Chapter One
Meet Kari
I was tired of competing with her. It was unfair to me and Edward knew it. I could tell when he'd compare me to her. I couldn't compete with a dead girl. I closed my eyes. I hated that I wasn't someone that I'd never even met. I hated that he wished I was her. I wasn't Isabella Swan and I was nothing like her. I'd seen the pictures to prove it. I didn't have Jasper's ability to feel emotions, but I always knew that every now and then when Edward would look at me it was in disgust or lust. I didn't compare to her. It hurt me to even think of her name.
I stood in front of my mirror and looked at my outfit for the day. My brown pinstripe shorts stopped mid thigh revealing my gorgeous, athletic legs. My black long sleeved shirt stopped right at my protruding hipbones and was buttoned up high enough to cover what needed to be covered and low enough to show off a little bit of my tan skin. My black hair was perfectly straight and came down right after my collar bones. My beautiful blue eyes were lined perfectly with heavy black eye liner. I looked perfect. I was rather modelesque, but I had curves in all of the right places. I'd trade it all in to be pale with brown eyes and brown hair. I'd trade it all in to look like her, to be her. I even had dreams that I was her. I closed my eyes and tried to pretend that I could be clumsy little Bella. It didn't work. I frowned and then picked up my orange patent leather Prada bag and stuffed my cell phone in.
I walked bristly down my marble staircase. My mother had been an actress since she was a kid and was now off in Hollywood shooting another film. My dad owned a record label in New York and I was stuck in our mansion in Forks, Washington. You would think that I would be somewhere glamorous, but no. "We want to keep you in my home town." Dear old mummy said. Really they just wanted to get rid of me. Money was no object for me. Everything I owned was Gucci, Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, Juicy Couture, or some other high end label. It all made me sick. I was spoiled and I hated every bit of it. I wanted some parents that cared about me, that told me no. When I was fourteen I got a tattoo on my left hip bone. I remember prancing around in my bathing suit in front of both of them and all they ever did was tell me that I should have gotten something else.
"Here are your keys." Ilse, my housekeeper and caretaker, said.
I grabbed the keys to my 1954 Triumph TR2. It was an old car. I loved it because of that. When I lived in Malibu all of the blonde bimbos had Mercedes or BMW convertibles. They all looked the same. My dad even attempted to get me one, but luckily Ilse reminded him that I liked older cars. It really wouldn't be necessary because I knew that the minute I walked out the door Edward would be there with his Volvo. I hated that car. I hated it because it was a constant reminder that Bella had been there before me and that I was not the one he wanted. I could have easily found another guy to date. The fact of the matter was that I loved him. I loved Edward Cullen. I wanted him to love me so much that I was willing to trade in everything about myself. I would gladly give him every part of me. I would gladly become what he was, but he'd never have me. I knew he'd never have Bella, but that was because he didn't want to take away her soul, he'd never have me because deep down he and I both knew that he didn't really love me. I clenched my fists and stopped the tears from coming. I hugged Ilse and walked out to see him.
He was leaning on the passenger door smiling up a storm. His bronze hair was blowing in the wind and his topaz eyes sparkled. I smiled upon seeing him and began to run to him. He picked me up and kissed my forehead before putting me in the car.
"Good morning Kari."
"Good morning Edward." I smiled. He drove swiftly off of my property to Forks high school.