CHAPTER 2: THE TURNING POINT

Mystic Falls High School

As the daughter of a teacher, you'd think Natalie Saltzman would be the nicest girl ever and always follow every rule. It was actually quite the contrary, as Natalie always found the bright side in it, as her father would never really give her too much of a punishment, like expulsion or suspension. And she had gotten pretty good at avoiding getting caught by other teachers, as they didn't care at all about Natalie and if she got in trouble or not.

But, just because her dad wouldn't be too pissed didn't mean that he wouldn't get pissed at all.

And Natalie knew that, and she would experience that when she was getting the books for her next class as Alaric leaned up against the locker next to hers. "Did you really think I wasn't going to notice that you were skipping class?"

Natalie sighed as she realized that she would soon get to feel her father's anger.

"Well, I was hoping but I didn't really think so, no." Natalie shook her head, knowing that if she would plead for less of a punishment she would only get opposite of what she wanted.

"Yeah, and since you're really late I also had some time to think of a good punishment which I know you're gonna hate." Alaric smirked, knowing that Natalie was most likely anxious on the inside as she had a cool exterior.

And as said, Natalie's cool exterior was still there as she was silently expecting something stupid like, giving him one of her knives when she had, like, twenty others. "Oh, what amazingly hurtful punishment did you come up with this time?"

Alaric rolled his eyes at his daughter's attitude, although being used to it by now. "You're going to the career fair with me."

Natalie's eyes widened as she knew that he knew that she would rather do anything but go to any stupid school arrangements. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No, this is my amazingly hurtful punishment. See you after school." the elder man waved at the brunette before walking off with a smirk as he was never really the best at punishments.

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Natalie wasn't a clumsy person, per se. When she was in action she could kick your butt without breaking a nail. But when it came to everyday life, she wasn't as good at keeping herself from running into incredibly handsome boys that were much, much older than they looked.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't really see where I was going and I'm really hoping that you didn't have something smash-able that I smashed because I'm not that rich... or giving. But that doesn't really have anything to do with this. Let's just say that I'm sorry." Natalie rambled as she noticed that it was the same guy from the day before, the guy who smiling at her personality. You know, the hot one.

The hot one chuckled, finding her to be very different from how she was the day before, but still finding the way that she was acting amusing. "It's fine, it was partly my fault."

"Ehm, no it wasn't." Natalie shook her head quickly, back and forth and back and forth, as she wasn't really sure what she was going to say as she had almost never seen someone this handsome (well, other than her ex-boyfriend, but that was a story she was not a fan of telling).

"I think I'll take some of the blame anyways. Sorry about that." he joked, although he was not really famous for his jokes, but he thought he'd try just this once.

Natalie held in a small laugh at his attempt of being funny. "Well, I'll consider forgiving you. But don't get your hopes up."

"You even thinking about it is enough," he smiled, studying his face before looking straight into her eyes, those eyes reminding his way too much of his girlfriend's. "So thank you for your consideration...?"

"Natalie." the brunette finished his sentence, being very happy about actually having a conversation with the guy. "And you're welcome...?"

"Stefan." he smiled, before his mind wandered back to his girlfriend as he looked into the eyes of the girl in front of him, and then he remembered why he was really there. To warn Elena. "Ehm, you don't happen to know who Elena is right? Because I'm looking for her."

Natalie's face fell at the mention of him having a girl in his life, and she was really hoping that it was some kind of cousin or sister or just platonic friend, but she wasn't that lucky. "Ehm, no. I don't know her. Who is she? Your sister?"

Stefan snorted at the suggestion, not even being able to picture being related to Elena because of their romantic affairs. "Ehm, no. She's my girlfriend. We have some stuff to talk about."

Natalie pursed her lips together, wondering how the hell she made the assumption that he might actually be single. Guys with his looks were never single, especially guys that seemed really nice and sweet. "Oh, ehm, good luck finding her."

And just as Stefan was about to say goodbye, she turned around, walking away as she was cursing at herself under her breath, not being able to understand how she was able to make that assumption.

Of course he had a girlfriend.

▹▹▹

And hours later, in the same building, Natalie was in a living hell. I mean, having to go to a career night when you already know what you're gonna do and it's not really dependent on education wasn't really the greatest thing. I'm pretty sure that math didn't really have much to do with vampire slaying. But that was just Natalie's opinion, and Natalie's opinion was usually ignored for no reason whatsoever.

But Natalie was good at kicking ass. So when she saw two guys who weren't even close to being able to kicking someone's ass, she decided that she'd keep them away from one another before they ended up seriously hurting each other.

And it was Jeremy. Of course it would be one of the only people Natalie knew that was caught in a fight with some hot ass (in both terms that could be used).

So Natalie forth, pushing Jeremy off of the other guy with ease, as he wasn't the strongest kid on the block, and Natalie was probably the strongest kid on the block, even if it didn't really seem likely. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Natalie turned to the other guy as Jeremy didn't respond, and saw that he was standing by the mayor, who Natalie knew from when they were welcomed into town (and he made sure that her dad would get his son some pretty grades, not that Alaric listened, but he didn't have anything against money). The mayor was looking at his son with a hard gaze, making Natalie understand that nothing good was going to be happening. "You two, follow me." the mayor commanded the two young boys.

The mayor's son and Jeremy followed the older man with hesitation, and Natalie especially saw the fright that appeared on the son of the mayor, and with that, she knew the mayor was not the best man out there. "Excuse me, mayor? Where are you taking them?" Natalie asked as innocently as she could.

The mayor tried to look as kind as possible as he was addressing the young girl, not needing her to go squealing to her dad about him being a dick. "I'm gonna talk to them. All fights should end in handshakes, don't you think?" he smiled before turning to the two anxious boys. "Come on."

And with that, they followed.

But they didn't know that Natalie did too as she was sure that this wasn't good.

She did make sure to keep some kind of distance, not wanting them to spot her before she knew what was going on and whether it was good or not. She guessed it wasn't but one could never be too sure.

"That's not gonna happen." she heard Jeremy say, and that's when she started walking up to them, knowing that this was something that she didn't have time to get someone more respected to do.

"I said fight!" the mayor exclaimed, and with that Natalie was full-on sprinting down to the parking lot.

And as Tyler shook his head, trying to stop his dad from telling him what to do, the mayor shoved his son into Jeremy, knowing that this might spark some kind of reaction from both brunette boys.

"What's going on out here?" Natalie asked, the kind exterior she had inside being completely gone.

"Just letting these two kids work it out. We're good here. Go back inside." The mayor commanded the brunette in a way that she didn't find amusing at all.

Natalie shook her head as she walked even closer to the males, Jeremy and Tyler looking at her in wonder as they had no idea what she would do next. "I don't wanna go back inside. What I want is an answer to my question. What's going on out here?"

And that's when the mayor decided that enough was enough and it was time to start treating Natalie as he did with most kids, even if he found her dad frightening. "Who do you think you're talking to? Do I look like one of your fellow student?"

"No, you look like some kind of overgrown teenage jackass, and being a dick isn't going to make yours bigger, just saying." Natalie quipped, knowing that the mayor was getting ticked, and if he was getting mad, Tyler and Jeremy might get to walk away.

Jeremy let out a smirk as Natalie's blunt nature came out, Tyler was just standing there in awe, never having seen anyone have enough guts to stand up to his father like that. And he liked it.

"You don't talk to me like that. I can ruin you and your father's lives like that." he snapped as he snapped his fingers, making Natalie glare at him heatedly as she was getting done with his attitude.

"Oh, yeah? If you do that then I'll shove something so far up your ass that you won't be able to walk for months. You cool with that?" Natalie smirked, although still glaring so that was a weird facial expression.

"You just marked yourself." the mayor growled lowly at the teenage girl who was standing as cockily as ever.

"And I'm looking forward to whatever that may bring." Natalie smiled fakely, knowing that she just won this, and she might get respect from the mayor of the town, even if it was only there because he slightly feared her.

The mayor glared at her, trying to intimidate her, and only getting madder as she saw her smirk grow. He glanced over at his son, gesturing for the two of them having to get away from what he thought was a psychotic teenage girl.

Natalie only turned to Jeremy with a smile. "You okay?"

Jeremy's simple response was a smirk and a nod. 

Because he now knew that Natalie was a real badass.