FIRST DAY

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THE NIGHT BEFORE DINAH'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, she was sitting alone in her room and pretty much dreading the day's end. The last time that she'd started at a new school was when she started at Mystic Falls High School and when that had happened she'd had her friends with her. Sure, she had Selena this time, but she was also in a town that was still mostly foreign to her.

Dinah knew that having Selena with her would make things better. And Selena's friends were wonderful, she was sure that they would do their best to continue making her feel welcome and do everything they could to make the day suck less. How successful their attempts would be was still to be seen.

The brunette looked up as there was a knock on her door and Selena popped into her room.

"Hey Di," Selena greeted. "Have you seen my lip gloss?"

"Did you check your dresser?"

"Duh." Selena walked into Dinah's room and leaned against her bed. "Lydia's going to be here in like five minutes and I need to be ready."

"Let me check."

Dinah checked the top of her nightstand before standing up and walking over to her desk. Before she opened up the drawer, she concentrated on the lip gloss. When she opened up the drawer, the lip gloss was laying there and Dinah smiled in triumph.

"This it?" Dinah asked, holding it up for her cousin to see.

"Di, you're an angel!" Selena exclaimed as she ran forward and hugged her cousin. "Thank you!"

Dinah handed her cousin the lip gloss and watched the younger girl apply it while checking her appearance in the mirror.

"Are you sure you don't want to come tonight?"

"I'm sure," Dinah replied with a small smile. "I'm just going to relax and make sure all of my stuff is ready for tomorrow."

"Alright, but Lydia and Allison want to meet you tomorrow, so you better be ready."

Selena closed the lip gloss as she walked toward the door. Before leaving she checked her phone.

"And my ride's here," Selena sighed. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Have fun!"

With that, Selena was gone and Dinah was alone once again. She was tempted to just fall back in bed, but she knew that she really did have to make sure that all of her stuff was together so she didn't have to do it tomorrow.

She'd been feeling the effects of the curse more and more in the few weeks since it had started. For the moment, she was sure that it wasn't necessarily getting worse, but being stuck with a perpetual cold was taking a lot out of her and she was getting really tired of having to carry tissues with her wherever she went.

While collecting all of the things she'd be bringing to school the next day into her backpack, she heard Lucy call up to her that she and Steven were running out quickly but would be back soon. She heard the car driving away distantly and then the silence of an empty house settled around her.

Dinah did her best not to let the silence overwhelm her. She couldn't help but remember the empty stillness of her own home before she found out about her parents every time that the house was quiet around her. While her aunt, uncle and cousin had done their best to make sure that she wasn't alone or knew that she wasn't alone, she knew that someone staying in the house with her at all times wasn't the most practical thing.

So she just did her best not to think about it.

When there was a knock on the door, it startled Dinah out of her thoughts and she hurried down towards the door, unlocking it and expecting to see her aunt, uncle or even cousin on the other side, claiming to have forgotten something. The person she did see, however, was a shock.

"What are you doing here, Stefan?"

"I, uh, thought that I'd stop by before your first day of school. See how you were doing," he told her with a soft smile.

"You shouldn't be here right now."

"I know, but after not hearing from you since you left Mystic Falls, I thought we could catch up. Can I come in?"

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," she said, pulling the door a little more closed. "You should go home, Stefan. Tell everyone I'm fine."

"Dinah-"

"Goodbye, Stefan."

She stepped back and closed the door, immediately jogging up the stairs and back into her room, where she stopped and leaned back against her door, sliding down to the floor. She let her head thump back against the wooden door and sighed, feeling even more tired now than she had before.

Dinah couldn't even begin to guess what Stefan was doing in Beacon Hills. It was the day before school was to start for her and she knew that it wouldn't be long before Mystic Falls was following suit and as flippant as they had all always been with perfect attendance since learning about the existence of the supernatural, this was a step too far.

Catching up was a bullshit excuse for being here now of all times. If that was the case, he wouldn't have waited as long as he had to come. He wouldn't have waited till just before the school year started.

And no, she hadn't missed the almost hidden frantic look in his eyes. She may not have known Stefan as long as her other friends from back home, but after all that they'd been through together, she could read him pretty well. Something was up. And she didn't want any part of it. She just wanted to die in peace.

