Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has come out of the ingenious mind of the wonderful Stephanie Meyer. Neither do I own the songs; they, too, belong to their respective owner.

A/N: Enjoy! It's well over due…

Troubled Love

Chapter 12

BPOV

"Hello, Mrs.…" Esme looked down at her paper to see who was next on the endless list of name, it seemed, "Mary-Lou."

"Hi!" Squeaked, who I presumed to be, Mrs. Mary-Lou. "Thank you so much for having me here; it's such an honor to be in the palace!" Her long brown hair was flittering around her waist, ram-rod strait, every time she bounced up and down.

"Yes," Esme replied with a kind smile. I don't know how she did it, but she kept the smile on her face instead of it turning into a grimace the next second. But I guess that was the sweet nature of Esme coming out again.

I didn't pay attention when introductions were made. I let out a small sigh, hoping no one had heard me.

Apparently I didn't do a good job, because Jessica, who was sitting beside me playing with her pencil, looked over and smirked at me, secretly telling me she heard my silent sigh.

I looked back down to what I was doing – drawing an intricate pattern of connecting, broken hearts all over the paper I had in front of me. I was supposed to be using the paper for making notes in the new maid interview; but I got board after the first half hour of 5 different girls come in, all bouncy with annoying squeaky voices, nervousness rolling off of them in waves.

I was putting the finishing touches of a loop on one of the hearts, about to start another one, when Esme said, "Okay, thank you. You may leave now, Mrs. Mary-Lou." I looked up to see the girl get up and jittery-ly walk over to the door, open it, and shut it behind her with an audible "click", when metal met metal.

The sound reverberating all over the silent room, only to create a kind of ominous feeling, adding to the mood I was; it sent chills up my spine.

Shrugging out of the feeling, I turned toward Jessica to see her stare blankly ahead of her. "Are we done yet, Esme? What number was that? The fiftieth one?" Of course, we all knew she was exaggerating.

"No; the twentieth. And we still have 1 more girl." Esme didn't even glance toward Jessica while speaking, just looking down at her paper with a slight frown; erasing and rewriting something else in its place. "No, wait. We have 2 more left."

"That girl seemed pleasant," Angela spoke up next.

Me and Jessica looked at each other and shook our heads, laughing silently. She was just like the last something-number of girls.

Jessica snorted, "She was anything but pleasant, Angela. More like squeaky and annoying."

I narrowed my eyes at my swirl, examining it. It went out too far on one side… "…Bella?"

I looked up at the sound of my name. "What?"

Sighing and repeating the question, Esme asked, "What did you think of the last girl?"

"She was… um…" I was trying to find a word that didn't sound so rude. "Uh…-"

"Obnoxious? Bouncy? Squeaky? All the above?" I was going to say "fine", but I liked Jessica's words better.

"Jessica…" Angela said, slightly in a warning tone.

Jessica just ignored her and went on. "All the above; her bounciness was making her squeaky, which in turn made it—her—obnoxious. Just like the other firty-something girls," she mumbled the last part, putting her head down."

I put my head back down, and concentrated once again on the loopy-loops of the intertwining, broken hearts on the page in front of me.

"Are you even paying attention to the interviews, Bella?"

"No," I answered, absent mindedly. Licking my lips, I brought the pencil down once more to finish the circular motion.

"Then what have you been doing all this time?"

Jessica leaned over my shoulder, and answered Esme. "She's drawing some broken hearts that look really complicated."

"Bella," Esme chastised, "If you don't pay attention, I might have to send you out there to go mingle with your princes."

My head shot up. "No!" I looked at Esme."Would you really betray me like that, Esme? With something so low and cruel?" In truth, I've only spent time with 4 of them; Mike, Edward, Andrew, and Tyler. I had talked to Andrew and Tyler this morning at breakfast. The other prince—Alex, I overheard his name was—just kinda sat in the corner and looked at the table; and Edward was talking to my dad pretty much all morning. They seemed to be in each other's confidence already. All together, I knew the next one I would have to inevitably talk to next was Alex, and he gave me the creepy-stalker vibe. I couldn't deal with his mood and… and what today is. And then the last 5 of the princes were coming later today. "Ugh…"

"Now, Bella," Esme said in a reprimanding tone, "I know you don't like some of them, but… but…"

"Face it, Esme," Jessica piped up. "There's no "but" about it. Bella doesn't like any of them." She looked over at me, but directed her next statement to someone else. "Except for Edward that is," she whispered to Angela, who was sitting across the room from her.

"Jessica…" Always the ever-faithful Angela said.

I sighed. "Can we go on to the next person?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. I looked pointedly at Esme. "And I promise to pay attention this time." To further prove my point, I set down my pencil and paper. Nothing for my hands to do, they found the bracelet on my wrist, and started playing with it. I felt my hear sink some.

Esme let out a huff of air, turning towards the person at the door, waving to signal bringing the next person in.

She had spiky, shoulder length, black hair, and a knee length fan skirt on and a blouse tucked in to it. Her eyes were a shining purple-ish color, with long black lashes framing them. The girl could have been at least a head shorter than me; if not shorter.

