Elena was sitting by the table in the classroom, waiting for the bell to ring, so everyone can stop shouting and yelling. So Mr. Sanders can come in and give them an assignment. The sooner this nightmare starts, the sooner it will end. Maybe Stefan doesn't come, maybe he skips the Chemistry class. But then again, him intensely skipping this class had put them in the situation they are in now. If he wants to continue playing football, he has to have a better grade average, and clean attendance. And getting the football scholarship is the only way for him to go to college, and if his dad is anything like Elena remembers him to be, he would rather see Stefan dead than not going to college. Maybe it's better if he shows up then so they do not come to the idea she should work with him outside of the school premises.

"You're the best in the class," she could hear Mr. Sanders' words buzzing inside of her head, "If anyone can help him, it's you."

He was right, she was the best in the class. But she did not work this hard to end up teaching lazy ass football players with an IQ of a snail. She was always a good student, but after her mom died, studying seemed to be the only way to take her thoughts away. She would lose herself for hours, and what were once boring and difficult tasks, became her everyday routine. She found a way to bury her pain, and she feared, if she stops doing it, the pain of losing her mom will resurface. So she never stopped doing it. And as the years passed by, it became her habit. Not something she especially enjoyed, but something she knew she had to do, so it stopped being as difficult as it once was. So she convinced herself she's doing this for her, because she would like to see her daughter get good grades so she can get into a good college. She did it for her dad, too, because the school is the only thing they would discuss when he would come home. She wanted to have something positive to say to him.

Jeremy did not even try. He did not want to pretend. So she felt like she has to.

She looked around at her classmates. She did not know any of them, not really. The only friends she had were Bonnie and Caroline, Bonnie who she knew since they were in diapers, and Caroline who was always there, but became a more serious friend in the middle school. She remembered how much Caroline used to annoy her, especially when they were younger. She always wanted to be the center of attention, to prove herself in every way, it was like, whatever someone did, she felt a need to do it better. And then, when she got to know her better, she realized the reasons behind Caroline's actions, and they became really good friends. Once she gave her a chance, she was able to see a completely different side of Caroline, which was incredibly loving and supporting. And now, she can't imagine her life without the perky blonde.

She knew nothing about her peers, except rumors and stories written on the bathroom walls. Sometimes she would regret it, not being part of anything, especially now, when she found herself in her senior year. As much as she despised the typical teenage behavior, as much as she did not fit among the crowd, and as much as she did not see the point of drinking until you can't take it anymore, she had regretted not creating any memories. She did not even stay on the sidelines, she was far, far away, locked in the four walls of her bedroom, doing things she can't even remember now. There were no kisses, hugs, smiles or gossip, there wasn't anything pleasant to remember about this place that was, for a long time, such a huge part of her life.

Both Bonnie and Caroline have boyfriends, so at least there's something for them to remember. And what does she have? One five month old relationship that lead to nowhere, and hours and hours of watching television.

Of course, Elena would confess this to no one. She had a hard time confessing it to herself.

There's a bell which means the beginning of the class, and Stefan is still not here. Mr. Sanders comes into the classroom, and everyone become extremely quiet all of a sudden. His look falls on the empty chair next to Elena, and he disapprovingly shakes his head.

Before he manages to reach his table, the classroom door shoot flying wide open, and Stefan runs inside. He looks straight at Mr. Sanders who looks a little baffled. He probably didn't expect Stefan to show up either.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he says, all while trying to catch his breath, "I had trouble with finding the classroom," he steps inside and closes the door behind him.

"Of course, of course," Mr. Sanders mumbles into his beard, "I don't believe I've ever seen you in this classroom," he chuckles quietly, and the majority of the classroom chuckles with him.

Elena wonders does Mr. Sanders like making fun of lazy, inadequate students, like Stefan.

"Please, Mr. Salvatore, take a seat," he points to the empty seat beside Elena. Stefan looks into her direction and pulls a devilish smirk across his face. He walks over to the second table by the window, all while smirking at Elena, who rolls her eyes at him, and moves herself on her spinning chair more away from his than she already was.

