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Welcome to Lights, Camera, Interaction... where you get an inside peek at the real life of three of your favorite adult actors as they invite three industry virgins to join them on a private island and give the lifestyle a try. Be there when they wake, when they eat and sleep, most importantly, be there when they fuck.

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InterACTION!

Chapter 1

"I can't do it anymore," I cried into the phone as I rolled over on my bed and listened with bated breath for Alice to reply.

I really had reached my limits, in fact, I was beyond them, and I didn't know where else to turn. Alice had always been good about bringing me back from the ledge, even though there wasn't really much she could do with this situation, and she knew it just as well as I did.

We had met in the first year we started high school and had been the best of friends ever since. She coached the shy girl in me to be a little bit more daring. So, when mom wasn't around, I wore my clothes differently and rebelled against the smallest of things. I wore make-up, was more confident in myself and had a wicked tongue that Alice always laughed at me for.

Alice always said that I had changed from a quiet church mouse to a panther. I didn't always believe her, because underneath the make-up and clothes, I was still that quiet girl sometimes.

I never reverted back to how I used to be, but sometimes I found myself wishing that I was that girl again. Not for any reason in particular, but it was always nice to sit, chill out and read a book, or whisper instead of shouting to be heard.

"I don't know what else to suggest, baby girl, but we need to look over your options. You know that I would have you here if dad wasn't the way he is, but I'm sure there's something out there for you. Maybe you could get a live-in job, like a nanny or something?" she hedged as I sat up on my bed, looked around the room and then fell back down with a thump.

Mom had me when she was just shy of eighteen and from the day I was born, I was blamed for everything. It was always thrown back in my face that if she hadn't of had me, she would have had a different life to the one she had now.

My dad would have stayed around, she would have had a better job, a man might like her without having to worry about a tag along little girl. You name it, and it was thrown back in my face.

Over the last couple of years she had made it all the more obvious that I was just a thorn in her side, and now that I had graduated, she was making my life even more miserable.

Every day she would circle jobs and apartments in the local and national and leave them out on the table for me. She talked nonstop, when she was actually home, about how she would change my room into something that she wanted when I had finally moved out and had even stopped buying things for me, not that I needed much, but it still hurt that she couldn't wait to get rid of me and made it blindingly obvious too.

"I'm half tempted to stand on a street corner for a sugar daddy," I joked, not believing my own words for a second. I would never lower myself to a degrading level like that, but in all honesty, if it paid the bills…

"Don't you dare talk about things like that, Bella, do you know how dangerous that could be? You don't have a clue about who is out there," Alice hissed down the phone loud enough to make me pull it away from my ear.

"It was a joke, Alice," I replied with a roll of my eyes as I sat up and managed to boot up my computer with my big toe.

~(*)~

After our long assed debate on what I could do for a job and how to get an apartment fast, Alice came over so we could look on the Internet for some inspiration.

I was lost in a sea of pages upon pages of shit and close to throwing a bitch fit. Why did anyone want to hire someone with letters after their names and degrees in fuck knows what if they were only stock checking and re-filling shelves?

When Alice turned up, she brought snacks with her, so I was slightly less pissed about my situation. If there was one thing that chilled me out, it was snacking and good chic flicks. Alice and I were strict enough with ourselves to work off all the calories that we consumed, so I had no guilt ridden thoughts as we stuffed our faces into the small hours of the morning.

"There has to be something out there," she cooed as she kissed my head when I growled at the computer monitor. Honestly, I knew that economic climate was hard out there, but was it really this bad?

"Not that I can find, it's either a diner job or factory work and no one near here is offering jobs," I replied sullenly as I sat up on my bed. I looked around the room once more and thought about what it would feel like to actually move out. It didn't feel that bad to be honest. I loved my mom dearly, despite the fact that she didn't love me in return, but I couldn't wait to get away from this place now. I loved the town, but not the people in it.

"What are you looking for, anything specific?" she asked as she opened up a packet of Granola Thins. She offered the packet to me and I took a few, trying to form the words.

