A/N: Thanks to who all sent in characters to make this story possible! Don’t hesitate to tell me if they’re out of character. Here’s the promised disclaimer:

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters that were submitted. I only own Christina and the other judges.

Chapter 2

Christina strolled down the long hall which would be filled with the twelve competitors only minutes later. She rounded a corner and entered the judging room. The room was large by some standards with cheery curtains covering the walls. Three stairs with red carpet led down into the room and the red carpet extended all the way to the long desk like table where the rest of the judges sat waiting.

Jacob Williams, the first winner of the contest, sat at the far right. He ran a hand through his short, brown hair and scribbled something down on his notepad. Beside him was Joy Commings who would be the contestants personal coach, taking them through the contest, assignment by assignment. At thirty-five, she was the oldest of the judges, but looked a few years younger than her age. Leaving one chair between them sat the head judge, Kane Hiroshi. He wore glasses and had black hair as was traditional of the Japanese.

“Are they all here?” Joy asked, her British accent giving her words a hint of elegance.

Christina nodded. “They’re in the back room waiting to get called so you can meet them.”

“Lets get them in here,” Jacob said, looking up from his notepad.

“Alright,” Christina pushed a button beside the door and spoke into it, telling the competitors get ready. “The first one’s name is Bryan. He’s actually the first to apply.”

In came a boy who looked to be in his early twenties with a blonde afro and glasses. He paused, slouching in the door, and stare dully at the judges, his mouth hanging open. He looked just Napoleon Dynamite. After a short moment, he slumped over to the right hand wall and stood there waiting.

As if expecting something more from him, the judges watched expectantly for a second before turning their attention back to Christina.

“Alright, the next one’s name is Elizabeth,” Christina said and a girl who looked to be about seventeen stepped out. She had thick, black curly hair that came only a couple inches below her shoulders. She stopped in the doorway and smiled warmly and waved at the judges. They waved back. She stepped over to Bryan and took her place beside him. “Next is Hickory.”

A man who looked close to forty stepped through the door. He paused in the door way long enough to tip his cowboy hat at the judges before moving over to Bryan and Elizabeth.

“Next is Katie,” Christina continued.

A young girl, about fifteen, bounced through the doorway, grinning the whole time. Quickly brushing her chest length brown hair behind her shoulders, she said, “I’m so glad to be here. Thank you for accepting me!” Then she scurried over to the others.

“Alright, Scarlet,” Christina said.

A girl with brown hair who looked to be Katie’s age stepped through the door with her hands in her pockets. She smiled slightly and nodded at the judges and stepped over to the other competitors.

“Next is Deianirra,” Christina continued.

A girl who looked close to twenty stepped through the door. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and she smiled at the judges. “You can call me Day for short.” Then she walked over to the growing group.

“The next one is Emelda.”

A young girl with a chestnut, chin length bob walked out. She looked to be around Katie and Scarlet’s age and she smiled at the judges and Christina before stepping over to the other competitors. From what the judges could see in her eyes, she seemed like one who had seen and known too much in her short life.

“Alright, the next is Georgiana.”

A woman with short black hair stepped out. She smiled warmly at everyone in the room. In her arms was a kitten. Katie twitched involuntarily.

“This one’s my age!” Joy stated happily as the other woman laughed and stepped over to her competition.

Chuckling, Christina continued, “Next is Jesse.”

A woman who looked to be twenty walked out and brushed her long black hair behind her. She gave the judges a nod and a smile and joined the group.

“Alright, Morgan.”

A man with white hair that was styled into an 18th century fashion stepped out. Despite his appearance, he looked to be in his late twenties. He nodded shortly to everyone present and made his way to the group.

“Now we have Troy.”

A tall boy with short black hair walked out onto the platform. Scratching the back of his head, he grinned broadly and stepped down.

“And the last is Evita,” Christina stated, reaching over to a small table that had a glass with a strange liquid in it.

