Victim

"Hmmm… what will I do with you, now…" Alice sang as she danced around a terrified-looking Karen, brandishing a pair of lethal looking scissors and an enormous hairbrush.

It had only been three days since I had brought Karen home with me and, of course, she had to pass Alice's assessment on if she was presentable enough or not. As I had expected, with her blunt unflattering cut and frumpy clothes, Karen needed some work done.

"Some longer layers might look nice," Rosalie suggested helpfully from the doorway, She and Emmett had returned from their vacation yesterday, and were thrilled by our new family addition. Emmett had bet me that it would be less than three days before Alice got to Karen, I had bet on more than three. I had lost. Alice had said as she marched down the long Cullen staircase and had stopped in front of Karen, and said 'I've put up with this long enough, but I can't stand it anymore. You. Are. Getting. A. Makeover.'

"I'm thinking that too." Alice said thoughtfully. Then she frowned and her eyes defocused for a moment, before blinking an returning to the present. "Nope, that's not going to work," she said "I saw it. It's not good. How about…"

Alice spent the next ten minutes pinning up various parts of Karen's black hair. She searched for the outcome of her newest idea, before muttering darkly and then playing with another bunch of hair. It was fun to watch: Alice going from future to present and back again. But it gave me a headache.

"Well," Alice said finally "I've exhausted all the options. As much as I don't want to do this I'm going to have to take desperate measures – I'm going to have to give you this," she gestured sadly to her own spike 'do.

"I'm getting a cut like yours?" Karen asked.

"It's the only thing that will look nice," Alice frowned for a second. She didn't like the idea of someone else having the same hair as her. "But," her face brightened "Then we can be twins!"

We – Karen, Rosalie and I – all laughed.

Alice adjusted her razor sharp scissors in her hand and began to chop away.

A minute later, we were shoved out of the room by an adamant Alice. "I want it to be a surprise," she said before shutting the door.

It wasn't like we didn't know what was coming since Karen and Alice would look identical with their matching cuts. But Alice was her own force of nature when she wanted something a certain way, so Rosalie and I waited in Alice's bedroom until we were summoned.

Even though Alice was my favourite Aunt, I would never tell Rose that. She was the one that stood up for me when everyone else wanted to kill me – yes, Jacob had told me everything after I requested details. Mother, of course, was furious, but Jake couldn't help himself with the whole giving-me-everything-I-want-when-I-ask thing. I had forgiven Rosalie for willing to forfeit my mother's life for mine (I was special after all) but she never seemed quite so lovely after that.

"So Nessie," she said conversationally, "Have you and Karen made plans to go back to university in the fall?"

"No, we haven't talked about it yet. I think she might though, since it's pretty obvious she's not going to leave the family."

I thought about it for a while. Karen couldn't possibly stay while I was away. She was my best friend after all, even though she was technically family. The thought of Karen here – taking my place and all the attention – without me, was disturbing.

"Hmm… that's good –"

"Rose!"

"That would be Emmett, I guess I'd better go," she said ruefully and breezed downstairs.

I wanted to be the first one to see the new and improved Karen, so I waited for the next fifteen minutes in Alice and Jasper's bedroom. I paced, I fiddled with my bronze curls, I twiddled my thumbs, not wanting to disturb any of the perfect organization. Unfortunately, my range of vampire abilities didn't include sitting still. Finally, after I read all the names of the CDs on the shelf twice, Alice called me in.

"Ta daaa!" she cried, gesturing to Karen, seated in front of the mirror.

If I hadn't known it wasn't Alice in the chair I would have swore it was. Sitting down, you couldn't see the height difference, just the back of a spiky black head. Karen turned to face me and her grin was electrifying.

"W-o-w," she said. "I look… great!"

"Of course you do," Alice scoffed. "I did this after all." She began to say something else, but was cut off by Jake's voice, echoing up the stairs.

"Nessie…" he whined "Are you done yet?"

I rolled my eyes, but wasn't really annoyed. "Come on, Karen, let's introduce the new and improved you."

Sorry if it's a while before the next update… 'Tis the season after all and I'll be a bit busier than normal ;)