The Forever 21 photoshoot would’ve been bad enough without Brittany there, lips permanently pouted, coated in So Hot Pink gloss. I’d known her for years. Through Gerber baby commercials, toddler pageants, Seventeen magazine shoots, Miss Junior Illinois, and now a shared contract with Chicago Models. Still, it was hard for me to be around her…

Mom always smelled like that sticky brown stuff that caked on the bottom of her pink purse. Sometimes, when she would lean in so close that her hair would brush across my cheeks, I could smell the stuff in the little bottle she sprayed on herself. That smelled like flowers. She didn’t usually hug me….