I went to pick up Elena to give her a ride to school in the morning. I think she would be driving soon, but it can't be easy to get behind the wheel after everything. I wasn't even near the car, but it took me a few months before I wanted lessons.

I knocked on the door and it was answered by Elena's aunt Jenna.

"Hey, Kaitlin, Elena's almost ready." She told me. "Do you think that I look adult today?"

Her hair was up and she was dressed in a blazer and long skirt. She looked like an adult.

"Yeah, but why are you trying to look adult?" I asked.

"I have a parent-teacher conference with Jeremy's history teacher." She explained as I noticed Elena coming down the stairs.

"Well, have fun." I told her as the two of us went to my car. "She's not going to have fun."

"That's pretty much a given for anyone who has to be in Tanner's presence." Elena agreed.

"You're in a good mood today." I noted. "Is it because you hooked up with Stefan last night? I saw him leaving your house this morning."

"We didn't hook up." Elena replied. "We just stayed and talked for hours without really going into any personal stuff."

"So they are you in a good mood because you're hopped up on Red Bulls because you didn't get much sleep?" I asked as she rolled her eyes.

"So what did you do after the party?" She inquired.

"I went to the Grill with Caroline and Bonnie and we happened to see this super-hot guy." I explained. "I didn't get his name or number, but he was amazing."

"What did he look like?" Elena asked curiously.

"He was this older guy, with long, but not too long dark hair, and a little bit of stubble. I only saw him for like three seconds before he disappeared." I explained.

"I'll start making wedding invites." Elena quipped. "Kaitlin Cooper and Mystery Guy."

"Okay now it's kind of annoying." I admitted as I parked at the school. We got out of the car and I couldn't help but notice Stefan was looking at Elena and so was Matt. I looked in the stoner pit and I didn't happen to see Jeremy. "Do you know where Jeremy is?"

"I'm pretty sure that he went to the hospital to see Vicki." Elena said.

"You should talk to him." I suggested, looking at Stefan.

"I will after class." She promised. Right now, she just smiled at him. That smiling eventually turned into eye sex in the classroom as Tanner talked about some comet that was apparently a big deal around here. I was still getting used to this small town. I mean Newport wasn't a big town, but Mystic Falls had a population of about 500 and I used to live right near the beach.

"Are we bothering you Mr. Salvatore, Ms. Gilbert?" Tanner asked. I couldn't help but giggle at that. They were hot for each other.

After school, we met at the Grill and were eating outside. I guess you could call it a late lunch since public school lunches were crap. Elena was talking about her night with Stefan and Bonnie was talking about her crazy grandma.

"So my Grams says that the comet is a harbinger of doom." Bonnie explained. "The last time it was here, there was a lot of death."

"Yeah, it's not like a war was going on or anything." I quipped.

"And then you poured Grams another shot." Caroline added disinterestedly. "So then what happened?"

"Then nothing, we just talked." Elena replied.

"You just talked all night? No ill-advised hookup or sloppy first kiss or even a handshake?" The blonde asked in disbelief.

"That's what she says." I confirmed.

"Elena we're your friends. You're supposed to share the smut with us." Caroline stated.

"There was no smut, we just talked." Elena repeated.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Caroline asked. "Jump his bones already. It's simple. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy: sex."

"Profound." I commented before I noticed Elena getting up. "Where are you going?"

"Caroline's right. It is easy." She stated. "I don't want to talk myself out of it."

As she walked away, I noticed that she left before paying her share of the bill. I wouldn't stand for this. I put some money on the table.

"Where are you going?" Caroline asked.

"I'm following her to make sure that she pays her share of the bill." I stated before I got in my car and drove to the Salvatore Boarding house. It looked really old. I saw Elena knocking on the door, which pushed open. I watched her walk right in. I know I heard about open doors in the South, but I didn't think I would actually see it. I also couldn't believe Elena would just walk in. I sighed and locked my car and went in after her.

"Elena, what are you doing?" I asked. "You can't just barge into someone's home invited."

That's how I was taught as a kid.

"Well you did the same thing." She pointed out.

"I only did it to get you out." I argued as suddenly a crow flew in through the open window. Also suddenly, we found ourselves face-to-face with the hottie from last night. Wow, this was incredible luck. "I'm sorry that we barged in."

"You must be Elena, and who might you be?" He asked me.

"K…Kaitlin." I stammered. "Who are you?"

"I'm Damon, Stefan's brother." The man answered.

"He didn't say that he had a brother." Elena remarked.

"He said that he didn't have any siblings that he talked to." I reminded her.

"Stefan's not exactly one to brag." Damon replied. "Please come. I'm sure Stefan will be along in a minute."

"You should probably close your doors and windows." I told him, hoping he wouldn't think that was weird. "I'm pretty sure that there's a bird flying around somewhere in this house."

We looked around the house and I felt like I was in one of those restaurants with all of the stuff hanging on the walls.

"This is amazing." Elena stated.

