✧.•°*𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄, 𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄
HAVING HISTORY WITH MR TANNER FELT LIKE A PERSONAL HELL FOR EVELYN, not only was he awfully rude to all of them, but somehow managed to make one of the subjects that Evelyn usually enjoyed become one she dreaded.
As usual, she sat with her sketchbook open, finishing the portrait of her dad she had started two days prior, using it to keep her attention on Mr. Tanner's voice.
"World War II ended...Anyone got anything? Miss Salvatore?
"1945." She spoke, barely lifting her head at her professor before looking around the class, noticing how everyone was sitting boredly and in silence, minus Stefan and Elena who seemed to be in their little world, and that was proven right as Mr. Tanner called Elena.
"Pearl Harbor, Miss Gilbert?"
Elena looked up surprised and embarrassed after being caught slacking.
"Hmm?"
"Pearl Harbor?" He repeated, eyebrows raised and expecting the answer, that did not come, or at least not from her. Instead, it came from her cousin, Stefan.
"December 7, 1941." He spoke confidently, almost smirking at Mr Tanner.
"Thank you, Miss Gilbert." Mr Tanner said, a hard look on his face as he stared at Stefan, who just replied anytime.
"Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall?"
"1989. I'm good with dates, sir."
"Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act?"
Evelyn rolled her eyes at Mr Tanner's words, finding him incredibly disrespectful and rude.
"1964."
"John F. Kennedy assassination?"
"1963"
"Martin Luther King?"
"'68."
"Lincoln?"
"1865"
"Roe vs. Wade?"
"1973."
"Brown vs. Board?
"1954."
"The battle of Gettysburg?"
"1863."
"Korean war?"
"1950 to 1953."
"Ha! It ended in '52."
"No, it didn't sir, Stefan is right," Evelyn said, glancing at her teacher with furrowed eyebrows as she glanced at him up and down weirdly.
"Uh, actually, sir, it was '53," Stefan spoke right after her, giving her a small smile in appreciation.
"Look it up, somebody. Quickly!" Mr. Tanner said, looking around the students until one yelled, "It was 19...53!"
✧.•°*
AFTER THE REST OF THE DREADFUL HISTORY LESSON ENDED, Evelyn walked out of the class quickly, stopping only at her locker to grab her bag which contained some gym clothes.
She quickly changed in the changing rooms before walking out and going towards where all the cheerleaders were talking and stretching, and she started to do the same.
Suddenly, she heard her name being shouted and she turned around just in time to see Bonnie dragging Elena towards her, with wide smiles on both of her faces.
"Guess who's back in the squad?!" The curly-haired girl said, and Evelyn glanced at Elena's smiling face briefly before she connected the dots.
Quickly, she got up from the ground, dusting herself off and hugging Elena.
"I knew you'd be back!" She just whispered in her friend's ear before pulling away and giving an excited smile at Bonnie.
"By the way, have you seen Caroline? She's about to be late if she's not here in like...a minute." Bonnie said, quickly changing topics.
Evelyn licked her lips, shaking her head. "She didn't tell me anything about skipping today, but I haven't seen her anywhere and she has not answered my messages yet." She explained, glancing briefly at the ground.
"Yeah same, I've tried calling her a hundred times. I guess I'll try her again." Bonnie said, avoiding Elena's stare before the rumbling of a car made them all turn their head, just in time to see Caroline stepping out of the car, Damon's car, before she turned around and kissed him, Damon.
Her cousin Damon, Stefan's brother. The guy who she tried to beat senseless just the other day with a bat, the guy who since he got here had not tried once to form a bond of any kind with her. The guy who has been an absolute dick towards her, Stefan, and Uncle Zach, and now he wants to go and act all friendly with Caroline? Her Caroline?!
With gritted teeth, Evelyn started to storm towards Damon, ready to yell at him, when Stefan quickly intercepted her, grabbing her left arm.
"Why the hell is Damon fixated with high school girls? And why my best friend?!" She asked him, still glaring at the man in question who, as if he heard her, smirked before giving her a little wave and drove off.
