Ch. 3 – Friday Night Bites 1x03

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. If I did then a lot of people would not be dead and Klaroline would've happened a long time ago. Anything you recognize is not mine.

edit: 11/13/2022

Alliana was running through the forest. She knows her way through the forest, now. She spots a good place to hide. She started to quickly climb the tree. She hears footsteps coming in her direction. Closer and closer they come. She heard a voice calling for her.

"Alliana. Come out now. You know I am going to find you soon," the voice told her. She tries to blend in even more. The person walks away from her. She sighed in relief and climbed down from the tree.

"Got you!"

Alliana gasped in surprise. "Fine, Kol. You win this time."

Kol laughed and stood up proudly, "You actually took a little bit longer to find. I found Henrik very quickly."

"That is because Henrik does not know the best hiding spots. I do know where they are, so I can then hide from you."

"Yes, but I got you to reveal yourself, did I not?" he asked.

"Of course, you did, because you are Kol, the almighty trickster. Greater than Loki, the trickster god himself," Alliana teased him.

"Do not boost his ego. It is big enough already," a different voice said behind her. Alliana turned to find Elijah and Rebekah. "It is, of course, quite alright to tease him about it," Elijah said.

"'Lijah, that is just mean," Kol replied.

"But so very true," Alliana added. Kol just pouted and the other three people laugh at him.

"Since it is so difficult to find Alliana, she must be the seeker this time," Rebekah stated. All agreed very quickly.

"Very well, but Elijah has to play with us this time," Alliana declared. Elijah attempted to refuse and then Henrik walks up.

"Elijah is actually going to play?" He asked excitedly. Elijah looked to Henrik and then to Alliana who was making pleading eyes at him. He concedes. Alliana starts to count, while everyone hides. She counts for a minute before going to search for everyone. She found Henrik quickly behind a log, because he was giggling. Kol was found next, because his foot was sticking out from a bush. Rebekah was found behind a boulder. She got bored and started to braid her hair more. Elijah was much harder to find. He kept switching behind different trees. Eventually, Alliana just starts walking slowly around the area which Elijah was hiding in. Elijah gets very confused as to why she was not really searching for him.

"Why are you not trying harder to find me?" He asked.

Alliana simply smiled and stated, "If I find you, then the game would be over." He laughs at her comment. She continued, "I don't want to stop playing the game, yet."

Elijah smiled and asked "Well, who says we have to?"

Alliana smiled back.

Officially, we don't need to do any more carpooling with Bonnie. We have enough cars and I can finally drive again. Thank god. I hate being in the back. But, Bonnie likes to ride with us anyways, so we all drive to school together. I think Bonnie worries about us. Which is apparent by Bonnie's new change in attitude, because apparently now Bonnie is trying to warn Elena about something with Stefan.

"I'm not saying don't date the guy. I'm just saying take it slow," Bonnie says.

Elena looks at her and I, "You guys were the ones who said go for it."

I raise my hands in surrender, "Hey, I am mostly okay with you going for it. I'm not saying anything. Bonnie is the one who is currently saying 'take it slow'."

"Why the about-face?" Elena asks Bonnie.

"It's not an about face. You are single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field," Bonnie replies.

"Yeah, because Elena is totally that girl," I say, defending my sister.

"Seriously, what are you not saying?" my sister asks Bonnie.

"It's stupid," Bonnie says trying to brush us off. We stop and turn to her.

"Bonnie, just spit it out," I say.

"I accidently touched Stefan and got a really bad feeling," she admits, looking kind of guilty and embarrassed.

"Is that it?" Elena asks. Bonnie tries to walk away when Elena grabs her arm, "Bonnie!"

"It was bad-bad," Bonnie tries to defend herself.

"Is this the whole witchy mojo thing again?" I ask. I trust Bonnie with my life. If she has a feeling, I would trust it. Unfortunately, Elena has been happy and I don't want to get in the way. But, her safety comes first and I'm not going to risk it on the possibility that Bonnie might be wrong and Stefan is perfectly safe. Safe looking people can have dangerous secrets.

