I woke up with Rachel in our bed. We probably could have had our own rooms, but we had never done that before. We could have gotten a two-room apartment when we moved but two-bedroom apartments were more expensive regardless of whether or not we could compel someone for free rent. I was more accustomed to sleeping with Rachel in my bed than I was sleeping alone. Yes she often had one-night stands and I occasionally had them, but the majority of the time we were together and that was how I liked it. I got out of bed after waking her up.
"So I touched Bonnie and she freaked out but I don't think she knows what I am." I said. "How did you know that vampires were different from other people?"
"My parents told me about them." She replied. I had met her parents. That was the same day that her parents died. They had tried to kill her and I didn't have a choice. It took her a bit to forgive me before she realized that I was right. Once parents tried to kill their children, they stopped being parents in my eyes and I was not sorry for it.
"Well Bonnie's grandma has been trying to teach her magic but I don't think she's been very interested in it." I explained. "Should I be nervous?"
"I don't think she knows what's going on yet? She's just getting her powers and maybe you can try to be friends with her so when she does find out what you are, she won't hate you." Rachel suggested. There was a possibility that she could hate me.
"So Elena and Stefan kissed last night." I told her.
"I bet you're bummed out that you didn't get to kiss her first." She replied.
"Will you stop shipping me and Elena?" I asked.
"You know you fit in perfectly with the teenage girls." She replied as I blushed. "We should get to school."
I put on a black tank top with a stud belt and a yellow and black plaid miniskirt. I decided to try something different with my makeup, mainly more of it. I put on some extra eyeliner.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"I want to change my style." I declared. "I want to be like I was in the late 80s and late 70s. You know when we did the punk and the goth things."
"You always were attracted to the darker looks." She commented. "I'm surprised that you didn't discover this earlier."
"Shut up." I said as I put on black lipstick. She put on a navy blazer with a white blouse with red pants.
"So you need to make sure you bring some clothes for cheerleading today." She reminded me.
"I still can't believe that you volunteered me for that." I told as I finished getting ready.
"You will love being a cheerleader just like me." She replied. You know I actually didn't know a lot about her life before we met. We really didn't talk about that stuff very much.
We met up with Stefan as we got to school. I noticed Matt and some guys were throwing a football around. The first thing that I wanted to do was go talk to Elena. She was with Bonnie.
"Hey Elena, Bonnie." I greeted.
"I need to go see if I can find Caroline." Bonnie remarked before she hastily exited.
"She doesn't like me very much." I said with a frown.
"She doesn't know you." Elena argued. "How about you Stefan and Rachel come over tonight to my house for dinner. Then everyone can get to know each other and it'll be good."
"Okay." I agreed.
"So you look so pretty today. Why the change in look though?" She asked.
Before I could answer the question, I noticed that a ball was flying towards me. I had overheard a little that the throw was not accidental. I quickly turned around and caught the ball. I then threw it back to them. I was pretty sure that they weren't expecting me to be able to throw it so far because a catch was not made. I couldn't help but giggle a little.
"That throw was amazing." Elena told me. "How did you learn to do that?"
"I grew up with two older brothers." I replied. I then realized what I just said. "Foster brothers I mean."
"Forget cheerleader, maybe you should be the quarterback." Rachel quipped.
"What?" Elena asked.
"Uh yeah Caroline asked us to try out for the squad." I remarked. I then looked at Rachel. "Oh and we're going to dinner tonight at Elena's house."
Later I was in my History class. Mr. Tanner was asking for dates. He definitely wasn't following a chronological curriculum. Seriously why was this guy the History teacher? He seemed pretty bad at it. He asked about Pearl Harbor.
"December 7th 1941." I answered.
"So you know when the US entered the war but I bet you don't know when the war ended." He said.
"September 2nd 1945." I replied. There was no way I could forget that day since it was the same day that I was born.
He then challenged me to even more dates…which all happened during my lifetime, ending with the Korean War which ended in 1953. I still didn't get the point of this exercise. How did this help other people learn.
"Ha. It ended in 52." He declared.
"Actually, sir, I'm positive it ended in 1953." I stated. I also knew that because it was the same day my day died.
"Look it up." He demanded.
"It ended July 27th 1953." Jeremy remarked before the bell rang. He came up to me as I was leaving. "Hey, you're Elena's friend, aren't you?"
"Yeah." I stated. I was surprised that he was talking to me. I hadn't seen him talk to anyone.
"You know you're probably the only person in this class who is as smart as I am." He replied. I didn't know he was smart. "How do you know all of that?"
"I'm a bit of a history nerd." I lied. "I need to get to class."
I couldn't believe that I just had a conversation with Jeremy. I wondered if I should tell Elena about it but I would be surprised if she believed me.
"He totally wants to fuck you." Rachel told me as she walked over to me. She didn't have an off switch.
