Chapter One.
Why the hell is there so much noise this early?
Confusion chased away the remnants of my sleep, as I groggily sat up in my bed. I brought my fist up to my eye and rubbed away the traces of being tired before throwing off my teddy bear themed covers, swinging my pajama pant clad legs over the edge of my bed.
I padded softly across the floor and to my bedroom door. I cracked it open, hear the blaring sound of someone's alarm clock. I whined pathetically and closed the door. Who in the hell would want an alarm clock? Probably Elena, because I sure as hell wouldn't own one of those things. I darted over to my closet and dug through my clothes for something decent to wear.
You'd think with as many clothes as I own, it'd be wicked easy to pick out something, but obviously not because I'm such a picky person. I rolled my eyes at my thoughts.
I made a soft noise of triumph as I pulled out a white, fluffy, oversized sweater. I pulled it on over my head and tucked it into a black skirt that had cat faces running horizontally down it in rows. The skirt hung down to my knees, underneath it, I pulled on a pair of black tights. Then, I slipped on a pair of white flats as I pranced over to my vanity.
I hummed in my throat, as I ran my brush through my waist length, auburn hair. Next, I applied a light coating of black mascara to my long eyelashes and a bit of black eyeliner. I stood back taking in my reflection.
My eyes were big, doe-like even. They were blue with an odd ring of green around the pupil. Everyone else in my family had brown eyes, paired with dark hair. I was totally the black sheep of the family and I rocked it, if I was being honest.
Pink lips curled up into a small grin at my thoughts, and my button nose scrunched up as I did so. I placed my hands on my slender hips, twisting my body around. I was pretty petite. Hell, I was 5'1''. I was the shortest, but I didn't mind. I was hella amazing, short or not.
I was brought out of my thoughts by a soft knock on my door. I turned my head to see my sister Elena. She was taller than me, about 5'5'', she had long dark brown hair, tanned skin, and big brown eyes. She was dressed in a dark red top and pair of blue jeans. She was also sporting a dark brown leather jacket.
"Hey…" She said softly, timidly. I raised my eyebrows and turned to face her. "Bonnie will be here soon, so…" She trailed off quietly. I shouldered my brown, Aztec satchel and skipped past her. Today was the first day back at school.
Elena and I were going to be juniors. Our younger brother, Jeremy, was going to be a sophomore. I headed to the stairs and bounced off the last step before I headed into the kitchen, only to see our aunt Jenna, rushing around. I smiled at the sight.
We were living with her now, our parents had passed away a couple months ago. They were in a car accident. I missed them, but I think I was just about the only one, save Jenna, who hadn't completely lost their friggin' mind!
"Toast! I can make toast!" Aunt Jenna's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I peered over at her from my place at the counter to see that she was at the fridge and Elena had joined us, though she was by the coffee pot. "It's all about the coffee aunt Jenna." Elena drawled as she poured herself some in a hug ass mug.
Just then our younger brother, Jeremy, entered the kitchen. He was dressed in dark clothes. "Is there coffee?" He asked before taking Elena's mug of coffee from her. She looked down at her now empty hand before grabbing another mug. "It's your first day back and I'm completely unprepared!" Jenna cried before approaching the three us. "Lunch money?"
"I'm okay." Elena dismissed just as Jeremy snatched some money for himself. I shook my head quietly at him. I certainly know what he's going to use that money for. I rested my chin on my hand, as I stared lazily at the television hanging on the wall. "Anything else? What am I missing, a number two pencil?" Jenna mused, and I snorted.
She shot me a look to which I grinned at. "Don't you have a presentation to today?" Elena questioned. Jenna sighed glancing down at her watch before replying. "I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at… Now!" She snatched up her bag and was off.
That just left the three of us. I absently picked up a bright red apple, glaring at it. I hated these kind of apples, they tasted disgusting. I would much rather have something loaded with sugar. Someone was obviously depraving me of my needs. Such mutiny. "Are you okay?" I looked up, only to see that it was Elena, asking Jeremy. He rolled his eyes and said, "Don't start." Before walking off. I snickered, before a car horn sounded outside.
I hopped up and pranced over to the door, swinging it open. Outside sat Bonnie Bennett's blue, Toyota Prius. Elena appeared beside me, and headed outside, claiming the passenger seat. I scowled as I pulled the door shut, and slid into the back seat. How rude of her to steal shotgun from me.
Bonnie pulled off and began talking, occasionally tossing glances at Elena as she did so. "I've been hanging out with Grams a lot this summer," She began. "And she's been telling me I'm physic." I snorted in amusement as I leaned forward in my seat, giving her my attention.
"Our ancestors were from Salem-Witches and all that," She waved her hand in a gesture "I know craaaaaaazy! But she went on and on! And I'm like, put this woman in a home already!" Her voice was light, showing she didn't mean it, before she could go on, I butted in.
