Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any characters within.

Most of us prefer leather jackets, though one of us doesn't care, letterman or leather, as long as a certain blue eyed vampire comes with it. I myself am partial to leather jackets. They last longer.

2.

Dear Diary;

Yesterday, I met a man… though he isn't much older than I am, it would be an insult to call him a boy.

Damon is unlike anyone I've ever met. There's a darkness in him, I feel it. Jeremy confirmed it for me, and even warned me away from him.

Though it's not like he's interested in me. I could have sworn he was going to kiss me before Jeremy barged in. I even thought he liked me, but I must have been wrong, with the way he showed up with those girls last night.

He saw me, I know he did, but I don't think it stopped him from being with that girl.

I wonder now, why he would lead me on like that. Was it just a game to him? Was he bored and thought messing with his 'associates' little sister would be a good way to pass the time?

Why is it that despite everything Jeremy told me, and my own instinct telling me this is a mistake, I just can't get Damon off my mind?

I closed my diary with a sight, staring at my reflection and crinkling my nose at it. I remembered the girl with Damon from last night, and wondered what she has that I don't.

I was disturbed from my self-loathing by a text from Bonnie letting me know that she was waiting for me out front in her car. I hid my diary behind the mirror, brushed my hair one more time, and then grabbed my pom pom's, purse, and Damon's leather jacket. I had a full load, but I didn't want to forget to give the jacket to Jeremy to return to his friend.

I had briefly entertained the notion of just keeping the jacket, but it was well-worn, so clearly he used it a lot, and I figured he would be missing it. I had then considered slipping my number in the pocket of the jacket, but rejected the idea as being too desperate. Damon wasn't interested in me. I would have to get over that.

I ignored the feeling just thinking about Damon gave me, and headed down the stairs and straight into the kitchen. I giggled when I saw Jeremy sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, nursing a hangover. "Shhh," He said weakly, clapping his hands over his ears. "Not so loud."

"Sorry," I whispered, tiptoeing past him and pouring myself a to go cup of coffee. I tossed the jacket next to him as I went by, which caught his attention.

"Why do you have Damon's jacket?" He asked, still speaking in a feeble tone of voice.

I rolled my eyes at his protective tone of voice, and replied, "Because he gave it to me to protect me in case we crashed. I just forgot to give it back to him. Will you do that?"

"Do it yourself, he's sleeping it off on the couch." Jeremy replied, than winced when Bonnie honked her horn. I guess I was taking too long for her. "Tell the little witch to never do that again."

"Don't call her that!" I reprimanded, than gave him a kiss, and picked my stuff up again, precariously balancing the coffee on top of everything.

"You're leaving without breakfast?" Jeremy asked, his inner big brother shining through the hang over.

I twirled around for him, showing off my cheerleading outfit. "Today's game day, and you know what that means…."

"Ah, power breakfast. Well, fine go ahead. I'll see you at the game tonight. You staying after school until the game?" I nodded and he waved me off. "Get out of here before she starts honking again."

I laughed and headed towards the front door, tossing Damon's jacket on him as I passed the couch. He unexpectedly woke up and looked around blearily before focusing on me. "Cheerleader," he muttered, furrowing his brow.

I did the same, looking at him with concern. "Drunk," I replied, still ignoring the flutters I got from him. I headed out the front door, and slammed it hard behind me, relishing in the twin groans I heard from inside the house.

"Where have you been?" A very frazzled Bonnie asked me the moment I got into her car after stowing my gear in her trunk.

"Sorry, Jeremy and a friend had hangovers, and he was harping at me about not eating breakfast. What's the matter?"

"Look at the time, Elena! Look at it!" She pointed a shaking finger at the clock as she put the car in reverse and began backing out.

"Oh my god! It's nearly eight! But the breakfast starts at eight!"

"And now you see my dilemma. Caroline is going to kill us!" She stepped on the gas and I was thrown back in my seat slightly.

"Geez Bonnie, slow down! Caroline would kill us metaphorically; you are going to kill us literally." I said, clutching onto the door handle tightly, watching Chicago go speeding by us. Unlike with Damon on his bike last night, I didn't feel safe, I felt absolutely terrified.

