I'm back! And excited to give y'all an update to this story. Just a heads up before you read - I know it's shorter. It's a chapter that's important to what comes next, and this was just the best way things flowed. That said, I've already written chapter 7 (which is almost double the size of this chapter), so I'll be able to post that in the near future instead of however long from now.

Okay, that's all. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Six

The next morning I was awoken much too early by a knocking on my door. "What?" I asked, the sound muffled by the pillow my face was crammed into.

"Elena, dear, it's time to wake up. We have errands to run today!" Grandma's voice, too chipper for...eight thirty in the morning.

"I don't think I want to run errands," I grumbled.

She laughed. "You start school tomorrow, Elena, and you can't show up with nothing. We have to go pick you up some things in town. But before that, you must have a good breakfast. I'm putting on some eggs and bacon now—hurry downstairs before they're cold!" With another rap on the door, she was gone.

Flipping over onto my back, I blew out a slow sigh. I'd been trying not to think about starting up at New Salem's high school. If there was anything I hated more than moving to a new town, it was starting a new school. Even worse, this place was so small, they couldn't have gotten new students often. I'd stick out like a sore thumb.

But I had no choice. Finishing school was important. So I hauled myself out of bed, because I might as well get used to being up and around at god-awful hours of the morning anyway, and threw on some jeans and a sweater. My energy was nil, so up in a messy bun my hair went before I did my best not to stomp down the stairs like a child.

In the kitchen, Grandma was at the stove, scrambling up eggs and keeping watch on bacon just like she'd promised. Adam was at the table, plate already in front of him. He looked annoyingly chipper for the morning hours too.

"Ugh," I groaned as I slid into the chair across from him.

Adam watched me, lips twitching at the corners. "You alright over there?"

"No."

At least he had the decency to appear concerned. "What's wrong?"

My eyes narrowed. "It's not even nine AM."

"I don't think our lovely Elena is a morning person, dear," Grandma said, setting a plate in front of me. "But she'll be fine, I'm sure."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," I said as I picked up my fork and dug in.

Adam laughed at that and I glared at him. "I don't get why you look so happy over there, pretty boy. You and your friends have been messing with my sleep lately. Speaking of, shouldn't you be at least a little tired, too? How are you so happy right now?"

He laughed again and I considered throwing my fork at his face. "I sleep solid. It's very restful."

I chose to ignore his response and instead focused on shoveling eggs and bacon into my mouth. Much better use of my time.

"Oh, Elena," Grandma said, taking her seat at the table, "be nice to Adam. He's kind enough to cart us around today."

I paused in my eating to glance her way. "We don't need to get that much stuff. Probably just some notebooks and pens."

Grandma hummed a little as she dug into her eggs. "You see, I was thinking we could make a little more of an outing of it. Some good family bonding for us. We could get supplies and maybe some clothes, and stop somewhere in town for lunch. Especially since your new group of friends spends so much time outside on the beach...you'll need some cozy clothes."

Chewing my last bite of bacon, I took a moment to process her words. She was so...wholesome. She just wanted "family bonding time." It was sweet. And she was so kind. How could I deny her that? "I guess we could do that. But I don't want to buy too much. I moved here from Boston—I do have warm clothing."

Grandma's face brightened. "Of course. But we'll have fun adding to what you have."

Forcing what hopefully passed as a smile on my face, I said, "Yeah."

Adam stood, taking my plate along with his own over to the sink. "If it makes you feel better, I don't exactly want to spend hours supplementing your wardrobe."

"Don't worry, Adam, we'll be picking up things for you too," Grandma assured him. "We wouldn't want you to feel left out."

She shot me a wink, and I couldn't help the little snort that escaped as I tried not to laugh. Okay, maybe today wouldn't be terrible.

A few hours later, we walked out of the diner—the last stop for our "family bonding." Honestly, it hadn't been so bad. Grandma kept up a majority of the chatter as we scoured for supplies and clothes and even a couple of pairs of shoes. Adam didn't seem thrilled to be there, but he wasn't a jerk about it either. He actually seemed more doting toward his grandmother, which made me want to like him more. Like a gentleman, he'd insisted on carrying the bags to the car in between stops, further padding my reasons why maybe he wasn't the worst. He even escorted Grandma with his arm around her as he led the way to his car a few blocks down after lunch.

I trailed a few steps behind as we crossed the street—

And the honking of a horn pulled my brain from its disconnected wandering as my head whipped around for the source of the noise. My feet registered what was happening before my brain, and I stumbled forward the last few steps to the sidewalk, tripping over the curb on the way and rolling my ankle as a large pickup truck barreled down the road right through where I'd been standing only seconds before.

"Whoa, Elena, are you okay?" Adam asked, crouching beside me.

Blinking as I confusedly gathered myself, I nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. Yeah."

His brow furrowed. "You sure? Let me help you up."

Waving his hands away, I repeated, "I'm fine." Then I proved myself to be a liar when I put pressure on my right foot and nearly collapsed. "Ow!"

"Elena, dear, I think you should stay sitting for now," Grandma said, worry in her tone, face, and hands as they fluttered over me without touching. "And talk to us. Are you hurt? Or in shock? That was pretty scary."

"That was...something," I kind of agreed. "But I don't think I'm in shock."

"Then tell us what hurts," Adam said, expression serious.

