Hello again everyone!

Thank you so, sooooooo much for all your lovely reviews. It really does kick-start those creative juices and makes you wanna write away to your hearts content. I'm pleased you're enjoying where this is going and I can promise you the next couple of chapters will NOT disappoint. I have big plans for our favourite couple. And Damon is about to play hero ;-)

Also in response to someone's review, I totally understand why you feel Damon is a little OOC. My reasons for this are pretty plausible; he's not the badass, domineering vampire that we're use to and for obvious reasons in this AU, he can't be as a teacher! So i've likened to writing him from a human-Damon perspective, but with strong characteristics of vamp-Damon (I hope!) You'll see the Damon you're after as the story continues, and as he gets to know Elena, John, Alaric and Isobel in particular. I hope that covers it!

Anyways enough rambling. On with the story!

I own nothing of TVD (...sadly.)

Elena's POV

The day was quickly passing by in a blur since her English lesson that morning. Elena found herself in a permanent daydream, drifting away in the middle of conversations, too busy thinking about the teacher with the cobalt blue eyes that sent her senses reeling into a frenzy. Her ribs were beginning to ache with the amount of times Caroline had elbowed her back into reality. And with one final thump from Caroline's bony limb, Elena decided to make the effort and actually listen.

"Elena did you hear me? Seriously, I'm asking for your advice on Matt and you're busy in cuckoo-land!"

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little tired" she said, shaking her head a little and leaning in over the table. Caroline huffed and continued.

"So yeah, he sent me a text earlier asking why I haven't made the effort to say hello. Lame boy move, right? I mean he totally..."

She tried. She really, really did. But Elena found herself falling into that dreamy haze once again, feeling her stomach flutter for just so much as thinking about Mr Salvatore's smirk that played on his lips in class. It was that smirk and the colour of his eyes which she could remember most. She cursed herself inwardly for being too shy to look at him more. It wasn't like he'd have been looking at her, so why be so timid?

Reality slowly came swirling back into focus, along with Caroline's relentless moaning and Bonnie's testing sighs of boredom. It was pathetic to be thinking so much about her teacher, but she couldn't help it! She'd had crushes on teachers before, like Mr Saltzman, but they'd be something to laugh and joke about amongst her friends. So why couldn't she do the same this time? Elena sighed as she rolled her finger round the straw in her drink. Something told her that this crush on Mr Salvatore was something entirely different from anything else she'd experienced before.

"And after that whole business with Aimee over the summer, you'd think he'd understand why I don't wanna see him anymore, right? What do you guys think?"

"Well I for one thought you were, and I quote 'so over Matt' earlier on today and now you can barely stop talking about him. He's got you wrapped around his little finger" said Bonnie.

"I am so not wrapped around his finger, I'm just... saying!" flitted Caroline, tossing her hair over her shoulder and slumping back in her chair with an angry huff. Elena and Bonnie shared a secret smirk, pleased that she'd finally been cornered into silence.

"Oh my God, Elena!"

The gentle voice floated from behind Elena and she twisted around in her seat to find Anna walking over with her friends. A look of concern was swept over her face and Elena just knew what was coming.

"Hey, Anna"

Without warning Anna leaned down and wrapped her arms around Elena, almost pulling her out of her chair into a hug.

"I am so, so sorry about your loss" she said, pulling away to slide her hands down to Elena's, "are you okay!"

"Yeah I'm fine, thank you" Elena replied, trying to pry her hands out of Anna's tight grip.

"If you need anything at all..."

"Thanks, but I'm okay, really" Elena said with an extra nod, hoping it would make her leave.

"Okay, well I'll see you around, yeah?"

And with that she bounced away across the cafeteria. Elena turned around and rolled her eyes. Bonnie bit her lip,

"How many times is that today?"

"Oh about a million," Elena sighed, but no sooner as she settled back into her seat she found her thoughts drifting back to Mr Salvatore.

"Ooh what's that look for?" Bonnie asked, which caused Caroline to spring back to life.

"What look? Did you have that smile?"

"What smile?" giggled Elena, the looks on their faces making her smile all the more.

"Oh don't play games, who's the guy?" asked Bonnie, giving her a look that told Elena to cut to the chase. But of course, she wasn't going too.

"It's nobody!"

"It's not Stefan is it?"

"No!"

"Or what about Tyler, he's been looking at you all morning."

"Don't be silly Bonnie, she would never go for Tyler!" said Caroline, quite defensively for some reason...

