December 13, 2009

Dear Diary,

It's been a while since I've written to you, and I'm so very sorry for that. A lot has happened since my last entry. It's too much to explain, but Bonnie is here. She's in the bathroom. She spent the night last night. Today is my first day back to school since the accident. I'm nervous, but I guess I'll be okay. I've got Bonnie with me, and Meredith. Caroline, too, will be some kind of help, I'm hoping. No promises though, right? I've decided, that I will no longer believe in promises. Promises are just words, just like lies can be. Words are just..words. No one but the speaker will know what they really mean. I think Bonnie's finished. Time to go. Wish me luck.

Elena

The bathroom door swung open, and a dark-haired, dark-skinned girl walked out. "Ready to go, Elena?" Bonnie asked, slipping her arms through the straps of her backpack. Elena closed her diary, and threw it under her bed.

"Your definition of ready, or my definition?" Elena asked, her voice soft. Bonnie pursed her lips, and sighed. She walked towards Elena, and threw her arms around her, taking her into a warm hug. "I'm so sorry, Elena," Bonnie whispered, "but I'm here, and you'll be fine, I'll make sure of it."

Elena nodded, "I know," she said. But she didn't mean it. "Come on," she said, as she rose from her seat on the small couch near the window. Bonnie frowned slightly, and led the way out.

Elena walked into Robert E. Lee High, taking a deep breath. She realized that she probably missed a lot, and had a lot of catching up to do. She expected a lot of sympathy, and a lot of awkward stares. Elena made her way to her locker, Bonnie following close behind her. Elena was interrupted by someone tall and slim, with her brown hair tied up in a high ponytail. Elena looked up at the face of her friend, Meredith. "Hey," Meredith greeted her, before pulling Elena into a hug. Elena added that to her list. She expected a lot of hugs. Elena sighed, returning the hug, and the "Hey" when they pulled away from each other. "I'm so sorry about your parents, Elena. I missed you so much."

Elena smiled slightly, and shrugged. "It's fine. I missed you too," she said, and indeed she meant it. Elena missed a lot of people.

Bonnie, Meredith, and Elena continued walking down the hall, and suddenly Bonnie stopped in her tracks, as they were passing by the administration office. Elena stopped as well, and soon after, Meredith, who had to turn and walk back to them. "What's going on?" Meredith questioned, and Bonnie held up her index finger.

"Shh."

"She just told me to shh!" Meredith complained to Elena, and Elena let out a soft laugh.

Bonnie's finger had gone from pointing to the ceiling, to pointing ahead of them and into the office. The door was open quite a bit, enough for them to peek inside. Elena stuck her head into the crevice, and caught a glimpse of what Bonnie had been gawking at, before pulling herself back.

"All I see is back," she said, shrugging.

Bonnie added, "A very, very hot back."

Meredith went in for a look, and added, "He better have a hot front too, or else this was a very disappointing find."

Elena laughed, suddenly feeling the awkwardness of her return begin to fade. She stuck her head back in to watch, and she tried to hear what the guy they had been gushing over was talking about with the administrator.

"I'm sorry, sir, but this is just not enough for us to let you into this school."

Stefan stared into the administrator's eyes, "Please look again. Everything you need is right there."

"You're right, everything's here, welcome to Robert E. Lee, Mr. Salvatore."

Stefan nodded, and smiled. "Thank you."

Elena tilted her head, before sliding herself away from the door. "That was weird," she said to her two friends who were babbling about how hot the guy looked in his leather jacket. They both looked at her and tilted their heads as well, asking in unison, "What was?"

