CHAPTER THREE
❝FATAL FLAW❞

"Listen, I'm not saying don't date the guy, I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie rephrased to Elena, while the three of us filed out of Bonnie's Toyota.

This whole conversation started because Bonnie thought that Elena and Stefan were moving too fast. I didn't comment on the subject, I just mentally agreed - anything to keep Elena from bragging about how amazing Stefan was.

"You are the one who said to go for it," Elena reminded, pointing a slender fingers at our dark skinned friend.

"Now, she's saying take it slow," I piped up quickly, gripping the book bag strap on my shoulder.

"Why the about-face?" Elena asked, her dark eyes scrutinizing my expression as we walked toward the school.

"It's not an about-face. You're single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field." I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

"Oh, because I'm so that girl and take your own advice. This is the first time you've been single since freshmen year. Come on, Elektra, play the field!" Elena cheered looking up into the air smiling, I playfully glared at her.

"Don't change the subject, Elena," I reprimanded, chuckling slightly.

"Seriously, what are you not saying?" Elena pressed to Bonnie, curious.

"It's stupid," Bonnie mumbled, she sped up to try to avoid Elena's prying, but Elena caught up and grabbed her forearm.

"Bonnie," Elena groaned slightly, turning Bonnie slightly to force her to look at her.

"What?"

"Spit it out."

Bonnie's shoulders slumped as she sighed before saying: "I accidentally touched Stefan, and I got a really bad feeling."

Elena raised an eyebrow at the statement, while I tilted my head in confusion - awaiting Bonnie to elaborate her vague message.

"Is that it?" Elena asked sarcastically.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, attempting to escape, but instead of Elena grabbing her arm, I did. "Bonnie," I insisted sternly.

"It was bad bad," Bonnie replied, making her voice stress the bad's.

Elena grinned and giggled as a thought came to mind: "Is this the whole witch-mojo thing again?"

"Know what? I'm just concerned." Bonnie denied, a smile breaking her serious expression. "I'm just expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend." Bonnie said.

"And I love you for it." Elena announced, placing her hands on Bonnie's shoulders. "I do, but I feel good. It's been a hard year, and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again. And you know what? Stefan is a big part of that." Elena stated looking between Bonnie and I.

"Morning, Elektra and Elena," Stefan greeted as he walked up to the three of us. "Morning, Bonnie," he said, turning to look at her.

"Hey, um, I got to find Caroline. She's not answering her phone." Bonnie said, making up an excuse to leave. Chapter She began backing away from them, placing a firm grip on my upper arm - dragging me with her. I looked back at Stefan and Elena, giving them an apologetic look.

"Bonnie and Elektra, wait." I heard Elena's protests. We both decided to ignore my sister's calls, and keep walking through the courtyard.

We were almost to the school when I noticed Tyler and Matt standing together. My legs instantly stopped moving, my mind wanted to just ignore them entirely, but my body had other plans.

"Look. There's Elena and her new boyfriend," Tyler said, eyeing Elena and Stefan from across the buzzing courtyard.

Matt caught the football that was thrown to him, before he turned to look. He took a brief glance, shook his head, and looked back at Tyler. Matt groaned in annoyance as he threw the football back to the guy standing across from him.

"And what are they doing? Oh, they're walking, walking, walking. Yup, right into the sunset." Tyler remarked.

"You're a dick," Matt scolded.

"While you just stand that looking like one of those yard trolls." Tyler continued, as he glanced between Matt and the couple.

"Gnomes," Matt corrected. "Well, at least my ex decided to break up with me, because her parents died and she needed time - not because I was being an asshole."

Tyler was taken aback that he had brought up the subject of me. Matt knew that I was a sensitive topic, but brought me up nonetheless just to piss him off. Tyler's eyes fell onto the ground with guilt and embarrassment.

I pursed my lips, deciding that I had heard enough, and strode back over to Stefan and Elena. Elena turned to Stefan, placing her hand on his arm, causing him to cease his walking.

"Here's what we're going to do." Elena began, as I approached. "Are you free tonight?"

Stefan glanced around mindlessly, seemingly searching his imaginary schedule. "Yes."

"Perfect. Dinner, my house, eight o'clock. You, me, Elektra, and Bonnie. You two will spend quality time and she'll get to see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished."

"Elena, do I have to be there?" I chirped, not really wanting to be present for this disaster waiting to happen.

"Yes, you don't have a job or any other excuse and second, we could use the moral support." She replied.

I sighed before mumbling: "Fine."

Out of now where, a football was spiraling towards the back of Stefan's head, he quickly spun around - catches the ball and launches it back at Tyler. I let out a gasp of amazement. The bell then rung, chiming annoyingly through the air, the three of us then began to make our way into the school.

"That throw was insane." I commented.

"I didn't know you played football." Elena stated.

"I used to. It was a long time ago." He countered.

"So, why don't you try out for the team?" I asked with a nonchalant shrug of my shoulders.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Stefan drawled out his words, elongating them dramatically.