"I don't know, ok? I'll talk to him later, I promise." He said, squeezing her arm softly and she nodded, taking a deep breath to calm down. Stefan glanced around, an anxious look on his face as he hurriedly took something out of his pocket and handed it to her.
It was a beautiful necklace, with a pendant that was a locket of some sort.
"I found it in one of the drawers the other day, and it reminded me of you, and I thought, 'Why not give it to her?'. So... Do you want it? You don't have to take it if you don't want to," Stefan asked, looking her straight in the eyes. Evelyn nodded, taking it into her own hands to examine it closely before grinning at Stefan.
"Thank you so much, Stefan, it's so beautiful. I love it," She said, giving him a quick side hug before Caroline's high voice called out for her.
"Evelyn! Do you plan to not do anything today or what?!" With a roll of her eyes and a deep breath to calm down, Evelyn just smiled at Stefan and walked away while putting the necklace on, Stefan watched, a sigh of relief leaving his mouth as soon as the necklace rested comfortably around her neck, the vervain inside of it making it almost impossible for other vampires to compel her if they didn't know she had it.
✧.•°*
STEFAN DID NOT EXPECT TO SEE DAMON AS SOON AS HE GOT HOME, HE HOPED IT WOULD BE LATER, or never, but as he walked inside his room, Damon was there, reading his diary.
"How were tryouts? Did you make the team? Very Emerson, the way you reveal your soul with so many...adjectives."
With an angry huff, Stefan ripped the diary out of his brother's hands.
"What are you doing here?"
"I've come to apologize. I've been doing some thinking, some soul-searching, and...I want us to start over. We need to put the past behind us. You're my little brother, and if you want to live a normal, happy human life, then I want that for you. Maybe I can do it, too. That I can learn to be a non-living living person. Maybe there's hope for both of us."
He didn't even manage to be serious for more than five seconds, because right after he said that, Damon started to laugh.
"You know, it doesn't have to be this way, Damon." Stefan didn't even know why he still had hope for his brother, even after everything he had done and said to him, all those malice words that Damon seemed to utter so easily about him, yet he was still waiting for the brother he knew from before, the one who was his best friend, who loved and protected him, Stefan thought that maybe thinking this way will get him killed.
"Of course it doesn't. I saw Elena today, BTW. That means 'by the way.' She was at cheerleading practice. She looked so perky in her little short shorts. Just...simmer down, I didn't even go near her-" Damon started to say, his typical smirk plastered on his face, but Stefan still interrupted him.
"You have to stay away from her, and Evelyn, they are both innocent in all of this," Stefan said, worryness laced his voice and it was visible on his face just how much he cared for the girld he had started to know these past weeks.
"Why? Afraid I'll turn them into a little blood bags? Or that I'll make Elena fall in love with me just like I did with Katherine?" Damon teased, taking a step closer to Stefan who just breathed out of his nose, his fists clenching slightly.
"But don't worry, Evelyn is not the one who ruined my life, so I guess she's safe. That's it if she doesn't piss me off, if she does then... I guess it will be just us boys in this house." His threat was said with such a nonchalant that it seemed a joke, but Stefan knew he was not afraid to keep his word.
"Ooh, that reminds me...I gotta run. I have a date with her little best friend. Sweaty palms. Wish me luck."
God, sometimes Stefan asked himself why everything had to happen to him.
✧.•°*
EVELYN HAD NOTHING TO DO THAT EVENING, none of her friends replied to her messages when she asked if they wanted to go out them four, both Stefan and Damon were out of the house before she even came back, and Zach was still at work, so, bored out of her mind, she did the only thing she could think.
Sleep.
But maybe it would have been better if she stayed awake, given how weird her dream had been getting these past few years, with flashes of unknown faces, foreign hands softly twirling her in the air, and sweet words being whispered in her ear.
As usual, when she woke she just blamed the dreams on her not having had a boyfriend in so long, as she got ready to go back to school as she had to cheer for the football team, which Stefan surprisingly joined.
When she got there, she changed and started to stretch, talking to some of the girls as neither Caroline, Bonnie nor Elena were there yet.
They finally arrived, Bonnie and Caroline walked together while Elena walked with Stefan behind them.
