A/N: Okay, so here's the deal. This was supposed to be a small arc and the last chapter before Elena's sophomore year but then a plot twist in the form of a character appeared in my brain and I just couldn't shake it. That means two things. One, that you'll have to deal with a few more chapters of Elena's freshman year and Two, that from this point, THIS STORY IS NO LONGER TIHIL COMPATIBLE. I don't think that many of you have even read TIHIL (and if you had it's getting a reboot soon) so it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Now without further ado, I know you guys will have a lot of fun with who shows up... so please enjoy. :D


Damon Salvatore had an extremely big problem. Well actually he had quite a few more than just one, but he was prioritizing. And actually his problem wasn't big, per se, as much as a ninety pound package of sass and goodness wrapped inside a cheerleader uniform. He knew damn well that Mason Lockwood had targeted Elena to get back at him for last year when Damon had made his life hell. (It wasn't really Damon's fault that the guy picked slutty girlfriends though, in his opinion.) Even Rose had admitted it looked extremely suspicious considering Mason was usually the guy who went for the older indie girls that liked the whole surfer image.

He knew that if he told Elena that Mason was just using her, it would not only backfire but make him look like a jealous asshole. More than he already did, at least, which Rose liked to remind him was getting worse every day. So Damon had tried counteracting it by flirting with Elena himself in the hopes that if he kept her distracted Mason would get bored and move on to some different tactic like getting him kicked off the football team. The problem with that however, was that flirting with Elena was not a tactical maneuver that he could keep up. He couldn't talk with her like that every freaking day and not be sorely tempted to kiss her or make her his. It was impossible. So perhaps the real problem, when it came down to it, was that Damon couldn't ask Elena out.

It would be a stupid thing to do, after all. She was a freshman in high school, not even turning fifteen until the end of the school year, and he wasn't much older. There was no way that they'd be able to stay together through high school and then college and on. They were passionate people that got easily bored. It wouldn't work. Right? And what if they didn't get bored, but they just ended up hating each other due to their very different personalities? Wouldn't that be even worse?

"Why does Mr. Tanner have to teach freshman, sophomore, and junior history?" Elena whined to him as she slammed the book back into her locker, "I mean he's such a complete jerk and I can't even escape him for another two—,"

"Calm down, princess," he said despite fully agreeing with her, "why don't you think about happier things, like the fact that we have our first game next week?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, definitely, I'm so excited to be in front of a huge crowd that will torture me forever if I mess up."

Damon sighed, not sure where exactly her mood was coming from. He reached above her and shut the locker door that she was using to check her make-up, making the distance between them extremely small when she turned around to glare at him. Don't kiss her. "You'll do great, Elena. What's really bothering you?"

"Nothing—," she stammered, looking up at him with irritated eyes as she nervously bit her lip, "I mean you, Damon."

"Me?" he asked, some derision slipping into his surprise. Was he really surprised though? He had known that flirting with her like this would only last so long before she would explode on him. He had hoped that it wouldn't be in the very public halls of the high school though, especially considering they were both popular enough to garner attention.

"Yes," she snapped, "you. What do you think you're playing at, Damon? I like being friends with you, but the past few weeks all you've been doing is making little comments and touching me and doing that eye thing you do—,"

"What eye thing?" he demanded, too incensed to care that a private argument was becoming less and less private by the minute. Was she seriously angry that he had flirted with her? It's not like she was dating someone, he was perfectly allowed to flirt with her until she told him to stop. Which she hadn't, by the way, so what was her problem now?

It was at this point that he noticed Stefan further down the hall through the crowd, but Elena interrupted his thoughts as she argued, "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Just because I became a cheerleader doesn't mean you can flirt with me like you do every other girl you come across."

"Seriously?" he half-yelled, five seconds away from grabbing her arm and dragging her into an empty classroom.

"What's going on?" Stefan demanded as he reached them finally, causing the crowd of people to leave as he gave them all a judging glare before turning back to Damon and Elena. "I thought you guys were getting along."