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AS GOLDEN MORNING LIGHT STREAMED THROUGH DINAH'S WINDOW, the teenager watched the seconds tick by on her alarm clock until it was finally time for it to go off. After only half a second of the blaring sound, Dinah gently pressed the snooze button and sat up in bed, already wide awake. Or, as awake as she could be these days.

"Selena! Dinah!" Lucy called from downstairs. "Get up! It's your first day of junior year!"

Dinah sighed and reached for a tissue from her nightstand, wiping her nose as she stood and crossed to her dresser to pull out the clothes she had planned to wear that day. California weather might have been warmer than she was used to and most of her cardigans went to waste, but anything with pockets was all too necessary these days. And something to pull tighter around her when the chills seized her was good too.

Just as she reached for her bag from the floor near the end of her bed, there was a knock on her bedroom door. The three quick knocks told her that it was Selena, who was unsurprisingly already up. Feeling a sneeze coming on, she told her cousin to wait a moment before she grabbed another tissue to sneeze into.

This curse was going to kill her long before she reached the final stages at the rate that her patience was wearing thinner.

"Ready?" Selena asked when Dinah opened the door.

"As I'll ever be," she sighed.

"Think of it like this," Selena began with a smile. "It's a fresh start."

Dinah nodded and took her cousin's hand, letting her lead her downstairs for breakfast, not wanting to say that this supposed fresh start wasn't going to last with the curse that was slowly tightening the noose around her neck.

Lucy and Steven were already in the kitchen when they got there. Steven was sitting at the head of the table that bordered the kitchen, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper as he did most mornings before work. Lucy was finishing up a few things in the kitchen, the two dirty plates already on the table telling Dinah that her aunt and uncle had already eaten.

"Morning, girls," Steven said. "Ready to start junior year?"

They both nodded as they sat down. Lucy placed a plate of waffles on the table along with two clean plates for the two girls. Even though Dinah had lost most of her appetite, she knew that it was important for her to not only keep up appearances but also to keep up her strength. So she took a waffle off the plate and placed it on hers before she reached for the syrup.

"You girls want any hot drinks?" Lucy asked, eyes darting between the two girls but mainly focusing on Dinah.

"I'm fine," Selena said.

"I'll have some tea. With honey, please."

"Sure thing, darling."

In no time at all, the steaming mug of tea was set in front of the girl, who eagerly took it, sipping it slowly and sighing contentedly as it soothed her raw throat. She had drunk more tea with honey in the time since her birthday than she had in the entire sixteen years before.

But soon enough it was time for her and Selena to leave so they could get to school. Luckily, Selena had her license, unlike Dinah, and she had a silver convertible, too. The two girls tossed their backpacks into the back seat as they got in and Dinah did her best not to let her cousin know just how much she was dreading this day.

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SOMEHOW, BEACON HILLS HIGH WAS NOT WHAT SHE HAD EXPECTED. Although it was slightly smaller than Mystic Falls High School had been, Dinah had been expecting it to be a lot smaller than it was. After all that her cousin had said about how small and boring of a town Beacon Hills was, she had expected a much smaller school.

And as she got out of her cousin's car in the parking lot, the brunette couldn't decide whether or not that was a comfort.

"Welcome to Beacon Hills, Di," Selena said as she rounded the car.

Dinah half smiled at her cousin's comment and lifted her bag onto her shoulder. The two girls exchanged a look before deciding that they were ready and began to head for the school building. They'd only walked past a few spaces when something in the parking lot caught her eye and she turned towards it, stopping in her tracks.

There was no way, Dinah thought to herself as she looked at the classic red Porsche parked on the other side of the lot. It's just a coincidence. There's no way that Stefan is at the school right now.

"You good?" Selena asked, shaking her from her thoughts.

"Yeah," Dinah mumbled, looking away from the car. "I thought I saw something from home."

Dinah shook her head, forcing herself to stop thinking about the possibilities. Stefan was not the only person in the world with that car and it was very possible that one of the teachers or even one of the students had a similar car that had been passed down or something. This was California. Lots of people had classic cars they liked to show off in the sun.

