Living in Mystic Falls wasn't easy. It was a small town, it was secluded, and nothing ever happened. Ever. But the worst part; Everyone knew everyone. If you weren't in the same class as someone, you were certainly related to them or friends with them. Or, they were friends with your family. This meant that you never got to know someone new, and you were stuck with the same people for the rest of your life. Unless you got out of this hellhole.

Which, luckily, was what I intended to do.

"Juliette? You've spaced off again." Caroline waved her hand in front of my face, and I snapped out of my daze. My best friend was glaring at me. She had certainly been going on about Matt again.

"Sorry. I'm just bored." I muttered in reply, shutting my locker.

"Thanks. Here I am, spilling out my heart to you, and you're bored." Caroline's voice was sarcastic and she turned away from me, just as she always did when she was mad with me. I sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Not with you. I'm bored with life… Don't you ever want to just get out of here?" I told my blonde friend, making a dramatic swing with my arms to motion to the crowded hallway. Caroline relaxed and gave me a tired and serious look.

"Come on Julie, we've talked about this. We have to finish highschool, and then you can get out of here."

"Are you really going to stay here for the rest of your life, Care?" I asked my friend, holding her eyes while she shut her locker. The impact made her perfect blonde curls bounce.

"No! Of course not. But I won't run away as soon as I graduate. I'm the sheriff's daughter." I opened my mouth to intervene, but Caroline's eyes widened as she looked behind my shoulder.

"Oh my God. There's Elena. I have to go and see how she is." She said with her gossip voice, sounding wayyyy to happy judging by what had happened to Elena earlier in the summer. I sighed and followed Care as she waltzed over to her friend.

"Elena! Oh my God!" She threw herself at Elena and engulfed her in a hug, while I waved awkwardly at Elena's friend Bonnie. "How are you? It's so good to see you." Caroline's voice was filled with pity, and I had to suppress the urge to facepalm. I knew Care really cared, but she had a very strange way of showing it.

"Hi." I mumbled to Bonnie and Elena when an awkward silence settled between us. Caroline looked at me like I was behaving scandalously, so I gave her a questioning look.

"How is she? Is she good?" She then added, speaking directly to Bonnie and skipping Elena. I elbowed her gently in the side, and this time she was the one who looked at me like I was crazy.

"Caroline, I'm right there. And I'm fine, thank you." Elena answered Caroline's question.

"Really?"

"Yes. Much better." The brunette shrugged, but I heard that she wasn't telling the truth. What can I say, I'm pretty good at reading people.

"Oh you poor thing." Caroline did a pout and hugged Elena once more, who mumbled her name in an annoyed tone. Meanwhile, I was doing everything not to watch the scene, since it was way too awkward for me. After checking out Tyler Lockwoods beautiful… behind, I settled for picking my nails.

"See you later?" Caroline finally gave up trying to get information out of Elena, and I waved a goodbye before following my friend towards our first classroom for the day.


"I think I'm going to spend some more time with Elena and Bonnie this year." Caroline was looking at her two friends, and I rolled my eyes.

"You know I don't like them, Care…" I muttered in reply, picking at the disgusting food in my plate. It looked like someone had vomited on some pasta and then poured ketchup all over it to cover the taste. It tasted like that too.

"We both know that's a lie. You just don't like getting to know new people." My blonde friend pointed her fork at me accusingly and did an exaggerated raise of her eyebrows to prove her point.

"Can you blame me? Everyone's the same in this town." I pouted and pushed away my plate for good. I was not going to eat that.

"Thank you." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "How do you know that if you never get to know anyone?"

"You have a point." I muttered in response.

"Did you know I met my future husband today?" Caroline changed the topic with a coy smile. God, did she ever stop talking? I should know, I'd been friends with her for practically my whole life. Hey, let's move to this little town in the middle of nowhere, my parents had said. It will be fun, they had said. Ha-ha. Although I really don't remember, because I was only three years old when we moved. But I'm willing to bet my life that they said that exactly.

"Yes, I know, Care, you've already told me his favorite color and zodiac sign." I rolled my eyes, and felt my friend's annoyance radiate from the glare in her eyes. But, she soon forgot about being mad and her expression turned into a dreamy beam.

