Alexandria Gilbert

by JChavz95

Vampires, witches, werewolves and doppelgangers, oh my! All Alexa Gilbert wanted was a quiet life, a free drink and to party the night away with her friends without being nagged by her twin sister Elena, but the arrival of the mysterious Salvatore brothers may just ruin those plans... Starts Season 1, Episode 1, Slowburn Damon/OC, Now on Season 5!

1. Pilot

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs

A/N: I know this story has been left abandoned for so long! It's been a busy few years. I graduated uni, started my career, found the love of my life and then married him, bought a flat and got diagnosed with depression and anxiety. And I struggled with writing this. So I decided to start from the beginning. I have majorly rewritten the early chapters and am currently on chapter 7. I'll post each chapter weekly/as they are completed. The later chapters shouldn't need too much rewriting except for the changes that I am making. I swear to you that this story will end, even if it takes a few more years!

XXX

"Alexa!" a very unwelcome someone shouted from outside my door whilst banging on it. Hey, what did my poor door ever do to you? "Time for school!"

I groaned and burrowed back underneath the purple covers, pressing my pillow against my ears. It was too early in the morning for school. It was too early for anything. Ugh, far too early. And the rude person banging on my door should know that. Which, yay for me, meant that I knew exactly who it was that was abusing my poor door at this god-awful hour.

Well, they'll be waiting for a very long time as I was not getting out of this bed until at least midday. Nuh uh, no force on earth, heaven or hell could make me move right now. Nope, none whatsoever. But of course, I was forced to eat my words. Because the moment that I started planning my victory dance; the nice, warm, lovely covers were pulled off of me.

I didn't even bother holding in my whine, pressing my pillow over my head. It was a tiny comfort, considering the cold air that brushed against my bare legs, my sleep shorts doing absolutely nothing to protect them. Nor did curling them up against my chest, which was now just as cold.

"Come on Alexa," my not so darling twin sister Elena Gilbert laughed. She was so mean and I hated myself for loving her so damn much.

I groaned again and opened my eyes. Ow, that sunlight really did hurt. Guess that's what I deserved for getting absolutely fucking hammered last night. And for forgetting to shut the curtain. But even so, the nasty sunlight hurt my eyes. And I really didn't deserve that.

"Evil twin," I muttered and sat up. Damn, I hated that initial head spin. Honestly, I would eventually learn my lesson about drinking before bed. Oh who was I kidding? I would never learn. Unwilling to face the world just yet, I subtly moved the covers back over me so that their lovely warmth surrounded me still. Haha, still not gonna leave my bed.

"Nice bed hair," Elena smirked, which turned into a full-blown laugh as my hands shot straight up towards my hair. Rude! Leave my hair alone. I pouted at her and she laughed again, shaking her head. Evil twin. She knew exactly how to wind me up. And with my new hair style, she had plenty more opportunities to do so.

But… Hmm.

I squinted at her, trying to not make my confusion obvious. After looking into her eyes, I could conclude that she was not high or drunk. And believe me, after the past summer I had become an expert, so I would know. So the question was why was she happy? Not that I didn't want her to be happy. Because believe me, she deserved to be happy. It was just… why would she be happy right now? At too early o'clock on a school morning? Our first school morning.

Ugh, it was too early in the morning for this nonsense. It should be illegal to have to think at this time of day. It should be illegal to have to think when you were as hung-over as I was. Although I suppose that I was just fortunate that this wasn't the worst hangover that I had ever had. Believe me when I say that thinking was just impossible during that hangover. And I would never quite know how I managed to hide it from my family.

"Why are you so happy?" I asked her, not even bothering beating around the bush, having given up trying to work it out by myself. "It's a school morning."

Emphasis on school and morning. And then add a whole lot of whining. And cursing. And pouting. Because school was the worst. I enjoyed having my time to myself, not having to worry about homework and social dramas and teachers.

But even with my bluntness, I wasn't that much of a bitch to point out that this was the happiest that she had been all summer. Since… well, since our parents died. Since she woke up in hospital, the only survivor of the accident.

Elena just rolled her eyes and walked out of the room.

How rude.

She always was the ruder twin. Despite what everyone else claimed. They just didn't know her like I knew her. One day, I would prove that she was the rude twin and I wouldn't let her live it down.

I sighed despondently and, oh so reluctantly, pulled myself out of bed. I glanced sadly back at my lovely bed as I stumbled in the direction of my mirror. Oh crap, now I remembered why I didn't do any walking after waking up with a hangover. Why I lingered in bed until I downed a bottle of water. Of course, I didn't actually have any water with me this morning, as I was not really planning on drinking last night.

Once I had managed to stop the room from spinning and fought the urge to throw up, I took a good, long look in the mirror. Oh god, I really did have bad bed hair. Aw man, that really sucked.

It wasn't such an issue when my hair was longer, because it wasn't as obvious. All I had to do was brush it down and hey presto, it looked presentable. Especially with my natural waves hiding any obvious frizziness. But I suppose that that was the problem with having short hair. And I now had seriously short hair. You ended up resembling Medusa in the mornings. Well, Medusa without the fun 'turning people to stone gaze' that she had. God that would be so awesome.

Goodbye people I don't like.

Goodbye Mr Tanner.

Au revoir.

Lol.

Naw, I was kidding. I'd miss him too much if he died. After all, if there was no Mr Tanner, who would I annoy? None of the other teachers gave me the entertainment that Mr Tanner did, nor did any of the others provide me with such cutting and witty retorts. We were besties in a way no one else could ever understand. And that was why I would always believe that I was his favourite, even if he would deny it until his dying breath.

But moving on, I must confess that with the hangover that I had, it was a relief to not have to brush my hair. Especially since it used to have an annoying habit of getting all tangled up. Ugh. Cutting it all off was the best decision that I ever made. Even if Caroline said that it looked more punk than pretty. I think she was just bitter that I didn't show her any hairstyle options before I got it cut.

XXX

After a quick, well quick for me, hot, soapy shower in the main shower and a thorough brushing of the teeth, I pulled on some lovely, new, black jeans and a plain red t-shirt. Something that I could enjoy the sun in. Plus, they were the first things that I pulled out of the pile in my wardrobe. And when I say pile, I mean pile.

My wardrobe was not organised. Not at all. Organising took effort. Too much effort. Why put in all that effort when it was easier to just have it in a pile on the bottom of the wardrobe. It was much easier to find clothes to wear when it was in the pile. Honestly, it was.

Yeah, it wasn't. Shhh, though, you never heard me admit that. Especially around my sister. The state of my wardrobe drove her mad. Like legit, she never stopped moaning about it. But I really should tidy it up before Elena moaned at me again… Meh, I'll just do it later. Pfft yeah, later meant never.

Wandering from my wardrobe to my desk in the corner of the room, I started the mammoth task of looking for my styling gel. Fortunately, all it took was one glance at the cluttered desk to see that it wasn't there. Unfortunately, that meant that I had absolutely no idea as to where it was. I had a vague recollection of picking it up last night, throwing it to the side while I was searching a red sharpie. I couldn't quite remember why I was looking for a red sharpie, just that it had to be red. But that was after I had drunk enough to create a hangover the size of a marching band.

After scrounging around on the wooden floor, praying that it wasn't on my lovely white rug, I finally found and picked up the pot of styling gel and spiked my hair. My hair was probably one of the only things that I put in the effort to do. Hey. It took time to make this beauty decent for the wider world.

Lol, I kid.

I was just a neat freak about my hair. I blamed Elena. She used to delight in messing up my hair when we were kids, especially since it did such an effective job of shutting me up. I was just convinced that she was just jealous of the awesomeness that was my hair. But anyways, I digress.

Once I was happy enough with the state of my hair, which took a very long time, I slowly made my way downstairs. It had to be slow, I walked down the stairs quickly, once, when it was too damn early and I ended up falling down them. Managed to break my wrist as well as knock my head hard enough to give myself a mild concussion.

Sometimes, I just amazed myself. And not in a good way. Especially since I was completely sober at that point in time. I dread to think what would happen if I attempted to quickly walk down the stairs in the state that I was in. God, it would be an absolute disaster. And that's absolutely the last thing that I need on the morning of the first day back to school. It was already a cursed morning. Especially this year. Because it was the first one since our parents died. And that thought was painful enough that I wanted to run away from it.

I entered the kitchen just in time to see my darling little brother Jeremy steal Elena's coffee. Haha, bad luck, twin. Well done, Jeremy.

Looked like my lessons were finally taking effect. About time too. I'd been giving them to him for long enough. I guess that was Elena's influence battling mine. But, unfortunately for her, while he may share her brown eyes, he had my cheeky, annoying personality. And he delighted in winding her up as much as I did. Even in his current emo state.

"...totally unprepared," Aunt Jenna was complaining as she rushed around, shoving things in bags, not even looking at what she was grabbing. It appeared as though she was reaching the 'pulling out her gorgeous red hair' stage. I looked at her, wondering if I should try and be helpful, before shrugging. I knew that it would only make it worse. Because I knew that she was struggling with today, just as much as we were. For my aunt, it was only supposed to be her return to college. She wasn't supposed to be getting three damaged teenagers ready for school too. And that made me hate today even more. It was so much easier over the summer, when there was no routine or structure. We could run away from our issues. But with the return to school, there was no longer that opportunity to escape.

"You're not unprepared, Aunt Jenna," I consoled her, ruffling Jeremy's hair as I passed him. Jeremy glared at me and swatted my hand away. I smirked at him and stuck out my tongue.

Take that brat.

That's what you get for hiding your secret stash in my bedroom so that you don't get caught. Yeah, I noticed. Wasn't hard really. The silly brat hid it in the most obvious place ever. Honestly. He was just lucky that I wasn't a snitch. Otherwise, I would have ran straight over to Elena and Jenna.

"Lunch money?" Aunt Jenna asked us, holding out money and completely ignoring what I just said. I wasn't offended. Because I was almost one hundred percent certain that she didn't hear me. She was clearly going through the motions, doing what she thought was expected of her, while also trying not to say something to cause someone to start crying. Not that any of us would. But sometimes, the need to cry led to anger. And Jeremy, bless his heart, was already teetering on the edge of anger, thanks to the pressure from our sister.

I considered taking it but decided not to. I didn't need it, Elena knew that I didn't need it and, consequently, she would be on my back about what I spent it on. And I really didn't want her to know what I would be buying with it. Because I knew for sure that she would not approve. But alas, the curse of the responsible sibling. Why was I stuck with one of them again? Good thing that I wasn't a responsible sibling, otherwise Jeremy would have had two sisters on his back. And what an awful thing that would be. He had enough trouble with one.

"No thanks," I smiled at her, before pinching Elena's new coffee just before she was about to drink it. And that's what she got for waking me up at a ridiculously early time and making fun of my bed hair. Never forget, dearest sister, Alexa always got her revenge.

"Thanks sis," I grinned at her disgruntled look. But the fact that she didn't moan at me said it all. Guess she also realised just how hard this day was for our little family.

It was at that moment that I got a good look at what she was wearing. It was near enough identical to what I was wearing except the top was a different design and my jeans were darker. Why did we always end up doing this? It was so frustrating. And kinda freaky… Damn those twin vibes.

"We have seriously got to stop doing this," I told her, pointing a finger at her. She just rolled her eyes in response, not even needing to ask why. Cheeky. Honestly, she was just so rude to me. What a rude twin she was. But let's move on from that, shall we? There were far more important things that I could be doing.

Such as the little victory dance that I did, while drinking Ellie's stolen coffee. Difficult, but I had managed the technique years ago. Granted, that was with stolen sodas, which was a lot less dangerous. But hey, practice made perfect.

Aunt Jenna rolled her eyes at me, shaking her head, before filling her thermos with the remaining coffee from the pot. I gave her a wink, nudging over the sugar, which she immediately used. Judging from the amount that she poured into the thermos, I wasn't the only one who had indulged last night. Luckily, I was able to hide any signs of mine, thanks to my twin already putting sugar in her coffee.

Jeremy laughed at me but he did hold up his stolen cup in a salute. I held up my stolen cup in a return salute. That's what I loved about my baby bro, he embraced and often mimicked my insanity. It frustrated Ellie to no end. Not that that was a bonus at all. Oh who was I kidding? I totally was.

A car horn beeped from outside.

I let Ellie go and find out who it was. I was too busy downing my stolen coffee. It wasn't even made the way that I like it, because my sister put too much sugar in it, even for my hungover state. But in this house, where coffee stealing was a regular occurrence, one learned to adapt quickly.

"Alexa, it's for you," she called, waving at the occupants of the car.

"Alrighty then, guess I'm off," I sighed, putting down the empty coffee cup, kissing Jenna's cheek and picking up my bag. "Bye Aunt Jenna, good luck with the presentation. See you at school, darling siblings of mine."

