Chapter eight

A promise to save a life

Elizabeth

I sighed, closing my eyes as the teacher lectured on and on in Biology. The seat next to me was empty, and I imagined that Jeremy was off doing drugs somewhere.

"Miss Salvatore?"

I opened my eyes, to see the teacher glaring at me. "I'm sorry- am I boring you with all this learning?" he asked dryly, and there was scattered laughter.

"Well, I was a little sleepy."

Jeremy smirked, as he sat down next to me. I smiled slightly, as Mr. Kelp turned his glare to Jeremy.

"Mister Gilbert, you are twenty minutes late. That is unacceptable." He snapped, narrowing his eyes.

I felt anger flare up inside of me. "He showed up, didn't he?" I retorted, and Jeremy let out a spurt of surprised laughter.

Mr. Kelp's eyes widened and he turned his glare back to me. "Elizabeth, go to the office. You can join her, Jeremy."

Silently, the two of us left the room together. I sort of expected us to be at least friendly acquaintances now, but Jeremy didn't look at me as we walked to the office.

I frowned at him, seeing that same heartbroken glaze in his brown eyes that were in Damon's blue ones. "Who broke your heart?" I blurted out, honestly curious.

Jeremy looked at me, surprised by my outburst. "I don't know what you're talking about." He muttered, looking away from me.

"What was her name, and how did she do it?" I asked. I might be overstepping invisible lines, but I wanted to know why Jeremy was a jackass drug addict.

"I didn't get my heart broken." He lied, and I snorted.

"Please, I've seen plenty of heartbroken eyes in my time to recognize a pair when I see them. And honey, you have all the signs." I said.

Jeremy sighed, clearly not wanting to tell me. Then it looked like a light bulb went off in his head. He looked me dead in the eyes, and smirked.

"Fine, I'll tell you who broke mine, if you tell me who broke yours." He said smugly, and my eyes widened.

"I didn't get my heart broken." I lied, looking at the ring on my finger.

"Now who's lying?" Jeremy smirked.

I sighed, biting my lip. Was it worth it, telling him something really personal just to hear why he was a dick?

"Deal." I said, causing Jeremy to look surprised. I bet he expected me to back off, but I wasn't the type to just let things go.

"Fine," Jeremy sighed. "It was two girls. One was Vicki- she died last year. Then there was Anna, who moved away a couple months later. I never heard from her again. "

I frowned sympathetically at him. "I'm sorry." I said truthfully- really, I just expected that his girlfriend dumped him for some football player.

"Whatever," he mumbled, looking down at his shoes. "What happened to you?"

I sighed, it was only fair. I did promise him. "I fell in love with a man who was probably a little too old for me, but I kind of liked how he was more mature than any of the other boys my age. He broke my heart more times than I can count, during our relationship. He used me and led me on. I don't even know if he ever loved me back. One minute he was going on about how we would be together forever, the next he was saying how he wasn't capable of love. But still, I kept going back. I kept falling deeper in love with him, and he kept skinning my heart alive. Finally, I caught him in bed with another girl, and ended it. Then he betrayed me even more."

Jeremy stared at me, brown eyes wide. "How did he betray you?" he asked.

I shook my head- I really couldn't tell him that. "It's complicated." I said.

"What's his name?" Jeremy asked, as we stopped in front of the office.

Just then, the bell rang loud and clear throughout the halls. "Saved by the bell." I muttered, before being swallowed up by the crowd.

"Bonnie!" I called, chasing after my brother's girlfriend's best friend.

Bonnie stopped and looked at me, her eyebrows furrowing. "Oh, hey Elizabeth." She said, clearly confused on why I was talking to her.

"I know we just met, but I need a favor from you. If it helps my cause, we would be stopping a pretty evil vampire bitch." I said, falling into step with her.

"What do you need?" she asked, looking like she was already thinking about helping me.

"Emily cast a spell on the church, to save the vampires, in 1864. But in reality, she trapped them in the basement for 145 years. I was wondering if you could do a similar spell, cast it on a room so that any vampire who entered it couldn't leave." I said.

Bonnie nodded right away. "I know I can." She said. "Can I ask why?"

"Long story short, a very old, very strong vampire wants me dead. The only person who could kill her would be her sister- equally old and strong. But you can understand her apprehensiveness to kill her older sister. So instead, I was thinking that we could trap her instead, so that Lily won't have to kill Poppy." I explained.

"I think I can help you, I just need to know when." Bonnie said, and I beamed.

"Thank you! I'll give you the details when I can." I said, then walked away to call Lily.

We had a plan. All we had to do now was set it into motion.

At lunch, I called Lily and told her that we had a plan to trap Poppy. That made me late to lunch, and I was craving French fries.

Being a vampire, I wasn't really hungry, per say, but I could eat food as long as I drank blood. And I got cravings just like everyone else.

As I was walking to the cafeteria, I saw Jeremy behind a tree. He was getting high.

I sighed, and against my better judgment, I walked up to him. "At school? Really?"

He looked at me, and sighed. Hiding his bottle of pills in his pocket, he turned his back to me. "Go away, Elizabeth."

