AN: Please read the author's note at the end, it explains a few things. Muchas gracias (:

BPOV

I was surprised to find a new judge sitting at the table when CariDee and I walked in.

"Before we begin, I thought it would be important to bring in the one person who knows you all better than we do as your judges, Mr. J. Manuel."

He smiled at us happily and waved. "Hi, ladies," he said, flashing his brilliant teeth. My stomach dropped. Why were they making this so hard? Couldn't they just tell us who won and go home? CariDee laced her fingers through mine and we walked forward to our places on the podium. I swear my heart beat was audible, like the baseline to a dramatic techno song.

"Now, I know you're all thinking we've already decided who our winner is, but this cycle is much more difficult than the others have been. So we brought in another judge and we'll review your work with you now instead of having you both wait in the lobby for another twenty minutes. That's just rude." Tyra explained, getting animated with her hand gestures. She'd changed out of her eccentric ball gown and was wearing a pale yellow halter dress with green accents around her neck. She always had this air of effortless beauty about her that made me go weak in the knees…why couldn't I be like that?

J. Stood up from the table and walked toward us, sporting a pink blazer and dark wash jeans that were tailed to fit his body perfectly.

"I mean this whole heartedly when I say that I love you both dearly," he started. "But there can only be one winner."

Tyra got up and joined him in front of us. "J., which one do you think wants it more?" Her question was blunt, yet so simple. Who wanted this more?

"Well, something that you may not see from the girls so much is that they both have some serious self confidence issues."

"How so?" Tyra asked, clearly interested. He walked forward and grabbed CariDee's hands.

"Miss CariDee here hides her self-image issues through her loud, and sometimes obnoxious, personality. Almost as if she feels like people will see who she really is when she's not talking, or singing or dancing. Just being CariDee." He was explaining this to the judges, but then he spoke directly to her.

"You know you're talented, but you seem to cave into yourself whenever you let us see who are, even for a brief moment. You have to learn to let your past go, so the beautiful you inside can shine through." I felt tears pooling in my eyes.

"I know that. I just want this so bad, and I'm afraid that just being myself won't be enough. I've struggled my whole life just trying to prove to people that I can actually do something, and this is it for me. I want to show everyone that I can do this." She sniffed loudly and quickly brushed away her tears. J. rested his hands on her shoulders.

"The real you is just perfect. I promise you, with any photo shoot that you go to, with any modeling contract you sign, with anything you do in life, the only thing that's going to make you successful is that wonderful person inside of you. You can't be afraid to show it."

Then he turned to me and held my hands in his. His skin was unbelievably soft. He must have moisturized obsessively.

"Bella," he started. "I see you struggling with your self confidence issues as well, but yours are different than CariDee's. You show us who you are every time you step in front of that camera. It's like a window into your soul, but away from the camera, you're afraid to let people in. I've noticed that you always put everyone else in this competition before yourself, like you were more concerned with making sure they were okay. Then you could tend to yourself, just as long as no one was watching. It was very…maternal." I swallowed hard. What was this guy? A shrink? Last I'd heard, he was a makeup artist and coordinator for photo shoots and any really modeling related.

"There's no doubt that you're very talented, and I can see that you want this, but I can't figure out if you want this more for yourself or if you want to see CariDee happy."

"I'm afraid I won't be good enough," I said. "Like everything I've learned here will just go away when it's over." J. sighed and dropped my hands.

"Bella, you came into this competition talented, carrying everything we asked of all of those others girls: intelligence, knowledge of this industry, and passion. All we taught you how to do was capture yourself and let other people see it."

He stepped away from us. Tyra was standing very still, holding her hands in front of her casually. They both walked back to their seats, completely silent. Then, I kid you not, she took out a yellow legal pad of paper and began scribbling furiously on it. When she was done, she passed the note to Twiggy, who wrote her own notes down, then she passed it on.

"Are they really passing notes?" CariDee whispered in my ear.

"Looks like it," I whispered back. It was comical.

The note passing lasted for another five minutes, and then, Tyra came forward again, holding that one photo in her hand that had haunted mine, and most likely CariDee's, nightmares for the past week and a half.

"We've reached a decision," she said solemnly. CariDee gripped my hand tightly, cutting off my circulation. "The judges and I see so much potential in the both of you, and this decision was not easy. But we have decided that one you has just a little bit more…oomph…than the other."

She slowly flipped over the photo in her hands, and then I heard it. "Bella."

CariDee sighed, giving my hand one last squeeze, and I nearly gasped. It didn't feel right at all as I walked forward to grab my photo. I stopped halfway down the walkway.

"Wait," I said quietly, knowing how furious Edward would be with what I was about to do. "I…can't take this." Tyra tilted her head, staring at me questioningly.

"CariDee deserves this more than I do. I have a life that I can go back home to, and I know I'll be able to start over. But she needs this, modeling is who she is. Modeling is just something I'm good at. But..she has grown so much during this competition and she's fought so hard. I don't feel right taking this."

