YAY! Got a good response for my story as far as OCs go. I thank all the ones who reviewed for that. You all mean the world to me.

And I really didn't want to update yet. I wanted to have more of my story written but I just can't help it. I'm just too eager to see what you all have to say. Especially since this is such a different take on an OC being a part of the Gang. While most become best friends with Elena and everyone else, Lea really wants to be left alone.

I think it makes for good tension.

Y'all tell me.

Stefan in this chapter! This is a love square after all.

Chapter 2 - I'm Aaliyah James and I'm a Grinch

C . B . D

"You're not listening to me. Why aren't you listening!" I groaned, shoving my books inside my locker. I was depressed as all get out now. Fuck school.

"I am listening, babe," Chris smiled, showcasing his perfect white teeth. "You bombed your Biology test. I dunno what to tell you. Fuck Biology."

Maybe if I had a chance to study the night before rather than wait up worrying about my sister, I might've done better. Yeah, right. I ain't plan on studying for that test. Twas the most boring class. "You got that right. Biology is for the birds. How'd you do?"

"Me? I aced that shit. Test was easy then a mug."

I frowned. I know I should've been happy for him getting an A, but it just made me feel even more stupid. Not to say that Chris was dumb, he wasn't, he just made everyone around him think he was. The way he talked and the way he had a complete disregard for rules, you would've never guessed he was an honor roll student. He didn't take school seriously and still had better grades than I did. Then again, I didn't take school seriously either.

"At least someone is getting good grades. My report card looks like Kim Kardashian's tit size."

"Daaaaaaaaaaamn," he drew out, covering his mouth with his tattooed hand. What part of his body wasn't tattooed or pierced anymore? Ear gauges, nose ring (though he hardly wore the type of ring that gives you a bulls nose), sleeves on both arms, and he was already starting on his chest and neck. I could only thank God he didn't pull a Gucci Mane and get his face tatted. With an ice cream cone no less. "You got that many D's? How's that even possible?"

"I don't even know. It's all a fluke. The teachers have it out for me." They didn't like me. I don't know what I ever did to them, but they just seemed to dislike me.

"All of 'em?"

"Yes!"

"I dunno, Lea, doesn't seem plausible if you ask me." He looked at me with his sleepy pair of eyes. Everything about Chris was just sleepy. His droopy eyes, the way he drew out words and his voice sounded like he'd just woken up, and how he dressed for comfort and not style. That's what I liked about him though. He was simple and down-to-Earth. No drama. No complications.

"You calling me a liar?"

"A liar? No. A hardcore, top tier, exaggerator? Yeah."

"I don't exaggerate!"

"You're the Optimus Prime example of an exaggerator. Just last week you said you broke your big toe after you stubbed it and had me race over to your house to drive you to the hospital."

That wasn't fair! Stubbing your toe was no joke. Especially when you stub it on your vacuum cleaner that your sister left waiting to kill someone in the hallway. I could've tripped over that and fell down the steps and broke my neck. Then what? Bet my family wouldn't leave hazards in the hallway ever again in life.

"And you didn't even take me to the hospital!"

"Your toe wasn't broken."

"Could've been."

"But it wasn't. I checked your big foot myself."

"Rather have big feet than a big head!"

"You got both."

Slamming my locker shut, I turned to him, giving him a snarl. "You know, I'm too good for you, I don't know why I even stick around."

He wrapped an arm around me, giving me a kiss on my so called big forehead. I had to control my goofy grin. He just thought he could kiss me and make everything better? Well he could, but I'd never let him know that he was too cute for words. "You're right. You could do so much better than me."

Playfully jabbing him in his side, I snuggled myself next to him before we began strolling down the now barren hallway. Wait a minute, weren't the halls supposed to be filled with students chitter chatter right now? This was the time period between classes. Yeah, kids were supposed to be filling the halls.

"Where the fuck is everyone at?"

"You didn't hear the bell ring?"

The bell had already rung? Shit fuck shit! I was late for class. That meant detention. Which was something I wouldn't go to. Which would lead to suspension. Which was cool with me since we were only a few weeks away from Winter Break. Aka hibernation.

"You're screwed," Chris said, subliminally rubbing it in my face that his last class of the day was already over with. Being a Senior was the sex. Chris got out after second period. I got out after third. Which was where I was supposed to be at right now. Psychology. To hell with that class. All them papers the teacher wants us to write. Like bitch, I got a raging case of Senioritis and no matter if I fail or not Imma still graduate so why should I take your class seriously? I don't care about Freud. What he ever do for me?