But Bonnie backs down, "You know what I am just concerned. This is me expressing concern about one of my best friends' new boyfriend." See, this has me believing that it is a witchy-mojo thing, which does not bode well for us. Worse for Stefan if it's true.

"And I love you for it, I do." Elena says while she grabs Bonnie's shoulders. They smile at each other. "But I feel good. It's been a hard year, for both of us, and I am starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again. And you know what, Stefan is a big part of that."

Bonnie just sighs and we change the subject. We continue to walk towards the school and our classes, when Stefan walks over to us.

"Good morning, Elena," he says. "Good morning, Bonnie, Emilia."

Bonnie just starts to walk away, facing just us twins, "Um, I gotta find Caroline. She's not answering her phone." Wait, Caroline's not answering Bonnie either?

I turn to her. "Hey, wait up. I'll come with." I turn back to Stefan and Elena. Nothing terrible can happen in school, right? "We'll catch you guys later." I give one last look at the two before I follow Bonnie into school.

I am once again in what should be my favorite class. Tanner is just asking dates of important historical events. Like I believe that shouldn't be everything that is taught in a history class, but I'm really good at this part too. But, he won't let me answer any of the questions.

"World War II ended in…..Anyone got anything?" Mr. Tanner asks. I raise my hand, but he ignores me. "Miss Wan?" Carla Wan just shrugs.

I finally get fed up and just blurted it out. "1945." I hear Elena and Stefan whispering next to me about the football team. Elena starts giggling when Tanner asks her a question.

"Miss Elena Gilbert?" She turns around to face the front of the room and Tanner. "Pearl Harbor?" Of course, he couldn't just ask me. I mean he was so close, my name is like right there. Elena tries to come up with an answer she obviously doesn't have.

Stefan just answers for her, "December 7th, 1941," which gets him a winning smile from my sister.

But not Tanner. "Thank you, Miss Elena Gilbert." Tanner says, stressing her name.

"Anytime," Stefan replies.

Tanner must have seen this as a challenge, because he replies with, "Very well. The fall of Berlin Wall."

Stefan simply answers, "1989. I'm good with dates, sir."

"Are you?" Tanner asks. Stefan nods. "How good? Keep it to the year." Oh come on, that's barely a challenge. "Civil Rights Act."

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963."

"Martin Luther King."

"'68." Tanner starts walking closer and closer to Stefan each time he mentions a new event.

"Lincoln."

"1865"

"Roe vs. Wade"

"1973"

"Brown vs. Board"

"1954."

"The Battle of Gettysburg"

"1863"

Are we serious? These are all really easy questions. All of them happened in the last 150 years. Give him a challenge. Magna Carta. Birth of William Shakespeare or when Hamlet was published? Death dates of any of Henry the VII's wives. If we have to keep it to American history, let's do more obscure things. Trail of Tears. What year was social security assigned? Or what was the inciting incident that sparked the Gay Rights Movement? C'mon, even something like when were women allowed to vote? This is the easiest challenge!

"Korean War."

"1950-1953"

"Ha! It ended in '52." The entire class chuckles. Tanner goes back to the front of the classroom.

"Uh, actually, sir, it was '53." Tanner turns around to Stefan.

"Look it up, somebody." Tanner says through clenched teeth. The entire class moves to look it up. "Quickly."

Kyle, another kid in the class looks it up on his phone and says, "It was 19…53." The class tries to clap, but it winds up being kind of sad. I will admit that despite how easy the challenge was, I am mildly impressed; Stefan stepped up. Of course, Tanner wouldn't dare do something with me. It's all about being a macho man with Tanner.