I took a moment to mess up my little brother's hair one last time before I slouched out the house. But not before slipping on my sunglasses. I had to protect my delicate hung-over eyes from the sun somehow. The moment that I stepped out of the door, I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

XXX

The beautiful Jasmine Nolan was sitting in her little green car, beaming out of the window and waiting for me. Craning my neck, I could also see her older brother, the gorgeous Luke Nolan, lying down on the back seat.

For all of you who didn't know, Jasmine was my best friend. We'd been friends since kindergarten and she was virtually a second sister to me. And Luke, well, how could I describe Luke? I'd had a major crush on him for quite a few years now. His short golden blonde hair that was just perfect for running your hands through and lovely clear blue eyes that captured my heart…

Anyway, moving on rapidly. Before y'all start to judge me. Because let's face it, it was bound to happen. Although, thinking back, you've probably started to judge me already. So really, should I be worrying?

"Hello stranger," Jazz, as she preferred to go by, grinned as I slumped into the car, dumping my bag by my feet. I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at her.

"Hello to you too, Jazz," I replied as I got myself comfortable and adjusted my sunglasses.

"Nice glasses," I didn't even have to look at her to know that there was a cheeky smirk on her face.

"Believe me when I say that they are very much needed," I groaned, closing my eyes for a moment. "Oh my god, I am so hungover right now."

"You had a booze night last night then?"

"The only way to roll," I shrugged before looking over at her. "And the mere thought of school depressed me enough to need a drink. Or several."

"You are unbelievable, Alexa," Jazz laughed, shaking her head. The sound of her laughter, always so bright and infectious, had the smile returning to my face.

"Oh please, you love it," I winked at her before turning around and grinning at Luke, who had gone ignored for long enough. "Speaking of strangers, hello Luke."

"Hello Alexandria," he replied, smirking as I scowled at being called my full name. He knew how much I hated it. I had never liked being called by my full name. It just didn't suit me. And it was such a mouthful.

"Alexa! My name is Alexa!" I protested, reaching forward to flick his knee.

"Nah, I prefer Alexandria," Luke laughed, looking smug with the knowledge that he was winding me up. It was one of his favourite ways to annoy me. He had been doing it since we were kids and, even though I knew exactly why he was doing it, it never failed to get a reaction from me. I guess I just really hated my full name.

"Well, I don't," I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes behind my sunglasses. I knew that he knew what I was doing, from the way his smirk grew.

"Tough."

"You are mean."

"And you are a child."

"No, I'm not!"

The blonde idiot laughed at me. I pouted and turned back around to look at Jazz, the nice Nolan. Who was laughing at us. Gee, I was surrounded by such delightful people. Honestly, why did I ride to school with these people?

"Now let's get to school before I decide that attacking your idiot of a brother is a good idea," I told her, as I stretched out my back. In return of my comment, I felt a kick in the back of the seat. Rolling my eyes, I reached back and swatted at the idiot's legs.

"Why are you so eager to get to school?" Jazz groaned, theatrically pressing a hand to her face. Yikes, that was a good question. Why was I so eager to get to school? That wasn't normal for me, even before the accident.

Sensing the need to be overdramatic, I gasped out, "Oh my gosh, I don't know! Maybe I'm coming down with something! Elenaitus! The illness where you become responsible!"

My best friend laughed at me and rolled her eyes. I gave her a wink, enjoying the way her face lit up. I didn't mind making a fool of myself, if it meant cheering up my friend. Especially when I saw the tension ease from her body. Why she was tense, I didn't know. But from the drunk texts that I had received over the past few months, this summer had been harder on the Nolan siblings than normal.

Now, in case you were wondering, Jazz had blonde hair and blue eyes that were identical to her brothers. Just by glancing at them, you could tell that they were siblings. It was spooky at times, especially when Jazz went through her own short haired era in our early teens. But they owned their similarities.

Jazz also just so happened to be one of the prettiest girls at school. Not that that interested her. Much. Haha, I lied, she loved it and took full advantage of it. And I did usually benefit in some way. It gave me a different rep being than Elena Gilbert's twin sister. Which just got tiring.

"Nice hair," she said, glancing at me. I smiled and ran a hand through my new short, spiky hair.

It had been a few weeks since we had seen each other since her and Luke had been out of town. The Nolan family always went for a mini tour of the country for a few weeks during the summer. It was their thing. And a very secretive thing. No one actually knew what they did during their little mini tour. And believe me, I had asked enough times over the years.

"I wanted a change," I explained, shrugging and smiling over at my friend. I didn't tell her the real reason for my change of style. I hadn't told anyone. Not even Ellie.

"And what a change it is," Luke smirked from the backseat.

"Hush you," I rolled my eyes, pointing my finger at him. Jazz sniggered and I turned my pointy finger to her instead.

"Eyes on the road, honeypie," I scolded, keeping my voice steady. "Eyes on the road."

I refused to even admit to myself why I needed her to keep her focus on the road. Because that would open a door that I could barely keep closed. And I couldn't afford to get drunk the morning of our first day back to school. It was bad enough that I did it the night before school.

"Yes ma'am," she said, sitting up straight and saluting me. I just rolled my eyes at her.

Stupid Nolans.

XXX

We got to school not soon after, much to my relief. Luke's continuous teasing was really getting on my nerves. There was teasing and then there was 'does not shut up and keep going on and on and on' teasing. The first was alright, as it was something that I frequently did myself. But other one was not good. Not good at all. Why did I have a crush on this guy again? Oh yes, because when he wasn't driving me up the damn wall, he was actually really cute.

We got out of the car and looked around. It looked exactly like it did at the end of last year. Not that I expected it to change, or anything. But it felt like it should have. Or maybe it was just me who had changed.

"See you later Jazz, Alexa," Luke said. He gave Jazz a kiss on the cheek before wrapping me up into a hug. My skin tingled delightfully wherever it came into contact with his skin. I loved it when he hugged me. I always got this happy feeling inside. God, Alexa, get a grip, girl. He's never gonna go for you. He had the pick of the school, why would he go for a mess like you?

I shook my head and tuned my gaze from where it was admiring Luke's ass. It was a nice ass. But alas, there was something terrible to distract me from Luke's fine ass. Something like…

"School, crappy school," I sighed miserably, crossing my arms. "Remind me why I come here?"

"Because you have to, Alexa," someone laughed from behind me.

I jumped and spun around to face my really not a darling twin. She stood there laughing at me as she put a hand on my shoulder. I let a pout form on my face, refusing to allow myself to give into the urge to laugh. Instead I rested a hand over my rapidly beating heart, "Um rude, when did you get here?"

God that scared me. I hated it when people did that to me. Especially Ellie, since she knew that I jumped easily. But then again, she was also of the opinion that it was my own fault. Since I watched so many horror movies when we were younger. She was a fool, because one day, I would use that horror movie knowledge to save us all.

"Just now," she informed me, giving my shoulder a squeeze. A perfect idea for revenge struck me. Smiling, I nodded and stepped forward. Wrapping my arms around her, I waited until she had relaxed in to the hug before I put my plan into motion. As I pulled away, my hands shot out and messed up my darling twin's perfectly styled hair. But instead of being grumpy, she just laughed, batting my hands away, before sighing out my name.

"Aw, you love me anyway," I beamed before looking over to the side where the beautiful Bonnie Bennett was standing.

Bonnie was one of those poor, unfortunate people who had grown up with me and Ellie. Well, not so much me, when it came to the unfortunately, I was a delight to grow up with. But she was a great friend. Especially when she helped me sort out any problems my dear twin had. Of which there had been many over the years. So we had perfected our tag team approach, knowing exactly what steps needed to be taken and when.

"Bonnie, it's always lovely to see you," I beamed at my friend, pulling her in for a hug. "You make coming to this hell hole worth it. How have you been since we last spoke?"

"I'm alright," Bonnie replied with a laugh, returning my hug. "How are you doing, Alexa?"

I always did love a Bonnie hug. She just had the soothing presence that came from knowing someone for so long. While she may be officially known as Elena's friend, Bon-Bon had always been like another sister. In fact, I had claimed her as another sister, back when we were young. And I had reminded her of that fact frequently. When I wasn't trying to steal her from Elena.

"Y'know, same old, same old," I shrugged, pulling back. Okay, I might have been lying; just a tiny bit. But anything that would make me not alright would be something that I couldn't discuss in front of my delightful twin sister. It wasn't that I couldn't tell Ellie stuff. Because I could. But I couldn't tell her about my little drinking habit. Not problem, habit. Because it wasn't a problem. I couldn't tell her because she would never let it go. She would always be on my case about it. She would be like a dog with a bone, unable to let it go. But in a nicer way, if you know what I mean. She only did it because she cared.

And how did I know this? Because she was doing it with Jeremy, with his little drug problem. She was constantly on his case about, even if she was apparently 'giving him the summer'. Yeah, that definitely wasn't happening. But I knew that it would be worse for the kid now that school had started again. Ellie was very much of the opinion that the beginning of the school years signified a fresh start. And that fresh start didn't include her younger brother having a drug problem. So I would hide my penchant for indulging in a bit of booze.

"Nice hair," she said, nodding to my new look. I once again ran my hand through my hair. It was a habit that I had only recently acquired. Before I got it cut, I never really did anything with my hair. Especially nothing fancy. It was just… there. The only time that I got anything done with it was when someone else got fed up enough to do something, like my sister. Or if there was a fancy event that I needed to dress up for. But ever since I had it cut, I'd developed the habit to run my hand through it. Or to fiddle with my bangs. It was a habit that I really needed to get rid of. Especially when it came to cards night with the Nolan's. After all, I couldn't let it become a tell. I was bad enough at poker at it was, I couldn't let something else give me away.

"I'm gonna get this a lot, aren't I?" I sighed dramatically, throwing my head back in dramatic despair.

"Well, you shouldn't have had it cut," Elena remarked, grabbing my arm and pulling me in the direction of the school. Huh, it was almost as though she knew that I was unlikely to actually go into the building without being forced. Sometimes, my twin really did know me far too well.

Before we got too far, I turned my head and shouted, "See ya later, Jazz! Thanks for the ride."

"Bye!" Jazz shouted back, sticking an arm out from where she was looking in the trunk of her car and waving. Well, that's a nicer way of putting it. She was actually half way into her car boot with her butt hanging out. The silly girl had probably lost something. Or had wanted to keep out of the way of the drama that was me and Elena. I knew she would catch up with me later. Besides, I had an inkling of a feeling that she wanted to meet up with someone before school actually started. I knew that she had started hooking up with a mystery boy over the summer, something that had apparently restarted since she returned from the annual Nolan trip. I had no idea who it was, but I knew that I would find out eventually. Probably once I got her drunk enough, if I was being honest.

XXX

"So, does anyone else really not want to be here?" I casually queried as I subtly tested the strength of Ellie's grip on my arm. Damn. Too strong. I sighed as we walked across the grass. "Because I know for a fact that I can't be the only one feeling this way."

"Alexa, is it just me, or has your dislike of school dramatically increased over the summer?" Bonnie asked as she walked on the other side of my twin. I glanced over to see her lips twitching up in a smile.

"Hmmm," I actually had to think about that. But of course, the only answer was, "It has gone from dislike to loathing."

It's amazing what a few months could do to someone's attitude. Few months and a family disaster.

Elena gave me a look, "I didn't realise that it had gotten that bad."

I shrugged, "Neither did I until this morning. If it wasn't for you, darling twin, then I doubt that I would be here right now."

"In the building or the general area?" Bon piped up, and I could just tell that she was fighting the urge to turn her smile to a grin. I didn't mind too much. Bonnie had the most beautiful smile and I would never be upset at seeing it, even if she was teasing me.

"Believe me, if I was given a choice, I would still be curled up in bed right now," I pulled down my sunglasses and sent her a wink, causing her to shake her head.

"You are just unbelievable, Lexa," Ellie sighed, shaking her own head, sounding far too responsible and mature for my liking.

"Ah, but you love it," I smirked as I pushed open the dreaded doors into the awful school. Oh sweet relief. As we stepped out of the sun, I slipped off my sunglasses. Placing them into my bag, I hoped and prayed that I didn't look as hung-over as I still slightly felt. Because sometimes, makeup just didn't do the trick.

It was a long walk to our lockers due to the sheer number of people who just kept on getting in our way. Which was so totally rude of them. But hey, it gave me the opportunity to wrap myself around my twin and just hang onto her. She didn't bother trying to push me off. After years of spending practically every single day with me, my darling twin had become immune to most of my more endearing habits.

