I've heard the same thing over and over again today. At first, it came as a surprise. Like, my mouth dropped open, eyes widened in surprise. Throughout the day though, it kind of just went in through one ear and out the other. Honestly, I don't care about everything this godforsaken town does. Let alone this godforsaken town's godforsaken high school.

There's already no space to breathe in the small establishment in the middle-of-freaking-nowhere Virginia. Now, there's no place to sit in peace ad quiet.

I see my friend come over, her blonde curls bouncing as she strides with a huge grin on her face. "Did you hear?" She asked.

I roll my eyes. Like I really didn't hear about the one thing that literally everyone is talking about. I don't tune everyone out that much. "No, Caroline. I didn't hear what the entire universe is talking about." I say as I keep walking, letting her fall in step beside me, which she does.

She just rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Come on. It's not like your not happy about it," She says, waving a few people that wave to her first as we walk through the crowded hallways.

I want to tune her out, but I have this weird feeling that she's just going to end up seeing that I wasn't listening and repeating everything anyway. "I don't really care about anything related to Stefan Salvatore." I tell her.

She leans her head against the lockers as I open mine to get my stuff for last period. "Oh, you say that now. Remember the time you were just drooling at the sight of him and screeching when he accidentally brushed his arm against yours in the hallway." She says. I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

I close my locker door and turn to her. "I was, first of all, in 8th grade. I literally thought a lot of guys were hot. And second of all, I did not screech, I blushed and bit my lip from holding in a screech," I admitted, a bit quietly so the people that soak up gossip like sponge soaks up water don't hear me.

She laughs and I walk away. She comes up next to me a minute later, probably because she saw someone and started talking to him or her. Caroline Forbes. I don't know what I can say about Caroline Forbes. I'll start with that she's a social butterfly. She talks to anyone and everyone from the stoners to the bitchy cheerleaders and all with a smile on her face.

Both of my best friends are like that. Except, the other one, not always with a smile on her face. As if on cue, my other best friend smirks as she walks over to me. "Did you hear that-" She starts to ask.

I cut her off, not bearing to hear it again. "That Stefan Salvatore came back from living with his aunt and uncle in Texas." I say myself so I can get the words out before she has a chance to.

Katherine Pierce's eyes widen. "Well, okay then," She said, walking beside me. We all come to school together but right after we get books from our lockers we have to separate. I drove us to school today and since we're juniors, we can leave campus to go get lunch as well as seniors.

I would have asked Caroline and Katherine to come with me but all they would talk about was Stefan Salvatore coming back. It was annoying already with the whispers that surrounded me in class that I couldn't handle anymore of it. So I let them stay at school where they could freely about with anyone else they wanted.

The reason behind Stefan Salvatore being a really big deal is a very long story. Seeing as how I really don't want to pay attention to whatever Katherine and Caroline will start blabbing about next I'll tell it. Don't get me wrong, I love them dearly, but after practically spending your whole entire life with them, they can get on you nerves the more they talk about stuff you don't care about.

Okay, back to Stefan. Talk of the town, more so now obviously but even before he left, everyone knew him. Although, everyone didn't just know him, they worshipped him. He was the town's bad boy, plus one of the only starting sophomores on Varsity Football.

That was last year though. He has been arrested for fighting, drinking, vandalizing and many, many other things. He slept with girls who really don't give a shit whether he calls them the day after or not. You know, those slutty, low life, fake Barbie dolls that are pretty much at every high school known to man.

We've never been friends. Unfortunately we've cross paths quite a few times. His brother, Damon is a senior this year. Also, captain of the Football team, which is going to be Stefan's place next year I'm guessing. And, I can't forget to leave this out. He's the world's biggest douche.

Before I get lost even more in thought about him being a big douche, let's get to why he left. His bad behavior is the only reason I can really think of. His parents are well known around here, and that's saying a lot for living in a town where everyone knows everyone. They are very nice people to everyone, especially to they're children and when you're too nice to you children, and they can act out and get away with it.

