Hi! A quick note before we start.

A couple years ago I posted this story and I ended up deleting it. It had been sitting in my files for a while until I decided to rewrite it and post it again, adding new chapters as I catch up to where I was. So if some of this seems familiar, that's why.

I hope you enjoy!

I stood in front of my vanity mirror, my eyes flicking towards photos. One in particular caught my eye. I remembered the moment with fondness.

I'd told some lame pun I didn't even remember anymore now. Jeremy was completely exasperated, Elena gave me a look of disgust, and Dad had high-fived me. With glee, Mom had had snapped an unexpected photo.

I looked at the past version of myself, grinning at my dad. I looked at the past versions of my siblings. Ever since the car accident, me and my siblings had to go live with our aunt, and our lives changed for the worse. Elena started hanging out at the cemetary in some twisted attempt to try and be close to our parents. Jeremy became a stoner. I'd thrown myself at anything I could find that would distract me—schoolwork, cheering routines, I even started smoking cigarettes.

Anything to distract me from the crushing reality that my parents were gone.

Wrenching my eyes away from the photo, I went downstairs and made myself my usual breakfast: yoghurt with sirup, strawberries and crunch thingies.

"Good morning." Jenna didn't even look at me as she spoke. "You want some toast? I can make toast."

"It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna," said Elena as she finished pouring the cup. Elena always took her coffee black, which I found disgusting. I couldn't drink coffee unless I dumped a crazy amount of sugar in it. Then again, these days, I couldn't drink coffee at all. For me, it triggered the need to smoke, and I liked my sobriety, thank you very much.

That's when Jeremy walked into the kitchen. My brother did not like sobriety. He liked drugs. "Is there coffee?" And coffee.

He took Elena's cup from her, causing her to yelp in protest.

"It's your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared," Jenna said with a sigh, choosing to ignore the coffee debacle. "Lunch money?"

"I'm okay," said Elena.

"Don't mind if I do," I said, taking some of the money. It was the first day back at school, and high school was enough of a bother even without the constant looks of pity. I was planning on buying a treat for myself when the day was over. "Thanks, Aunt Jenna."

Jeremy, too, took the money eagerly. Though I had a feeling he wouldn't be using it to buy Pringles. I wanted to be sure, though.

I read his mind. Yep. He was planning on using it for drugs. I knew everyone coped differently, but I just wish Jeremy had found a better way than this one. I wasn't exactly one to talk, I knew, but I quit smoking and Jeremy was still doing drugs on a regular basis.

"Anything else? A number two pencil? What am I missing?"

Elena asked, "Don't you have a big presentation today?"

"You're right! I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at…." Jenna looked at her watch. "Now. Crap."

"Go. We'll be fine," Elena reassured.

"Thanks, you guys." Jenna grabbed her bag. "Have fun at school!"

"We will!" I yelled after for reassurement as she rushed out the door. It wasn't even a lie. I loved the first day of school, always had and I don't think that would ever change, despite the fact that this would be the first first day of school without telling Mom all about it afterwards during tea time.

I turned to my siblings and saw Elena was staring at Jeremy, her eyes soft in a way only Elena could achieve. Oh, boy. "You okay?"

I sighed. Here we went again. Welcome to Gilbert Sibling Drama: Emo Brother On Drugs edition. Especially enjoyable when you can read said siblings' minds! Really get into all that juicy drama taking place. Ugh.

Jeremy shook his head, scoffed. He thought about how annoying Elena was. "Don't start."

He stormed out the room.

That could have gone worse, honestly.

Though it was times like these that I missed the old Jeremy. The one who watched chick flicks with me and was always down to prank Elena. His favorite pranks had always been the ones that involved my mind reading ability.

I had this power to know what people are thinking for as long as I could remember. Elena and Jeremy both knew, because I told them and proved it to them back when we were kids. The only one couldn't read, for some reason, was my friend Bonnie.

I noticed a news report on the television about a couple who were killed in an animal attack.

Turning back to Elena, I noticed the look on her face. She missed the times before the accident too. Who in the Gilbert residence didn't?

"Hey. Try not to worry," I said. "Soon enough, Jer is gonna realize that his emo phase isn't helping anyone. It's just his way of coping."

Elena forced a smile. "I know. I just wish he would talk to us."

I wish I could help her feel better. But how was I supposed to help her get over the accident if I wasn't over it myself?

"Yeah." I didn't like the solemn mood that now took up all the space in the room. That's when a loud beep was heard from outside our house. Relieved, I said, "Looks like Bon's here. Let's go."

