Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or colleges, just the story plot.

Chapter 1

Miss Independent

BPOV

Beep....Beep.....Beep... Argh... 7AM...

It's just another manic Monday... This apparently has become one of my favourite lines. Over the past month, Monday's have always seem to be the worst time of the week. We are finishing up another project in which the owner has so many complaints that it's become really irritating.

I am Isabella Swan, twenty five years old, single, and I love my work no matter how hectic it can be. I work in the contracting firm of Brandon and Hale with my two best friends who are the actual daughters of the owners. I am an architect, Rosalie is our engineer, and Alice is in-charge of the interiors and landscaping. Our firm is sort of an all-in-one thing, which I think is part of our appeal.

The three of us grew up together in Forks, Washington right next door to each other and our parents were very good friends. After high school we decided to go to New York for college then Boston for our Masters. We are so much like sisters that we found a way to stay together even with our different interests.

Before we started graduate school, we decided to get a town house together since we were all going to Harvard. Also, since Ali was about four hours away from Rose and I, since she went to the New York School of Interior Design in the City, and Rose and I went to Cornell in Ithaca, we just missed her so much that we did not want to be away from her anymore.

After we finished our Masters' programs, Brandon and Hale decided to open up an office on the east coast, and since we loved Boston so much we decided to stay here and the partners agreed to it. We have several teams in place but our team, the three of us, seem to be doing the best project-wise.

So here we are about to start another week, I get up the earliest since I am the one who loves to cook. I first go down to the kitchen, start a pot of coffee, and check the pantry to decide what to make today. I find eggs, bread, some cinnamon, sugar and syrup. Seems like French toast is on the menu for this morning. Then I go to the freezer and pull out some sausages and bacon.

After whipping up breakfast, I head to my bathroom, brush my teeth and take my shower. Just after drying off, I hear a knock on my door.

"Bella, open up, I have to do your hair and make-up. We have that meeting today with Mr. Banner for the Anderson account," Alice said. She has this premonition thing, I swear. She always knows when I'm about done with showering so she can make me Bella Barbie. Thankfully, in the past month I was able to get one day a week where I could dress and fix up myself.

"Ok, just a minute, Ali," I replied. I get my robe, if you can call it that, it's silk, goes up to mid thigh, and the sleeves go three quarters down the arm. Apparently, my long fluffy one disappeared which I later found out Alice donated to a shelter. After I got my robe on I opened the door to let Alice in.

"So, since you have once again cooked us a wonderful breakfast, I have decided to allow you to choose the colours you will wear today." Alice said then she started to work on my hair.

"Oh, that's generous of you. Is there an occasion as to why you're doing this or do you need something?" I replied.

"Oh, no occasion or reason. It's just one of those snap decision things," Ali said back.

"Well, okay then. I would like to wear gray and white" I said.

"Why? Don't you want to wear something with color?" She replied.

"Hey, I thought I get to choose the colors I wear today?" I retorted.

Ali replied, "Okay, how about a gray skirt, I believe I still have one of those for you, a white halter blouse, and a printed scarf? I think that's fair enough."

"Ali! You're not telling me something. Are you setting me up on another date?" I asked.

"NO! Why would I do that? Oh wait, is that your way to ask me to set you up? I'm sure I can find someone suitable for you. It has been, what? Eight months since you had one," she said.

"It's not a nice way to ask you Ali. After Jacob, I said I would rest a while before I date again. I'm leaving it all to destiny; if someone will come along, then good. But I'd like to take it slow this time," I said.

"Okay, fine. There, I'm all done. I'll let you finish up here and lay your clothes out for you on your bed." And with that, she left the bathroom to go do her own thing.

"Thanks Ali," I called out after her.

After I was done I walked to my room and surely enough my clothes were laid out on my bed. She put out a gray knee-length skirt, a white halter blouse, and a printed scarf. She also put out the blazer that matches the skirt and some white peep-toe pumps. Once i was dressed, I went down to wait for them downstairs to find Rose cleaning up in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Rose," I greeted her.

"Morning, Bella. Great breakfast again, as always. I see Ali dressed you up again," she replied.

"Yeah, she did, but I got to choose the colors," I said. "But of course, Alice being Alice, I still could not get away with just my skirt and blouse and she had to add a scarf for color." I said.

