Pilot - Part 1

I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm pulling an Elena Gilbert. Never thought those words would come out of my mouth; or well, pen, to be more politically correct. But here I am, writing in a diary because the therapist my "mother" hired said that it would be good for my mental health if I was able to write down everything that I remember.

So here goes:

My name is Victoria Khalida Vanacore and I'm twenty-one, originally from California, now residing in Virginia. I live alone because I have an estranged relationship with my two parents, who are actively trying to ruin my life because I want to better myself. I was hit by a car on a bridge while trying to pay off a stupid bill and I drowned.

Which leads me to here, the world that I believed to be fake but that everyone is insisting is real.

Here, I am Victoria Khalida LeBlanc, a seventeen year old girl. I am the only child of Ms. Kelly Augustine LeBlanc, who found a young child on the side of the road and decided to raise the child as her own (hence the reason that neither of us share any similarities). Also, Mystic Falls is real, located in Virginia, and I've lived here my entire life and have never left.

Everyone believes that I have retrograde amnesia, but I can remember people and their personalities, just not past events that might have happened before the accident and coma. Or, as I said to my doctors to dumb it down, I can't remember anything that relates to me directly in the past. The doctors call it a "miracle that I can ever remember anything". Apparently, the trauma I sustained was pretty substantial.

A couple of people visited me in the hospital, people who I didn't think were real. Bonnie Bennett, Elena Gilbert, Caroline Forbes. Hell, even Matt Donovan showed up!

Caroline was the one who frequented the most, which I didn't mind. She was my personal favorite out of the three Mystic Falls girls. She insists that the two of us were the closest of friends and that she was my safe place and I was hers, which I can kind of believe. I always thought that Caroline was never truly appreciated in the series until Klaus came along. Her self-esteem was also on a constant downward spiral, so hopefully, I'll be able to help boost up her self-image.

Also, I might get to kick Tyler Lockwood in the face, which would be amazing. He's not my favorite character, if you couldn't tell.

It's also a great thing that this diary/journal thingy comes with a lock on it because heaven forbid someone actually read this. They would be so convinced that I was crazy and send me to a looney bin before I could blink. What's also helpful is my "mom" got me an identical journal for just anything that I wanted to use it for, lock included. This has become my Book of Knowledge, as I'm fondly nicknaming it. I'm writing down all the useless knowledge I have about Vampire Diaries episodes in their exact order, The Originals and Legacies included. I'm also including little dossiers on every character so I can know what really to expect from them. So far, I've gotten up through season one in the brief week I've been here. And don't start panicking! I'm writing it in a code that only you, my dear diary, and me, the author, will understand. I may be an idiot, but I'm not that stupid.

Life has been slow going as I acclimate myself to this new environment. Thank goodness for the excuse of amnesia because I absolutely don't know where anything is. Kelly has been so sweet and just motherly in general. It's a strange and new feeling and it makes me a little uncomfy because I don't know how to really react to someone like that.

But today is the first day of school. Which means this is when all the drama starts. Stefan Salvatore comes to town and meets Elena and the epic love triangle begins.

Oh, help us all.

"Tori! Bonnie's here to pick you up!"

Kelly's voice rang out past Victoria's idled mind and Victoria jolted up, slamming her diary shut and taking time to make sure it was locked. She slipped the diary into her backpack, already pre-packed with a random assortment of notebooks and pencils that she needed for school. Her Book of Knowledge was tucked into there as well. She didn't have a great hiding spot for it in her new room just yet, so for now, it was just going to come along with her.

Her room was gorgeous. When she was released from the hospital, after she had woken up from fainting, Kelly brought her straight home and gave her a tour so she wouldn't feel so uncomfortable. Kelly insisted that Victoria and herself worked together to create an ideal teen room. It looked great, but not very 2009. All the walls were white except for the wall right behind her bed, which was an accent wall and this gorgeous peachy-pink color. A circular mirror rimmed with black hung above her bed, and on either side of her bed were two, just-below-the-ceiling dressers. Attached to the side of the dressers was a shelf that was decorated with fake ivy plants that descended down to give the room a jungle vibe. The bed itself had no outside frame but had many decorative pillows that acted as a headrest. The dressers each had a little sliding platform that served as a bedside table. The floor was a dark wood that tied the entire room together and it gave Victoria just a whole bohemian vibe that she adored.

It was also fantastic because everything seemed nice and new, but not too nice that she felt like she was back at her family's mansion but not too bad that she felt like she was in her crappy studio apartment.

It seemed in this universe her "mother" was a trendsetter.

