A/N I know that the first chapter is kind of boring, but I promise it'll get better with each update. This just sets up the rest of the story and introduces the characters, basically.

I hope you guys enjoy the story. Reviews are appreciated! Thanks in advance for any reading and reviewing you do.

Malia Gilbert was halfway convinced that she was going insane. Maybe she was already completely off her rocker and she just hadn't caught on yet. It was the first day of school, junior year, the time to get a fresh start and move on with her life. Her twin sister, Elena, was handling the entire situation calmly. But Elena hadn't seen what Malia had. Elena had been unconscious. Malia hadn't.

"You must've been hallucinating." That's what everyone told her. Eventually, she learned to just smile and nod in agreement. Of course no one believed her that she had seen a man swim over to their car, rip off the door and carry her and her sister to safety too easily to be natural. She would've believed them that she was just hallucinating in the heat of the moment… if she had remembered what had happened right away and believed it to be true at once. But no, she had gotten the memories back a month after the incident happened. Slowly at first, but now she remembered everything about that night in stunning detail.

"Malia!" She jumped and whirled around, nearly falling off the barstool. With only the three teens and Aunt Jenna, formal sit-down meals were out of the question. It was more of a free-for-all whenever you're hungry, during breakfast especially. So Malia had a plate of now cold yet still over-cooked bacon in front of her, holding onto a cup of room-temperature coffee. Elena had walked up behind her without her even realizing it.

"I called your name, like, five times." Elena told her, giving her the same worried look that Malia had received thousands of times over the summer. Elena was babied for what had happened, sure, and Jeremy was watched by everyone lest he should react more negatively than he already had but Malia was a worry that everyone had. Why did she react so differently than Elena? Why couldn't she react more like Elena in the first place? Is she okay? Should she go to school? What if she has another panic attack? She had overheard those questions all summer and she was tired of them.

"Well, I was thinking about stuff, obviously." Malia mumbled. Jeremy walked up behind her.

"It's a new experience for her, let her enjoy it." He gave her blonde braid a tug and ducked out of the way as she tried to hit him. Elena and Malia might have been the twins, but Malia had always found it easier to get along with Jeremy. Well, maybe not 'get along' but he was more fun to hang around at least.

"Toast… I can make toast…" Jenna walked into the kitchen, looking flustered.

"It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna." Elena assured her.

"Is there coffee?" Jeremy asked hopefully. Elena went to pour herself a cup and Malia handed her untouched one over to Jeremy, ignoring the suspicious glance she got in return. Normally, she didn't share food or drinks with anyone, including her own flesh and blood. But it was either that or Jeremy would steal Elena's cup and Malia was far from in the mood to see them start fighting again.

"It's your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared… Lunch money?" Jenna asked nervously. Jeremy took the five dollar bill she offered without a word.

"I'm good." Elena told her.

"Anything else? Number two pencil? What am I missing?" Jenna asked.

"Don't you have a big presentation today?"

"I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at… now. Crap."

"Go, we'll be fine." Elena encouraged, turning to the counter to put sugar in her coffee. Jenna went over to Malia.

"If you need to come home from school today, just call me at any time, alright?" She whispered.

"I think I can handle one day of school, thanks." Malia told her, sounding harsher than she meant to. She grimaced at her own tone of voice. Jenna gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Okay. I'm leaving." She rushed out of the house, barely pausing to shut the front door behind her.

"Seriously, Malia-." Elena started.

"Serious is not something I do. But nice chat." Malia grabbed her shoulder bag from the stool beside her.

"Have you had any… you know… recently?" Elena danced around the subject delicately. Too delicately. Malia gritted her teeth together.

"Panic attacks? They aren't curse words, Elena; you can say them out loud. And no, I haven't."

"I just wanted to be sure."

"I'm fine. Can everyone stop babying me for five minutes?" Malia snapped. She saw Elena struggle to conceal her anger and knew that there was a lecture coming. Elena had taken the position of 'head of the household' since their parents had died. She watched out for Jeremy and Malia to the point where they were annoyed by it. And when things didn't go the way Elena wanted them to do, they were sat down like naughty little children and lectured about their behavior. It didn't work.

