"Bonnie Jane Bennett!" Linkin yelled as he hurridly rushed to the front door.

"You didn't." Bonnie ghasped mouth agape. She knows how much she hates her middle name an yet he called her by it.

"Oh I did. Mabey you'll think twice before you kidnapped someone while there drunk." He snapped at her before moving for the door.

"I wouldn't have to if you just talked to me!" Bonnie yelled running infront of him and planting herself infront of the door blocking his path.

Grams had heard the commotion an can nearly running downstairs to see the two fighting.

"You can't just keep ignoring us and pretending like we never existed! If you didn't want to be friends anymore then just tell me! Because I am sick of you just walking away when I see you in the halls. Or when Grams an I try to call and you never pick up. An your just acting like everything is okay when it's not." Bonnie yelled at him with watery eyes. Eyes that caught her grandmother standing in the other end of the entry way.

"You think I want this! To not be able to talk to you and hang out. To tell you everything that's been going on with me. But I can't Bonnie!" He argued. He already had a headache from his hang over and now he had to deal with emotions and things he really couldn't handle right now. "Just let me leave." He asked.

"No! Not until you tell me what's going on!" She refused.

"I can't!"

"Why!"

"Because I'm trying to protect you!" He finally howled out.

"From what?" Bonnie asked.

Linkin couldn't help the pained laugh the rippeled out of his mouth. "From everything." He said as a stray tear fell from his eye.

"What do you mean Link?" She asked again not understanding him.

He was struggling telling her. He just wanted to tell her everything that has happened from Drake, to his dad and even about the vampires. It was on the tip of his tounge and all he had to do was speak.

"Bonnie." Grams said in a light tone choosing to speak up.

Bonnie looked to her grandmother with a kindling anger. "No Grams. He needs to tell us what going on so we can help him."

"You can't Bon." Linkin tried.

"Why?" She asked looking back to him.

"Because my dad threatened you!"

Bonnie went wide eyed.

"He threatened you and Grams an I won't give him a reason to go after you guys. I'ed never forgive myself." He told her.

"Oh Link." Bonnie sighed as she pulled him into a hug.

But he moved away before she could touch him. "I'm sorry. But it's the only way I can keep you safe." He looked over to Grams knowing she was there. "The both of you."

"Link-"

"Let him pass." Grams said interrupting her.

"Grams! You ca-"

"Bonnie Bennett." Shiela said sternly giving her grand daughter a hard gaze.

"You seriously letting him go?!" She howled at a loss.

"He is free to make his choice's." Shiela spoke.

"Egh!" Bonnie belowed storming off to the confines of her room.

Linkin didn't want to speak as he took his step to the door.

"I know what has happened." Sheila said.

Linkin froze on the spot.

"I'm a witch. And I know the sign's from personal experience." She told him.

Linkin didn't dare move. He was so scaired and shocked at her words. It was like his mind went blank and his eyes started to water.

"You don't have to say anything now. I know it's hard my boy, but remember that I'll always welcome you and I promise it won't be like this forever." She said with every bit of motherly effection she could muster.

He may not be her by blood but in the short time Shiela Bennett has known Linkin she had grown to cherish him like one of her children. If Bennetts are good at anything it's fighting for there own. And fight for this boy Shiela will.

He didn't know how long he had been standing there for in a solemn silence taking in her words. It felt like an eternity before his legs had started moving and he walked out there door with tears running down his face.

...

Linkin had a very long walk home. It didn't bother him that his feet were sore or that he had blisters on his toes as he made his way through the front doors of the Lockwood home stead.

He didn't see any of his family as he walked through the halls to his bed room. He had enough of a thought process to close his door before he started dragging himself to his bed. His body feeling heavier and heavier with each step as he came up to his bed side and slumped into the side of the mattress.

"Grams know." Was all he could think about. It seemed like the more he kept trying to forget about it the world wanted to make him remeber.

He needed something, something that would help him forget. Something that was normal and before his life turned to a even bigger freak show.

With heavy eyes Linkin looked around his room only for them to land on an old framed photo of a camping trip back when he went on a year ago with the Gilbert's.