"You know, drinking and doing drugs won't make them come back." I said bluntly.

He looked at me, narrowing his brown eyes. "I'm not-"

"It won't make them miss you, it won't make them love you again, and it won't make them come back to you. All it will do is kill you slowly and painfully. Trust me, I know a thing or two about self-destruction, and it's not worth it." I said.

"Screw you, It's not any of your business." He snapped, walking away from me.

"It feels better now, numbs the pain, but the longer you avoid said pain, the more it will hurt when you finally face it." I said, following him.

He whirled around to face me. "You don't know anything." He snapped, and I saw that same desperation in his eyes that I had in mine when Lily was trying to save me.

"I know more about pain, heartache, and self-destruction than you ever will." I retorted, not knowing why I was even trying.

"Oh, really?" he laughed cruelly. "You think we have something in common, Elizabeth? I lost the only two girls I ever loved, and you just got used by some jackass as a sex toy. You wouldn't know real pain if it bit you in the ass."

I didn't even flinch. "Jeremy, do yourself a favor, and stop avoiding your pain. It's going to kill you, and I'm not even being dramatic. Your pain is going to eat you alive if you don't face it."

Jeremy stared at me, and I almost thought that he might take my advice, when he just smirked. "Thanks, but I'll take my chances."

He started walking away, and I let him. But I wasn't discouraged. In fact, I was even more determined.

"I'm going to save Jeremy Gilbert, if it's the last god damn thing I do." I said, but I knew he heard me.

Jeremy kept on walking like I never said a word.

"Hey," I smiled at Stefan and Elena, sitting down next to them at our lunch table.

"Bonnie told me that you wanted her to cast that tomb spell. Why?" Elena asked, as I dug into my fries.

"Because we need to stop Poppy, but Lily doesn't want to kill her sister if she has a choice- and she's the only person capable of doing so." I explained.

By the look of understanding on her face, Stefan must've filled in the blank spots in the story I'd given to Elena. "When is Poppy coming?" she asked.

I shrugged. "She might be here now, but Poppy likes making big, dramatic entrances, so I'll doubt that she'll show her face until an opportunity presents itself." I said, scanning my brain for any possible opportunities.

"There's the founder's ball in about two weeks." Elena offered.

"Then we'll see Poppy in two weeks." I announced, standing up. Stefan watched me.

"Do you have a plan, Lizzie?" he asked, silently asking do you need Damon and mine's help?

I shook my head. "I don't want you or Damon involved in this." I said firmly, walking to the trash can. Stefan stood up and followed me.

"I'm the big brother- I should be saying that." He mused.

"This is my mess, Stefan." I frowned at him. "Not yours. You don't know what Poppy's capable of, I do. You and Damon aren't involved in this, and I want you two somewhere safe when this all goes down."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Elizabeth, this Poppy is trying to kill my sister. She's a threat to Elena and her friends and family. I am involved in this, and I won't be on the side lines when everything happens- I'll be in the middle of it all, making sure no one I love gets hurt. And I will bet you that Damon won't be willing to just watch either. But nice try."

I sighed. "Stefan…"

"Lizzie…" he mocked, raising an eyebrow.

"I will take a stake in the heart before I let you and Damon die for me." I said, meaning every word. I stared him in the eyes so that Stefan knew it too.

"Elizabeth, I lost you once already, I'm not going to lose you again." He said in the same firm tone that I used.

"Then we're in agreement- no Salvatore sibling is dying anytime soon." I said.

Stefan nodded, and returned to Elena. I watched him, not seeing any signs of his ripper past in my older brother. And honestly, if you were to ask me which of my brothers would be a ripper, I would've picked Damon.

That's why you can't judge a book by its cover. The people who seem the least threatening can end up being the most dangerous.

As I walked to my last class of the day, I saw Jeremy hanging out in the stoner's pit. He was with a couple other druggies.

Remembering my promise to him, I started walking towards him. Without announcing my arrival, I knocked the pill bottle out of his hand, and the pills spilled everywhere.

"What the hell?" he snapped, glaring at me. I simply shrugged my shoulders.

"I told you I would save you, Jeremy, and I'm a woman of my word." I smirked, and then walked away from him. I reminded myself of Lily at that moment.

"You can't save me." He called at my retreating figure, his stoner friends too high to even notice our argument.

"I beg to differ." I retorted, not even looking back.

I had helped Lily save some vampires before, but never a stoner human. I knew the differences between the two, but I think I could use almost the same rescue plan on Jeremy that Lily used on her vampires. I'd just have to change things around a little.

But step number one would still be the same. It was two steps really, just mushed up together. You sober up the vampire- or drug addict- and help them find their reason to change.

I just didn't know if Jeremy had one.

A/N: for the sake of my story line, Jeremy doesn't know about vampires. He was compelled to think that Vicki died of over-dose, and that Anna just moved away. I'm taking some things from the show- so far season one and two, maybe three later on- but I'll be changing some things. Like Jenna's still alive for one, and Jeremy doesn't know about vampires.

Thank you to: funnygirlash101 and vdemily for reviewing!

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