Chapter 37

Ottilie heard Damon knock on her door, her signal to wake up, and groaned inwardly. Where she had once loved school and looked forward to Mondays after the weekend, Sunday evenings now held nothing but trepidation and apprehension at the thought of another week ahead.

She climbed out of bed, sighing, and got herself ready, dressing in her black skinny jeans and jumper. Taking a seat in the kitchen, she pushed her cereal around the bowl, unable to bring herself to eat it such was the uncomfortable churning in her stomach. Damon watched her quietly from the door to the kitchen. He could tell that she was worried about something, and I made him uneasy to think that she apparently didn't seem to think she could tell him, and that it was even putting her off her food.

"Anything troubling you, little lady?" he asked gently, walking over to her and lightly kissing the top of her head.

She shook her head, forcing a spoonful of cereal into her mouth so she could chew it to buy her time to think of an evasive answer. She knew that Damon and Stefan were already worried enough as it was with Marcel. They didn't need to know that she was being picked on at school; that was her problem alone.

"I'm going to be late!" she said, standing up and leaving her barely-touched bowl of cereal.

Damon frowned at her, "Ottilie, you've not really had any breakfast. You need to eat, you know that."

She grabbed an apple and stashed it into her school bag. "I'll just have this later," she countered, "I'm not hungry right now."

Before Damon had time to argue with her, she'd run from the room and was back upstairs brushing her teeth and getting her things together.

Damon drove her to school, and watching as she got out of the car and drove to school, he took out his phone and sent a quick text to Alaric.

Damon: Hey buddy, hate to be that guy, but could you keep an eye on Otti please. Something's bothering her and I don't know what, but I think it might be something at school.

He got a positive reply almost instantly and smiled grimly to himself, reassured that for now, Ottilie was in good hands. Just then, a reminder popped up on his phone and reading it, he groaned, rolling his eyes.

Ottilie trudged slowly into school, but sped up when she saw Greg and her friend Cassie standing by their lockers. "Hey guys," she called to them, and they turned and waved, smiling at her. Whilst Ottilie asked Cassie about her weekend, the three of them turned to walk down to their first class, history, which they all had together. Greg and Ottilie took their seats at the desk that they shared, and Cassie sat just across from them, and they all took out their books, waiting for Mr Saltzman to begin the lesson.

Just as he opened his mouth to address the class, there was a knock at the door and the school secretary lead a new student into the room. "A new student, Mr Saltzman," she said, "Abigail Price." The rest of the class looked at Abigail with interest and she gazed over, before her eyes rested on Ottilie who was sat staring at the new girl, her face showing badly-concealed horror.

Greg felt her stiffen and looked at her in concern, noting the look on her face. Nudging her gently with his elbow, he whispered, "Otti, are you okay?" She didn't respond, still frozen, staring at the girl at the front of the room. "Hey, do you need me to get Mr Saltzman?"

She suddenly snapped out of it, and shook her head. "No, no, thanks Greg but I'm fine. Sorry, I'll explain later, okay?" He nodded but resolved to keep a close eye on her for the rest of the lesson.

Abigail took her seat at the front of the classroom and the lesson went on smoothly. Ottilie sighed in relief as the bell rang for break and she leapt up, closely followed by Greg and Cassie. "What's up, Otti?" asked Greg, "you looked like you'd seen a ghost!"

She shrugged, "I did, in a way, I guess," she said, as her friends looked at her, confused. "You know how I was adopted by Damon and Stefan," they nodded – it was common knowledge in Mystic Falls and the Salvatores had made no secret about it. "Well the woman I lived with before was pretty awful. She was physically and emotionally abusive. And Abigail is her daughter."

Greg and Cassie's faces fell in shock. "Oh my god, Otti!" said Cassie, pulling her friend into a hug, trying to comfort her in some way. "Can we do anything? Should we tell someone?"

Otti shook her head firmly, "no I don't think so. Abigail wasn't so bad to me, and it wasn't her fault that her mother was so horrible. I'll just keep my distance and hopefully it'll be okay."

Her friends nodded, still concerned for her. Greg rubbed his hand up and down her arm gently. "Are you going to tell Damon and Stefan?" he asked, feeling suddenly uncomfortable at the thought of keeping this a secret from them.

Again, she shook her head. "No, not yet. They have enough to worry about without me whining to them. Besides, I never really told them what happened there and I don't want to bring it up again."

Greg wasn't pleased with this, but for the sake of his friend, went along with it, vowing to watch out for her even more than before.

