Chapter 3

"Alright class, settle down!" Mr Saltzman called above the racket.

Immediately, everyone sat down in their seats, only a few mutters coming from a group of boys at the back of the class room. I searched around, hoping I would find a decent place to sit. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Elena, mouthing my name and gesturing to a seat right next to her for me to sit in. I hesitantly took the rest of my stack of books from Mr Saltzman. Keeping my head down low with a closed powerhouse, I fast walked to my seat. I shuffled around in my seat to get comfy. Elena leaned in towards me from the side.

"You've met Alaric already then?" She whispered. Alaric? Where they on a first name bases?

"You call your teachers by the first names here?" I questioned. She bit her lip.

"Umm…not to their faces, no." I guess that made more sense…

"Hush now class!" Alaric bellowed again. "Pop quiz!" He said, as some frustrated and annoyed groans filled the room. "Today our quiz will be on the history of Mystic Falls, in favour of our new student and friend, Skylar Verbend." Everyone turned to face me as I sunk in to my seat with embarrassment. Quite a lot of people gave me welcoming smiles which made me feel more secure.

"Don't look so scared, Skylar! We're not as bad as you think!" Elena joked.

I heard Mr Saltzman picking on people to answer his pop quiz questions. He was doing it in my favour, but I wasn't listening.

"Hey, do want to come to the Mystic Grill after school with me and a few friends?" I looked at her with thankful eyes. Wow! My first day and I already got invited somewhere!

"That would be great! Thanks! Where is the Mystic Grill?"

"It's by the town square. You can come back to my house for a bit before we go if you want?" Elena suggested.

"Sure! Thanks!" I smiled.

"Skylar Verbend!" I turned to see a grinning Mr Saltzman. "When was the battle of willow creek, one of the most important and deadly battles of Mystic Falls?" He quizzed.

"Umm…18…65. Yeah, 1865." I said confidently.

"OH! That's incorrect, it was 1866!" I sat back in to my seat, folding my arms over my chest and looking down.

"Actually, Mr Saltzman, it was 1865. I'm sure of it." A gentle voice peered out. A boy stood up in his seat. He was lean and flat-muscled with dark tall hair. He had faded jeans and a tight t-shirt on too.

Mr Saltzman fused his eyebrows together as he searched through an old looking textbook.

"Ah! Your right Stefan! Thanks! And well done Skylar! I didn't think you'd get that correct!" He mused. I just nodded to show I was listening.

Stefan. Wow, thanks Stefan! I glanced at Elena who was staring at Stefan lovingly. I assumed they were dating. Geez! Couples these days!

"Alright class, we have an emergency school assembly! Please can everyone make their way to the auditorium!" It was an order from Mr Saltzman. Everyone began packing textbooks and folders in their bags and exiting the room.

"I wonder what the assembly's about." Elena said, suddenly behind me. She almost made me jump.

"Well, it must be serious since it's an emergency…" We got to the auditorium and took a seat nearest the front. Loud chatter echoed in the hall while more and more people piled in.

Mr Saltzman was stood at the front with a load of flyers in his hands.

"Listen!" He called and the noise died down, eventually leaving a quiet room. "Now, recently, there have been a number of serious animal attacks, here, in Mystic Falls. Some of the victims have even been students from this school." He continued. "We are now going to here from our towns very own sheriff, Liz Forbes.

A short haired blonde women in a full police officer uniform stepped forward with a serious look on her face.

"Good morning students. As Mr Saltzman here was saying, many of the suspicious animal attacks have happened to many students here. As a town, we have decided that all school pupils will start to have curfews to try to prevent any more attacks occurring." She held up some flyers so everyone could see them.

"These explain a bit more about this, but to make this town a safer place, we want children under the age of 18 to not be outside any time before 9:00 pm. We are trying our best to keep you safe. Thank you for listening." She gave a small smile at the end.

"These flyers will be given out by the door while you are exiting. There will also be posters out around the school. You may now get back to your lessons. Thank you."

The chatter slowly began to rumble again as students began to leave. Elena stood close by to me.

"Wow, my dad never told me about animal attacks and disappearances." I breathed. If I'd known, I would have protested about moving here.

"Actually, it's not the firsts time people have disappeared around here." Mr Saltzman said standing beside me. "If you are interested in learning more, there might be some old articles in the library."

