Imperfect

Prologue

She is perfect. She has everything. Perfect friends, gorgeous boyfriend, amazing grades. She is beautiful, the prettiest girl I know and yet she still spends hours prepping her makeup, fixing her hair, getting dressed. She is my sister, Jasmine. She used to be my best friend, we were known as "the twins". But now... Now we are Jasmine and Chloe. JASMINE and Chloe. We look nothing alike. She is 5'9 while I am 5'5. She has beautiful blue eyes, and mine are a murky hazel. She has long curly dirty blonde hair while mine is straight and brown. We are opposites. Two different people living two completely different lives. I love my twin, but she is everything I wish to be. The only problem is that I am not her.

Jasmine thinks she knows everything when it comes to social life. She asks me "why don't you have a boyfriend Chloe?" Yeah, as if. I reply, "Boys aren't interested". She laughs "I don't see why, maybe you need to open up more Clo, you are a little reclusive." All Jasmine ever wants to talk about are boys, friends, and grades, I can only relate to one of these and the people I hang out with are completely different than the ones Jasmine is involved with. And she tries to include me, I'll give her that. Once Jasmine took me to a party. You know the kind; keggers and drunk teenagers, the kind of parties police officers crash and land kids in jail. The party would be fun if you're into the sweaty bodies and stinky people type of thing, but I wasn't. And eventually after warding many off, Jasmine accepted one drink, then another, then another until she was head over heels drunk. Jasmine was not afraid to live, but I could never let loose and enjoy my temporary freedom like she had that night. While she partied I stood in the corner, Alessia Cara's song "Here" playing over and over in my mind. When I finally grew a pair and managed to drag her from the crowd and into the kitchen she shook her head with disbelief. "Why on earth are you so uptight Clo?" she asked. "You're totally killing my vibe." She reached for a shot glass on the island and offered it to me. "Loosen up" she slurred. I rejected the shot glass and dragged her out to the car where I shoved her in the passenger seat and we drove home in silence. It would seem as if my sister is the hot mess, but when we got home and managed to sneak her into her room only waking my little brother Josh, she fell asleep immediately. The next morning when I figured she'd be hungover and gross, she bounded down the stairs with a smile on her face looking as beautiful and perfect as ever.

My closest friends, Ty and Shay. We did everything together until they declared themselves a couple and I began to get left out of things. Movies, skating, bowling, they claimed they were building the relationship and promised I would be included the next time, and the next time, and the next time. I never understood how Shay did not know how I felt. Was she ignoring me on purpose? Or was she guilty because I was nothing but obvious when it came to letting her know that they had forgotten me. Maybe I was selfish, or conceited but that didn't stop me from constantly feeling alone. Shay was my friend first. Our neighborhood was old, Jasmine and I grew up knowing Shay as our favorite neighbor and the only one our age. When we all went to the same school for Junior High we were inseparable. With the two of them, middle school was slightly tolerable. Ty came later in the eighth grade. He didn't talk much at first, besides the times where he was whining about how us three girls were the only people who talked to him and how he needed more guy friends. This was a happier time, the pressures of being a full teenager hadn't quite hit yet. But In ninth grade, Jasmine started hanging out with a group of tenth and eleventh graders who were considered popular. She became more and more distant to the point where the only time I saw her would be at home, there we would share stories about how our days went, but eventually, gradually that stopped too. Shay, Ty and I continued to be friends and we stayed that way until a few years later, now months ago when they declared they're feelings for each other. I thought it would pass, but it was more serious than I had anticipated. But I still supported them, they were my best friends and had been with me through thick and thin and I planned to do the same for them.

My parents, Tom and Amanda Clarke loved all of their children. At least, that is what they told us. Mom said that when us twins were babies Charlie was her ball of light, I however, was fiery, rebellious, had the same spark in my eyes as my father. "My beautiful middle child" she called me "My little ball of fire". As we got older and Jasmine became involved in soccer, dance and cheerleading she became the main child of our family. Everything revolved around getting Jasmine to dance, or having dad go out back to practice foot work for soccer. I was simply a pawn in all this. "Chloe grab your sister's costume please!" Everything turned into being about her. I rarely got celebrated and I was always in trouble because my parents expected better from me in school. I did have a passion, though, art. I drew almost whenever I got the chance, my hand moving before my brain. My art teacher, Mr. Yak (yes his last name is Yak) always showed my artwork as an example and acknowledged my skill. I had art shows almost every two weeks that my parents never attended. They do come rarely but only when Jasmine's practice are cancelled and Josh is behaving. Other than that they think my art is a waste of time. "Unless you are a mastermind you will not make much in the art industry." My mother told me not so long ago. "And judging by your grades Clo, you are far from being a mastermind." Her blunt feelings hurt sometimes but I knew a part of me believed she was right and wished to excel, only that part of me was dormant, and never ever did that part of me reveal itself.