"Anything really, but I know there's nothing round here to do. I want to get away from here, Alice, I'm desperate to, but I think mom's holding me back. I know she wants me out, but surely she can't dislike me that much to ignore me if I did stay in the area?" I answered sadly as I popped the snacks in my mouth. I had no reason to stay here, but at the same time, maybe if I wasn't under mom's feet all the time, we could at least stay in contact, maybe even be friends.

I wouldn't hold my breath though.

"You need to look further afield hun, there's nothing around here for you," she mumbled sadly.

I think this was her way of saying to not get my hopes up on mom, not that I really would.

"You're here." I gave her a sexy smirk as I nudged her shoulder playfully. I didn't know what I would do if Alice wasn't in my life. It was weird how she could either calm me down or psych me up when needed.

"Very true, but no doubt, wherever you go, I'll follow. You know I hate this place as much as you do," she said with a wicked smile.

"Love you, Ali," I said softly as I kissed her lips.

We weren't dating, never had done. In fact, we weren't even gay, we just kissed, and some other stuff every now and then when times called for it, but we both liked boys, men. However, we were comfortable enough with ourselves and each other to give into a little mutual pleasuring when the dating scene was running dry or when we were stressed and needed something to chill us out.

I can't even tell you how or why it happened, but we both put it down to experience.

"Love you too, babe, but let's keep looking for jobs."

A few hours later and we had dwindled down the options to a few, but nothing was available when I called the numbers listed.

I wanted to throw the phone across the other side of the room by the time I got to the bottom of the list, but yet again Alice was there to calm me down and talk me through things. This was only my first proper day of searching for jobs, so I just needed to keep looking and keep calm.

Easier said than done though.

Alice left a short while later, stating that she had to get dinner ready for her dad and left me to it.

If I got a job out of this town, it would kill me to be away from her. Despite the fact that she said she would come with me, I knew that she would find it hard. Her father was a tyrant and ruled his house with an iron fist. If she even suggested moving out, he would lock the doors and windows.

That's why she didn't end up going to college. He wouldn't let her. His view was that a woman's place was in the home, so she needed no further education.

It crippled her.

She was such an intelligent girl and could go so much further than what her father saw for her.

I sadly made my way downstairs as I thought about what I could fix myself for dinner.

I knew for a fact that mom would be out for most of the night, if not all of it, so it would be just something simple.

As I got some stuff ready, I rolled my eyes as I cleared the counter of the newspapers that mom had left out for me again.

And that's when I noticed the advert.

It called for young women to apply for a live in position who were great at working in small groups and who weren't camera shy. The details didn't go into anything further, but there was an email address listed.

I quickly ran back up the stairs so I could shoot off an email to them in the hope that they would get it before the close of business for the weekend.

With that done, I quickly grabbed a sandwich before getting my things ready for my small and meaningless shift at the library in the morning.

The town we lived in was so small, they couldn't afford to pay me much at all, but it did help out when it had come to school books in the past as they let me have them at the trade price and not retail. Yet another thing my mom couldn't bitch at me for, how much money I cost her.

I knew for a fact that it wasn't even worth asking them for a full time job, but as I had some experience with the system here in town, I made a point to see if there were any positions in the next town over, or even in the city, over the next few days. I mean, it couldn't hurt to find out, surely.

As the evening wore on, I thought more and more about the job that I had put my interest in.

A live-in position would be fantastic and would get me away from here, which would be the highlight of it all, if mom really would cut off contact like I thought she would. I had no idea about the camera side of things, but I'd worked with some technical stuff that the library when it was called for, so hopefully it would be enough.

As I came out of the shower with just my towel wrapped around me, my email pinged and I instantly thought it would have been a reply from the agency about the job. Sadly it wasn't though. It was just Alice checking on me. I replied, saying that I may have possibly found a job and as soon as I sent the email, she all but demanded the details so that she could apply for it too as it stated 'women' between the ages of eighteen and twenty five, so there was obviously more than one job going.

I laughed as I sent her the details and wished her goodnight.

As I drifted off to sleep, I thought more and more about the job I knew nothing about.

I ended up craving for it as I drifted into dreamland.

Chapter 2

EPOV

The first time Jessica had mentioned anything like this, after eavesdropping on Carlisle's plans and running back to tell me about them, I was dead set against the idea of doing anything remotely like it.

