N: Hello, hello, finally a new chapter's here; hope you'll like it. And… the next chapter will be in Damon's POV.

As always, thank you to my two amazing girls: Ella for looking over this and Phyrfli for the beta work, you girls are amazing!

Nice to meet you

I stopped the noisy alarm that went off about two minutes after I woke up. This was always happening; I'd wake up just before the alarm would start blaring.

It was still dark outside, but I guess that shouldn't surprise me since it was six in the morning although, it was the beginning of October and it usually wasn't that dark. Pulling the covers off of me, I jumped out of bed and walked towards the window. That's when I realized that the background sound of my alarm was the pouring rain. It was the 3rd night in a row with cold, heavy rain.

I don't know how exactly, but somehow I managed to avoid Bonnie pretty much all weekend. She called Sunday morning and told me she had the weirdest dream ever. It was clear that she was starting to remember what had happened, but I didn't feel ready to tell her about it just yet; so I told her it was just a dream and she shouldn't worry about it. I felt guilty about that. I planned on telling her today after school, but I felt I had to talk to Stefan first.

The rain was making it impossible for me to see the big oak tree in front of my house, but I did spot a big crow between the branches. It was so black that its feathers were almost shining. Spreading its big wings, it flew straight towards my window and I stepped back, letting the drapes close. When I reopened them, the bird was gone.

"Elena, are you ready?" the knock on the door along with my aunt's voice made me jump and I started laughing from the silliness of the situation. I was dating a vampire, my best friend literally set me on fire three days ago, and here I was, scared of a little birdie. To be honest now, that crow was huge, but still, pretty silly of me to be cared of it.

"I'll be out in ten minutes," I answered as I was putting on my jeans. I brushed my teeth, washed my face and put on some eyeliner and mascara; I brushed my hair and pulled it up in a ponytail since I didn't have time to straighten it with the iron, but it didn't even matter because it was raining.

***black and white***

I grabbed my umbrella from the back seat, took out my books and locked the car before walking towards the school. It was only about a four minutes' walk from the parking lot towards the school entrance, but with this rain I wished I could teleport.

Too concentrated on shaking my umbrella as I got inside, I didn't see the person walking straight towards me and walked into her. My books flew out of my hands and some pieces of paper landed all over the corridor.

"I'm sorry…"

"Excuse me, I wasn't paying attention," the other person said as we both started picking up our books.

The person I walked into was a girl; pretty, tall with long dark blond hair. She had that 'Latina' look. Her eyes were round and circled by long curly lashes. Her eye color though was pretty unusual which had me staring for a few seconds; they were absolutely and undeniably black.

"You're new," I said and she smiled shyly. I knew right away she was new; not only because I knew everyone in this school, but also, she had that…lost look on her face; that says 'I kind of don't know what I'm doing here'.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked.

"Sorry. I'm Elena," I said offering my hand. She gave me a firm – almost too firm for a girl – hand shake and told me her name was Meredith Sulez.

"I transferred from Fell's High. I should've started a week ago, but some papers got messed up and it took a while."

"Well Meredith, welcome to Mystic F. High. What room are you looking for, maybe I could help you?" I asked politely. She seemed nice and I was late already so why not help a future classmate?

"I'm looking for B12."

"Oh, it's the second floor. It's pretty easy. First floor is A, second is B and 3rd is C. From one to twelve are the rooms on your left as you take the stairs and from thirteen to 24 are the ones on your right. You have A 001, that would be the principal's office and from 002 to 009 are the labs. You'll figure it out in a week or two."

"Thanks…uh…and the stairs would be…?"

"Come on, I'll walk you. I have Math in A 10 and it's in the same direction."

***black and white***

"We should invite her to lunch, with us," Caroline said and I nodded in approval. We were on our ten minute break and since we were about to have biology together we stayed in class.

"She seemed really nice. So I guess we'll meet at the cafeteria at 12:30, ok?" I asked and Caroline mumbled a 'sure' before turning towards the door as the teacher walked in. "Bonnie?" I asked, but got no answer so I poked her shoulder and she jumped off her seat enough to draw the attention of the whole class towards her.

"Miss. Gilbert, Miss. Bennett, would you two like to hold the lecture in my place?" Mrs. Gammed said calmly and we both shook our heads looking down in embarrassment. She took a seat at her desk and started pulling out some papers from her big bag. I took advantage of her lack of attention to write a little message on a piece of paper and hand it to Bonnie.

'What's with you?'

She turned around and mumbled that there was nothing she just had another one of those weird dreams. I took the paper back and wrote that I need to talk to her after school.

"Sure, we could go to my house. No one's home," she whispered and I nodded in approval.