"It's a bit kitschy for my taste." Damon admitted. He looked over Elena. "I can see why my brother is so smitten. Of course that's not to say you're the only pretty girl in the room."

I blushed. He thought I was pretty.

"It's about time if you ask me. I thought he'd never get over the last one." Damon replied. This seemed like it would be interesting.

"Last one?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, Katherine." Damon answered. Elena looked at him blankly. "Oh, you two haven't had the whole awkward exes chat yet."

"Nope." Elena confirmed.

"Well maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound." Damon explained.

"You say it like you think everything relationship is doomed from the start." I mentioned.

"Well, I'm a fatalist." Damon replied. Well, maybe he would be good for a lay at least. "Hello Stefan."

We looked and saw Stefan standing by the entrance to the parlor. When did he get here?

"Elena, Kaitlin." He greeted us coldly. "I didn't know you two were coming over."

"Sorry for just barging in." I apologized.

"Nonsense, you two are welcome any time." Damon replied.

"Thank you for stopping by." Stefan remarked. That was code for 'Please leave.' I grabbed Elena's hand and pulled her out the door.

"So that was the guy I was talking about." I remarked.

"Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?" Elena asked.

"You still have to pay your part of the tab for the Grill." I pointed out. "Do you think your aunt will mind if I invite my dad over?"

"No, Jenna likes your dad." She replied.

Later that night, I was helping Jenna and Elena make dinner. My dad would be there soon.

"He's on the rebound and he has raging family issues." Elena told Jenna. I don't think that she was ready to give up on Stefan. I wouldn't. I wonder if she'd mind me dating him if they break up…if they're even together.

"At least it's family issues. Wait until you date a guy with mommy issues, or cheating issues, or amphetamine issues." Jenna replied. As if on cue, Jeremy walked in. It was kind of creepy.

"Dinner's almost ready." Jenna told him.

"No thanks I've already ate." Jeremy replied.

"You need to stop ditching class." Jenna ordered.

"Parental authority, I like it." Jeremy responded. Jenna grabbed an apple and threw it at him

"Ow, why? Why did you do that?" He asked before he went upstairs.

"Maybe I could talk to him." I suggested. "I mean I really know what he's going through because I've used drugs and I have lost someone that I was very close to."

I went up the stairs to his room and knocked on the door.

"I don't wanna talk." He replied.

"What if it's with me?" I asked as I walked inside. "Look Jeremy, you want to know why I stopped smoking?"

"You said it didn't do anything for you." He reminded me.

"Okay, that's true, but eventually I had to move on and I realized that I couldn't be the same person that I used to be. I decided that I wanted to be good after getting kicked out of school. Trust me. At the rate you're going, it's going to happen to you. I've done everything there is to act out that there is. When my parents first got divorced, I got sent to boarding school and while I was there, my mom lost all of her money. I had to steal some money from a frat party just to get a cab home. I'm not saying that your life isn't hard, but you're not the only one who's suffered. Can you tell me why you were skipping class?"

"I went to see Vicki at the hospital." He replied before I went down to eat.

The next night was the festival for the comet. I really didn't care about some stupid comet. Maybe Damon would be there and I could hook up with him.

At some point Matt ended up losing track of his sister. Eventually Stefan ended up finding her, but I couldn't help but think that I could sympathize with Matt more than I could with Jeremy. Vicki seemed like she was a lot like Marissa (except for the whole dating a girl thing, which I still can't be sure if that really happened)

I was once again with Bonnie and Caroline at the Grill.

"Ugh, the druggies are so much drama." Caroline remarked. I couldn't argue with that. I probably should have been offended by it, but I couldn't really be and I was tired.

"You know Vicki really reminds me of my older sister." I explained. "She was someone who drank a lot and trouble seemed to always follow her around, right until the end. If Vicki is like her, she probably just has made a lot of bad choices. I nearly lost Marissa 4 years ago when she OD'ed in Tijuana. Maybe Vicki will be able to turn her life around."

"Who knows?" Bonnie said.

"You're the one who is supposed to be psychic." I reminded her.

"It's too late for any of this psychic stuff." Bonnie replied. "I think that we should probably get going."

I went home to find that my dad was still up. I had something that I was wondering that I wanted to ask him.

"Dad, do you think that we would have been able to save Marissa if we managed to keep our family together?" I asked.

"I don't know." Dad told me. "Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Because that girl that was attacked by the animal, Vicki Donovan, from what I hear, she's a lot like Marissa was, minus the bi-curious thing, I mean neither of her parents are around and I can't help but wonder if our broken family led to her death."

"It's hard to say." He declared. "Marissa did have a lot of issues before your mother and I got divorced. I can't fix my mistakes with her, but I can be a good parent for you."

"I love you, Daddy." I told him.

So, I just realized how similar Vicki and Marissa were, which is ironic because their moms were played by the same actress. Speaking of which, I don't think Kelly will appear in this story. Also Jeremy and Kaitlin had a talk that didn't lead to much. Please don't forget to review.