"Apparently too well for Miss High and Mighty over here," he snapped, glaring at the girl who had her eyes narrowed and jaw set stubbornly. She only shook her head after making a disgusted scoff and left. Damon felt himself fume, thinking that he was going to have to ditch practice today if he wanted to avoid an early arrest for killing a teammate. If he found out that Mason had said something or that they were dating...

"Damon," Stefan said, catching his brother's attention, "what happened?"

"She got all pissy out of nowhere!" he exclaimed, making Stefan raise an eyebrow suspiciously, "and then started yelling at me for having flirted with her. You'd think I asked her to have sex with me in the locker room."

His brother gave a rather heavy, long sigh before looking up at the ceiling. Damon felt rather chastised which didn't bode well with his rebellious attitude. "Look, Damon, there were a lot of reasons that Elena and I weren't friends last year but I'm not going to lie and pretend you weren't one of them. She's been my best friend for forever but I wasn't going to pick her over you and I knew that if you guys got together back then it would fail."

Guilt found a small hole in his chest as he stood, watching his brother. He had never considered exactly why Elena and Stefan had fallen out their eighth grade year, always figuring that it had to do with Lexi and nothing else. I mean it had seemed pretty obvious that Elena was half in love with Stefan and he hadn't liked her back… "What are you getting at, Stefan?"

"If you like her then you better be sure as hell that you're a hundred percent ready because I don't want to lose her again over you. Not if I don't have to."

But the way Stefan was talking… the way Stefan was talking made it sound like Elena had a crush on Damon. Which didn't make sense. I mean sure, Jeremy had teased him about it, but Damon had never taken her little brother seriously. Why would Jeremy know anything about who she liked? And maybe… well maybe it would make sense that she would be mad at him after the whole bikini and Lexi debacle, but why not say anything at the stupid eighth grade graduation party for Stefan? She had to have realized that he liked her after catching his and Rose's conversation. "But she doesn't even like me!"

Stefan's face fell for a moment, as if he was completely frustrated, but then his younger brother started chuckling. "Oh my god, Damon. You're not seriously telling me that you of all people haven't noticed? You spend more time with girls than I spend asleep and you really didn't catch a hint? There wasn't the slightest bit of suspicion?"

"She thinks I'm an asshole!"

"You are, half the time," Stefan laughed, shaking his head, "but considering she's like the one person you let see the good side of you besides me, I think she accepted it."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Damon replied, shaking his head. There was no way he hadn't figured out Elena liked him like that before Stefan. It was probably just some big huge prank to get him back for the whole intercom-Lexi thing. "However I'm going to be late to class, so I'll talk to you later."

Stefan rolled his eyes and gave a half-wave as Damon stormed off. He did briefly consider going to class, but then he realized he didn't give a shit about Chemistry at a time like this and started making his way to the exit. She didn't like him. Why would she like him? They were completely different. He was the type of guy who was likely to end up in jail before he hit thirty, she was the type of girl who was going to end up on the judge's panel for Miss Mystic Falls. Even if Damon wanted to clean up his act, which he didn't by the way, there was still no way that he and Elena would work out. She was obviously just romanticizing the whole thing.

"Salvatore! Why aren't you in a classroom?"

Shit. In his existential crisis he hadn't bothered to watch where he was going and had walked right by the principal's office. He turned to see Principal Fell glaring at him, probably still angry over the intercom battle.

"I needed to pick up reading material from the library?" Damon replied cheekily, stopping in the hall.

"Get in my office," the man snapped, and Damon rolled his eyes before following orders and going through the office door. After his freshman year, well actually his whole school career, the novelty of being punished had long worn off. Now it was more fun to see how much he could get in trouble without being expelled.

"Hello, Marge," Damon greeted the secretary with a wink, who gave a knowing chuckle, "how's my favorite lady doing today?"

