I'm really sorry for the ridiculously long wait, but my mom was in the hospital so she was my number one priority. School was my second. I was writing the chapter, but unfortunately it was in my notebook and I just didn't have the time to type it up and post it. But thankfully, my mom is home now and she's doing fine, so I managed to type up the chapter. I know a lot of you probably guessed who all of the potentials will be and your all probably right, but its all about who gets chosen and for what reason, so that should still be fun to find out. Anyways, sorry again, thank you for all of the reviews and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Enjoy!
Potentials.
I couldn't even describe the nerves I felt as I was sitting at that same café a day later. I never thought I would be in a situation like this. I still couldn't even believe I was in a situation like this. But Edward had a plan that he was sure would work, so I trusted him. I would do anything for him. No matter how hard it may be.
But I wasn't lying when I said I would pick the most repulsive girl out of the bunch.
"Now Bella, don't be afraid to ask them any questions you have. Your more Edward's age, so you'd have a better insight on what he might like" Elizabeth said as we waited for the five girls to arrive.
I just nodded my agreement. I had more insight then she could probably fathom.
Elizabeth and I were sitting next to each other at one of the round tables. She had that silly binder lying on the table in front of her. Her plan was to have them all come at once and "slyly" ask them questions to determine which one was better. Now all we had to do was wait.
I got very impatient as we waited. I started drumming my fingers on the table and bouncing my knee until finally, two of them showed up.
They were both brunette's and sat next to each other beside Elizabeth. They shook hands with her and introduced themselves as Jessica and Lauren. Jessica was the one sitting next to Elizabeth and I immediately pegged her as a possible suck-up.
Not even five minutes later, two other girls showed up. They introduced themselves as Kate and Irina. Irina had raven-black hair while Kate's was a very light orange, almost blonde. Kate sat next to Lauren and then Irina next to Kate.
The last girl to arrive introduced herself as Tanya. She had strawberry blonde hair pulled back by a head band.
Each girl was wearing some type of dress or skirt and t-shirt/tank-top ensemble. They all had hordes of jewelry on, perfectly manicured nails and you could tell they each spent at least an hour on their hair.
Perfect. Edward happened to dislike when a girl spent too much time on her appearance. He was more of a aux naturelle fan and with all the make-up they were wearing, they were definitely on the opposing team.
I, on the other hand, just wore a simple pair of jeans, my black beater with a spaghetti-strapped red tank-top overtop and my black flats. As for hair and make-up, a messy bun and black eye-liner and mascara. That's the only make-up I ever wore. It was an agreement I had with Alice. I wear those two things and she wouldn't hound me to wear blush and eye-shadow and lip gloss, etc.
"So is she here for the same reason we are?" Lauren asked, nodding her head at me. I briefly wondered if looks actually could kill.
I almost laughed. I didn't need to compete, I already had him. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Elizabeth glanced at me and smiled, placing her hand on my shoulder. "No. Bella is my personal assistant. She's like a daughter to me and I wouldn't make any changes to Edward's life without her opinion first" Elizabeth explained, leaving me feeling guilty once again because I was betraying her trust so badly and she had no idea.
Lauren and Jessica exchanged a glance and then snickered. They looked at me as though I were irrelevant. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
"Wait, didn't I see you and Edward at Starbucks last week?" The one named Irina said, causing me to freeze.
I guess she had. Edward and I were at Starbucks last week for obvious reasons, but Elizabeth didn't know that I spent time with him outside of her house. She knew we had mutual friends, but she didn't know that we all hung out together.
Elizabeth removed her hand and gave me a questioning look. "You were with Edward last week?" she asked.
Crap. I would have to make something up. Hell, I was a great liar. I'd done it enough. Was I proud of it? No.
"Yeah, on my day off, Rosalie and Alice called me to meet them at Starbucks. They said they had called Edward too and he was going to give me a ride and then we were going to go meet Jasper and Emmett to hang out for a while. Your not mad, are you?" I asked, just to make sure.
I was sure she would believe me, but I didn't know how she'd feel about Edward giving me a "ride" to random places.
"No, I'm not mad. A little surprised. I wonder why he never said anything, I mean, he loves having you around. I guess to him your like a second Alice just a little more toned down" Elizabeth teased.
Well, I knew one thing for sure: Edward certainly didn't think of me as a second Alice unless he had secret desires to be with her which is highly doubtful.
I didn't say anything. I didn't want to. If your going to lie, you can't keep adding to it. It becomes confusing and then takes forever to let the conversation fall.
"Well, you all know why you're here, so why don't you all tell us a bit about yourselves" Elizabeth said, then turned to Jessica. "We'll start with you, dear"
Jessica smiled sweetly. I wanted to gag.
"Well, my name is Jessica. I'm seventeen and very outgoing" she said, keeping it short as not to bore Elizabeth.
Next was Lauren.
"I'm Lauren. I'm eighteen and my passion is shopping. Like Jessica, I'm very outgoing and I get along very easily with other people. And might I add, Mrs. Masen, I think Edward sounds like an amazing man and it would be an honor to stand by him as his wife" she said, causing me to cough so I could hide my laugh.