"Really? I've never heard about any animal attacks in Mystic Falls before." Elena pointed out. Mr Saltzman shrugged his shoulders.

"If you do a little digging, you might find out a few things. I gotta run. Have to hand out a few of these pamphlets." He began to walk away.

"Umm…Mr Saltzman? I could hand some pamphlets out if you want?" I suggested. Elena nodded as if to say "me too"

"Actually, that would be great girls! Thanks!" He beamed. He gave us a mini pile each and we stood by the door way, giving them out to any passing students.

"Elena, do you want to come to the library with me to look for some articles? I'm pretty interested actually." Elena nodded.

"Sure! But I have cheerleading so do you mind if we do it after that?" My eyes lit up.

"Cheerleading?" I smiled. Not that I wanted to be a cheerleader, but in a bid to make friends, I would do anything.

"Yeah! Hey, there are some cheerleader try outs today! Maybe you should go! You are perfect for cheerleading! You have a slim figure, pretty face and you look very flexible!" she complimented. I smiled and blushed a bit.

"You think? Cheerleading isn't really my type of thing…besides, I'm not popular so they wouldn't except me." I frowned. I always put myself down. Like I said, I wasn't a confident person.

"Skylar, we aren't like this here! We except people for who they are, not how popular you are!" Elena protested.

I thought about it for a few short moments.

"Ok, fine! But only because you're doing it!" Elena clapped her hands together. At least I'd make at least a couple of new friend's right?

I double checked myself in the mirror of the changing rooms…I looked ridiculous. I hadn't seen myself in a skirt in a while. Now I know why I never wear one…

I tied my hair back in a high up pony tail and huffed. Why the hell was I doing this!? But there was no backing out of this now. I promised Elena. End of. I stepped out of the changing room and grabbed a pair of black and white pom-poms from a box left outside the door.

"Wow! Don't I you look perky!" Elena gapped from behind me. I looked down at myself.

"You mean repulsive right?" She shook her head.

"No! You look great! Now, I'll watch you from the side line and cheer you on! You do great, Sky!" She gave me a big open hug. It came out of know where. What a supporting character she was.

"Thank you, Elena." We walked out together and Elena pointed to a preppy blonde girl in a blue mini skirt on the football field.

"Hey! Are you here for the try outs?" She asked with a little clipboard in her hand.

"Uh, yeah, I'm-"

"Skylar Verbend! I know all about you already!" She interrupted, but till with a huge grin on her face. Is it a bad thing she already knows me?...

"My name is Caroline Forbes, team captain of the cheerleading squad! Oh and, welcome to Mystic Falls!" She greeted.

"Forbes? Are you somehow related to the sheriff?" Caroline scoffed at my question.

"Yeah, she's my mum, unfortunately." I widened my eyes. How could you say that about your own mother? At least you still had yours…

"Alright girls, line up, single file, single file!" Caroline ordered. Me and a few other girls got in to a straight line as I watched as girls showed off their moves, like the splits and cartwheels but surprisingly, no flips or jumps.

"Skylar, you're up next." I breathed nervously, I turned my head a little to spot Elena. She waved at me and I gave a little smirk back.

"So, show me what you can do! Can you to do a handstand and fall into a crab, followed by a forward flip?" I eyes bulged.

"Can I? Of course! Want to see?" I beamed.

I done what Caroline instructed me to do, but I added my own little ending with the splits. Caroline clapped and other girls glared at me, mouth open.

"Woah, you go girl!" Caroline ran over and trapped me in to an unbreakable bear hug.

"Thanks…I have to admit that I did used to do a little bit of gymnastics when I was younger…" I explained.

"Well, now I can see! Well done, you were amazing! Anyway, I'll get back to you on becoming a member of the squad. But I think your chances are very high!" She squealed.

"Skylar, you were amazing!" Elena called as she sprinted over to me. Did I really do that well?

"Um, thanks, Elena." I said like what I did was nothing. She linked arms with me and turned to go back to the changing rooms.

"Skylar!" I turned around to come face to face with Caroline again. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to come to a party in the woods tonight after we go to the Mystic Grill for a quick meet up?" Caroline cooed. I looked at Elena who nodded at me.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun! Thank you!" Caroline let out an excited giggle as we turned away to the changing rooms. I spotted a tall blonde boy across the field in his big jockey uniform and helmet. Matt. He waved at me as he jogged back over to his team.

