Riley was tossing and turning all night. Every time she closed her eyes, she thought about that photograph. It was old, and black and white, but it was real. And if it wasn't the Stefan Salvatore that she knew, then it had to be one of his descendants... who just happened to be a carbon copy of him. And yet for some reason, her mind wouldn't let her believe it. Because there was no possible way that someone who was alive in the 1920s could still be alive today. No possible way.
However, being the daughter of a cop taught Riley that you couldn't go around accusing people without sufficient evidence. So her first mission of the day was to actually have a conversation with the mystery guy.
She stood by her locker, watching his. When she saw him walk into school hand-in-hand with Elena Gilbert, before parting ways, she knew this was her chance.
"Hi," she said, walking so quickly that she accidentally hit the locker beside his and had to pretend that she hadn't hurt her shoulder.
Stefan looked at her, confused. "Hi. You're... Caroline's friend, right?"
"And Bonnie's," she clarified. "Riley Fletcher."
"Stefan Salvatore," he replied with a smile. He grabbed some books from his locker and she watched him, wondering how long she could stare at him without it being creepy.
"So, how old are you anyway?"
Stefan raised an eyebrow at her. "Um, 17. Why? How old are you?"
She laughed at her own stupid question. "Right, of course. I'm 17 too, obviously. We have history together."
He smiled again, waiting for her to either get to the point or swiftly end the conversation.
"Out of general curiosity," she started. "Have you ever been to Chicago?"
He frowned. "I come from a military family, we moved all over the country."
"Right," she nodded awkwardly. "So... nice to meet you and everything."
She turned and walked away before he could respond. With her awkward social skills, there was no way she would be able to make him tell her the truth. She'd have to find out for herself.
***
At cheerleading practice later that day, Riley was still reeling from her awkward conversation with Stefan.
"Riley, hey, over here!" she heard a voice call. She looked up to see Bonnie stretching next to Elena. She walked over with a smile. She'd been at the school for a week and still the only friends she'd actually made were Bonnie and Caroline. But she wasn't complaining; after all, two great friends were better than 100 fake ones. "Elena, Riley. Riley, Elena."
"Hi," Elena said, smiling genuinely at the new girl.
"Hi," Riley replied warmly. "You're Stefan's... girlfriend?"
Elena smiled to herself. "Yeah, I guess I am."
The field was full of girls wearing similar tank tops and short shorts, waiting for Caroline to arrive so that she could take them through the steps.
"Seriously, where is Caroline?" Bonnie asked, looking slightly worried.
As if on cue, a blue car drove up to the girls. Caroline kissed the driver on the lips and got out. Riley recognized the man immediately.
"Oh my God, that's 'Blue-Eyes' from the Grill!" she exclaimed, ignoring the faces that Bonnie and Elena made at her nickname for him. "They were eye-flirting like crazy."
"You call him 'Blue-Eyes', I call him Damon Salvatore," Elena grimaced slightly under her breath.
"Salvatore?!" Bonnie hissed incredulously. "As in Stefan?"
Caroline smiled at them as she passed. "I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind!"
Both Riley and Bonnie looked over at Elena. From the look on her face, she definitely minded.
***
That evening, basically the whole school were present for the first football game of the year. Stefan was on the team, as well as Matt Donovan and Tyler Lockwood. Riley stood beside Bonnie, both watching Caroline's excitement in awe. The girl was born to cheer. For Riley, even shaking her pompoms seemed fake, like she was pretending to be something she wasn't.
When she did gymnastics in her old school, it was treated as an amazing, competitive sport. For once, she felt like she was as talented and athletic as any guy that crossed her path. However, wearing the red crop top and short mini skirt, with red and black pompoms in her hands, she felt out of place.
Suddenly, a commotion pulled her out of her thoughts of handsprings and somersaults. When a crowd gathered, she pushed herself to the front so that she wouldn't be engulfed in the throng of bodies.
Jeremy Gilbert was on the ground and Tyler was punching him. No one was surprised to see Vicki Donovan standing not too far away; obviously this was about her.
"Hey, he's down! Enough!" Stefan shouted, grabbing Tyler.
The anger in Tyler's eyes was evident as he punched Stefan in the stomach. However, Stefan looked completely unharmed.
From the corner of Riley's eye, she noticed Jeremy pick up a broken bottle.
"Jeremy!" she shouted without thinking, knowing that this wouldn't end well. Her shout alerted Tyler, who quickly moved out of the way, allowing Stefan to be cut instead. Riley winced when she heard the sound of the glass cutting his flesh. She noticed the blood dripping down his hand as Matt pulled Tyler away and the crowd started to disperse.
"Are you OK?" she asked Stefan.
"Fine," he said, closing his hand quickly.
"I saw you get cut," she stated. "Let me see it, you might need to get stitches. My mom's a doctor," she added, by way of explanation.
"Really, it's fine," he insisted.
"It's definitely not," Riley said, taking his hand and peeling it open. "I saw how much blood..." she trailed off, staring at his open hand. There was blood in his palm, but no sign of a cut.
"He missed," Stefan said, wiping his hand on his jeans. "It's not my blood. See? I'm fine."
She was going to argue against him; she was sure that she'd seen him get cut. She'd heard it, she saw the blood. But then, she couldn't deny what was right in front of her. His hand was completely fine. There was no cut.
"Right," she said. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Stefan assured her. "Thanks for trying to help."
She walked back into the crowd, quickly finding Caroline and Bonnie.
"Elena quit cheerleading," Caroline told Riley the second she saw her. "So you'll have to pick up her slack. Is that OK?"
The entire football team, as well as Jeremy and Elena, had seemed to completely vanish.
"No problem," she smiled as her phone began to vibrate. She didn't have to check her caller ID to know that it was her dad. "I'll be back in a second."
Walking away from any noise, she took the call.
"Hey dad."
"Hey honey, do you need me to pick you up? It's getting late," he said. Riley rolled her eyes, thankful that he couldn't see her.
"It's OK, Caroline or Bonnie will give me a ride," she said. "Everything OK at the station?"
"Great." Relief flooded his tone. "It's been a slow night so far. Hopefully there's no more dramas!"
"Yeah," she agreed, before spotting someone lying on the ground. Keeping the phone connected, she walked over to the person. From the clothes, she knew that it was Mr. Tanner, her history teacher, without seeing his face. "Mr. Tanner?" she asked, aware that her father was listening. "Are you OK?"
Kneeling closer to the ground, she felt for a pulse, her own heart pounding when she realized that she couldn't find one.
Then she noticed the bite on his neck.
She screamed loudly and dropped the phone in shock. "Somebody help!"
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Thanks for reading this drama-filled chapter. Next chapter, thanks to Caroline, Riley's actually going to have conversations with both Salvatore boys - which means more drama!
Votes and comments are really appreciated.