Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries and never will because if I did, the show would have ended after season three. But I do own Rowen Matthews and any other characters that I make up.
Summary: Moving to a new place is hard on everyone, especially for someone who didn't want to move in the first place. Meet Rowen Matthews, a hard headed and stubborn teenager, who is forced by her parents to live with her brother, Max Matthews and his wife and daughter, in a place called Mystic Falls after getting suspended from school for fighting. To say she's bitter about it is an understatement. But her opinion does change after finding a friend in Bonnie Bennett. Though she does have a secret, a secret that she never told anyone, not even her parents, who she wouldn't tell anyway. Rowen's a vampire hunter. Something that causes problems, especially with Stefan and Damon Salvatore in town. OC/?
A/N: This story I posted a long time ago and decided to post it again because I looked back on it and really enjoyed rereading it so yeah. But she has a new name. Her name now is Rowen Matthews and she's faced by someone else now and that's Krysten Ritter, who plays Jessica Jones on the Netflix show of the same name :) Looking back, I think she's the perfect one to play her. Also, I'll try to update this story as much as I can after I post the completed chapters since, but no promise since I have other stories I'm working on too. Anyway, please enjoy and tell me what you think! :D
Rowen's POV...
Life fucking sucks sometimes, you know… Here am I stuck in a small car with my annoying older brother, Max, on the way to the hellhole I call Mystic Falls, Virginia. My stupid parents sent me to live with Max because I was a dumb ass and got into a fight with the snobby rich bitch Amanda Sawyer. Reminds me of Sawyer from Lost - you know the popular TV show? - Except for the fact that she was a girl and she was the biggest bitch the world has ever had the misfortune to know. I mean seriously, she's such a bitch - even her parents think so – I'm not even joking! Oh, and she wasn't some southern hillbilly like he was.
But anyways, after getting into that fight I got suspended and my parents thought it would be best for me to live with my older brother and his family, thinking that it would help me be more responsible and not a trouble maker. I could clearly remember the day my parents told me I was moving…
Flashback…
"Rowen! Come down here!"
I roll my eyes at the sound of my annoying mom's voice calling my name. Yep that's me, Rowen Matthews. I sigh as I close the first Harry Potter book and set it down on the table beside my bed.
I climb off of my bed and wobble my way down the stairs. It took me forever to get down there. We had these long stairs that seemed to go on forever. It was like those steps in the first Princess Diaries movie (yep, the ones that you would have thought Princess Mia would have fell off of). I head into the living room only to see my parents sitting on the couch sitting up straight and proper as if they were waiting for the Queen of England to arrive.
'As if…' I thought, snorting to myself.
I settle myself down on the chair that was across from the small table that was in the middle of the living room. I kick my feet on the table and scowl to myself as I cross my arms over my chest. I ignore the disapproving looks my parents gave my feet because who actually gave a fuck about what they think.
"What do you want?" I grumble, wanting to get this over with so I could continue my reading in peace.
"We wanted to talk to you," My mom says as she narrowed her eyes at me. "Can you please get your feet off of the table please?" She asks using that fake sweet voice that she used to get what she wanted. Why news flash mother…THAT DOESN'T WORK FOR ME!
"Nah, I think I'll keep them on there," I say cheekily.
I patted myself on the back at the look of pure rage on her face. Her face turned as red as a tomato. I stifle a laugh, knowing my mother wouldn't appreciate that.
"Just take the feet off," Dad spat at me in a tone that made me want to smack him in the fucking face.
"Fine!" I spit back at him. I take my feet off of the table and re-cross my arms over my chest and gave him a look that seemed to say 'happy now?' Dad plastered a smile on his face.
"Now then," Dad says calmly as if nothing happened.
I grit my teeth together at how fucking calm his voice sounded. "Anytime now would be great Daddy-O." I say in a sarcastic tone that made mom glare at me again.
"As you know you older brother Max lives in Mystic Falls now…"
I interrupt him before he could say more, "What the hell is Mystic Falls? I've never heard of that place."
I frown then. Or maybe I have… I shook my head. Nah, why would I know a place like that?
"It's a small town in Virginia," Dad tells me calmly. "And we want you to move there…"
"WHAT?!" I screech as I quickly stood up from my seat. "Why the hell would you send me there?!"
"Sit down," Mom snaps.
I immediately sit down. Still too in shock to even notice how easily I listened to her.
Then my mom says in a calm voice, "We're sending you there because after that fight with that Amanda girl…we think it would be a great idea for you to go to a new place and make friends with people who actually." Her nose wrinkles in disgust, "Don't do drugs, smoke or drink."
"It would teach you to be responsible like Max," Dad continues.
I shake my head in disbelief. This is not fucking happening to me… I glare at my parents as I stood up once more.
"I'm not going there, Daniel and Mary!" I exclaim loudly. "You can't make me!"
"Oh yes we can…we're your parents and what we say goes!" Mom yells at me. "And you're going to Mystic Falls even if I have to pull you by the hair and drag you there myself!"
"I HATE YOU!" I scream as I stomp out of the living room and back to my room slamming the door behind me.
I flop down on the bed and scream into my pillow wishing that this were some horrible dream…
End flashback…
But nope, it wasn't a dream. I was still in the car, on the way to Max's house for the rest of my existence.
