Waking up in the morning is becoming harder, after staring at the ceiling for a few minutes I finally get up and get dressed for my class. I jog to the class and start practicing immediately, thankfully I am getting better at defending myself and throwing punches. After failing miserably against my teacher Josh who really enjoys my misery and is becoming a friend I head for archery which I definitely enjoy more than defense. My shots are getting better I am no where near getting bullseye but still there is progress. Finally I reach home and am able to ignore the strong urge to go to bed. I take a shower and get ready for school before going downstairs.
Finding Jer sitting there with his own coffee along with a cup for me. "Thanks." I tell him and sit down while enjoying my coffee. "Where do you go every morning?" Jer asks. I knew this question would come. I am saved from answering as Jenna comes downstairs. "Good morning Aunt Jenna." I greet her; she looks exhausted, couldn't blame her she has been given the responsibility to raise three teenagers while also finishing her education. "Good morning Ari, Jeremy. Why aren't you at school yet?" Jenna questions. I check the time to see we only have ten minutes till school starts. "Oh my god we're going to be late. Come on Jer. Bye Aunt Jenna see you later." I say while taking my bag and heading to the car. I hear Jenna shout a bye and be careful before I start the car and head towards the school. Jeremy is still waiting for the answer I know that as he kept staring at me. "Ari, come on tell me." He whines. Geez. "I take classes everyday. Archery and self defense. Okay?" I tell him. He looks ready to say something but we reach school so he stays silent. We both get out saying bye and go our separate ways.
"Hey Ari, can I talk to you for a minute?" I hear someone say from behind me, I turn around to see Stefan. "Hey Stefan, maybe later? I don't want to be late to class." I tell him hurriedly while taking the books I need. "Okay at lunch? It's really important." Stefan asks. "Yeah sure." I tell him and hear the bell go off. We both start walking together since we have history together. We sit down and a new teacher walks since Mr.Tanner died; I couldn't control the shiver that ran through me as I thought about that night. "Good Morning everyone. Alrighty. Alaric Saltzman. It's a mouthful, I know. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins. My family emigrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however, was born and raised in Boston. Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to pronounce 'Alaric' but it's 'Alaric,' okay? So, you can call me Rick. I'm your new history teacher." The teacher basically rants while writing his name on the board. I like him already. That was the most amazing history class I ever attended. The rest of the classes were boring and then comes lunch.
"Hey Ari, can I sit?" That was Tyler we haven't talked since he decided to be jerk and hit Jer. "Yeah Ty. Sure." I say and he sits down and looks around as though he is uncomfortable. "Have something to say Ty?" I ask him after he just sits for a few minutes. "Ari look I'm really sorry and it's okay if you don't want to talk to me again. Please just forgive me." He blurts out like he was just trying to get the words out and looks about ready to run as soon as he finishes. "Ty chill it's okay. I forgive you as long as you apologize to Jer and Vicki. And you're still my best friend okay?" I tell him. He looks relieved, probably because me and Matt are his little solace what with everything that happens at his home. "Thanks Ari, I missed you." Ty says and I know what he really means it. I go to his side and give him a hug. "I missed you too. I have something for you." I tell him and hand the bracelet I've been meaning to give him. "Promise me you'll always wear it." I tell him seriously. "Yeah I promise and thanks. I should go. The guys are waiting." Ty tells me. At least he promised. I wave bye as he left.
After sometime Stefan comes and sits down across me. "Hey." I greet him. "You wanted to talk?" I ask him. He looks like he has changed his mind about talking. "Yeah. I wanted to thank you. You saved Lexi's life, she wouldn't tell me how but you were right about what Damon was planning. So uh thanks." Stefan says. Thank god Lexi didn't tell him. "Of course Stefan. It was nothing. How is Vicki doing? Jer and Matt both want to meet her you know. I don't think excuses are going to work for long." I tell him. It's better if he doesn't know that Jeremy knows, he'll probably do whatever Elena says. "She's getting better. We just need to get her a daylight ring. That's what I wanted to talk about." Stefan explains. How am I supposed to get a daylight ring? "Uh Stefan I'm not a witch. How am I supposed to help?" I ask him. Why does daylight ring sound so weird? Huh whatever. "I know you aren't but I was hoping that you would talk to Sheila Bennett. She's a witch. She doesn't really trust vampires so. Will you talk to her?" Stefan asks me. I wouldn't blame her for not trusting vampires. Thank god vampires don't have abilities like they do in twilight or I would probably be dead by now. On the other hand it would be funny to see a sparkly Stefan and Damon. "Huh?" I ask. I should stop zoning out. "You just blanked out. Are you okay?" Stefan asks concerned. Yeah I was just thinking about you sparkling. "Yeah I was just thinking how I could convince Sheila. She's really stubborn." I tell him. "Oh. So you will help right?" Stefan asks. Of course I will I want my brother and best friend to be happy. "Yeah sure. I'll talk to her after school. So how are things with Elena and you?" I ask him. Why would I ask that? Stupid teenage hormones. He's killer for crying out loud. "Oh not good actually. I'm going to keep my distance. But it's okay, I don't know what I expected from this. I should probably go." Stefan says. Don't say anything stupid just say bye and get it over with. "Okay. But you shouldn't give up so easily Stefan. She still cares about you and I can see you do too. So don't give up. And I'll let you know what Sheila says. Bye." I tell him. He just says bye and leaves. I feel like banging my head on the table. What's wrong with me? I want him to be with me but then I go ahead and tell him not give up on my sister. Ugh.
