Next Top Beauty (part one)

Lucette Lemaire had been alive for twenty years as the fake daughter of the Lemaire Family who had lost their daughter when she was only five.

Lucette lived the life of a spoiled princess up until the day she turned sixteen and mysteriously, the real first child of the Lemair family was found, and Lucette was immediately left behind as nothing but an adopted daughter.

In a way, what Lucette feared most had come true. She had no one to turn to or to ask for help.

Lucette tragically died at the young age of twenty, and a new soul took her place.

The new soul had lived many lives, fated to never be happy, always living the life others wanted her to live, and now, she had finally found a life worth truly living.

Lucette was a beautiful girl with long brown copper hair and pale green eyes.  She was tall and had a slim build, her legs were long and her skin smooth and soft, though her caramel skin was a contrast to the rest of the Lemaire Family.

Meanwhile, Annette, the true daughter, had bright red hair and beautiful first green eyes, fair skin and a natural blush made for an innocent look that rivaled most others.

Lucette understood that she was not important to the Lemaire Family, if it came down to it, they wound course the innocent Annette whom they had met four years ago, instead of Lucette whom they had raised.

She knew that in this life she wound have to support herself, and the Lemaire Family might not be of any help to her.

Would it be better if she moved away from them?

She made 300 USD in allowance from her family per month, and she knew that allowance while not stop coming even if she moved out, though it would not be enough to cover any of her living expenses.

She decided to take a bath instead and changed into a black shirt with black pants and heels, pulling her brown hair into a high ponytail as she mulled over what her next move should be.

As if the heavens had heard her plea,a voice from the TV delivered to her, her next source of income in the shape of a modeling competition.

It was perfect, and the winner wound earn 300,000 USD, a modeling contract with a top agency, and the right to showcase any work at Fashion Week.

It was perfect for Lucette who had no other way of earning a high amount of money at this time.

She memorized the number and just as she was about to get ready to leave the silent house, the front door opened, causing her to fall to the ground.

Abelle winced and lifted her adoptive daughter from the ground before saying, "If you were about to go out... would you mind staying for today? There is a family dinner tonight and now that you turned twenty, it is your turn to cook."

Abelle was tall, though not as tall as Lucette, her blond hair seemed to glow in the sun and her blue eyes seemed to always hold the weight of the world.

Lucette looked at the time on her phone before looking down at the beautiful Abelle and stating, "I understand."

There was three possible days for the audition, and though it was always best to go in first, at thus time it would be better to get a true understanding of where Lucette stood in the family, after all, they did not seem to dislike her.

Lucette walked into the kitchen, taking her time in deciding what to make for the family dinner.

In one of her past lives, she had been a chef and so coming came naturally to her, though she never liked it.

Being in the kitchen, that is.

She had finished just in time for dinner as the family begun to return home from work.

The first to return was Benedict and Gregory, the father and son who seemed more like identical twins.

Both of them possessed the same copper brown hair as Lucette, thoug like most of the family, instead of pale green eyes, they had deep forest green eyes.

Annette was the last to return, a cute smile on her face as she sat next to Abelle who would occasionally run her hands through he daughter's hair.

Gregory looked at his sister who had been unusually silent, "Why are you being so quiet?"

The family turned to Lucette who had nearly finished her dinner, she had not even so much as smiled at Annette's jokes.

Lucette looked away from her plate before calmly stating, "There is no need for my input. I am done, goodnight."

She elegantly stood from her seat and walked into her room, leaving the table in stunned silence.

On most occasions, Lucette was a quiet child, though whenever she was around her family, she would suddenly become a social butterfly and do anything necessary to join into family activities, even if it meant laughing at Annette's jokes.

Meanwhile, Lucette now new that though the family did not dislike her, they also did not truly care for her, which meant no one would oppose her leaving. All except Gregory her older brother who seemed to genuinely care for the girl he grew up with.

It was to bad she was gone.

Lucette also understood with no opposition from her family, she wound have no problem entering the Entertainment Industry, though they would most likely also not help her in any way.

In the end, it was all up to her.

Lucette dropped herself on her bed, slightly upset by the people this body had previously called her family.

She had loved them so dearly and yet in the face of their biological daughter, Lucette was reduced to nothing but a speck of dust.

Still, she wound do her best to live a life that would make her and the previous owner of this body proud to be Lucette.

Lucette decided to get an early start on the day as she dressed in leggings and a sweater for a morning run.

