Chapter 2

Elena

After what seems like forever, I finally pass through a set of gates. I walk through the student parking lot and a large grey brick building comes into view. The sign on the building looks brighter than ever. Mystic Preparatory. Ugh. This is my life.

I walk up the front steps and come to a set of double doors. Opening the doors, I get my first glimpse of my new school. The floors are a dark slate tile, and the walls are an ivory color. The first door to my right says office. I walk in and see two light-skinned girls standing at the desk. The one with red hair is talking to the secretary and the long brown-haired girl looks back at me as I shut the door. I take a seat and the blonde nudges her friend and whispers; "fresh meat."

The redhead looks back at me and snickers at the brunette. She turns back to the secretary and thanks her in this fake sweet voice. They both turn to leave but not without glaring at me as they walk by. I wonder what that was about? Oh wait, I know. Fresh meat. Bitches are bitches no matter what school I'm at.

"Can I help you, Miss?" The secretary asks and I walk up to the desk. She is a dark-skinned woman with a black pixie cut and has hickory brown eyes.

"Gilbert. Elena Gilbert," I tell her with a smile. "I just moved here and need to get my class schedule."

"Oh yes. You're the new transfer student." She says standing up. "Follow me, Principal Nash wanted to know when you came in."

I follow her down a small hall and she knocks at the door at the end of it. "Come in." I hear from inside the room.

We enter and the secretary gestures to me; "Principal Nash, this is Miss Gilbert. You wanted to see her?"

An olive skin woman with short brown hair and brown eyes smiles standing up from the desk. "Yes, Miss Gilbert. What a pleasure to have you." She says reaching out with her right hand.

I shake her hand and she gestures for me to take a seat. "Okay, let's see." She says looking at her computer. "Your first class is AP History followed by AP Calculus and then Gym. After Gym, you are scheduled for Advanced Literature then lunch. After your lunch period, you have study hall followed by the last class of the day which is Computer Science."

"That sounds good Principal Nash," I say with a small nod.

"Here is a printout of your schedule, your school agenda keeper, and here is a map to get you started. If you have any trouble locating a class, please don't hesitate to ask one of your teachers or us here upfront."

"Thank you," I say collecting the items she has given me and going to stand.

She follows suit and walks me back out to the front of the office. "Your first class is in the 200s wing. You just go down this hall here and take a right. It will be about a quarter of the way down the hall, to your left." she says pointing down a long hall.

I tell her thanks again and she said to have a wonderful first day. I head in the direction she pointed me, turning right. I check the room number and see it's 209. I come up to room 209 and see that class is already in session. Rather than intrude, I knock lightly at the door.

"Yes?" I hear a male voice from inside the classroom.

I open the door and see a middle-aged man with short black hair. He pushes the glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "Can I help you?"

I clear my throat and smile. "Yes, this is my first period. I'm Elena."

"Oh yes," he says walking over to me. "I'm Dr. Masters. It's a pleasure to have you in my class. You can take a seat near the back of the class."

"Thank you," I say and turn towards the classroom. There are probably about 20 students give or take. All their eyes are on me. I walk towards a table in the back of the room and see the two girls from the office earlier. I pass by their table and take the empty seat.

"Alright, class. Our new student's name is Elena. Everyone do your best to make her feel welcome." Dr. Masters says. "Everyone take out your books and turn to page 205. We are going to start Unit 2.2. The European Colonization. I know, isn't it exciting?"

There are hums of agreement throughout the classroom as I take my book out of my bag. Reaching in the top pouch, I reach for my pencil pouch. I take out my purple mechanical pencil and look towards the front of the classroom.

"Hey, I'm Bonnie." says the girl from beside me. I look over for the first time and see the dark-skinned girl. The same one from the bar and grill last night. "You're the girl from The Grill." She says registering my face.

"Yeah," I smile at her. "I'm Elena."

"Well it's nice to meet you," she says smiling back at me. "Don't worry too much about this class, Dr. Masters is pretty laid back as far as teachers go."

"Seems like it," I say looking from Dr. Masters back to Bonnie.

"What class do you have next period?" she asks me, and I hand her my schedule. "Oh, you have Calc with Mrs. Davis. My friend Caroline is in that class. I'll introduce you to her after."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," I tell her writing down the notes from on the whiteboard.

