YAY! I'M BACK! AREN'T YOU GLAD TO SEE ME :D My exams are finally over wheee~

Cizzi-b : I'm glad you understand I managed to convince Damon not to send one…for now

Alexis: Well…you will have to wait and see ;)

Dai-Light: You can watch the Korean version of BOF to find out, you know ;)

PeaceLoveFreedom: Thank you!

Thesocialriotmachine: yes, I am a fan of SoEul, there is one SoEul fanfiction site out there that does pretty good stories.

Midnightquiver : I have a feeling she does something more drastic ;)

DamonBamon: I actually kinda like him as a jerk :D

Ididn'tbothertosigninlol (aka BoldBlondeandBeautiful) : I did! I just started it I'll review when I have gotten properly into it.

LilyCullenSalvatore : Wow! A triple review! Thanks :))

LeniSalvatore4eva : Thank you! And er, actually, I'm not too sure yet :/

Special thanks to Midnightquiver, bookgothic, Phoenix of the Night and all those who read my story :)

Disclaimer : I don't own the characters in VD except for the plot and Derek the nutter.

BPOV

Day 2 SHS. With its fancy swimming pools and expensive cafeteria food. And Damon Salvatore. How can I survive?

PS. Note the sarcasm.

I sighed as I got off the bus at Salvatore High School. I was alone today as Elena was in bed with flu. Without her I was less than enthusiastic about coming. I even tried to beg my mum to let me skive off school for once, but she put her foot down. I bet if she knew what the students here were like she'll be begging me to stay at home instead.

As I stepped through the school gates, I immediately noted the subtle change in the atmosphere. Yesterday, it had been buzzing, like the beginning off some concert, but today the buzzing was more nervous and low key, like the entire school was holding their breath in anticipation. For what, I have no clue. But I had a feeling it wasn't going to be good.

To my relief nobody paid me any heed as I wandered through the school gates. I had no idea where to hang out, and I still had twenty minutes before class starts.

I decided to head to my homeroom early and do some reading, but on my way there I spotted three familiar heads: Miranda, Ginger and Sunny. More to avoid them than anything else, I ducked into the nearest room and slammed the door shut behind me.

The room was pitch dark and smelled like expensive perfume and air freshener. Wondering what kind of room I had gotten myself into, I felt along the walls for the light switch and flicked it on.

I stifled a gasp. The room was unbelievable. After one day hanging around this school, I had sort of gotten used to the expensive furnishing for every room, but this was beyond words. It looked like the interior of Buckingham palace.

The walls were carpeted in a rich heavy material that felt like heaven on my fingers. Low couches ran the length of the room, and I hopped into one. I immediately sank into the material, and it felt like the couch was swallowing me into itself. On one bare expanse of wall someone had mounted a large flat screen television. Looking up, I noticed the large intricate chandelier that hung from the ceiling in solitary splendor, the iron wrought spiral staircase and the sky light that reflected the sun beams in strategic patterns. I gawked at the intimidating sound system taking up one entire corner of the room, the pool table, the arcade machines, the karaoke set. Everything seemed to come out from some fancy magazine.

I could totally live in this room.

The question is, whose room is this?

Okay, maybe it wasn't that hard to guess after all.

I walked up the stairs and found myself looking at a glass door that led to the roof. I didn't know what I was expecting there. Maybe an outdoor pool or a helicopter landing pad. I didn't exactly get it right, but it was just as extravagant-a miniature golf course that made me swoon.

Back in the room, I meandered over to the window, admiring the way the sunlight filtered in in dizzying prisms of light. Then a shout from the ground floor caught my attention, and I immediately hurried over to look. I instinctively ducked as a flying tomato sailed towards the window and went splat against the glass.

Deciding I was better off on the ground floor then caught sneaking around on the second, I hurried out of the room and descended the stairs towards the school's lawn.

The lawn was stained with horrible sticky stuff that looked like-tomatoes?

Maybe it was the latest accessory fad- hey! Come and wear them in your hair! - but as fashion backward as I was, I kinda doubted it.

I sidestepped a few squished tomatoes, a dropped bag of flour, and what looked like a bottle of nail polish remover before I made it to the crowd.

Nobody noticed me as I approached them. It seemed like the entire school was out here watching. I frowned. What kind of school was it that no teacher was around to break up the mob? Then I realized that was a stupid question. This obviously wasn't a normal school.

