1 The Return

Songs of this chapter:

¹When you walk into the room  Bryan & Katie Torwalt¹

²Shallow

Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper²

³This is what you came for

Rihanna & Calvin Harris³

3th September

Dear dairy,

  Everything seems strange to me. As if I don't belong here, the worst thing I know is there is a place where I really belong, I just can't find it. I am afraid.

  I was very tired yesterday so I couldn't go at the welcoming of school. Bonnie got my syllabus, but I had no intention of talking to her on the phone, today I have to see all the 'gang' because we will meet in the parking before lessons began.

  That's why am I afraid? I'm afraid of people?

  Since when has she, Elena Gilbert, been frightened of meeting people? When was she scared of anything?

  She got up angrily and wore her black jeans and a T-shirt. She didn't even glance at the mirror, she knew what to look for, the elegant Elena Gilbert, the brunette juicy and petite, the one who every boy wanted, and to which every girl wanted to look like.

  A warm bath and a cup of coffee, and I'll calm down, she thought.

By then, her previous fears had disappeared.

  "Elena! Where are you? You will be late to school."

  Elena brushed her curly hair once more and tied it back. Then she grabbed her backpack and went downstairs.

  In the kitchen, Aunt Kristy was drinking her coffee. Aunt Kristy was one of those women who always looks so modern.

She had a slim, sweet face and red hair. Elena kissed her on her cheek.

  "Good morning."

  "Good morning, when you'll come back I'll not be here, my plane is leaving in six hours."

  "Ok... but, sorry, I don't have time for breakfast."

  "But, Elena..."

  "I'll get something at school." Elena said and left.

  All the bad, morning emotions came back again. Anxiety and fear.

The houses looked strange and silent, as if they were all empty, like the houses of an abandoned cinema. They looked as if they were not inhabited by humans, but by strange creatures watching over them.

  The sky was not high blue but milky and dull. The atmosphere was cool. Elena was sure that some eyes were nailed on her.

  On the electricity column, in front of the house, something dark came to her eye. It was a crow and this creature was watching her.

She tried to convince herself that this thought was ridiculous, but something told her she was right.

It was the bigger crow she had ever seen, with iridescent black wings. She saw every detail clearly, the dark nails, and the iridescent black eyes. It was so still, it resembled a wax bird.

  As it stared at her, Elena slowly felt waves of warmth going up her neck and cheeks. She felt it was looking at her like the boys were looking at her when she was wearing a swimsuit or a transparent blouse as if it were undressing her with its eyes.

 ----------

  The crow rushed through the top of a huge tree, and Stefan, startled, shook his his head. Seeing that it was just a bird, he relaxed

Standing under the aged trees, his tawny hair and green eyes illuminated by the sun. In blue jeans and a t-shirt, Stefan Salvatore resembled an ordinary high school student. But he wasn't...

  As he hung his jacket on his shoulder, he noticed the crow that had upset him earlier. It was still perched on the tree and looked like it was following him.

  Something was going wrong. He started to look for the bird, but he didn't found it, he headed toward the edge of the forest.

  There he had parked his car. He glanced back and saw that the crow had left the branches and rushed to a carrion. There was something threatening in the way that had spread its wings over the carrion, it was threatening, but also triumphant, Stefan's throat tightened.

  Still, however, he pulled his gaze away from the bird and quickly crossed the forest with his teeth clenched. He did not want to arrive late his first day in high school.

----------

  When Elena arrived in the parking lot of the MFHS (Mystic Falls High School), they all came around her. There was all of her friends, one after another, embraced her to welcome her.

  Caroline was elegant like a Vogue model. She greeted Elena and pulled back again, her green narrow eyes were smily.

  Bonnie didn't get taller at all, her curly brown hair was just touching Elena's jaw as she hugged her.

  "Bonnie! Caroline! you didn't change at all..."

  Caroline had never make-up, she didn't need to, her perfect skin and her heavy blonde eyelashes were terrific.

  "Well, I didn't! Where is my tan?You know I never tan..." Her skin was white, like porcelain. Elena lifted her hands and looked at her without talking at all.

  "Any news?" Elena asked a little time later.

  "My grandmother says that I am a witch and I can predict things, so nothing new! Here we are, our return..." Bonnie said and laughed.

  "Predict something!" Caroline told to her.

  "About what?"

  "About... Elena..."

  "Ok... Uhmm... I see... I see a meeting, a new person in your life, a mysterious person, he is... weird and sexy... and he is dangerous Elena..."

  "Interesting..." Caroline smiled.

  "Bullshit..." Elena said and she saw her friends looking something or someone behind him. "What happened?" ¹She said and then she turned to look too.

  "I think that the mysterious, new person came..." Caroline said without stopping looking at him.

  "Oh no! Elena has this look of the hunter again." One of the girls that they were behind them shouted.  

"The new guy has to be careful..."

  "He is perfect!" Caroline said without giving attention to the girl who talked.