After they changed, and Elena explained how she re-quit cheering, deciding it was now in the past for her, Evelyn asked what she had been thinking all this time,
"Why didn't you guys reply to my messages? I've texted in our group chat and all of you separately like- twenty times," The blonde glanced at the three other girls who all looked at each other before looking at her.
"I was...having a lunch date with Stefan, and Bonnie was with me, so we didn't see them, sorry," Elena explained, a small frown on her face.
"I was out with Damon, but then we decided to swing by Elena to see how things were going and-" Caroline started to say, not noticing the frown on Evelyn's face until she interrupted her.
"Wait, so you three were all together with both of my cousins and you didn't even think about... telling me? Or asking me to join?" She asked, glancing at them with a frown on her face.
"Evelyn we-"
"It wasn't even a double date or something since Bonnie was there! Why couldn't you have invited me?" She asked, clenching her fists as they just looked at the ground and each other without saying anything.
Evelyn scoffed, shaking her head before storming out of the pitch and towards her car, ignoring their protests.
She quickly opened her car, took her school bag from the trunk of her car, and then took a cigarette out, along with her purple lighter.
While she was fully aware of how bad smoking was, the girl couldn't bring herself to stop, always needing to take a quick break to smoke when things got too stressful and she had to relax.
Evelyn leaned against her car while she blew out a puff of smoke, looking around the parking lot that was quickly filling up with students who came to watch the match.
It may have seemed like she had overreacted and blown things up, but all Evelyn could feel at that moment was sadness, that her friends didn't even think about texting her, or even letting her know they were busy, and anger towards her friends for not even owning up to their actions.
"You know, those things kill right?" A male voice interrupted her line of thoughts, and she turned her head just in time to see Damon walk up to her, his stupid smirk still plastered on his face.
He came to a stop as soon as he reached her, moving his hand to take the cigarette, but Evelyn instinctively moved away.
He chucked, looking at the way Evelyn glared at him, before holding up his hands. "Relax, I'm not going to throw it away or something, I'm not Stefan....can I..?" He trailed off, and Evekyn took a last drag before passing it to him.
In silence, Damon leaned against her car beside her, glancing at her from time to time, watching how she had started to crack her fingers.
Evelyn let out a sigh, looking at him with cold eyes, "Why are you here Damon?"
"Would you believe it if I said I was worried about you, little cousin?" He said, his eyes analysing the way Evelyn rolled her eyes at his words and he had to suppress a smirk.
"No, I wouldn't, and I don't. So why don't you just tell me the truth?"
"I'm here to see Caroline. Why are you here all alone?"
"My friends decided to hang out together, even with you, but did not invite me," she explained briefly, not even looking at him to see his reaction to her words.
"You mean the little get-together we had at Elena's house?" Damon asked, the beginning of a smirk to grow on his face.
"You know exactly what I mean, Damon, don't play dumb," Evelyn said, glaring at his smiling face.
"Did wittle baby Evelyn feel left out because her friends preferred to spend time together than even think about her?" Damon said, his words condescending and laced with malice.
Evelyn scoffed, rolling her eyes to hide just how close to the truth they were, and opened her mouth, ready to lash out, when yells and screams made both of them snap their heads towards the school's football camp.
Without even looking back at Damon, she jogged towards the small crowd that had begun to form. Making her way in the middle of it, she saw Jeremy and Tyler fighting again, just as they were doing at the Grill a few days earlier.
"Stop Tyler! You're hurting him!" Evelyn heard Vicki yell, and she turned her head to look at her, but that seemed enough time to miss Stefan making his way towards the two boys and taking hold of Tyler's wrist.
"Hey, he's down! Enough!" Stefan yelled, stopping Tyler from going near Jeremy again, assuming a protective stance in front of the younger boy on the ground, but Tyler punched him instead.
"Hey!" Evelyn shouted, walking closer to the boy who just punched her cousin, grabbing his arm to turn him around.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, huh?!" She shouted, moving closer to Stefan who just shook his head, gently pushing her hand away from his back and trying to move her away from the centre of the action.
However, as she was distracted, she missed Jeremy taking the broken glass bottle in his hands and threw himself at Tyler, who jumped away, but she didn't.