"I dunno, Bonnie," I started with a wide grin. "I mean that's pretty cool, imagine if you were? You could totally do witchy things." Bonnie hummed quietly, head tilted slightly, as if she was considering what I was saying. "Well… I did predict Obama." She allowed, thoughtfully. "And I predicted Heath Ledger. And I still think Florida will break off and turn into island resorts."
I leaned back in my seat, crossing my one leg over the other, as I drummed my slender fingers on my legs. "Sounds legitimate. Maybe you should write down your predictions in a book and see if they come true later." Bonnie was quiet for beat before she spoke again.
"That's not a bad idea." You could hear the smile in her voice. I scoffed inwardly. Well, duh! All my ideas were nothing short of brilliant, she should know that. "What do you think Elena? Elena!" I peered over the seat only to see Elena snapping her attention to Bonnie.
She looked sheepish and apologetic. "Oh—I… I did it again, didn't I?" She groaned loudly, leaning back in her seat. What was her problem? Zoning out in the middle of a totally interesting conversation. Then I remembered, she must've been thinking about our parents. "I'm sorry, guys. You were talking about..." She trailed off.
"About," Bonnie sang, "Me being a physic and Corina's totally on board with it." She informed Elena with a smile. I bobbed my head in agreement before speaking up. "Yup, you gotta get with the time, Elena." Said person turned to me with an amused smile. I raised my eyebrows at her, and she relaxed into her seat as she turned back around.
"Riiiiiiiiiight," Elena drawled. "Predict something about me." She said, amusing lacing her tone of voice as she spoke. I grinned.
"I see—"THWAK
I jumped in my seat as Bonnie and Elena gasped loudly when the brakes slammed. She swerved off to the side of the road, nearly running the car up on the sidewalk, before she stopped.
"Jesus!" I hissed out, rubbing my forehead, in the place it whacked against Elena's headrest. "What was that?!" Bonnie cried out, turning to face me with wide eyes. I looked up at her, narrowing my eyes in annoyance. "You just hit a bird!" I exclaimed, leaning forward in my seat.
Bonnie turned to look at Elena, the same time I did. Elena looked pale and frozen in shock. She was sat rigid in her seat, hand braced against the dashboard. "Oh my God! Elena, are you okay?! I'm so—sorry—Crap!" Bonnie cried out, looking worriedly at Elena.
I reached my hand out, placing on her shoulder. Her hand flew up, squeezing mine. She sucked in a deep breath and released it in a puff before replying to Bonnie. "I'm f-fine. I just… I can't be afraid of cars my whole life." She shrugged, turning to smile sadly at me. I frowned.
"Hey! No one's rushing you to get over anything, you know. There's no expiration date on when you're supposed to get over something." My tone was serious for once, as I leaned back in my seat and turned to look out the window as Bonnie started the car and drove off once more. "Cori's right, and I predict this year is going to be kick ass. I predict all the sadness and anger and dark times are over. You and Cori are going to be very happy."
I grinned widely at her words, and nodded my head in agreement with her statement. The rest of the car ride was filled with mindless chatted that I didn't really care about, if I was being honest.
All too soon I saw the familiar MYSTIC FALLS HIGH SCHOOL sign and I inwardly groaned. Such a cliché name, we had one of those weird town names that you'd see in some weird ass television show. Bonnie parked the car, and I slid out, linking arms with Elena. She did a lot better with physical contact and I really wanted her to be at ease.
She looked at me briefly, but I tugged her off before she had the opportunity to call me out on what I was so obviously doing. "He's to another fantastic year." Elena muttered bitterly to me, and I snorted as Bonnie pushed open the doors for us.
As we stepped into the already crowded hallway, I scowled. Does anyone have anything better to do than show up so early? Obviously not, because everyone is a loser, with no life whatsoever. I continued my scowling as we made our way over to Bonnie's locker.
"Well, this sucks. Nobody has gotten hotter over the summer." Bonnie grumbled as she spun her combination and I laughed.
"Maybe they'll be some new students," I smirked, before continuing. "Like some sexy beast, willing to sweep you off your feet before they ride off into the sunset on their horse." I should really get some kind of award, I'm filed with sarcasm this morning.
Bonnie rolled her eyes as she rummaged through her things. "Yeah right. Nobody wants to live here, its snoozeville!" I hummed in agreement as I leaned up against the locker. "You never know," Elena began. "Someone might decide to pick up their whole life and relocate. Maybe their interested in boring routine where everyone knows your business."
I tuned out then, and turned my head to scan the hallway. Standing across from us, diagonally, was Matt Donovan. His blue eyes were trained on Elena, with an anguished look in his eyes. Inwardly, I was laughing. He was still over the moon for Elena, even after she kicked him to the curb. I did kind of feel bad for him though, because he was truly a nice guy.
"He hates me." Elena groaned, falling against the locker beside me. I bobbed my head in agreement, before patting at her shoulder in mock comfort. He has a right to hate her. Though he didn't.