Principal Fell pushed him forward with a hand on his back, making Damon laugh as he was forced to walk faster into the office. The first thing he noticed was that it was already occupied, but before he could ask Fell who the person was one of the secretaries got his attention and the door was shut. Damon wondered at how stupid some people could be, and quickly headed for the principal's chair so he could more comfortably rifle through the entire desk. "What are you in for?"

"Sneaking a flask in," the sandy-haired guy replied, raising an eyebrow as Damon plopped himself into the comfortable office chair on the other side of the desk and opened the first drawer. "You?"

"Fell just likes seeing my beautiful face," he replied, raising an eyebrow at the flask on the desk. He picked it up, quite sad to see that it was empty when he opened it. It smelled like whiskey. "Who sneaks a flask into school anyway? Were you trying to get caught? Use a colored water bottle like a normal person."

"I'll keep that in mind," the kid replied dryly, rolling his eyes. He was about the same age as Damon, although it looked like he was able to grow the scruff that Damon still couldn't. Also he was wearing the same sort of black button down shirt as Damon, which was a little weird.

"What's your name? I haven't seen you before."

"Alaric," was the reply, "but most people call me Rick."

Damon sort of scoffed at the weird name, saying, "I'm sure they do. So what's your story, Rick? Sixteen year old with a drinking problem is my area of expertise."

He could tell that the guy didn't like him that much. It didn't really bother Damon. Most guys didn't like him. Whether that was because he was overconfident and slightly aggressive or because he got all the chicks to sleep with him was still yet to be determined. Alaric set his jaw in a defying manner that Damon both recognized and respected, replying with a challenging tone, "I moved here because my mom died and my Dad bailed. What about you?"

"I—," he started, impulsively deciding halfway through not to just give a bullshit answer, "same, really. My Dad's still technically around, but that's just 'cause CPS decided he was too pathetic to be truly dangerous. I'm sorry about your mom."

Alaric nodded once, looking a little less like he would punch Damon for saying the wrong word. Before they could talk anymore, Principal Fell came back into the office, immediately yelling, "Get the hell out of my chair, Salvatore."

Damon grinned at Alaric and quickly switched chairs. Alaric rolled his eyes, but Damon would have sworn that he saw the slightest curl of lips. Fell, however, did not seem entertained at all. "Look, Alaric, I realize that you're new to the school and there's a lot of pressure to fit in—,"

"Does it really look like he wants to fit in?" Damon asked with a scoff, "I mean, granted he has great fashion sense, but Rick here seems a little deeper than that to me."

Winding up Fell really had to be one of the easiest ways to let off some steam, Damon thought as the principal snapped, "Do you want to be kicked off the football team, Salvatore? Mr. Tanner might think you're good at defense, but—,"

Alaric had already laughed though, interrupting Fell and entertaining Damon as he derisively asked, "You're on the football team?"

"Apparently not for long," he said with a wink toward Fell, "that's alright though, I think my career opportunities lie elsewhere."

"OUT, both of you," Fell finally shouted when on top of everything his phone started ringing. Neither Alaric nor Damon needed to be told twice, both boys quickly getting up from their chairs and exiting the office. Damon made sure to wave at Marge as he left and Alaric scoffed once more.

"See ya," Alaric said as he started to leave.

Damon was watching him, standing still and debating on whether he really wanted to trust this guy or not, but finally he said, "Hey, wait. Follow me."

The guy turned and raised an eyebrow at him. Damon only waved forward as he walked down the hall. He was going to regret this, he was sure of it, and then Rose would kick his ass for ruining their one perfect spot so far. Alaric seemed intrigued despite himself and did end up following until finally they reached the end of the lockers and Damon turned around with a serious expression on his face. He set his jaw, still not completely sure, but finally narrowed his eyes as he said, "Only one other person knows about this, so if you ruin it I will hunt you down and make your life hell. Got it?"

Alaric nodded with a shrug, looking even more curious now, and Damon gave a sigh before hitting locker number 42 with his fist. Its door popped open, revealing a bottle of bourbon, to which Alaric whistled and moved forward to shield it from view. "You drink the good stuff, huh?"