As Matt moved away, a black and slightly blue feathered bird swooped down in his spot, cawing loudly as the noise rang in the ears of everyone who heard it.

I made my way to the Gilbert house hold. I was actually quite nervous about going to the Mystic Grill and the party in the woods. What if everyone thought I was just some kind of British loser? Or I didn't make any new friends? I didn't want to ruin my chances of actually having friends. But I was planning for most of the party to hang around Elena, Caroline or even Matt.

I made it to the front porch. Woah. It was a damn huge house. It was a bloody mansion compared to my house! It had big class windows and huge front porch which was like a stage to me. The house itself had a clear white panel siding and a big hedge going around the outside of it. There were also big Greek pillars, making the house look even richer than it was.

I rang the doorbell. I felt my palms sweating with nerves. Elena didn't answer the door though. It was a boy, who looked about 16 years old. His hair was almost black, like my boring eyes and he had big doe eyes like Elena's. He had a dull expression on his face but soon he tried his best to smile when he saw me.

"Hi." He smirked. I gave a friendly smile.

"Hi, my name is Skylar, a friend of Elena's, is she in at the moment?" I sounded as innocent as I could.

"Actually, Elena forgot her phone at school so she just had to go back and get it. Typical sister." He laughed. "But you're welcome to come in a wait if you want?" He made space for me to come in.

"I didn't catch your name?"

"Jeremy. Elena's brother." He led me in to the living room and he switched on the TV as a background noise. The news was on but he put it at a low volume.

"Do you want a drink? We got tea, coffee, water, soda…beer?" He suggested.

"I'll take some…soda, please." It sounded weird saying that. Soda. I would normally just call it fizz or just coke. But I have to start getting use to these American words since I'll be here a while.

Jeremy through me a can of soda and got one out for himself. He sat next to me on the sofa and open his soda, making it fizz out a bit on to the clean carpet.

"Shit." He muttered. "Don't tell Elena."

"So, Jeremy, I haven't seen around in school so far. You do go to Mystic Falls high don't you?" He nodded as he gulped down his drink.

"Uh, yeah. I could say the same thing about you. Have you just moved here?"

"Yep." I pooped out my 'P'. "It's not as thought it would be for my first day though. I've already made a few friends and I've been invited out a few places too."

"Mystic Falls isn't so bad though. You'll get used to it and then you'll love it here! I'm supposed to be going to this party in the woods tonight but I don't particularly want to go." He shrugged his shoulders.

"No, I think you should come! The more people I know that are going, the less lonely I'll be there." I nudged him.

"I don't know…" Jeremy trailed off.

"Oh, come on, Jeremy!" I think I sounded too desperate. You see, this is how you minimize your chances of getting friends.

"I guess I could go for an hour or so." I was surprised he actually agreed.

"Great. So, what time does his party-" I stopped mid -sentence as I got distracted by the TV news. "Can you turn the volume up for second please?" Jeremy grabbed the control and put it at average volume. The news readers voice slowly got louder as the volume turned up.

"…and two hikers were found severally injured in the woods, one found with a major bite wound and the other dead with blood loss. The surviving hiker is being treated in hospital. We strongly advise hikers or campers to not go in to the woods, day or night."

Jeremy muted the TV again.

"Hey, isn't that were the party is tonight?" I said with a nerve racking voice.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it." I was left wide mouthed.

"Not worry!? We are going to a place where a series of serious animal attacks have taken place and anyone of us could get attacked tonight and you want me to not worry about it!?" I raised my voice.

"Chillax, Skylar. If it makes you feel any safer, I stay near you at the party or even walk you home." I folded my arms across my chest.

"You still think I'm going?"

"Well, I'm only going because you forced me to, if you're not, deals off." He took another sip of his soda.

I bit my lip. "Ok, fine, I'll still go, but I'm using you as my wall of protection, meaning I'll be following you everywhere, ok?"

Jeremy laughed. "That's fine by me. You hungry for anything?"

"No thanks, I'm going to the Mystic Grill with Elena and a few others when she comes home…eventually."

Jeremy suddenly checked his phone. "Speaking of Elena, she just text; 'Got my phone back but I had to go to Mystic Grill urgently. Stefan needed to talk to me. Tell Skylar I'm sorry, meet her there.'"