It was lunch time now, and the three of them were sat outside in the sunshine, enjoying their lunches.

"You're so lucky to have an uncle who can cook so well," said Cassie, enviously eying up Ottilie's pasta salad that Stefan had made for her to take to school.

Ottilie laughed, "it's their Italian roots," she joked.

"Well if isn't little Ottilie," came a sneering voice from behind them. Ottilie's head shot around as she looked to see where the voice was coming from.

"Hi Abigail," she said, cautiously, seeing the girl walking towards them followed by the older girls who had been picking on her. Ottilie sighed as she saw them together – just her luck that her old bullies had found companionship with her new ones…

"We've been having some wonderful conversations with Abigail," drawled Claire, the older girl. "So many stories…" she sneered, as the other girls laughed nastily. "Where to start…"

Greg looked over at them, frowning. "Hey, leave her alone. She hasn't done anything to you."

"Oooooh!" sneered the girls, "Greg's got himself a girlfriend!" Greg felt his cheeks redden but didn't take his eyes off the girls who were now standing intimidatingly in front of Ottilie.

"Although why you'd choose her, I'll never understand," spat Abigail. "She's so pathetic." The girls continued laughing and Greg felt his temper rising as he saw Ottilie grow pale and Cassie grab hold of her hand.

"But don't worry, Greggy," sneered Claire. "We will leave her alone, for now…" She turned, flicking her hair over her shoulder and stalked back towards the school, the other girls close at her heels.

Ottilie let out a shaky breath, and Greg quickly snapped his gaze to look her over. "You okay? Everything good?" he gestured to his heart and she nodded, understanding his implication.

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks for sticking up for me guys, I really appreciate it." Her friends smiled sympathetically at her and they sat back down to finish their lunch. Ottilie put hers away, unfinished, but was unable to eat anymore as she was feeling so on edge. Just when I thought school couldn't get any worse… she thought. She just had to get through the rest of the day, then she could spend the afternoon with Greg and Cassie in peace after school.

"I can't believe you made me come to this," hissed Damon, glaring at his brother who was knelt next to him, grinning smugly.

"Hey, you never know when you'll need this; you might thank me some day!" retorted Stefan.

Damon was about to argue back when Dr Laughlin walked into the dingily-lit room in the community centre.

"Hi everyone, I'm Dr Laughlin, but please, just call me Jo. Thank you for coming to this session. I hope you find it informative, and that you never have to utilise any of the skills you learned here, but if you do, I think this course will stand you in good stead to save a life."

Jo guided the group through infant and child first aid basics, until finally, she asked a person from each pair to collect a CPR dummy. Stefan brought one over and Damon instantly paled at the tiny, childlike size of it. Stefan looked at him sympathetically, "it's okay, brother. It's important that you know this."

Damon set his mouth grimly and nodded, feeling slightly sick at the thought of having to do this in real life.

"Does anyone have any questions?" asked Jo, having lead the group through a few practices on the dummy. Nobody raised their hand so they continued practicing, taking it turns on the dummy.

Eventually, Damon sat back on his heels and ran his fingers through his hair. "I've had enough, Stefan," he said quietly. "I know what I need to know, and this," he gestured at the small dummy in front of him, "is a reminder of things I don't want or need to think about right now."

Stefan nodded, completely understanding and went to thank Jo for them both before they left, heading to the grill for a much needed drink.

They spent the afternoon in there, enjoying eachothers company, and that of Lexi, Kol and Klaus when they arrived later on. Caroline, Matt, Tyler and Alaric arrived after school had finished, and they all sat in a large booth chatting and catching up.

"So what did you two do today?" asked Caroline, sipping at her drink that she had surreptitiously mixed blood into.

Damon shrugged and glared at Stefan. "He made me go to an child first aid and CPR class" he said accusingly.

"Well you never know when you might need it!" said Stefan and Caroline in unison, before looking at each other in astonishment and bursting out laughing. Damon rolled his eyes at them, failing to miss the looks he saw his brother giving Caroline. Oh great, he thought, at least he's moving on from Elena…

"You know Alaric took that class," said Caroline, smiling slyly at Alaric who started blushing, despite his best attempts to hide it. "Twice…" she added as Damon smirked at him.

"I wonder why…" he teased, enjoying Alaric's embarrassment. "I personally found the teacher to be riveting," he joked. Alaric scoffed at him and left to get another drink.

"Anyway," said Damon, standing to leave. "I'm going to head home to see Otti. Are you staying here, Stefan?"

His brother nodded, still looking at Caroline