A/N: Here is another fateful chapter. Please be patient as I am setting up Bella, Alice, and Rose's relationship and the story line. It all has meaning, I swear :)

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Twilight or The Bachelorette.

Decision Time

Bella POV

Seattle, Washington
February 2009

"God, I am so exhausted," I said as I threw my purchases from the day into my room and changed into some comfortable yoga pants and a t-shirt. I headed into the kitchen to get dinner started and to take a few Tylenol because my feet were sore from walking around all day.

We had gone out for a day of shopping to make ourselves (aka Rose and Alice) feel better. The only reason I went, and I mean, the only reason is because it was freaking Valentines Day and I preferred not to sit in the house and sulk. I had bought myself a few new books to read and a new midnight blue dress that Alice and Rose both said complimented my features well. Yeah, it was a beautiful dress, but I had no real reason to buy it. As usual, under the persuasion and wrath of Alice, and the threats to throw away all my sweats, I ended up getting it. Rose took a cab to her office stating she had extra work to do for her shop. I think she was trying to busy herself to forget it was D-Day, wait, I mean V-Day. Same concept though.

"When will Rose be home?" I asked Alice while starting to prepare dinner: home-made lasagna. I was the only one out of the three of us who could actually cook, sadly enough. Alice tried making tapioca for an afternoon snack once. Let's just say that resulted in a huge bill from the insurance company and a new stove.

"She said she wouldn't be late for dinner, so probably within the next hour or two." Alice was setting up our little comfort zone in the living room, complete with comforters, pillows, junk food and all the most popular, gushy movies out there.

"Okay good, so what movies do you have picked out?" I asked as Alice skipped into the kitchen with her arms full of DVD boxes. She lifted them and showed me each box while naming them off.

"Mhmm…well I figured we should do some romantic movies and comedies, you know, for the special occasion. So I picked out: Definitely, Maybe, The Notebook, Titanic, Pride and Prejudice, In Love and War, and Made of Honor!"

"Alice, come on! Isn't that just like wallowing in self-pity? Why can't we watch something a little more meaningful or distracting from today's date; how about Into the Wild or maybe Juno? If that movie doesn't make you want to be temporarily celibate, I don't know what will," I said as with a laugh.

"First off, that girl was like sixteen. Second, Bella, it's not 'wallowing in self-pity' if you enjoy watching them." She went to retrieve the sauce from the fridge while I placed the newly cooked lasagna in a layer at the bottom of the baking pan. Alice handed me the sauce and I poured it over the meat in the pan on the stove.

"That's exactly my point. I don't enjoy watching them. It's just another sad reminder of what I don't have," I responded sternly. It sounded a little too harsh and I felt bad so I added, "And plus, Emilie Hirsh is amazing in Into the Wild, there's no denying that." I poured the rest of the meat sauce into the pan before adding the last layer of noodles and cheese.

"I totally agree, I don't think I have ever seen a movie that I have not liked her in." I stated while putting the lasagna in the oven and walking over to finish setting the table and making the salad. Alice stood there reading the back of the DVDs while I set the plates up and started cutting vegetables. "Don't you think you could help me, Alice? I wanted to have a nice dinner with you guys tonight, and all you can do is stand there while I am doing all the work…" I smiled to let her know I wasn't mad.

"Sorry," She laughed and stared at me apologetically. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just get the lettuce out and cut it up then add these vegetables into this bowl." I said while handing her a salad bowl.

"Okay, I think I can manage that." Alice winked and turned around to start her simple yet occupying task. I finished cutting the bread and setting the table. While picking out a bottle of wine from the cabinet in the dining room, I heard a slight rustle of the front door lock. Moments later, I heard Rosalie come in.

"Hey girls! I'm home!" Rose called out. I heard the jingle of keys and then she was walking into the kitchen.

"Hey, dinner should be ready in about 45 minutes." I said while putting a cloth over the bowl so the bread would stay fresh.

"Kay," Rosalie called. She visibly sniffed and said, "Holy crap…it smells awesome, Bella." She looked over and saw Alice in fierce concentration on cutting the vegetables and lettuce perfectly. She was putting them in the bowl as if it were some art piece, it was pretty funny.

