Hi! I haven't written anything new for this story in a while, so I decided to edit these chapters first and then continue with it. Cheers!

"Leora! Wake up!"

I groan, covering my head with my pillow and trying my best to ignore Elena. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like going back to sleep is in the cards for me, the covers yanked away by my very annoyed sister if her scowl is anything to go by.

"We're going to be late," Elena says, exasperated. I turn away from her.

"What do you care? This is the first time you showed any interest in a while," I mumble, opening one eye to glare at her. For a brief moment, I can see the hurt on her face, but her expression quickly smooths over and she's back to how she was all summer. Emotionless, withdrawn and angry. She looks out my window.

"It's easier this way," Elena whispers, her mind far away from here. I reach out and grab her hand, gently squeezing it.

"Not for us," I say, jerking my head in the direction of our brother's bedroom. Elena looks out into the hall and bites her lip. She sits there for a moment, consumed by her own thoughts, but then seems to figure it out and gets up.

"See you downstairs in five," She says, not looking at me, as if we never had this conversation. I scowl and Elena takes my silence as a yes and walks away. I stare at her retreating back, trying to fight back the flurry of emotions with gritted teeth and finally get up once I feel like I'm not going to burst into tears.

The door to our shared bathroom is open and I can see Jeremy in his bedroom, glaring at his phone.

"Are you going?" I ask him, coming into his room without knocking. He looks up at me, glaring, and I roll my eyes. "Get over it." He turns away from me and grunts.

"Screw off," He hisses. "And get out of my room." The familiar feeling of hurt flashes through me and I grit my teeth as I feel tears pool in my eyes. I hastily wipe them away, not wanting to show him how much his bitterness hurts. He looks at me and his expression softens, the way that it only does for me, and he gives me a hug. "Fine. I'll go," He says, smiling apologetically. I smile back.

"Great," I say. "You won't leave me, right?" From the look on Jeremy's face, he knows I mean more than just school.

"I won't. Promise."

Despite being two years apart, we're both entering high school this year, since I skipped a grade. Jeremy's the biological son of our parents, born October 13th, 1994 and I was born on May 1st, 1996. I always wondered why they adopted me after having Elena and Jeremy, but I'm not complaining, I certainly lucked out.

Jeremy and I are pretty close. After losing our parents, and pretty much losing our sister too, neither Jeremy or I wanted to lose each other. We both had to deal with the grief from losing our parents and from having to see how that affected Elena. It was hard to watch her withdraw and put up walls that were never there before. We were always close, Elena, Jeremy and I, and losing that made everything even harder.

We tried our best not hold it against her, but eventually after being on the receiving end of her emotional outbursts one too many times, it was hard not to resent her. Not that Jeremy can claim innocence here either. They both have said awful and hurtful things to one another when emotions like grief and anger were high. But Jeremy can hold a very long grudge, and he's not too happy with Elena for turning her back on us, which makes him very hard to live with. And Elena's tenacity can be a gift and a flaw. In this case, paired with her tendency to run from her issues, her tenacity is not doing anyone any favours.

At this point, after going on like this for so long, it seems like they've gone too far now and neither one can admit that they were wrong. Maybe because they don't want to deal with the guilt or the fallout, I don't know, but it's not something I want to witness when it finally comes to a head.

"Leo! Downstairs, now!" Aunt Jenna shouts up the stairs, snapping me out of my thoughts, and I hurry to throw on an outfit.

"Coming!" I reply, picking up my backpack and running down the stairs, only pausing long enough to grab an apple before racing to the door.

"Wait hold on!" Aunt Jenna calls. I pop my head into the kitchen.

"Yeah?" I ask, and then take a bite out of my apple.

"What's for lunch?" Jenna asks, staring at me sternly. I smile at her attempt to sound parental, but, as it seems to happen all the time now, anything remotely related to parents makes the grief bubble up again. Before I can push the feeling away, my smile disappears and Aunt Jenna frowns worriedly. "What's wrong?" I plaster on a fake smile.

"Nothing," I say. I lift my wallet. "Don't worry, I have lunch money." With that I run off in the middle of Jenna's anxious goodbye.

I run out to my sister's waiting car, and I hoot at my luck when I see that the front seat is still free. I hurry to claim it and Elena smiles at me cautiously. I beam back at her, which seems to raise Elena's spirits because her smile grows.

"So, are you excited for grade nine?" She asks.

"Not really," I answer, uninterested. Elena laughs.

"Yeah I guess that makes sense," She says, looking at me and then down at the clock. "God damn it! He's gonna make us late! Leo, can you go in and get him?"

"You do it. He'll take my seat if I do," I whine. Elena frowns, her mouth forming a grim line.

