Trigger Warning: Implied/Referenced Self-Harm At the End

"We're getting a new history teacher today," Jack told Cecilia, Dylan, and Alex while they stood in front of the tree. Ricky had gone to hang out with his other friends.

"How do you even know this?" asked Alex.

"I just know," said Jack.

Alex asked, "Well, can you tell me the winning numbers to a winning lottery ticket? That would be wonderful."

Jack glared at him.

"Alex, stop being a dick to my best friend," Cecilia told him.

Jack said, "He's also a dick to your other boyfriend, so it's not a surprise he's one to me."

This time, Alex glared at him.

Cecilia looked at Dylan, who seemed far interested in his shoes.

Cecilia took her seat near the front with Dylan and Jack.

Stefan wasn't in class, so either he was late or he just didn't bother showing up. To be fair, he was probably mourning the loss of Lexi.

To be fair, if someone got Jack killed, she wouldn't want to go to school either. Actually, she would be tracking down the person that killed Jack, only to kill them in retaliation.

The bell rang and Elena walked in, with a few others. A girl rushed in and took her seat.

The teacher walked in, wearing a blue or purple button down shirt, "Good morning, everyone. Alrighty."

"Is that blue or purple?" Jack whispered to Cecilia.

Cecilia shrugged.

"Its plum," Dylan whispered to them as the teacher wrote on the chalkboard.

Jack passed Cecilia some money, and she passed some money over to Dylan, who took it with a slight smirk.

"Alaric Saltzman," said the teacher. "It's a mouthful, I know. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins. My family immigrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however, was born and raised in Boston. Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to pronounce 'Alaric' but it's 'Alaric okay? So, you can call me Rick. I'm your new history teacher."

He seemed kind and a little to young to be teaching high school students, but he seemed kind and wouldn't 'Tanner' anyone, or shall she say 'Saltzman' anyone.

Cecilia raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss uh..." Rick started.

"Gilbert," said Cecilia. "Cecilia Gilbert. This is rather off-base, Mr. Saltzman, but what color is your shirt?" There were snickers. "My best friend—" She motioned to Jack, "wants to know."

Rick looked like he really wasn't expecting that question. "It's plum."

"I told you," Dylan said.

"Good for you," Jack replied. "How do you even know what plum color even looks like?"

"My mother wore it all the time," Dylan replied.

"Okay, moving on from colors," Rick started. Jack raised his hand. "Yes, Mr...."

"Winters," Jack stated. "Jack Winters. Are you going to insult us like our previous teacher did?"

"No," said Rick. "Why would I do that?"

"Our old teacher was a dick," Dylan stated flatly.

There were murmurs of agreements.

"I will not speak about your previous teacher," Rick said.

"He got mauled by a lion," Jack said.

Rick looked a little distressed, "But if what you're saying is true..."

"He was," a girl called out. "He sent Dylan out in the hall for no reason."

"We're all getting off track," Rick said.

Dylan joined them during lunch, Ricky chose to eat lunch with his other friends, and Alex asked, "What's up?"

"Saltzman wants me to write a paper about an event from history to bring up my history grade," Dylan explained.

"I got a lot of events that you can write about," Alex said, perking up. "How much do you want to know about Charles Manson?"

"How about no?" replied Dylan.

"What about anything on the witch trials?" Jack offered.

"I'd rather not have the guy question my mental instability," Dylan said.

"You mean mental stability?" Cecilia asked.

"That's what I said," Dylan replied.

"Well, that's good, right?" Alex said, "He wants to help you bring your grade up."

"Yeah, but I don't know what to write about," Dylan said.

"Write about H. H. Holmes," Alex said.

Jack offered, "How about the witch hysteria?"

"How about you write about Swedish bands or the black metal scene that they created? It's not horrifying murderers or about the witch trials, and I'm sure there's interesting history behind it," Cecilia said.

Dylan stayed silent for a moment before saying, "Yeah, sure, sounds good."

Alex glowered, "But where's the fun in that?"

Cecilia said, "Not being looked at like a potential murderer?"

Dylan joked, "Don't they look at Jack like a potential murderer?"

"True," replied Jack.

Cecilia went to Dylan's apartment to help with the search. Interestingly enough, Jeremy had his own assignment that was local only and non-Wikipedia based.

She looked at a framed picture on a side-table, "Have you spoken to your mother since she'd been gone?"

"Once a week," Dylan replied, "Twice if she wants to act like a good mother."

Cecilia grimaced, "Sorry I asked."

"It's fine," Dylan said. "She has a new girlfriend to be with."

"Doesn't it bother you?" asked Cecilia.

"Very much," Dylan said. "Sometimes I think if I hadn't brought her home, my parents would still be together."

"Don't think like that," Cecilia said. "It would just be delaying the inevitable. I'd wager that with how quickly she got out of here, she fell out of love with your dad. It happens."

"She didn't fight for visitation rights," Dylan replied. "My dad said he would like to have custody of me, and she said 'all right' and that was it. He tried to negotiate visitation, but she denied that, choosing to leave. The judge was so shocked that she didn't even stop my mother from leaving."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Cecilia told him.

