"Tess... Tess... Tessa!" Brandon shouted. Tess looked over from the passenger seat.
"What?" she asked sharply.
"We're here." Tessa looked out of her window to see her new home as they pulled into the driveway.
"Do we have neighbors?" She sat up straight and looked over at her brother, suddenly feeling excited.
"Not really. Well, there's a big house down the road, but I'm not sure if anyone lives there." Brandon got out of the car and Tess followed. Tess was bouncing up and down as her brother unloaded their bags from the back of the car. "A little help here?" he asked, holding up a large bag for her to carry. She grabbed it and ran to the house, dropping it at the door.
"Br-an-don!" She shouted, drawing his name out into three long syllables. "I need the key."
"Under the doormat." He paused as he tried to pull along a huge suitcase behind him. "Aren't you going to help me bring your stuff into the house?"
Tess grinned. "Now why would I do that?" she said with a laugh. She turned back toward the door and began bending down to lift up the mat when her brother began to speak again.
"Maybe because I have all of your belongings and I could throw them in the water over there unless you help me." He nodded his head toward a small pond not far from the house. Tess frowned and marched over to Brandon. She grabbed only her stuff and then, with a hmph, she began walking to the door again.
"I wish we would have moved in sooner so we didn't have to go out and find friends. Like, before graduation so we at least knew some of the people at the high school." She reached down and grabbed the key from under the mat before unlocking the door and stepping in. "But now we actually have to go do something if we want to meet people. Is there even anywhere to go in this town?" She stopped just inside the door to drop her stuff.
"Yes, actually," Brandon replied while meeting Tess inside the house to drop his stuff. "There's a grill. I guess it's a real hot spot for people our age. We should drop by later." He waited for a response from her. He knew he was either going to get a "but-we-just-got-here-and-I-need-a-nap" or a "okay-let's-go-but-if-anyone-asks-we're-not-relate d".
But instead, she said, "Okay." And that was all before she bounced upstairs to look for her room. Brandon watched her go upstairs and then put all of their belongings on the landing and sat down. The long drive really was tiring. Michigan to Virginia. He stood up. Just as he was about to go upstairs and take a shower, the doorbell rang. Tess came running down the stairs to answer the door. She had changed from a hoodie and jeans to white shorts and a V-neck. She opened the door and they were greeted by three girls around their age. They all wore big smiles. The blond girl in the middle held some sort of dish.
"Welcome, new neighbors! Well... We don't actually live next door... Actually, she does," she pointed to one of the brunettes, "But we don't. Oh I need to introduce myself! I'm Caroline Forbes; Miss Mystic Falls, head of the prom committee-" The brunette who lives next door stopped her.
"Caroline," she said with a laugh, "They don't need to know all that." She paused and held her hand out to Tess. "I'm Elena Gilbert." Tess shook her hand, then Brandon. The third girl finally spoke up.
"I'm Bonnie. Bonnie Bennet." She just smiled at them. The blond one - Caroline - thrust her arms forward towards Tess and Brandon. "We made you Mac N' Cheese," she explained, "We would have made something nicer, but the Salvatores didn't have anything fancy so we figured this would have to do." Tess grabbed the dish and handed it to Brandon.
"Thanks. But, the Salvatores?"
"My friends," Elena began, "They live with me." She stopped as if to think something over. "Well I guess I technically live with them, but the house is under my name." Her friends shot glares at her. She shrugged sheepishly. "Long story." She looked over at Caroline to change the subject.
"So what are you guys planning for your first night in town? Anything fun?"
"Well actually, we were gonna go to some grill or something, right Brandon?" He nodded and she stopped. "Oh, sorry, by the way, I'm Tessa Williams, and that's my brother, Brandon."
Caroline smiled before picking up again. "The grill? We were just about to go there! You can ride with us if you want." Tess smiled but Brandon shook his head.
"We don't even know these people," he whispered in Tess' ear. For a second, Tess thought she saw Elena roll her eyes at them, but she couldn't have possibly have overheard Brandon.
"I'd love to ride with you guys." She smiled. "Brandon?" His eyes widened.
"I'll just stay home," he mumbled, "Be safe Tess." He went in for one last hug with her before she left.
The grill was packed tight with people. All ages were there; teens, adults, in between, etc. The four girls weaved their way through a crowd and met up with a group of people at a table. "Hey guys!" Elena said. "This is Tess, she's my new neighbor." Tess smiled as Elena introduced her to everyone. Tess made mental notes of what everyone looked like so she could remember their names. "This is Matt," Tall. Blond. Cute."Rebekah." Blond. Beautiful. Obviously has a thing with Matt. "Jeremy, my brother," Muscle central. Hot. "Stefan," Hot. Nice hair. "And-" Before she could finish, the last person spoke up.
"And I'm Damon." He smirked and stood up so he could pull a chair out for Elena to sit in, right between him and Stefan.
"Yeah. That's Damon." Elena smiled. "Him and Stefan are brothers. They're the Salvatores; your neighbors." Tess' mind was racing. So many names to remember. So many cute guys. And Elena, she lived with two of them! Tess thought she really could like this town after all. All of the girls sat down. Throughout the whole evening, all of them seemed to throw nervous glances around at each other. Tess thought she must have interrupted some important conversation. She didn't want to be rude, so once it was around 8 o'clock, she stood up to go.
"Tonight was awesome! Really, thanks. But I have to go, and also I just don't want to intrude or anything." She smiled one last time. "Bye guys!"
As she headed out the door, she saw Elena following her. She stopped. "Elena? Is everything all right?" Tess asked.
"Yeah, I'm just going to head home too. Plus you don't have a ride. Drove here with me, remember?" Duh.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks." Tess smiled again and got in Elena's car. The drive home was pretty quiet. Tess immediately hopped out of the car after they reached her house and waved back at Elena. "Thanks for the ride!" She kept waiting until Elena was out of sight. Tess wondered if she could fit in with Elena and her friends or if she would end up with different friends entirely. She hoped it wasn't the latter. Tess finally ended up going to bed. She survived her first day in Mystic Falls.