Standard Disclaimer – I do not own Twilight or any of the characters from the story. All song selections have been provided by my amazing beta, NoWayWithWords. She is the greatest! She has set up a YouTube playlist that includes the songs chosen for the chapters. If you would like to check it out, see my profile for the link.

The song for this chapter is "Something Good Can Work" by Two Door Cinema Club.

Chapter 6 – Opportunity Rocks

A few days after the party, I was back at work when the manager, Denise, came stomping into the diner with a couple of magazines in her hand. She flipped one open to a picture of me walking down the red carpet. The caption below said, "Up and coming music sensation, Bella Swan, looks stunning as she rocks in the New Year in Seattle."

The other magazine was one of those tabloid papers. It had a picture of me scowling. It must have been taken while I was talking to that woman who accused me of being drunk. Beside it was a picture of Edward walking into his party in LA with four gorgeous blond bimbos hanging from him. The caption read, "Does the music industry's newest Diva, Bella Swan, think she stands a chance with the dashing Edward Cullen? Our sources say the two of them flirted shamelessly on the web feed between New Years Eve parties in Seattle and LA. One woman called it a shameless attempt at seduction. It looks like we will have to keep an eye on these two."

Denise put her hand on her hip and was tapping her foot, "What do you have to say about this?"

I wasn't sure if she was talking about the fact that I was a musician, or the accusations that I was coming on to Edward Cullen.

"I'm not sure what you mean."

She pointed to the picture in the magazine, like I didn't see my own picture. "That is you, is it not?" She was giving me a snotty look that I didn't particularly care for.

"Yes."

"So you admit that you went to a party in Seattle on New Years Eve?" She seemed irritated.

"Yes. I was invited to an exclusive New Years Eve party at a hotel downtown by my record producer. He thought it would be good publicity for my CD." I don't know why I felt the need to explain it to her.

"And Edward Cullen was there?"

"No, not exactly. He was at a party in LA. The two parties were being projected to each other… Kind of like a huge webcam."

She narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose in distaste. "So, you are telling me that you skipped out on working your shift here, so you could go to a party and flirt with Edward Cullen on a giant webcam?"

"No, I wasn't there to flirt with Edward Cullen. I was there to meet people in the music industry and promote my CD. Edward just happened to notice me and gave me some advice, that's all. There was nothing suggestive about it."

"You're missing the point, Bella. You were responsible for waiting tables that day. I rely on you to be here to take care of my customers. You can't go run off to some party just because someone invited you. You have responsibilities here."

I could feel my blood boiling. I tried to take a deep breath to calm myself down but it didn't work because she was still talking.

"Seriously, Bella, it's like you don't even care about the important things. I only hired you as a favor to your dad. He has been one of my best customers for years. I would have thought that he would have done a better job instilling good values and work ethics into his only daughter, but apparently I was mistaken."

That was all I could stand. You can bitch about me all you want, but you don't go around spouting shit about my father. Yes, he could be a pain in the ass, but he was still my dad.

"Denise, I strongly recommend that you think before you say anything else about my dad. He has been eating here as long as I can remember. He doesn't deserve to be talked about this way."

She scooped up the magazines and held them in front of me. "Well I don't deserve to be taken advantage of by his twenty-something year old daughter, who would rather go out and party than hold down a job like every other responsible citizen in this town."

"I wasn't being irresponsible. I switched shifts with Jessica. She worked the four hour shift on New Years Eve and I am going to work her four hour shift this Saturday because it's her little boy's second birthday."

Denise's face turned bright red. "I don't want to hear excuses. I put YOU on the schedule to work, so I expect YOU to be here. If you have a problem with that, maybe I should divide all of your hours between the other waitresses and eliminate the problem all together."

I untied the apron from around my waist and tossed it up on the counter. "Why don't you do that? I'm sure they will appreciate the extra hours since they are barely making ends meet with the sporadic hours they are working right now."

Before she had a chance to pick her jaw up off the floor, I reached behind the counter, grabbed my purse, and headed for the door. Sure, I needed the money, but I didn't have to put up with her shit. I could get a job in Port Angeles. I would have to drive an hour to get to work, but if the pay was better and I didn't have to put up with her shit, it would be worth it.

As I reached the truck, I could hear her screaming out the door, "Get back in here! You still have two more hours left on your shift and we have customers!"

