A/N: I know this isn't very good at first but the first few episodes are boring to work with. Just introducing my character in and letting the rest of the chips fall where they may. I plan on updating soon. I don't own the Vampire Diaries or any of the characters besides Scarlett.

I woke up on the first day of school in a panic, concerned that I really was losing my mind. I wasn't as sad as I had been since my parents' death but that wasn't saying much. My brother Jeremy had been the worst at coping so far and my sister Elena, always levelheaded, pretended that she was fine when we all knew otherwise. I wasn't prepared for the first day back and I assumed neither of them was either.

I moved downstairs, in a haze, droopy from not being able to sleep in. I saw my aunt Jenna standing at the counter. "Good morning, Scarlett. I hope you're prepared for school. I gave you lunch money, right?" Jenna was very scatterbrained and I liked that about her. She was also a very positive person and it was rubbing off on me.

"You gave it to me last night so yeah, I guess I'm ready." She gave me a look.

"You and Elena have been doing so well, Scar. School is bound to help that." I nodded and walked out with Elena. About the only thing we had in common physically was our hair color. My hair was curly where hers was straight. My eyes were green and hers were brown. I was pale where she was tan. We barely had any resemblance. But for sisters, we actually always got along. We even hung around in the same friend group.

We got to school and my best friend, Caroline, ran up and hugged me. She was also a positive person. I was glad to be around her. I went through all of my classes until she finally mentioned that there was a new guy in town. I raised my eyebrows. "Have you met him?" I asked.

"Well, his name's Stefan and I'm pretty sure he'll be at the party tonight." She grinned at me. Caroline was always incessantly trying to convince me that I needed to go out more often.

"I'm not going to that, Caroline." I said like it should have been obvious.

"You'll want to go once you see him." She winked and left. Elena had decided to walk home, through the cemetery. I thought it wasn't very smart in the way of getting over things but I tried not to judge her. Eventually, she got home that night before the party and seemed spooked.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, totally. I just ran into the new guy while I was out. It was… weird," she responded. I took it at face value. It was easy for either of us to be spooked, me especially. At the mention of the new guy, our doorbell rang. "Would you get that?" Elena asked. I raced downstairs and opened up the door.

Standing on the other side was a very good looking guy. He was taller than me by quite a few inches, he had tan, glowing skin, and his nose was absolutely perfect. "Hi," he said. "I'm Stefan, I'm new in town." He extended his hand towards me and I shook it.

"I'm Scarlett," I said back. Caroline hadn't been lying about this guy.

"Does Elena live here?" Of course, I thought. It was always for Elena.

"Yeah, she's my sister." I turned and called her name up the stairs.

"I'm sorry to come unannounced but when I ran into her earlier, she forgot this." He held up Elena's journal.

"Oh, it's no problem. I know she'll want that back." As I finished my sentence, Elena came to the door. I backed off and wanted them exchange a few words then Stefan handed over her diary. I heard him mention that he had one too. Of course, he was interested in Elena. Everyone always was. Caroline would have a field day with this. It was clear she wanted the new guy.

"Scar, we're gonna go to the party. You wanna come?" asked Elena. I reluctantly nodded. The party was somewhere that I didn't really want to be at but Stefan had been nice to me and if he was interested in Elena, I wanted to show him that I could be nice too.

After getting to the party, Stefan and Elena went off on their own. I stood around with Caroline and Bonnie for awhile. Bonnie was getting spooked because her grandma kept talking about witches. Caroline and I were more concerned with Stefan. "I mean, he just waltzes into town and picks her!" exclaimed Caroline. "He never even gave the rest of us a chance."

"Did you expect anything less, Caroline?" I asked, sarcastically. Losing my parents had done a lot for me in the sarcasm department.

"Scarlett, you're her sister. Why don't you tell her to give the rest of us a shot?"

"Come on, she deserves this," said Bonnie.

"Oh, so me and Scarlett don't?"

"Scarlett has Tyler if she wants someone. Both her and Elena deserve this."

"Like I'm ever gonna date Tyler," I responded. "He is such a jerk."

"For real," said Caroline. "He's only into Scarlett because she's the complete opposite of Vicki and let's be honest, Vicki is his number one target. I think that's so unfair to Scar but you know, bad boys like that innocent girl."

I rolled my eyes. I didn't give much thought to Tyler and I never would until he stopped being such a jerk. I walked away from them and towards the woods. Tonight had proven what I had already known, that Elena was going to try it with Stefan. I had to admit that he had already drawn me in. As I was walking around in the woods, I heard something. I turned my head quickly and noticed fog rolling in around my feet.

I heard other noises and shuddered against a tree. I saw a shadow dash behind the tree I was leaning against. I know my breathing was harsh and my heart was pounding. "You're fine," I heard someone say. "Go back." I didn't wait to see who was talking. I took off running toward the party and then I heard a scream. I saw Stefan and Elena catch my eye and everyone else was alerted.

Vicki Donovan had been attacked by animal, I learned the next day. I figured that maybe I had imagined the voice. It was a real possibility and I had been freaked. Elena and Stefan had all but made their relationship public. Stefan and I grew to be somewhat friends. Bonnie decided that she didn't like him though.

"Scar, I told you, I don't know how it works but I got a bad vibe from him," said Bonnie. She was taking this witch thing to a new extreme and it was beginning to really scare me.

"That's impossible. He's nice as can be," I responded. I really liked Stefan as a person and I figured that Bonnie just hadn't given him enough of a chance.

"You're just saying that because you're into him too." I opened my mouth to respond. "Don't deny it. I see the way you look at him."

"Just don't tell Elena, okay? I can't help it that I'm interested in him." She nodded.

"Caroline's into his brother. Maybe when she's over him, you can take the guy."

"Stefan has a brother?" I asked.

"Surely, Caroline told you, at least." She looked skeptical, like maybe she shouldn't have told me. I shook my head. "I can't imagine why no one would've mentioned it. Well, I'm coming over tonight for dinner. Elena is making me spend time with Stefan."

"It's not gonna be the death sentence you're making it out to be." She rolled her eyes. I went home with Stefan and Elena and sat in the living room while they cooked. Stefan was trying to mention things about himself while he cooked and I found it endearing. I shook my head. They were dating. I shouldn't be interested in him.

I didn't say much at dinner. I basically watched Stefan try to entertain Bonnie and get her to loosen up a bit. It looked like it was working. As we were finishing eating, I heard the doorbell ring. Elena looked at me, confused. I shrugged. This shouldn't have been for me. I opened the door and Caroline breezed past me. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "I thought we'd drop by!" I turned away from her to see the other part of "we." A man was standing on the other side of the doorframe and he was good looking. He had dark hair like mine and was tall and pale.

"I'm Damon Salvatore, AKA the other brother." He almost winked at me. So this was Stefan's brother.

"I'm Scarlet Gilbert, Elena's sister."

"I know." He smiled at me but it wasn't sensual or even naughty. I saw Caroline give me a look that implied that she was jealous. Stefan wandered up and looked at Damon closely.

"Don't you need to be somewhere else, Damon?" I got the undertone of animosity and I understood why Stefan hadn't mentioned him.

"Nope, I actually came because my girlfriend is friends with yours and because I thought I'd meet Elena's sister." He looked at me, past Stefan's shoulder.

"You need to leave."

"Oh, it's fine!" called Elena. Knowing that she was cool with it, I moved past Stefan.

"You can come in," I said to Damon.