So I need to change the synopsis, which I didn't like to begin with. I just kinda suck at writing them. It makes the story sound like a really cheesy love story, which isn't what I am going for. Of course there will be Ivy/Kol, it just isn't going to be what it sounds like from the synopsis. Anyways, if anybody could help me out with it message me or do your idea in the review section. Otherwise, I will just change it myself.. eventually.. hopefully.. Anyways, thanks for all the lovely reviews and I hope you enjoy!

I sat on the lid on the toilet seat, playing Tetris on my phone. I had heard a rumour that my Gym class was going to be forced to run five laps of the field, so I took my chances and decided to skip it. There was no way that I would willingly step into torture like that.

Suddenly, somebody banged forcefully on the toilet cubicle door causing me to jump up from my game. I was terrified it was a teacher. Mr Webber had only just let me carry on with the year, if he found out I had skipped class as well as failed some tests there would be no way to convince him to not to move me back a year.

The person banged on the door again. This time louder.

"Just a minute!" I called out, putting my phone into my jeans pocket. Quietly, I stood and put up the lid of the seat. Then I flushed the toilet, hoping to convince the person that I had actually been needing to pee. Slowly, I unlocked the door and opened it, bracing myself for whatever trouble I was going to be in.

I let out a huge sigh of relief when I saw it was Jessica.

"Jesus, Jess! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

She stood in the doorway, effectively blocking my exit from the toilet cubicle. Her hand was place on her hip and her face was morphed into a scowl. Jessica looked seriously pissed off. I had a gut feeling that it had something to do with me.

"I figured you'd be in here." Jessica said, her voice sounded as angry as her face looked. "Abigail told me that you were missing Gym class."

I stayed silent, not wanting to say anything wrong that would cause her to explode.

"Kol told me about last night. How you tried to get him interested in other girls." she sneered. "I want you to back off. Now."

"Jess, he is using you!" I said exasperated. She liked him far too much for such a short period of time that they had been together. She was making it seem like she loved him, but love isn't like in the stories; nobody can like each other that much after just a few days. "Did he tell you that?"

She shook her head frantically, in denial. "You're lying." she spat, "You just want him for yourself!"

"No!" I answered, my heart dropping that she mistrusted me that much. I really regretted that Abigail hadn't spoken to him instead of me, she would put Jessica straight in a matter of seconds given they had known each other for so long. I, on the other hand, didn't have that benefit of being in the same class from Pre-school. It wasn't a secret who Jessica liked more out of us both.

"Sure." she laughed darkly, "Kol thinks that you're just jealous of me. After all, how many boyfriends have you had in your whole life?"

Ouch. It was a low blow. Everyone knew how self-conscious I was when it came to barely getting any male attention, they all seemed to view me as a friend, or worse, sister. It was one of the reasons why I made up the rule of 'no guys before college', it gave me a slight excuse on why nobody appeared to like me in that way.

Instead of snapping back, or getting defensive, I tried to reason with her. "Jessica, you can think I am jealous if it makes you feel better, but the truth is Kol doesn't like you nearly half as much as you like him. And, I think you know that." It was almost heart-breaking to see a look of sadness cross her face for a brief moment, Jessica knew it. Still, I carried on with my talk, wanting to get my friend away from him. "You've got to trust us, when we say he isn't good for you."

Suddenly, her sad look was replace with a furious one.

"NO!" Jessica shouted out, "You guys just want me to be single! You're jealous no guys will come near you."

She raised her hand to slap me but I caught it before it came into contact. Her expression changed into a painful look and she winced loudly. My brows furrowed, in one swipe I rolled up the sleeves of her top and I gasped at what I saw. Along her arm were painful bruises that matched the hickey she had on her neck. There were tons of them, I peered closer and thought I could even see teeth marks, faintly indented into her skin.

"What the fu-"

Violently, Jessica pulled her arm away. "You had no right! Absolutely, no right!"

"Jess, what are those things? Did Kol do that to you?" I pleaded, frightened for the safety of my friend. I wasn't sure what to do, and whether or not the police should be informed. So many thoughts were rolling through my head that I could barely concentrate on what she was saying.

"They're just hickeys!"

I shook my head, "Jess, I know what a hickey looks like and those things look like bite marks. Are you scared of him? Because we can go to the cops if-"

"No." she said instantly, "No cops. You just don't understand our relationship."

"Relationship?" I cried. "From what it seems like, he hurts you. Really badly. Jess, please just tell me what to do! I want to help you."

"I don't need any help." she said, annoyed. "We have a deal."

"A deal? What sort of deal?" Whatever it was, it didn't sound good. I was anxious to know what it was, hoping it would help me get her away from him.

