Smells like Teen Spirit.
It was 8.30am when I arrived at the Salvatore boarding house. At the front door I walked in without knocking, knowing that Stefan was expecting me anyway.
"Uh-oh. Alexandra, left hand, please." I heard Stefan say as I entered. There are two dead girls on the floor when I turn the corner. I smile and laugh as I see Stefan and three girls in only bras and panties play twister in the living room.
"Morning, Stefan." I chuckle as I step into the room. Stefan turns his head to look at me from his spot on the couch and two out of the three girl smile at me in greet while the remaining one openly glares. I lean on the entry way and watch as one of the girls giving Stefan her left hand to bite into.
"Good morning, Ellyse. Hope this doesn't bother you." Stefan asks as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Not at all. But I do want to play." I admit as I strip out of my jacket and rip my shoes off and then make my way over to join the girls. Stefan laughs at me but continues to spin the twister board.
"Hey, the two brunettes on the staircase owe me a Persian rug." An unfamiliar male voice saying from behind me and I turn my head to see a handsome, black haired strange who I know immediately is a vampire.
"You mean they owe us a Persian rug? It's my house, too, brother. Ooh! Would you like a spin?" Stefan replies with a cocky smirk, making me and the other girls laugh.
"So this is what Klaus had in mind when he compelled you to protect Elena?" Stefan's brother, Damon, asks him. a smile part of my internally flinches at the mention of my twin sister.
"These ladies are helping me be all that I can be." Stefan jokes with a patronising smile.
"Not me." I correct him with a smile and move my left hand to yellow. "I'm doing this for fun."
"Who the hell are you?" Damon asks rudely. I glance over my right shoulder and chuckle at his annoyed expression.
"I'm Ellyse Gilbert. Your new roommate." I answer with a smirk of my own. Damon looks stunned at the news that I'm Elena's sister and that I'm living here at the boarding house.
"You're staying here?" he asks dubiously.
"Well, as Stefan says, it's his house too and he's already okayed it. Right, Stef?" I ask him to confirm and he salutes me with his glass of blood. Before Damon can question me anymore, there's a knock at the door and Damon moves to answer it. I look over my shoulder and see Rebekah enter with handfuls of shopping bags so I stand up straight.
"Where's Stefan?" she asks Damon in her British voice.
"Who the hell are you?" he replies, asking the same question for the second time that morning. Rebekah walks straight past him and spots Stefan and I in the lounge room.
"He left me here. My brother actually left me here." She complained.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Your tone implies that I'm actually supposed to care." Stefan replied to her and I just frowned in sympathy.
"You're Klaus's sister?" Damon asked sceptically.
"Rebekah. Pleasure, I'm sure. Which one's my room?" she asked.
"You're staying here?" I asked at the same time Stefan said, "You're not staying here." She then looks at Damon but he doesn't say anything.
"Rude. Both of you. I'll see to it myself." She says and then goes toward the stairs and I follow her so I can choose my own room. Rebekah slows down so I can catch up once we're up stairs. She goes into the first room on the right and puts her shopping bags on the bed. "Are you going to high school?" she asks me randomly.
"Yeah." I respond as I jump up on the bed as she sorts through her clothing. "I'm still a senior and plus it will piss off Elena and her friends."
"That is a plus." Bec agrees with giggle. "I'll be joining you."
Once I'm at school, Rebekah ran off to actually enrol and I made my way to the main hallway. I smirked to myself as I noticed all the attention is on me, boys and girls alike stop and stare at the newcomer. In front of me I see Stefan and walk over to him.
"Hey, Stefan." I say with a smile as I lean back on the locker next to his open one.
"Hello, Ellyse." He greets me with a smirk.
"I have a question." I start and he waves his hand to say 'go on'. "Do you protecting Elena mean we can't have any fun with her?"
"I'm pretty sure it means the opposite." He says with a smile and his green eyes light up in anticipation. I rub my palms together like a villain and he laughs at me. Suddenly, his face turns serious and I look around in confusion but then he turns back to me with an evil smile. "I can hear her. Come on." He says before grabbing my hand and pulling towards the restroom. The door opens just as we reach it and out comes Elena.
"Hello, Elena." We say at the same time. Elena turns to us in surprise and I smile back while Stefan smirks at her.
"What are you doing here?" she asks us suspiciously.
"What do you mean? I'm going back to school." He replies and then we both pump our fists and say, "Go Timberwolves!"
"What? Why?"
"Klaus wants me to keep an eye on you. I'm just doing what I'm told." Stefan answers for himself. Elena turns to me for an explanation and I just shrug my shoulders.
"You can't put a price on a good education." I state with a straight face and then burst out laughing when I can't hold it in anymore. Next to me Stefan chuckles and Elena just rolls her eyes.
"I'm going to be late for class." She says and tries to get around us but Stefan grabs her arm and stops her.
"Oh, class is this way."
"Let go of me, Stefan."
"Elena, do you think I want to be a senior for the 100th time? No. But if I don't have a choice in the matter, then neither do you."
"I said let go of me." Elena replies, trying to keep her voice strong but I can hear the underlying fear. Just then a sandy haired man in his late twenty's appears from behind Stefan.
"Let her go." the unknown man says. Stefan pushes him against the locker in response.
"Stefan, stop it!" Elena cries and tries to grab his arm but he's too strong.
"Stefan!" I say in the same voice I use on Nik when he's being difficult. Stefan turns at the sound of my voice and raises an eyebrow. I nod at him and he sighs and puts down the man.
