A Twist of Fate

Chapter One

Kameron, Kami, Bell tightly clutched the venti hot Starbucks coffee cup in her right hand. All that remained was a smattering of light brown liquid sloshing in the bottom of the cup, teasing hints of the cinnamon and creamy goodness she finished sucking down halfway between Seattle and La Push. It was a crutch reminding her she could do this and that she was a foolish idiot for not spending the night in La Push as her sister highly suggested. Kami narrowed her eyes as she assessed the two bins offering to take her trash, before ascending up the cement block steps towards the front entrance of her sister's small ass high school. Despite inferring that the bright blue waist high bin meant recycling (she wasn't feeling inclined to look further to confirm), she tossed the recyclable cup in the black "trash" bin in solidarity with her foul mood.

Like her sister, Kami was smart. Well, despite the choice she made the previous night to sleep in Seattle and wake up at three in the morning to drive to La Push. Not so smart. But, she took the time to memorize the detailed plan of the high school her sister drew out for her. In a very Kim-like fashion, it was color coded, sported a legend and marked the best route to take between classes and to get to lunch.

Kami sighed in resignation that the least she could do for Kim was pretend to be her to the best of her ability while she was doing Kami the real favor. If Kami had it her way, Kim would have taken the test for her and just called in sick for school. All while Kami spent that day gluttonously mowing down on ho-hos and looking for a channel on the tv that played back to back episodes of "How I Met Your Mother".

Before entering the school, Kami held up her palms raised in the air to channel her inner Kim. She ignored the passerby-ers who stared because she felt like Kim's reputation amongst her peers couldn't go any lower than what she herself was aware of. Kami's face softened as all tension left it while she released her contempt towards La Push and the people who inhabited it. With a deep, exalted breath, Kami flipped up her navy-blue hoodie with a flick of her wrists. She felt it brim the outskirts of her make-up free face. With that and her newly cut straight fringe bangs (to match Kim's) that made her want to gag, she hid her face from her peers as Kim had noted she did on a daily basis.

Kami kept her head down as she shuffled up the steps to the school and then through the hallways. She counted her paces and connected images flooding her eyes with what she recalled from Kim's map.

Pretending to be a nobody was a struggle for Kami, if she had to admit it while alone with her thoughts in the middle of avoiding people and any hints of attention. Usually Kami walked around her own school's hallways with her shoulders rolled back and a friendly smile on her face. Unlike her sister, she embraced her plain looks and knew that her personality had to make up for her short comings in the looks department. It worked in her benefit as she was fairly popular at her own school, unlike her sister who preferred to disappear into the background. They were complete opposites, yet the best of friends as sisters. Ying and Yang.

Kami dabbed the sweat prickling her forehead in relief when she made it to Kim's first class without a hitch, and with two minutes to spare before the bell would ring. Finding Kim's seat in every class was going to be as easy as pie for Kami. Last horizontal row in the back, second seat from the last vertical row on the left.

Every. Class.

Kami could not have wished for any easier directions given what she had to remember for that day. She almost wondered if it would have been worth the effort to actually study for her Calculus final…however, she preferred that Kim's score was a safer bet for a passing grade than relying on her wild card abilities to put in effort and not choke. It was a rare and stunning combination when both of those options could be checked off. Kami didn't like to dwell on her few successes compared to Kim. It built up a bitter resentment that she preferred to ignore and pretend didn't exist.

After Kami almost messed up during roll call (which who does that at the end of the school year?!), time began to drag on painstakingly too slow. After surviving through her first class of the day, Kami's anxiety heightened at the ridiculous stunt she was trying to pull. Her anxiety was under a constant threat of crippling over her body.

After enduring two more classes and dodging expecting looks from teachers, Kami had somehow survived to lunch time. Kami's stomach had knotted up at this point and her awkward stumbling through the school's hallways was no longer an act. Her and her stomach were in agreement that it was better to skip lunch and hide out in the library while she worked to get her nerves under control.

oOoOoOo

It was the last class of the day, and Kami combated the hollow dread that she was being subjected to sit in on a Calculus class. Kami hunched over her desk with a quiet determination to suck it up and remember it was all almost over. She smoothed out a crisp new blank page of lined paper in Kim's Calculus dedicated notebook to jot down notes in (and probably some doodles, let's be honest). Kami specifically recalled that Kim was more concerned about the homework assignment and the revealed date of her own upcoming final which would be in the next two weeks. She looked up at the cheaply ornate clock hanging over the chalkboard in the front of the classroom, taunting her with its slow-moving hands. Kami began to chew, with a relentless passion, one of the drawstrings from her hoody to dissipate her nervous energy. She anticipated her sweet escape was near. She could almost taste it and her next Starbucks cup of coffee waiting for her in Seattle from her favorite establishment.

