Ambition (revamped)

This is my revamped version of my story that I will continue. It is better at the wording and skips boring scenes. I will continue as I go.

“Confrontation”

Claire was early for her appointment, indeed she was always at least 20 minutes early for all appointments. But this appointment was no ordinary one, although it was to be held at an ordinary place. Recently her life had taken a dip, like someone had ran up and punched her out of the blue. She had a job two days ago, working as an accountant for a car dealership. That all changed when her boss showed her video footage of her consuming alcohol in the break room. The only problem was...Claire was not in the break room. She had gone to her favorite restaurant for lunch. Why anyone, let alone a drop dead look-alike would frame her was incomprehensible. But she was dead set on finding out.

Earlier she had learned from her boss that her look-alike actually said something rather telling while she was there, “Tell Claire that if she wants to talk, meet me at the Hilton hotel. Saturday at 3 pm. You got that? Write it down and hand it to her for me please?”

The clerk thought she was merely joking, and gave an odd stare as 'Claire' went straight to the break room holding the bottle.

So now the real Claire was walking in the parking lot, and not alone either. Flanking her on both sides was her tall brother on one side, and her father on the other. She had no reason to trust whoever she was going to meet, so she brought protection. Inside the hotel lobby they sat down on a plush couch. Only 5 minutes to go. They were all dressed in business attire; she wore a sky blue shirt with a grey suit and pants. Her hair was shoulder length and light blond naturally; the envy of many women. She was pretty by society standards and more than a few men had tried to date her. However she was too busy to ever get involved with anyone for long. Her parents made sure of that, last thing they wanted was for her to get a baby before she could support herself. In so doing, they created a girl who became skilled in various ways by the time she was 19. By then she had her pilot's license and could play the violin like a pro, as well as dance ballet. Getting another job was a concern, but not something she was especially worried about; she could always fall back on her office skills if nothing else.

The reason she showed up was more a matter of principle. No one had the right to impersonate her, no one had the right to humiliate her, who does that mess anyway? How dare they!

The time was up. Exactly at 3pm and no one had showed. Whoever it was...being punctual was not one of their strong points. A few seconds later a familiar figure walked up to the entrance of the lobby...it was her look-alike! She wore a yellow business suit, an odd choice for Claire. The look-alike walked up straight to the cashier, not even noticing Claire, as she began booking a room. Immediately Claire and her family got up and approached her from behind.

The clerk's eyebrows perked up, “Uh, miss, you might want to look behind you.”

The look-alike turned about to see Claire, her tall brother, and her muscular but older father. Her face went red, “I uh...didn't expect you to be here.”

Claire's anger turned to curiosity, this was certainly going to be something she could tell her grandchildren about if she ever had any. “Two questions.” she said pointing at her, “Who are you? And why? Why did you impersonate me?”

Any suggestions on where this goes next? I already have an idea but I'm open to more.....

@lorbo Claire's impersonator reveals that she is actually an alien refugee named Rana. Her homeworld was destroyed by an ancient species of conquerors who are coming to earth next. She tells Claire that she knows of a way to give humans the power to defeat them, but very few people have the genetic capability to survive the procedure. Claire was chosen because she is the best host for the powers that Rana has been able to find in all of her time on earth (about 15 years).

I needed motives for the aliens to be on Earth in disguise.

I could have them be big reality TV fans. Therefore:

Instead of Claire being the target of a vengeful scorned alien woman, she could be the target of an alien reality show. Sound cool? Of course I will still have the sociopath for the added element of suspense and danger. Or maybe I could blend all those ideas together? Maybe the scorned woman arranged for Claire to be the target of the reality show with her orchestrating the pranks.

I like that idea. The sociopath would have an agenda all their own.

You know what? I think the villain ought to be different. Not a sociopath. Because I don't understand what makes them that way anyway. I will have a villain who is precisely what Claire could be. An arrogant person. On top of that they are smarter and more powerful than Claire. However I found this interesting text on the internet about confidence VS arrogance:

A long running debate in my own mind is the difference between arrogance and confidence. Here are two definitions:

An arrogant person only feels smart if someone else feels stupid. Their sense of themselves depends on thinking less of someone else. They insist on correcting other people’s grammar or showing them their flaws, as it’s the only way they can feel an approximation of confidence. Arrogance is about intent: its when ability (or perceived ability) is used to look down on others.

A confident person feels competent from the inside out. They use their talents to genuinely try to be of use, or to succeed at the task at hand. They might seek external validation, but they don’t depend on it to define their sense of their ability or nature.

In some cases an arrogant person may have more skill than a confident person, but the confident person will tend to wield whatever abilities they have with more calm control than an arrogant person can.

Anyway, I think a villain of that nature is more common, something people can relate to. And certainly someone who Claire couldn't easily defeat, except by exploiting their arrogance.