With the majority of their potential audience celebrating Christmas in just two weeks time Oksana was keen to get on with starting the edit on part one, they wouldn't release part two until the first week of the new year so that edit could wait, besides she would soon be rushed off her feet. The impending end of the school term for this year meant she would be snowed under with bookings, so Sunday or not she had to knuckle down.

It had been great having John run a second camera, though more at home with stills his framing was good, and those shoots were mostly to cut to expressions or add a second view point to liven up the overall presentation, and give her editorial options. Of all the make up artists at the studio Valya would be her first choice, she had rapport with the girls putting them at ease before they got on set, and she was always willing to help out with other tasks. John had been confident Valya could produce half a dozen promo stills for each of the movies, and just from seeing the raw images on the laptop Oksana saw there was material they could work with.

They had ordered in pizzas to celebrate the successful conclusion of wrapping both videos in the same session, with the girls washed and changed, and the SUV loaded by the time the food arrived. Any time she worked on one of Marta's projects there was a script, along with a little stick figure story board outlining the flow of the action, which made for a well organised set that normally ran to time with minimal snags or retakes.

Her work had recently become more interesting with the explosion of 'Talkies in English', now the older style silent shoots overlaid with music tracks were becoming a smaller part of her output. Talk around the studio was that models from right across the country were seeking out teachers, taking as many lessons per week as they could cram in so that they could join in this new trend. Oksana had even got one of the tech guys to change the permissions on her workstation so she could view the new Talk to the Models Forum, to see what the fuss was about.

It had been a total shock hearing how much these rich Yankees paid for the Platinum grade membership, just so they could talk to the girls, and she had followed a few threads seeing how the girls had these dudes wrapped around their fingers. It had been surprising, they weren't just a bunch of pervs, there were lively discussions on many topics, and the guys seemed genuinely interested in the models day to day lives, and the opinions that they held on various subjects.

She had no complaints about what the studio charged their members, as her recent pay cheques had been the highest ever, with commission payments from their new style videos being responsible for this radical improvement, though her previous earnings were nothing to be sneezed at. She was seriously thinking of at least two foreign holidays next year, and planned on treating her parents with a nice trip away to the coast in the summer.

Sipping her now lukewarm coffee she set her mind to the task at hand, wanting to have the final cut nailed before she went home that night, at his own workstation John had the more simple task of selecting and cropping three or four promotional stills for each of the two shoots they had done earlier.

School had a week and a half to run till the end of term, and wouldn't resume until the tenth of the month giving them a two and a half week break, Anna found out in a private moment with Svetlana their English teacher, that she would be making a visit to their old home town during that time to settle some issues. She would be getting shot of her apartment, and just arrange to move a few keepsakes back to the city, as there was no sense keeping the place just as a venue for holding intense summer courses.

She had spoken to Ivan and he agreed that it was a waste spending money on rent for her old place, and she could stay where she was year round with any additional pupils coming to the city rather than their old town, and besides the girls could fit in some photo shoots during the same visit. Now with Nana Olga and Gramps living close by none of them would have any ties to the town where they used to live, and quite frankly neither of the sisters would regret severing all links with that dreadfully depressing place.

Marta noted that it had taken less than four months for the English initiative to become a major priority on Ivan's agenda, firmly committing time and additional resources to helping as many girls as possible take part. The TTMF and the videos had raised the profile of the studio that he ran above that of others in the group, and now they were having to play catch up, using the ideas that had been pioneered here first.

Once she stopped concentrating on her various schemes, ideas, or script plots, Marta became more focused on tensions within her own body, in particular the twinges that told her, her period was due on Wednesday, and though she didn't feel enthusiastic about her dance class after school, she knew she would feel better in herself after a bout of mild exercise. She was also sure that the pill helped keep her body in check, as some girls got a dose of the trots at this stage in their cycle, and she didn't seem to have the extremes of mood change she had noticed in some of her class mates.

On Wednesday Anna phoned the stables, keen to find out what restrictions or closures there might be during the coming holiday season, and was pleased to find out that staff were always on hand as the horses still needed looking after each day, so there would only be four days when they wouldn't have the numbers of staff needed for clients to ride safely. She loved riding, it had been a totally brilliant birthday gift, and at the local shop where they ordered magazines she had enquired about equestrian titles, and as they lived on the outskirts of the most upmarket area of the suburbs he had a few locals who ordered a publication about horse riding, and all things related to that topic.