She let out a small cry as the broken glass sliced her arm, noticing just after how Stefan winced as the glass also cut his hand, that he moved to stop the broken glass.
"Jeremy, no!" Elena yelled, finally reaching them and placing herself in the middle of the three, her panicked eyes going from her best friend to her crush and her brother.
"Tyler, knock it off! Stop!" Matt also got there, moving Tyler away.
"Are you okay? Let me see your arm," Stefan urged her, wiping his bloody hand on his jersey, and moving her arm in front of him.
He took a deep breath, glancing at the way her eyes shined with tears that had yet to fall, and then closed his eyes before expecting the cut with more attention.
"It doesn't look deep, I still think you should go to the hospital and get this cleaned and bandaged, who knows what was on that glass." He said, and Evelyn nodded her head, sniffing slightly before she took his hand, turning it around and frowning when she saw that there were no cuts, just some smeared blood.
"You didn't get cut? But...I saw it, it was..." Elena spoke, speaking exactly what Evelyn was thinking.
" He missed. It's not my blood, it's probably Evelyn. See? I'm fine." Stefan reassured, showing his hand to both the girls who didn't look like they believed him.
"No, no, no. I...I saw it. The glass cut your hand. It was..." Elena said, shaking her head in disbelief.
"It's ok. I'm ok. It's almost kick-off time, all right? So, um, I'll, uh, I'll see you after the game." Stefan said before he looked at Evelyn.
"Go get that cleaned and bandaged ok? I'll see you at home," he said, squeezing her shoulder before walking away.
Finally, the usual team of paramedics who legally had to be there for each game, made their way toward them.
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up sweetie okay?" One of them said to Evelyn, placing a hand on her good arm to lead her away, Elena quickly followed behind them, taking a glance at her brother who just looked at Evelyn with guilt plastered all over his face.
"Does it hurt? Is it bad?" Elena asked as soon as they sat down and the paramedics started to work on Evelyn's cut.
The blonde just grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Hey, it doesn't hurt, I'm okay. Why don't you sit down and relax? You're making me anxious." Evelyn said, smiling lightly, trying to ignore the awkward tension between the two girls.
"Okay," Elena breathed out, nervously sitting down next to her best friend.
After five minutes, the paramedics had finished doing everything, reassuring her that it wasn't too deep, and so Evelyn didn't need to have stitches, but would still have to clean it and change the bandage two times a day, and if it kept bleeding to go to the hospital.
"Evelyn," A voice interrupted the tense silence between the girls, and both looked up at Jeremy, who stood in front of them with guilt written all over his face.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to cut you, or Stefan, I don't even know if I wanted to cut Tyler either but...I just," He took a deep breath and shook his head, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."
Evelyn smiled at him softly, clenching her hand in a fist as she tried to keep down her anger.
Deep breaths Evelyn, he's drunk, both Elena and Jenna are gonna lecture his ass as soon as he's sober. Don't make a scene.
"Next time maybe try not to drink so much, I'm sure you didn't mean to but it still happened. "
Nevermind, maybe I can lecture his ass.
Jeremy opened his mouth a few times, but no sounds came out, so he just nodded his head and apologised once more before walking away.
"Are you okay? Do you want me to take you home? I can drive you there if you-"
"Elena, please, I'd just like to be alone right now ok? I'm sure I can drive perfectly fine." Evelyn spoke, giving her a tight-lipped smile before walking away, holding her arm close to her chest.
As soon as she got inside her car, Evelyn left the tears roll down her cheeks for a few moments before she inhaled deeply and gripped the steering wheel and started to drive home, mind clouded with so many thoughts that, as soon as she got home and changed clothes, she collapsed on her bed, ready to be comforted in her sleep by the mysterious yet sweet voice in her dreams.
✧.•°*━━━━━━━
3000 words for you guys cause I'm bored, it's honestly so hard to fit Evelyn in those scenes but I'll manage i guess.
discoveries over discoveries in those two chapters huh? First the mystery phone call, then those voices in her dreams...
wow, poor little eve, everything is happening to her :(
(Im literally gonna make her life a living hell just because, be prepared yayyyy)