"Major lack of male real estate," Bonnie was complaining and it was a pretty fair complaint. We had managed to get onto the topic of boys. Since all three of us were completely and utterly single, we had once again turned to our favourite game of 'find the hot boy'. When played at school, it usually wasn't very successful. Not that there weren't hot boys at school, there just weren't very many that fit our criteria. and unfortunately, out of the hot guys who fit or type they were either friends that were so close that they felt like family or dickbrains. I swear that if I wasn't crushing so hard on Luke, then I probably wouldn't be crushing on anybody. At least no body that we went to school with.

At least I wasn't so fussy when it came to casual hookups. When it came to proper relationships, which I am sad to say that I have never had, I probably was a bit too strict with myself. But it was hard opening up to new people, which was probably why I crushed so hard on Luke. I knew him, he knew me. I was, for the most part, able to avoid that awkward moment where I wondered if they hated my personality. It would, in theory, help me push away those feels of inadequacy, if I was able to be with someone who truly knew me.

"Totally," I snorted, allowing my head to fall back, trusting my twin to stop me from walking into anyone. "By this point you would think that we would know better than to expect otherwise."

"I believe it's called living in hope," Bonnie rolled her eyes, reaching around my sister to give my shoulder a prod.

"Ugh," I groaned. "As useful as hope is, sometimes is sucks beyond belief. Especially when connected to school."

"Well, we both know that anything connected to school automatically gets a black mark when it comes to you, Alexa," y'know, Bonnie was another one who just knew me far too well sometimes. It would be scary if it wasn't so useful. And if she wasn't a dear and amazing friend.

"Ok, I'll give you that. But come on, for some points I am right. Like, to use your phrase, the major lack of real estate, and the fashion sense of some people. Not that I am one to judge, but even I have my doubts about some people."

"Yeah, for example, just look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech," Bon nodded. "She looks a hot... can I still say 'tranny mess'?"

It was at that moment that I realised that my twin hadn't said a word since we had entered the building. The only reason why I knew that she was still with us was because she was still supporting and directing me. Glancing over at her, I saw the look on her face which indicated that she was in a world of her own. Rolling my eyes, I gave her a not so subtle jab in the side.

After shooting me an 'Elena Look', she must have realised just how quiet she had been since she said, "Ah, no, that's over."

Well at least that proves that she was sort of listening.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her tone of voice though, which sounded as interested as a leaf on the ground, as we reached our lockers. Gee Ellie, show more enthusiasm towards the conversation. Or maybe I'm just projecting my boredom? But God, I was bored already and the lessons hadn't even started yet. Honestly.

Although I wasn't heartless enough to forget that this was hard for her too. Going back to school wasn't just hard on me. But we were close enough to Bonnie to just tell her if we weren't feeling like our normal chats. She would understand. Probably a lot better than most, since she had spent an considerable amount of time at ours over the summer, helping Jenna in getting us through the worst of it all.

I shook my head as I detached myself from my twin and leaned back against the lockers. For a moment, I debated whether I should go to my own locker and actually use it. But that thought was soon pushed from my head. Because I never put my bag in my locker, not even before the accident. Because it allowed me to have a quicker getaway if I kept it on me. In fact, the only thing that I used my locker for, was storing contraband. Back in the day, before my parents died, I used to be a number one supplier for a sugar kick in school. I did quite well out of it, thanks to the stoner pit kids, and I never needed to pay for lunch out of my own money. But after what happened, I just didn't have the motivation anymore. I didn't have motivation for a lot of things. And while with some stuff, I could pretend that it was all good and act like my old self, there were some things that I couldn't return to.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that I was completely bored out of my mind. And we hadn't even started learning anything. Well, wasn't that just an amazing start to a new school year? I just dreaded to think what the rest of the year would be like. Most likely just as boring. Yup, I predicted an awfully boring year.

"Ahh, find a man, coin a phrase. It's a busy year," Bonnie smiled, either ignoring or not noticing my twin's lack of enthusiasm. I suspected the first option. She knew us both far too well to not notice Ellie's disinterest. But I think she was hoping that some of her perkiness would rub off onto Elena. It was an adorable, if not naïve hope, because it never worked for Caroline.

Speaking of men, I looked over Elena's shoulder and saw the darling Matthew Donavon. Blond hair, blue eyes and a dear friend since we were babies, Matt was one of those amazing guys who was always there for you. Even after he and Ellie broke up, he'd been there for me. And I did my bit by helping him try to get over my sister. Even if that did just include sneaking him shots when we went out drinking.

I smiled and waved at him, praying that I could catch his attention from where it was focused on Elena. While he did have a small smile on his face, he just nodded his head in reply. Meh, I could live with that. The acknowledgment alone was enough for me. Just as I was about to walk over to him, my darling twin looked over at him. He adopted this hurt puppy lock before shutting his locker and walking away. Aww poor Mattie. While I did understand my twin's reasoning for ending their relationship, I still couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor guy.

"He hates me," Ellie groaned, turning back around and resting her head on my shoulder. I bit back a laugh as I patted her shoulder. Relationships. Seeing all of the drama between the two kinda made me glad that I hadn't really had a relationship. I created enough drama as it was, let alone adding a relationship into that. And I really did not need any more drama in my life.

"That's not hate," Bonnie contradicted her, sharing a brief glance with me. "That's 'you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits'."

I carefully shifted Elena so that she was between me and Bon-Bon before smirking, "Wow, Bonnie, sounds like you have experience in that area."

Bonnie rolled her eyes but before she could reply, or swat me, the blonde whirlwind that was Caroline Forbes came running over. Ah, the darling Caroline. She was occasionally a bit too happy for my liking, especially when I was nursing a hangover, but she was a dear friend who had also grown up with us. One I wouldn't want to live without. For despite her annoying traits, she had a heart of gold. Indeed, we were lucky to have her in our lives. And she frequently reminded us of that fact.

"Elena, Alexa," she beamed, pulling us both into her arms. I let out a tiny 'oof' as she enthusiastically hugged us, arms wrapped around our necks. Even if I was far too hungover to deal with bubbly Caroline, I couldn't help but grin and pat her back.

"Oh my god. How are you both? Oh, it's so good to see you," she let go of us and turned to Bonnie, not giving us a chance to answer her questions before she demanded, "How are they? Are they good?"

Ah Caroline, dear, sweet, very fast-talking Caroline. She really did care. I knew that she had been checking on us via Bonnie, while she had been away at her dad's for the summer. But seeing was different to hearing.

I rolled my eyes in amusement as my twin answered the question for Bonnie, "Caroline, we're right here. And we're fine. Thank you."

"Really?" she sounded doubtful. Oh Ellie honey, you really needed to work on your acting skills. Because you were so bad at it, unlike me. I was amazing, which was how I managed to get away with much of my nonsense.

"Yes. Much better," Elena replied, sounding much more convincing, with an actual smile on her face. Well, that was definitely an improvement, since it seemed to convince our blonde friend.

"Oh, you poor thing," Caroline gushed, pulling Elena in for another hug, not noticing that I had dodged to the side. I smirked at my twin from behind Caroline's back. As much as I loved hugs, even I couldn't always cope with a Caroline-hug. She was even more enthusiastic than I was, and that was saying something.

Ellie pulled at face at me as she returned Care's hug and my smirk grew. Oh how I loved to torment my twin. It gave me much satisfaction. Who needed a hobby when you had a twin to annoy? Especially since she had to love me, she had no choice in the matter.

"Oh, and Alexa, I am loving the hair," Caroline said to me as she let go of Elena. "It looks so much better in person. Your photos didn't do it justice."

I bit my lip and beamed, self-consciously running a hand through my hair. Ugh, there I go again. Care was a self-proclaimed Queen of Fashion, so it did feel pretty good to get her approval. Especially since I so often danced outside the realm of fashionable choices. I didn't follow the latest fashion trends, instead relying on my friends to let me know what was 'in'.

"Thanks Care."

"Ok, see you guys later?" she asked, looking ready to dash off somewhere else. Honestly, I had lost count of all the different things that she had gotten herself involved with. But somehow, she kept on top of it all. I really didn't know how she did it. But it was impressive.

"Ok," Bonnie nodded. "Bye."

"See you later, Care," I smiled and waved at her as she walked off.

"No comment," Elena sighed, glancing between me and Bonnie.

"I'm not going to say anything," Bonnie assured her as we walked off.

"I will," I smirked, then my darling sister elbowed me in the stomach. "Ow! Evil twin!"

Ellie laughed and moved so that she was on the other side of Bonnie. That won't protect you, dearest Elena. Oh no, no, no, that won't protect you at all. I let a wicked smirk form on my face, "I'll get my revenge, Els, don't you doubt that."

Elena rolled her eyes at me, completely dismissing my threat. Which was so rude, that I reached over and flicked her shoulder. That earned me a glare and I couldn't stop myself from beaming. I loved getting under my sister's skin, especially when it distracted me from bullshit like school. And unfortunately for my twin, I would be using her to distract myself all day.

Bonnie looked between us, a smile on her face. Even though she had grown up with the both of us and our teasing, she still enjoyed it when we got started. It was a common theme amongst our friends. And our family. I knew that we were a show when we got going, and if I was being honest, I wouldn't be ashamed of that. It was one of my favourite things, winding up my twin.

"How both of you are still alive, I will never understand," she joked, drawing her arms in to protect her sides. Aw silly Bonnie, as if we would go for something so expected.

I grinned as Elena rolled her eyes, shaking her head at me. It was like she knew exactly what I was going to say.

"Elena couldn't get rid of me if she tried," I smirked at my sister, giving her a wink.

"Sure I couldn't," Ellie shook her head, but I could hear the laughter trying to force its way out.

"Your life would be so boring without me."

"My life would be normal."

"Are you saying that I make your life abnormal?"

"I'm saying that you're not normal."

"Well," I sniffed, dramatically crossing my arms. "I cannot believe that you said that to me. I feel very offended right now. Very, very offended."

"Sure you are."

"I am!"

"The other day you were boasting about your abnormality and were saying that you never want to become normal!"

"…Oops… forgot about that."

"You were saying that 'normal' is some sort of disease."

"Oh yeah," I smiled, reminiscing. "That was good. Oh, I make myself laugh."

"At least you make someone laugh."

I stuck my tongue out at my twin. Who just laughed.

But it was nice being able to banter like that with her. After our parents died, and after Ellie almost died, neither of us felt in the mood to joke around like that. And it has only been recently that we've been able to laugh without immediately remembering what happened. Besides, I've learnt that if you pretend that everything was ok, you eventually started believing it. Not exactly the healthiest of coping methods, but it worked for me. It got me through the summer and that was the main thing. Maybe, now, I would start thinking about turning to healthier coping methods. But if I was being honest, I highly doubted that I would do that.

XXX

As we passed the main office, something must have caught Bonnie's attention since she caught both our arms and stopped us. It took me a second to realise that she had stopped as I had kept on walking. Only to fall back against my friend when she yanked me back. I followed her gaze to see a boy standing at the desk, talking to the receptionist. Not that I know everyone in the school, but I got the sense that he was new. And a new guy meant plenty of entertainment for me. As I watched Bonnie eye him up, one thought entered my mind. Got your eye on the new guy already, Bon-Bon?

"Hold up. Who's this?" she asked with a gleam in her eye, looking him up and down. Yup, Bon sure did have her eye on the new guy. But to be fair, he did look quite interesting. Well, the back of him did. But apparently, according to some, cough Caroline cough, you can tell a lot from a person's back.

"All I see is back," Elena said, not sounding particularly interested. Shocker. She was really ruining my rep as the one disinterested by school. As Bon released our arms, I walked around her so that I could wrap an arm around my twin's shoulders.

"It's a hot back," Bonnie shot back, not taking her eyes off of the new boy. Yeah, you go girl. You tell her. Don't let her dismiss the new boy so quickly.

Elena laughed. Hallelujah. A sign of happiness and interest. About time. After all, bantering with me didn't count as a sign of happiness and interest, not to me, anyway. Nope, interacting with someone else counted. Because bantering with me was instinct, even if she was feeling down. No, doing that with other people required effort, and that was how I judged her mood.

I scoffed and shook my head, "Y'know Bonnie may be right, Ellie, that could be one good lookin' guy. Perhaps you should go and find out."

I gave her a nudge and wiggled my eyebrows. Was I trying to set my twin up? Yes, yes I was. She needed to be happy. And as much as I want her to be happy with Matt, I knew that that would never happen now. There's too much history between the two of them and she broke his heart. Besides, she was losing faith in the relationship before that dreadful night. Not that she needed a guy to be happy, I just knew her well enough to know that agreeing to put herself out there was the first step that she could take to happiness. Because it meant that she was moving on from the past.

"I'm sensing Seattle and that he plays the guitar," Bonnie interrupted my musings. I gave her a weird look. Come again? Sensing? Why are you saying this stuff? Someone please explain.

"You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?" Ellie studied the new guy's back before glancing at Bonnie, looking amused. Psychic? What psychic thing? What the hell had I missed earlier?

