Pilot
I woke up and stared at the ceiling. Without looking at the clock, I knew that it was six in the morning. I heard Elena starting her shower. I could hear Aunt Jenna in the kitchen, fumbling around with the coffee maker. I couldn't hear anything from Jeremy's room, but I knew he was still sleeping. But none of this was what I wanted to hear.
I wanted to hear my parents in the kitchen, bantering over who got to make what for breakfast. I wanted to hear my mom insist that dad make the coffee and she make the chocolate chip pancakes that she always made for us on the first day of school. I wanted to hear my dad say that she should make the coffee and he should make us his famous ham and cheese omelets.
I sighed, feeling the tears welling up in my eyes again. I didn't want the pain anymore. I wanted my parents back, I wanted everything to be ok again.
I reached over to my bedside table and opened the drawer. I dug around for a minute before I found what I was looking for. I looked at the small little razor blade in my hand before adding another cut to my wrist. I grimaced at the pain, then watched, somewhat fascinated as the blood started oozing from the cut. I brought my wrist up to my lips and licked the blood away so I wouldn't have to deal with bloody tissues. Jenna had almost caught me a few times that way.
The familiar metallic taste washed over my tongue and I sighed before reaching back into my drawer and finding the pack of cigarettes I kept in there. I pulled one out and stuck it in my mouth while digging around for my lighter as well. I pulled it out and walked across the room to my bay window. I opened it and felt a warm breeze wash in. I sat on the bench in the window and lit my cigarette.
A few minutes later, I felt calmer, felt like I might actually be able to handle the day. My wrist had finally stopped bleeding and the nicotine from the cigarette calmed me. I sighed and closed my eyes, leaning back against the wall, letting my cigarette dangle from my fingers outside the window. I smiled.
"Yes, Jeremy? Would you like something?" I asked, my eyes still closed.
"Ashlee, it is really creepy how you can do that." Jeremy said, walking into my room. I grinned at him, opening my eyes.
"It's a gift." I smirked. I saw Jeremy's eyes glance at my hand outside my window. I held up the cigarette, offering it to him. He sat down next to me and took a few drags on my cigarette.
"Feel better?" I asked.
"Yeah." Jeremy sighed.
"I'm not looking forward to going to school today. It's the last place I wanna go." I told Jeremy.
"So skip. Nothing happens on the first day anyway." Jeremy shrugged his shoulders.
"That sounds like a really good idea." I replied. "Care to join?"
"Nah, I'm gonna show up. I've got a couple of friends I wanna hang with." He replied.
"Ooo, like Vicky…" I teased. He pushed my shoulder.
"Shut up."
"Hey, it's ok, I know you've slept with her. No big deal, dude." I smirked at him.
"What? How do you know? Did she tell you?"
"She's my best friend, of course she told me. But don't worry, I won't tell." I promised.
"Thank you." Jeremy sounded relieved.
"You don't need Elena and Matt coming down on you anyway. Elena's being enough of a control freak as it is." I sighed, putting out the cigarette.
"Tell me about it." Jeremy shook his head.
"Alright, out of my room. I need to get dressed." I began pushing Jeremy towards the door.
"I thought you were going to skip." Jeremy protested on his way out the door.
"Maybe after the first few periods." I replied, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him back towards me for a minute. "I'm running low on weed, gotta get some more." I whispered in his ear.
"I'll let you know who I can find." Jeremy turned around and smiled at me.
"Thanks bro." I smiled back, before shoving him into the hallway and slamming the door in his face.
"Not nice!" he yelled through the door.
"You'll live!" I yelled back. Jeremy and I had always been close, and became closer after our parents died, due to our similarities in coping abilities.
As I began digging through my closet, looking for something to wear, I heard Elena get out of the shower.
"Ashlee, the bathroom's all yours." She yelled through my door.
"Thanks, Elena." I yelled back as I finally settled for a black mini skirt, black knee high combat boots, and a dark red tank top with a black leather jacket.
As I walked into the bathroom, I put a small, simple diamond stud in my nose and quickly added some eyeliner and mascara. It was simple and understated. I ran my fingers through my slightly wavy blonde hair that fell to the middle of my back, and fingered the purple streaks that I had Jeremy dye for me a few weeks ago. I smiled.
