Chapter One: Friday Night Bites

So, I guess tonight is the night I face reality for the first time in three months.

Three months ago, I left my home town; Mystic Falls. I convinced my aunt Jenna to let me go to Michigan for a special nursing program over the summer, but the real reason I wanted to go to Michigan was because I had to get away from the fact that my parents were dead.

There was this car crash that happened at the beginning of the summer where they spiralled off the road over Wickery Bridge. My twin sister, Elena, was also in the car at the time, but she managed to survive, thankfully. I don't think I could survive without my twin, even if she was ridiculously annoying. Because we were identical twins, it was usually hard for people to tell us apart, so we came up with an agreement to wear our hair in different styles, so people knew who was who. Her, having more patience, agreed to keep her hair straighten, and I left my hair in it's natural, curly, condition.

I thought I could run away from my parents death, but summer came to an end and it was time for me to return to my family. Initially, I had planned on getting to Mystic Falls for the first day of school, but then my plane got delayed and I'm just getting here now.

Even though I had been away for a few months, I had kept in contact with Elena and got all the juicy gossip that was happening; including the hot new guy at school, who she was now dating. Stefan, I think his name was. Anyways, I think it's nice that she is getting to be happy again, even though I don't support her choice in ending things with Matty.

Well, here I am. Waiting outside the door of my childhood home, trying to build up the courage to let myself in. What if Jeremy hates me? He wasn't happy that I left right after our parents death, not even attending their funeral. What if he won't forgive me?

I was about to turn around and maybe put off this whole altercation, until I was ready to accept the fact that people would be upset with me for just leaving. But that might not be in a while. Ehh, I could get away with it.

Just as I was going to make my escape the door opened and before I knew it I was being crushed by my auburn haired aunt and the squeal that came out of her mouth was very weird.

"It'd be nice to breathe, you know?" She was squeezing so tight i thought my lungs were going to collapse. She quickly let me go, allowing the air to finally fill my lungs. Ah, air is good.

"I missed you so much. Get in here." She said and pulled me into the house by my arm, whilst my other arm was dragging my suitcase behind me.

"When did you get so pulley?" I mean this women had a stone hard grip.

"When you went to Michigan for three months." I was practically her best friend. We gossiped together all the time, and told each other things you wouldn't necessarily talk about with your parents.

"Josie?" I heard a familiar voice. Well, it should be familiar; it was basically mine.

"Hey, sis." I waved awkwardly. "Surprise." I hadn't told anybody I was planning on coming back to Mystic Falls. I figured if I didn't tell anybody, then I could back out if I wanted to, but I guess it's a little too late for that now.

"Oh my god!" She ran up to me and hugged me. "You guys are aware that humans need oxygen, right? Or is that just a foreign concept?" Jesus, these people need to learn that hugging doesn't always mean strangling.

"Sorry." She said, sheepishly. I noticed Jeremy walking by, not even seeing I was there.

"Hey, pothead!" I called, and he actually turned around. Hmm, that is definitely a concern.

"Should I be concerned that you actually responded to that?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Oh, Josie. Hi." Are you kidding me? Is he seriously high right now?

"This is what's been happening while I was gone?" I turn to Jenna, who was now our legal guardian.

"Don't look at me. Try getting him to listen to anything. It's like talking to a wall." Jenna shrugged.

"Hmm, let's see if I can fix that." I challenge and then turn back to my druggy little brother. "Listen here, little Gilbert. You better get your little hormonale, stoned, ass up to your room and hope to god I didn't bring my bat with me back from Michigan."

His eyes widen immediately and he looks to Jenna for help. "Don't look at me. I've learned my lesson in trying to get in between you guy's fights." Jenna told him, not getting involved in what was soon going to be an altercation between me and him. This wasn't much of a surprise, me and him were always getting in fights, but we were also ridiculously close. However, I don't know how close I'll be with this new Jeremy.