"Ha, ha," she replied sarcastically, but still eased off the gas a little. "So your brother had one of his 'friends' over last night?" She looked over at me and wiggled her eyebrows conspiratorially. She was one of the only people who knew what my brother did. Everyone else thought he owned a mechanic's shop and managed our parent's estate for a living.

I laughed at her expression before leaning back with my eyes closed. "I wouldn't know. As usual I was sent to my room."

I glanced over at her to find her staring at me softly. "You know it's for your own protection Elena. Jeremy doesn't want to lose you." She didn't say 'too' but we both knew it was there, left unsaid.

We shared an uncomfortable silence until Bonnie broke it by asking about the paper from last night, and we moved onto other subjects. We made it to the school in record time, and we both breathed a sigh of relief in unison when we checked the clock. 7:58.

"Do you think she'll notice?" I whispered as we tried to inconspicuously insert ourselves amongst the other cheerleaders after we dropped our stuff off at our lockers. We were supposed to be in the cafeteria by eight to help set up for the power breakfast. Bonnie and I had snuck in at 8:05. The power breakfast was something that the cheerleaders set up for the football team every game day. Other students were allowed to attend with a dollar donation. Mothers brought the food, and we handed it out. It was a big deal, a time honored tradition at our school.

"Maybe not, I mean we were only…." Bonnie whispered back, but was interrupted.

"Five minutes late." We both groaned together and turned around to see Caroline Forbes, one of my best friends in the world, glaring down at us with her arms crossed.

"Caroline, we are really, really, really…." I began pleadingly.

"Save it! I can't believe you two! We are captains; we need to set an example!" She moved her hands to her hips, and her voice got more and more shrill on every word, causing us to wince. I wanted to say something back to her, but knew she had a point. All three of us, Caroline, Bonnie, and I shared the responsibility of being captain, and it was important to take it seriously.

"I'm sorry Caroline, but we're here now, so let's get started. We have a lot to do, right?" She reluctantly nodded, conceding to letting it drop, and we called the attention of the girls and mothers.

"Alright ladies, we've been doing this for five weeks now, we know the drill. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can eat!" Bonnie called out in her best cheerleader voice, and the volunteers immediately dispersed, giggling and chattering filling the room.

"Yes, food," I moaned dramatically, clutching my stomach. "I'm sooo hungry!" I squealed making Bonnie and Caroline laugh as we all launched into a discussion of what we were going to eat first. Like me, both of them had decided to go for the coffee route and wait for the big breakfast.

"Well, well, glad to see you ladies are hard at work setting up the breakfast," Tyler Lockwood said playfully as he entered the cafeteria with his best friend Matt Donovan. They were both wearing their football jerseys, so they were allowed to come into the cafeteria early. We all greeted them cheerfully, me especially so, glad to see that things weren't still awkward between Matt and I. We had dated briefly last year, when we were sophomores, and though we had decided we were better off friends, things were still uncomfortable for a couple of months or so.

"Oh! I'm glad you guys are here! You two can hang up the banner!" Caroline cried out, clapping her hands together.

"Gee, can we?" Matt asked sarcastically, but I could tell he would do it for her. Tyler as well. They both had big crushes on my blonde friend, but they still needed to put up a front.

"Why can't you do it yourselves?" Tyler groused predictably, but still putting down his back pack and walking over to the closet to grab the ladder. Bonnie and I rolled our eyes at each other.

"Um, have you seen us?" Caroline gestured at the room full of cheerleaders in our skirts. "We are wearing skirts! Climbing up ladders? I don't think so!" We laughed at her expression while the guys set up the ladder and hung the banner with our careful supervision.

The breakfast, and the rest of the day passed by remarkably quickly, in a blur of big smiles and 'Go Panthers!'. Before I knew it, the last bell had rung, and we were heading out to the football field, hoisting the big tumbling mats.

"Caroline," Bonnie wheezed out as we made our way across the uneven ground, carrying the heavy mats, "Why don't you go smile and flirt at some footballers and get them to do this for us?"

"Don't be stupid Bonnie," Caroline snapped in an out of breath tone of voice. "I already tried. They have to warm for the game." We giggled at her predictability but quickly stopped as we needed all the breath we could get.