I ignored her as I climbed in the truck and pulled out of the parking lot. I went home and fired up my laptop to start my job hunt. I was scanning through the classified section of the Port Angeles newspaper and found an ad for a car dealership that was looking for a receptionist. I logged into my email so I could send them my resume, when I noticed that I had four new messages.

The first was my mom, wanting to tell me how beautiful she thought my pictures were in the magazines and asking if the rumors of my involvement with Edward Cullen were true. I shot her back a quick note pretty much restating what I had told Denise and let her know that I was doing fine. I told her about the CD being played on the radio and asked if she had heard my songs yet.

The second was an email from my bank notifying me that an electronic deposit had been made to my account. That puzzled me. I figured it must have been a banking error, so I wrote down the bank's main number and decided I would call them in a few minutes.

The third email was from Jasper. He was giving me a heads up that I should be receiving a royalties payment for CDs that had been sold during that quarter. He said it should show up soon, if I had not received it already. He said that he had the itemized breakdown if I would like to see it, but he wasn't comfortable sending it through email for security reasons.

I looked back at the bank notice and realized that the new money in my account was actually money that I earned through my music. I was so excited that I literally jumped out of my chair and did a happy dance around my room. The check was more than I would have made in three months at the diner.

Once I calmed down a little, I opened the last email. It was from EC Entertainment.

Ms. Swan,

Congratulations on the success of your new CD. I am pleased to see that things are going well for you.

I apologize for having to contact you directly, but I have been trying to reach your manager to discuss a business opportunity. So far, I have been unsuccessful in finding any information on this person. Can you please forward your manager's contact information to my office, so we may discuss the details of my proposal?

Thank you,

E.C.

Oh, by the way, I love the picture of you in the new issue of People. You never cease to impress me. I look forward to possibly working together in the near future.

I forwarded the email to Jasper and called him a few minutes later.

"Jasper, did you read the email from EC Entertainment?"

"Yes, I was just reading it."

"They want contact info for my manager. I don't have a manager. I'm not even sure where I would find one. What do I do? Should I tell them that they have to deal with me directly?"

"Calm down, Bella."

"I can't calm down. I just quit my job, came home to find that I had unexpected money deposited in my bank account, and now a possible business opportunity… How can I possibly calm down?"

Jasper laughed. "Ok, ok, take a deep breath and try to relax. I'm going to send you an article that basically tells you what your manager should and should not handle for you. It was written by a college professor a few years ago, to keep celebrities from taking advantage of the people they employ. I thought it was very interesting. Why don't you look through it so you know what to expect, and I will help you start looking for someone."

"I don't think I have time for that, Jasper. I need someone now. I can find someone officially later."

Jasper thought about it for a few minutes then said, "How about Rosalie? She has been taking courses in corporate law for a few years. All she has left to do is take the bar exam before she can officially be called a lawyer. Maybe she would be willing to be your stand-in manger until you can find a new one."

"That's a great idea. Do you have her number? I'm sure I could ask Emmett, but I honestly don't know what I did with his card."

Jasper gave me the number, so I called Rosalie. Thankfully, she answered on the second ring. I told her about my situation and asked if she would be willing to consider acting as my manager temporarily until I could find someone.

She told me that she would have to do a little research, but she would get back to me soon with her decision. I told her that I had a very limited timeframe, so she committed to giving me a decision the next day.

I was pacing around my room, trying to decide what I should be doing with myself, when my dad got home. It didn't take a genius to figure out he had been by the diner and learned that I walked out and left Denise to wait her own damn tables. Much to my surprise, Dad didn't say anything about it. He simply gave me the look that said I should know better than to quit a job when I don't have anything better, and then turned on the TV to watch sports while I started dinner.

We ate in relative silence, which was not uncommon, and then he said goodnight before disappearing into his room for the night. I couldn't sleep, so I started going through the clothes in my closet. I tried on things I hadn't worn in years. If it still fit and didn't look ridiculous, I hung it back up, but if it had anything wrong with it I shoved it in a bag to donate to charity.