"So…"
I hear Max say beside me and I peer at him through the curtain of my messy, wavy black hair.
"Are you excited to be here?" he asks.
I snort, "Hell nah. I would much rather be anywhere but here."
"Mystic Falls isn't that bad," Max reassures me. "Who knows you might actually like it here."
"I doubt it," I tell him, snorting again.
Max shook his head at me and I clearly heard him mumble, "No wonder mom and dad sent you here."
I scowl at him but didn't say anything about his comment. Around thirty minutes later, we pulled up in the driveway of a cute, medium-sized house. Fit for around four people to live in. I got out of the car and slam the car door shut. I look around for a few minutes taking in the sights. Most of the houses kind of looked the same but not so much that you would get confused about what house was yours. Something bumped into my shoulder and I look beside me only to see Max standing there.
"What do you think Rowen?" he asks me with a bright smile on his face as he looks over at me.
I shrug a shoulder nonchalantly, "Eh…it's alright."
Max nods at me but let out a sigh as if he knew that was all he was going to be getting.
"Let go inside."
I nod and we both head inside. I was intently greeted with the sound of loud, piecing crying. I knew immediately that it was my niece Desire. Max groans from beside me and I hold back a laugh at the look on his face. Then Max's wife, Elizabeth, appears holding baby Desire in her arms. Thankfully the little girl stopped crying as she now had a bottle in her mouth. I look Lizzie up and down.
She didn't look much different from when I saw her last. She still had that beach blonde hair that was currently in a messy ponytail. She had on sweats and a large t-shirt that was a little bit too big for her tall, lean form. She looked tired if the bags under her eyes were hint enough. Oddly enough I like Elizabeth and it takes a lot for me to like someone, normally months or even years, but not little Miss Lizzie…I immediately took a liking to her- which surprised everyone- especially my mom and dad. I scowl at the thought of my parents. I was still majorly pissed off at them for sending me here.
"Rowen!" Lizzie exclaims happily, breaking me out of the thoughts I was currently having.
"Yo Liz," I say with a grin as she gave me a hug…well as much as you can call a hug since Desire was in Lizzie's arms.
"I'm so happy your here," she gushes to me. She beams as she ran a hand through my black hair, "You're so pretty."
I blush slightly. "Thank you," I say quietly.
"You're welcome honey." She hands Max baby Desire and says to him, "I'm going to show Rowen up to her room."
Max nods and left us, taking Desire into the living room. Once he was gone, Lizzie claps her hands together as she beams at me.
She took hold of my hand and led me up the stairs. We head down the long hallway and stop in front of a room.
"Well here it is," she chirps happily as she opens the door, showing me my new bedroom.
I walk into it and look around. It was a nice room. The bed was made nicely and it wasn't too big or too small. It was just right…as corny as that sounds.
I look at Lizzie and smile at her, "Thanks Lizzie. I really like it."
"Aw! I'm glad." A concerned look appears on her face as she looks over at me and places a hand on my shoulder, "Rowen if you need anything or need to talk to me about something, don't hesitant to tell me."
I blink at her in surprise. Normally people didn't give a damn about if I needed something… especially my parents… I would never tell this but I wish that they cared about me but no, all they cared about was getting me out of there. I bet they were having a party back there now that I was gone.
I nod and smile at her. "I will," I promise her.
Lizzie smiles back at me.
"Hello?" I say groggily into the phone in the middle of the night.
"Hi baby!"
I scowl to myself, "Dammit Joey! Why the hell did you have to call me in the middle of the night?!" I manage to keep my voice down.
Joey Sanders was one of my best friends back home. He was an awesome friend but not at this moment. I was sleepy and I hated it when people woke me up from my beauty sleep.
"Let me go back to sleep," I snap. "I'll call you when I'm actually awake." I then roll my eyes at the loud booming laugh on the other end of the phone.
"Alright, alright," Joey says between laughs. "Talk to you later babes."
After saying a quiet bye, I click the phone off and gently toss it on the table next to my bedside. I sigh as I fall back into a deep sleep.
It was in the middle of the day when I woke up again. I was just thankful that it was the weekend so I had two days of free time before I go to school on Monday. After getting dressed, I head downstairs and go into the kitchen where Max, Lizzie, and Desire are.
"Hi," I manage to say through a yawn as I sat in the stool.
Lizzie smiles at me, "Good afternoon Rowen. Did you sleep well?"
"It was alright," I tell her as honestly as I could. I sigh as I ran a hand through my messy unkempt hair that I didn't want to brush, "Have mom and dad called?" I ask as I look over at Max.
Max shook his head. "No they haven't," he replies. "I'm sure they'll call sometime today."
"Not bloody likely," I mutter angrily under my breath, looking down at the counter top as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Because of this, I didn't see the concerned looks Max and Lizzie shared with one another.
A buzzing sound from my pocket interrupts me from my dark thoughts. Looking at the caller ID, I saw that it was Joey who was calling me. I press talk and put the phone to my ear.
"Hi Joe," I greet him with a sort of forced happiness.
"Aw Roro, I thought you would be happy to hear from me," Joey jokes with a fake sad tone of voice.
I roll my eyes unable to help the smile that appears on my lips at the joke, "You're not funny Joe," I say, a slight laugh in my voice.
"Ah, but I made you laugh didn't I?" Joey teases.
