Thank you to InuGnome17, Lisolotte, LorenaLaufey, Anon, Reader, LightFiction, moon2012, TashaLewis19, Sci-fi Christian, hannah, Cookie-chan91, nicaha23, PsychVamp, IgnitingFireworks, Lovely Rain Dancer, sweetandlow1012, DawnWalnut, justine, epic sweetness712, Guest, assassinlenna, Guest, and DreamsBeatReality for reviewing!

Wow, you guys! Thanks for the great response, especially to all you followers and fav'rs ;) Anyways, here is the actual beginning of the story ;) Just as a little warning, this is what I like to call the set up chapter, basically, because this is AU, it very difficult to just jump right in, so below will probably be the calmest (and shortest) chapter of the entire story! The rest will be way more dramatic; at least for what I have in mind ;)

I really hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Don't own TVD… :(

Chapter One

Perfect

Mystic Falls, Virginia 2010

Caroline sighed as she stood in front of her mirror, flattening and adjusting her outfit. Today was the first day of school after the summer holidays and Caroline wasn't sure she wanted to go back. It would just be another year filled with high school drama and fake smiles.

Ever since she was kid she couldn't help but feel different. Like she would never fit in. Her parents never got her, even from an early age, and so Caroline learned to mask it. She tried to make herself into the perfect person, wanting to make the town look at her and go 'there goes Caroline Forbes, isn't she just a darling?' and succeeding.

Her mask became even more perfect as time went on.

There were very few people she allowed to see through it, her best friends mainly; Elena Gilbert and Bonnie Bennet. She had known both girls since kindergarten and they have been inseparable ever since. There was really only one other person that she had thought she might open up to and show all the insecurities and imperfection inside, and that was Matt Donovan, her now ex-boyfriend.

When she first went out with him, it had seemed like the most logical thing. After all, they'd known each other since the sandbox. She was head cheerleader and he was the captain of the football team. Perfect, right?

And it was. For a while.

But, after Elena lost her parents, and Caroline realized how fragile life actually is, she found herself finding the little holes in their relationship. She loved Matt, she did, but not like she was supposed to.

It had been a relationship of convenience and even Caroline with her masks and illusions couldn't allow it to go on. She wouldn't do it to Matt or to herself.

And so she broke it off and they hadn't seen each other the entire summer.

Today she would though. She would see Matt and have to pretend that everything was ok between them. She would have to face not only him but an entire school with bright smiles that she gave out freely but that didn't mean a thing.

Maybe I should just skip another week. But, as soon as the idea popped in her head, she shot it down. She wasn't the only one who was resenting going to school today, she knew. Elena would already have enough trouble keeping it together with her there, Caroline didn't even want to think about what happen if Elena was there without her.

I'll just have to suck it up. I mean my problems are nothing compared to what Elena is going through.

Besides, maybe today won't be so bad. Maybe things will be different.

Even Caroline knew how transparent that lie was.

The first week of school was just as bad as Caroline had thought they would be. There were the stares, just as she had expected; both her and Elena got them; Elena for being tragedy girl, the one whose parents died, and Caroline for being the crazy cheerleader who dumped the most 'eligible piece of male real estate' in school. But it wasn't just other people who were staring, it was said male real estate too. Matt had been looking at her forlornly all week and she could barely stand it any more. Every time he looked at her, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do.

As if all the staring wasn't enough, she also had to hear the stupid reasons people thought of for their break up.

"I heard she like totally cheated on him and that he caught her and then dumped her. Now, she's saying she dumped him so she doesn't look so pathetic."

"Yeah, she was pregnant, but after she got an abortion, they couldn't be together anymore because it was too painful."

Honestly, all the reasons were completely ridiculous and clichéd. Not to mention untrue! But, did anyone care? Yeah, no one did. Thank god she had Elena and Bonnie, though. All three of them had stuck together this week, what, with each of them having their own personal issues. Though, Caroline would kill to be Bonnie right now. Currently, her biggest concern was looking into her whole 'witch' background that her grams told her about. Caroline bet that Elena felt the same way too, with her issues being the worst of all. The blonde still couldn't imagine how hard it must be for the Gilbert girl.

The week hadn't just been filled with staring and gossip, though. No, Caroline's luck was nowhere near that good. After all, it would be an injustice to forget what she liked to call the Stefan Salvatore incident.