"Pssh, no I'm not. I'm skipping."

"You serious?"

"Naw, I'm playing around. Of course I'm serious."

He stared at me with his chocolate eyes, giving me a disapproving look. "You know you should go to class."

Aww, he was looking out for my education. How sweet. Too bad I didn't care about school anymore. In a few months, I'd be gone! No more Damon. No more Stefan. No more Mystic Falls. "I could go to class right now, or we can go to your house, play Nintendo, and eat cereal like a pair of bosses." Wasn't nothing like a good bowl of Lucky Charms. I'd find that little Leprechaun one day and kidnap him. Then all the delicious charms would be mine and mine alone.

He pursed his sexy lips, eyes cutting as he pondered the weight of my words. Yeah, bet my ideas of what we could be doing sounded pretty tempting right about now.

"Think of all the fun we could have."

"We playin' Super Mario Bros. 3?"

"No whistles and I call Luigi." Luigi was seriously underrated and was the biggest pimp out of the brothers. Plus, he had the better princess.

He smiled. "And you good for some Froot Loop crispy treats?"

"Hell fucking yeah. But this time I'll help you make 'em. Last time you got your beard hair in it." I tugged at his chin hair, still kind of mad that he refused to shave it off. Trim it? Yeah. It was nice and neat. But he'd never go clean and smooth. The beard and mustache combo made him who he was. Or that's what he said at least. Plus he thought it made him look older. Manlier. I just thought it made him look more like a hobo weedface. Which he kind of was. But he was my hobo weedface.

"Then shit, I'm down. Let's go."

We walked down the halls, taking the longer way to get to the back exit of the school to not risk any teachers or authority figures from spotting me. We had to go low key. Which was harder than you'd think. Especially since we naturally drew attention to ourselves. What with Chris being six foot four and looking how he looked and me dying my hair blonde. I kind of looked like a lion because of it. So yeah, we stood out. Plus there weren't that many black kids in Mystic Falls. This town wasn't that diverse in terms of skin color.

But we made it. We snuck out the school and entered the blizzard that was Mystic Falls in December. Snow storming onto the ground blurred my vision. Even Chris' vinyl red classic muscle car looked like a red blob. Winter sucked balls. This black girl just didn't like the cold. And Chris was a weirdo or something because this was his favorite time of year. Even now, with him hugging me while we walked, he was busy catching mobile sized snowflakes on his tongue. Snowflakes shouldn't have been this huge. It was against nature or something. They were just scary.

"Aaliyah, I need to talk to you."

Chris and I immediately stopped walking with sound of my name, my full name, being called. It wasn't even that that had me stopping in my tracks. It was the person who was doing the name calling. That voice was reconizable anywhere. Stefan Salvatore. The younger brother of the biggest dick in town. Though Stefan wasn't exempt. He has his own title too. He was the biggest boy scout in town because he constantly wanted to do good. Well, that was before his little ripper stunt, but his ripper days were long gone. After Elena turning, the two decided to binge and remodel themselves together. Stefan was back to his old self. More or less. I wouldn't know. He still could've been bad. Just trying uber hard to conceal it.

"I'm kind of busy." I didn't bother turning to look at him.

"Please. I need your help."

"Can't it wait?" I asked, hoping the answer was yes. That way, I could put him off and pretend I "forgot" about him and his issues after a week had passed.

"I'm sorry, it can't."

Tough titty. "Really busy right now." Busy about to school Chris in some Mario and eat some tasty treats.

"Go on and help him, Lea. We can chill later," Chris whispered, being a hell of a lot more understanding than I would've been in his position.

"But I don't wanna chill later. I wanna chill now."

"Help him out and then I'm all yours." Moving himself off me and heading to his car, Chris turned around to give Stefan and I a wave goodbye. "Later you two."

No! Don't go! I don't want to be here with him! Save me. Save meeeee!

Cocking my head in Stefan's direction, I gave him the glare of all glares. A glare that was so vicious, I was sure he'd catch into flames. Sadly, I wasn't a witch. Close, but no cigar. Wasn't possible in my case.

"What. The fuck. Do you want," I grit, taking in how Stefan's demeanor never change. Still that stoic face. A boulder showed more emotion. "And it better be good to ruin my day."

"I'm sorry to ruin your day. Even if you should be in class right now."

"Don't do that. Don't judge me. You're supposed to be in class too. We have it together, remember?"