I shake my head. "I should go Joe," I tell him. "I'll call you later."
"I miss you Roro," Joey says in a soft voice. "Don't treat your brother too badly."
I glance at my brother and nod even though Joey couldn't see it. "No worries about that," I say. I then tell him in a quiet voice, "I miss you too."
"You better," Joey jokes. "See you Roro."
I click off my phone and look at Lizzie who had this great big grin on her face. I blink at her wondering what she was grinning about.
"So…who was that?" Lizzie asks, still grinning at me.
"Uh… my friend Joey…" I reply.
"Is he your boyfriend?"
My eyes widen and I shake my head frantically. "No we're just friends," I tell her.
"Sure you are," Lizzie says in a singsong voice before winking at me.
I roll my eyes, "Seriously Lizzie, we're just friends…nothing more." I look at Max who looks amused and I glare at him and he laughs loudly for some off reason.
Once he finished laughing, Max nudges Lizzie in the side, "Stop teasing my little sister Lizzie. If she says they're not dating then they're not dating."
Lizzie pouts at him. "I was just playing around Max," she says continuing to pout as she rolls her eyes at him.
"Sure you were," Max says in the same singsong voice that Lizzie used.
Lizzie went to slap him but he quickly moved out of the way. He laughs as he heads out of the kitchen. I look at Lizzie who was looking after her husband with a loving look on her face. You could tell by that one look how much Lizzie loved my brother and the way that Max looks at her, you can tell he feels the same way. I don't think I've ever seen my parents look at each other like that. My thoughts break by the sound of Lizzie's voice.
"So…I was thinking that we go shopping for clothes for when you go school on Monday."
"Yeah that sounds good," I tell her as I force a smile on my face.
I wasn't much for shopping. In fact I hated it. But seeing the pleading look on Lizzie's face, I couldn't help but say yes. I know that was weak and I was no means a weak girl. I could handle myself. I blame it for the fact that I actually like Lizzie.
"Great!" Lizzie exclaims, clapping her hands together as she beams at me happily. She then calls out to Max, who I guess was in the living room. "Honey! Rowen and I are going shopping! Can you take care of Desi while we're gone?!"
"Sure babe!" Max calls back. There was silence for a minute but then he calls out again, "Oh and remember we're having dinner with Jenna and her niece and nephew!"
Lizzie smacks her head and I chuckle silently to myself. Obviously she had forgotten about the dinner…
"Uh, right, I remember," Lizzie says in a loud voice so Max could still hear her. "We'll see you later."
"Alright have fun!"
As we left the house, I look at Lizzie.
"Who's Jenna?" I ask.
"She's our neighbor," Lizzie answers. "She lives right next door and her niece and nephew lives with her."
I didn't say anything but I did wonder why those two were living with their aunt and not their parents.
Lizzie grabs her car keys out of her purse once we were to her car, a blue mini cooper, and hits the unlock button. I climb into the passenger not bothering putting on my seat belt… I never did anyways.
"Seat belt," Lizzie tells me in a stern voice.
I open my mouth to protest but the stern look on my brother's wife's face stops me. I shut my mouth with a silent click and I grumble under my breath as I buckle my seatbelt.
Sinking down in the seat, I cross my arms over my chest and close my eyes quickly falling into a deep sleep.
I let out a sharp gasp as I was suddenly pulled away from the dream of having. My forehead wrinkles in confusion. What a weird ass dream… There was this man I had dreamt about. He's been in my dreams before but it's been a long time since he's been in them. I shake my head and decide not think about it. I look at Lizzie.
"Are we at the mall yet?" I ask.
Lizzie nods with a smile on her face, "Yeah…we're here. You woke up just in time." She tells me with a grin.
"Fantastic," I say dryly with a slight sarcastic undertone.
"It is, isn't it?" Lizzie agrees, a sparkle in her eyes, obviously she didn't know I was being sarcastic about it.
Hiding a grin, I get out of the car at the same as Lizzie does.
'Let get this over with.' I thought to myself as we start walking up to the mall. I hoped that this wouldn't last long.
A couple hours later…
'Damn this girl could shop!' I thought, grunting as I lug multiple shopping bags over to Lizzie's car.
I was never going shopping with this woman ever again. And I thought my mom was bad with the whole shopping thing. Most of this stuff in the bags weren't even for me. I had only one bag that was from Hot Topic and it only had a couple shirts in it.
"That was so much fun," Lizzie gushes to me as we drive out of the mall parking lot.
I force a smile, "Yeah it was great Lizzie." I lean my head back and fall back to sleep…again.
The mystery man wasn't in my dreams this time. When I woke up once more from my nap, I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed by this fact.
I look at myself in the mirror of my bathroom. I sigh as I brush off invisible lint from my black dress I had on. I look pretty decent looking for a dinner over at neighbor house. Why did I even have to wear a dress? I was more of jeans type of girl but nope Lizzie had to force me into this dress. I still had at least thirty minutes before we had to go so I open up my laptop (which was sitting on the desk that was in my room) only to be met by the smiling face of Joey. He was the typical boy next door. He had blonde hair, a cute baby face, and blue eyes. Girls at my school though he was adorable and he was … but so not the type for me. I was more into the bad boy type but he was a good buddy to have.
He looked ecstatic to see me. I smile gently at him.