"You've got this," Selena told her, hugging her suddenly. "And I'll introduce you to everyone. I'm pretty sure we all have English together, so that'll make life easier."

The cousins shared a smile before Dinah took a deep breath. Selena took her hand and they walked into the school together, the younger girl leading the way towards the principal's office where Dinah would be picking up her schedule.

"So, basically, this principal was on leave for some reason last year," Selena explained in a strangely nonchalant tone. "Which means he's probably stressed out, so we're going to go and see the vice principal."

Nodding along despite her confusion, Dinah continued to follow her cousin through the halls. As they turned down a new hallway, her eyes went up to scan what was in front of her in hopes of memorizing it, at least in part, so she'd be able to find her way around better later. Instead of unfamiliar faces, though, she saw five very familiar faces further down the corridor.

Instantly, the smile on her face brought on by the presence of her cousin fell. What in hell were her friends from Mystic Falls doing standing in Beacon Hills High?

"Di?" Selena questioned, tapping her shoulder.

"Yeah?" Dinah answered, not looking away from her friends, all of who looked much too happy with themselves.

"Aren't those your friends from Mystic Falls?"

Dinah froze as she realized that her cousin recognized her friends. Even though she knew it was naive to hope that Selena wouldn't recognize her friends given that they'd been at the funeral and specifically introduced themselves as well as Stefan showing up later but... she had hoped they would go unnoticed.

Now that boat had officially sailed.

"I'll be back," Dinah said.

"I'll just be here," Selena called after her.

Dinah stormed down the hallway, barely making the effort to step around people until she reached her friends. Despite what she was sure was a scowl on her face by the time she reached them, they all were still smiling brightly at her.

"Surprise!" Caroline and Elena said.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"You aren't happy to see us?" Caroline asked, face falling.

"Why would I be happy that you came across the country and showed up at my new school unannounced?"

"Because you missed us?" Elena offered.

"I told you guys she would say something like this," Bonnie chimed in.

"Please tell me that you didn't enroll here," she said, looking between her friends.

"We didn't enroll here," Jeremy said.

"That's bullshit," Dinah said.

"You said you wanted us to say we didn't enroll."

"I did not mean lie," Dinah said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"We did enroll," Stefan said. "But not just because you were ignoring all of our phone calls and text messages. You would know that if you hadn't slammed the door in my face."

Dinah sighed. "Why are you here, then?"

"To protect you."

"I don't need protecting."

"Well, you do, actually. Your family is cursed and the curse is supposed to take hold on your seventeenth birthday."

"We would have come sooner, but we only recently found out-"

"Stop, just stop right there. You don't need to tell me about the curse, I already know about it. My aunt and uncle told me on my birthday."

"You know?" Elena questioned.

"Yes. I've known for three weeks. It's already started and there's nothing that anyone can do about it, okay? For once, no one can save the day. You've wasted your time coming all the way out here, just go back home."

She turned away immediately, freezing as she realized what she said and the implications of it. As much as her cousin, aunt and uncle had tried to make her feel welcome and comfortable in their home, she still didn't think of it as hers. Mystic Falls was still home.

Pushing away tears growing in her eyes, Dinah walked away before her friends could argue with her, knowing that they would try. She hurried back over to her cousin, trying and failing to get the scowl off her face before she got there.

"Hey, Dinah," Stiles greeted.

"Hey," Dinah said, forcing a smile as she looked up at her cousin's friend and boyfriend.

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AFTER A BRIEF TOUR OF THE SCHOOL, they reached their English class and Dinah walked in hand-in-hand with Selena, the two boys trailing behind them. They found their way to some seats by the windows, each picking a seat more to their liking. Selena sat in the row closest to the windows and Dinah sat in the seat to her right. Stiles sat in the seat in front of Dinah and Scott sat on his right.

Dinah pulled some of her things out of her bag and placed them on the desk she was sat at before she felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing up and she looked up. Standing in the doorway were Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie and Elena. A sigh fell from Dinah's lips as she imagined hitting her head repeatedly off her desk, the only thing stopping her knowing that it would only make her headaches worse.

"Is that-?" Selena asked.

Nodding, Dinah watched as her friends walked over to the empty desks around her.

"Hey," Caroline said, stopping in front of Selena. "Selena, right? I'm Caroline."

"Yeah, I remember you," Selena replied in an uneasy voice.

Dinah watched her friends as Caroline moved to take the seat behind Selena, only stopping to gesture for the others to find seats for themselves. At the front of the group stood Stefan Salvatore, who looked at Dinah as he started to walk past her before his eyes flicked to Scott and lingered for an extra second longer than usual, which immediately made Dinah's brow furrow in suspicion.

Stefan sat down behind Dinah, Bonnie next to her and behind Scott and Elena behind Bonnie. Dinah clenched her jaw and determinedly looked down at her notebook, even though there was nothing to read on it and she didn't know what to write yet, either. She heard the slight shift behind her and looked down so that she could see further out of the corner of her eye and saw Stefan's arms hanging over the front of his desk.

"Don't make me give you an aneurysm in class," she muttered, knowing he could hear her.

"That wouldn't be very nice," Stefan said.

"Says the one who stalked me across the country," she replied.

"To protect you from a curse."

"A curse that can't be undone. You should just go back to Mystic Falls."

Dinah knew that Stefan was going to continue to argue with her. That they all were. It was what they did, they saved people, undid curses and protected others. It was what they'd done ever since Stefan had returned to Mystic Falls. They'd saved Elena from being sacrificed, they'd protected the town from the machinations of Katherine Pierce and even though they hadn't wanted to, they had broken the hybrid curse placed on Klaus Mikaelson.

But this was different. This wasn't a curse they knew was breakable and exactly how to break it, they just didn't like how it would be done. Her curse wasn't breakable and they didn't know how to break it even if they could.

Luckily, before Stefan could say anything, Dinah's phone buzzed on her desk and she turned her attention to it, beginning to read the strange text just as the very words she was reading began to be spoken out loud.

"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness."

Dinah looked up as someone came into the room. The teenager took a wild guess that the woman coming into the room was the teacher.

"This is the last line to the first book we are going to read," she said as she stopped at her desk, leaning against it as she lifted her phone in the air. "It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone."

With a sigh, Dinah turned off her phone and dropped it back into her backpack so it wouldn't be a distraction to her. The teacher moved to the blackboard and started writing, starting with her name. The brunette opened her notebook so that she could begin taking notes and when she looked up, she noticed the principal talking to Ms Blake and her brow furrowed.

It was the first day of school. It was the first period of the first day of school. Dinah's fist clenched. This had better be something normal.

"Mr McCall?" Ms Blake called out.

Scott looked up and the teacher gestured for the boy to follow her out into the hallway. Scott quickly got up and the two left the room. Looking over at Selena and Stiles, they seemed just as confused as to what that was about as she was.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked Dinah.

"You're the one with super hearing," Dinah snapped back. Then she sighed. "His mom is a nurse, Stefan, it's probably nothing strange."

"I could find out..."

"Stefan, leave it alone. Or... find out if you want but keep it to yourself. This town is normal, Stefan and I'd prefer that it stays that way."

"Dinah-"

"Stefan I have been sick for three weeks and I had the art of getting out of class already mastered back in Mystic Falls so if you don't think that I will lie to this teacher to get out of talking to you right now..."

He didn't answer and so Dinah felt her shoulders relax.

With how long she'd known she was a witch and been practicing her witchcraft, Dinah had learned to trust her instincts. So when something told her to look over at Selena, she did just that and looked towards her cousin, her brow furrowing as soon as she did. Selena's back was ramrod straight, her shoulders pulled in as if she was cold to the bone.

Dinah recognized that look. She'd felt it herself, seen it on Bonnie, too. And given that Selena was most definitely having some sort of vague magical premonition, Dinah wondered why exactly Steven and Lucy were insisting on not telling her she was a witch. She may not be able to recognize it, but she had already begun her journey into witchcraft. The only conclusion that made sense was that Selena hadn't told her parents about any of it.

"Lena, you okay?" she whispered.

"Yeah," Selena replied, shaking her head as if to shake something off. "Just got a chill."

