A/N: The first handful of chapters are a little short, and not all that satisfying to read. This was the first thing I ever started posting, and I wasn't very good a writing. But if you can stick with it, I promise you that it gets much better (just ask the other hundreds of people who are still reading this story).

Chapter 1: New Arrivals

It was the first day of a new school year, and all three Gilbert children were dreading it. They had lost their parents four months ago, and barely managed to make it through the rest of that school year. Teacher had been lenient and their peers had been understanding, but that had all ended when summer began. Their friends and peers were now expecting them to have moved on and be ready for fun; and their teachers were likely to be expecting them to be more focused on their schoolwork.

Elena braced herself for the day with an entry into her journal. It seemed silly to most people, but it worked for her to get her thoughts out onto the page. Jeremy, on the other hand, never wanted to talk about how he felt. He'd chosen to hide that pain with usual teen angst, and now drugs. As for the last Gilbert, Phoebe found her strength in her best friend, Matt Donovan. The two were going to get breakfast at the Mystic Grill before school to sort of edge Phoebe into the wild, so to speak.

Phoebe was Elena's twin sister. The twins were identical, other than their clear difference in style, Phoebe's vision – she needed glasses – and their social lives. Elena dressed like a normal teenage girl, who actually cared about how she looked, and she used to be a social butterfly. Phoebe, on the other hand, only spoke to people if she had to or felt like it, unless you were Matt Donovan. She wore whatever was comfortable, which usually meant nerdy graphic t-shirts, jeans, and converse. She wore no makeup, unless she was bored and had the time to play around with it, and the only thing she did with her hair was throw it up into a bun to keep it out of the way.

"Whoa! Where are you going in such a hurry?" Elena asked. Her sister had come rushing out of her room, presumably running late for something, and nearly collided with Elena.

"Sorry, I fell back asleep after my alarm went off," said Phoebe. "Matt's here to pick me up, we're going to have breakfast at the Grill before school."

Elena looked down awkwardly. "Oh."

Phoebe didn't fully process her sister's mood, until she'd already started to descend the stairs. She stopped and looked back up at her twin. "Elena?"

Elena looked up.

"Don't worry about Matt. He's not mad at you, and he doesn't hate you. He's just…hurt. But he'll be okay."

Elena exchanged a small smile with Phoebe, and then she was gone.

"Why did you order so much food," Phoebe asked. Matt had ordered the biggest breakfast the Grill offered. It literally came with a little bit of everything you could have for breakfast. "You can't be that hungry."

"No, I got it for us to share."

Phoebe arched an eyebrow.

"You never want breakfast, but once you smell what someone else it having, you suddenly want it. And when I get my usual size breakfast, you end up eating it with me, and I never get as much as I wanted. This way, there's plenty of food to go around," Matt explained.

Phoebe opened her mouth to comment, but the waitress returned with the coffee. Phoebe thanked her, and she left again. "So what's next? You know how I like my coffee?"

Matt took the cup from her and began fixing it the way she liked. She watched him put half a packet of sugar in it, and two creamers. He stirred it all in and slid it back over to Phoebe.

Phoebe looked down at the coffee, then Matt, "Lucky guess."

Matt gave her a look, "That wasn't a guess. I know everything about you, because I've known you since we were kids. Just like you know me."

"Okay, what's my favorite color?" she tested.

"Purple," he answered, confidently.

"Favorite book?"

"You don't have one. It depends on the genre."

"Favorite sci-fi?"

"Star Trek. But Stargate's a close second."

"Favorite-," Phoebe began.

Matt cut her off, "Phoebe, I know all of your favorites; so this line of questioning is kind of pointless."

"You're right," she admitted. "So I'm thinking of a number..."

Matt took the other half of the sugar packet, and threw it at her. The two laughed about it, as she dusted the sugar off of her. When the waitress brought out the food, Matt slid the plates into the center of the table, so it was easier to share.

Phoebe smiled, and noted, "Okay, so we're an old married couple."

"Yes, we are," Matt agreed, smiling back.

The day had passed, for the most part, just as the Gilbert children had expected; but there were a few instances that had made the day just a little different. Phoebe and Matt were attacked by a crow on their way to school from the Grill. It had swooped down from nowhere and crashed into the windshield of Matt's truck. Neither of them could explain it. As for Elena, she'd met a person today. A new person who couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of her today.

Stefan Salvatore was the subject of the entire school that day. He was hot, broody, quiet, and new – for a town so small, new was always interesting, whether it was good or bad. But despite is clear interest in Elena, Caroline still made it her mission to find out everything about it by lunch, and was planning their wedding by the end of the day. Stefan's main interest may have been Elena, but everyone else's main interest was Stefan.

Elena would be lying if she said she hadn't found him alluring as well. It wasn't just that he was good looking, or new, or his secretive demeanor that left you wanting to know more; it was something else. Something Elena couldn't quite put her finger on. It was there when she ran into him at the cemetery, and it was there when he'd knocked on her door to return her journal that she'd dropped earlier. Who would go out of their way like that? Someone unique.

"How's Elena doing?" Matt asked, as Phoebe lined up her next shot at the pool table.

"She's putting on a good face, but...it's only been four months," Phoebe replied. "Basic psychology, really. Even though we have Aunt Jenna, Elena still feels the need to play the mother role for me and Jeremy."