Elena shrugged, "Nothing, never mind." Then the trio walked away from the office, and to their first class, which Bonnie and Elena shared. "See you at lunch!" Meredith called at them, as she hurried to beat the bell. Bonnie and Elena entered their history class, and took their usual seats. They noticed that the teacher's desk was empty, and no one was sitting behind it. They looked at each other in wonder. Elena heard footsteps at the door, and expected it to be their history teacher, but she was wrong. It was the guy in the leather jacket. What had the administrator called him? Mr. Salvatore? Maybe he was their new history teacher. But that was impossible, he looked way too young. Elena was glad she was wrong about him being their teacher, as he took a seat in the back of the room. Bonnie and Elena looked at each other again, and Bonnie winked at her playfully. Elena laughed quietly, then stared at the door. The bell rang, but they still had no teacher. Elena couldn't help but look back casually, catching a glimpse of the so-called Mr. Salvatore. Finally, Mr. Saltzman walked into the room, looking gloomier than ever. Elena returned her gaze to the front of the room. Mr. Saltzman plopped into his seat, and dumped his belongings onto his desk. "Hello, sorry I'm late," he said with a yawn. "Busy night last night," he sighed.

"Mr. Saltzman got laid!" Tyler Smallwood hollered, and his little posse laughed obnoxiously. Elena rolled her eyes at their immaturity.

"No, that was not the case," Mr. Saltzman stated, emotionlessly.

"He so got laid!" Tyler hollered once again.

"At least he has a chance of getting laid, unlike you immature losers," said Elena.

The class all laughed at that one, and Mr. Saltzman waited a while for them to settle down. Elena looked back once again, then realized she had caught the eye of Mr. Salvatore. She offered him a friendly smile, and he returned it. She bit her bottom lip, then looked ahead once again.

"Elena, it's good to see that you're back, we all missed you," Mr. Saltzman smiled slightly. Then he rose from his seat, and turned to write on the chalkboard.

Class went by slowly, and Elena must have looked back at least twenty times. She knew she must have appeared desperate, but she was desperate. She wanted to know him. There was something about him that drew her to him. The way he looked at her..it was mysterious. It looked as if there was a lot of pain in his eyes. And she wanted to know why.

By lunch time, Elena had received thirty hugs, fifty "I'm sorry's" and zero greetings from Caroline. Where was that girl? Elena made her way to her usual table in the courtyard, where Meredith and Bonnie were already seated.

"I forgot to ask, but, where's Caroline?" she questioned, taking a seat. Caroline was Elena's friend since babyhood. Their mothers were friends since high school, but then of course, Elena's mother died. Elena fought back the sting in the back of her eyes, and stifled the sound of her sniffle. Bonnie looked at Elena, and shrugged.

"She's in Paris. She didn't give us a reason why, she just left."

Meredith nodded, "Yeah, and she wanted us to tell you something. I just forgot what."

Bonnie closed her eyes, as if she were reading something on the back of her eyelids. "Tell Elena that I'm sorry for her loss. It sucks that her parents died, but maybe this will finally get her to realize that she can't have everything, you know? When she comes back, I wonder if she'll notice that this school was totally fine without her, like, we don't even need her, do we?" Bonnie paused. "Well, I don't, and you can tell her that. It was way easier to say that without having to look at her face."

Meredith frowned, and nodded once again, "Yeah...that. Word for word..how'd you remember that, Bonnie?"

Bonnie opened her eyes, and shrugged, "I have a good memory. But, Elena, I don't know what got into her, she was crazy that day."

Elena didn't know how to respond. She had known Caroline for so long, how could she say something like that about her? Elena shook her head slowly, and rose from her seat. She was just about to storm away, but screamed as she saw a figure right in front of her. "Oh my God, you scared me!"

He looked at her, his apology in his eyes.

"What were you doing there?" Elena asked him.

Bonnie and Meredith stared up at them, watching this exchange.

"I'm Stefan," he said, his voice low and husky.

"That's..nice?" Elena said, her left eyebrow raising. Stefan's appearance was random, and he scared her, which made things all the more awkward.

"You're Elena, and not any other name, correct?"

"That would be right, why?" Elena asked, obviously puzzled by the question.

"No reason."

"Okay, well, nice meeting you?" Elena said, trying her best not to offend him.