I stood at the edge of the crowd, unable to see a thing. I wasn't about to be deterred though. I pushed and shoved my way through the crowd, elbowing someone now and then. I heard someone let out a grunt and an indignant voice cry, "hey!" but they were too caught up with what was happening in front to get irritated with me.

Finally, I made it through. My eyes immediately fell on a girl, who to my surprise looked a lot like Elena. She had the same shade of blonde hair, the same lapis lazuli blue eyes. It was a long shot, but the girl could probably pass as Elena's long lost twin.

The girl's hands were folded across her chest, her eyes narrowed, her head held up arrogantly. Her bag lay at her feet, messily torn into two. Her books were scattered all over the ground, and there was a red stain on her shoe, probably from a tomato. Her long hair shielded most of her face, but I could make out that her lower lip was trembling under the curtain of blonde hair.

My three nemesis- Ginger, Sunny and Miranda- were the ones closest to her. They all carried a few tomatoes, which probably didn't sound very dangerous, but trust me, they made quite lethal projectiles.

"Katherine Pierce," drawled Ginger, casually tossing her tomatoes aside and folding her arms across her chest. "Nice to meet you at last."

I stifled a gasp. That was Katherine? The girl who stole Derek from Elena? God, was he a freak or what? My dad had cheated on my mom with his secretary, who was fifteen years younger than her. Why did Derek cheat on Elena with a girl that looked practically like her?

Katherine glared at Ginger. "Right back at you, bitch."

Ginger pouted. "No need to be so rude, Katherine. Or will you like some more tomatoes before you feel you can learn some respect?"

Katherine didn't say anything, but I could feel the hate waves emanating from her eyes.

Ginger smirked. "Guess not."

Katherine shook her head and backed away from her. "Leave me alone."

Ginger walked up to her and grabbed her roughly by her arm. "Stop moving. We can do this the hard way, or the easy way." She raised a single eyebrow, daring Katherine to contradict her.

All around me, students tensed like a panther about to strike. A kind of coiled, I'm-ready-to-spring-when-you-are, eager kind of tense. It was unnerving. I stared at the ground, debating if I ought to get out now when I could. Part of me wanted to rush to Katherine's defense. Elena had made her sound so confident and poised and independent, but all I saw was a messed up blonde, about to be stripped of her defenses and then publicly humiliated in public. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but for Ginger, I'll consider making an exception.

Ginger smirked and leaned in, probably about to deliver her verdict. Katherine hissed and spat in her face.

There was huge gasps all around. It was as though Ginger had programmed her adoring audience to react appropriately to what she and Katherine were doing. Katherine smiled, as Ginger's mouth fell open into a wide O. This wasn't part of her script. I knew she couldn't afford to lose face in front of the entire student population, and I wondered what she planned to do. Strip Katherine naked and forced her to do push-ups? Tie her to the tree and leave her to the mercy of the elements? Sadly, I could see Ginger doing all that.

Ginger very calmly wiped the spit away with a handkerchief, then with surprising forced shoved Katherine to the ground. She reached behind and snatched a few tomatoes from Miranda, then hurled them into Katherine's face.

"Hey!" She called out loudly. "We're making a pizza today! Get your tomatoes and flour ready!"

To my horror, the students started cheering. They reached for their respective weapons- tomatoes, pepper, flour-anything that can be found in a pizza, anyway- and surged forward, buffeting me into their midst.

I yelped and tried to escape the crowd of students forming a human wall around Katherine, hurling their items at her with sadistic glee. I couldn't see her, but I heard her strangled yelps and yells.

With a final, desperate shove, I broke through the last of the students. My uniform was speckled with flour. I wiped at the floury patches, glaring at the ground, trying to ignore what was going on behind me.

A movement at the edge of my vision caught my eye.

I looked up.

At the second floor window, a smirking someone stood sentinel, watching what was happening on the first floor with undisguised glee. I knew which room that window belonged to. I had been in there only minutes before.

Damon Salvatore caught my eye. He was wearing a different jacket from yesterday, and he certainly looked none the worse for wear, if the smirk on his face was any indication. He looked at me. I glared at him. He mouthed something, but of course I couldn't hear him, though I was pretty sure I knew what he wanted to say.

You're next.