When there was a new student at Mystic Falls High since forever, Caroline, as cheer captain and resident know-it-all, immediately found out who he was. And then when she saw him, a plan formed in her mind. Get the hot new guy to date her and show the rest of the school what's what and that she was still Caroline frickin' Forbes.

Well, it didn't happen as she hoped. Instead she ended up just majorly embarrassing herself and Stefan rejecting her and going for Elena. Now, Caroline prided herself on always standing up tall, but, even for her, rejection stung like a bitch. She was ashamed to say she didn't take it so well. She had let her insecurities, and well, her jealousy of Elena shine through. The idiotic thing was, now that she thought about it, she and Stefan didn't even have all that much in common, anyways.

So, it's pretty safe to say that her week sucked.

Her perfect life was seemingly falling apart.

There were cracks in her masks and they just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.

Stefan sighed when Damon came home, stinking of Caroline's blood. Again. No matter how hard he himself tried to get him to, his brother just wouldn't stay away from the girl. She just looked too much like her.

"Why do you have to continue tormenting her?" Stefan asked with disappointment and exhaustion in his tone. He looked up from where he was reading his book meeting Damon's amused eyes.

"You know why, brother." He stated with an eye-roll.

"Right." Stefan replied mockingly. "Because Caroline looks like her. I get it."

"That and her blood is simply divine." Damon stared at Stefan. "You should try it, I know you'd like it. That is, if you're not too busy with that little girlfriend of yours." He approached his younger brother, smirking, and a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Tell me, Stefan, does her blood tempt you? Does it make you go wild?"

"You know I don't drink human blood." The younger Salvatore replied painfully, trying not to remember the taste of it from when he last drank real blood. His ripper days were behind him.

"You don't know what you're missing out on." Damon sing-songed. That's just it, though. I do know what I'm missing out on and that is the problem.

"You know what I think?" Stefan suddenly voiced. "I think you don't only torment Caroline because she resembles her. I think its because you still love her and Caroline is just a reminder of what you lost. That is why you hate her so much and torture her. Because, despite the fact that she looked so incredibly like her, she's still just Caroline." The way Damon was looking at him now confirmed that Stefan was right. He knew he was right; after all Caroline's uncanny resemblance also pained him. So much so that Stefan found it hard to spend time around her.

"Careful, brother, you sound as if you think I have humanity in me." The elder Salvatore looked down at his brother with an angry glare. "Let's not forget what happened the last time you thought that." Stefan immediately recalled the recent pain his brother had caused.

Couch Tanner… I didn't like the guy but he didn't have to die…

And, yet, he did. Because of Damon. And then Zach…

"Don't worry, brother." Stefan replied, meeting his gaze head on. "I won't be forgetting that anytime soon."

His face was demonic. His eyes were red, filled with blood, the veins around them standing out starkly against his pale skin. And his teeth… His canines were extended into sharp points, fangs.

And then he was biting her all over again, and there was blood... Blood… Blood gushing from her body and into his mouth. She struggled, tried to fight but he was much too strong. This wasn't a man, after all. No, he was something else. A monster. A vampire.

He finally pulled away and Caroline could feel herself drifting, the world blurring around her eyes.

"You look exactly like her." He whispered, staring down at her until she caught his gaze.

Then the world blurred even more and all she could see were his blue, blue eyes.

"None of this ever happened. You will not remember any of it."

"I won't remember any of it."

When Caroline met the other brother, Damon Salvatore, things just seemed to click and her luck felt like it had turned. The cool, older bad boy brother interested in her of all people? Not just that, but Stefan was starting to pay more attention to her too, and shallow, inner Caroline, couldn't help but like the fact that she was becoming more and more central to their little group. What could be better?

But things started to change when she was with Damon. At first, she thought nothing of it. It wasn't a big deal that she started taking a liking to wearing scarves, never feeling comfortable without one on, never wanting to take them off. Then she found herself covering her shoulders, even when it was hot. Even despite the fact that Caroline, the one she displayed to the the public, never missed an opportunity to show a little skin.

Then there were the blackouts, all the missing time she had. She tried for the life of her to remember but it was just gone. That's when she started to get a little worried.

She only panicked, though, when she began to find the bruises, the bite marks. At first she was only shocked. How did they get there? Why didn't she see them before when they were so obviously there? It was like she had purposefully looked over them.