"Just because a guy talks to a girl doesn't mean that he wants to have sex with her." I pointed out.
"Yeah but I haven't seen this particular guy talk to anyone except you." She argued.
"He could just be impressed by my intelligence. Besides he likes Vicki." I declared.
Later, we went to the field for cheerleading tryouts. Well it was more a tryout for just the two of us. I had changed into a pair of black shorts. Whereas Rachel had a pink tank and blue shorts. Rachel and I started to stretch because Caroline wasn't there yet. I didn't expect her to be late.
"Oh my god you're here." Bonnie told Elena as she hugged her.
"I can't be sad girl forever." Elena remarked. "By the way you're coming over to myself tonight for dinner."
"I am?" Bonnie asked as she too started to stretch.
"Yeah I invited Brandy, Stefan and Rachel over." Elena told her.
"Tonight's no good. Have you seen Caroline?" Bonnie questioned. Actually where was she. I hadn't seen her at school either.
"Don't change the subject Bonnie Bennett." Elena ordered. "You're coming if I have to drag you."
"Fine I'll go." Bonnie said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Seriously, where is Caroline? It's not like her to be late."
It was at that moment that Caroline pulled up…in Damon's car…and she was wearing an ascot around her neck. Fuck. This was not good. I guess I could take consolation in the fact that Caroline was alive, but I wondered why she was alive. Don't get me wrong, I preferred her not being dead, but why didn't Damon kill her? She kissed him before she walked over.
"I'm dating your cousin." She told me. I don't know if Damon called it that. "Sorry I'm late girls. I was busy. Now before we start practice we have a special tryout. Give it up for Brandy Salvatore and Rachel Conners."
We began to do a routine to Avril Lavigne's "The Best Damn Thing". I was pretty sure it was the best song to do a cheerleading routine to.
"Okay that was good. You're in." Caroline replied with a smile. "Now let's start with the double pike perky hurdler."
I didn't understand why a cheer had such a complicated name. Since we obviously didn't know it, Rachel and I were supposed to watch. She was lucky that we could learn quickly. I couldn't help but notice that Elena was struggling with it.
"Elena, Sweetie, maybe you should just observe today." Caroline said.
Eventually, Elena got tired of observing and snuck off to the football field where Stefan was trying out for the team and I followed her.
"He's good." She said.
The ball was thrown up high in the air and he was tackled to the ground.
"That's unnecessary roughness." I declared. "And that's taunting."
"Is everyone in your family good at football?" She asked.
"I haven't met all of them so I don't know." I explained.
After practice was over, all three of us arrived home at the same time. Damon was there reading Stefan's diary.
"Your writing is so deep. It's very Emerson." Damon remarked before Stefan ran over and snatched the book out of his hands.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked.
"I wanted to apologize." He remarked. I looked at him skeptically. "I've been doing some soul searching and I think we should start over and put the past behind us. We're all family and if you want to live like a human, that's fine. Maybe I can too. I can learn to act like a living person. Maybe there's hope for all of us."
"You need to take acting lessons." I declared before he started to crack up.
"It doesn't have to be this way." Stefan remarked. He seemed to hold Damon in a lot higher of a regard than I did.
"You know I saw Elena looking adorable in her little short shorts. Brandy was wearing some too." Damon stated as I blushed. It seemed that he liked to do that as much as Rachel/ "But don't you worry. I've got a cheerleader of my own. That reminds me I have a date. Wish my luck. I've got sweaty palms."
He then left and once we were sure that he was gone, Rachel spoke up.
"He's kind of feeding on Caroline." She stated.
"Well he must want something from her otherwise he would have killed her." Stefan declared.
I took a shower before we headed over to the Gilbert house. Upon arriving I smelled food that was definitely not cooked there. Stefan and Rachel would need to be invited still.
"Hey. Come in." Elena said when we arrived. "I made something for you."
I don't know why she felt the need to lie about it. The food was obviously takeout. We then all sat down at the table. It was pretty awkward.
"So did Tanner let you on the team?" Elena asked Stefan.
"Yeah so I must have done something right." Stefan quipped.
"Well sports must run in your family." Elena said. "Bonnie you missed it earlier. Tyler threw a ball…"
"I heard." Bonnie cut her off. She seemed like she really didn't want to be here.
"Bonnie you should tell them about your family." Elena suggested.
"Divorced no mom I live with my dad." Bonnie answered with a level of disinterest. She definitely didn't want to be here. Elena was trying so hard.
"No the witches." Elena replied. "Bonnie's descended from a line of witches. It's really cool."
"Cool's not how I would describe it." Bonnie argued.
"Well it's certainly interesting. I'm not the most well-versed but I know that there were a group of Celtic druids in this area." Stefan said. I didn't even know that.