Kami's spine straightened in attention as a large boy slunk into the desk next to her. She resisted from snorting at the appearance of the infamous "Jared Cameron" that her shy sister had a crush on since elementary school. Kim had mentioned a million times that he sat to her right in an assigned seat in this class. Kami remembered Kim distinctly saying that Jared was supposed to be a "no-show" since he had been out of school for a week or so, very sick. Kami could feel it in her bones that Kim would be pissed when she revealed to her that her beloved Jared had returned, and she had missed it.

Kami kept her eyes forward while she tapped her pencil on her desk in anticipation of the 50-minute countdown when the bell rung to begin her last class of the day.

Who was Kami kidding? She zoned out after five minutes into the lecture. So, she was extremely startled when she felt a warming touch on her forearm.

"Kim?" The shock of being called from her fantasy of locking lips with the captain of her high school's varsity soccer team sent her pencil flying towards Jared Cameron, who had so kindly put a hand on her.

"Shit," Kami cursed under her breath. She looked down to her arm, now released from that warming touch, and saw Jared's hand pointing to the front of the class room.

Kami directed her eyes, while attempting to mask her desire to disappear into nothing, to the unamused teacher focusing their full attention on her.

"Kim?" The exasperated tone of the teacher allowed Kami to clue in to the fact this had been a repeated endeavor to gain her attention. A crease of frustration lined in the middle of the teacher's forehead and Kami resisted the urge to wince at tarnishing Kim's good student perception.

"Yes?" Kami squeaked as calm composure abandoned her by crashing out the nearby window in a frightened scurry.

"Never mind, Kimberly. I can see you have not been paying attention. See me after class." The color from Kami's face drained as she felt Kim would possibly strangle her now.

"Okay," Kami whispered in defeat and slumped back down in her seat. If she could have slithered into a hole and removed herself from this hell, she would have traded her first born for that in a heartbeat. Kami did not take negative attention or disappointment well. It was her kryptonite.

"Hey, uh, Kim?" A low, husky voice beckoned Kami from slumming around in her mind's self-pity party.

"What?" Kami snapped, barely above a whisper, at Jared without bothering to look at him. Shit. She instantly regretted snapping at Jared, Kim's sacred crush. Wasn't he not supposed to know Kim's name? As usual, Kami believed Kim was selling herself short.

"Your pencil?" Kami sighed and held out her hand to accept the pencil while refusing to look at Jared. When she didn't feel it being dropped in her hand, she turned to face him with a harsh scowl overcoming her entire face.

Kami intensely held Jared's stare as she sent subliminal messages to him that he seemed liked a pain, and her sister shouldn't waste her feelings on a stupid pretty boy. But because she knew Kim would never listen to her solid sisterly advice, she snatched the pencil from his hand and flashed a fake smile after muttering, "thank you". If she was lucky, Jared would forget, and Kim would never know of this rude display that Kami put on in front of her sister's crush.

Kami refocused her eyes to the front of the classroom. During the rest of the class, she pointedly ignored the fact that Jared would sneak over to look at her, possibly, every thirty seconds or so. It was unnerving, and a bad sign to Kami that he would remember their interaction. Kami resisted her urge to grumble and look like a mad woman after the umpteenth stalker stare side glance from Jared Cameron.

The last bell of the day rung to Kami's delight after a terrible and humiliating day. While caught up in her annoyance, that overruled the anxiety she once had in the beginning of the day, Kami forgot she was supposed to stay after class to meet the teacher as she bolted for the exit door in the back of the classroom.

"Kim." Kami ignored her sister's name being called in the hallway as she jogged to reach the exit doors of the school. She was almost home free. She just needed to make it to Kim's car then return to Seattle and her normal life.

"Kim!" Kami ignored the students who paused at the beckoning of Kim's name a second time as she continued to pluck her way through the crowds amassing around her exit. As she was pushing open the exit doors, her right elbow was caught by a massive hand radiating too much heat.

Kami paused for effect before turning around to face the boy she was most desperate to ignore for Kim's sake at this point. Before her turn allowed her to face Jared Cameron head on, she smoldered the fire raging in her eyes. She just wanted to go home.

"What?" Kami glared at the hulking figure of Jared Cameron and wondered who she pissed off in her last life to have such luck. Kim was for sure going to kill her.

"You, uh, forgot-" Kami didn't let him finish before turning around and yelling "keep it!". She was going to leave that problem for her sister to deal with when she was back. La Push was a nightmare, and Kami was thankful she was NOT the twin who had to grow up here.

oOoOoOo

Author's Note: so, uh, anyone have an interest in reading this story if I continue? Thought it would be a fun twist. Well, drop a review if you think I should continue or not Reading + Reviewing is encouraged.