Once we had rolled out the mats, we began warming up and practicing, while the football players hooted and hollered at us from the practice field. In a matter of what felt like moments, the sky was darkening and the field lights were coming on.

"Alright ladies, it's show time!" I called out, and we picked up our pom pom's, pasted on our smiles, and Bonnie retrieved another banner. We headed out onto the field and unrolled it, and set everything up right in front of the entrance to the boy's locker room. By this point, the stadium had really filled up, with a bunch of screaming Panther fans taking up the majority of the bleachers.

We heard the announcer begin his intro, and quickly got into formation. One of the girls grabbed me and hoisted me on her shoulders, while across from me; Caroline was also lifted into the air.

"And now, the pride of Chicago, the heart of Illinois, I give you your home team, the Beaumont Prep Panthers!" We heard the announcer cry out, and we immediately started cheering wildly, and the girls holding the banner braced for impact.

The boys burst through the paper hooting and hollering, and charging onto the field. We immediately picked up all the paper and ran off the field and got into formation on the mats. Smiles brightly pasted on, we started our cheer with simultaneous hurkeys, and began shouting our cheer enthusiastically.

Midway through the second quarter I spotted Jeremy sitting in the stands and waved enthusiastically at him, to which he returned sarcastically. My grin faded slightly as my eyes landed on the person standing next to him. Damon. He was standing there with a smirk on his face, and he waggled his fingers at me, his eyebrows doing that thing that they do that makes me blush.

I ignored him and focused back on my cheerleading, but while we were taking a break, I was reminded of him sitting in the stands when Caroline asked me, "So, who's the hottie?"

I rolled my eyes at her one track mind. "One of Jeremy's 'associates'," I replied, not bothering to elaborate. Besides Bonnie, Caroline also knew what Jeremy did. She would know what I meant.

"Wow. He's really hot for a gangster." She said, eyeing him appraisingly, like he was a piece of meat. I couldn't decide which sickened me more, the fact that she was acting like that, or the fact that Damon was returning her look with flirty eyes of his own.

"Caroline!" I hissed, glancing around nervously to make sure no one had overheard what she had blurted out.

"Sorry Elena!" She too looked around, but it looked like no one had been listening to our conversation.

We were disturbed when a horn sounded, and we heard the announcer saying, "It's halftime ladies and gentleman! While our boys take a break, feel free to enjoy the halftime show our girls put on for you. Introducing our Beaumont Preparatory Panther Cheerleaders!"

We took our spots on the mats, heads down and hands clasped in front of us. The minute we heard the beginning strains of 'Pop Star' by Pretty Little Problem, we went into motion, and the crowd went nuts. Our football team wasn't the only champions in the school. We had won first place at all the major cheerleading competitions for the past ten years.

I was a flier, the one who does all the flips and spins in the air. I used to be nervous about it, but at this point, as a junior, it didn't worry me anymore. Our squad was one of the best in the world, we simply didn't make mistakes, at least I didn't think so.

As the last round of the chorus pounded out through the stadium's speakers, I moved towards the centers of the mat, and felt myself get lifted into the air. The plan was for me to flip up, get caught in a basket toss, and flip back up to land squarely on my base' palm.

I don't know what happened, I don't know whose fault it was, and frankly I wasn't into casting blame, but as I came down into the basket toss and was flipped onto the base' palm, I found myself falling backwards, with no spotter there to catch me. I hit the mat. Hard.

Immediately the stadium was hushed, though I could hear my name being called by Jeremy frantically. Through a gap in the girls surrounding me, I saw through blurry eyes as he rushed down the stairs and vaulted the fence, Damon not far behind him.

Everyone was pushing in on me, demanding to know if I was okay, but I couldn't speak with the wind knocked out of me. All of a sudden, the trainer was there, telling people to move aside and give me space. "Elena, honey, I don't want you to sit up, I just want you to try and wiggle your toes and fingers for me. Can you do that?" Her motherly face was looking down at me in concern, while Jeremy, who had ignored her command to stay back, was right next to her, looking terrified. I could vaguely see Damon in the background, looking just as concerned. What did that mean?