Rose leaned over to me to whisper in my ear. "What is she doing…?" I softly laughed at her incredulous expression.

In a whispered voice I said, "I asked her to finish up the salad because she wasn't helping. She has been concentrating on that silently for a few minutes now. It's kind of funny actually. She takes it very seriously. That much is obvious."

"What is she, the next Rachel Ray?" Rose asked, looking at Alice in complete disbelief. I stifled a laugh while answering her.

"Uh, I have no clue. She's acting like a teenager taking the SAT's…" I said but before I could finish my last word, Rosalie burst into laughter and that made me come undone. We both laughed hysterically while Alice turned around slightly glaring at us with raised eyebrows, as if to ask us why we were cackling with laughter about.

"What the hell are you two laughing at? You almost made me cut myself!"

"We just think its frickin' hilarious that you take making the salad so seriously. You looked like you are deactivating a bomb," Rose said while laughing.

"Ha-Ha. Very funny." Her expression mocked us so we tried our best to shut out the laughter, with little success because a few giggles escaped. "I just think its nice to put one hundred percent effort in everything I do. I wanted to make it a beautiful salad! What's wrong with that?" She said with a sad expression. This made us erupt into more laughter but before I could retort with a comment the phone rang.

"I hope that's not Mr. Banner! He already gave us a warning this month." Alice whispered while Rose and I silenced in fear of our pissed off landlord.

They both looked at me expectantly. I walked over to the receiver and picked up without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" My voice shook with fear. Instead of Mr. Banner's voice on the other line, I heard a seemingly younger male voice.

"Hello, Is Miss Swan available?"

"Yes, this is her. May I ask who's calling?" Realizing it wasn't our asshole of a landlord, my voice audibly calmed; but I didn't recognize the voice. Alice and Rose were finishing preparing for dinner while I spoke, but I could tell they were listening.

"Hello Miss Swan. My name is Peter Simmons, I was calling on behalf of ABC." What? ABC? The television network…?

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. "After careful review of your application, we would like to congratulate you on being chosen for the next season of The Bachelorette!"

Holy shit.

I couldn't compose a sentence in my head, let alone, out loud. So I just stood there with my mouth hanging open, eyes wide, staring at nothing.

"Hello? Miss Swan?" I started to say something, but I immediately shut my mouth. I had no words. I couldn't think. "Are you still there?"

"Uh...I...what?" I stuttered into the phone.

There you go, Bella. That's a start. What the hell? I'm thinking in third person, now? God, I must have gone crazy.

He laughed into the phone. "Yes, it is a bit shocking. Are you sitting down? Maybe that would be best."

By now, I noticed Rose and Alice standing next to me, looking at me with dubious faces. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but to no avail. Rose started to grab the phone in my hand, and I honestly didn't know what to do, so I just let her take it.

"Hello? This is Rosalie Hale. Who is this? You seem to have shocked my friend into silence…" She looked at me with a worried glance and I could faintly hear Peter on the other line explaining things to her. Alice was leaning in on the other side of the phone listening in.

"Miss Hale, I just informed Miss Swan that we have chosen her to be our next Bachelorette for the show. It seems to be that she is at a loss for words so lets let this sink in before we give out any more information." Peter spoke with as much professionalism he could muster without laughing.

"Holy shit!" Alice exclaimed staring at me with her chin practically touching the floor.

You could say that again.

"Holy shit!" Rose practically screamed. Really?

"No way!" They both yelled in unison. Yes way. What the hell is happening?

"Yes, well... is Mrs. Swan available to speak? Maybe you could try the speaker phone?" Rose looked at me in surprise while putting the phone on speaker and walking me over to the kitchen table. Alice sat down on my left with Rose on my right, me being at the head of the table.

"I-I'm here," I said out loud. Probably still looking like I just witnessed a murder.

"Well, Mrs. Swan…Or may I call you Bella, as you so preferred on your audition tape?" Peter kept his tone professional.

"Uh…B-Bella's fine." My voice was shaking and I could still feel a lump in my throat, but at least I was speaking somewhat coherently.