"He's so hot, I could look at him all day." She sighed, putting her chin in her palm, resting her elbow on the table. I found myself wondering how easy life would be if all you ever did was dream about hot dudes.

"What's with you today anyway? You're acting strange." Caroline asked me, the sarcasm replaced with worry. I looked up from my disgusting pasta and sighed. Something was wrong that day. I had had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since I woke up.

"Nothing." It wasn't nothing. It felt as if needles were prickling all over my body. I couldn't explain it. Everything just felt wrong. Like something was about to happen. Something bad–

The soda ran down my chest, leaving an icy shock behind. I screamed out in surprise and stood up in my chair, trying to understand what just happened. The cafeteria went silent as I watched the freshman stutter an apology.

"I'm sorry- I didn't see you-"The blonde boy yelped, and I breathed in slowly through my nose. The soda was getting sticky, glueing my blue sweater to my skin.

"Watch your step." I growled through my teeth before pushing past the boy. He recoiled in fear, clearing my path straight to the restrooms. Once in there, I took out my spare shirt from my bag and pulled off the wet one. It's hard to explain, but I had had this feeling that morning that I would need a spare shirt. I looked up in the mirror, expecting to see my shirtless self, but what I saw made me yelp in fear. Someone was snarling at me from behind me in the mirror. His face looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen him. But what hit me the hardest was that there were veins under his eyes, and his snarl revealed… Fangs. I turned around swiftly, ready to defend myself, only to be met with empty air. Had I imagined it? No way that someone could move that fast. And what was that– man doing in the girls' restroom? I pulled on the white t-shirt with shaking hands and hurried out of the restroom before the guy could appear again.

"What the hell is wrong with you today?" I asked myself under my breath, as I hurried to my locker. What I didn't see was a figure moving toward me at full speed, certainly hurrying off to class. I bumped into the person and prepared to apologize when I seemed to go blind. Well, not exactly blind, but– I saw blood. I saw blood, death and– Elena?

"I'm so sorry." The guy said, and I snapped back into reality. I would have told him that it was okay, if I hadn't recognized his face.

I recoiled from him and felt my heart pound in my chest. It was the guy I had seen in the restroom. The vampire. Worse, I now knew who it was. Caroline's husband-to-be, Stefan Salvatore.

"Did I hurt you?" Stefan asked me with a worried look. I barely managed to stutter a no before practically running away from him. Could you blame me? He was a vampire. I knew I might have imagined it all, but I had a feeling that I was right. Perhaps that scared me more. I'd rather be completely crazy than live in a world where vampires exist.


"Okay seriously. What is going on?" Caroline held my gaze while I gulped down my fifth glass of water. I put down my glass on the counter with a loud bang and looked at her.

"I'm in shock." I managed to reply, before sitting down on a chair in her kitchen.

"In shock from what?" Mrs Forbes chuckled, walking into the kitchen. I gave her a surprised smile and went up to hug her. Was it strange that I had a better relationship with my best friend's mother than with my own? Anyway, I fumbled for an excuse, a sane answer to her question. I couldn't very well tell her I had seen a vampire in the mirror of the girls' restroom, found out that it was the new guy in class, and had a vision of blood, death and Elena when I touched him. That would be crazy.

"Oh, I just found out about the animal attacks." I cracked out, thankful for the tv in Caroline's kitchen. Mrs Forbes pulled away and ruffled my hair a little.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about. Cougars again." She reassured me, before opening the fridge. That set up a chain in my head. Could this vampire thing have something to do with the animal attacks? No, of course not. I was having a weird day, that's all.

"Could you tell me now what you were really in shock about?" Caroline asked me as soon as her mother was out of the room. I sighed, for once wishing I had a less perceptive friend.

"Please don't think I'm crazy." I told her reluctantly.

"I already know you're crazy."

"Very funny." I replied with a sarcastic smile. "I bumped into Stefan after I had changed my sweater and got a strange vision." I admitted, scratching my head and avoiding Caroline's gaze.

