. Or, for that matter, and forgive me for being crass, if you have a favorite vibrator you're afraid of leaving behind because you're used to going away for an orgasm when things get tough, well, we're totally understanding of that common teenage need and can facilitate. Totally natural, nothing to be ashamed of." She knew it wasn't, no matter how much her face was red. "If you're afraid of being out of touch with your boyfriend and all your friends... well, can't do anything about that one, to be honest, part of the show's magic runs on isolation, but you can talk to us in your interviews, just say it's off the record and we won't tell a soul."
She took a few deep breaths, found that as much as what he said embarrassed her it also made her less shy, like somebody who could say those things to a teenage girl wouldn't judge her for anything she had to say, which was remarkably freeing. Still embarrassing, but it was like how sometimes when you get hurt you feel a little rush of pleasure after, like back when Dad still spanked her. "It's nothing like that, really," she said finally, when the 'oh-my-god-I'm-going-to-die-of-embarrassment' feeling faded and the peace came in its place. "I told you I don't really do weed or anything." Maybe she should take the opportunity and try, she considered, but would save that for later. "It's just... I've never really been comfortable with my body."
The men exchanged a look and a little laugh. "If that's the truth," Skinner said, "we can absolutely work with that. But you'll excuse me if I find that a little hard to believe. I'm a professional, and your family wouldn't have gotten this far if you didn't have a fantastic shape. I know that's inappropriate to say for a girl your age, but it's the truth, unless those are remarkably good fake breasts."
"They're not fakes, boss," Jackson insisted. "Not in my professional opinion."
"I'm not worried about the shape," she said, growing more comfortable under the compliments. Shirley had plenty of compliments about them before, from Paul, others in school, strangers. "I just..." she took one more pause, decided she was all-in, and told them what she'd never told anybody except for a few girlfriends, waving her hand up to her face. "It's just that I have so many freckles." And she lowered her hands to her chest area, hoping they'd get the point, then decided to make it explicit. "All over."
It wasn't that she'd never shown anybody her body before, the problem was that the first boys she did, at fourteen, all made fun of her over her abundance of freckles, and those comments were forever burned into her mind. From one boy joking that they better not fuck her or the 'ginger plague' might spread to them too, to another calling them 'poop-speckles' and saying you got them taking a cumshot after too much anal. Ridiculous, but words hurt. She'd always been self-conscious about them... Mom said she'd gotten them from her uncle, one of the few times she'd ever spoken of her brother except to warn them away from interacting, and maybe that's why she always had the sense that they were bad. But after that little show-and-mock incident, however bad she felt about them got a thousand times worse, because the boys were delighted by how upset she got and kept doing it to the point of tears... and after, the teasing quickly spread beyond those boys to what felt like the whole school. In the end, she had to beg her parents to let her change schools completely, where things got a little better. She'd almost laughed when Skinner suggested that being out of touch with her friends might be a hardship... that part was almost a blessing because at least she wouldn't have to worry that they'd turn on her over some perceived failing. There was always the chance that something they saw on the reality show would make her a target of more teasing, but on the other hand, at least she'd be famous... if she became so poor her family was on the street, that was even worse for her social reputation. Friends, real friends, would stick by her, but she could never be sure how many were real friends. The only thing she felt she might be risking was Paul, and even him, she could do with a two-month break from, and if he found somebody else and decided it was okay to do under-the-clothes stuff with them, that might just free her to enjoy the fruits of fame without guilt.
"I see," Skinner said, and he genuinely seemed sympathetic. "I saw the freckles on your face, thought they were a good thing then and still do now. Gives you character... and in my business I don't mean any bullshit like when people are trying to be polite about you being not as pretty. I mean that I know a large chunk of people find that a huge turn on. It adds to the whole girl-next-door effect we're looking for. Boys want to bang the girl-next-door, freckles or no freckles. Half their fathers do, too, if they could get away with it."
"The boys at my last school didn't," she said. "Even given the chance." Though Shirley was the one who decided to put her shirt back on and run out of the room when the teasing started, so she didn't know, maybe if she just took the abuse her last couple years would have turned out very differently.