"Whatever. I'm going to sleep, anyways." He exited the conversation, walking up the stairs.

"Oh, since you're here Josie, maybe you can help me with this dinner I'm having tonight with Bonnie and Stefan." Elena suggested.

"The new boyfriend. Well, I need to meet him anyways, so why not." I said, cracking my knuckles.

"Don't be to hard on him. He's a good guy. Now, I just have to convince Bonnie."

"Bonnie doesn't like him? Oh, sis, that's not a good sign. Bonnie loves everybody." Bonnie was like that girl that always looked out for her friends no matter what.

"She's been going through this thing where her Grams has been trying to convince her she's like a witch and I think she's actually starting to believe it."

"Well, since you two are having friends over, I think I'm gonna go up to my room and binge watch Friends." Jenna interrupted.

"Right after this dinner is over, expect me to be up there with you." I told her, considering Friends was one of my all time favorites.

"I'll have a tub of your cookie dough ice cream waiting for you." She said, before disappearing up to her room.

I decided to be the nice twin and help Elena pour all the take out she bought into bowls, but the doorbell rang. "That's Bonnie." Elena told me.

"I'll get it. Let's see if she can tell the difference." I smirked, earning a playful smile from my sister.

"You really know how to give people a hard time, don't you?" She laughed.

"And I take pride in it." I say before going to answer the door. As soon as I opened it I mustered up my best Elena voice, which wasn't hard considering we had the same voice.

"Finally, I need help emptying take out into cute bowls, so people Stefan thinks I actually made it." I said. I really thing I should go into acting. Like come on. You can't buy this kind of talent.

"No way! You're back!" She exclaimed, pulling me into a quick hug.

"What are you talking about? Oh you should remind me to buy Josie a present, I think she really deserves it after all that bullying I did to her as a child." I continued the act.

"I know it's you Josie. You're a horrible actor." She laughed off.

I gasped in shock, that she would lie to me like that. "How dare you Bennett? According to popular belief I am the best actor in this household."

"Which isn't saying much." She joked. "So when did you get back."

"Um like an hour ago. It was kind of a surprise."

"Can you guys get over here and help me get this food in the bowls?" Elena yells from the kitchen.

Bonnie turns to me and says, "You weren't lying, were you?"

"Bonnie Bennett, do I ever lie?" I say crossing my arms.

"Do you really want me to answer that question." She asked.

"Mmm probably not." I shrugged and we walked into the kitchen together.

"You know putting it in fancy bowls isn't fooling anyone." Bonnie said once she saw what my poor sister was doing. I jumped up on the counter.

"Ok, serving spoons. Where are the serving spoons?" My sister asked herself as she ignored Bonnie's comment.

"Middle drawer on your left." Bonnie said, in a monotone voice. Creepy.

Elena opened up the drawer Bonnie said the spoons were in and surprise, surprise, there were the serving spoons.

"Ooo witchy." I commented, but Bonnie sent me glare.

"To soon?" I guessed.

"That doesn't mean anything. You've been in this house a bunch of times." Elena was clearly not believing this witch stuff.

"So what, you live here and you didn't even know where they were." I told Elena.

"Josie's right." Bonnie agreed. The bell rings.

"That's Stefan. Don't be nervous. Just be your normal, loving self." Elena told Bonnie before turning to me, "And you...don't be weird."

I gasped, "Me, weird? Never." She gave me a pointed look before heading off to let her boyfriend in.

"Birthday candles." Bonnie said to herself, before opening up one of the drawers that held the birthday candles.

"So cool."

My sister is officially the worst dinner host in the world. Everyone was sitting at the table eating in complete silence. The only sound in the room was the sound of silverware clustering against plates.

"So, um. Anyone want to fill the silence with actual words before I decide to claw my eyeballs out of their sockets out of boredom." I said casually. But i meant every words of it. I was beyond bored. Not how I imagined spending my night back.

"Bonnie why don't you tell Stefan about you're family." Elena suggested.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Bonnie, said in a dismissive tone. I sent her my best glare, but she just brushed it off.