Victoria rose from her bed, straightening her clothes and slipping on her backpack before moving to her en suite to see how she looked. Her hair decided to have its natural wave again and her eyes sparkled, a hidden joy in them that she hadn't seen in years. Somehow, by some random throw of chance, some of her favorite articles of clothing from her apartment ended up in their universe, including her dark blue Henley that she had been wearing the night of the accident. Kelly had cleaned all of the clothes, able to somehow miraculously get the bloodstains out of them. Victoria just decided that her new mother was too good to be true.

Not that she was complaining.

Her outfit was heavily inspired by the outfits she had seen the characters wear on Vampire Diaries and the outfits that she had witnessed Kelly wearing around the house. She was wearing black jeans, a red Henley that Kelly had gotten her as a welcome-home shirt, and this gray large wavy-ruffled cardigan to go with it. She had matched a pair of beautiful tan heeled ankle boots with it as well. The whole outfit blended beautifully and it made Victoria sigh with appreciation.

She quickly touched up her makeup, just using mascara to accent her eyes and adding chapstick cause dry lips were a killer. She learned rather quickly that she had no use for makeup back home if she wanted to buy a mattress. Suffice to say, she wanted a mattress more.

"Tori! You need to hurry up, baby girl!"

"Coming, Kelly!" Victoria shouted, darting out of the bathroom and leaving her room. She took the steps in a little hop-skip and moved into the kitchen, which was to the immediate left of the stairs. Kelly stood by the little kitchen island, a hand on her hip as she raised an eyebrow at Victoria. Kelly had made it very obvious early on that there was no pressure on Victoria to call her mom if it made Victoria uncomfortable. She would ease into it as her memories came back (or in Victoria's case, when she was actually comfortable around Kelly's presence). In Kelly's hands, she held a little brown paper lunch bag and a plate with a slice of toast, jam splattered all over the top of it. Victoria's mouth watered just looking at it.

"Took you long enough," Kelly snorted, passing the plate with toast to Victoria. The adult-turned-teen began to hungrily devour the little slice of toast as Kelly moved behind Victoria to put the lunch bag into her backpack. "How long were you writing in that diary of yours?"

"Depends on what time it is now," Victoria joked, munching happily on her food. "How can a slice of toast be so good?"

"Cuz you're hungry enough for it," Kelly whispered in her ear in a conspiring tone and Victoria giggled at Kelly. Kelly walked back to her kitchen island, a triumphant look on her face as she grabbed her cup of coffee. "Any big plans for today?"

"Not that I'm aware of just yet, but if something comes up, I'll make sure to text you," Victoria promised, remembering the little Blackberry phone that was stuffed into her pocket. Oh, how she couldn't wait until touch screen phones were a reality again. "What about you? You got a big presentation coming up, right?"

Kelly's shoulders tensed up and her head drooped a little, but she nodded. "Unfortunately. I swear, having Jenna Sommers convince me to finish college with her was one of the worst ideas of my life. Our advisor is a man from hell, I swear." She shook her head and looked back up at Victoria. "You better hurry up; don't want Bonnie to get frantic."

"Got it!" Victoria said, putting the plate back on the island. "Thanks, Kelly! See you later!"

"See you later, baby girl!" Kelly called back as Victoria slipped outside. She slipped down the small porch and bounced down the steps to rush down the well-kept driveway to the little car that contained Bonnie Bennett in the driver's seat and Elena Gilbert in the passenger side.

"There you are!" Bonnie laughed as Victoria shook her head, opening the back seat door to toss in her backpack before slipping in behind it. Once she was all buckled up and safe, she gave Bonnie a thumbs-up and shut the door. Bonnie pulled away from the curb and entered traffic, making her way through the downtown of Mystic Falls, a place that Victoria still didn't have a chance to explore. "I was wondering if you were ever going to leave that house."

"Some people take longer to get ready, Bennett," giggled Victoria, leaning back in her seat as she tried to get comfortable. "Perfection does not come easily."

"Oh, and all this newfound confidence," Elena hummed, glancing in the rearview mirror to catch Victoria's eyes. She had a pleasant smirk on her face. "Our little baby bird's flying from the nest."

"Oh shut up, Gilbert," Victoria snorted, rolling her eyes. "So, what have I missed?"

"Well, Grams is telling me I'm psychic," Bonnie commented, sending Victoria a look in the mirror that basically said 'Is this woman for real?'. "Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that. I know, crazy, but she's going on and on about it, and I'm like, put this woman in a home already!"