"Stefan? Stefan Salvatore?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I don't like the guy. He's really…weird and he can be a dick sometimes. Anyway, do you know where the Mystic Grill is?" I shook my head.

"Nope, no idea where it is." Jeremy immediately stood up.

"Let's go then!" He grabbed his coat from a peg by the front door. "Aunt Jenna, I'm just going to Mystic Grill, be back soon!" He called upstairs. A ginger haired woman skipped downstairs but stopped halfway to look at me. She had a slight grin on her face.

"Um…Jeremy…who's this?"

"This is Skylar, he's just moved to town. New friend of mine and Elena's." She shook my hand and still had a grin on her face.

"It's nice to meet you." I said. Jenna looked even more surprised when she heard my accent.

"You two have fun together…but are you going to go to the woods party?" We both nodded. "Jeremy, don't get drunk because you know what that leads to, especially at your age." Jeremy pulled a disgusted face.

"Jenna, no! Why would you…eugh!" He stormed out the house, with me following behind. We didn't say anything for a minute or so of the journey. It was walking distance so it shouldn't of been too long.

"Jeremy, do you mind me asking why you live with aunt, not your…parents?"

He stopped suddenly.

"It's a- it's a long story, I'll explain some other time." And we carried on walking. The rest of the journey was pretty silent. Every now and then he would ask something like 'How do you like it here so far?' or 'What's it like in England?' but still, pretty much silent.

We finally made it to Mystic Grill. It was quite a loud place filled with the usual chit-chattering and balls colliding together on the pool table. It had a nice warm atmosphere here though. I looked over to the bar to see drunken idiots chatting up girls out of there league. I searched for the long chestnut hair and beautiful doe eyes amongst the many people here.

"Skylar, Jeremy!" A calming voice called. Elena's voice was like a chime of bells. Beautiful. We strolled over to the group of people sitting around the table.

"I'm so sorry I didn't come to see you! Stefan urgently needed to talk to me…" She trailed off.

"No, I'm sorry, Skylar, I held Elena up, I had no idea you two arranged something together." A voice side from the side of me.

"Don't worry about it, Stefan. It's ok really." I gave an innocent expression.

"No, Skylar, it's not ok. He got in the way of something that you to arranged and only a dick like him would-"

"Jeremy!" Elena boomed. "How dare you talk to Stefan like that!" Jeremy shook his head in disgust.

"See you at the party, Sky." He slapped me on the back gently and went off and got swamped into the crowd.

"Jeremy, wait! I'm so sorry, Skylar, I'll be right back." She ran off after Jeremy, calling his name. There was a bit of an awkward silence for a bit.

"Take a seat!" A new voice said, changing the mood. I sat down in a seat next to a dark skinned girl. She had ebony shiny hair and a heart shaped face. She had chocolate brown eyes and a sweet smile.

"I'm Bonnie Bennett. It's great to meet you." The same voice cooed. The dark skinned girl was Bonnie.

"Hi, Bonnie."

"And, I'm Tyler Lockwood." A deep voice told me. Tyler was tall and dark with a fit muscular body, obviously another jockey.

"It's great to meet you all." I grinned, looking at each other them in the eye. It went a bit silent again. Matt started talking to Tyler and Bonnie got out her phone and began 'texting'.

"So…Skylar. I've been thinking and because of you amazing efforts at try outs today, I think I'll make you vice- captain of the cheerleading team!" She glowed!

"Oh my God, really!? Thank you so much Caroline!" I reached over and gave her a hug.

"Wait, Skylar, you joined cheerleading?" Bonnie asked, putting her phone away. I nodded slowly. "Great! Now we have something to bond over!" She laughed.

"Hey guys, sorry about that. Little brothers can be a pain." The volume of noise picked up again, but I wasn't really joining in. I looked about and spotted them. The toilets. I pulled away from the table, not wanting to drag any attention to myself. I walked passed the bar and took one last glance at the group of people but spotted something completely different. Actually, someone. He had jet black and dressed in a je leather jacket and dark denim jeans. The thing that caught be the most were those piercing aqua eyes and dazzling lustful smoulder. He looked a lot like…

"Damon?" I whispered in disbelief.

"Damon Salvatore?"

Hey guys! I hope your liking my story so far! If you are enjoying the story or you think that I need to add or improve anything, then PLEASE review!

I would appreciate some reviews so if you want to find out what happens next please review! Thanks for reading! :D