Jessica rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't understand."

"Tell me, and I promise I won't tell anyone about this." I offered, trying to understand why she was staying with him. I didn't think Jessica would stay with anybody who abused her, she wasn't scared of anything so I knew there had to be a true reason behind it all.

"You won't believe me."

"Try me."

She thought about it for a second, "You won't tell anybody about the bites, even if you don't believe me?"

"I promise." I swore, picking up on the fact that she said they were bites and not hickeys.

"Fine," she paused. "Kol's a vampire and so long as I am his personal blood-bank he will consider turning me into a vampire too." She said it quickly and it took me some time to work out if I had heard the words correctly.

I stared at her, waiting for her face to crack into a smile and for her to start laughing. Instead, her face stayed perfectly serious. My eyes widened when I realised she wasn't lying.

"Kol thinks he is a vampire?"

She rolled her eyes again at me, "He is a vampire."

Instantly, I regretted my promise. He was deranged, and had somehow tricked my friend into believing his crazy fantasy. Kol wasn't safe, and I needed to get Jessica away from him immediately. I couldn't back out of my promise, they mattered a lot to me, but I could come up with another way of getting them apart.

"So he says he's a vampire, and you let him bite you?" I was trying to wrap it around my head how somebody as intelligent as Jessica could fall for his lies in less than a week. He was surely a master manipulator because I knew Jessica believed him with all her heart; she was a worse liar than me.

"Is!" Jess groaned. "And I told you, I'm not doing it for nothing, he said he'll turn me."

"No, you said he'd 'consider' it." I corrected.

"You just don't understand!" Jessica said infuriated, regretting ever telling me. "Or believe it. "

"I believe that you think he is one." I said, picking my words carefully. I placed my hand sympathetically on her shoulder, she whined in pain so I took it off quickly. "But Jess, there are no such things as vampires... And even if there were I doubt they'd be like the ones in your favourite films."

"No. You're right." She paused. "They are so much cooler."

"Jess-"

"Save it." The angry look had returned to her face. "I want you to back off. Kol. Is. Mine."

"Jess-" I begged, desperate for her to see sense.

"If you approach him again about me, there will be consequences." she threatened, meaning every single word. Her face was void of all emotions, it was chilling to see. Jessica wasn't the same person anymore.

"But-"

"I will not hesitate to hurt you, if you try and ruin my chances of living forever."

"Jessica!" I said, shocked. She was delusional.

"Nobody is going to stand in my-"

A familiar person stood behind her and spoke, "I think it's time you got back to class now. Don't you?"

Jessica turned and faced him, "And what if I don't want to?" she taunted.

"Leave." Stefan hissed, looking her straight in the eyes. Automatically, she walked out of the toilets and headed back to class. I stared in wonder and then looked back at Stefan in confusion. We were in the Girl's Toilets.

"Stefan, why are you in here?"

He shrugged and smiled. "I heard some shouting and thought I should check it out. I'm trying to be a Good Samaritan. Are you okay?" his voice held underlying concern. I had the feeling he had heard more than he was letting on.

I nodded frantically, scared my voice would break. I wasn't okay. I was far from okay. Everything had been building up the last few days. Jenna was dead. Alaric had left. Elena and Jeremy had kept a massive secret from me and still were keeping another one. One of my closest friends had just threatened me. She also happened to have an abusive boyfriend, who tricked her into thinking he was a vampire. But, I wasn't sure who I could speak to anymore especially since most of the people I trusted most were either gone, or weren't being truthful.

I began tearing up, all my emotions getting to me at once. Stefan awkwardly held out his arms and I, feeling empty inside, enveloped him into a hug; clinging on to him for dear life.

I stared up at my bedroom ceiling, my mind blank. I heard somebody knock at the door but I didn't bother answering. I couldn't be bothered doing anything in my sorrow. I knew it was Elena from the soft footsteps that approached the bed. She sat down on the edge of it, and I kept my focus on my ceiling light.

"Stefan told me about today. Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, sounding worried. It had been four days now that I hadn't spoken to either her or Jeremy. They were beginning to get anxious, especially now Alaric wasn't looking after us. Nobody knew how long my upset with them would last, and in truth, neither did I.

I didn't answer.

"Listen, I know you're annoyed with me. You have every right to be, but I just didn't want to hurt you." Elena paused. "Okay, that is a slight lie. I didn't want you to hurt me. I thought there might have been a chance, a tiny chance, that you would start treating me differently. Just not like your sister anymore. Stupid, huh?" she let out a humourless laugh at her stupidity.

Again, I didn't answer.

