A/N: Not exactly 'within the next few days', lol. Broke up 'You're Undead To Me' into a few chapters.

Enjoy :)

"This sucks."

I glanced over at Caroline as she leaned her back against the locker next to mine. Apparently, she didn't get the memo that I didn't particularly care for her. I decided to just bite my tongue. After all, I only had to talk to her until the bell rang.

"What sucks?"

"Damon's gone."

I stopped what I was doing and looked at her again.

"What do you mean, he's gone?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "But apparently, he's not coming back."

"Who told you this?" I asking, shutting the locker door.

"Stefan." She answered, following after me when I started walking down the hallway.

"Did he say anything else? Like where Damon was going, or why?"

"No." She whined a little loudly. By now I'd learned that was just her normal voice. "Just said he was gone."

"Huh. Okay. I gotta get to – CRAP! I forgot my History book."

The bell rang as I got back to my locker, meaning I was late. I walked in just as the substitute teacher was beginning the lecture.

"Nice of you to join us, Miss...?"

"Williams. Sorry." I apologized, looking around for an empty desk. There was only one, and it happened to be right next to Matt. He greeted me with a half-smile as I sat down.

Once the teacher turned her back on the class to write something on the chalkboard, Matt moved his desk closer.

"Wanna hang out after school?"

Another thing I'd learned. 'Hang out' usually meant going to Mystic Grill.

"Sure. Sounds like fun." I said, halfheartedly. He didn't seem to notice.

"Cool." He smiled, leaning back in his seat.

THE GRILL

"I see you took my advice about your hair." I mentioned, earning a slight chuckle from him.

"Figured if the hot new townie pointed out its lameness, it was time for a cut."

"You know I was messing with you, right?" I said as I got the second-to-last striped ball in a corner pocket.

"Yeah, but you were right."

I suppressed a groan as I noticed Elena coming our way.

"Hey, Matt, Dani. Um... have you seen Stefan?" She asked.

"Nope." Matt responded, instantly giving her his full attention.

I shook my head when she glanced at me.

"But if you wanna kill some time, um, you can rack." He added when she started to walk away. She let out a small laugh as she turned back towards us.

"Not like we were playing or anything." I mumbled, leaning against the wall. I flinched when I realized how jealous I sounded.

"I can't. You and Danica –"

"She doesn't mind. Right, Dani?"

"No. Not at all. Matt was getting his ass kicked anyway."

"In your dreams, Williams. That was all part of my strategy."

"Sure it was." I laughed as I held my pool stick out to Elena. She hesitated to take it.

"Come on. We haven't played in forever." Matt said to her. "I'll let you break."

Elena smiled as she gave in.

"I'm going to get us some drinks."

"D, wait!" Matt called out when I was halfway to the bar. He said something to Elena and gave her his pool stick before jogging over to me, throwing his arm around my shoulders.

"D? That's a first." I laughed.

"Sorry our game was interrupted. Maybe we can try again, you know, after she leaves?"

"Yeah. Maybe. If you can handle losing to a girl." I joked.

Elena had already chalked both pool sticks and racked by the time we got back to her. She hit the cue ball, and it smacked against the others. A solid managed to make its way into a hole.

"So, Dani, how was your day?" Elena asked.

"Fine. Yours?"

"Same. Although, mine did start with an awkward run-in with your sister, Matt."

"Oh?" Matt questioned, taking his turn after Elena failed to pocket another ball.

"Yep. She's apparently been spending these past few nights with Jeremy."

"What? How'd you find that out?" I asked.

"I woke up and went to shower, and there's Vicki, all nonchalant in the bathroom like it's no big deal that they're hooking up."

"Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. Your brother and my sister, that's weird."

"Yeah." She responded, looking at her phone as it vibrated.

"How late is he?" Matt asked.

"Hitting the hour mark. Nothing's wrong though." She added, leveling up her pool stick. "Which means I'm not talking boy problems with you."

That last part was obviously meant for Matt.

"Good. I mean, it's not like we were ever best friends or anything." He said sarcastically and with a chuckle.

"At least talk to me." I bumped my shoulder against hers.

"Okay. Here goes – What do you think of Stefan? Is he a good guy?"

"Why? What's he done?" Matt asked.

"Not any one thing. He's just so secretive all the time. I think there's something that he doesn't want me to know, which makes me want to know all the more."

"Like what? Like that he's a serial killer and he keeps a clown suit in his trunk?" He smiled at her.

"Funny. I'd wondered that about his brother when we first met." I blurted out, gaining odd looks from both of them. "Minus the clown suit part."

"Well?" Matt prompted Elena.

"No, of course not." She laughed. "But what do we know about him, really?"

"He's great at football. A little bit of a loner. And as much as I hate saying it, he might be a nice guy."

"Not to mention he's totally into you." I added.

"So you both think I'm just being paranoid?"

"I think you should talk to him." Matt told her.

"Talk to who? I'm so sorry that I'm late." Stefan said, appearing out of nowhere.

"What happened?" Elena questioned.

"I got held up."

"Is everything okay?"

"There was this thing with my uncle."

"And you couldn't call and tell me that you were going to be an hour late?" Elena asked, not hiding the fact that she was pissed off.

"Okay. You two have fun." Matt said, grabbing my hand. He put the pool stick back on the wall and led me to a table.

"Can I get you two anything?" A waitress asked as she stepped up to us.

"Uh, yeah. I'll have a burger and a basket of fries."

She turned her attention over to Matt.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"What do you think he's hiding from her?" He asked when she walked away. His eyes were still on the couple across the diner. An older man was now talking to them, and Stefan seemed to be trying to get away from him.

"I don't know." I lied. "Hey! Here's an idea: why don't I get my food to-go, and we can watch Superbad at my place?"

His blue eyes finally focused on me, dimples showing as he gave me an answering grin.