All day long, I witnessed Katherine being treated with appalling cruelty. She was brutally slammed into lockers, hurled at with more projectiles (soccer balls, fruits, more tomatoes, even a sneaker), had her table and locker totally vandalized, her sneakers stolen from the girls' locker room, her books trodden on then set on fire. And all the while the teachers turned a blind eye. Some walked past with total apathy, but some spared her a glance and a wince before moving on. I had a feeling even they knew it wouldn't be wise to intervene, like it was a lost cause.

At lunch, I sat with a girl called Misao. She was pretty nice and cute too. Her eyes were anime-huge, and she had the petite frame of an anime girl. Her body was so well proportioned and her features so perfectly set that I wondered if they were faked. If she hadn't had plastic surgery before, I was Damon Salvatore.

After the last lesson, Misao and I headed off towards our lockers, deep in conversation about some random boy band she and I both liked. I was itching to ask her if the incident with Katherine was an everyday occurrence, but when I subtly tried to change the topic, she became vague and evasive. I wondered what about this topic made it so taboo, then decided I probably didn't even want to know.

My locker was one hallway away from Misao, so I bade good bye to her and headed off into a different direction, relieved to have survived one more day at Salvatore High School. I was looking forward to being able to head home for a long soak in the bath tub before holing up in my room wearing my sweats and doing nothing for the whole day

But then another commotion caught my attention, and all thoughts off heading home for a nice rest was lost.

This time, Katherine was alone. She stood at her locker, visibly aware of the students standing behind her, anticipating her reaction. Her back was to them, but as her locker was only 6 lockers away from mine, so I could make out her expression quite clearly. She looked scared. Very, very scared. Her uniform was ruined, stained with splashes of red, yellow, green, and some unmentionable stuff. Her hair was floury and wet, and one of her shoes was missing. She looked on the verge of a breakdown. Her eyes flitted restlessly from side to side. She took a deep breath, and opened her locker.

Don't do it! I wanted to shout, but I knew it was futile. Katherine twisted the locker door opened and let out a scream.

She collapsed into a shivering, sobbing heap, and I wondered what was it that had made her scream so loudly.

Behind her, the students roared with laughter.

Katherine curled herself up into a ball, rocking back and forth on the ground, her sobs choking her. Her blonde hair swept forward, covering her face.

I sidled over to the students' side, and saw what was inside Katherine's locker.

A rat, probably taken from the Biology lab, hung inside, dangling from the top of the locker by its neck. Its beady black eyes were wide open, staring and seeing nothing. It had obviously been dissected, because messy wound on its body leaked out some unmentionable stuff. The head hung down grotesquely, obviously broken.

Some of the grinning students hi-five one another, but I was too sick to say a word.

Finally, Katherine shakily got to her feet. She look at the students with absolute hatred in her eyes. Unhooking the rat from the top of the locker door, she made her way to Ginger, who was still doubled up laughing. Katherine held the rat in front of her at an arm's length, her expression ferocious.

"I believe this belongs to you."

With that, Katherine slapped Ginger in the face with the rat, then let it fall to the ground, her eyes hard.

"What the hell!" Ginger screeched, leaping at Katherine, but she took one step back, her eyes still burning.

"Touch me, and you die," she said through clenched teeth.

Something in her class made Ginger's hands drop to her sides. With one final murderous glare, she shouldered her bag and walked off.

There was a stunned silence. Everyone looked to Ginger, as though awaiting her command.

Ginger clenched her teeth. She tossed her hair, beckoned imperiously to Miranda and Sunny and stalked off.

Well, if that was the best she could do…

I went back to the locker, chuckling to myself.

My joy was short lived.

There wasn't a dead rat hanging from my locker. Something else. Something much worse.

A single, red slip of paper.

I knew what it was immediately.

No.

I wasn't scared of Damon, but after seeing what had happened, I knew that the students didn't have an designated boundaries as to what extent they could bully me. I remembered how Katherine had been treated in the hallway and held back a shudder that rocked through my body. Images of myself being pelted with books, been pushed and ridiculed by the student body and my lunch being thrown in my face tormented my mind. The Red Card hung from my locker door. I was a marked man, the next intended victim. The new social pariah. Every single kid in school will hate me because the F4 did.

I tried to tear the card off, but before I could do, a high, nasal voice rang through the hallway.

"Bonnie McCullough's gotten the RED CARD!"'

NOOOOOO. Poor Bonnie. Things are gonna get tough! D:

Well, don't forget to review! :D