Waving Adam and Grandma off as I rose to my feet again, this time being ginger with my right leg, testing it a bit as I kept most of my weight to the left. "Really, I am fine. I think I just rolled my ankle when I fell. I was in a hurry."

Adam's face clouded over with anger. "Of course you were! Whoever was driving that truck almost plowed you over as they ran the red light. It's not your fault, Elena. But maybe we should take you to get checked out?"

Instantly I was shaking my head. "No, that's so not necessary."

"I think it would be a good idea," Grandma said. "At the very least so we can make sure you'll be okay for school."

"I don't want to."

"Do you really want to do gym class with that ankle?" Adam asked skeptically. And...he did have a point.

"Ugh. Fine. But they're only going to say to take it easy for a couple of days. I know it."

For the second time that day, I was proven a liar. Sure, I was told to take it easy and follow RICE protocol. But my ankle was also sprained bad enough to require a wrap and crutches for at least two weeks.

Grandma fussed over me the whole time and continued as I settled on the couch when we got home. She settled my foot up on some pillows before rushing into the kitchen to prepare an ice pack.

Adam headed upstairs to call Cassie back because apparently in the chaos of our exciting day, he'd missed a call from her.

"Don't you worry about a thing, dear," Grandma assured me as she held the ice pack in place on my ankle. "Would you be more comfortable sleeping down here for the time being? I don't want you to have trouble on the stairs…"

I rushed to stop her musings, "No. I'll be okay with the stairs. I need to get used to them anyway. I'm sure school will have at least one set of stairs."

She only looked more worried. "We'll need to make sure Adam and his friends are helping you. Adam!" she called. Settling the ice to stay in place on its own, she stood and went to the bottom of the stairs before calling again, "Adam!"

Only a few seconds passed before Adam reached the bottom of the stairs, his expression stormy. "We need to go."

Confused, Grandma said, "Adam, we just got home. And Elena needs to rest for today. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. At school—"

Adam interrupted as if he hadn't heard a single thing she said. "This is important, Grandma. Elena and I need to go to Diana's. Now."

"Oh no," I murmured because this could only mean one thing; there was Circle trouble.

Grandma paused and studied Adam's face. Then she sighed. "If you must, then be sure to take care of your sister. Help her everywhere. Don't let her hurt herself more."

"Hey," I complained half-heartedly because Adam's tension was bleeding into me, "I wouldn't say I hurt myself this time."

She smiled. "Of course not, dear." Looking back at Adam, she said, "Take care of her."

Adam nodded. "I will." He came to my side and helped me up, handing me my crutches. "We'll grab you more ice at Diana's."

As we made the slow maneuver to Adam's car, Grandma reminded us, "It's a school night, so don't be out too late!"

"Okay," Adam said rather easily considering his urgency. "Don't wait for us to eat dinner, though. If it gets too late, we can heat up leftovers or something."

"Alright, see you later!" she said, then shut the door behind us.

It was a fun little struggle trying to get me settled in the front seat along with my crutches, but then Adam said, "New idea," and tossed them in the back. "I'll grab them for you when we get there."

I didn't say anything because my heart was racing and my ankle hurt and I had no clue what we'd be walking into at Diana's house in a few minutes.

Complete silence filled the car throughout the short drive, reminding me of our first car ride together. The air was heavy, the silence a pressure in my chest.

When we got to Diana's house—which I absentmindedly noted was beautiful—Adam kept his promise to Grandma and helped me inside. We were obviously the last ones to arrive as everyone stopped their chatting and stared at us as we walked in.

As usual when I was with this group, my attention was drawn to one person.

He stood by himself, almost in the corner, not far from the door. Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, expression clearly bored. Until he looked me over, at least. Then he pushed off the wall to stand up straight.

"Oh no, Elena, what happened?" A different voice than the one I was expecting said, pulling me back to reality where there was a room full of people and not just me and Nick.

I met Diana's eyes and gave a weak shrug. "Tripped and sprained my ankle."

"She could actually use some ice, if you don't mind?" Adam said. Diana nodded and quickly left the room. "A seat would also be useful."

Meredith and Laurel started to stand from where they were nestled on the loveseat, but Deborah said, "Hey, wonder twins. Move it."

Chris and Doug blinked at each other before rushing to get up from the couch they'd been sharing with Diana, settling on the floor instead. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that, Elena."

"It's...fine," I said with bemusement.

Adam helped me over to the couch, placing pillows at one end for me to prop my foot up on. When Diana made it back with the ice, he situated it on my foot. Then he faced the room with his arms crossed. "Okay, so why another emergency meeting?"

Cassie looked uncertain. "Faye called it, but maybe we should talk about how Elena sprained her ankle first? Are you okay, Elena?"

While I appreciated her kindness, I did not prefer the attention brought back to me. "Yes. Just a little sprain. I've got a wrap and crutches for a little bit. No worries. We can talk about whatever Circle thing has us all here."

"Perfect," Faye said impatiently from where she stood next to Cassie, "because I have news."

"Then spit it out, Faye," Adam said with more anger than I thought was necessary considering her declaration was innocuous.

She rolled her eyes. "Always in a rush. Fine. I called this meeting because we have things to do and decisions to make." But that was all she said, and it explained precisely nothing.

For once, I wasn't the only one beyond confused because Meredith gave an irritated, "Okay…"

Faye's mouth stretched wide into a cheshire grin. "I've found the crystal skull."

Thank you for reading! :)