"Hi Joey," I tell him. "I can't talk for long; I have a stupid dinner I have to go." I roll my eyes to show how annoyed I was by this fact. I hated meeting new people and Joe knew that first hand.
"I'm sure it won't be too bad, Roro," he tells me. "Who knows, you might actually like these people."
I flash him a look of disbelief, "You do know who you're talking to right?"
Joey laughs. "Of course I do," he says. "You're Rowen Elizabeth Matthews, the girl who doesn't give a shit about anything or anyone." He then smiles at me cheekily, "Except for me of course."
"Keep telling yourself that sweetheart," I say to him sarcastically.
"Oh I will," Joey tells me smugly.
I open my mouth to say more to him but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Then a second later, I hear Lizzie call through the door.
"We're leaving Rowen!"
"Okay!" I call back before I look back at Joey and roll my eyes, "Well, here I go to my doom. See ya Joe."
"Have fun!"
"I doubt it," I say in a singsong voice. I laugh as I close my laptop and leave my room, shutting the door behind me.
I stood beside Lizzie as we stood in front of the next-door neighbor's house. I sigh internally to myself as I cross my fingers behind my back, hoping that this would be over with quickly and painlessly. Max knocks on the door and we only had to wait a couple minutes before a young girl who looks close to my age opened it. I look the girl up and down. She had long straight brown hair that I guess went to almost the middle of her back, brown eyes, a tan skinned tone, and she had a smile on her face as she looks at us.
"Hi Lizzie," The girls says with the smile still on her face. But I couldn't help but notice that beneath the smile, there was a sad look in her eyes as if she was forcing the smile. "Where's Desire?"
"She's over at her grandma's house," Lizzie tells her. She looks to me, "Elena…this is Max's little sister, Rowen."
The girl or now known as Elena looks at me and smiles, "Hi, it's nice to meet you, Rowen." She gestured inside her house. "Uh…come on in."
We walk into the house as I look around the inside of it. It was pretty nice from the inside. I like the feel of it.
"The kitchen's this way," Elena says and we follow her into the large kitchen.
Sitting on the counter top was a woman holding onto a glass of wine. I wonder who she is but thankfully I didn't have to wait long to find out.
"Jenna!" Lizzie calls from beside me.
The woman, now known as Jenna, looks over and grins at the sight of Lizzie.
"Lizzie," Jenna says brightly as she hops off the counter- without spilling her wine- and made her way over to us. As soon as she was, Jenna gives Lizzie and Max a hug, "It's nice to see you guys." She says to Lizzie and Max before she looks over at me. "This must be Rowen."
I smile weakly, not wanting to be here. "Nice to meet you, Jenna." I needed to go the bathroom, so I asked, "Where's the bathroom?"
Jenna tells me it's upstairs and that it was easy to find and what she said was true, it was easy to find. I did my business, left the bathroom, and head downstairs to finish the boring dinner.
"So what did you think of Elena, Jenna, and Jeremy?" Lizzie asks me as we enter the house after the dinner.
I shrug a shoulder. "They were alright," I reply. "That Elena girl annoys me though."
"Oh," Lizzie mutters to herself.
We stop at the end of the steps and I tell Max and Lizzie goodnight before heading up to my room. After I get on my pajamas, I climb into my bed immediately falling asleep.
It was now Monday and it was finally time to go to school. I growl to myself, annoyed as I sat in the passenger seat of Lizzie's mini cooper. I hated school. I just didn't see the point of it. Besides, teachers didn't like me and I didn't like them. I ignore Lizzie as she chats animatedly on the way to school.
"Oh you're going to love going to school in Mystic Falls, my high school days were the best days of my life…I made great friends. That's how I met Jenna. We were best friends, we did everything together. I was also close to Miranda, who was Jenna's sister."
"Is Miranda Elena and Jeremy's mom?" I ask. At her nod, I ask her, "What happened to her?"
Lizzie's eyes glaze over in sadness, "Oh… Miranda died in a car crash. So was their father, and Elena was in the car when it happened. She hasn't been the same since then. It was close to the end of summer that they died. Jeremy hasn't been the same either. All he does is drink and do drugs. But I guess it's mostly because of the people he hangs out with." She glances over at me with a stern look on her face, "It would be best if you stay away from Vicki Donavan. She isn't the kind of person you should hang out with."
"Oh," I say not knowing what to say to that and nothing else was said until we finally made it to the school.
I get out of the car and turn to face Lizzie who was still in the car.
"Have a good day at school," she tells me.
I nod and force a smile. She smiles back at me before driving away. I took a deep breath as I turn to face the school. Here I go to my personal hell.
I glare at every person who gives me a look, putting as much anger in the glare as I could. It worked because everyone stopped looking at me.
I smirk to myself. I finally enter the school and head to the office. Making it to the office I noticed that Elena Gilbert was standing outside of the office staring at someone with some other girl who I guess was one of her friends. She noticed me too but didn't say anything to me. I wasn't mad about that fact. I didn't personally like this girl…but I did feel sorry for her for losing her parents. I finally enter the office and see that the secretary was talking to someone else causing me to stop in my spot. Even though I couldn't see his face, I could already tell that he was going to be cute.