"So, you don't like football?" I asked, confused.

"No, I love football. I think it's a great sport. But, in this case, I don't think football likes me. You saw Tyler over there. And we all know how Matt feels."

I shook my head as we stopped at mine and Elena's lockers. "They don't know you. To them, you're a mysterious loner guy. Wouldn't hurt to be a part of it. Make some friends." I explained.

"Says the girl who spends her alone time writing in a cemetery."

"There is no shame it that," I replied, my mouth agape in mock offense. "Hey, come on. There's more to me that just gloomy-graveyard-girl. There's a whole other Elektra that you have yet to meet. She was into everything. Very busy."

"Well, I look forward to meeting her." Stefan said, he raised his eyebrows and continued: "And when will that be?"

"Soon," I replied, shutting my locker and the three of us began to walk to class. "She working on it."

✥ ✥ ✥

"World War II ended in...?" Mr. Tanner asked. When no one answered, he sighed. "Anyone got anything? Ms. Juan?" he asked, the girl shrugged her shoulders. "1945."

"Psst. FYI, our team sucks. They could use you." I whispered to Stefan, while leaning over to reduce the space, Elena nodded in agreement.

"Pearl Harbor?" Mr. Tanner continued.

"Can't, I'm a loner." Stefan said back to me. I scoffed playfully and shook my head in disbelief.

"Miss Gilbert?" Mr. Tanner called.

"Hmm?" Elena and I both hummed in response.

"Elektra Gilbert," Mr. Tanner corrected. "Pearl Harbor?"

"Umm..." my voice trailed off as I searched my mind for the right date of this tragic event.

"December 7th, 1941," Stefan answered for me.

"Thank you, Ms. Gilbert." Tanner congratulated sarcastically.

"Anytime," Stefan shrugged.

"Very well. The fall of the Berlin Wall."

"1989." Tanner gave Stefan a look. "I'm good with dates, sir."

"Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act."

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963."

"Martin Luther King,"

"'68."

"Lincoln,"

"1865."

"Roe vs. Wade."

"1973."

"Brown vs. Board,"

"1954."

"The Battle of Gettysburg,"

"1863."

"Korean War,"

"1950 to 1953."

"Ha! It ended it '52."

"Uh, actually, sir, it was '53." Stefan insisted.

"Look it up, somebody. Quickly." Mr. Tanner demanded.

I pulled out my textbook and flipped through the pages until I found the appropriate chapter. "It was 19...53." I corrected Mr. Tanner. "Stefan was right." I smirked.

The classroom erupted with applause. The teens were cheering and whooping, celebrating that Stefan had just proved that Mr. Tanner wasn't as smart as he thought he was.

"The look on Tanner's face was priceless." I said, chuckling as we exited the classroom. "How did you know all of that?"

"Years and years of crossword puzzles. It's a loner thing." He replied.

We walked outside, left Stefan on the bleachers, changed into our tank-tops and short-shorts and met up with Bonnie and the other cheerleaders. The girls were stretching and rehearsing on the grass just behind the bleachers.

"Oh, my God! You guys are here!" Bonnie exclaimed with excitement as she jumped off the ground and greeted us.

"Yep, we can't be sad girls forever. The only way to get things back to the way they were, are to do things that were." I explained, smiling cheekily as we began to stretch. "Oh, and you're coming to dinner tonight."

"I am?" Bonnie quipped, seeming excited.

"Mm-hmm. You, me, Elena, and Stefan," I announced, grinning innocently. Bonnie's excited smile quickly faded, as Stefan's name left my lips.

"You have to give him a chance. Not just for Elena, but for me. He might be Elena's boyfriend, but he is also becoming my closest guy-friend."

"Tonight's no good," Bonnie declared, acting upset. Bonnie knew that we would keep prying, so she quickly changed the subject: "Have you seen Caroline? I've texted her, like, a hundred times."

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett." Elena said laughing, I joined her lightly. "You're going to be there."

"Fine, I'll go." Bonnie agreed with a slight pout.

"Good." Elena and I chimed together.

We continued to stretch and wonder where Caroline was. I was kind of glad that she hadn't shown up, but Bonnie and Elena were becoming more and more concerned.

"Seriously, where is Caroline?" Bonnie groaned. I looked around; she was nowhere to be seen. When Elena finished drinking her water, she shrugged.

"I don't know, it's not like her." Elena replied, setting her water bottle on the ground beside her.

"I'll try her again." Bonnie announced, picking up her phone for the umpteenth time.

Elena and I looked behind Bonnie to see a blue Chevrolet Camaro pull up into the parking lot. A dark haired man driving and a blonde next to him. As they drove closer, I recognized the blonde as Caroline.

"Uh," Elena and I both mumbled pointing behind Bonnie.

"Oh, my God," Bonnie responded turning around to look at the car, and Caroline, she leaned over towards the driver and planted a kiss on his lips. "That must be the mystery guy from the grill."

"That's no mystery guy. That's Damon Salvatore." I corrected, as the three of us stood up, dusting off the grass on our shorts.

