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~Kim and Katia

"Petrova-Salvatore and Donovan, Table 7!"

There is always that little bit of fear every junior in Biology feels whenever they announce table assignments. The person you are paired with would be your lab partner. The person you would do all your projects with, the person you would spend most of your time with. That lab partner was assigned randomly, but you would be stuck with them for the remainder of the year.

Anastasia glanced up once she heard her named called for table assignments. She headed to Table 7 without hesitation but her mind was trying to figure out who her partner was before she sat down. Donovan. She definitely would have known if her best friend, Scarlet Donovan, had this class. That was when Ana remembered her friend's sweet little twin brother, Liam.

Anastasia took her seat at Table 7, while Liam took the seat beside her. They didn't speak at first, even when the teacher told them to introduce themselves to their lab partners. Ana assumed Liam knew who she was, given as she was at his house almost every weekend visiting Scarlet. It wasn't until Ana had a paper out and had written her name in the top corner that Liam spoke up, "I didn't know your full name was Anastasia. It's pretty," He told her. But, of course, he did know that.

"Thanks," Anastasia mumbled, twisting the pen she wrote with in her fingers, "But I prefer Ana."

"I'm Liam."

"I know," Ana responded, holding back a chuckle.

"Oh, right…"

"You're Scarlet's brother. Your sister is, like, my best friend," Anastasia glanced at Liam, raising an eyebrow as she teased him softly, "Don't tell me you forgot who I am?" Liam just let out a nervous laugh at her comment, but had no response. If only she knew, Liam would never forget Ana.

The two of them remained in silence as the teacher explained their first project they would need to complete together. Ana didn't catch much of what he was saying. Something about Pedigree Trees and genetics and such. She could see Liam taking notes out of the corner of her eye, so she thought they would be fine.

There was a piece of paper that was handed to them, where you filled out simple information to get things started. Liam took it first, starting with his parents.

"Father: Matthew Donovan…" Liam said aloud as he spoke. Ana knew Matt, the Mystic Falls Sheriff, a good guy. Then he continued, "And mother: Rebekah Mikaelson."

Anastasia took the paper and started filling it out, "Father: Stefan Salvatore…" Stefan was also a good guy, but had only come into Ana's life when she was 13 or 14.

"Oh, I've known Stefan my whole life, he's a good guy. Um, how come you didn't grow up here?" Liam asked her. While Ana wanted to know why he even asked, she decided to just answer the simplest way possible instead.

"Oh, because my mom is psychotic," Ana teased softly with a gentle laugh as she wrote the name down, "And mother: Katherine Pierce."

Liam went to comment, like he just wanted to say something to Ana. Start any conversation at all. But he didn't get the chance to because he was cut off by the school bell. Normally, he would have tried to be out of there as quickly as he could. But he took his time today with each paper, attempting to stay at the same pace as Ana, "So I'll see you around, I guess," He told her.

"Well, yeah, I'll see you tomorrow," Anastasia said, pushing her binder into her bag and looking up at him. "We have biology everyday, and we're lab partners."

Liam blushed, his face turning the color of a tomato. "Uh, right. I knew that. So, tomorrow," he said, before getting out of there before he could say anything else idiotic.

Liam returned home that day feeling a bit more content than he had ever felt. He finally got the chance to talk to Ana. The same girl that he had been pining over for years, without her knowledge, of course. Scarlet's best friend whom Liam had thought was beautiful since the moment he saw her in his ninth grade english class. Anastasia Petrova-Salvatore. It was funny how, after one day of talking to her, Liam felt better than he had in his entire life.

That mood changed the moment he entered the door to his dad's house.

It wasn't that Liam didn't like spending time with his dad-he loved it, in fact. It was that Matt's other family were so normal, Liam and Scarlet had always been outsiders of some sort.

Matt had remarried a few years after the twins were born, to a pretty girl named Abby Macomber. They had two kids of their own-Candace (13) and Peter (5). They, along with Abby, were completely normal. Human in every way, where Scarlet and Liam were nonhuman in every way. Liam loved his step-mom and half-siblings, but he'd always felt like he didn't really belong. At least his mom's side of the family made him feel included all the time.

"How was school?" Matt said, jogging Liam out of his thoughts and into the present.

"It was pretty good. We're doing this pedigree tree project in science though, so I was wondering if you had any-" but Liam got cut off by Candace bouncing into the room to talk to her dad.