"Well, Bella, like I said earlier, we have reviewed your audition tape and your home video and we really felt no need for another interview, we think you are perfect for the show and-"

It took me a moment to let his words sink in, but when they did, they didn't add up. "Wait, what home video? I never sent in a home video. I only did the audition at the mall."

"We contacted this number about a month ago and asked you for a second interview. You said that was not possible so we decided on having you send in a home video of your daily life, friends, etc. which you promptly sent to us…" he stated matter-of-factly. Like, I'm some dipshit for not remembering this conversation. I would know if I spoke with someone about this.

"No… I didn't speak with anyone. I honestly have no clue what you're talking about…" That is when I looked over at Rose and Alice and realization hit me. Alice looked at me with an innocent smile while Rose wouldn't even look me in the eyes. She was pulling apart the threads on the placemats, her chin resting on the base of her neck.

"What did you guys do!?" I screamed at them. I could feel all the blood boil to my face. I shot up out of my chair and threw my hands in hair. I felt like hitting someone and I really didn't want to take it that far so I needed some sort of release of my anger.

"Bella, you have to understand! We did it for you because we care about-"

"Cut the god damn bullshit!" I was practically steaming I was so angry. But part of my brain told me they had no intentions of pissing me off when doing this, that they really did do it because they 'cared'. I pushed that thought away. "I can't believe you guys would do this without talking to me!"

"Bella, may I ask what exactly is going on?" I totally forgot about Peter on the other end of the phone.

"Well, my so called friends over here sent whatever tape you received. I definitely didn't."

"Okay. How about I explain everything and give you the details first. No commitments, just information. Sound good?"

I nodded and then realized he couldn't see me so I gave him a quick 'Yes, that's fine.' before glaring at the two idiots I called friends. They both looked at me and thankfully kept their mouths shut, probably in fear I would start screaming again if they spoke. When Peter was done explaining everything, and I do mean everything, he gave me an ultimatum.

"Okay, well you are going to have to make a choice. Seeing as you didn't take part in that particular process of the audition, you are going to have to choose whether or not you want to do the show."

The logical part of my brain said, Are you crazy? While the hopefully new and ready for adventure part said, Do it! Do it!

"Do you think you could give me some time to think about it and call you back?"

"Of course! I would expect nothing less. How about I just ask that you call me back by the end of the week?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Thank you," I finalized.

"No, thank you. I'll speak with you soon, good bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and looked up to see an excited Alice and Rose.

"Why are you guys smiling," I sneered. "I can't believe you guys would do that without asking me!" I really shouldn't have been surprised. This was typical behavior on their parts. "And what kind of a tape did you send them, anyways?" I starting to calm down by now, compared to the storm of anger I was at the beginning of the call.

All that information he gave me really did actually make me question my initial reaction. Surely, I would have thought right away to say 'sorry, no thank you.' However, after speaking with him for a bit and getting all the important details, it didn't sound like such a bad idea. Okay, maybe it did, but part of me really wanted to be spontaneous for once and just jump right in. You know, finally do something that I normally wouldn't do; this would be the perfect opportunity.

"Well, we kind of secretly videotaped you at work and around the condo and stuff and then we each added our own little piece of why we think you deserve to be on the show…" They both looked at me curiously, waiting for my reaction.

"Oh, god." How did they attempt all of this without me noticing? I actually didn't want to know the answer to that.

"Bella, what he said about the show, it really sounds like a lot of fun. You get say in the men they choose. I don't see how you can lose!" Alice, always the optimistic one.

"I do; how about embarrassing myself on national television? Alice, I am the poster girl for disaster." I added seriously.

"I highly doubt they would put anything on the show of you totally embarrassing yourself, it's not good for ratings." Rose said confidently.

"How do you know?" I was genuinely curious because part of me wanted to believe her.

"I've watched this show ever since it started, and not once have I seen a girl on there that wasn't perfection. Seriously, Bella, everything shown on camera is usually an act. I'm sure you could make some kind of a deal in the contract that says you get a say in everything that goes on screen, also."

