Stefan staggered to the side, bumping into a random student, as he tried to walk down the hallway of the high school.
"Sorry," he mumbled apologetically, raising his hand and shading his eyes from the painfully bright fluorescent lights along the ceiling.
"Whatever, freak!" the student snapped rudely, shoving him back into the lockers behind him.
The air rushed out of Stefan, with a weak whimper of pain. He sank down to the floor. panting heavily as a kick landed against his leg and stomach. He curled into a tight ball, hiding his face to avoid showing his eyes changing.
The assailant laughed, finally ending the torment after roughly fifteen harsh blows. He walked away, poking fun with his buddies. He walked past Jeremy Gilbert, Elena's little brother, laughing about beating up a a tall, skinny guy.
Jeremy bolted down the hall, searching for whoever had been beaten up. He stopped short, his eyes widening when he saw Stefan still curled up in the fetal position.
"Hey, Stefan, are you okay?!" He asked quickly, kneeling down beside the vampire in concern. He gently put his hand on Stefan's shoulder, immediately noticing that the vampire was shaking and warm to the touch.
Stefan flinched, curling tighter as he tried to hide from Jer.
"Hey, its alright. I'm not going to hurt you." Jer cooed sympathetically.
"Elena?" Stefan ground out, making it clear that he only wanted Elena.
"Okay, I'll get her." Jer said quickly,jumping up and taking off down the hall. He ran down the halls, stopping at Mr. Alaric Saltzman's class. He knocked on the open door, briefly.
"Yes, Jeremy?" Alaric asked, looking up from his desk.
"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Saltzman. I need Elena right now!" Jer said firmly, putting a hand to his stomach, as if to say he felt sick.
Alaric frowned, looking at Elena uncertainly.
"Go ahead, Elena, take your brother to the nurse." He said calmly, giving her a look to imply that he didn't want her coming back to class.
Elena nodded briefly, gathering up her books and bag, and looked around for Stefan. She frowned slightly, wondering where he was. She walked over to Jer, leading him kindly down the hall.
"I'm fine." Jer said, shrugging her off. "But someone else needs your help." he added, huffing softly.
Elena glared at Jer, suspiciously.
"What's going on, Jer?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips.
"Just trust me. Come on." Jer said in annoyance. He led her down the halls, until he found Stefan again.
Elena gasped softly, dropping to her knees beside Stefan. She touched his shoulder lightly, shocked that she could feel a fever pulsing through him.
"What happened?!" she demanded of Jer, looking at him briefly with a flicker of fear in her eyes.
"A kid beat him up, for bumping into him." Jer explained quickly. "Stefan wouldn't let me help him, he only wanted you." he added thoughtfully.
Elena's eyes narrowed angrily, making her look like she was about to kill someone.
"He's going to regret that." she spat, pulling out her phone and sent Damon a text.
'Need you help!' she sent quickly, knowing he'd answer her immediately.
'Where are you?' showed up on her screen, saying it was from Damon.
'School.' she sent back, looking up when she heard Stefan groan.
"Oh!" she gasped, mad at herself for not paying attention to her boyfriend.
"Let's take him home." Damon said suddenly, causing Stefan to flinch and the Gilberts to jump.
"I haven't even found out why he was able to get beaten up in the first place. But I do know he has a fever... Is that normal?" Elena asked in concern.
Damon frowned, looking down at his little brother, who was shivering uncontrollably.
"Bad blood?" Jer suggested, wondering if it was possible.
"No such thing... however the wrong kind of blood could give him..." Damon said, trailing off as he got lost in thought.
"Give him what, Damon?" Elena asked uncertainly. She sat down beside Stefan, lightly running her fingers through his hair.
Stefan winced, moving gingerly to lay his head on her lap and threw an arm over his eyes, that were stuck in the vampiric state.
"Shhh..." Elena cooed softly, rubbing his arm lightly.
"He gets like you, when you eat something bad." Damon said finally, looking down at Stefan. "Bad Thumper or Bambi?" he asked his brother.
"Bambi..." Stefan ground out, with a groan, as he curled his legs up against his stomach.
Damon cursed under his breath, shaking his head momentarily. He easily picked up his brother, disappearing from view.
"Let's go, Jer. We need to go with them." Elena said in a rush, getting up off the ground.
"He's going to be okay. It's not like a werewolf bite, he is just malnourished." Jer said simply, reading the fear in her eyes still.
Elena nodded briefly, running down the hall and outside to the car.
Damon met her on Stefan's side of the backseat.
"Is he okay?" Elena asked breathlessly.
"No, hes getting more and more sick." Damon said gravely. "Get in the car, Gilberts." he said, moving to his side of the car rapidly.
Jer and Elena got in the car; Jer in the front with Damon, and Elena in the back with Stefan.
Elena guided Stefan's head to her lap again, immediately noticing his fever was getting higher.
"Damon, he is even warmer." she said, her voice shaking.
Damon's eyes flicked to the rear-view mirror, catching her eyes briefly, willing her to be strong.
"We'll be home shortly," he said calmly, looking back at the road.
Elena took a deep breath, grateful to Damon for helping her to be strong.
Stefan groaned, coughing into his hand. He looked at his hand, feeling something wet on it.
"Damon! He is coughing up blood!" Elena gasped worriedly.
"Its okay, he mainly ingests blood. Therefore, he will probably end up bringing up a lot more blood." Damon warned, hiding his own concern behind a deep frown.
"Oh... Right." Elena said distractedly, lightly putting her fingers through Stefan's hair again.
"Elena? Stop... I'm too dizzy." Stefan groaned, swallowing hard twice in a row.
"Oh crap! I'm sorry." Elena said, immediately removing her fingers from his hair.
Stefan took a deep breath, trying not to cough or gag in the process. He swallowed hard against his sore throat, from the coughing.
Damon pulled up yo the boarding house, helped Stefan to his room, and reappeared beside Elena and Jeremy, who had only just gotten out of the car.
"He's in his room." he told Elena, before walking inside to get a drink.
Jer followed Damon inside, sitting on the couch to read a book.
Elena ran upstairs to Stefan's room, immediately moving to his side in concern.
"How can I help?" she asked softy, not wanting to hurt him.
"Blood... I need blood." Stefan gasped, a look of disgust on his face.
Elena swallowed hard, offering her wrist to him.
"Take whatever you need." she said firmly, not wanting him to suffer any longer.
"No... animal blood." Stefan said adamantly, pointing to a cooler nearby.
Elena sighed softly, before getting up and walking over to the cooler. She grabbed two containers of animal blood, and brought them back to Stefan.
"Are you sure that you don't need any of my blood?" She asked simply.
Stefan nodded slowly, opening each container, and grabbed a needle off his nightstand. He handed her the needle and put the containers on the table.
"Poke your fingers, drop a single drop of blood into each container. By mixing in your blood, my stomach shouldn't make me throw up." he explained, panting hard.
Elena nodded slowly, pricking her pointer finger with a hiss. She squeezed a drop into both containers, before putting her finger in her mouth, with a grimace.
Stefan grabbed the containers, drinking the blood quickly. He gagged at first, but after a few minutes, his fever was gone and his eyes returned to normal.
Elena sighed in relief, laying down beside Stefan.
"You okay?" she asked tiredly.
"Much better." Stefan said, wrapping his arms around her and fell sleep.