He was not in school today, but Damon said something to one of his friends that he was back and you know, people just can't keep the freaking mouths shut. Even with all the stuff that I just said about Stefan being a douche and partier, he has one hell of a face.

Oh my god. Did I just say that? Ugh, I hate when I make weird remarks. Especially when I make them aloud, which, yes, is just as embarrassing as it sounds. Anyway, both of the Salvatore brothers are hot. They have these smirks that makes girls panties twist into a knot that a boy scout can't even untie. The eyes that pierce into yours with the brightness they hold. Stefan's are green and Damon's are blue. Stefan's brown, wavy hair just compliments everything about him. The way he'll run his fingers through it and…

UGH! Stop! "Elena," Katherine snaps me out of thought, reluctantly. Apparently, I had this stupid grin on my face.

"I did not!" I retort. The two girls next to me smirk and snicker. "I did not have a 'stupid grin,'" I say, holding up my fingers as air quotes. Which was king of hard since I'm holding a binder.

They both just roll their eyes and walk into our final class together that we all have. History. Fun.

•••••••••••••••••••

It's Saturday morning and the talk of Stefan coming back has died down. It started Thursday when he actually came back and it started to die down yesterday, although, he didn't go to school, which was kind of weird.

I pulled on a Mystic Falls (my tiny ass town) Girls soccer t-shirt that I cut a V-neck into. My Capri workout pants that I use when it's cold out and I want to go run. It's the perfect temperature today. Cold enough where I should wear long pants or long sleeves but hot enough where I should not be layered in clothes.

I grab my phone and my armband that holds my phone while I run. I tie up my sneakers, and start down the stairs. Right as I'm about to leave my house, I dad stops me. "Lena," He says, coming out of the kitchen. "I'm sorry you didn't get to go to your mom's this weekend. I know you were looking forward to seeing her," He says, stuffing his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

My dad is young for having a seventeen year old, fifteen-year-old and 7 year old. My mom and dad had me when they were seventeen. And that means they had my brother when they were nineteen. Lets say that it wasn't such an accident the next time. They liked being parents so they decided to have another child.

8 years later, they have another one. Then five years after, they get a divorce. You do the math. I see the sympathetic look in his eyes. "You don't have to apologize, dad." I say, taking my hand off the front door and walking a bit closer to him. "She decided she wanted to be with her boyfriend this weekend. Can't complain." I say with a shrug.

He smiles sadly. "I'm not so bad to hang out with though, right?" He asks, hanging his arm across my shoulders.

I laugh. "Of course not," I say. "I'm going to go for a run. I'll be back in a bit." I tell him, reaching up and kissing his cheek before walking out the door. I stick my ear buds in my ear and start down my driveway.

Country music blares through the tiny speakers, making everything around me disappear. Some say that's dangerous, listening to loud music while running on the street, I just say it's relaxing. Unfortunately, I underestimated how hot it was, so wearing capris' wasn't a good choice for today.

I ran around my usual path, suddenly stopping when I heard more country music blaring over the ones from my ears. I stop and look over to a large house with a truck and a guy in the driveway.

I start walking to see if I can see his face. He stands up straight from bending over the hood of his truck. I finally recognize the house and realize whom that is standing in the driveway. Him turning around just makes it even clearer.

Stefan Salvatore was back and damn, looking better than ever.

••••••••••••••••••••

Stefan

My truck was shit right now. I haven't got around to fixing it and today seemed like a good day to get started. It was hot as hell but that can be fixed with not wearing a shirt.

I was sweating from where my jeans hung low on my hips, all the way up to my hair. I straightened up and turned to grab my water when I saw her. It took a little while for me to remember her but as soon as her eyes landed on mine, I knew who she was.

Little Elena Gilbert. I smirked at her. She rolled her eyes and slowed to a stop at the end of my long driveway. I jogged down it to meet her. "Damn," I drawled. "Last time I saw you was when you got pissed at me for slamming my locker door loudly when you had a headache." I tell her. That was weird, I know, but it happened.