"Nonsense. Boys your age, I'm sorry, they're idiots. They'll play along with any stupid idea. When I was in high school, all I could talk about when I was with my buddies was who was the most fuckable, and every one we named had large breasts, when really, the girl I wanted most was flat-chested. I still remember her, she was my literal girl-next-door that I was obsessed with. I was just scared my buddies would make fun of me, and I never made a move on Carlie." Mr. Skinner would later admit to Shirley that the fact that his neighbor Carlie was only twelve was more of a factor, but had clearly gotten over that embarrassment as well because that admission came as he played with her baby sister Tulip's newish nipple piercings while that flat chested twelve-year-old sawed slowly up and down on his cock. "School can be vicious, and it's often the ones people are most jealous of that they turn on when they see a weakness. I bet that's what happened to you. The freckles, they were just an excuse. People didn't care. Mostly. There's always going to be exceptions. Hell, for any body feature you can think of, I can show you people who are turned off by that and people who are looking for that exact thing, and plenty more who don't care because if you close your eyes it doesn't matter."
Shirley's parents had told her things like this before when things were at their worst, that plenty of guys liked freckles, that people at her old school were just jealous, but it never rang true from them like it had a hope of doing right then, because this guy didn't seem to have any motivation to lie to her. "Maybe..." she said. "I'm just still not sure your audience wants to see me in a swimsuit. Maybe if it was, like, tight but still covered everything."
"Our audience wants to see as much as possible. But like I said, I want to work with you. I like your family. I like your freckles. But if it would get you to loosen up, we could work around them. You know the Jenner sisters have freckles, but you hardly ever see them." Shirley did know, and she had tried to cover up or downplay her face freckles with makeup from time to time, but she had to do it when her mother wouldn't see or she'd tell her she shouldn't wear so much. "We'll probably want to keep your face freckles, but for everything else, if it meant getting you in a bikini after, Jackson could cover them up in the confessional... every day if we had to, couldn't you Jackson?"
"I mean, I'd have to see what I'm working with to say for sure," he said.
Shirley's head was still spinning from the prospect of getting to spend maybe an hour of Jackson Dong time every day that she didn't put together what was being suggested until Skinner said, "Here's your chance, if you'd like a professional opinion on whether your cleavage freckles really are something you need to hide."
"What, right now?" She looked around for anyone else in the area... nobody was, but there could be at any second. They were in a public park, a compromise, really, because they wanted privacy for the interviews, but Mom's instructions were not to go into any room alone with them, and so they were in an area of the park where nobody was actually watching but she could still scream if something started to go wrong. Unless they clamped a hand on her mouth first.
They showed no sign of that, though... in fact they were being utterly reasonable and professional. "It'd show you're capable of the kind of daring we're going to need from you eventually, right? Baby steps. Randy and I can look away, if it makes you uncomfortable."
And suddenly, Shirley did feel daring, fueled by the power of logic, because, really, showing a bra was nothing different than showing a bikini, and if she couldn't do that for three men in a park, how was she going to do it on a reality show? It would still be baby steps, but she could impress them with a bigger step than they offered. "You don't have to look away, it's just a bra."
So Shirley prepared to do what just that morning she rolled her eyes about and told her mother that of course she wouldn't. Part of it, anyway. "Don't pull up your shirt or lower her pants, under any circumstances, and don't do anything sexual no matter what they offer," Mom'd said, probably not realizing she was putting that idea in her daughter's mind again as a possibility. Because she didn't see it as likely, Shirley wasn't actually lying when she said she wouldn't, but now here she was making a liar of herself, pulling her shirt up, exposing her taut stomach, and already deciding that Mom didn't need to know--probably didn't want to know if it was going to cost them their chance at a lot of money they really needed.
As her shirt finally was about to slip free of the bottom curve of her breasts, in front of three adult men watching with clear interest, she held her breath and yanked, showing what she simultaneously thought of as her best feature and her worst feature, the best look yet at the shape of her boobs and the speckling pattern that, in her eyes, marred them.
The last time she showed them like this, it was also in a group of three, but those were boys, and doing it in front of men gave her more of a dirty thrill even though she was showing less, wearing a bra. Though the thought did cross her mind to pull that up too, only she wouldn't--unless maybe they asked.