But then everything changed.

I saw her video.

~(*)~

I had been in the industry for a few years, okay, more than a few years, and I knew that I still had a few more to go before I was deemed 'too old' to be doing this anymore, not that it bothered me. I knew that as soon as I 'retired', I would move to behind the cameras, just like my father.

He was beyond skilled at how he could read people, relate to them and give them what they wanted. He was on the ball all of the time about trends, what was changing and how he could change to adapt. He was never scared about doing something new and I really admired him for that. Working in this industry, well, it wasn't easy, but he made it work. He put his heart and soul into it and I wanted to do it justice when it was my turn to step up and take the lead.

"Edward, you would have full control," Jessica piped up as I read over the terms.

Dad had come up with an idea to lure in more Internet users and although the Internet was now our major earner, interaction through live chat was dwindling and fast. There was so much free stuff out there now and if you could get it for free, why would you pay for it? He wanted to turn this around and try and coax viewers back, and in turn, bump up the profits.

I could see his point. If we had a more intimate set up with our viewers, they would come back again and again. They wanted to relate to us, be us in some cases, and if we could appeal to their wants and needs more directly, it could work.

I could see his logic, I just didn't know if I would be up for everything else that went with it.

I placed the terms on my desk and dragged my hands heavily over my face. If I agreed to this, there was no backing out. Not only was I the son of the business owner, but I had my own following, people wanted a certain image from me. If this, or I, fucked up, there was no knowing where we would all end up.

"Edward, don't over think it. It's an amazing opportunity to bring in more business, meet new people and be a part of something that hasn't happened in the industry yet," Jessica cooed soothingly as she ran her fingers over my scalp.

I prickled at her touch and it wasn't in a good way.

We had filmed several scenes together, but that was as far as our relationship went and I was beyond happy about that. I knew what game she was playing and I wouldn't let her go much further than what she had in her head. She knew full well that I would have the final say on whoever we had in the house, and she wanted me to choose her.

I was in two minds though. I wasn't totally sure that dad's plans were good in all the aspects of them, and Jessica and I got on well. Even I had to admit that we had chemistry on set while the cameras were rolling, but again, that was as far as it went. I didn't think I could actually live with her.

And that's what it all came down to.

There would be six of us living in the house for the foreseeable future and I had to make sure that we would all get on. If we didn't, the viewings would plummet and we would all be out of pocket. By one hell of a lot. And not only that, but it was also down to our reputations, if we lost those, it would be hell for us all.

"Jessica, let me re-read the terms and tell dad I'll meet him for lunch in a little while," I said as I extracted myself from her and stood up from my desk.

I picked up the papers once again and made my way out of the office towards the gym.

It was the one place that I could get worked up in or chilled out, depending on my mood.

When I got there, I found that I wasn't alone and smiled at the thought.

"Morning, Edward," Em grunted as he lifted weights in the corner. Normally he would have been a lot friendlier since we had known each other since the beginning of high school, but he was in his 'zone' in the gym and was always serious in here. He said the gym was no place for pranks and I was happy he saw it that way because he was the practical joker out of all of us.

Honestly, you couldn't go a day without him doing or saying something, and in our line of business, it was refreshing to laugh and joke about sometimes.

"Hi, Em," I said as I threw the papers on a bench next to the door and walked over to the running machine. I loved to run. The feeling of lactic acid in my muscles, the burn, how I would ache afterwards, I loved all of it. It made me feel as though I had made progress and that I had pushed my body just that little bit too far.

"Slow down, Edward, or you'll pull something," Emmett's growl broke through my thoughts as he slowed my machine down click by click.

I hadn't even realized that I had been going so hard or for so long.

"Thanks, Emmett," I gasped as he handed me over a chilled bottle of water and threw a towel over my shoulder.

Despite his ape shit ways, I loved him.

"That's when you end up injuring yourself, not paying attention to what your mind or body is doing," he said firmly as he sat down on a bench next to me.

Picking up the papers, he scanned my dad's print and then looked up to me.

"He's really planning this?" he asked, his tone showed little surprise.

