Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! It's greatly appreciated! I've always loved Kol Mikaelson as a character and I hate that they killed him off in the series (hint hint—it won't be happening in this story) and although Daniel Sharman portrays him so great, I love Nathaniel Buzolic as Kol. Anyways, send me some love if you wish, I love hearing feedback! xoxo

things are beautiful if you love them

You would think that for a girl who has seen so much death in her life, she would try her best to steer clear of it in every way possible. Apparently I have proved that theory absolutely and utterly wrong…a countless amount of times, at that. I became friends with Damon when he first came to town, despite all protest which came from basically every one; I have helped keep Katherine alive on multiple occasions - she's a good friend when you get to know her, I promise; Elijah and I are, as I like to call us, besties, although he doesn't care for the word choice; and Klaus and I are BFFs - very different from besties. Stefan and I were even still close when his emotions got shut off and he turned ripper again. All of this has come with the consequence of the people I care about killing dozens of other people. And I have to learn to be ok with it, otherwise I would've lost my mind years ago.

And you would think I would've learned my lesson by now: stop making friends with evil people. But no, it's as if it were some sort of calling I have. Truth be told, I'm exceedingly empathetic, I run on feeling emotion; in fact, I have no idea how vampires can just flip their switches, I wouldn't be able to function, I wouldn't be…well, me. If I wasn't able to feel, I might as well be dead. But vampires are technically dead, so I guess it does make sense after all. Truly though, I just hate seeing lonely people. And that's what they all are, Klaus, Elijah, Damon, Katherine, Stefan: they were all lonely. I like to think that maybe they wouldn't be so bad if someone would just showed them some love and gave them some attention. So, no matter what my other friends say and no matter what my twin (fraternal) sister Elena tries to tell me, I will continue to stand up for them, no matter their faults, because people can be just as good as they can be bad.

Maybe that's why I'm currently finding myself walking over to the new blonde girl sitting by herself under the willow tree at lunch. I know none of my friends like her, she's kind of a bitch, but let's face it, what girl isn't slightly bitchy? I felt bad: no one should be forced to sit alone just because they haven't made the best first impression. She loved her brother, of course she would stand by him. I would do the same thing for Stefan or Damon, even if we weren't blood related, they were still like my brothers. I would do the same thing for Jeremy, my real brother. And although Elena was getting on my everlasting nerves lately, she's still my sister, and I would do the exact same for her. So, no, I didn't blame Rebekah Mikaelson for siding with her family. And it was that thought process that led me to where I am now. Standing right in front of the sitting blonde, who looked surprised and shy, despite her usual confident demeanor.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

Now other people probably would've thought she was coming off as bitchy, but I knew the truth. She was keeping her guard up, and of course she would, she was having a shitty first day. She probably thought it was easy to make friends, after all she was hot as hell - I'm not afraid to admit it - and she didn't necessarily have a bad personality compared to a lot of the girls here. But that's not enough in high school, she's a newbie, cliques were already formed, and it seemed as though none were willing to take pity on her. Except me.

I motioned to the ground next to her. "Is this seat taken?"

It was only for a second, but I caught her small giggle and smile. "No…not it's not taken."

"Awesome." I smiled and plopped myself down. "I'm Noelle Gilbert. And you're Rebekah Mikaelson, Klaus has mentioned you before. It's nice to finally meet you."

"You know my brother?" Rebekah questioned. "I'm so sorry."

That made me laughed, which surprised her. I guess she wasn't used to making people laugh. That made me feel even worse. One thousand years of life, and this poor girl has no idea what it's like to have a friend. I was officially a woman on a mission: I was going to be the best friend I could to Rebekah; after all, everyone deserves to have at least one best friend in their life, no matter how long or short that life may be.

"How are you liking your first day?" I asked her.

"You mean hating?" She made me laugh again, and this time that made her smile. "No one seems to care for new people I guess."

I shrugged. "Trust me, this town makes itself out to be a lot better than it actually is."

And that was the beginning of everything. Rebekah and I talked our way through lunch, not even touching our foods. In fact, we hadn't even noticed so much time had passed until the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch hour. I helped her to her feet - even though she didn't need it, which just made her laugh again - and we made our way into the school building.

"Thank you," she said softly. "For sitting with me. It probably didn't do much good to your reputation."

"Oh, I can guarantee you, I absolutely do not give a shit about reputations." I weaved my arms into hers as we continued down the crowded halls. "Hey, do you want to hang out after school, I really wanted to go shopping at this new store they just opened at the mall."

I had no clue if she knew what a mall was or not considering she'd been locked in a box for decades, but she definitely knew what shopping was because her face lit up as soon as the word slipped out of my mouth.

"I would love to! I obviously am in desperate need of new clothing-" Another bell cut her off.

"That's the warning bell," I explained. "Well, if you want to, then we can leave right after school! I mean Elena wanted me home to discuss some new plan that probably has to do with trying to get rid of your brother but I don't really care so, I'll meet you here, at my locker, and then we can leave."

"You're going to ditch your sister to hang out with me? Someone you only just met not an hour ago? Me? The vampire who has most likely tried to kill multiple people you love? Sister of the one and only insanely arrogant hybrid?"

"Let the record show that I actually am friends with said brother." I pointed out. "And as for ditching my sister…I really really really don't mind."

