A/N: Hey guys! I got feedback from you guys to continue so I decided to. Thank you to anyone who reviewed and encouraged me to continue. It meant a lot. Here's a short chapter, but don't worry the next one will be much longer. I just needed to introduce the way Stefan felt about her before writing the next chapter. Please review guys! It gives me motivation, hehe.

Oh and on another note, after writing the first chapter, I heard a song that kind of goes with my story. I was listening to Pandora one day and it came on. You guys should definitely check it out. Despite who the artist is, it is a very good song and it goes well with the story which kind of surprised me when I hear it. It's called Fall by Justin Bieber. I heard it legit the day after I posted the first chapter and my jaw dropped open. Hahaha. Thank the Biebs for this update. It inspired me!

xoxo


Stefan walked up the stairs to Mystic Falls High as slow as he could. He didn't want to come back to this hell hole. This would be one of the days that Stefan envied his older brother Damon. He had graduated the year before.

He smiled finally seeing a familiar face. "Hey man," he greeted.

The dark haired boy walked up to him. "Stefan Salvatore," Tyler Lockwood grinned. "I was pretty convinced you were dead. What happened to you this summer?"

Stefan shrugged. "I was around. I did come to your bonfire, you know."

Tyler rolled his eyes. "And that was also at the beginning of summer."

The two boys walked into the school, passing crowds of familiar and new, young faces. Most of the crowds dispersed as the two boys walked. Realization finally hit Stefan. He was a senior in high school. This was his last academic year of school and it scared the shit out of him.

Tyler smirked. "Lots of new faces, I see."

Stefan chuckled. "Aren't you and Caroline still a thing?"

"Of course," He said looking over to his friend. "But I never said for me."

"Then, who for?"

At that moment, two girls walked up to the boys. Stefan's heart started racing as the brunette walked up to him. She was wearing denim capris and a neon green racer back tank top with a white sweater. The light colors brought out her olive toned skin. Her hair was down, slightly wavy. As she walked up, she didn't say anything but just smiled.

The blond that was walking with Elena went straight for Tyler's arms. She pecked him on the lips and then grinned. "I missed you," Caroline Forbes whispered. Stefan looked to Elena. They both exchanged a look of discomfort as Tyler and Caroline continued to be cutesy.

Caroline finally looked to Stefan. "Oh, Stefan, hi!" she smiled. "I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

"I'm fine" he managed to say before the school bell went off signaling everyone to get to class. Caroline and Tyler locked hands as they began to walk the opposite direction as Stefan and Elena.

"For you, man!" Tyler shouted to Stefan before turning completely away from them. Elena gave Stefan a confused look. "What was that all about?"

Stefan smiled and then shrugged. "Not so sure," He pointed to the paper in her hands. "What's your first class?"

Elena groaned. "Algebra 2 and Trig"

Stefan smiled. Elena was terrible at math. He remembered when they were in elementary school, Stefan would tutor her and she'd pay him with bags of marshmallows. He internally laughed at the memory.

"Well I'll see you later then" he said, slowly making his way to the corner of the hall.

Elena stopped and smiled. "Come over after school!" she shouted before disappearing into a classroom. Stefan smiled to himself, looking at the now empty space of where Elena had stood. He sighed, turning the corner and headed to his class.


Stefan watched the clouds as he walked home from school. He couldn't help but think of summer memories from years past. Elena was in most of them and he couldn't help but smile at the thought of her. Whenever he thought of her, he felt so happy. He almost couldn't help himself. They had been best friends since childhood and he knew it was wrong to feel this way about someone who was supposed to be a friend, but he couldn't help himself. Whenever she was sad, it broke his heart. Whenever she flirted with other guys, he became jealous. Whenever she went out with other guys, he was miserable. There had to be some kind of connection, right?

Stefan stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and looked in front of him. A few cars passed by him, but other than that, it was pretty quiet. He didn't live far from the school – walking distance – so it saved him a lot of gas money. Less to worry about.

Stefan could see, from a far distance, Elena's car in her driveway. He grinned. There he goes again. He honestly couldn't help himself. He was like a little boy on Christmas morning. He knew how he felt. He could never tell her though. He could never put their friendship in that kind of risk to only be shot down. He knew nothing more would ever come from their friendship; he had come to terms with that a while ago. He couldn't help but wish. He could help his feelings.

Elena didn't necessarily have a good record with guys either. She had usually gone for the players who ended up breaking her heart. Stefan had always been there to comfort her, but he could never mend it in the way he wanted to. If she was his, he'd never break her heart. He knew that for a fact.

He slowed his pace has he came closer to the house. It was an older, white Victorian-looking house with a huge porch. On the right side of the porch held a swinging chair where he and Elena had shared many conversations on. On the other side was a small wooden bench where he had been forced to sit on whenever he'd wait for Elena when they were in middle school. Elena's father had never let him in the house, even after knowing him for so many years. After 7th grade when Elena's dad left, Elena's mother allowed him to come in. Now he was treated like family.

Elena's father had left for many reasons that she didn't like to talk about. Stefan remembered the day she came bursting through his door one spring day, bawling her eyes out. He didn't know what to do then or why she had even been crying. He had tried calming her down to the best of his ability but eventually he just let her cry it out. He finally realized that was best for her to do instead of trying to shut her up.

Elena sniffled, finally stopping the water works coming down from her big, brown eyes. Stefan hesitated to ask what was wrong. He sat next to her looking down at the floor. She sniffled again.

"He's gone," she whispered.

Stefan still didn't say anything.

"My dad is gone," she said louder. "My parents are getting a divorce, Stefan." She looked to him as he looked up at her. "What am I going to do?"

He reached out to hug her and she began to cry again. "Everything will be okay eventually." He said lowly. "You'll always have me. I won't ever leave you."

He walked up the stone path and up the porch stairs. He didn't bother knocking and just walked in. He heard the TV on in the living room. He walked by and smiled. "Hey Jer," he said waving to Elena's younger brother. Jeremy smiled at him and continued watching the movie on the television screen. Stefan walked to the kitchen, placing his book bag down on the ground under the kitchen table. He grabbed a water bottle out of the refrigerator and made his way to the foyer. He walked up the stairs quietly, cracking open the water bottle as he did. He took a sip of it and turned to the right and down the hallway to Elena's room. He heard laughing. He slowed his pace. Was she not alone?

He continued down the hall, finally getting to Elena's room. He listened quietly but heard nothing besides something moving around. He turned the knob and opened the door, automatically wishing he hadn't. His heart stopped.

Elena was laying on her bed, under a boy who was hovering over her. He had blonde hair and seemed very muscular due to the way his arms were flexing. Their lips were locked in a deep kiss. Once sensing someone was there, Elena broke away from the kiss. She gasped as she saw Stefan standing in her doorway. Stefan's heart sank into his stomach.

"Oh, Stefan!" She exclaimed surprised. It was almost if she had forgotten she had invited him over earlier. The boy on top of her sat up, looking at the intruder who had stopped their make out session. He gave Stefan an annoyed look. Stefan looked down at the ground quickly. He felt as though in the matter of five seconds, he became a small scared child instead of himself.

Elena got up quickly from the bed, but Stefan's voice stopped her. "It's fine. I'll see you later." He said before shutting the door in her face. He turned from the door and started walking down the hallway. He felt his heart beat slower and anger rumble in his throat. He felt his hands turn to fists as his stomach began to ache. If this is how it felt like being in love, maybe he didn't want it after all.