Once he finishes talking to the secretary, he turns around and actually freezes when he sees me. I stood there awkwardly under his gaze, though his eyes were covered by black sunglasses, I had a feeling that he was looking at me as if he knew who I was. I shook my head knowing that was impossible. Finally the boy moves and leaves the office without looking at me. I turn to watch him leave.
Elena wasn't out there anymore but the other girl was and she had watched the guy leave as well. As if she felt that I was staring at her, the girl looks at me for just a second before following the guy. I frown to myself. Well that was weird… I shook my head internally as I go over to the front desk casing the woman behind it to look at me. She smiles at me brightly and I force a smile and pretend to act happy to be here.
"Hello," she greets. "Who are you? Are you new?"
I nod, "Yeah…I'm, uh, Rowen Matthews."
The woman's smile widened. "Oh Max's little sister," she says and I nod wondering how she knew my brother. "I'm Lydia. I dated your brother before in High School."
"Okay," I say slowly. Why would she tell me that?
"Yep," Lydia says brightly. "Let me get your schedule."
"Thank you," I tell her quietly.
A couple minutes later, she pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to me. I look down at it taking my classes. My first class was History with someone called Mr. William Tanner… I groan silently to myself. I just had to have my worst subject as my first class of the day.
I grumble to myself as I head to class. Once there, I'm met with the sight of the teacher who was sitting behind his desk. There was no other student in the room so it was just the teacher and I. The teacher stands up and goes over to me. Once he was to me, he holds out his hand.
"Hello," he says as he holds out a hand towards me. "I'm Mr. Tanner, you must be Rowen."
I nod and force a smile as I shake his hand. "Yeah, that's me," I tell him. I let his hand go with the forced smile still on my face. "It's nice to meet you." The last part is a lie; I could already tell that I wouldn't like my History teacher.
Mr. Tanner nods, "You can go pick out a seat anywhere you want."
I nod as I head over to one of the many seats in the class and settle down in the seat that I picked. It was close to the front of the classroom. I like sitting in the front because people wouldn't bother me and ask me questions. Which I knew was bound to come up since I was the new student in Mystic Falls. I hate replying to questions especially if it had something to do with my personal life.
I didn't pay much attention to the students that enter the room. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I look up only to meet the eyes of Elena Gilbert.
"Hi Rowen," Elena greets.
I force a happy smile. "Elena," I say with fake brightness. "Who knew we would be in the same History class?"
Elena nods, "Yeah. Oh…this is my friend Bonnie Bennett."
I look next to Elena and see the same girl that I saw outside of the office next to Elena. Bonnie smiles at me and I smile back at her, oddly this smile wasn't forced as the one I gave to Elena. There was something about this girl I liked, oddly enough.
"Rowen, it's nice to meet you," she tells me.
I nod and smile, "You too Bonnie."
Bonnie smiles at me before her and Elena go and find their own seats. Everyone gathered in the classroom- even the guy who was in the office, whom Mr. Tanner introduced as Stefan Salvatore. He was new to the school just like I was, Mr. Tanner began teaching. I took out of my notebook and grab a pencil. I went to an empty page and began to write. It wasn't notes. I decided to doddle inside, knowing that I wasn't going to be paying attention in class. But I glance up anyway just as Mr. Tanner speaks.
"Once our home state of Virginia joined the confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals then those from the traditional Deep South. The Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the unison…"
I yawn loudly, getting the attention of people in the classroom. Feeling people staring at me, I glance around meeting the eyes of Stefan Salvatore who was looking at me oddly. I gave him a heated glare causing his gaze to look away from me. I smirk to myself. I despised it when people stared at me. I mean rude much? I then look at Mr. Tanner who was glaring at me.
I smile and blink at him innocently, "Oh I'm sorry Mr. Tanner. Please continue this gripping lesson." My voice drips with sarcasm causing the students into the room to laugh quietly to themselves.
Mr. Tanner's glare deepens but he quickly went back to teaching. I hum happily to myself as I went back to my doodling until the class was over. I pack up my stuff in silence and I turn around suddenly when I felt someone tap my shoulder. It turned out to be Bonnie. I fix my bag over my shoulder as I smile at her.
"Hey," Bonnie greets me with a smile. "I was wondering if you would like to come to the Grill with me and my friend after school."
I look at her surprised. People didn't usually invite me to things. They usually stayed as far away from me as possible…
"Are you okay?"
Bonnie's concerned voice snaps me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I tell her reassuringly. I smile, "Yeah that sounds good."
"Great," Bonnie says brightly. "Give me your phone number and address and I'll come pick you up."
"Sure." I tear out a piece of paper from my notebook and wrote down my cell number and my address. I hand it to her and she looks down at it for moment before she looks back up at me surprised.
"Oh! You live next to Elena," Bonnie says and I nod.
"Yeah, I'm living with my brother Max and his wife Lizzie," I explain.
Bonnie smiles, "Oh cool. I'll see you later then." She sounds hopeful.
I smile back. "Yeah, I'll be there," I tell her.
Bonnie's smile brightens and she pats me on the shoulder. We walk out of the History classroom together and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I had a friend. It was a feeling that I didn't want to go away.
Finally school was over and I climb into the passenger seat of Lizzie's mini cooper. We drove away from the school and Lizzie speaks up as she keeps her eye on the road.
"So how was your first day of school?" she asks.
"It was surprisingly great actually," I tell her honestly.