Dylan shrugged, "Its fine, I guess."

"She's your mother, she should want to see you," Cecilia responded.

"She should, but she doesn't," Dylan replied. "Now, can we please drop it?"

Cecilia nodded, "Right, sorry."

They got a good few hours in on researching before Cecilia decided that it was time to leave. Dylan kissed her goodbye, but Cecilia kept a hold of Dylan and deepened the kiss. Cecilia pushed him to the couch. He maneuvered them to where Cecilia was laying on the couch and he was on top of her. She ran one hand down his back to touch skin from where his long-sleeved shirt had ridden up. She used her other hand to get a fistful of Dylan's hair to pull him closer to her. His fingers touched her skin from where her shirt had ridden up a little as their kiss deepened.

She finally left Dylan's apartment after what turned into an over-the-clothes grope session. She went to the Grill where Jack, Jeremy, and Jenna were at. She joined them at a booth and Cecilia noticed that Jenna was staring at something.

She looked to see Alaric and then looked at Jenna, "Why are you staring at him?"

"I like a man who can dine alone." Jenna said, "A quiet strength."

Jeremy seemed confused, "I thought you were still in that whole Logan-depression thing."

Jenna smiled, "I've sworn off men forever, but it doesn't mean I can't observe them from a safe distance."

"At least, it's not Logan," Jack said. "I couldn't stand that asshole."

"You were barely around when he was there," Jenna pointed out, looking at Alaric again.

"Exactly my point," Jack replied.

Jeremy looked at Jenna and then at Alaric, "I can introduce you to him."

"No," Jenna said. "Tell me about this paper that you have to do for history. Did you pick a topic?"

"No, not yet," Jeremy said. "It's gotta be local and non-internet research, so..."

"That's easy!" Jenna said. "You've got all your dad's stuff."

Jeremy asked, "What stuff?"

"Dad has a box of stuff in the closet. He has our entire family lineage from way back stored in there," Cecilia told him.

"Yeah, 'How the Gilberts came over on the Mayflower' stuff." Jenna added, "All that family lineage from way back. Your dad really loved all that family history stuff. It's all boxed up in the closet."

Cecilia never took pride on her ancestors being carried over on the Mayflower; mostly because of what the pilgrims did to the Natives. It was like taking pride in stealing land and killing them.

"He assigned Dylan a similar paper," Jack said. "However he wants Dylan to write about an event from history."

"Of course he gets the easier one," Jeremy grumbled.

"Just go to the library and look at old newspapers," Jack told him.

Alaric came over to the table.

"Mr. Saltzman," Jeremy greeted. They did a fist bump.

"Jeremy, Cecilia, and Jack," Alaric greeted them. "What's up?"

"This is Cecilia's and my aunt, Jenna," Jeremy told him.

"Honorary aunt for me," Jack added. "I've known her since I was ten-years-old."

Alaric stared at Jenna for a few seconds, "Alaric Saltzman. It's nice to meet you."

"Jeremy was just telling me about his paper," Jenna said. "Thanks for giving him another chance."

"It was my first day," Alaric replied. "I wanted to make a good impression." He chuckled.

Jenna and Alaric continued to make eyes at each other, before Alaric took off to a table.

Cecilia and Jeremy looked at each other. Yeah, it was kind of obvious where it was heading. Cecilia looked at Jack, who nodded. He knew where it was heading.

They hung around a few minutes before Jeremy said, "I should head back. My classmate, Mai, said she would help me write the paper. She said she would help look for more sources for the paper. So, I'll head home."

Jeremy took off.

That was nice, but Cecilia had the feeling he took off so Jenna and Alaric can have a moment alone. At least Alaric was better than Fell.

"We should help him look for the stuff that you were talking about," Cecilia said.

Jack nodded and they took off together.

They passed by Bonnie on the way back home.

"Hey, Bonnie," Cecilia greeted, but Bonnie ignored her as she walked with great purpose. That was weird.

Jeremy opened the door and there were screams from inside. He asked, "What the hell?" Elena and Caroline had jumped back. Jeremy went inside the house.

"I'm outta here," Caroline said, before taking off.

"Bye," Jack said, moving aside as Caroline nearly shouldered him out of the way.

Cecilia asked, "What happened?"

Elena took out her phone and started calling a phone number. Jack closed the door.

"It's Bonnie." Elena started pacing. "Emily is possessing her. She said something."

Cecilia and Jack looked at each other. "She said, 'I won't let him have it, it must be destroyed.' And then she just left." She paused, "I don't know." She looked at Jack, "Jack is here. Let me ask him. Do you know where she went?"

Jack shrugged, "I don't think it work like that."

"He doesn't know," Elena said. "Fell's Church, by the old cemetery that's where she took Bonnie in her dreams. We have to help her, Stefan."

They hung up.

While Elena caught them up to speed on the whole Bonnie situation – séance gone wrong because Bonnie had been having dreams about Emily and then Emily possessed Bonnie; Mai had shown up.