There was no laughing, no 'eww, gross' reaction, despite the obvious cluster of dark spots that seemed to continue from her arms over her chest and down the breasts to about halfway. They disappeared around the nipple itself, possibly because even when she was in the comfort of their high-fenced backyard, getting some genuine sun on her body, that part was covered... but they hadn't asked to see her nipples yet so would have to wonder. Still, they could probably see that at the part just above where the bra began, the skin paled and the freckles just stopped. She was glad she wore one of her nicer bras to boost her confidence, even if she had no expectation anyone would see it.
She'd expected other people seeing it could only shatter her confidence, which made something of a paradox of feeling better wearing a stylish bra, but as it turned out, she was wrong, having three men stare at her cleavage, nodding approvingly, made her feel like she'd just climbed a mountain and even if she was still worried she might tumble right off it, it was still exhilarating. Even more when she heard the detailed reviews. Mr. Skinner said, "Well, those look pretty good to me. Sure there are freckles, but I like them, and the shape is phenomenal. I personally like them much smaller, my own personal taste, you understand, but in a job like mine I understand what the majority likes, and you're practically ideal for that. Of course, I don't think it's the shape you're worried about." He turned to his makeup man and said, "What do you think? Can you cover them up, if that's what she wants? Give them the old Jackson Dong treatment?" When he said it, the g wasn't soft at all, but he didn't get a correction from it.
Instead, Jackson just kept looking. "I could absolutely cover these every day, but shit, seems like a waste. It's like a Pollock painting, I'd rather add squirts than take any away." Shirley's heart fluttered at the compliment, even if she only half-understood it, then fluttered even more when he touched her breasts. That was a surprise, but it was prefaced with a "May I?" and she thought she nodded to give her consent or maybe he just assumed. She couldn't tell, the touch seemed to knock the last few thoughts out of her head. What she could tell, once she was able to evaluate, was that was a completely professional boob grab, just gently lifting them and pushing them together to make more of a cleavage shot, simulating them in some other kind of outfit and Shirley believed the only one with perverted feelings in the moment was probably her. He gently nudged her to face the last of the trio before finally letting go. "What do you think, Randy? Would you like to put these on film?"
"I would absolutely film those," he said. "Freckles or no freckles, they look good to me, and under the camera setup we've got, they'll look a lot lighter than in person anyway. I think the audience will appreciate them more with nothing covering them. The freckles I mean. Though, when I lived in London, they'd have a girl your age topless in the newspapers, Page 3. Not anymore, times have changed, but on television, they still tease young beauties like yourselves in swimsuits. They'd love a girl just like you even more for the freckles. Really, I'd say you'd be a prime candidate for the BBC."
"Maybe in time... but her big debut's already spoken for," Mr. Skinner said with a grin. "Looks like it's unanimous on our end. Nothing wrong with you. In fact, I bet whoever made you ashamed of those was probably just negging you."
"Negging?"
"Part of a classic seduction strategy, tear you down, hoping to get your self-esteem low enough to do what they want you to. It can be surprisingly effective, but it can also backfire." Shirley would later think back and realize that it had been regularly used during their two months on the show, but she didn't mind... the most powerful lesson she took out of that house, worth more than any check that might or might bounce, was that if she could get an orgasm as guys literally pissed on her or in her, or still get turned on while realizing that her old life was falling to pieces because the lewdest videos were circulating among everyone she knew... if she could do that, nothing could ever really stop her. The key to fulfillment could just run through her holes and whatever she got to fill them. But that was a wiser Shirley looking back, and even she had a sense that it all needed to be done in a special way, by an expert, knowing when to boost her confidence and when to degrade her.
Without that, you might just be left broken like she feared her daddy might be as she watched him standing in the bank, not yet in line, still too worried to even try to cash the checks. If the men she'd showed the parts she was most insecure about had laughed at her, or if they'd told her what they had planned for her and her family right then, she might have been broken too.