When I reached the back of the closet, I found a bag that I had forgotten all about. One of my college friends was making money on the side selling lingerie and sex toys at parties. She dragged me to a few of her parties to help out. The day we were both moving back home, me to Forks and her to Detroit, she handed me a bag of extra stuff. She said it was stuff that was retired, so she didn't need it anymore. I thanked her and tossed the bag in my car. When I made it home, my dad came out to help me bring in all my stuff. Since I wasn't sure what was in the bag, I snatched it up and shoved it in the back of my closet so I could look at it later when I knew he wouldn't be around.

I peeked out my bedroom door to make sure my dad was still asleep before I opened the bag. Inside I found four pieces of lingerie, a box of strawberry scented body wipes, some honey and almond flavored massage cream with a silicone massage glove, and a vibrator that was shaped like a penis with a blue hummingbird attached to it. I remembered her talking about that particular toy in the parties. The hummingbird vibrated so it would provide clitoral stimulation while the rest of the toy provided vaginal stimulation. The ladies at the parties used to rave about this thing.

I dug some batteries out of the bottom of my desk drawer and inserted them into the device to see just how it worked. I was impressed by the power. I also didn't realize when I was looking at it earlier that the shaft of the thing contained little plastic balls that rotated when you pressed one speed control, while the hummingbird worked on a separate speed control. It was fascinating. I was just thinking about how long it had been since I had been with a man when I heard my dad go into the bathroom.

Shit! I grabbed the toy, along with all the other stuff, and tossed it back in the bag. I just managed to get it shoved under my bed when my dad knocked on the door.

"Bella, it's late. You should try to get some sleep. You don't want to look tired when you start looking for a new job tomorrow."

"I know. Good night, Dad. I love you."

"I love you too, Bells. See you in the morning."

I climbed in bed thinking about how crazy the day had been and fell asleep within minutes.

My alarm went off and I drug myself out of bed. I could hear the wind blowing through the trees making the eerie sounds that I have come to associate with January. I was just about to grab some clothes and head to the shower, when I realized that I didn't have to open up at the diner because I no longer worked there. My first reaction was, "Oh shit, what have I done?" My second reaction was, "Since I don't have to work, I might as well get some more sleep."

Three hours later, I awoke to a bright sunny day. The rain clouds were still visible on the horizon but the sky above me was clear and blue. Days like this are rare in Forks. It is either overcast or raining most of the time, so sun is a rare treat.

I threw on some warm clothes and my winter coat before heading outside in the snow to enjoy the sun. It seems strange to go outside to enjoy the sun that you really can't feel on your skin because you are completely bundled up to protect yourself from the cold, but that is exactly what I was doing.

Dad had shoveled the snow off of the steps and salted them so they would be safe, but he didn't have time to shovel the snow off of the sidewalk so I decided to tackle that challenge. Two hours later, my arms and back were aching, my nose was running, and I was exhausted. I shoveled the last of the snow and headed inside.

I peeled out of my coat and picked up my cell phone. I had three missed calls. The first was Denise, bitching about me not showing up for work, so I deleted the message. The second was Jasper telling me that I needed to do some phone interviews for radio stations tomorrow morning. He told me he would shoot me an email with the times and phone numbers I needed to call. The third message was Rosalie, telling me that she would act as my manager until she passed the bar exam and was hired by a law firm, or until I found someone else. She asked me to forward her the email I received from EC Entertainment so she could make contact and figure out what they wanted.

I grabbed a bottle of water, powered up my laptop, forwarded the email to Rosalie, and read the one I received from Jasper. Jasper apologized for the early time slots but explained that most radio stations do interviews during their morning shows. I looked over the list and almost choked on my water when I read the time slots. I would have to call some stations on the east coast as early as 3:00 in the morning, my time. I had a different number to call every fifteen minutes, so I would be on the phone from 3 am all the way until 8 am. That would be five hours of talking on the phone. Since my pathetic little cell phone battery didn't last that long, I knew that most of the time I would be stuck sitting on the floor by the electrical outlet so the phone could be plugged into the charger while I was talking.

Rosalie called me later in the afternoon to tell me that she had been on the phone all morning. She emailed EC Entertainment, who put her in contact with someone else, who finally got her to the right people, so she finally had some details for me. The people that she was speaking with were trying to coordinate a small US concert tour for Edward Cullen. They were trying to find a couple of opening bands. They were already in negotiations with Isaac's Prodigy to be the openers. They wanted me to go on afterwards and then Edward Cullen would come on after I was done.