I was starting over this year, as someone else. I was done with the preppy cheerleader I had been before. I grinned at the girl in the mirror. I wasn't going to put up with people's shit this year, and if they don't like that, too bad.
I walked into the kitchen after Jeremy as Aunt Jenna turned to all of us and said,
"Toast. I can make toast."
"It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna." Elena said, pouring herself a cup.
"Is there coffee?" Jeremy asked, before walking over and taking the cup out of Elena's hand. I brought over two more cups and handed them to Elena.
"It's your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared… Lunch money?" Jenna stressed, before handing Jeremy ten bucks. I took one of the cups from Elena and sipped at the scalding hot coffee. "Anything else? A number two pencil? What am I missing?"
"Don't you have a big presentation today?" Elena asked.
"I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at… now. Crap." Jenna pulled her hair loose of its hair tie and gathered her stuff.
"Then go, we'll be fine." I said, dumping my coffee down the sink. I hated the stuff anyway. Jenna forced a small smile before running out the door.
"You okay?" Elena asked Jeremy.
"Don't start." He scoffed before walking past her with his coffee.
"How about you, Ashlee? You going to be alright?"
"Why wouldn't I be, Elena? Everything's just peachy keen, walking on sunshine, and all that happy crap." I rolled my eyes and walked out the door.
As I walked to school, I thought about everything. Elena and I are in the same grade, Jeremy is one year below us. I was born almost exactly nine months after Elena, and Jeremy was a year after me. One year from now, Elena and I would be seniors, then she would probably go off to college, and I had no idea what I'd do. Maybe keep working at the Grill with Vicky. Grow old, maybe get married somewhere along the way. I had no idea. I had no idea what I wanted with my life, or even what I wanted to go to college for. Or if I even wanted to go to college.
A voice interrupted my thoughts.
"Yo, Ashlee!" I turned to see Tyler driving next to me. "Want a lift?" I grinned and hopped into his truck.
"Hi." I smiled as he gave me a small kiss on the lips.
"Hey." He smiled back and began driving again.
With Tyler, it was an on again, off again thing, purely a physical relationship. I knew he had slept with Vicky too, and it didn't bother me. None of us were looking for an actual relationship yet, so flings here and there was it. Plus one drunken threesome over the summer. I'm not getting into that though. But right now, it was off for me, and on with Vicky, but even that didn't keep him from flirting with me anyway.
We pulled up to the school and Tyler put one arm around my waist, pinching my butt playfully.
"Hey." I grinned, smacking his ass in return. "Come on, let's go find Vicky." We walked around to the back, where I knew Vicky and Jeremy would probably be. And they were.
"Hey, Vick, I knew I'd find you here with the crack heads." He gave her a one armed hug, before turning to Jeremy. "Oh, Pete Whentz wants his nail polish back."
"Pete Whentz huh?" Jeremy was about to make a smart comment back, but I moved out of Tyler's grip and put a hand over Jeremy's mouth.
"No. No fighting." I said, looking between the two of them.
"Yeah, be nice." Vicky agreed. "That's Ashlee and Elena's little brother."
"I know who he is." Tyler replied, turning to Vicky. "I can still kick his ass." He replied, kissing her.
"But you won't." I scolded Tyler. I looked at Jeremy, who just rolled his eyes and watched Tyler and Vicky make out.
I gently smacked his cheek and held out my hand. He glanced at me, then handed me his blunt. I took a few drags then handed it back, before digging into my bag to find the pain pills I had snuck out of the house. I popped two into my mouth, then gave Jeremy a quick hug, said goodbye to Tyler and Vicky, promising to meet up with them for lunch, then headed inside.
I passed Caroline on my way into the bathroom. She tried to give me a hug and ask how I was. I brushed her off, told her not to expect me at cheerleading practice and walked into the bathroom. I pulled out my eye drops and looked in the mirror before tilting my head up and letting a few drops fall into each eye.
"Ashlee!" I heard Elena's voice enter the bathroom. I sighed.