It is after school and I am standing outside Sheila Bennett's house. I don't even know what to say in order to get her to make a daylight ring for a vampire. Okay I'm going to knock before I chicken out and run the other way. I knock twice and wait. After a few minutes she opens the door and looks at me before smiling. At least she doesn't look like she's going to kill me. "Hi Mrs Bennett. I wanted to talk to you about something important and was wondering if you had time?" I ask her. That's good enough right? "Of course Arielle. Please." I notice how she just opens the door wider and stands back as though expecting something to happen. I should ask about that later. "Thank you so much." I say and walk in. Her house has a really odd feel not dangerous or anything just a bit weird almost soothing. "Please take a seat. So what did you want to talk about?" She asks me. Okay I can do this. I can totally convince a witch (who doesn't like vampires) to make a daylight ring for a vampire. Who am I kidding? This is going to be difficult. "Uh I wanted to ask if you could make a daylight ring? Please?" I ask. Did that sound as awkward as I think? "Why would you need a daylight ring? You're a human." She questions me. How did she know that? Oh right she's a witch I should probably get used to things like this. "Yeah I am. But um you see Damon a psychopath of a vampire turned Vicki into one and she needs a daylight ring and you're the only witch I know of. Please Mrs.Bennett I know you don't particularly like vampires but Vicki is an innocent person who got caught in between a crossfire." I try to convince her. Was that convincing at all? Should I ask one for Lexi too? No that would be too much. Right?
I knock on the house of the boarding house anxiously waiting for Stefan to answer. Hopefully. I am a bit surprised to see Lexi open the door since she was supposed to leave. "Hey. Is Stefan here and Damon not here?" I ask her. That was a weird sentence. "Hey Ari and yes to both. Are you okay?" Lexi asks concerned. No I'm not. "No not really that's why I need to talk to Stefan." I tell her as we both walk to the living room. Stefan walks down along with Vicki who surprisingly doesn't look about ready to pounce on me. "Hey Ari, so what happened?" Stefan asks. Straight to the point then, okay. "Uh yeah, Sheila said that she would make the daylight rings if we find something for her. Which is actually a bit surprising if you think about it since she seems to hate vampires with a passion." I tell him rushing the words. "Okay, sounds simple. What do we have to find?" Lexi says. Yeah Lexi this is anything but simple. "Well for one this is going to be anything but easy since we only have today. Okay so we have to find Emily Bennett's grimoire. Do you have any idea where it might be Stefan?" I ask him. This is seriously going to be difficult. I think I read something about it in the Gilbert journals. What was it? I think I wrote about it on my own journal. Mostly because I had no idea what a grimoire was before today. Thankfully I keep my journal with me. "Arielle." Stefan practically shouts in my face. Okay I seriously need to stop zoning out and be a bit more aware of my surroundings I didn't even notice Stefan in front of me. "Uh yeah sorry. What?" I ask him. Should I tell him? I mean it's not like I can do this alone. "I was saying I have no idea about the grimoire. Do you know where to start?" Stefan asks. Okay I should definitely tell him. He is trying to help. "Actually yeah. I read about it in the Gilbert journals. I made a note about it too. Let me check." I tell him and sit down while taking my journal from my bag. "Okay so all I've written is that it's supposed to do something with Giuseppe Salvatore. That's all the journal says. What now? Do you remember anything?" I ask him. I seriously need to do this. I have no idea why. "I could check his journals. Wait I'll just get it." Stefan says and zooms away. We start to read the journal. Well I do since Stefan couldn't understand what his father had written neither could Lexi and Vicki. "Okay I think I know where it is." I tell them after reading the same page about five times to be sure. "So where is it?" Lexi asks. "This might sound a bit crazy but I think it's buried with your father. At least that's what I think he means. It's worth a try right?" I ask.
