I woke up on something damp, hard, and bumpy. I slowly opened my eyes but quickly shut them again when the sun hit my face. I opened them again and let my vision adjust. Sitting up, I look around me. I was surrounded by trees and apparently had fallen asleep in the woods. Safe place to be.

I stood up clumsily and stretched. My muscles were aching and my back was sore from laying on a rock. I pulled out my cell phone to look at the time. 7:08. I guess the sun is my own person alarm clock.

I drove home and entered the house loudly, too tired and sore to attempt to be sneaky. "Where the hell have you been?" Jenna asks, coming out from the kitchen.

"At Caroline's, we were having another girls night." I lied.

Jenna puts her hands on her hips and looks at me sternly. "You're a good liar, but you're not that good. You appearance kind of gives it away." She says, reaching out to take a piece of a leaf from my hair.

I shrug and head upstairs, ignoring her. I lay on my bed and am just about to fall asleep when Jenna comes in. "Oh no you don't. You are getting up and you are going to school."

"But my head hurts and I'm tired." I whine.

"Well, I guess you should have thought about that before." She goes over and opens all my curtains, letting the sun come into my room. "I will stand here and yell until you get your ass out of this bed and into the shower and then to school." She threatens. I groan but get up. Looks like another dull day at school. Yeepe.

…

I put my biology text book into my locker and close it. Elena is standing against the locker next to me with her arms crossed over her chest. "You're high and you're hung-over, again."

"Don't start."

"I'm worried about you."

"Don't be. We went over this months ago, Elena. Leave it alone." Though I hated to admit it, Elena was right. I had to be sober to kill Damon.

I walk down the hall and notice Tyler talking to a guy from the football team. I walk up to them.

"Beat it, Grayson." I say.

He looks over at me and then leaves. "See you on the field, Lockwood."

Tyler nods to him before turning to me. He doesn't say anything, just stares.

"Hey."

"Hi."

Why are things so awkward and hard? Things have always been so easy with Tyler and me.

I see Caroline and Matt talking across the hall. Are they flirting? "When did that happen?" I ask, pointing towards the pair.

Tyler looks over and then shrugs. "Guess you didn't notice while you were off doing whatever the fuck you have been doing. You haven't really had time for your friends, lately."

I sigh. "Look, I…"

The bell rings, drowning out what I was about to say. I open my mouth to speak again, but Tyler interrupts me. "I gotta get to math." He says, and saunters off.

I bang the back of my head against a locker and groan. He wasn't going to make this easy.

…

Jenna forced me to go to Career Night at the school with her, Elena, and Jeremy for punishment. I was drinking a glass of punch from the refreshment table, bored out of my mind, when I notice Tyler and Jeremy talking. Uh oh.

I finish my drink and throw the plastic cup in the trash can before making my way over to them.

"Go to hell." I hear Tyler say, as I walk up behind Jeremy. He looks over at me and then walks away.

Jeremy is smiling when I notice him see the name on the drawing he was looking at. Tyler Lockwood.

I smile. "What, think you were the only good graphic drawer from school?"

"I didn't know Tyler drew. It doesn't seem like something he would do."

I shrug. "He's been doing it for years. There good, huh?"

He nods. "Yeah, they are."

I leave Jeremy to look at the rest of the drawings and go in search for Tyler. But Tyler is not who I find.

I see a crowd of girls surrounding a man. That man is Logan Fell. He's supposed to be dead! Damon killed him. Which means… he's a vampire! Shit.

I feel my jacket to make sure that the stake is still in there and then head towards him. "Mr. Fell, may I speak to you a moment? Please?" I ask sweetly, smiling at him.

"Yes, of course." He smiles back.

I head away from the group and into a dark, private hallway, Logan following behind me. I turn around and jab the stake through his stomach. He gasps. "You are supposed to be dead." I twist the stake in farther.

"You know about vampires?" He gasps out in pain.

"Well, obviously. If I didn't I wouldn't have a stake in your gut right now, would I? Now tell me, did Damon turn you?" When he doesn't answer, I twist the stake in deeper again.

"No. At least that's what he told me."

"Who did then?"

"I… don't know."

I take the stake out of his stomach and bring it up to his chest about to stab him in the heart, when he grabs my wrist. "You shouldn't have done that."

He snaps my wrist and I cry out in pain, dropping the stake. He then throws me against a row of lockers. Logan walks over, crouching down beside me. "You're lucky that your Jenna's niece and she wouldn't take to kindly to be ripping your throat out, but if you ever pull a stunt like that again I will greatly enjoy sucking every ounce of blood from your body." With those kind words, he stands up and walks away, leaving me all alone.

…

"Stefan, please tell me you haven't left town yet." I say into my phone, as I get up off the floor.

"No, I'm at the school. Logan Fell is here. He's a vampire."

"Oh I know. I just had a little run in with him."

"What? Are you okay?"

"Who is it? What' wrong?" I hear Elena's voice in the background.

"I'm fine, but I think he wants Jenna. She's the only reason he didn't kill me."

"He also wants to know how Damon and I walk in the sun. Where are you now?"

"I'm just heading back to the gym to look for Jenna."

"Good, stay there. And stay away from Logan."