"Salvatore? As in Stefan?" Bonnie asked, a frown wrinkled her forehead.

I simply nodded. I glanced over Bonnie's shoulder, seeing Caroline slam the door shut and come skipping her way over to us. The thing that stood out the most, was that she was wearing a red-and-white checkered scarf around her next - in August.

"I got the other brother." Caroline said to Elena and I, knowing how close Elena, Stefan, and I were. "Hope you don't mind." Caroline removed her sunglasses and turned to face the rest of the cheer squad. "Sorry I'm late, girls. I, uh, was busy."

Caroline continued talking when I tuned her out, and looked over at Damon. He was grinning at me, and he lifted his eyebrows, backed the car out of its spot and left. I couldn't help but stare until he was completely out of sight.

"Nice legs, Daisy Dukes, makes a man go woo woo. That's the way they all come through like woowoo woowoo! Low-cut, see-through shirts that make you woowoo. That's the way she come through like woowoo."

Star-struck by 3OH3 was blasting through the speakers of the radio, while we were doing parts of a cheer. Elena and I were standing next to each other - failing miserably.

"Elena, Elektra. Sweeties, why don't you two just observe today?" Caroline suggested rudely, but covered the rude comment with a fake nice voice. Elena and I exchanged displeased glances, and then nodded - stepping out of line and off to the side.

I sat on the grass and watched the routine. It seemed so simple but I was still rusty from being gone for so long. I sighed and stared at the squad. It helped me realize that cheering didn't seem as fun as I remember. I turned to my right thinking I was going to find Elena, but she wasn't there. I stood up and looked around. I saw her standing, almost hiding behind the bleachers, watching the football players, I walked up beside her.

"Hey, what are you-" I started but cut myself off when I saw Stefan running onto the football field, with football pads on.

After football practice, Stefan returned to his home. He marched up the stairs and into his bedroom to see Damon sitting at his desk, reading one of his journals.

"How were tryouts? Did you make the team? Very Emerson, the way you reveal your soul with so many...adjectives." Damon grinned as Stefan ripped the journal out of his hands.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked him, curious.

"I've come to apologize. I've been doing some thinking, some soul searching, and...I want us to start over. We need to put the past behind us. You're my little brother, and if you want to live a normal, happy human life, then I want that for you. Maybe I can do it, too. If I can learn to be a non-living, living person, maybe there's hope for both of us." Damon tried to keep a straight face as he reached the end of his speech but failed miserably when he began to chuckle.

"You know, it doesn't have to be this way, Damon."

"Of course it doesn't. I saw Elena and Elektra today, BTW. That means, 'by the way'. They were at cheerleading practice. Elektra looked so perky in her little short-shorts." Stefan glared, the thought of him staring at Elektra made his anger rise. "Just...simmer down, I didn't even go near her. I've got my own cheerleader now." Damon glanced down at his watch on his wrist. "Ooh, that reminds me...I've got to run. I have a date. Sweaty palms. Wish me luck."

"You explain it. Last night, I'm watching 9-0. Commercial break comes on and I'm like, 'I bet it's that phone commercial'. And sure enough, it's that guy and the girl on the bench, he flied to Paris and he flied back. They take a picture." Bonnie explained, I tried to hold back my laughter but it was no use.

"Oh, come on!" I whined half-heartedly. "That commercial is on a constant loop."

"Fine," Bonnie grumbled, helping Elena unpack to to-go order from the Mystic Grill. "Well, how about this? Today, I'm obsessed with numbers. Three numbers. I keep seeing eight, fourteen, and twenty-two. How weird is that?"

I set down the large bowl I was messing with and looked at her. "Maybe we should play the lottery," I said, mustering up as much seriousness I could into my tone.

"Have you talked to your Grams?" Elena questioned.

"She's just going to say that I'm a witch," Bonnie replied, whilst pouring a serving of pasta into a fancy bowl. "I don't want to me a witch. Do you want to be a witch?"

"I don't want to be a witch." I piped, scrunching my nose up before my eyes glanced up to Elena, "You know, Elena, putting this food in a nice bowl isn't fooling anyone." I smiled while pouring the last of the pasta into a glass bowl.

"Okay, serving spoons. Where are the serving spoons?" Elena whispered to herself, opening several drawers.

"Don't know." I shrugged.

"Middle drawer to your left," Bonnie told Elena knowingly.

I looked at her confused; Elena walked over to where she was pointing and opened the drawer. She pulled out a serving spoon.

"Okay, so you've been in this kitchen, like, a thousand times." Elena said, acting as if it was nothing.

"Yeah, that's it." Bonnie replied sarcastically.

The doorbell then suddenly chimed through the house.

"Okay, he's here. Don't be nervous. Just be your normal loving self." Elena instructed Bonnie, seeming to be the most nervous out of the three of us.

"Birthday candles," Bonnie whispered under her breath, she opened a smaller drawer, as if knowing it was there, and her face dropped instantly.