Elena sighed, finally getting to whatever it was that was really on her mind. "Matt said you were with Kol recently. I know that now maybe isn't the time but-"

"You're right it isn't."

"Can we talk about this?"

"No."

"Please, Ivy!" she said, sadness filled up her voice it sounded broken. "I want things to go back like they used to be, for all of us. Before these secrets tore us apart."

I took my attention away from the ceiling and stared at her, rage filling my eyes. "The last time I checked, it was you guys that were keeping all the secrets. Not me."

Elena's face broke down like her voice had, tears filled up her eyes. I stared back with the exact same expression. Everything seemed to be going against us, like the whole world didn't want the Gilbert family to be happy.

Deep down, we both knew that no matter what happens in the future, our family would never be the same again. Too many bad things had happened to us all for our bonds to be magically tied together. We were like a china plate, it can't be glued back together if it became too broken. And even if it did get fixed, the cracks would still be visible for everyone else to see.

"Can we not just try and be a family again?" She asked when she had regained control over her unhappiness.

I thought about it deeply, for a minute or two. Softly, I shook my head, and gave her a sad half-smile trying to make sure my next words would not sting as much, though that seemed impossible. "I think it is a bit too late."

That night, I knew that we both cried ourselves to sleep.

Want to come over?- Bekah

I read the text message again, my fingers hovering over the keypad deciding on my reply. I was still in bed. I hadn't moved since my talk with Elena last night. Rebekah, unbeknown to her, had just offered me the perfect chance to take my mind off of it.

Sure :)

I was pretty positive that Kol would be out given it was the weekend so I wouldn't bump into him. I was also desperate to question Bekah on her brother's behaviour. Jessica's deal was for me to not tell anybody about the bite marks on her skin, but she never said I couldn't say anything about his twisted vampire fantasy.

It took over forty minutes to get changed and walk to her house, but the weather was nice so I didn't mind. It also beat asking anybody for a lift. I wasn't sure how to deal with the situation with our family, so ignoring them seemed like the best option. After all, Alaric seemed to be doing that too. We could probably win every prize out there, when it comes to running away from our problems.

The entrance to their house seemed even bigger now that the driveway was clear of all cars. You couldn't help but feel tiny in comparison to the estate. The grandness of the house also made you feel really out of place. I didn't think that I would ever get used to their lifestyle, it was far too extravagant.

I rang the doorbell, expecting it to take a while to be answered since the house was so huge. Almost instantly a maid opened the door and ushered me inside. Rebekah must have told them that they were expecting somebody.

I waited on a velvet chair in their front-porch for Bekah to show up. The front-porch was bigger than my living room. It was also much fancier, with paintings handing up from every corner. I expected they had cost a lot, but then again what was a lot for me, must have been pocket money in comparison to what they have in the bank.

"My brother painted those." Rebekah said, out of nowhere. She must have snuck up on me as I was gazing at the portrait of her family tree.

"Kol?" I was astonished, I didn't take him for a painter.

She laughed, "He wouldn't pick up a paintbrush unless it was secretly a weapon. Klaus is the painter of our family."

"Oh." I inspected the family tree further, they seemed to all be wearing medieval costumes and all of Bekah's brothers had much longer hair. "So what's with the outfits and hair?" I asked, unsure whether it was an inside joke they all shared.

"Klaus just wanted it to be slightly different." Bekah didn't give me much explanation but I didn't press the matter as I noticed the man at the top of the tree.

"So where's your dad?" I questioned, not recalling ever seeing him or him being mentioned at the ball.

"Dead."

My face fell instantly, I knew the pain of losing parent's. "I am so sor-"

"He was a jerk." Rebekah shrugged, not seeming affected by her father's death. She actually looked slightly relieved but I ignored it, thinking I had mistook her expression.

"Families can suck."

"Tell me about it." She said agreeing.

We stood in mutual agreement looking at all of Klaus' art pieces. They were really good, perhaps even expert. I thought he could easily hold a successful art exhibition. Abigail would kill to speak to him about different painting styles. I was slightly tempted to take a photo of one of his pieces and show it to her later, but I didn't want to puzzle Bekah. I figured I could sneak a photograph on my way out.

"Want to go to my room?" Bekah asked, bored of looking at the work.

"Yeah, sure."

We walked up the stairs and through a series of halls. The house could have been made into a fancy hotel and would have made a fortune from it. That is if Mystic Falls was a popular tourist destination.

