The Golden Sidewalk

Sage stepped out of the gleaming black SUV onto the busy Manhattan sidewalk, her light blue designer dress catching the afternoon sun. Camera flashes erupted from the crowd of photographers waiting outside the modeling agency.

"Sage! Look this way!" they called.

She smiled and waved, her milk-brown ponytail swinging as she turned. This was her life—photo shoots, magazine covers, and everyone knowing her name. At seventeen, she had everything a girl could want.

Her phone buzzed with a text from her boyfriend Marcus: "Can't make dinner tonight. Something came up."

Sage frowned. That was the third time this week.

As she walked toward the agency's glass doors, a boy with messy dark hair suddenly stepped in front of her path. He looked nervous, clutching a crumpled piece of paper.

"Um, Sage?" he said quietly. "I'm Ernie. I just wanted to—"

"Sorry, not now," Sage said, stepping around him quickly.

She glanced back once and saw him still standing there, watching her disappear into the building.

The Photo Shoot Disaster

Inside the modeling agency, Sage walked toward the elevator when her phone buzzed again. This time it was a photo—Marcus with his arm around another girl at Central Park. Her heart sank.

"Sage, darling! Ready for the shoot?" called Victoria, the agency's director, a woman with silver hair and bright pink glasses.

"I... yes, of course," Sage managed, stuffing her phone away.

The studio was buzzing with photographers and assistants. Sage tried to focus on posing, but her mind kept wandering to Marcus. During a break, she stepped outside onto the fire escape for fresh air.

"Hey," came a familiar voice.

She spun around. It was Ernie again, somehow standing on the metal platform below her.

"How did you get up here?" she asked, startled.

"I work here," he said simply, holding up a toolbox. "I fix things."

Before she could respond, her phone rang. Marcus's name appeared on the screen. She stared at it, then looked at Ernie, who was watching her with concerned brown eyes.