Stefan

I looked to see her reaction. She had a smile showing her perfect white teeth. I could tell she liked it. I tugged on her hand a little more. "Come on, sit." I say.

She sits down crisscrosses her legs, placing her hands in her lap. "This is beautiful," I heard her say softly. So softly I almost didn't hear her.

Elena looks to me and I can't help but just smile at the sight of her. I never truly saw her. I always just saw her as the nerdy girl I grew up with. But then I went to Texas and I don't know what changed me, but something did. "Yeah, it is," I say, not taking my eyes off of her.

She blushes and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. I look at the town lights and practically zone out. "You ready for school?" I heard her ask.

I look over to her and nod. "Yeah, I mean. I know everyone has been talking about me, so it probably died down a bit. But I also know that soon enough, it's going to be like I never left." I laugh.

Elena laughs too and I think I just heard my new favorite sound. "I wouldn't be able to handle it. Everyone talking about me." She says.

I shake my head. "It's not particularly the best thing to happen," I tell her. I stretched out my legs in front of my from bending them to rest my elbows.

She stretches her legs out too and crosses them at the ankles. "How about lets not talk about our crappy little town?" She said with a giggle. "Have any relationships in Texas? Because we all know here you would never be caught dead in a relationship," She jokes.

I scoff and shake my head. "No relationships. Yeah I mean Texas changed me but I just haven't found anyone worth being with," I tell her the truth. She's the first person that makes me feel comfortable telling the truth to. I never open up to people.

She nodded and turned to face me. "If it makes you feel better, I haven't either," She said with a shrug.

I look into her beautiful brown eyes that even glistened in the darkness. "Any guy would be lucky to have you. Me? Girls only want me for one thing," I say, a little sadness hinted in my voice.

She caught on to what I was saying and straightened up. "That's not true." She says, trying to reassure me. I looked into her eyes for a few seconds and felt myself leaning forward like there was something pulling me to wrap my arms around her and kiss her.

She jerked away when she started to lean in and ran a hand through her hair. "Um, I think we should get back. People will probably start wondering where we went." She says and stands up, wiping the grass or dirt from her jeans.

I nodded and stood up as well. We walked back and made our way back out to the party. Everyone wasn't paying attention, they were either drunks, talking or making out. The rest of the night I couldn't help but keep feeling that pull towards Elena. Every time I saw her I just wanted to grab her and kiss her.

But I really don't think that's appropriate right now.

•••••••••••••••••••

It's Monday and I'm dreading school. Already. I didn't even get there yet. I'm currently sitting in my brother's truck at the last light until we get to the school. I'm going to have to go to the office and get my schedule and since I'm not five, I have to go alone.

We pull into Damon's parking spot since last year and he hops out while I wait a second before opening the door. I could feel the eyes on me already. Normally, I would be welcoming the attention toward me but now, I feel like I want to just crawl under a rock and never come out.

I walked side by side with my brother to the two front doors. There were girls ogling over us, the Salvatore brothers that everyone seems to love, and guys shooting daggers. I tried not to take offense to that.

We reached the doors and Damon stopped. "I got to go this way. Have fun, little brother," He said, patting my shoulder that didn't have the backpack strap on it. I pulled on the strap, feeling the backpack press against my back a little more.

I started for the office and it was like I never left. I first of all, knew exactly where I was going and second of all, everyone said hi to me. There wasn't really any whispering, maybe occasionally but that's to be expected even if I didn't leave. I got there and secretary recognized me right away. She liked me, even with the amount of time I waited with her before going getting in trouble by the principle.

I smiled as she smiled. "Look who it is!" She said to no one in particular. The rest of the staff's heads turned and they just smiled and shook their heads before returning their attention back to whatever they were working on.

"Hey, Mrs. G." I say as I walk to her desk. "I'm not here to wait though. I'm here for my schedule." I tell her with my best smile that I use on adults.

