Chapter 1: The Beginning
"Ali Baldwin!... ALI! Wake Up! Berech is coming! Wake up!"
"Ms. Baldwin wake up now. There is no sleeping in my class." When that didn't work Berech picked up Darcy's textbook and dropped it down right next to Ali's head, startling her awake. "Now that you are awake we can continue class, why do you think you can sleep through my class?"
"Well Mr. Berech, it was that pile of homework that you assigned us that kept me up until 4 in the morning so it was only fitting that I would catch up on my sleep now," she said in a sweet and innocent voice, her golden eyes wide. "I already know what you are teaching us as well Mr. Berech."
"I will just give you a warning but stay awake from now on Baldwin. And put your hood down."
"Yes Berech I will."
She pulled her hood down but still has a hat on because she wanted everyone to think she was just cold but really she was hiding her ears that were not human but wolf. She also has a tail that she hid in her baggy hooded sweatshirt. Darcy was the same as her with ears hidden under a hat and a baggy jean jacket. Her silver eyes looked amusingly back at Ali and she rolled her eyes.
Berech went back to his lecture but 5 minutes later a new kid walked into the room. He was tall, about 6'3", dark brown/black hair that did not come farther down than his ears. His ears, mouth, nose and eyes were perfectly balanced. His eyes were a smoky blue gray that pierced into Ali when he turned and looked at her. He wore a nice fitting pair of dark jeans and a leather jacket with a tight fitting shirt that allowed Ali to see that he was nicely muscular but not over buff.
"Ali dearest, you are staring open mouth at that new guy." Darcy whispered. "You should probably stop now."
Ali's head snapped up and away from gawking at the new kid to look at her bff, and gave a sheepish embarrassed smile. From her expression Darcy knew that her ears were completely flat against her head because she had just embarrassed herself.
Berech finally noticed the new kid and stopped his lecture. "What is your name young man?"
He had an amused look in his eyes as he answered "Damon Salvatore sir."
"Well Mr. Salvatore sit down in front of these two ladies and try to learn something. Come see me after class and I will get you caught up and at least know what to look for."
"Of course Mr. Berech."
He sat down in front of Ali and Darcy and lounged out in his chair and looked like someone who has some reason to be there, just not to learn math.
Ten minutes before the end of class another stranger walked into the math room. This guy was about 6'6" with bright light ice blue eyes.
He glanced over Damon and at the girls smiling at them. But then his smile faded when he saw who he had glanced over. He scowled and Damon only gave him a cocky grin.
Darcy cocked her head to one side like a puppy with its ears cocked and then flinched, squeaking a bit.
"What did you do?" Ali asked even though she already knew.
"Owie.." She rubbed her head and looked at the new, new guy.
He had brown hair with a blackish tint. He also wore a leather jacket and nice fitting pants. She also noticed he had nice shoes. His tight muscle shirt exposed his nicely built torso and Darcy could only imagine what he looked like without his shirt.
"Not Again! Who are you and why are you coming in so late to my class?"
The new boy didn't stop glaring at Damon. "Stefan Salvatore. Sir."
The girls looked at each other.
-Twins?- Ali asked.
-Maybe…- Darcy responded.
"Sit next to Mr. Damon and stay after class."
"Of course sir." He didn't stop glaring.
The next ten minutes went by way too fast for the girls because they were admiring the guys in front of them. When the bell rang they moved very slowly getting packed up and then they headed off to accounting for Ali and the library for Darcy.
Ten minutes later Damon walked into a silent accounting classroom. They were taking a test. He slowly walked over to the teacher, Mrs. Orwig and almost tripped when he saw Ali was in his class again.
"Can I help you young man?" Mrs. Orwig asked.
Young man, he thought, grinning. "Yes. I'm new here."
"Okay. What's your name?"
"Damon Salvatore."
Ali's head snapped up when she heard that, and found Damon grinning at her. She swallowed hard and went back to her test trying to concentrate; with much difficulty.
After a few more minutes, Damon sat in the seat next to Ali.
She kept her eyes glued to her paper and her best at trying not to drool over the guy sitting next to her.
Things didn't go so smoothly for Darcy. Ten minutes after class started, she was putting books away on the hold shelf. 5 minutes after that, she saw Stefan walk in and smile at hear.
She dropped the stack of books she was carrying.
"Shoot," she knelt down and stacked the books again.
"Here let me help" Stefan knelt down too and picked up the rest of the books, setting them on the counter and helping Darcy stand up. "Are you okay?"
"Fine thanks. You should go now my library mom's don't like guests behind the counter."
She breathed an internal sigh of relief but then couldn't contain her growl when he walked out from behind the counter and then to the front.
"Did you just growl?"
"No."
"Sounded like a grown to me."
"I had something stuck in my throat." She coughed and then tried to ignore him which worked fairly well, except for the fact that he was staring at her the entire time.
Damon watched Ali the entire class period as well. He found it so entertaining and interesting that her hood and hat twitched every so often.
After Ali finished her test, she put in some head phones, pulled out a book and read.
Or so Damon thought.
