"Hi," he said. "You must be Julie. My name is Don."

Julie nodded her head and smiled shyly. "Yes. I'm Julie," she said softly.

"Don't be nervous, sweetie. I'm the photographer and my job is to make you into a star." He looked quizzically at her. "Your mum said you wanted to be a star. Isn't that right?"

The little girl swallowed nervously and nodded again, her heartbeat quickening. The man sensed her anxiety and inwardly smirked. If he could capture that anxiousness in his photographs, he knew the price he would get for his work would skyrocket. He knew many of his buyers wanted to see the little girls and boys he used in his photos genuinely and visibly nervous or even frightened by the things they were asked to do and would pay big money for the prints or videos.

"Your mum also told you you were to do everything I asked you to do, didn't she?"

Julie shifted on the couch, her hands folded tightly in her lap. "Yes, sir," she responded softly when she saw the man was waiting for an answer. "You make damn sure you do what he tells you to do with no argument, Julie," were her mum's exact words when she had left her at the studio just a few minutes ago. "This is our big chance to make a lot of money so don't you blow it," she had said, her manner threatening. "Just realise that your fortune is between your legs and its worth even more at your age than it is at mine." Julie hadn't really understood what her mum had meant by that last remark but, before she could ask, her mum had opened the door for her to go up to the studio then turned and walked away saying the photographer would bring her home when he was finished. Julie had then had to nervously make her way to the studio by herself.

"Call me Don, sweetheart," the photographer said, leaning towards her and smiling broadly. "There's no need to be formal here. You are a very pretty girl and I can sense you are going to be a wonderful model and earn lots of money for your mum and yourself." His eyes appraised the youngster as he remembered his meeting with the girl's mother and how willing she was to have her daughter appear in one of his 'features'. Her daughter would earn more money in the couple of hours 'posing' for him than she earned in a month as a waitress in the downtown bar. She had been a little reluctant initially when he had divulged the true nature of his 'photo shoots', but only until he came to the money she would get. Then she had been quite eager for him to use her daughter. 'She's going to get screwed sooner or later, so why not cash in on it while we can,' she had rationalised to him - and to herself. He smiled at the memory of her greed. It was this greed he relied on in the parents he preyed upon to get to use their children - and it always succeeded in getting him what he wanted.

"Did your mum tell you anything about what would happen here today?" he asked the girl.

She shook her head slowly, her eyes looking up at him. "Not really. She said it might be some rude things and she said that I was to do good and we'd get lots of money. And she told me you were the boss and I had to do everything you said, even if I was scared," she finished off softly, her eyes dropping nervously.

"That's right, sweetheart. It is going to be 'rude' things and I am the boss, but I'm sure you'll find the day very interesting and you'll get to do things most other girls don't get to do for many years to come. I'm sure you'll end up loving it. How old are you?"

"I'm ten," the little girl replied. "Nearly ten and a half."

"Terrific," Don said and stood up. "You are a very pretty ten and a half year old. Most men like looking at ten year old girls, especially the pretty ones like you." He walked over to his desk and picked up his camera. "Let's take a few photos of you to get warmed up," he told her, switching on a set of lights that shone hotly onto the couch. He moved around in front of Julie, looking at her through the lens. She heard the 'click' as he took a couple of photos from different angles and she smiled shyly, not knowing what to do. She was wearing a tee-shirt and new skirt her mother had bought especially for this session along with a new pair of sandals and even new panties - the fact her mother had bought her new things made Julie aware that this was a very important day for her mother and she was expected to do whatever was required to make certain it was money well spent. She knew her mother saw this as their one chance at getting out of the poverty cycle they were caught up in.