Afterschool, Elena and I go to cheer practice for the first time since our parents died. We missed summer camp, so we have a lot to catch up on, but it shouldn't be too bad. It's not my first time missing camp and having to make up during school. It helps that Caroline is often such a perfectionist, we wind up rehearsing the same routine a million times. I just wish that we didn't have to wear the smallest shorts known to man while we do this. Elena practically has to push me out of the gym. We walk over to Bonnie, who is stretching. Elena clears her throat loudly and Bonnie turns around and spots us.

"Oh my god! You guys are here!" She says while hugging us both.

"Yep. We can't be these sad girls forever," I say, nudging Elena into a small smile. But it drops as soon as she stops looking at me.

"The only way to get back to the way they were, are to do things that were," my sister adds. We start to stretch. Or Elena and Bonnie do. I would prefer no one look at my legs at all. "Oh, and you are both coming to dinner tonight."

"We are?" Bonnie and I exclaim.

"Mhmm. You, me, Emilia, and Stefan." I try very hard to keep my face straight, but Bonnie doesn't. Elena turns to see her face fall. "You have to give him a chance."

"But tonight's no good." Bonnie complains. Elena and I just give her a look. That was bad lie. She changes the topic. "Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times."

I look up worried. I thought it was just me she was ignoring. "I have been texting her too. She hasn't answered me either."

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett. You're going to be there," Elena says.

"Fine! I'll go," Bonnie replies.

Elena looks at me.

I shrug with a casual air I don't actually have. "It's my house too. Can't exactly avoid it."

Elena nudges me, "You're going and you will be friendly because I'm asking nicely."

I roll my eyes and sarcastically add, "Well, if you're asking nicely…"

"Good," Elena says. We all continue to stretch. I am actually starting to worry about Caroline. She always answers my texts and calls, unless we're in a fight. It's a point of pride with her. Perfectly prepared, Caroline. But today she hasn't answered anything. I am insanely worried as to where she is.

Bonnie starts to think along the same lines as I was, "Seriously, where is Caroline?" Bonnie asks.

"I don't know. It's not like her," My twin comments. See, it's bad if even Elena notices an issue with Caroline. Oh, that might be mean.

"Try her again," I plead. Bonnie sighs and picks up her phone to try to call Caroline. Bonnie doesn't even get to connecting the call, when Caroline comes driving up in an awesome convertible. We all turn to face Caroline and what looks like Damon, who were kissing in his car. As if that is not suspicious. Damon is clearly older and preying on Caroline, who is still a minor. Let's just say I have a thing against older guys preying on younger girls. Not that it's difficult to have a thing against that.

"That must be the mystery guy from the Grille." Bonnie says.

"That's no mystery guy," my sister comments.

I finish her thought, grimacing, "That's Damon Salvatore."

"Salvatore, as in Stefan?" Bonnie asks.

"Yup. His older brother," I grit out of my teeth. If Stefan is 17, like us, then how old is Damon? Caroline is 16. Her birthday is not until the end of the month. She's not old enough to be dating someone in their 20's.

Caroline gets out of his car and saunters over. "I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind," she says as she passes by us. She walks over to the front of the group. "I'm sorry I'm late, girls. I, uh, was busy. All right, let's start with the Double Pike Herkey Hurdler. What do you say?" I look over at Damon who just smirks at me. I roll my eyes at him and focus back on cheer practice.

We were doing a routine to STARSTRUKK by 3OH!3 ft. Katy Perry. Elena and I were struggling with it. I was sort of picking it up, but Elena was struggling to keep up, further impeded by her lack of attention.

Caroline notices her struggling and says, "Elena, why don't you just observe today? 'K?" Elena just stops and goes to the back. "Keep going! Okay. Do it again. Let's go. And 5,6,7,8." I like to think that I have picked up most of the routine by the second time we go through it, while Elena sticks to watching and trying to copy the moves from the back. She gets distracted part-way through and leaves to watch the football practice. I guess Stefan joined the team after all.