***black and white***

"What's his name?" Meredith asked pointing towards Matt. He was still in his uniform from soccer practice and I must admit he looked really good.

"Oh, he's off limits," Caroline said. "Elena's ex, lots of history there."

"Don't be silly Caroline, I'm with Stefan now. You can go for him if you want to," I said smiling. The truth was that there was never real passion between Matt and me. We were just really good friends. I cared about him and he certainly cared about me, but that was it. I liked Matt; he was sweet and polite, always ready to help. I missed him. Ever since he started dating Ashley and I started dating Stefan, we kind of grew apart.

"I think a party to introduce our friend is in order," I said winking at Caroline. Her eyes started to sparkle at the word 'party' and I could bet my life on the fact that Caroline could make that happen in six hours tops if she wanted to. Of course, Bonnie might not be in a party mood after I talk to her. She'll need some time. "Next weekend?" I asked and the girls confirmed.

"I don't think my house is enough for a big party…" Meredith said kind of embarrassed.

"Don't worry, I'll host," Caroline said proudly.

She was always hosting. Everyone knew that Caroline Forbes was the best party planner in Mystic Falls. People would kill to get an invitation to one of her private parties; they were the best. Everyone who was someone was at one of her 'soirees' as she was calling them.

"Seriously, it's not…I don't want to intrude or anything. I mean, I'd like to get to know more people, but you guys are just spoiling me," Meredith said.

"My pleasure, really. It's been a while since I had a good reason to throw a big party."

"What about your mom? Wouldn't she mind?"

"Well, that would imply her caring," Caroline shrugged.

"You're not being fair Caroline. Your mother's doing her best; it's not easy you know being a single mother. She has to provide for you both, take care of this weird town and be your mother," Bonnie jumped in to defend the sheriff.

"What do you know about that? Your mom always looks out for you," Caroline snapped. And there we were, again. They had this fight almost every week. Caroline would complain about her absentee mother and Bonnie would tell her she's ungrateful. To be honest I agreed with both of them at the same time. I'd like to have a mother even if she didn't have much time to actually talk to me or yell at me. I'd like to have a mother in any way, just to have one…

"If you'll excuse me I have to go look for my boyfriend," I said getting up from the old wooden bench. But as soon as I was standing, I saw Stefan walk towards us.

"Stefan, I thought you'd be waiting for me in the parking lot," I said kissing him on the cheek.

"You were running late. I was worried," he said kissing my nose and I heard Bonnie and Caroline let out a soft 'awww'.

When I turned to roll my eyes at them, I saw Meredith looking quite shy and misplaced, trying to find something to do.

"Oh, sorry. Stefan, this is Meredith, she just transferred from Fell's High. Meredith, this is my boyfriend, Stefan," I made the introductions. Meredith smiled shyly, waving her hand at Stefan who gave her one of those rare smiles that made my heart melt.

"Nice to meet you Meredith," he said. "Are you ready to go home and work on your bad French?"

"I thought you said I wasn't that bad," I protested.

"Tu es un vrai désastre, mais je t'aime quand' même," he whispered and I blushed without even knowing what he said.

"Ça c'est trop cute," Bonnie said smiling. She was a natural at French, accent and all.

"What did he say?" I asked looking at Bonnie.

"That you are a disaster, but he loves you anyway."

"I love you too," I said softly, getting on my toes for a kiss.

We left five minutes later heading towards the Boarding House and promised Bonnie I would meet her at her house in an hour or so.

***black and white***

"In the kitchen," Bonnie yelled after I let myself in and I made my way towards her. I took a deep breath before entering the room, but I still felt like a fish out of water. Suddenly I wished I would've accepted Stefan's offer to come with me. No, this was my mess, my friend; I had to do it on my own.

"Bonnie, I need to talk to you, it's important," I said and she turned to face me raising one of her perfectly coifed eyebrows at me. We rarely had those 'serious' talks and almost every time we did it was still something pretty unimportant, like breaking up with a boyfriend or failing a course.

"Alright, let me turn off the oven first. I'm making muffins with Boston cream."

"Sounds good," I whispered.

"We'll see in about 20 minutes," she said winking at me. She turned off the oven just like she said she would. She took out two soda cans from the fridge and placed them on the table along with two glasses and took a seat beside me. "Ok what it is?"

"You had some weird dreams lately, right?"

"The weirdest…"

"What were they about?"

"Well, in one I dreamed I set you on fire with my mind. It was terrifying. You were burning and screaming and I didn't know what to do. I felt so…out of control and so scared…"

"That's all?"

"Well…you must think I'm so weird, but, I dreamed that Stefan was feeding you blood. Like, real blood from his wrist. It was gross. You actually seemed to like it and it made you feel better."

"I don't think you're weird Bonnie, you are my friend and I love you anyway, ok?"