The big animals were so powerful but gentle, she loved petting them and stroking their coats, she had her favourites, and they seemed to know when she had quartered apples hidden in her pocket nudging her to hand them over. When she was sitting up high, there was a good view, and the movement of the horse sort of came up through the saddle, that was another thing she liked, so far she had only done walking and trotting, but she was excited at the thought of a canter or a gallop, and going over jumps looked fun but scary.

After Anna had completed her homework, she was on the phone to her friends, then she thought she would ring Dmitri at the studio to see if her latest video had been released yet, sure he would know the state of play. He was pleased to hear from her, and joking said he was bound to know what was happening, as he was her number one fan, as it said so on the photo up on his wall. She could hear the faint tapping of keys in the background as he checked on the relevant screen to determine the trends on current releases.

“Well the good news is all your other fans seem to keep their eyes open, and for some reason or other download your videos when they appear on the site. Oksana didn't hang about, it went live Monday afternoon, and word soon spread on the members forum, and looking on my screen you swapped out with a girl you covered for earlier, so you haven't been on the models forum yet this week or you would have heard.”

“You and Irisha must be doing something right because sales are doing very nicely, Ded-Moroz, or Santa Claus as our members call him, will have a bulging sack for you two this year and no mistake. You and Marta should pop your head in the door, it must be more than a fortnight since I've seen the pair of you.”

After she put the phone down Anna thought she should make a list of people at the studio they should send cards to, and some of them deserved gifts as a show of appreciation for all they had done to help over the past year. The thought of all the friends they had made was a cause to smile, and she would enjoy choosing gifts for them.

Thursday Chess club was cancelled as it was the last full week on the school calender, so Marta came straight home from school, on the walk back to the house Eve broke the news that their mums were both aware that the other's respective daughters were involved in the studio, and had apparently known this from the day they first met, Anna said it had been fun thinking they had this secret, but Marta had sort of guessed that it was unlikely the women hadn't worked it out from the clues available.

After getting changed Marta sat in the study away from the noise of her brothers, a book out on the table that showed games played by the grand masters, her chess set was laid out as she followed the moves as they were written. The carved pieces were so beautifully finished, the weight lending gravitas to the war that waged on the field of battle, even the now empty box sitting to one side was a work of art in itself. She looked up to see Karl enter the room, she hadn't heard the bell, someone else must have let him in.

Texting her this week he could tell she wasn't her normal lively self and he sort of guessed the reason, and had come round to see what he could do. They sat talking for some time, till he persuaded her he might be able to help. Marta had said from the start they should be able to talk about any subject together, but how could she really explain to a boy what it felt like to be a girl, and yet her Karl was doing his best to ease her discomfort.

Sitting on the sofa, Marta was on his lap laying back against his chest, wrapped in his strong arms as he lightly rubbed her tummy, hands slipping down following above the line of her hip bones to the apex of her sex, just under the waistband of her panties. Relaxed she closed her eyes, enjoying the intimate touch of his fingers on her skin, unsure if it was the distraction or slow soothing movements that made her feel so much better.

Karl knew none of his old classmates would understand his relationship with Marta, they had always engendered an atmosphere of macho spirit, girls were for one thing, and that was for the instant gratification of a guy - end of story. Yet sometimes he wondered how some of those lads were getting on, did any of them have worthwhile jobs, or any job at all, and did any of them share the closeness with a girl that he felt with Marta?

Waking up in time for supper she felt so much better despite the lump that had formed under her butt, smiling she thanked Karl for being so nice to her, whispering in his ear that she had a little surprise planned for the following week that he might like. Of course Karl stayed for supper, happy to join in with the conversations around the table and always keen to sample Ella's cooking.

With the studio system it was not often that the models parents got to meet one another, other than occasions when the girls mothers might meet in passing, so in general they didn't meet socially. In Kiev as there was such a relatively high concentration of girls attending the two most popular schools, they were slowly becoming the exception to the rule, even if the majority of that contact was at school events.

Because of two recent innovations a wider circle of girls were socialising through meeting via the TTMF, and their own private talking shop, the girls chat zone that was hosted on the studio's network for the girls benefit. The banking of sets for future release, getting an education, including English and other languages, and planning financially for a time after their modelling were all frequent topics, other than those common to teen girls everywhere.