Victoria snorted at Bonnie's description of the conversation. She knew that the young witch cared deeply for her grandmother and that all the things she said about her being crazy, while she might believe them on the surface, was just a deflection technique used by her disbelief.

"But then, I started thinking. I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger," Bonnie continued on, obviously not noticing that they were passing the Mystic Falls cemetery. Victoria watched with a sad heart as Elena's attention was torn away from her friend and towards the place where she knew her parents were buried. Victoria reached forward, gently resting a hand on Elena's shoulder to let the teen know that she was there for her. If anyone was to understand the tragedy of the accident, it would be the other girl who was apparently a part of it. Elena didn't turn her head away from the graveyard, but Victoria felt Elena's fingers brush up against her hand as a silent moment of recognition.

"And I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands…" Bonnie said, trailing off as she finally noticed where Elena's attention was. "Elena!" The teen jumped, sending a sheepish grin to Bonnie who stated, "Back in the car."

"I did it again, didn't I?" Elena sighed. Victoria drew her hand back, subtly moving it to grip onto the handle of the car door and the seat beneath her. Thank goodness she had just re-binged the first few episodes of the first season. It was a lot of information to try and remember. "I...I'm sorry, Bonnie. You were telling us that…" She trailed off, not able to finish her statement. She had not been paying as close attention as Bonnie had wanted.

"That I'm psychic now."

Elena twisted in her seat, giving Bonnie her full attention. "Right. Okay, then predict something. About me and Tori."

Bonnie twisted in her seat, her eyes narrowing as she gazed at Elena and Victoria tensed up. Any second now…. "I see -"

She was cut off when a large black object slammed into the windshield of the car. Bonnie slammed on the brakes and Victoria was suddenly careening forward, the seatbelt tensing up and preventing her from slamming right into Elena's seat. Bonnie jerked the car to the side, away from the main road and into a little driveway area. Once the car was parked, Victoria found that she was struggling to breathe a little. She knew that the crow was coming, but she hadn't anticipated how her body would react exactly to the idea of a car out of control. Her palms were sweaty and she had to concentrate all of her efforts on breathing deeply. Her head started to pound something fierce.

She felt a hand on her knee and she flinched back, looking at the person in question who had touched her with wide eyes. Elena flinched back at Victoria's flinch and the two of them shared a look of guilt and awkwardness. Elena coughed and asked, "Are you okay, Tori?"

"Y-Yeah," Victoria stammered, hating the way her voice sounded shaky. She gulped and said again, trying to add a little more confidence and steadiness to her voice, "Just give me a second. I'll be good to go in a moment."

"It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere. I'm so sorry," Bonnie tried to apologize, but Victoria held up a hand.

"Really, the two of us can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of our lives," Victoria interjected, gesturing roughly between herself and Elena. Victoria took a long breath in through her nose and released it out of her mouth. "We're good, Bonnie. Your quick reaction time is a good thing. Thank you and it's alright. No harm, no foul."

Bonnie sent Victoria a thankful look and then moved so both she and Elena were in her gaze. "I predict this year is going to be kick-ass. And I predict that all the sad dark times are over and you two are going to be beyond happy."

Well, that's a thought, Victoria thought to herself as Bonnie pulled away from the curb. She glanced outside of the car and spotted the crow on top of one of the street signs. She made sure to give it the nastiest glare she could manage.

They all made it to the high school in time and in one piece. Victoria left the car and was grateful to feel a strong pavement under her feet.

It was so awkward that she had supposedly known all these people her entire life, the multitudes of Mystic Falls teens that gathered around the outside of the school. Well, maybe not everyone, but she was certain that if the whole small town propaganda of 'everybody knowing everybody' was true, then she would certainly recognize a few faces.

Elena and Bonnie took the lead, chatting away as though nothing had changed between the two of them. Victoria hung back a little, wrapping her arms around her torso as if it were a suit of armor. Her eyes constantly flickered back and forth between every little human that came close to touching her and she would try and shield herself more. She wasn't a shy person usually, but she was in a place that she assumed was fake. It was a little hard to have confidence when one couldn't really tell if they had died and not come back and this was their version of heaven or if they had somehow transcended into an alternate universe where the actions of the Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and Legacies were real. It made Victoria's head hurt even more just thinking about it.

"Major lack of male real estate," Bonnie commented glumly as the trio entered the school. It was even more crowded in the hallways, which Victoria didn't know was even possible. If the sea of teens outside were expected to enter the halls when they were already this jam-packed, then she just might develop claustrophobia. "Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech. She looks like a hot...can I still say 'tranny mess'?"