"So, Grams is telling me that I'm psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem and all that. I know, it sounds crazy, but she's going on and on about it and I'm like, put this woman in a home already!" I chuckled along with Bonnie. "But then I started thinking, I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger, and I still think Florida will break off and turn into tiny little resort islands!" She noticed Elena zoning out. "Elena, back in the car!"

"I did it again, didn't I? I'm sorry Bonnie," she apologized. "You were telling me that…."

"That I'm psychic now," Bonnie filled in with a smile. I wondered if it was true. I wasn't exactly unaccustomed to the impossible, and it would be nice to have a freaky powers buddy. Jeremy always used to tell me how cool it was that I could read minds, and sure, sometimes it was. Hell of a useful cheat during a test if I hadn't studied. But it had its drawbacks, too.

Try finding out about your boyfriend's infidelity through his dirty thoughts and tell me again what a gift it is.

"Well, Miss Psychic, then how about you predict something," I challenged from the back seat. "About us."

"I see—"

That's when something hit the front window of the car, causing Bonnie to swerve her car to the side of the road.

I stared in front of me with wide eyes, startled.

"What was that?!" Bonnie exclaimed, freaked out. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's okay," Elena breathed. I lifted an eyebrow. She didn't look fine. And it wasn't like that was bad or anything. The Wickery Bridge accident must have been traumatic, it was completely understandable to have a heavy reaction to these kind of things.

"It was like a bird or something, it came out of nowhere!"

"Seriously, Bonnie, it's fine. I can't be scared of cars for the rest of my life," said Elena, putting on a brave face. I couldn't help but smile at that. It looked like Elena was ready to show the world that she wasn't some sad little girl without her parents. I could relate.

Bonnie finally seemed to collect herself. "I predict this year is going to be kickass. And I predict that all the dark, sad times are over and you two are going to be beyond happy."

We all smiled at each other.

We walked to our lockers.

On one hand, I loved being back here. All summer break, it'd been hard to find a good distraction from what happened to my parents. School starting again meant focusing on equations and anatomy instead of two people I loved drowning in a car.

On the other hand, I hated being back here. Some teachers were real jerks, and I didn't exactly look forward to facing my stupid, cheating ex.

"Major lack of male real estate. Look at the shower curtain on Kelly," Bonnie said. "She looks like a hot, wait, can I still say 'tranny mess'?"

"No, that's over," I replied.

"Ah, find a man and coin a phrase. It's going to be a busy year."

I laughed. "That's the spirit."

I looked behind Elena to notice her ex, Matt Donovan. Bonnie and Elena both followed my stare, and Elena waved at him. She was, however, ignored.

"He hates me," she sighed after turning around again to face us.

"No, he's just mad you dumped him," I said. "He'll get over it."

Elena was still frowning. "I doubt it."

"Hey, I don't think you should worry. It's not hate, it's 'you dumped me but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits'," Bonnie reassured her. Ah, Bonnie. Always knew what to say.

Elena wanted to reply, but someone else beat her to it. "Elena, Mel! How are you? It's so good to see you!"

Caroline pulled me into a hug before giving Elena a hug, too. We greeted her.

"How are they, are they good?" Caroline asked Bonnie, a concerned frown on her face.

"We are," I interjected sweetly, not appreciating being talked about as if I'm not there.

"Mel's right. We're fine." Elena gave possibly the fakest smile I had ever seen. She'd definitely practised that in front of her mirror. Or maybe it was a good fake smile, and I only noticed because I myself was becoming a bit of an expert on those kind of smiles.

"Are you sure? Oh my gosh, you poor things." Caroline gave me another hug.

"Caroline," I warned when she didn't let go after ten seconds passed.

She let go and me and Caroline walked to class together.

As we walked, she kept shooting me nervous glances.

"What's up?" I asked casually, trying to keep my voice even. Obviously Caroline had something on her mind she knew I wouldn't like talking about. I didn't bother reading her mind, not wanting to hear the same thing twice.

"Well, I know what happened with your parents is way worse. But… We haven't really had a chance to talk about the whole Tyler thing."

I mentally winced. I did not want to talk about my ex. The one who'd been my first kiss. Sometimes he was a bit of a bully, but he was almost always sweet to me. But then my parents died, and everything went to hell. Vicki Donovan had taken the opportunity my grief presented and practically threw herself at him.