"He doesn't even interact with me," She says, looking out the window. "He hasn't in a while." I frown back at her.

"Neither have you," I point out, though not unkindly. But I still watch her warily, not wanting to make her mood shift too much. There's a moment of anger in Elena's expression but guilt and sadness quickly take over again.

"I know and I'm sorry, I really truly am. I want to try to fix this," Elena says, looking at me solemnly, as if she needs to convince me of her words, get me to trust her again.

I shake my head. "It's not me you have to be convincing." Elena just looks back out the window, not acknowledging me. I sigh. Forget it, this isn't on me. If Elena wants to be stubborn, let her.

Finally, Jeremy gets into the car. I look at Elena, expecting her to mention how late he is, but she remains aloof, not talking to him or even looking his way. I scowl and turn away from her, instead turning toward my brother.

"You're late," I say, disappointed. Jeremy just shrugs, annoyed simply from being in the car with Elena. I scowl and turn back to face the front, the three of us sitting in an uncomfortable silence.

Suddenly, Elena clears her throat. "So, are you guys excited for school?" She asks us. She looks at Jeremy awkwardly through the rear-view mirror. I stiffen, preparing for the explosion.

"What do you care? You didn't even look at me when I got in the car," He says harshly. Elena bites her lip, tears pooling in her eyes. She angrily wipes them away, her breathing hard and fuming.

I look to see if Jeremy saw the tears, but he's too busy scowling out the window, so I poke him hard in the knee and give him a look. Give her a chance, I mouth to him. Jeremy just shakes his head and scowls, now angry at me for even thinking that Elena deserves it. I fight the urge to smack the both of them.

"I do care," Elena says calmly and softly. She tries to keep her voice from shaking too much, but I notice, and seeing from Jeremy's guilty expression, he does too.

"I'm not that excited. School's school so there's not much to look forward to," Jeremy answers grudgingly. Elena smiles at Jeremy but he looks out his window, either not noticing her smile or choosing to ignore it. I guess the latter based on the eye roll he gives her, but thankfully, Elena doesn't notice.

Eventually, we pull into Bonnie's driveway and she opens her door and runs out to the car.

"Hey Bon, I like your dress!" I say, giving her the thumbs up. Jeremy looks at Bonnie and gives her the once over, smirking, and Bonnie blushes.

"Thank you," She says, her voice surprisingly steady. She gives me a warning glance and her eyes flit over to Jeremy and back at me. I smirk at her and mime myself zipping my lips closed and throwing out the key. I then turn to Elena.

"Your outfit's pretty, too, Lena!" I say, using the nickname I gave her when I was young. I hadn't called her that since the day dad and mum died, and my eyes open in shock when I realize what I said, looking at Jeremy worriedly. He has his jaw clenched and he's eyeing me with a look of betrayal. I duck my head and look out the window.

We sit in silence for the rest of the car ride, the atmosphere so tense you could cut it with a knife. Before it becomes too tight and claustrophobic, we pull into the school parking lot. Jeremy opens the door and bolts out of the car before Elena can even say goodbye, and Bonnie, Elena and I get out after him. Elena watches Jeremy retreat and the hurt on her face is flashing like a strobe light, making me to cringe every time I look at her.

I reach out to touch her. "Elena, are you-"

"Don't touch me. Just leave me alone," She snaps, turning away from my outstretched hand. She grabs her backpack, stalking towards the school with an expression of barely contained anger.

Bonnie looks at me and turns to follow Elena, because poor little Elena's too fragile to deal with her brother's harsh behaviour on her own. I scoff, frustrated with the hypocrisy. What, so she gets to push us away and ignore us for a good 5 or 6 months, but now she's upset that Jeremy's reacting the way he is? Neither are in the right here, but if she can't see how she contributed to this mess they're in, then this will never get solved. And Jeremy needs to get his head out of his ass.

I growl angrily and slam the car door, the urge to scream strong enough that I need to take a few seconds to calm down.

"Elena being a bitch?" Caroline asks as she approaches the car. I frown at her.

"Just because you guys aren't on the best terms, doesn't mean I like when you insult her," I respond, before turning to look at her. Caroline has the decency to look ashamed.

"Jeez, I run my mouth, don't I?" Caroline sighs, and I shrug. "I'm sorry, Leo, it's just-" She huffs angrily- "why does she get to push me away? Why does she get to hurt me, and you and Jeremy, and just-just not say sorry? Doesn't she see that she hurt us? I don't get it." She shakes her head. "And yet, I still care about her." Caroline frowns at me, her eyes pitying. "If it has hurt me this much, I can't imagine how much it hurts for you and Jeremy."

