Chapter 2

It was the morning of Senior Portraits day.

Elena critically looked at herself in the mirror for the tenth time in an half hour.

She was wearing one of her fancier white summer dresses and her hair was left down.

She quickly checked her watch.

Crap.

She had about twenty minutes left before she had to be in first period.

Elena sighed and quickly pulled her hair back into a simple ponytail.

That would have to do, she decided.

Elena grabbed her bag and quickly strutted down the stairs.

"Elena, is that what you're wearing to school today?"

Elena sighed as she heard the obvious disdain in her mother's voice and turned around to face her.

"Yes, it is." Elena answered briskly. "Why?"

Jenna Gilbert looked her daughter over critically. "I thought today was the day for senior portraits."

"It is." Elena answered.

"That's what you're wearing?" Jenna's voice was filled with disdain.

"I thought we covered this already, mother." Elena replied. "Yes, this is what I'm wearing, yes it's senior portrait day. I have to go or I'm going to be late. Wouldn't you just hate that?"

"Go," Jenna nodded, put off for the moment.

"Glad to have your permission," Elena said with a roll of her eyes.

"Elena, why do you insist on rebelling against me every chance you get?" Jenna demanded.

"Why do you insist on showing your disappointment in me every chance you get?" Elena shot back.

"I'll stop being disappointed in you when you stop giving me reasons to be disappointed." Jenna responded back harshly.

Elena could feel tears begin to sting her eyes and quickly pushed them back. She could show no weakness, that would only fuel her mother's disappointment in her. It was times like these that she desperately wished that Elijah were home, but he was off away in collage.

"Thanks for the love, mom." Elena responded sarcastically before quickly fleeing out the door, slamming it behind her.

"What was that all about?" Alaric Gilbert asked as he came from the kitchen, a cup of coffee in the hand.

"Oh, the usual." Jenna replied. "I'm the bad guy as usual."

"But of course." Alaric smirked.

"Is it just too much to ask for our daughter show a little ambition? To take the proper steps into being the kind of daughter we raised?" Jenna asked with a sigh.

The smirk fell from Alaric's face and it was replaced with disappointment. "I don't know, baby. Sometimes I think you didn't give birth to her at all."

Elena practically sped to school and the car squeaked as it came to a stop, nearly hitting someone in her rage.

"Geez, Elena what the hell!" Viki yelled in shock.

Elena sighed, the state she was in she'd go off on Viki even when she was the one in the wrong.

"Sorry about that," Elena said briskly as she got out of her car.

"Sorry?" Viki's eyes were still wide from the near death experience. "You nearly killed me!"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Vik stop being so over dramatic." She slung her bag over her shoulders. "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

With that, Elena took off leaving Viki to gaze after her friend in shock.

Elena entered the school building and ran smack into Stefan.

"Mr S," Elena muttered, feeling all of her senses just fade away at the mere sight of him.

Stefan steadied the girl who nearly crashed the both of them to the ground again. "Elena," He said with a slight smirk. "I thought we talked about this."

Elena nodded. "We did and you're just messing with me again, right?"

Stefan smiled before shaking his head. "Actually not this time." The smile fell and it was replaced with slight worry. "I saw what happened in the parking lot."

The color drained from Elena's face. "No one was hurt!" She blurted out in defense.

Stefan shook his head and gave her a scolding look. "That's not the point, Elena. You were speeding and you nearly hit Viki. It was reckless and you could've killed her."

Elena turned away from him and put her face in her hands as she struggled to not lose it in front of him. Her morning had already been terrible and she didn't think she could take anymore criticism.

"Elena," Stefan wasn't trying to be cruel, but he needed her to get what she'd almost done and so far it just looked like she was trying to ignore him. "Listen, yo-"

Elena spun around, her emotions on full force. "What?!" She shrieked, causing Stefan's eyes to go wide. "What do you want from me, huh?! You wanna tell me how disappointed you are in me?! You wanna tell me what's wrong with my dress and how I just suck at everything I do?!"

"Elena, please lower your voice." Stefan advised, noticing the other kids starting to stare. "What's going on?" He asked softly. "Why are you getting so upset here? I'm just talking to you. You're not in any trouble."

Elena covered her face with her hands to try and stop the tears. "I don't know what to do anymore," She cried brokenly.

Stefan looked around and with all the students crawling around, he didn't see this as the best place to have a discussion that he clearly needed to have with her.