"Everyone is just worried about you, Malia, and we want to help."

"You can help by not treating me like I'm crazy." Malia turned and hurried out of the house without another word.

Ava Salvatore bounded up the stairs to her several-times-great-uncle's room. Stefan was sitting at his desk, writing in his journal, with his back to her. She slowed her pace and walked up behind him.

"Yes?" He asked without looking up. She groaned.

"You can stop trying to sneak up on me." He told her, putting his journal aside.

"I could, but I won't. We should get to school." Ava added the last part as an afterthought. She was Zach's niece, the daughter of his deceased brother. She had grown up in the Salvatore Boarding House with full disclosure of the supernatural world. Still, Stefan was surprised how easily Ava had adjusted to having him living with her and Zach.

"Don't jump up and get too excited or anything." Ava said sarcastically when Stefan didn't move. He smiled slightly.

"Sorry." He got up and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair.

"I don't get why you're choosing to go to high school. If I had I choice, I would be in bed right about now." She said as they walked down the stairs. The old Boarding House was practically a mansion and Ava had always felt it was too big for her just her and Zach. Stefan helped, somewhat, but it was still a big house no where near any other houses in town.

"You know why I'm choosing to go to high school."

"You have to know her, I got it. You know, I can help with that." Stefan opened the front door for her and she smiled, slipping outside.

"Oooh, such a gentleman! Elena's going to fall for you, Stef, and she'll fall hard!" Ava told him confidently. She hurried down the steps and over to the beat up, faded-gold colored Pontiac Grand Am that Zach was loaning her. It wasn't hers and heaven help her if she didn't keep the tank full, but she could use it as much as she wanted. Ava turned as Stefan caught up to her, pausing to pull her black hair into a ponytail.

"I'll be subtle about it. Malia's my bestie, so I'll just walk us over, we'll sit with them, I'll introduce you to Elena… the rest will be history. Here, you drive." Ava slapped the keys into Stefan's hand and went to climb into the passenger side.

"I don't need you help, Ava." Stefan told her. She rolled her eyes, which were amazingly enough the same shade as Stefan's, and opened the car door.

"Oh, but you do, Stef. I'm your partner in love!" She grimaced at her own words and shook her head.

"That came out wrong."

Once in the school parking lot, Ava was out of the car before Stefan could even put on the brakes. He turned off the car and got out, not surprised to see her waiting on his side for him.

"If any asks, you're my cousin, right?"

"Correct." He agreed.

"And if anyone asks for details about why you're staying with me and Zach, I'm going make them up on the spot so just roll with whatever people ask you about." She continued. Stefan nodded his agreement.

"And after school, there's this place called The Grill where everyone who's anyone hangs out. We can show up there, but we can't go in too early or we'll look desperate. There's also this party at the falls that everyone goes to so you have to go to that. It's a big deal, bonfires, underage drinking in the middle of a dark forest. You know the normal teen stuff." As Ava paused to take a breath, Stefan just looked at her. She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Yes, I've taken my Adderall today!" She told him without him having to ask. They walked into the crowded school and Stefan headed for the front office. Ava started her search for her friends.

"Ava, come over here!" She turned towards the voice, already knowing that it was none other than Jessica Forbes. Jess was, as usual, hanging right by Caroline, who was gossiping with the other cheerleaders. Ava hurried over to join her. Between the two Forbes sisters, Jess was the constant one. Caroline was impulsive, always talking a mile a minute and never pausing to think about anything. Jess was thoughtful, considerate and couldn't be impulsive if she tried. The most dangerous thing Jess had ever done was cut a foot off her hair, only to let it grow back and keep it exactly the same length for the next five years.