Tyra's mouth dropped. Out of the corner of my eye, I was Edward stand up from his seat.

"Bella…" he said warningly. "What are you doing?" He walked around the table, and I shook my head lightly at him, silently begging him to go back to his seat and act indifferent again.

"No," I whispered. He continued walking forward, and Tyra still had the "lost guppy" look on her face.

"You won." He said shortly. "Do not give this up." Anger coursed through my veins.

"I will not take this. I would be giving up too much and ruining everything for you. I refuse." Finally, Tyra snapped out of her stupor.

"What the hell is she talking about , Edward? Bella?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip. CariDee was making confused noises behind me and J. looked completely flabbergasted. Jay was fanning his face with the legal pad they took notes on.

"You aren't ruining anything for me, Bella. Can't you see that? You're my everything, and can't believe you're just going to give something like this up. This is your future, right in front of you," he said, pleading with his eyes.

"No." I said firmly. "You are my future. America's Next Top Model is CariDee's future."

"Hold up!" Tyra finally shouted. We stopped arguing and looked at her.

"Edward…is there something going on that I need to know about?" she asked. He locked eyes with me and nodded his head.

"Tyra…he said slowly. "I know I broke the rules, but I'm so in love with Bella Swan. Irrevocably in love with her."

"What?" she gasped. She turned to me, looking appalled.

"I'm…sorry?"I offered. She threw her hands in the air.

"Damn it, Edward! Why didn't you tell me? And how did I miss that?"

"Maybe it's because he was so quiet during judging?" Twiggy butted in. "I mean, he hardly ever said anything about her, now that I think about it."

Tyra huffed, clearly annoyed. "Turn the camera's off," she called to the camera men. "We have so much crap to edit out now," she mused. "So, Bella, you're going to give this opportunity up for him?" she asked. I felt like she was turning this into her talk show.

"Well..yeah," I said simply. "Do you know how bad that would look for the show? If I won and then people see us together as a couple? They'd automatically think that he cheated for me and judged biased. And he'd never be able to continue with his photography, because no one would hire him," now I was pouring my guts out and making an ass out myself.

"Oh, would you shut up," Edward sighed. "You worry way too much. It wouldn't be like that, and it wouldn't matter anyway."

"That's not all, Edward," I said, before he could tell me to shut up again. "Falling in love with you made me realize that this isn't a life that I want. I only want a life with you, and I'd much rather see a model who loves what she's doing on the cover of Seventeen Magazine." I reached behind me and pulled CariDee forward.

"Did you know about this?" Tyra asked her.

"No," she said quickly. "I had no idea."

"Well, I guess that makes five of us," she mumbled. Edward finally stepped towards me and pulled me into his arms. It was the first time I could really hug him.

"Tyra," Edward said over my head. "I'm not giving her up." He pushed away from me slightly and looked at me, his eyes smoldering. My stomach tingled, and when he pulled me into a deep kiss, in front of everybody, it was the first time I could really kiss him. I completely forgot about everyone around us. For a moment, it was just the two of us in the entire universe as electric currents ran through our bodies. When someone cleared their throat behind us, we broke apart. I blushed furiously.

"Drama drama drama," Jay sighed.

"Well…what do we do now?" J. asked. Tyra suddenly got a bright smile on her face.

"So, CariDee, you're America's Next Top Model!" she said. "How does it feel!" We all laughed and CariDee pulled me into a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much."

"You deserve it," I said back to her. Suddenly Tyra sighed again.

"Damn," she muttered. "We have to refilm that entire scene. Girls, put your scared faces back on so we can redo this thing. Turn the cameras back on!"

We reacted the scene, CariDee gripping my hand and Tyra standing in front of us again with that solitary photo. She flipped it to reveal CariDee's gorgeous photo, CariDee flipped out, and Tyra gave me the rehearsed speech about how far I'm going to go, even though I didn't win. Everything was perfect.

Once the cameras were shut off again, I sprang forward and ran into Edward's arms, loving him with my entire being.

"Now," he whispered in my ear. "We live happily ever after."

AN: So, who was expecting that? Also, just so you know, THIS IS NOT THE END! There's going to be a couple more chapters. So, for those of you who didn't like the way it ended, I'm very sorry, and I grant you full permission to hate me. Must I justify why things happened the way they did? Well…fine.

I'm a huge ANTM fan, and I love CariDee, because I felt like she was one of the few models who didn't turn into a complete psycho bitch. Also, can anyone really see Bella as a full time model? I sure can't. And doing that would ruin my plans for the very end of this story, which you will all find out about very soon.

So, feel free to hate…just don't hate with a passion, cuz then I can really feel it. Just know that this is the way it had to be.

Also! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! You all ROCK MY FREAKIN SOCKS OFF!

Much love (: