CHAPTER THREE

Jay jumps when she hears Elena scream, and she quickly sits up in her bed as she grabs for the gun that she now keeps on her nightstand beside her bed. The younger girl groans in annoyance when she looks over and sees Damon laying in her sister's bed with a smirk on his face. Elena's quickly scooting away from him as she pulls the blanket over herself to cover her chest because she's wearing a spaghetti-strap tank-top and no bra.

"Oh, for the love of God..." Jay sighs as she lets the gun settle back in its previous place with a clatter, and then she gets up and grabs clothes to change into in the bathroom. "Six in the damn morning..." She mutters to herself and then turns on the shower.

Once the restaurant finally opens, Jay goes down to the Mystic Grill to finish the homework that she has to turn in the next day — Monday morning. Matt walks over then and sits down across from her at her table. "I thought Tyler had to force you to do your homework. Now you're one of the first customers in here and you're doing your work on a Sunday morning?" He questions.

"I woke up to find Damon harassing Elena in her bed. This was less infuriating." She tells him as she flips the page in her book.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah, that's a lie." He argues, and she sighs.

"Well, I had one friend left that didn't stick around solely because of my big sister, and your nosy girlfriend ruined it because she couldn't keep herself out of my business."

"Caroline isn't my girlfriend anymore." He reminds her. "What happened with you and Tyler?"

"And why aren't you and Care together anymore exactly?" She asks as she lifts her head and looks up at him, her brown eyes meeting his blue ones.

"You know why." He says. "Stop deflecting."

"You're not with her 'cause you're stupid."

"Oh, really?" He questions, and she nods.

"Do you remember a few months ago when we were all here and there was a band playing?" The little brunette points toward the stage, and he turns to look over there.

"Caroline sang Eternal Flame to tell me how she felt." Matt says, and she nods.

"She was a vampire then, remember?" She says. "She loves you, you love her. You're passed the initial shock of finding out about everything... Take it from me, Matt, we don't always get second chances. Maybe you should take your third before one of you ends up dead."

"And you and Tyler?"

"There is no me and Tyler anything, we're not even friends anymore. Caroline told him that I had a crush on him, and apparently that's so revolting that he doesn't want me around him." Jay tells him. "So, now I'm doing my homework so that in four years, I can get the hell out of this God forsaken town and never look back."

"Just because Tyler isn't interested in being anything more than—"

"Than nothing." She corrects whatever he was going to say. "But, no, it's not because of Tyler. My best friend is dead, my mom is dead, my brother died, my sister surrounds herself with vampires, and I've got nothing... I'm a friendless orphan. Now leave me to my studies so that I can maybe cut that four down to three."

"That's a little dramatic, don't you think?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

The little brunette's heading out after lunch, and Tyler gets her attention. "Hey, come on!" He catches her hand when she tries to brush past him, and she turns to look at him.

"What?" She questions.

"Don't hate me. Please."

"I don't hate you, Tyler." She shakes her head. "But it's pretty obvious that you don't want to be around me now. You want to put space between us. So much space that by next month, I'm supposed to sit in my bedroom and not care that I left you all alone while I look at the full moon out my window. So, if that's what you want, then leave me alone." She pulls her hand from his grasp and leaves him standing by himself in the grill.

Jay spends the next couple of months basically on her own, keeping to herself. She's able to pass her class for Summer school without any more help from Tyler, and she doesn't try making any new friends, she doesn't want to. The more people who come into her life, the more people who can abandon her and leave her alone all over again.

The little brunette walks into the kitchen at her house and she sees Elena with her own two friends making chili for something that's going on at the Lockwood's today. Caroline's laughing at something that one of the other two said.

"Bonnie." The youngest speaks up, gaining their attention.

"Jay!" The older girl quickly gets up from her seat at the island counter and then runs over to hug her. "I haven't talked to you in forever." She says, and Jay nods. Elena and Caroline watch as the other two girls cling to each other for a moment.

"I was busy with Summer school and occasionally annoying Jeremy."

"I figured you were just off being a good influence on Tyler." She chuckles as she pulls back and looks at her.

"No, just being an awesome sister-cousin. This whole family-web will never not be weird." Jay says as she looks at Elena, who nods in agreement.

"Yeah, tell me about— Ow!" The Gilbert girl starts grabbing at her necklace and she has to practically peel it off of her chest, leaving the skin raised where it had been touching her. "It burned me."

"Maybe it's a sign you shouldn't be wearing it." Caroline says, and Bonnie scolds the comment as their friend takes the necklace off. "What, I'm just saying."

"Yeah, 'cause Caroline loves telling people what their relationships should and shouldn't involve." Jay says and then turns around and walks out of the room, leaving a stunned Caroline with her two confused best friends.

—

Jay begrudgingly went to the party at the Lockwood mansion with her older sister, and now she's laying in the shade under a tree in the backyard by herself. She closes her eyes as she presses her palms flat against the grass beneath her, her thoughts on her best friend. Marie was always talking about nature, she would describe how she could feel it.

"I was hoping that I'd run into you here." Tyler says as he walks over to her.

"And I was hoping that you wouldn't." The little brunette says as she crosses her arms and rests them over her face.

"I want to talk to you."

"And I don't, Tyler." She says as she sits up.

"Please?" He watches as she gets to her feet.

"No."

"Jay..." He grabs her arm before she can walk past him, and she looks up at him.

"I know that Caroline told you that she thinks that I like you, but so what? Even if I did, I was perfectly happy to stay just friends." She tells him. "Because even if you didn't feel the same, at least I still had someone. But I have spent the last two months completely alone because you didn't want me around. I no longer care that I don't have a single friend who doesn't only stick around because of my sister, so do me a favor and leave me alone, Tyler." She makes him let go of her arm, and then she walks away.

They both know that she only made him let go because he let her, and a part of him wishes that he hadn't. He wants to talk to her, he wants to go back to what they were, but he could see the pain in her eyes and hear it in her voice. He feels guilty for hurting her, especially after questioning why Caroline thought that he would, so if she wants to be left alone now, then he'll do as she asked.

Jay's sitting on the couch in the living room the next morning when the front door opens, and Ric walks into the house. He starts for the stairs, but stops when he notices the upset teenage girl in the other room. He walks over to her and sits down on the couch beside her.

"Are you alright?" He asks, and she nods as she glances at him. "No, you're not. It's okay not to be okay sometimes, Jay. What's going on?"

She sniffs as she looks at him with glassy eyes. "Why does everyone always leave me?" She asks as she starts crying. "I'm either not good enough for them to want to stay, or I'm not enough to save them before they're killed. What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing. Hey, hey." He moves closer to her and wraps his arm around her shoulders so that he can pull her to him. "There's nothing wrong with you, Jay." He says as he hugs her, and she cries into his shoulder. "I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but things will get better. I promise."