To be, or not to be: that is the question.

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.

To die: to sleep no more.

- Hamlet

Chapter 10

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Violet slowly opened her eyes as she turned off her alarm clock, smiling. Six in the morning. Normally she hated how she had to be up this early for school, but today she did not mind. She glowed as she thought of Jacob. Her stomach knotted with nerves as she thought of the way her heart fluttered at the mere sound of his voice. She wondered if he had noticed that; she hoped not.

She had no idea why he made her so nervous; boys never did. She was always full of confidence, always managed to keep her cool. But something about this boy seemed different. Maybe the way he looked into her eyes while taking to her instead of down at her body. Maybe the way he did not talk down to her like everyone else did simply because she was a pretty young girl. He did not assume that she was dim and immature, but rather treated her as an equal. Or maybe it was just his dark, unnatural attractiveness that pulled her in.

She went to her closet and began pushing clothes aside, searching for the perfect outfit. After showing up to the first day of school looking terrible, she hoped this time to make a better impression on her classmates. She finally decided on a black bodycon dress and black booties, finalizing the outfit with her favorite midnight blue leather jacket. She curled her hair and pulled it to the side, slipping on her favorite silver heart ring.

She then looked up to see her favorite necklace hanging from the corner of her mirror: the beautiful onyx pendant that her grandmother had given to Violet as she lay on her death bed. Other than Katy, who had been like a sister to her, her grandmother was the only person she ever felt truly loved her and cared about her well being. She smiled, remembering how her grandmother explained that the necklace had been passed down for generations from mother to daughter, but that Violet's mother was "too much of a bitch," to possess it. So she had given it to Violet, her granddaughter, on the last night of her life.

Violet held the small pendant in her hand, fondly gazing down at it before placing it around her neck. She then grabbed her bag and her keys and headed out to her car, carrying herself with confidence as she thought of the better second impression she would make on her classmates. Hopefully Jacob, as well.

So Kathryn had a doppelganger too. Jacob paced the length of his room, pondering how it was possible and what it meant. Obviously Kathryn had lied when she told him the story of her origins; at the very least, she had left out a major part. He had considered going back to her and confronting her about it, but he immediately ruled that out as an option. If Kathryn wanted to play a game of secrets, then he would play, as well.

He wondered exactly how he could protect Violet; was there any chance that with him guarding her and playing his cards right, Kathryn would never find out about Violet? Somehow that did not seem possible. So what, then? Kathryn was much older; a thousand time stronger than him. Would Dead Man's Blood work on her? Something told him that it would not. Would a stake through the heart kill her? If it were possible to sneak up on her, it would be worth a try. He knew that Violet would be safe; doppelgangers were not physically linked. Otherwise, he would have died along with Alexander.

Which made him wonder: what exactly happened to Alexander? When she said he was dead, did she mean that he died as a human? That his wife had murdered him after she found out about the affair? Or had he become an original vampire, as well? Jacob had many potential theories about that possibility. The theory that stood out to him most prominently was the theory that Alexander had left Kathryn after she had tempted him into betraying hims wife, resulting in his untimely demise, and she had gotten angry, murdering him in cold blood as revenge. She was definitely capable of that.

He looked down at the onyx ring on his finger. As Carlisle had explained to him upon his arrival at their home, all vampires had to wear onyx in some way, shape or form to keep themselves from dying from the rays of the sunlight. He explained that when he had been turned, he had been wearing the ring of his father, with an onyx stone in it. When he stepped into the sunlight, he did not burn as vampires were supposed to. His father had told him that onyx was said to absorb light waves and ward off negativity; Carlisle believed what his father said was the reason why it protected vampires. Just as everything else about the human body is heightened as a vampire, so was the ability of onyx upon contact with vampire skin to absorb sunlight and protect said vampire. The negativity it warded off, of course, was death.

Neither Carlisle nor any of the other Cullens had any explanation as to why sunlight hurt vampires in the first place. They theorized that also to be something to do with the way body and senses were magnified for a vampire. But Jacob secretly believed that it was because Alexander's wife had wanted to damn Kathryn to an eternity of loneliness; humans always stay inside at night, leaving Kathryn no way to interact with any other beings. An eternity of lurking in the shadows alone, waiting for lifetimes for the key to breaking her curse. Maybe that was why she had begun creating vampires in the first place.

"Jacob?" He turned around to see Alice standing in the doorway of his room with a hesitant smile on her face. "We need to leave for school in five minutes. Do you need help getting dressed?" She teased.

He grinned back at her. "No, Esme laid my clothes out for me this morning."

Alice laughed at his joke and disappeared down the hallway. As soon as she was out of sight, he let the grin fall from his face. Pulling on his jacket, he followed after her, wondering exactly how he was going to tell Violet that she was the doppelganger of an ancient vampire who was out for her blood.