Instead, they acted like they cared about her and her opinion, building her up just enough to survive being torn down later. "I think we'd all like to show these au naturale, as they say. But what we think isn't what's important here. It's all about what makes our star Shirley comfortable. If you think you'd play to the camera better with these babies slathered with something, that's what we'll try."
Someone walked by the nearest path they were on, talking loudly on a cell phone, which reminded her how unnatural this all would seem to outsiders, and Shirley pulled her shirt down over her bra and covered herself again. "Then maybe I'll try and do my best without."
"Good girl," Skinner said. "But I don't like the sound of that maybe. A reality show like this is an opportunity few get, to completely reinvent yourself. I'm convinced that's going to be fun to watch, but there's a lot more than just my opinion involved here. I could tell the people with the money that you can be the kind of star we need, but..." he took a breath and gave one more shot of the honesty that had disarmed her so far. "I'm not going to lie, we're going to have to sell you," he told her. "There's a lot of potential here for us to help each other. We get a family that will appeal to our audience, and you get the fun chance to compete, to help your family, and maybe more, an opportunity for a whole new identity. But selling you is key. And that will go a lot easier if you're willing to help us. I know your mom laid down some rules, which is why we've been doing this in the park, but Jack's studio is nearby and we've got some new looks you can try on. Looks we can use to show off the people who make the decisions how versatile you can be. And maybe, along the way, we can even find one which makes you feel comfortable in your own skin. But for that, we need cooperation. Will you help us sell you, Shirley?"
After that, she couldn't help but agree, and she'd already broken one of Mom's rules, so why not another? So Shirley disregarded her mother's orders about going anywhere behind closed doors with the men (for the second time if you counted the car ride but it would be ridiculous to follow the instructions that far) and spent the rest of the afternoon in Jackson's studio. On her way she had a few doubts but decided that they'd been so nice to her so far, and if they were just using it as an excuse to try something perverted, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
It was tamer than she thought. The studio was spartan, a few lights and backdrops and cameras, and a room with a wardrobe already laid out as though they just rented the space recently but expected they might bring a teen girl here, which she didn't know was exactly the case. But they didn't touch her... or rather, they did, but only incidental touches, as Jackson or Randy gently guided her body into positions with the best lighting, or adjusted an outfit, grazing a nipple here or adjusting a thong bikini bottom there, or in one case Jackson squeezing her mound for a few minutes as he did some emergency landscaping while she held her breath as long as possible and tried not to twitch. Those touches were electrifying but, she decided, utterly professional.
The outfits, a few of those were a little on the sketchy side, but only just, and by comparison to what her mother had primed her to fear about a private photoshoot, not at all. And, like Skinner said, it was kind of fun to try out different clothing styles, different makeup, different looks... some she'd seen others at school rock but had resisted trying herself, even though all it would have taken was a friend's advice and encouragement. These men weren't friends, but she let them give her makeovers as a goth badass, e-girl with vibrant pink flare around her eyes, innocent Catholic Schoolgirl (her school didn't have a uniform, and if it did the skirt probably wouldn't be quite so short), and even some styles she'd never heard of or seen out in public. Some of those looked kind of weird. Like the one that looked almost like she was a human doll, with perfectly round circles of blush and lines that made it look like her mouth was on a hinge. Or the super tight vinyl short-shorts and crop-top combo with a full dog collar around her neck. Each 'look' was just for a few pictures and then it was off to change for another one--and change alone, because it turned out they were professional.
Despite the weirdness, Shirley quickly started to have fun with showing off, and each outfit--and the approval lavished on her that came along with them--gave her more confidence that she really could do this, step outside of the comfortable role she'd settled into. Jackson kept with him a small, pink-plastic hand mirror, like something you'd get out of a dollar store, but obviously with some kind of special sentimental value for him... he seemed to especially enjoy showing Shirley her own reflection, made up in one of these getups. Even if she was unsure about them before, actually seeing herself started to make her think she could pull these outfits off in front of a wide audience.
As the night went on, she grew more and more aroused... not just at having Jackson's attention on her while he reworked her makeup (and the few times she took a few extra minutes changing to rub her pussy in what she thought was the privacy of the changing room), but also at the growing conviction that she could look sexy, with the right lighting and effects, freckles and all. And confidence, a heady drugs which Shirley was discovering could be generated from outside as well as in. After all, if even looking at herself in a dollar-store mirror made her feel less like a fraud, wouldn't actually being recognized as a star be even better?