Before Dinah got a chance to question her cousin further about it, there was a dull thud from her left and she turned to see a bloodstain on the window over cracked glass. Looking past it, she noticed a dark, wispy cloud headed towards them. Only, when she looked closer, it wasn't a cloud at all but a mass of birds.

Thud!

Another bird hit the window, splattering blood and cracking the glass. Then another bird and another and another crashed into the window, spreading cracks like strings in a spiderweb. The entire class watched in morbid fascination as the birds continued to fly straight into the window over and over, even as blood nearly covered the entire window.

Then, with a singular crash, all chaos broke loose. As the first bird managed to break through the glass, the windows seemed to crumble and the entire swarm flew into the classroom.

"Get down, everyone!" Ms Blake shouted.

Dinah practically dived out of her chair and to the ground, her hands coming up to cover her head and flinching as she felt her forearm get scratched by a bird as she dropped to the floor. Her heart was beating like crazy as the fear raced through her.

At some point soon after the attack began, Dinah felt someone pull her under them, shielding her more from the chaos. With panic she realized that Selena was here, too, and looked up to find her, only to see Caroline holding herself over the younger brunette and a little bit of her panic faded away.

It felt like hours passed before the sound of flapping wings stopped and silence settled over the room. With caution, Dinah opened her eyes and saw a dead bird just in front of her and jolted away from it. She felt a hand touch her arm soothingly and looked over to see that it was Stefan protecting her.

"Your arm," he said simply.

"Oh, right," she said, looking down at it to see blood running down her arm. 

Looking back up at Stefan, she noticed that he wasn't even looking at the cut on her arm, instead focused on her face. Though she tried to stomp it down, she couldn't help but feel a little proud of him and his control. There was a time when he wouldn't have had the control he did right now in the face of any amount of human blood.

"Are you... good?" she asked.

"Yeah. Are you?"

"I'll be fine, I've got tissues in my pocket. You should go, uh... go check on Elena and Bonnie. I should go check in with Selena."

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AFTER BEING SURE THAT SELENA WAS FINE and giving her a tissue for a cut she had on her own arm, Dinah knew that she couldn't avoid her old friends for any longer. Not after what had just happened. So after reassuring Selena that she was fine for the tenth time, she went over to where her friends were grouped together.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Elena said.

"Are you guys alright after what happened?" she asked.

"We're fine. Just a few little scratches," Bonnie assured her. "How about you?"

"Well, fine is relative for me these days but just one scratch."

Silence filled the space between them for a moment and Dinah bit her lip. Then she sighed.

"Now that that's been sufficiently awkward, I, uh... I just wanted to apologize to you guys. I'm sorry for how I treated you guys after I left Mystic Falls, you didn't deserve that. I just... I would look at you guys or your texts and all I would think about is my parents and that just made me sadder and instead of processing that I just pushed it all away. It was wrong and I'm sorry."

"Dinah..."

Caroline hugged her quickly and she hugged back.

"I know you guys will say that I don't need to apologize but even if you guys don't need to hear it, I needed to say it."

"You are absolutely forgiven," Caroline assured her.

"Yeah, of course, you are," Bonnie agreed.

"As if there was ever a doubt," Stefan said.

Dinah smiled. "Thanks, guys."

"So," Caroline said. "That was pretty weird for such a small, quaint town."

"One could say the same thing about Mystic Falls," Dinah joked, laughing.

"Yeah, they could," Elena said.

"No. No, no, no. This town is normal. You guys are the weirdest people here," Dinah countered.

They all gave her a look like she was crazy to believe such a thing, but Dinah knew that it had to be true. If there was anything strange going on in Beacon Hills, surely Steven and Lucy would have known about it and warned her. A witch always got dragged into supernatural drama in one way or another.

"Who's that with your cousin?" Stefan asked.

"Oh," Dinah said, turning to look behind her at her cousin. "That's Selena's boyfriend, Stiles. They've been friends forever, though, why?"

"Can I introduce myself?"

"I don't know why you're asking permission but, yeah, I suppose so."

Stefan began to make his way over to where Selena and Stiles were standing, with Dinah trailing behind him. She was more than a little curious about what it was that Stefan wanted with Stiles.

