Chapter 4 – I get a new gig

My first night at mystic falls went by smoothly. I slept like a baby and woke up well rested. Deciding to drive to college and properly set up a schedule before checking the town I made myself a cup of coffee and munched a few cookies before hopping in the shower.

I decided to look as normal as possible, knowing that the small town gossip would feature me on its front page. I got dressed in a denim skirt that hit a bit below mid-thigh, a modest, halter, sky blue top and a pair of brown kitten heeled sandals. I applied some basic, soft makeup, grabbed my bag and keys and after some debating I left the Book at home.

I drove through the quiet, early morning traffic smiling to myself when I passed the town limits and headed to college. Virginia State university is located about thirty minutes out of town and if I'm lucky, I might just be able to schedule my classes so I'll be able to have them together either mornings, or afternoons.

The campus was big, with an enormous yard and surprisingly easy to get around. After an hour of visiting buildings and schools and thirty minutes of finding me an advisor I finally had a course schedule. It included my love of English and Education, Hospitality management, a couple psychology courses. Following my course lead from Seattle State University I combined three schools in one Major and two possible minors. I only hope the demon activities around here are not as busy as San Francisco.

I left the campus almost three hours later armed with my student ID and parking permit, an armful of student guides and information about my various classes (as if I didn't already own all of them) and last but not least, a slight headache and bubbling excitement. Sure I am a sophomore but, like dad said, it's my first solo time! Smiling I took a picture of my student ID and sent it to both mom and dad laughing when I got a picture of a tall stack of pancakes bathed in golden syrup from mom (my favorite back to school breakfast) and a picture of a no drinking and driving poster from dad.

Singing to 'Shake your tail feather' from 'Band from TV' I pulled into the high school's parking lot. For my education classes I needed to shadow an English or Literature teacher for the semester as part of my term paper (thank you 2 years of AP classes in all my schools). I parked in one of the few empty slots and almost crashed.

The car I had parked next to was a shiny silver Volvo. Its plates read 57E 6D3. Edward's Volvo.

"Perfect. Just fucking perfect. From all the small towns in the entire continent they show up here"

I let my head fall back against the head rest, tired, annoyed and most of all betrayed. The note I found at their house rang to my ears and I shook my head to clear it.

I'm not the same scared, useless kid they knew three years ago. I've grown up. I've matured. I'm the new fucking Charmed one!

With that motivational pep talk I got out of my car, locked it, barely resisted the urge to slice the Volvo's tires and walked inside the school. The sun was hidden behind a thin layer of clouds. How could they be outside?

I let the general feel of slight happiness as students either groaned about being back to school or were grinding against lockers, cheer me up and walked to the headmaster's office to talk about my assignment.

He saw no problem with me observing and assisting as long as I didn't disrupt any lessons and sent the secretary to call the English/History teacher who was also the football coach, before returning to the sports section of his newspaper. And here i thought that history teacher's only coached teams in Tower Prep!

Mt. Tanner showed up, looked at me from head to toe, decided 'I was too young but whatever' and had me following him to class. History, junior year. I resisted the urge to groan, I hate history! We walked in together, in a fairly large classroom. Looking around the first thing I saw was a copper head I know too well and a cooling fan.

I smiled to myself and pulled my hair up before walking fully inside the door making a point to stand in front of the fan and turning it on.

"...and this is Bella Swan. She's here from the university to assist. respect her"

he ordered. five heads snapped up at my name and at the fan hitting me from behind. I gave an angelic smile.

"Hello class"

Mr. Tanner sat at the large chair behind the teacher's desk and I pulled a chair to sit near him. He began hassling students about grades and jocks, I crossed my legs and took a moment to observe the students. The brunette who kissed me the other night was a mega jock and named appropriately, Tyler. By him sat the blond guy that the girl from my vision 'prayed' at the other night, also a jock, named Matt. behind them sat a dark skinned girl with the same high cheek bones and straight nose as the witch I had killed at the Nexus. I'll have to keep an eye out for her. Next to her sat a cute blond who acted ditzy and made a point to file her nails during class. On the seat in front of her sat a pretty girl with long straight brown hair. The girl from my vision or one of them at least. she leaned in Edward's arms who looked like the deer he usually eat and whose mouth, while half closed seemed to run a mile. the rest of the Cullens sat on the other end of the classroom. Alice looked and felt shocked, Jasper felt remorse, Emmett happy and excited and Rosalie... waves of happiness came escaped her.

I frowned. Weren't these the same people that left that note? I'd expect anger not happiness. Then I noticed that 'vision girl' kept throwing longing glances to a guy sitting in the front. spiky light brown hair, emerald green eyes. The rescuer guy from the bridge. the one who pulled her out and walked away in my vision. In turn he would look at her with equal longing as well, when he didn't send wondering glances at Jasper.

Weird and weirder...

"Once our home state of Virginia joined confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the union."

Mr Tanner droned on. This man has the most boring voice ever. I could feel my eyes drift shut and every now and then I'd pinch myself just to remain awake.

"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?"

"Um..a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

The dark skin girl, Bonnie, tried to save. I had to suppress my snicker while the rest of the class laughed loudly.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett. Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"It's ok, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it."

I was staring at the teacher. Boring he may be, but he sure has a way of insulting his students. Not that I mind, at least I'm not fighting sleep anymore

"Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?"

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know."

Vision girl, Elena, stuttered as her eyes looked at Edward silently asking for protection. However he was looking at me, probably holding his breath as well.

"There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians"

Vision savior guy spoke up

"That's correct. Mister . . .?"

"Salvatore. Stefan Salvatore"

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

"Distant"

"Well, very well. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle"

"Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner."

The whole class snickered. Elena looked at him with admiration, Jasper's mouth rose in a smile. My eyes returned to Stefan. Too fast reflexes and knows his history.

After class ended I was given a schedule by the teacher and left the lot in a hurry. Mostly I wanted to put distance between myself and the Cullens and secondly I needed to find out what is wrong with this town. Nexus. Witches. Cold ones. Something draws a lot of supernatural creatures here and my gut told me that this is only the beginning.

I decided to stop by the library and check the city's records and notable history. Found ziltch. Then I remembered the city hall and the founder's archives where with a few smiles and my student ID from college I was left alone in the archives.

Personal gain or not, I made a quick magical copy of everything and left. Most probably I will not need them but better safe than sorry. After dinner, I sat on my porch and went through everything.

Something sketchy had happened during the battle of willow creek.