Apparently I was wrong. Jessica wasn't the suck-up, Lauren was. I hoped Elizabeth would see right through that.
"Well Lauren, you'd get along fine with Alice. She's a very close friend of Edward's and she simply adores shopping as well. She's currently entering the fashion world as a designer. We're all very proud of her" Elizabeth smiled.
Lauren beamed; glad she had something in common with someone who was close to both Edward and Elizabeth.
"I wouldn't say Alice adores shopping as much as she adores Jasper, though. I have a feeling she'd give it all up for him" I said, proving to Lauren that her like of shopping wasn't going to get Edward's ring on her finger.
"Yes and we have you to thank for that, Bella. Had you never come into our lives, Alice wouldn't have met Jasper. She owes you a lot" Elizabeth commented.
"Well, she's got to suck it up and tell him how she feels first and then she'll owe me" I joked.
Elizabeth laughed. "True" she said. "Anyway, continue" she waved her hand at Kate.
Kate smiled. "My name is Kate. I'm seventeen and very nervous. I'm not a fan of attention, so it still scare's me when I get it" she said, her voice shaking slightly.
I liked Kate. She was honest and appeared to be wearing the least amount of make-up and jewelry. She seemed to be just naturally pretty, even with the strange color of her hair. It sort of sucked how nice she seemed. Why? Because I couldn't choose her. If I chose her, I wouldn't have the heart to follow through on Edward's master plan. Though I probably will still feel bad about it, I had to pick someone who really couldn't make Edward happy.
"I'm Irina. I'm eighteen. I love to travel and I'm a photographer" Irina said, keeping a very sweet smile on her face.
I guess Irina wasn't so bad either. But that wasn't necessarily a good thing. It meant that I'd have to cross her off of the list as well. I really hoped that Tanya would be the perfect choice. Kate and Irina were too nice to choose and I can't even imagine being in the same room as Jessica or Lauren ever again. Well maybe Jessica, but certainly not Lauren.
Finally, we were at the last girl.
"I'm Tanya. I'm nineteen. All I can really say about myself is that I know what I want in life and I'm very confident that I'll get it" she said, her tone implying that she felt she would be chosen for sure.
Thank god. All I can say is that she was perfect. First of all, she had strawberry blonde hair. Not at all Edward's type. Second, she was cocky. Edward found arrogance and cockiness to be major turn-offs. Third, she cared too much about her appearance. I'd noticed this while the other girls were talking; Tanya constantly checked her hair and make-up in her compact mirror.
Elizabeth smiled at all of the girls. "Alright then, I'm going to excuse myself for a short amount of time. While I'm gone, please, chat and get to know each other" she said.
She placed her hand on my shoulder and turned me on an angle so we were both facing away from the girls.
"Bella, I'm leaving the table for a few moments and I want you to ask as much questions as you can, preferably questions that I wouldn't feel comfortable asking or hearing the answers to, okay?" she asked in a very low voice so the girls wouldn't hear.
I nodded. She mouthed a thank-you, smiled at the girls once more and then left the table. I would definitely use this time to my advantage. I knew exactly what kind of questions Elizabeth wanted me to ask and I was going to do a damn good job asking them.
I grinned, wondering how the girls would react to my upcoming questions.
"So, out of the five of you, who do you think could please Edward the most in bed?" I asked, my voice not cracking or breaking for even a second.
I don't know if it was the previous twenty questions remix we played the other night that was keeping me from being nervous, or that I found their shocked expressions hilarious.
Jessica furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?" she asked.
Seriously? Did I speak a different language? I thought the question was pretty straight-forward and to the point.
"Sex, Jessica. Out of the five of you, which one of you is the best at it?" I asked, trying not to laugh or smile at the ridiculous looks on their faces. It was definitely a challenge.
"Why would you want to know that?" Tanya asked, her voice suddenly having a very bored tone to it.
I laughed. "I don't, but I know Edward. He'll never forgive me if I marry him off to someone who won't be able to pleasure him. I figured I would ask this question to save Elizabeth the embarrassment. She likes to pretend that Edwards still a virgin, so we won't ruin that for her" I explained.
Lauren snickered. "Well I've never had any complaints" she bragged.
The imagery that followed that statement almost made me gag. I couldn't imagine a guy who would willingly have sex with her.
"That's probably because usually the guys are so wasted, they don't even remember it" Jessica snapped, causing Lauren to glare at her.
The rest of the girls, including myself, laughed at the small feud breaking out between Jessica and Lauren. They started insulting each other, poking each other on the shoulder and calling each other names.
Even though in my mind, I'd already chosen the girl we would use for Edwards plan, this whole thing was still funny to watch. Both girls were very fluent in cursing and badmouthing. A small part of me wished Elizabeth would make it back in time to see them argue.
I only had one task left now: convince Elizabeth that the perfect woman for Edward is Tanya.
