"I am so sorry I'm late," I breathed out the second I reached Elena's table at The Grill. "I totally lost track of time."

"It's okay, it's okay, jeez," she said, smiling. "Come on, you need a Coke and a grilled cheese." She motioned for me to sit and I did.

"You know me all too well Elena," I said, grinning.

"Thanks for coming," she said once our orders were placed. "I really need help in English and you're the best in the class."

"Hey it's no problem," I said, leaning back in my chair.

The Grill was oddly empty at this time on a Sunday afternoon. There was only one guy at the bar, drinking alone by himself, and a couple of other people scattered at various tables. They all seemed to be having hushed conversations, as the music coming from the sole jukebox was louder then all of them combined. Not like I minded - what with crowded places usually being pretty annoying for me.

"So," Elena said, taking out the current book we were reading in English, 'The Sound and The Fury', "what I don't understand-"

"Hey Elena," came a perky voice to our right.

It was some girl named Caroline. Blonde and exceptionally perky, she smiled down at Elena. Then she looked over at me and her face warped into a different emotion - hatred. It was as if she immediately transformed the minute she laid eyes on me.

"Hello Ava," she spat out, addressing me as if I was scum on the bottom of her shoe.

I raised an eyebrow at her hostility. Seriously what is wrong with this chick? I haven't even had a conversation with her the entire time I've been in Mystic Falls so how could she even have a reason to hate me? Now I suppose was the time to find out.

Why aren't you with Damon, you bitch. I bet he just loves spending time with you. Not like I ever meant that much to him. He'll hurt you too.

My face grew red hot and I avoided her gaze. Damon was with her? I mean, sure, she was physically attractive, something I'm sure a lot of the guys in this town loved and went after all the time. But her voice alone made me want to punch my own face multiple times. And her personality was another thing altogether.

It only meant that if Damon liked girls like her, I was no way in his league. I wasn't even in the same continent. Now that hurt.

"I'll see you later Elena," Caroline said, turning on her heel and going to sit in an empty booth in the back.

"Sorry about her," Elena said once she was out of earshot. "She just doesn't like you-"

"Around Damon I know," I finished for her.

"Look Ava," she said. "There's something I have to tell you about Damon."

I looked up at her, my face filled with curiosity.

"He was with Caroline," she said. She looked thoughtfully to the side then added, "Kind of. It's a little hard to describe their relationship."

"She thinks Damon and I are together," I said. "She thinks he'll hurt me or whatever."

I grabbed the book from across the table and started thumbing through the pages, looking for the chapter that we were currently on in class.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Elena said slowly.

"Huh?" I asked, still looking through the pages and only really half-listening to what Elena said.

"He really hurt Caroline," she said.

"Well break-ups really do suck," I added. I finally stopped looking and said, "Ah ha - here is where we are-"

"He really hurt Caroline," Elena said, her tone so significant that I immediately started to pay attention.

"What's going on Elena?" I asked suspiciously.

"Look Ava, I know you and Damon are close but I feel like he's not telling you the whole truth and you of all people deserve it," she said. She took a breath, looked over at Caroline, then back at me. "He used Caroline. He would get her in these trances to do things for him and he would feed on her. He didn't care about her - she was just food to him."

I couldn't think. I couldn't register what Elena just said; I just sat there motionless and blinking like an idiot. I shifted my eyes towards Caroline and watched her for a split second. In that time, she lifted the hair hanging around her neck over her shoulder, revealing an almost faded scar present on her neck. A bite mark.

Now I had always just figured that Damon would go out into the night and feed on people. I mean that's just what he did. But I tried to never think about it. His vampire side wasn't the side I knew - I knew his laid-back personality, his mischievous little smirk, his witty words. I didn't know the side that fed on people or even, possibly, killed people.

And now I saw it in real life - a scar of his actions clear in the day right on a girl from school. I just couldn't believe it. He used this girl like she was a rag doll. Sucking her almost dry, becoming his puppet as he pulled the strings.

What if I was becoming that girl? What if he was waiting for his opportune moment to use me like he used Caroline? He did say I tasted delicious and at that time I thought he was just being annoying but now I felt as if it was a sign that I shouldn't have missed.

How could even do that to somebody? The whole thing made my stomach queasy. I felt like throwing up my breakfast. It hurt. It hurt really bad.

"I need to go," I whispered, standing up and ignoring Elena's pleas to stay. I raced out of The Grill, hopped on my motorcycle, and drove as fast as I could home.

I got there in under five minutes. I barely parked my bike on the driveway then rushed up the porch steps, throwing open my front door, running inside, then locking it behind me. I slide down the door, my chest heaving, my eyes stinging.

I really wished I had never come to this town at all.

It was midnight when he knocked on my door.

"Oh Ava," he called out. "Ava, darling." I heard something shake from the other side of the door. "I got you Oreos as your hunger for it will be approaching in a couple of hours."

I stood on the opposite side of the door, my hand hanging motionless before the door knob. I didn't know how to even look at him, let alone what to say to him. I felt like I couldn't even face him. I just wished he would disappear from my life - that would make things so less complicated.

"Ava?" he called out.

I reached down and put my hand on the doorknob. I twisted it slowly then opened the front door, not going out, staying firmly inside.

"Jeez, final-"

He stopped as soon as he saw my face. His face dropped. "What's going on?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

I opened my mouth but couldn't formulate the words. I closed it, shook my head, then rubbed my forehead. I had to do this, even though it hurt so much.

I looked back up at him. "I know," I said, faltering, "I know what you did to Caroline."

"Ava-"

"No," I interrupted him. "I know what you have to do to stay alive, being a vampire and everything. But how?How Damon? How could you do that to that girl?"

He didn't say anything. He just continued to look at me with such an apologetic look. A look like he wanted to take back whatever I had just learned.

"Who told you?" he asked angrily. His voice grew loud and demanding. He was almost shaking. "Was it Stefan? Elena?"

It was silent for a minute, me not wanting to answer that question, him trying to get his breathing under his control, his temper down.

"Damon," I said and when he looked at me, his anger vanished.

"Ava, please," he said. "I'm not like that anymore."

"How do I know that?" I asked, this time my voice rising. "Because you haven't done it in a couple of months? That means you've changed?"

"Please-"

"I don't think you should come around anymore," I said quickly.

I had never seen Damon look hurt before. It was the only emotion he was wearing right now.

I looked down at my feet, unable to look at him any longer. It wasn't right, nothing in the past 24 hours had been right. I shouldn't be friends with a vampire, or anything else for that matter. Damon shouldn't have treated Caroline like that. More importantly, Elena shouldn't have told me because I could be ignorantly in bliss right now, still enjoying Damon's presence and having a smile on my face every single night I fell asleep.

"Damon-" I started, looking up.

But he was gone.