Chapter 1 – Changes

by Butterfly Boucher

Still don't know what I was looking for

And my time was running wild

A million dead-end streets and

Every time I thought I'd got it made

It seemed the taste was not so sweet

So I turned myself to face me

But I've never caught a glimpse

Of how the others must see the faker

I'm much too fast to take that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

(Turn and face the strange)

Ch-ch-changes

Oh, look out you rock 'n' rollers

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

(Turn and face the strange)

Ch-ch-changes

Pretty soon now you're gonna get a little older

Time may change me

But I can't trace time

I said that time may change me

But I can't trace time.

Monday morning

I woke up to the sound of the incessant beeping of my alarm clock. I groaned and lent over to turn the damn thing off when I rolled forward, hitting the side of my face on the bedside table and landing in a heap on the floor. I was so not going to get used to having a single bed. I let out a deep breath and reached up to turn the alarm off, checking the time. 8:00 am. School started at 8:30. Fuck. I was going to be late, and on my first day as well.

I jumped into the bathroom, washing my face, brushing my teeth and applying a little bit of mascara before brushing my wild hair into a messy braid. I didn't have much time to choose an outfit so I just through on some clean underwear, my jeans from yesterday and a completely unflattering checkered shirt, but at this point I couldn't give a damn. I stuck on my converses, grabbed my school bag and shot out of the house.

I didn't have a car nor did I have any idea where a bus stop was, all I knew is that it would take me at least 10 minutes to get to school on time if I kept running. What a perfect way to start the day.

After almost getting run over TWICE, I finally made it to school, completely out of breathe as I made my way to the front desk to collect my timetable and map. First lesson: History with Mr Saltzman. Suddenly the day didn't seem like it was going to suck seeing as history was one of my favourite subjects. I thanked the lady at the desk and started to navigate my way to my first class.

I reached a corridor lined with classrooms and was completely stumped to which one was my class. I turned to the first door and assumed I was early seeing as no one was here expect for a man sat at the front desk reading through a text book. I gave a small knock at the door and man looked up and gave a small gesture for me to come in.

"Sorry, I'm a little lost. Could you point me in the direction Mr Saltzman's history class?" I gave slight smile and stood awkwardly in the door way.

"Well you're already here." The man beamed at me, stood and offered me his hand. "Alaric Saltzman and you must be my new student, Alice Jenkins." I took his hand firmly giving it a good shake trying to give the impression that I was confident when in reality I just wanted to break-down.

"That's me." I tried to hide my uneasy with a small chuckle at the end. I felt absolutely stupid. I knew my fear was ridiculous; I was never going to settle in if every smile or pair of eyes made me fear for my life. "I'm sorry, I must be really early. Did you want me to…" I pointed to the door behind me, hoping that he would get the idea that I would much prefer to wait outside than have a one-to-one with my new teacher.

"Oh no, that's alright. Class starts in a few minutes anyway and I thought I could just run you through what we have been doing this term and what you have missed so far." He moved around his desk and picked up a folder. "So here is just a summary I what we have been doing as well as notes that I hope you will find helpful." He handed me the folder with a warm smile and suddenly all the uneasy I had was gone.

"Thank you very much, Sir." I smiled back a genuine smile. "Um, so are we continuing with this work today?"

"Actually will be looking into the history of the town seeing as it is Founder's Day in a few weeks. Are you familiar with any of the town's history?"

"Familiar with it?! All my Gran ever used to go on about was the history of the town, so yeah, I do know quite a bit. Although I maybe a bit rusty so hopefully this lesson may help me brush off on a few of my facts." I couldn't contain my excitement, not only because history was my favourite subject, but because we were learning a about something I was already comfortable with and knew a lot about.

"Well, that's brilliant then. So if you want to find a seat and get comfortable because…" Just then the bell went off, indicating that it was the start of the lesson.

I sat at a desk at closest to the window at the front of the class and tried to keep my head down as so many new and unfamiliar faces filled the room. That burst of confidence that I had when talking to Mr Saltzman had fizzled anyway leaving me a nervous wreck as people stared at me. I physically began to shake. Not a noticeable shake, but still one to make me feel sick to my stomach.

As the lesson moved on, I tried to keep my head down as much as possible. Lucky, Mr Saltzman's lesson was more about him talking and explaining things which didn't involve him asking the class or picking on students to answer questions. I took my class notes and the work that was set like any other student, but I couldn't help the feeling of light-headedness that suddenly took over me.

"Alice?"

My head shot up from my work, my eyes now locked with Mr Saltzman whose face was a mix of worry and…horror. It was then I felt something trickling from my nose. I looked down at my book and saw a pool of blood gathering on my work sheets. Shit. Another nose bleed.