Victoria couldn't help but snort, shaking her head. "Yeah, no, that's over." Elena hummed her agreement at the statement.

"Ahh, find a man, coin a phrase. It's a busy year," Bonnie stated, opening up her locker. Victoria took her place on the opposite side of Bonnie against the lockers, watching with a curious look on her face as she caught Matt and Elena staring at one another. Elena lifted her hand to give the football player a gentle wave, but the teen completely ignored her, slamming his locker shut and moving to stomp off. Victoria leaned around Bonnie to watch Elena's expression fall.

The unknowing doppelgänger murmured darkly, "He hates me."

"That's not hate," Bonnie argued. "That's 'you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits'."

"He probably just needs time," Victoria piped up. "Some people need time to process the ending of a relationship and it wouldn't be good to try and force them into a relationship they weren't prepared for. Just like how it's unhealthy for a platonic relationship to go romantic if one of the two isn't ready, it's the same with going from romantic to platonic. He'll get there. Just...take it easy on him."

"Elena, Tori!" a chipper, but a worried voice called out from across the hallway. Victoria looked up just in time to prepare herself for a Caroline Forbes hug, which came fast, hard, and violent. But it was much appreciated. She hated that some people in Mystic Falls treated her like a china doll, physically. If she couldn't do something or if she felt hurt, she would be sure to let others know.

"How are you? Oh, it's so good to see you," Caroline said, directing all her questions towards Elena as she unattached herself from Victoria to hug the other girl. She pulled back and then looked towards Victoria, the same look of worry on her face. "And you? Should you even be here? Oh scratch that, you probably need to be up and around." She looked at Bonnie for reassurance. "How are they? Are they good?"

"Caroline, 'they' are right here," Elena interrupted, a small amount of irritation in her voice. "And 'they' are fine. Thank you for asking."

"Really?" Caroline asked, looking to Victoria to answer her question.

"Well, hugs are scientifically proven to help with healing and growth, so consider me perfectly healed," Victoria hummed, giving Caroline an impish smile. Caroline chuckled, then whispered, "Oh, you poor thing", grabbing Victoria and pulling her into another tight hug. Victoria returned it, trying to send as much emotional reassurance as she could to the other teen. She did her best to hide the wince at the sudden rush of pain from her ribs. If pain was what she had to endure in order to get a hug from Caroline, so be it.

"Okay, Caroline," Elena mused, rolling her eyes.

"Oh!" Caroline said, letting go of Victoria. "Okay, see you guys later?"

"Ok! Bye!" Bonnie called. Victoria whispered her goodbyes to the blonde as well, watching as she hopped down the hallway.

"No comment," Victoria heard Elena huff at Bonnie, who cheekily responded with a sly grin on her face, "I'm not going to say anything."

Victoria giggled at the girls' expressions as they pushed off the lockers and began to swim through the overcrowded hallways. It was so weird to be physically a part of conversations that she had watched over and over again. It was an out-of-body experience. And it got even weirder the more she thought about it. These girls had supposedly known her since she was a child and they were under the delusion that she was simply suffering from amnesia. Victoria loathed thinking what they would say if they knew the truth about her origins. She would be sent to the insane asylum before she could even blink. Even she couldn't begin to fathom how her arrival in the mythical Mystic Falls set up her backstory with Kelly and her supposed childhood friends.

Victoria let out an 'oomph' when she suddenly ran into a stationary Elena and Bonnie. The three girls stumbled lightly, Elena sending Victoria a hard look. The former young adult held up her hands defensively. "It's not my fault you two stopped suddenly in a hallway! What are you even looking…"

Victoria trailed off as she followed Elena's and Bonnie's gaze towards a little room right off the hallway. It seemed small, with a little desk, and there were two people standing there: the African-American secretary behind the desk, and the back of a man. Not a boy, a man. A man that Victoria recognized.

That's the office...and that's Stefan Salvatore, Victoria thought breathlessly. Her heart fluttered as she cursed herself mentally for forgetting that this was what came next. The first Salvatore sighting. Which meant that Damon was close to follow. A frown made its way onto Victoria's face and she couldn't stop it. She didn't particularly enjoy Damon's character arc in the first season. Call her a purist, but she was a Team Stelena fan.

"I'm sensing Seattle, and he plays the guitar," Bonnie interrupted Victoria's thoughts. The unknown witch had a serious, semi-look of concentration on her face.

Elena shook her head, a sigh already falling from her lips. Victoria couldn't help but grin as she said, "You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?"