"You're psychic?" I asked, looking at my darling friend, my mind spinning with all the possibilities. Bonnie nodded, looking slightly wary. I gave her a smile, poking her cheek before holding out my hand. "Cool stuff. Test answers, gimme."

"Oh ha ha," Bonnie laughed dryly, shaking her head. But I could tell that she was relieved that I had no problem with it. No idea as to why she would think that I did. I was pretty laid back with that sorta thing. In fact, I was laid back with most things. Especially if they concerned the people that I cared about. It took a lot of phase me. And it would take even more for me to reject them. Being psychic was definitely not on that list.

"Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week," I mock boasted, bowing slightly. As Bonnie gave in and laughed properly, I could see Elena shaking her head in mock-despair, a smile curling around her lips. Ah perfect, mission accomplished. Not only had I successfully cheered up my sister, I had also managed to make a dear friend happy. And by cheer up, I meant cheer up. Even though she was acting all happy earlier, my twintuition told me that she wasn't truly happy. And I couldn't have that. Cheering up my sister was one of the few things that I was actually good at. And damn, I was proud of that.

But unfortunately, our care-free happy moment was not to last.

"Jeremy, good batch man," some guy called from down the corridor, a slight slur in his voice.

That caught our attention. I closed my eyes and prayed. Please don't let that be our Jeremy. Please don't let that be our Jeremy. Aw hell. We then watched as our darling little Jeremy went into the boys toilets. Well, at least he didn't go into the girls toilets. That would be weird. And it would make the situation even worse than it already is. Because while I may be sort-of-cool about his little drug habit, only because it would make a hypocrite out of me if I wasn't, Elena sure as hell wasn't cool about it. And she had just heard evidence of him dealing. Oh hell this was not gonna be good. I'll say something nice at your funeral, little bro.

"I'll be right back," Elena growled, striding in after him. Damn, she was actually going after him at school. Wowza she must not be happy. Oooh, watch out baby brother, angry Elena was on the loose. And she was hunting your ass down. God, I was so glad that I was not Jeremy at that moment in time. Shame I couldn't give him the heads up though. He's gonna need it.

Bonnie looked at me, silently asking why I wasn't chasing after Jer like my twin was. Ugh, think of something credible.

"She can deal with this," I told her quickly. "Elena's better at the whole responsibility and getting your life together speeches than I am."

But the truth was that I didn't really wanna be a hypocrite by telling him off for this when I spent most of the summer drunk. Especially since he knew that I had spent most of the summer drunk. Plus, I let him hide his stash in my room, while also pinching some of it at times. And I refused to be that kind of sister. But to be fair, he did deserve this telling off, especially if he was stupid enough to deal and let Little Miss Responsible find out about it. Honestly, the idiot was asking for it.

But anyway, my reasoning must have sounded alright to Bonnie since she nodded and turned her attention back to the new guy. To be perfectly honest, I didn't know if I should be offended by that or not. Eh, if it got me out of a sticky situation, I'll take it.

"Please be hot," she begged quietly. I snorted and shook my head. Oh Bon. I could see her point though. We needed a new hot guy in the school. We really, really did. The dating market was shockingly awful.

It was then that the new guy turned around. And wow, he was hot. With dark brown hair and forest green eyes, he would definitely be turning heads. He had strong cheekbones and while there was a serious expression on his face, you could tell that he was laid back with a sense of humour. He definitely was a dish.

"Oh hello handsome," I murmured to Bonnie, giving him a quick glance up and down, an admiring eyebrow raised. It was just such a shame that he had caught my friend's eye, because I would have climbed him like a tree. It was so typical though, a hot new guy in school and he was already off the table. Why? Why was my luck so horrible? Although, saying that, I did currently have a crush on someone. So I suppose it wasn't as bad for me as it was for others.

He walked out of the office and Bonnie followed, grabbing my hand and pulling me along with her. Not that I needed much pulling. After all, even if he was now allocated in my head for my friend, it didn't mean that I couldn't enjoy the view. And what a view it was.

As he walked, the new guy got a lot of heads turning in his direction, including Caroline's. Hello, I sensed trouble. Especially if Elena got the hots for him too. Were three of my girls going to lust after the same guy? Damn, did that mean that I'm gonna have to do damage control? Ugh, I hoped not. I was, like, the worst at that. Causing damage was more my forte.

But anyways, enough of thinking of possible things to come, I had some important teasing to do.

"You got your wish Bonnie," I grinned and nudged her. "He is hot."

"Shut up, Alexa," Bon mumbled, grinning and nudging me back.

"Dayum, if only he was my type," I mock-sighed before pointing out all the other ooglers. "Fresh meat, Bon-Bon, time to watch the claws come out."

She laughed in agreement. After attending the school for so long, we knew exactly what the other girls were like. And exactly how they would react to such a good-looking guy entering the school.

We followed New Guy down the corridor. Hang on, wasn't that the direction that Ellie went in? Oh hell. New Guy went to go into the boys toilets just in time for Elena to walk out of them. They collided and my twin was mesmerized. And I mean, mesmerized. It was quite sweet, actually. It was like something that you saw in a cheesy romcom. And just think that not that long ago she was resisting the idea of thinking of him as cute. It's amazing how quickly someone changed their tune.

"Uh, pardon me," the new guy said awkwardly. "Um... Is this the men's room?"

I giggled as my twin got all flustered. Aww bless you, Ellie. But it really was your own fault. Elena gestured behind her, before shaking her head and running her fingers through her hair, a painful wince on her face, "Yes. Um, I was just, um- I was just... it's a long story. Just...thank you."

I full out laughed as Elena re-joined us. Beside me, Bonnie was being a good friend and bit her lip to hide her laughter. Meh, I think that by now, Ellie was expecting me to laugh. And if I was being honest, she deserved to be laughed at. And just to live up expectations, I gave into the temptation to tease her, "Smooth twin, real smooth."

She glared at me and aimed an elbow my way. But that was easily dodged. All as was expected.

XXX

After a boring day of lessons, we had history.

With Mr Tanner.

God save me now.

Mr Tanner and I had never got along. We had a routine. He would teach, I would misbehave or do something that he didn't like and then he would either yell at me or send me out. Most of the time it was both options. But every couple of weeks, he would send me out at least once. I didn't mind as it got me away from him for a while. I couldn't even remember how it started. But I didn't particularly care. The man just rubbed me the wrong way, and I wasn't going to put up with it. Even if it got me in trouble with my family.

"Once our home state of Virginia joined the Confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state," Mr Tanner droned on, as the letters on the boards began to blur together. "People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals then those from the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1862 with the northwest region joining the union..."

That was as much as I heard as my mind drifted away, unable to concentrate, driven to boredom, it was only due to the doodles on my page that I didn't actually fall asleep. But you can't judge me. It was just so boring. Yeah, ok, the subject matter had the potential of being interesting. But it was his voice. It was enough to send anyone to sleep. And it just grated. How are people supposed to learn if the teacher has such a boring voice like Mr Tanner did? It just wasn't fair. Maybe I would have to borrow Bonnie's notes again, just to make sure that I didn't fail class. Cos I refused to give the asshole the satisfaction of failing me. He hadn't had that satisfaction yet and I was not going to give it to him, like, ever.

"Ms Gilbert."

Mr Tanner's voice jolted me out of my dream, it was a very nice dream. There was a lot of Luke in it. And that was all that I shall say about that.

"Which one?" I asked, carefully rubbing my eyes and stretching. He just looked at me. Yeah, stupid question, there was only one 'Ms Gilbert' that he would address in that tone of voice. "Oh, me. Yes, Mr Tanner?"

That's it, Alexa, you look all innocent. I had the perfect innocent face. It worked on everyone. Well, almost everyone.

"Why are you asleep?" Mr Tanner asked, eyebrows raised and arms crossed. Duh, why do you think? Honestly, man, and you claim to be a fully qualified teacher. I think someone should check your qualifications, bro.

"Cos I am tired," I replied cheekily, a mischievous smile forming on my face as I saw my opportunity to escape for the day. I saw Elena close her eyes in despair out of the corner of my eye. Whoopsy, probably not the best answer. Yeah, ok, I guess that some of the time, it was my fault that I got sent out. But I just couldn't help it. I had poor impulse control.

"Ms Gilbert," Mr Tanner started, an extremely disapproving look on his face.

"Get out?" I interrupted hopefully, dropping my notebook into my bag in preparation for my great escape. Cos he had to be kicking me out, right? God, I hope he was. I just couldn't deal with him today.

Please kick me out. Please kick me out. Please kick me out.

"Yes," was the reply.

"Thank you," I grinned as I picked up my bag and walked out. Haha result. Free lesson. Whoop. Whoop.

"I expect to see you after class is finished," Mr Boring called after me.

"Yeah, not gonna happen," I mumbled, quickly fleeing from the area.

I walked outside and sat down on one of the benches. While I could have gone somewhere fun and interesting where there was a helluva lot more alcohol, I stuck around at school. Because even though school had finished for the day, I thought I would be kind and wait for my twin. Aren't I such a lovely sister?

As I caught sight of my twin exiting the building, I pulled out my phone and quickly looked busy. Might as well put on an act. It was more fun that way.

"Alexa," Elena groaned as she came to a stop in front of me, arms crossed and an exasperated look on her face.

"Yes Elena?" I asked, looking up with a completely innocent look on my face.

"Nevermind," Ellie sighed, shaking her head. She could see that I didn't regret my actions whatsoever. And while that normally had no effect on her and she ranted anyway, my twin must have realised that, today, her rants would have no effect. The first day back at school was special like that. But then again, she did always have a way of making me feel guilty.

"I'm sorry, Ellie," I stood up and gave my sister a hug. "I'll try harder to behave tomorrow."

"That's the best that I'm gonna get at the moment, isn't it?" Elena rolled her eyes, hugging me back.

"Yep," I smiled cheekily, poking her cheek.

"You are unbelievable, Lexa," Ellie laughed, unable to resist my wiggling eyebrows.

"And you wouldn't have me any other way," I shot back triumphantly.

"Maybe I'm the one who needs professional help."

"Well, we all knew that, dearest twin," I smirked, pulling out of the hug but wrapping my arm around her shoulder instead. "Now, what are gonna do now?"

"I thought we could go and visit Mom and Dad," Elena said quietly. The atmosphere between us lost the humour that it had seconds before. But she was right. It was a Gilbert traditional to tell our parents all about the first day of school, both the good and bad bits. And while Jeremy may be too high to do so, Ellie and I still could.

"Sure," I smiled gently, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.

XXX

Together we walked out of the school and towards the cemetery. It wasn't a long walk and my twin and I made time go by quicker by talking of happier times. When we reached our parents graves, Elena sat down and pulled out her diary. I sat down next to her and stared at the gravestones. Despite the cemetery being a sad place, it was peaceful and quiet.

So, of course, I had to say something. Because whenever it was quiet, my mind was immediately transported back to all the time that I spent in the hospital room waiting for my twin to wake up after the accident. Of the time that I spent sat by her bedside, terrified that she wouldn't wake up and be ok. To the darkest days of my life so far.

"Hi mom, hi dad," I whispered, fiddling with a blade of grass in front of me. "First day of school today. Ugh. Hated that. As you could probably guess. A lot of people commented on my hair which was alright at first, a good boost for the ego, but it got annoying after a while. Especially when people kept on asking 'have you got your hair cut?' It was very difficult to not answer with a sarcastic 'no'. But I managed not to. I got into another fight with Mr Tanner and he kicked me out of his class again, which totally wasn't my fault. If he's gonna ask stupid questions, then he really does deserve stupid answers."

I continued telling the gravestones about the day so far while Elena wrote in her diary. I also made sure to clean off any gunk that had appeared on the gravestones since the last time I had visited. Gotta make sure mom and dad looked their best.

The quiet was ruined when Elena said, "Ok, hi bird."

I turned around to give my twin a look. "Elena… are you talking to a bird?" Elena ignored, she decided to talk to the bird instead. "Hon, talking to birds is totally a new low. Like, for realz."

She shot me a look before muttering, "That's not creepy or anything."

Then the fog started rolling in.

"No Ellie," I said, slowing getting up and extending a hand down to my sister. "That's creepy."

We exchanged creeped out looks before Elena shooed the bird away.

"That's what I thought," she said, looking quite proud of herself.

I turned around and muffled a shriek as I saw the crow behind us. We were being tormented by a bird. Wonderful. That's one way to improve the day.

"Elena," I muttered, bending down to pick up my bag. Behind me, I heard my sister do the same. Great minds think alike.