"Alice, would you like to excuse yourself a minute, just to clean yourself up?" I looked back up to Mr Saltzman and gave a small nod.

I covered my nose with my hand and walked straight out of the classroom, leaving my bag and work behind, trying to avoid any eye contact. As soon as I got to the bathroom, I made no attempt to clean myself up right away. I just stared at the absolute mess that now covered my face. It wasn't the first time though and I was half expecting a nose bleed of some sort, just not to this extent. I had natural high blood pressure anyway but being under stress always seemed to make them worse. But I hadn't had one this bad in ages…

My tablets. I didn't take them this morning because I was in such a rush to get to school. Damn it. I did my best in cleaning as much as the blood off as possible which was difficult as every time I wiped my nose, more blood trailed out. This was going to take a while.

Just as I had finished up, I jumped at the sound of the bell. Wait, the bell? Had I just spent half a lesson in here? Crap. I bolted for the bathroom door, not looking where I was going and smashed into someone at such a force it knocked me back a bit.

"Oh my… I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" A voice asked.

I looked up into the warm chocolate eyes of a young girl who I recognised from my history class. The history class I had just missed half a lesson of.

"Oh… um, yeah, I'm fine." I said with a small smile. She gave me a warm smile making me feel more comfortable. She was considerably taller than me with tanned skin and long dark hair. "Sorry it was my bad, speeding around corners without thinking..."

"Don't worry about it." She gave me a warm smile making me feel more comfortable. She was considerably taller than me with olive skin and long dark hair. "You're Alice, right, from Mr Saltzman's history class?"

I cringed. "Yeah, that's me. I completely skipped half his lesson. I just..."

She out her hand out and rested it on my shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. I spoke to Mr Saltzman after class. He just wanted me to check you were okay and give you this." She held out my school bag that I had abandoned in the class room in my rush to escape everyone's gaze.

"Thanks."

"Anyway, I'm Elena Gilbert" She held out her hand and I took it without hesitation. "I haven't seen you around here before, have I?"

"Well, I'm Alice Jenkins. I moved here last week to stay with my Gran." I could feel my smile slowly slip from my face. "I didn't exactly have much of a life left back in England, so…"

Elena nodded, seeing that I didn't want to discuss the matter further. "I understand. So, your Gran is Rose Jenkins?"

I looked back at her confused. "Yeah. Do you know her?"

"Well of course! She is like the most well known and loved member of this community. Everybody knows who she is." Elena beamed at me and I found myself smiling back again.

"Elena!" A voice boomed.

I turned in the direction of the voice to see a boy, much taller than myself, with brown hair and piercing green eyes. He stopped just in front, and smiled at me then Elena.

"Hey Stefan, this is the new girl, Alice. Alice this is Stefan, my boyfriend." Elena's eyes seemed to light up at being in the company of Stefan. Cute. Sappy, but cute.

"Nice to meet you Alice" He said extending his hand and again I took hold with a firm grip. But something was different. As soon as I took his hand I felt a cold shock in my hand that travelled up my arm, sending shivers down my spine. I jerked back slightly, but quickly took hold of myself and forced a smile.

Stefan gave me a puzzled look and Elena must have noticed the awkward silent between us as she turned to Stefan. "So… shall we go find Bonnie?"

"Sure. What about Alice? Would you like to tag along, meet some new people?" I felt slightly nauseous under Stefan gaze. I really needed to take my tablets.

"I would love to, but I'm not feeling too great at the moment, I think I might head home. Maybe some other time?" I tried to put on a friendly expression hoping they wouldn't press any further.

"Are you sure? I mean, you can come if you want…" Elena stop mid-sentence seeing my nervous expression. Then she beamed. "I have an idea; how about we meet up at the Grill, tonight? Let's say, 7 o'clock-ish?"

I did want to say no and seem like a complete loser so I put on my best fake smile and nodded.

"Perfect! We will see you this evening then. It was great meeting you." And with that Elena and Stefan walked off hand in hand to their next lesson.

What the hell had I just gotten myself in to?


What did you think?! I toyed around a lot with this chapter because I thought that the introduction to the other characters was rushed and maybe not as well set out, but I am happy with it now. If you have any pointers on my writing style, I would really appreciate it!

Anyway, back to the story. I wanted to point out that this story takes place about half way through season 1 and I intend to try and stick to the main story line, but I can't make any promises as I have big plans and different directions in which I want to take this story. Also, some characters that are suppose to die at the beginning on the season, like Zach, aren't dead yet because I felt that they would be interesting characters to explore as well, plus it fits in with the story. Let me know what you think!