"My family is from Salem." Bonnie answered. That was quite a coincidence.
"Wow that is cool." Stefan replied.
"How so?" Bonnie asked.
"Because Salem witches were the first rebels in this country." I explained. "They would rather die than admit to ludicrous accusations because they knew God knew the truth. There were heroes."
"I guess they were." Bonnie said with a smile before the doorbell rang.
"I wonder who that could be." Elena remarked as she went to the door.
"Surprise!" Caroline chirped. "Bonnie said that you were doing dinner so we brought dessert."
"I hope you don't mind." Damon replied. This was not going to go well.
"What are you doing?" I asked Damon.
"I'm waiting for Elena to invite me in." Damon stated.
"Sure come…" Elena started.
"No!" Stefan interrupted. "I mean you can't stay, can you Damon? We were just finishing up."
"Get in here." Caroline ordered. Thankfully she couldn't invite him.
"It's fine. Come in." Elena invited before Damon entered with a smirk.
"You have a lovely home Elena." He remarked.
"Thank you." She replied.
So after dessert, which was actually a very good strawberry shortcake, we all headed to the living room. The only issue was that there weren't enough seats, so Caroline was on Damon's lap and I was on the floor.
"I cannot believe Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must have been pissed." Caroline remarked. She had traded her ascot for a scarf.
"I always tell him that he should go for what he wants." Damon said. Yes he was very vocal about trying to get him to drink human blood.
"Elena wasn't so lucky." Caroline declared. "But it's only because she missed summer camp."
"You don't seem like the cheerleader type." Damon commented as Caroline pondered putting her in the back.
"That's only because she's going through a blah phase because her parents died…ow." Caroline said before I hit her shin. "And I say that with utmost sensitivity."
"I'm sorry Elena. Stefan and I have watched pretty much everyone that we've ever loved die." Damon declared. That was probably actually true, but I didn't think Damon loved anyone.
"We don't need to go into that now, Damon." Stefan stated.
"You're right, Stefan." Damon agreed. "The last thing we need to do is bring her up."
Later Damon and Rachel were doing dishes with Elena, Bonnie was in the bathroom and Stefan and I were with Caroline in the living room.
"You know it's good to see Elena smiling again." Caroline said as I stared at her neck. "What are you looking at?"
"I was just admiring your scarf." I declared. "Would you mind if I tried it on?"
"I can't take it off." Caroline answered.
"Why not?" Stefan asked.
"All I know is I can't take it off." Caroline replied.
"What are you kids talking about?" Damon interrupted as he entered the living room.
"I was just admiring her scarf. It's pretty, isn't it, Damon?" I retorted.
"Hey the girls need help with the dishes." Damon told Caroline.
"Do I look like I do dishes?" Caroline scoffed.
"Go check to see if they need help with the dishes." Damon compelled before she walked off.
"She's not a doll, Damon." I told him, even though she looked kind of like a human Barbie.
"Sure she is. The world is my dollhouse." He argued.
"I think you should leave, Damon." Stefan told him.
"Okay, but I've been invited so I can come back whenever I want because I've been invited." Damon stated before he left.
The following evening, I put on my cheerleading uniform. It was maroon…and it had neither the school's nor the team's name on it. I needed to figure out who was in charge of designing the uniforms because it was pathetic. Also they were surprisingly lowcut and showed our bellybuttons. Did they not know that we were supposed to be high school students?
"Who made these?' I asked Rachel as I pulled down on my top.
"Does it matter? You look sexy." She remarked.
"What kind of school would approve uniforms like this?" I questioned. It wasn't often that I felt self-conscious but this was pushing it.
"Are you seriously doing this? You've worn skimpier clothes than that before." She pointed out.
"Yeah to a club." I argued.
We then headed to the game, several hours before it started because we would be doing tailgating. That was something that never interested me before. The first thing that I noticed was Elena not wearing her uniform. She was also wearing a necklace.
"What's going on?" I asked her.
"I'm a quitter, I quit," She said.
'I'm confused because you were so excited about it yesterday." I stated.
"When I was talking to Damon, he suggested that if cheerleading wasn't making me happy, I should stop doing it." She replied.
"Elena, are you really unhappy doing it or were you just upset about what Caroline said?" I questioned.
"I…uh…" She stammered. "I guess it's more because of what Caroline said, but I don't even know any of the routines."
"I barely know it and I bet if you asked her to teach you she would." I offered. "Look I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you need to ask yourself if you really want to quit."
"Do you think I have enough time to get home?' She asked. Well she probably could depending on how fast she drove. Even if she wasn't back in time for the start of the game, she could probably be back by halftime.
After she left, I ran right into someone.
"Watch it." She told me. I looked to see Ms. Rogers…Kelsey. I decided I was gonna call her Kelsey. I knew I shouldn't but she had her hair crimped with a red heart sticker on her face. If I didn't know she was a teacher, I would have thought she was a student.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Rogers." I remarked.
