I stared at the stars. They were the only thing that hadn't changed since I'd been back.
"What are you doing, mom?" Hope, my daughter asks. I smile, " looking at the stars," I say and look at the screen.
My best friend died here. My brother died here. I died here. So, being back, brought back a lot of memories.
"So, you and Katherine were close?" Rebekah questioned me and I nodded.
I have to know. Maybe I can have my friend back. My older sister, my confidence. I jump down from the roof and go inside the house.
"What to wear? What to wear?" I mumble to myself. Looking at my closet, I leaned against the door before slowly going in.
"Wow, mom. Not bad," my son tells me and I smile gently and ruffle his hair. He pouts and slowly runs his hand through his hair trying to fix it.
"Ok, time for school," I say and leave home. I slowly walk outside. I smiled at Carmen. "Hello Carmen, are you ready for our new adventure?" I smiled at my red 1963 Porsche 356B Karmann Coupe.
Someone gave it to me a long time ago. I couldn't remember who gave it to me.
"You named your car?" Elena questioned looking over at me looking concerned. "Of course, she takes me everywhere, she needs a name," I say.
"Leave Mom alone," Hope says glaring at Elena. I put one hand on her shoulder and she relaxes into my side.
I drive over to Mystic Falls High School. I found a parking spot, thank the Gods. I park and turn off the car. I grab my bag and lock the car and head inside.
I walk around looking for the office. Hmm, where is it?
"This is where we first meet!" Caroline shouts happily. "Spoilers, Care," I say.
"Excuse me?" I asked a girl who was going through her locker. "Yes?" She asks looking over at me. "Your new?!" She says turning her full attention onto me.
"Yes, your right. I was wondering where the office was," I ask, she smiles at me. "I'll do you one better. I will take you, I need to change a class anyways," she says.
"Thank you, I'm Stefanie. Stefanie Salvatore," I say putting my hand out. She reaches her hand out and we shake hands, "Forbes, Caroline Forbes," She says and we both laugh.
"That was awesome," I say, and she smiles happily at me. "Ok, we are here- excuse me, I see a friend. She's been through a lot. I have to go check on her. Hopefully we have something together, there's a party. Meet me at The Grill," Caroline says and runs off.
"So that's how the two of you met?" Lizzie asks. "Yep," I say, and look over at Caroline.
I walk into the office. "Excuse me, miss. I'm here to enroll," I say, a slight smirk playing on my lips. "Name and Records," She says not even looking at me.
I hate people like this. I handed her a couple of doctored papers. "Your records are incomplete. You're missing immunization records, and we do insist on transcripts," she says looking annoyed at me. I know I gave you the incomplete version, so I can do this.
"Please look again. I'm sure everything you need is there," I say catching her eye and compelling her.
"You can't do that! Stefan that isn't right," Rlena shouts at me. I look over at her and roll my eyes.
"Well, you're right. So it is," she says and asks me a couple of questions. After that, she prints out a schedule and hands it to me.
"Thank you," my smirk returned to me. "You're welcome," she says and I leave. I notice a girl just standing and staring. "Xuces me, miss you all right?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Yeah, yes," she says and I nod and walk away.
~AfterSchool~
"It's after school? Already?!" Lizzie says, and I laugh.
I walk around the town. Everything has changed. My beautiful town has changed. I walked around till I ended up at the cemetery.
"Ahh!" I hear someone yell from behind me. I smirk as Elena trips and falls. She gets up and sees me. "Are you ok?" I ask slowly walking over to her.
"Mom, you are so nice," Henrik says.
"Were you following me?" She questions defensively. I slightly flinch back. "No. I saw you fall," I state looking her in her eyes.
"Not everything is about you," Rebekah Says.
"Uh-huh, and you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery," she says, and I take a step back. Katherine would have believed me.
"I'm visiting. I have family and a friend here," I say, kicking a rock. "Oh. Wow. Tactless. I'm sorry. It's the fog, It's making me foggy. And then back there, there was this - this bird and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock?... I'm Elena," I know, I was taught by the best.