"Are you alright?" Stefan asked, causing the couple to turn towards them. "I'm Stefan."

"I know," Selena instantly replied, only to correct herself. "Sorry, I'm Selena, Dinah's cousin."

"You've got a—"

"A cut, I know," Selena interrupted, voice laced with agitation. "Sorry, that was harsh."

"Don't worry," Stefan said with a smile, reaching out his hand for Selena to shake.

Selena had a distant look in her eyes before she quickly pulled her hand away from Stefan's. Stiles seemed to instantly notice her discomfort, wrapping an arm around her.

"Lena, you okay?" Stiles asked.

"Stiles, this is my friend from home," Dinah spoke up.

"Stefan Salvatore."

Stiles glared at Stefan, clearly not bothering to hide his immediate dislike for Stefan.

"Stiles Stilinski." He looked Stefan up and down. "You didn't get scratched?"

Stefan glanced at Dinah before looking back at Stiles, noticing the way he protectively put himself a half step in front of Selena.

"I must have some good luck," Stefan nonchalantly replied, more than used to throwing people off the trail of his vampirism and everything that came with it.

Selena quickly excused herself and Stiles from the conversation. She pulled Stiles towards the blackboard and Dinah watched in curiosity as the boy glared at Stefan the whole way, but she had to stifle a laugh when she saw Selena hit her boyfriend and Stiles' glare instantly vanish only to be replaced by an offended and confused look.

Stefan watched them for a minute longer, clearly listening in on them with his super hearing, before he turned back to Dinah.

"Stiles is suspicious of us," he said.

"Stiles has ADHD and too much Adderall at his disposal, he's suspicious of wind," Dinah countered.

"Wind?"

"Don't even get me started."

 Selena came back over as Stiles left the room and disappeared into the hallway.

"I'm so sorry about Stiles," she apologized. "He's not normally like that."

"It's fine," Dinah promised. "Where'd he go?"

"He went to call Scott," Selena explained with a kind smile before turning to Stefan. "He's our other friend."

"Why'd Scott leave early?"

"I don't know, I think his mom needed him home."

Stefan and Dinah exchanged a glance and then looked back at Selena just as Bonnie, Caroline and Elena came back over to join them with their bags hanging off their shoulders.

"That was an interesting first class," one of the other girls said. "I'm Elena."

The girl standing beside Elena laughed, her smile not reaching her eyes.

"I'm Bonnie."

Selena glanced between Dinah's friends with a curious expression. It didn't sit totally well with Dinah after what she'd just talked about with Stefan in regards to suspicions, but Dinah couldn't see any reason why Selena would be suspicious of her friends.

"So," Selena began, "why'd all of you move to California?"

"The weather is so much nicer here, plus we wanted a change of scenery for junior year," Caroline explained. "We also missed Dinah."

Selena looked between Caroline and Stefan for a minute with a look in her eyes like she wasn't entirely seeing them. Dinah looked at Bonnie, knowing she would recognize that look, too. Elena immediately noticed the expressions on two of her best friends' faces and spoke up to steer the conversation away from Selena's suspicions further.

"Can we get out of this classroom? Standing amongst all these dead birds is seriously starting to freak me out," she said.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Stefan agreed, gesturing for the girls to go ahead of him towards the door.

"Are we allowed to leave the school yet?" Bonnie asked.

"Noah- I mean Sheriff Stilinski said that we have to wait for a parent or guardian to pick us up," Selena told them as they went out into the hallway.

"Elena?" a voice called out.

They all turned to see Jeremy hurrying down the hall, dodging around students until he reached his sister and immediately wrapping her in a hug.

"Are you alright?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah, Jer, I'm fine, I promise," Elena assured him.

Dinah saw her cousin's confused expression. "Oh, Selena, this is Elena's younger brother, Jeremy. Jer, this is my cousin, Selena."

"Hi."

"Hey."

"Wait, did you say we need a guardian to come let us out of here?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah-"

"Oh no..." Bonnie said.

Dinah's brow furrowed, wondering what the problem was.

"We don't have to call him," Caroline said. "We could just-"

"No, Caroline, we can't," Stefan answered, seeming to know where Caroline was going with her sentence before she finished it.