"Wha-" I was cut off as she grabbed my face and looked into my eyes.
"It's not even first period and you're already stoned. Look, everyone gave us a free pass last year, they're not going to do it again this year."
"I know that, Elena. I'm not looking for a free pass."
"Where is it? Is it on you?" Elena began digging through the pockets in my jacket, then reached for my bag.
"Hey, hey! I don't have anything on me. Just leave me alone, Elena." I pulled my bag onto my bag and started for the door.
"No!" Elena yelled, grabbing my arm. "I let you do what you want over the summer, Ashlee, I'm not going to sit here and let you destroy yourself anymore. This isn't you." I turned to Elena and leaned close.
"Well, it is now." I growled, before ripping my arm out of her grip and storming out of the bathroom. In the hallway, I ran into Jeremy, and handed him my eye drops.
"Be careful, Elena's on the do-gooder war path." I warned him, before walking to class.
I sat down next to Matt in first period History with Mr. Tanner. I hated Tanner, he was a major douche, and I planned on making his class hell for him if at all possible. I grimaced when Elena and Bonnie walked in, and instantly wished I had skipped. I decided that if nothing had become interesting my third period, I was out. I put my head down on the desk and fell asleep, only waking up when the bell rang.
"Miss Gilbert," I heard Tanner say as I walked towards the door. I sighed and turned to face him.
"Yeah, what do you want, Tanner?" I asked.
"It's Mr. Tanner, and I wanted to let you know that if you sleep through another one of my classes, I'll have to give you detention."
"But, Mr. Tanner," I began sarcastically. "Your lectures just help me sleep so much better than when I'm at home." I smirked, then left the classroom, ignoring him calling my name. I walked out of the school, stopped by the stoner's circle to pick up some weed before I left, then walked away without looking back.
A few minutes later, I arrived at my destination: Mystic Falls Cemetery. I walked deep into the cemetery before coming to a stop at my parent's graves. I sighed and sat down in front of their tombstone. I rolled a blunt, lit it and sighed, staring at the tombstone.
I really missed my parents, though there was no way I was going to show it at school. I missed the smell of my dad's cologne in the mornings, the way my mom smiled whenever I made a stupid joke. I missed it all. I could feel the tears beginning to roll down my face. I put out my blunt and fell asleep leaning against the tombstone that faced my parent's graves.
"Ashlee!" Someone yelled in my ear.
"What?" I whined, opening my eyes to see Elena's angry face.
"You ditched school? On the first day?"
"Do you really think I wanted to put up with people asking me how I felt? No. So I left. What's the big deal?" I shrugged.
"What's the big deal?" Elena gasped. "The big deal is that you're throwing your life away."
"Whatever Elena. I'll see you at home." I pushed her away and walked off.
That night, I sat on the couch, playing a video game on my laptop when Elena walked through.
"I'm meeting Bonnie at the Grill." Elena said to Jenna.
"Ok, have fun. Wait. I've got this." Jenna turned. "Don't stay out late, it's a school night." Jenna put her hands on her hips, pretending to act like a parent. I snorted my laughter, and both she and Elena turned to glare at me.
"Well done, Aunt Jenna." Elena smiled at her. Jenna smiled back before walking off. "Are you sure you don't want to come, Ashlee? It'll be fun."
"Maybe later. I've got diabolical plans to make." I wiggled my eyebrows.
"Oo, diabolical, huh? About what?"
"Mmm, maybe about the hot guy at the door." I said absent mindedly as Elena opened the door.
"Oh!" I heard Elena gasp. I furrowed my brows and got up. There was a hot guy at the door. How had I known that?
"Sorry, I was about to knock." Hot guy said to Elena.
"Who are you?" I asked, crossing my arms in front of my chest, looking the hot guy up and down, undressing him with my eyes. He was good-looking, that's for sure.
"Um, I'm Stefan Salvatore." He said, putting his hand out for me to shake. I took it and smirked.
"Nice to meet you. Ashlee Gilbert. Elena's younger sister."
"Pleased to meet you." He smiled before turning back to Elena. Feeling unwanted, I turned and walked into the kitchen, looking for something to drink. Realizing there was nothing I wanted, I changed my mind and grabbed my leather jacket again.
