Elena was sitting at one of the lunch tables with Bonnie and Caroline. She watched as her friends ogled the new guy, who sat by himself a couple of tables down. "You two are still gawking at the new guy?"

They both turned back to her. "Are you really not interested. He's hot," Bonnie said. Personally, she wasn't all that interested in dating him at the moment, but she did enjoy looking at him.

Caroline chuckled. "Of course, she's not. She's got her own hot, older boyfriend."

"Klaus is not my boyfriend," Elena argued. Klaus had actually been a big part of her life since he saved it. He came to see her a lot, which she appreciated. Having him around helped her deal with what happened to her parents. She could talk to him without worrying about upsetting anyone, like Jeremy and Jenna, and he didn't look at her with pity, like half the town did.

"Come on, you spend practically all your free time with him. And good for you. He's seriously hot," Caroline said.

"All we do is talk. Besides, he's much older than me. I'm sure he's not interested in me like that," Elena said. She honestly wasn't sure if she was interested in him like that. She hadn't really stopped to think about it, given everything she'd been going through in the last few months.

"Trust me, girl, no guy spends that much time with a girl he's not interested in dating," Bonnie said with a chuckle.

"Aren't you seeing him again today?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, she is. He's picking her up after school?" Bonnie said before giving Elena a knowing smile. She knew that because she'd offered to bring Elena home, but her friend informed her that Klaus would be doing it.

"Because we're friends," Elena insisted.

"Tell the truth, Elena. Do you wanna be with him?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it. I've had too much on my mind lately," Elena said.

Caroline felt like kicking herself after hearing her friend's response. Of course, Elena wasn't thinking about dating guys. She'd just lost her parents a few months ago. "Right. I'm really sorry, Elena. We shouldn't be going on about all this stupid stuff right now."

"No, don't apologize, Caroline. Life has to get back to normal for me at some point, or at least a new sense of normal. Gushing about guys is a part of that. It's just that I don't think I'm quite at the point yet where I can think about dating," Elena explained.

"Yeah, we get it, and we're sorry if all the gushing is making you uncomfortable," Bonnie said.

"It's not. It's actually making me feel normal, so please feel free to go back to your gushing and gawking," Elena said with a chuckle.

Caroline and Bonnie both smiled before going back to stare at the new guy, Stefan Salvatore.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

A few hours later, Elena was sitting in a car with Klaus. He was driving her home from school.

"Are you alright, love. You seem awfully quiet today," Klaus said.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Things went pretty good. It almost seemed normal. I think I needed that. Well, except that Jeremy is still spiraling. I'm worried about him. I'm pretty sure he was high all day. I get that things are hard for him, but he can't keep doing this. At best, he's going to ruin his life, if he doesn't end up killing himself," Elena said.

"Your brother reminds me a lot of mine," Klaus said.

"Henrik?" Elena asked.

"No. I have four brothers and sisters. Well, technically five, but my older sister died before I was born," Klaus told her.

Elena looked at him in surprise. She didn't know he had more siblings. The only sibling Klaus had mentioned until now was Henrik. She realized now that they spent most of the time talking about her and the pain she was in. She decided in that moment that she was going to make a better effort to get to know Klaus better.

"The brother I'm referring to is my younger brother, Kol. He has always been very impulsive and unpredictable. He's been like that even when there wasn't a crisis, but when there is, It's even worse," Klaus explained.

"Is Kol still alive?" Elena asked.

"Yes," Klaus told her. It wasn't a lie. Kol was technically alive because original vampires couldn't be killed. As soon as the dagger was taken out, he'd be just fine.

"Were you able to help him when he spiraled?" she asked.

"In a manner of speaking, yes, but I wouldn't recommend it for you. I went to extreme measures. I suggest you just keep doing what you already are for Jeremy, at least for now," Klaus said.

Elena nodded. "You said you had three other siblings."

"Yes, but I'm not in contact with any of them at the moment. You could say we had a falling out. It's a story for another time. Did anything else interesting happen today?" Klaus asked.

"Surprisingly, yes. We got a new student today, which almost never happens. His name is Stefan Salvatore. All the other girls were drooling all over him," Elena said in an amused tone.

Klaus was barely able to contain his surprise at hearing that name. He remembered Stefan, of course. When he knew him, Stefan was a remorseless ripper with his humanity off. Klaus had kept tabs on Stefan and knew he was no longer the same ripper he was then. That was the only reason he wasn't more concerned for Elena's safety. As it was though, he knew Stefan had a motive for showing up in the same town as the doppelganger. He knew about Stefan's relationship with Katerina, and he could only imagine that he had some sort of interest in Elena because of that. Well, if Stefan thought he was going to put one finger on his doppelganger, he had another thing coming. "Not you though?"

Elena shook her head. "No, I don't think I'm interested in a relationship just yet, and if I was, I don't think I'd choose Stefan Salvatore."

"Well, his loss then," Klaus said before pulling into the driveway.

"You wanna come in? Jenna would love to say hi," Elena said.

"Very well," Klaus said before stopping the car and getting out. Elena did the same and they went inside.

Elena led the way into the kitchen, where they found Jenna. "Hey, Aunt Jenna. I'm back."

"Hey. How'd it go?" Jenna asked as she rushed over to her niece.

"It was good. Is Jeremy home yet?" Elena asked.

"Not yet. So, I haven't gotten this whole cooking thing down yet. I was thinking of ordering pizza for dinner tonight," Jenna said.

"That sounds great," she said.

"Do you wanna stay, Klaus," Jenna asked.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to trouble you," Klaus said.

"Don't be ridiculous, Klaus. You are always welcome here," Jenna told him. Under any other circumstances, she wouldn't be happy about her niece spending time with a guy that was college aged, but Klaus was different. He saved Elena's life, and he helped her cope with her parents' dying in a way that Jenna knew that she wouldn't be able to do.

"Very well, but allow me to cook for you instead," Klaus said. It wasn't often that he cooked for anyone. No matter where he was, he typically had people to do that for him, but it didn't mean he was unable to.

"Oh, you don't have to. I can just get us takeout," Jenna said.

"No, I insist. Consider it a thank you for the invitation, and your continued hospitality," Klaus said before going to the kitchen to see what he had to work with.

Jenna leaned into Elena's ear and whispered. "I know this is completely un-parent like, and your dad would be rolling in his grave to hear me say it, but that guy is a keeper, assuming you're interested in that."

Elena chuckled before heading towards her bedroom to put her things away.