"Funny, I thought that's why you were putting on your brave face," said Matt.

Phoebe stopped, and stood up from her shot, "I just wanna be a good sister. I wanna be there for them, when they need me. Not play the role of the guardian."

"You are a good sister, Pheebes," said Matt.

Phoebe smiled at her friend, "Thanks."

Just then, Elena and Stefan arrive together. Caroline, Matt, Phoebe, Tyler and Bonnie stare at them. Some didn't really care, some were interested, and some were bothered by the sight – mostly Matt and Caroline. Eventually, they all gathered at a table together and talked. Caroline brought up the back to school party at the Falls, and invited Stefan. But Stefan only cared if Elena was going. Bonnie answered for her friend, and assured Stefan that Elena would be there. Phoebe glanced at Matt to make sure he was alright, and to her surprise he's just fine. It didn't seem to bother him as much as any of them would have expected it to, that Stefan was basically asking Elena out.

The next day, in History class, Tanner began teaching the class about the Battle of Willow Creek. He had been one of those teachers hat started right from the first day, so this was more of a continuation.

"The battle of Willow Creek. Took place right at the end of the war, in our very own Mystic Falls," said Mr. Tanner. "How many casualties resulted in this battle?"

No one volunteered to answer.

"Miss Bennett?" asked Mr. Tanner.

"Um...a lot?" guessed Bonnie. "I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

Everyone giggled.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Miss Bennett," said Tanner, unamused. He turned to Matt next, "Mr. Donovan. Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"It's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it," replied Matt. He smiled at Phoebe. She returned in kind.

Everyone laughed.

"Hmm. Miss Gilbert?" asked Tanner, looking at Elena. "Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?"

Elena shook her head, "I'm sorry, I-I don't know."

"I was willing to be lenient last year, for obvious reasons, Elena, but the personal excuses ended with summer break," said Tanner.

Elena shifted, uncomfortably, in her seat.

"There were 346 casualties, unless you're counting local civilians," said Phoebe, noticing her sister's discomfort.

"That's correct," said Tanner, giving her a look. "But I was addressing Elena."

"To be fair, sir, you never specified which 'Miss Gilbert' you were addressing," Phoebe pointed out.

"You're right," he admitted. "I'll have to be more careful about that. Very good, Phoebe, except of course there were no civilian casualties in this battle."

"Actually, Mr. Tanner, there were," argued Phoebe.

"Miss Gilbert, which one of use is the teacher?" he asked.

"You are," answered Phoebe.

"And which one of us is the student?" he asked.

"I am," answered Phoebe, sheepishly.

"Don't you think that I, the teacher, would know better than you, the student?" he mused.

Phoebe nodded sheepishly, as she sank in her seat.

"Actually, she's right," said Stefan. "There were 27 civilian casualties. Confederate soldiers fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The Founders' Archives are, uh, stored in Civil Hall, if you'd like to brush up on your facts."

The room chuckled, and Tanner looked annoyed.

Phoebe felt much better, and thanked the new guy with a smile and a nod. He returned in kind.

Not being the party type, Matt had to drag Phoebe to the bonfire that night. This was usually the case whenever there was a social gathering, because Phoebe was shy around people she didn't talk to regularly. Phoebe noticed Matt stealing a glance at Elena with Stefan.

"She doesn't mean to hurt you, you know," said Phoebe.

"I know," replied Matt. "And I'm not hurt. I'm glad she's moving on with her life. I just don't want her to get hurt by this guy."

"Good. You should move on, too," she said, with an encouraging smile.

He smiled back, "I plan on it. Unfortunately, everyone thinks I'm still hung up on Elena, so anyone I ask out is gonna feel like rebound."

"True," she agreed.

"So for now, I have to wait. But that's okay. The girl I've got my eye on is worth waiting for," he added, with a smitten grin.

"Oh, really? Who?" asked Phoebe, a little jealous.

"Not telling," he replied.

"Oh, come on, I'm your best friend," she whined.

"I know, but I don't wanna jinx it," he said.

Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"When I'm ready to ask her out, I'll tell you," he sighed.

"Can you at least tell me about her?" she asked.

"Definitely not," he laughed.

Phoebe looked confused.

"You're a genius, Phoebe. And this is a small town. If I tell you anything about her, you'll be able to figure out who she is," he explained. "I know you too well."

Phoebe nodded in agreement, and laughed with him.

Typically, Matt and Elena's new romantic interests would have been one of the biggest bits of gossip to make it out of the bonfire. Even Caroline trying and failing repeatedly to get Stefan's attention, only to be shot down firmly would be a subject for gossip. But something far more interesting had transpired that night.

A little ways into the woods, Vicki Donovan, Matt's older sister, was attacked by something. No one saw or heard anything, only Vicki laying unconscious on the ground. It was well known that she was a drug addict, and certain drugs could make you hurt yourself, but this was bad enough to cause enough doubt of that being the case. The arrival of the ambulance signified the end of the bonfire.

Phoebe and Matt rode in the ambulance with Vicki, and they stayed most of the night at the hospital with her. That's when another strange thing happened. Vicki woke up briefly and told Matt that the thing that had attacked her was a vampire. Was she just so high that she thought she'd seen a vampire? That had to be it; vampires didn't really exist…Or did they?