"I'm Stefanie," I say and smile at her. " I know. We have History together," I raise an eyebrow at her. "And English and French," I state and smirk at her. "Right," She says nodding and smiling as looks at the ground.
"Do you have a crush on mom?!" Henrik asks. And Elena looks away.
I look at her and notice a leaf in her hair. I slowly reach over and pull it out. I notice a light blush on her face.
"Thanks...Nice necklace," she compliments. "Oh. Um, It's a family thing, yeah. I'm kinda stuck with it. It's beautiful, huh?" I ask.
"It is ma," Henrik II Mikaelson. "You look so beautiful," Hope Mikaelson. "It's one of a kind, my muse," Niklaus says. "It's perfect, my dear," Elijah says. I blush and sink into my chair. I notice smirks on Elijah and Niklaus' face.
I took a whiff. Blood... "Did you hurt yourself?" I question and slowly walk away. "Hmm?" She asks, slowly walking towards me.
"Did you hurt yourself?" I ask through gritted teeth. "Oh, uh, I don't know," she says looking confused. Elena pulls up her pant leg and sees a cut gushing blood. "Oh! Would you look at that? That is not pretty," I look away, before turning around completely. "Are you ok?" She asks. And reaches over to me.
"Why are you showing off? She is clearly uncomfortable!" Henrik States.
"You should go and take care of that," I say, and look around for an escape route. She looked down and I ran.
I walk around a little. Till I head over to The Grill. I walk over and hear Caroline say something.
"Her name is Stefanie Salvatore. She has an older brother. She lives with her uncle up at the old Salvatore Boarding House. She hasn't lived here since she was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. She's a Scorpio, and her favorite color is blue," Caroline says, I smile and raise an eyebrow. I think about Damon. I haven't seen him in ages.
"You got all of that in one day?" Her friend asks her.
"Oh, please, I got all that between the third and fourth periods. She is going to have a June wedding," Caroline says. June huh.
"So, that explains why you were so adamant on a June wedding," Rebekah says. And Klaus smiles at me and so does Elijah.
I walk in and look around. "Stefanie, over here," Caroline says. "Caroline," I say and walk over. I hug her, she tenses and then hugs me back. "Thank you," she whispers in my ear. She pulls away with a wide smile on her face. We sit down and order. I ordered a cheeseburger with bacon and fries.
~30 minutes later~
"And then I tried to tumble, and I couldn't...so I kept messing up, but Caroline believed in me and worked with me every day and I got it down and now I'm on the cheer time," Bonnie explained, with a wide smile on her face.
"You weren't that bad," Caroline says. "I broke a girl's ankle," Bonnie deadpans. "Oops," Caroline says as we all laugh. "Elena, over here," Bonnie says. "Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you," I blonde boy. Says introducing himself. "Yellow, Stefanie,"
"Hey," Matt says to Elena. "Hey," Elena says to Matt. "So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Elena asks me. "Mm-Hmm. And moved when I was still young," I stated. I tried avoiding direct eye contact. "Parents?" Bonnie asked me. "My parents passed away," I say, " it's just me... it was me and my brother but we had a disagreement," I say.
"So, I told you a little bit about the party," Caroline says trying to lift the mood. I smile at her. "It's a back-to-school thing at the falls," Caroline continues. "Well, I guess I should go," I say. "Yay, don't be late and find me," I will don't worry. I smile and nod. She smiles and we leave The Grill.
~The Next Day; At School~Mystic Falls High School~
"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?" Mr. Tanner asks. I was too busy sketching.
"Um...a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot," Bonnie says. I wince slightly, Bonnie you should have just left it at I don't know. "Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett. Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" Mr. Tanner tries again.
"It's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it," Matt responds, I chuckle. "Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significant historical events?" Mr. Tanner asks again.
"WIt a minute, why was Aunt B. Miss. Bennett and the doppelgänger Elena?" Henrik II Mikaelson asks. I look and shake my head.
