Making History

Three Months Later

Three months later, and it was the last day of the holidays; Summer was almost over.

With that, came two significant things.

For Elena and Jeremy, it meant that High School was starting up again soon, and I knew that they both had their uncertainties about going back, given that people who hadn't seen them over the summer would probably still want to give their condolences over Mom and Dad's deaths.

For me, it meant that I started my new job. To my delight, and to Aunt Jenna's amusement, a job had come up as a history teacher in Mystic Falls' only primary school. With my fantastic references from both teachers and even the kids from my old school, they had basically given me the job up front.

I was currently reading through the syllabus for the umpteenth time as I sat eating my cereal.

The Victorians, in England, were an obvious area of study, and one which I had organised events for to make the learning more enjoyable.

Ancient Egypt was probably one of my favourite topics, and again I had several ideas for that.

Other topics ranged from Cavemen, to Prehistoric Times, to the lives of people like Florence Nightingale.

I smiled as I thought of all the ideas flowing through my mind for all the topics. I had already written most of them down, and had even pitched a few to the Principal, who had approved of each, saying that he was already looking forward to having me work there.

The sound of Jeremy wandering into the kitchen and grabbing some toast that had just popped up in the toaster, distracted me from my thoughts.

"You nearly ready?" I asked, smiling.

Jeremy and I were going on a small shopping trip around town so that he could get school supplies, and I could get teaching supplies.

"I guess," he shrugged, sending me a small smile back.

Since our parents' death, Jeremy had closed up to most people, only staying on proper speaking-about-everything terms with me. That was how I knew all about the drug-dealing, and all about Vicki Donovan.

I was obviously inwardly horrified about the dealing, and I wasn't too keen on Vicki either, but I tried to be supportive for Jeremy in the hope that one day he'd ask me if he thought he should stop dealing (to which I'd say yes), and then ask if I thought he should stop trying to get with Vicki after their one night stand where he lost his virginity (to which I would also reply yes).

I smiled fondly at him as he ate his toast. The truth about Vicki broke my heart. She was clearly only using him to satisfy her need for cheap, yet effective drugs, so she could get high all day, every day.

"What are you reading?" Jeremy asked, mouth still full of his last bite of toast, as he tried to read upside down from his place opposite me, across the kitchen counter.

"The history curriculum again," I shrugged, grinning as I already knew what his response would be.

"Jess, seriously?" he asked, rolling his eyes, "I don't see how you haven't memorised that thing by now!"

I laughed, and lightly punched his shoulder.

"Back off druggie," I joked, poking my tongue out at him.

If anyone else called him that, he would probably flip out, but it was our thing.

He smirked; "At least I'm not a history geek," he replied wittily.

"You'll come around to my ways eventually," I promised, grabbing my bag; "Embrace your nerdiness, young one!" I declared, making dramatic hand gestures as he rolled his eyes.

"Never," he promised, opening the passenger side of my car and clambering in.

Now I rolled my eyes, grinning as I too swung myself into the car and we drove off.

Coming back, Jeremy had one bag, while I had like seven- you'd be surprised how many resources teaching requires.

He rolled his eyes at me struggling, and took three of the bags off me.

I thanked him and we made our way up to the house.

While we had been in the car, coming back from shopping, we had passed the cemetery, which happened to be where all the druggies go to get high.

They had called Jeremy over, but he had rudely declined, and my heart had swelled at that. I knew that had it been Elena or even Jenna in the car with him, he would've been out of there before they could say a word, but the fact that he had stayed put showed me that there was a part of him that still actually cared for certain members of his family.

Dumping our stuff inside, I packed some groceries away that I would use to make the best last-day-of-summer dinner ever, and Jeremy headed right up to his room, where I soon heard (and felt) his music coming from moments later.

I rolled my eyes and smiled, packing some of my school supplies into my bag for tomorrow.

In said bag was my laptop; I thought I'd basically just introduce the kids to the course via a presentation tomorrow. There were only two classes in the tiny primary school, given that there weren't a lot of kids in Mystic Falls. So I only had to teach two lessons a day and after that, I could go home.

I checked my presentation again, and saw that it worked fine, and everything was spelt right.

I looked over my timetable again, and smiled at how easy my days would be.

On Monday, my lessons were fourth and fifth period, after lunch;

On Tuesday, they were third and fourth, giving me some time to prepare the next lesson during the lunch break;

On Wednesday, they were periods one and two, meaning I could go home at break;

On Thursday, they were fourth and fifth again;

And on Friday, they were periods two and three, again giving me break to prepare the next lesson.

It seemed a pretty easy schedule, and I was glad of it.

I smiled once more at my bag for tomorrow, before heading to the kitchen counter to prepare dinner.

Once I had finished, the table was set, and the food plated, I called everyone down to the dining room.

Jenna came in from the living room, where she had been watching her favourite soap opera for some relaxation;

Jeremy traipsed down from his room where his music had been blasting from all day;

And Elena came padding down from probably writing in her diary. The therapist she had seen after the crash had told her that if she didn't want to talk about things, the best thing would be to write them down in a book nobody would read.

As everyone sat down, dinner was as awkward as ever.

Aunt Jenna and I tried to keep the conversation going, but ended up just talking to each other. Jeremy had his headphones round his neck, and I could hear one of his songs quietly playing, while Elena just silently stared at her plate, moving her food around with her fork.

This was what family dinners had become, and I hoped to God that they would change for the better some time soon.