It wasn't news to anyone that dad had had something in the pipeline and with Jessica having the mouth that resembled a fog horn, there were rarely any secrets around this place.

"Yep, he wants to get this going as soon as possible," I replied with a shrug.

"Are you up for it? I mean, this is a huge thing to take on, there isn't even a timescale, when have we ever worked like that?" he asked as he stood up, reading and re-reading the ink on the pages.

It was true. Everything we had done in the past was on a timescale. It was planned down to the last details, but with this, there would be nothing, and in theory, we would be winging it for most of the time.

"I've thought over the pros and cons. The pros are good, really good in fact, but if it goes tits up, it will be one huge fall, financially and with his, and our, reputations," I mused as I started to stretch.

I felt the burn in my calf muscles and that was when I was grateful for Emmett stepping in. I would be so focused throughout the day, that when it came to the gym, I would just lose myself.

Not a good thing when you had a ton of shit on your mind.

"I'd be up for it, it sounds like fun, but I'm not exactly happy with some of his points. Why on earth does he want newbies in?" he asked in exasperation.

"From what we've managed to chat about through quick calls and texts, he wants fresh faces, to bring in a new swing to things. He wants to appeal to a wider range and if we carry on the way where going, we won't be in the lead of the market anymore," I replied honestly.

I hadn't seen dad in a few weeks and I hadn't spoken to him in full about any of his plans since before he went on vacation with mom.

"I think you need to sit down and work out the finer details with him, Edward. I don't mind doing this, but I'm not doing it in a blind date sort of way. I want to know about who he's going to set me up with," he almost huffed as he handed me back the papers, picked up his towel and walked out of the gym.

That was serious Emmett.

The fun one would be back later when we sat down at the dinner table, as always.

I let out my own little huff as I showered quickly and got dressed in clean sweats and a tee.

As I walked through the house, I thought about anything else that I would like to see or not see in dad's plans and by the time I got to my own office, I had a list as long as my arm on what I wanted to add or take away.

There was no way I was comfortable with starting out with a newbie on the first day of filming.

I wasn't that cruel.

I wanted to 'gel' with the right person and saw that it was only fair to be in on the interviews. I'm sure Jasper and Emmett would agree with me.

I also thought that we would definitely have to get to know these people before anything else, because yet again, if we didn't get on, it would all go tits up, and not in the good way.

Sighing deeply, I jotted down my own ideas in pencil next to dad's plans and then headed out to meet with him and mom for lunch, hoping that we could see eye to eye on the finer details of it all.

Chapter 3

BPOV

Monday morning came around quickly and as sad as it sounded, Alice and I were sitting at our respective computers refreshing the page to our emails constantly.

Over the weekend we had spoken long and hard about what we would do to get out of this town and away from our parents. We had both got to the point that it didn't matter what our parents thought, we would have to get away, with each other, and leave everything else behind us.

If we didn't get the jobs with the agency that we had emailed, we had decided we were still planning to leave the town, it was as simple as that. It wouldn't be hard for me, I would just have to pack the few things that I wanted to take and at least leave a note for mom, not that she would care, but it was the least I could do.

Alice on the other hand had to be very careful.

If her father got wind of her doing anything that would be against his rules or put his reputation into question, she would be put through hell.

The plan to 'escape' this small town was pretty simple.

Over the course of the next week or two, Alice would start bringing over some stuff that she would need with her. If her father caught her, she would just explain that I needed to borrow the stuff for interviews. When she had everything she needed at my place, we would just get the hell out of here and make do with what we had.

I had a small truck that should have gone to the scrap yard years ago, but it was still running, thankfully, so we were just going to load her up with our stuff and drive.

We had no idea where we were going to go, but that was a small detail really.

We had enough money together to get by and each town we passed we would see if there was any work going.

It was a basic plan, but a plan nonetheless and it kept us going over the weekend.

Just as I got lunch, my email pinged again and I was a bundle of nerves. I tried to calm myself down a little by telling myself that it could have been a spam email, or something trivial that I didn't even need to look at, but as I sat down at my desk and saw the subject line of the email, my hands started to tremble slightly. Was it so strange to pray that this would be an email to say I had an interview?