"Yes," Damon replied, "we rotate who buys the next bottle, although if you drink more than half it's automatically your turn next time. If you tell anyone else—,"

"Who the hell am I going to tell?" he asked, looking so sincere that Damon almost wanted to laugh out of empathy.

Instead he grinned. "That's the spirit, Ric."


"Hello, Elena. Let's talk."

Elena barely believed that she was this completely unlucky today as she changed into her cheerleader uniform after school in the locker room. It seemed that Rose had heard about her and Damon's fight this morning and the girl who had previously been nice to her but didn't usually talk to her other than that had broken their code of silence. Elena was slightly surprised to see that it had warranted Rose stalking her all the way to the gym. Rose was the last person to be a cheerleader, and the looks on the other girls' faces showed that.

"Can it wait?"

"No," Rose said with a smile that looked just a little threatening. That was the thing about Rose, Elena thought, while she seemed perfectly nice and friendly, you knew there had to be a reason that she was the only girl here that Damon respected and was slightly afraid of. She gave Bonnie a look and Bonnie gave a small look in return.

She wasn't about to sigh and offend the girl, so she grudgingly followed her out into the empty hallway. The awkwardness of the situation got a hold of her, and she sort of half folded her arms in defense and hoped that Rose wasn't about to yell at her for bugging Damon or something, but all Rose said was, "First of all, I don't know what all you've heard about me from Damon and Stefan or anyone else, really, but I am the last person you should be jealous of."

"I—what are you talking about?" she asked stubbornly, unsure how else to reply and caught completely off guard. Wasn't Rose supposed to hate her? Elena knew Damon had a casual sort of romantic relationship with her, the whole school knew that. There were several rumors going around about all the places the two had done it in the school already, much to Elena's complete distaste.

"I think you know," Rose said wisely, "I know he's Damon, so it's impossible to tell sometimes, but he really does like you. You two are perfect for each other even though you won't admit it."

"We aren't—I mean, I don't even—," she began, then stopped as Rose smirked and reluctantly asked, "do you really think so?"

The girl smiled, quickly saying, "A hundred times yes. You're the only person I think he's ever met that has a complete effect on him."

Elena shook her head, not ready to believe that when it seemed that every attractive girl he came across had an effect on him. "I don't think that's true, I mean you're the one that's actually friends with him."

"Exactly, and that's why I know when he's being an ignorant ass," she replied with a grin, "honestly, he and I are just friends. I respect myself enough to know that and be perfectly okay with it unlike the rest of the girls he has fun with. But you're different. He cares about you, Elena, to the point where he's probably going to make a complete mess of things because he's not used to caring that much. I'm not asking you to confess your love for him or even to date him but promise me you won't give up on him, alright? Please?"

"I won't," Elena said softly. "You're a good friend, Rose. I'm glad he has you."

She simply smirked in response, shaking her head as she laughed, "And you're a good person. I can tell you mean that, even if I'm sure you've previously plotted my demise several times. I'll see you around."

And so she left, and Elena ran back into the locker room, hoping she wasn't too late. All the girls had already gone to the field and so Elena quickly ran out after them, trying not to over-analyze what had just happened. Bonnie gave her a curious look as she ran onto the side of the field and over to the practicing squad and quickly started stretching. It took every ounce of self-control she had to force herself not to look over where she knew Damon was practicing and she might have spent just a few minutes longer stretching just in case he was looking.

She had no idea what she was going to do now. It wasn't like she could just go out with Mason, assuming he was even ever going to ask her. But it also wasn't like Damon was going to ask her out anytime soon either. Just because she had the best friend seal of approval didn't mean that Damon was anywhere near sorting out all of his issues when it came to feelings… Still, it seemed so stupid to just sit and wait for him to come around; she had always refused to be that person in the past. No wonder Rose had made her promise not to give up…

As soon as practice was over, Elena bolted past Bonnie— she was going to have to explain a lot later— and toward Damon, but she was supremely frustrated when Mason stopped her. "Hey, Elena."