"Oh I know! It's Mr Salvatore!" Bonnie laughed. Elena felt her jaw drop, words unable to form in her dry mouth, "Oh my God, it is! I knew it!"

"He is hot. Did you see how well-fitted that suit was on his body? It fit him in all the right places" lured Caroline with a nip of her lip, "not to mention the eyes."

"Oh the eyes.." Bonnie echoed, "It's sinful for a teacher to be that sexy."

Elena didn't realize she was holding a breath. She'd managed to escape the scrutiny of 'pathetic girl falling for her teacher' and instead they'd occupied themselves with pointing out Mr Salvatore's best bits. Which were, as Elena grinned, pretty much all of him.

The hairs on the back of Elena's neck stood on end, sensing that someone was near. Looking over her left shoulder, she found a lonely figure making his way over to their table. He looked more miserable and dejected than he did earlier than morning when he sulked over the grounds towards her. Awkward confrontation number two was about to begin.

Elena turned back to the table, pretending not to see him and hoping he would wander by. But she knew that wasn't going to happen. She could now feel his body towering over her chair.

"Buzzkill Bob" quipped Caroline, whom received a kick under the table from Bonnie.

"Elena can I talk to you for a minute?"

His voice was painful to hear and Elena found herself closing her eyes to shut back the tears that prickled. She needed to remain strong. If he saw a weakness, he would immediately use that as a reason for her not to give up on them, to remember what they had and all the usual talk he had come out with just after they broke up.

"Can it wait, Stefan?" she asked without looking, only to find Bonnie giving her the most condescending look from across the table. Elena understood she was being rude, and decided to look up to face him.

"It could I suppose. But I mean...I'd really like it to be now if that's okay?"

The sorrow in his jaded eyes was too much and Elena decided she couldn't stall their long overdue talk any longer.

"Sure" she nodded, seeing him smile as she stood up and followed him out of the busy cafeteria, making their way outside into the afternoon sunlight.

The walk was unbelievably awkward. Elena shoved her hands into her jacket pockets while Stefan scuffed the grass with his feet. She couldn't think of a way to begin and from the look on Stefan's face he was exactly the same. Although he seemed quite content walking side by side in silence. Finally with a drawn out sigh, Elena spoke.

"I'm sorry for avoiding you like I have, Stefan. I just... I've been... well you know."

"I know," he said, and she knew he really did. "And I'm sorry if i've been pushing my luck. I just didn't want to give up on us." They looked to one another, Stefan with hope, Elena without. She saw him clench his jaw as they continued to stroll along. "Is there hope for us, Elena?"

"Stefan..."

"Elena, please" he stammered, causing her to jump when he stopped to grab her by the arms to face him. "Don't you remember the good times we had?" he said, cupping her face in his warm hands.

"Stefan..." she began again,poising her hands gently over his and bringing them down from her cheeks. "A lot has changed for me over the last couple of months. I've changed and to be with you now it... it wouldn't feel right."

"Just now? So you're saying there's a chance in the future?"

He was bordering on desperate now and Elena needed to nip it in the bud. She dropped his hands and snaked her hands through her hair.

"I don't know Stefan."

"What do you mean 'you don't know?' Surely you have more to give me than that."

"Well I don't. I'm sorry."

She moved to walk away but he blocked her path.

"I can't settle for that, Elena. Please, why can't you understand that-"

"No, Stefan! Why can't you understand that my parents have just died and I couldn't give a fuck about anything else in my life right now!"

Everyone around them had stopped at her outburst. Stefan had taken several steps back and looked completely stunned by her anger. Elena, though shaken, waited until she saw her words had hit home to Stefan before walking away.

"Elena I'm sorry," she heard him say after her. She closed her eyes, again to stop the tears that urged to spill onto her cheeks as she made her way back to the cafeteria towards Bonnie and Caroline. As soon as they saw her, both girls leapt from their seats to pull her into a hug.

"What did he say to you, Elena?" said Bonnie, demanding an answer.

"Nothing. Just the usual." Elena felt her chest suddenly clench painfully, then relax, then tighten up once again. "I... I can't breathe properly." she said, struggling to speak through her impending panic attack.

"Lets get you home. To hell with chemistry class" said Caroline.

Damon's POV

Day one was finally over. He'd survived.

As soon as his classroom emptied of students, Damon began to tidy up. He streamed between the rows of tables, straightening them up and putting chairs underneath them correctly. When he came to one particular seat he found himself coming to a stop in his tracks.

