CHAPTER 3

(Rebekah's point of view)

Rebekah fumbled with her golden locks as Elena showed her the school. She really did hate to compel the girl to show her around. Rebekah had honestly hoped that after her polite introduction and flirtatious behaviour that this delightfully interesting creature would offer to give her a tour. Something about this generation was so self-centred and self-absorbed, and she hardly had enough time to deal with it.

They walked around the school, Elena showing her the places where her and her friends liked to sit, the gymnasium, the library, the music room, the art room and the science labs. The truth was Rebekah cared little for the polite introduction to the school

She was honestly more interested in this girl, Elena. So unaware of her potential, so unaware of everything she could accomplish. Yet so unbelievably mesmerising that it took all of Rebekah's resolve to pull her eyes away from her lips. She looked so much like her… Like Katherine. But she was much gentler, much more subdued; and it suited her features well… THEIR features well. Rebekah couldn't bother with the distinction, they were all the same to her.

Correction, they had all seemed the same to her, but this one was different.

This doppelganger had hopes, and dreams that spread far beyond this town, beyond Mystic Falls. Why did everything horrid begin in this place? It was wretched and it cast such an ominous feeling. But then again Rebekah had just spent almost a hundred years in a box; a hundred year slumber riddled with nightmares and dreams, but mostly nightmares.

Klaus needed to placate her unbridled desire to rip his heart out through his ass. He used to be such a good brother… Such a caring, considerate brother. Charming really, with his odd lopsided smile. Too charming. Charming to the point where the thought of him driving an ash tipped dagger through her heart, had made it break a little bit.

Niklaus had always been her favourite brother… He was always so isolated from the five, always labelled the 'Half-breed' and Rebekah knew how much that had haunted him. The poor soul that he was, always to be an outcast, separated from the rest of them. Rebekah never said it, but she too had also felt an indignant sense of distance between her and the rest of her brothers. She was the only girl of course.

And as such, many of the issues that plagued her in her human life followed her into her immortal one. Like her need to be loved, her inevitable miscalculation when it came to the demanding and yet fleeting hearts of men. It had taken her almost a thousand years to figure out her problem: MEN.

Rebekah turned to Elena and asked her if she could walk her to her locker, and Elena happily obliged. Elena took the piece of paper with a neatly scrawled 1347 on it, and began her march through the school. They treaded through the gymnasium, which looked like it had been stampeded through. Elena made small talk, although Rebekah could sense that there was something on Elena's mind that she wasn't saying… They stopped in front of locker 1347 and Elena went rigid.

"Elena, I know we've only just met," Rebekah began, "But I do pick up on involuntary subtleties in your demeanor that suggests that something is awry." She reached out and laid a hand on Elena's stiff shoulder, only to have the rigid girl retreat further…

"Elena," She said turning the girl to face her, "Tell me what's wrong." Rebekah's eyes bore into Elena's causing every hair on her arms to stand on end. Compelling humans was something Rebekah had to get back into the swing of, she hadn't been doing it for a hundred years. But Rebekah didn't have to compel Elena to explain as the girl burst into tears.

"This was my mother's locker." Elena blubbered through sobs. 'Shit', Rebekah thought inwardly, 'Now I've got a crying teenage girl…' Rebekah didn't really know what to do. Human emotion didn't evade her, no. She felt, and understood many human emotions, she just wasn't sure which one she was supposed to be seeing here… Elena's body sank down to the floor so she was sitting in a half-kneel position on the floor.

She was a mess honestly. Rebekah crouched down next to her, and rubbed her fingertips on her back in a slow circular motion, willing the tears to stop flowing from Elena's eyes. She hated this part of being human… The inability to stop feeling whenever she saw fit, Rebekah relished in that ability now.

"Today is three years, since my family drove over Wickery Bridge…" Elena mumbled quietly once the tears had dissipated. Rebekah felt a familiar twinge in her own heart. She knew this pain, she knew it in multitudes far greater than this human could fathom.

"I lost my mum too." Rebekah said getting a little bit closer, wrapping her arm around Elena's shoulder. "It's hard growing up without one, adjusting to life- accepting death," Rebekah said, knowing that Elena wouldn't suspect that it was literal, "But you have to move on, and accept what has happened." Rebekah said resting her chin on the top of Elena's head. Rebekah lashed herself inwardly, it was over a thousand years since she had been turned and she still hadn't moved on, or accepted her mother's death; and here she was telling this human to get over it all in three…

"It's all hard, life is just hard." Elena whimpered and curled more into her. Rebekah breathed in the scent of Elena's shampoo, she felt her eyes darken as her nose smelt her humanity. Elena's pulse sent a radiating desire through Rebekah, and it took almost all of her willpower not to lean her head down and bite ever so gently into the unsuspecting girl's jugular. It honestly was of no concern to her that they were in the middle of a school hallway where anyone could see them.