Something else was clearly going on with this girl or else she wouldn't have gotten so upset. He had this need to council a student whenever they were in any type of distress and it wasn't just that, he thought to himself. He liked this girl for reasons that went far beyond anything that they should have.

"Okay," Stefan spoke gently, placing his hand on her shoulder as if to calm her some. "C'mon, Elena. Come with me."

The second bell rang and Elena quickly wiped her tears. "I can't," She choked out. "I'm really sorry for going psycho on you but I have to get to class. I can't be late."

Stefan knew he should probably let her go, but for reasons that were selfish he couldn't. He needed to know what was wrong with her.

"I'll write you a pass, okay?" Stefan assured her. "C'mon, come with me for a few minutes."

Elena nodded. "Okay, I'll come with you."

"So," Stefan said leading Elena into his empty classroom and shutting the door behind him. "have a seat."

Elena walked over to one of the desks in the front row and sat down.

Stefan walked around and sat on his desk in front of her. "Wanna tell me why you got upset back there?"

Elena sighed a little embarrassed. "It's been a bad morning, Mr S." She began softly. "That's not an excuse for me to endanger other people with my driving, nor was it an excuse to completely lose it on you back there." She looked up at him with a tiny smile. "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." Stefan nodded. "I'm sorry for whatever I said that upset you. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad about yourself."

Elena nodded. "I know. You have to know that my outburst back there had nothing to do with you, okay? It's been an awful morning and what you saw and heard was the direct result of a bad fight with my mother."

Stefan raised his eye brow in concern. "You're having problems at home?"

Elena laughed. "I'm always having problems at home, Mr S." She quickly rushed to explain on when she noticed the frown and deep concern on her teacher's face. "No, no! It's nothing like that, I assure you. They don't beat me, I'm not in any danger."

Stefan didn't appear to be convinced. "Listen, if something like that ever does happen, I don't want you to be afraid to tell so-"

"It won't and it never has!" Elena said loudly, before calming down. "Listen, sadly there is no great bond between my parents and I but they have never laid a hand on me." Stefan nodded, seeming to be convinced. "Not that they need to. Why beat me, when their words can do it for them?"

Stefan looked concerned again. "They verbally abuse you?" That was a whole nother issue all together and in his book verbal abuse was just as bad if not worse than physical abuse.

Elena sighed as she stood up. "Listen, there is nothing going on at home that I cannot handle, okay? Can this just be considered as like a teacher/student confidentiality thing?" She saw Stefan's hesitancy. "Please," She begged. "I am not in danger and they do not hurt me. If you were to tell someone, you'd be the one that was hurting me."

That seemed to convince Stefan, although he was still hesitant. "Okay, but I have to tell you if I ever see a mark on you or if I suspect that they are hurting you, I will have no choice but to tell someone. That's not just my job as your teacher, that's my job as your friend."

Elena stood still, seeming to be in shock at that last statement. "We're friends?"

Stefan smiled warmly. "I'd like to think so."

"Isn't there like some kind of rule on teachers and students being in a relationship? Even a friendship one?" Elena asked curiously.

Stefan got up and walked over to her. She felt her heart flutter in her throat.

"Don't tell anyone, but there are some rules I don't follow. And since we're friends now you can call me Stefan, atleast when we're not in class." He said with a softness and Elena could've sworn there was some kind of huskiness to it as well.

Elena smiled as she felt something wonderful shift in what was becoming such a bad day for her. "Okay, Stefan. Your secret is safe with me."

Stefan smiled in return. "As are yours, Elena." He than took a step back from her. "I'll go get that slip."

"But I didn't even tell you the whole story." Elena said somewhat confused.

"I didn't need the whole story." Stefan responded.

"You didn't?" Elena asked.

Stefan shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, you ever wanna talk I'm here, and I'd like to hear it sometime, but that's not why I insisted on bringing you back here for a few minutes."

"Than why did you?" Elena asked curiously.

"I didn't want you to go to class until I was sure you were okay, and I..." Stefan trailed off.

"You what?" Elena asked, her curiosity peaking.

Stefan seemed to contemplate telling her this. "Can you keep another secret?"

Elena smiled as she nodded. "Of course. I can keep lots of secrets."

Stefan grinned. "Okay, I..." His face turned slightly serious. "I wanted to make you smile."

Elena looked stunned and Stefan winked at her and turned around to get the slip.

Elena felt herself almost slump into the seat of the desk.

This was definitely new and terrifying territory.

She was on the fast paced road of falling in love with her teacher, and from the way he was looking at her, she had a feeling that maybe just maybe he was on that road with her too.