Though none of them would have used the term, they were thinking about their pensions, and there had been excited discussions about the Goose sisters investment in property development. Many of the city girls knew of it first hand, and had seen the magazine spreads in two publications, so could speak knowledgeably on the subject, Irisha had even visited the house a few times in person, and knew that links were being maintained with the workers in case other big projects should come to light.

The idea of an investment club had been talked about after the sale of the house, and how with enough girls chipping in for a slice of the action, they would not have to pay greedy banks for loaning them any money. Marta had joined in at the time, saying that with the onset of winter, it was the wrong time to think of building work, and they would need a legal person to make sure everything was done fairly, her third point was she didn't know if her dad would agree to setting up another project as he had his real job to consider.

The girls were familiar with the studio system, whereby each of the people involved with one of their photo sets got a share from the sales, and realised that paying top rates to those who ran the scheme, for both labour and the clever ideas that would guarantee the resale, were important factors in the success of their investment. The outcome was Marta said they should each talk with their parents, and if enough girls were serious about taking part come the spring, she would see if her dad was willing to find them another project.

On her next visit to the local newsagent the family's regular haul of periodicals was once more increased, as Marta ordered the two fancy property magazines that they had conned to run simultaneous features on the house that they had recently sold. She also intended to stop by a couple of property agents on a regular basis to pick up their current listings, to keep an eye on any trends in the market, and would ask Karl to do the same with any web sites dealing in city properties. For now this could simmer on the back burner.

As Marta expected she was just spotting on Saturday morning, so she spoke to the salon lady about her appointment, to check if the tentative Sunday afternoon booking was still available. They had met and spoken many times on her previous visits, it was just that before she had not been aware that the lady also specialised in this type of treatment.

It seemed such a surreal conversation to be having with this woman, Galina, who said as Marta was probably a bit nervous, (that was an understatement), that it was best to just shower and take a pain pill, and she would do the trimming to length prior to the actual waxing process.

“Look Marta, probably nothing I say will make you feel less embarrassed, but I do this for women and girls every day and you haven't got anything different from what I've seen hundreds of times before. Why not bring along one of your favourite CD's, and you can listen to that while we work on your new appearance.”

The sisters did some serious shopping on the Saturday, and on Sunday Anna was going to spend the day round at Gina's to read ahead on their science class, as they had intended the week before, when Anna had got home early, and Karl had been round. The cab company did well, taking and fetching them from shopping one day, and two cars taking them in opposite directions on the next.

Marta looked at herself in the full length mirror in her room, she was freshly showered and dried, her gently waved hair brushed, generally pleased with her appearance, no longer fixated on the blemishes on her face, in fact no longer thinking of them as the disfiguring scars as she had once viewed them. She was focused on the pubic hair that was about to be sacrificed on the alter of the salon treatment table. The last time she had been hairless down there would have been nearly three years ago, but she had no intention of backing out now the decision was made.

She had heard some girls talk of it crudely as their 'welcome mat', but from Marta's point of view, and from what she had been told, guys found it much more welcoming without the jungle of pubes to fight their way through. To keep warm she would be wearing her new high leather boots with thick socks and a long skirt as she may or may not be wearing panties on the way back. She was taking a big old soft baggy pair of panties in her backpack for the journey home just in case, and she had a second pain pill as well.

Her cab arrived and Marta slipped into her new winter coat, catching her reflection in the hall mirror she was startled to see the girl gazing back looked like she had stepped out of the pages of some fashion magazine, smiling she picked up her bag and set off.

She had debated whether to tell Anna, but in the end was worried she might chicken out at the last minute, and she didn't want to spoil Anna's perception of her brave older sister, though in Marta's eyes it was the other way about, with Anna the one to have made the bravest decision, one that had altered all their lives.

Marta had taken to wearing her ID badge on a cord so she could wear it round her neck that way she didn't need to clip it to a different top if she took off a jumper or got changed. In the salon it was mayhem, each chair was filled, and two girls on hold awaiting their turn for whatever primping they would need for their shoot that afternoon. All the staff were busy, and there were now three apprentices learning their trade at the hands of the expert stylists who worked at the salon.