She shook her head held the earphones in one hand. She was sweating a bit herself. "Last time I saw you, your ass was getting hauled into a police cruiser." She bit back.

I nodded and crossed my arms over my sweaty chest. Her eyes quickly shift back up to my eyes. "Alright," I said nodding. "I thought you don't pass my house when you run," I smirk still and narrow my eyes in confusion.

She just shrugged. "I changed it up a bit." She tells me. "It was a longer way back to my house and I have to get back in shape for soccer." She says, watching her fingers that she is playing with.

I want her to look up at me. I sure as hell don't want her to be uncomfortable or nervous around me. "Okay then," I say after a minute of silence. "I'll see you Monday at school then," I tell her as I back away.

I could feel her staring at me as I walk away and when I got to my truck, I turned to plan on catching her but she was already jogging away.

••••••••••••••••••

Walking into the air-conditioned house felt amazing against my hot, sweaty skin. "How's the truck?" I heard my brother's voice behind me, coming down the steps.

I turn to face him. "Good. Getting a little old though," I say. I haven't seen my brother in a long time. Even if he was that typical older brother that teases you non-stop, he's my best friend.

He just nodded. "You know you've been the talk of the school since you got back?" He told me. Of course I knew. These people didn't know how to keep their mouths shut. My being back isn't that big of a deal anyway.

I shrugged, leaning against the railing of the stairs. "Kind of figured. I mean, what else do they have to talk about?" I asked rolling my eyes. After a few moments of silence, I talked again. "You know who just ran by our house before?" I asked and he shrugged. "Elena Gilbert." I tell him.

Damon nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "Little Elena Gilbert," He said with a small laugh. "I remember chasing her around our yard when I was six and you guys were five." He says, thinking back.

I let out a breathless laugh. "Yeah, she's always hated me." I tell him. "I guess I could see why though. I mean I was a huge dick." I state.

Damon nodded, agreeing with me. "That you were," He says. We sit in silence for a couple minutes. "Well, I'm going to pick up some food, want to come with?" He asked.

I nodded. "Sure, let me just take a quick shower," I say as I jogged up the stairs and into my room. I threw my shirt that I was holding into my hamper and looked around. It was weird being home again. Texas was everything but home. Everyone was so different.

My uncle was there which was probably why I sent there in the first place. He set me straight every time I got myself in trouble, which happened pretty rarely over there. I missed everyone here the more and more I stayed there.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and went into my bathroom to shower. Not five minutes later I was out. I threw on a pair of basketball shorts and black t-shirt and jogged down the steps with my phone in hand and hair still a little wet. "Ready?" Damon asked as I stepped down from the last step.

I nodded and he swung his keys around his index finger as he opened the front door to our house. It was lunchtime on a Saturday so most of the places were going to be crowded.

We pull into the parking lot of the small diner that everyone comes to in this town. Not that there are many other places to go, but still, everyone comes here. I sigh and I unbuckle.

My brother looked over at me. "What?" He asked, taking the keys out of the ignition. I just shake my head.

"Everyone is going to be here. Which means they're either going to whisper or come straight up to me and ask what I was doing in Texas and why did I come back," I tell him.

He shrugs, knowing the same thing. "Then just smile and ignore." He says laughing. I smile and open the door to his truck. We walk in, my head up and ready to face whatever stares are going to come at me.

No surprise, half of the school was there. Mostly juniors and seniors so I knew most of them and most were Damon's friends. He said hi to everyone and right after we walked away, the whispers began.

We ordered food to go but as we were waiting, I saw Elena waiting for her own food. Her car keys and wristlet with a furry puffball keychain were in her hand and she was looking down at her phone. I walk up to her and stand next to her. "Didn't expect to see you here," I say, looking ahead of me.

She turned her head, unfazed of my sneakiness. "Well, I was craving their salad so I needed to come and get one." She told me.

I nodded and looked down at her. "Eating salads now. I remember you stuffing your face with chocolate cake any chance you got," I said with a small chuckle.

Her name was called and she grabbed her food from one of the waiters that brought it out. "Yeah, that was before I started caring about what I looked like and before I started to need to get in shape for soccer," She says and walks away.