I laugh humourlessly. "Yeah, it pretty fucking sucked," I say, inhaling sharply. I turn to Caroline. "I'm sorry she hurt you too." Caroline gives my hand a squeeze.

"It's not up to you to apologize. But she really does love you guys," She assures me, and I look up at the sky.

"People who love you aren't supposed to hurt you. They're not supposed to leave you behind when you need them the most." I shake my head, curling my hands into fists.

"Sometimes there are bumps in life, and people forget that they love you. This is just one of those times. But that's what love's like," Caroline says haltingly.

"That's stupid, and not an excuse," I whisper, looking towards Elena, who's standing near the doors, talking to Bonnie.

All those times she retreated to her room for weeks on end, only talking to us when she was angry at us. All those times Jeremy got so furious from the grief that he became aggressive, both verbally and physically. How is that love?

"You have to take the good with the bad, Leo. Love's being with someone through the bad parts so you can be with them for the good." Caroline wraps me in a hug.

"Thanks Care," I whisper, a slight smile on my face. She nods and looks at the school nervously. "You can go to class if you don't want to be late. I'm just going to stay here for a bit." Caroline smiles at me. I open my mouth anxiously but she cuts me off.

"Don't worry, I won't tell her," She says. I give her a grim smile. "But that doesn't mean I won't be angry at her for the rest of the day." I nod and she smiles at me again, giving my hand a little squeeze. "Stay safe." I roll my eyes at her.

"From what? It's Mystic Falls," I smirk and Caroline laughs shrugging her shoulders.

"Use your imagination." Caroline smirks. "You've read the fairy-tales."

I roll my eyes. "What? Little red riding hood?"

"You never know, Leo, Mystic Falls attracts the weirdos," She points out.

I snort, shaking my head, but, as was her goal, I can't help smiling, my mood already shifting away from the seemingly never-ending grief. She smiles softly, squeezing my hand one more time before walking towards school. I look at the door and Elena and Bonnie are gone, probably already at their locker, and I see Caroline walk into the school. After she's out of eye shot, I let my smile drop as the familiar melancholy creeps back in. I close my eyes and lean back against the car, breathing slowly, trying to contain myself. Once I feel like I'm not going to burst into tears, I stand up and walk to the school. I make it to class right before the final bell.

"Leo!" I hear someone shout and I turn towards them, waving. "Come sit with us!" My friend, Jess, calls. Well, I wouldn't say friend, as she only became my acquaintance when my parents died. It's a pity friendship in all sense, but they're 'friends' so who cares if I don't really like them? I have Elena, well had. She was once my friend and Bonnie and Caroline are my friends too.

"Oh, did you see the new guy?" My other friend, Kara, asks, but I shake my head. She wiggles her eyebrows and points behind me. I turn around and see Elena flirting with some guy, who I assume is the person Kara was pointing to.

He has dirty blonde hair with dark eyes and pale skin. He's average height and average build and Elena's smiling at him, an actual smile that has her eyes engaged in the equation as well. The all to familiar hurt returns and I curl my hands into fists, angrily eyeing the boy who managed to make her smile after her own family hasn't seen it for months. Jealousy makes an appearance as well and I take a deep breath to calm myself.

"Who is he?" I ask, not taking my gaze off him. Before Kara can respond, he turns around and we lock eyes. I gasp. His eyes are black and the veins around them are unnaturally dark and pronounced against his pale skin. For some reason I can't explain, fear washes over me. Shivers race up my spine and my heart pumps wildly even as I try to shake the feeling off, trying to rationalize everything in my head.

Before I really know what I'm doing, I stand up shakily, my head still swirling.

"Where're you going?" I hear Kara ask, but it sounds muffled to my ears. I shake my head as if to clear it.

"Sorry, I just need some air," I say, picking up my bag and trying my hardest not to look at the new kid.

"Leo-"

But I'm already walking away, focused on the door and my reprieve. However, before I can get to the door, Elena calls me over. I roll my eyes before I turn around to face her, plastering on a distant smile and walking to her table. The new kid's sitting with her and he looks at me, wide eyed. I narrow my eyes at him and he averts his tense stare, instead deciding to shoot the wall with his glare.

"Yeah?" I ask. Elena looks out the window, expression unreadable before looking back at me. I send Caroline a nervous glance, wondering if she told Elena about my breakdown and that's why Elena's acting weird, but Caroline shrugs her shoulders.

"I'm leaving early. Can you walk home?" She asks me. My glance flits over to Caroline and Bonnie. "They're coming with me, we're skipping last period." I raise my eyebrows at her disapprovingly, and I see Elena shift uncomfortably. I roll my eyes.