Bonnie turned to her with a small smile. "That's not hate," She assured. She was right, it was totally anguish. He had the whole anguished jock thing down to a T. "That's 'you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it. But secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's Greatest Hits." Laughter bubbled up in my throat, and I nearly choked trying to get it all out.
That would explain his angst. Teenage boys were way more dramatic than us girls, in my opinion.
"Cori!"
I turned my head as the ever perky, blonde, Caroline Forbes bounced up to us. She threw her long arms around me I flailed awkwardly for a moment, as I fell back into the lockers. I let out a huff, as I winded my arms around her, hugging her back.
"How are you?!" She said as she tugged back before turning to Bonnie and Elena. "How are they?" She demanded at Bonnie. I rolled my eyes, because she totally needed to affirm how I was coping from Bonnie, I wasn't here at all.
I turned to look at Elena, who shrugged with a small smile. "I'm wallowing in sadness, Caroline. My existence has been forsaken and I can't possibly continue on." I deadpanned at her, and a grin lit up her pretty face as she turned to throw her arms around me again. "I missed you." She murmured in my ear, and I smiled.
"Yeah, yeah. Okay, enough with the dramatics. I totally want to get out of here." I pushed back from Caroline, who pouted briefly, before turning to Elena to be her inquisition on her.
After a while she pranced off, grabbing the attention of a group of snooty looking girls.
"I guess we should get to first period." I groaned as Bonnie's voice chimed. "Mr. Tanner first thing in the morning? I think I'm cursed." I braked out a laugh. Ah, Mr. Tanner. He was the dictionary definition of an asshole, in my opinion. His know it all tendencies pissed me off and I'm pretty sure he hates me.
Which I'm totally fine with, because he isn't exactly my most favorite person either. "Maybe you could use your witch powers to turn him into a frog." Bonnie snorted, but I was being serious. If I were a witch I think that would be the first thing I'd do.
We began walking to class, when Bonnie grabbed my arm, stopping us in front of the office. "Who's this?" Bonnie purred, and I followed her gaze to the office. There was a guy standing in there. He was wearing a brown, leather, hooded jacket. His dark brown hair was gelled back slightly. "All I see is back." Elena joined in.
"It's a hot back." Bonnie replied, and I snorted. "Maybe Cori's the psychic here, she did predict a new student." She tossed me a look, and I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we can set up a fortune telling booth here in the hallway, I can read everyone's futures." I deadpanned.
Bonnie smiled at me, before bringing her hand to her temple. "I'm sensing… Seattle. And he plays the guitar." I chuckled before Elena chimed in with, "You're going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, aren't you?" Bonnie bobbed her head with a smile.
"I'll be right back," Elena muttered before marching off and I groaned. Somehow I just knew where she was headed. I trailed off after her, pushing open the boy's bathroom door with a dramatic flair.
When I entered the bathroom, she had her hands all over Jeremy and she was already in lecture mode. "Are you serious right now?" She exclaimed, glaring at him. "It's the first day, Jer! And you're stoned!" Her voice rose as she spoke, and I winced, yikes. This wasn't going to be pretty.
"No, I'm not." Jeremy defended, and I snorted. Yeah, because putting eye drops in your eyes to cover up the glaze totally isn't suspicious at all.
Elena began searching his pockets, "Where is it?!" She demanded. "Is it on you?" Jeremy slapped her hands away and glared heatedly at her. "Oh my God! Just stop okay?!" He exclaimed. "You need to chill out." He fixed her with a steady stare and she looked back in disbelief.
"Okay, why don't we all just calm down, because this is obviously getting us nowhere." I butted in, and I immediately regretted it because Elena whirled on me.
She glared at me, hands planted firmly on her hips. "That's just like you, Corina. Make it seem like I'm the bad one, when I'm only trying to help." I flinched back. How dare she? I wasn't trying to make it seem like everything, I just wanted her to shut the hell up because she was giving me a headache.
"I gave you a summer pass," She turned back to Jeremy. "But I am done watching you destroy yourself. Just so you know, I will be here, to ruin your buzz every time." Jeremy pushed his way past us without another word, and I leaned nonchalantly up against the sink.
That was a total waste of time, we literally accomplished nothing. Elena turned to me with sad eyes, and I narrowed mine at her. I then turned on my heel, and flounced out the bathroom. Unfortunately, I bumped into someone. I raised my eyes up to meet a pair of hazel ones.
"Watch it, buddy." I smiled in a sickly sweet way, before twirling off down the hallway. Something told me that this was going to be an extremely long day.
I didn't really feel like putting up with Elena's drama, if she wanted to ruin Jeremy's grieving process, then she could go right ahead. But I would have no part in it at all. It wasn't even my business in the first place, to be honest. It wasn't Elena's either, but of course she just couldn't let it go.
This was going to be a hard year.