"I don't know…this is something I am gonna have to think about…"

"Duh! He said you just had to call him back by the end of the week." I could already feel time flying by and the end of the week drawing near.

"Just let me think about it, and let's drop the subject for the night, okay?"

Just then, the timer beeped for the oven. I jumped out of my chair to get it while Alice and Rose mumbled something to each other and sat down at the table.

As promised we didn't speak about it the rest of the night, opting instead to watch our movies and gossip about work, Hollywood, anything and everything. But I couldn't just forget that I was just chosen to be on a national television show. It was so surreal. I would be lying if I said it didn't make me totally nervous just thinking about it. I really wanted to do something spontaneous, and why not do that something in LA with a bunch of hot guys? The more I thought about it, the more the idea didn't seem all that bad. I think my sub-conscious knew the answer I would be giving to Peter before I did.

Seattle, Washington
February 2009

Pacing around the kitchen was doing me no good. I just needed to do this. Simple, Bella, just pick up the phone and dial the number. You would think that this would be easy…it wasn't. I was scared. There's no other better explanation for it. This call would possibly change my life. Possibly? No, this call will change my life.

Across the kitchen, by the refrigerator, was the phone charger. I had never looked at it with such distaste…until now. It was the lifeline of my new adventurous life; sure I had a cell phone, but let me just be a little dramatic for once.

After a few more moments of pacing, I grabbed the phone and dialed the number Peter left with me. Part of me was proud at my accomplishment while the other was screaming to hang up. I felt like I had a mini-devil Bella on one shoulder and mini-angel Bella on the other. God, I must be going crazy.

"Hello? Peter Simmons speaking," the voice on the other line greeted, bringing me out of my crazy rant.

"Hi…uh Peter, this is Bella Swan…"My voice quivered slightly from my nervous energy.

"Bella! I am so glad you called! I take it you have decided on what you would like to do about being on the show?"

"Yes."

"Yes, you have decided or yes, you will do the show?" I could tell he was staying as professional as possible, not letting his excitement get the best of him. Why would he care personally though? Oh, it was obvious… money. I had to assume someone like him got paid well.

"Both." Well, there you have it.

"Fantastic! I am proud to say that we are so glad you decided to go through with this. We think you are the perfect fit."

"Okay, but there are a few things I will not give in to. Can we discuss these things into the contract?"

"Yes, I will fly someone out there this weekend for you to sign the contract and discuss everything with. Then after we get everything on that avenue settled, we can work on you picking out the men from the bunch we choose out of all of the applicants…" Does he mean that I just choose them myself? Like a kid picking out a dog from a litter of puppies? That is just weird.

"So you mean to tell me, you will narrow down the guys and I will choose from there?" I asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Yes," he answered. "That way, you feel a better connection than if you had arbitrary men picked for you and were being forced to get to know them. Does that make sense?"

"I guess it does, its just a little weird, that's all." It wasn't that big of a deal, I guess. It just seems odd is all?

"I understand completely," he stated in a confident tone. "But, Bella, you have to understand that your life is going to drastically change in the next few months. You will be attending photo shoots for our advertising campaign. You will be traveling around a lot to many different filming locations. And you won't be home for a long while.

"Once we start filming, you will be living with these men 24/7 other than when we are traveling…we can discuss the specifics some more if you would like while going through your contract. Then we can fly you down here to start planning things out a couple weeks before filming starts. Is there anymore questions you have that I can answer for you?"

I took all of this in while taking a deep breath. "Uh, I think I got it all for now, if I come up with any more I will just ask whomever I will be meeting this weekend?" I stated but it sounded more like a question because I was trying to figure out what I had just gotten myself into. Oh, lord.

I spoke a few more words and details with Peter before hanging up. After pacing around the room for what felt like hours, thinking about everything and anything, I went into my room to lie down, I really needed to sleep. It was late and Alice and Rose would be getting home soon from dinner. They asked me to go, but I politely declined, saying I had a lot of work to catch up on, when in reality I knew I had to make that phone call. I figured they caught on because they didn't question my absence, as they usually would have. If I could get to sleep now, I wouldn't have to face them until the morning. That gave my body enough incentive to fall into a restless slumber.