Stefan drops his books on the table, and Elena notices they look brand new, barely used. Probably not used at all. While hers look like a cabbage, from the inside as well as from the outside.

Figures as much, he probably hasn't touched his since the school year started.

While Mr. Sanders takes his time to explain them what they're going to do today, Stefan, to Elena's surprise, stays awfully quiet. He even looks concentrated, like he's actually listening. When Mr. Sanders stop explaining the procedure they will take, Elena starts preparing the things needed for the experiment.

Stefan eyes her wearily. "What can I do to help?" he asks her.

Without even looking at him, she hands him the bottle of salt. "You can weigh four grams of salt and put it into the 5ml beaker," she tells him while doing her own work. When she doesn't hear the bottle getting opened or the salt being poured, she raises her head to look at him. "Don't tell me you don't know how to do it," she says silently, "It's so easy a monkey can do it."

He smirks at her again, telling himself this is not the time or the place for their little word games. "I don't think I'm going to pass this subject by pouring salt into a glass," he raises her eyebrow in her direction.

"A beaker," she corrects him, a little bit disappointed he did not bite the bait, "And it's a start. If I let you do something more complicated, you could set the whole school on fire."

He exhales loudly. "Whatever you say, Gilbert," he opens the bottle and puts his nose on the opening. When the smell of salt attacks him, and he pulls his head away disgusted, Elena can't help herself but chuckle, a little louder than she intended to. "But if I do not pass this, Mr. Sanders might get pretty disappointed in you," he winks at her as her smile begins to fade away, "Next thing you know you're not teachers pet anymore," his smirk gets wider as she gets more irritated with him.

"Shut up," she tells him off as she goes back to what she was doing.

He chuckles because he knows his words had managed to rile her up, so he does what he has been told to do.

To both of their surprise, the other one seemed cooperative. Stefan probably because he understood the gravity of his situation, and Elena because she was always serious when it came to this kind of work.

When the bell for the end of the class rang, Elena got her things and pushed them inside of her bag in a hurry, and as she was ready to leave, she had heard Stefan's voice, "Hey Gilbert!"

She turned around confused and caught him staring at her with the same grin he always worse. The grin she wanted to kick right off his face.

"Nice shirt," he commented while staring at it.

Elena lowered her look at her black shirt with a sign 'Use the force'. She had raised her confused look at him, and after few moments mumbled a quiet, "Thanks," and then she turned around to leave.

Sometimes, Stefan Salvatore would surprise her.

Sometimes, she would allow herself to be surprised by him.

"It would be nicer if it had some cleavage, though," she could hear him yelling after her.

And every time she would regret it.

Elena met up with Bonnie and Caroline by the lockers, and they decided to have their lunch outside, since it was such a beautiful and warm day.

"You survived Chemistry?" Bonnie asked while they were walking down the hall towards the exit.

Elena exhaled loudly and nodded her head. "It was a 9th circle of hell, but I've managed myself."

"I still do not get what went down between you two," Caroline whines like finding out a secret behind their failed friendship is something her life depends on.

"Caroline," Bonnie says her name with a soothing tone of voice, "Don't push it," she glares at Caroline, knowing how much Elena hates this subject being brought up.

"There's not much to say, anyway," Elena figures it's better to tell Caroline once and for all than let her ask the same question day after day, "We were friends, and then we weren't. It is that simple."

Caroline lets out one more loud exhale before she whines again, "Still doesn't explain why the two of you can't stand each other. You're always on each other backs."

Bonnie opens the door, and the three of them step outside. Elena tries to avoid Caroline's look because for one, she should have known Caroline won't satisfy herself with crumbs she throws at her, and second, she could really not give her an answer to her question. She could not even give herself an explanation to the question why she hates Stefan as much as she does. Sure, he is self absorbed asshole with a big tongue, but so is the majority of guys in their school. Friendships break all the time, she was aware of that. And one day the teasing and bickering between them just started, and she doesn't know why, how or who started it first.

