Viviane walked home after the photo shoot wearing the last outfit she modeled for the day. That was how Soyeux partially paid their models – with free clothes, shoes and accessories. Because of this perk, Viviane always had a closet full of stylish clothes to choose from and she always wore the latest fashions. Maybe it wasn’t genetics, kickboxing or the new clothes that helped her look better than average. Maybe it was all three of these things. Or maybe it was something more? For whatever reason, anywhere Viviane went, people always looked. For her, it had always been this way and although she never felt 100 percent comfortable with all the attention, she learned to live with it and tried not to let it bother her. Unfortunately, some people still managed to say the meanest things, even if they were trying to be nice.

On her way home, Viviane stopped at a convenience store to pick up a few groceries. She pulled out her paycheck and looked at the small numbers again.

Looks like I will be spending it all in one place, thought Viviane.

She took out her personal communicator and looked at her shopping list: spinach, kale, ginger, avocado, lemon, alfalfa sprouts, chlorella, spirulina. She winced at the list.

I’m going to have to drink a lot of these green smoothies this week, too, before the big shoot next Friday. Bleah.

While shopping for her algae, Viviane spotted a bag of popcorn on sale at 70% off the original price of $3.99. Now here was a tasty snack that wasn’t green and was a great bargain. Viviane reached out to grab it.

A store clerk clambered down a ladder leaving his shelf stocking behind when he saw Viviane take interest in the bag of popcorn and swooped in on her.

“That’s a great deal, you know?” the store-clerk intoned to Viviane. “While supplies last as they say. You know what I mean?” He flashed his teeth at Viviane. In fact, if he had whiskers, he would have looked even more like a weasel.

“Yes, thank you very much,” replied Viviane ignoring the glint from his teeth.

“Let me help you with the math, cutie. Seventy percent off the original price makes it now $1.19.”

Viviane raised one eyebrow. “Don’t you mean $1.20? You forgot to round up.”

“One cent difference! No big deal,” said the store clerk. “Hey, I just assumed that you’re too pretty to do math.”

Although he may have intended it as a compliment, it was exactly these kinds of snide comments about her looks that burned Viviane up the most. If he was trying to butter her up, it didn’t work. In fact, it had quite the opposite effect.

“I’ll have you know that I’m very good at math! Now, if you’ll excuse me,” and she snatched the bag of popcorn off the shelf and walked off. Viviane liked popcorn and a bargain, but men only interested in her looks? Not so much.