Secrets; everybody has them. Some are small, little things. They're inconsequential in the long run. While others, well, they could change your whole life.

There are secrets that have the potential to shatter everything you thought you knew, change who you thought you were.

And I discovered one of those secrets. And if you're wondering, it did change everything in my life.

I'm Selena, and you see, I was in foster care until I was fourteen. My parents had died after I was born, in some fiery crash I guess. So I was placed in the foster care system.

I went from family to family. I learned how to be tough from the get-go, because most of the places I went weren't so kind. And by the time I was fourteen, I'd had enough. Enough abuse, enough of not being wanted. So I ran away.

I've led an interesting life these past two years. Until a secret got revealed.

I was in a small diner, eating a cheap dinner. I sat in a barstool at the bar, like a few other patrons, when the old dude sitting next to me glanced from his newspaper, to me, and then back to his newspaper.

I gave him an uneasy glance as he sat it down in front of him. "I'm sorry for your loss, kid." He said in a voice that sounded like he'd been smoking for several years.

I raised my left eyebrow at him, wondering what he meant by that, when my eye caught the article he'd just been reading. I snatched the paper up and looked it over. There on the page was a picture of two high school aged girls. The article spoke about how one of the girls, the one on the left, had been murdered. And her murderer had been sentenced to death by injection.

That wasn't what made my eyes bug. Nope. The second girl in the photo, the dead girl's friend, well... She had my face!

I scanned the page, finding the article was written about a town not far from where I was then; Neptune.

I slammed some money on the counter and jumped off my seat, rushing outside. I had a bus to Neptune to catch. I needed to know who this girl was. And why we looked alike.

~•~•~

I stepped off the bus at eleven pm and it drove away as I looked down the sidewalk, deciding on where I should go.

I picked a direction on random, something I had been accustomed to doing these past two years, and walked. I held my messenger bag close, as it held all my possessions I owned. It was late, and the street was lit by lamps and all I could hear was my own breathing.

Until I could hear the rumbling sound of motorcycles headed my way. They passed me by, going what had to be way past the speed limit, until they circled back and stopped on the street near me. They were all Latino young men, and I discretely reached into my bag, wrapping my hands around my pocket knife.

"Kinda late to be roaming, Veronica. You might get hurt." The leader said jokingly, implyingly.

Veronica. Either they were all crazy, or they knew the girl who looked like me. What a strange coincidence. But it wouldn't hurt to play along. Maybe I could get some info out of them.

"Well, then by all means why don't you give me a ride home, amigo." I asked him, hoping he was a friend to my doppelgänger, and not a foe.

He laughed and exchanged glances with his buddies before they all drove away, leaving me still clueless as to where to go. At least I had a name now.

Albeit a first one.

I rubbed my eyes and continued walking, hoping to stumble upon a cheap motel for the night.

Luck was my lady I suppose, as I finally came across the Camelot Inn. I flashed the desk clerk my fake ID and she gave me a cheap room.

I laid on the musty, over used bed and pulled out my laptop and connected to the spotty wireless. I typed in 'Neptune, California', and searched the girl who had died, hoping to find my doppelgänger again.

It didn't take long, as the dead girl was the heiress of a rich family in town, the Kanes. Even I had heard of them. A few more keystrokes found information on the girl's life when she was... Well... Living.

And then there she was, my doppelgänger, Veronica. Veronica Mars, according to the Internet. Her father had been the sheriff and leader of the murder investigation until he insinuated that Jake Kane had killed his own daughter. After that, they impeached him.

So, tomorrow I would know where to go. Mars Investigation. The ex-sheriff's private inspector business, where Veronica worked part time.

~•~•~

I checked out of the motel early and headed towards Mars Investigations. I had a large pair of sunglasses covering my face in case any more of Not-Me's friends thought they recognised her.

It didn't take long to find the place, and I strode right in. And there she was, at a desk right in front.

She looked up from her computer and spoke."My dad's not in right now, you can wait if you want." She said distractedly.

"Actually, I came here for you." I said as I pulled my sunglasses off. "I need to know why you look like me."

She looked into my eyes and her jaw dropped. "Oh my gosh." She whispered before jumping out of her chair and coming to stand in front of me.

We looked each other over. And it was like looking into a mirror. The only differences between us were the clothes we were wearing and the lengths of our hair.

"Who are you?" She asked confused as she reached out a hand to touch my face as I did the same to her.

"I'm Selena... I think- I think we're twins." I whispered back just as the door behind me opened.

"Veronica, who's this?" An older man's voice asked behind me.

Veronica looked at him, and then back to me, dumbstruck for words. I turned around slowly and stepped back so I was standing side by side with Veronica. The balding older man looked like he nearly had a heart attack right then.

"I'm Selena... Are you Keith Mars? Because I think you're my father."

~•~•~

I found myself at their apartment about two hours later, explaining my life history. Keith decided I would take a DNA test to confirm that it wasn't just some freak coincidence that Veronica and I had the same face.

He called in a favour somewhere and the answers would be at his doorstep in half a week. Until then, I would be staying with them, we'd determine my fate in half a week.

~•~•~

Time passed both too slow and too quick. Veronica went to school and work, her father just went to work. And I hung around their apartment.

Veronica and I got very close in those four days as I slept in her room and we talked all night. No DNA test was needed for us, we knew we were sisters.

When the test finally came, my heart leapt into my throat. I was not an orphan. Why and how this had happened, my being put in foster care, we didn't know. But Keith promised to find out.

And then he dropped a new bombshell on me; He was enrolling me into Veronica's high school, Neptune High.

I guess it would be fun, seeing people's reactions when they saw double Veronica.

~•~•~

We strode into the school arm-in-arm. I had been put into all her classes. It was funny, seeing everyone double take at us.

As we came to my new locker and I was shoving books in, a dark skinned boy skidded to a halt at our sides.

"Veronica!" He looked between us, trying to figure out who to address. "I didn't know you had a twin!"

"Me either. Wallace. This is Selena; Sel, Wallace." She introduced us.

~•~•~

It didn't take long for me to find new things out about my sister. Man, the kids here hated her. They feared her and all I heard all day from anyone, were harsh rumours spread by the rich kids. The 09'rs, as Veronica put them.

By lunch, I'd been hit on, gossiped about, threatened, and glared at by the whole school populace. As Veronica, Wallace, and I sat at a red, plastic table, eating lunch, and me answering Wallace's questions about my past, my eyes locked with another boy's.

He was an 09'r, but he was gorgeous. My heart practically leapt into my throat when he smirked at me. I looked over at my twin. "Who's that?"

She followed my gaze and rolled her eyes. "Logan Echolls. Our school's obligatory jackass."

Jackass huh? I could live with that.

.