I can't keep lying to Jeremy, it's heartbreaking how much he misses Vicky.

I missed her too.

I miss having her and Matt over for dinner sometimes.

I missed bringing leftovers to Vicky's because she had the munchies.

I even miss the occasional offering of joints and beer, I always refused, but I appreciated the offer.

She was the first friend I made here, in reality, she was my only friend.

My only friend and she's never coming back.

I have to find out how she died, why she died, and, perhaps more accurately, who killed her.

She was a vampire when she died, could that be why she-?

Damon is a vampire and no one has offed him, he'd deserve it far more than Vicky.

Damon killed or at the least turned her into one, maybe- maybe Stefan killed her.

But if Stefan killed Vicky, why did he compel me to stay away

from her?

I replayed my conversation in Stefan's car in my head. He said he wasn't the one who turned her and she would have killed Jeremy and Elena.

Damon turned her, and Stefan killed her.

It was done to protect Elena, most likely.

All must be done to preserve the stunning Elena!

These thoughts plagued me all night, giving up on sleep, I decided to read to clear my mind.

And when that didn't work, I logged into Facebook.

I got 2 messages: Jacob and Angela, and a bunch of friend requests.

Jake was just asking about school, Gran if I'm okay, normal stuff.

I told him everything was fine.

Angela's was about Jesse.

Jessica said she had something for you. Her mom ordered it back when you were still friends. She wants to send it to you, but I told her I had to check with you first.

I went back and forth on if this was just some elaborate prank but decided to take a chance.

Sure.

Onto the friend requests.

I instantly accepted Matt and Jeremy.

I checked out their profile pics, Matt's was him on the field in his football attire.

Jeremy was with his parents and Elena wear her cheerleading uniform, the four of them looked so happy.

The next was a guy I never met named Royce King II, in his photo he was with a group of people including Rosalie Hale. I checked out her profile and learned that she and Royce were on the school paper, she was on beauty and advice, but still, I was impressed.

Maybe she wants to interview me so people take her seriously, Torchy Blane, I like it.

Still, it could be good to have a reporter on my side.

I accepted her request, and Royce's too I guess.

The next three requests are what threw me off: Alaric Saltzman, Dr. Francis, Jessica Stanley, and Elena Gilbert.

The doctor's request made sense, for some people, it was easier to talk through written messages.

I wanted to talk to Gran before I talked to the shrink.

Alaric Saltzman.

Why does he want to be friends with me?

I went on to Jessica.

What did Jesse want?

Had she decided- oh.

Her mom got me something, she only wanted my address. I could friend her and if she starts spewing her anti-bella rhetoric, I can unfriend her.

I accepted Jesse, but if Lauren is mentioned, I would not accept her.

Lauren can go to the way ole Yeller.

Matt, Jeremy, and Jesse: yes.

The Salt Man and The Shrink: undecided, need adult counsel before the final decision.

Last, Elena Gilbert.

I don't want to be friends with her...

Maybe it would get me closer to John Gilbert.

Maybe John Gilbert has a Facebook.

Her account was private, so I couldn't scan through her friends, we had Caroline and as mutual friends.

I scan through Jeremy's and found Johnathan Gilbert II.

I sent a message to him.

Hello, my name is Isabella Swan. I recently moved back to Mystic Falls, and I'm friends with your nephew, Jeremy. I found pictures of you and my uncle when you were my age. I'm just curious about him, and you of course.

I grimaced at Elena's request, her photo was identical to Jeremy's.

If I rejected her, I'd never hear the end of it.

But I don't want to be her friend, friend Bonnie.

Friending her friend group but not her is shady.

But I don't want to be her friend.

Bella, it's the polite thing to do.

But I don't care for her.

You sound like Lauren Mallory.

How dare you compare me to her?!

Because I know you, and that sounds like Lauren would do.

Fine, I'll be her friend.

I chose to accept Elena Gilbert's friend request.

The ringing of my phone took me out of myself.

It was Stefan Salvatore.

'Hello?'

'Bella?'

'Hello, who is this?' I said casually.

'Stefan.'

'Oh-'

'Have you seen Elena?'

Christ, we've only been friends for 30 seconds, and people are already-

'No.' I said calmly.

'Oh-'

'Well, Stefan as much as I loved to chat with you about Elena-'

'Wait, Bella.'

There was a long pause, before I sang, 'Well, Stefan, I'm waiting.'

Stefan paused, then he quietly whispered, 'Elena has been kidnapped.'

'What?'

'It just happened, it was by a vampire named Anna. Did you see anything?'

'No, do you need my help?'

'No, if Anna gets a whiff of you, she'll go crazy.'

'They could be killing Elena-'

'Damon knows something. He's talked to Anna-'

'And he got her P. O. Typical.'

'It's Jeremy's friend.'

'That Anna?!'

'Have you met her?'

'No. We have to save Elena-'

'Anna can be reasoned with, besides Damon has Emily's grimoire.'

'Ok, that's good. One question?'

'Shoot.'

'Who is Emily?'

'Bonnie's ancestor.'

'Oh, so Bonnie is a witch.'

'How did you- never mind. Anna wants the grimoire, and Damon has it.'

'Why does she want it?'

'To free Pearl from the tomb.'

'And who is Pearl?'

'Her mother.'

'Is that really-'

'There are other vampires there, some could be like Damon, and others are worst.'

'Is there a specific vampire you want to stay locked up?'

'There is a vampire, Katherine, Damon wants to release.'

''Why?'

'He's in love with her.'

'But that would imply that Damon has a heart.'