"Hey," Jacob heard a cheerful voice greet. He looked up to see Violet grinning down at him, dressed quite nicely for a day at school. She sat down at the desk next to him, leaning over to pull her textbook out of her bag.

"Hi," he replied simply, watching her as she did so. "What are you so dressed up for?"

She looked over at him with a serious expression. "Does there need to be a reason to look nice? Back off ," she said, pretending to be irritated. Seeing that he was not going to reply, she continued on with the truth. "Honestly, I looked terrible yesterday. I overslept and I had to get ready as soon as possible. Everyone is lucky that I was even dressed period. I looked terrible."

"I didn't notice," he answered. She smiled warmly at him.

"Hello, class," the teacher, who she had finally learned was named Mrs. Flora, greeted the class. "Excited for our second day of English class?" There was a variety of sarcastic comments flying through the air throughout the next few seconds. "Well, then, I'm glad you're excited."

Mrs. Flora turned and began writing notes on the board for them to copy down. Violet filled with disappointment when Mrs. Flora announced that they would be starting Hamlet. That meant that there would be no more opportunity to talk to Jacob.

"This is boring," a boy with blonde hair complained twenty minutes into class, interrupting the girl who was stuttering over the most simple of words as she was forced to read aloud to the class.

"I agree," said another boy the blonde guy had been speaking to before class. "Why can't we just read on our own or in groups or something?"

Mrs. Flora looked thoughtful. "I suppose that's alright with me. Just make sure the play is the only thing being discussed." She sat down at her desk and began sorting through papers as the class cheered and began moving desks around.

Violet had to resist the urge to grin. She turned to Jacob. "Do you want to endure the torture of Hamlet with me?"

"Sure," he replied. "But to save us both some time, I've read this before," he told her, leaving out the fact that it had been during his first time through High School. "Basically what we're reading today is some guard sees a ghost, and it's Hamlet's dad."

Violet pretended to pout. "Hey now, Jacob, I was really excited about reading this chapter. You just ruined it for me."

"Sorry. If you want, I can read it to you in a bad British accent."

"I'll pass, but thanks for the offer." She began searching through her bag for a pen, and he watched her as she did so. It amazed him how much she resembled Kathryn right down to every detail; she had the same silvery blue eyes, the same dark auburn hair, all of the same features; only Violet's were much less intense. Kathryn had that vampiric beauty, while Violet's was humane. Natural. Normal.

"So where did you move here from?" she questioned, pretending that she had not noticed him staring.

"Chicago," he said simply.

Another short answer. Slightly frustrated, Violet decided to change the direction of the conversation. "So how long have you been with the Cullens?"

"Not long," he answered truthfully. "I was orphaned a couple of years ago, and the Cullens were old friends. They took me in."

"I'm sorry about your parents," she said with eyes full of sympathy. She understood now why he seemed so dark. "I'm glad the Cullens were there for you, though. I've met a few of your adoptive siblings; they're nice."

"How are things going here?" They both looked up to see Mrs. Flora standing expectantly over them.

"We're great," Jacob replied with a mild expression of humor.

"Great! Any questions?"

Irritated by Mrs. Flora's perkiness, Violet did her best to look serious. "Yes, I have one. Why do they talk so funny?"

For the first time, Mrs. Flora frowned. "Because Shakespeare was trying to make his words beautiful, like poetry."

"But nobody could understand them. How did anyone actually enjoy the play? Did they just pretend to enjoy it because it was a sign of great wealth to be able to attend the theater, and they wanted to pretend to be intellectual? It seems that way to me." Violet continued to look serious, and Mrs. Flora continued to stare at Violet with mild confusion. She then walked away towards the next group, asking them how they were doing as well.

Jacob smirked. "That's mean to taunt her like that."

Violet nonchalantly shrugged. "She should have let us read a better book."

"And how old are you?"

"No, no. That's not how this game works," she teased playfully. "I'm not finished with my round of Twenty Questions." Her words reminded Jacob of his car ride with Kathryn. Hearing them come out from the mouth of Violet, who was so identical to Kathryn, sent chills up his spine.

Suddenly, the bell rang loudly, interrupting their moment. Jacob turned to Violet as he stood up and grabbed his backpack. "Well, see you in class tomorrow, I guess."

"No, come find me after school. You know where my locker is." She gave him a flirty smile and then walked confidently out of the classroom. He smiled at her retreating back, wondering how he was possibly going to save her from her ill-fated destiny.

A/N: I know you were probably reading like, "shit, this is turning into a sappy love story". But no, I promise, that's not it. Next chapter she finds out and things get serious again. I just wanted to take this chapter to establish a friendship between them, because if Jacob were to just be like, "hey stranger, I know a vampire identical to you who wants to kill you", that would be sort of awkward and she'd pepper spray him and file for a restraining order. Anyway, please review if you liked the chapter! As always, I would love to know your thoughts.