"Pretty much."

A commotion towards Elena's side, down in the hallway, drew Victoria's attention. It was some random boy that Victoria recognized as an extra on the show and Jeremy Gilbert, Elena's younger brother. She had completely forgotten that he was going through his emo phase during these first few seasons.

"Jeremy, good batch, man," the kid was saying to Jeremy as the fifteen year old nodded in return, disappearing into the boys' bathroom.

It was as if someone had thrown cold water over Victoria's body. She was alert, no longer numb from spotting Stefan, but clueless to her surroundings. All she could see in the hallway in front of her was Jesse, the boy who had lost himself to drugs. His bloated face, the decay of his body. The bloodshot brown eyes that were lost in the haze of the high before he succumbed to the overdose. She heard Elena grumble, "I'll be right back" and Victoria stood frozen in her spot, her eyes unable to leave where Jeremy and the random kid had just been. Because there, in that spot, she saw Jesse. A dark blue button-up shirt that had been stained with blood from Jesse's nosebleed, pants that were stained from the garbage of the dumpster. His gorgeous black hair that falling out in clumps.

Was it getting harder to breathe in the hallway, or was that just her?

Something squeezed her shoulder and Victoria flinched, jumping to the side, her head whipping to the side to see who had touched her. Bonnie stood shocked, looking at Victoria with concern and worry. Victoria then realized that her shoulders were heaving and she was taking frantic short breaths. She lifted a hand, only to see it shaking as if she was hopped up on caffeine and adrenaline. Her face felt weird, but when Victoria touched her cheeks, her fingers came back as wet.

"Tori!" Bonnie's voice cut through her hazy mind. Victoria looked back at her friend and seeing the utter look of empathy in Bonnie's eyes towards her made the emotions in her chest unlock.

"I-I…" Victoria stammered, unable to come up with the words. Her hands moved to grip the straps of her backpack and she whispered out in a rush "I gotta go" and then ran down the hallway, away from Bonnie, away from Stefan, away from the Gilberts, and away from the imaginary body of Jesse.

Victoria managed to keep her cool for a couple of her classes. She didn't have many actually with the Mystic Falls gang (as she called them), but she did have Algebra 2 with Caroline and the blonde seemed to pick up on her discomfort. The cheerleader kept her cool and didn't push, which surprised Victoria quite a bit. She would have assumed that Caroline would be jumping her, wondering why her cheeks were stained with tears and why the mascara seemed a lot thinner (Caroline would be the one to notice these things). Caroline, instead, just rattled on about a good deal of things that Victoria didn't understand, seeing as she didn't know much about what was happening with the school because of the "amnesia". She also walked Victoria to her next class, Biology, an arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Right before Victoria was going to walk into the room, Caroline yanked her into a hug and Victoria selfishly allowed herself to find comfort in the blonde's arms. Caroline was beginning to feel more like family than her own family did, and she had only known the girl for a week.

Caroline whispered gently, "I know you're still healing, but if you ever need to talk to someone other than Kelly, I'm here for you."

"Thank you, Caroline," Victoria whispered, squeezing onto her best friend. Victoria tried to showcase just how much she was thankful in her hug, and Caroline seemed to pick up on it.

Caroline finally pulled away, flashing Victoria a happy smile with a promise to text her later.

Victoria entered her biology lab, apprehension filling her as she spotted that most of her classmates were already in the room. A couple of tables weren't occupied, so she headed straight towards the one closest to the back. She dropped her backpack by one of the chairs and plopped into it, tensing up when she noticed some of her classmates staring at her out of the corner of their eyes. Correction: a lot of them. Most of them. Victoria turned her eyes down, slipping out a notebook from her backpack and placing it on the table, trying to drown out the sight of their stares by doodling.

There was a scraping noise beside her and Victoria's head whipped up, her jaw dropping in disbelief as she watched Stefan Salvatore drop his bag by the chair, taking a seat. Stefan looked at her with his beautiful kind green eyes and Victoria looked away before she did something utterly embarrassing.

She personally always found Stefan to be more attractive than Damon. Maybe it was something about his personality or his "hero hair", but Stefan just seemed like a good guy. And given the reputation that Victoria had, sometimes the thought of having someone like that around her made her insides warm. But she was not going to intrude on whatever love triangle was about to develop between Stefan, Elena, and Damon. She would not be the participant that turned it all into a love square.