I stood their confused. Did I offend her? Because that was the last thing I ever wanted to do. I watched her leave. She got out the door before I left my spot and ran and chased after her. "Elena!" I called, right before she got into her car.

She stood straight from putting the food in. "What?" She called back, leaning her arm against the top of the open door.

I moved toward her. "I feel like I offended you or something. And if I did, please believe me when I say I had no intention of doing so," I apologized quickly. "I was just bringing up random times from when we were kids. I'm sorry," I told her.

She stared at me. I didn't really know what else to say so I just stared back into her brown eyes. They seemed kind of confused, probably because I gave the time to apologize to her and apologize at all. I never would have done that.

She shook her head. "It's okay. You didn't. Thanks for the apology," She said and slipped into her car. I watched her drive off and smiled to myself. She was incredibly beautiful and I really don't know how I never saw that before.

••••••••••••••••••

Elena

Stefan took the time to apologize to me. Stefan Salvatore apologized. I couldn't bring myself to understand. Did he change? It doesn't matter because I don't plan on interacting with him so I shouldn't care. Right?

That night, Katherine called me and told me we were going to a party. Didn't ask. Just told. It was a party in the woods like most of the parties here were so I wasn't going to go all out. I just put on light blue skinny jeans and a white t-shirt. I slipped on a black leather jacket with a light scarf that I looped around my neck so that the ends were hanging down but the scarf still circled my neck.

I put on boots that almost reached my knee and were completely flat. I looked myself over in the mirror and shrugged, knowing I'm not doing anything more. I put on some makeup but not full-blown like Caroline did. Her free time consisted of watching makeup YouTube videos and buying more makeup.

I was walking down the stairs when I heard tiny footsteps following behind. My little sister, Brooklyn came running down the steps. "Elena! Can you play dress up with me?" She asked, grabbing onto my hand.

Before I could answer, my dad comes chasing after her. "Brook, Elena is going out today," He said, swinging her up with one arm.

I wanted to say that I would so much rather hang out with my little sister than go to these stupid parties. "I'm sorry, Brooks," I say, using her nickname. My dad set her on the ground and I kneeled down. "But I promise, tomorrow I'm all yours and we will not only dress up but I will do you hair and makeup too." I say to her.

She swung her little arms around my neck and I squeezed her small body. Ever since my mom got a new boyfriend, she's been distant with us and a little seven-year-old girl doesn't deserve to have that. I stand back up and grab my keys from the hoot by the front door. "I have to get going," I say. "Don't know what time I'll be home," I tell my dad and reach up and kiss him on the cheek.

He nodded. "I love you. Be safe," He tells me, kissing my head. I smile and looked up at him.

"I always do," I say and head out to my car. I feel like the only reason my dad can be pretty lenient with what I do, is just because he was a teenage parent and that makes him realize that he was a teenager once. And I think he also knows that I would much rather be kicking a soccer ball or reading a book than going to these parities, so he trusts me.

I drive to Katherine's house, waiting outside her ginormous house that she practically lives in by herself. Her older brother is at Florida State playing lacrosse and her parents are always traveling for work. I beep the car horn and text her because yes, I am that impatient.

She comes out in tight high-wasted skinny jeans and a off the shoulder, long sleeve crop top. She squatted into my Ford Fiesta. I loved my car. It was the perfect size for me, not too small but not too big. "Hey," She said, closing the door after sliding into the seat.

I smiled and started backing out of her driveway. "So, I heard Stefan is going too," She hinted. I rolled my eyes, and gripped the wheel.

"And why would I care?" I ask, trying not to say it through gritted teeth. She raised an eyebrow at me.

Katherine shook her head smiling. "I know you care. Deep down, somewhere you're probably wondering how this night will play out and if there's any chance you guys are going to end up making out or something," She laughed at herself.

I sighed as I pulled onto the dirt road that goes off the highway. There were many cars going in as well so it took a while. Katherine didn't live too far from the lake. "I'm not going to answer that," I say and unbuckle my seatbelt. I unplugged my phone from the wire that was plugged into the USB in my car.