"Alice Brandon," Jessica leaned over and whispered to me.

The girl—Alice—hopped over towards the seat in the middle of the room and sat down. "Hi!"

"Hello," Esme greeted the girl. Jessica and I both gave polite smiles, while Angela gave a half timid wave.

Jessica and I glanced over at each other—we both knew this one was going to be like everyone before her.

I tried not to let my sad mood show on my face.

I sighed looking back over at Alice.

"I'm Alice Brandon. You must be Mrs. Platt," Alice said.

I blinked, taken back for two reasons—one: her voice didn't get all high-pitched and squeaky; and two: she called Esme "Mrs. Platt"—I had never really thought of Esme having a last name; she had always been Esme to me.

I looked back at Jessica; her mouth was ajar, gaping at Alice. If it was because Alice had started talking first, the lack of squeakiness, or her using Esme's last name, I didn't know. One thing I did know was I liking Alice more and more by the minute.

"Oh, well, yes, dear," Esme said with a slight pink tint adding to her cheeks, "People don't really call me Mrs. Platt, just Esme. You can call me Esme or Mrs. Platt, which ever you like."

"Okay, I'll call you Esme," Alice said again sans squeak. I think the polite smile on my face turn into a real one, not forced.

"That's Bella, Jessica, and Angela."

My hands fell off my bracelet, and I came out of the semi-fogginess in my mind, that was full with a forlorn-ing feeling, and listened more closely.

I glanced at Jessica again, seeing she had a grin on her face. She leaned back, crossing her arms—like she was about to watch a relaxing or really good show, maybe both.

I glanced over to Angela for the first time and saw she had a smile also on her face, watching the girl intently. She looked down at her pad of paper, picking up her pencil, and writing something down. Seeing Angela writing, brought me inspiration.

I picked back up my pencil and paper, and wrote "Alice" in all caps, with an exclamation point at the end.

Jessica must have gotten the same idea, because she picked up her pencil and started writing to, a second after I started.

Esme looked back at us and smiled, picking up her pencil and wrote a quick note. Setting the pencil back down, she looked at Alice again and started asking questions:

"Why do you want the job?"

"Do you have any experience?"

"Have your family members been in this business before?"

"How did you find out about this job?"

"What do you expect from the job?"

Alice answered all of them without stuttering once, or repeating anything twice. I'm pretty sure we all had gigantic grins on our face at the end of it.

"Holy crap!" Jessica looked like she was on the verge of bouncing up and down in her seat, a big radiant smile still in place.

"I know!" Angela agreed, also on the verge of jumping up and down.

"Oh, girls," Esme sighed. "We still have one more girl to interview."

"What about you, Bella?" Jessica asked giddily, ignoring Esme's earlier comment. "What do you think of Alice Brandon?"

I didn't answer; I'm pretty sure the smirk on my face answered for me.

"Okay, girls," Esme tried again. "We still have one more girl left. Let's not count her out yet." Esme waved, yet again, to the person at the door to let the next girl in.

"Wait!" I waved to the person at the door to hold off for a minute.

"What now, Bella?" Esme asked exasperated. "I just want to get these interviews over with already. I swear I must be going grey by how much pressure you put on me…"

I waved off Esme's worry with a shake of my head and saying, "Aren't we going to pick two girls?" I distinctly remember her saying that there were two spots open last night.

A memory pushed at the surface of my consciousness and a tightening of my chest. I pushed it away as best I could, and just barely managed to hear what Esme said next.

"Yes there are two spots open," Esme answered. "But I just want to get these interviews over with. Maybe have a snack after… I'll stop by the kitchen afterwards." Nodding her head, she turned towards me and raised an eyebrow. "Anything else you wanted to ask, Bella?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I'm good." I made a big, grand hand gesture to the doorman, and leaned back to get more comfortable. My shoulders slumped with a tightening in my chest; my sadness multiplied now that my happy little distraction was gone.

When the door opened, I felt my eyes widen in amazement and my self-esteem level take a hit. I shrunk back into the couch cochin even more, holding the paper closer to my chest, tightening my grip on the pencil.

I snapped out of it a second later, straightening my back, setting the writing utensils on my lap, and clearing my throat. I grabbed the water cup next to the couch on the table, and took a sip.

There, strutting over to the open seat for her to sit on, was a tall statuesque girl, with a figure of a model, and long, shining, golden hair. She had a pair of crystal blue eyes, and some blond strands of hair falling into her face.

She looked down at her feet while walking, causing more strands to fall into her face. When she sat down, she tucked some strands behind her ear, and looked at us. "Hi, I'm Rosalie Cullen, but you can call me Rose." She had a polite smile on her face, and looked at all of us expectantly.

I snapped out of my daze I seemed to go into again when she started talking. "Hi. I'm Bella." Pointing to the appropriate person, I said, "That's Jessica, Esme, and Angela." I returned her polite smile.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw three heads snap towards me then back at Rosalie.

My smile got just a little bigger. My sadness was forgotten momentarily for the second time that day.

***~~~…~~~***

"I think we have our two winners," Angela said happily, a big smile on her face.