Tyler started sleeping with Vicki. Basically, on top of grieving my parents, I was dealing with the loss of Tyler as I knew him. The sweet guy who would buy me chocolate whenever I was on my period turned into a dick who dangled Vicki in front of everyone he met.

I let out a half-laugh. "You know, you're the first person who's asked. All anyone ever talks to me about is my… my parents. I bet people are gossiping about it, though."

"Yeah," Caroline said bluntly, "they are."

Well, that wasn't a big shock. I did live in Mystic Falls after all, which was one very judgmental town. I still vividly remembered overhearing Carol Lockwood bitch about my adoption at a Founder's party; people here always talked about things that didn't concern them.

"So, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine," I said dismissively. I didn't really feel like talking about Tyler Lockwood. Or seeing him. I was glad I hadn't yet.

"Of course you're not fine, he cheated on you," Caroline said, scoffing. "With Vicki Donovan. Vicki. Like, he could've done it with anyone and he chose her."

I grimaced. I really wanted to stop talking about this. "Care, really. Tyler's a jerk anyway."

"That's true," Caroline said.

Though I didn't like talking about Tyler, I did like the sense of normalcy it gave me. Talking about an ex beat talking about dead parents.

"A huge jerk. I mean, who cheats on someone whose parents died?" Nevermind. I knew it wouldn't be this easy. Her face immediately softened when she caught sight of mine. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking, I just blurted—"

"Don't worry about it," I cut her off, giving her a wry smile to show I wasn't mad. Caroline was blunt and I knew that. She didn't have to apologize for being herself.

"As far as I'm concerned, Tyler Lockwood doesn't exist," I told her. She nodded in approval.

"So have you seen the new guy yet?" asked Caroline. After a few boring classes we now had lunch break.

I was currently applying another layer of lipgloss. "No, why? Is he interesting?"

I didn't even know there was a new guy. But if he caught Caroline's attention, that definitely meant he wasn't dull.

"He's super hot. It should be illegal to be so hot," she said. My eyebrows raised. I was officially curious.

I finished with the lipgloss and put it away. Caroline started tugging on my shirt. I gave her a questioning look, followed her gaze, and saw none other than Guy Who Doesn't Exist headed straight towards us.

When he arrived, Nonexistent Person asked, "Mel, can we talk?"

"It's Melanie to you," I said coldly.

He sighed, like it was a great inconvenience. My temper rose. "Melanie. Can we talk?"

Caroline glanced at us, thinking this was one conversation I needed to have in privacy. "…I'm gonna go." She left, not bothering to think up an excuse.

When she was gone, I looked back at Tyler, narrowing my eyes.

"What?" I snapped.

"I care about you, Mel…anie," he filled in at my glare. "And I miss what we had. I never meant to hurt you."

"If you really cared, you wouldn't have cheated, Tyler."

"I didn't mean for it to happen."

I frowned. "Yeah, you did."

"Okay, maybe I did," Tyler said. "But I regret it, that has to count for something?"

"You're joking, right?" I asked flatly. He looked down. "Look at me, Tyler! You cheated on me a week after my parents died." My voice cracked, and I had to take a second to get it together. "Did you really think you could come up here, tell me you miss me, and everything would be forgiven? It doesn't work like that and you know it."

I noticed a bunch of other kids around us had noticed the commotion and were watching us. Great, just what I needed. A freakin' audience.

"Well, it happened, and we can't change that." Tyler was now the one glaring at me. Like I was the one at fault! "I'm trying to make things right, while you're just clinging to the past like some safety blanket!"

"Yeah, you're right," I said slowly, surprising even myself with how calm the words made it out. "It happened and we can't change it."

"So you realize I'm right?" he asked hopefully. I noticed Vicki in the small crowd watching us, and she was not happy.

"I realize you should probably explain this to your little girlfriend before you've lost both," I said snidely.

"You're such a bitch," he immediately spat, showcasing his anger issues. Not my problem anymore.

"Yes, Tyler, I'm a bitch," I admitted with a scowl, "but not yours."

I didn't stick around to wait for his response.

After school finished, Bonnie, Caroline and I decided to go to the Mystic Grill.

Elena said she wanted to change before coming, but I knew she was going to visit our parents at the cemetary while writing in her journal. I didn't comment on it.

"So, guess what I found out about the new guy?" Caroline was saying. "His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with his uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't lived there since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini, and his favourite color is blue."

I nodded in approval. "Impressive."

"You got all that in one day?" Bonnie asked in disbelief.