"Ok."

"Something else?"

"Yes, last night I dreamed the news guy died…"

"Logan Fell?"

"Yep, that one. Weird huh?"

"Bonnie, what if I told you that not all you dreams were…dreams," I said and she just watched me confused.

"What are you talking about Elena? They were just dreams…they can't…I mean, it's not possible. Is it?"

"Bonnie…"

"I can't be a witch! I'm just a girl, like you and Caroline and…and the new student, what's her name?"

"Meredith," I offered.

"Yes, I am like everyone else."

"You're a witch and you can control fire. Bonnie, you did set me on fire seven days ago and Stefan did feed me his blood, because Stefan's not just a normal boy either. He is a vampire, a 364 year-old vampire."

Bonnie looked at me with her big eyes and she busted into laughter like I just told her the funnies joke on earth. Soon her laughter turned into soft sobs and I reached over to take her hand. She pushed me away and yelled at me to stay away.

"So I did it, I actually hurt you…God it was horrible…" she mumbled.

"Yes, but I'm ok now," I whispered.

"Because Stefan gave you blood, his blood healed your burns, right?"

"Yes."

"Because he is a vampire and that's what they do. They don't drink human blood; they give it to them in order to heal them when they hurt."

She was being sarcastic and she had every right to be, I understood that, but truth was that…I had no idea how to react to this. Bonnie was smart, calm and rational, she wasn't like this, never like this. I didn't know what to say or what to do, so I started by telling her how I found out Stefan was a vampire, what he said, how I reacted, how I accepted it. She was looking at me from time to time and that's how I knew she was listening to me, because she wasn't saying a word.

After I was done she seemed a little calmer although her eyes looked ready to pop out of her head when she finally looked at me directly.

"Can I like…not be a witch?" she asked in a soft voice.

"I don't think so. I don't know. I only know what Stefan told me. He was surprized your mother and grandmother haven't talked about this to you. He says there are groups, called 'circles' of witches that meet occasionally to exchange spells or something."

"So…my mom and grandma are witches too, but not my dad or grandpa…?"

"Yes, the power stays in the female gene. If your mother refuses to tell you about it or you don't feel comfortable talking to her, there's another witch in town. I mean, not exactly in town, but close enough."

"Who?"

"Mrs. Flowers. You know the old lady that owns the…"

"I know who Mrs. Flower is," Bonnie interrupted me and I just nodded for some reason. She got up from the chair and made her way towards the oven pulling out a tray with eight muffins. She placed it on the table and started taking out the small sweets one by one. "I want to talk to her, I don't want to tell my mother," she said and I nodded again.

"I'll go with you," I said.

"Thank you."

***black and white***

I got home just twenty minutes before midnight and I was trying to find my keys in my handbag when I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and there it was that huge black crow was back in the old oak tree. Suddenly the wind seemed to blow harder and colder around me. Some sort of weird fog started moving around my legs. I wanted to scream, but it felt like I had lost my voice so I started singing in a soft whisper the song my mom used to sing to me when I was a baby. That song always had the ability to calm me down and make me feel better in bad situations.

The crow made a weird high-pitched noise and I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the attack. I could feel the wind everywhere in my body. Every single inch of my skin had chills on it and my heart was beating like a drum in my chest.

"Elena," I heard my name and automatically my eyes opened. My brother was standing just two feet away with a disturbed expression on his face.

"There was a…" I started and tried to point towards the unusual animal that got me so scared, but it wasn't there anymore. The fog was gone as well and the wind was barely blowing.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Jeremy said in a mocking voice and I punched his shoulder playfully.

"Don't mock me, there was this huge crow and the fog, it got me all confused. Where have you been Jer? It's almost midnight."

"And we're back on the 'none of your business' topic," he scoffed.

"Jenna's worried and so am I to be honest. I waited for you to get it together on your own, but it's not happening."

"Oh for Fuck's sake just stop treating me like a kid!" he shouted.

"Then stop acting like one!" I fired back.

"You should mind…your own business," he yelled into my face and I could smell the alcohol in his breath.

"Have you been drinking?"

"What if I did? Are going to tell mummy and daddy? Oh wait, they are dead," he turned around and walked towards the door, placing his hand on the handle. "Are you coming inside or your waiting for that eagle to come back?"

"Crow," I corrected.

"Even more pathetic."

"I can't find my keys, do you have yours?" I asked choosing to ignore his comment.

"The door's not locked, Elena. Jenna always leaves it unlocked until I get home and lock it," he said pressing the handle and letting himself inside. I followed him. He closed the door behind me, locked it and ran up the stairs without a word.

I went in the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water before going to my room. I tried to stay as calm as possible when I got inside and saw my window opened when I remembered clearly that I closed it before I left. They announced rain so I closed the damn window.