"Oh, don't worry, you look really stunning. Not like you need it anyway. You look beautiful nonetheless," Rose smiled.

I started to feel the blush come up to my cheeks. "Thanks, Rose. Actually, I thought Ali was going to set me up on another date again," I said.

"Oh, Bella, I do think you should start dating again, but I also understand if you want to take some time after what happened to you in your last relationship. I'm sure the right guy will come along. One who will love, cherish, and spoil you to your heart's content," she said.

"I'm sure he's out there, too, Rose," I replied. "We should get going. Whose car are we taking?" Just after I said that, Ali appeared in the kitchen.

"I have to take my car today; I have to check one site for the landscaping before I go into the office. I'll see you guys there for lunch," she said grabbing her keys to her Porsche 911 Turbo and heading out the door.

"Okay, do you have to go anywhere, Rose? I think I'm just in the office today, so we can go together?" I asked.

"No, I think I'm just in the office. Anyway, there is always the spare company car if we need to go anywhere," she replied.

"Okay, let's go then," she said, grabbing the keys to her Audi TTS Roadster which she acquired here since she left her M3 back in Forks so she has a car when we visit back home. We then stepped out to the garage and took off towards the office.

After parking the car in our slot, we both made our way into the building and headed up to our offices. We had all our offices beside one another which made it easier to have our meetings. When I got to my office, my assistant, Angela, greeted me and handed me some papers I needed to go over.

"Good morning, Bella. Here are some papers for the Anderson account. You just have to go over them and sign, then your part will be finalized," she informed me.

"Thanks, Ang. Any new accounts that need my attention?" I asked her.

"There is a new account that came up; but I think Rose is the head on that. I think she has the ideas. No plans have been laid on paper yet as of this moment." She said.

"Oh, ok then. Can you just ask Ashley about it so we can set up a meeting today? And ask Melanie as well so she can fix Alice's schedule later in the day?" I instructed her.

"Sure, Bella, no problem. I'll get back to you when I have set something up." She replied

"Thanks, Ang." I said. Angela has been so great as my assistant. She always makes everything so much easier. I am lucky I was able to get her.

The morning went by uneventfully; after the meeting with Mr. Banner I thankfully finalized my part in the Anderson account and we could now open in the next week as long as Ali got the interiors and landscaping done. At lunch time I stepped out of my office and Angela informed me that I can meet with Rose and Ali around two o'clock to start on the new account. I was walking to Rose's office when I passed Ali's, hearing her arguing with someone on the phone.

"You have to give me the new color plates today. I want to start as soon as possible so we can close this account and the client can open the establishment next week," she yelled into the phone. "That's not an excuse; I ordered those last week, it's not my fault you can't tell the difference between teal and moss green! I even went to you to show you the color and you said you could mix them. Get them to me TODAY! Or else I will not use your company anymore." You could see she was beyond furious as slammed put down the phone.

"Hey, pixie, who is the unfortunate person to suffer your wrath today?" I asked.

"Damn painters made the wrong mix for the Anderson building and might not be able to get it to the site today. And those are the finishing touches. Anyway, to what do I owe this visit?" she asked me.

"Well, I was on my way to Rose to ask if she wanted to get some lunch. Would you like some?" I asked her.

"Can you just pick me up something? I think I'll go for a working lunch to get this all done." She replied.

"Ok, I'll call you when we decide where to eat and we'll bring you back something," I explained and we made our way to Rose's office.

"Hey, Rose, you up for some lunch? Ali will work through lunch so we'll just pick up something for her" I told her.

"Oh, ok then, would you want to go to Quincy Market?" she asked me.

"Yeah, ok, that's good." I answered.

We went to the market and decided on chowder and fish and chips at the Salty Dog. We had a good lunch talking a little about work and some other things under the sun. After our lunch, we grabbed coffee at the Starbucks and walked back to the office. We brought Ali her lunch then went our separate ways and agreed to meet again at 2 p.m.

At a little before two, Angela called over the intercom, "Bella, excuse me, its ten minutes to two, I'm on my way to the conference room. Would you like me to set anything up for you?"

"Can I just have my usual coffee? I'll take the drafting materials I'll need with me. Thanks, Ang" I answered.