Bonnie, Elena, and I are getting ready for dinner. Elena is getting food ready, while I sit on the counter, listening to Bonnie, and drawing a picture of us four girls. Bonnie is again talking about being psychic or a witch. She stills hasn't figured it out, I guess. Well, Gramma Sheila has been rather inconsistent these past few years. Either way, Bonnie is going on about predicting a commercial.

"You explain it," Bonnie says. "Last night, I was watching 'Nine-O,' a commercial break comes on, and I'm like 'I bet it's that phone commercial!' and sure enough it's that guy and girl with the bench. He flies to Paris, and he flies back. They take a picture."

"Oh, come on. That commercial is on a constant loop," Elena says. She hands a platter of food to Bonnie to help her unpack it.

"Fine. Well, how about this? Today, I'm obsessed with numbers. Three numbers. I keep seeing 8, 14, and 22. How weird is that?" Bonnie continues.

"Maybe we should play the lottery," I add from my spot on the counter. Elena laughs and I smile. I've missed that sound. I get serious again, "Have you talked to Grams?" I ask.

Bonnie waves me off, "She just gonna say it's because I am a witch. I don't want to be a witch. Do you want to be a witch?"

"I don't want to be a witch," my twin immediately answers.

I gasp in shock. "Are you kidding me? I would. Imagine just what you could do! You could bring someone to their knees with a wave of your hand. You could probably explode things with your mind or make someone fly across the room. Just imagine how powerful you could be," I say wistfully. Witches are all kinds of powerful, especially if Bonnie is right about her being a witch. The name 'Bennett' has been linked with some seriously powerful things, if what I've read is true. It would be great to have her on our side in the future. But Elena and Bonnie ignore my ponderings as Elena just keeps putting the restaurant-ordered-and-bought food into our own bowls.

"Putting it in a nice bowl isn't fooling anybody," Bonnie tells her.

Elena waves her off, "Ok, serving spoons. Where are the serving spoons?"

Bonnie answers before I could tell her. "Middle drawer on your left." Elena gives her a look and opens the drawer. She takes out the serving spoons. We both look at Bonnie astonished, Elena more so than me.

"Okay, so you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times," Elena defends.

"Yeah, that's it," Bonnie agrees.

"Especially impressive since, Elena, you live here and you didn't know where the serving spoons are," I say.

Elena smacks me with a dish towel. "You are the one who uses the kitchen to cook. I'm not in here as much."

I turn to Bonnie, "Which is why she ordered the food and put it into fancy bowls instead of actually making something."

The doorbell rings before Elena can respond to my taunt. She takes a deep breath. "Okay, he's here. Don't be nervous. Just be your normal loving self." Elena leaves to go answer the door.

Bonnie just stares at me wide-eyed for a few seconds. She puts down the serving spoon she was holding.

"Birthday candles," she says. She waits a second and opens the drawer. I hop down from the counter and rush over to her side. Sure enough, the birthday candles were in the drawer.

I look to her and give her an encouraging smile. "That is so cool!" Bonnie just kind of stares at me. This is only the beginning of your coolness, Bonnie.

Elena then walks in with Stefan and we sit down to eat.

The dinner is all kinds of awkward, with all of us sitting around the table, picking at our food. I try to start another friendly conversation, (see Elena, I am being cool about this) "So Stefan, I heard you joined the football team." Not the most inventive, but as much as Elena talks about this dude, I don't really know him that well.

My sister adds on, "Did Tanner give you a hard time today?"

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right," Stefan replies. Elena and I chuckle.

Elena turns to Bonnie. "Bonnie, you should've seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and-"

Bonnie interrupts, "Yeah, I heard." We all kind of look around awkwardly.

Elena tries to start a conversation again. "So, Bonnie why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" she says. That's not the easiest conversation topic, Elena.

Bonnie turns to him and bluntly states, "Divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." And that's bare minimum info. Bonnie's mom left when we were toddlers, her dad is never around, and she basically grew up with Grams or us. Stefan just nods his head politely.

