Today I shall make a move to be more outgoing. Fingers crossed. I might chicken out… Why am I even writing this? This is stupid.

I shut my diary and jumped up to go to my closet. I dressed in a black tank top, a black leather jacket and dark jeans. I was still pulling my black leather boots on as I grabbed my bag. Then I hurried out of the house and super-sped to school. I passed by Tyler Lockwood and Jeremy as I was jogging normal human speed and skid to a stop. I hadn't heard the first part of the conversation but I didn't need to.

"I vote for right here and right now!" Jeremy was saying. I spun around as Jeremy shoved Tyler back. I ran over and grabbed Jeremy's arm.

"Jeremy, let's go." I told him. The last thing I wanted was to see Jeremy get the crap beaten out of him by Tyler.

"Walk away, Gilbert. This is your final warning!" Tyler warned. I tugged on Jeremy's arms. He ignored me.

"No, this is your final warning, -." I ignored the cuss word. Seriously, what was cussing and teenagers these days? "I'm sick of you watching you play Vicki. If you hurt her one more time, I swear to god I will kill you!" Then Jeremy walked away. I hurried after him, leaving Tyler scoffing.

"What the heck?" Jeremy asked, turning on me once we were out of hearing distance from Tyler.

"Um, I was saving you from getting beaten up!" I told him.

"I can handle myself without you, Salvatore!" I couldn't help but notice the reference to me solely by my last name. He walked off.

"Jeremy! Jeremy!" I called. He didn't stop. Suddenly I felt someone behind me and I spun around.

"Boy trouble?" Damon asked.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"I said nothing about you dating the human, little sis… Don't freak out… I can kill him if you want." Damon offered. It wasn't a threat or tease, it was an honest offer. I shot him a look anyway.

"Jeremy is off limits to you!" I told him.

"Fine… Fine… I believe the bell is about to ring. I'll see you later, right?" He asked. I nodded.

"Stefan's going to be mad." I said without thinking.

"Yeah, well, you're my little sister too, Elisabeth! He needs get that past his perfect hair and into his head so he stops hogging you." He snapped. He took a breath and then pulled me into a hug.

"See ya later. I got things to do. Get into school like a good little girl." Then he darted off. I hurried into school, a faint smile on my face.

As soon as Stefan and I walked into the house after school we saw Damon and Elena in the living room.

"Hello Stefan!" Damon said, looking over Elena. Elena spun around.

"Elena, I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan said, his eyes never leaving Damon as he talked.

"I know, I should have called. I just…"

"Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome anytime. Isn't she Stefan? I'll have to break out the photo albums and home movies. But… I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker." Damon teased.

"Thank you for stopping by Elena. Nice to see you." Stefan said in a polite 'you can leave now' kind of way.

"Yeah, I should probably be going anyway. It was nice to meet you, Damon." Elena told him.

"Great meeting you too Elena." Damon returned. Elena moved to go, but Stefan was in her way.

"Stefan… Stefan?" I moved and motioned for her to go past him. She gave him an awkward look and then hurried out. I gave both Stefan and Damon a warning 'don't kill each other' look before hurrying after her. I caught up with her as she was about to get into her car.

"Elena?" She turned.

"Hey, Beth. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to cause trouble with your brothers. You never said you had another brother." She said.

"Yeah, I didn't, did I? I don't mention it a lot if Stefan's around. They have some… unresolved differences of opinion and I play peacemaker a lot more than I want to… But don't worry; you didn't cause any more trouble than was already there. Look, has Jeremy said anything about me today?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"I asked if he thought you were like a friend to him over breakfast. He nodded, but nothing else. I haven't seen him all day since then. Should he be saying something about you?" She asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"What? Oh, I was just wondering. I actually think that I stopped a fight between Tyler and Jeremy this morning at school. He was mad at me for getting in the way and I was wondering if he'd said something about forgiveness of me to you… I'm worried he doesn't like me even as a friend anymore…"

"Oh, I'll talk to him. He's just moody, don't worry. It's probably nothing and he's already forgotten. And thank you, Beth... You seem to be the first person besides Jenna and me to really care about his feelings. He needs some one like that in his life. I'd better go now. Bye." She said. I nodded, stepping away so she could get into the car. I headed back into the house, wondering if Damon and Stefan had gotten into a fight while I was out.

The next night was the night of the comet. Stefan insisted I go with him. I wasn't sure if it was because (a) he wanted me to have a night of fun, (b) he was worried about Damon showing up and wanted me to help if there was trouble or (c) didn't want me to be alone if Damon wanted to talk to me because as Damon said, he seems to forget I'm Damon's sister too. I hung out at the Grill mostly. I was looking for Jeremy. When I did spot him, he was going to talk to Tyler, Matt, Bonnie, Caroline and Elena.

"Has anyone seen Vicki?" Jeremy asked.

"You're her stalker. You tell us." Tyler shot back. I gritted my teeth and walked over to them. I guess I could stand Jeremy's wrath as long as he didn't get beaten half to death or beat Tyler to the same extent.