My palms got sweaty from the overwhelming fear that took over my body. I held my breath to make sure I took in every little noise…there was none. Not a whisper, not a crack, silence worse than death was all around. Biting my bottom lip, I stretched my hand to find the light-switch. Just for a split second I looked at the walk and when the light filed the room, he was there.

"Stefan! God you scared me," I started, slowly making my way towards him. I had been trying to get used to the fact that he was able to walk without making the slightest noise – predator abilities and all – but I couldn't. Every time he appeared out of nowhere, he scared me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," he said enveloping me in his arms and making every last bit of fear go away. "I couldn't help it. I just had to know how you were. How did she take the news?"

"As well as you can imagine. At first she thought I was joking then she thought I was going mad and in the end she started crying, telling me she's a bad person. It took me a while to calm her down and make her understand that when she hurt me she didn't mean to and that I'm fine. I promised her we will help her, Stefan, we have to help her. She doesn't want to tell her mother, she's just so scared…"

"I know. Her reaction's perfectly normal. We will help her and she'll be fine. She doesn't know yet, but she's a strong girl."

"How about you, are you ok? With…" I wanted to ask him how he is handling having Damon home, but I couldn't bring myself to say his name right now. For some reason, in my head, it sounded like his name would break the connection between us.

"He hasn't been home all day. He doesn't like to stay in one place too long. I guess I just hope he will get bored and leave by the end of next week. He doesn't have a reason to stay."

Oh, Stefan, he does have a reason to stay…I thought. I had wanted to tell Stefan that the man I had been with that night wasn't a man, but Damon, but every time something stopped me.

"Stefan…what happened between the two of you and Katherine?" I asked softly and he took a step back. "I mean, I know you both loved her, but…"

"No, Elena, I loved her, he wanted her because I wanted her. That's the way it's been between my brother and I…that's the way it always has been. Ever since mom died, five years after giving birth to me, father stopped looking after Damon and concentrated all his feelings on me. He would take me places; he would buy me the clothes I wanted and have the maids take care of Damon. It didn't take Damon long to realize that I was the favorite kid between the two of us, so he took it out on me. Every time father would buy me a pair of shoes, he made sure he got a better pair somehow and the competition began. Three, maybe four years later he started bringing girls home, one after another. Father told him to stop acting like this or he would be forced to take some measures. He didn't stop, he went on like this for years and then he was sent to fight with the troupes. That's when Katherine came. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen and her smile…she had such an angelic smile. I was in love with her from the moment I laid eyes on her, but I was shy and inexperienced. I was so scared she'd refuse me that I didn't even court her."

"So Damon came back and did it for you?" I asked.

"Yes. Needless to say, she immediately fell for his charm. But he had to leave again after a few weeks and then…I was so mad he took her away from me that I didn't care I was going yet again for something my brother had so I took her to one of the balls and told her I'd like to court her. She said yes. Damon wasn't happy when he came back. He swore he would take her away from me just like I took her away from him…"

"And he did…" I assumed.

"Yes, I didn't know at first, because she compelled me to forget, but as soon as I turned I remembered. She didn't want me and she didn't want Damon, she wanted us both. I guess we're both to blame. I realized that and I tried to find Damon and apologize, but it was too late, he didn't want to hear it."

"But…Katherine…what happened to her? How did she die?" I asked. This girl-vampire was a big part of his life and I wanted to know what happened. His eyes went dark just like every time he was talking about her, and I could feel the jealousy growing inside.

"Whoever she was running from got to her. When Damon and I recovered, we went looking for her, but all we found was Emily dead next to a pile of ash."

"I'm sorry," I whispered trying to give him some comfort.

"I'm okay, I found you," he murmured placing a kiss in top of my head.

After Stefan left, I changed, brushed my teeth, and crawled into bed. I was just about to turn off the lamp on the bedside table when I felt something poking my neck. I grabbed the object and just stared at it in disbelief. It was the blue hairpin I gave to Damon the day we met at the bar. I remembered it like it was yesterday, every little detail.

"I'm Elena, by the way," I said stretching my hand towards him. He grabbed it and raised it to his mouth. I felt his soft lips on my skin as he kissed my knuckles and I let out a soft gasp.

"I'm Damon," he replied, smiling. He let go of my hand and picked up his drink. "I like your butterfly," I looked at him confused, not knowing which butterfly he was talking about. "The one in your hair," he said like he had read my mind. From reflex I raised my hand to my hair and took out the small, blue butterfly-shaped hairpin.

"Here, you can keep it as a souvenir," I said, handing the clip to him.

That could only mean one thing; someone invited him into my home.

N: Don't forget to review and let me know what you think if this chapter.