"Yeah whatever."

"Can you let Jer know?" I give Elena a glare, but it softens when I see her pleading expression.

"Fine," I grumble. I walk away during Elena's quiet thank you, but I'm too far to respond.

I trudge through the rain, head down and hood up. Grumbling, I curse my stupid siblings. Stupid Elena, for skipping fifth and leaving me to walk home in the rain because she's too cowardly to face Jeremy's anger at her disdain. Stupid Jeremy for first, insulting me when I asked him to walk home with me, and second, deciding to get high with the other stoners instead. Stupid me, for even thinking that they could prove me wrong, that they'll turn out to be nice for once.

I'm wallowing in my self-pity when I see someone approach me, and I narrow my eyes when they get close enough for me to recognize.

"Elena?" I ask, but I instantly realize that this look alike isn't Elena. She's cold and scary and a cruel smile slithers up her face.

"Who, your sister?" The look alike asks. She scoffs and I shift nervously. "No honey. I'm worse." She bends down to look at me and I see the veins around her eyes darken, just like the new kid at school. Startled, I stumble back.

"Who are you?" I ask harshly, surprising myself. I seem to have startled the look alike too, because she looks dazed. Her expression quickly turns mocking however and she sneers.

"My name's Kat," She says, amused. I cock an eyebrow.

"Cat? As in a kitty cat?" I ask, mostly trying to get on her nerves. I don't know, just something about her irks me and I can't help but push her buttons. It works though.

She scowls. "No, you imbecile. Kat as in K-A-T."

I nod, pretending to finally understand. "Okay." I look at her quizzically. "Well, what do you want?" I smile sweetly up at her, and her eyes narrow, aware of the slight. I don't bother apologizing, not caring if she thinks me rude. She started it. "I have somewhere to be, so if you could just-" I try to inch around her, but she cuts me off, and the smile she gives me causes my heart to pump fearfully and my instincts to kick in, alerting me that she's dangerous.

She locks her eyes on mine and I gasp. The veins around her eyes are dark again and her eyes are red, and when she opens her mouth, I see fangs. I do the most reasonable thing, I scream. She quickly puts her hand around my mouth, surprisingly strong, and stops me from running.

"You will not scream or move," She says, and despite my mind yelling at me to run, to scream, to do anything to get away, I relax into her. She grins. "Good girl." And all I can do is stand there as she plunges her teeth into my neck.

After what feels like forever, she pulls away, her mouth bloody and eyes red. I struggle against her, trying to pull away, and she looks at me, shocked. There's a part of me that wonders why she looks so shocked, but that part is small, and I focus my efforts on trying to get away from her instead. I almost manage to get out of her grip but then she grabs my chin and forces me to make eye contact with her.

"You will not tell anyone about this," She hisses, and again, I feel myself obeying, despite how much my mind contradicts the command.

Before I can really comprehend what just happened, and who the hell this Kat person is, she disappears into thin air. Touching my neck tenderly, I pull my hand away to see that it's still bleeding, and even when I try to stop it with my hand, it doesn't stop. With no options left, I tilt my head to the side to try and let the rain wash it off. It slaps down onto my raw neck and I wince; a couple of whimpers escape as it hits the open wound. Once the blood has washed down my coat and into the puddles, turning them slightly pink - which is extremely disgusting - I take some soggy tissue out of my bag and hold it against my neck. Trying not to panic over what just happened, I continue walking home.

But life decides to throw me another curveball. As luck would have it, the new kid - the one who has the same eyes as Kat - walks out of the graveyard just as I'm passing it. We both freeze, staring at each other, and I can feel his eyes trail from mine to my neck. I watch on warily as his nostrils flare and his eyes and teeth change just like Kat's had.

I stand still and fight the instinct to run, knowing that if he's anything like Kat, I won't stand a chance. I can only pray that he won't suck my blood like the one before him. He seems to be fighting his bloodlust because he shuts his eyes quickly, breathing deeply, mouth firmly clenched shut so I can no longer see his fangs. But it doesn't seem like he has that much control, his body trembling as he leans forward, like he's barely managing not to pounce on me.

I scowl. "Okay, vampire. I've had enough blood sucking today, so if you don't want to be staked, I suggest you move alone," I bluff, my voice steadier and more confident than I feel inside.

My words seem to have shocked him. "You know what I am?"

"Yes. And I prefer not to have my blood sucked out of me." I say, my heart pounding from the adrenaline coursing through me. It makes me light-headed too, but that could also be the blood loss. I sway slightly and grit my teeth, knowing that I have to stay strong or risk getting bitten again. "So, what's it going to be?"