"Not a problem," she says bumping me with her shoulder.

The bell rings for the end of the period, and I stand collecting my books. I hook my bag onto my shoulder and follow Bonnie out the door. We walk down the hall and come to a set of lockers. Standing beside the locker is the other girl from the grill last night.

"You can put your things in my locker," Bonnie says opening it. "They don't have enough lockers for the entire school, so most of us share anyways. You're lucky if you get one at the beginning of the year."

"Thanks," I tell her as I put my bag in the bottom of the locker.

"No problem," she says with a nod. "Caroline, this is Elena. Elena meet Caroline."

I turn to face the blonde-haired girl and mouth hi with a small wave.

"Nice to meet you," she says looking from her phone to me.

"There you are baby," the guy from last night says placing a kiss on Caroline's cheek. "Sorry, Matt was talking my ear off."

"Where is that fool?" she asks looking towards the direction he came from. "Do you have my notes?!" she yells down the hall.

"Yeah, I don't know what good they're going to be to me though!" a light-skinned guy with blonde hair yells back at her.

Walking beside him is another guy. He has tan skin and purposefully messy short black hair. The brunette from the office this morning grabs ahold of his arm and he tries to shake her off.

"Well maybe if you read them," Caroline tells the blonde man.

They meet up with us and the black-haired guy stands against the lockers with his foot propped up behind him. He leans back and the brunette puts her arms around his neck. Again, he tries unsuccessfully to wiggle free of her grasp. I wonder what that's about.

"Who's this?" the blonde guy asks Caroline, flicking his chin at me.

I rake my hand through my hair and smile. "Elena. I just started here." I say looking between him and Caroline.

"Cool," he says nodding. "Anyone see Rebekah?" he asks looking down the opposite end of the hall.

"Yeah, she had to stay after class for a minute." the guy with brunette says looking back to me. "Not to be rude, I'm Tyler and this dipshit here is Matt."

"You're the dipshit," Matt says playfully shoving Tyler. Bonnie rolls her eyes at them.

"Alright girls, enough fighting." says the black-haired guy with the brunette from the office attaching herself to him. "Stop it." He says grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her to step back.

"I have to go to class anyway," says the brunette with a scoff.

The bell rings and I follow Caroline to my next class. AP Calc is in the 300s wing. Just down the hall and to the left of the lockers. We get into the class and Caroline pats the seat next to her.

I sit down and scoot in my chair. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she says. "So how do you like Mystic Falls so far?"

"It's not horrible," I say just as the final bell rings for class. "I haven't really done much so far. Just got in last night."

"Where are you from?" she asks putting a stick of gum in her mouth. She offers me one and I take it.

"Upstate NY," I tell her unwrapping the gum. I place it in my mouth and wrinkle the wrapper. "My dad is Army and he was transferred here."

"Cool," she says. "We don't have that many people from army families that go to school here."

"High expectations," I tell her shaking my head. "My parents want the best for my education."

"I get that." She says writing down the notes from the board.

I think back to the people I have met so far and remember the black-haired guy from the hall. "Caroline?" I say.

"Yeah?" she asks looking at me.

"Who were the other two in the hall?" I ask looking towards the front of the class and back to her. "The guy with black hair and the blonde?"

She rolls her eyes. "That was Damon and Katherine."

I nod acknowledging her.

She sighs and elbows me gently. "They used to be a couple. It only lasted a few months, but he broke it off with her right after school started."

I just sit and listen.

"We all used to be friends, but after the shit she pulled..." she trails off. "Never again."

Curiosity peeked. "What happened?" I ask finishing up the board notes.

"What most slutty bitches do. She cheated. Damon's never really gone into detail about it, but we know enough." she says handing me a worksheet the teacher had passed out.

"I know what that's like," I tell her putting my name down at the top of the sheet.

"What's your schedule like?" she asks changing the subject.

I grab my schedule out of my agenda book and put it down on the table in front of me. "Gym then Lit," I tell her looking at it.

She slides the schedule over and looks at it. "Same lunch period as the rest of us. And if it's not me in your other classes, Bonnie and Rebekah are there. I don't know anyone in your last period though. Interesting class to take." she says referring to computer science.

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to take the course. I figured learning the ins and outs of computer software would eventually come in handy to me seeing that I'm going to college to become a Physician's assistant.