The last wardrobe changes involved a series of progressively skimpy swimsuits, as though they were daring her to call one of them 'too much' and prove that she couldn't be the star they wanted of her. Locked-in-one-place reality shows often involved a lot of lounging by a pool, she knew, and Shirley was determined not to balk. She wanted to make sure they knew that she could do that. But she'd expected she'd have to grit her teeth and fake her way through it... to her surprise, it was easy, even with the microkini which exposed not only far more skin than anyone had seen since three boys had made her hate her freckles, but also paler-than-her-normal-pale tan lines she worried might look ugly on camera. There was also some fear that it might expose everything if she bounced, but despite all that, she did it on request for the camera, even giggling at the possibility, and though the suit held, Shirley knew was ready for a reality show life now in a way she only pretended before. They'd baby-stepped her into showing off in a way that was almost inconceivable a few hours ago, and into allowing them to do whatever needed to be done, which, in the last swimsuit included Jackson doing a quick and dirty shave of some of her pubic hair while holding her mound to keep her steady. That had been the only thing that she'd balked at with the last outfit... she normally kept her area trim, but with that suit, some peeked out which she didn't think was allowed. Their solution made perfect sense at the time, and even though it would have been so easy for Jackson to pull the suit bottom completely down and look at her private lips, he only shaved just the parts which extended past the suit. That was what convinced her. Shirley, she told herself, these men are experts being utterly professional.
The biggest proof of that, in her eyes, was that they never once asked her to strip, something guys were always asking her to do, half-jokingly from classmates, online from anyone sliding into her DMs, and even on the street from leering strangers in a passing car who couldn't possibly have known if she agreed. A request for full nakedness by these men was an obvious step she'd been half-expecting through the last few costume changes, and now prepared to give them when they asked, but they never asked. Instead, after that last suit, they called time, then thought better of it and suggested they do one quick test of freckle-covering, just in case, while she had the skimpy bikini on. They had no interest in covering her face, either, where Jackson insisted he thought freckles were too cute to cover. That compliment in her mind, Shirley spent even more time with Jackson running his hands over her body... this time, her upper torso, and with a cream that loosely matched her skin tone.
This seemed the least professional part of the day, less applying a foundation than just slathering things on, not even using a makeup brush, almost made her doubt his credentials, but Jackson explained it was a special kind of industry term, a 'Wet and Messy' test, just to give people a sense of what they might like to do later. He did apologize off-handedly for the sloppiness, being rushed for time, and for not using his best supplies, but did not apologize for his hands dipping under the swimsuit fabric and rubbing there intensively. That was just to ensure a more even blend around difficult areas, he explained, so professional again, and, as it turned out, his professionalism with the application and the shave before ensured she was left in the changing room wet and messy even in places he didn't apply makeup. Shirley had to stay there an extra long time doing some intensive rubbing of her own, trying not to make a sound loud enough to be overheard, before putting her original clothes on.
By the time they returned to the home the Dowdys were about to lose, Shirley was back to looking like her old self, albeit with a warm glow, as well as better makeup on her face that she really loved, after seeing herself in Jackson's plastic mirror. Even the lipstick she wore was more dramatic a red than she usually liked, but for the moment, it felt natural. Shirley was also feeling pretty comfortable with the freckle-covering makeup, still smeared on her chest, and a much trimmer bush, but knew nobody in her family would see the last two anyway. So, she left out a lot of this story, but it was all contained in one big omission. As far as her mom knew, the men had filmed her out and about with her friends, and in the park, asked her some questions, and that nothing out of the ordinary happened. She was genuinely more excited than ever about joining the reality show, having been convinced that she could be very comfortable knowing other people were watching her.
In the end, as she waited in the bank for her father to get up the nerve to try and cash the checks, she would think back and decide that that kind of confidence was worth everything that had followed after it turned out those men weren't that professional after all, that they really were just out to sexually exploit her. And still worth it even if they were completely lying to the family about the money.