A/N: Posting this a little sooner than I was expecting as I have a few chapters already written and I wanted to make sure I keep everyone engaged. I'll probably be posting once a week from here on out so I can pace myself and make sure I always have a quality chapter ready to read. Feel free to leave me a comment letting me know if there's a day of the week you'd prefer I upload. Thanks for the nice reviews on the previous chapter! I was worried people would be annoyed that I'm drawing inspiration from Pretty Girl. - XO, Eden.

Song: Black Hearts (On Fire)

Artist: Jet

When I make it, I'll be on time
Gonna take what I want and give you a piece of my mind

Your black hearts waited too long,
Just to see me fall down, fall down, fall down
Your black hearts won't be around, just to see me fall down

Your hearts on fire, so come on, burn brighter
Your hearts on fire, so come on, burn brighter

Your hearts on fire, but your cold to the touch
I know you want it but you love yourself too much
Your hearts on fire but your head is a rut
You best believe it, I ain't ever giving up

I groaned as my alarm clock went off. It would've been nice to have more than two days to settle in before starting school, but moving in the middle of the school year doesn't really leave you that option. I reluctantly got up and headed over to my closet to pick something to wear. I settled on jeans and a striped sweater, and my favorite pair of converse.

"Hi mom, hi dad!" I said, finding the two of them sipping coffee in the kitchen as I came downstairs.

"Hi honey, are you excited for your first day of school?" My mom asked.

"Excited and school are two words that never pair together." I said, pouring coffee into my thermos, "But I'm hoping it'll be a good day. What about you mom, any big plans today?"

"Nothing too exciting, but I did run into an old friend from high school at the store yesterday and we have plans to get coffee later." Mom smiled.

"Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder to swing by the school library and see if I can find yearbooks that document how dorky you two were back in the day." I teased.

"Anything to get you into a library." Dad chuckled, "But your mother was just as beautiful back then as she is today, so you might be disappointed at the lack of embarrassing photos."

I fake gagged, and went over to hug both of them.

"Aren't you going to get some breakfast?" Mom asked.

I held up my thermos, "Coffee is the best breakfast. Love you both, see you after school!"

I grabbed my keys and went out to my car. I glanced at the jacket on my passenger seat, the only reminder that I didn't dream up the beautiful stranger I met at the Mystic Grill. I left it there to avoid questioning from my mom, and wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Damon still hadn't called. I figured he would at some point, because it was a nice jacket, but his interest in me must've been chalked up to the liquor.

Heads turned towards me as I maneuvered into a parking space at Mystic Falls High. One girl in particular, a blonde, narrowed her eyes at me as I got out of my car. I'd be lying if I said I didn't love to make an entrance. It was apparent that not a lot happened at this school, and that "new girl showing up in a sports car" would be most interesting thing to happen this month.

I managed to get to my classroom right as the bell rang, thanks to the guidance from the secretary who helped me get my schedule. I walked up to the teacher to introduce myself.

"Hi I'm Lucy Adams," I said, "I'm new."

"Wow am I the luckiest guy in the world or what?" The teacher stood up to greet me, "I start here in the middle of the semester and still manage to get someone else to take over the role of "new person" for me."

"You're new too?" I asked.

"Accident with the old history teacher. But don't worry, I'm at least partially qualified to be teaching this class." He reached out to shake my hand, "Mr. Saltzman."

I smiled, he seemed a lot nicer than the teachers at my old school, "Pleasure to meet you."

"Tell you what, most of the kids sit in the same seat every day, why don't you go sit at the empty desk next to Ms. Gilbert?" Mr. Saltzman suggested.

I gulped and looked around, "Mi-Miss Gilbert?"

"Right over there." Mr. Saltzman gestured.

I made eye contact with who I presumed to be Miss Gilbert, and she lifted her hand to give me a small wave. I shuffled over to her and took my seat. She was beautiful, her hair was a deep brown like mine but instead of frizzy curls her locks were perfectly smooth and straight. She had large brown doe eyes that lit up as she gave me a warm smile.