"You had a vision?" She repeated, her eyebrows almost all the way up to her hairline.

"I saw blood… Death. And then I saw Elena." I added, instantly wishing I hadn't told her anything. Care wasn't the most accepting person I knew.

"You are crazy." She said, shaking her head with a puzzled look.

"I know it's super weird, but I don't know what to think either." I hurried, standing up and brushing my hands on my skirt.

"Juliette… I think you should go and see a doctor." Caroline said, and I frowned at her. "These visions could be hallucinations. You could have a terminal disease, or someone could have slipped a drug into your water–"

"Caroline." I stopped her by raising my hand. Her green eyes shone with worry, and for a second I was actually thankful for having a friend like her. "I'm not going to the doctor. I don't know what's happening to me, but it will pass. I promise."


I don't know why I agreed to go with Caroline to the bar that night. She convinced me to come with her and have a girls' night with Bonnie and Elena. Bonnie and Elena. If there were two people in Mystic Falls that were a perfect example of the average teenager in the small town, it was the two of them.

I sipped on my drink and watched Caroline mingle with all of her friends. Tyler Lockwood, Matt Donovan, Vicki Donovan, Bonnie Bennett… I felt out of place. I had never liked these social get-togethers. Don't get me wrong, I was still quite popular, but that was only because of Caroline. For some reason she had decided to stick with me, even though I was obviously crazy and anti-social.

"Do you know that new dude?" Matt Donovan sat down next to me in the booth, looking grim. The expression didn't suit him. Matt was always happy and quite frankly reminded me of a puppy.

"Stefan Salvatore? No, but I've got a bad feeling about him." I replied, taking another sip. Out of all of Caroline's other friends, Matt was the one I liked the most. I didn't know what it was about him, but he was difficult not to like, even though he was kind of boring sometimes. Plus, he wasn't too bad to look at either.

"Elena seems to like him." The jock muttered, followed by a loud sigh. Sad puppy.

"I don't know her very well, but I think she's probably just looking for a distraction. Maybe you remind her too much of her old life." I answered with a shrug. He gave me a puzzled look before his gaze fastened on something behind my shoulder. His features contorted with anger. Mad puppy.

"Speaking of the devil…" He mumbled, and I turned around. What I saw made my heart sink. Elena had just walked into the bar, followed by Stefan. Just looking at him made a chill run down my spine. His kind green eyes were only a facade, I could see that. In fact, when those eyes turned to me, there was no kindness there. Only confusion and fascination. I tried to shrink into my seat, but it didn't work out very well. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by people.


Caroline was small-talking with Bonnie, Elena and Stefan while I was once again sipping on a drink. Thank God they were non-alcoholic. Matt liked me, but not that much. He wasn't going to lose his job as a bartender by serving alcohol to a minor.

"My parents passed away." Stefan said, and avoiding his gaze was getting more and more difficult. When he wasn't sending loving looks at Elena, he was looking at me with a frown. As if trying to read my mind. Wait, could vampires read minds? I knew they could in some stories but… I doubted garlic was really a weapon against them in real life. Elena didn't tear her eyes away from the beautiful Stefan, and my heart sank even deeper into my chest. Huh. I thought it had reached rock-bottom already.

"I'm sorry." Elena mumbled, and I had a sudden urge to jump in between the two of them and scream VAMPIRE as loudly as I could, but I assumed it wasn't the best idea. Oh God, I really was getting mad.

And that's how the rest of the night went. Me contemplating whether to warn Elena about Stefan, or shut my mouth and act like a normal, sane person. The second alternative was easier, so I chose to go with that. That was, until something strange happened once again. I was going to the restroom when I passed Vicki Donovan. Our shoulders brushed against each other, and pictures started flashing by in my head. She was lying on the ground in a forest, blood smeared all over her neck. Looming over her, I saw the silhouette of a man. I gasped in fear, and she nearly dropped her plate on the ground.

"I'm sorry– I didn't mean to–" I tried to finish the sentence, but my head had started spinning. This couldn't be happening. What the hell was wrong with me?

I had told Caroline earlier that these visions would pass, but suddenly, I had a feeling that they were there to stay.