Rated T for Language and Drug Use. Possibly to be rated M later.

Jeremy handed Vicki two little white pills. Vicki smiled at him. "If you weren't such a massive queer, I would screw you in a heartbeat, Little Gilbert."

"Yeah, well if you had a dick, I still wouldn't fuck you," Jeremy said sourly.

"What's going your knickers in a twist?" Vicki asked.

Jeremy didn't answer. In truth, he had plenty of reasons to be pissy, but he didn't want to talk about it. Vicki wasn't exactly the supportive type.

"Hey, fag!" Tyler yelled. "What are you doing talking to my girlfriend?"

Jeremy shrugs. "What difference does it make? It's not like I'm trying to do her."

"What now she's not good enough for you?" Tyler asked.

"Tyler, back off," Vicki warned.

"No, I won't back off," Tyler said pushing Jeremy back. "I don't like this kid."

"And you're a prize yourself," Jeremy countered.

Tyler punched Jeremy in the face.

"Tyler!" Vicki shouted.

Suddenly the hottest guy Jeremy had ever seen in his life came over. He had to be new, Jeremy would have remembered a face like that. "Hey, what's going on here?" He didn't wait for an answer before punching Tyler square in the jaw.

"What are you his boyfriend or something?" Tyler asked.

"Not yet," the boy said with a wink in Jeremy's direction.

"God, why are there so many fags at our school?" Tyler asked.

"Tyler, it isn't worth it," Vicki said. She lead him away.

"How do you know I didn't deserve a punch in the face?" Jeremy asked.

"I heard him call you a fag," the boy said. "Not exactly punch-worthy in my books. I'm Damon Salvatore."

"Jeremy Gilbert."

"Are you actually gay, or is that guy just a douche?" Damon asked.

"Both," Jeremy offered.

"Is the whole school like that?" Damon asked.

"Nah," Jeremy said. "Tyler's the worst of them."

"I'm going to make his life a living hell," Damon decided out loud.

"Don't you have better things to do with your time?" Jeremy asked.

"Nope, not particularly," Damon said.

Jeremy sat down on a picnic table, wondering why this guy was still talking to him. Despite Damon's protests that he didn't have anything important to do, Jeremy was sure someone this attractive could do whatever the hell they wanted. He pulled a joint out of his pocket and lit up. "You want some?" he asked Damon.

"I don't smoke," Damon said. "Weed or cigarettes."

"Cigarettes are bad for you," Jeremy said taking a puff. "Weed just makes you stupid."

Damon nodded and took a seat next to Jeremy. "Your eye looks pretty bad."

Jeremy reached into his backpack and found sunglasses. He put them on to hide the bruising. "It's alright." In truth, his eye was fine, but his head was pounding like someone had been hammering on it for days. But it almost always felt like that these days.

"Do you have friends?" Damon asked.

Jeremy did not have an acceptable answer to that. But it didn't matter because he was about to be sick and had to leave anyway. "I gotta go." He ran to the washroom and vomited. He had been vomiting a lot lately, mostly because his head hurt so much. He hadn't bothered to go to the doctor for it, he had just self-medicated with weed and booze. Of course, the booze had a habit of making things worse the next day.

He took his sunglasses off and looked into the mirror. The bruise was more than just a little bad. It was black and purple and swollen. Dammit, Jeremy thought. Elena is going to have something to say about this.

Elena walked into school, looking for Bonnie. She found her by the water fountain. "Bonnie!" she said excitedly. She had hardly seen Bonnie over the summer, because she had been distracted by her parents death. But she missed Bonnie and was glad to see her, even if that meant starting another year of school.

"Elena!" Bonnie said, turning to hug her. "How are you feeling?'

"I'm fine," Elena lied.

"Good," Bonnie said. "Good. You have to see the cute new guy."

"Where?" Elena asked. Bonnie took her to the end of the hallway where an attractive guy was standing. "Hi, I'm Elena," she said, introducing herself.

"I'm Stefan Salvatore," the guy said. "And your friend...?"

"Bonnie. It's not important. I'll leave you two to it," she said walking away.

"What was that about?" Stefan asked.

"She thinks we should date," Elena said.

"Based on what?" Stefan asked.

"Well, I'm attractive. You're attractive. So it just adds up," Elena said.

"Does it?" Stefan said smiling. "Well, I'm going to have to pass on this one."