Elena shakes her head, "No, I meant about the witches." She turns to Stefan, "Bonnie's family is supposedly from a lineage of witches. I think it is super cool."

"Cool isn't the word I'd use," Bonnie denies.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800's," Stefan says. Celtic druids? I hadn't heard anything about that. Do I need to do more research?

"My family came by way of Salem," Bonnie replies.

Stefan looks at her with an interested face. "Really. Salem witches?" He asks her. Bonnie just nods her head and smiles, slightly embarrassed. "I would say that's pretty cool." He says to Elena and me.

"Really? Why?" Bonnie asks Stefan.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and non-conformity," Stefan replies. Well depending on your point of reference. Historically, no. The women who were actually accused and burned were all underprivileged women of low social circles, the outcasts of society. Supernaturally, maybe. But that just leads to questions about Stefan's knowledge of the supernatural, which I am not ready to delve into yet.

"Yeah, they are." Bonnie says.

"See Bonnie. I told you witches are cool," I mention. The doorbell rings again.

"I wonder who that could be," Elena says suspiciously as she gets up and gets the door. I stand to clear up the plates, but really to look down the hallway and watch as Elena opens to door.

Stefan also gets up to find out who was at the door. He almost freezes when he sees, but that blocks me from seeing who it is.

My question is answered when Caroline walks through the door with a pie and Damon follows her a minute later.

"Hey. Damon and I brought dessert," Caroline announces. Um, what? I love my best friend, and she's usually welcome anytime, but I don't like Damon. Aside from the terrible introductions he's made, something about him is off. And I am not just talking about the whole perving-on-younger-girls-thing.

Everyone moves to sitting in the living room after dessert and we're now just relaxing and chatting. I mean as much as we can with the awkward atmosphere the brothers are bringing. Caroline is going on about Stefan joining the team. And Damon continues to on his weird behavior with everything he says seeming to have an unknown double meaning. By the looks on Stefan's face, he knows exactly what these other meanings are. I try to stop focusing on the Salvatore brother drama and go back to listening to my best friend.

"I cannot believe Tanner let you on the team. Ugh, Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it," she says.

Damon speaks up, "That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it."

Caroline decides to also add, "Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp." She lowers her voice and talks to herself, "God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines. I mean, Emmy is doing fine enough, but it was a rough day for you, Elena"

"Harsh, Caroline," I remark, quietly defending my sister. Caroline's bluntness is often a double-edged sword, harming everyone around her, including herself. Comments like these are exactly why Elena is not as close with her as I am, but Caroline offers more once you get past the 'foot-in-mouth' thing.

Bonnie decides to add in, "I'll work with her. She'll get it."

Caroline being herself decides to open her mouth again, "I guess we can put her in the back." Please let that be an accidental 'I'm in my planning mode and don't mean that the way it sounds' rather than her 'I'm being a bitch' thing.

Damon states, "You don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena."

"Oh, it's just cause her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun." Caroline announces. Oh, bitch thing it is. Then, she finally realizes what she said was mean. "And I say that with complete sensitivity." She looks between the two of us chagrined.

"I'm sorry, Elena. And you too, Emilia. I know what it is like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die." What? Again, what is with the double meanings? Why would you say things like that?

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon," Stefan states.

Damon waves away his brother, "Ah, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up." Of course, everything is a barb against Stefan. Gotta be something about the ex, Katherine, that Damon is absolutely pissed about to be this targeted of passive-aggressive verbal assault. What is it with Katherines and brothers? I sincerely hope we are thinking about different Katherines.

"Which is exactly why you brought her up just now," I comment sarcastically. Damon just kind of looks at me puzzled and then turns to smirk at Stefan.

I get up to do the dishes, while everyone else stays in the living room, relaxing. Damon walks over. "One more," he points. He goes to hand me one glass. I try to grab it when it slips, and Damon grabs it quickly.