It was the truth. I actually had a good time at school. After leaving the History classroom with Bonnie, we shared our schedules and we were both surprised to find that we had all the same classes. Weirdly enough…
"Really?" Lizzie sounds surprised but happy.
I chuckle, "Why do you sound so surprised?"
"Because Max told me you hate school with a passion so I just figured," Lizzie mumbles to herself but I could still hear her.
"I do," I say. "But I think that I'm going to enjoy school in Mystic Falls." This was the truth. I had a feeling that being here was going to change my life in ways that I wouldn't expect...
"Rowen! Bonnie's here!" I hear Lizzie call from downstairs as I finish brushing my hair.
After getting home, I changed into something different to wear out with Bonnie and her friend Caroline Forbes. My style was completely different when I wasn't at school. For school, I usually wear clothes that listen to the dress code but then when I get home, I always changed out my school clothes. Right now I was wearing a bright red long sleeved off the shoulder cropped top, a pair of shorts but underneath the short was some black leggings, and for shoes I wore a pair of black flip flops.
"Rowen! Did you hear me?!" I hear Lizzie call again.
"Yeah, I'll be down in a minute," I call back to her as I pull my hair up in a ponytail.
I went out the door after doing this- but not before grabbing a jacket just in case it got cold. I head downstairs and into the living room where I heard laughing. There was Bonnie sitting on the couch with Lizzie laughing at something she said. Since they didn't notice me, I slip on the jacket just in case Lizzie didn't like the way I was dressing. I clear my throat and they look at me. Bonnie smiles as she stands up from the couch.
"Hi, Rowen," she greets me, going over to me with Lizzie behind her. "Are you ready to go?"
I nod and smile, "Yeah. I'm ready." I look around for a moment and wonder where her friend is and with that thought in mind, I ask, "Where's your friend?"
"She's in the car," Bonnie tells me.
"Oh," I say not knowing what else to say besides that. I look at Lizzie; "I'll see you later."
Lizzie smiles. "Alright, have a good time," she tells me.
"I will," I say with a nod.
"Bye Lizzie."
Bonnie and I smile at Lizzie one last time and head out the door. Immediately I took off the jacket revealing my outfit. Bonnie raises an eyebrow at me.
"Why did you change your clothes?" she asks me.
"That's what I usually do when I get home from school, I change. Because I wear different clothes." I laugh as I gesture to my outfit, "I don't really think this state of dress will go over well."
Bonnie laughs, "That's true. But they don't really care, really what you wear. It's weird because most schools do care."
I couldn't help but laugh too. I open my mouth to say more to her when we hear someone call,
"Come on! Hurry it up!" The sound came from a car that was parked in front of my new house. A blonde was in the passenger seat, looking out the window at us. She looked impatient.
"Is that Caroline?" I ask Bonnie who nods.
"Yeah, that's her," Bonnie replies. "We better go before her heads explodes." She jokes causing me to laugh and her to laugh with me.
Still laughing, we start walking over to Bonnie's care. Once there, I climb into the back seat while Bonnie sits down in the driver's seat. Caroline turns to me with a bright smile on her as Bonnie starts the car.
"Hi, I'm Caroline," she tells me brightly.
I smile at her immediately liking this girl already. She reminds me of Lizzie and since I liked Lizzie, I'm guessing that's why I liked Caroline.
"Hey, it's nice to meet you."
"You too," Caroline says brightly before facing forward, chatting animatedly to Bonnie. "Is Elena going to meet up with us at the Grill?"
"No, I think she said something about going to write in the grave year," Bonnie tells her.
I didn't have to look at Caroline to know that she had rolled her eyes at what Bonnie said.
"Geez, I thought she was over that," Caroline says annoyed.
Bonnie gave Caroline a look, "Hey be nice. You know as well as I do that Elena's still not over her parent's death."
"I know that," Caroline drawls out, now sounding annoyed. "But it's been months since the car accident. She needs to move on. She can't be sad girl forever."
Bonnie sighs, "I know."
The silence was now tense and I look around awkwardly for a moment to find something to talk about.
"So, what's the Mystic Grill like?" I finally ask.
This breaks the tense silence and Caroline and Bonnie take turns telling me about the Grill. It was the one place that all the teenagers from their school went to so that they could hang out. Reminds me of The Hub from 'That 70s Show'. By the time they finish telling me about it, we finally arrive at the Grill. Bonnie parks the car and we all get out talking to each other. As soon as we entered the Grill, Caroline began talking about Stefan Salvatore, the one who had the staring problem.
"His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with his uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini, and his favorite color is blue."
I look surprised. "Did you get this all in one day?"
"Oh please, I got all of this between third and fourth period," Caroline says with laugh as we sit down at one of the many tables in the Grill. "We're planning a June wedding by the way."
Bonnie and I look at each other amused as Caroline went on and on about the details for her and Stefan's future wedding. Bonnie leans towards me and whispers in my ear,
"I think Stefan's interested in Elena."
My face screws up. Ew, really? What was so interesting about Elena that got him interested in her? No offense to her or anything but I didn't see it. I don't tell Bonnie this of course because I had a feeling she wouldn't take to it well, and I didn't want to lose her friendship. Because as of right now, she was the only friend I had…well maybe Caroline. She seems to like me well enough. Caroline finally stops talking just as Bonnie speaks up.