Ellie gestured with her head to the exit and I quickly nodded my head in agreement. I wanted the hell out of here. And more importantly, I wanted my sister to get the hell out of here. One of those primal spidey senses urged me to look behind us. I wanted to ignore it but I knew better. And wonderful. There was a man standing behind one of the tombstones. Because of course, the creepy atmosphere needed adding too.

"Elena," I whispered urgently, tugging on my sister's arm. "There's a man standing behind us."

She glanced around and saw him as well. She then took off running. And left me behind. Well, wasn't that just charming. I see how it was. I warned her of the danger and then get left behind. Of course, I ignored the sensible part of my brain that decided to crop up and say that she was probably expecting me to bolt after her.

Which was probably a good idea, so I bolted too.

I caught up with her just in time to see her fall over. And she had the cheek to call me a klutz. At least I don't fall over when running from creepy situations. Yanking her up by the arm, I pushed her behind me as we both turned around. New guy was standing right behind us. We jumped violently before relaxing. Jesus, he scared the hell outta us. Like seriously, what was he up to?

"You ok?" new guy asked, looking over my shoulder at Elena. Well, that was rude. And I thought that New Guy was a decent fellow. Guess I was wrong about that.

"Were you following us?" Elena asked, eyes narrowed, completely disregarding his question. Wasn't she so embarrassing? Mom always taught us that you don't answer rudeness with more rudeness. And it was a lesson that I tried to stick to. Most of the time, anyway.

"She's fine," I answered for her, nudging my rude sister.

New guy smiled at me gratefully before replying, "No, I, uh, I just... I saw you fall."

Ok, that made sense, and definitely explained the rudeness. He was just concerned about my idiot sister. It was sweet of him, and I was relieved that I could like him again.

"Uh-huh," Elena replied, not believing him at all. "And you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery?"

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with hanging out in a cemetery," I snorted, remembering my nights spent drinking in the old cemetery. Elena rolled her eyes at me and shushed me, nudging me behind her slightly.

"I'm visiting. I have family here," New Guy explained, rubbing the back of his head, before gesturing around the gravestones.

Guilt spread across Elena's face.

"Oh. Wow. Tactless," she said, wincing.

"Just a bit Ellie," I rolled my eyes, flicking her shoulder. "Nice way to make the new guy feel welcome to town."

Realising that I probably didn't know his name yet, New Guy stuck out his hand with a smile, "Hi, I'm Stefan."

Oh wow, cute smile. He definitely was a dish. And damn, I was uber annoyed that my friends had already staked a claim on him.

I smiled back and shook his hand, "I'm Alexa, although you probably already know that. Especially since I get the feeling that you're in my history class?"

Stefan's smile turned slightly cheeky, "As if I could not know your name after your little performance."

I grimaced, rubbing the back of my head. "Yeah, not the finest introduction that I could have asked for."

The No-Longer-Called-New-Guy laughed, "Don't worry about it. At least you've already proven that you're interesting."

I smirked widely and turned to stick my tongue out at my twin, "See. He thinks I'm interesting."

Elena rolled her eyes at me, "Clearly he doesn't know any better yet."

Unwilling to completely embarrass my twin in front of her new crush, although she had done a pretty impressive job herself already, I retreated to a nearby tree and let her get her flirt on. And thank god for that. It was about time she got her flirt on with someone.

I watched in amusement as they conversed, their body language just screaming get closer already. To be honest, I only really started listening when new guy asked Elena if she had hurt herself. I watched as she went over to a gravestone and pulled up her jeans. Now what has this idiot done to herself. Oh great, there was a huge, nasty cut. I should probably go help her out. Honestly, whatever would she do without me? I pushed myself up and walked over to her.

"Oh! Look at that. That is not pretty," Elena groaned, looking slightly queasy, as she watched the blood drip down her leg.

"Yeah, no duh, dipshit. That looks nasty," I said, crouching down to take a closer look.

"You ok?" I heard Elena ask. I turned around to see that Stefan had his head turned away. Poor guy, perhaps he just didsn't like blood. Or he was embarrassed by how much of an idiot my sister was. I could sympathise, it embarrassed me too.

"You should go. Take care of that," he said stiffly, still refusing to look around.

"He's right, let's go get it sorted before you do something else stupid." I ignored Elena's offended look as I rolled down her trouser leg. It was just unfortunate that I didn't have anything to wrap around it. Especially since I was fairly sure that the blood would stain the jeans to the point of ruin.

"Really, it's nothing," Ellie protested as she eased her leg back down.

Expecting another insistence that she should go get it seen too, we were both surprised at the silence that followed. Looking up, I saw that Newbie had disappeared. Damn, that guy can move.

"Where'd new guy go?" I frowned, looking around. Seriously, who could even move that fast.

"I don't know," Elena shrugged, looking as confused as I felt.

"Welp, that's a problem for another time," I pulled Elena's arm over my shoulder. "Let's get you home."

"Alexa, it isn't that bad," my twin protested, although she didn't pull away from me. "I can walk just fine."

"Nope, I am returning the favour from all the times you've done this for me." At Elena's sweet smile, I just had to add, "Besides, it's not often that I get to enjoy you being the klutzy one."

XXX

As soon as we got home, I dragged Elena up to her bathroom and sat her down on the toilet seat. Right, time for Nurse Alexa to get to work.

Luckily, Aunt Jenna wasn't home yet, so I didn't have to make up some excuse. Because when put on the spot, my excuses weren't always the best. Or the most sensible. Or coherent. So yes, it was very lucky that our darling aunt wasn't home yet.

"Trouser leg up," I ordered as I got the first-aid kit out. Despite having the family first-aid kit in the kitchen, Elena had taken to keeping a small one in her and Jeremy's shared bathroom. It had saved us many a time during our rebellious childhood. With our dad being a doctor, he got incredibly overprotective when one of us came home injured, even if it was just a scraped knee. While the pampering was nice, the being stuck inside the house for the following few days was not. So Ellie and I got ourselves trained up enough that we could patch each other and Jeremy up for any injury we could.

"Bossy," she smirked, letting me do my thing. Rolling my eyes at her, I crouched down to get a closer look. Trust my sister to do something like this to herself. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I'll have to help her practice running away from creepy situations. And that sounds quite bad doesn't it?

"Luckily for you, it's just a scratch," I reassured her with a smile, ignoring her cheekiness, before sorting it out. Yup, my sister got very lucky and this could have been a lot worse.

Once I had made sure that it had been properly cleaned out and bandaged up, I patted my sister on the knee and stood up, "Good as new."

Ignoring her sweet smile, I started tidying up the first-aid kit, making a mental note to replace what I had just used. Couldn't have that running out now, could we? Just because our dad wasn't around, didn't mean that we could let anyone discover when we got injured doing something silly. Jenna was so overprotective of us, thanks to the family disaster, that she would probably lock us indoors too.

"So, what are you up to this evening, my darling sister?" I asked as she sorted out her trouser leg, debating if the jeans could be saved. I didn't think that they could, but Els had always been better at laundry than me, so she might get lucky.

"Probably going to meet Bonnie and the others at the Grill. You wanna come along?"

"As much as I would love to, and that is genuine and not at all sarcasm, I've got plans."

Raising an eyebrow, Elena asked, "With who?"

"A hot blonde called Jazz."

Ellie laughed, "That's cool. Have fun and don't drive Aunt Jenna too crazy."

Oh believe me sis, with what Jazz was bringing with her, we wouldn't be going anywhere near Aunt Jenna.

XXX

Figuring I should at least attempt to be a good student, I spent the next few hours doing homework. As much as I hated school, I knew it was important for me to pass. Plus, I knew that I wouldn't get any done when Jazz came round. Especially with what we had planned. Fortunately, since it was the first day back, I was able to get it done quite quickly and spent the rest of my time surfing social media. Hey, no judging. Finding out the latest celebrity goss was very important when you had a Caroline Forbes in your life.

"Alexa, I'm going now," Elena said, poking her head around the door.

"Awesome, have fun," I smiled, placing my laptop to the side and getting off my bed. "How's your leg?"

"Much better, thanks to my amazing doctor."

"Well, when you have skillz like mine, you have to use them."

"You are so modest, Alexa," my delightful twin mocked as I followed her downstairs. Might as well see her out the door. Gotta make sure she didn't do anything else stupid. And yes, I would be holding this over her for a long time.

As we reached the bottom of the stairs, Aunt Jenna walked past us to the kitchen.

"You should probably tell Auntie J where you are off to," I prompted my sister, giving her a gentle push.

"Good idea," Elena nodded before turning to Aunt Jenna. "I'm meeting Bonnie at the Grill."

"Ok, have fun," our aunt smiled before turning to me. "You going with her?"

"Nah, Jazz is coming round to smoke weed and get totes pissed," I answered casually with a shrug, knowing neither of them would believe me. And I was right. Both my aunt and sister rolled their eyes, thinking I was one hundred percent joking.

"Very funny, Alexa," Aunt Jenna shook her head before heading back towards the kitchen.

"Well, what can I say? I'm a comedian," I gave a mock-bow, only to be pushed by my sister. I stumbled into the banister and shot her a dirty look.

"Oh, wait," Aunt Jenna turned back around and Elena immediately acted all innocent. "Don't stay out late, it's a school night."

"Well done, Aunt Jenna," Ellie smiled as I narrowed my eyes at my rude twin. I would get her back for that. Even if it took a bit of time. And since I couldn't do it in front of Jenna, I sniffed and turned to follow my aunt into the kitchen.

"Turning into a proper fun-sucking adult there, Auntie J."

As I poured myself a glass of soda, I heard the front door open. Unusual for Elena to walk out without yelling goodbye one last time. Oh, here she was, walking into the kitchen. Honestly, my sister was trying to get us killed, I swear. Just walking around with the front door open. Rolling my eyes, I went to go shut it.

"I'm fine," a masculine voice said from the front door. That's nice, now, who are you? Once I walked into view of the door and saw who it was, I smiled.

"Hello again, Stefan," I said, proud that I had remembered his name.

"Hello again, Alexa," he chuckled as I crossed my arms and leant against the doorframe.

Eager to find someone else to tease, I squinted and gave him a mildly threatening look, "Do I need to be giving any shovel talks?"

It was very amusing watching Stefan search for an answer. He opened his mouth several times and ran a hand over the back of his head. He was saved when a hand grabbed the back of my top and yanked me backwards.

"Alexa, for godsake, stop causing trouble." My sister had obviously heard what I said. And she was not impressed. As I glanced to the side, I saw her trying to hide her embarrassment. Perfect. Two for the price of one.

Now since I was not completely cruel, I decided I ought to make my exit.

"It was lovely to see you again, Stefan," I smiled before letting it turn into a truly wicked smirk. "Have fun, you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't!"

I danced backwards, dodging a smack from my sister. Behind me, I could hear my sister frantically apologise for my behaviour. Oh Ellie, you made it far too easy.

This was going to be so much fun!

XXX

After I had gotten bored with spamming my sister's phone with sisterly 'warnings' about safe sex, I decided that I ought to get my room ready for my bestie. I meandered downstairs and started pulling out various snacks. I always got hungry when I drank, which was probably a good thing since the food soaked up the booze. As I tried to juggle a few bowls filled with chips, biscuits and peanuts, I heard a loud laugh behind me.

"Need some help there?" the sweet, angelic voice of my aunt asked from behind.

"Oh thank god, yes please!"

Jenna plucked a couple of bowls from my pile and I was able to adjust the others so they weren't in danger of crashing to the floor.

"You are an angel amongst mortals," I sighed in relief, giving my aunt a grateful smile.

Jenna laughed, "You're welcome, Alexa."

She helped me carry my munchies up the stairs and into my room. Fortunately, I had had the foresight to clear my dresser before going downstairs. My artistic aunt helped me set up the stash in an aesthetically pleasing way. Hey, just cos Jazz was my bestie, didn't mean I couldn't make an effort.

Eyeing up everything that we had brought up, Jenna asked, "How many people are you expecting?"

I laughed, "Jazz for definite. Maybe Luke. But that's all."

"Fair enough," Aunt Jenna nodded, still looking slightly doubtful.

"Relax auntie, we won't eat it all and I'll put back what we won't. But you know what it's like when you get started, it is damn hard to stop." Jenna looked even more doubtful. I mean, yeah, on numerous occasions she has had to rescue various bits of crockery from my room. But they never had food in them. "You can even join us if you're worried," I offered, one hundred percent meaning it. Aunt Jenna had always been a laugh to hang out with. Before she our guardian, she was the best-worst role model ever. She taught me how to hold my drink, how to put my make-up so that I looked older and how to flirt with guys. She was the best aunt ever.

"Haha, no thanks," she shook her head. "I get the feeling that I do not want to hear any of the gossip you two will be sharing."

"Eh, you are probably being incredibly wise there."

Shaking her head, Aunt Jenna made her way back downstairs. Wise choice, auntie, wise choice.