"Happy junior year!" Ava greeted Jess excitedly. Jess was a mere ten months younger than Caroline and had managed to slip into the same year as her sisters and her best friends. The lack of a decent age difference kept her and Caroline close. Their parents refused to talk about why they had two kids so close together and then no more afterwards. Jess and Caroline's theory was that after Jess was born, the whole marriage started going downhill. Considering the divorce that had happened when they were younger, it wasn't a bad theory.

"Well, happy junior year to you too, Ava! Where's our third musketeer?" Jess looked around for Malia but couldn't find her in the crowd.

"Oh, you know she's probably with Jeremy. You know, those two would make better twins than her and Elena. Speaking of Elena, how is she, do you know? We both know how Malia is, I mean, we did last night. My cousin's here for his first day so can he sit with us at lunch or is our table an all girl's table? Wait, we don't have our own table, do we?"

"Take a breath, Ava." Jess reminded her, trying not to laugh at her friend's fast-paced talking. She lived with Caroline; she was used to it and had learned to keep up.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. And yes, Stefan can totally sit with us. It is Stefan, right?"

"Yep. Stefan Salvatore." It was one of the shortest explanations she had ever given anything. Jess pushed back her strawberry blonde hair and smiled.

"The bell's about to ring. Let's go."

Malia couldn't believe she was having an argument with both her siblings about her brother's drug use in the men's bathroom at the high school. It had not been on her to-do list that day.

"You haven't seen crazy, Jer!" Elena yelled.

"Elena, just stop!" Malia protested.

"Coddling him isn't helping, Malia." Elena returned.

"And yelling at him is?"

"You guys are insane." Jeremy turned and walked out of the bathroom. The twins watched him leave and then stared at each other.

"Nice job." They said in unison, both equally sarcastic. They hurried out of the bathroom and Elena ran smack into another student. Malia kept walking, glancing over her shoulder to see how Elena handled the embarrassment. She saw the face of the student that Elena had bumped into and recognition hit her. Memories of the car crash washed over her and she felt her heart rate pick up. She leaned against the nearest wall and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Malia?" Elena brushed past the other student and hurried over to her sister. Malia just shook her head. She couldn't think… she couldn't breathe… Elena put a hand on her shoulder and Malia took off. She sprinted through the school, her fight or flight reaction kicking in. Once she made it out of the school, she collapsed on her knees in the grass instead. A hand touched her shoulder and she let out a breathless scream.

"Malia, hey, it's me, it's me." Jeremy kneeled down beside her, keeping his hands on her shoulders. Vicki rushed over behind him, having followed him over from what the students had dubbed 'The Stoner Pit'.

"What's going on?" She demanded, folding her arms across her chest. Jeremy grabbed the strap of Malia's bag and pulled it off her shoulder.

"Do I need to, I dunno, call someone?" Vicki asked, looking around as if she was worried people were watching her hang out with a crazy person.

"No!" Malia managed to choke out. She was, slowly, calmly down. Jeremy handed her the bottle of Benzodiazepines.

"What is that?" Vicki asked. Malia was not in the right state of mind to answer and Jeremy didn't seem to hear her. Malia was calm enough to take a pill and Jeremy handed her a water bottle to take a swig from.

"Thanks." Malia murmured.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Peachy." She said sarcastically. Jeremy took Malia by the arms and pulled her gently to her feet.

"Should I call Jenna?"

"No. I'm fine." The last thing she needed was to be taken home from school because she freaked out the first day of junior year. She was just going to suck it up and force herself to make it through the day. Vicki gave one last longing look at the bottle of pills in Malia's hand and then left. Malia looked over her shoulder towards the school. The man that had saved her and Elena was real and he was still in Mystic Falls…

A/N Now, I'm no doctor but I did do some research for this chapter and I hope I wrote Malia's panic attack accurately.

For all those who don't know, Adderall is a prescription pill used to treat ADHD.

Jess Forbes wasn't in this chapter all that much, but that'll change. This chapter was just supposed to focus on Malia and her family rather than Ava and Jess.

As I said above, I hope you like the story so far. Please review and tell me what you think.