But she restrained herself. She had to find a balance of self-control and self-indulgence, and feeding on a sobbing girl in the middle of her school's hallway was not at all subtle. Nor was it in the realm of exercising self-control. There was a time for self-indulgence, but now was not it.

She helped Elena to her feet, and led her down the hallway, back to the foyer and into the office. Rebekah sat her down in the same chair where they had just been not only an hour before. She approached the secretary, made deliberate eye contact and stated with an authoritative air:

"Call Elena's guardian, say that today was too much for her- and that it is in her best interest to go home now." Rebekah ordered, and almost instantly the secretary picked up the phone. Rebekah turned back to her sobbing companion, and sat next to her as the secretary recited her lines perfectly.

"Now Elena," Rebekah began tilting the brunettes head up, "Now look at me, common sweetheart…" Elena tried to wipe away her tears before she allowed her eyes to meet Rebekah's. There was something so alluring about this humans brown eyes… Like milk chocolate that you could just reach out and drown in. Rebekah chuckled, if she had to choose a way to die, death by drowning in chocolate would be it.

"You have to be brave, I know it hurts- but I promise, if it's the last thing I ever do… It will be alright." Rebekah offered, thinking about how long her own grief at the loss of her mother had lasted. And that was just her mother. Elena had lost so much more, hadn't she? Rebekah still had her brothers, Elena had no one. "It might not seem like it now, it might not seem like it for a long while, but I promise you, everything will be alright in the end." The words came out so detached from Rebekah's mouth…

If only she could believe her own words.

At that moment, a woman who looked to be in her late 20's early 30's walked in, and ran straight to Elena's side. Elena instinctively wrapped her arms around this woman and sobbed breathlessly into the nape of her neck. Reluctantly the woman disentangled Elena's arms from around her neck where they were clinging like a noose, and walked over to the counter where the secretary was. The woman whispered, unknowing that Rebekah could hear every word.

"I told the principal today that this would be too much stress for her…" She whispered heatedly, Rebekah was glad Elena had someone like this as her guardian; Opinionated and to a certain degree ruthless. "I don't care what he says, she needs mental-health days – damn, half this school needs a mental-health day." She finished signing her name next to the title of Guardian on the sign out sheet, walked over to Elena, and slung her one arm over her shoulders and prepared to hoist her out of the seat.

Rebekah watched with a bemused smirk. Humans with their preconceived notions of strength. Rebekah stood up and tapped the woman on the shoulder,

"You're really going to throw out your back if you try to lift her like that. May I?" Rebekah had interjected, sliding in to position in front of Elena's now shaking form. She bent her knees and snaked her arm underneath Elena's legs, and used her other hand to hold her in position. She lifted with her legs, knowing full well that she could have tossed Elena around like a ragdoll- But she was pretending to be human after all, and so she put on a show for Elena's guardian.

She carried Elena out to the blue Honda which sat idling in front of the school. All these small town-ers never thinking about taking the keys out of the ignition… In New York, it would have been gone faster than you could say "Don't steal my car!" Elena's guardian opened the door, and Rebekah set her down in the passenger seat gently, leading over her body to buckle the seat belt. If she hadn't been so close to the girl she might have missed it, the sound of the exhausted 'thank you' that left Elena's mouth as she pulled away.

"It's no problem sweetheart, and remember it'll be okay… You've just got to believe it will be." Rebekah said placing a chaste kiss on the top of Elena's head, "Now go home and rest, I'll see you tomorrow." And with that Rebekah shut the door and turned to walk back into the school.

"Thank you," Elena's guardian said. It was a wary tone, but thankful never the less. "Days like today are hard for her, she just doesn't want anyone else to suffer because she's in pain." The woman spoke. There was no need for it. Rebekah understood exactly what Elena was going through, there didn't need to be an explanation.

"In times of great loss, it is always wise to develop kinships with those who understand the current state you're in," Rebekah began, relief setting in on the woman's face. "Elena and I are akin in this, the sense of loss. She has someone to look out for her, she has you, and her friends-" and me, she wanted desperately to add, but refrained. "You need to find someone who can look out for you. Teenagers are no easy task." Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and marched herself back into the school, back into the office.

She stood at the counter momentarily and looked at the sign out sheet. Next to Elena's name, under the title guardian was the name Jenna Sommers scrawled neatly inside the box. Rebekah wondered how Jenna fit into the equation… She leaned over the counter and got the attention of the secretary, she looked hard into her eyes, willing this woman to do as she said, and ordered;

"Tell me everything you know about the Gilberts." – and that's exactly what the secretary did.