She shook her head and laughed. She rummaged through a couple folders before stopping. "Ah, here you are, Mr. Salvatore," She said, handing me the piece of paper that I used to already have thrown away or lost somewhere in my backpack. "Now, I hope I don't see you again, unless it's in the hallways where you're not getting into trouble," She warned.

I nodded and kept my smile. "You got it," I say, turning on my heel to walk out. As I rounded the corner to where my locker was, I bumped into someone.

I looked down and see Elena. Her hair in a carefree messy ponytail, which is what most girls would die to perfect. Her brown eyes are glistening as she looks up at me and she's clutching a Starbucks paper coffee cup in one hand and a textbook in the other.

I break out of my trance in case she sees me staring. "I'm sorry," I say quickly. It was then that I realized she was pressed up against my front. It was instinct to me to reach out and catch something and that something turned out to be Elena. My arm was around her waist and my hand was placed on the small of her back. Oh, how I wish I could do this everyday.

She smiled up at me. "It's okay. I wasn't looking." She apologized as well. I let go of her and stepped back. "Did you get you schedule yet?" She asked.

I nodded and held up the piece of paper. She took it out of my hand and read over it. "We have History, English and French together," She said. "Oh and gym," She added while she read it one more time.

I smiled at her because I was genuinely happy I could see her everyday. "Cool. I just need to head to my locker and since we have English together and that's our first period, want to meet somewhere?" I asked her with a bit of uneasiness. I didn't know if she was going to say yes or say something like, 'I have a boyfriend and he walks with me.' If that was what had been said, I'd probably die right there on the floor.

Fortunately, she didn't say that. "I'd like that," She told me as she smiled, showing off yet again her perfect white teeth.

I nodded. "Okay, lets meet at the end of the hallway where the English room is. The end where the water fountain-" I started and she cut me off like she knew exactly what I was going to say.

"The water fountain sprays you and makes you look like you just pissed your pants," And she did know exactly what I was going to say.

I laughed and nodded. "They still never fixed it?" I asked. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I don't think they're even going to fix some of the toilets that still don't flush." She said jokingly.

I laughed. We started walking without realizing and before we knew it, I was at my old locker. Which meant my locker was right next to hers. "Oh, so they gave you your old locker back?" She asked. "No one's been there since," She said.

I watch her open her locker and put the textbook inside so it leaned against the wall. "Nice. That might mean my engraving is still in it," I say. I look in the locker and there it was. 'Stefan Salvatore '19' it read since that was the year I'll graduate.

Elena giggled. "I remember when you did that. I had all your friends covering my locker so they could see." She said with an eye roll.

Yeah. That happened quite a few times. And she got mad every single one of them. It was time to go to homeroom so we said our goodbyes and left. We still met at the spot and then walked into class together. Caroline Forbes had already saved a seat for Elena and Katherine was behind Caroline. I chose the seat in front of Elena, since it was the last seat open anyway.

I didn't want to show that I noticed, but I saw both Katherine and Caroline give Elena questioning looks while also having smirks on their faces. I looked at the front where the teacher, Ms. Slater, was writing whatever the lesson was about on the board. The last time I was in here, I was probably chatting up one of the cheerleaders while also earning a scowl from Ms. Slater because I wasn't paying attention.

Now, my eyes are only focused on the front. Although my ears, they keep perking up whenever a question or comment is directed toward Elena. As soon as I hear her name, I tune in.

The final bell rang indicating you're late for class if you were in the hallway still. "Hello, class. Today, we're going to be starting a new book." Ms. Slater started. There were some groans and I tired to hold back my smirk because that used to be me.

Her eyes traveled over the class and then landed on mine. "Mr. Salvatore. I heard you were back with us," She said. I couldn't tell if she was upset by that or amused.

I nodded. "Back and better than ever," I say, intending it to be joke and the class laughed softly.

Ms. Slater just shook her head, trying to hold back a smile. No matter how much of pain in the ass I was, teachers loved me. "Alright, so we are going to be reading…" Than the lesson kind of got boring.