I did as she asked, and was immensely relieved to find that I could move all my fingers and toes. I gave the trainer a big grin, which she returned immediately. "That's great Elena! Now, did you hit your head when you fell?"

I immediately shook my head no, remembering clearly that I had landed on my butt and back, and getting the wind knocked out of me. She sighed in relief. "You'll be fine sweetheart, you can sit up now."

Before the words were even finished leaving her mouth, I found myself in a tight hug, courtesy of my older brother. "Thank god," he breathed into my hair. "No more cheerleading Elena. It's too dangerous."

I rolled my eyes, and decided not to press the argument with him there in front of everyone. "Jeremy? Could you give me some air?" I asked delicately, still strangled from his tight hold on me.

He released me immediately, and turned to Damon saying, "She'll be fine." I was slightly gratified to see some color rush back into his pale, fearful face. Was he worried for me?

I was lifted off the mat to a resounding round of applause, and had to sit out for the rest of the game, with Bonnie who decided to keep me company. Luckily, the last two quarters went by fairly quickly, and soon enough, the game was over, and I was watching the girls lug the big heavy mats back up to the school. Suddenly, I felt really grateful to being 'injured'. Lugging those mats after a night of cheerleading was really no fun at all.

While they were putting them back in the gym, I changed into my party clothes and waited for Bonnie outside the locker room doors. "Elena," I heard someone call my name, and I turned around to see Jeremy there, with Damon following him as per usual. "Are you ready to go?"

"Go where?" I asked, confused. The plan was for me to ride with Bonnie to the victory party at Tyler's house, and then crash at her house for the night.

Jeremy took in my confused expression, and my outfit, and a stormy expression overtook his face. "You're not seriously going to that party are you?"

I gave him a bizarre look. "Of course I am! Why wouldn't I?"

He gave me a bizarre look of his own. "Because you were injured this evening, and because I forbid it!"

I glared at him, shocked that he was going this far. Ever since our parents passed away, Jeremy had been extremely protective of me, even when Jenna was technically our guardian, but he had never been this paranoid about me. "I'm not injured Jeremy! All that happened was that I got the wind and my pride knocked out of me!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Damon smirk at that, but I ignored him and continued on with my rant. "And you forbid me Jeremy? Really? What is this, 1864?"

At that moment, Bonnie and Caroline walked out of the locker room and looked at the three of us curiously. "Problems?" Bonnie asked lightly, obviously trying to defuse the tension.

"No problems, you ready to go?" I asked with a fake smile on my face, already turning to walk away, when I thud. I turned in shock to see that Jeremy had slammed his fist against the wall. It hadn't broken through the blaster, but there was a definite imprint.

"Goddammit Elena, you're not going to that fucking party!" He yelled, the cry echoing through the hall.

I glared daggers at him. "Watch me." And I turned and walked away, listening as Caroline and Bonnie scurried to catch up with me.

"Are you sure about this?" Caroline whispered to me, being uncharacteristically sympathetic, uncertainty written all over her face.

"I'm sure," I snapped, bursting through the doors, and allowing my anger to propel me across the parking lot. "All I want to do right now is get extremely drunk."

I heard Bonnie sigh in resignation behind me. "Oh, this can only be good," she muttered before unlocking her car and allowing us all to pile in.

A/N: Sorry about the long while between updates! About an hour after the first chapter was posted, my internet went down, and hasn't been up since. I've had limited computer use since then. From now on though, it should go to weekly posts, most likely on Wednesdays, as that is when I have the most computer access.

I know that the point of view has changed in this chapter, but one reviewer suggested first person, and I tried it out and thought it flowed better. When I have time, I will go back and correct the first chapter, changing it to first person. Bear with me though. From this point on, the chapters will be in first person, Elena's point of view.

Sorry about the lack of Damon in this chapter, but it was important to set up who this Elena is. She's kind of spoiled, popular, goes to a great school, and has pretty much everything she wants. This is going to be important in the future. And trust me; next chapter will make up for the lack of Damon in this one.

Also, don't judge on the cheerleading stuff. I have limited experience, so I tried to keep it as vague as possible.

So, cheerleader/athlete person, or introverted, join the yearbook staff type?