"You'll regret it," Elena said, regretting embarrassing herself. She was going for flirty, but had just come off conceited. She made her way to class, avoiding eye contact with those who had witnessed the scene.

Jeremy thought about going back to find Damon, but he didn't want to answer questions about his life. Damon wouldn't like me if he knew me, anyway, Jeremy thought. Besides, he had learned that good looking guys could be dangerous.

So he headed to first class, English. He sat at the front of the class, waiting for the rest of the students to show up. Another new guy came and sat next to him. He was cute, but he was straight as an arrow, Jeremy could tell. Damon on the other hand... Well, Jeremy wasn't certain at all.

"What happened to your eye?" the new guy asked.

Jeremy silently cursed. Apparently it was bad enough that the sunglasses wouldn't hide it. "I fell down the stairs. What do you think happened?"

"Someone punched you?" the other guy guessed.

"Yeah, someone punched me," Jeremy confirmed.

Mr. Roberts came in the classroom and started it off. "Let's start with attendance."

Jeremy zoned out until he heard his name. "Here," he said.

"Rebekah Mikaelson?"

"Here, Mr. Roberts," Rebekah said. Jeremy looked around in spite of himself to see her.

Mr. Roberts called a few more names before he said, "Stefan Salvatore?"

"Here," the new guy said.

"You're Damon's brother?" Jeremy asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Stefan said, with a crinkled nose.

"I saw him punch this guy in the face today," Jeremy commented.

"I'm not surprised," Stefan said.

"Boys, can we get on with the class?" Mr. Roberts asked.

It was lunch, which Jeremy had dreaded the most. He scanned the tables, searching for somewhere to sit. At one table sat Rebekah, and Klaus Mikaelson. Rebekah waved at Jeremy. No, Jeremy thought. Under no circumstances am I sitting there. At another table sat Vicki and Matt Donovan which would be okay, if Tyler Lockwood weren't sitting with them. Elena sat with Caroline and Bonnie, which would be where Jeremy would have opted to sit, if it weren't for the shiner he did not want to explain to his sister. At a different table sat Damon and Stefan Salvatore. If Stefan really didn't like his brother, why were they sitting together? Jeremy decided that he might as well sit there.

He took a seat next to Damon.

"So, I'll take that as a big fat no then," Damon said.

"Take what as a big fat no?" Stefan asked confused.

"I asked Jeremy here earlier if he had any friends," Damon said. "And I'm guessing if he had friends he'd be sitting with them."

Jeremy immediately regretted his choice of sitting with Damon. Maybe he was a jerk after all.

"What my brother means to say is that we'll be your friends, Jeremy," Stefan said, smiling with his mouth but glaring at Damon with his eyes.

"God, do you have to be so gay, Stefan?" Damon said, pretending to barf.

"Somebody's a giant hypocrite," Jeremy pointed out.

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"He punched this guy's lights out for calling me a fag, but he has no problem using gay as an insult," Jeremy said.

"It's supposed to be ironic," Damon explained. "Since I'm actually the one that's gay."

Jeremy frowned. "It's still offensive."

"Damon can dish it, but can't take it," Stefan explained.

"So if I called Damon a fag, he'd probably punch me in the face," Jeremy said.

"That doesn't count," Damon said. "You're a fag, too."

"So now you're allowed to call me a fag?" Jeremy asked.

"It's okay to say if you're gay," Damon said.

"No, it isn't," Jeremy and Stefan said at the same time.

"Fine," Damon yelled. "Well then why don't I just say that Jeremy Gilbert is a homosexual!"

"Everyone already knows that," Jeremy said, unfazed. "Damon Salvatore is a queer!" he yelled even louder than Damon as a challenge.

"Careful," Damon warned. "People might think we're dating or something."

"I'm so scared," Jeremy said sarcastically.

Stefan just looked back and forth between the two of them, enjoying the show. "Stefan Salvatore is embarrassed to be associated with both of them!" he said, but not loud enough for many people to hear.

Klaus got up from his seat and walked over. "Klaus, don't," Rebekah said after him.

"Damon, is it?" Klaus asked.

"What's it to you?" Damon said, glaring at him.

"Could you please just go away?" Jeremy begged.

"I came to warn you," Klaus said.

"That won't be necessary," Damon said, staring him down.

"Stay away from Jeremy Gilbert," Klaus said.

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you liked it. The second chapter will be up tomorrow. Please let me know other ships you want besides Deremy. The second chapter is pretty weird, just a warning.