"I'll be right back," she tells us.
Caroline and I nod and watch her walk off towards a boy with blonde hair who reminds me of Joey.
"Who's that?" I ask Caroline.
"Matt Donavan, Quarterback of the Football team, everyone has a crush on him and he used to date Elena," Caroline replies.
I watch Bonnie talk to Matt as I ask Caroline, "Why did he and Elena break up?"
"After her parents died, Elena broke up with Matt because she wanted to be alone to deal with her parent's death. He was completely heartbroken about it and it's so obvious he still has feelings for her. But poor Matt Elena doesn't feel the same." Her face turns slightly sad, "I feel bad for him because I don't think him and Elena will get back together."
"Oh, that's too bad," I say. Though I haven't met this Matt, I felt bad for him. It must suck to still have feelings for someone who you broke up with and will probably never get back together.
It was then that Stefan and Elena enters the Grill and I look at Caroline whose face is bright and happy at the sight of Stefan. I wince. I hope that Caroline didn't take it too badly when she learns of Stefan's interest in Elena. A while later Stefan and Elena are sitting with Bonnie, Caroline, and me. Stefan did stare at me for a couple minutes and I had to force myself not to smack him in the face to get him to stop staring at me. I didn't even know why he was doing this but I wanted him to stop. Thankfully Caroline speaks up causing Stefan to look away from me and at her.
"So, you were born in Mystic Falls."
Stefan nods, "Mm-hmm. And moved when I was still young."
"Parents?" Bonnie asks.
"My parents passed away."
Elena immediately looks at him with a sad look on her face, "I'm sorry. Any siblings?"
"None that I talk to," Stefan replies. "I live with my uncle."
Caroline changes the subject, "So Stefan, if your new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow."
Stefan looks confused and so did I and Bonnie explains when she sees the confused looks.
"It's a back to school thing at the Falls," she tells her.
"Are you going?" Stefan looks at Elena intently as he asked this.
Elena opens her mouth to reply but Bonnie beats her to it.
"Of course she is," Bonnie says quickly. I look at Caroline to see a pissed off look on her face, but I didn't say anything. But she quickly shakes out of it and looks at me.
"Are you going to go?" Caroline asks me, sounding hopeful.
"Yeah, that sounds good to me," I reply and I look at Stefan who was staring at me again. I scowl at him and made an annoyed sound before I look away from him, still scowling to myself.
Before I knew it, I was back at home sitting on my bed, on the phone with Joey. It was around 10 o'clock at night and I was in my pajamas.
"Wow, you actually made a friend." Joey sounds amazed but it was in a joking tone.
I scowl to myself, "Oh don't sound so amazed. I can make friends."
Joey chuckles on the other end of the phone. "If you say so Roro," he tells me but I knew he didn't mean it.
"Yeah, yeah." I roll my eyes. "Anyway…I should go to bed. Another day at school tomorrow."
"Alright. Love you Roro."
"Love you too Joe." I hung up the phone after that and got under the covers, resting my head on my pillow. It took me a while but I finally went to sleep, my dreams filled with my mystery man.
'Another boring day in History class!' I thought to myself with a tired sigh as I look at Mr. Tanner who was busily teaching…unfortunately. Seriously, he had to be the most boring teacher ever. Even the jocks in the classroom weren't even paying attention. Sitting here in my seat in the front, I wish that I had chosen to sit somewhere else like next to Bonnie or something but she was already sitting next to Elena. I snap out of thoughts by Mr. Tanner speaking.
"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls," he says, looking around at everyone. "How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?"
I look at my friend who looks nervous but Bonnie managed to speak.
"Um, a lot?" Bonnie says unsure. "I'm not sure. A whole lot."
I look back at Mr. Tanner who doesn't look amused.
"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett," he says dryly.
My eyes narrow at him at the comment but he didn't take notice to it as he looks at Matt.
"Mr. Donavan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" Mr. Tanner asks.
"It's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it," Matt says sounding completely serious causing the other students to snicker quietly to themselves, well expect me, I laugh loudly at the statement Matt made which causes Mr. Tanner to glare at me.
"Since you find this so funny Ms. Matthews, surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" he says.
I look at him in disbelief, "Seriously? I'm new here, how the heck am I supposed to know that? It's not like I read the history of this small town before moving. Geez." I roll my eyes annoyed.
Mr. Tanner's glare hardens but I ignore him as he looks over at Elena.
"Then maybe you can answer this, Elena? What was one of the town's most significantly historical events?"
"I'm sorry, I—I don't know," Elena admits looking sheepish.
Mr. Tanner now looks stern but also annoyed, "I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break."
"Harsh much," I mutter to myself not knowing that Stefan had heard me and had an amused look on his face.
"There were 36 casualties," Stefan speaks up causing Mr. Tanner to look at him. "Unless you're counting local civilians."
"That's correct Mr.…?"
"Salvatore."
"Salvatore," Mr. Tanner repeats with interest in his voice. "Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic falls?"
Stefan nods, "Distant."
"Well, very good," Mr. Tanner says but he didn't look impressed that Stefan had known the answer. "But there were no civilian casualties in this battle."
"Actually there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing. Weapons. They were wrong. It was a great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your history Mr. Tanner."