She was wearing a white pleated skirt with a blue argyle sweater that had blue, pink and gray diamonds on it. She even had a circular purse that was in the shape of a stack of pancakes, complete with syrup and butter. The only thing that put off the cute, preppy girl look was her wearing combat boots.

She looked confused, "Jeremy invited me over?"

It looked like Elena was thrown off by the pancake purse, considering how she was staring at it, "He's inside." She looked over her shoulder, "Jeremy!"

"I'm here," Jeremy said, coming over to the entrance hall. "I just need to find the box of stuff that Jenna mentioned."

"I can wait," Mai said with a shrug.

Jeremy set the box on the table while Cecilia, Jack, and Mai went to the kitchen.

"Hi," Mai greeted, a little breathlessly.

Jeremy looked a little flustered at seeing Mai.

It looked like Jenna and Alaric weren't the only ones making eyes at each other. Cecilia looked at Jack who nodded. He noticed it too.

At some point Elena seemed to grow restless.

Cecilia asked, "What are you doing?" as Elena went to the door.

"I gotta go get Bonnie...uh, Emily," Elena told her and opened the door. She gasped as Alex stood there about ready to knock on the door.

Elena moved past him to leave.

"Good to see you too," Alex told her as he walked in as Elena walked out of the house.

Alex walked in the kitchen. Something seemed off about him...

Cecilia asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Dylan dumped me," Alex replied.

Cecilia was surprised by that.

"About time," Jeremy told him. Alex looked at him. "You were an ass to him."

Jack nodded, "You kind of were."

Mai looked confused and took out a picture. She squinted at it, "Is that the news anchorman?"

Jeremy looked at it, "Oh, yeah."

Cecilia asked, "Isn't there another box somewhere?"

"Yeah," Jeremy replied. He went to go get the box. He came back and opened the box. Cecilia looked in it and took out a rather thick, leather journal. She untied it and looked at the date.

1864

Alex looked at it, "If this thing is as it claims to be, how come it's not in a museum?"

"Maybe it was copied from the original," Jeremy said, taking it from Cecilia.

The door opened and Jenna stood in the doorway with Alaric.

"You're so wrong," Jenna stated. "I'm much more pathetic."

"Oh, no, no," Alaric stated. "I've got you beat. I have pathetic down to a science."

"Oh, no," Jenna replied. "We haven't even covered high school. Braces, A-cup."

"Glasses, skin condition," Alaric countered.

"This is so weird," Alex whispered to Cecilia and Jack.

Mai nodded, staring at the scene unfolding.

Jenna said, "You can, uh...You know what? I'm not gonna invite you in." She looked at the teens, "I've got all those teens."

Alex waved at Alaric who looked past Jenna at the group.

"Well, some other time then," Alaric said. "Have a good night, Jenna."

Jeremy made a face, like he didn't appreciate the idea of his aunt boning his teacher. Cecilia didn't want to think about it.

Alaric walked away and Jenna closed the door.

"So you found the boxes," Jenna stated.

"Mai found this, too," Jeremy said, handing the picture to Jenna.

"Me and Logan," Jenna stated. "That's just cruel."

"Sorry," Mai stated.

"Cruel is dating our history teacher," Jeremy told her.

"He's not my teacher," Alex stated.

Jenna smirked, "I'm not dating him...yet." Jeremy chuckled. Jenna motioned to Alex, "And what's wrong with Grumpy over there?"

"Dylan dumped him," Jack said.

"About time," Jenna said. Alex looked at her, in shock. "You were an ass to him, even after getting together with him."

Alex told Cecilia about the break up with Dylan, about how minute they were watching TV, and then Dylan just snapped and argued with Alex, then dumped him, and kicked him out of the apartment. It was strange, because Dylan was fine one minute and then snapped the next. It was weird to her.

"And he won't take off his stupid jacket," Alex muttered.

Jenna seemed concerned, "He doesn't?"

"No," Alex replied. "He doesn't eat either and he sleeps all the time."

Jenna seemed to think about it, "When did he start wearing long sleeves?"

"Can't remember," Cecilia admitted, "Even during the summer. He never answered when we asked why."

Jenna asked, "Have you seen his arms at all?"

"No, but Mr. Tanner has seen something and sent him to see the psychiatrist," Cecilia replied.

"I am such an idiot," Jenna replied. "I didn't see all the signs 'til now and I'm studying psychology."

Alex looked alarmed, "What?"

Jenna didn't answer him, "Can you guys put these boxes up?"

"Sure," Jack stated, dragging the word out as Jenna went to the front door and opened it.

"Hello, Jenna."

"Logan!" Jenna replied sounding shocked.

Logan asked, "Are you going to invite me in?"

Cecilia thought that sounded a bit creepy. They went to put the boxes up while Jenna talked to Logan. Although judging from the sound of the front door slamming, Cecilia guessed that Jenna didn't let Logan in.

Dylan walked in his dad's room, and poked and prodded his dad awake.

"What is it, Dill?" Rob asked, turning on a bedside table.

"I don't want to die," Dylan said, holding out his arms.

Rob seemed confused, "Don't want to...? Holy shit!"

There were deep gashes in Dylan's arms, which were bleeding. "It was so easy, but regretting it is so fucked up."