The next day Cyrielle was alone in the small apartment. Julie had already gone to work since it was a monday, and she had left her friend with a list of things to do. First of all, she had sent her all the backlogs of a capel videos with the login information. Julie would be the one to manage the content of her social media. She told Cyrielle that ‘she had a pn’.

  The second thing she had to do was to record more a capel videos, but this time she had a list of songs she had to record. A lot were pop songs, and some were those she sang at the concerts with ‘Heavy Protector’. Cyrielle could guess why.

  ‘Those pop songs are often heard in drag shows and the others are for promoting the concerts, right ?’

  Outside of that, she also had one huge task that she needed to address right away.

  ‘I don’t live at Marius’s pce anymore but now my clothes are dusty and have a stench. I definitely need to wash everything.’

  It was cleaning time.

  It took almost the whole day since some were vintage pieces that couldn’t be thrown in a washing machine, but the result was there. Everything was spotless and with a wonderful scent. All the buttons on her shirts and pants had even regained their lost sheen. It was a total success. The only thing left to wash was herself, and she definitely needed it. She put Julie’s pajamas in the washing machine and took another one that she put on the sink.

  The water running down on her felt almost like poison, irritating her skin, but at the same time it was so good. Marius’s shower was very small and he only had 10 minutes of hot water per day, so she let him have it and washed roughly in the freezing cold. But now she could finally take a proper shower and take her time to rub every centimeter of her skin, making sure she was clean like never before. She took time to brush her toes, her nails and the soles of her feet, and she even rubbed her face with soap in delight. She felt like a human, not a failure. It was an addictive feeling.

  After being the cleanest woman on earth, down to her bellybutton and ears, she finally exited the shower and dried herself. There wasn’t any man in the other room, so she could take her time to do everything properly. Since almost all her beauty products were filthy and unusable, she had given the 20€ to Julie to buy her new ones when she went to work, but she had refused and instead gave her spare ones she had in her bathroom. It wasn’t much : a wooden comb, a toothbrush, a pack of q-tips and a bottle of moisturising cream, but it was luxury for Cyrielle.

  She wasn’t the type to smell a lot, even the guys from ‘Heavy Protector’ who stood very close to her on stage didn’t realize that she was homeless. But for her it was visible, and it stressed her out very much. So the idea that she could finally smell and look nice was empowering.

  When she finished taking care of herself and had put on the new pajamas, she looked in the mirror. Maybe she understood a little bit why people found her elegant and appealing. She didn’t look homeless or in a rough patch in her life, she seemed to be a proper woman with sharp but charming features, and freckles that drew your eyes to hers. She had hazel iris, brown inside but green around. Now that there was a bit of life in them, they were shining.

  Satisfied with herself, she spent a few more minutes admiring her beautiful skin, and then went out. She wouldn’t be able to record anything until the next day, when her clothes would be dry, so she just sat on the couch with her phone.

  -Brrr Brrr

  [Julie the best ? : Put a pair of pants and a shirt on the radiator to dry]

  Cyrielle tilted her head. If she did that, her clothes would definitely be dry tonight. But by this time there wouldn’t be any natural light left to record a video with a phone. What was Julie pnning again ?

  [Julie the best ? : Remember it’s monday ? Karaoke ?]

  She had forgotten. That dreadful pce who started everything.

  ‘I guess we are going to the ‘Bad Mother Breaker’ tonight, huh…’

  ***

  “Oh my gosh, Cyrielle ! You are shining !”

  Julie, in her high pitched voice, was running around her friend while letting out excited excmations. She seemed to put in more energy than usual, probably because Cyrielle seemed so depressed the day before.

  She just came back from her job and still had her jacket with the logo of the supermarket. She didn’t even remove the badge from her neck.

  ‘Was she so worried that she came back as soon as she finished her shift ?’

  Cyrielle praised Julie in her mind, but stayed stiff. She couldn’t help it, she was still very anxious about singing in the middle of a pub with more than 30 people watching her. But she couldn’t miss a possible opportunity, not when she had nothing left. So she steeled herself and waited for Julie to be ready. When she came back, she had a cute bck dress with a lot of ribbons, bck slim jeans underneath, and her usual heavy makeup and dark lips. Cyrielle still had her usual vintage look : High waisted pants that fred at the bottom, a white shirt, and a long dark green coat with square shoulders. It was the exact same outfit compared to st week, but she didn’t have much of a choice, those were the clothes that could dry the quickest to be ready for tonight.