I clicked on the email and waited as the stupid computer loaded it up.

Dear Miss, Swan,

Thank-you for your recent inquiry for the position advertised within our agency. For it to be possible to offer you an interview, we would require further information from yourself. Please find a short form attached to this email. Please be as descriptive and forthcoming as possible and return it to us via this email.

If you should have any further queries, do not hesitate to contact me further.

Yours Thankfully,

Ms. A Weber.

I nervously read and re-read the email before clicking on the file to download the PDF form that she had sent me.

Before I could even look at the questions, my phone buzzed from the desk next to me, signaling that Alice was calling.

I hoped to God she got the same email that I did, because I wouldn't know what to do if she hadn't.

"Did you get it?" she squealed down the phone and straight away I calmed down. She got the email.

I smiled widely as I thought about us both getting the hell away from this place together.

"I did," I giggled as we both squealed.

When we had calmed down and stopped acting like little girls, Alice said that she was on her way over. We hung up and I sat there nervously again, bouncing my knees, until she turned up.

Ten minutes later she came bounding into my room and launched herself at me. I collapsed back on the bed as she fell on top of me and we continued to laugh for a while before the enormity of it all sunk in.

"This doesn't mean that we have been accepted, Alice, just that they want more information," I stressed.

I really didn't want to get our hopes up, but it was so hard not to think about finally breaking free and making it on our own.

"I know, but think positive, babe, it has to be good if they're asking for more information. What does the form even ask? I didn't even get that far," she giggled again as she pulled out our private stash of sodas and snacks.

"I haven't had a chance to look at it either," I mumbled round an Oreo that she'd passed me as I got up from the bed and sat down at the shitty office chair.

"Well, how about we do your form, and then mine. If we work on them together, we can make them better and our chances would surely improve." She grinned slyly as I spun on my office chair and opened up the file that I was sent.

Full Name:

Date of Birth:

Full Address:

Telephone Number (Including area code)

Mobile Number:

Occupation:

Marital Status:

Education Qualifications:

Height:

Weight:

Any health Concerns:

Any operations/Blood Transfusions or Transmittable diseases:

Are there any restrictions regarding your employment?

E.g. do you require a Work Permit?

Do you have any criminal convictions?

All of the first bit looked normal, standard questions, but the following ones were a little strange. Alice thought that it was to cover their asses, but I didn't. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something didn't add up. Not in a bad way, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

Sexual orientation? And if hetero, have you ever shown interest in bi-curiosity?

Do you give permission for the agency and its subsidiaries to contact your current doctor for a copy of your medical records?

Do you consent to undergo a full examination if the job were offered to you? (Full costs would be paid for by the employer)

Please fill this form out to the best of your knowledge and return it, with a current full color picture of yourself.

"I can understand most of the questions, by why on earth would they want to know about our medical records or our sexual preferences?" I asked as I started to fill in the basics of the form.

As I typed away, I thought about the 'bi curiosity' question. I would never class myself as bi, but did it count that Alice and I had done stuff together?

"I don't know, maybe it's because of their insurance or something. You know we've turned into a suing nation. 'Ooops, I didn't see that crack, now my back is broken and I want to sue so I can go on a nice sunny vacation'," Alice giggled as she started snapping pictures of me with her phone.

"Alice, there has to be a better way to take our pictures other than with our shitty phones," I laughed as she kept saying 'pose' and 'say cheese'.

"Yeah, but we don't have the money to go and buy a decent camera, so they'll have to make do with this," she smiled and then said "Perfect," before showing a snap shot of me smiling. I looked coy, nervous even.

For the first time in a long time, I was nervous. I felt like I was signing my life away and I didn't even know what the job was yet.

When I had finished with the form, I uploaded it back to the email, attached the picture of me that Alice took and sent the email, almost cringing as I clicked the mouse to send it.

There was nothing I could do about it now, it was all in the hands of the agency and I actually felt pretty good about it now, despite telling a complete stranger that I would be open to 'bi' things.

"Your turn," I said happily as I jumped out of the chair and took over taking pictures of Alice.