"You got it, Boss." She replied.

"Ang, can you please stop it with the 'Boss' thing?" I retorted back. I hate it when she calls me that even if technically I am her boss.

"Sorry, Bella, just teasing," she said with a laugh.

After gathering my stuff, I made my way to the conference room followed by Rose and Alice. We settled into our seats at the round table in the room, me with my coffee, Alice and Rose with their tea. After settling in and everyone ready, Rose stood up to the white board.

"Ok, so this account came in late yesterday. It's like a vocational school type of thing. This rich couple, Mr. & Mrs. Jones wants to fund a vocational school for some of the out of school youth here in Boston and the surrounding areas. So far their prospect area is somewhere in Cambridge. The higher-ups decided to give me the lead on this since they want to concentrate on engineering on start up. They mainly want to produce car and airplane mechanics. I'm really not sure how they found us but I could care less." She said as the introduction.

"What type of building will you need for that?" I asked her.

"Well, we will definitely need one big room to act as the garage, and several classrooms. They would also want some kind of garden or place for the students to relax at one point. They also want some rooms above the school in case they take in people who live too far away or are homeless." She explained.

"Ok, I'll put together some ideas and come up with a first draft tomorrow." I made a note for myself.

"So, not much interiors for this?" Alice asked.

"Nothing extraordinary, really. But you will be needed to design the rooms and offices as well as the lobby if Bella will put one. And fix up the garden or resting area," Rose told her.

"Ok, so I'll wait for Bella's draft then. Do they have someone I can contact for the color schemes and such?" Alice asked.

"Um, yeah, I think they do. Ash, can you check up on that and let Melanie know. Ali still has to finish the Anderson account so she might be on her toes for quite a bit this week." Rose said to Ashley.

"Ok then, I guess that's it for now." Rose said then the main receptionist, Amber, knocked on our door to let us know we had visitors. And Rose said to let them in.

"How are our girls?" John Brandon, Alice's dad, said happily as he entered the room followed by Liam Hale, Rose's dad.

"DAD!" both of then screamed in unison and jumped straight into the arms of their fathers. I soon followed after.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" I asked them.

"Let's take a seat, shall we?" Liam said motioning to the seats around the table.

"Can we get you anything sir?" Angela asked of the two big bosses. They both asked her to bring them some coffee and I told Angela to bring in some pastries as well.

John then began to speaking, "Well, aside from the point that we have come to check on you girls, and we can see that you are doing pretty well," he said motioning to the notes on the white board, "we have decided that you girls are ready to take control of the office here."

He stopped with that and Liam started to speak, "Yes, we believe that you are ready to take the lead in this office, not that we don't like to visit you, we sure do, but seeing that you have all developed great skills, we believe that you should move up in your professional careers."

"So, for this, we will need you to go to Seattle for a one-week seminar on leadership and management. It will be held in the Edgewater Hotel. And you will be staying there, as well." John said.

We all just stared at them with wide eyes and gaping mouths. When I was able to recover from the shock, I asked, "When will this be? We have just taken on this new project and we will have to adjust the schedule."

"It will be the week after next. So that will give you about two weeks to fix this new project and get it rolling. I'm sure you have capable subordinates to hold down fort here for about a week." John suggested.

"Yes, I believe that is enough time to get things started. I think Tyler and Eric are capable enough to handle things while we are away. And our assistants have been trained well and will know how to contact us," Rose said.

"Great, then it's settled. We're staying a few days, then when we get back to Seattle we will be able to make the necessary arrangements and e-mail you the details." With that they both stood up getting ready to leave when Liam turned to me and said, "Charlie was hoping you'd say yes, he misses all of you, especially you, Bella."

"I miss him, too. But his business also takes him all over. But I heard my mom enjoys it." I replied.

"Indeed she does." Liam said with a laugh.

"We'll leave you girls to work then. We are staying at The Fairmont Copley Plaza, why don't we meet up later and have dinner in that area if you girls are up to it." John stated.

"Yeah, Dad, that would be great, we'll see you later then," Alice said.

"Bye, girls," they both said in unison.

"Bye." We all replied.

And with that we all returned to our respective offices to finish up work for the day.

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A/N: thank you so much to megan bagan and Princess HarleyHeaven. You guys have been a big help.