Mr. Tanner looks annoyed and he didn't say anything. I had to hold back a laugh. Though Stefan didn't mean it, it sounded like an insult. Maybe this Stefan Salvatore isn't as bad as I thought…
"So you are coming to the back to school party, right?" Bonnie asks me after school was over. She was walking with me to get to Lizzie's car in the parking lot.
"Yeah, I'm going," I tell her. "I wouldn't miss it."
Bonnie beams at me, "Good." We stop in front of Lizzie's car and Lizzie, who was out of the car and standing beside it, smiles at both of us.
"Hey girls," she greets brightly. "Did you have a good day at school?"
Bonnie nods, "Yes Mrs. Matthews."
Lizzie laughs. "No need to sound so formal Bonnie," she tells her. "Lizzie is just fine."
"Alright," Bonnie agrees with a smile. She looks over at me, "I'll see you at the back to school party."
"Sounds good." I give her a friendly hug and she hugs me back immediately. I smile at her as I break the hug and I get into the car. With one final wave to Bon, Lizzie starts the car and drives away.
Skips to after the party...
The party was interesting to say the least. Some kind of animal attacked the girl that Lizzie warned me about, Vicki Donavan. But I saw the bite mark; it looked nothing like an animal bite. I have seen pictures of animal bites and none of them look like that. I learned from Bonnie that this wasn't the first time this had happened. But anyway, now I was sitting at a table with Bonnie and Caroline who was drunk and was upset. I had a feeling that it was about Stefan and about that Stefan was more interested in Elena than her…
"Why didn't he go for me?" Caroline asks us with an upset look on her face. "You know, how come the guys that I want never want me?"
"I'm not touching that," Bonnie tells her bluntly.
"Caroline, you shouldn't worry about it," I say to my blonde friend as I touch her on the shoulder. "You're a great girl…if Stefan's not interested in you, it's his loss."
Caroline sighs and looks at me with tears in her eyes, "But still." She looks back at Bonnie but I kept my hand on her shoulder and rub it in comfort as she continues to speak, "I'm inappropriate, I always say the wrong thing. And Elena…she always says the right thing. She doesn't even try! And he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks for everything. And I try so hard, and I'm…never the one."
I could tell that she was trying not to cry when she told us this. I wish I could do something to help but I didn't know what I could do.
"It's not a completion, Caroline," Bonnie says.
"Yes it is," Caroline snaps as she looks away from her friend causing Bonnie to sigh.
Bonnie stands up, "I'm going to go. I'll see you two later." She puts her bag over her shoulder and she walks away leaving me alone with the upset Caroline.
But as soon as Bonnie was gone, Caroline looks over at me. "I'm going to go too," she says softly. "See you."
I nod, "Alright…but don't drive, okay? Call for a cab or something."
"I will." Caroline smiles at me but it was a sad one. It looked so weird to see Caroline not happy. Though I didn't know her for very long, it just looks wrong to see her sad.
I watch her walk away. As I watch her, I can feel someone staring at me. I roll my eyes, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't Stefan. But when I look, my eyes widen. No…way… It was my mystery guy from my dreams. I look at him amazed as he gives me a smile. I was too shocked to smile back which causes my dream guy's smile to turn into a smirk. I just sat there, staring at him. He stared back at me with that sexy smirk still on his face. I want to go over there, talk to him, and find out his name. And I end up doing just that. I go over to him and sit down in the seat beside him.
"Hi," I say to him with a smile.
The guy continues to smirk at me, "Hi."
Nothing was said after that. We just stare at each other. It was like I was in a trance and I just couldn't look away from him. My mystery dream guy was even hotter in person. Finally I speak.
"I'm Rowen," I tell him.
"Damon Salvatore."
I look surprised, "Salvatore as in Stefan Salvatore?"
"Yep. That's my brother."
I now look confused. But I thought Stefan said that he didn't have any siblings? But then I remember that he had said that he had none that he talked to. I guess something happened with Stefan and Damon to make them not talk to each other.
"Oh, he didn't tell us he had a brother." I say.
Damon smirks again, "Well, he doesn't like to brag."
"Right," I say slowly.
Then Damon looks me right in the eye and says, "Come with me."
I don't hesitant because for some reason I felt like I could trust him and I follow him outside with my bag over my shoulder. But that ended as soon as we were outside of the Grill because Damon presses me against the wall with his face changed into that of what I usually saw in movies. This causes me to drop my bag and I try to get out of Damon's grip when I finally did, I grab my bag quickly and I pull out a stake from my bag without him seeing. Then I turn around quickly and Damon charges at me with his face still changed. In one quick motion, I stab him in the stomach with the stake as hard as I could. Damon gasps in pain and he falls to the ground backwards. He looks at me with disbelief written all of his face.
"You should watch out, vampire, next time I stick the stake straight into your heart!" I growl at him.
Going over to him, I pull the stake out of his stomach causing him to gasp out in pain. I look at him for a moment before turning a heel and I walk away. Oh…did I forget to mention that I hunt vampires? Oops.
TBC...
In...
Night of the Comet...
Review? ;)
P.S. There is going to be romance for Rowen with a lot of characters on the show but as for the endgame, who knows who she'll end up with ;) It will be one of the main characters, that's for sure. But I'd love to know who you would want Rowen to end up with, so tell me in your review! Until next time on SMH! :D
