As Elena Gilbert placed the last of the boxes on the dusty floor of her dorm room, Caroline Forbes came barging in through the open door, waving a pierce of paper in front of Elena's face.
"There's a college party at one of the frat houses tonight! We have to go!" she said, squeezing Elena's shoulders hard and shaking her frantically. "Please say you'll come? There will be hot drunk single guys there, and that's practically what college is about" she said dreamily.
Elena couldn't help but laugh. This was typical Caroline. Jumping at any chance to be surrounded by a group of attractive boys. She had been like that ever since Elena could remember- and their friendship dated back to elementary school. Bonnie Bennet, the third member of their circle was more like Elena- down to earth and fairly studious.
"Alright, alright!" Elena finally exclaimed, shaking Caroline's tight grip off her shoulders. "We'll go." Elena knew better than to argue with Caroline.
"Yes!" Caroline exclaimed.
Elena sighed, but there was a twinge of excitement inside her that she couldn't deny. "So where's Bonnie?"
"Saying goodbye to her Grams I think. Or maybe, she's hooking up with that super hot guy that we saw in the corridor earlier" Caroline teased, raising her eyebrows up and down. Elena rolled her eyes.
"Well, we better get the last of these boxes unpacked if you still wanna go that that frat party tonight."
"Your dress is not slutty enough!" Caroline exclaimed for the thousandth time since they had left their dorm room. " You need more cleavage, both of you!"
"Caroline!" Elena and Bonnie both said at the same time.
"Okay okay, I'm sorry. But it's not my fault if I'm the only one that gets some tonight." Bonnie and Elena glanced at each other and both laughed. It was evident that that was all that Caroline wanted, as she strutted up the fraternity house staircase, flaunting her body in her sparking purple skin tight dress that barely reached the middle of her thighs.
As they walked through the door, a nerdy boy wearing framed glasses eyed Caroline up and down, his eyes beading with admiration and desire. They had barely made 2 steps into the house before Caroline had scuttled off to mingle with a group of attractive boys who were clearly happy to see her. Elena turned to Bonnie.
"Is it bad that I came? I mean I don't even want to meet any guys. I'm still not over him yet."
Bonnie gave her a sympathetic look before shaking her head. "No it's not bad. Your allowed to have a little fun you know. I mean come on, we're in college!". As Elena looked around the over-crowded majestic house, she knew Bonnie was right. Sure her ex-boyfriend had broken her heart, but that had been over 3 months ago. As much as she still loved him, she knew it was time for her to move on- and a college frat party may well have been the right way to start.
"Your totally right. Matt Donovan can suck it" she finally said, linking arms with her best friend, and strutting together into the heart of the party.
It wasn't until an hour later that Elena finally saw Caroline standing mindlessly outside on the lawn, where hammered teenagers were drunkenly mingling. Her expression didn't exactly mirror the one she had first worn when they arrived.
"We shouldn't have come. These guys are all jerks." Caroline said as Elena approached her. And, I still haven't seen that hot guy from the dorm corridor! Even his last name is sexy! I mean have you ever heard of a sexier name than Salvatore?"
Elena couldn't help but laugh. "It's okay Caroline. It's only our first day here! And as for that 'Salvatore guy' I'm sure he will turn up."
"I hope so." Caroline sighed. "I just expected this to be like a sexy boy playground fantasy land, you know? But instead it's just like high school" Caroline said, taking another sip of her beer.
Before Elena could reply, a high pitched squeaked escaped from Caroline's lips which made Elena's insides jolt.
"Oh my god!" She cried, thrusting her finger in the direction over Elena's shoulder. "It's him! It's the hot guy from the corridor!" Elena swivelled round- and sure enough, wearing leather pants and a plain black v-neck was the guy they had seen earlier. "Do you think I should go up and talk to him?" Caroline asked, hiking up the ends of her already super short dress.
"Um… he's way ahead of you." Elena watched as the tall, surprisingly pale teenager with hair slicked back with gel approached them.
"Oh hey there" Caroline said casually, trying to cover her nervousness. "I'm Caroline."
Elena glanced at her friend. It was only on rare occasion that Caroline would be anxious around men. Normally, it would be the other way around.
The boy smiled as his eyes switched from Caroline to Elena. Elena felt her body stiffen. Although he wasn't really her type, there was something quite intriguing about a man as confident and attractive as her was. His eyes finally settled on Caroline.
"I'm Stefan." He replied, nodding his head at them both. Elena just smiled. Even if she was interested in him, it was clear that Caroline had already mentally claimed him and if there was one thing that Elena knew, it was not to get in the way of what Caroline wanted.
She had learnt that the hard way, when Caroline had told Elena back in eighth grade that she secretly had a crush on Matt, and when Matt confessed his feelings for Elena, she had gone out with him nonetheless, leaving a heartbroken and furious Caroline to hold a grudge against her for 4 whole months.
When Elena finally snapped out of her daze she realised that Caroline and Stefan had already left, leaving Elena standing alone in the darkness. She shivered, even though it was high summer in Virginia; she hated being alone. Just when she was about to go inside to find Bonnie, she spotted a boy looking at her from across the lawn, which made her gasp and nearly dropped the beer she was he was significantly far away, she still had a clear view of him against the night sky. He seemed to stand out, like the two of them where the only people on that lawn. His eyes were a deep blue, his hair jet black and a mysterious smirk was etched upon his face. Only there was something strange. Even though she had absolutely no idea who he was, Elena knew that somewhere, somehow, she had seen him before.
