Jeremy's expression morphed instantly from shocked back to pissed off as he snapped, "Why are you here?"

Damon chuckled and replied vaguely, "The school called the house." His gaze sharpened and he pinned the teenager with a hard look, "And don't try to change the subject. Why did there have to be a call in the first place?"

Jeremy opened his mouth to reply but he was cut off by the blonde man clearing his throat.

Damon turned to look at the other man and gave him a onceover. He was tall- at least a good four inches taller than Damon himself- with short, sandy blonde hair, stubble lined his strong jaw, he had incredible stormy blue eyes, his body was nicely sculpted with strong looking arms and he was very, very attractive.

As Damon ogled, the man before him held out his hand as he introduced himself, "Hi I'm Alaric Saltzman, Jeremy's history teacher. And you're... Jeremy's older brother?"

Both Damon and Jeremy snorted at the teacher's unsure words and shot each other a glance immediately after.

Damon smirked at the taller man and shook his head, shaking his hand at the same time, "I'm not the kid's brother; I'm just his guardian right now."

Alaric's confused expression only worsened, "Okay... What's your name again?"

Damon gasped, "Ah! Sorry about that. Damon Salvatore, nice to meet you."

"Alright Damon, how about we take a seat and talk?"

Damon dropped gracefully into another seat, just barely restraining the urge he had to put his feet up on the desk- old habits die hard. Alaric pulled out the chair from behind his desk and sat directly facing Jeremy and Damon, a serious expression settling over his features.

Damon shifted a little in the seat and grinned a little bit, trying to dissipate the tense atmosphere that had suddenly settled in the room, "So this is the part where you tell me what this little punk did to get me called in here, right?"

Alaric sighed, "Yeah... Today during lunch I was taking a walk outside because I had a free period and wanted some fresh air. I was walking by the football field when I noticed Jeremy by the bleachers. ...He was taking pills. And they definitely weren't allergy medication or anything like that."

The easy grin on Damon's face melted away in an instant as Alaric finished the story and his expression turned stormy as Alaric tagged on, "He also hasn't handed in any assignments for this class in two weeks."

Damon inhaled deeply and let the breath out long and slow to try and calm himself down before he whipped around to face Jeremy, "Pills?! Are you kidding me, Jeremy?"

The teen in question sunk further into his seat under Damon's ferocious glare, as though he hoped he could disappear. No such luck.

Before Damon could say anything else Alaric drew his attention again, "I've only been working here for a few weeks after Mr. Tanner quit but I heard about what happened with Jeremy last month. I wanted to talk to Jeremy's guardian before I did anything else."

Damon nodded and turned back to Jeremy, "You almost got expelled a month ago, you idiot! And you feel like now is a good time to take up pill popping?"

Jeremy grumbled, "It was just a couple of pills, what's the big deal? They weren't even that strong. And don't pretend to care you care about what I do, you only ever talk to me to nag."

Damon rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder at the history teacher, who was watching the exchange curiously, "I feel bad for you, having to deal with so much teenage angst every day."

Alaric chuckled and waved for them to continue.

"I only 'nag' at you, Jeremy, because it's the only way I can seem to get two words out of you. If you remember, I tried to be nice but somebody shut me down."

The brunette teen scoffed, "Only because you didn't mean it! You only took me in because Jenna and Elena practically forced you to."

Damon groaned in exasperation, "I took you in because I wanted to, you little punk! If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly the most sociable guy in Mystic Falls; I wouldn't have agreed to take you in if I didn't want you there."

Jeremy looked stunned by the revelation- hell, Damon himself was surprised he'd revealed that- and stayed quiet.

Taking advantage of the break in conversation, Alaric cut in, "As much as I'm glad you two seem to be working some things out, we do need to get back to the matter at hand. Jeremy, if any other teacher had caught you with those pills today you would've been in the principal's office and expelled before you even knew what happened. I'm willing to help you Jeremy, you don't seem like a bad kid, but if this is going to keep happening then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."

Jeremy opened his mouth to say something but Damon cut him off, "Oh don't worry, I can guarantee this won't happen again. I'll keep a much closer eye on him from now on, Ric."

The taller man blinked at the sudden nickname, "Ric?"

"Yeah, Ric. Y'know as in Alaric?"

"Okay... But if this happens again, seriously I can't-"

"No, no I promise that our little Gilbert won't do anything like this again. And I'll make sure he starts doing his homework too."

Damon gestured for Jeremy to stand which he did immediately and then made a beeline for the door. Before he could reach it, however, Damon caught him by the back of his hoodie and yanked him back to his side.

"I think you forgot something, Jeremy."

The fifteen year old moaned, "What?"

"Thank Ric for not letting you get your ass expelled today."

"Damon!"

The older man levelled him with a firm look and cocked an eyebrow. Jeremy held his gaze for a moment before he gave up and mumbled, "Thanks, Mr. Saltzman."

The teacher grinned in amusement and chuckled, "No problem Jeremy. But you really need to start doing better in your classes or else you're going to be in real trouble when exams come around, I mean it. From what I've seen in your records from a couple of years ago you're actually quite a good student, I don't want to see you get held back next year."

Jeremy nodded and Damon pushed him lightly towards the door, "Go get whatever you need from your locker, I'm just gonna talk to Ric for a couple of minutes. I'll meet you at the car; I parked over by the football field."

And there we have it, Alaric and Damon have officially met! Thanks to everyone who's faved, followed and reviewed this so far, I'm glad you're enjoying the story. :) As per usual thank you for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.