I still didn't understand why he went to school. He was older than the building. To hell with that. Vampires shouldn't go to high school. I know I wouldn't if it were me. There wasn't a point unless you planned to prey on innocent kids. And if you weren't, it was kind of gross. Really, if you were there to prey on kids, you were gross too.

"Yeah but a little compulsion goes a long way. How're you getting away with this?"

Just that comment alone lead me to come to the conclusion that Stefan still had a bit of his ripper ways left inside of him. Probably would never go away either. Good boy Stefan didn't use compulsion to get what he wanted. And good boy Stefan definitely didn't use that dry and condescending tone. That was Damon's schtick.

"I'm doing what normal high schoolers do; skipping and praying no one notices. You're not a normal high schooler so you get to cut corners."

Stefan pretended to actually listen to my words before waving them off. "You're not normal either. No matter how hard to try to pretend otherwise. You're choosing to try to fit in and act normally. I would know. I used to be the same way."

How dare he try to use my being a voodoo practitioner against me. Trying to use my bloodline as an insult. Being a voodooist was just as normal as being a witch. Were Bonnie and I just as normal as these other High Schoolers? No. But we were more normal than fucking Stefan or Damon or the other vampires infesting the town. Fucking fangers.

Again...True Blood reference. I had to stop. Especially with the latest season being done.

"Where's Elena at? She know about you still compelling innocent humans? Is this something you both do together?"

Stefan closed the distance between us, making his blurry form more visible. Damn, I forgot how handsome he was. We may have been in the same Psychology class but I ignored him more than Republicans ignored poor people. Now, he was too close for comfort and I could make out the strong contours of his jawline. And his straight nose. And the hard line his eyebrows formed. Stefan, while bearing some resemblance to his older brother, was a different kind of gorgeous than Damon was. Damon was just fucking alluring. I mean you couldn't help but be drawn to him. That and back in the day, before he became pussy whipped, he was cool as shit. Stefan was one of those sexy guys who just seemed so intimidating. Like you swooned over them from afar but never talked to them because they seemed like kind of a dick. Funny enough, after meeting them and getting caught in a whirlpool of drama, I realized that Damon was actually the dick and Stefan was the good guy. Now... they were both just assholes.

What a long way we've come.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" God, didn't Damon tell me the same thing? These two really were brothers.

I crossed my arms, trying to seal in some heat. I only had on a stupid hoodie and I was already missing Chris' arms wrapped around me. It was cold as shit out here. "Because I just can't, Stefan. I hardly want to talk to you right now. I don't want to be bothered."

"She needs you, Lea. She needs someone to talk to." Stefan's concern over his girlfriend was endearing. However, given our relationship and history, I couldn't feel any sympathy. It was cold, but Elena brought this on herself. We all had to take ownership for the shit that's happened. And while I blame Elena for a lot of things, a great deal of strife I put on myself. Namely my sister turning into a vampire whore. First the Originals, now Damon. That was my fault entirely.

I closed my eyes, wishing Stefan would magically disappear. And I knew that if I had tried hard enough, it would've happened. "She has Caroline. They can go through this whole freshly turned thing together." Now Caroline wasn't the only baby vamp in town. I know she was excited about that.

"Do you honestly believe Caroline is the one who she needs to get through this? She feels like an outsider. A freak. At least if you or Bonnie were there for her it would ease her into feeling more normal."

"I thought you said we shouldn't try to be normal."

"That's me. I've dealt with this for over a century, Elena's new to this. I can't believe you all have turned your back on her."

That wasn't fair. "You can't even see it from our perspective can you? We were ready to die for her, Stefan, we all were. And we stopped her from handing herself over, from killing herself, from turning into a vampire. But look at what happened, she turned into one fucking anyway. All we went through was for bullshit. You can't see how that would make me feel fed up? You guys killed Bonnie's mom and got me tortured for what? Shits and giggles. And you all expect me to feel sorry for her. What the fuck about me?"

Maybe our heated conversation would protect me from the cold.

"She didn't want this and didn't ask for it. But she's been doing terribly lately and is sorry."

"Great. She's sorry. I understand that. I've accepted it. But I've moved on. Or at least I'm trying to. You all won't let me close this chapter of my life and start a new one. Leave me the fuck alone."

There was a pause and Stefan really studied me. Really took me in. Not just how I look, but my character. He was analyzing me. Judging me. Now that, that would make be feel badly.