"Wow. Good reflexes," I say, smiling hesitantly, politely. "Nice save."

Damon points at me and leans against the counter, "I like you and your sister. You guys know how to laugh," You sure about that? I haven't laughed once since you've been here. "And your sister makes Stefan smile, which is something I haven't seen in a very long time."

I ignore his attempt at being genial. I need to figure out his angle. "Earlier, you were talking about Katherine, right?" I comment, not really asking. I know that's what he was doing. I reach to put a dish in the dish washer, when Damon grabs it from me and puts it in.

He answers me with a "Mhmm."

"She died, right?" I ask. He nods. "How?"

"In a fire. Tragic fire," he replies. His voice going soft.

Hmm, I ask, "Recently?"

"Well, it seems like it was yesterday." That's not helping to answer any of my questions.

"What was she like?"

He takes a moment to answer. "She was beautiful, much like you and your sister in that department." I roll my eyes at this. That may work on other people, but I've got too many questions and too strong of instincts to fall for that "She was just very complicated and selfish, and at times not very kind. But very sexy and seductive." That description sounds a bit too familiar.

"So, which one of you dated her first?" I ask while handing him a plate.

"Nicely deduced," he says. "Ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine."

I stare him down, "Oh, is that the reason for the passive-aggressive double meanings behind everything you said" Damon looks up at me in surprise. I turn my back so I'm leaning against the counter, crossing my arms. "You want to get back at Stefan for falling in love with her as well, which probably caused something to happen, which eventually lead to her death." I obviously don't have all the details yet.

Damon just looks at me. He changes the subject, "I'd tell your sister to quit cheerleading if I were you." Yeah, right, buddy. I see right through what you are doing.

"And why would you say that?" I ask sarcastically.

"Oh, I saw you guys at practice. You looked fine, but she looked miserable." Um, creepy much.

I raise my eyebrows at him, "You saw that? What were you, an adult male, doing watching underage girls?"

"Am I wrong?" Didn't answer my question. Or my accusation.

He stares at me until I reluctantly answer, "Nope."

I sit lean back and think for a moment. Why is he right? He's a dick. "Things are different now. Things that used to matter don't anymore, not to either of us," I finish quietly.

Damon shrugs, reminding me that it's him I'm talking to. "So, don't let it. Tell her to move on. You do the same as well. Problem solved. Ta-Da." Cause that is realistic.

I argue, "Some things could matter again."

"Maybe. But…seems a little unrealistic to me."

I think about it for a second, before pondering the rest of this odd conversation. For someone so suspicious, he seemed pretty genuine. "I'm sorry," I say, throwing him a bone. He just looks at me. "You lost Katherine too."

Bonnie and Elena walk in to help with the dishes before he can answer. Damon leaves to go back to Caroline and Stefan, who are still in the living room. The night ends quietly.

The next day, Elena and I are getting ready for the game. I am already ready to go, with just my hair left to do. Elena is staring at her uniform, dressed in her towel. She's still debating whether or not she should actually keep going. Might as well take the chance to talk with her.

I walk over to her and sigh, "You know it's okay if you don't want to cheer anymore."

She turns to face me, "What do you mean?"

"'Lena, you are not happy doing it anymore," I say sitting down on her bed. "We aren't the same girls as we were last year. Our parents died and that changed us and that shows up in different ways. For you, cheerleading just isn't as fun as it used to be, and that is okay. You aren't totally different, even if it feels like it. You are still my older sister, my twin. You still love writing in your journal and gossiping about boys and stuff with Bonnie, Caroline, and I. I am still Lia, your little twin sister. I still love drawing, reading, history, and currently, I still like being on Spirit Squad with our friends." But that may change as I hate the uniforms. "But I don't want to write my stupid little stories anymore now that Mom isn't here to share them with. I will leave the writing to you," I nudge her, "you were always better at it anyways. It's what Mom would've wanted. I'll stick to keeping her memory alive with the Historical Society," I take a deep breath before continuing back to my main point, "You no longer have to do cheerleading anymore. We don't have to do the same things we used to do to be normal. We just have to be ourselves and be as happy as we can without them. That is our new normal. And if that means no more cheerleading, then don't do cheerleading."

