Familiar Strangers

Prologue

Melissa Brown entered her "new" room and looked around. Too small, was her first thought. Anyone who knew her wouldn't be surprised. The room was- well -a normal one. The kind an ordinary teenager would have thus this was no place for a girl like her. An image of her enormous bedroom flashed before her eyes and the same feeling that had followed her from the time she left her twin intensified making her want to throw up. She didn't belong here and it wasn't just the room, she knew that much.

It's necessary!, she reminded herself stepping in front of the mirror. Her strawberry blond hair were gathered into a ponytail. She had no make-up on except a light pink lip-gloss that Jasmine had given her. Still her blue-green eyes were outstanding and her eyelashes looked long enough without any help. She had sportive clothes on, the kind that she wore when she was drawing with acrylic paint or used clay. Great!, now she missed her art supplies too.

She sighed and sat on the bed, suddenly weary. Her biological parents would return soon and she had to seem normal. She glared at a framed photograph placed on top of the drawer. Three smiling people looked back at her, their frozen eyes sparkling. She recognized the young girl of the picture, a girl identical to her when she was fourteen. The two adults were foreign to her but looking at them made her stomach hurt a little. She couldn't explain why or even understand why but she felt nervous all of a sudden. What if they didn't like her? What if...? She stopped herself from falling into a pit of ifs. She shouldn't be thinking like this it’s not like she ever cared what grown-ups thought of her before, they didn't get her art, they didn't get her music, they didn't get her! She grounded herself and gave herself a moment to breathe. Honestly she had to admit with a certain amount of disappointment that she doubted that they would even imagine what was going on. Like they would care! After all they chose her and gave me up...

Was really that why she let Jasmine get caught or even worse...get hurt in her place? Revenge? Nah...well maybe a little. If she was going to be honest she didn't really care about Jasmine. Yes she was her twin sister, and yes they were very much the same on the outside but other than that they had nothing in common. Jasmine was just another stranger which happened to be her twin. She was just a familiar stranger...

*******

A few blocks away Jasmine Smith grabbed the phone but put it back in its place without using it. She wanted to call Melissa again. Although only two hours had passed since the switch, she wanted to hear the instructions one more time. She wasn't good with acting and certainly she wasn't a liar.

How did I ever thought this is going to work?, she asked herself over and over. She definitely had her reasons to worry. Jasmine had nothing to do with her twin. They were two completely different people. Not that she knew her well. She had just met her three days ago and calling it a surprise would be the understatement of the millennium. But Jesus was it obvious. From the way they dressed, to the way they walked there was nothing someone would see and say they were sisters.

Even their looks. Of course they had the same wavy strawberry blond hair and blue-green eyes but Melissa used too much make-up for her likes and wore expensive kind of formal clothes where there was no need. On the other hand what should she expect? Her sister was the daughter of one of the richest families. Their name was famous but Mr and Mrs Brown never let any reporters publish photos of their children in magazines, newspapers or TV... Who could have thought that the very same face Jasmine wanted to see one day was her own.

One way or another Jasmine did what she did for Melissa. She had asked her to meet her parents. Our parents, she corrected herself. She understood her need to meet her biological parents she would have want to do so too. She was even intrigued to meet her sister's parents although she had no relation to them whatsoever. It was expected from Melissa to want to see what kind of people "made" her. How could she ever deny her own blood and flesh to do that? She knew there was no sisterly bond formed yet between them but that didn't mean she didn't want one to be. Jasmine had accepted to help her without giving it another thought and that was the only reason she got herself into this mess.

Well...maybe not the only reason. She also wanted to live like someone important for once. To see if really the grass was greener on the other side. All her life she had been average. Average weight, average height, average social class. Clearly Melissa wasn't. No, Melissa was far from average. Her life looked like a wonderful dream to Jasmine. A dream she illegally crept into. But so what? What if she did it for that too? What was wrong with that? People say you have to make the best of a situation and that was what she was doing.

A huge smile was formed by her lips, all worries banished by possibilities...We're going to have fun! she thought while lying on Melissa's king sized bed. She would just enjoy now without caring about tomorrow!

What could possibly go wrong?

(A big thanks to Unspokenn_Wordss who made the amazing cover! ;})

Hello everyone! I hope you have enjoyed this first chapter and that you will stick with the girls! Thank you for taking the time to read this! I'd love to hear your opinion! Until next time ;) xxx