Eyeing me down with his sage colored eyes, he shook his head disappointingly. "How is it that Elena's a vampire, yet she still has a bigger heart than you do?"

"Well that's why you're fucking her and not me right? That's why she's your girlfriend. Because her heart is oh so big and my heart is the size of the Grinch's." I ain't mind being a Grinch. It was appropriate since Christmas was just around the corner. "Oh, lest we forget how she was the one who moved on to Damon during your ripper days. The whole reason you became one was to save them and she repays you by sucking face with your brother. You know what, you're right, she does have the bigger heart." While I looked for ways to actually save Stefan, Elena was busy making out with Damon and leading both of them along. Can you see why I didn't want to be bothered?

And my comment obviously hurt Stefan. His eyes reduced to slits and his jaw clenched tightly. Of course mentioning how Elena was so close to choosing Damon put a bad taste in his mouth. Now that, that would make me feel badly. Stefan was always looking out for everyone. Unlike Damon who's main concern was keeping Elena safe, Stefan wanted everyone to come out unscathed. Though he soon found out that wasn't possible, we always had each other's back though. And now I was throwing low blows and bickering with him. I was really being a bitch. Fuck.

I took him by the hand, noticing the slight flinch he gave as I did so. Oh how I'd forgotten that he didn't like being suddenly touched. Especially during his ripper days.

"I'm sorry, Stefan. I really am. We've all been going through so much shit, trying to make sure that Elena is okay, that we've been overlooking each other. I know no one else has asked you, shit, maybe they don't care, but are you okay? How have you been doing?"

Something grim washed over his face before it faded into the downpour of snow. A hollowness. Emptiness. I could sense it. He just emitted something lonely and desperate. Something colder than the horrid weather we were standing in. The rawest form of helplessness. He didn't think he was redeemable nor worth saving, but he never pitied himself. He thought he deserved every bit of anguish. It radiated from his skin and I could feel it sink in to my skin and settle inside of me. But rather than toss his hand aside like how I wanted to to rid myself of that kind of emotional pain, I tightened my hand over his. He need consoling.

"You're not are you? God dammit."

"I'll be fine, Lea. I can deal with what I'm going through by myself."

Stefan, always trying to seem like a pillar of strength. Putting others needs before his own. Always making sure everyone else was okay and thinking of himself last. How could he be so selfless yet his brother be so selfish?

"Does Elena know?"

"No. And you're not going to talk to her about this," he snapped, very intent on me keeping his well being a secret.

And I was. I wasn't a snitch. I just felt terribly. Everyone needed someone to be there for them to get through tough times. Elena had Caroline. Damon was using my sister to my chagrin. Bonnie had Jeremy. Matt and Tyler had reconciled their friendship. But who had Stefan's back? And who had my back? Guess it was only us two on our own. "I wouldn't dare tell a soul."

"Thank you."

"But I am gonna help you with that."

He took his hand from mine. Yeah, we were kind of holding hands for too long. "No you're not."

"Just you see. I'll have you back to your old self in no time."

"Please, Lea," he reinforced. "I don't need your help."

"Yes you do. That's why I'm out here in this freezing weather, just waiting to get caught by a teacher."

Without a seconds thought, Stefan removed his dark wool coat and slipped it onto my arms. He was a giver and right now was making sure I was warm and toasty. And that's exactly what his jacket was. It was big on me, but it was a thoughtful gesture none the less. I appreciated it.

"I need your help with something else. Not with my problems."

"Guess I'm helping you with both. But what's the first thing you need help with."

"Come check out something with me."

Why would I need to check out anything with him? We weren't newlyweds in search of a house.

"Why Stefan, this is all so sudden. What ever do you want me to check out with you?" I made my voice sound like one of those Southern Belles. Like I was from Bon Temps. Boy did they have vampires ass backwards.

Except if I ever found Eric Northman; he was surely mine.

Stefan gave a quick smile. He never seemed to smile lately. "Your off kilter humor has been missed. But I don't think you'll have a chance to make jokes once I take you to this place."

Time to be serious. "Where are we going?"

"Alaric's grave."

C . B . D

I rearranged a bit of the history that they all went through before this story starts. Damon and Elena got a lot more heavy than in the show.

Oh and Klaus isn't in Tyler's body. That's just a stupid plot line.

RIght now, all is calm in Mystic Falls. Everyone is living in agreement to not start shit.

Wonder why they need to check out Alaric's grave.

And who're you diggin' more... Damon/Lea or Stefan/Lea.

Tata for now.