"What's the problem, guys?" Dinah asked.

"Well, we needed someone who was a legal adult to help us all enroll here and get our place, so..."

"You didn't," Dinah said, immediately realizing who they were talking about. "Of all the people you could have left behind, he wasn't one of them?"

"We didn't have a whole lot of options," Jeremy said.

Dinah groaned. As if a freak bird attack couldn't be the worst thing that happened today, Damon Salvatore was in Beacon Hills.

"Stiles' dad said he could drive you and me home, Dinah, if that helps..." Selena offered, sounding extremely confused.

"Thanks, Lena, but it doesn't help them..." Dinah sighed again and pinched her nose. "If you want to go home with Sheriff Stilinski and Stiles, that's fine. I'll stick around a little longer."

"If you're staying, I'm staying."

Dinah suppressed another groan. That was exactly what she didn't want Selena to say. But she also knew that there would be no changing her mind. She just really didn't want Selena to meet him yet.

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IT TOOK ONLY TEN MINUTES AFTER STEFAN MADE THE CALL for him to arrive at the school. When Dinah saw him down the hallway, she couldn't hide her scowl. Always the drama queen, he was practically strutting down the school hallway towards them, sunglasses hanging off the collar of his shirt and classic leather jacket on.

Oh, how she wanted to strangle him with that jacket.

"Someone call for a jailbreak?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Caroline said, also scowling.

Blue eyes landed on Selena and he stepped up towards her, one hand outstretched. Dinah immediately stepped half in front of her cousin and pushed his hand away.

"Don't touch her."

"That's a rude thing to say to your old friend after all this time of not seeing me. Aren't you happy to see me, Di?"

"Not the word I'd use," Dinah said. He was lucky they were in such a public place or she'd be giving him an aneurysm by now.

"Hi, I'm Damon Salvatore," he said, looking at Selena once more. "Stefan's brother."

"Selena Barnes."

"Oh, so you're Dinah's cousin," Damon said with a smile, looking over at Dinah before back at Selena. "The baby Barnes."

"Hey, Damon, why don't you shut the fuck up for once?"

"Still full of fire, I see."

"Always," Dinah said.

"Well, now that you're here, Damon," Stefan said, touching his brother's arm. "Why don't we go home?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea," Elena agreed.

"We'll text you later, okay, Di?" Caroline said.

"Of course," Dinah agreed with a nod, watching them walk away.

"Goodbye, Dinah... Baby Barnes," Damon said, winking at Selena.

"You wink at my cousin again and I'm going to kill you, Damon Salvatore!"

Dinah turned around as Damon ignored her threats as he usually did, taking Selena's arm and pulling her towards where the Sheriff was standing.

"Why didn't you ever tell me that Stefan's brother was that hot?" Selena asked.

"Three reasons. One, he's a dick, two, he's way too old for you and three, you already have a boyfriend. Can we please just go home, now?"

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SELENA DISAPPEARED THE SECOND THEY GOT HOME, only calling behind her that she'd be in her room. Dinah couldn't help but laugh as she heard her bedroom door close from where she was in the kitchen, making herself a cup of tea once again to soothe her throat. She used the last of the honey in her tea and wrote it down on the grocery list on the fridge.

Dinah grabbed her bag and headed up to her room, setting her tea down on her desk and dropping her bag next to her bed. Before she could sit down, she heard a knock at the door and paused. From Selena's room, she could hear the sound of her talking so Dinah went down to the door to answer it.

When she opened the door, she wasn't surprised to see Stefan standing on the other side.

"Ditch everyone at home and then run here?" she teased.

"Something like that."

"What brings you by my humble abode?"

"I wanted to see how you were holding up after everything at the school and... your curse," he said.

"Well, a freak bird attack is weird but after doing that spell with Bonnie to take down Klaus... nothing is that weird anymore."

Stefan laughed. "Yeah, I suppose so."

"How about everyone else? Elena seemed pretty shaken by all the dead birds."

"Oh, everyone's fine. Like you said, after everything we've been through it's not that weird."

"True enough."

Dinah shifted and looked behind her into the house for a moment, debating on something, before she looked back at Stefan.

"Would you, uh... want to come in?"