"Oh please, I got all that between third and fourth period." Caroline sighed dreamily. "We're planning a June wedding."

"As long as I get to be maid of honor," I called as Caroline left to go talk with some cheerleaders from school.

"Now that's just rude, Mel," Bonnie told me, a playful twinkle in her eyes. "Who says you're going to be Caroline's maid of honor?"

"I did, three seconds ago," I teased. But then I saw something I didn't ever want to see again: Matt Donovan walking towards us, looking like he wanted to have a conversation. "Ugh."

"Play nice," Bonnie warned. I scoffed at that.

Matt sat down next to us. "Hey Bon. …Melanie."

"Matt," I acknowledged. Seeing as he was Tyler's best friend and Vicki's brother, it was safe to say I was not Matt's biggest fan.

"Hi, how are you?" Bonnie asked, her voice much warmer than mine.

"I'm good. How is Elena?" he asked. Wow. So subtle.

My eyes narrowed. "Our parents died, how do you think she's doing?"

"She's putting on a good face, but it's only been four months," Bonnie said sympathetically.

"Has she said anything about me?" Matt asked us.

"We're not getting in the middle of your relationship drama, Matt. You pick up the phone and you call her yourself," I cut off Bonnie's probably much nicer reply.

He scowled because of my hostile tone, before sighing. "I feel weird calling her. She broke up with me," he admitted.

"She just needs more time," Bonnie reassured.

Before he could reply to Bonnie, we all saw Elena walking into the Grill. And, boy, did she have company! Who was this good looking guy next to her? How did she manage to seduce him so quickly? Hold on, did this mean she moved on from her ex before I did? That was when it dawned on me: this was probably that new guy everyone was talking about, Stefan Salvatore. Huh.

"More time, huh?" Matt mocked, before standing up and walking over to them.

During the awkwardness of Elena and Matt, I noticed something weird. I wanted to read Stefan's mind, see his intentions for my sister, but I found that I couldn't. Like Bonnie's, I was unable to read Stefan's mind. Interesting. I always thought Bonnie was the only exception…

Nevertheless, I was glad Elena appeared to be moving on. She deserved a new source of happiness in her life.

After Matt walked away from the two, Elena and Stefan came and sat down with Bonnie and me. Once Caroline saw this, she practically ran to our table to sit with us. As soon as she did, she began questioning him.

"So were you born here in Mystic Falls?"

"Yeah, I moved when I was still young," he replied.

"Parents?" Bonnie asked. Wow, was this an interrogation or what? I kinda felt sorry for the poor guy. He answered all the questions politely, though.

"My parents passed away."

My eyes widened slightly upon hearing that news. Maybe Elena liked him so much because she could relate.

"I'm sorry," I said genuinely. In an attempt to change the subject, I decided to ask a question too, because I knew how much it sucked to have people go on and on about your dead parents. "So, do you have any siblings?"

"None that I talk to, I live with my uncle," he said. Yet another thing we had in common. He lived with his uncle while me, Elena and Jer lived with our aunt.

"So, Stefan, if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow," Caroline said when she realized the attention was drifting away from her. She obviously wanted Stefan, but he was only paying attention to Elena. I felt sorry for my friend, but I was also rooting for Stefan and Elena.

Bonnie said, "It's a back to school thing at the falls."

"That's right," I said, smiling slyly. "We're all going to be there."

Stefan looked at Elena and asked, "Including you?"

"Yes," I said before she could respond. "Including her."

I watched Stefan smile, satisfied.

I glanced at my watch. As much as I'd love to stick around, I had to leave. I had a history project to work on. My history teacher, Tanner, decided to give me the project instead of detention because I was late.

"I gotta go. Tanner gave me a project to work on and I've got to finish it," I said, gathering my things.

Caroline hissed in sympathy. "Good luck with that."

"Thanks," I said. "Elena, I'll see you at home."

"Okay, bye Mel." Elena smiled at me, obviously wanting to stay behind and talk to Stefan. Well, I was all for that plan!

"And I'll see the rest of you at school." I waved before standing up and exiting the Mystic Grill.

After I had a shower and got changed into my PJs, I was ready for bed. Today wasn't so bad. Obviously, the Tyler parts were annoying, and lying to everyone about being fine was tiring, but the day could have been worse.

The town had moved on. They didn't care anymore, they didn't realize I was a girl without her parents. I had to move on, too.

With that thought, I fell asleep, never taking notice of the crow at my window.