With more effort then he wanted to muster Link pulled out his phone and dialed someone he hasn't in a while. Since before his life went even more down into a pit.

"Hey." A boys voice said sounding slightly confused.

"Ah hey Jer. Sorry if it's a bad time." Linkin immediately regretted calling.

"Hey no, no. Sorry I was just suprised you called is all." Jeremy told him backtracking. "We haven't really talked properly in a while." He said a little akwardly.

"Yair no your right. I should probably hang up." Link said pulling the phone away from his ear.

"No Link wait!" Jeremy yelled from his end of the phone.

Linkin just caught it and brought the device back to his ear. "Yair?" He asked.

"Did you wanna come over. I was actually going to call an ask if you could help me out with some tutoring since you know I'm behind on like every subject." Jeremy said with a chuckled.

"Oh, ah. I don't know Jer." Link said unsure.

"Please. You can even stay the night and we can play some video games and watch some movies after we study like we use to." Jeremy said trying to convince him.

This is what Linkin was asking for. He knew that he didn't want to be in this house and be reminded of how he was just a bother on everyone there. An he needed to get our of his own head. "Okay. I'll be there in an hour." He told him.

"Awesome. I'll charge the other xbox controller." Jer said.

Linkin could literally hear him smiling. "Alright. See you in a bit."

"Cool." Jeremy replied.

Link hung up and put his phone beside him taking in a deep breath. "You need this." He told himself before taking in another deep breath. "I should bring our old R rated movies." He told himself looking to his cabnit where the box of DVD'S where hidden.

...

So Linkin collected some cloths, DVDs and his old controller before getting a taxi with his fathers credit card.

Thanking the driver as he got out with his bag of assortments over his shoulder and walked up to the front the front door of the white house, knocking on the door.

Not a moment later he heard the door click and was met with a very confused Elena. "Oh. Ah, what are you doing here Link?" She asked suprised.

"Well I'm here s-"

"Elena! Who's at the door?" Jeremy yelled before turning up the hall and looked for himself only to smile. "Linkin." He said with a smile basically shoving his sister to the side.

"Jeremy." She scoffed.

"Come on in man." Jeremy told him ignoring his sister.

Link walked in sending Elena a sorry look as he followed Jeremy to the living room where Jenna was sitting on the couch, smiling brightly as she saw Linkin.

"Hey there kiddo." She greeted.

"Hey Jenna. Sorry I don't mean to intrude."

"Jeremy already asked me. An besides after the grilling you gave Tanner for me, your welcome any time."

"R.I.P." Jeremy snarked.

"Hey. Not cool." Elena scolded while Jenna bit on her bottom lip to keep herself quiet. While Linkin agreed, Tanner was an ass.

"He gave me hell, like I care." Jeremy remarked dryly to his sister. "Come on man. I'll set you up in my room than we can play halo." Jeremy said to Linkin nudging him towards the stairs.

...

"Come on man. Wake up." Jeremy huffed shaking Linkins sleeping body laying on the pull-out mattress.

The only reason it was there was for when Linkin would stay over before the funeral. Jeremy never got rid of it when he stopped talking to Link. He was glad last night he didn't.

Link groaned refusing to open his eyes. "Five more minutes." He said drearily.

Jeremy rolled his eyes as a smile grew on his lips. He just scoffed deciding to give him the five minutes and have a shower as he walked into the bathroom.

Linkin rolled over in his make shift bed. He opened his eyes seeing the bathroom door open wide enough wide enough for him to see inside. He knew it wasn't okay but he couldn't seem to find the wi to move his eyes as Jeremy pulled up his shirt to reveal a startling set of abbs. He then saw him move his ha d's down to his pants. "Nope!" He thought immediately turning away only to kick the leg of Jer's bed.

"Link. You all good?" Jeremy asked from the bathroom.

"Oh, ah yep." He quickly answered, silently cursing himself.

"Cluts." Jeremy snorted before closing the bathroom door.

Hearing the handle click Linkin sighed as he layed back into his mattress and pulling the pillow out from behind his head. He then proceeded to slam it on his face befor he yelled into it.

...

After catching the bus with Jeremy since his car was still at the school they parted ways to head to there respective classes. For Jeremy that was gym. For Link, he was about to meet the new history teacher.