After Elena invited Stefan inside, we set the table quickly and took our seats. Stefan on the far end, Elena to his right, me to his left, and Bonnie straight across from him, everyone stared at each other awkwardly, as I took another bite of my pasta on my plate.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked Stefan, breaking the silence. I looked up curiously at Stefan, while Bonnie kept her eyes on her plate where she was pushing the noodles back and forth.

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right." Stefan replied, a shadow of a smile on his lips.

"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and-"

"Yeah, I heard." Bonnie spoke up, cutting off my sentence and ending the conversation about Stefan.

"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" I asked. Bonnie immediately shot me a pointed glare, knowing that I meant that her family was descended from witches.

"Um, divorced. No mom, live with my dad."

"Mmm," Stefan hummed, while curtly nodding his head.

"No, about the witches," Elena grumbled through her gritted teeth. Stefan's body became erect at the unusual subject.

"Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool," I pressed, giving her an agitated look.

"Cool isn't the word I would use." Bonnie denied, shaking her head. I sighed, it was depressing at how all of our conversations seemed to be going nowhere.

Elena tilted her head to the side and gave Bonnie a stern look.

"Well, it's certainly interesting." Stefan responded, staring at Bonnie, forcing her to look up at him. "I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic Druids that migrated here in the 1800's."

"My family came by way of Salem," Bonnie corrected.

Stefan's interest was piqued. "Really? Salem witches?"

"Yeah."

Stefan glanced at Elena and I before saying: "I'd say that's pretty cool."

"Really?" Bonnie asked, unconvinced.
"Why?"

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity." Stefan informed. I was amazed at how he could've known all of the history on Salem witches. I looked over to Bonnie, grinning slightly.

"Yeah, they are." She agreed.

Elena let a small giggle escape her lips. I smirked as I took another drink form my cup. That's when we heard the doorbell ring. All of our expression became alarmed and looked over towards the front foyer.

"I wonder who that could be," I said, standing up from my seat and walking toward the front door with Elena following closely behind.

I opened the door to reveal Caroline and Damon standing there. Caroline was holding a dish, with some kind of dessert in cased under the plastic wrap, in her hands. My eyes widening, I was not expecting them.

"Surprise!" Caroline cheered, "Bonnie said y'all were doing dinner, so we brought dessert." Gesturing to the dessert in her hands, I looked over to Elena whose lips were slightly parted, but it seemed as if she was lost for words.

"Oh," I said, smiling.

"Hope you don't mind." Damon said, smirking.

Caroline didn't wait to be asked to come in; she just waltzed right into the house, leaving Damon outside. She handed Elena the dish she had brought, and I looked to my left to see Stefan there glaring at Damon.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan demanded of Damon, you could hear the firmness and fear in his voice.

"Waiting for Elektra to invite me in," Damon replied, stepping closer to the house. He smirked at Stefan, as if when invited in meant something entirely different.

"Oh, yeah, you can-" I began to say, but was cut off by Stefan.

"No, no, no. He can't, um, he can't stay." Stefan responded quickly, "Can you, Damon?"

"Get in here." Caroline ordered from behind me.

"We're just finishing up," Stefan tried to reason with me.

"It's fine. Right, Elena?" I asked Elena, she nodded. "Yeah, just come on in." I said to Damon. As soon as those three words left my mouth, Damon smirked at me and then at Stefan. Stefan glared at Damon as he stepped inside the door.

"You have a beautiful home, Elektra." He stated turning around to look at me. I smiled in response.

"Thank you." I replied. We all then gathered into the living room with our desserts and started casually chatting.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Uh, Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it." Caroline said to Stefan.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it." Damon said, staring at Stefan.

"Yeah, Elektra and Elena weren't so lucky today. It's only because you guys missed summer camp. I don't know how you guys are ever going to learn the routines." Caroline whispered.

"I'll work with them. They'll get it," Bonnie responded, placing an assuring hand on my knee. Giving me a look that told me I needed to calm down as I glared ferociously at Caroline.

"I guess we can put them in the back," Caroline trailed off, mumbling to herself.

"You know, you two don't seem like the cheerleading types," Damon pointed out.

"It's just because their parents died. Yeah, I mean, they're just totally going through a blah phase. They used to be way more fun." Caroline replied.

My eyes fell to my lap; knowing that she was right. Elena and I used to me more fun. We were always labeled as the rebellious, outgoing, and dare-devils, of Mystic Falls - until our parents died last spring.

Caroline's amused expression instantly fell when she noticed Bonnie's glare. "And I say that with complete sensitivity."

"I'm sorry, Elektra, Elena. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die." Damon said.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon." Stefan replied, a serious look on his face.

"Oh, you know what? You're right, Stefan. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was to bring them up." Damon apologized, making it obvious that he was referring to the mysterious women of Stefan's past. Elena and I worriedly glanced over at Stefan.

Awkward silence immediately began to creep into the air around the five of us. I nervously rubbed my palms on my jeans before standing up and saying: "I'm going to go start cleaning the kitchen." I picked up the empty plates and cups in the living room before heading into the kitchen.