It wasn't long after that Jazz made her appearance, the doorbell giving the game away.

"Alexa! Jazz is here!"

Awesome. Now the party had truly started. And I could finally have some company while munching down on the snacks. Because, for real, I had eaten far too many already.

A couple of minutes later, one of my favourite people ever appeared in my doorway.

"Let's get this party started!" Jazz laughed, shutting my bedroom door behind her. Now, the real question was, which party did she bring?

"Well, c'mon then," I reached out my hands and made the 'gimme' gestures. And my darling bestie did not disappoint. She pulled a beautiful bottle of vodka out from her, to be completely honest, oversized bag.

"Dude, is that your booze bag?"

"Hey! Don't hate on the bag," Jazz pouted, holding it close. "Especially since it means I can bring you such amazing treats."

"Eh, that's true."

I pulled out a small box from under my bed which I kept full of mixers and more booze. Why did we not use that, I hear you ask. Because Jasmine got the better-quality stuff. Grabbing two plastic cups that I kept for these occasions, we retreated to my window seat and started hitting the fun stuff.

"So how's life?" I asked nonchalantly as I poured the first drink, giving it a sniff. Damn, this was some good booze.

"You mean how's my brother?" Jazz laughed and I had to fight a blush.

"Meh, same thing," I shrugged, trying to act casual and probably failing miserably.

"He's good. No new hook-ups, you'll be glad to hear."

Oh thank god. It was incredibly painful crushing on someone who had absolutely no idea and went out on a gazillion dates. And I couldn't even be mad because it wasn't like he knew how I felt. But that didn't mean that it didn't still hurt.

"Definitely glad to hear that, babes"

"One day, you'll let me tell him about your crush on him."

I snorted, "When hell freezes over honey-pie, when hell freezes over."

"Oh come on! Cos when he knows, he'll ask you out, you'll get married and then we'll be sisters for real."

"Oh wow, haha, you've definitely thought about it."

"Of course I have. It's a lot better than anything else I can think of."

I innocently looked out the window, "You mean better than your secret hook-up?"

"I do not have a secret hook-up!" she protested, refusing to look at me.

"Oh such bullshit!" I laughed, prodding her thigh. "I know how you act when you've had sex. And you have acted like that a lot recently!"

"Oh hush you," Jazz pouted, pouring the next round. "To quickly move on from this subject, have you and Tyler spoken yet?"

Oh gheeze, what a way to sour the mood. I frowned and downed my drink, scrunching up my nose at the resulting burn, "Nope."

"Oh come on," my bestie sighed as I poured myself another. "We both know that you miss each other. Hell, Tyler has been more of a dick than usual without you around."

"It's not that I don't want to. I just don't know how to. Not after all this time."

And especially since I was still drinking. Because that's what caused the fight with my darling bestie brother Tyler Lockwood. He was worried and confronted me about my drinking and then I blew up at him. We hadn't spoken since. Jazz and Luke don't know what had caused the fight, only that we refused to speak to each other. It had made it hard, what with the break in the friendship gang. And it wasn't Tyler's fault at all. He was just looking out for me. But it had been so long that I just didn't know how to apologise. And it wasn't like I could expect him too, since he only had good intentions and did absolutely nothing wrong.

Things got a bit quiet after that. We slowly made our way through the bottle while sitting in comfortable silence. It was nice. Not having to put on a happy act. Even with Elena I had to pretend that everything was alright, otherwise she would worry about me. And it was more important that she focused on herself instead of worrying about me. But with Jazz, I could just relax and not pretend to be happy. And believe me, I had missed that.

"Does Jeremy still do weed?" Jazz randomly asked, breaking the silence.

I snorted, "Of course he does. The little shit even uses my room to hide some of it."

Jazz laughed, "Think I can pinch some?"

Shrugging, I said, "Can't see why not. The punk owes me for keeping his secret. Especially since Elena has been on his ass about it, and I've done all I can to cover for him."

After telling Jazz where she could find Jeremy's stash, I opened the window and switched seats. I really couldn't be dealing with Aunt Jenna or, even worse, Elena smelling weed in my room. I'd never be left alone, and I could forget being able to booze it up.

I enjoyed the cool breeze on my face as Jazz directed her smoke out of the window. I had missed moments like this. Just being able to relax and do nothing. To let my mind wander.

The silence was broken by the buzzing of Jazz's phone. She took a look at who was calling and groaned. Ah, Mrs Nolan. As she answered her mom's call, I got up and stretched out the kinks in my back. I should probably tidy up before Jazz left, just in case. I picked up the half full bottle of vodka and held it out to Jazz. She shook her head, pointing towards my contraband box. Shrugging, I stored it away with the mixers and made a mental note to clean the plastic cups.

Turning around, I saw Jazz about to close the window.

"Leave it open," I told her, grabbing an air freshener.

"Won't you get cold?" she asked, grabbing her coat and bag.

"Nah, I'll be fine," I shrugged, spraying the air freshener. "Besides, I won't go sleep for a while anyways."

My bestie accepted that answer, knowing that I had trouble falling asleep sometimes. I walked her downstairs and waved her out the door. Now to make sure that none of you were worrying, her mom had come to collect her. The pair of us knew better than to drink drive. Even more now, since the accident.

Before leaving, Jazz wrapped herself around me in a hug. I hugged her back tightly, breathing in the sweet, fruity scent of her perfume.

"Call me if you have trouble getting to sleep," she murmured before dashing off.

After making sure that she got in the car okay, I shut the door and made my way into the lounge. As I expected, Aunt Jenna was sat on the sofa, her course books scattered around her. I walked behind the sofa and slumped forward, resting my chin on her head.

"You need a caffeine hit?" I asked, fiddling with her gorgeous, silky hair.

"Nah, I'll be done soon," she smiled, giving my hand a squeeze.

"You want some company until you do?"

"Always."

Smiling, I made my way around the sofa and sat down on the floor in front of her. Knowing how much a second pair of eyes could help, I asked Jenna if she wanted me to read through any of her thesis. As she murmured her agreement, I picked it up and began to read it out loud. It never ceased to amaze me as to how smart my aunt was. Her ability to juggle writing a thesis while raising her nieces and nephew, while also dealing with her own grief was astounding. Sometimes it was easy to forget how much Aunt Jenna had lost too after the accident. Which sounded really bad. But she just handled it so well. She was always there to talk if we needed it and she never denied us a hug. I would always believe that we got so lucky having an aunt like Aunt Jenna.

As I read her thesis, Jenna started running her hands through my hair, gently teasing out any tangles that had formed from the styling gel and my tendency to run my hands through my hair. She was the one who taught me how to style my hair and quite often styled it for me. While she was a little bit hopeless with straighteners and curling tongs, she could replicate any hair style with her hands. She had become my lifesaver when it came to school events. Especially since Jazz was hopeless with hair and Elena always got frustrated with how much I fidgeted.

"While I will admit that I have no idea as to what half of this means," I broke the comfortable silence. "It does read really well."

"That's all I can ask for," Aunt Jenna laughed softly, plucking the thesis from my hands. "Now go on, you've got school tomorrow and it's getting late."

"Well, I suppose you're right," I sighed dramatically, before stretching out my arms. I reached up to tap Jenna on the nose before carefully getting up, very aware of the fact that I had been sat in the same position for far too long.

"Night, night, Aunt Jenna," I kissed her on the cheek and made my way back to my bedroom.

After getting myself ready for bed and closing the window, I dropped my twin a quick text, making sure she was okay. I had to admit that I was surprised that she wasn't already home. Maybe I really did need to have a chat with Mr Stefan I-Don't-Know-His-Surname-Yet. Despite the tiredness I began to feel, I made an effort to stay awake until I knew Ellie was home.

Not long later, I heard the front door close and voices murmuring downstairs. Guessing it was my sister, I settled down under the blanket and put my phone to the side. Elena probably saw the light beneath my door as she quietly opened the door and poked her head in.

"Night Lexa," she said softly, giving me one of her sweet smiles.

"Night twin," I replied, reaching over to switch my light off.

My family were home safe and now I could sleep.

XXX

As usual, Elena woke me up by pulling my covers off of me. I really needed to have words with this girl. She knew that I hated being woken up like that.

"Evil twin," I mumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Evil sun. Why did it have to be so bright? Something warm with a heavenly smell was then shoved into my hands. Fortunately, I had enough coherency to not drop it. I opened my eyes and saw a mug of coffee. Oh sweet, beautiful coffee. Breathing in the delicious coffee smell, I grinned up at Elena, "I take it back, you're an amazing twin."

She rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. But not before I saw the pleased smile on her face. Oh honey, you are definitely a softie. But I did appreciate it. Even just the smell was enough to wake me up a bit. As tempted as I was to gulp down half the mug now, I had enough self-awareness to know that it would be scalding hot and I would massively regret it. I had a quick shower in the main bathroom, while I waited for it to cool down.

While I had to admit that I did sometimes have the odd moment of jealousy that Jeremy and Elena got to have a shared shower, I did enjoy being able to have the main one mostly to myself. Since they shared one, I got dibs on the big one. And to be honest, it did have the better shower. As I frequently pointed out to them. After my usual rummaging through my pile of clothes for anything that didn't look obviously creased, I styled my hair, sorted out my makeup and made my way downstairs.

"Morning family," I smiled as I entered the kitchen. I got a smile from Aunt Jenna before she dashed into the lounge. At a lack of greeting from my baby bro, I dropped my bag on the floor and wandered over to him. After taking a sip of my coffee, I put it down on the dining table and sat down next to Jeremy. I gently ran my fingers through his spiked-up hair, part of his emo look, before gently asking, "What's up, kiddo?"

"Nothing really, just tired," he forced a smile before looking at my coffee.

"Oh honeypie," I sighed and pushed my coffee towards him. As much as I loved coffee, I loved my baby brother more. And he looked like he really needed the pick-me-up. He gave me a grateful nod and wrapped his hands around it. At the sight of his chipped nail vanish, I sighed again and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Tell you what, Jer, tonight before the bonfire, I'll redo your nail vanish and you can relax in my room where no one will bother you."

Jeremy looked very pleased at that idea and I was happy that I could cheer him up at least a little bit.

"Thanks Lexa."

"No worries, my big baby bro."

As I heard a familiar car horn from outside, I gave him a goodbye kiss on the cheek, "Let me know when you leave school and we'll come home together."

I gave his shoulder a pat before leaving the house, yelling out a goodbye to Aunt Jenna and Elena.

XXX

After another incredibly boring day we had history. Again. Like usual. Oh the world hated me. At least with the other classes I was able to get away with messing around slightly. Although I was sure Bonnie and Caroline regret sitting next to me in the classes we shared. Especially art.

"Alexa, please try not to get sent out this lesson," Elena begged as we walked towards the history classroom.

"I'll try," I shrugged. "But I make no promises. And besides, it's sort of like a tradition, that he started."

"Alexa," she sighed, grabbing my arm and pulling us to a stop. "Look, I didn't do anything yesterday about it, but if it happens again today, then I'll have to."

I rolled my eyes and pulled my arm from Elena's grip, "Elena, it's been happening ever since he started teaching me. And it's not going to stop anytime soon."As my sister opened her mouth to argue, I continued, "Besides, it's not like I'm failing. Yeah, I could be doing better, but I'm still passing."

Elena didn't look pleased but she had no choice but to accept it as we saw Mr Tanner begin to gesture people into the room.

"Just focus on the hottie that is the new boy," I smirked as I dodged past an irritable Caroline into the classroom. As I passed her, I glanced down and saw the pink paint stain still on her wrist. Oops, sorry Care.

As Mr Tanner waited for us all to settle before starting, I quickly scribbled a 'sorry' and a smiley face on a bit of paper. When Mr Tanner turned his back, I scrunched it up and threw it at Caroline. At first, she gave me a dirty look, but once she looked at the note, she rolled her eyes and smiled. Result. Caroline had a beautiful smile and it always made me happy to entice it out of her.

"The battle of willow creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls," Mr Tanner began his lecture in his usual boring drone. "How many casualties resulted in the battle?"

He scanned the class, looking for his first victim. Oh lord, please don't be me. I really didn't want to get scolded by my sister, that would really ruin my day.

"Miss Bennett?"

Poor Bonnie looked completely lost. Ah crap, now I wished that it was me.

"Um... a lot?" she replied, the lost look still on her beautiful face, as she tapped her pen against her palm. "I'm not sure. Like, uh, a whole lot."

She ended her stutter with a cute smile. Aww Bon, you're so adorbs.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Miss Bennett," Mr T smirked, pleased he could trample the self-confidence of one of his students. I growled under my breath, leave my cutie-pie alone, jerk-face.