"I think you like him," Caroline says casually.

Both Elena and Bonnie shoot her a confused look, but before Elena gets a chance to defend herself, they are interrupted by someone saying, "Little Elena Gilbert?"

Elena turns her head around and meets a well known smugly face. He does look older than the last time she had seen him, and his coal black hair is shorter, but those baby blue eyes of his are still as captivating as the first time she had laid her eyes on them. He is leaning on the front kick of his old Chevy and smirking at her with a smirk he shares with his little brother.

"Damon Salvatore?" she pulls a wide smile across her face as she makes few steps in his direction, "I didn't know you're back in town," she stands awkwardly in front of him, not knowing how to greet him.

There's a devilish smirk on his face as he checks her out, and one part of her wants to smack him for doing so, and the other finds that sort of attention pleasant, so she lets him have it.

There's a confused expression on her face after she does the math. "What happened to college?" she raises her eyebrow in his direction.

"College couldn't handle me," he makes a cocky face expression, one Elena used to believe he was born with. She giggles a little at his comment, and almost comes to slapping herself across the face, after she realizes she sounds like one of those girls desperate for attention. Elena Gilbert doesn't do giggles. "You wouldn't know where my brother is, would you?" he asks.

Elena rolls her eyes when she remembers those two are blood related. "Unfortunately, I do," she sighs, "We had Chem class, he should be out soon," she tells him, and she notices confusion on his face.

He keeps eyeing her confused, but does not say a word except, "Right. It was nice seeing you again," he winks at her.

Elena smiles and waves at him before she walks back to her friends. When she concludes they're in a safe distance Caroline asks excitedly, "That's Stefan's brother? He's hot," she emphasizes the word hot, "Like, extremely hot," she pulls a smile from ear to ear, before she becomes all serious again, "But I've thought you hate the Salvatore's."

Elena shakes her head. "No, I hate one of them. Damon has always been nice to me."

"Why were you talking to 'Wide legs' Sally?" Damon asks his brother with a bit of disgust in his voice after Rebekah falls into his arms and gives him a long and lasting kiss on the lips. Damon puts his arms around her waist and pulls her a little on top of him as he leans more on his car.

Stefan eyes him wearily, "How do you know 'Wide legs' Sally?" he cocks his eyebrow at him.

Rebekah eyes her boyfriend curiously, glancing at the movement of his facial lines to see if he's hiding anything, but he only rolls his eyes and replies, "Stefan, 'Wide legs' Sally was here when I was here," and by the tone of his voice Rebekah concludes he's clear. Or that he's a damn good actor.

"Did you sleep with her?" Stefan asks openly, trying to forget he had seen his brothers hand in his best friends ass. Best friends should be off limits to brothers, or any other family member.

"Nah," Damon says casually, slumping his arm around Rebekah's shoulders, "But I do wonder do her legs go as wide as they used to," he chuckles.

Rebekah punches him lightly on the chest. "I believe they go wider," she hisses through her teeth, and this time Stefan is the one who chuckles as Damon rubs his chest. Seeing Rebekah jealous is something new, but unbelievably fun. Especially when she becomes violent.

Damon turns his look to Stefan before he asks, "Why did you not tell me little Gilbert girl got so hot?" which earns him another punch from Rebekah, this time in the stomach.

Stefan chuckles again before his face expression gets serious and he shakes his head. "Saying Elena Gilbert is hot is equal to having some weird fetish. Next thing you know your only fuck buddy is Yasmin, half priced call girl with Adam's apple."

Rebekah laughs quietly, but at the same time rolls her eyes at Stefan's comment. The same confusion from before appears on Damon's face, "Aren't the two of you friends?"

Stefan shakes his head as he prays for Rebekah to stop planting kisses on his brothers neck before he pokes his eyes out, "We were friends."