"I would love to."

She stepped aside as she opened the door further, allowing Stefan into the home. He was smiling as he came into the home. After quickly pointing out where things were in the home, she led him up to her room, shutting the door behind her.

The first thing that Dinah did was grab her tea and take a sip of it. Stefan stood awkwardly in the middle of the room and she couldn't help but laugh at him.

"You can sit down, Stefan."

He gave an awkward laugh and went over to her bed and sat down before falling back so he was laying down with his feet hanging off the edge. She rolled her eyes and sat next to him, sitting cross-legged with her hands holding her tea in her lap.

"Your room is nice," Stefan noted. "Almost just like your one back home."

"Selena was very persistent about that."

"Not as many pictures though."

"No," she admitted, looking down. "They're all still in the box in the closet. One of my parents ended up on top and..."

Stefan reached over and put his hand over hers, causing her to look over at him.

"You don't have to say it, I get it," he said, causing her to smile.

"Thanks." Dinah took a sip of her tea.

"You know, I really missed you this summer. I know you needed space, but it felt weird that you ignored me for so long, especially since we had been so close before everything happened."

"I know," she said, smiling at the memories. "Everything was weird."

"I mean, you did say that if it wasn't for your family coming down, you were going to spend the night. I secretly thought you just wanted the thrill of sneaking back in that late, you know," he said.

Dinah laughed. "I admit to nothing."

Stefan opened his mouth as if to reply before his eyes went distant and then he laughed. Dinah's brow furrowed, wondering what the hell was going on with him and then realized that he was probably overhearing something.

"Any gossip?" she asked.

"Someone just told Stiles to keep it in his pants," Stefan explained.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Dinah said, laughing. "You know, on my third night here, I woke up at like midnight to Stiles sneaking in my bedroom window."

"Seriously?"

"Yup. Apparently, since my bedroom used to be the spare room, mine is the window he'd sneak in and out of."

"Really?"

"He didn't want to go into Selena's room directly in case she was... oh, how did he put it? In a compromising state."

Stefan laughed and it made Dinah laugh, too. After a moment of laughter, she took a sip of tea to soothe her throat. From downstairs, she heard the front door open and then close again. Then Lucy called up that she was home and Dinah looked back over to Stefan.

"Uh, would you maybe want to stay for dinner?" she asked.

"I would love to," Stefan answered, smiling brightly.

"I should probably introduce you to my aunt," Dinah realized. "She probably won't be thrilled I invited you in."

She started to get up and Stefan was standing with a hand out to her in the blink of an eye. She took the hand with a smile and he helped her to stand, even keeping an arm around her as they left the bedroom and started heading down to the kitchen where they found Lucy standing there with a cup of coffee and contemplating what to make for dinner.

"Aunt Lucy? Would it be okay if my friend stayed for dinner?"

"Of course," she said, turning to face them. "Is this a new friend?"

"Friend from home, actually. This is Stefan Salvatore."

Immediately upon hearing the name, Lucy's face fell from the pleasant smile to one of anger. Dinah kept her smile on.

"Salvatore?" Lucy echoed, turning her gaze to Dinah. "You invited a vampire into my home?"

"I invited a friend to come in," she corrected.

"A friend that is a vampire," Lucy corrected. "Thalia never told me she allowed you to... associate yourself with bloodsuckers."

"Should I go?" Stefan asked.

"Yes," Lucy said.

"No," Dinah corrected. "You said he could stay for dinner."

Lucy pursed her lips and sighed heavily, knowing that Dinah had outplayed her. She couldn't exactly put up too much of a fight, knowing that if Selena overheard or Dinah brought it up to her later — which she would — then they'd either have to tell her the truth or come up with a convincing lie.

"If he hurts—"

"I won't," Stefan interjected. "I won't hurt anyone, I promise. I have better control than most. I have to."

"Have to?" Lucy echoed.

"We don't have time for stories," Dinah said quickly, stopping Stefan before he tried to explain the whole ripper business. "Stefan and I will be upstairs studying and waiting for dinner."

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an. figuring out the ending to this chapter was honestly a bitch, so I apologize for how long this took. but hey, at least it's finally here, right?