BPOV

By the second morning, Eugena called a house meeting. I knew where this was going; the house was a mess. Though I had tried to do my part and keep my things clean, it got hard after a while. Things were much different when you were sharing a house with twelve other girls. Life in general is different. We all lounged in the living room while Eugena stood in front of us.

"Okay, so, we've been here for two days now, and this place is an absolute mess." Ironically enough, we all nodded. "So, I think we could all do our part by just trying to keep all of our things clean, you know? We all have certain things that we do when we're in our homes, but while we're sharing it with other people, our habits and such might need to change a little bit." There was an awkward pause before AJ spoke up.

"Yeah, like we could try not to take an hour long shower. Sure, I take an hour long shower while I'm at my house by myself, but I think we should shorten it so everyone can at least have some hot water." Monique stood up, pulling her reign over us as spoke.

"I'm sorry, but I take long showers. That's just who I am," and she crossed her arms over her chest. Michelle, one of the twins, snorted.

"You missed the whole point of this conversation. You're unwilling to change for anyone." All of the girls were obviously pissed off. None of us had it in ourselves to lay it on her. All that would do was make the competition even harder. That night, we got our first real Tyra-Mail. The girls went crazy, all of them flocking around Megan who had chanced to see an envelope sitting on a small tray next to the door.

We had our first photo shoot in the morning. We all jumped around, excited about what would be happening. Then, when Megan revealed that we had to be ready to go by seven, we all quieted down, and went to bed. I lucked out, around my bed, Brooke, Megan, Amanda, and Michelle had their beds. It seemed like the far side of the room was filled with people that I chanced to get along better with.


At 5:30, a few alarms went off. I groaned and stretched into my pillow. Didn't they have makeup artists and hair stylists at photo shoots? Why were people getting up so early? With a sigh, I slumped out of bed and looked around. Only three people had gotten up. I shuffled into a vacant bathroom with my clothes and hopped in the shower. I dumped some of my shampoo into my palm and scrubbed it into my hair. If someone was going to be doing my hair for me, I wasn't about to let my hair hang greasy and dirty in any way shape or form.

When I got out of the bathroom, most of the girls were up. In the kitchen, I made myself a piece of toast and grabbed of bottle of water. As far as breakfast was concerned, I was good to go. We piled into the van and drove to the shoot. The area that we were in was really nice. It was a resort of some sort. Jay led up all to an opening and this yelling and screaming startled me. When we looked up, Tyra walked in through these doors, surrounded by cameras and men. She was screaming in some foreign accent about us being rich bitches and how she hated us for being young. I knew this was a joke and laughed willingly. When Tyra screamed about her not having wind on her face, Jay instructed us to blow on Tyra. This infuriated her even more and she stormed away. When she left, we were still laughing, though some were shocked.

"Well, ladies, I hope you don't think that's how Tyra really acts," Jay said laughing. "Today, for your first photo shoot, you are going to be modeling the dreaded model stereotypes." He handed out the rolls. I was surprised at some of them. Casting couch model, black-girl-turned-white-girl, Plastic surgery model. My role scared me just a tad. 10,000 dollars a day model. How was I supposed to do that one? Jay turned to me.

"Don't think I've forgotten Bella! Since you won the challenge, you will be treated as a diva for the day. This is your manager for the day, Lindsay." I was shocked. In all honesty, I had forgotten about winning. With everything that was going on at the house, it was hard to remember much of anything. Lindsay led to me a room where I got a manicure and pedicure. Someone came into the room and said that I needed to get my makeup done. After thanking my manicurist and Lindsay, I followed the person to a studio where most of the girls were being primped in.

My stylist was an extremely thin blond. She was gentle with my hair and pulled it into thick rollers. Then, she turned me over to a makeup artist. This man had a thick Italian accent and smelled faintly of beer. When he turned me around in the chair, I was shocked at my reflection. Everything about my face looked fake. You couldn't see me behind it at all.

"You don't like it?" he asked.

"No, I like it," I answered.

"You lie," he spat. My chest tightened. This man didn't know me, how could he think I was lying?

"No, I'm not. You did a wonderful job, thank you," I said and turned to find Lindsay. She was waiting by the door. Lindsay led me a patio with a waiting massage chair. The massage was luxurious, but the problem happened when the masseuse caught my robe on a lawn chair.

"Oh no," he muttered. Lindsay waved her clipboard at me, telling me it was my time for the shoot. The masseuse pulled at my robe, but Lindsay rushed in and stopped him.

"No! You can't tear that! It's her costume," she explained and they spent ten minutes trying to unhook it. All I could do was sit there with a towel draped over my naked body. My cheeks tingled and I prayed that the heat on my face wouldn't melt the makeup. When they finally got it undone, I raced into the building. Jay looked unhappy.

"I'm so sorry," I said as soon as I came into the room. "The masseuse clipped my robe to a lawn chair and it got stuck," I explained. His face softened.

"Oh, that's okay, lets just hope it doesn't happen again," he said. I smiled and crawled on top of the bed. Another model came over to me with a giant paycheck that read $9,999. Though I modeled and did the best that I could, several times throughout the shoot, Jay would shout,

"Come on Bella, that's not very good acting! That's bad acting! You're overdoing it!" I felt like I would burst into tears. I blew this. I'm going home, is what I thought.


At home, I curled into a ball on the couch. I desperately wanted to call Alice, but she in a class right now. Brooke sat next to me. She didn't say anything; she just sat there next to me. Strangely enough, it was the comfort that I needed. I felt like I had let Alice down—she wanted this for me more than I wanted it for myself. When the next Tyra-Mail came, we all knew what it was about. Judging and Elimination was at 6:30 and we had to be ready by 6:15.