And that's the story of how we got here to digging a grave. We meaning me and Stefan since was only around 3. "I'm sorry you have to do this." I tell Stefan as we are both digging. Yep I was digging too just cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't do these things. Well personally I would rather not do anything like this again. "Why are you sorry?" Stefan asks. Oh Stefan's still here. "Well I can't imagine digging my dad's grave. I know it probably brings back memories for you. And I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to do this." I tell him while seriously regretting telling him about this, this is awful as it is and there's also a possibility that the grimoire might not be here. "It's fine Ari, besides its been over a hundred years." Stefan tries to make it seem okay. Yeah cause that makes this better. "Just because it's been a hundred years doesn't mean it's easier or that the pain is any less. And you do realize there's a chance that the grimoire might not be here or that Sheila could change her mind and this would all be a waste." I tell him. Wow I'm pessimistic today. "Yeah I know and it's fine if there's even a 1% chance of this helping I'm ready to take it. How are you by the way? You seem to have taken this fairly well. At least better than Elena did." Stefan asks. Not really. "I'm fine and to be honest after I found out the truth I spent a whole day in my room doing nothing at all. Sometimes I even have nightmares. But I don't want to be some damsel in distress you know. I want to be able to help myself. And for that I have to accept that vampires, werewolves and witches are real. It's the only way. Denial would probably get me killed." I tell him a little out of breath and we've barely scratched the surface. How the hell do Sam and Dean do this? "I don't think werewolves are real Ari. How do you plan to help yourself against vampires and witches anyways?" Stefan asks. I know werewolves are real but whatever. "Well as stupid and useless as it sounds I've taken up defense classes and archery too. I know punching a vampire sounds really idiotic but better safe than sorry. And archery could be helpful since I can make wooden arrows and shoot them. Compact bows are really useful." I inform him. I can't believe I'm telling a vampire how I plan to hurt vampires. Wow that's a new level of stupid. "I don't think it's stupid and I think it's admirable that you're trying." Stefan says honestly. "Thanks." I say in a whisper. We just stare at each other for a few minutes after that like some cliché movie. I can't do this to Elena and obviously can't let Stefan know how I feel so I clear my throat and go back to work.
We didn't really talk after that. After an hour and a half we are finally done. "You don't have to open it or look inside. I can do it." I tell Stefan when I see him look at the coffin like he was going to be sick. "Thanks." Is all he says before climbing out and turning to look to the other side. I carefully open the coffin and look inside. The grimoire was in the grave or at least a book was. I take it and close the coffin again. "Stefan? I think this is it." I tell him while handing him the book. He takes it and starts looking. He closes the book and hands it to me. "Yeah that's it." Stefan confirms. "Do you want to fill the grave back? I'll help." I tell him. I don't think he would want to leave the grave like that. "Yeah. Thanks Ari." Stefan says gratefully. We both fill the grave back which didn't take that much time. "Can you go give it? Elena texted me saying it's urgent." Stefan asks. Of course she did. "Yeah sure. Please don't tell Elena I know about all of this." I plead to him. "Of course I promise. Call me and I'll come get you if you want okay?" Stefan asks. "Okay. Bye." I tell him. "Bye Ari." He replies and zooms away and I start to walk towards Sheila's house.
Sheila was sitting outside on the porch. "I have the grimoire. Will you make the rings now?" I tell her as soon as I reach within hearing distance. "Of course. A deal is a deal. Come inside." She tells me. We both walk inside and she motions me to sit and starts doing the spell, she seems to have the rings ready. It only took a few minutes and she hands me the rings and I give her the grimoire. "Mrs Bennett is it okay if I ask you something?" I ask her. I really want to know how and why I feel those things. "Go ahead. I'll answer to my best potential." She tells me. So I explain to her what happened and wait for her to say something. She looks at me for a minute before saying, "Can I see your hand?" Okay then. I put my hand in hers and hear her mutter something under her breath. "I don't sense anything supernatural in you. I'm sorry I don't have any answers." She tells me with regret. Great. "Thank you Mrs Bennett. I should get going." She tells me to come if anything else happens and I leave for my house. I am very tired but I want to go to the defense class, so I go home and change into some workout clothes and leave for there. After learning how to easily take down someone which wasn't easy at all by the way I decide to skip archery and just go home until I remember I haven't given the rings yet. So I change my route and go towards the boarding house. Vicki and Lexi were both outside doing some vampire training. I think. "Hey." Lexi greets as she sees me. "Hey Lexi, Vicki. I forgot to give you guys your rings." I tell them. They both sped up to me. "Wait what do you mean our rings? I thought you were getting a ring for Vicki." Lexi asks confused. "Well I was but Sheila put a challenge so I told her I wanted two instead and she agreed. So here." I tell them while giving them each a ring. "Thank you so much." Lexi says while giving me a hug and Vicki does the same. "No problem and Vicki you should probably meet Matt and Jeremy they both miss you. Just go with Lexi just in case you know." Vicki agrees and they both sped off again. Stupid vampires. I reach home soon and am too tired to bother with anything.
It is very late and I am surprised to see Jenna awake. Just as I was about to talk to her the bell rang. "I got it." I tell Jenna before going towards the door. I open the door and come face to face with none other than Logan Fell who is supposed to be very much dead. Oh my god he's a vampire, I need to calm down. Great just what we need a council vampire. Ironic. "Hello, Arielle, Jenna." Logan greets. What do I do? "Logan!" Aunt Jenna exclaims. Well Aunt Jenna seems shocked. "Aren't you gonna invite me in?" Logan asks. Like hell. "Why would we invite a scum in our house? You already hurt Jenna enough so get lost and don't return or we'll put a restraint order against you. Okay? Okay. Bye have a good night." I say and with the last word I slam the door in his face. Jenna looks at me with a thank you look and we both know we are too tired to talk so just say goodnight and go to our rooms. I change and fall asleep as soon as I lay on the bed.