Emily woke up with a bright smile on her face as soon as her alarm clock went off. It was the first football game of the season, which means it was the first time that Emily and the cheerleading squad would be showing their routine. Emily had always loved football season since she knew what cheerleading was. It has been a big part of her life ever since she was in junior high and got the chance to join a cheerleading squad.

Emily and Elena slowly made their way through the packed out crowd that surrounded the outside of Mystic Falls High School. Emily was dressed in her cheerleading uniform while Elena was in a denim skirt and a regular tank top. This would be the first time the two girls wouldn't be cheering together, but Emily was still excited for the first game like she was every time she stepped foot on the field.

The two girls were aimlessly walking around until it was time for the game when someone suddenly spoke up from behind them. The two sisters turned at the same time, and saw it was Stefan in a football uniform.

"Ooh. Look at you. You look hot in your jersey," Elena smiled at her boyfriend.

Emily faked gagged at her sister while Stefan smiled at the two sisters. Stefan looked at Elena up and down before he questioned, "what happened? No more cheerleader?"

"I quit," Elena commented at the same time that Emily said, "she's a quitter."

"No, hey, you're not a quitter," Stefan consoled Elena as he grabbed her hands. Stefan glanced over at Emily before he kept his gaze on the brown eyed Gilbert, "you both suffered a great loss. You're not the same person. You should be looking ahead. You should be starting over. Okay?" Emily couldn't help but smile at Stefan's word. She was glad that her sister had someone in her life that cared and protected her like Stefan did. Emily always knew from the beginning that Stefan was one of the good guys.

Once Elena nodded her head with a smile, Stefan pulled out two small boxes from his pocket. He looked at the two girls in nervousness before he spoke, "I hope you two don't think this is too weird, but I, uh, I wanted you both to have this."

Emily looked at Stefan weirdly but carefully took the small box from his hands. When Emily opened the box, she saw the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. Emily looked up at Stefan in shock, "it's beautiful." She twitched her head to the side as she asked, "but why get me one?"

Stefan shrugged lightly with a smile, "you're Elena's sister, and I see you as a close friend. I hope you can take it as a token of our friendship."

Emily nodded her head in understanding, knowing what the necklace meant. She pulled Stefan into a surprising hug as she praised, "thank you, I love it." Emily gave the couple a smile before quickly speaking, "I'll see you two tonight. I need to go get the cheerleading squad in order," before she jogged towards the field to find her squad.

As the sun disappeared and the moon shined bright in the sky, the students of Mystic Falls High School crowded together in excitement for the first game of the year. It was time for the pre-game tradition that was led by Mr. Tanner. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," the history teacher spoke from the beginning on the small makeshift stage. "Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!" Mr. Tanner yelled. As on queue, Emily got the whole cheerleading squad to start booing which caused the whole student body to follow along.

Once it got quiet, Mr. Tanner began again, "we've got some great new talent tonight starting on offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!" Emily cheered loudly, causing everyone to follow in excitement.

"... That have been waiting for us to put a check in the win column, I have only thing to say to you. Your Timberwolves are hungry!" Mr. Tanner yelled. The crowd didn't need to be told anything before they started cheer their very loudest.

But Emily stopped cheering when she heard yells for help. She glanced around and couldn't see anything, until she glanced behind her and saw Vicki yelling for Tyler to stop. Emily softly threw her red pompoms on the ground before she jogged towards the yelling and when she did, she saw Tyler and Jeremy fighting. "Stop!" Emily yelled when she saw Tyler leaning over her younger brother and throwing punches like there was no tomorrow.

"Tyler, stop it!" Vicki cried out.

But neither boys would stop fighting each other until Stefan quickly showed up and grabbed Tyler's arm before he could slam his fist into Jeremy's bloody face again. "Hey, he's down! Enough!" Stefan yelled at Tyler. But Tyler was blind with rage and took a swing at Stefan's stomach. Tyler looked shocked when he had no effect on Stefan.

Emily went to go check on her brother, but when she turned around, she saw Jeremy grab a piece of glass from a broken bottle. "Jeremy no!" Emily yelled out, but Jeremy ignored her and went straight for Tyler. But Tyler quickly moved out of the way in mid strike, causing Stefan to get hit with the broken glass bottle.

Emily quickly walked towards Jeremy and his bloody face. "Put your head up, Jer," Emily spoke softly as she titled Jeremy's head towards the dark sky.

"I'm fine!" Jeremy yelled. "Leave me alone," he growled before stomping away from his shocked sister. Jeremy never yelled at Emily before, but she didn't take it to heart. All he was feeling was pain and rage at the moment.

Elena quickly came over to her sister as she questioned worriedly, "are you okay? And Jeremy?"