-Darcy Help!-
-Can't right now-
-Damon is sitting right next to ma and staring at me!-
-Stefan is watching every move I make. Sorry love, there's only a few minutes left. I'll meet you at your car-
-Kk love. It's just horrible. I swear that he is staring at my ears-
-Don't worry hun. It will be Wendy's time soon. Got to go now because someone is here other than Stefan so see you at the junior lot-
Ali barely got through the last few minutes of class and when Mrs. Orwig told them their homework she wrote it down quickly then rushed out of the classroom, for once being the first one out.
She and Darcy booked it to their lockers and then met up on the way to the junior lot. What they didn't know was that Damon was following them. Once they got into the car they looked around and saw their hats and baggy coats for a while letting their ears and tails relax for a while. A shocked Damon watched from a distance but he was not too surprised because both of their blood had smelled slightly off.
Once they got to Wendy's the hats and coats came back on and they got a lunch to go and came back to the school to eat. At the parking spot there were a set of tracks that looked very much like one of the new guys shoe sizes but Ali said nothing to Darcy, trying to keep from freaking out.
At the lunch room they quickly ate their lunch and when the bell rang they headed to history, in different class rooms. Right before the bell rang the second time Damon walked into LeCount's classroom and Stefan walked into Fergason's class where Darcy was.
Ali was only sitting at a 2 desk set and Brook was sitting next to her so there was no room for Damon.
-MI AMOR! HELP! He is here again!-
-What the …? Are there two following us. It they are in our other classes that would be horrible-
-LeCount is starting to talk now so I got to go. I will see you for sure at the bus after school, bye-
-Bye love and don't freak out.-
Damon and Stefan stared at the two girls all through out history but the day finally ended and the two girls met Lexy at their usual spot at Darcy and Lexy's bus.
"I thought that you drove Ali?"
"Oh I did Lexy but I wanted to come say bye before I headed out to Key Club."
"Oh nice. Okay well we need to get on the bus now Darcy before all the middle scholars takes the seats."
"Yeah good point. Kk love ya hun. See you tomorrow." –Don't worry about them hun. It will be okay-
-Yeah I'll try, you too-
Ali walked back up to the school and the room where the key club was meeting. About 15 minutes later the meeting was over and Ali was walking down to the junior lot and she slipped down the hill on a patch of ice. She was just starting to pick herself up when a large pair of hands grabbed her elbow lightly and helped her to her feet.
"Thank y…." she stopped mid-sentence when she saw that the man that helped her to her feet.
"You okay? I saw you fall and knew that as a gentleman I should offer my help."
"Oh yeah I'm fine. Nothing is bleeding or broken so I'm all good. Thank you for helping me up."
"Of course you're welcome. May I walk you to your car so that I can make sure you do not fall again?" Unlike before when he talked there was no joke in his eyes at least not until he picked up her hat that had fallen on the ground. "You dropped this."
Ali had been so flustered that Damon was touching her that she had not realized that her hood and hat had fallen off during her fall. "Oh shit… Please could I have my hat back?" she said as she yanked her hood back up to cover her ears.
"I will give this back if you could give me a ride to a house that I am staying at."
"If you don't have a car then why were you walking to the junior lot?"
"Because I was going to break into my brother's car and drive home and just leave him stranded here." He said with a gorgeous smile. "Now do you want me to give you this hat back and stay quiet about those beautiful wolf ears that I just saw?"
"Fine I will give you a ride but I swear if you say one word to anyone I will hurt you." As she said this, her eyes glowed a bright gold, her ears were flat against her head and her canine teeth seemed to grow longer, sharper and more wolf like.
"You got it girl. Sorry don't know your name" Damon said not showing how much it fascinated him on how she looked when she was mad.
"My name is Ali and we better head so that I won't be too late getting home. Where do you live anyway?"
As they both walked over to a blue expedition he answered "On a side road off of Sunrise Trail. I will give you directions once we get closer and I won't even ask you to all the way if you don't want to."
"Oh I will be fine but first we will have to go to King Scoopers because my mom needs me to pick up some things."
"Okay I guess I will be fine with that."
"You better be because I am being nice enough to give you, a complete stranger and jerk, a ride."
"Ouch I should be hurt right?" shakes his head as he got into the passenger side of the car.
Ali just shook her head in despair as she got her sunglasses on grabbing the hat from Damon and put it on, put on her seat belt and turned the car on. She also started over the song she and Darcy had been listening to at lunch.
"You listen to Come Sail Away by Styx?" Damon asked in surprise.
"Yeah I love that song and most of their others."
"Me too, I went to a concert with them in it just this last summer."
"At red rocks?"
"Yeah why?"
"I was there too with Darcy and my mom."
"Wow we have something in common."
"Yep." Ali turned left from the high school onto Highway 70 then. "I guess you are not so bad if you listen to Styx."
"Oh I'm glad that you think that" he said with a flirtatious look in his eyes. "I really do like your ears by the way."
"Thank you I think," she said cocking her head to one side slightly.
Since Ali had not been listening to the speed limit she reached King Scoopers parking lot and she pulled into the first available handicap spot.
"Really Ali?"
"What? Don't whine. You won't have to walk as far this way because you are coming with me because I don't trust you alone in this car."