"Elena, I'll see you at the Grill." I called out. "Nice meeting you, Stefan." I said, walking past him.
I walked into the Grill and spotted Tyler at the pool tables. Vicky was working, so I waved to her, before heading over to Tyler. I hopped on the side of the pool table, right in front of him.
"Hey sexy." I smiled seductively, crossing my legs and flipping my hair over my shoulder.
"Hey yourself." He smirked back, running a hand up my leg, pushing my skirt up a bit. I smirked, biting my lip.
"Wanna get busy for a bit?" I whispered, running one finger down his neck and chest, before hooking into the front of his jeans.
"I'm free until Vicky gets off work." He grinned.
"Jenna's the only one home." I replied, hopping off the table.
"My truck is right around the corner and both my parents are gone for the night." He countered. I smirked.
"Your place it is then." I grabbed his hand and led him towards the door. We were met by Elena and Stefan.
"Bye, sis. See ya at home." I smirked at her, pushing past her. She just looked surprised, as did Stefan.
"Ashlee?"
"What?" I turned back around.
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Fine." I sighed. "I'll be out to your truck in a minute." I told Tyler. He nodded.
"You and Tyler?" Elena asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"I thought he was with Vicky?"
"He's not with anyone, Elena. It's just a casual fling here and there." I shrugged.
"So you and him? Have before?" She looked almost offended.
"God, Elena. Where do you think I was all summer?" I asked her. Her mouth opened into and "O" shape, and Stefan just looked at the floor. "See ya, Stefan." I smiled, before turning and going to meet Tyler.
The next day, I daydreamed in Tanner's class. I was high as a kite and a little bit tipsy, though, I didn't think Tanner noticed. I was wrong.
"Ashlee? Any contributions?" Tanner asked me.
"What?" I asked, coming out of my daydream about the night before with Tyler.
"The Battle of Willow Creek. Deaths? You would know if you weren't daydreaming, Miss Gilbert."
I nodded profusely. "Lotsa deaths, sir. Many, many peoples were killed, sir." I slurred, before leaning back in my seat and smiling, satisfied with my answer. He sighed as half the class giggled. I noticed Elena staring at me, appalled. Stefan, Bonnie and Matt were all giving me weird looks as well. I looked back at them all.
"What?" I asked.
"Try coming to class sober next time, Miss Gilbert. Until then, principal's office." Tanner handed me a pink slip.
"You got it Tanner, my man." I took the slip and punched his shoulder. "Peace out, dude." Tanner glared back at me as I stumbled out of the room and down the hall. I stopped in the bathroom to vomit.
I leaned my head against the cool wall of the bathroom stall and sighed. This was going to be a long day. I closed my eyes for a moment and all of a sudden, I pictured a crow, then a really hot guy with amazing blue eyes, that suddenly turned red. He flew at me, fangs bared. I jolted upright.
Fangs? Red eyes? I rubbed my eyes, thinking it must be the drugs. I shook my head and got up from where I had been on my knees. I pulled out a pair of sunglasses and walked out of the bathroom, only to be pushed up against the wall by Elena.
"What were you thinking? Coming to class completely stoned?" She shrieked in my face. I grimaced at the loud noise and waited a second before answering.
"Elena, let me live my life, and I'll let you live yours. Now please let me be. Go write in your diary or something." I sighed.
"No!" Elena said. "Everyone is done giving us free passes, you need to deal with it. Mom and dad are dead. We need to move on and get over it, everyone else has. This," She gestured to me. "Is not you. You need to sober up and straighten up, Ashlee. You're going to ruin your life."
"So let me. It's my life, Elena, not yours!" I pushed her away from me and stalked off down the hall, and out the doors.
I hung out at the falls all day until the party started. Vicky texted me during lunch, asking where I was. When I told her, she showed up and brought food, which I was thankful for, since I hadn't brought any myself and the high was wearing off.
I told her all about how Elena was on my ass about ruining my life, and Vicky just laughed.
"Matt's like that too, only at home though."