They were thinking about playing at twelve venues over a two month span, May and June. They could not finalize the cities until they knew who would be playing. Isaac's Prodigy was a three member band consisting of a drummer, a lead guitar player, and a bass guitar/vocalist. Edward Cullen's band consisted of a drummer, bass guitar, lead guitar, keyboard player, a guy that played the saxophone, three backup singers, and himself. I was a singer and could play the guitar, but I didn't have a band.

Rosalie said that in order to reduce cost and save space, Edward was not bringing his sax player and one of his backup singers. This would make room for me on his bus. When I pointed out that it would not leave any space for the band members I was going to have to borrow from Jasper, Rosalie said that I didn't need them.

They were also trying to avoid taking so many roadies, so they planned to set up the stage so that the only thing they would need to change between sets was the drums. It would take too much time to transition between bands if each band had to have a completely different set up. Isaac's Prodigy would be using Edward's amps and sound technicians. The drums for both bands would be set up on rolling platforms so they could easily be rolled on and off of the stage. To keep it simple, all Isaac's Prodigy would have to do was show up with their guitars, plug them in, and play.

Since I didn't have any band members, they suggested Edward and I share his band. Since it was early January and we would not tour until May, they had plenty of time to learn my songs. All I had to do was send them the music. Rosalie told me that I could fly down to LA and practice with the band sometime before we left on tour, if it would make me more comfortable, but that was completely up to me.

"I think this is a good opportunity for you, Bella. Not only will you get a lot of exposure touring with Edward Cullen, but he is footing most of the cost. Your cut will be smaller because of all the costs he is covering, but it's still damn good money. I'll email you the figures. We won't know the real figures until the tickets are sold, but the projected figures are nice. Right now they are planning on leaving a little time between shows, so it's not such a rush, but they may add additional shows in some of the gaps if they see a need. The lady I was talking to said that when they did this in the past, they ended up having two shows a week over a two month period, so it could end up being as many as eighteen shows. Just think about it: you are not going to have to deal with the band, the roadies, the equipment, coordinating the bus trip, finding a driver, paying for security, or any of that shit. All you have to do is get on stage and perform. It doesn't get sweeter than that."

She was right. It was a golden opportunity that I couldn't pass up, so I crossed my fingers, said a prayer, and told her I would do it, so she could start negotiating the contract.

After I got off the phone with her, I called Jasper and told him the details. I think he was possibly more excited than I was. He started rambling on about CD and merchandise sales while I looked through the figures Rosalie had email me. They were definitely impressive.

I heard dad come through the front door, so I told Jasper I would call him later. I printed out the figures along with my bank confirmation and carried them downstairs to show my dad. I knew that it was really none of his business, but I wanted him to be proud of me and understand why I wasn't looking for a permanent job just yet.

Dad was impressed by the money, but not exactly thrilled with the idea of me traveling across the country for two months with a bunch of strangers. I had to lie and say that the women stayed on a separate bus from the guys before he finally settled down. In reality, I didn't know where I would be staying. I had never been on a tour bus before. For all I knew, I could be sleeping sitting up in a seat, like you do on a plane.

That night, I sat up making a list of questions to send to Rose and Jasper, such as: What are the buses like? How many changes of clothes should I take? How many songs will I be singing? Will I be responsible for paying for my own meals? Other than clothes, shoes, and makeup, what should I bring? How much money should I bring with me? By the time I was finished typing up the questions and sending them, it was time to get to bed.

A/N: So, it looks like our little musician may have an opportunity to go on tour with Edward Cullen. I know I would sign up in a heartbeat! Heck, I think I would sign up just to clean his shoes. *wink*.

So, real life is a mess, but the fandom is a wonderful place to be, so I took a 5 minute break to post this before I run out the door and get back to life. On a more positive note, I did get to buy a new purse yesterday. Not that any of you probably care, but I was excited. (If you are curious, you can look online at JC Penney. Do a search for Butterfly Coated Canvas Tote.) I love new purses. It's one of my few girly pleasures. That's why I stick with the cheep ones. I don't want to spend hundreds on something because I know I will want to change it out in a few months. I would rather have a bunch of cheep, but adorable, purses than one name brand purse that costs more than my car.

Ok, I feel better now. See you next week!