He could still see her bright, innocent eyes staring up at him as vivid as they did that very morning. The smile she wore for him, timid yet alluring, was still fresh in his mind even after a long, exhausting day. No matter how interesting, trying or boring a lesson had been, he still couldn't shake Elena Gilbert from his mind.

It both excited him and terrified him.

"I'm fucking screwed" he growled to himself, throwing the chair into the right position under the table and storming back to the front to collect his things from his desk.

"So, how was your first day?" came the voice of Alaric Saltzman from the door.

"Jesus, you sound like a parent asking a kid how their first day of school was," Damon joked.

"Well I s'pose I am in a way. Did you make any new friends?"

"Har, har" Damon replied, tossing a few pens into the top drawer of his desk. "Y'know it went a lot better than I expected. I haven't felt like ripping any of their heads off their shoulders yet, so I suppose that's a good start, right?"

"Perfect if you ask me," replied Alaric. "But yeah, how are you fixed for Friday?"

Damon thought for a minute, he knew full well he didn't have any plans considering he was new to town and didn't really know anyone. But he pondered anyway and shrugged his shoulders.

"I think I can squeeze something into my hectic schedule. Why, what's going on?"

"Well we're having a bit of a gathering on Friday night, just a meal and some drinks to celebrate the beginning of a new study year. Would you like to come along?"

"Yeah, sure. Count me in" said Damon. It wouldn't hurt to get to know everyone. Even John... perhaps.

"Good stuff. It's John who organizes the whole event. Which means once he leaves, that's when the party actually kicks off."

Damon chuckled, trying to envisage John Gilbert actually attempting to have any fun. It was a hard image to muster up.

Then suddenly, as though a light bulb had been switched on in his brain, Damon pieced the possible connections together. John Gilbert. Elena Gilbert. Although not the most uncommon surname on the planet it still felt like a huge coincidence. Were they related? It wouldn't be a massive deal if they were, but maybe it would explain why John was such a dick to him when they first met.

Then Damon realized Alaric was still waiting for a confirmation, and he hadn't said a word for a good minute or so.

"Sounds good to me. Where's it at?" said Damon, swinging his jacket over his shoulder as he and Alaric exited the room.

"No where special. The Mystic Grill?"

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that place."

"Yeah, we're meeting there at eight and afterwards a few of us will probably hit the nightclubs or something."

Damon silently hated the idea for one, simple reason. But, he decided to ask,

"You don't bump into any of the students on your nights out do you?"

"Nah. Well, not in the past couple of years i've lived here. I think we're pretty safe."

"Good," sighed Damon as they left the building. The idea of being seen by students while he was a drunken mess and strutting his stuff on the dance floor was near on unbearable.

"But wouldn't it be sweet if Elena Gilbert happened to be there?"

Damon quickly put that idea to rest before it ignited into a full on fantasy of actually imagining Elena swaying on the dance floor; her hair falling in her face, her hips rocking to the catchy beats of the music while she looked over to him underneath her dark eyelashes...

Yeah.. too late... already fantasizing. Thank God he was nearing his car in the parking lot.

"So I'll see you tomorrow, Damon" said Alaric, patting Damon on the arm as he walked away to his own car.

"Yeah, see you in the morning, Alaric. Thanks for today!"

"No problem!" he called over his shoulder.

Damon slid into his car and no sooner as he'd slammed the door shut he was thinking about her yet again. He rested his head on the steering wheel, wondering how on earth it came to be that he walked into Mystic Falls High that morning as a free, single man who could have any woman he wanted, to falling head over heels for one of his sixteen year old students... and falling hard at that.

"Get it out of your head, Salvatore" he told himself.

He roughly jammed his keys into the ignition and fired up the engine. The sooner he got home, had a cold shower and poured himself a generous amount of Bourbon into a glass the better.

Hopefully he would wake up tomorrow and Elena Gilbert would be settled in the back of his mind, and he could get on with his role as a teacher. His infatuation for her would be just a weird, first day nerves kind of... thing... that he could put it down to. He would completely forget about her.

But Damon, a smart and intelligent man, knew that was never, ever going to happen.

He was indeed... screwed.

And so ends chapter 4,

I hope it met your expectations! I apologize if there are any typos. I'm exhausted, but I really wanted to get this chapter out as a thank you for leaving me some awesome reviews.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas about... well... anything, so please be amazing and keep the reviews coming in!

Anna x