•••••••••••••••••••••

Before lunch when Elena and I were at our lockers getting books so we could go right from lunch to whatever class we had after it. "What are you doing after school?" I asked out of nowhere.

She turns her head to look at me. Her eyes searching mine, probably trying to see if I actually care. Which I do. "I have a soccer game." She said. "Against Richmond," She says and my eyebrows immediately lifted. Richmond high school was our rival throughout everything. Sports, clubs, everything. "We've been undefeated with them." She tells me, a sound of pride hinting in her voice.

I smiled. "Of course you guys are. They suck ass," I say. I'm not necessarily talking about the teams themselves just the one person that comes to mind when Richmond is mentioned. Dean Matthews. The all-star wide receiver over there. He was a huge dick.

Elena laughed as she closed her locker. I closed mine after and we started walking toward the lunchroom. As we were walking, Elena started to say something but someone coming in between us rudely interrupted her. "Hey, Stefan," I heard a high voice that practically made my ears bleed.

I looked down, Elena had to look down too because the girl was that short. Elena was short and she still had to look down. Or, that may be my 6-foot figure talking. "Hi?" I say, it coming out as more of question.

She peered up at me through her eyelashes. Her hand went to my bicep and softly squeezed it as if it would turn me on. Uh, no. "I was wondering if you needed any help getting caught up with your work," She said. "Because I can be a great teacher when I want to be," She told me with a wink.

Elena looked up at me. "I'm going to go. Caroline and Katherine are waiting. I'll see you later," She said and quickly walked away before I could say anything to make her stay.

I listened to the girl talking to me. I'm pretty sure she told me her name but I couldn't really understand her when my mind was distracted. Elena was going to think I was turning back into the old me. I don't want to turn back into the old me and I sure as hell don't want her thinking that.

At lunch I ate with Tyler, my brother and some of the football guys. The rest of the day I still thought about Elena. I decided I'd go to her game and see her play and after, I'd clear things up.

Damon came to my locker to wait. "It's alright. I'm going to stay and watch the girls soccer game." I say. I'd probably call him after the game anyway to come back and get me.

His brown inverted. "You are? Why?" He asked. "I mean, what has you interested in girls soccer." He says.

I shrug as I put books in my backpack and closed my locker. Elena wasn't there because she had to be in the locker room to get ready for the game. "Oh. I understand now." He said with a smirk. I look at him in confusion. "Elena." He said.

I look away as we start walking to the doors leading outside toward the turf field. "It totally is Elena. Damn, never seen you like this." He told me. "The way you're blushing a little, you looking away because you're avoiding telling the truth." He says. "I'll stay and watch. Plus, Katherine plays. I'd like to see her on the field." I look at him quickly.

"Look who has the crush now," I say as we start walking to Damon truck to put our bags in there.

Damon shook his head and we started walking back toward the field where the girls were warming up. "No crush. Just interested." He says.

We see the bus pull up with the black letters printed on the yellow paint spelling out, RICHMOND HIGH SCHOOL. Not long after, a pickup truck pulls up behind it and parks in a spot. A guy jumps out with another guy circling around from the passenger seat.

I stiffen as I see who it is. Damon sees me looking and also notices. Dean fucking Matthews. Of course. I thought. "Oh, shit." Damon muttered.

He and his butt buddy, Ryan Garner, wait outside the open doors of the bus. When a girl comes out, Dean grabs her by the wrist and spins her to face him. He moves his hands down to her ass and grasps and as he pulls her in for a kiss.

I roll my eyes in disgust. I see them exchange a few words before another kiss and then the girl catches up with her team. I turn away, leaning against the fence that wraps around the field and the track.

Damon does the same, knowing that staring at the two assholes will only draw attention to us. I moved my eyes around the girls in maroon until my eyes found Elena. Number 11. Her ponytail was high and her shorts had to be rolled up at least once. She was juggling the ball before blasting it into the net, sending it past the goalie. The ball moved so fast I barely saw it.