I managed to get some great ones and we had fun trying to work out which one to send.

When that was done, all we could do was send the email and hope for the best.

An hour later we had both received a short reply thanking us for submitting the form and that they would get back in contact with us if we got into the next round.

I turned back into a nervous wreck.

Chapter 4

EPOV

I glanced over my breakfast as mom and dad walked into the breakfast room, holding hands and with smiles on their faces.

In just a few months they would be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary and even now, you could still see the love and devotion that they shared together.

I bet when she had me, she never thought that I would join the family business.

It was now Tuesday morning and I was beyond exhausted.

We were shooting well into the night last night had I had a meeting in just a short while, so sleep was not a thing I had had much of, and my eyes were still stinging from tiredness.

"Good morning, Son," mom said with a smile as she kissed the top of my head and sat down next to me. Dad sat on the other side after he gripped my shoulder firmly and gave me a swift nod.

The meeting over the weekend went well, after I voiced my concerns, and dad was impressed that I was willing to go along with it.

I wanted to tell him that I didn't have much of a choice, but I didn't want to cause more stress than what he was already under.

Mom had been ill recently, hence why they had been on a vacation and the stress was showing with him. I always likened them to swans. They paired up for life and I think if anything happened to mom, dad would make sure that he followed her soon after.

"Morning," I replied, my throat still thick from the little sleep that I did manage to grab and a little swollen from its vigorous workout, too.

"I heard that Jessica gave you some minor problems last night," dad mused as he poured out some cornflakes into his bowl.

Nothing like talking about business over breakfast. I internally laughed as I went to reply.

"A few," I mused, "she doesn't like the fact that, with your new plans, she would not only be looked over for a role, but also with me being a part of the new plans, she would be paired up with someone else," I almost groaned as I remembered how she had tried to pout her way into the plans. "Thankfully Jasper being on set kept her from getting too deep into her pleading."

I chuckled quietly as I thought about Jasper's intervention last night.

"And that's the whole reason why we should shake things up. I don't like the idea of you all sticking to the same partners all the time, we need to spice things up and change things about. Our clients like a variety and we should give them that or we'll be pushed out of the market," he sighed deeply as mom reached over to stroke his hand.

I still had no idea how they managed it. Even after all these years, she was still okay with his profession. Okay, so he wasn't in front of the cameras anymore, but he was when they met. How could mom ever be so understanding to stand by and watch, even partake, in what he used to do?

I don't think I could have what they did. How would any future girlfriend of mine be so understanding?

I guess it wasn't any weirder than the fact that I had followed in his footsteps, even though I knew she occasionally watched the screenings, with a professional eye of course.

I shook my head slightly as I got on with my breakfast.

"Edward, do you still want to step down when this deal comes to an end?" mom asked with a smile as she poured herself a coffee.

I smiled warmly as I thought about taking over dad's place.

"Yeah, I just don't feel it anymore with my job. I want to be on the other side of it now, follow in daddy's footsteps and all," I laughed and watched as they joined in.

It was no secret that I was getting older and we needed fresh blood in the place, and I was ready to go behind the scenes now.

"That's good then, at least you have a plan for yourself, and that you're willing to stay in the industry," she smiled gently.

"Yeah, because you can all imagine what I'd look like in a suit, sitting behind a desk," I joked.

When breakfast was over, I headed over to the meeting with the bank that I'd had planned for a while. I wanted to free up some cash so I could buy a few properties. With the economic climate being the way it was, I wanted to make sure that I had a fall back plan if needed.

I could buy up some places cheap, do them up and rent them out, giving me a hefty chunk of money each month to put into savings. I didn't want to go down the route of being a landlord, but if I had a letting agency cover everything, all I needed to do was sit back and watch the money roll in.

It was a good plan.

~(*)~

I came out of the bank a very happy man and I all but skipped to the car and drove home, windows down and the stereo blaring.

I was now wide awake and was ready to face the day.

"Edward, can you spare me a few moments of your time? We've had the first round of applicants sent to us by Angela and as you wanted to be involved from the get go, now's the time," dad waved a bunch of papers in his hand around and then walked off towards his study as soon as I walked in the front door.