"Mr Donovan," oh hell, the tone was horrifically evil. "Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

Mr Tanner grinned maliciously. Oh, he was on a roll today. Like he was bad, but not usually this bad. Guess something must have pissed him off before class. I had to have a quick memory scan to see if it was anything I'd done. But unless he had finally learned about the rumours Tyler and I had spread last year, nothing sprang to mind.

"It's ok, Mr Tanner, I'm cool with it," Matt smiled, knowing that this was easiest course of action. Oh Matt, you're such a sweetheart.

"Damn right you are," I smirked, nodding. If he was closer, I would have given him a fist bump. Fortunately, I could accept a laughing nod from him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mr T give me one of his famous looks. The 'I'm going to make you regret that in a way that you can't go to the principal on me' look. It used to scare me. But now I took it as a challenge.

"Elena?" Mr Tanner asked, drawing out her name slightly.

Oh.

Hell.

No.

Oh no he wasn't. That was a dick move. I felt my eyes narrow as he continued. Get ready to act, Alexa. Twin was going to need protecting soon. "Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significant historical events?"

Oh, I was so gonna hurt him.

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know," she stuttered, her shoulders curling in, twirling her pen in her hand in a way which I knew meant she was nervous.

Mr Tanner looked like the cat that ate the canary.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena," he drawled, a dark triumphant look on his face. The asshole clearly knew that this was the best punishment for my cheekiness that he could find. "But personal excuses ended with summer break."

I took one look at my sister's downcast, embarrassed face and geared myself up for an epic screaming match. He was so far over the line that he was lucky that I wasn't getting physical. No one upset my twin and got away with it. I mean, who did he think he was? Bringing up our parents' deaths like that?

A dark look on my face, I slowly pushed my chair back, its legs scrapping on the floor. But before I could stand up, a voice behind me piped up, "There were 246 casualties, unless you're counting local civilians."

I turned around and saw the delightful Stefan giving Mr Tanner a very unimpressed look.

Mr Tanner looked reluctantly impressed. He was probably disappointed that he couldn't find anyone else to torment and bully. Maybe this was something that I could escalate up and get him in proper trouble. Because what he said was out of order and I would make him pay for it.

"That's correct. Mister..."

"Salvatore," Stefan supplied helpfully. And even better, I now knew his surname. That's always helpful.

"Salvatore," Mr Tanner repeated, looking slightly intrigued. "Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

"Distant," Stefan replied, looking a bit uncomfortable. Maybe he'd heard all about the favouritism given to the founding families. And as one of them, I was more than capable of admitting that it happened.

"Well, very good," Mr Tanner praised him, before the smug look reappeared. "Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle."

Judging by the look on Stefan's face, I'd say that there were.

"Actually, there were 27, sir," Stefan corrected him, his tone slightly sharp. I was liking this dude more and more. "Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss."

Mr Tanner looked uncomfortable. As he should. Ignoring the fact that he was the history teacher, he was such an insufferable ass with his 'I know more than anyone about the town' act, this was something that he really should have known. It was like he was a Founding Family member wannabe. I was honestly surprised that he hadn't married into one of the families, to get some of the perks.

"The Founder's archives are, uh, stored in the civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr Tanner."

The class became rather excited after he said that. There were gasps of astonishment and the odd laugh. I, of course, was utterly thrilled and started clapping slowly. If Stefan was sat closer, I would have high-fived him. The fact that he had dared to say that, especially since he was new, was amazing. I knew I liked this Stefan dude.

Mr Tanner cleared his throat, looking incredibly uncomfortable, and carried on with the lesson. Thankfully, without picking on anyone else.

XXX

After the lesson, I caught up with Stefan just as he was leaving the classroom. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side of the corridor. I cleared my throat, glancing around, before sighing, "Stefan, I just gotta say, thank you for standing up for Elena back there. And definitely for putting Mr T back in his place."

Stefan nodded with a small smile, "Well I saw you were about to react quite viciously, so I thought I ought to speak up."

I ran a hand through my hair, looking slightly embarrassed, "Yeah, I was not really thinking straight there."

The cutie rested a hand on my shoulder, "It's understandable. What he said to Elena was unreasonable. I just didn't want you to get in trouble with your sister again."

"Ah. You heard her lecturing me?"

"Bit hard not to," he laughed.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, she takes her role as the responsible one very seriously."

"She's just looking out for her family," Stefan smiled before looking behind me in a teasing way. "Even if that means going into the boy's bathroom."

I heard a groan behind me and laughed, "I like you, Stefan Salvatore." The embarrassed look on my twin's face was a thing of beauty. "I definitely like you a lot, Stefan Salvatore."

XXX

Since I hadn't yet heard from Jeremy, I decided to hang in the stoner pit once school had wasn't usually somewhere I decided to hang, but I figured it would give me the most peace and quiet. The stoners were generally quite good in leaving you alone, unless they were on the strong stuff. Fortunately, since we had just returned to school, no one had reached that point quite yet.

I was quite content to wait on the old sofa, reading the book we were studying for English. It was an easy read and, quite frankly, something that passed the time quickly. I was just reaching the end of my tolerance for being bothered by a creepy crow that had showed up when my phone buzzed. Awesome. After giving the bird a final dirty look and giving it the finger, I went to meet my brother at the front of the school.

We took a slow walk home, just enjoying each other's company. I was pleased that I could give Jeremy this. Elena had the best of intentions for everyone she loved, but sometimes she could be a bit pushy. Jeremy knew that she loved him. And I knew that she drove him crazy about the weed thing. Speaking of…

"By the way, Jer, I let Jazz have some of the weed you left in my room."

Jeremy shrugged, "That's cool. How much did she have?"

"Not that much, enough to give her a bit of a buzz. She didn't take any away with her."

We were the first ones home. Jenna was probably still at college working on her thesis and Ellie was probably either drooling over Stefan or with the girls and drooling over Stefan. It was adorably hilarious.

As Jeremy got himself ready for the party, I pulled out my nail vanish collection. Damn, I really needed to update it. A lot of my colours were empty. Meh, I'll just casually mention it to Caroline and she'll take me shopping. No one knew fashion better than my darling Caroline Forbes. She was the Queen. And yes, I did take advantage of that.

"What colour do you want, bro?" I asked as Jeremy walked into my room, shutting the door behind him. "Black or black or black?"

"Very funny," Jer rolled his eyes, huffing in that adorable teenager way.

Laughing, I gestured for him to sit down on the bed and got out everything I needed. As I took off the old vanish, I glanced up, examining his face, "You doing okay, Jer?"

The kid shrugged awkwardly, glancing away, "Been better."

"How are things with Vicki?"

"You know about that?"

I laughed, throwing the dirty cotton pads in the bin, "Jeremy. You used to sneak her in and out through my bedroom window. There are only so many 'Vicki waz here' notes that someone can wilfully ignore."

That got a laugh out of my brother. Subtlety had never been his strong point.

"I'll give you that one," he conceded, the smile still on his face.

"Damn straight," I nodded before ordering him to stay still.

As I slowly painted his nails, and yes, we went for black, I teased out information on the Vicki situation from him. And yikes, it was bad. Apparently, Tyler was being even more of a dick than usual. And I wasn't at all impressed with Vicki. Playing two guys off against each other was not cool. Not cool at all. And it worried me. Jer's drug habit was mild at most. I knew he wasn't addicted. But if this thing with Vicki went too far, then it could become different. I made a mental note to keep an eye on the situation. At least he was talking to me. That helped a lot.

"All done, big baby bro," I smiled a while later, examining my hard work. Damn I did a good job. Jeremy admired my handiwork and gave me one of his adorable huge smiles. God I loved this kid.

"Thanks Lexa," he leaned forward and gently rested his forehead against mine.

"Anytime, kiddo, anytime."

I helped him back to his room before going to get ready. Fortunately, perfection didn't take that long.

XXX

Deciding that I hadn't annoyed my twin enough today, we travelled to the bonfire party together. And boy oh boy, I certainly annoyed her on our way there, lol. If it had been a longer journey, I'm sure she would have actually throttled me.

After arriving, Elena pushed her way through the crowd. Now she said that she was eager to find Bonnie, but I was secretly convinced that she was just eager to get away from me. I had to admit, I was pretty proud that I had driven her to that stage in such a short amount of time.

Once I had seen my sister meet Bonnie, I diverted to the drinks area. Grabbing a beer for myself and one for Elena, I made my way back. But not without hiding from one Tyler Lockwood on the way. Someday, I would have to speak to him. But today was not that day. This day we fight! Sorry bout that, but Lord of the Rings is perfection.

Elena smiled gratefully as I passed her one of the beers. I knocked my bottle against hers before turning my attention to our friend. I wasn't sure what they had been talking about, but Bonnie had a delightfully teasing look on her face.

"So Alexa, since Elena refuses to tell me," she smirked, moving to stand next to me. "Is she still interested in Stefan?"

My twin groaned loudly as I allowed a truly wicked smirk to form on my face.

"Oh Bon-Bon," I sighed dramatically, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "She definitely should be." I ignored Elena's request for me to 'shut up' and continued, "After all, he did defend her honour today in front of Mr Tanner."

"Ooh, what a gentleman," Bonnie giggled. We were both enjoying the embarrassed blush that was creeping up Elena's cheeks. Oh, what wicked people we were.

"But," I made a dramatic gasp. "There is a far more important question that we should be asking."

Realising where my train of thought had gone, Bonnie laughed and asked, "So, do you think he is good looking?"

Ellie looked away from us, refusing to answer as she drained her beer.

I smirked victoriously, "Me thinks that she does."

It was obvious that Elena was searching for excuses, "People look up to me." Say what? "I have to set an example."

"What the hell has that got to do with it?" I snorted, shaking my head, reaching out to flick her shoulder.

"Just admit it, Elena," Bon-Bon laughed, giving her shoulder a prod when my sister remained stubbornly silent.

I could see the exact moment that my darling twin accepted defeat.

"Ok, ok. So he's a little pretty," she sighed, shaking her head. "But that doesn't mean anything."

Oh honey, understatement of the year.

"Just a little?" I repeated, wiggling my eyebrows.

"He has that romance novel stare," Bonnie sighed, mocking that dreamy sigh that romcoms just love to do.

"Stefan looked deep into her eyes, piercing her very soul," Elena said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at us.

Well how rude.

I turned to face Bonnie, "She's mocking us."

"Yep, I think she is," our friend nodded, sounding as mock-offended as I did. "So, where is he?"

"I don't know," Elena laughed, finally giving in. "You tell me, you're the psychic one."

"Right, I forgot," Bonnie shook her head.

"How could you forget that?" I scoffed, dodging the elbow that she sent my way.

"Haha Alexa," our darling psychic laughed sarcastically as I gave a mocking bow. "Ok, so give me a sec. Grams says I have to concentrate."

Bonnie closed her eyes and I had to resist the urge to do something childish. Normally I would just do it. But this psychic thing was really interesting and it clearly meant a lot to my friend. I knew that I could wind people up, but I refused to do it about important stuff.

"Wait, you need a crystal ball," Elena joked, finally joining in on the fun. It was about time. We locked eyes and uh oh, I did not like that look. She plucked the beer bottle from my hand. Rude! Just as I was about to snatch it back, she held it out to Bonnie with a triumphant, "Ta da."

Oh just you wait twinnie, I will neither forget nor forgive this. I'll get my revenge.

Our friend laughed and went to grab my stolen bottle, touching Elena's hand at the same time. Bonnie froze and went into some sort of trance. Okay, this was slightly worrying. What did we do? Was this like sleepwalking where they say that you shouldn't try and wake them up? Help?

A few seconds later she jerked her hand back with a gasp, a terrified look on her face. One that she quickly tried to hide, even as she curled her hands into fists to cover up the shaking.

"Bonnie? You okay?" I asked, frowning slightly and sharing a look with Elena.

"That was weird," Bonnie spoke hesitantly, frowning slightly. "When I touched you, I saw a crow."

"What?" Elena asked worriedly. My mind immediately went to the crow from the cemetery. Great, we're getting stalked by crows, well, Elena's getting stalked by a crow. I was going to very conveniently forget the one that was bothering me in the stoner pit. I was very good at that. Denial was my style.

"A crow," the girl repeated, thinking deeply as she tried to remember what she saw. "There was fog, a man." She trailed off after seeing our worried faces. Yikes. That sounded exactly like what happened. Maybe Bonnie really was a true, proper psychic. Which would be handy. And I really wanted to say something to that effect. Because the need to lighten up this situation was strong. And I didn't know if I could resist it for long.

"I'm drunk," she stammered, quickly backing away. "It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it. Yeah? Ok, I'm gonna get a refill."

I knew that this was a trivial worry, but she just left with my beer. My still half full beer. Did I go after her? To make sure she was okay, of course. Not just to rescue my beer. Especially since I knew drunk, and Bonnie sure as hell wasn't drunk. Not even tipsy. She was freaked out. And since I was an amazing friend, I should really go make sure she was okay.