"Yes ma'am" he said in a joking tone.
About 10 minutes later they were back in the car and both of them got many stares while they were in there shopping.
"Okay so where do u go from here?" playing it cool even though she knew exactly where to go for the most part.
"Get onto South 275 and I will give you directions from there. Could we listen to more Styx while we drive?"
"Yeah of course" Ali said with a sincere smile oh her face.
Once onto 275 it was about a 7 minute drive where they just listened to music.
"There is going to be some construction so you are going to have to slow down if you don't want to risk a ticket. The turn will be under the overpass."
"Okay. I think I know where you are talking about."
After a fun turn they drove along first Wolf Creek and then Damon told her where to turn onto Sunrise Trail and then onto Noka Trail and up a dirt road to a very large house.
Damon got out and punched in the gate combo and then Ali drove up to the house.
"Will you come in for a little while as a thank you for giving me a ride?"
"I can only for a few minutes and then I will have to head home. Just promise you are not the type that would chain me up in your basement."
"Scouts honor I won't do anything creepy or lock you up in the basement. Actually I was thinking I could use your help getting caught up in math since I am a few weeks behind."
With that it was decided. Ali got her backpack and text books out of the expedition and locked it up. And came inside of the house of a guy she was totally in love with already.
For a while she just let him copy her notes from class while she worked on Physics homework. He then got all the textbook homework assignments from her when her phone rang.
"Hello?" (Ali where are you? You should have gotten home by now!)
"Mom I am working with a friend on homework that neither of us could do alone so I will be getting home late because it finally clicked." (All right. Call me when you are leaving the high school)
"Okay mom I will love you bye" (Bye).
"So why didn't you tell your mom that you weren't at the high school?"
"Because I didn't want her to worry and say I had to come straight home and anyway you need my help with this."
"Very true. I see your point. You don't need to keep your hat on any longer since I already know."
"You sure your brother won't be coming home?"
"Yeah. He is still at the high school and anyway I would know if he was coming because it is easy to hear cars driving up."
"Okay but warn me if you hear anything." She took off her hat and her ears stood up slightly and as she began to relax as they work for longer and she stopped keeping them still and let them move where they instinctively wanted to go. Two hours later Damon was caught up in math class and it was time for Ali to head home.
"Hey Mom I am coming home now so see you in a few minutes." (Okay see you then bye)
"Bye" she hung up and started packing up.
"Here let me carry that stuff out to the car."
"Okay thanks Damon."
"Your welcome. Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah I guess as long as it is not offensive."
"Will you go out with me and be my girlfriend?"
"I…umm…oh I guess… Yes. I guess I would like to be your girlfriend." She said this with a shy smile. "Guess you won me over."
"I'm glad." And then before he thought about it he leaned down slightly and kissed her softly on her lips. When she didn't pull away he kissed her again. He used his tongue and parted her mouth and then clamed her mouth. His right hand moved to the small of her back pulling her tightly against him. When he finally pulled away they were both breathing hard and she was staring wide eyed at him.
"I should not have done that now should I?"
"No but I don't mind. But I have to leave now but I will see you tomorrow, right?"
"Yes I can not wait until tomorrow because I have finally found you after all this time" he said with a reverence, like he was in a trance.
"All this time?" cocking her ears in confusion.
"Oh I said that. What I meant was I'm glad that you said yes even though you barely know me."
"Okay well see you tomorrow."
"Bye Ali," he said and he gave her a long kiss trying to get her to forget what he had said but the damage was done.
Ali drove home that was no more than three minutes away and once she got past her mom she went to her sunroom to finish her homework.
-DARCY! You will never guess what just happened-
-Ali finally I have been trying to reach you. What happened to you for you to just ignore me like that?-
-Well I first gave Damon a ride home. I helped him get caught up on math homework then when I had to leave he asked me out and when I said yes he kissed me!-
-WHAT!-
-Yeah you interpreted these thoughts right. The new gorgeous guy asked me out. Me! I can't believe this-
-Does he know about your, you know, ears?-
-Yeah I slipped and fell walking to the junior lot and my hat and hood came off and he saw them. But he didn't freak out. He actually said he likes them-
-Well that's good at least-
-Yeah well I need to go now hun and get my homework done so see you tomorrow-
-Kk bye love. Email my phone-
-Kk byes-
Back at the house Damon was pacing back and forth. He could not believe that a human was his soul mate. Let alone a semi human because he could not figure out exactly what she was. She was worse than Katherine ever was because she was actually caring.
"So Damon, how did you get home?"
Shocked out of his trance he looked up to see Stefan scowling at him. "Oh I got a ride from a nice girl from school and before you start freaking out she is alive and with every drop of her blood."
"Who was it brother?"
"Wouldn't you want to know?" He said like a smart ass. "Relax nothing happened."
"With you here I will never be able to relax Damon."
"Oh grow up and go eat some squirrel or something along that line. Big day of school tomorrow. Going to stalk that girl again?"
"Now who is being suspicious? How do you even know about that?"
"Because! You were being very obvious today and I hear some of the other girls in the school talking about you. Real smooth blending in."
"Shut up Damon." Stefan said as he stalked out of the door.