"I wish it was just at home. Elena busts my ass everywhere. She caught me coming out of the bathroom from puking today. Actually shoved me up against the wall."
"Damn." Vicky whistled.
"Yeah." I laughed. "I can't stand her. I'm just glad Jeremy understands. He's the only one that does."
"Hey, at least your brother is cool. Mine keeps staring after Elena all day, hoping she'll come back to him."
"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon. She seems pretty happy with the new guy."
"Oh yeah, he's hot. Who is he?" Vicky smirked.
"Stefan Salvatore." I smirked back. "Though I don't think either of us will get anywhere with him. He seems pretty smitten with Elena as well."
"Darn, that's a waste of some fine ass." Vicky and I laughed.
"Yeah it is." I agreed.
"Hey, I should get back to school. You coming?" Vicky asked, standing up.
"Nah." I replied. "I think I'll start my perfect attendance record next week." Vicky laughed before leaving.
Most of the school showed up to the party that night. I had even run home for a bit to change, and luckily, had avoided all family members on the way. I was now dressed in a black dress, black leggings, black platform heels and my black leather jacket. I sat on a fallen log next to Tyler, where we made out for a bit before I stumbled off to find more drinks.
When I got back, Tyler was gone, so I decided to take a walk in the woods. I stumbled around for a bit, then just sat down when I got too dizzy from the alcohol. I sipped at the beer in my hand. I sighed and closed my eyes for a few minutes.
Suddenly I felt something cool around my ankles. My eyes flew open to see a white mist curling around my feet and around the floor of the forest. I got a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and I bolted up from where I was sitting. I began to run back towards the falls when I heard a crow caw. I turned for a second, then tripped over something. I glanced back to see what I had tripped over and gasped. It was a body. It was Vicky's body.
"Vicky? Vicky!" I shrieked. I looked around and saw a guy in the mist. "Call for help!" I yelled to him.
Then all of a sudden, he was in front of me. All I saw were blue eyes turning red before he lunged forward and bit into my neck. I screamed at the pain and tried to shove the monster away as I became more and more light headed. All of a sudden, he was gone, and I was left whimpering on the ground.
Then I heard voices.
"Jeremy, where the hell are you going?" I could hear Elena's voice.
"I don't wanna hear it." I heard Jeremy reply, before he tripped and fell on top of Vicky. "Vicky? No, Oh my god, it's Vicky." Jeremy gasped. Then he spotted me curled up against a tree. "Ashlee?"
"Oh my god, Ashlee!" I heard Elena as she ran over to me. "What happened?" I just whimpered in reply.
All of a sudden, Vicky gasped under Jeremy then collapsed back on the ground, passed out again.
"We need to get them to a doctor." Elena said, grabbing me and hauling me to my feet as Jeremy picked up Vicky.
"Somebody help!" Elena yelled as we reentered the party. I could hear people gasping all over the place. Matt and Tyler rushed over, both of them leaning over the picnic table that Jeremy was setting Vicky down on. I kept one hand pressed against my neck to try and stop the bleeding. I had blocked out all the voices and was staring at the table, unresponsive to everyone.
Elena grabbed my face and asked me something, but I couldn't hear her. I just stared, then looked back down at the table. She pulled my hand away from my neck and I hissed in pain. Then all the noises came flooding back in.
"It's their necks, something bit them. They're losing a lot of blood. It's bad." Elena freaked. I shut my eyes tight and worked on blocking everyone out again. Once I did, I could feel a pair of eyes on my back. I opened my eyes and whipped my head around, effectively making the bite on my neck worsen. Just before I passed out from the pain, I locked eyes with a guy across the fire.
It was Stefan Salvatore.
I woke up later that night in the hospital. Elena and Jenna were standing there staring at me.
"Ashlee. Hey, hunnie. Don't try to speak, You've lost a lot of blood. You need your rest." Jenna said and Elena nodded.
"I-I'm sorry." I whispered.
"Shh, you don't have to be sorry. We'll take care of everything once you're better. Just get some rest." Jenna said. "We'll be back in the morning." I nodded and fell back asleep.
Alrighty, well, there's the first chapter. Leave a review, and tell me what you think.
~Jacquline