"Alright class, as I'm sure you've all noticed we've got a new person with us today. Why don't you introduce yourself?" Mr. Saltzman suggested.

"Hi everyone, I'm Lucy Adams." I said, as all eyes in the classroom turned towards me. "I'm from Lynchburg but my parents grew up here, and uh. . . yeah."

Mr. Saltzman nodded, "Thank you Lucy. Alright lets get started with todays lesson which you should be easy to follow along with if you did last nights reading."

I tried to follow along with Mr. Saltzman's lecture on the Battle of Verdun, but I ended up alternating between assessing my classmates around me, and drawing amorphous blobs in my notebook. Despite my boredom, the bell rang soon enough. I turned to say something to the girl next to me, but all I saw was her brown hair swishing behind her as she quickly walked out of the classroom.

I saw her again before lunch, leaned up against the lockers talking to a girl I recognized as the blonde who was glaring at me earlier, and a taller boy I didn't recognize. I caught her eye as she passed, and she waved to me.

"Hey new girl!" She called, "It's Lucy right? We have history together. This is my best friend Caroline and my boyfriend Stefan."

I studied the trio. Caroline looked like your stereotypical popular girl, with perfectly curled blonde hair and an equally put together outfit to boot. Stefan was unlike anyone I had ever seen before. His face structure was intense, with thick eyebrows and beautiful green eyes that had a touch of darkness behind them. He was mysterious and entrancing- if she hadn't just said he was her boyfriend, I would've let my eyes linger on him longer.

"Nice to meet you." I said. Stefan just nodded.

"Pleasure." Caroline said, with a tone that let me know it was not, in fact, a pleasure.

"What did you say your name was again?" I asked, turning back to the brunette, "Sorry I missed it earlier."

"I'm Elena, Elena Gilbert." She smiled.

I nodded, "Gilbert, huh. Any chance you're related to John Gilbert?"

Elena grimaced, "Unfortunately yes, he's my deadbeat Uncle. Why, do you know him?"

"Just a family friend." I shrugged.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" She said, "I didn't mean to be rude, he just skipped town a while ago and I haven't heard from him since."

"No worries," I forced a laugh, "He's my parents friend, not mine. I've never met the guy."

"Well consider yourself lucky." Elena said, "Oh my gosh, Matt! Come say hi!"

Elena waved to someone, and I turned around to see the bartender from the Mystic Grill. I felt my face break out into a huge grin at the sight of someone I recognized.

"Who's this, your cousin?" Matt asked Elena.

"Hey! No, we've met actually." I said, "At the grill, remember? I'm Lucy, not sure I ever gave you my name."

"What? Oh . . . oh yeah I remember. I'm Matt." He said, shifting his eyes around.

"Matt, is everything okay?" Elena asked.

Matt sighed, "Yeah it's just my mom. She's back."

"What?" Elena exclaimed and looked back and forth between Matt and Caroline, who nodded.

"She said she hasn't heard from Vicki either, so who knows where she is." Matt said.

"Matt I'm so sorry." Elena said.

Caroline reached out to put a hand on Matt's shoulder, "You know my mom is doing everything she can to find her."

"It's whatever. I'll talk to you guys later. Nice to meet you." Matt nudged my shoulder before walking away, putting a smile on my face. I watched him as he walked down the hallway, wondering what the deal was with his family.

"Don't. Even. Think. About it." Caroline's voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked at her to find her eyes narrowed at me, "Huh?"

"Matt. Don't even think about it." Caroline said, and I realized that she must have a crush on Matt, or maybe they were even dating.

"Caroline be nice." Elena sighed, and Stefan grimaced.

"Oh no I wasn't thinking about . . . I was just wondering . . ." I stammered.

"I know what you were thinking about." Caroline crossed her arms, "It's okay, you can make it up to me by having a killer back handspring."

I laughed, "A what?"

