Disclaimer: As much as I would like to, I don't own Twilight or any of the characters.
BPOV
I stepped out of the car and looked up at the tall building I had hoped that I would never see again. The man that had been driving the car half-pulled me inside and dragged me to the front desk. The man chatted to the women for a minute pointing at me a few times but I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to what they were saying. I watched boys and girls of all ages sitting on the floor all with numbers pinned to their shirts, waiting until someone came and moved them in groups, by age it looked like.
The man finished talking to the woman and turned to me with a number which he told me to pin to my shirt. I did so and looked up at him.
"Well, goodbye then Bella," he said and with that he turned and walked back out the doors we had come in, leaving me a strong sense of déjà vu. I sighed and turned back to the woman at the desk. She looked at me and said, "You can just go sit over there," pointing towards a bunch of about 10 girls all around my age, "Someone will be around to collect you soon."
I sighed and went over to where they were sitting. I slightly smiled at the girls but didn't say anything. There was no point making friends when I would never see these people again. I drifted into thought of the last time I had been here.
Flashback
My social worker, Elaina, took me inside the building and looked around for a minute before approaching the desk. She talked to the woman for some time as I gazed around taking in my surroundings.
I had thought that the idea of servants had died out years before, but here I was at a sale and unfortunately I wasn't on the buying end of the deal. Elaina had informed me the week before that they couldn't find relatives or a good foster home for me to go and the only orphanages with openings were really disgusting so this was probably my best shot at a fairly decent home. Apparently the rich people still had servants today just to help them around the house and to cook and clean and most families treated their servants very well. Usually servants started out from a younger age but she said that they would probably accept me because I could cook and clean and I was educated.
Elaina turned to me and handed me a piece of paper with the number 61 on it and told me to pin it to the front of my shirt. She had then looked at me for a minute before saying, "I guess this is it. Take care of yourself. I'm so sorry that it's come down to this." I hugged her and then watched as she turned and walked out of the door.
End of Flashback
I was pulled out of my memory by a voice telling us to get up and follow him. We went through a set of double doors and entered the chaos that was going on backstage. We were put into a line in order of our numbers and then lined up on the side of the stage. A man standing there nudged the first girl and she stepped out onto the stage. I heard the announcer say number 54 and the started going on about what the girl could do. Then I heard him start calling out prices and obviously, though I couldn't see it, people were bidding.
"650 dollars," he called, "And sold to the man at the back."
I watched as the next girl took the stage and the process started again. I thought about my last owner to take my mind off my nerves. He was an elderly sort of man called Bill who wasn't really looking for a servant but someone who could help him out around the house. I had cooked and cleaned and fixed things reasonably well and I had began to think that things were going to be okay, that maybe I might get to stay with this man who treated me well and have an okay life. But then not six weeks after I had started there, he suffered from a stroke and died, so it had been back to the sale for me and the one other girl that worked there.
I felt someone tap me and I looked up to see that it was my turn. I took a deep breath and stepped out onto the stage. The lights blinded me as I stumbled across the stage to the middle.
"So," the announcer said, "Number 61 is a bright young girl who is nearly 16. She can cook and she can clean and take care of children. She is very well educated, having just finished 10th grade in southern England." I cringed at the mistake, knowing that it was year 10, not 10th grade but quickly refocused.
"So let's start the bidding at 200 dollars." I couldn't see it very well but people must have started raising their hands because the announcer very quickly started saying, "Okay I have 300. Do I have 400? Yes, thank you sir. 500?"
It seemed to go on for ages and before long it was up to $700. I couldn't understand why people kept bidding on me of all people. I wouldn't call myself very pretty and all people knew of me was what had been read out. All of a sudden I heard a deep voice call out, "1000 dollars!"
My mouth fell open with surprise and the whole room went very quiet as everyone turned to look at the man who had just called out.
"Um right," said the announcer after a minute, "Are there any advances on $1000?" The room stayed very quiet and the announcer called, "Right, okay, sold for $1000 to the man on the right."
