Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

105. The Family Stone*

Three Years From Now*

Riley had her back turned, ignoring the shuffling of feet and quiet murmurs behind her. On a whiteboard, she wrote down the following equation:

3(x + 7) + 2(-x + 4) + 5x

She took the pen cap out of her mouth and slid it back in place. Then, she turned and addressed the group in front of her.

"Who can simplify this equation?"

The entirety of the 8th grade math class stared back at her blankly. After a second, one student in the front row started scribbling on a notepad.

"Seriously?" Riley asked, taking a seat on top of her desk. "Nobody even has a guess?" She scanned the room, noting all the faces that were avoiding her gaze. "Meredith?" she called on the usually talkative girl in the back row. The girl bit her lip.

"I'm sorry, Miss Fletcher," she shook her head. Riley sighed.

"Derek?"

Derek, who was sitting 2 rows in front of Meredith, grabbed his textbook, flicked through it for a second, then put it back down and squinted at the board. "4?"

There was some giggling, but the rest of the class stayed silent.

"4?" Riley asked. "Guys, come on! This is supposed to be an advanced class. Here's a clue: you have to expand the equation before you can simplify."

Still, the looks on the student's faces were completely blank, as if they'd never heard that term in their lives. Riley felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Normally she'd ignore it, but part of her needed a 5 second escape.

"Get into groups," she ordered. "No more than four. When I get back, not only do I want the right answer, but I want to see how you worked it out, step by step. And no googling – don't think I can't see your phone under the desk, Cristina!"

She left the room and closed the door quickly behind her, more than prepared for the onslaught of noise that followed.

Across the hall, she could see another math teacher, who also looked like she was about to tear her hair out. The woman smiled at her, excused herself from the class, and walked outside.

"I'll swap your 8th grade for my 6th?" the woman offered. "They're cuter, more fun..."

Riley smiled. "Isn't 'more fun' just another word for 'rowdy and uncontrollable'?"

The other teacher rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I had to try, right?" Then she glanced back into her classroom, saw a paper airplane flying through the air and banged on the glass once. "Jackson, I saw that!" She sighed and groaned. "Then at least join me for drinks tonight? You owe me, Riley!"

Riley laughed, looking back into her own classroom to make sure that the students were still working. "I'll think about it, Seline. I promise."

Seline smiled and waved as she walked back into her own classroom, while Riley finally checked her messages and saw that she had a missed call from her sister.

"You never call me during work," she said as soon as the call connected. "What's wrong?"

Caroline sighed so loudly that Riley was sure she'd be able to hear her without the phone, even though Care was in Dallas and she was in Portland.

"My idiot fiancé thinks it would be a good idea to go back to Mystic Falls."

Riley looked around in disbelief even though there was no one around to see her. Then she lowered her voice until she was barely whispering. "Is he crazy?! He knows you can't go back there."