"Back handspring." Caroline said, "I'm head of the cheerleading squad, and we're down a member because our friend Bonnie's grams died, so she decided to skip town."

"Caroline." Elena warned, "A little sensitivity."

"No it's like, totally sad." Caroline said, "But that doesn't change the fact that we need another member. What do you say?"

"I'm not sure I'd really be the best person for the squad." I said, "I'm not exactly graceful and I've definitely never cheered before."

Caroline sighed, "Fine, we can put you in the back. At least you'll look cute in the uniform. Practice starts at 4 p.m. sharp on the fields. Don't be late."

Caroline walked off without giving me any chance to protest. I looked at Stefan and Elena, who both looked like they were trying not to laugh.

"Well she sure seems . . ." I tried to find the words to describe the blonde tornado I had just interacted with.

Stefan chuckled, "Yeah."

"No comment." Elena said, "Listen, don't feel pressured to join the squad. But it might be fun for you to get to hang out with some of the girls, since you are new here."

"You're right it can't hurt." I said, "I'll try it out, she'll probably end up kicking me off anyways once she sees how much I really suck."

Elena laughed, "See you after school?"

"Yeah, see you then." I said.

When I make it, I'll be on time yeah
Well you might say I'm crazy, but oh I'm out of my mind
Well excuse me black hearts, will you tell me who is up and who is down?
Are you waiting for me to fall down?

Your hearts on fire, so come on, burn brighter
Your hearts on fire, so come on, burn brighter

Your hearts on fire, but your cold to the touch
I know you want it but you love yourself too much
Your hearts on fire but your head is a rut
You best believe it, I ain't ever giving up
So come on, come on, come on, hey yeah!

Your hearts on fire, but your cold to the touch
I know you want it but you love yourself too much
Your hearts on fire but your head is a rut
You best believe it, I ain't ever give'n' up
Hey hey hey

I wiped the sweat from my forehead as I guzzled at least half of the contents of my water bottle. It was no surprise to me the Caroline's cheer practice was intense. My short interaction with her in the hallway was enough to solidify that she would not be going easy on me. I forced a smile at Elena as she ran up to me, her hair in a perfectly straight ponytail.

"How you holding up?" She asked.

"Boot camp would be like going back to preschool after one of Caroline's practices." I forced out between breaths.

Elena laughed, "Yeah, she's a little intense. But I promise you she has a good heart, she's just intimidated by you."

"By me?" I asked.

"Yeah I mean she kind of secured the role of most popular girl in our class, and then all the sudden you roll up in your sports car and all the boys are drooling all over you." Elena said, "But don't worry, she'll get over it."

"Please, I'm just the shiny new toy." I said, "I take it not a lot happens in this town if everyone's that amused by the new girl."

Elena sighed, "Honestly, a lot more happens here than you would think. But hopefully you won't ever have to deal with any of that. What do you think, are you gonna stick around on the squad?"

I nodded, "I think I can take it. Besides, my parents will be happy that I'm actually participating in extra curricular activities."

"Awesome." Elena smiled, "So there's a game on Friday and I doubt that your uniform will be in by then. Do you want to come over and borrow one of mine? We look about the same size."

"Yeah sure." I nodded.

Elena was surprisingly right. We stood about the same height, which was a pleasant change from me being one of the tallest girls in my class at my old school. She put her address in my phone, and I sent my parents a text to let them know where I'd be.

Elena's house was on a quiet suburban street. It was a nice sized house with a gorgeous wrap around porch. I was surprised to see a relatively young woman with strawberry blonde hair in the kitchen when we arrived.

"Hey Elena, new friend?" The woman asked.

"Yeah, this is Lucy, she and her parents just moved here." Elena said.

"Nice to meet you." The woman smiled, "I'm Elena's Aunt Jenna."

"Is Jeremy home?" Elena asked.

Jenna frowned, "No, he texted and told me not to wait up for him for dinner."