Elena watched as Stefan's posture seemed to tense up. Had she said something wrong? Suddenly, she heard something thump behind her, and she quickly turned to see that Meredith and Bonnie's lunches were on the ground. As they scurried to pick up their food, Elena turned back towards Stefan. But he was gone.

Stefan stormed through the woods, pushing branches out of his way. He shook the memory of the incident with Katherine. No, Elena. Her name was Elena. But she looked so much like Katherine, and even sounded like her too. It's impossible, but Stefan lived in a world full of the impossible. Stefan ran his fingers through his brown hair, his jaw clenching under stress. He looked around, and his breathing stopped. He knew this place. He squinted, and the memories surfaced, as much as he didn't want them to.

"No!" Stefan cried, as he ran as fast as he could. Katherine was running away from him, giggling childishly. "Catch me if you can!" she yelled, and then she was out of his sight. Stefan stopped, catching his breath, looking around frantically. "Katherine, come on, this isn't fun anymore!" Stefan heard Katherine's laugh, behind him. He turned to face her, but she wasn't there. He felt someone poke his shoulder from behind, and he turned once again, and there she was. Her dark curly hair bounced as she laughed, and she threw her arms around his neck. His breathing was still heavy, but he was mesmerized by her beauty. Her eyes were captivating, as was everything else about her. "You're such a weakling, growing tired after only an hour of chasing," she teased.

Stefan raised his eyebrows, as he wrapped his arms around her small waist. "An hour is a long time, Katherine, of course I'll be tired. I'm only human," he chuckled.

Katherine smirked, as she moved in closer on his neck. Stefan gulped. "I can change that, so easily, Stefan. We can be together, forever. And forever is much longer than an hour, my love."

"What just happened?" Elena asked not only Bonnie and Meredith, but herself. Scraps of Bonnie and Meredith's lunches were scattered on the ground, and Stefan had disappeared without notice. Elena and her friends looked at each other, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. "How did your lunches get on the ground?"

Bonnie answered with a shrug, and Meredith shook her head, "I-I don't know, you didn't see it either?"

Elena shook her head, remembering how Stefan had tensed up. "Did-did Stefan do it?" Elena answered herself. No, that would be impossible.

And as if reading her mind, Bonnie nodded, "Yeah, I don't think so, he couldn't have, it's impossible."

So what happened? Meredith sat, deep in thought, and Bonnie was biting her thumbnail. Elena sighed, finally taking a seat, and poked at her food with her fork.

Meredith suddenly jumped up and whipped her head in every direction possible. "Meredith, what is it?" Elena asked, watching her friend. Bonnie stared up at Meredith in wonder. Meredith just kept looking, and Elena was beginning to worry. Finally Meredith sat down, and she was breathing hard. Elena and Bonnie both stared at Meredith until she spoke.

"If it wasn't our elbows, and it wasn't Stefan, and it certainly couldn't be something that just walked by and knocked our lunches down, it probably came from behind us, but I didn't have any sense of its presence at all," Meredith said, shaking her head slowly.

Bonnie nodded, agreeing. Elena then pursed her lips. She didn't want to get too into detail with this. It was probably just an animal, or a clumsy student.

"Bonnie, you're awfully quiet," Elena whispered, touching Bonnie's elbow.

Bonnie shivered, and looked at Elena. There was a sense of helplessness in her eyes. "I can feel it," Bonnie whispered to Elena. "It's watching us."

Elena shook her head, as her eyebrows furrowed with concern. "Bonnie, what are you talking about?"

And then Bonnie screamed.

"Elena! Make it stop!" Bonnie shrieked. The entire courtyard was staring at the three girls. Elena grabbed Bonnie's small hands, and Meredith was shaking Bonnie by the shoulders. "STOP! STOP! STOP!" Bonnie cried. Elena squeezed Bonnie's hands. That's really all she could do, she didn't know what was going on or how to stop it. Bonnie was in hysterics, and she never saw her like this before.