Damon pulls a grin across his face, "Little brother, you're looking at all the wrong assets," Rebekah's fist flies to his chest again, but this time, he stops it with his open palm, "She is tall, and most of her body are her legs. She has a tiny waist, and from what I've been able to see, a flat stomach. Her chest is pretty decent to, and she's cute in the face. Basically, she looks like she jumped out of the Victoria's Secret ad. Can you please explain to me what's not hot about that?" he asks, and he can feel Rebekah's glare on him.

Stefan thinks about his brothers words, and when he realizes he's right, he rolls his eyes. "Fine, maybe she's attractive, but she's still annoying as hell," he spits out.

"Oh?" Damon asks curiously as he pulls Rebekah closer to himself.

"She's a know it all, she always thinks she's right, she has to have a last word, she always has a comeback ready and she never shuts up!" Stefan says infuriated when he remembers everything that annoys him about that little, and now that his brother pointed out, extremely good looking creature.

Damon laughs out loud. "So, she's like you," he says through a laugh.

Rebekah bursts into laughter at Damon's words. Stefan looks at him, offended he would do such a comparison. Him and Elena are nothing alike.

"Ha-ha-ha," Stefan says sarcastically, "Very funny."

Damon's laughter calms down before he says, "It is, actually, since you said, after you found out you can't marry mom, Elena is the only girl you would ever consider marrying," he says smugly, knowing it would put his brother in the uncomfortable position in front of Rebekah.

And he was right. Damon maybe did not know what went down between Elena and Stefan, but he does know his little brother. And if there are things Stefan doesn't want to talk about, he won't discuss them, not even with the person he cares the most about in this world.

Stefan can feel his cheeks blush slightly as he tries to avoid locking his look with Rebekah's.

"And you," Damon says as he squeezes Rebekah's hips, "Just because I notice other girls does not mean I do not appreciate your assets," his lips collide with hers for a moment.

"Yeah?" she says, pulling her lips into a smile even before she detaches them from his.

"Yes," Damon nods against her head, "I love you assets," he says in a sweet voice while squeezing her butt, and she giggles.

Stefan makes a gagging sound before he says, "I think I'm going to be sick."

The moment Elena takes her book and falls on the living room sofa, the phone rings. She rolls her eyes, knowing she has to get up and answer it, since there is no one else in the house.

"Hello," she says sweetly as she answers the phone.

"'Lena?" she hears Aprils unusually pleasant voice on the other side of the line.

Elena, knowing her little cousin well, snaps at her, "What do you want, you little troll?" She knows April uses her sweet, childlike voice only when she needs something.

"Rude much?" April yells, but then exhales and her voice goes back to being sweet, "Can't I just call my big cousin because I miss her?" she tries to suck up to Elena.

But Elena knows better than to fall for that. She rolls her eyes, "Quit pretending," she says tiredly.

April lets out a loud sigh, "Fine! I need a favor."

A grin appears on Elena's face. She's going to enjoy this. "Oh?" she says shortly before she bites into an apple she picked up from the bowl on the coffee table.

"Remember that boy I told you about?"

"Mhm."

"Well, he asked me out!" April says excitedly.

Elena chokes on her apple. Her 12 year old cousin has a better love life than she has.

"And?" she sounds to try uninterested. And not jealous at all.

She wants to be a 12 year old girl going on dates.

"Mom said I can go, under one condition. I need a chaperon. Of course, she offered herself," Elena hears the disappointment in Aprils voice.

"What's the problem then?"

"Honestly, would you like your mom chaperoning your first date?"

Elena chuckles. "Good point," she says, even though she would like her mom to just be here, even if she insists on taking her on a date. She would gladly share that experience with her, even if the guy would probably never call again.

"So," April prolongs that small word, and Elena knows this is where the favor part comes, "She said the only other option is you."

Elena chokes on her apple for a second time. "You want me to babysit you during your date?"

April exhales tiredly, maybe even disappointed, "Better you than my mom."

Elena expected her to make some offensive comment about how this is probably her only chance to go on a date, but April skipped that part, which convinced Elena this really means a lot to her. And as much as April was annoying, she deserves to have a normal first date.

"Fine. When and where?"

AN: I promise there will be no triangle or Elena developing feelings for Damon.