I began rinsing off the plates and putting them in the dishwasher. I could hear a conversation spark up in the living room, but at least they weren't directed toward me.

"One more," Damon announced from behind me. I turned away from the sink, seeing Damon holding a glass in his hand.

"Mmm," I hummed in response, tucking my hair behind my ears. "Thank you."

I reached out to grab the glass, but it clumsily slipped out of my wet fingers. I gasped, waiting for the shattering sound, all I received was silence. Damon quickly caught the falling glass.

"Nice save," I complemented, taking the glass from his hand.

"I like you, you know how to laugh." Damon said pointing at me.

I stared at him thinking of something to say, and then something popped into my head. "Earlier did you mean...Katherine and Beatrice?" I cautiously asked Damon. He looked surprised at my question.

"Mm-hmm," Damon hummed in response, taking the plate out of my hand and placing it into the dishwasher.

"How did they die?" I asked him.

"A fire - tragic fire," Damon replied, looking taken back.

"Recently?" I pressed the subject, still curious to find out more about these mysterious sisters.

"Seems like it was yesterday," Damon replied smirking. I turned away slightly, but turned back.

"What were they like?"

"They were beautiful, a lot like you in that department. They were also very complicated, and selfish. And at times, not very kind, but very sexy and seductive," Damon replied.

"So, who dated who first? From what I've gathered, you and Stefan both dated Katherine and Beatrice at some point." I asked, and smirked at him. Handing him another plate, if Elena wasn't going to get answers I was.

"Nicely deduced, but, ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine." Damon said putting another dish into the dishwasher.

I turned away from him and walked to the island and began to fold the table mats. I heard Damon walk close to me from behind.

"Quit cheerleading." He said to me. I was shocked he would say that.

"Why do you say that?"

"Oh, I saw you at practice, you looked miserable." Damon replied, stressing the word miserable.

"You saw that?" I asked.

"Uh huh, and your comments in the living room." He said to me, I sighed.

"I use to love it. It was fun. But things are different this year. Everything that used to matter just don't anymore." I replied tucking a stray hair, which had fallen in my face, behind my ear.

"So don't stress about it. Quit, move on. Problem solved. Ta-da!" Damon said with a large smirk spread across his face. I laughed.

I grinned, before saying: "Some things could matter again."

"Maybe, but it seems a little un-realistic to me." Damon replied.

"I'm sorry." I said suddenly to Damon. He looked slightly confused so I continued: "About Katherine and Beatrice. I can see that you lost them too."

"Hey, need some help?" Bonnie asked as she and Elena came into the kitchen.

"Sure, why not." Damon replied, I smiled at him and then returned my eyes back on Elena.

✥ ✥ ✥

Elektra was sitting next to Stefan on her bed talking about random things, when he gently pressed his plump lips on Elektra's. He pulled away, searching her eyes for any discomfort. Elektra pulled him back, smashing her lips to his with force. See rolled them both over, so she was now straddling his hips.

The kiss was just as passionate as it was lustful. Elektra pulled away and took off her shirt, revealing her white laced bra. She bent back down and placed her lips back on his, Elektra's hair was in her face so she sat back up, and pushed it back.

Stefan was in the middle of taking off his shirt. When the shirt was off of his face, it wasn't Stefan's face, it was Damon's. Elektra jumped off of him and screamed at the top of her lungs.

I awoke panting and in a cold sweat. I looked around the dark room, with no light but the moonlight peering through the curtains, and saw no one. I glanced over at my window and saw a crow sitting on the window-sill.

"That is so creepy." I whispered.

I got up and shoed it away and then closed my window and curtains. I looked at my clock to see it was a few minutes away from my alarm going off; I felt my breathing begin to slow and I felt my heart beat slowly return to normal. I stood up from my window-bench and walked over to my vanity to look in the mirror.

My waist length brown hair was going in about a million different directions, my black spaghetti strap tank-top was halfway up my waist, and I had dark circles forming under my eyes.

I grabbed my glass off the top of my vanity and began walking to the bathroom to fill it up with water. Once I filled it up, I returned to my room, and sat back in bed. I took a sip of the water and then put it on the side table. I laid back down thinking about the dream. Did it mean something?

I had nerves in the pit of my stomach about the game later on tonight. Last night's dream still had me startled. I shook off the feeling for a little until I got into the shower.

I sighed and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel off the rack by the shower and wrapped myself in it. Then I leaned over and put my hair in a towel that sat upon my head.

I walked out of my bathroom and into my room. I sighed sadly when I looked at the clothes laid out on my bed. There was my cheer uniform just sitting there. I shook my head slightly and grabbed my brush and deodorant that was also on my bed and walked over to my mirror.

I looked down onto my vanity and saw a picture of Elena and I in our cheer uniforms from last year.

Our parents always had us take our cheer pictures together. They said that Elena and I always looked better together in a picture than by ourselves. Which in return made me giggle at the memories; I looked back at the picture and sighed. This isn't me. Not anymore.

