Their Almaden residency isn't all Chapman, 22, and Darling, 17, have in common. Both attended Valley Christian High School and they consider themselves "pageant sisters" because they won parallel preliminary titles in the Miss USA pageantry line last fall. Darling wore the Miss Teen San Francisco Bay Area sash and Chapman competed as Miss San Francisco Bay Area. By the end of the evening, Chapman was crowned Miss California USA.

"When you win a preliminary together, that kind of bonds you together as a team," explained Darling's mom, Sally. Chapman and Darling both cheered each other on during their respective competitions in Los Angeles last month.

Feeling on cloud nine after her victory on April 18, Darling and her family celebrated over dinner and then drove back to San Jose, arriving in the wee hours of the morning, only to wake up and go back to school and work the next day.

With $10,000 in scholarship money already in her hands, Darling will go on to compete for the national title, Teen of the Nation, in August in Las Vegas to try to nab another $5,000 scholarship.

In addition to the scholarship money, Darling also won cash prizes, a laptop computer, DVD player, television and other gifts. Not bad for a girl who recently started competing on the pageant circuit.

"I'd never really thought about participating in pageants before, and at first I was kind of skeptical about it," she admitted. "I didn't know if that sounded like my kind of thing. So we looked into it and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun, and I did pretty well at my first pageant. So I just kind of kept competing. It gets addicting. You start winning and getting things out of it and you don't want to stop."

Darling has decided to spend her scholarship money at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Although currently enrolled with an undeclared major, she plans to study communications and envisions a career in broadcast journalism.

Darling said she hopes to continue competing in scholarship pageants during college, but once she reaches 19 years old, she'll move into the Miss division.

"The competition is more difficult in the Miss division because if you're a young miss, you could be competing with 24-year-old women who have been to college, who have had jobs who have had experiences you haven't had," Sally Darling explained. "Sometimes it's better for a young miss to wait a few years and gain some more life experience so she can interview as well as they do."

After her return to school, word spread quickly about her accomplishment.

"All my classmates have been really supportive of me though this whole journey," Darling said. "They were very happy for me and very glad that I won."

According to the pageant website, the program "reflects the young women of today more accurately then other established programs of a similar nature. There is no swimsuit competition, and poise and appearance count for only one-third of the judging."

And unlike other pageant lines, Miss Teenage California, produced by Danfranc Productions since 1980, has no official local preliminaries. Potential candidates all apply through the pageant office. Delegates are then selected to represent their city, county, area or school at the state program.

Although more than 25,000 prospective candidates received applications, only 305 girls were invited to compete in Los Angeles.

"Just being selected to compete, already you're going in as a winner," Sally Darling said. "That in itself is an accomplishment. Every girl comes in pretty proud of that."

Judges critiqued the final candidates on their activities and achievements, personality and communication skills, poise and appearance in their gowns.

As a true sign of the times, Darling ordered her gown online from a prom site.

"I fell in love with it," Darling said of the white, strapless dress with pink flowers. "It was very springy, very teenager."

The judges narrowed the field to 30 candidates and then to 10. When Darling heard her name, "it was really exhilarating and overwhelming," she said. "And I was very grateful."

"They give prizes down to the top 15 girls," Sally Darling said. "There are a lot of people who leave there with scholarship money in their hands, and it's a good source of money for these girls.