  "Elena. You already have Matt. What else do you want; What can you do with two that you can't do with one?" The girl continued.

  "The same thing, only to keep it longer" Bonnie said and everyone burst into laughter.¹

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  Girls are in the toilets now, talking about the new boy, Elena don't seem really excited but she is, she know that she is.

  ²The toilets' door suddenly opened and the new guy got in and bumped into Elena accidentally... or not...

  "Oh sorry! I am careless..." he smiled at her.

  "Don't matter! But I think that you are in the wrong toilets, men's are in the next door..." Caroline and Bonnie are just watching, without talking.

  "Oh... Sorry again..." he said and left embarrassed.²

  "Ok! That was really weird." Caroline said laughing with Bonnie.

----------

  Elena paused in the doorway of the European history classroom. There were several students already sitting down, and at the chalkboard was a stranger.

  He looked almost like a student himself. He had sandy hair, worn a little long, and the build of an athlete. Across the board he had written "Alfred Schallemberg" As he turned around, Elena saw that he also had a boyish smile.

  He went on smiling as Elena sat down and other students filed in. The new guy was among them, and his eyes met Elena's as he took his seat beside her, but they didn't talk. No one was talking. The room was dead silent.

  Bonnie sat down on Elena's other side. Matt was only a few desks away, but he was looking straight ahead.

  The last two people that came in were Caroline and Tyler. They walked in together.

  "Okay, to start off, why don't we put all these desks in a circle?"

  Elena's attention snapped back to the stranger at the front of the room. He was still smiling.

"Come on, let's do it. That way we can all see each other's faces when we talk," he said.

  Silently, the students obeyed. The stranger didn't sit at professor's desk, instead, he pulled a chair to the circle and straddled it backward.

"Now," he said. "I know you all must be curious about me. My name's on the board Alfred Schallemberg. I want you to call me Alfred or Fred. I'd like to get our student-teacher relationship off to a good start, away from this whole atmosphere. How about if you all come around to my place this evening, and we can all talk informally? Maybe just get to know each other, maybe talk about what happened. You can even bring a friend if you want. How about it? It's going to be a party."

  There was another thirty seconds or so of staring. Then someone said:

  "Your place?"

  "Yes... oh, I forgot... Stupid of me." He wrote the address on the board. "Your principal called me the last Friday to ask me if I could teach here. I jumped at the chance. Actually, this is my first real teaching job."

  "Oh, that explains it," Elena said under her breath.

  "Does it?" the stranger said but she didn't give attention on him.

  "Anyway, what do you think? Is it a plan?" Alfred Schallemberg looked around at them. No one had the heart to refuse. There were scattered 'yeses' and 'sures.'

  "Great, then it's settled. I'll provide the refreshments, and we'll all get to know each other. Oh, by the way..." He opened a grade book and scanned it. "In this class, participation makes up half your final grade." He glanced up and smiled. "You can go now."

  "The nerve of him," somebody muttered as Elena went out the door.

  "I'd better go check about football practice." The new guy said to Matt.

  Is Matt talking with him? But even if he does I can't ask my ex about it, it would be uncomfortable. Elena thought.

----------

  Elena went to her locker and she realized that the man in the next locker was the new guy, staring at her.

  She wanted to talk to him as he wanted but, he was afraid, he was afraid of his self.

  "Hi, my name is Elena Gilbert, I saw that you are sitting behind me in European History... I'm... I'm the girl you bumped into in the girl's toilets."

The guy smiled putting his books in his locker.

  "Yeah, I know... Actually we are in four classes together. My... my name is Stefan, Stefan Smith."

  "It's nice to meet you, Stefan."

  "Me too..."

  "Will you go to Mr.Schallemberg's party?"

  "I don't know."

  "But participation is the half of our grade."

  "You know... I am the new one so... no friends!" He smiled.

  "Oh that's not a problem! You can come with me and my friends. I didn't tell you earlier because I saw you talking with Matt and I thought..."

  "Thanks, I understand, but I think I'll not come."

  "Ok, think about it again... See you tomorrow..."

  "See you..."

  I just came back from school, Aunt Kristy isn't here so... I'm alone, I don't like to be alone, my parents were never letting me alone...

  But today I met a guy, his name is Stefan, he is kind of mysterious and handsome. We talked but not to much, although, he makes me feel familiar. It is like I'm finding my home, the place that I have to be.

  The bell rang and Elena stop writing and went downstairs to open the door.

  "Oh... Hi!"

  "Hi, I came to tell you that I will come with you in the party." Stefan said.

  "Wonderful! But, how did you knew were I live?"

  "Uhm... it's a small town I asked the first person I saw."

  "You don't have to stay there."

  "I'll not, I have to go."

  "Stay, it's not a problem, I'm alone."

  "I'd love to, but, I really have to go, maybe an other time."

  "Ok, goodnight."

  "Goodnight Elena..." he said and left.