So here am I again, guys. Thank you for your first reviews! And here is the next chapter. Enjoy :)

Chapter 2

The overwhelmingly loud drum beats achoed through the whole house. Loud enough to hear it around the neighbourhood. It was only half past six p.m though so Damon didn't have to worry about waking someone up. Not that he actually cared. His birthday day had been anything but nice. Actually it'd totally sucked. His parents had called him to gratulate, but that was it already. Nobody'd visited him, nobody'd given him a birthday present. Well, actually Damon didn't really expect anyone to come by anyway. He had only a few friends, but sometimes he wondered why they were his friends at all: they were all friendly and nice around him, but didn't protect Damon each time he was being publicly humilated by the other students. They just stood there and pretended like they didn't care. Maybe they really didn't.

So today Damon had been hiding from everything and everyone. He'd just stayed at home playing computer games and eating popcorn throughout the day. And right now he was spending his evening around his drum set. It was his usual way to release all of his bitter frustration.

He was so engrossed in playing that he didn't hear a loud knock on the window of his bedroom at first. But then there it was again.

BANG BANG.

"What the -", Damon winced and turned around. Oh damn, he thought. He really wasn't in the mood to face any angry neighbours ready to give him a lecture about a peaceful behaviour around the neighbourhood right now. It was a shame his bedroom was located on the first floor which allowed everyone who wanted to disturb Damon's privacy.

Seconds later he heard a loud whisper coming from the window.

"Hey man, it's me, Jeremy!"

Jeremy? What was he doing here? Right, he was one of Damons so called friends. Alone the fact that the guy also happened to be the younger brother of Elena wasn't convincing enough to Damon to regard him as a friend. However, Jeremy was here right now. He came to Damon's birthday. Damon had already been thinking he'd forgotten about that occasion.

He stumbled through his overly untidy room over to the window and pulled it up.

"What are you doing here, Jeremy?", he asked eyeing the guy suspiciously. He still couldn't believe he came today. The things between the two of them didn't seem to go well lately.

Jeremy just stood there grinning like an idiot. Seconds later another head popped up in front of Damon's eyesight.

"Hey Damon!", greeted him a grinning Matt excitedly.

Ah Matt. Right. His another so called friend. Damon always suspected that Matt Donovan- and also Tyler Lockwood - were friends with Damon just because he was friends with Jeremy. But whatever. The only fact he was worried about right now was that the two of them, Matt and Jeremy, were grinning like Cheshire cats at the moment. They clearly were up to something. And he wasn't sure he would like it.

"What are you two doing here?", he asked again.

Matt instantly faked a pout.

"What was that? Today's your birthday, remember? You didn't honestly think we wouldn't come by, did ya?"

Um, last year that's exactly how it was, thought Damon. But he wouldn't say it aloud.

"Come on man, you really should get some fun. Just look at you, skipping school, just sitting there in your room all the time ... it doesn't do you any good"

Damon snorted.

"I like the way it is", he said. It wasn't completely true, but it was ways better than going to school anyway.

Matt raised an eyebrow.

"Dude, that is exactly why most people don't like you. You are just too ... pessimistic, ya know? Just get your lazy ass out of this house and come with us, we need to show you something"

"And what would it be?", Damon asked, still suspicious.

Jeremy flashed him a mysterious grin.

"Let's just say we found a way to loosen you up"

Defeated, Damon pulled back the bedroom window and threw his black leather jacket over his shoulders. He knew whatever the two of his friends were up to, they wouldn't leave him in peace as long as they didn't get what they wanted.

Soon, the three of them were out on the road. Matt's car was rolling smoothy and almost soundlessly on the even asphalted road. Damon smiled as the soft coolness of the evening breeze gently touched his face. Maybe his birthday wasn't going to be so awful at all.