9|Escort In Training

When the clock struck 5:00 PM the day after Natalie met with Aunty Viv, she was thrilled to finally lock her work laptop away in her cabinet.

She'd had a mother of a day with too many reverts on her reports and didn't plan to work overtime tonight. She'd given Chassis enough of her time already.

"Atta girl!" Emily nodded her approval. She never worked overtime.

She dropped Natalie off at a boutique in Rock Castle for the start of her three-day program.

As Natalie tried on the outfits Aunty Viv had picked, she wondered if all escort agencies offered training or only those catering to a wealthy clientele.

The clothes were stylish and elegant. Nothing like the slutty dresses Natalie had imagined she would have to wear. But the price tag on each outfit was enough to send her into a mini-crisis and the nearest Medi Clinic for heart failure.

"I can't afford this!" she told the store clerk when she saw the invoice.

"Don't worry; Vivienne took care of it."

"Thank you!" Natalie nodded as she reluctantly took the shopping bags and stuffed the invoice inside, her cheeks stinging from embarrassment. If the boutique handled all the wardrobe requirements for Aunty Viv's girls, there was no way the store clerk didn't know what line of work she was in.

With as much dignity as she could muster, Natalie hurried out of the building, praying she never had to visit the boutique again.

She stopped at a beauty salon—another one of Aunty Viv's affiliates— for a quick mani and pedi. The head stylist spent an awfully long time trying to convince her to relax her hair. Natalie firmly refused. She'd change everything about herself if she had to. Just not her hair. But she agreed to a twenty-minute treatment 'to give her curls more volume'.

As if they weren't already thick enough, Natalie thought crossly while she sat under the hairdryer and paged through a Vogue magazine.

Her night continued with a three-hour grooming session at The Castle, a quaint 4-star hotel owned by Van Holt Industries.

Natalie snapped on her reading glasses and scribbled furiously in her notebook while trying her best to keep up with the speaker, who happened to be a former escort.

Never wear bright-coloured nail polish. Stick to nude colours or French manicures. Find and stick to the right shade of lipstick.

By the time the class drew to a close with rousing applause from the attendees, Natalie's head was swimming from the many 'Dos' and 'Don'ts'.

The dark clouds blanketing the city for most of the evening finally made way for lightning and thunder, and it began to pour just as her Uber pulled up outside her flat.

Natalie spat out a string of curse words under her breath as she covered her head with her purse. But her attempts to shield herself from the torrential downpour were useless. Within seconds she was drenched head to toe as she ran inside the building.

The lift was probably out again, but she tried her luck anyway and broke into a happy dance when it surged to life, relieved she wouldn't have to contend with the stairs.

She dumped the shopping bags in her bedroom, left her wet clothes in a soggy pile on the bathroom floor, and spent a long time in the shower, going over the past two days.

Things were moving along too quickly. Maybe too quickly. And when all the training was over, she'd need a few days to catch her breath and make sense of her new life.

Too tired to eat, Natalie headed to bed and called her siblings.

Jamie and Amber were thrilled to hear about her second job. They didn't ask too many questions or demand details, and Natalie was glad she didn't have to lie to them.

They hung up soon after, but not before her siblings warned her not to overwork herself.

As exhausted as Natalie was after her call home, she couldn't sleep. She kept fretting about the twenty-five thousand rands she already owed Aunty Viv. 

She deplored the thought of starting her new job in debt, but what other choice did she have? She couldn't go on high-end dates in shabby clothes.

She quickly did the maths, blanching when she arrived at a depressing conclusion. She'd have to go on five dinner dates before making any money of her own if she planned to pay Aunty Viv as soon as possible.

The weather was much warmer the following day, and Natalie headed back to Rock Castle straight after work. This time for a photo shoot.

What could have been a thirty-minute stint ended up being a two-hour session because quite a few girls from the other agencies were unhappy with their shots. They wanted photos from every angle to show off their 'assets'.

Natalie didn't care how her photos turned out as long as they met Aunty Viv's standards. The casual and formal clothing sets went well. It was the lingerie shoot that left a sour taste in her mouth.

Her new reality hit her for the first time while posing in her black bustier set in front of the plain white background. She felt dirty, ashamed, and in desperate need of a shower as the camera flash hit her from every direction.

As Natalie walked from the studio to the hotel, she wondered about the leftover photos that didn't make the cut. She knew the ones Aunty Viv picked would end up on a secure server at an undisclosed location overseas. But what about the others? Where did they all go?

The idea of her underwear photos lying around in someone's hard drive terrified her and left her feeling stupid and powerless.

"No, he's a professional. He'd never do that," she tried to convince herself as she squeezed through the revolving doors and headed to the fifth floor for her client etiquette class.

She was ready to bolt out of there an hour in because most of the stuff the former escort taught them was common sense, things she'd learned in Customer Service 101 back when she first joined the working class, the usual 'the client is always right, their needs come first and never seem distracted or disinterested' bullshit.

She did get one valuable piece of advice from the class: to never ever get drunk on the job. It was a high-risk environment, and her safety was of utmost importance. She had to be alert at all times.

It was the only note she made under the client etiquette section in her notebook. The only meaningful thing she'd learned so far.

She went home, took a shower and stayed on the phone with her siblings for some time.

Jamie couldn't wait for the release of the new Chassis game; he was counting down the months.

Amber was a little bummed the fundraiser hadn't gained any traction yet.

"Hey, don't worry, okay. We'll be fine. My second job should help," Natalie reminded her.

"I wish you didn't have to get a second job."

"I don't mind," she lied, wishing with all her heart she didn't have to be an escort. But they were out of options.

Six months, she silently vowed as she listened to Jamie growl at something on TV; that was how long she planned to stay at Dreams. After that, she'd close the book completely and never think about that part of her life again.

She hung up after promising to check in again soon.

Her training ended Friday evening with a dining etiquette class. The only thing she took from it was the number of different spoons, forks, and knives there were. She still didn't know what they were all used for, and she prayed she never found herself in a situation where she had more than one spoon to choose from.

Her phone pinged as she left the venue to meet Emily at Crush, three blocks from the hotel, to celebrate the end of her training.

It was Aunty Viv calling to give her the big news.

Her contract was waiting for her in her inbox, and her profile would go live as soon as she signed it.

"Welcome to Dreams, Natalie! I hope all your dreams come true!" Aunty Viv said on her end.

It was cliché as hell, but Natalie smiled anyway. Her financial woes would soon be a thing of the past. She couldn't wait to start making truckloads of money.