"So how did you guys go last night?" Elena asked Linkin as she took a seat next to him.

"What do you mean?" Linkin asked her confused.

"I mean how was he? He didn't seem different did he? Lime he's acting like he did before.."

Linkin knew what Elena was trying to say. "Look. I'm glad he's okay. He seems great." Linkin told her.

Elena had a soft smile on her face.

"But." Link began and her smile dropped. "It's dosn't mean what you did was okay and I'm still not okay with it. He should be able to process Elena."

More students where starting to pur into the room.

Elenas face went sour. "An what else was I supposed to do?" She wisper hissed. "He was crushed and then seeing Vi-"

Linkin sent her a pointed look stopping her mid sentence. "Your meant to be there Elena. Not get someone else to fix your problem for you." He said with a surprising amount of spite as he turned to face his desk as he got his books out signalling the end of the conversation.

Elena saw Bonnie walk in an she looked like she didn't sleep at all.

The Bennett girl took the only remaining seat at the other side of the class and scanned the room to see Linkin who didn't look happy. She then saw Elena.

"Are you okay?" Elena mouthed to her.

"Later." Bonnie mouth back.

The sound of heavy footsteps and teenage girls quickly sucking in there breath filled the room before silence as the new teacher walked in.

The tall brown haired man stopped infront of the board and began wrote down the words in chalk on the green board beforefacing the class. "Hello class. My name as you can see here on the board is Alaric Saltzman."

"Now I know, It's a mouth full. It german in origin and comes from a great grandfather I can never thank enough. Most of you will probably want to pronounce it as 'owl-rick' but it is 'Alah-rick', but to make it easier you can just call me Rick." He told the class wiping the chalk off his hands.

...

The bell rang and everyone was scrambling to get home as Linkin weaved between rushing and impatient students.

As the halls started to clear he made it to his history class room where he was asked to come back after school by his teacher. What he didn't expect was to see Jeremy in there actually smiling in the presence of a teacher.

"Ah, Linkin perfect timing." Alaric said from his seat behind his desk. "This here is Je-"

"Jeremy Gilbert. Behing his friend I know him." Linkin politely interupted.

"Good." The teacher commented. "I wasn't aware but that will make this easier for the both of you."

Linkin sent Jeremy a confused look.

Jeremy just shrugged his shoulders.

"Mr Gilbert here had been giving a chance to earn extra credit to get his grades back on track. You have the highest marks in your year, which is impressive considering your already two years ahead than any other student your age." Alaric praised.

"Thank you Sir. But I'm still confused on why I'm here." Linkin said.

"Right. Well I want you to act as a tutor and help Jeremy with the assignment I gave him." He informed them.

Jeremy instantly smiled at that while Linkin was suprised.

"You can say no. But I'll be offering you extra credit as well, even though you don't need it." Alaric said.

"No, I'll do it. Besides. He'll need the help." Link remarked.

Jeremy just rolled his eyes.

"Perfect. I want it on my desk before the end of the month." Alaric told them.

...

"This is harder than I though it would be." Jeremy groaned as he flipped through some textbooks he got from the school library.

"He said it had to be something local. There's plenty of History here." Linkin rebutted.

"You two are adorable." Jenna said from her side of the table the three where sharing at the Grill.

Linkins heart skipped a beat.

"Why are you so glum. I though you where going on a date with Logan." Jeremy said.

A flash of Damon killing the towns local new anchor momentarily filled Linkins vision.

"Yair. We'll see how you act when you get dumped over na email that says. "Sorry Jenna. I'm leaving town to pursue better things." She groaned stiring her cocktail with it's straw.

"Logan was a tool anyway." Linkin said.

"Forget Logan. I still have nothing for the paper." Jeremy groaned.

"You have all your dads old stuff." Jenna chimmed.

"What do you mean?" Jeremy asked confused.

"You know, all that stuff about the founding family an the Gilbert's coming on the mayflower stuff. It's all in the attic." She told them.

"Oh my god. Why didn't I think of that." Linkin scolded himself.

"Because your not as smart as you think you are." Jeremy teased nudging into him.