It was then that the teacher walked in, immediately beginning to spout out information that Victoria already knew because she had graduated high school nearly three years ago. Victoria was just satisfied to take half-hearted notes, finish her doodle masterpiece, and try to heavily ignore Stefan's presence to her direct left.

A little notebook piece of paper was slid into her peripheral view and she tore her attention away from her notebook to see what it was. The hand that was pushing the paper belonged to none other than younger Salvatore, but his attention was focused primarily on the teacher and the whiteboard notes she had written down. Victoria gazed down at the note at the top line of the paper.

S: Hi.

Just a hello. A simple greeting. And it was so utterly adorable that Victoria found a small smile coming to her lips. She grabbed her pencil and wrote down a 'hello' in reply, before pushing the paper back towards Stefan's side.

A moment later, the paper returned to her side and she looked down.

S: I'm Stefan Salvatore. Who are you?

V: Victoria LeBlanc. You're new here, aren't you? (That was a trick question. Victoria obviously knew that the vampire was new)

S: In a way. Grew up here but left and came back. Wbu?

V: Born and raised, apparently. I actually don't remember.

S: What does that mean? Does this have something to do with why you were crying earlier? I wanted to make sure you were alright.

Victoria's chest tightened up as she read Stefan's query. That meant that he had witnessed her little breakdown at seeing Jesse's body in her mind. She licked her lips, gazing up at the teacher to make sure that she was still distracted. With a slightly shaky hand, Victoria replied.

V: I'm having a bit of a rough day. Today's just been overwhelming. Can explain later.

Victoria glanced at Stefan out of the corner of her eye and saw his beautiful eyebrows furrow at her answer. His eyes flicked towards her and their eyes caught each other. Victoria couldn't tear her gaze away from Stefan's. There was something that looked like genuine concern in his eyes, but Victoria mentally scoffed at that notion. It didn't seem anything more than platonic, but even that was still crazy. They hadn't known each other for more than a few minutes. Victoria tore her eyes from Stefan and back to her teacher, who had a hand on her hips and a nasty glare in her eyes.

Victoria tensed at the gaze and felt her palms begin to feel sweaty. There was an expectant look on the woman's face and Victoria shifted awkwardly under her gaze. The teacher seemed to thrive under her awkwardness.

"Well, Ms. LeBlanc?"

Well, what? Victoria thought to herself, her hands gripping tightly onto her pencil. She said verbally, "I'm sorry, Ma'am, I didn't hear the question."

"I caught that much, obviously," grunted the teacher, her eyes narrowing like a hunter who had just discovered her prey. She stalked forward, her tacky heels clicking against the tiles of the school's flooring. "Do you have a good explanation about why you were zoning out in my classroom, Ms. LeBlanc?"

"I'd rather not say, Ma'am," Victoria huffed, tearing her gaze away from her teacher. She focused her eyes on keeping her breathing normal and returning her heartbeat to its normal pace.

"Were you thinking about the accident?"

Victoria's muscles tensed involuntarily as her mind was cast back to that night, when all she could see was the headlights and the sound of a woman screaming as the heavy, metal vehicle slammed straight into her body. The rattling of her bones and the cracking of her ribs. The gasp and scream of pain that had erupted from her as she fell into the water. Seeing the stars in the sky taunting her from their presence up high. They taunted her because they were able to live in the world while she was forced to drown staring up at their comforts. To others, it had been four months. For Victoria, it had only been a little more than a week. Victoria murmured out a weak, "Please stop", but that didn't seem to deter the Biology teacher.

"Does the guilt kill you? Knowing that you were responsible for the deaths of two beloved town figures?"

Victoria's neck ached from how fast she moved to look up at her teacher, who was now leaning across the desk to look right in her face. Victoria's voice cracked weakly as she gasped, tears beginning to form in her blue eyes, "W-What…? T-That's not what happened...it was a-an accident."

"An accident you caused by being on that bridge," snapped the Biology teacher.

Too much. It was all too much. Was that the real reason people were staring at her? Did her arrival in Mystic Falls change the course of history so she was the one who caused Elena's parents to swerve? Was she the reason two people were dead?

She couldn't breathe.

Victoria grabbed her backpack and leaped out of her seat, leaving her notebook and pencil on the table beside Stefan. She pushed past her teacher, ignoring the indignant cries she gave, and raced out of the room and into the empty hallways. Victoria breathed hard and fast and it felt like she was choking on her own oxygen. She was hyperventilating, believing she wasn't getting enough oxygen and overcompensating for it.

Victoria fished in her pocket for her phone, her fingers shaking as she dialed one of the first numbers on her speed dial. Victoria kept running through the halls, lost and overwhelmed and just needing to get out.