"Bonnie!" I shouted after her, but she ignored me. Okay, I'm definitely going after her. But, as they say about best laid plans…

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Elena turn around and I heard her gasp. Thinking she was being attacked by the weird stalky crow, I quickly spun around only to see Stefan standing there.

"Hi," Stefan said sheepishly, looking slightly guilty for startling us. Like he should. That wasn't cool, bro, like not cool at all.

"Hi," Ellie repeated breathlessly, staring up at him. Oh honey, you totally had heart eyes there. It was adorable. And sickening.

"I did it again, didn't I?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head, a small smile on his face.

"Yeah," Elena nodded, laughing softly, shuffling closer without even realising.

"I'm sorry," Stefan said and he actually sounded like he meant it. Dayum, this guy was a keeper.

"Ok, guys, I'm gonna go," I interrupted before the heart eyes could make me puke. "Have a great talk." Unable to act my age for long, I couldn't resist winking and adding, "Don't do anything I wouldn't."

From the look on Elena's face, I had to make a super quick exit.

XXX

After a bit of time speaking to random school mates, and ensuring I had plenty of homework buddies for the year, I stumbled upon my bestie.

"Heya," I greeted happily, giving Jazz a high five.

And she became my bestie a second time over when she held out an unopened beer bottle, "Drink?"

"Oh you are a life saver!" I laughed, quickly grabbing and opening the bottle. I took a couple of deep gulps, enjoying the taste of the cheap beer.

"I'm surprised you don't have one already."

"Eh, Bonnie stole it," I shrugged, taking another large gulp. At her questioning look, I just shook my head, "Don't ask."

I would probably explain what happened to her at some point. But for now, I just wanted to drink beer and enjoy the atmosphere. I would say enjoy the beer, but it really wasn't the best quality beer ever. But it did the trick.

As we people watched, and made snarky comments about our drunk schoolmates, a welcome presence soon made an appearance.

"Hi Luke," I beamed, before cursing myself. God Alexa, you were so pathetic. You teased Elena over her heart eyes but you did the same to Luke. Get a grip girl.

"Sister, Person," he gave a 'cool' nod, glancing around to see if any of his football buddies were within listening distance. What a dweeb. I'd known him through all his awkward stages. He would never be cool to me.

"Ass," I fake coughed before fist-bumping his sister. Fortunately, I was able to dodge the hand aimed for my hair without making a fool of myself.

"What do you want?" Jazz asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"What? Can't I just come and see my baby sister and her friend without having any ulterior motives?" he grumbled, stealing her beer.

"Nope," I smirked, taking a small sip of my own beer. It wasn't that he never hung around with us. He just usually spent these parties drinking with his mates and hooking up with the cheerleaders. He never randomly came over to see us without an alternative motive.

"Fine!" he exclaimed dramatically, throwing his arms up in the air. Me and Jazz just giggled at him. He was a total dweeb. And he didn't even realise it. "I do actually have a reason for coming over," he admitted, sensing that he wasn't fooling anybody. "Mom phoned; she wants us to go home."

"Why?!" Jazz groaned, stamping her foot, looking every bit the teenager that she was.

"You know why," he told her. "The animal attacks."

He looked at her meaningfully and she quickly got the hint. Okay, that wasn't at all suspicious. Whatever it was, it sobered Jazz up quickly.

We exchanged a quick goodbye and the siblings left. Great, alone again. Ah well.

XXX

I spent the next half an hour drinking, just watching everyone partying. Even though quite a few people had died in animal attacks recently, the teens of the town still partied. That was one thing that would never change here. People would die weird, gruesome deaths and the teens of the town would still party in its dark woods.

"I get the feeling that I'm going to regret this," a voice sighed from behind me. "But does your sister like the new guy?"

I winced.

"Hey Matt," I turned around and had to resist wincing again at the wounded puppy look on his face. "I don't really know how to answer that."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he signed, leaning against the wooden post next to him.

"If it's any consolation," I offered resting a hand on his shoulder. "I was totally looking forward to you marrying to the family. I had my maid of honour's speech all ready."

That managed to draw a small smile onto his face, "Oh yeah? I bet it was horrifically embarrassing."

I shrugged, feeling please that I had managed to get any kind of smile, "Well I do have a rep to protect. And it would be my sacred duty to utterly ruin yours and Elena's reps. Plus, could you imagine the look on her face when I detailed all of your embarrassing stories?"

That earned me a laugh.

Oh Mattie, I hated that my sister broke your heart. He really was one of the sweetest people I had ever met. He was my brother from another mother. And always had my back. Matthew Donovan was one of the genuine guys that would always look out for you, and I would always be slightly mad at my sister for messing him around like she did.

I managed to keep him talking and smiling until a frantic voice screamed out, "Somebody help!"

Wait, I knew that voice.

I spun around and saw my sister and brother carrying Vicki's unconscious body from the woods.

"Oh my god," Matt and I breathed at the same time before we bolted over. Matt helped Jeremy lay Vicki's body down on one of the tables, holding her head to make sure that it didn't knock against the wood.

"What the hell happened?" I asked, looking frantically at my siblings, checking them for any injuries. I couldn't see any signs of blood on them, but I also knew that not all injuries bled. I could feel my heart racing in my chest, as my breath began to rasp in a familiar way. It took all of my effort and concentration to fight off the panic sitting heavily on my chest.

"It's her neck," Ellie explained frantically as Matt shouted at the crowd to call an ambulance. "Something bit her."

Elena eased Vicki's head to the side and I got a good glimpse of the blood rushing out. The sight of it made me feel sick and it definitely didn't help me fight off the panic attack trying to claw its way free. It was only the feel of my sister's warmth next to me that gave me the strength to do so.

"Oh lordy," I muttered, shrugging out of my hoodie. "She's losing way too much blood."

I pressed my hoodie against the wound, praying that no one had split beer on me without me realising. Because the last thing that the poor girl needed was for her horrific wound to get infected.

"Vicki, Vicki, come on, Vicks, open your eyes," Matt begged her, stroking his sister's hair. "Look at me."

"An ambulance is on its way," Bonnie pushed her way through the crowd, joining us at the table.

I prayed to every deity that I could think of that Vicki Donovan wouldn't die on this table, in front of her brother, in front of my brother. Seeing how helpless Matt and Tyler were feeling, I grabbed both their hands and rested them over the wound, pressing down firmly.

Remaining remarkably calm for someone known to panic, I caught their gazes, "While all my knowledge comes from TV medical dramas, putting pressure on the wound and stopping the bleeding sounds sensible."

Matt nodded shakily and pressed his hand down firmly on his sister's neck. I looked at Tyler, who was standing next to me. He nodded and put his hand over mine. This was the closest we had been since our fight. Despite his worry, his hand never shook as it applied the pressure that Matt and I couldn't.

Seconds felt like hours as we waited for the ambulance to arrive. I focused on Vicki's face, needing to see any sign of life. But it was still, her eyes closed, expression smooth. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Elena holding Jeremy's hand while Bonnie had an arm around his waist. Caroline had a hand on Matt's back as our little group waited with bated breath for help to arrive.

I couldn't help but be amazed at Matt's strength. Despite it all, he stayed as calm as one could and focused on speaking to his sister, repeating her name, encouraging her to fight and survive. If it was Elena or Jeremy laying there, slowly bleeding to death, I would have been a sobbing mess on the floor.

XXX

Not long later, we heard the welcome sirens of the ambulance. The paramedics ran over and we all moved back, giving them the space that they needed to save Vicki. They quickly loaded her up into the ambulance with Matt and drove away. Everything moved so quickly. One moment I could feel Vicki's blood oozing all over my hand and the next, she was being rushed out of the area.

I sighed and walked over to Jeremy, deliberately ignoring the dried blood on my hands. I'd left my hoodie on the table, there was no point in washing it. I wouldn't be able to wear it without thinking of what happened. The last thing I needed was more bad memories.

He was sitting there with a beer bottle, completely uncaring of all the cops around us. I leant against the wooden gazebo next to him, my back to the woods.

"Got any more of those?" I asked, also uncaring about the cops around us. They had more important things to worry about than two teenagers drinking beer. Like whatever ripped open Vicki Donovan's neck.

"She'll be ok," I told him, unable to see my baby brother in so much pain. "Vicki's a fighter; she won't just lie down and die."

Jeremy gave me a grateful look. I knew that was all I needed to say to him. We had both learned, since our parents died, that words could be empty and meaningless. Sometimes, less really was more.

Elena then chose that moment to come over. Please don't say anything about the drinking. Just let him have this, Ellie.

"You ok?" she asked Jeremy softly, sitting on his other side and placing her hand on his shoulder. When she received silence, she added, "I called Jenna, she's on her way." I got the feeling that she needed to speak. That the silence was too painful for her. She looked at us both and saw the beer bottles. Uh oh. Elena tried to make her scolding sound light, but it just fell flat, "Y'know. Those people in uniforms, last time I checked, they're the police."

I ignored her while Jeremy looked at her, took a long drink and threw the bottle over his shoulder. Elena looked at him in disappointment, choosing to ignore my continued drinking. She was probably planning on dealing with me later. But the joke was on her because I was not planning on giving her that opportunity.

"People are going to stop giving you breaks, Jer," she told him, sounding disappointed and tired. "They just don't care anymore. They don't remember that our parents are dead, because they've got their own lives to deal with. The rest of the world has moved on. You should try, too."

I could immediately see that this wouldn't end well. I sighed and downed the rest of my beer, placing the bottle to do the side. Great, more drama. And this one would be even worse because what could I do to help?

"I've seen you in the cemetery writing in your diary," Jeremy said coldly, refusing to look at Elena. "Is that- is that supposed to be you moving on?"

Elena looked down sadly, "Mom and Dad wouldn't have wanted this."

I sighed and enveloped both of my idiot siblings in a hug.

XXX

We clung onto each other until Aunt Jenna arrived. She rushed over to us frantically, checking us all for injuries. It took a good amount of time to reassure her that we were fine. In the end, it took Sheriff Forbes coming over to finally put her mind at rest.

The drive home was silent. No one spoke a word. As soon as we entered the house, Jeremy disappeared upstairs. Knowing that this required a delicate touch, with absolutely no judgement, I looked at my sister and aunt, "I'll handle it."

I stopped outside his door. Just as I was about to knock, I saw the state of my hands. Yikes. I wouldn't be a very good comforter for Jer with his girl's blood all over my hands. I diverted off to the bathroom and scrubbed the blood off. It took longer than I would have liked, but finally, I was satisfied that I had removed all signs of blood. I left the bathroom and entered Jeremy's room, not bothering to knock. He was laying on his bed with his back to me. I sighed softly and walked over to him. Oh my sweet summer child.

"Move over kiddo," I ordered softly, kicking my shoes off. He moved so that I could sit with his head in my lap. I ran my hands through his hair like I used to when he was younger. All I could see right now was that little dweeb that would hang onto my leg and ask random questions about everything and anything.

"I'll be ok Jer," I whispered to him, wiping away any tears that fell. "I promise you; everything will work out in the end."

"How do you know that?" he asked, his voice muffled but the pain was clear. I could feel my heart break.

"Cos I said so, Jer, cos I said so," I replied, trying to ignore the way my heart squeezed in my chest. "And you know that the universe obviously does what I tell it to." That got a laugh from him and I was ever so slightly relieved. Laughing was better than crying. And I couldn't cope with seeing my baby brother cry more than he already had. "C'mon. Let's go downstairs and get some coffee. I get the feeling that you're gonna need it, lightweight."

"I'm not a lightweight," he muttered into his thigh before reluctantly letting me tug him up.

"Oh darling," I stroked his hair back, trying to ignore just how young he looked. "I haven't had the chance to work on your tolerance to my liking. Which automatically makes you a lightweight."

The small smile on his face warmed my heart more than any drink ever could.

Once downstairs, I deposited him on the sofa and disappeared into the kitchen. The angel that was my aunt had already turned on the coffee machine before disappearing upstairs. I added a scoop of hot chocolate powder and more sugar than was wise to each mug before taking them through to my brother. If there was one thing that I had learnt, it was that sugar helped. Maybe tomorrow, I would even bake him some cupcakes.

After placing the mugs on the table, I dug out one of our old blankets and wrapped it around Jer. When I saw the photo for our parents in his hands, I had to take a moment to compose myself. I gently tugged it out of his hands and placed it down on the table in front of him. After replacing the photo with the coffee, I joined him under the blanket.

I rested my head against his shoulder and felt him rest his against mine. Oh my sweet baby brother. There we sat well into the night. A broken brother and his sister.

XXX

A/N: Please let me know what you think of the rewrite and thank you for reading xoxo