"I can't find her." Jeremy said, ignoring Tyler.

"She probably found some one else to party with. Sorry, pill pusher, I guess you've been replaced." Tyler told him.

"What's with the pill pusher?" Elena asked.

"Ask him." Tyler said, nodding to Jeremy.

"You wanna do this right now?" Jeremy asked.

"Are you dealing?" Elena asked in shock.

"She's never gonna go for you!" Tyler told Jeremy.

"She already did. Over and over and over again!" Jeremy shot back at Tyler.

"Yeah right." Tyler scoffed.

"You slept with Vicki Donovan? I mean, Vicki Donovan slept with you?" Caroline asked Jeremy.

"There's no way!" Tyler went on.

"And I didn't even have to force her into it!" Jeremy told Tyler. I backed away, pulling out my phone. I sent a text to Stefan.

Have you seen Vicki Donovan?

It only took a second to get a text back.

No. Why?

I bit my lip.

Just keep a look out for her… Maybe it's nothing, but Jeremy seems worried that he can't find her.

I went back to the others.

"We'll check the bathrooms." Bonnie said, grabbing Caroline's arm. They hurried off together.

"I'll check the square." Matt said.

"I'll come with you." Jeremy said. Elena grabbed his arm instead.

"Oh, no, no, no. You're coming with me." She pulled him off to the side to talk to him. I stayed just out of normal human hearing distance, though I could still hear the two of them arguing.

"So that's your game now? Dealing?" Elena asked.

"I'm not dealing!" Jeremy protested.

"Look, I'm sick of the though love speech, Jer. It's clearly having no impact!" Elena told him.

"You and Jenna, between the two of you… Enough!"

"We can stop if you want! Send you to a therapist where you'll be forced to deal with it or to rehab where you'll sit in a room of strangers and tell them how you let your life fall apart. Or you could talk to me!"

"I vote for none of the above." Jeremy walked past me, heading for the door. I looked towards Elena. She gave me a hopeful smile. I knew what she meant. I hurried after Jeremy. Once he got outside, I caught up to him.

"Jeremy?" He didn't stop walking, but he did look over at me.

"Are you mad?"

"About what?"

"Yesterday with you and Tyler…" I reminded him.

"Honestly, I forgot until now. Thanks for reminding me."

"Would you date me?" I asked. Jeez, way to be subtle, Beth!

"What?" He stopped and turned.

"Would you date me if you weren't trying to date Vicki?" I asked. He gave me a weird look.

"I've known you for a couple days… I hadn't thought of it. Why?" He asked. He started walking again.

"You didn't answer me!"

"I dunno know, Beth... Talk me when I'm not worried about Vicki. Or never… Actually, let's go with never…" He walked faster, obviously trying to leave me behind. I easily caught up.

"Sorry. I know that was a bad question at a bad time. I'll go look for her somewhere else. Splitting up is a better way to find her." I hurried off. I ducked into an ally out of Jeremy's view and pulled out my phone.

Stefan, have you seen Vicki?

I waited for a full minute and got no answer. That wasn't like him… At once, I jumped to conclusions.

"Dang it, Damon!" I turned and saw Damon right there. I stumbled back and he caught my arms.

"Oh how you think so little of me. Vicki's probably on her merry little way back to the Grill by now." He told me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and walking me out of the ally.

"What did you do to Vicki, Damon?" I demanded, tucking my phone back into my pants pockets.

"She was just a way for me to get to Stefan… Don't worry. Are you going to tell me to stay away from her too? Because I saw that Jeremy Gilbert, that boy you like, looking at her. It would be so much easier if that girl was out of the pictur-." I slapped him before he could finish.

"You may be my brother. I may love you. But you can't come and terrorize everyone here, Damon! I want you to stay, but if this is why you're staying, then go!" I tried to walk away, but he caught my arm. I shot a look at him but saw that he was looking at me softly.

"I'm sorry. But I have something to do and I have to do it."

"What?" I asked.

"Something you can't know about… Just trust me that once it's done, I will leave and never come near you or Stefan or MysticFalls again."

"What?"

"Goodnight, Beth…" He ran off. I looked after where he had gone for a moment and then hurried off towards the Grill. When I walked in, I almost bumped into Jeremy. He was looking at Vicki, who was safe and sound. Then Tyler walked over and kissed her. Jeremy's face turned downcast and he walked out, ignoring me. I glared at both Vicki and Tyler, though they didn't see it, and then went back home. I slammed my door behind me, ignoring Zach's shout of protest about shaking the whole house. I went over to my desk and grabbed my diary.

I am turning into a teenage girl. I am falling for Jeremy Gilbert, the boy I've known for only a couple of days. On a more important (maybe?) note, Damon is up to something. I don't know what, but I'll have to find out. As much as I love my brother, I will not let him hurt anyone here!

A/N Please review and tell me what you think of the story so far!