Elena sighed, "Well we'll be upstairs, lemme know if you need help with anything, okay?"

Jenna nodded, "Let me know when you two are done, I did some more research today."

"On . . . Isobel?" Elena asked. Jenna nodded again, "Got it. We can talk later."

Elena led me upstairs to her room. It was so beautiful and cozy. I smiled when I saw that she had a window seat, I had always wanted one of those.

"Who's Isobel?" I asked.

"Oh it's nothing, just someone I'm researching for a school project." Elena said. I could tell she didn't want to talk about it.

"Got it." I said, "So, you're close with your Aunt, I take it?"

"She's actually me and Jeremy's legal guardian." Elena said, "My parents died last spring."

"Oh my god I'm so sorry." I kicked myself for prying such personal information out of her.

Elena shifted, clearly wanting to talk about anything else, "Let's just get you a uniform, okay?"

Elena dug through her dresser and tossed me a somewhat wrinkled maroon cheer uniform. I tried not to cringe at how short the skirt was. The thought of wearing that in front of so many people made my stomach do backflips.

"Here, try it on, make sure it fits." Elena said.

I nodded, and turned around to change into the uniform. I checked myself out in the mirror. It was a little tight on me, but the top hugged my chest in a way that I knew would ultimately get me attention from boys.

"Ta-da." I said, turning back around, "What do you think?"

"Woah, your necklace." Elena said, noting the piece of silver that I normally kept tucked under my shirt, "I have one really similar to it."

I sat down next to Elena as she pulled her necklace out from under her shirt. The necklaces did have a similar round shape, and appeared to be the same antique silver. Elena's necklace had an unfamiliar etching on it, with either a ruby or a garnet at the top. Mine was etched with flowers, with an emerald in the center of the main flower. I instinctively closed my hand around mine.

"Weird." I said, "My grandma gave this to me in May. She raised my mom here, so I guess she got it somewhere in town."

Elena nodded, "Stefan actually gave this to me, so I have no clue where he got it. I always assumed it was a family heirloom. It's beautiful though."

"You guys must be pretty serious then, how long have you been together?" I asked.

"Actually not that long," Elena said, "We only met this school year. But what I have with him it's so . . . so real."

I smiled, "That's so incredible, you two make a beautiful couple.

"Thank you." Elena said, "What about you, any boys back home?"

I shook my head, "Nah. I dated here and there but it was never anything serious."

Elena nodded, "Well you're going to attract a lot of attention once the boys see you in the cheerleading uniform Friday night. You look hot. Here try the scrunchie with it too."

Elena handed me a hair tie that matched the outfit, and I turned to the mirror and attempted to mimic her ponytail. I sighed as I looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was like a prettier version of me. Our hair and eyes were the same color, but everything about her just seemed more perfect.

"I wish I had your hair." I said, "Yours is just perfectly straight it must be so easy to get ready in the mornings."

"Are you kidding me? I can't ever get my hair to hold a curl. You're so lucky to have this perfect wave at all times." Elena said, running her hand over my ponytail.

I shrugged, "Grass is always greener I guess."

Elena shoved me with her pillow, "I'll trade you."

"Yeah, let me just shave my head and make my hair into a wig real quick." I laughed.

We turned our heads after hearing a cough to see Aunt Jenna standing in the doorway.

"Dinner's almost ready Elena," Jenna said, "Will you be joining us Lucy?"

"Oh I should really be getting back home, I didn't realize it was getting so late." I stood up, "But thank you for the offer."

"Anytime." Jenna smiled.

"And thank you so much for the uniform Elena," I said, "You're a lifesaver."

Elena smiled, "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"See you tomorrow." I said.

I bounded down the stairs and sent my parents a message to let them know I would be home shortly. My heart felt an excitement that it hadn't in a while. My first day at Mystic Falls High and I had already been welcomed with open arms by the generous and beautiful Elena Gilbert. I was thrilled to have made a friend, and could only hope that this was just the beginning of a great last two years of high school.