She was confused and scared and when Elena tried to help her she lashed out at her. But, even when she was angry with her friend, the brunette still helped her and told Stefan, who, in turn, told Damon to leave her alone.

Then, for a while, everything went back to relative normality.

But, just as soon as it was all over, Caroline was once again falling into line with Damon. She didn't want to, she knew that, but it was like she didn't have a choice. Anytime she told herself to stay away, her mind rejected it and the next thing she knew she was back with him, a puppy dog following his every order. Her mind would scream at her 'pathetic' and she tried to stand up for herself… but none of it came to anything.

Instead, she was trying to rip off her best friend's necklace and throwing parties at Damon's command only to be called stupid and useless in return.

Luckily, it seemed like after the party, Damon decided he had enough of her and Caroline couldn't be more grateful. She had had enough of all the drama.

At least one good thing came out of the whole ordeal though and that was that she and Matt were finally getting back to a friendship. They were taking tentative steps into new territory. Before they dated they had never really been friends so the whole thing was new to the both of them. Still, she supposed a good first step was him helping her out when she had drowned her insecurities in liquor by making sure she was safe and taking her home, reassuring her that she was not stupid or useless in the meantime

Caroline may have never truly loved Matt Donovan but that didn't mean she didn't see what a great guy he was; she hoped one day he would find a girl he deserved.

She also secretly hoped that she would find someone for herself as well.

A Prince Charming for 'Princess' Caroline, she thought with a wistful smile. Wouldn't that be great?

Wouldn't that be perfect?

London, England 2010

Klaus was not often surprised; after a thousand years of living that was pretty much guaranteed. And yet, in that a moment, he felt surprise. The rumor that he just been told could be what he had been for what he had been searching for a very long time.

"The doppelgänger is long dead." Klaus said, facing away from one of his many vampire servants. "She is a vampire now, and of no great use anymore. Still, I suppose it is luck that she has been found again; she stole something from me. Something that I had sorely needed. She still awaits her punishment."

"It is said there is another." The other vampire replied, eyes to the ground. "A human."

At this Klaus froze. Could it be true? Could it truly be possible? Perhaps there could be more than one doppelgänger… It seems like something that magic would ensure, with its endless loopholes and rules...

Perhaps his goals were not as far as they had seemed. Perfect.

"Really?" Klaus mused. "Interesting." He turned to face the other vampire, his arms crossed. "Where do they say she is?"

"Somewhere in Virginia. A town called Mystic Falls." The servant said. Mystic Falls? Klaus smirked. Of course.

"And they are sure?" He asked.

"Yes." He nodded

"Well then, we will just have to confirm it, won't we?" He suddenly blurred until he was right in front of his servant, lifting him up easily by throat. "You will go to Mystic Falls and whether or not this doppelgänger exists." His hand around the vampire's throat squeezed tighter. "Do not fail me. If she should just be another pitiful little human, it would do you good to make yourself scarce. I have no tolerance for those who bring me false information; they do not serve me well." Klaus dropped him to the floor, watching impassively as the vampire hastily made his way to the door. "I suggest you hurry."

With that, Klaus turned away from his little vampire minion, a triumphant look in his eyes.

Finally. If the girl really is as the rumors say, who they say she is, then it can finally be done.

This doppelgänger won't get away so easily as the last.

I'll make sure of that.

Ok, so, that's it for chapter one ;) Now, I know long A/Ns tend to be a bore, however, I do feel like I should explain some things about how this story is going to work, just so no one gets confused, so I suggest you read it anyways!

First of all, though Caroline and Elena's story lines will basically be switched, the Salvatore brothers will not be falling for her and instead will, both, fall for Elena instead. (The reasoning for this will be explained later in the story). Of course, there will also be a few things here and there that will still happen to the original character. For example, you probably noticed that Elena still noticed her parents and that Caroline was still with Damon. I did this because I felt like both things were a big part in making the characters who they are.

Now, regarding the character of Katherine, as you probably realized there are few problems with having this AU and having the same Kathy as in the show. I briefly considered just cutting her completely but that created too many plot holes with the Salvatores and Klaus. So there will be a Katherine, she will just be marginally different than the one in the show (obviously).

Lastly, Klaus. Expect him in Mystic Falls sooner. That is all. More will be revealed next chapter ;)

Thank you so much for reading and let me know what you think, especially if you have anymore questions!

RW