"I love you, 'Lia." My sister says as she hugs me tight.

"I love you too, 'Lena. I'll let you decide what to do. But first, can you please do my hair? You have always been so good at it."

"Sure."

Later, I am at the bonfire for the game, standing with the other Spirit Squad members, while my sister is standing off to another side, clad in her regular clothes. It was pretty obvious that this was going to be her decision even before I gave her the options. If she wanted to cheer, she wouldn't have been waiting in a towel. The Gilbert stubbornness is strong in both of us, and for Elena, that comes out in her decisiveness. It's good to see a bit of that again.

At the bonfire, we are cheering for Stefan and the rest of the football team. But, one footballer, Tyler is getting pissed. I mean, Tanner kept extolling the virtues of Stefan, including naming him in the speech. Plus, He and Jeremy are having issues, so when I see Tyler head over towards my brother, I prepare for trouble. Jeremy is drinking, and my heart drops, both in disappointment and guilt. It is my fault that he is acting this way. Maybe if I had focused more on Jeremy after our parents died, he wouldn't be acting like this. Maybe if I hadn't been so selfish, then our parents would be alive. But that doesn't help anything now with trouble in the form of an enraged Tyler Lockwood headed to my inebriated brother and me being too far away to stop it.

Vicki is trying to stop Tyler, but it isn't deterring him. The fight starts with Jeremy punching Tyler. The ass probably said something to Jeremy to set him off, most likely about Vicki, the source of their problems. By the time I can finally make my way over, a crowd has formed around Tyler punching my brother while he was on the ground. Stefan jumps in and grabs Tyler's arm before he can throw another punch. Tyler stands and punches Stefan in the stomach.

But Stefan just doesn't respond.

What? It's like he didn't even fell the punch at all.

Tyler has the same reaction because he stares at Stefan's non-reaction. This gives Jeremy enough time to grab a piece from the now broken bourbon bottle and stand up. Tyler again tries to fight Stefan, but Stefan just knocks him away. He pushes Tyler away right as Jeremy slashes the broken bottle piece. I see it cut across Stefan's hand. Ok, that had to hurt. Jeremy stares at the injury he just made. Matt jumps in and gets Tyler away to calm him down.

Elena and I go straight to Jeremy.

"What the hell, Jeremy?" Elena immediately starts. Pushing him against a nearby truck.

I nudge her away to get Jeremy to focus on me, "Both of you knock it off. Jeremy, your nose is bleeding. Put your head down." He leans against the truck as I try to look for any other injuries.

Elena crowds around me and pushes against Jeremy's head to move it backward, "Shouldn't it be tilting back for a nosebleed?"

I shake my head and grab the back of his to push it forward, "No, forward. If he tilts it back, he might choke on his own blood."

Jeremy starts fighting over our man-handling, "I'm fine," and whacks our hands away.

Elena starts to crowd him again, "Yeah, you smell fine."

I will admit the scent of booze permeates the air around Jeremy and it's making me uncomfortable, but I wasn't going to say anything.

"Just stop," Jeremy says, standing up to tower over us.

I ignore his threat and focus on getting him back to leaning. "Elena, just go check on Stefan."

Elena gasps quietly for a second before turning away and joining Stefan who is standing in the same spot as he was during the fight. I look to them for one second to check on Stefan and Jeremy leaves. I look around, but since I can't spot him in the crowd. Ugh, figures. I take the chance to check on Stefan. Bottle slashes hurt and can easily get infected, so I might as well get him so first aid as soon as possible.

"Is he okay?" I ask, joining the pair.

Elena is staring at Stefan's open palm. I look over and see that there's nothing there but a faint line of blood.