“I don’t see her,” Kane stated, furrowing his brows.

“Now this is pretty cool,” Christina said, holding the glass out in front of her. She let it go, but instead of it falling and shattering into a million pieces, it floated where it was. Then it tilted up and the liquid in it began disappearing. As soon as it was gone, a woman in her mid twenties with curly brown hair appeared out of nowhere, holding the once levitating glass. She grinned and laughed at everyone’s expression before handing the glass back to Christina and joining the group.

“So…” Jacob hesitated, choosing his words carefully, “is she…a ghost?”

“Basically,” Evita answered. “That’s the shortened version.”

Jacob nodded to himself.

“Alright, listen up, you guys,” Christina began, addressing the contestants. “The official competition will start tomorrow. For the rest of the evening, you can get to know one another. We have selected a house that will be big enough for all of you and we have a chauffeur that will escort you around in a limo.” Several ooh’s and aah’s escaped from the group. “You may go ahead and go see your house.”

The younger ones in the group rushed for the door and left the rest in the dust. Grinning, Christina handed the house key to the first responsible looking person which happened to be Morgan.

They hurried outside where a man wearing a grey chauffeur’s outfit waited beside the door. The younger girls squealed excitedly as he opened the door and they all piled in. It was basically a normal limousine, a sun roof, a small fridge with different varieties of soda, a small bar with a few brands of wine. But the mere fact that they were in a limousine of any kind excited them.

“Lets have a toast!” Georgiana called over the din as she pulled a soda from the refrigerator. She waited a moment as everybody got either a soda or a glass of wine. “To a fair and friendly competition!”

“Cheers!” Came the reply and they all took a sip of their respective beverages.

“This is so cool!” Katie exclaimed over the murmur of other conversations to Scarlet, who sat beside her, sipping a soda. The other girl nodded.

“Hey, who’s got the key?” Day asked loudly so all could hear her.

“I do,” Morgan answered, holding up the object in question.

Towards the front of the vehicle, Hickory mumbled to himself, “This store bought tea ain’t near as good as homemade tea, but I guess it’ll do.”

“So, you’re really a ghost?” Elizabeth asked Evita.

“Yes,” the other girl replied. “I was born in 1783, but died when I was twenty-six. This place is all confusing to me. I was scared to get into this thing at first.”

“That’s so cool,” Jesse said. “I mean about you being a ghost. I deal with vampires and that kind of stuff all the time, but I’ve never met a ghost who’s actually friendly.”

“Kind’a like Casper the friendly ghost, or something,” Troy put in.

At Evita’s confused look, Jesse laughed. “I don’t think she knows what the heck we’re talking about.”

Near the back of the car, Bryan was busy getting harassed by Katie, who had seen the Napoleon Dynamite movie and desperately wanted an autograph.

“I said I’m not Napoleon!” He stated angrily once again. “Gosh!”

Scarlet sat by, laughing at his predicament and Katie’s persistence.

“But you look and act like him!” Katie protested.

“I think he’s being completely serious,” Scarlet giggled, pulling the other girl back down to her seat.

Frowning, Katie opened her mouth to say something else, but suddenly the car stopped and they heard the chauffeur get out of the vehicle and hurry around to their door. He opened it and the group quickly got out and hurried to the door and waited for Morgan, who seemed to be taking his precious time getting to them. He finally reached them and stuck the key in the lock, twisted it, and swung open the door. He almost got trampled by the younger ones in the group who were anxious to get inside because they understood the importance of staking out a bed before anyone else got the one they wanted.

Following in their wake, the older ones hurried in as well. Just to their right was a hallway that led to a couple bedrooms and a bathroom. The first thing they saw when they entered the house was the living room area that was off to their left a bit. A couple large couches and a wide screen television took up the space. Out past the living room and around a corner on the left was a kitchen with a bar where some could eat their meals. Beside it all was a hallway that led to another bathroom. Across from all that was an average size table with about six chairs. Just next to it were stairs that led to the upper level and the whole wall beside the stairs was glass. Upstairs, the floors were carpeted instead of being just plain hardwood. There were a couple more bedrooms and bathrooms and even a game room above the kitchen.