"Hey, can you drive me to the Grill? Alice and I wanted to get dinner and study for a test," she said, glancing at Liam with a smile

And like he were forgotten, Matt nodded. As he grabbed his key, Liam sighed, turning to follow. "I think I'm going to go stay at Mom's tonight."

"Okay. Scarlet's there too, you know?" Matt said, as the two walked out to their separate cars.

"I didn't know that, but thanks," Liam said, before getting into his own car and driving towards the Mikaelson manor at the edge of town.

Upon pulling into the driveway, Liam noticed Scarlet's car immediately. He got out, walking up the steps. As if she had some witchy sense (which, to be fair, she did), Scarlet met him at the door.

"I hear you're doing a project with Ana?"

"Yeah, some kind of pedigree tree thing. I don't know," Liam said, trying to act as if it were no big deal, but Scarlet saw through him. Lucky for him, she didn't comment on it.

"Mom's making dinner. Uncle Klaus and Uncle Elijah are coming over for dinner tonight," Scarlet explained as they walked. He nodded, following her up to his room, dropping off his bag and sighing as he sat down on the mattress, sinking in a bit.

"Sounds good," he nodded, and Scarlet started to walk out of the room. "Hey Scar?"

She turned to face him. "Yeah, Li?"

"Put in a good word for me with Ana?"

"Like I'd have anything bad to say about you."

"I don't know what he sees in that little blonde twit…"

Anastasia rolled her eyes at her mother's comment. It seemed like she always had something to say about her father's family, who Ana had grown fond of in the last few years she had known them, "Mom… Caroline is my step-mom. I know you don't like her, but she is actually really kind."

Katherine sighed, shaking her head. "Her being nice has nothing to do with whether I like her or not, Anastasia. She's too high-strung and loud."

Anastasia couldn't really disagree with her mother, but she also didn't have to let her know that. "She's not loud. She's spirited. Something you know nothing about, because your hobbies include talking to me and trying to break up my dad and stepmom."

Katherine chuckled, but chose not to comment on that. Instead, she pulled into Stefan's driveway, getting out of the car and shooting Ana a look. "You're coming home on Sunday morning, right?"

"Sunday morning," Anastasia repeated with a nod towards her mother. She got out of the car, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She smiled gently back at Katherine, "Bye, mom." She closed the car door behind her and made her way towards the front door of the house.

Anastasia was welcomed into the Salvatore home just as she was whenever she stayed there. There was Caroline, her spirited stepmother who greeted her with a warm hug and always had something for Ana to snack on. Then there were the siblings that her father and Caroline had adopted. Henry was 10 years old, and by far the sweetest little boy Ana had ever met. Their youngest child was Lilly, 7, who was actually not a fan of Ana (which was fine, because all Ana saw was a little brat).

Then there was Stefan. Anastasia had a great relationship with her father, despite the fact that she met him when she was 14. There was also the little fact that Stefan was a vampire and they appeared to be the same age. That didn't stop Ana from seeing Stefan as the dad she had always wanted.

"Hey, dad," Anastasia called to him as she entered the garage. She noticed he was in there a lot, working on that same little red car he seemed to love so much.

Stefan heard his daughter's voice, sitting up quickly and banging his head on the bottom of the car. "Ow," he murmured, before pushing himself out from under the car to smile at Ana. "Ana, hey! How was school today?"

Anastasia smiled back at him, thinking back to her day at school. There was nothing worth telling him, so she blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "I have to do a Biology project with Liam Donovan."

"Liam Donovan? Sheriff's son? He's a good kid," Stefan said, before realizing that that didn't really matter. "What's the project?"

Anastasia ignored Lilly's glares when she walked into their room and she went straight to her bed to sit. She stopped to reflect on her day once again. Her mind kept going to her new lab partner. Liam Donovan.

"Genetics thing," Anastasia answered simply, shrugging her shoulders. "And we have a test in math next week, despite the fact that school literally started today."

Stefan gave her a look. "Which means you probably have homework."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll go to my room." Anastasia said, before smiling and walking upstairs to the bedroom she shared with Lilly.

Okay! We hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of this story! Please don't forget to review!

Face Claims of Characters Mentioned:

Anastasia Petrova-Salvatore: Victoria Justice

Liam Donovan: Matt Lanter

Candace Donovan: Abby Ross

Peter Donovan: Raphael Alejandro

Abby (Macomber) Donovan: Courtney Cox Arquette

Scarlet Donovan: Amanda Seyfried

Henry Salvatore: Jared S. Gilmore

Lilly Salvatore: Mckenna Grace

Thank you guys and we hope to see you in the next chapter!

~Kim and Katia