We walked toward where there were kegs in the beds of people's pickup trucks. I moved my eyes around when I saw Caroline's boyfriend, Tyler standing with Caroline and…

Oh no. Stefan and Damon Salvatore. Of course Katherine dragged me over there. She has a crush on Damon but also because Caroline was over there. I was going to pull back and I say I wanted a drink first but they were standing right next to a keg in the bed of Damon's truck and a cooler.

We make it over to them and my hear it racing pretty fast. "Hey," Caroline said to us first. Stefan's back was facing us and when he turned he showed off his perfect smirk.

Katherine stopped next to Tyler and I ended up in between her and Stefan. "Hi," She said to all of them.

Elena sighed as Katherine smirked at Damon. She knew how this night would end for them and she fought the shudder that went through her. "I need a drink," I say, moving through the little circle to the truck bed where the keg was. I pumped it some before putting some in my cup. I couldn't have too much tonight because I'm driving home.

They were all talking but I kind of zoned out and leaned against the truck, watching the sun make its last appearance before it goes behind the mountains. "Hey," I heard softly from beside me.

I smiled and clutched my cup a little tighter. "Hey," I say to him. Stefan stood there in jeans that made his ass look…just wow. And a long sleeve, quarter buttoned shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing his forearms. My biggest weakness.

He held his cup out in front of him, his whole body just relaxed. "I remember when we were 11, you watched the sunset everyday in the summer. When we were at the beach or something you always made sure you saw it. I never knew what the big deal was, I mean it's a ball of fire, but I realized that it was important to you," He explained.

I looked to him and then over his shoulder where no one was. I guess they all branched out. "I was having a rough summer," I said quietly, looking into my still full beer cup. "How was Texas?" I asked before the silence could get anymore awkward.

He scoffed and nodded. "Nothing compared to this place," He said. I didn't agree with him. At all. How could he like this place? It's small, quiet, nothing happens.

I furrow my brows and narrow my eyes. "You like it here?" I ask what I was thinking inside my head.

He nodded and waved his arm in front of him. "These nights, they don't happen in Texas. Especially where I was. The parties were held at huge houses that were nowhere near lakes. There weren't even swimming lakes available." He said. "Yeah, this town is small, but you don't realize how much you appreciate that until you go to a big town where you barely even know your neighbor." He said, looking over at me.

It wasn't until then I caught myself staring at his profile while he talked. When his green eyes locked on my brown ones, I snapped out of my trance with a slight jolt. "I don't know if I can handle this town anymore." I say. "Everyone knows your business, or everything at least thinks they know your business." I tell him.

He nods. "But still, living in a big town is not all it's cracked up to be." He said with a slight chuckle.

I shrug and finally take a sip of my beer. "Ugh, I don't know why I drink this," I mutter, placing it on the open tailgate.

Stefan laughs and takes a sip of his own. "Beers better here too, believe it or not," He said. I laugh, shaking my head. We stood in silence for a few more minutes. "You want to see something?" He asks suddenly.

I cock my head to the side. "What?" I ask, a smirk playing at my lips. "You know what? Sure," I say, not going to overthink it anymore.

He smiled and placed his beer down. He took my hand to start pulling me toward the woods. I guess I tensed when we went into the wood because he squeezed my hand and whispered. "It's okay," I felt his breath on my ear and I almost melted.

We walked up a big hill once we reached a path. As we started to come to a stop, I saw probably what he wanted me to see. There were lights, buildings, and brightness. You saw the little town of whatever from the top. It felt amazing.

•••••••••••••••

Hey everyone, I know I haven't posted on my other stories in a while but I'm in such writers block. So, I decided to just make a new story that i will probably end up running out of ideas for. Anyways, here's a new story, I hope you guys enjoy! Oh and by the way, I know this is a really annoying cliffhanger but I didn't feel like writing anymore so I left it at that. LOL. Okay, hope you enjoyed this!:)