I caught up to him quickly and saw that he was smiling from ear to ear. He really wanted this to pan out from the start and I couldn't knock him for his enthusiasm.

"What about Emmett and Jasper?" I asked as we walked towards his study. I didn't want them to be left out, especially after Emmett's comment last week about 'blind dates'.

"Not just yet, I want to get rid of the worst first and then when we have to really nail down the selections, we'll bring them in. Consider it your first step towards moving to the director's chair," he said with a smirk and I nodded. It was a good choice to make. Emmett, being Emmett, would take the piss out of every applicant and we would never get any of our work done. Jasper would then feel very sorry for the ones that we passed up, but this was a cut throat industry and personal feelings couldn't get in the way of that.

Dad cleared his desk as soon as we got into his study and started laying out the forms that we had put together. Clipped to the top of each form was the picture that we had requested and as harsh as it sounded, we looked at the pictures before the forms.

There was no way we could have anyone that wasn't 'pleasing to the eye', even if their credentials were perfect.

It was a cruel process, but we had no choice, our hands were tied and we would just have to live with it.

Within the hour we had cut down the pile by a huge chunk and then we hit a problem. The rest of the applicants were good, really good.

"Now to look at their forms," dad sighed as he sat down in his chair and I perched myself on the front of his desk.

"You take the red heads and others and I'll take the blonds and brunettes?" I chuckled as he nodded.

"It's a tough job, but someone has to do it," he smirked.

That was his saying and he was famous for it.

I skimmed through the pile, sorting them out by hair color and when that was done, I looked harder at the pictures and the information that the girls had submitted. Some were good, others were downright scary, but I had to stay neutral.

That was until I reached the picture that almost took my breath away.

Why hadn't I seen it through the first round?

The girl was eighteen and just out of school. She had worked as an assistant librarian through school to pay for her books and she was fucking stunning. I read and re-read her file until I think I had memorized it.

Every detail of her picture was seared into my memory and when I read about her part-time job, all I could think of was how she would look dressed up like one.

"Edward, see something you like?" dad chuckled as I looked at him dumbly.

"Why do you ask?"

"You've been staring at the same file for the last fifteen minutes, son. It must be quite impressive," he smirked at me with a knowing look and all I could do was smile.

"Yeah, just a bit," I smiled as I handed him over the picture of Isabella Swan.

Chapter 5

BPOV

Thursday, it was fucking Thursday and we hadn't heard a thing.

There had been several points in the week that I had felt like a caged animal, just desperate to break my way free and get the hell out of here, but Alice was always there to calm me down.

I was also turning into a nervous wreck as Alice started bringing over some of her things. She even wore two tops at one point and God knows what else each time she came over. I wanted to laugh at her, but I just couldn't find it in me.

I was a head strong girl, learning to adapt without a mother's love, in a town where everyone knew your business and that's why I was nervous. We were going out into the real world, a world I didn't know much about.

Alice was a bit more streetwise than me, mainly because of her father's work, so she was happier than I was about it all. I wasn't actually unhappy, just concerned and confused a little. This set me on edge because I always liked to know what I was doing or where I was going, not that I ever went far.

"Chill out, Bella, I have a good feeling about this," she said as she started to straighten my hair.

We weren't going out, or doing anything special, she was just trying to cheer me up.

We had already re-styled our clothes and had done our nails in an attempt to take our minds off of things. In addition to the library not needing me this week, I was rattling around this house going out of my mind.

I hadn't seen mom all week so far and she hadn't left out any money for groceries, so I took it that she was leaving me to fend for myself, again, and I did just that. I used what money I did have sparingly and used stuff that I had in the freezer to make food stretch for longer.

I was downright depressed about that.

"Dad said that I could stay over tonight because he's heading into the city first thing in the morning for the whole weekend." Alice smiled at me in the mirror and I couldn't help but smile back. Her father didn't leave her on her own much, but when he did, it was either for the weekend or the full week.

Most of the time, if it was just for an overnight visit, he would take her with him and tell her to go shopping or something to keep herself busy, but other times she was allowed to stay with me.