Kelly's voice filled the phone just a moment later. "Hey, baby girl, what's up? Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

"I can't breathe," Victoria sobbed, her eyes filling with tears. The building seemed to swarm around her and she tripped over her own two feet, collapsing onto her knees. A shock of pain raced through her and Victoria squeaked in pain. Her legs ached and her chest felt like it was about to explode. Her head pounded like there was a stampede of animals rushing around right behind her eyes. She whimpered, "Kelly, I c-can't breathe and the walls are c-closing in and…"

"Stay right there, Tori, I'm coming right now," Victoria heard Kelly's frantic words. She heard shuffling and the familiar jingle of keys. "Where are you now, baby girl?"

"I-I don't know," Victoria cried, dragging herself across the floors so she was sitting next to one of the lockers. She rested the back of her head against the cold metal and it helped to ground her, just a little. "I...I don't r-recognize anything."

"Baby girl, I need you to take long, deep breaths, okay?" Kelly insisted, but the walls were spinning all too much for Victoria. Was this what a panic attack felt like? An episode of PTSD? A side effect from her supposed amnesia? "Tori? Victoria!"

The phone was suddenly ripped away from her grasp and Victoria let out a gasp as Stefan calmly said into the phone, "She's in the South hallway, right by the administrative offices." He was kneeling beside her, a hand moving to rest upon her knee. The presence of another being began to calm her heart down but it was still beating a mile a minute. The walls stopped spinning.

She heard the static of Kelly shouting back at Stefan, to which he gently responded, "I'll take care of her until you get here."

Kelly said something else, to which Stefan replied with a goodbye and hung up. Victoria wanted to say something, but she couldn't. Her head was starting to feel light, like a cloud, but the aching feeling in her chest wasn't going away. If anything, it was beginning to get worse and worse.

Stefan reached forward and cupped Victoria's cheek with his hand. She flinched at how cold it was, but found that the sudden temperature difference had calmed her racing heart down a little. Stefan shifted from his kneeling position so he was sitting down, leaning against the lockers so he could touch Victoria comfortably. He moved his hand from her knee to her shoulder and his thumb began to gently stroke her cheek. It seemed like a subconscious reaction.

"I want you to follow my breathing," Stefan said softly. The calm sound of his voice and rhythmic touch of his thumb created a steady pattern that Victoria could follow and she sucked in a breath and released it with every beat of Stefan's breathing. Her rhythmic training from singing and dancing kicked in and she followed the steady beat. It was like a dance. She just needed to breathe on the beat and everything would turn out better.

Victoria felt like she and Stefan were in a bubble as they just sat there. Time didn't pass the same way when she was looking at him. His eyes seemed to capture and enrapture her. There wasn't this need to fill the silence. They were alright just existing with each other.

When Victoria felt like she could breathe like a normal human being, she whispered, "Thank you." She reached up and swiped her cardigan's sleeve over her eyes. The rough fabric picked up any leftover tears and probably smudged her mascara, but at this moment, she didn't really care how she looked to an attractive vampire from the 1860s (shocking, she knows). She let out a large breath and shook her head, dragging a hand down her face and covering her face. "Ugh. Sorry about that."

"Don't apologize," Stefan insisted, shaking his head when Victoria peeked through her fingers. He had a small smile on his face that made Victoria's heart flutter a little. He was a really attractive guy. "Panic attacks are not easy to deal with and our Biology teacher seems like a...um…"

"A bitch to bring it up?" Victoria supplied, a knowing smile on her face. Stefan nodded in agreement. "She is."

"Is that the 'I'll tell you later' story I was promised?" Stefan asked, tilting his head to one side.

Victoria nodded, opening her mouth to spill all about the accident and how recent it was for her, when she heard Kelly's voice call out in the hallway, "Tori!"

Victoria looked behind her and saw Kelly racing towards her, worry and fear written on her face as she sprinted towards where the two teens (teen when changed for one of them) were sitting. Victoria felt more tears, this time from relief, spring into her eyes and she hastily wiped them away, not in the mood for more crying. Kelly dropped to her knees by the two teens, wasting no time yanking Stefan's hands off of Victoria and bringing the girl into a tight, Mama bear hug. Victoria relished the strength and power behind the hug, returning it with as much vigor as she could.

"Oh, baby girl, you're okay," Kelly murmured, squeezing Victoria even tighter, if that was even possible. In that same instant, Kelly also pulled away and gently shook Victoria's shoulders. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Victoria said, moving to take Kelly's hands off of her shoulders. Victoria couldn't help but smile at Kelly's reaction. "It wasn't like I wanted it to happen."