I exited to the left of the stage, completely astonished and went up to the waiting area to await my new owner.
He entered a few moments later. He was very pale and looked ever so beautiful I couldn't believe it. He talked to the woman sitting at the desk who handed him some paperwork that he signed and handed back to her with a check. She looked around for a minute and then saw me and pointed at me. The man turned and walked over to me.
"Hello," he said, "What's your name?"
"Um, Bella," I practically whispered.
"Bella it's nice to meet you," he said, "My name's Carlisle. Come on. Let's get going."
I got up and followed him down the long hallway and out the double doors. He went over and talked to the man standing their and then the man nodded and walked off. A moment later, a black Mercedes pulled around the corner and I followed him to the car. I climbed into the back and was silent as we pulled onto the highway and started speeding down the roads.
It couldn't have been more than an hour when we pulled off the high way. We zoomed down some side roads and eventually pulled up to a set of giant bronze gates. Carlisle put down his window and spoke quickly into the intercom system. A moment later the gates opened and I looked upon the biggest house I had ever seen.
It was made from what looked like white stone, maybe marble with a black roof. The middle of the house with the front door had two stories which each had three arches and then there were the two sections of the house on either side of the middle entrance way that were angled inwards as if to make a triangle, each with two floors from what I could see. (A/N: See my profile for a picture of the house)
As we weaved up the curved driveway I saw that each of these sections to the side of the entrance way had yet another section coming off them going towards the back of the house and I even caught sight of the pool.
We pulled up the huge circular drop off area in front of the house and climbed out where a number of people were waiting. They all curtsied or bowed and then a girl who looked to be a bit older than me stepped forward. She curtsied again and then Carlisle said, "Angela, this is Bella, she's the new servant. Please take her to her quarters and see that she gets settled in. She will begin tomorrow."
"Yes sir," said Angela, curtsying. "Come along Bella."
She and I walked into the foyer and down a side passage. It lead to some dormitories and Angela showed me which bed I would be sleeping in.
"Wow," I said to her, "There are a lot of beds here. How many servants do they have here?"
"Well," said Angela, "I think about 50, which includes the grounds staff, and the cooks, and the servers, and the general housework people."
"What will I be doing?" I asked.
"I think that they are going to have you do a bit of everything; cooking, cleaning, gardening, maybe tutoring the younger children."
"Oh," I said, "That doesn't sound too bad. What are the people here like?"
"Well," said Angela, "You've already met Carlisle and I'm sure that you will meet his wife Esme soon, she likes to personally introduce herself to all of the new servants. She's kind of motherly figure. Then they have three children: Emmett, Alice, and Edward. Emmett lives here with his wife Rosalie. You will know them when you meet them, Emmett is very big, very strong, and Rosalie is very pretty but comes across as a tad obnoxious. Alice lives here with her husband Jasper and Alice is very petite but has no problem speaking her mind and is a big admirer of clothes. God help you if she ever takes you on a shopping trip. Jasper is almost always with Alice but is the complete opposite from her, very quiet and keeps to himself. And Edward…" Angela paused deep in thought as to what she should say, "Well Edward is very studious, loves the library but is also outside a lot and he always seems to be very deep in thought."
"He's not with anyone?" I questioned.
"No," said Angela sighing, "Esme has tried to pair him so many vamp… umm…people, but he never seems interested."
"Oh," I said, not missing Angela's little slip, wondering what she could have meant to say.
"Angela seemed to realize this and she said, "Right well I have to get back to work. You can get changed into a uniform in the closet over there and then come down to the kitchens to find me and I'll give you a tour."
"Thanks Angela," I said. She smiled and walked out the door. I walked over to the closet and pulled out a blue skirt with a pale blue t-shirt. I put them on and looked at myself in the mirror and then turned to find the kitchens and Angela.
A/N: Okay this is a new story that I've just thought of and unlike my other stories I won't abandon because I actually have some idea of what is going to happen. Let me know what you think and if I should continue it. If I do continue it I will be looking for a beta.