"But…" I question.

"You saw it too! We saw the glass cut your hand," Elena proclaims.

Stefan smiles softly as he takes his hand back wiping the blood off on his jeans. "He missed. It's noy my blood."

I imply stare at him in confusion. Because I know what I saw. It definitely swiped his hand. He reacted to the cut.

Elena tries to protest again, but Stefan waves her off with another, "I'm fine." He then changes the subject back to the game, but I barely notice as I just focus on staring at him and questioning what I saw.

Elena and I share a look before Caroline waves me over.

I go back to the other cheerleaders where one of the other cheerleaders is having trouble keeping the sign up. Caroline and I both go to help her, but I can see my twin talking with Bonnie.

Curiosity in mind, I ask, "Hey, what were you and Elena talking about?"

"She was asking about the weird feeling I got when I touched Stefan."

"What was it?" I ask.

"It was what I imagine death to feel like," she replies. A death feeling from a potential witch and a mysterious absent injury does not bode well for Stefan.

"Wow. Creepy," I reply. Covering up my suspicions I change the subject, "I have to go find Jeremy. He is injured and escaped from me earlier. Can you cover for me with Caroline?"

"Yeah, sure. Good luck finding him," Bonnie says. I smile at her and start looking around. I look in the bleachers, around the field and all over, but I can't find him. I finally look by the locker rooms, as unlikely of a spot it would be. I go to look behind the locker room building when I see something, something that I never wanted to see.

Damon with his mouth on Tanner's neck. Tanner, his body, drops when Damon removes his mouth. I only see Damon's face for one quick second while he turns around, but what I did see was horrifying enough. His mouth was covered in my teacher's blood and his eyes were dark.

I know those eyes.

I can't breathe.

I immediately break into a run as my brain tries to scramble through the thoughts also racing in my brain. I need to understand what this means. My suspicions, they could be answered. But it could make everything worse. I have too many questions and none of them do I want answered. I just try to continue to look for Jeremy.

A little while later, the game is cancelled. Tanner's body is found, attacked by an animal. My only question is whether anyone else is prepared for this kind of animal that is on the loose? Everyone clears out when they hear the game is cancelled, so I finally able to find Jeremy behind the bleachers with a cool can against his face. I see Vicki a little walk away, probably the ending moment of some sort of touchy-feely conversation. Ugh, gross. Do I now have to accept my brother being in love with Icky Vicki Donovan.

Ok, that was maybe a little immature, but in my defense, Matt and I came up with the name when we were six. Plus, she's older and deflowered my baby brother.

Ugh, that means Jeremy lost his virginity before I did. Or maybe not. WOAH! Not going there.

Focus. Jeremy.

I nudge Jeremy with my foot and sit down next to him. "I know you are into her, Jeremy, you are anything but subtle about. I don't mind you defending the honor of a girl; I actually think that it was very noble and a good thing to do. But next time, try not to get your ass kicked and then run away. I don't like or want to have to search for you and wonder if you are okay. I worry enough. I don't like you drinking or doing drugs, but if Vicki makes you happy right now, if she gets you out of this dark place that you are in, then I guess, I don't mind if you spend time with her," I say, giving a side hug to my kid brother, who, sadly, is getting bigger than me. "Let's go. I'll clean your face up when we get home."

We both get up off the ground and walk back to the car, where Elena is hugging Stefan. "Hey, Lena," I greet my sister warmly. Her boyfriend is not greeted as warmly, thoughts of the events of tonight swirling through my head.

At home, Elena goes upstairs to write in her journal and go to sleep, while I clean up the last of the dried blood on Jeremy's face with the first aid kit. As soon as I am finished, he rushes to his room. I clean up and head to my room. I stay up working on my drawings, while listening to my music at a loud volume to drown out my thoughts. Tonight revealed a lot and I need to calculate my next steps.

A/N: Mostly minor edits again. But shoutout if you notice them. Feel free to review!