I pulled on a gray halter top with the Rolling Stones logo on it, black shorts, and my gray converse. I walked out of my room and into Elena's room. I saw her sitting on her bed holding her uniform. Wearing the same facial expression I did when I looked at my uniform.

"You're thinking about quitting. Aren't you?" I asked, Elena. She looked up startled, but then her composure returned when she noticed it was me. She looked back down at the uniform and then back to me.

"Yeah." She said sadly sighing at the end. I nodded, and then she looked at me curiously. "What about you? Why aren't you dressed in your uniform?" Elena asked. I laughed slightly as I walked into her room and sat beside her.

"I'm quitting. I'm a quitter." I stated. She turned to look at me and she smiled.

"I think I am too." She said smiling at me. I frowned, was she quitting because I was?

"You're not quitting because of me, right?" I asked slightly nervous. She shook her head.

"No, I am not quitting because of you." She replied giggling slightly. I nodded grinning back at her.

"Good." I said to her, she just smiled and then sighed looking down at the floor. "Come on, let's go." I said grabbing her arm and pulling her to the door. She stopped half way so that I was unable to move her.

"Where are we going?" she asked. I smirked at her.

"We are going to go to Stefan's game!" I said enthusiastically. She smiled, and began walking but then paused again.

"Wait, when are we telling Caroline?" she asked me. I smiled at her.

"When we get there. I really can't wait to see the look on her face." I said giggling. I pulled on Elena's arm again, but this time she was following me.

"Okay, but you're breaking the ice." She said to me, obviously worried about Caroline getting mad at her.

"Don't I always?" I asked her cockily, she giggled and then followed me out of her room.

Elena and I were walking side-by-side at school. I was admiring all that was happening around me. Some guys were tossing a football back-and-forth, girls were trying to flirt with the football players. Welcome to high school football.

"Where's Stefan?" I asked Elena. "And have you told him yet?" I asked, referring to us quitting the cheer squad.

"I don't know...he should be around here somewhere. And no I haven't told him yet." Elena replied, looking around the area.

"Oh." Was all I managed to choke out because there was Stefan walking towards us, in his football jersey.

"Ooh. Look at you, you look hot in your football jersey." Elena said, admiring Stefan - as was I, I admitted to myself.

"What happened? No more cheerleader?" Stefan asked us, taking in our outfits.

"We quit." Elena replied sighing.

"Were quitters," I added in, also sighing.

"No." Stefan said, grasping one of Elena's hands and one of mine. "Hey, you're both not quitters, you both suffered a great loss. You're not the same people anymore. You two should be looking ahead, starting over."

I smiled at his choice of words, as did Elena.

"Okay?" Stefan continued looking deeply into our eyes. We both nodded and grinned. "I hope you don't think this is too soon or weird but I want you to have this." Stefan said to
Elena, taking a small box out of his pocket and opening it for Elena to see. Elena grabbed it and looked at it smiling at its beauty.

The necklace was pendent looking. It was round, with a few raised lines on the surface, and made of silver, it had a pinkish looking gem near the top; it glistened as it shined in the sun.

"Oh, my God, it's beautiful." Elena gasped looked up at Stefan. I smiled taking a step back.

"It's something that I have had forever, and I never wanted to give it to anyone, until now. I would like it very much if you wore it for me. For good luck." I awed slightly, then Elena's eyes went to me and back to Stefan. She lifted the necklace to her nose and sniffed it.

"Is that...rose I smell?" Elena asked Stefan. I tilted my head and smiled at her.

"May I smell?" I asked her, giggling that I actually asked her that. She nodded and handed the beautiful necklace to me. I lifted it to my nose and sniffed in the breath taking fragrance.

"What is it?" I asked Stefan, handing the necklace back to Elena.

"It's an herb, it's nice, huh?" Stefan said to Elena, Elena smiled passionately at Stefan.

"I love it." Elena admitted. She turned around and held the necklace out for Stefan to put it around her neck. She moved her hair as Stefan clipped the clasp on the necklace.

"I wanted to thank the of you for pushing me to try out for the team." Stefan said, smiling at the two of us.

"We're a pair. I quit, you start." Elena said to Stefan.

"Right, we're a work in progress." Stefan said to Elena.

Then Elena got up on the tips of her toes and pecked Stefan's lips. I cleared my throat so they pulled apart. Stefan smiled one last time at us and walked away. Elena returned it to Stefan but once he was gone she turned back to me with a glare in her eyes.

"Really?" she asked, annoyed. I giggled innocently and grabbed her arm, and tried to lead her away, but we were stopped by an angry Caroline.

"And you're not in uniform because?" Caroline asked in a snooty way. That made my face drop, and Elena look towards me to explain...great.

We were standing around listening to Tanner's speech. When he mentioned Stefan we cheered. Elena and I made our way to the front of the crowd so we could see the football players and unfortunately the cheerleaders.

