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Lucky for me, growing up I spent so much time staying at the Gilbert house, that I still have my own room here. I practically lived here, avoiding tea parties and 'lady like' stuff that my Mum hosted. The Gilbert's were awesome.

"Good morning." I hear Elena say from downstairs to Alaric, being my motivation to get up...

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I sit on a deck chair, the wuthering heights in hand as Alaric trains Elena to fight.

" So the pressure of your punch ejects the stakes," Alaric says, showing her the gist as I remove my swaggie cap, throwing it to the side.

"Easy enough," She says... Gosh she has no idea.

She tries but the stakes stay in the sleeve. She frowns in annoyance and confusion.

" That's weird. " Elena says, probably assuming that the stake launcher is faulty.

She tries again but to no avail.

" Must be jammed or something. " What did I say? Evie can see the future...

"You're not strong enough. Better start lifting some weights, put some meat on your bones."

" Thanks for not sugar-coating it." She says to him, sighing, she then looks at me, puzzled," Evie is thinner than me but she can do it?" She asks in confusion. My eyes flash amber and she nods in sudden realisation.

He takes something out of his bag and shows it to her as I count all of the Katherines. Earnshaw, Linton, Heathcliff, Petrova.

" You know what this is? " Alaric asks her, holding up an exact replica of the one that she threw in Elijah's face. Good times, good times.

" A vervain grenade. I've used one before" she states simply, probably picturing the event in her head.

"Then you know the element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to a vampire," he says.

"You know." I begin."A surprise is not actually an element-"

"It was metaphorical Evie," Alaric says... As if I didn't already know, I guess some people's minds just aren't yet adapted to sarcasm.

He pulls the pin out of a grenade and throws it in Elena's hand.

"Surprise." He says as she throws it into the air quickly.

"What a waste of natural resources," I mutter under my breath.

"This isn't a joke to me, Ric" She angrily pulls the stake thing off of her arm. Mmm, I could kill for a steak right now.

"You think I'm joking? Vampires will take whatever they want. They will hurt whoever they want. And they'll do it without remorse. It's their nature " Ric tells her, calmly.

"You don't have to use pronouns. You can say, Stefan." She sighs looking down at her feet.

"We could use the name, Klaus." I mutter, my tone matching that of Elena's.

Alaric sighs at the both of us.

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"Here we are. Senior year" Caroline sighs, standing in front of the school doors, our girl squad finally back together again.

"Anyone else thinks it should feel slightly more empowering?" Bonnie asks.

"Okay. So prank night was a bust. But we are accepting it, and we are moving on." Caroline says in an exaggerated Caroline tone.

Yes, a Caroline tone is a thing. Don't believe me, google it.

"You're right. I mean, why should I let the fact that my boyfriend is seeing the ghost of his dead girlfriends hinder this experience?" Bonnie asks.

"Yes! And why should I let the fact that my boyfriend was turned into a hybrid put a damper on an otherwise fabulous day." Caroline asks, forcing a smile.

"Today's our anniversary. Technically, Stefan and I met on the first day of school last year." Elena sighs. I decide to join the complaint about the boyfriend squad.

"Yeah, and why should I let the fact that my magical mated soul mate killed my brother in front of my own eyes bother me?"

"Yeah. You win." Caroline sighs.

I look around, noticing Elena's sour expression, I decide it's time for a little Evie intervention so I pull her in for a famous Evie bear hug.

"Are you sure you want to be here?" I ask her, like a good friend.

" I have to be here. I have to put it behind me. New year. A new life" She sighs, before pulling back from the hug and smiling at me, I smile back.

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I look at the bonfire party poster that Caroline is holding up in annoyance, already knowing that they are going to drag me to this by my hair if they have to.

" I forgot about the bonfire," Elena says.

"You have to go. It's our first spirit squad event. And it sets the bar for the whole year." Caroline says, looking at me rather than Elena.

"Relax, Caroline. I'll be there." I say, hating the fact that I do not actually have a choice.

"Thank you. It's just that..."

Suddenly, Tyler arrives, kissing mine and Caroline's cheeks, I stare at him in shock. He smells worse than usual.

" Happy first day! " Tyler says, grinning.

Elena looks at his shirt so I copy and see something red, my eyes widen in horror.

"Is that blood?" I ask in disgust.

" Oh my God !" Caroline says, looking to where Elena and I are both looking. She then drags him off in the direction of the bathrooms.

As they walk off, the sound of bat out of hell fills my ears, quickly, I pull my phone up to my ears, not checking the caller ID.

"Hello?"I ask, hoisting my bag up onto my shoulder.

"Hello, love." Says a familiar British accent. I groan in pure frustration.

"Did I not make my self clear when I said I do not want to talk to you?"I ask, ending the call and dropping my phone into the nearest bin.

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"Has anybody seen Dana?"Ella, a random cheerleader asks.

"Sounds like you have an opening on the squad."Stupid, annoying, ever present...vampire?

"Do us all a favour and go back to your coffin would you?" I say, in the bitchiest tone that I can muster.

"What are you doing?"Caroline asks as Rebekah starts to stretch, making a point of ignoring me.

" Hey. Hey. You can't just come here and infiltrate all of our lives." Caroline snaps...My point exactly.

"I'm only interested in yours. Your spunk, your popularity. I'm not allowed to lay a finger on the dog." She says, causing me to growl."Maybe even your boyfriend" She says, looking over in Tyler's direction.

"If your icy bitch fingers lay a finger on my brother, then I'm going to cut them off, make you eat them and then, I will bitch slap you so hard, that you find yourself back in the 10th century."I snarl. Caroline slides her arm over my shoulder.

"it's not the ballet, ladies. Let's move! Let's move!" The coach yells.

"I'm going to have so much fun with-" And then I pounce on her.

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What a lovely way to begin my first day back to school. Sat during lunch, waiting outside of the principal's office. Not my definition of fun, but hey, hopefully I will miss maths.

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