'Don't make jokes at a time like this.'

'Is this Katherine really that bad?'

'She was the one who turned us.'

'I haven't seen Elena and I never met Anna. How do know Elena's not dead?'

'Anna's obsessed.'

'No, Damon is obsessed, Anna just wants her mother.'

'Just let me know if you see Anna.'

Have you seen Elena and Bonnie? Texted from Caroline read hours later.

No. I lied.

Poor Caroline.

I've been trying to get ahold of them for the longest time, but they are once again icing me out.

Maybe.

Are you going to Duke's party?

Its always something going on in this town.

I'm coming to get you, Bella Swan. You will have fun tonight and will bring you something to wear.

My grandmother.

I will handle your grandmother.

Caroline and Matt were over an hour later with a large red trunk.

'Are we doing the thing?' I asked.

'Oh, you're doing the thing.' Matt answered as he hauled the trunk inside.

After hours of being her fashion guinea pig, Caroline took the roller out of my hair, the pore strips, and the wax off my legs.

I was finally allowed to look in the mirror, Caroline was a miracle worker.

My hair was in waves, it looked like I could be a spokesmodel for shampoo.

I had just the right amount of makeup on and it complimented my skin, gold rose eyeshadow, rosy pink blush, and nude pink lipstick.

(A/N: I don't know anything about makeup, I google what shapes would work with pale skin)

'What do you think?' she asked.

'I look like a completely different person.' I stuttered

'I know, right?' she said gleefully. 'Now on to your clothes. I've noticed that you wear a lot of neural colors-'

'Neural color?' both Matt and I gasped.

'Black, gray, and brown.'

'They're safe colors.' I replied.

'But when you wear blue, it compliments your complexion.'

'My dad always told me I looked great when I'm blue.' I joked lamely.

The dress Caroline chose for me was what she called a tie midi dress, navy blue. She partnered it with a short white cardigan and white flats.

'You look great.' Matt insisted.

'I am truly a miracle worker.'

'Bella, is that you?' Rosalie Hale asked when saw me with Matt and Caroline. 'You look so... no like you. You should share your beauty routine, I'm sure everyone will be very interested in your Cinderella-like transformation.'

I laughed at the idea of me giving beauty advice. 'You should talk to Caroline. She's the one who Barbiefied me.'

'What did Mr. Saltzman want?'

'To talk about my attack.'

Rosalie scoffed. 'Rj wrote a story about that, he could have read about it.'

'Rj?'

'Royce King II.'

'He sent me a friend request.'

'I know, rj is a bit of a pig.'

'No, I mean, yeah, but I was talking about Mr. Saltzman. He sent me a friend request.'

'Why does the mysterious new teacher want to be friends with the new kid?'

'I'll bite, why?'

'You're a bit isolated from the rest of us. You barely fraternize with the other kids, you're a predator's dream.'

'You watch too much Dateline.'

'Just be careful.'

Her concerns, amusing as they were, touched me. For the first time since we met, I looked at her.

She was statuesque, model-like with long wavy hair to the middle of her back. Her dark blue, almost violet eyes looked bewitching in the moonlight.

'I promised I will be careful.'

'Good.'

The party was uneventful, but I had fun, well as much fun as a sober person could have.

Bonnie's grandmother passed during the night, Caroline came the following morning and told me.

After the funeral, Bonnie went to stay with family. I sent her several messages on Facebook, but she didn't respond, I wasn't expecting her to.

When you lose someone you love, the pain numbs you.

Elena was safe, so that was fine.

I guess.

Not wanting to think of Bonnie's grief and Elena in general, I decided to go through the Grove Hill yearbook, and saw her, IF.

She was standing next to another girl, and they dressed like cheerleaders, Isobel Flemming and Trudie Peterson.

Trudie was slim, and she looked pretty.

I stared at the photo, then grabbed my laptop and logged onto my Facebook account.

I searched Grove Hill, liked the city and the high school, and then searched Trudie Peterson.

I sent her a message.

It was a simple message,

Hello, my name is Isabella Swan. I'm looking for information on Isobel Flemming. She was friends with my uncle, Beaufort Higginbotham, he died in the war, and I'm just curious about his life.

Isobel Flemming, I searched for her next and found a memorialized page.

She went missing, presumed dead, in 2007, her parents were still alive and lived in the same place.

Maybe I could drive over there to meet them.

Elena called and insisted I come over, she said she had a lead on her birth mother. What she told me left me speechless.

'Alaric's wife might have been your mother?' I questioned.

'It can't be true, right?' she sighed. 'I mean, the coincidence alone is just crazy.' She veered around to face me while holding up a Post-it note. 'I have the address for her friend Trudie.'

'You wanna talk to her?'

'I don't know. I...I-I don't know. If it's true and they are the same person, that means that my birth mother is dead, and I don't know if I could handle that.'

'Elena, did Jenna tell you anything about Alaric's wife?' I inquired. 'How she died?'

Elena shook her head. 'Just that she was killed and the case was never solved.'

I nodded content that he didn't mention Damon, Elena stared, surprised.

'You knew that already?'

'The night at the school when he attacked me,' I confessed, 'he told me some things about her death.'

'Well—'

'No, no.' I gently took her wrists. 'It's not possible. The coincidence is—it's too much. Now, listen, if you do decide to go talk to Isobel's friend, I'll go with you. Okay?'

She nodded. 'I just don't know what I'm gonna do yet.'

Elena wrapped her arms around my neck. 'I should get going. I gotta go deal with Damon.

'How's he doing?'

'He's dealing in his way.'