A bunch of girls ran around, straightening their hair, some were curling it. Almost everyone attacked themselves with more makeup. I got the nagging sense that a lot of them were going to be broken out in the morning. All I did was pull on my lucky jeans and a black and white striped baby doll top over them. This was probably my last night here; I might as well look cute. For shoes, I pulled out a pair of black satin pumps from my bag and slipped them on. I caught a glimpse of something Alice had snuck in my bag and laughed. She insisted that I bring her sex-kitten shoes. They were 6-inch platform heels that were supposed to be garnished with fishnet tights. Did I ever plan on wearing them? No. Could I even walk in them without killing myself three times over? No.

My hair was useless, so I pulled it into a round bun on the back of my head. For the most part, we all looked pretty decent for an elimination. We all walked into a room that I immediately knew as the judging room. A lot of things would happen in this place. Tyra was standing being a table. To her right, two swivel chairs were turned around and to her left, there was one that also faced the opposite direction.

"Good evening ladies!" Tyra said with a smile. "Welcome to the first judging and elimination round. Before we get started, I am very excited to introduce to you your fellow judges. To my right, we have the famous model, perhaps one of the greatest this world has seen, besides my self of course," Tyra winked, "Ms .Twiggy!"

Twiggy swiveled around in her chair and smiled at us. "Hello ladies," she said. Unlike my makeup artist, her accent was calming.

"Next, I would like to introduce to you the Queen of the Catwalk, the noted runway coach, Ms. J. Alexander!" J. swiveled around in his chair. He smiled.

"Halloo girls!" he smiled and flashed his teeth. We all knew that one was coming.

"Now, new to the judging panel, I would like to introduce to you a noted photographer and designer, Edward Masen!" The chair to her left spun around and my heart stopped. It all felt like a clench. This man was judging me? He was going to send me home? What was God doing to me? How could anyone be so beautiful and live to judge other people?

"Hi," he said politely. His voice was like velvet. Right now, all I hoped was that my face didn't look as bad as I felt. Tyra announced that the winner of the show would get a fashion spread in Elle Magazine and $100,000 contract with Cover Girl Cosmetics and then she sat down.

"Ladies, we want to see your walks, so please, walk forward," she said. Christian, who was standing first in line, walked forward. Her heels clacked against the floor and she spun once and walked back toward us. We all walked forward, flaunting our walks. I felt like throwing up—I couldn't walk in heels for my life. AJ walked before I did and then, it was all or nothing for me. I walked lightly, but maintained the motion I did when I walked during our first challenge. On my way back, I saw Brooke smile at me.

When it was all done, I looked up and fixed my gaze at Edward. His facial expression was blank. He didn't necessarily look bored, but he conveyed no emotion at all. Tyra called forward each model individually to assess our pictures. I blocked Tyra's voice out when she was assessing the others; I felt like I invading their privacy by listening. It must have been embarrassing for them. Then she called me forward.

"Bella." Tyra said. I walked forward and stood in the middle of the runway. "This is your best shot," she said, pointing to screen on the wall. I turned and saw a picture of today's photo shoot on a television that was mounted on the wall. After I swallowed hard, Tyra spoke. "This isn't a bad photo, Bella, but it isn't great." Twiggy spoke up.

"I think you were acting instead of modeling in this shoot," she said. I nodded.

"I think the only thing that's off with this photo is your facial expression. But, your facial expression reigns over most of the photo," Edward said. I froze; I wasn't expecting him to speak at all. Had he done that with the others?

"Thank you Bella," Tyra said, dismissing me. I nodded and walked away. I was so going home. Tyra asked us all to leave and we walking into a room where couches took up most of the space. All we did was sit there in silence.

EPOV

"Alight," Tyra said, spreading out all of the model's photos. "Michelle's photo is great, she did that really well."

"Absolutely," Twiggy agreed.

"She's funny," J. said. I smirked. The photo was quite comical, and yet, it had a serious aura about it.

"It's a good photo, she's obviously not going home," I said. Tyra put in inside of a folder.

"Now, CariDee, that's a classic dumb blonde photo right there," Tyra said. Twiggy scrunched up her eyebrows. "For a photo, you know what I mean," she said. Twiggy smiled and nodded her head.

"Alright, so she stays," J. said. I nodded my head in agreement. We continued through the photos until we came to the last two. Bella and Christian.

"Bella's not going," I said. "She had a better photo than Christian." I answered quickly.

"Yes, that's clear. At least Bella had a different range of poses, not just the same thing over and over again," J. said. He knew because he was there, but it was obvious in all over of Christian's photos.

"Bella has a nice walk too," Twiggy commented.

"She does, but she's a little shaky," Tyra said back. We all knew what the decision was.


When we called the girls back in, the all crowded on the steps. One by one, Tyra called the girls up, all of them exhaling in relief. When we got down to the last two, Bella and Christian stood there, both looking scared. There was something different in Bella's face though. Tyra asked them to step forward.

"Ladies, two of you stand before me and in my hands, I have only one photo." Tyra looked at Bella. "Bella, we see a young woman with great potential. But, we also see a young woman who doesn't seem to know the difference between acting and modeling." Tyra then turned to Christian.

"Christian, we see a young woman in you who doesn't really want to be a model. In your photos, we see the same thing over and over again." She paused and lifted out the photo.

"Bella. We know you have it in you to be great, but you need to find the difference between acting and modeling." Bella walked forward, her facial expression still not changing and she walked into the crowd of girls. In my opinion, she didn't need to be in the bottom two, all of that was just to scare her into being what she really is.

AN: Hey guys, sorry this one took me a little bit longer to get out. Since I've got to go back to school tomorrow, things might be a little bit slow. Anyway, I promised you Edward would be in this chapter, and here he is!!!! I hope you guys like it Review and let me know what you think!