We finally got into her room and it wasn't what I expected. Instead of being full of random trinkets which most teenage girls collect, it was practically empty. The room itself had a four-poster bed, a large walk in closet, chest of drawers, bookcase, television, and a comfortable sofa, but there wasn't any indication other than that, that somebody lived there. I felt that if the whole house burned down, so long as every lost item was compensated for, Bekah wouldn't care. It didn't look like she had any sort of connection with the house, or any of the items within it.

"It's kinda empty." I stated, kicking my shoes of and climbing onto the bed which she had launched herself on. It was big enough that we could both cross our legs and be pretty far away from one-another.

"It is?" Rebekah said, curiously.

"Most people have posters and photo's covering their walls."

"Oh."

"So where is everyone?" I asked, moving away from the subject. Rebekah didn't seem to be very sentimental when it came to the past so there was no point in quizzing her on it. Especially, if it contained Stefan. I really wasn't eager to find out about his previous sex-life, given he was with my sister and his previous partner was now my friend.

"Klaus is either painting, trying to court that blonde chic, or scheming a way to take over the world." I nodded along, jokingly. Who doesn't have a plan to take over the world? "Elijah will be trying to save our family," Rebekah continued. "And who knows where Kol is?"

"Save your family?" I had forgotten that Bekah had some family issues too, I was hoping that I could confide in her about my own. I couldn't do it properly with Abi, she was a single child so no matter how hard she tried she would never fully understand sibling quarrels.

Rebekah rolled her eyes, "Our mother would happily see us all dead, and Elijah want to save us all from each other. It is a pretty long story."

"Your mother hates you all?" I was surprised, she had seemed like a really nice person at the ball.

"She hates what we've all become."

Although Rebekah had tried hard to hide it, I saw the fleeting look that passed through her face, a deep and dark sadness. She put up a facade making her out to be this cold person, but underneath she was terrified of being hurt. It reminded me of what Jer was like after our parents had died. He had pretended not to care, but by not caring he had only hurt himself and others, even more. A sharp pain hit my heart, reminding me of how much I missed them both and us all being a family. I ignored it. Still hurt by them.

"Well, she happens to be missing out. Big time." I smiled, lighting up the mood. Bekah returned it, grateful.

Rebekah was just away to say something when a knock on the door interrupted her.

"Come in!" she yelled.

A man in a black suit entered, he looked like Kol only older and far more mature. He wore a serious expression that seemed follow him around everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if he was born with it. I recognised him as the man who gave a speech at the ball. I figured this was Elijah, also seeing his resemblance to one of the portraits on the family tree which was in the porch.

"I do apologise, I didn't realise you had company." Elijah said politely, slowly backing out of the room. Rebekah waved him back in.

"Elijah this is Ivy Gilbert." she introduced me.

Elijah nodded in response, "Pleasure to meet you, Ivy."

"You too." I smiled.

"What was it you are in for?" Bekah said, not bothered with pleasantries. She reminded me of Damon in that way, it didn't shock me that they slept together. They were pretty similar. Bekah wasn't a douche though.

Elijah looked back to his sister, "I find it difficult to solve our current situation, if I have to keep my eyes on Kol all of the time. He doesn't seem to understand the seriousness of it all." I knew he picked his words carefully, not wanting me to understand what he was speaking about.

Rebekah groaned, "What is he up to now?"

Elijah's eyes flickered back to me momentarily before moving back to Bekah. "I think they are better unmentioned."

"Ohh." Bekah understood him, glancing at me. I felt like I was stopping a very important conversation from happening and considered excusing myself for a few minutes so they could continue it in private. Then I thought about Kol and Jess.

I decided to speak up in the conversation, thinking it was the perfect opportunity to speak about Kol's behaviour, to his family. "My friend Jessica is hanging around with him at the moment," Both of their attention turned fully onto me. "She thinks he is a vampire." my voice dropped slightly towards the end, knowing how foolish it all sounded. They both heard it fully judging from their facial expressions.

"I will have words with him today." Elijah stated, more serious than ever.

"So this is normal?" I asked in disbelief.

Elijah was away to speak but Bekah butted in, "Kol likes to play games. It keeps his sick mind entertained."

Elijah frowned at Bekah and they seemed to have a conversation with their eyes. A look of realisation swept across his face and his mouth formed an 'O' shape.

"Well, how can I stop it?"

"Ivy, my dear, Kol will move on when he gets bored. Until then, I am afraid there is nothing any of us can do." Elijah said.

"Sorry." Bekah smiled sympathetically.

My heart dropped. Somehow, I was expecting his own family to say this was the case. As previously expected, Kol wouldn't leave her alone until he either got bored of her, or somebody else who peaked his interest came along. I couldn't deal with Jessica being hurt by him any longer and no matter what threats she said to me, it was time for me to step in. I was going to be his new interest.