When she returned, she sickly dressed in simple black shorts and a black top.

She did not join her family for breakfast before waking out of the door and calling a taxi to drive her to the nearest café, after all, age had a few hours to spare.

Lucette entered the café and just like she had done countless other times, Ace began to sketch away, the lines and figures beginning to take shape of a beautiful dress as Lucette added small notes about different components about the dress.

Suddenly, Lucette heard a voice close to her say, "That is a beautiful drawing."

The voice was velvety and angelic, it belonged to the male who had sat next to her minutes ago and simply watched her pencil dash across the paper.

The man had straight black hair pulled into a messy half do with electric blue eyes which reminded her of the color of lightning, his lips were pink and he was a beautiful man, though he seemed to be hiding away from attention.

Lucette simply nodded as he continued to compliment her drawing skills before finally saying, "Why are you hiding?"

He was stunned, "I-I am not hiding. It just so happens that I do not want to be found at the moment."

Lucette glanced at him the way a teacher might glance at a student who failed their third test in a row, causing his cheeks to flair in embarrassment.

He knew his excuse was less than intelligent, though he had hoped she would simply brush over it.

He sighed and said, "My name is Valerian, you?"

Lucette hesitated before giving him her name, "Could I also have your number."

Lucette immediately rejected him, though when he offered to buy her a strawberry cake she couldn't help but agree.

Suddenly a voice loudly exclaimed, "Valerian Foresteir you better come with me this instant!"

Lucette watched as the man's face slowly turned into one stricken with fear as he was pulled away from the café and into a luxurious car.

Lucette chuckled as she began to put away her pencils and sketchbook, quickly calling another taxi to take her to the audition sight.

Valerian had been ingrained in her mind and he seemed like a sweet man.

As soon as she arrived, she attracted attention.

She was tall and beautiful, definitely model material, however, unlike most of the young ladies who would be joining the competition, Lucette had never before been seen or heard of.

She was beautiful and depending on her skills, age might make it far in the competition, but it was unlikely that she would win.

Lucette, unaware of the thoughts of others, waited patiently in line for her name to be called as girl after girl entered and exited the audition room, some in tears and others with their heads held high.

Finally, Lucette was called to enter the audition room where three judges stood, two men and a woman.

The woman looked at Lucette with appreciation, she definitely had the looks and height for a model, they would just have to wait and see what she could do.

"Lucette Lemaire, would you do us the favor of doing a simple walk toward us?"

They had asked this from all other contestants, though they were not looking for perfection, they were looking for potential.

They wanted someone who, if not perfect at the moment, could at one point take the world by storm.

As Lucette walked forward confidently, her strides long and demeanor calm, Mariette Emile, one of the three judges, could not take her eyes off the girl.

Though her walk was not very good,, she was magnetic and made you want to keep looking, even long after she had stopped, the judges continued to stare at her in silence, she was not unnerved in the slightest.

"Lucette, you are twenty now, correct?"

When Lucette nodded, Mariette continued, "You just might be our youngest participant this year. Tell me, what do you plan to do if you win this competition."

Lucette did not hesitate, "Move away from my family."

Mariette hesitated before bursting into laughter, 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔.

"And what about the contract with an agency? What will you do with that?"

Lucette twirled her hair in her finger as she thought long and hard about the question presented to her, "I will do whatever gets me more money."

Mariette smiled, taking a liking to the young talent in front of her, "Mm, I see. Well Lucette, thank you for your participation, though I do hope you know that you should be ready to set up a public Instabo account if you join us here at ' Next Top Beauty '."

Another of the judges who had been quiet till now spoke, "You seem like a talented individual, we hope you don't disappoint Miss Lucette."

Lucette simple nodded before walking out of the door, her face expressionless just as before.

"Hey, do you have any tips? We asked the other girls but they didn't say anything," one of the younger girls asked while others chuckled, knowing just how cutthroat the Industry could be.

"Don't be shy and don't hesitate," even though her words weren't many, anything helped and the younger girl was extremely grateful for the tip.

She took a deep breath and said, "Thank you!"

Lucette nodded and in long strides made it to the back door leading to the exit.

The girls who were yet to be interviewed took her words into consideration as they watched Lucette call her another taxi and soon leave all together.

She had created a favorable impression on those who had stayed behind up to this point, she was kind though definitely not a push over and would definitely make it far in the competition.

The only downside being that she was competent new to the industry and shows like this relied heavily on popularity, which she had very little of.