Her mother had died when she was young, about five I think, and it had been just her and him ever since. I tried telling myself that he was only strict because he cared about her, but I knew that wasn't the case.

"That's great news, Alice, it means we can plan more," I smirked as I leant into her touch.

I never tired of how she made me feel and she always knew, without me saying anything, that I needed her. Not in a sexual way, but in comfort, something that I'd never had with my mother.

I was a good buffer for her, too, because of her father. I didn't think he had an affectionate bone in his body and she needed me as much as I needed her. We were like the proverbial baby that required simple touch to thrive.

"We'll get out of here, Bella, I promise you," she said in a small voice as she set the straighteners down on my desk and hugged me from behind.

We looked in the mirror, smiled and then burst out laughing for no reason.

This was just how we were.

~(*)~

Friday morning came and I woke up to Alice tangled tightly around my body. I smiled gently as I extracted myself from her grip and walked to the bathroom.

When I was done, I sat down at my desk and booted up my shitty excuse of a computer. I had gotten it second hand from a neighbor a few years ago and it was seriously on its last legs, but it was all I had and I certainly couldn't afford anything else.

As soon as the welcome page came up, it signaled a bunch of new emails and my heart started pounding in my chest again.

It was there.

An email from the agency staring me in the face.

I jumped out of my chair to wake up Alice when I saw that they had replied. I couldn't do this on my own. I still had no idea what the job was for, but we already had so much riding on this.

Alice stood next to me with bleary, but excited eyes as I opened the email and read the contents.

"Dear Miss Swan, thank-you blah-dee-blah-blah," I said as I scanned the email.

"Oh my God, they want more from you!" Alice squealed as she was obviously the faster reader out of the pair of us.

My fingers were shaking as I scrolled the page slowly, taking in every word.

"They want a video of you and some information, like your size and tastes in things," Alice jumped up and down, but I stayed rooted to the spot.

There was the crux.

"Alice, I don't have a camera here, how can I send them a video of myself?" I asked dejectedly.

"We can do it at the library!" she laughed as she rubbed my shoulders. I felt a calming wave hit me at her touch and I couldn't help but lean into her again.

"Okay, but your turn, go check your emails while I make us some coffee," I stumbled out of the room, still shocked that they were pleased with my application.

When I came back upstairs, I was bombarded with squeals and laughs as Alice's email was proudly on show. They had contacted her too, wanting the same information.

I couldn't contain the smile that broke out as I thought about both of us possibly getting an interview for the same company.

"Okay, so we have to get ready and see if we can persuade your boss to let you use the video equipment," Alice said happily as she took a mug from my hand and started to sip it.

She was squirming at the chance to play makeover with us and for once, I didn't mind.

An hour later and we were modestly dressed with limited make-up and were heading to where I worked.

Alice wanted to have me in something more revealing, but as we had no idea what we were videoing for, I had put my foot down... a little. I was in a pair of fitted denim leggings and a spaghetti strapped black silk top. In exchange for the top that didn't show my cleavage, I'd had to agree to a pair of black heels. She left my hair down and free and we finished off the outfit with some bangles. Alice actually managed to keep it downplayed with a simple floral pattern fitted dress, that landed mid-thigh, paired with a necklace and a bracelet. She was stunning as usual.

Her long flowing hair just screamed out for attention and I had to hold my fingers in place and not touch.

My boss was fine with us using the equipment and even helped us set it up, even if we were being vague on what we were actually doing. He gave us permission to use the old store room too, which wasn't too bad once we had moved a few things, but it took longer than it normally would have done because Alice didn't want us to get our clean clothes dirty.

Suddenly we were ready and the nerves hit again. What if they didn't like me? Would it show on the camera that I was too nervous? We had so much riding on this and I hated to feel out of my depth.

"I don't know what to say, Alice," I mumbled as she hit record and the tiny red light on the camera started to blink.

She gently ran her finger down my cheek as she smiled softly.

"Just be yourself, Bella, they'll love you, just like I do," she smiled again which caused all the nervousness to wash away from me.

She gave me a tight squeeze and then stepped out of the frame as I took in a deep breath and I looked up to the camera shyly.

"Hi, I'm Isabella, Bella, Swan."