"Bonnie! What's happening?" Elena worried.

"Please! Make it stop!" Bonnie's face was beginning to grow paler, her face showing utter terror. Suddenly a new pair of hands were handling Bonnie. Elena looked up, and gasped.

"Bonnie, listen to me carefully, I need you to calm down," he said sternly, staring at Bonnie. "Please, open your eyes and look at me."

Elena stared for a moment, then focused again on Bonnie. "Bonnie, listen to Stefan, open your eyes, look at us, you're fine, you're okay,"

Bonnie was in tears, begging for something..whatever it was, to stop. Finally her eyes flew open, and she was gasping for air.

Then she was calm.

Stefan was obviously confused, and he was just staring at Bonnie.

"Wha-what just happened? Why is everyone staring at me?"

Elena and Meredith exchanged glances, and they both hugged Bonnie.

Stefan stood above them, just watching. Elena looked up at him during the embrace. He seemed to be mumbling something to himself, but Elena could see that he was shocked. He was truly shocked, maybe even more than she and Meredith were. As soon as the three girls broke away from the hug, Bonnie opened her mouth, probably to repeat her questions but the bell rang. Elena stood, gathered her things, and said goodbye to Bonnie and Meredith. She also gave Bonnie another quick hug and a concerned look. Bonnie was still puzzled, but Meredith led her to her next class while Elena was now standing beside Stefan Salvatore.

"Thank you," she said quietly, looking ahead but directing it to Stefan.

Stefan nodded, "I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything, but she was fine," he said, but it sounded more like he was contemplating something with himself.

Elena shrugged, and brushed her hair away from her neck. She felt a sudden tension, and from the corner of her eye, she could swear that..

Stefan turned away from her when she turned to face him. "Stefan, are you okay?"

No answer.

"Stefan?" she placed her hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off, and without a word, began running away from her.

Again? Why did he keep disappearing? They've only talked twice, and she was sure she hadn't given him a reason to hate her. Not yet at least. Could he really be that judgmental? Elena groaned, and stormed off to class. Not angry at Stefan, but more angry at herself. What was it that bothered him? It was her, but what about her?

December 13, 2009

Dear Diary,

I know I've already written today, but that was before school. Now, it's nighttime. Actually, it's almost midnight. I can't exactly figure out why I can't sleep. I'm guessing it's the stress. I don't know why I'm so stressed. Why am I so caught up in what Stefan Salvatore thinks of me? Since when was he my priority? I don't have to please him, he doesn't even know me, but yet he runs away from me like I'm some sort of..monster. I'm not a monster. I don't even know him..Oh, I'm sorry, Diary. I just realized you don't know who he is either. He's this guy. He's new at Robert E. Lee and since I haven't seen him around town before, I'm guessing he's new at Mystic Falls too. Which makes him this huge mystery guy, that literally no one knows anything about. Yes, he's handsome. Very..very handsome. The most handsome guy I've ever seen. And the way he talks..Oh, God help me. I can't be falling for this guy. We've only talked like, twice, and not to mention he ran away from me both times. Ugh. I really need to stop thinking about him. What else happened today? Oh, wait...

December 14, 2009

It's midnight..Um. Well, today, during lunch. When I was talking to you-know-who, somehow Bonnie and Meredith's lunches flew to the ground. Bonnie and Meredith didn't do it. We don't really know what, but it's not a big deal. But the big deal is well, after Stefan disappeared, I mean, you-know-who..we were trying to figure out what happened and all of the sudden Bonnie started having this episode. She kept screaming and begging us to stop something. Or begging something to stop. I had no idea what was going on. She was scaring me. And of course S...you-know-who comes out of nowhere and starts asking Bonnie to open her eyes and look at him. I know he wanted to help but what was that going to do? Seconds later, Bonnie was fine again. Isn't that weird?

Anyway, I think now that I've let it all out, I'm ready to sleep. Goodnight.

Elena