"No, I'm sorry. I don't know why but I'm just feeling irritable right now." She declared. That was interesting. I was able to determine something with my sense of smell and she was not on her period. "So I didn't know you were a cheerleader."
"I kind of just joined the squad." I explained. "Though I'm kind of really not a fan of these uniforms. You wouldn't be able to do anything about that, would you?"
"Unfortunately not." She told me. "So how is the monologue coming along?"
"I think I'll be ready." I answered before I noticed Rachel was beckoning me. "So I have to go."
I headed over with the rest of the cheerleaders and saw Elena managed to get there right in time for Mr. Tanner to give his speech. I had to give him credit. Even though he was a sucky teacher, he could give a pretty good pregame speech. He was hyping Stefan up.
However things got weird when Tyler stepped out of the crowd and suddenly got into a fight with Jeremy. Well it wasn't as much of a fight as it was an ass-kicking.
"He's down. Get off of him." I ordered as I went over and tore Tyler off. However, almost immediately after, Jeremy took a broken bottle and swung it at Tyler. I managed to stop him but not before the bottle sliced me across the hand.
"Jeremy, what the hell." Elena chided her brother. I looked at my hand which was already healing. "Brandy, let me see. Is it deep? Show me."
"I'm fine." I declared as I hid my hand, but she grabbed it only to see that there was no wound on it.
"What?" She asked.
"See I'm fine. He missed." I lied.
"I'm positive he hit you." She stated.
"You know I should probably go to the bathroom before the game starts." I replied before I hastily exited. I just needed to get away for a few moments.
Caroline came and found me.
"Are you going to be okay to cheer?" She asked me.
"Yeah." I answered. "Can you stop being so hard on Elena? She's trying and you're not helping."
"I know." She replied. "I think my quest for perfection causes me to say things I don't mean sometimes. Anyway, be our there in five."
"Isn't that nice." Damon said as he clapped. At that moment, Stefan also walked over. 'It looks like I'm in for a little sis boom bah."
I really did not like being in this outfit in front of Damon. I didn't know if I could continue doing this if I had to dress so scantily. He had his trademark smirk on his face.
"I don't want to deal with you right now Damon." I declared.
"Well I admire you Stefan." Damon said to his brother. "You put vervain in the necklace. Where did you get it?"
How did I not know about that? I also wondered where he had obtained vervain from. Did that mean that there was still some being grown downstairs? Though if he had access to that, I couldn't help but wonder why he would help Elena and not Caroline as well. She probably needed it more at the moment than Elena did. Then again, maybe Stefan didn't know and it was just some other vervain.
"Does it matter?" Stefan asked him.
"I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since any girl has been able to resist my persuasion." Damon remarked. Did that mean he only compelled girls? That seemed pretty specific. "I guess I can't control her mind, I'll just have to kill her instead."
"You're not going to kill her." I argued.
"You won't because hidden deep down is a part of you that wants me to be happy and you won't do anything to jeopardize that." Stefan added. That was pretty presumptuous of him to think that. "I didn't think that you had any humanity, but I was wrong. You feeling protective of Brandy, feeling angry because of Katherine. Those are emotions. You are not a monster."
"Sure I am." Damon argued. Did he really feel protective of me? How did Stefan guess that?
"Why won't you kill me then?" Stefan challenged. It probably wasn't the best idea to tempt him like that. "I think it's because you don't hate me as much as you say that you do. You hate me for what happened to Katherine because you loved her. Those emotions, Damon and that is your humanity."
"Salvatore?" Mr. Tanner interrupted. "What the hell? We've got a game to play."
"If that's my humanity, what's this?" Damon retorted before he rushed over and bit into the teacher's throat, feeding until he was dead. "I'll kill anybody, anytime, anywhere."
I just knew that I needed to get out of there. I rushed off because I needed to get away from the blood. It looked like I would be getting out of this uniform sooner than I thought.
They found him not very long after and obviously the game was cancelled. The team couldn't play without a coach. I found Elena who was freaking out.
"What kind of animal just comes out of the woods and kills someone?" She asked through her tears. That story did seem pretty farfetched. "Is anyone safe?"
"Elena, it's going to be okay." I said as I hugged her. It probably looked weird considering how much shorter than her I was. "I promise I am not going to let anyone hurt you."
She then looked at my hand once again.
"You know I was sure that Jeremy hit you." She said as she looked it over I decided it would be best just to keep quiet about it.
I found Stefan and Rachel as we prepared to go home.
"He needs to be stopped." Stefan said.
So Brandy was not comfortable being a cheerleader and she also talked to Jeremy for the first time. Damon still killed Mr. Tanner. Please don't forget to review.