Caroline saw us and sent us daggers, but then returned back to her preppy-self before anyone else could notice. I saw Stefan who was sending Elena flirty looks, and then I saw Tyler. His arms crossed over his chest, he seemed bored. He looked my way, saw me, and rolled his eyes, and then turned completely away from me. I sighed in defeat.

I didn't really listen to Mr. Tanner's speech on how with Stefan now on the team, we were going to win. I could tell the other players on the team were not very happy about Stefan's amazing talent being bragged about.

"Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore." Mr. Tanner said ending his speech.

Elena and I clapped. As the cheerleaders slapped their pom-poms together. I saw Tyler lean over to Matt and mumble something; he had a sour look on his face, so I am guessing it wasn't good. Tyler then walked away from the line of football players and into the crowd.

I sighed heavily and shook my head at what I was about to do. I mouthed to Elena, 'be right back'. I turned around and headed through the crowd to see Vicki standing a little ways behind Tyler and Tyler walking towards my brother.

Tyler must have said something to Jer, because the next thing I knew Tyler got a right hook to the left side of his face. Tyler grabbed Jeremy's shirt and shoved him against the car. I decided to walk to Vicki.

"Aren't you going to stop them? They're fighting over you!" I shouted at her, she just stood frozen in her place; I rolled my eyes and walked over to them.

"Tyler, stop it." I heard Vicki's weak protests.

Tyler picked Jeremy up and slammed him onto the ground. He climbed on top of Jer and started hitting him, they were both getting good blows at each other. I was about to do something really stupid and try to split them up but Stefan beat me to it.

"Hey! He's down, enough!" Stefan yelled at Tyler as he grabbed Tyler's fist that was in flight.

Tyler immediately got up and punched Stefan in the stomach. Nothing happened, Stefan didn't even flinch. He didn't even show any signs of discomfort or pain. Then Jeremy being Jeremy, had to start something. He grabbed a broken beer bottle off the ground and began to swing at Tyler, but it ended up slicing Stefan. I gasped and ran to Tyler. I put my hand on his shoulder.

He quickly turned around and didn't even bother to check who it was and hit me, with all his might, in the stomach. My hand dropped off his shoulder and clutched my aching stomach. I let out a dry, hoarse, cough and dropped to my knees.

"Sorry..." Tyler began but I ignored it. The pain soon turned to rage.

I made a fist and threw an upper-cut to his jaw; I twist kicked into his stomach, and then took his feet out from underneath him. I knelt down next to him, as he was lying there in shock. I could see the guilt in his eyes from hurting me.

"Check next time when you're about to hit someone. They might be able to fight back." I growled at him.

I ran over to Stefan and grabbed his injured hand - which he tried to yank away. My eyes widened slightly when I saw that his had was completely unharmed.

"But...I saw it, it was..." I stuttered confused.

"He missed. It's not my blood." He wiped his palm on his jeans and showed me his clean palm. "See? I'm fine."

"No, no, no. I-I saw it. The glass cut your hand. It was..." My words seemed to escape me as I stared at Stefan uninjured hand.

"Elektra, he missed." Stefan assured me.

I glanced up at Stefan then walked off. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. I went to find Bonnie, who was with the other cheerleaders.

"Hey! Where have you been?" she asked.

"Can I ask you a question and you give me a really serious no-joke response?" I asked her.

"Of course. What is it?"

"The bad mojo. When you touched Stefan and you had that reaction..."

"You know what, forget I said that. Elena's little dinner party plot totally won me over."

"No, Bonnie, seriously. What was it? Did you see something, or...?" I asked.

She sighed. "It wasn't clear like a picture. Like today, I keep seeing those same numbers I told you about...eight, fourteen, and twenty-two." Bonnie explained.

"Yeah?" I asked, nodding my head, urging her to continue.

"When I touched Stefan, it was a feeling. And it vibrated through me, and it was cold, and it..."

"And what?" I pressed, eager to hear the rest of her sentence.

"It was death. It's what I imagined death to be like."

I was even more confused now. I thanked Bonnie and walked over to my car. I opened the trunk to grab an emergency icepack for my stomach - I closed the trunk and when I turned around I gasped.

"You scared me. What are you doing here?" I asked. Trying to control my breathing.

"I'm hiding from Caroline." Damon whispered looking around in a sarcastic way, to see if anyone else heard, even though we were the only ones in the parking lot.

"And why is that?" I whispered back.

"I needed a break; she talks more than I can listen." Damon stated.

"That could be a sign." I replied agreeing.

"Well, she's awfully young." Damon said smirking wolfishly at me.

"She's not much younger than you are." I said scrunching my eyebrows together. Damon chuckled slightly at what I said, which made me slightly confused.

"I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture." Damon said grinning at me. "I think she'd drive me crazy." Damon continued in all honesty. I laughed slightly.

"Yeah, Caroline has that effect on people." I said to him. "Caroline does have some annoying traits, but she's been kind of my friend since the first grade. I would appreciate it if you just stopped talking about her to me."