She had heard tales of hair salons in the city that took on girls for a trail period without pay to see if they were suitable as trainees, but after a week or two when the girls asked if they would get the position, they were told to leave as they had only been tricked into providing free labour. With such high unemployment this was a nasty but common occurrence, but for these girls that would not be the case, having got recommended via word of mouth.

Galina came out of a side door, which previously Marta thought had been their break room or stores for the vast number of beauty products the women used to produce the fantastic results for the girls who were due on set for photo or video sessions.

Galina hung up Marta's coat and invited her though to the area she had not seen before, there were two treatment rooms with 'engaged' lights above each door and there was also a shower room if needed, and they had their own toilets.

Sensing the girls nervousness Galina showed her round, and lead her to one of the rooms to explain what they would do.

There were shelves where Marta could put her clothes, and she could wear one of the salon T-shirts, that she could take home with her, this was so they could avoid accidentally getting wax on Marta's own clothes. After a trim they would use a numbing gel, then after that started to work, spray antiseptic toner onto a cotton balls to wipe over each area prior to applying the wax then a strip was placed on the wax smoothed down then pulled off taking with it the offending hairs.

Marta was left alone to get undressed, and was told to leave her choice of music by the player, and Galina would start that when she came back. Marta stripped off now feeling very self conscious, and quickly reached for a T-shirt in the drawer she had been shown that would have her size. Marta pulled one out and had to laugh, all over the shirt at different angles had been printed the word 'Ouch' in varying sizes.

Galina knocked before she came in, Marta wasn't feeling nearly so bad, and they talked of the style that Marta wanted, how she had wavered between going for the full Brazilian or to just leave the little landing strip, Galina opined that the landing strip was more popular with older women, whereas younger women or girls favoured the full Monty or leaving a triangle or butterfly shaped patch. Having doubts about maintaining anything fancy Galina agreed it was more trouble than it was worth, so it was settled that everything was going.

Marta watched the deft movement of scissors about her nether regions, too scared to move for fear of getting cut, but Galina continued chatting away the same as if she were in the salon styling the other end.

“I never name names, but before I started here I was at a posh spar that closed down, and one lady would come in for a 'regular' style bikini wax, so basically bare lips, and a big but neat triangle that would be fine with modest swimwear. The odd difference was one top corner of the triangle was waxed out as well, this showed a small tattoo – it was a little stick figure with a lawnmower.”

In between gasps and exclamations from Marta the stories continued, as warm wax, strips of cloth or whatever, and unguents, lotions and talc were being applied as required, and Marta was asked to adopt some very revealing poses, even getting up on all fours so as any stray hairs 'back there' could be dealt with. Even her lips were pulled this way and that to enable every last follicle to be reached, leaving no room for modesty.

While wax was being dabbed on at one end Marta had a tissue dabbing her eyes, for it had certainly made them water, though she had been complimented on her restraint and lack of swearing, which lead to another batch of stories. When it was over she had expected to feel worse, but overall she just felt tender, and would not be up for horse riding for a couple of days.

With the procedure complete she was given instructions, and some products to take home in order to prevent irritation and told about the cream that would help prevent ingrowing hairs. Galina held up a big magnifying hand mirror so Marta could more easily inspect her new depilated condition, she was pleased with how it looked, and if she hadn't been, there was little she could do about it now anyway.

When Marta voiced that comment out loud, she was told that she could always wear a pubic wig, and of course Marta thought this was a joke until she was shown a catalogue featuring a variety of those products, which she found were called merkins. They talked some more as Marta asked whether she should wear undies on the way home retrieving the soft baggy ones she had brought along, feeling the panties and the lining material of the skirt, Galina said the panties would be the softer option giving the most comfort.

Marta fingers strayed across the fleshy mound above her sex where just an hour before she had sported a little forest, and now it was silky smooth, not the slightest hint hair had ever grown on that spot. She couldn't wait to see Karl's face, she couldn't imagine what he would say when he saw her new look.

As if reading her thoughts,Galina spoke up, “He'll like it, they always do!”

For the first time since arriving Marta turned bright red.

---

To be continued in Chapter 48.

Hope you're enjoying the new videos, and the Forum. Glad to see a few dedicated readers are still following the adventures of the characters in this tale. What do you think about Marta's new style? What other adventures can our favourite girls get up to? Any comments you have would be welcome, remember you only get better stories by helping novice authors like myself with feedback.