Jessica didn't say anything this time, just sat back with a peaceful smile on her face—probably because we didn't have to go through the grueling process of picking the girls. I felt exactly the same way.

I sat with slump shoulders against my spot on the couch, next to Jessica. Across the room, Angela was bouncing giddily in her place still—an unusual occurrence for her, since she was always so calm and level-headed about everything.

"Bella!" Angela was saying, "How are you not excited about this?"

I looked at her indifferently, not giving away my tiredness and sadness, and then continued looking at my nails—of course, Esme saw through it, like always.

"Okay, girls, since I already know who you guys are going to pick, I think it's safe to say that we can close the after-discussion interview," Esme said, quickly glancing at all of us, lingering on me a second longer than the rest.

We all agreed and stood.

When I got outside, almost immediately, I had Jasper join my side.

"How did everything go in there?" He asked. He didn't seem to be paying full attention to me, like he was thinking about something—or someone—else. I peeked over behind him, and saw a small head of black hair disappearing around the corner; it looked somewhat, recently familiar.

We walked down some corridors to the gardens, to meet the princes that had arrived while I was in the interviews.

"Fine," I answered, not sounding convincing at all. I knew he wouldn't believe me—my mind was thinking, trying to figure out where I knew that hair from…but my mind just couldn't place it. My mind was also simultaneously fighting to not go into a depressed state.

The look he gave me proved he didn't. It still looked like a half-heartedly attempted look.

I sighed. "Over half of the girls we interviewed were squeaky, had jerky, nervous movements, and almost all a little bit jumpy." Promising myself I would figure it out later, I let it go, for now. I could use another distraction later on today, like I was using this conversation now.

"The others who weren't like that?"

"There was only two who weren't," I stated bluntly. That seemed to shock him out of his daze.

"Oh," Jasper's mouth made the 'o' shape, before chuckling a little. "And you were in there for, what? 1 hour?"

"2," I corrected. "We had like, 20 or something girls. They each took like 10 minutes each." I groaned, rubbing my eyes, heaving out a sigh.

"Prince Alert," I heard a voice mutter. I looked up to see Emmett join us from the off-joining hall that also led to the gardens.

I looked ahead of us just in time to see the doors being opened, and 6 pairs of eyes watch us come out. My hands falling to my side, I straightened my posture and put a smile on my face. I knew it wouldn't be very convincing, but it was better than nothing.

Emmett had a mischievous grin on his face. "Hello, again, men." Uh-oh; I knew what that tone meant. I sighed, putting a reassuring smile on my face. Hopefully they wouldn't be too scared of Emmett.

***~~~…~~~***

And I told you to be patient,
And I told you to be fine,
And I told you to be balanced,
And I told you to be kind,
And in the morning I'll be with you,
But it will be a different kind,
'Cause I'll be holding all the tickets,
And you'll be owning all the fines.

I sang along with Birdy's, "Skinny Love", lying on my bed. It suddenly switched to Smash Mouth's "All Star".

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed

How many people have told me that? So many; too many to count. Some were passing enemies, some were passing friends. They were right.

She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an "L" on her forehead

Of course I never realized it then, but they were wrong. I always believed what people told me when I was younger. I was hesitant to believe what people said now. But sometimes I forgot to be hesitant.

Well, the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running

Always running from the lies…truths.

Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

I never got this line when I was little; until Demitri explained it for me. Sometimes people can get so smart, that it goes to their head and their dumb for it.

So much to do so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets?
You'll never know if you don't go
You'll never shine if you don't glow

I want to glow; I want to see things glow. That's why I snuck out, somewhat. I wanted to see the world around me shining, glowing in the moon light. I wanted to see what there was to see-

The door suddenly opened, breaking whatever bubble I was in.

"I didn't know you liked this song." I heard the voice before I saw the person.

I looked up to see Emmett walk in.

"What's up?" I asked, sitting up.

"The boss wanted you to go "mingle"," he said it in a somewhat mocking tone, "with the princes. As you know, time can go by fast."

"And exceedingly slow at times."

Emmett sighed, ignoring my last comment. He, instead, started to sing along to Smash Mouth:

"Hey now you're an All Star get your game on, go play
Hey now you're a Rock Star get the show on get paid

And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold."

I started snickering at his bad, off-tune voice.

"Stop, Emmett. You sound like…like…like a dying cat!"

"I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all-"

He broke off, realizing what I just said. "Well, that's not very nice, is it?"

"The truth hurts sometimes," I shrugged, getting off my bed, snickering a little still. Emmett always made me feel better.

I didn't realize the truth of my words till after I walked out the door.

A/N: I'm still alive, yes. Hope you liked it. Might be a little far-fetched to ask, but…reviews? That would be nice. The reviews got were amazing; thank you, guys.

Questions to think about:

What was Japer distracted about? Or should I say who? ;P

Who was the person with the head of black hair? (That one should be fairly obvious ;))

Why is Bella in a funk? (If it wasn't clear, something was really bothering her this chapter)

All these will be answered soon in the upcoming chapters. Stay tuned! (Like this is a show ;D)

~Cynthia~