The younger ones were laughing and calling to one another and placing what luggage they brought on the bed they claimed. It soon became obvious to the rest of the group that they should also claim the bed they wanted as well.

-------

The delicious aroma swept through the house, getting all of their attention. One by one, the competitors made their way to the kitchen to find Day cooking some kind of meat. Looking up, she grinned and giggled to herself. “Good thing I made extra.”

When it was done, she forked a large helping of the meat onto their awaiting plates and they headed of to eat their meat in peace. Or at least partial peace. Katie, who had already had supper with Scarlet, determined herself to get to know something about each one of the people she was with. The first stop was Day.

“So where’d you learn to cook like that?” Katie asked, taking a bite of the meat that had been prepared.

“My mom died when I was young so I kind of had to learn,” she explained as she ate.

“Oh…I’m sorry,” the younger girl said and decided not to pester Day anymore, not after what she had just been told. Scurrying off, she spotted Hickory and meandered over to him. “You’re a cowboy?”

“Basically, yeah,” the man nodded and took a sip of his iced tea.

“Is that all you drink?” She asked, pointing to the beverage.

“Yep. It was love at first taste,” he laughed.

Raising an eyebrow uncertainly, she turned to Morgan. “How come you wear your hair like that?”

“Because I want to,” he stated, not looking up from his meal.

Figuring she would not get anything else out of him, she stepped over to Troy. “Do you play basketball?”

“No, that’s one of the only sports I can’t play,” he explained.

“I was just wondering since you’re so tall. How old are you anyway?”

“Fifteen.”

“Snap!” She exclaimed. “You’re super tall!”

He laughed at her reaction and nodded.

“So how about you,” Katie said, addressing Georgiana, “how old are you?”

With a half smile on her face, Georgiana questioned, “Don’t you know it’s not nice to ask a woman her age?”

“Well, never mind that then,” the girl waved a hand and turned to Evita. “How old are you?”

“Over two-hundred years old,” the girl explained and Katie noticed the girl was starting to fade. Feeling a bit freaked out about that fact, the girl turned to Jesse, the last one sitting at the table.

“On the way over here, I heard you say something about you seeing vampires a lot,” Katie prodded.

“Yeah, I’m a vampire hunter,” she explained. “It kind of runs in my genes. I’m a direct descendant of Van Helsing.”

Nodding more to herself than anybody, Katie hurried off into the living room. She flopped down next to Emelda and asked, “How old are you?”

“Fifteen, why?” The other girl replied.

“Just wondering. You don’t really look fifteen, but I can’t explain why.”

Emelda nodded uncertainly, not sure how to take that, but turned back to the television anyway.

“Well, I already know you’re fifteen and that one of your closest friends is a wi-”

“Shush!” Scarlet hissed, glancing around to see if any one was paying them any attention. “Don’t tell anyone that. Not just yet, ok?”

“Ok,” Katie agreed and looked past her to Elizabeth, who was busily chucking down a large bag of Reeses one by one. “You really like those things, don’t you?”

Elizabeth nodded, but did not speak due to her mouth being crammed full of the candy. Katie then turned to Bryan and put on the most innocent face she could muster, which in her short life time she had had plenty of experience using. “Are you sure you can’t just forge me his signature?”

“No, I can’t!” Bryan stated, using the tone Napoleon Dynamite would use if confronted with such a situation. “Gosh!”

-------

A/N: So this chapter was just basically an introduction to all the characters. To kind of get to know them a little bit. The next chapter will start the actual competition and I’ll explain how the voting works. Right now, DO NOT VOTE YET! I will let you know when that all starts.