Emily sighed, "I'm fine and Jeremy will be fine. Just leave him alone for a while." Her eyes widened as she remembered, "hey, you should check on Stefan. I saw the glass cut his hand." Once Elena nodded her head, Emily touched Elena's shoulder lightly with a small smile, "I'm going to grab my jacket, I'll be right back," before she started walking towards the parking lot.

Emily quickly opened the back of Elena's trunk and grabbed her leather jacket before closing it. She slipped on the warm jacket with a sigh, but when she turned around, she jumped in fright. Damon was standing directly in front of her.

Emily chuckled lowly, "you scared the hell out of me." She twitched her head to the side as questioned, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm hiding from Caroline," Damon whispered.

"Why is that?" Emily whispered back.

"I needed a break," Damon explained, "she talks more than I can listen."

Emily shrugged lightly, "you know, that could be a sign."

"Well, she's awfully young," Damon commented.

Emily looked at Damon in confusion, "she's not that much younger than you."

Damon chuckled lowly, "I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture. I think she's drive me crazy."

Emily rose an angry eyebrow at the older Salvatore, "I'd watch what you say to me. Caroline may be difficult at times, but she's been my best friend since I could walk."

"Duly noted," Damon commented, "I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention."

Emily rolled her eyes, "yes it is. Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternative meaning behind everything you say."

Damon smiled and nodded his head, "you're right. I do have other intentions, but so do you."

"Oh really?" Emily questioned, "and what are those intentions?"

"Mm-hmm," Damon mumbled. "I see 'em. You want me," he explained.

Emily rose an eyebrow at Damon, "excuse me?"

"I get to you," Damon continued, "you find yourself drawn to me. You think about me even when you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dreamed about me." Damon stared directly into Emily's green eyes as he stated, "and right now… You want to kiss me."

Emily stared right into Damon's eyes. For some reason, she felt a pull to listen to him but when he moved closer to her lips, she finally snapped out of it and slapped Damon across his face. "Watch yourself, Damon," Emily growled out as she glared at the older Salvatore brother. "I would never kiss you. You're dating my best friend, even though talk bad about her behind her back. And I see what you're trying to do. Leave Stefan and Elena's relationship alone and don't even try to make me get in the middle of it. I will always protect my loved ones, so back down." Emily glared at Damon once last time before she stormed away from the very shocked Salvatore.

Emily sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest while she leaned against the side of Mystic Falls High School. She watched as the coroners loaded the deceased Mr. Tanner in the back of the van. Emily couldn't believe that her history teacher had gotten mauled by an animal.

Emily suddenly looked to her right when she heard someone running towards her. When she looked closely she saw it was Bonnie with tears in her eyes. Emily looked at her friend in worry as she questioned quickly, "Bonnie, what's wrong?"

Bonnie didn't say anything but she quickly pulled Emily to the side where no one would hear them. "You know, about the numbers I was seeing yesterday? 8, 14, 22? " She quickly questioned.

Emily nodded her head as she looked at Bonnie in confusion. But before Emily could say anything, Bonnie grabbed her hand and pointed towards a building. Emily looked closely and noticed it said BLDG 8. Bonnie turned Emily to another direction and pointed to a car with the license plate that had 14. The brown eyed girl then pointed next to the car, where the number 22 was painted.

Emily honestly didn't know what to say as she saw the same three numbers Bonnie was obsessed with only just yesterday. Emily turned to her friend, and saw that Bonnie had tears streaming down her face. "Oh, Bonnie," Emily spoke softly before pulled her friend into a tight hug. She pulled away and held Bonnie's face softly in her hands as explained, "you couldn't have known this was going to happen, okay?"

But Bonnie didn't say anything, all she could do was lay her head on Emily's chest as she cried silently. Emily held her friend closely as she spoke, "I'm going to drive you home and you really need to talk to Grams." When Bonnie tried to shake her head, Emily pulled away from the brown eyed girl and stared at her seriously, "Bonnie, you need help with this. I can only support you, but Grams can actually help you understand this." Emily gave Bonnie a small smile, "you will be okay, I promise."

Emily slowly made her way towards her car as she held Bonnie closely to her side. The two girls stayed silent in the car as the radio played quietly. It didn't take long before Emily finally arrived at the Bennett house. She made sure Bonnie got into her house and made sure that she was okay for the night before leaving.

As Emily finally made it home and back to her warm bed, she couldn't help but sigh deeply. She couldn't believe that such a good day, turned into a disaster. Emily didn't understand what was going on in the small town. Mr. Tanner was the second person, that she knew of, that was found with bite marks on their necks. First was Vicki, but thankfully she survived. But Mr. Tanner wasn't so lucky. Emily was glad that her siblings had made it home safely before she arrived, so she didn't have to worry about her family anymore for the night. Emily didn't know what was happening with the small town, it seemed everytime Emily turned around, something was going wrong. She just hoped it would get better, but you never know with Mystic Falls anymore.