"I'll do my best." I hang up and head to the gym. On my way there I run into Stefan and Elena. "Hey."

"Did Logan do that to you?" Elena asks, looking at me holding my wrist.

"Yeah but I'm fine. It could have been much worse."

"So what did Logan say to you exactly?" Stefan asks me. Before I can answer Matt walks by saying hi to us.

"Hey, have you seen Logan Fell, the news guy?" Elena asks.

"Yeah, he just gave Caroline a ride home." Shit.

"Stay here." Stefan tells me and Elena before walking away. I rush after him.

"I'm coming."

"No you aren't."

"She's my best friend."

"And I will get her back for you. This is wasting time, Zoey. Go and keep Jenna and Elena safe."

"You better bring her back okay!" I call after him as he walks out the doors.

Alaric Saltzman walks up behind me. "Did your brother, Tyler Lockwood, and the mayor go out this door?"

"Um, not that I saw. Why? What happened?"

He shakes his head and goes outside. I follow him. Tyler and Jeremy are facing Mayor Lockwood. I watch as Tyler goes to leave but his father pushes him back, into Jeremy. "I SAID FIGHT!"

"HEY!" I yell, rushing forward. Richard Lockwood is acting like a dick. What a surprise.

"What's going on here?" Alaric asks.

"Just letting these kids work things out. Go back inside. You too Zoey."

"I don't wanna go back inside. What I want is an answer to my question. What's going on out here?"

Mayor Lockwood turns to Alaric looking pissed. "Who do you think you're talking to? Do I look like a student?"

"No, you look like a full grown alpha male douchebag." I laugh out loud at that one, while Jeremy smiles trying to hold back a laugh and Tyler looks at Mr. Saltzman in disbelief. I am really beginning to like Alaric Saltzman. He's feisty.

"You don't talk to me like that. I could have your job like this." Richard Lockwood says, snapping his fingers in demonstration

Alaric smiles, unimpressed. "You do that. But it will be me and you in this parking lot working things out. You cool with that?"

"Just watch yourself."

"Okay." He says, tauntingly. Mayor Lockwood looks over at Tyler, who walks forward and they leave together. "You alright?"

Jeremy nods looking impressed and in awe of his new history teacher. "I told you his dad was a dick." I tell Jeremy, before turning to Mr. Saltzman. "Thanks. Guess you're not as lame as I expected you to be."

…

"Logan's dead. For good this time." Stefan says to me on the phone.

"And Caroline?"

"Safe at home."

I sigh out it relief. "Good." I walk outside. I see Tyler sitting, holding his hands together, and looking lost. I go towards him but stop when I see Jeremy heading towards him as well. Good, they need to work things out. "Is Elena with you?"

"Yeah, she's driving me home."

"Okay, I gotta go. Oh Stefan…"

"Yeah?"

"I hope you decide to stay." I hang up and watch Tyler and Jeremy talking. Tyler suddenly pulls back his fist and punches Jeremy in the face. "Tyler!" I yell angrily, making my way towards them.

"Look, I don't need your pity." I hear Tyler say.

"Seriously, you don't have to be like this. You don't."

"Just go!" Tyler says, upset.

"Jeremy, leave." I tell him. Jeremy looks at me and nods, walking backwards. "What is your problem man?"

"I don't know, okay? I don't know." I stop Tyler from leaving by hugging him tightly, refusing to let go, ignoring the pain in my right wrist. He lets me and pulls me even tighter to his body. And it is like nothing happened. Like that last week or two didn't change anything. I cling to that thought, to him.

I know Jeremy is gone now and everything feels right. This is how things are supposed to be, just the two of us. The need to tell him everything, tell him of what I've done, bubbles up to the surface, but I hold back. He shouldn't have to know what really stalks the night, and day. He shouldn't have to know what happened to his ex-girlfriend. It would be selfish of me to tell him, to seek comfort from him.

But I have always been a bit selfish.

"Tyler…" I break out of our hug, but still stay close, our bodies touching. "I'm… I'm sorry. For everything. I just… I need my best friend. I can't be with you like that because I'm scared I'll end up losing you and I need you. Not Elena, or Jeremy, or Jenna, Stefan, Matt or… Vicki. You. I don't know what I'd ever do if I lost you. Hell, it would probably be worse than my parent's deaths, even if you didn't actually die. I don't know who I am without you." I whisper the last part. I hate opening up. I rarely do it, but I know I have to this time. I can't let things continue to be awkward between us.

"You'll never lose me, Zoey. No matter what."

I nod and I know he means it, but it's not a promise he can keep. After my parent's deaths, I learned that nobody knows what is going to happen and that we can't change the past. People die and leave and there isn't anything we can do about it. But that doesn't mean we don't try. "Can we just go back to the way thing were before, please?"

He nods and pulls me into another hug.

…

I drove home with Jenna and Jeremy before sneaking out after they went to sleep. I went to the Lockwood Mansion, but waited until Tyler and his dad stopped fighting and everyone seemed to be asleep, before going in.

Tyler was waiting for me. He smiled and lifted the blanket for me. I curled up against him and fell asleep quickly for the first time in weeks. It felt nice, safe, right, to be laying in his bed with him. Yes, this is how things are supposed to be.