"No about the witches." Elena pushed. At least her pushiness is coming in handy.

"Yeah, Bonnie's ancestors were witches and it's super cool." I added.

"Cool isn't the word I'd use."

"That's because you need to expand your vocabulary." I retorted.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s." Stefan told us, cooperating in the conversation.

"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie corrected.

Stefan seemed to be surprised by this and then told her that he heard pretty cool things about Salem witches. Well, he didn't exactly say that, but he said something along those lines and seemed to hook Bonnie and hopefully win her over.

I have to admit, Stefan's a pretty cool dude. He even got my name right and didn't call me Elena by accident.

The doorbell rang, interrupting the dinner. "Who else did you invite?" I asked, getting up from my seat. She shook her head before I walked off the to the door. As soon as I opened it i was presented with one of the hottest guys I've seen in a long time. He had these capturing ice blue eyes and dark, raven hair. And just from looking at him I could tell he was ridiculously fit. I was so caught up in looking at this guy that i barely recognized my perky blonde friends that was standing next to him.

"Oh my god, Josie!" She ran in to the house and tackled me with a hug, while she held a box with her other hand.

"Hey, Care." I said and she released me. "I didn't know you were coming back." She said.

"It was a surprise." I told her.

"I don't believe we've met." The guy Caroline brought said, pulling my attention back to him.

"Um, I'm Josephine, Elena's twin sister." I introduced.

"That's Stefan's brother, Damon." Caroline said, for him.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan said, appearing behind me.

"Waiting for Josephine to invite me in." Damon said, with a smirk presented on his face. I have to admit it was pretty hot, but the way Stefan was looking at him gave off the impression that he was bad news.

"Oh, Damon, Caroline. I didn't know you were coming." Elena said as she joined us at the entrance.

"Bonnie told me you were having dinner, so we brought dessert." Caroline told her, holding up her box of dessert.

"Oh, okay. Damon you can come…" She was about to invite him in, but Stefan interrupted her.

"No, no, no. We were just finishing up." He must really not like his brother.

"It's fine you can just come in." Elena said, before walking back into the kitchen leaving us at the door. Damon let his foot cross the threshold with a smirk still on his face, but it was directed at Stefan.

As he walked in he brushed himself against my body, making unwanted shivers shot through my body. By the look on his face, I knew he saw the reaction he caused.

"You have a lovely home, Josephine." He complimented as he looked around.

"Ugh, please don't call me that. I hate that name. You can call me Josie." I told him.

"Okay, Josie." he nodded letting his eyes rest on me for a second.

After eating Caroline's cake we all moved to the living room. Damon took the love seat and Caroline took his lap. Ugh, they seriously need to get a room. Stefan and Elena both sat on the couch and I sat on the arm of the couch next to Elena. Bonnie decided to stick to the chair that was positioned across from the couch.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it." Caroline encouraged Stefan.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it." Damon said, finishing his big inspirational speech that everyone in the room could tell was complete crap; including me, whose been keeping a close eye on him and from the not so secret glances he's been sending my way, he was doing the same.

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines." Caroline said, and I could see that this wasn't going to end well, because Caroline has always been the jealous type despite having a big heart.

"I'll work with her. She'll get it." Bonnie defended.

"I guess we can put her in the back. It'd be so much easier if Josie didn't quite the team. She was so good at teaching people the numbers last minute. Now that you're back you can join the team again." Caroline brought up. Once upon a time I use to be way more into cheer leading then Elena was, but now I don't think it's my thing anymore.

"I wouldn't hold my breath." I mumbled.

"You two don't really come off as the cheer leading type." Damon pointed out and Elena was going to come up with something to say, but Caroline beat her to it. This should be good.