"I'm sorry, I--I don't know," Elena states stuttering. "I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break," I snap my pencil. "There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians," states and he looks over at me.
"That's correct. Stefanie...?" He asks, looking me up and down.
"Get your eyes off my mom," Hope shouts. My son, Niklaus, and Elijah just growl at the screen.
"Salvatore," I stated getting another pencil and starting sketching again. "Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" He asks and I smirk. "Distant," was the only thing I said.
"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle," He states and goes to the front of the class.
"Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in the civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr. Tanner," I state and get up the second the bell rings.
~Woods~
As I walk in people look over at me. I see girls smile, some glare, and some slap the back of boy's head. Oh dear.
"You look beautiful," Caroline says and hugs me. "Thank you,"
"You look beautiful, My dear," Elijah says, looking into my eyes. "A masterpiece, my queen," Niklaus says. "Whipped," Kol says.
"Give me a spin," Caroline says and I do. we laugh and she hands me a drink. "So Bonnie, she seems like a good friend," I stated.
"Best friend in the world," Caroline says. "And Matt, he can't seem to, uh, take his eyes off of us," I say. Caroline looks over and then back at me. "I think he looking for a rebound." My eyes start to change and I turn around. "Hey, um, are you okay? Um, Your eye, it just, it's--" Caroline says.
"Hmm, yeah. Just give me a second," I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I feel my eyes change back. "Sorry, about that," I said, and smiled and turned back to face her. "It's fine. I was just worried about you," Caroline says and hugs me. "Let's get another drink,"
~many drinks later~
"Somebody help!" Elena shouts. Blood. "I gotta go," I say and walk away. I stop suddenly, "come on, let's go to the grill," I say and drag Caroline away. "Are you sober yet?" I ask laying my head on the table. "No," she says. "Ok, keep drinking," I whisper to her. "Stef, can I ask you something?" Caroline asks.
"You already did, but sure go ahead," I say a slight smirk playing on my lips. "Why don't guys go for me? You know, how come the guys that I want never want me?" She says, pouting and looking at me.
"Honestly, I don't know. You're amazing. You tall, confident, beautiful," I say and she smiles at me before dropping it, "I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And...Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try! And everyone just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks, for everything. And I try so hard, and...I'm never the one," she says and drops her head.
"One day you are going to fall in love. You will meet the love of your life. You will meet someone who loves you for you. I mean there are 7 billion people on the planet, and I know one of them will be lucky to call you theirs," I say smiling at her. She smiles and gets up and hugs me.
"That's where mom got it? From you?" Josie asks.
"Come on, I gotta go home," She says. I hug her tightly, "thank you," she whispers next to my ear. "Anytime," I whisper back I put down some 20's and we leave.
~ Salvatore Boarding House~
"What's going on?" Zach questions me. "Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't me," I say and go upstairs. I go into my bedroom and a crow appears. "Damon. Your back," I say. "Hello Sister," he says smirking at me.
"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" I ask, smiling at him. "Wait till you see what I can do with the fog," he says walking around my room. "When'd you get here?" I asked. "Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school. Your hair's different. I like it," Damon says and ruffles my hair.
"It's been 15 years, Damon," I say after taking a deep breath. "Thank God. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did not suit you. Remember, Stefanie, it's important to stay away from fads," Damon says, pointing his finger at me.
"Why are you here?" I questioned. "I miss my little sister," He says and hugs me. "You hate small towns. It's boring. There's nothing for you to do," I state, he always wanted to leave home.
"I've managed to keep myself busy," he tells me with a crooked smile. "You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you," I say. "Ah. That can be a problem...for you," He says walking over to my bookshelves. While I jump up on my desk.
"Why are you here now?" I asked. "I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up into one little word...Elena. But that's not where your interests lay, your interest lay with Caroline," he says. "Leave her alone. Leave them both alone. Hell, leave me alone," I say and I get down and walk away.
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