  Leaving the apartment, they went down to the parking lot and took off in the small white car. As usual they sang their lungs out, but in a restrained manner, not to endanger their vocal cords when they were supposed to sing at the karaoke. Eventually they parked the car in the center of Bordeaux and entered the building with the sign ‘Bad Mother Breaker Pub’. They were immediately greeted by a familiar man.

  “Hello Cyrielle, I didn’t know you were coming tonight !”

  “Hyena ! I’m here too !”

  “Sorry Julie, hi to you too.”

  A few people stole gnces at them. They were the regurs who witnessed Cyrielle’s performance the week prior. They were whispering between themselves.

  “It’s her, right ?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure she’s a singer. Did you go to see ‘Heavy Protector’ yesterday ?”

  “No, I usually don’t go out on sundays.”

  “You should have ! She was singing and I swear it was better than any group at the ‘Hellfest’.”

  “You’re kidding, it can’t be possible.”

  “I swear ! Look, I subscribed to her channel yesterday, listen to that…”

  Cyrielle could hear them, but she pretended not to.

  ‘Is he a subscriber ? Oh my gosh, there’s one in front of my eyes ! Stay calm, breathe… Remember, stay elegant !’

  In fact, she didn’t have to try so hard. Since yesterday evening, every move she made was synonymous with ‘grace’ and ‘poise’. Her aura had grown several times stronger, and the effect of ‘stage presence’ made everybody unable to turn their eyes away from her. She didn’t know it herself, but she had become the ultimate person to have on stage : Someone who could captivate people simply by standing here.

  “I saw the video you posted of the rehearsal. Julie did a good job, it’s filmed so well that it looks like a movie ! It’s way better than the videos we film at the actual concerts.”

  ‘Wait, wait, wait, what ? Which video ? Julie, you have to tell me when you do something like that !’

  Her friend was looking at her with a sly smile. Was it her pn ? But why release that video just before the karaoke… In fact, Cyrielle didn’t have to ask. She had already guessed. Without asking Julie, she turned to Hyena.

  “Want to do our duet tonight ?”

  Yes, it was obvious. Using the karaoke to promote her MyTube channel and the concerts, which will in turn promote her MyTube which will promote the concerts with the new a capel videos…

  ‘Julie, you’re terrifying. I don’t ever want to be your enemy.’

  Hyena happily accepted and taught her how to register on the list. The hosts would take the paper and call people in order to come and sing. And once everyone has sung once, they could do it again. Considering the number of people, they could probably sing twice. Cyrielle wrote down her duet with Hyena, and read Julie’s lips for the second choice. A pop song. Of course.

  Having finished her registration, Cyrielle sighed inwardly and came back next to Julie. Her friend was smiling from ear to ear.

  “We arrived early so it hasn’t started yet. Which position were you in ?”

  “I think I was the third name on the list.”

  “Good. It means even when you’ll sing for the second time there will still be a lot of people.”

  Had she even calcuted that small detail ? Julie might be the best girl on earth, but as a manager she was frightening. Changing the subject, Cyrielle looked around her.

  “Do I go to speak to people ? They are looking at me, it’s a bit unnerving…”

  “No, you don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. If they come to you, you can have a conversation, but for the others it will be more effective if you feel a bit mysterious and clouded in a veil. By the way, don’t talk too much about yourself.”

  ‘Why, are you ashamed of me ?’ but before she could whine, Julie continued :

  “You probably have some circumstances as to why you can’t speak about your upbringing, but the lies that you lived in the countryside are not believable now that you decided to come out of your shell and be your true self.”

  ‘What do you mean true self ? I was raised with chickens and dogs near a forest !’

  Cyrielle was baffled. She had more or less guessed that there were a lot of misunderstandings reted to her sudden abilities, but she didn’t think it was this bad ! And most of all, she didn’t even entertain the thought that Julie could have piled up so much misconceptions that she doubted who she was ! It was just absurd. Strange and absurd. But she needed to know how bad the situation was.

  “What’s your guess ?”

  She asked with a stern face but inside she was praying. ‘Please Julie, in the name of our friendship, tell me you have not fallen too hard !’

  “About your upbringing ? There aren’t a lot of clues, but considering your posture, the way you move, and the knowledge you possess… I would say high society. I don’t think it’s bourgeoisie, you don’t have the feel of it, but it’s definitely nobility. You were chased out because you wanted to be an illustrator, right ?”

  ‘Shit…’

  She had fallen so deep.