"Oh, it's just 'cause their parents died. Yeah, I mean, they're just totally going through a blah phase. They used to be way more fun." Everybody looked at her with complete shock. What is this woman thinking. Maybe she's getting pot from Jeremy. She finally realized that she shouldn't have said that, but she knew she couldn't take it back so she said, "And I say that with complete sensitivity." Yeah, cause that makes it all better.

"Um, I'm gonna go do the dishes." I excused myself.

When I got into the kitchen I started loading dishes into the dishwasher until there were only a few dishes left in the sink. I was about to close it anyways until someone entered the kitchen.

"One more." Damon said holding out a cup. I went to grab it, but it quickly slipped through it fingers. I prepared myself for the sound of glass shattering, but Damon caught it before it hit the ground.

"Thanks." I said before grabbing the cup from him and rinsing it out.

"I'm sorry about your parents. I know what it's like to lose someone you love." He said sincerely. I didn't know what to say; that was the last thing I thought he'd say, so just gave him an understanding nod.

"Who'd you lose?" I asked curiously. He seemed surprised by this question, but nonetheless, he answered.

"The woman I loved, her name was Katherine." He answered truthfully.

"Oh, yeah. Elena told me about her. She was Stefan's ex. How'd she die?" I asked another question as I went to put the cup in the dishwasher, but Damon took it from my hands and put it in the dishwasher for me.

"A fire. It was a while ago." I nodded her head sympathetically before closing the dishwasher.

"I don't want to jump to conclusions or anything, but you don't seem to like me very much." Damon brought up. It was true. I've been keeping my guard up ever since he showed up. He gives me bad feeling in my gut.

"I don't know you." I explained simply.

"I think we'd be great friends." Damon said enthusiastically.

"You don't know me either." I pointed out.

"You remind me of someone." He told me.

"Let me guess, does her name start with a 'K' and rhyme with 'Patherine'?" I guessed sarcastically, making Damon chuckle.

"Nice guess."

I started the dishwasher and was going to walk away, but decided to turn back around and found Damon was already looking at me.

"I'm sorry about Katherine. I know what it's like it lose someone you love." I repeated his words and left before seeing his reaction.

As I promised, I went up to Jenna's room after everyone left and ate my ice cream as we watched Friends.

"Ugh, how can he expect her to just forgive him. They were broken up for what? 2 hours before he just slept with any other girl. And he wasn't even going to tell her!" I exclaimed, getting angry with the show even though I've seen this episode a thousand time.

"Exactly! He deserves to be dumped." Jenna agreed.

I stuffed a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth, "How was the dinner?" She asked me.

"Well, it was take out so, better than if Elena actually tried to cook." I joked.

"Yeah, she can not cook for the life of her."

"I found out Stefan has a mega hot older brother, but he gives off this weird dangerous vibe." I told her.

"What about Tyler?" She asked.

"Tyler can go fall in a well for all I care. Plus, I don't like Damon or anything, I can just recognize good looks when I see them." Tyler was my ex. Also one of the reasons I wanted to leave Mystic Falls. A couple days after my parents died, before their funeral, I found him and Vicki in bed together. It's the reason I left before going to mom and dad's funeral.

"You're right. No guys this year. They are merely distractions."

(Dream)

Josephine was laying in her bed watching Friends on her T.V. enjoying the fact that the dinner was over. She looked over to see what time it was, but instead of finding her digital clock she found Damon laying next to her looking at her.

"What are you doing here, Damon? I thought you left?" She asked, seeming surprisingly calm.

"Why would I leave?" He asked rhetorically, with a smirk before leaning towards her mouth and capturing her lips in his. She willingly moved her lips along with his and let him push himself on top of her.

He started kissing down her jaw to her neck and them all of a sudden she felt the sharp pain enter her neck.

"Ow." She flinched making him move his head to look at her, but what she saw scared her more then the pain in her neck. His face wasn't...normal anymore. The whites of his eyes were red and he had red and grey veins crawling under his eyes. But this wasn't nearly as frightening as the fangs extracted from his teeth.

"Ahhhhhh"