"Dully noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intentions." Damon said realizing my cheeks were red.

I snorted. "Yes, it is. Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say."

"You're right, I do have other intentions. But so do you." He said to me.

"Really?"

"I see them. You want me." He said looking into my eyes.

"Excuse me?" I started to laugh.

"I get you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me when you don't want to think about me. I bet you've even dreamed about me." He said to me. My heart was pounding loudly, I was telling it to slow down but it wouldn't.

"And right now. You want to kiss me." He said in a compelling voice, I tried to look away, but I couldn't. His pupils were getting smaller and then larger again.

He began to lean in, I realized that he was in fact going to kiss me. I reared my left hand back and slapped him across the face.

"What the hell?" I growled at him, he touched his face confused and shocked.

"I don't know what game you're trying to play but I'm not going to be part of it. And I don't know what happened in the past and if you think I can replace someone. But let's get one thing straight I am not Katherine nor Beatrice." I said getting into his face.

He looked down at my bracelet and then back at me. "Noted."

The football team was making their way back into the locker room. Stefan kept his head low as he took long, quick, and meaningful strides.

"You going to be able to play?" Matt's voice sounded from behind Stefan. He slowed down, allowing Matt to be able to catch up and now walk beside Stefan.

Stefan looked down at his hands, "Oh, yeah, I'm good."

Matt and Stefan both stopped walking once they passed through a fence. Matt cleared his throat slight before he spoke again, "Uh, what you did back there. You had Jeremy's back."

Stefan shrugged, "He's a messed up kid. Somebody's got to look out for him."

"I know." Matt said and nodded, "This week at practice, I was a dick."

Stefan chuckled before saying: "Had your reasons."

"No excuse," Matt denied, "Good luck tonight. We're lucky to have you."

Stefan nodded in appreciation as Matt turned away from Stefan and began to head over to the locker room. Stefan let out a sigh, but then he heard the sound of someone clapping behind him, his shoulders instantly went stiff.

"Isn't that nice?" Damon asked as Stefan turned around to face his older brother, "Stefan joins a team, makes a friend." Damon chuckled and shook his head, "It's all so, 'Rah, rah, go team, yeah'." Damon teased with a sarcastic peppy voice.

"Not tonight," Stefan denied, "I'm done with you." Stefan turned and began to walk away, but was stopped short when Damon now stood in front of him.

"Nice trick with Elektra." Damon complimented, Stefan furrowed his brows at Damon's comment but decided to go along with it. "Let me guess. Vervain in the bracelet. I admit, I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion." Stefan nodded. "Where'd you get it?"

Stefan racked his brain for a line to keep this conversation going and asked: "Does it matter?" He rolled his eyes while he walked past his brother.

"Guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just eat her." Damon suggested, Stefan instantly stopped in his tracked and slowly turned around to face him.

"No." Stefan said and shook his head, "You're not going to hurt her, Damon."

"No?" Damon raised a brow.

"Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her." Stefan spoke lowly as him and his brother now stood toe-to-toe. "I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you, that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be."

"Who's pretending?"

"Then kill me."

Damon pursed his lips, "Well, I'm tempted."

"No, you're not." Stefan corrected with a pointed look. "You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me, after one-hundred and forty-five years. Katherine and Beatrice are dead. And you hate me, because you loved them, and you torture me, because you still do. And you think Elektra and Elena are them, deep down. And that, my brother, that is your humanity."

"Salvatore," Mr. Tanner called from behind Stefan. "What the hell? We've got a game to play."

Damon narrowed his eyes at Mr. Tanner, "If that's my humanity, then what's this?"

Damon sped over to Mr. Tanner and quickly sunk his teeth into the soft skin of Mr. Tanner's neck. Damon gulped down the blood greedily, just to prove to his brother that he was a monster.

"No!" Stefan shouted out as he watched the scene unfold with wide eyes.

Damon sighed as he let Tanner's lifeless body fall to the ground with a soft thud, Damon licked his bloodied lips before he turned to his brother. "Anyone, any time, any place."

I was walking to the front of the school when I saw an ambulance. After talking to some people that were around the scene, I found out that Tanner was killed by an animal tonight. I saw his body bag being pulled away and I felt a pang in my stomach.

I started to walk away to find Elena when someone grabbed my wrist. I turned to see Tyler.

"Elektra...I'm..." Tyler began.

"You're what, Tyler? You're going to say that you're sorry, really? I tried to calm you down to be a good friend and I get punched in the stomach by my stupid ex!" I shouted, shaking in anger.

"Elektra, I'm sorry, I didn't realize..." he started again but I cut him off once again.

"You didn't realize? Well, now you got what you wanted, not only do you not get to date me, but you don't get to be in my life at all." I growled.

"That's not what I wanted!" Tyler shouted at me, I clenched my teeth and made a fist causing the blood the leave my knuckles and turn white.

"You have lost me forever, get over it." I said simply. I walked away from him, and walked to my car, slipping inside. All of the tears finally poured out.

✥ ✥ ✥

not edited.