"Hey," she said, not too kindly as she watched Damon talk to Stefan further across the field, "great job. I'll talk to you later, I just need to—,"

"Can I ask you something really quick?"

You have got to be kidding me, she thought to herself, why now?! "Um sure, Mason, just make it quick."

"Do you want to go out sometime?" he asked, and she stopped looking for Damon almost immediately. Did he really just ask her that? "Like to a movie or something?"

"I don't know," she said slowly, completely freaking out as she looked at his innocent looking blue eyes. Somehow she could feel that Damon's eyes were on her now. They always found her in her worst moments.

Mason grinned a little clumsily, "Come on, just one date. That's all I'm asking. You don't even have to put it on Facebook."

"Okay," she answered, her stomach sinking into the stupid fake grass of the field. Going on a date with someone else wasn't giving up, right? I mean she still had feelings for Damon, and it wasn't like he was ignoring all female attention just because he liked her. "Just one."

"Great!" he said with enthusiasm that she just didn't feel, "I'll text you the details, okay? See you later."

And then he left and Elena was able to see that Damon was indeed staring at her from the other side of the field with Stefan, who was talking to Tyler and Matt. She walked over to the four of them, hoping that they hadn't heard anything despite them being too far away to have heard a single thing, but Damon ended up meeting her halfway instead.

"What did Mason want?" he asked, such an irritated sound in voice that she automatically bristled.

"I'm sorry we fought too," she snapped back at him sarcastically, too unnerved by all of the overwhelming events of today. High school was going to be the death of her.

Damon's eyes narrowed instead of looking at all apologetic, and Elena inwardly sighed as she felt the storm brewing. Why did it always end up with them fighting like this lately? "He asked you out, didn't he?"

"No, he asked me out on one date," Elena replied petulantly, "one."

"And you said yes," he replied, his voice so low and rough that Elena couldn't decide whether to scream at him or to tell him that she didn't mean any of it. Nothing about their relationship made sense, nothing at all, not when they were standing here in the middle of a stupid football field fighting with plenty of other people not that far away. There was just something about Damon that got under her skin and made her forget about everything around her in good ways and bad…

She chose not to tell him about the date, because when it came down to it that wasn't really the point. He had been flirting with her for weeks and hadn't bothered making a move the entire time, so why did he think he got to be jealous now? "Seriously, Damon? Why can't you just admit that you're mad I'm friends with him too when you hate him? Is it really that hard?"

"Do you not remember the last time I had to save you from a Lockwood?" he demanded, stepping closer to her. She reminded herself not to kiss him just so he would shut up, but it was still sorely tempting, at least until she saw that Stefan, Matt, and Tyler were definitely pretending not to listen now in the background as both of their voices raised in volume.

"I was twelve and that was Tyler. Do you even hear yourself right now?"

"No," he responded with spite, and she couldn't help but think how striking his eyes were when he was angry, something that pissed her off even more. She was supposed to be angry right now, not thinking about his stupid pretty blue eyes. "Please tell me what I'm missing out on that is so offensive—,"

"I'm not your girlfriend, Damon!" she finally yelled, not missing the fact that Matt's eyebrows rose and Tyler's jaw dropped in amusement, "So if you have a problem with it you're going to have to either deal or change it."

"I—," he started, his voice so small and vulnerable that she leaned forward almost on instinct, all but asking him to kiss her. He was close, so close she could see his eyelashes, but then he whispered, "fine", and walked away in the opposite direction. Stefan went after him and she found herself angrily turning away from Matt and Tyler to see Bonnie waiting not far behind her. She rushed over to her friend, tears filling her eyes, and forced herself not to cry as she walked off the field with Bonnie's arm wrapped around her.


A/N: Haha, hoped you like it! Sorry for the drama, but I promise things will be better in the end! If they got together now it'd be anti-climatic. :)

Next chapter: Damon and Alaric bond over punching people and Elena wishes that she was homeschooled. :P

Please review! It makes the chapters come up quicker! ;)