"What did happen?" demanded Kelly, glancing between Stefan and Victoria. She seemed to falter a little when she looked at Stefan, but it was quickly replaced by a different emotion. That little falter caught Victoria's attention. Was it really that unusual to have new people in Mystic Falls? "Are you the boy I talked to on the phone?"

"Stefan Salvatore," Stefan introduced himself, offering a hand out. Kelly reached out and shook his hand firmly. "I'm new here and am biology partners with your…" He glanced between the two of them, unsure of what to call them.

"Mother, daughter," Victoria said, pointing towards Kelly and then herself. "I'm adopted."

"Okay," Stefan said, the wrinkles on his forehead relaxing. "I'm biology partners with your daughter. She was being antagonized by our teacher for spacing out in the lesson and she brought up the...accident, was it? Victoria had a panic attack and ran out of the room; I followed her to make sure she was alright."

"He helped calm me down," Victoria added.

"The useless excuse for an authority figure," Kelly seethed, letting go of Victoria's shoulders. "Does she not realize that it hasn't been that long for Tori?" Kelly moved to her feet, pacing down the hallway and rubbing her hands against her face. She then paused and Victoria saw her shoulders rise and fall with a breath. Kelly then took her hands away from her face and looked at Victoria. "Do you want to go home now?"

"Yes, please," Victoria said, nodding. She did not want to try and go back to her classes, especially when her next class after Biology was History with Mr. Tanner. She wasn't sure she wanted to be in a class with him ever. Victoria turned towards Stefan and saw that he was watching her and her "mother" with a curious expression. "Thank you for staying with me, Stefan, and for helping calm me down."

"Of course, Victoria," Stefan told her. He smiled softly and Victoria found herself returning it. "I hope you feel better soon."

"Me too," Victoria answered earnestly. "I'll see you later."

Stefan nodded and stood, offering her a hand. Victoria took it gratefully and pulled herself up. As soon as she stood up, however, she was hit with a severe case of vertigo and she managed to whisper "Whoa" before she stumbled forward into Kelly's and Stefan's embrace.

"Tori!" she heard Kelly gasp, but Victoria held up a finger. The vertigo passed by much quicker than the panic attack had and Victoria shook her head, glad to see her vision was clearing up.

"I-I'm good," Victoria stuttered, breathing deeply through her nose. "Sorry about that." She moved her feet so she had a more solid stance on the floor. "There we go. I think the panic attack just did wonders on my brain. And that would be my cue to go home."

Stefan let go of her (Victoria would dare say reluctantly, but she wasn't one to judge, especially when she was not in the clearest mindset). Victoria made sure to give him one more thankful look before allowing Kelly to help her out of the school.

A/N: Thank you everyone for following, favoriting, and for reading this story! It seems y'all really like this, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Have little cutie Stefan as your reward :)

New Followers!: AngelColdHeart, April2212, AralFox, Ashes2Dust18, Bookworm359, Borland30, CarlaPA, Cellaino, Charmed2100, Daburus, DreamerPop, Fuyita, IssaQveen, Lorena1995, MeiaAdey12, MissRiggins, Ozpin98, , Reign Black, Shiro7, avid1980, 1995, mattw2017, thelastsamoan, vetgirl91, zovumeAnjaa

New Favoriters!: AngelColdHeart, April2212, AralFox, Aryabloodlust, Bookworm359, Borland30, Charmed2100, IssaQveen, Lorena1995, MissRiggins, Orange keys 25, Ozpin98, Teghan-Potter1370, carolinamaiah, habblez, mattw2017, wolfcorgi

Onto some reviews!:

mattw2017: Hey Matt! So I've thought about it and I would definitely say Jaime Ray Newman unintentionally was one of the faces I thought of when creating Victoria. There's a really good picture of her where she looks like a redhead version of Caroline and Emily Blunt. Victoria's more blonde and brunette then redhead, and her eyes are like a blue-grey rather than green, but the general idea is there.

zovumeAnjaa: Thank you so much for reading the story! I hope you really like this chapter. I really enjoyed writing it; it's one of my favorites so far.

Aryabloodlust: Thank you so much! I was really hesitant in sharing this story cuz I was wondering how my writing would compare to others, and your review helped boost my confidence! You are so kind. Enjoy some soft-boi Stefan!

Until next week (either Thursday, Friday, or Saturday), my dear readers,

BecomingFearless1F