She turned away and reached her arms up to stretch her body. Katherine came up to her, nodded at us with her head and Elena turned. Both Damon and me smirked and waved. She blushed and turned back to Katherine who smiled widely.

We looked at each other and laughed as well. "Salvatore brothers together again." We heard.

Fuuuuuck.

Damon and I both turned. "Matthews. Garner." My brother greeted bitterly. Dean smirked.

His eyes moved to me. "Didn't expect to see you back here anytime soon," He says, nodding his head toward me.

I licked my bottom lip and crossed my arms over my chest. "Didn't expect to see you on my turf unless you wanted your ass kicked." I say.

He chuckles. "Hey, I'm just hear to watch my girl." He said, holding his hands up in fake surrender. I rolled my eyes and turned around to face the field where the girls were in their positions. I'm guessing our team lost the coin toss because they're starting with the ball.

I saw Elena and another girl at the center of the field with the ball in between them. The whistle blew and the ball was passed to Elena. She took it easily with her feet and started forward. A defender coming onto her didn't stop her. She made a quick move and passed back to the left midfielder.

I might have been a football player but I was a fan of all sports so I knew a lot about soccer. The left midfielder held it at her feet for a few dribbles and crossed it across the field. The ball soaring over everyone's head. It landed at the other teams feet. The girl that was being devoured by Matthews.

The girl carried it, ignoring her teammates calling for her to pass to them. Katherine stepped up as center defender and swiped the ball from her in one move. She passed it up to one of the center midfielders who then passed it out wide. Elena was wide open, yet nowhere near offside. The left midfielder looked up and saw her; she nodded her head to Elena and then sent it up her way.

Elena took it with ease then started dribbling up. Soon, it was just her and one other defender who she easily got around. She positioned herself to kick it and then it soared into the top right corner, right over the goalies head.

Elena ran back where all the girls hugged her, creating this group hug in the center of the field. I smiled to myself. The girls got talent.

I look to my right and see a familiar man standing with his arms crossed, smiling. He had a little girl next to him who looked up at him. He picked her up and smiled as he pointed to Elena and said something. Then I realized that's Elena's sister and Dad.

Her dad turned and recognized me. He started moving with his daughter in his arms. "Stefan," He said, as he got closer. I straightened up from leaning against the fence and smiled the smile I use on adults. "I heard you were back,"

I wasn't going to say that Grayson Gilbert never liked me because when I was a kid, he did. Then high school came around and I started acting out and he started to get iffy about me. "Hey, Mr. Gilbert." I say.

He smiled at me. I saw his daughter whisper into her dad's ear. He laughed lightly. "This is Stefan. A friend of Elena's." Says, it coming out like a question, as he looked me in the eye. I nodded. "She was too young to remember you," He said.

I nodded. "Yeah," I say. "Hey, Brooklyn," I say, finally remembering her name. She hides her face in her dad's neck.

"So, you came here to watch Elena?" He asked. I nod. "Are you guys talking again?" He asked again. I nodded again. "Alright." He looks me over and suddenly I'm a little uncomfortable.

He stays by my brother and I, talking to us about football or something else occasionally throughout the game. Elena scored one more time and another girl from the team scored too.

Richmond got creamed. And the look on Dean's girl's face was priceless. She was pissed. She kept sending daggers over to Elena who didn't seem to notice. Katherine and her started walking across the field after their coach talked to them and she looked over at me then at her dad. Katherine said something then started laughing and Elena rolled her eyes.

"Hey," I say as she neared us. "Nice game. Haven't seen you play in a while," I tell her. She smiles and tucks a small piece of hair that fell out of her ponytail behind her ear.

She nods. "Thanks," She says then moves on to her dad. Her all sweaty and tired makes me see her as even more beautiful.

••••••••••••••••

Hey guys! I want to say Happy Holidays to everyone and I was going to make this a holiday thing but that would be kind of weird since this is set in early spring...LOL. Okay! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!