Her smile turned sly and she gave me a small nudge. "I like you even more than before. And that says something because I don't like many people, especially humans!"

For some reason, that made me laugh. "I like you too Bekah."

—

And thus a new friendship was born, alliances were made, siblings became rivals - including Elena and I when she daggered Bekah and basically turned her back on Stefan. I love Damon, but it is well known that Stefan is my favorite Salvatore. He's just too perfect, and I completely believe that if Elena hadn't dated him, I would've. But alas, I would never date a person that has already dated my sibling, cough cough Damon. They may not be together yet, but give it some time.

I have found out, however, that Bekah is awake once again. Took long enough, I had gone on a mad search for her when I found out, I was even mad at Stefan - something that doesn't happen very often, or actually ever I think.

I had talked to Bekah on the phone the night before I got back into town from visiting New Orleans for my birthday. It was kind of a surprise to myself since I was mad at my sister and the Salvatore brothers. So, because I was feeling rebellious, and because I knew it would piss of Elena to no end, I asked Klaus about his favorite place he's visited in the U.S. and he was so excited he even bought my plane ticket. He was actually going to come with me, but then he had some shit to deal with, so I was on my own. I didn't mind really. Although, I did miss the Mikaelson ball, and my dawg Elijah was also undaggered while I was away.

Needless to say, the first thing I did when I got back to Mystic Falls was drove straight to the Mikaelson manor. I didn't even bother knocking, Elijah, Klaus, and Bekah don't care. There was some older looking lady standing there that I didn't recognize.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" She asked. Her british accent hinted to me that she was most likely related to the rest of the Mikaelsons.

"Gilbert. Noelle Gilbert." Yes, I totally just pulled a James Bond. "And you are?"

"I'm Esther Mikaelson." She introduced herself.

"Ohhhhh Esther…right." I pretended to know who she was. "I've heard so much about you."

"Oh really?"

"No, not at all. But it's nice to meet you." I tried to walk away from her but she kept talking. If there's one thing I hate, it's when people can't take a hint.

"Do you always just barge into people's houses as if you own them."

I rolled my eyes before looking back at her. "Well, my best friends live here, so yeah pretty much." I continued to walk to the living room where I heard voices while Esther followed me.

"Who are-"

Before she could say anything else I'd caught sight of the oldest Mikaelson brother. "LIJAH!" I screamed and ran into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist. Obviously, he was used to this and knew it was coming because I'm almost positive I do this at least once a week - not counting when they were daggered.

"Elijah, my son, who is this?" Esther asked but was ignored.

His low chuckle rang through my ears. "How are you Elle?" Him and his other two siblings were the only three that called me either Elle or Ellie. "I see you've missed me."

"Missed you!?" I exclaimed. "That would be an understatement! I missed the hell out of you!" He gave me one last squeeze before setting me down, but he didn't unwrap his arms from around me.

"Alright Elijah, stop hogging her." Niklaus's voice made me spin around and practically throw myself at him too.

"New Orleans was beyond amazing!" I told him. "I'll tell you all about it later, I got you guys presents. Speaking of, where's my bitch?!"

A slight gasp could be heard from behind all of us from Esther, who was still trying to gain our attention. Again she was interrupted when Bekah walked into the living room.

"Well, well, well, there's our girl." A man, who I hadn't noticed before, stood up and greeted Bekah. She gave him an annoyed look but it fell off her face when she saw me. She smiled and tried to get around him but he blocked her every step.

"Get out of my way Kol."

Kol. I thought. Another attractive Mikaelson brother. This is getting to be ridiculous, they can't all be this hot.

"Out all night, what a scandal," Kol smirked. "I trust you did better than that commoner. Matt, was it?"

"You hooked up with Matt?!" I yelled at her.

"I'll be right with you Ellie." She smiled at me and the glared at Kol. "If you don't shut your mouth the next thing to come out of it will be your teeth."

Bekah pushed past her brother and vampire speed ran to me, knocking me to the ground with her. "Oh I'm so happy to see you!"

"I have so much gossip to catch you up on, but first thing's first." We sat up and I smacked her on the shoulder.

"Ow!" She laughed, obviously not really being hurt by it.

"You hooked up with Matt?! Matt Donovan?!"

"No, try less blonde sweetheart type and more dark haired bad boy type." She sighed.

"OH MY GOD!" I fell back and laid flat on the ground. "WHY IN THE HELL WOULD YOU EVER DO THAT?!"

"It was in the heat of the moment!" She defended herself.

I giggled. "How was it?"

"I'll give you the details later but lets just say exactly how you think it would be." She winked at me. Her brothers all let out disgusted groans.

"Does Elena know?"

Bekah smirked, knowing I was currently doing all I could to piss of Elena. "She caught me leaving this morning."

"YES!" I highfived my best friend and stood back up, helping her get up also.

We just stared at each other for a while and then squealed and hugged each other. Niklaus, making fun of us, imitated our squeals and hugged me also.

Out of no where, Kol did the same thing Klaus did and even though I didn't know him at all I hugged the living daylights out of the kid. He was really hot and I liked the rest of his family so I'm sure I'd like him just fine also. I think he was sort of surprised that I hugged him because it took him a second to actually hug back. And then he just didn't let go.

"Ok, hello," Esther called out to her family. "Who is this girl?"