"Still smarter than you." The Lockwood boy quipped making Jeremy scoff.

Jenna just watched the two with a knowing smile.

"What?" Jeremy chuckled catching seeing the look on her face.

"Nothing." She said dismissively. "I just wish I could have a nice, genuine hot guy." She said looking between the two.

Linkin caught on to what she was saying but Jeremy seemed none the wiser.

Jenna let out another sigh as she let her eyes travel the room before slightly widening at something.

Jeremy saw the look and followed her gaze to see a familiar person. "That's Mr Saltzman. He's the new history teacher at out school." He told his aunt.

Linkin looked around hearing the name, finding the teacher at a nearby table.

"We can Introduce you if you want." Jeremy told her.

Linkin went wide eyed. Seeing a teacher outside of school is embarrassing.

"Hey Mr S." Jeremy called out getting the mans attention.

He smiled kindly as he walked over to the three's table. "Hey Jeremy." He said giving him a fist bump. "Hey Linkin." He said seeing the boy.

Linkin akwardly smiled and waved.

The teachers eyes then landed on Jenna. "And you are?" He asked with charming smile.

"Jenna, Jenna Sommer's." She said introducing herself giving the tall man a hand shake with a doe eyed smile.

"Alaric. But everyone just calls me Rick." He said.

Linkin and Jeremy both looked at eachother coming tot he conclusion that this was there time to go.

"We'll meet you back at home aunt Jenna." Jeremy told her as they both collected there things off the table an headed for the door.

"Do you need to give them a ride?" Alaric asked her.

"No. The house isn't far from here an Link has his license." She told him.

"Cool." He replied sliding into the now vaccen seat opposite Jenna.

...

The two boys had just pulled up into the driveway of the Gilbert house.

"Wait." Jeremy sputtered out as Linkin went to get out of the car.

"What's up?" Linkin asked him.

"I.. I jus-" Jeremy was struggling to say it.

"Jer it's okay. I'm hear for you man." Linkin assured him.

"But that's just it." Jeremy spoke.

"What?" Linkin asked confused.

"I haven't been there for you." He told him.

"Jer... Your parents. I un-"

"No." Jeremy interrupted finding the strength to face him. "You where there for me when my mom and dad died. You kept trying to be there but I kept pushing you away. We've been friends since preschool and I just dropped you for drugs and a whole lot of terrible decisions."

Linkin could see it in his eyes. He knew that Jeremy meant every word. But the guilt Linkin felt knowing that he's only saying this because Damon made him forget his pain. It wasn't okay or fair to Jeremy.

"You have no idea how much I missed being around you, playing video games, the sleep overs. Your the only person I believe I can truly count on."

"I.. Jer." Link was speechless. He didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry I've been a crappy person." Jeremy finished.

Link had to turn away. He couldn't bare the look of sincerity and truth in his eyes. "I.. I think I should go home tonight." He said looking to the floor.

This threw Jeremy. "What? Why?"

"I... This isn't right." Linkin said.

Jeremy's face scrunched with frustration.

"What do you mean this isn't right?" He asked sounding offended.

"No Jeremy that-"

"No I get it. You don't want to be friends with the school freak." He grumbled getting out of the car and slaming the door.

"Jeremy wait. That's not what I meant." Linkin called after him.

"You made it pretty clear." He yelled back over hid shoulder as he walked up the porch stairs.

Suddenly the front door opened and out walked Bonnie who was walking strangely. She didn't even say a word to Jeremy or Linkin as she walked across the lawn.

The sound of screaming came from the house and Jeremy yelled frightened as he opened the front door. He just passed the two girls in the hall as he stormed up the stairs to his room.

Link was walking up the stairs to the door when he bumped into a familiar blonde. "Woah, Caroline."

"I am so over this. I am out of here." She mumbeled in a panicked spur ignoring him as she walked across the lawn and to her car.

Elena ran out the front door looking for Bonnie but saw Link. "Oh thank god. Link it's Bonnie, she's been possessed by Emily. She's been dreaming about the old Fell church an was over Emily haunting her so we did a sance-"

"You did whatt?!" Linkin yelled shocked.