"You're not gonna want to get in my way. Okay Ric? I will see you both in history." Stefan says and then lets him go walks off. Elena openly glares at me and just smile back at her because I know that my calm, faux friendly attitude is going to piss her off more than if I act defensive. I feel a little wave of guilt as I notice her hands shaking but I take a deep breath and push it down.
"Why are you doing this? What did I do to you?" my twin asked me desperately. I thought about it for a minute but couldn't think of an appropriate answer.
"I honestly don't know, Elena. All I know is that I hate you. I have no idea why I do, but I hate you with every fibre of my being." I told honestly, with a confused frown on my face. I frowned at her again and then turned on my heels and practically ran down the hall.
"There you are." I hear Rebekah say from behind me. I turn and smile at my blond friend. She hurries over and links out arms as we walk through the nearly empty school hallways.
"Get everything okay?" I ask her and she nods her head.
"Yes, and I heard a rumour that there's two spots open on the cheerleading team. Interested?" she asks and I can see that she really wants to do it because her eyes light up. I sigh in defeat and nod my head as we near our classroom.
"Okay." I agree and she claps her and making me laugh with her.
"Welcome back, seniors. Let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's original founders... the Native Americans." We hear the teacher say and we walk into our history class where the teacher is the sandy haired man Stefan assaulted.
"What about the Vikings?" Rebekah asks as we walk in and make our way to two vacant seats. Tyler, Caroline and Elena look at us as we sit and we just smile back at them.
"There's no evidence that Viking explorers actually settled in the United States. Who are you?" the teacher, Mr Saltzman asks us.
"I'm Ellyse Gilbert and I just transferred back."
"My name's Rebekah. I'm new. And history's my favourite subject.
After classes, Rebekah drags me to cheerleading practice with her after getting changed into shorts and a tank top.
"Has anybody seen Dana?" we hear a cheerleader ask as we approach the squad.
"Sounds like you have an opening on the squad." I say to no in particular and Bec nods her head in agreement.
"What are you doing?" Caroline growls at us. Rebekah stretches but Caroline is still standing next to us. "Hey. Hey. You can't just come here and infiltrate all of our lives."
"I'm only interested in yours. Your spunk, your popularity." Rebekah tells her as she standing back up. She looks over at Tyler, who practicing over with the football team. "Maybe even your boyfriend." She smiles and I chuckle as Caroline glares at her.
"And what about you?" Caroline snaps at me.
"I look really good in a cheerleading uniform." I joke and Bec laughs. "And anything that annoys you is good enough for me."
"No one wants you here." She seethes. Rebekah looks over her shoulder at Tyler who is compelling the football coach.
"You might want to control your boyfriend." She states matter-of-factly. Caroline follows her gaze and then run over to Tyler. I giggle at her expense and turn back to Rebekah. I shrug my shoulder and start stretching. Rebekah makes impressive gymnastic moves and end with a split. She looks at Caroline with a mocking smile.
Later that night at the back to school bonfire, Stefan and I were talking when we saw Rebekah trying to work the keg. We both laughed at her failed attempts and went over to help.
"You all right there?" I ask her as we stand around the keg. I take her empty cup and fill it up for her and she smiles at me gratefully.
"I thought Tyler would be here." She explains her grumpy mood.
"You're into Tyler now? That's kind of fickle." Stefan tells her.
"When you're willing to give me the time of day again, then we'll talk. Until then, a girl has needs." She responds and I groan.
"Can we please not talk about your needs?" I ask and they both laugh.
"Fine, but only because I refuse to talk about your needs. They do involve my brother." She says and then shudders, making Stefan and I laugh. Elena arrives then and pours herself some beer
"Excuse me." she says and she pushes me out of the way.
"Elena, hi. What are you doing?" Stefan asks her.
"I'm having fun, Stefan. You have a problem with that?" she says before drinking the whole cup of beer at once.
"All right, take it easy. We both know you're kind of a lightweight." Stefan tells her as he reaches for her cup but she pulls her hand away.
"Uh-huh. Really? You think I'm going to let a blood addict tell me how to drink?" she says before she leaves. Rebekah and I look at Stefan and burst out laughing. Stefan walks away after playfully glaring at us and we make our way over to a secluded camp fire. I grab sticks and a bag of marshmallows and sit down on a log next to Bec.
"Okay." I say to myself as I put the marshmallow on the end and Rebekah watches in fascination. After show her how to do it, she tries one herself but it keeps melting in the fire. Soon, Damon come sauntering over to us and sits next to Rebekah on the log.
"What? No friends your own age?" she comments.
"Like you can talk." He responds with a smirk.
"Is this supposed to be fun? I've been through 10 of these." She complains to me but before I can tell her anything, Damon speaks over me.
"No, you're just looking at it all wrong. This is a little rough on the outside." He takes the burn out of the marshmallow. "But the inside... Yum." He makes her eat the marshmallow. She looks at him and he sucks his fingers. I roll my eyes and look away from them.
"And I'm leaving." I say to myself as I standing up and dust off my jean shorts but neither Damon nor Rebekah replied.
"Mmm. It's good." Bec said.
"Yep." I heard Damon say as I was walking away. As I'm walking away from the camp fire I hear a groan and turn around to see Rebekah stabbing Damon in the stomach with her marshmallow stick. I fight back a grin at the sight of him ripping out the stick.